I get demoralised by NO feedback. Like, none except for the people I actually know sort of none. Sure, got a few extra ratings. No feedback.
What also, on a creative footing, annoys me sort of, is the arc I was more happy with ending up a 3, while the arc I was least happy with still being on 5 
and the arc I never intended to keep up aside from RPing it is on a 4...funny ol' world.
Still...need to actually do some work with MA, methinks. Think of something more widely creative.
And yes. HoF and DevChoice atm contains a few gems, and then so much B-S as to be staggering...
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.
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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon
NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.
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I get demoralised by NO feedback. Like, none except for the people I actually know sort of none. Sure, got a few extra ratings. No feedback.
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Aye, that's what's so annoying about not being able to communicate with the US servers - sure it was nice to get 420 tickets and eighteen plays overnight, but not getting any feedback comments for them left me wondering exactly what people thought of it.
It's also quite annoying for my feedback to end up going nowhere - I like to explain exactly why I voted the way I did, and I like to point out any typos I've spotted.
Why was it changed from emails to tells? Does anyone know...?
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Why was it changed from emails to tells? Does anyone know...?
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I believe it was so that the arcs would be published under a global name rather than the local name.
I do hope that they are working on this issue; has it been acknowledged and committed to?
Well not had many players play my arc now. Guess the rush seems to have ended and the hard core one-mission players (you know the type) are the most heavy users of the MA.
Oh well, atleast my arc has a solid 4 now, and I've gotten great feedback from other writers.
So I'm starting to write another. This time, a villainious arc, with the possibility of more to come. Proofreading THAT one will be hard though as the contact have a speach impediment. 
Also, from what I've gathered even e-mails in the old system did not work as properly as it should have during beta. And it is the issue of giving global tells to us and back to the US.
There are rumors of feedback getting sent to e-mail, but since the max amount of e-mails are 10, well some of the few that might make it over might be lost in all the letters.
(Boy that was a long sentence, gah)
Lady Arete on Unionhandbook
My Excel Badge tool
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Why was it changed from emails to tells? Does anyone know...?
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I believe it was so that the arcs would be published under a global name rather than the local name.
I do hope that they are working on this issue; has it been acknowledged and committed to?
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During the anniversary chat, Posi said that the e-mails version wouldn't have worked cross-server, never mind cross-region. So the current system is technically better - at least this way characters on Defiant can send feedback to ones on Union. They just can't send it to Freedom or Justice.
"The Hamidon is a what what of what?" - Brian the mission guy.
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Why was it changed from emails to tells? Does anyone know...?
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I believe it was so that the arcs would be published under a global name rather than the local name.
I do hope that they are working on this issue; has it been acknowledged and committed to?
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During the anniversary chat, Posi said that the e-mails version wouldn't have worked cross-server, never mind cross-region. So the current system is technically better - at least this way characters on Defiant can send feedback to ones on Union. They just can't send it to Freedom or Justice.
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Did he?
Because emails seemed to work fine cross-region in beta.
By my mohawk shall ye know me!
my toons
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.... you're right. Maybe I misremembered what Posi said. But I'm pretty sure he said something that indicated global tels were a better practical solution than mails.
GLobal tells are still an inadequate solution though. I hope the devs are working on a much better system for I15.
"The Hamidon is a what what of what?" - Brian the mission guy.
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.... you're right. Maybe I misremembered what Posi said. But I'm pretty sure he said something that indicated global tels were a better practical solution than mails.
GLobal tells are still an inadequate solution though. I hope the devs are working on a much better system for I15.
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They could use the database system from the MA perhaps? That server is already accessible to everybody. Inserting one more table into that database with comments on that server sounds doable to me.
Judging from what I've read.
Most people trawling for good arcs through the MA will actually go specifically to higher played 4 star arcs than any of the non-dev/HoF 5 star marked arcs.
Played Rikti vs Pandas the other night, it is a very silly storyline (which it admits) but it was enjoyable, that, I beleive, was at 999+ plays and 4 star rated.
I tend to go for the 4 star but higher rating numbered arcs, 5 star arcs with low ratings are too often just trash but I know 4 stars with a 20+ rating have maintained that 4 stars past 20 plays, which means they're quite good for what they set out to be and have withstood the general test of the playerbase.
My own arc is on 27 plays and 4 star rating, I admit, it's not a fantastic mission, it's designed with lowbies in mind and therefore designed to be like much lowbie content, just from two different reviewers on the forums I've had completely different feedback on what they prefered, both a 4 star rating mind you.
So if you're at the 4 star mark, don't give up hope, infact you're probably MORE likely to gradually see more plays at 4 star with a 20+ plays than you are at 5 star but a 2-3 plays.
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A real showstopper!
My arcs are about 10-20 plays and 4 stars. That would be mostly of the fact they are made for hard-core gamers of COX. If you put up the repp too high you're team will die very fast. Ofcourse I warn people... but I got a question last time in a remark that he/she didnt understood what EB or AV meant in my warning line :s
We should all try to play either 5 ratings and rate them honestly so they are back to where they should be... Rate boring farm missions for what they are worth (in my case not more then 2 stars as there is often no contact placed.... nostory... etc.) and try and play the 4 star arcs more as they are often very good and may deserve a 5 star rate. It can be that they are grieved down and a good amound of 5-stars would bring them back up again.
- The Italian Job: The Godfather Returns #1151
Beginner - Encounter a renewed age for the Mook and the Family when Emile Marcone escapes from the Zig!
- Along Came a... Bug!? #528482
Average - A new race of aliens arrives on Earth. And Vanguard has you investigate them!
- The Court of the Blood Countess: The Rise of the Blood Countess #3805
Advanced - Go back in time and witness the birth of a vampire. Follow her to key moments in her life in order to stop her! A story of intrigue, drama and horror! Blood & Violence... not recommend to solo!
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My arcs are about 10-20 plays and 4 stars. That would be mostly of the fact they are made for hard-core gamers of COX. If you put up the repp too high you're team will die very fast. Ofcourse I warn people... but I got a question last time in a remark that he/she didnt understood what EB or AV meant in my warning line :s
We should all try to play either 5 ratings and rate them honestly so they are back to where they should be... Rate boring farm missions for what they are worth (in my case not more then 2 stars as there is often no contact placed.... nostory... etc.) and try and play the 4 star arcs more as they are often very good and may deserve a 5 star rate. It can be that they are grieved down and a good amound of 5-stars would bring them back up again.
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Damn Vampires. Creamed me last night. (I did read the warnings and knew them so I got what I deserved, but I figured since I joined the SG over the weekend I should have a go at it and brush up on my history). I was actually doing Ok until Bathory called in some more reinforcements...
I couldn't finish it so I didn't rate it. I thought it was very well written indeed, the Mission Intro text was excellent, for me the main downside was the amount of objectives more than the difficultly, the 9 glowies didn't add too much and since it was a big CoT map it was a bit "Arrrgh".
I reckon I'll try it turned down a few notches again tonight. The problem with lowering the difficulty too much to allow for the End Boss is that the other enemies on the map end up a bit too easy. I enjoyed the other EB fights and I'd hate for them to be downgraded to bosses. And the minions & Lieuts would simply be annoyances at the bottom difficulty.
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.... you're right. Maybe I misremembered what Posi said. But I'm pretty sure he said something that indicated global tels were a better practical solution than mails.
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IIRC, the problem was that at first, missions were published in the name of the logged-in toon, not the player's global name. In beta, the request was made to publish under the global name. But globals have no associated e-mail account, and thus feedback had to switch to tells. It seems like, barring development of global e-mail, it isn't possible to have both publishing under globals and feedback via mail. As you say, hopefully it will be one of the improvements to the MA in I15.
Arc#314490: Zombie Ninja Pirates!
Defiant @Grouchybeast
Death is part of my attack chain.
Yup, that was me commentating in Mission Architect; just to illustrate what I mean briefly, I'll mention that I was active in the map making community for Warhammer: Dawn Of War for a while. It didn't come to me easily I'll admit, but eventually one of my maps was chosen for the online content that came with Dark Crusade in Poland of all places... so it wasn't objectively too bad in the end.
But in the SHORT term it involved running into angry obsessives who spent months insulting me and downgrading one map because he'd not read either the description before downloading it, the readme that warned him of the unique gameplay that popped up on install, or even the map description in game.
And people who complained they didn't know how to install maps; and other people who complained they didn't know if it had worked correctly when I changed the installer to locate the game from it's own registry key, so it would unfailingly self install correctly. Yup, they wrote and complained without even starting the game and checking for themselves.
It involved people writing and asking for the maps to be changed not just in small ways (which might be personal taste) but to be entirely re-written to match their completely unrelated wishes... seriously, I had the odd comment or two asking why a map named after a famous WW1 poem, with trenches and artillery duels and hundreds of disposably heroic Imperial Guard didn't allow you to play as Orks and Chaos and why can't I use the Squiggoth and...?
It involved play after play after play through myself because people wouldn't in general play a beta, wouldn't give feedback if they actually did (at a quick calculation, over 2 years I make the Download To Feedback Comments ratio at about 1.3%; not including repeat commentators, just number of responses), and would often insult you as the only feedback because they'd found a bug you'd put the beta up to test for in the first place.
Balancing against that though was the feedback from fellow map makers; who'd give you intelligent, accurate and useful information. Who would support your vision even if they didn't agree with it. Who would design all sorts of further support networks to help on the hobby in general... one example being the Community Map Packs, so people could quickly and easily get quality content en-masse. I never personally made it into there, although I did help with something with it (I forget what, installer related I think, and testing the maps)...
... And then you finally found people didn't WANT quality as such anyway. You'd release a map which everyone who'd struggled with one would declare quite the work of art, but then found no one outside of that community would play it. I saw one of my maps hosted online by someone else ONCE, and amusingly when I tried to join the game, I actually got kicked out of it! Instead, the most popular map has always been one that came with the game itself; Kasyr Lutien, a map where you start with every resource you could possibly want, in a direct straight line across from your enemy, with no terrain or anything else between you. You literally don't have to do anything other than repeat the same uber-build order to grab imbalance unit X, and then walk straight at an opponent with it. And this, it turns out, was what Joe Public actually wanted instead.
When custom created Quality was occasionally recognized, it was usually because of Word Of Mouth rather than any inherent worth; "Gates of Ultramar" was one such map. Exceptionally well done, but also one of the earliest maps released, and as such benefited from a sense of being the new buzz too... however not even the author's other works would later see anywhere near the uptake, as people just weren't talking about, or bothering with custom maps much later.
And so it is with the Mission Architect. We saw within a few days at most that people reverted to basic selfishness; I critiqued Footsteps because it's the laziest of content... It locates the most common form of interest, and repeats it for 5 missions without variation. It doesn't even bother to script too much for character; some of the Heroes are consistent it's true, but it's hard for a one-joke character to be otherwise. But other's are just vehicles for endless internet meme repetition; why are the oh-so-badass characters the ones who also keep going afk? The story is non-existent, not even attempting to tell it's own jokes, but just outright stating "Go here and listen to them LOLNewb! some more!"
But it's undeniably popular. Presumably the author is proud of this arc, just as I am proud of all the works I've put out there after I've struggled with them. But anywhere there's public engagement, you can only rely upon ONE response, that is your own; If you are going to aim to create art, you have to be prepared to be enormously disappointed in the public. You will need a very, very thick skin indeed.
But I've gone on too long already as it is, so I'll leave it there. However to the OP I would repeat again this; Publish it for yourself. And for those who appreciate your craftmanship and the art it invokes. But you'll need to also learn to be tougher too. Alas, that's the nature of the beast...
Personally I think creating story arcs is the most fun solo activity in this game. There will certainly be comments and ratings that may put you in a bad mood, but I rather have some comments and so-and-so rating than nothing at all.
A 3-star rating from someone who did not understand or bother to understand the story is something I would much prefer to not have the arc rated or played, or getting 0-2 rating without any comment.
Any activity where you put out what you have done for public review and where people may comment or rate anonymously will without a doubt get both good and bad feedback.
I don't care so much about the ratings and if I consider what I have done myself good enough that I think others may enjoy it, I'd keep it published.
That being said, the 3 story arc limit is an issue in that case. I really hope they would consider offering more arc slots in some way other than Dev Choice and HoF. I would be happy to buy a few more slots similar to character slots, if they were to offer that.
[url="http://adingworld.wordpress.com/mission-architect-story-arcs/"][b]My Story arcs[/b][/url]: [i]The Siren Supremes[/i] ([b]1143[/b]), [i]The Missing Geneticist[/i] ([b]2542[/b]), [i]Elemental Jones[/i] ([b]263512[/b]), [i]The Soul Hunter[/i] ([b]294431[/b]), [i]Heart of Steel[/i] ([b]407104[/b]), [i]Project Serpens[/i] ([b]434082[/b])