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I think even with no Inf, people would still use it for getting very fast XP.
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opsh sure.. *XP 
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tbh they brought it out too fast again. ITS thier FAULT for what happens in the aftermath
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Agreed, they put it on test for about what... two weeks? in that time either minor bugs or none at all get fixed and major ones make it through to live. For instance the chat bugs etc.
If they hadnt been in such a rush to say look at the new shinyyyyy it might have actually been successful
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MA probably fits in as a fair part of CoX endgame, although I think it's more important role is to free up resources to allow the creation of dev-created endgame.
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It actually can be a significant slice of end game content - and by that I mean highly significant, but that's providing that the powers that be allow it to be more than a "game within a game."
Sure there have been teething problems, some of which should have been foreseen, others less so, but ultimately it's not been that long in the Devs taking action. Let's face it the MA in Atlas has been a lot quieter this week but the servers still seem pretty active. That may change but for now thre's a reasonable balance. Sure you can still farm the MA but it's not the rampant 1-50 in 3 hours.
But once that's settled down and the search functions are added, once people realise that they can make content that will actually be played because it can be found in search then those with a knack for storytelling and creativity, the big fans of the game can go to work. And once they do, I forsee a situation where the Devs can take player generated content and with a few tweaks here and there, make that part of cannon, make it become "an official arc."
For the player that's probably the ultimate accolade. Seriously, imagine how good you would feel if you write a story and it becomes a part of the game - like there's an in game contact who gives it to people and then at the end of the arc you get a mention in the credits? Wouldn't that be seriously fantastic? And there is no other MMO out there that can do that.
That's the end-content of this game. I honestly can see the time when somebody writes a couple of arcs that make Dev choice , then cannon and then that author gets put on the pay roll as a result of their dedication and fandom. Not tomorrow, not next week but I bet it will happen, so long as CoH keeps itself alive in the face of the competition.
If the game survives the onslaught of CO and DCUO, then this can happen. If it doesn't it'll be a moot point.
In some way the OP is correct, but I suspect not as intended.
Thelonious Monk
guys this is the only solution...
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guys this is the only solution...
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Well reasoned argument, beautifully put, backed up with evidence and salient facts... NOT.
Just stating something doesn't make it so and I've not seen too many posts in this thread agreeing with you so I'm fairly confident that you're in a minority.
Closing the MA will not happen. In fact it would be better politically for Paragon Studios to close the entire game than their flagship anniversary free update. To close the MA would result in ridicule from the games media and a severe loss of face for all involved at NC Soft.
If you have a counter argument I'd love to hear it.
Thelonious Monk
Makes you wonder though if you can knock up an arc in a fairly short amount of time (don't know exactly how long haven't tried it yet) why the forums always seemed to be crying for new content before this.
And I think S_S has a fair point after the inevitable rush of 'how can we exploit this' users has passed perhaps some interesting work will actually be published (not saying it hasn't already) but when the holy grail of all farmers has been found ie the most productive map possible, then surley it once again becomes a useless tool, wasteful of time and unnecessary at least as far as the hoarders are concerned
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... To close the MA would result in ridicule ....
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Close MA is just provocation 
I suggest zero XP.
MA should not be the means to XP but only rewards
I'm of a mind that people who want to rush to 50, let them. They only ruin things for themselves when they get there and 'oh dear, getting to 50 was the game' *sigh*
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tbh they brought it out too fast again. ITS thier FAULT for what happens in the aftermath
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Agreed, they put it on test for about what... two weeks? in that time either minor bugs or none at all get fixed and major ones make it through to live. For instance the chat bugs etc.
If they hadnt been in such a rush to say look at the new shinyyyyy it might have actually been successful
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No - the final open beta was something like that. It had been in various stages of closed beta for something like a month before that iirc
Even the EU closed beta had about 2 weeks before the open started.
And many bugs did get addressed in that time.
I agree that it was released too early, but to claim it only had 2 weeks of ineffective testing is utter hogswash.
By my mohawk shall ye know me!
my toons
Funny: Ee-Ai-Ee-Ai-Oh! #3662 * The foul-mouthed Handyman! #1076 * City of Norms #132944
Serious: To Save A Single World (#83744) * Marketing Opportunity (#83747)
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tbh they brought it out too fast again. ITS thier FAULT for what happens in the aftermath
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Agreed, they put it on test for about what... two weeks? in that time either minor bugs or none at all get fixed and major ones make it through to live. For instance the chat bugs etc.
If they hadnt been in such a rush to say look at the new shinyyyyy it might have actually been successful
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No - the final open beta was something like that. It had been in various stages of closed beta for something like a month before that iirc
Even the EU closed beta had about 2 weeks before the open started.
And many bugs did get addressed in that time.
I agree that it was released too early, but to claim it only had 2 weeks of ineffective testing is utter hogswash.
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so it had a lot longer time of ineffective testing?
@craggy see me on Union for TFs, SFs (please!) or just some good ol fashioned teaming.
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I'm of a mind that people who want to rush to 50, let them. They only ruin things for themselves when they get there and 'oh dear, getting to 50 was the game' *sigh*
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The problem is people will do that, find there isn't actually that much in the way of PvE or PvP end game and decide not to renew after their first month, thinking there's not much of a game to be had at all.
If all they see is "arrive at Atlas --> MA --> quick 50 --> not a lot", they may never even realise there's so much more out there to try.
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On the scale of DOWNUT* posts i give you a 10.
(doom offtopic whining nagging unconstructive trash)
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Is that spelling of Doughnut an acronym?
He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care about his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues. - Sima Qian.
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Is that spelling of Doughnut an acronym?
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You might want to read the bracketed bit...
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On the scale of DOWNUT* posts i give you a 10.
(Doom Offtopic Whining Nagging Unconstructive Trash)
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DOWNUT. /sagenod
Sam: "My mind is a swirling miasma of scintillating thoughts and turgid ideas."
Max: "Me too."
Stuff
Yeah didn't read that part as I thought it was insulting enough.
On the thing about insults people do take them indirectly as well so no matter what you write even for the sake of speed (so in note form) people can take it too much to heart.
Soft or what?
He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care about his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues. - Sima Qian.
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Makes you wonder though if you can knock up an arc in a fairly short amount of time (don't know exactly how long haven't tried it yet) why the forums always seemed to be crying for new content before this.
And I think S_S has a fair point after the inevitable rush of 'how can we exploit this' users has passed perhaps some interesting work will actually be published (not saying it hasn't already) but when the holy grail of all farmers has been found ie the most productive map possible, then surley it once again becomes a useless tool, wasteful of time and unnecessary at least as far as the hoarders are concerned
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The devs version requires a LOT more tickets to unlock the maps/enemies 
Oh and because we dont accept mediocre content, we only accept good quality stuff so that does take a while. Look at all the "mini missions" they made for the policeband/newspaper missions.
Though i do agree that now that we know how easy it is i do expect a lot more dev created content. Though again posi did state they were concentrating more on taskforces which is very meh to me.
Todays word of the day is "meh". If you are experiencing meh like symptoms you should report to your local airport right away and fly to a country i aint in.
@Damz Find me on the global channel Union Chat. One of the best "chat channels" ingame!
Ah, so this is where everyone is right now. I'm still getting past the salavage and invention bits.
Think of it as your punishment for taking a break from the game 
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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Makes you wonder though if you can knock up an arc in a fairly short amount of time (don't know exactly how long haven't tried it yet) why the forums always seemed to be crying for new content before this.
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MA's a pretty new tool for the devs as well as the players; we got what we did because they were doing an internal project to make an easier-to-use mission tool for their people and a "hey, we could go public with this!" lightbulb lit up.
Previously devs had had to design missions in Excel, and apparently it was all rather unwieldy.
Well given hindsight is 20/20 there's probably little point in saying that perhaps they should have fully tested and used the new tool themselves before releasing it to the public, as now every mission the devs create has got to be something bigger and better than anything we can do or it'll just look like another MA mission, then the hardcore MA's will want access to whatever tools the DEV's have, creating a very us and them community, surely not what is wanted. I was concerned before the releaseof the MA it could be 'the straw that brroke the camels back' I can only hope now that once it loses some of it's 'shininess' it'll become an interesting and smewhat unique feature that helps promote the game and not one that makes everyone think 'I can't get any pugs no more cos of the MA and being that the great teaming was one of the things that attracted me to CoX perhaps it's time to try something new' only time will tell I do think it was a much greater risk to the game as a whole than the Devs thought when that lightbulb went on and they thought what a great idea lets let the players play GamesMaster.
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Although that might be true closing the MA would be the last thing on their list to do, not after all that promotion.
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Oh I dunno - Cathedral of Pain was promoted highly before it's release - then it died, pretty much never to return. Whose to say the same thing couldn't happen to the MA buildings
Change it to feature something going on in the corner of Steel instead of building works for 10 issues (likewise something still not happened Red side, yet the foundations are there.)
we can make it pointy!
MA as End Game?
Certainly possible. After all, once you're 50, no need to get XP, no need to farm or rush through arcs that are story heavy to get to the next mish. Therefore using the Architect system, players who enjoy the game can play the game their way, to whatever level challenge they like. I personally wouldn't have any problems with them having had no restrictions on MA arcs for 50s. Obviously, the rewards could be a bit more restricted for under 50s. Say an XP-cap or something. But after 50, let people play things as the author intended. Of course that does imply that people would use the story creation tools to create stories, but it could be seen as a Danger Room type of scenario, training and challenging ones self as well as an interactive holographic entertainment suite.
The devs said something on their G4 interview about erotic fan-fiction. I'm really really not asking for examples, but I don't understand how it could happen in the Mission Architect system anyway. Maybe with cut-scenes it'd be more likely. Still, from an in-game POV, it'd be likley that AE would get used for this a lot, especially villain-side.
@craggy see me on Union for TFs, SFs (please!) or just some good ol fashioned teaming.