Mission Architect: 2009 Player Awards! Voting

My choice for the best in the SO category:

#1 Twisted Tongue #1444 @Days
Because I just love the Dialogue and the humor in it. This is the Freakshow arc I had been waiting for.

#2 Teen Phalanx Forever! #67335 @PW
So very well and richly detailed, good writing to, mechanically excellent as well. This arc is a 5 star.

Some thoughts of the other nominees:
Polar Emergence neutral Government User Interface Network (PENGUIN) #29205 @Tubbius
Good arc but after the overwhelming detailing of teen phalanx I played just before this arc felt empty. Plus the humor was a bit lost on me.

Astoria in D Minor # 41565 @The Cheshire Cat
Chilling and scary. It does however suffer a bit from to small objectives in a to big map syndrome. And why the assylum? why why why?

Escalation #6143 @FemFury
Great idea and rather funny. It ended in us not being able to defeat her in the end. I fear that the endboss is just to much for SO range teams to take down and that is defeating the purpose of this category. So it didn't make my cut.

My vote for Best Comedy Arc:

1) In Poor Taste #259920 @Wrong Number
2) Freakshow U #189073 @Lethal Guardian

Needed a break from the serious stuff.

I was going to wait till I was all done playing all the arcs, but decided to cast my votes for the ones I have finished so far.


Best TO Level
The Marconeville Horror #178278 @Footloose
Nuclear in 90: The Fusionette Task Force #58363 @Cavatina


Best DO Level
Ctrl + Alt + Reset #137561 @Bubbawheat
The Invasion of the Bikini-Clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space! #61013 @Aliana Blue


Best SO Level
Teen Phalanx Forever! #67335 @PW
Astoria in D Minor # 41565 @The Cheshire Cat

Best Comedy
Captain Dynamic, the Great, Faces the Great Face #190069 @Aehaed
Freakshow U #189073 @Lethal Guardian


I know people will be wondering after pointing out the numbers of how not voting for yourself can impact you why I did not vote for myself. When it came down to it, I just could not feel good doing it. Go ahead and say it "Wrong Number your a sucker".

WN

Best SO:

1st:
Escalation #6143 @FemFury

2nd
Astoria in D Minor # 41565 @The Cheshire Cat

Another vote from me.

Best Comedy Arc
First Place - In Poor Taste #259920 @Wrong Number
Second Place - Captain Dynamic, the Great, Faces the Great Face #190069 @Aehaed

Eco.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow [The Incarnate System is] Jack Emmert all over again, only this time it's not "1 hero = 3 white minions" it's "1 hero = 3 white rocks."

My picks for the best DO category:
I payed lots of attention to playability because imo in the DO category, you target the toon who has not benefitted form things like stamina, 6 slots for attacks and most of all enhancements like SO's or the like. So I used mook Buster to play these. A bona fida 14th level clawed brute.

#1 Ctrl + Alt + Reset #137561 @Bubbawheat
Sorry Bubba, but if it is up to me, then you keep that influence. I was very charmed with the way you did the time travel. How things started to grow out of control.

#2 The Invasion of the Bikini-Clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space! #61013 @Aliana Blue
Take a corny overdone concept like the BCSV's and then make it funny enough to last 3 missions. You understand that Mook Buster wants his royalties?

Didn't choose these but:
Sibling Rivalry #118690 @Sister Flame
This one came very close to be one of my picks.

PUG Hell #7415 @Beach Lifeguard
I loved the customs, hoping that I would not be one of those bad uns in a Pug. It could have used a bit more descriptions in the bios though and I am not sure if the arc benefitted from stretching it to 3 missions.

Cutthroat Competition #10171 @Frozen Northman
This one was very evil. Even for a dedicated villain like me. However I was less then thrilled about facing CoT that often. Which is a horrible faction to face so early in your carreer. I had also a little problem with seeing the facemaker go head to head with the CoT, not sure why, but it didn't ring through for me.

Best serious arc:

#1 - The Storyteller: Sabrina's Tale #1237 @Redbone1
#2 - Kiss Hello Goodbye #156389 @Kitsune9tails

Best comedy arc:

#1 - Freakshow U #189073 @Lethal Guardian
#2 - In Poor Taste #259920 @Wrong Number

Of the categories I've played through so far:

Best SO Range Arc:
Astoria in D Minor # 41565 @The Cheshire Cat
Teen Phalanx Forever! #67335 @PW

Both were entertaining stories that served very different purposes (atmospheric horror vs. light, fun silliness) but in equally adept ways. This was a tough choice, but Astoria gets the edge for having a moment that has absolutely stuck with me, that I can point to and say "yep, nailed it".


Best Use of Mechanics:
The Next War on Drugs #245042 @arachnodragon
Speeding Through Time # 51728 @Geek_Boy

This was a tough category to judge. Everyone here did great things with the MA, so I just went with my gut, the overall experience, and what mechanics-based moments stuck with me. A great use of optional "flavor" objectives and the dynamite "forensics investigation" in the 3rd mission push Drugs to the top of the heap. But Speeding was a strong contender just on the strength of That One Mission, with a simple concept that builds kinetically to an insane conclusion.

The other arcs are well worthy in other respects; I actually liked Beating Heart of Astoria more than Astoria in D Minor, personally, but for their respective categories, this is what I chose.

More votes coming if I can get the time to play through them...

Time for me to vote on best serious arc. A very difficult choice, with a lot of great arcs ending up here. In fact, three winners of the official MA Arc contest ended up in this category, as well as one hall of fame. And while it may not seem fair, I will use my votes to help recognize the other two arcs, which are just as well made. If you want to know, Blight I think would have edged these two out by a hair, and the other three are only on the other side of my votes by a hair as well.

#1: Kiss Hello Goodbye #156389 @Kitsune9tails - A very well done film noir, 20's pulp detective saga, with that great hard boiled voice to it.
#2: Karmic Exchange #47550 @Braxzana - A little slow to start, but finishes with quite a bang where I spent a lot of time during the timed mission trying to decide what choice I was going to make.

Ok, I have been playing though all the arcs and am ready to cast a few votes.

Best TO Range Arc (1-15)

Nuclear in 90: The Fusionette Task Force #58363 @Cavatina
The Marconeville Horror #178278 @Footloose

Best DO Range Arc (15-25)

The Invasion of the Bikini-Clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space! #61013 @Aliana Blue
Ctrl + Alt + Reset #137561 @Bubbawheat

Best SO Level Arc (25-40)

Escalation #6143 @FemFury
Teen Phalanx Forever! #67335 @PW

Time to get some votes in!

First, I want to thank Bubbawheat for setting this all up. If nothing else, I've been playing a lot of MA lately, and thanks to this list, it's all been way-above-average quality stuff. This is the type of research I love to do!

Votes:

Best Epic Level Arc (40-50)
1st: One Million Eyes #71933 @minimalist
2nd: A Warrior's Journey: the Flower Knight Task Force #260285 @PW


Best SO Level Arc (25-40)
Abstaining, since I've got an arc in this category.
No way I can make a decision between my own arc and several of my favorite examples of well-written arcs which are also nominated here.


Best Short Arc (1-3 missions)
1st: Celebrity Kidnapping #1388 @PW
2nd: Forget the Rose, Send Me the Thorns #8925 @Hydrophidian


Best use of Mechanics
1st: The Beating Heart of Astoria: A Play in Five Acts #170547 @The Cheshire Cat
2nd: Grim Riddles #1396 @Mantid
(this was a really tough category to decide. I was wishing I could split my points and include MacGuffin Delivery Service and Next War on Drugs too. Every nominee in this category was strong.)


Now, and lot more arcs to play before I can make an informed decision on the other categories. I hope my work schedule is merciful this week!

looks like a few people from here ran into a +4 AV in my arc, so thought I should make a quick response, in case anyone reading this thread is about to mark my arc as "never play" because of that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Irresponsible Escalation #6143 @FemFury--4/5 Stars. A very fun arc. [snip] Also found this arc impossible to finish with full team of mid to low level toons (Super Sk'ed to 26) because the boss showed up as a +4 AV when the team leader's difficulty was set to +0 and a lot of us were still on TO or DO enhancements. When I later soloed it the final boss was only a +1 EB (which is what my difficulty was set too) and so while very hard was just barely doable for my un-purpled out level 50 PB and I wouldn't want her to be any weaker because of what an enjoyable challenge it was. So I don't know what if anything can be done about this.

Glad you liked the arc overall.

I'm quite distressed to hear that your team ran into the final boss as a +4 AV. Clearly, NOT working as intended. I shake my fist in frustration that the Devs have this difficulty bug still in the system, and it made her spawn 4 levels too high.

As you noted, I don't really want to downgrade her, as the AV/EB classification really is the best place for her to be for a suitable challenge for the last mission after all the story buildup. I can only hope the Devs fix the level-spawning bug on AVs before too many people try the arc on teams.

I'm really sorry that your entire team ran into this roadblock. Not the best first impression of a arc, I'm sure.

One change I'm considering making is the minimum level for the arc. Currently, I have it set to 22, as a way of saying "Probably shouldn't try this arc until you have SOs". Might change it to level 32, to say "Probably shouldn't try this arc until you have the Tier 9 in your primary".

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eva Destruction AVs are spawning at weird levels all over, although this is the first time I've heard of one spawning at +4 for a team set to +0. There's nothing the author can do about it.

Thanks, Eva.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrinningSpade Escalation #6143 @FemFury Great idea and rather funny. It ended in us not being able to defeat her in the end. I fear that the endboss is just to much for SO range teams to take down and that is defeating the purpose of this category. So it didn't make my cut.

Well, from my earlier testing, she can be beat by SO teams if she's not spawning at obscenely high levels. Unless you get really unlucky in how the team matches up with her (all smashing/lethal damage teams will have trouble with her Invulnerability resists, for example). But, you judged the arc based on what you played, so that's fair, and I accept the criticism. I knew I was taking a chance with the high-difficulty fight at the end.

***

Again, my apologies to everyone on the team who ran into this crazy overpowered situation. Unbeatable fights and "killer GM syndrome" aren't fun, and not what I intended.

Sorry if this is a minor thread derailment. I just feel really bad that I contributed to the frustration of an uncompletable arc by an entire team of dedicated MA players.

Note that the way-too-high level AV bug only applies to AVs, it does not apply when they're scaled down to EBs. So a soloer wouldn't have a problem.

And I think I was level 30 the first time I played it. I definitely didn't have Midnight Grasp yet, and without it Dark Melee is somewhat lacking. Also, I was /Shields and she had Rage. Still managed to beat her, so I think as long as you have SOs and a decent build you should be fine, and if you don't the "there is a tough fight" warnings should warn you away.

Finished playing through two categories. If it's still out there, let me say I'm one of those folks who would benefit from extending the deadline an extra week to give me time to play more of the arcs.

(I won't comment on the arcs here - my plan is for all of the nominated arcs I've played through to get mini-reviews in Pro Payne's thread as he's the one playing through these arcs.)

Best TO Range (1-15):
First Place: Day Job Hell - A Villain's First Day Job #322480 @Clave Dark 5
Second Place: Mercytown, the one with the fish #6017 @Tangler

Best Comedy:
First Place: Freakshow U #189073 @Lethal Guardian
Second Place: In Poor Taste #259920 @Wrong Number

(Yes, I was lame and voted for my own - yeah, I admit it. I'm one of those people who wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I lost because I refused to vote for myself when it was allowed in the rules. Ironically, I'd *much* rather lose because other people voted against me than because I voted myself out.)

Yeah, you did open a can of worms, but eventually *somebody* had to do something with the elephant in the room, and it's too late to close the barn door once the cows get out, so no sense crying over spilt milk.

Well, it *was* in the rules from the beginning, or at least very near the beginning (I think I might have clarified the rules after the first couple days or so). I think there's been a pretty good mix of authors voting for their own arc in either place, voting for other's arcs, and abstaining.

Another *possible* difference between Wrong Number's situation and here is that here the votes are very public. Granted, there is a privacy option, and sure, I could have used it to cast my votes by PM directly to Bubbawheat rather than publicly - but for some reason that I can't explain that sits very poorly with me.

The best I can explain is this: there's at least a chance voting for myself *publicly* can backfire on me badly - that more than one person might decide that I'm being unsportsmanlike and therefore not cast votes for me when they were originally contemplating doing so. That strikes me as fair, and is perfectly in line with the motivation I posted: if I'm going to lose, I'd much rather it be because others didn't vote for me rather than because I didn't vote for myself.

My votes for best epic level arc:

1) One Million Eyes #71933 @minimalist
2) Have a Blap, Blap, Blappy Day Kids! #2019 @Wrong Number

One Million Eyes is easily the best arc I have played out of all of the nominees so far. It really made me feel like a hero (which doesn't happen anywhere near as frequently as it should in this game).