What things make you dislike an arc

Having accidentally hit upon many of the things that are disliked in MA in my first attempt to create an arc, I am curious to find out what things people really dislike and what annoys people so that if I ever write another, I won't doom it from the start. So here are my questions:

1. Are there any things that would make it very unlikely for you to give an arc 5 stars no matter how good it might be?

2. Are there any things that really annoy you in arc and hurt its chances of getting a 5 star rating?

I'll start with my answers.

1. If an arc is not marked as challenging and it is nearly impossible to complete on the easiest setting, it is very unlikely I would 5 star rate the arc. This is because I play MA arcs mostly to enjoy the creative story telling and when the arc is incredibly difficult, I can't do this.

2. Glowie hunts on really large maps frustrate me. This alone would not stop me from rating an arc 5 stars, but if an arc has lots of annoying game play issues, it has less chance of getting 5 stars from me.

The "blue" cave maps are an abomination. It takes a very good reason for me to approve of any mission using them. It won't change my ratings but it might make me question the author's sanity; when we have perfectly fine alternatives, why use the ugliest and least liked maps?

1. Defeat All - 95% or more of the time this requirement seems to be tacked on and has no story purpose for being there. It won't stop me from 5 staring an arc, but the odds I will even play the arc are very, very low.

2. Escorts that just take hostages to the exit door for no story reason.

3. Lack of bios on your customs.

4. Over use of any of the annoying power sets like MM pets, Smoke, Confuse, Heals, Self Rez, etc. This is not to say never use those sets, but I have seen missions with every level of custom having a self rez or MM pets. It is just overly annoying.

5. Walls of text. I want story, but some people feel the need to cram every text section full and unless it is amazingly interesting and worthy of the space I get sick of reading it.

6. Adding extra missions to stretch the arc to 5 missions. I see this so often from both new and established authors. There is a paradigm that many subscribe to that states that your arc needs to be 5 missions. It does not! It needs to be as long as the story dictates. Example - In Poor Taste, my arc that won Best Comedy in the PC Awards, features 6 bosses and yet it is only 3 missions long. Why? I originally intended it to be 5 missions long, but realized after I finished the second mission that the comedy would not hold up for 5 missions. So I wrapped it up in 3.

7. Overly large or annoying maps. Bad for finding objectives, worse for escorts and abysmal for defeat all. Layer cake map anyone?

8. Lack of research. Incorrect facts about game lore, character history or even real history. Every one of my arcs (Even In Poor Taste) I spent a lot of time reading about the subject of the arc and learning about it. It is very apparent when someone has not and immediately throws me out of the story.

9. Assumptions about my character or myself. The one I most frequently encounter is the assumption that I am male and like "chicks". So boys please keep in mind that girls and women play this game too.

10. Overly used maps. This is partly a limitation of MA so in and of it self it will not cause me to not 5 star an arc. Honestly though there are some maps that I am sick of and am not happy when I encounter them again and again.

I could go on, but I think 10 is a good stopping point.


WN

-Lack of Custom Character bios

-Overpowered bosses

-Walls of text.

-Repetition. I hate when an arc basically repeats the exact same mission criteria as the first one.

-Lack of originality in Customs. I hate hate HATE when people use the pre-made, stock costumes instead of making their own damn ones! It just makes an arc seem shoddy and half-arsed.

-Plot holes. I hate not being filled in on things or not being good reason for my actions.

Extreme anything. If I see that I probably won't even play it. We have custom options, use them.

Customs that have annoying and/or overpowered powers. Rage is the worst offender, but also Aim, Build Up, Power Sink and its ilk, Smoke, mez protection or tier 9s on anything short of a named boss, too many Masterminds, too many mezzers, or anything that is annoying when it stacks (to-hit debuffs immediately come to mind). If you don't have the space to make a diverse custom group, you have to be especially careful what powers you give them. Test with a team or on x8.

On that note, obvious lack of playtesting.

Customs with no bios. Also standard characters that are meant to represent something else but still have their default bios.

Making too many assumptions about my character. God-moding.

Poor characterization. If you're using a canon character they should be in-character. If you're using a custom, they should be consistent.

Boring big maps with few objectives. I have nothing against big maps per se, but assume I have the attention span of an overcaffeinated ferret. If you're going to use a big map, there better be enough going on to hold my interest until the end, especially if it's an indoor map. Outdoor maps get a bit of leeway here, since they're all big and I can just hop around and find the objectives anyway.

Overpowered allies, especially if they're customs. Forgivable if the story requires an allied canon character that only exists as an AV.

Uneven level ranges. 1-54 level range. My level 1 shouldn't be saving the multiverse, my 50 shouldn't be beating up purse snatchers. No custom group is balanced for the full range. I don't mind 1-54 if it's comedy and involves standard groups.

"Comedy" that isn't. That tag is not a license to be offensive or to create a glorified paper mission with a humorously named boss. Comedies have plots too. Random silliness is only funny if you're Monty Python. You are not Monty Python.

A plot that doesn't make sense, or a conclusion that is unsatisfying. This includes the first part of a multi-parter. Each part should have a conclusion.

Obvious canon infractions. The Psi Clockwork are not robots, Akarist is not the leader of the Circle, etc.

I think that's enough for now.

- Overpowered allies. Whether the story is "about" them or not, the player is the star, the NPCs should not be.

- Overpowered required bosses, specifically EB/AV level bosses with lots of defense/resistance toggles, or who fear or confuse. If you're going to use a set with fear/confuse, disable them instead - very few sets resist them and it's no fun to stand around doing nothing because someone's given you a bad case of floating purple bubbles. That said, if the boss is optional, do what you like with it--people enjoy a challenge if they know it doesn't affect their ability to beat the mission / arc.

- Objectives that don't make thematic sense. Am I ok with a kill-all on a ship to simulate you taking it over? Of course. Am I ok with a kill-all on an outdoor map where your goal is to 'find more information about something' or 'complete a specific objective'? No.

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There is one thing that will see me boiling out of an AE mission with the fire of Hell in my eyes....and that is fighting a too tough boss, finally defeating it after a couple trips to the hospital, only to see it rise up again.

And, I do have a thing against Thug Masterminds. I played an AE mission where the Mastermind was a female. She wore a pink cowboy hat and everytime I heard her whistle I had one heck of a fight on my hands. Because of that one arc, I now absolutely despise Thug Masterminds. When I am in a mission and I hear that nerve shattering whistle...I leave.

As therapy, I went to Protector and made a Thug/Poison Mastermind named Bloody Mary. Sigh. When my own toon blows that whistle I cringe. . .

Lisa.

My "short list":

A defeat all without a good reason.

A defeat all on any large outdoor map (to a lesser extent ANY large map, but the outdoor ones are worst), regardless of the reason.

Designing a custom mob with more than about 70% resistance (general - meaning 'active most of the time') to any one damage type; there's a reason you almost never see that kind of thing in the dev mobs: you are guaranteed to automatically piss off the small fraction of the player population whose character is focused on that damage type. This one is especially egregious when paired with a self-heal. And a self-rez.

An "ambush timed" mission - I don't want to autofail mission three in the arc because I wanted to see as much of the ongoing story as possible before I go to work, and have no idea that getting to see the sendoff text was going to start a timer for a mission I flat out don't have time to complete before I have to go to work.

Most of the villains on a map being a custom group that is missing a 'spawn anytime' version of either a minion, lt., or boss, resulting in you getting only 25% to 50% XP for that mission.

The "default" mission objective text for a mission objective. I just can't believe it's that hard to write in "Defeat Mr.EvilMob" and "Find a clue" then have the arc default to "Mr.EvilMob, Clue." A lesser version of this is having absolutely no text showing up on that interaction timer bar thingie.

Sloppy writing with little or no evidence of proofreading.

No description text on custom mobs. Even one brief sentence is preferable to seeing the default text.

The overuse of elite bosses.

Chained objectives. People have a tendency to use them poorly, those same people have a tendency to use too many. This results in you running back and forth on the same map multiple times. That's not fun, that's annoying!

1. To avoid having me play an arc, just include Extreme EB's and AV's in it. Or more then one Extreme in bosses, LT's and or minions.

2. I have a big hatred for a couple of arcs that feature the "no map available" thing. The ruined Atlas is a prime example. If you use it, make sure the objectives are neon lit and marked clearly. If not, I will quit the arc and unless it has been excellent (read 4 or 5 star material) up to that point, I will rate it a 1, else I don't rate at all. I hate that map that much.

3. Another bad map idea is the find small objective (preferably chained) in a huge outdoor map. Or heaven forbid a defeat all in anything else then a small or medium map. Those things will influence the pleasure I had playing the arc.

4. Which brings us to defeat alls. Don't, don't don't. For example, today I quit a few arcs because they had inserted defeat all's without making a big effort to explain why. Try to avoid using a defeat all. Let the enemies flee when their boss is down, or blow the thing to smithereens. Or wear as mask.

5. Big maps with nothing interesting happening except 1 objective.

6. The lazy mission building. When I click on a glowie, I expect to see interaction text. I expect bio's everywhere, I expect dialogue, I expect that the author tries to avoid inserting 10 mission objectives that are all the same. I expect pop-ups on entering and leaving. Yes, it is a lot of work. But it can make the difference between 4 or 5 stars.

7. Most of what has been said above do I agree with.

Ps. What I don't mind.
Bad English. Unless it is truly horrible I don't mind a few errors. The fact that I miss 90% of the errors only helps the authors out.

1.) Humor arcs, especially gimmicky humor arcs, (metahumor, arcs with 'ironic' humor about the genre, arcs that seem to draw inspiration from the 'Scary Movie' school of comedy), I typically will not play. The reason for this is simple. A humor arc generally has nothing to sell it except for the humor. If I don't think it's funny, then I have no choice but to rate it down. I don't like to rate things down out of hand, because it's not fair to the author if other people ARE finding it funny. So I typically just leave them alone.

2.) I don't mind defeat alls as much as other reviewers, but with a couple of caveats. If you are an author, you need to learn which maps lend themselves well to defeat alls and which don't. Small linear, mono-levels maps like the smooth cave and warehouse maps without the large room at the end do the trick. Even if your map size is small, if the small area utilizes a lot of multi-level arrangements, then it tends to become grindy. In addition to that, there are certain factions that work better with defeat alls than others. Factions with flyers who will flee like Longbow and Clockwork do not. Midlevel Circle with the spectral daemons that both fly away AND disappear as they are doing it especially do not work well.

3.) If you assume that the opponent is smarter than my character, prove it contextually within the mission. Don't just tell me he/she is. If I have been contextually outmaneuvered and see no way I could have avoided a specific outcome, I will not squawk about it. If suddenly in mission 4, I 'lose' as a plot device because the opponent is 'smarter than me,' I will squawk because until I'm shown that he/she is cleverer than I am, I have no verification of that.

4.) Throwing powersets on custom factions that are particularly devastating when used in concert. I have more forgiveness for this than other things because many custom factions are designed conceptually and the powersets selected have more to do with concept than with game effectiveness in mind initially. But test your stuff. And modify according to your playtests.

If your custom lieutenant wails on a character and hits for 75% of the character's health bar on the first pop, it's too much. If the group of minions simultaneously blinds, slows, holds, and drains the character of his entire blue bar, it's too much.

5.) I agree with much of what's been said here. Searches for single glowies that blend into the background on massive farm maps. Chained clues that don't necessarily need to be chained. Laziness in writing.

Things like that.

I have to agree with the Comedy Arcs, my only exception is satirical arcs because I like satires. What more can I say?

I might as well just comment on what has been said already rather than listing the same things again.

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Originally Posted by PoptartsNinja - Overpowered allies. Whether the story is "about" them or not, the player is the star, the NPCs should not be.

This is rather subjective of course as nobody can agree on a minimum level for being overpowered. Giving someone an AV or EB as an ally would definitely be overpowered, though exception can be given if there is no Pet version of that canon EB and they are required for a decent story reason. However, people will complain that anything from Minion to Boss is overpowered.

I judge it based on the powers of the ally and what they are there for. If they're just there to lend a hand instead of just running off when rescued and nothing more than a boss appears in the arc, then a LT or even a minion is fine. However if this is someone to help out with an EB fight, then a boss is going to be wanted else a LT could die in a single hit and be useless for most of the fight.

Then again, if you're giving multiple allies then you might want to make them individually weaker. I've gone either way depending on the situation, a few arcs have 1 or 2 bosses in a mission while another gives you several minions and LTs instead.

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Originally Posted by PoptartsNinja - Objectives that don't make thematic sense. Am I ok with a kill-all on a ship to simulate you taking it over? Of course. Am I ok with a kill-all on an outdoor map where your goal is to 'find more information about something' or 'complete a specific objective'? No.

Strongly agreed. Defeat Alls definitely should be used sparingly and wisely, usually on nothing bigger than a small map and there should be a good reason for it. Before giving a defeat all, ask yourself what the end result in the long run is for the story. Do you really need to defeat everyone or just take out the leaders to break morale and let the calvary clean them up? If you just need to talk to the boss, is there a reason that you couldn't just escape after interrogating him or force him to call off his men?

Quote:

Originally Posted by McCharraigin There is one thing that will see me boiling out of an AE mission with the fire of Hell in my eyes....and that is fighting a too tough boss, finally defeating it after a couple trips to the hospital, only to see it rise up again.

Oh hell no. Worst incident of that I had was a Ice/WP Boss who rezzed twice before he finally stayed down.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coulomb2 The "default" mission objective text for a mission objective. I just can't believe it's that hard to write in "Defeat Mr.EvilMob" and "Find a clue" then have the arc default to "Mr.EvilMob, Clue." A lesser version of this is having absolutely no text showing up on that interaction timer bar thingie.

Definitely, those text fields exist for a reason and seeing a nav bar like that is just plain sloppy and incompetent.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coulomb2 No description text on custom mobs. Even one brief sentence is preferable to seeing the default text.

At least tell us something about the customs. Even if it is a generic description of the custom group it's a start.

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Originally Posted by OzzieArcane Chained objectives. People have a tendency to use them poorly, those same people have a tendency to use too many. This results in you running back and forth on the same map multiple times. That's not fun, that's annoying!

If you're going to use chained objectives, make sure that the map will place them in a linear sequence. This does mean limiting yourself a bit since there is only Front, Middle, Back. Also, make sure that the map doesn't have Middle spawns that are placed before the Front spawns show up.

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Originally Posted by Sister_Twelve 1.) Humor arcs, especially gimmicky humor arcs, (metahumor, arcs with 'ironic' humor about the genre, arcs that seem to draw inspiration from the 'Scary Movie' school of comedy), I typically will not play. The reason for this is simple. A humor arc generally has nothing to sell it except for the humor. If I don't think it's funny, then I have no choice but to rate it down. I don't like to rate things down out of hand, because it's not fair to the author if other people ARE finding it funny. So I typically just leave them alone.

I steer away from humor arcs in general, they're really too subjective and rarely have I found one to actual be funny. The funniest ones were more subtle and not trying to shove jokes in my face.

Other things I hate:

• Inconsistent level ranges. You can specify the lower and upper levels of the missions in the arc independently of the enemy groups in them, MAKE THEM ALL THE SAME unless you have a very good story reason not to. I don't care that we get XP while exemplared and keep the powers up to 5 levels above our combat level, I don't want to be bouncing all over the place and losing powers and set bonuses for no reason. I especially don't want to go from fighting Crey to Vahzilok and then suddenly to Malta or some rubbish.
• Blue cave maps. They hurt my eyes and as someone who has been cave exploring the looks makes no damn sense.
• I don't mind the brown caves as long as the 'layer cake room' is not present. I hate how the walls, cieling, and floor are the same shade so that it makes the holes in the floor near-invisible.
• I don't like escorts that don't have a good story reason as to why a simple hostage release wouldn't do.
• I hate seeing the following powers on customs: Build Up, Unyielding, Instant Healing, Rise to the Challenge, Rage, Knockout Blow, Total Focus, Energy Transfer, Darkest Night, Gang War, Blaster Nukes. Some of these are not so bad on a canon mob as they have lower stats than customs do, but the mezz protection powers are very unfair to those who rely on controls and nobody likes attacks that can one-shot a Scrapper right through all their resistances.
• I don't like scavenger hunt maps. You know, ones like the Tech Labs where three different elevators all lead to three different floors and you will likely have to backtrack all over the place.
• I don't like seeing Random for the map and a bunch of objectives. Random maps are very hard to design right when you have more than just a boss fight and maybe a glowy as the spawn order and even the number of spawns allows is not consistent throughout the map set. You could very easily get hit with a mission that is incompletable and I'm not going to restart just to see if I have better luck next time.

It's still not about the difficulty, it's about the appearance. The blue caves are ugly.