What Criteria Do You Use When Rating Arcs?

I am looking for input as to what criteria people use when they rate arcs.

Officially I have seen the following:

2 stars: Mediocre
3 stars: Good
4 stars: Excellent

I have personally never given an arc 1 star, and though I have 5 star rated arcs, it never shows that rating with text when I access MA. Have any of you seen the "official text" that goes with 1 stars or 5 stars?

I have learned, both from having my own arc reviewed, and from reading reviews of arcs I have played, that the ratings given out are very inconsistent. I have seen one mission arcs with no creativity at all sitting at 5 stars with more than 20 plays, and yet seen really serious, detailed story arcs with 3 star ratings.

Based on reviews I have read, it seems many feel 3 stars for an arc is "Good". This makes sense since that is the official text associated with a 3 star rating, but one person told me that 3 stars is what she would give a "radio mission like arc". Personally 3 stars felt like a C, at school and I also originally was very disappointed with a 3 star rating.

My current personal view is this:

Any one who obviously spent time and effort on an arc deserves at least 3 stars. It doesn't matter if I personally enjoy it or if it is too hard or too easy.

An arc that really grabs me in some way from me gets a 5 star rating. It can be really funny or have a great or unique story. It is an arc I loved playing.

For me 4 star arcs are ones that are really well done, but lack that special something to make it 5. It could be that I am really bored by the arc or that it is SO hard on the easiest setting that I can't appreciate the story because I am so busy fending off death.

I reserve 2 stars for one arc missions with almost no effort.

I have never given a 1 star rating.


So all this being said, I would love to hear what criteria others use to rate arcs.

Despite what the MA text implies on what is 'good' or 'excellent', the current system means any author who wants a shot at HoF (and thus be rewarded with some distinction for their efforts) will need to almost always get 5 stars. As such I rate it as:

5 stars: I think this arc deserves HoF status.
4 stars: I don't think this arc is worthy of HoF, but I would not object if it did wind up there.
3 stars: Needs more work.
2 and below: Everything else.

I guess Tangler's got it right, although I see 5-stars as gaining potential for random plays, rather than Hall of Fame. The flurry of story playing has diminished since Architect was released, or else the sheer number of stories has spread those players around. In any case, stories progress much slower now than they used to. Hall of Fame might come, but first you'll need to get random plays. I'd be happy just to get random plays.

1. Deliberate effort to produce a story without a story. Textless farm arcs not labelled "farm" would get this if they succeeded in wasting my time. [If I join a farm team I get whatever I deserve, and I won't vote].
2. Well written, but no story. A stealth farm arc as above, that actually has complete paragraphs (typically still lacks minion and lieutenant descriptions).
3. An unintelligible story, that I cannot suggest a fix for. More likely, I wouldn't vote, just PM the author.
4. Fair story, fair gameplay, fair humour (usually applicable), fair attention to detail. But something about it suggests to me that lots of editing won't get it to 5 stars (but I am willing to consider I could be wrong, and play it again). If I cannot finish an arc I may not vote, but I may post a review.
5. Fair story, fair gameplay, fair humour (usually applicable), fair attention to detail, with potential to be excellent in at least one of these areas, enough for me to want to play it again. "Potential" allows for great arcs with lots of rough edges, but architects are less likely to edit an arc that's already been played a lot. Conversely, I allow less room for error. Dev's choice supposedly cannot be edited, so better be faceted.

Arc: 379017: Outbroken See all your old friends in the Outbreak Tutorial sequel!
Arc: Coming Soon: The Incarnate Shadow Shard of Fire and Ice Mender Rednem needs you!
Massively.com opinion poll: Please Help Save CoH!

The main things I look out for a stories that make sense, and stories that have variety in them - which is not always the same thing

Usually, I give 4s and 5s - I'm easily pleased

3 stars - Something annoyed me enough to take away from my enjoyment.
4 stars - I had fun and enjoyed the story.
5 stars - Something above and beyond got my attention and made the story stand out.

I don't usually go in looking to critique, I just feel like doing something different for a while.

1 star= Seriously lacking in either content, plot, enjoyability, grammar or any and all of the above. This includes missions where a single minion is strong enough to solo the LRTF.

2 stars= Rough but at least showing some signs of effort. Fights at least try to be balanced and a rough plot or storyline is in place. A bit more work could make this better.

3 stars= Not bad. Pretty much on par with a Canon newspaper/police scanner mission. Fights are balanced, there's a clear idea of what you're doing in the mission, writing is at least spelled correctly and makes sense.

4 stars= Good strong story and/or character design. Missions are clearly defined and well tested. Fights are challenging for most builds. Roughly on par with most Dev created story arcs.

5 stars= Lets do that again! Either through good writing or well designed plots, the arc is worth another run through and recommending to friends.

1 Star = Farms or other rubbish that has nothing resembling a plot
2 Star = Horribly horribly bad. You can tell they had a plot in mind but the person was too incompetent to deliver it. This is basicly what I'd rate something if I can tell someone else might have been able to make a decent arc out of the idea. I believe most our forum dwellers are above this which is why you'll almost never see me rate this low in a review.
3 Star = Not terrible, but something just didn't click for me.
4 Star = The Story was excellent but the missions themselves fell short of perfect. Also this could be vice versa, the mission had awesome combat but that story wasn't quite good enough.
5 Star = I fully enjoyed the arc. Both the battles and the story.

1: Disguised farms. Arcs that I report for inappropriate content or blatant copyright infringement.
2: Very little effort made. The customs don't have bios, your missions consist of a single objective each, there are no clues, text fields aren't properly filled in, and there is little story to speak of. Or, you made a bit of effort but have no concept of well-designed gameplay: needless defeat alls on large maps, long escorts, unbalanced customs, etc.
3: Some effort was made. Despite this effort, either the arc is average, or has something really wrong with it: major canon issues if the arc is canon-related, balance issues, major plot issues, or just not enough to text to tell the story properly. Also, no arc that is easy, easy, easy, easy....then in the final mission hits you with an Extreme/Extreme AV surrounded by bosses with all-boss ambushes, or some other player-killer will ever get more than three stars from me. Even if I beat it. It's a jerk move.
4: It was a good arc, and worth my time. However there is something that prevents it from being a 5-star arc. Minor balance issues, minor gameplay issues. Missing clues, missing text, missing dialogue. Some unclear plot development. NPC behavior, dialogue, costumes, powersets are a bit off. The pacing is a bit off. The map selection could be better. Usually a combination of several of these minor things, that keep the arc from being 5-stars. Usually I will leave feedback about the things I had issue with. Or, it could be an arc that just didn't grab me. It was well-done, just not memorable enough to be 5-stars.
5-stars: An excellent arc. One I'm glad I played. There might be one or two little things wrong with it, but not enough to drop it below 4.5 stars (I round up). Recommended.

Edit: The Rule of Funny allows humorous arcs quite a bit of leeway, especially where canon accuracy is concerned. Also, I usually to dock a star for gratuitous overpowered allies. The only reason you should ever include an EB ally is if the story requires a canon character who only exists as an EB.

I don't discuss my criteria because I've already had people try to rules-lawyer me into changing a rating, and that's while I haven't spelled out the rules.

Bottom line: fun.

That could mean an easy mission but written so well, I don't mind it going by like a cakewalk. Or fights with challenges that are challenging but not just "AVs on extreme!" Something that someone obviously put a lot of thought into that pays off well.

If I want to turn right around and do something again, it will get a 4 or 5. What separates the two can be many things, but a 5 will usually boil down to someone doing something unique and well. I won't kill someone for the occasional grammar or spelling mistake especially if we're enjoying ourselves. But I love when someone uses a map in an original or well thought out way, especially when its surprising (the Blackula inspired arc comes to mind here). Or when someone uses an existing enemy group and weaves it into a new story in a cool and new way. Or retells an old story in a fun new way. (We recently did the Dorothy must die (?) arc recently and it was a huge success with our group, just because of all the thought put into the enemies, the map, etc.

Things that will "test" me:

Authors who think epic means using the largest possible map of its type.

Defeat alls.

Using the largest possible map of its type AND a defeat all.

Cargo ship and oranbega maps. (Of course these can be forgiven if used in the right context) And that is merely personal preference due to how many times I've seen them already.

Things that don't bother me that others seem to get so worked up about.

"My character would never do that"

"I hate feeling like I'm working for someone else"

Origin arcs.

If something is done well, I don't care what character I'm on or what they are doing as long as I'm having fun doing it and it seems like the author had fun making it.

I don't know if I can define what a 5 star arc is, but I know it when I play it.

1 star: No effort, no story, deliberate farms, etc. The worst of the worst.
2 stars: Problems with story, incomplete story/objectives, missing glowie texts, little to no dialog, single objective missions, unbalanced/uninteresting customs. An arc gets this rating if it has at least a couple of these, if not more.
...

5 stars: Excellent Story, excellent mechanics, fully fleshed out. OR: good story, good mechanics, with a certain something extra that makes it stand out from the rest.

The other two are a little more nebulous with mostly equal weight given between story, mechanics, gameplay, and details (a little less weight on this one), just like the criteria used in CoH Mission Review.

I don't have a nice breakdown of what is 3-star and what is 5-star or what not. My rating system is rather arbitrary, there is no formula.

Basic breakdown
-------------------
5-stars = Excellent: May have some flaws that can be easily fixed. I'd probably play it again, will drag friends into it, recommend it to others.
4-stars = Good: Very competently made but has a few minor flaws or one serious one. Of course it could have no flaws per say but just lacked the "oomph" to make it really interesting.
3-stars = Average: Competently made but has numerous minor flaws or a couple serious ones.
2-stars = Below Average: Not very competently made. Has multiple major flaws.
1-star = Very Poor: Why did you even publish this?


3-Stars, being Average, is my baseline. It's as well made as a paper/scanner mission but lacks anything special to set it apart. From here I add and subtract stars for various things.

Things I add to the rating for:
* Interesting story elements.
* Well-balanced custom critters.
* Interesting custom critter designs and backgrounds.
* Good use of details and objectives.
* Well-used complex mechanics (chained objectives, triggered glowies, etc..)
* Nice use of animations. (Is everyone standing around waiting to be beaten up or actually doing something?)
* Interesting allies that are not overpowered.
* Humor that doesn't go overboard. (I prefer lampshade hanging and witty dialog. Make the humor intelligent.)

Things I subtract from the rating for:
* Glaring plot-holes that you can fly a 747 through.
* Overpowered custom critters (Can be forgiven if it's just one encounter or a single critter that needs fixing. Not forgiven if entire custom groups are horribly balanced.)
* Custom Critters without descriptions. (Big mark of laziness.)
* Overpowered allies that have no business being there story-wise.
* Archvillains and Elite Bosses when a Boss would have done and the story would not have changed.
* Missing objective text. (Who is CharacterName and what am I supposed to do with them?)
* Missing glowie interaction text.
* Allies with no dialog.
* Named bosses with no dialog.
* No mission entry pop-up. (C'mon, they're standard in scanner/paper missions even!)
* No clue given when there should have been one. (I shouldn't need to keep notes to remember what happened 3 missions back when I'm just playing for fun and not reviewing.)
* Defeat Alls in any map that is more than a couple rooms.
* Authors who think that "Challenge" means all Bosses or an Archvillain every 20 feet. (If you cannot make a challenging Minion or Lieutenant then you're not really trying.)


My general rule is "4-stars for fun", so if I enjoyed the arc it will get at least 4-stars. If it doesn't then that means I didn't enjoy it and won't be recommending it to anyone.

The exact method that leads up to the final number isn't anywhere near a science for me, but the general idea you should take away from a rating I give is this:

5 Stars: I was thoroughly impressed by the arc. I don't give this out much. Not because I'm incredibly hard to please, but 5 stars to me is an arc that really stands out, either through very good quality in writing or using the MA system to do something really impressive.

4 Stars: This is what I will rate most really good arcs that I recommend everyone to try out. If I had fun, had no problems with the plot, and didn't run into any frustrating points, this is probably what you will get.

3 Stars: An arc that I would not suggest against playing. It was entertaining enough for me to have some fun, but needs some more work to make it better.

2 Stars: Arcs that definitely need more work. If the writing is lackluster, or I get frustrated while playing it, this is what it'll get.

1 Stars: I wish I had never played this arc.

As such, not a whole lot of arcs get 1s and 5s from me. Off the top of my head I think I've given out only 2-3 each of 1s and 5s over the course of reviewing.

1 star: Pointless, not entertaining, many, many typographical errors or missing text. Frustrating waste of time.

2 stars: If it was poorly-written but still a little entertaining and with many errors (mission-wise, not typographical-wise) then it gets 2 stars and a promise to replay when changes are made.

3 stars: If it's obvious that an effort was made and that the author has something invested in the story then it gets at least 3 stars regardless of any errors or entertainment value.

4 stars: If it's fun & entertaining and well-written it gets 4 stars and I write down the arc name and ID# so I can go back and find it to play again later.

5 stars: If it's fun, entertaining, well-written, and challenging then it gets 5 stars and I write down the arc name and ID# so I can go back to play it again later. When I say 'challenging' I mean 'of appropriate challenge for the levels indicated'. If I go to play a lowbie level 1-15 arc I don't expect Extreme Archvillains unless it's specifically indicated (like my arc). If an arc leaves me with a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction at a job well done, it is definitely worth 5 stars.

Grin. I go into a story arc with two things on my mind...the primary and what effects my grading is the story. I start an arc anticipating a fun, challenging time. The arc, in my mind, starts off with five stars.

If I finish the arc wanting more, it gets a five. If I finish the arc with a warm fuzzy, contented feeling of accomplishment, then it gets a 4,

However, If I go into an arc, and no matter what I do I can't defeat a minion much less something higher ranking, when I feel I should be able to with ease...and the mission description says I should be able to defeat with ease, then I come roaring out of the mission, and not only do I one star the thing, I tell the mission writer why I am one starring it.

I am not really hard to please. If you have critters that are harder than the average bear to defeat, say so in the mission description, and I will go in armed with the right mindset and the right inspirations.

Oh, and the amount of tickets I haul in is the other thing on my mind....I love tickets and wish we had a choice while doing reg missions, as we do in Dev Choice. Tickets or reg drops...tickets please

My personal criteria is pretty simple: did I have fun? If so, it'll get a good rating from me. I also tend to skew them a bit high, simply because if I run into an arc which is actually *good*, I want it to be able to compete with all of the farms which get marked 5s by the farmer and his buddies. So, it more or less works out like this:

5 stars: Not only did I have fun, I had a *lot* of fun. There was something extra about this that grabbed me - engaging story, interesting and well-designed custom characters and mobs, good pacing, or well-crafted humor. Flaws were minor, although I am willing to overlook some if the arc is otherwise excellent. I would gladly play this arc again, and recommend it to my friends. Good examples of arcs that got 5 stars would be Turg's Ghost in the Machine arcs or Sister Flame's arc.

4 stars: I had fun. It was a good arc, but didn't have that 'spark' to jump it up, or maybe it was an otherwise 5-star arc with a serious but fixable flaw. Perhaps some annoying flaws, but not enough to significantly take away from the fun of the arc. I would be open to playing the arc again. This is my 'default' rating, but it doesn't really take that much to make it a 5-star.

3 stars: I had some fun, but there were some serious issues that took away from the experience, or perhaps the story or overall presentation were uninspired. Flaws were probably fixable, and didn't completely 'break' the arc, but I probably wouldn't seek it out to play again in its current state. The arc is still playable, but not anything special.

2 stars: I didn't have fun. Perhaps the story didn't make sense or had massive holes, or there were gameplay issues that effectively 'broke' the arc for me (like badly overpowered customs), or there was a whole host of smaller problems. The flaws were numerous and major enough to prevent me from enjoying the arc. I wouldn't want to play it again, and I would actively recommend against playing it. However, you can at least tell that the author tried.

1 star: This rating is reserved for arcs where it's obvious that the author wasn't even trying to make a decent story. Disguised farms also fall into this category. Note that I don't go seeking out farms or arcs that I don't want to run just to rate them badly - but if the author tricks me into playing a farm, or the description ends up looking like it was written by one of author's friends who is actually literate, it'll get downvoted.

The "official" criteria is:

1 star = Poor
2 stars = Mediocre
3 stars = Good
4 stars = Excellent! (with the exclamation point)
5 stars (which doesn't have an adjective attached; I guess 5 stars speaks for itself)

Personally, I only one-star obvious junk, not attempts at stories that I consider to be "poor". Four-star arcs are arcs that I consider on par with the bulk of the official content (better than some, not as good as some). Five-star arcs are among the best stories I've played, in or out of the AE.

When reviewing actual story arcs (as opposed to farms or challenges), I go roughly like this:

No stars: Never given one out, but I would for offensive content. Or maybe an arc with 5 kill all missions in Oranabega.

One star: Badly designed. No thought or effort put into telling a good story and/or making it fun to play. Pretty much irredeemable.

Two stars: Flawed. There's some worthwhile stuff in there, but overall it doesn't work. This can be down to bad writing, poor editing, or not thinking about the playability of the arc. Most of these could be turned into 3 or even 4 star arcs if the author was prepared to sit down and work with it.

Three stars: Solid. It does what it's trying to do without being exceptional. The kinda of thing I enjoy playing, but once it's done, I don't think about any more. The majority of arcs would fall into this category. Three stars doesn't necesarily mean that the arc could be improved and needs more work - I've played plenty of arcs (and dev content for that matter) which do all they set out to do, but would only get this grade, as the story they're telling is nothing exceptional.

Four stars: Very good. Must be well written, with a good concept behind it, and must also be fun to play. No overpowered foes, no non-sensically strong allies, no glaring spelling or grammar errors, no significant plot holes, believable characters and so on. All they're lacking is that spark of true brilliance.

Five stars: Exceptional. Reserved for the best of the best. Not only must the story telling and gameplay be of high quality, but it must be interesting too. A straightforward "Azuria has lost a magic item, help her find it" arc is almost never going to get this, no matter how well made it is, as it's too routine.

Incidentally, the majority of offical content would get 3-4 stars. There's probably only half-a-dozen I'd give 5 to.

The ratings I hand out are utterly subjective.

I use official content as a baseline - radio missions and old-line stories. Most official content would rate a 2 at best in MA. Too many defeat-alls and obvious time sinks. A few, like A Titan Called Joe, might rank higher. When I play most official content, my mind is on one thing. How do I get to the end of this, claim my rewards, merits, or badges, unlock the next bank mission, or whatever the goal is, with the least amount of time and the least amount of fighting?

The MA missions I will rate higher are the ones that contain enough novelty and surprise to take me out of this rut, and make me wonder instead -- what strange NPCs are in this? What will the patrols say next?

<《 New Colchis / Guides / Mission Architect 》>
"At what point do we say, 'You're mucking with our myths'?" - Harlan Ellison

Well, when I evaluate an arc, I use the same scale as the best reviewers ever, X-Play (I've never had a major problem with any of their reviews, they seem to give a fair score, no matter what subjective things they say in the review). I'll give a little more detail on my system than they do, though. Of note is the fact that I try not to let how esoteric the premise is (i.e., Star Trek, Doctor Who, Obscure internet memes) affect the score, since in a highly-populated MMO, any premise can get a fanbase.

5- Amazing, does everything right. These are arcs that I'd recommend to everyone. At this point, most of them are currently sitting in the Devs' Choice or Hall of Fame section, anyway, so my opinion of them doesn't really matter.

4- Great arc, but there's some flaws. Maybe there are a bunch of typos, or maybe the enemies are a bit too powerful. Maybe the story (in a clearly story-based arc, of course, I'll allow gameplay-heavy arcs to have your basic excuse plot) is poorly-written, or the design of the custom mobs is bad. Or maybe the arc feels derivative and/or unoriginal. Whatever the reason, I just don't think the arc is perfect, but I still think it's a great arc. Generally, I disapprove of arcs of this quality or less being flagged as "Finished" ("Looking for Feedback" or "Work in Progress" should be used until the arc is absolutely five-star material), and will comment as such.

3- A decent arc, but it has flaws. It could be any number of the above in tandem, or it could be a deeper problem. Maybe the premise is flawed ("Why am I trying to defend the wedding of Manticore and Statesman?"), or the custom mobs are ugly and have powers obviously chosen to make them hard. Whatever it is, the arc is playable, and usually enjoyable if you don't focus on the flaws, but I wouldn't recommend it until you'd played through all the 5s and 4s.

2- It's not good, but it's still an arc. Usually every aspect will be subpar, but there will be redeeming qualities. Maybe every one of the five missions was an outdoor "find ten glowies" mission with poorly-designed (custom)/chosen (non-custom) mobs, but the writing was charming, or something. I wouldn't recommend these arcs to anyone, but I wouldn't warn anyone against them, either.

1- Horrible. Every aspect of this arc is failure. Pure farms, "all-boss" missions, and just plain badly-made arcs get this score. I may go out of my way to tell people that this arc is bad, and to avoid it. Generally, these arcs are so beyond hope that I won't even comment for the author's benefit. I especially hand these out to "stories" that try to be "gangsta" by liberally throwing around racial epithets beginning with "N". Generally, any arc that uses only premade enemy groups (not just the enemies themselves, but their group) is mostly immune to this score, because at least the enemies won't suck. Of course, if you stick the Knives of Artemis in Oranbega for five missions, I may just decide to hunt you down and staple the one-star score to your forehead.

Less than 1- These arcs are so bad that I wish that I could give zero stars. "All boss" farms featuring KoA in Oranbega will get this. I will not only one-star the arc, I will immediately hop on the appropriate thread for doing so and publicly decry both the arc and its creator, cursing them with every word. These arcs are the equivalent of Barbie Horse Adventures.

PS: Shameless plug, play my arc! The thread for feedback is in my sig (you can also read about the arc there to learn more)! It's a semi-funny arc with a bit of an excuse plot, but it's mainly to showcase the strange and awesome idea I had for my custom mobs.