What mission variety can YOU come up with?

After a discussion with a friend in game earlier, I mentioned what it is in this game that is really draggin me down.

Repetition.

Don't get me wrong, I love this game, I love that I can feel like a hero, or a dastardly villain, and some of the game storylines are beautifully written, Seer Marino arc comes to mind for instance.

But what gets me, especially after soooooooo many years of playing it.....the missions are driving me mad by being the same!!

Now, I've mentioned before I am getting very bored of it all and there's not enough in recent issues to keep my attention, I barely log in and it's only Going Rogue that gives me any hope, but my biggest fear will be that it's just more of the same old missions. After using the MA, I can see some truly brilliant storylines written by people, ones that really capture the imagination, but they are coloured wrapping around the same old missions, over and over and over and over and over and over.......

I can see...

Defeat All
Click Glowie
Defeat Boss and his group
Rescue/Kidnap hostage

which are all well and good, but there's soooo many more storylines/ideas in the comic book genre. But here's the thing.....which ones would work as missions?

So, the question/challenge/idea is, what other mission ideas do you think would work? How many different ideas can we, as players, come up with that would make good mission parameters?

For me, the best things in game recently have been the odd missions at the end of TF's, such as using tactics on how to defeat Lord Recluse in Statesman TF, coping with the whirlwinds in the Eye SF, storming the Sky Raider fortress in the villains SF, clearing the vines in the States TF. These sort of things should be added a lot more to the general game and if they were, would go a loooong way to helping keeping things fresh.

I've not played the new TF/SF yet, i'm waiting for them to be less bugged, but I'm hoping that they have something unique as well, but after so many months of the same old same old, what can we come up with as mission concepts that could be added to the list above to help add variety?

One thing I'd like to see, taking a cue from the recentish storyline og Hal Jordan being possessed by Parallax, give us a story arc that makes our powers change, just for that arc. Something that makes a blaster play like a scrapper, but with something that has to be overcome to get back to how we play, maybe a possession we have to eradicate by collecting certain things and then going on to combine them. I dunno, this is an "early draft" so to speak

Any more ideas?

Ive found there are snip its in some missions which dont seem to be used much, some examples:
* Needing the team to be in multiple places at the same time. There are mishes where you need two/three people at different computers before you can access them. This could be developed so the team needs to fend off ambushes in these two points so encouraging team work.
* Being debuffed. There is a mish with the Vahz plague I think and you end up being debuffed for a couple of mishes. This could be used and could prove a new way to challenge players.
* The boss battle with the Magic Man and the Romulus battle - more stuff like that could be fun.
* Thinking about what they have done with the new SF (even if it is bugged). Having different archtypes on your team require different tactics. The boss may respond differently/have different buffs depending on the make up of the team.

Some stuff which I could be fun if they could introduce would be:
* Facing a mirror version of your team. The boss battle involves you having to face a group of enemies which is a reflection of yours (similar looks and same powersets). This could be a challenge
* Thinking about powers changing - how about powers back firing or doing the opposite, e.g. heals doing damage and attacks healing.
* How about maps which is a randomly generated maze - would really add a new element of people not knowing where a boss will spawn etc. Particularly if they are timed, does the team split up or stick together.
* Puzzles - having to click glowies in the right order or answer a riddle. The wrong answer involes an ambush or something (obviously xp would be only rewarded for right answer and not for defeating ambush to avoid abuse)

Anyway these are just some of my thoughts.

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Originally Posted by Zwillinger Quote: 16. Has Paragon Studios redefined "player" to require your mouse to subscribe separately from your keyboard? If your mouse has greater processing power than your gfx card, the answer is yes.

Problem with a riddle or having to click glowies in the right order is the answer would be all over the forums within hours making the whole thing rather pointless on the Dev's behalf.

Not sure they could do the 'mirror image' of yourself with the current tech they have.

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Problem with a riddle or having to click glowies in the right order is the answer would be all over the forums within hours making the whole thing rather pointless on the Dev's behalf.

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Still better that than the same cave kill all over and over.

I'd really like a survive mission type. With the option of failing and then getting an alternate 2nd mission.

Split missions, like mentioned above. Two methods of getting through a map, both of which needs part of the team and the final room on each path would have a simultaneous, with some sort of trick to prevent clearing one side then the other.

Greater use of environmental damage (or effects), I know one or two maps have lava that burns (Tyrant's Lair & Hess TF), I'd like to see missions where having a healer of some sort is essential to stop the environment killing you. Without making the environment into specific mob (like 'Fire' in various parts of CoV).

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* How about maps which is a randomly generated maze - would really add a new element of people not knowing where a boss will spawn etc. Particularly if they are timed, does the team split up or stick together.


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This would be very well recieved by me and the majority of the players that I team with on a regular basis.

The old saying goes something like, 'familiarity breeds contempt'. I may not hold the game in contempt but the analogy is the same.

After a long time playing this game I know exactly where to go on every preset map in the game - both indoor and outdoor. This is a problem for long term players and one that could be remedied by having randomly generated maps and tilesets.

Quite how this could be achieved at present is unknown but having this facility would be very refreshing indeed.

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* How about maps which is a randomly generated maze - would really add a new element of people not knowing where a boss will spawn etc. Particularly if they are timed, does the team split up or stick together.


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This would be very well recieved by me and the majority of the players that I team with on a regular basis.

The old saying goes something like, 'familiarity breeds contempt'. I may not hold the game in contempt but the analogy is the same.

After a long time playing this game I know exactly where to go on every preset map in the game - both indoor and outdoor. This is a problem for long term players and one that could be remedied by having randomly generated maps and tilesets.

Quite how this could be achieved at present is unknown but having this facility would be very refreshing indeed.

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If they did something like Diablo (1), that had 'random' maps made up of pre-made chunks, and as the current maps are made up of pre-made chunks apart from the actual method of creation it wouldn't be very dissimilar...

But yeah I'd love this.

I have always liked the idea of a mission with booby traped glowies. You could have normal ambush glowies glowies that blow up with instant death caged glowies with an ambush ( up to your team mates as to do we save them or not). Or a tp glowie where you end up on a diffrent map or you get tp next to the boss/av and are killed instantly :P.

But so as not to put plp of glowie clicking you could have big rewards to largeish amouts of inf or a rae recipe.

Imagine the rush as the team dive for the glowie hoping its a good one, then when you click you get transported to Dark Estoria with all tp's tempary disabled ie no oruborus or pocket d or even base tp.

Edit - apologies for the wall of text!

They've already got quite a 'large scale' enviromental aspect in the Terra Volta trial, where you need the bubbles to stay alive. They could adapt this and the dangerous terrain you mention Pyro.

Could create a whole new aspect of play, particularly if the enviromental damage was quite harsh and would effect badies as well as goodies.

I kind of imagine having to fight your way accross from one side of a narrow path to the other but either side is lava/swamp-of-no-return thing which could easily kill you in a couple of shots. Travel powers are supressed so sticking together and slowly fighting your way accross could be a new interesting challenge. Particularly if the baddies were affected by lava to - Knockback toons will have there day. I can imagine my Grav/Storm troller going mad with tornado, lightening cloud, singularity and wormhole

And the whole survival thing is kind of already implemented in a mission - at the end of one of the Croatoa arcs you have to protect the mystics for 15mins fending off waves of Red Caps and in the Terra Volta trial. I'm sure this could be adapted to that you have to fend of so many ambushes (with ambushes getting harder) - particularly if there is an aspect if a team mate falls they cannot rejoin the fight (adapting the whole jail inside missions thing).

And a definite yes for branching story arcs!!!! The odd time I fail a mish and the contact says "oh it doesn't really matter they got anyway" is annoying!

Im kind of thinking about other environmental factors as well. I mentioned this on another thread but having a map (lets say the moonbase!) where gravity is less so everyone has their jump increased significantly and this is a vital aspect of how they get around. So in this case maps could be vertical instead of horizontal. And again with being on the moon they could create checkpoints where you can refill your air tanks otherwise you start to choke to death (could be done with an 'Air Tank' temp power which when toggled on prevents damaged by has a limited usage time).

Another thing they could implement (based on the Terra Volta repairing the core temp power) is having a switch that opens a door, but the switch is broken, so you have to go back find a temp power (e.g. repair kit) to use on the switch to repair it.

Another way they could introduce this is having shops where you can stock on 'general supplies' (i.e. temp powers) which you could use in missions. Depending on the temp power means you can progress through the mission in a different way. E.g. if you have the repair kit you fix the switch. If you have explosives you blow up the door.

And thinking of some of the Rikti maps - they have a service/ventalation tunnels. I'm sure this type of thing could be introduced into other maps - even if its a map within the map. You can't open the door - then enter the ventalation system and see where that takes you. They already have maps within maps so that is doable as well.

So there is loads of things that seem to be already in the game that they just don't use which they could to make things more interesting.

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Originally Posted by Zwillinger Quote: 16. Has Paragon Studios redefined "player" to require your mouse to subscribe separately from your keyboard? If your mouse has greater processing power than your gfx card, the answer is yes.

I suggested using Super Group base maps in MA arcs. It would have the defences placed in the map active.

That way you will have guns shooting you and mine fields in place.

The basic ofices and caves maps we have now would be a good thing to have automatically generated. So they really are different each time. But just make a dozen or so more of those kind of maps in different locations is a start. Other offices, other locations...

The destructable objects of the Mayhem missions can be placed everywhere. So that you can shoot cars to damage the enemy next to it for instance.

And these are just things that are technically not that far away now.

I have a few ideas. Theres one:

-carry item another place. Variant of click glowie, but you must take it to the goal. It could activate some cool machines or ambush etc. Player who have item cannot fight or item drops down and maybe shatters a million pieces. Or even something like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoUpF7rvfnk

More ideas coming later.

[*] Having to spend a good 5/10 minutes without dying otherwise its mission fail. Would have to have an object of power as such that goes off/detonates when the life force has temp vanquished [solves the problme of people complaining "but i have revive!"]. Could either fight off the constant stream of ambushes or run away and hide for the time limit to run down.
[*] Stealth mission. Take the base by storm and defeat all enemies to get to your objective or dont get spotted at all and gain a special bonus at the end?
[*] A proper maze with hard enemies at the wrong turnings. Find the glowie to complete the mission. Would suit the carnies greatly.
[*] More missions like the mayhem/safeguard missions in that there are multiple mini missions within each one and you can chose which you want to complete.

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[*] Stealth mission. Take the base by storm and defeat all enemies to get to your objective or dont get spotted at all and gain a special bonus at the end?


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I was thinking something exactly the same. Some missions (particularly ones where you have to hack computers/steal stuff) could have if you complete the mission have defeated less than X number of badies you get a bonus (which could make up for the missed xp from just killing everything). This would need some tweeking so it isn't abused. There could be more missions where stealth is needed full stop - a bit like the 10min PI mish and the RWZ mish.

And another aspect which I think I saw in a side mayhem mission where if you step into a spot light it causes an ambush - more of these could be fun as well!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger Quote: 16. Has Paragon Studios redefined "player" to require your mouse to subscribe separately from your keyboard? If your mouse has greater processing power than your gfx card, the answer is yes.

I'd like stealth missions - like sneaking around on Praetoria, investigating Tyrant and his thugs, and obtaining top secret data about them.
And just to make it extra challenging, the places where the info would be kept would have a special security system that'd suppress all superpowers - so on the misison, you'd only have Brawl and Sprint available - with maybe the option of finding a temp power for a handgun of some sort.
The we could all play at spies, even if we weren't the Spy AT

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I'd like stealth missions - like sneaking around on Praetoria, investigating Tyrant and his thugs, and obtaining top secret data about them.
And just to make it extra challenging, the places where the info would be kept would have a special security system that'd suppress all superpowers - so on the misison, you'd only have Brawl and Sprint available - with maybe the option of fining a temp power for a handgun of some sort.
The we could all play at spies, even if we weren't the Spy AT

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:O GG ftw?

total power suppression with ability to find crappy temps reminds me of Metal gear solid when you get caught and get your weapons and stuff taken off you and have to sneak around breaking peoples neck xD

Forcing a change of tactics on players is a great idea!

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I'd like stealth missions - like sneaking around on Praetoria, investigating Tyrant and his thugs, and obtaining top secret data about them.
And just to make it extra challenging, the places where the info would be kept would have a special security system that'd suppress all superpowers - so on the misison, you'd only have Brawl and Sprint available - with maybe the option of finding a temp power for a handgun of some sort.
The we could all play at spies, even if we weren't the Spy AT

[/ QUOTE ]

:O GG ftw?

total power suppression with ability to find crappy temps reminds me of Metal gear solid when you get caught and get your weapons and stuff taken off you and have to sneak around breaking peoples neck xD

Forcing a change of tactics on players is a great idea!

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The moonbase could also have some weird gravity stuff - like normal jumping would be like superjump - and the Atlantis/underwater zone could have lots of possibilities for altered movement powers too, that could be tied into actual mission mechanics.

Some EXCELLENT ideas here! I'd love to play missions with some of these things in them, would add soooo much to the heroes/villains theme

Talking mostly about heroes here I noticed though, what could we get for villains?

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I have always liked the idea of a mission with booby traped glowies.
<snip>
Imagine the rush as the team dive for the glowie hoping its a good one, then when you click you get transported to Dark Estoria with all tp's tempary disabled ie no oruborus or pocket d or even base tp.

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Then your team goes all AVGN on this, quits, and never plays the arc again. Random insta-death or worse booby traps YOU HAVE TO ACTIVATE to win aren't fun, especially the second time around. And ones you don't have to are basically pointless. They aren't fair, they don't challenge you (because whether you're hit or not is a pure dumb luck) and they're seriously bad idea.

As for stealth mishes... I actually like the idea, but to make it really work, we'd need a more elaborate stealth system. As it's now you either have the right power and aren't challenged at all, you don't and can't do it at all, or have half-stealth and it's again all about dumb luck. A system more like that of a stealth/tactical shooters, where stealth value is affected by environment would make it much more interesting.


Ok, no one likes someone who just criticizes, so here's my idea: Strategy mish. You aren't allowed to attack anyone directly, but everyone gains temporary controllable pets, based on the AT. (so that ATs that already have pets and buffs don't have unfair advantage.) Map and objectives are such that frontal assault won't work. (even something rather simple like "you should attack A and B simultaneously or it won't work" would be OK.)

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I'd like stealth missions - like sneaking around on Praetoria, investigating Tyrant and his thugs, and obtaining top secret data about them.
And just to make it extra challenging, the places where the info would be kept would have a special security system that'd suppress all superpowers - so on the misison, you'd only have Brawl and Sprint available - with maybe the option of fining a temp power for a handgun of some sort.
The we could all play at spies, even if we weren't the Spy AT

[/ QUOTE ]

:O GG ftw?

total power suppression with ability to find crappy temps reminds me of Metal gear solid when you get caught and get your weapons and stuff taken off you and have to sneak around breaking peoples neck xD

Forcing a change of tactics on players is a great idea!

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Thirded, I always wanted an arc where you have to deal with being depowered. But this kind of thing is difficult to do right, it may end up being yet another annoying gimmick, like jails...

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As for stealth mishes... I actually like the idea, but to make it really work, we'd need a more elaborate stealth system. As it's now you either have the right power and aren't challenged at all, you don't and can't do it at all, or have half-stealth and it's again all about dumb luck. A system more like that of a stealth/tactical shooters, where stealth value is affected by environment would make it much more interesting.


Ok, no one likes someone who just criticizes, so here's my idea: Strategy mish. You aren't allowed to attack anyone directly, but everyone gains temporary controllable pets, based on the AT. (so that ATs that already have pets and buffs don't have unfair advantage.) Map and objectives are such that frontal assault won't work. (even something rather simple like "you should attack A and B simultaneously or it won't work" would be OK.)

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Makes total sense about the stealth aspect there. I reckon they could introduce a variation on the security spotlights from the mayhem mission - so its not just the case of leg it through on an Illusion/Force Field Controller! Patrols could have some serious perception buff so there is a need to time your running around and hiding when needed in darkened areas which provide a stealth boost.

Another interesting way to do it would be a mixture of stealth and combat stategy. The stealther can be spotted by patrols but if other members of the team are fighting the patrols actually react and head over there, thus leaving the path clear.

And I really like the having to attack two points at the same time idea

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger Quote: 16. Has Paragon Studios redefined "player" to require your mouse to subscribe separately from your keyboard? If your mouse has greater processing power than your gfx card, the answer is yes.

I like the survive for x time missions, providing they are not like the TV trial where you spent more time waiting than fighting.

However I don't like the idea of missions where you lose powers or your powers change - if I am playing my blaster it is usually for a reason and to suddenly become a scrapper or whatever would defeat the point.

One more thing I would like to see are missions where you all get split up, you could have the team walk into a gas trap, see a cut scene where you pass out as the villain laughs, then wake up split across a big map. One in the hospital, one in the prison area, another being experiemented on in another room etc and have to meet in the middle. The challenges to get to that room would have to be dynamically set to the AT though, or waiting all day for a heal specced empath to fight free would get boring.

Being able to fail is another thing, you could have to complete the objective without dying or in x time, and if that fails TP to another point on the same map (But not linked in any way) that from that point acted as a second mission, harder than the first but with equal rewards to represent you having to work harder to make up for failure.

Missions where you are not allowed to kill could be another thing GR would help with. For example you start a mission, get knocked out and when you wake up all the civilians are trying to kill you (Buffed to your level to make them a threat, or you ex'd down). You then have to find out why and reverse it but every civilian you kill lowers your heroic reputation, finishing without killing a civvy enhances your heroic rep, but for every kill you move that bit closer to being a villain.

Puzzles are another good thing, yes they would end up on the forums but since not everyone read the forums it would still keep some people interested. You could tie this into the failure mechanic so those who can't solve the problems (Since they will need a bit of RL intelligence) can still finish.

Other things involve the need for certain AT's or even power sets, for example a toon with superstrength might be needed to pull a leaver, without doing so the mission becomes harder or you have to go a longer way around. Or a stalker can see a 'hidden' door but no other toons can.

Aside from all this I think making harder and more interestnig final fights is very important too, but that is heading into end game territory I think and the devs dont seem to like that (Though they may be warming to the idea).

And a final thought, mission maps that dynamically change (Like the AVP pyramid) would be great, those that get cut off have to find a different way!

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Originally Posted by Aggelakis PrincessDarkstar: "RAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHH SOMEONE IS *WRONG* ON THE INTERNET!"

There are a few elements of existing TFs which I think, after all this time, could be implemented more globally. Although I understand that historically the dev team might have shied away from using these elements to keep those TFs 'fresh', perhaps now is the time to make them more commonplace whilst they dream up alternative ways of making us think during missions.

Anyway, here are my favourite elements (WARNING - gameplay spoliers!):

[u]Terra Volta[u] (respec trial)

The bubbles required to prevent the DoT from the reactor.

The optional glowies that provide a 'heal' for the reactor.

The booby-trapped doors when trying to rescue the scientists.

The timed/random nature of the attacks in the final room.


[u]Thorn Isle[u] (respec trial) (and STF)

The clearing of the Vines in a certain amount of time


[u]Hess[u] (and now, to some extent, the ITF)

The switch that activates the robots - being able to be cut off from each other during a potentially difficult fight.

Pools of lava! And a REALLY big robot with lots of gun turrets dotted about the final chamber.

The 'Self-Destruct' timer at the end of the TF.


[u]Katie Hannon[u]

Ten Times the Victor
A map in complete darkness


Those are my favourite elements of the TFs so far. Lady Grey and the ITF, whilst more enjoyable in terms of pace because they were written later and therefore not designed to be undertaken over a number of days, are still 'hit this, then that, click here' TFs.

The weirdness of the new Reichsman TFs (specifically the Boomtown 'locate the random boss mob and defeat and then wait and defeat another one) doesn't have the same pizzazz as the ones I've mentioned. Sure, the graphics are purdy, but there wasn't really an interesting mechanism for me. Even the temp buffs in the Strike Force felt a bit lame.

***

With regards to regular missions then, there are still some missions of the older variety which have interesting facets to them. Frosty, for example, still has the 'defeat so and so to obtain a key' as do some of the late-20s-mid-30s arcs which, for some reason, pleases me.

Environmental effects (such as Frosty's ice or the Croatoa chillshadow) are also good although people are so used to them now that they know not to run headlong into battle when faced with these.

I'd quite like to see instances where there's a permanent Snow Storm in effect - rendering all travel bar teleportation useless. So, rather than flying and teleporting to the back of the map to defeat the boss that's ALWAYS there, heroes and villains will have to either battle through or find the source of the storm and get rid of it, making the task easier.

Actually, if the space staion idea ever takes off, it'd be nice to have areas where travel powers are rendered null and void and also where effects like knockback are increased. Environmental missions are, to my mind, something that could be a good thing if implemented well.

Anyway, enough random musing from me.

QR: Haven't read everything but how about:

Rescue the team; remember the missions like Arachnos/CoT where we get imprisoned? Make them MUCH harder to get out of (like give the doors a 20x HP factor and +5 def or something... so that your best attack barely scratches it.

But, we've got communicators... so the call can go out to broadcast/serve/coalition etc... and a new team can form with the specific aim if digging the team out and smashing the prison control console/magic gem

The basic scenario is Avengers rescued by Defenders, Giant Szed X-Men thing etc. Needless to say prison control module is uber defended but not primary goal

"You got to dig it to dig it, you dig?"
Thelonious Monk

there is one mission i had on my drawing board before MA got in, and is as followed:

players: 1-3 players max
target: get the holy hive
mission report: you have to get to the main room, but it's guarded with super strong turrets.
you have to disable both turrets in able to get in to the room, but it's not save yet.
there are 2 lieutenants and 1 elite boss there, you have to take care of the elite boss for the key in order to open the container to get the hive.

there difficulty here is all depending on your own team sync's, every guard walking trough the hallway's always have an alarm button with them.
it takes them 5 seconds to push it, so you have to be quick and efficient.
when the alarm is sounded, you get 5 guards after you.
it's all in random rank so watch your step, there is always 1 boss with them.
the places where you have to disable the turrets are both in opposite direction of the map, so it is a time consuming mission.
one thing you have to think of, the turrets kill you in 2 shots regardless of your level, so don't try to be the hero and destroy them in level 50 because they kill way faster then you're even lowering it's health to 99%.

all and all, challenging, as everyone always wanted it to have.

Ive just done one of the higher lvl villain arcs based in a wrecked burning crey lab and there were a few aspects which could be tweeked and implemented:
* The place was filled with smoke - i think it could be fun if there was a global -perception on all players (and enemies!). Would mean you could run around a corner and straight into a mob which could be interesting! Or those with +perception could scout to make things easier.
* Some of the lifts were destroyed but you could jump down the hole to get to the next level (which I did a few times because I thought it was greeat fun!). I know someone mentioned booby traps earlier (couldn't find who sorry!) and this could be a way of implementing them. Click on the wrong glowie and you fall through the floor to a different map. You either have to fight your way back to your team mates or they jump down with you

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger Quote: 16. Has Paragon Studios redefined "player" to require your mouse to subscribe separately from your keyboard? If your mouse has greater processing power than your gfx card, the answer is yes.