How do you choose what AE arc to play?

I either hear someone broadcasting about it, a friend made it, I found it in a signature, else I just go in order from the "best" to the unrated. I don't usually play through the entire thing if I don't like it.

Sometimes it will be via Sigs or mention of an arc in a post.

More often I pick a smallish arc by semi random search phrases, a word that will bring up a few dozen results - umm like maybe warehouse, rescue, fire, magical axe of the ages, non canon, etc.

Sometimes I try to find content that fits the theme of my character eg shadowrun, necromancy, etc

If I have played a smaller arc & liked it, I will play others (longer one) by same writer. But rarely play more than a couple of maps long from an unknown.

More often lately, too fustrated with the way lower XP than street mobs, so havent bothered.

Most of the time, it's author, recommendation from people whose judgment I trust or, barring that, length.

Especially nowadays, I really dislike 5 mission arcs where some of the missions basically crap out on xp due to MA issues. Yes, I realize it's not the author's fault but it's still really annoying to me so I either avoid anything over medium and/or (usually AND) anything with the offensive mission components (allies, defendable objects, hostages, etc). While I would agree with the assertion that a great story is worth experiencing even in lieu of ingame reward, most stories I come across don't fit that category. Plus the aforementioned tendency for some folks to use vastly overpowered custom mobs, makes me avoid those missions too (specifically with under 20s or squishies in general). I've actually seen Eva's example a few times.

Nowadays, I rarely stray from the list of seven missions I like most.

I love Elite Bosses. Unlike a boss they stand out, they don't scale down to two-shottable lieutenants if you have bosses turned off, and for a player running on x8 they are tougher than the zillions of bosses leading up to them.

Unlike scaled-down AVs they further scale down to bosses if you have bosses turned off, they don't ignore two ATs' primaries and they don't ignore knockdown. And because they're easier you can have more than one "big bad." You still shouldn't give them Build Up and Headsplitter though.

I do keyword searches. I look for arcs based on faeries and elves and demons and angels and dwarves and...

Really, that's all that matters to me. In fact, if I see the first sign of a standard, non-magic CoH critter group in the mission, I'll bail (I do have a soft spot some of the in-game magic groups, though). But really, there are tons of missions available to me to fight those same ol' same ol' standard villains. If I wanted to fight council or 5th column or crey, I'd be out fighting them for "real." When I do an architect mission, I want to fight new, different, and preferably magic creatures.

And since I usually solo, I don't always look for long arcs; I prefer one- or two-mission arcs.

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I'm likely to skip anything that features an AV or the words 'Extreme' unless I'm playing a max-level character with a completed IO build. I find that enemy factions made by other players are frequently way, way harder than things I'll fight in the main game, which can lead to an incredibly frustrating play experience. I don't really trust most authors to balance their custom factions well and I prefer to play arcs that I can complete without fine-tuning my normal difficulty settings.

I ignore anything with 'Challenge' or 'Bring a Team' in the description for the same reasons. These arcs are usually frustrating and not very fun. There are exceptions, but these are rare.

I also judge the book by its cover. If I'm not at least mildly interested by the opening text, I'll give it a miss. Similarly, I'm not likely to play an arc or even start the first mission if there are grammatical errors or weird formatting choices in the contact's dialogue. The introduction phase is pretty important.

I use word of mouth to pick arcs, for the most part. A recommendation from a friend makes me want to give an arc a shot, at least. Mostly, I'll just stick to the ones that have been Dev Choice'd or Hall of Fame'd.

The truth is, I tend not to enjoy arcs made by other players. Most that I've attempted have been frustratingly difficult, boring and forgettable, or just plain confusing. There have been a few gems, but in my experience, they're really hard to find.

Oh, except for lowbie-friendly arcs. I'm skeptical of stuff designed for the maximum level, but I find that arcs designed for the lowest levels tend to take balance considerations into account. Maybe it's just me, but I find I have better luck with arcs specifically made for 1-20 characters.

Throw me in the group with "Really likes Elite Bosses" as well. The more the better.

Oddly, I don't really like AV's. I know it's the new cool thing to solo AV's, and while I'm fully capable, it takes too friggin' long.

A lot of times we'll ask for a keyword and someone will yell it out in team chat, we'll do a search and pick an arc based on that search.

The game outside AE has changed to be solo friendly for most ATs.

Its like making an arc that requires tank/healer/DPS trinity, old fashioned thinking that City has out grown.

Based on this thread, I changed one of my arcs to have an elite boss at the end. One criticism it would get was that the end was too easy. I think I originally went a little too soft on the custom mobs, having fought too many uberpowerful ones previously. But now at least the final guy should stand out a little more. So some of you will be happy to know you influenced my design choices (and some wish you hadn't!)

I look for campy fun arcs that are zany and cute

Recently I found a custom AE called "Too Many BunnyGirls" and ran that with some friends. I was very cute and had a good story.

How do I choose what AE arc to play?

Back in the day, I didn't have to. I cheated and started an arc review thread. Free recommendations!

I wonder if I should get back to that. Or maybe nobody cares anymore. MA seems to have declined since back when it first came out. Sure, there were even more farms back then, but there were also less arcs, more people excited about making and playing arcs, and so on. I took down and re-uploaded my old arcs recently, and in two weeks one has been played once, the other twice. Back in the day you'd get 10 playthroughs within the first day. I miss those days.

I think I still have my old arcs-to-review list somewhere, too...

First thing I look for is length of arc. I tend to stick to very short/short and sometimes medium.

Next thing is level; if it tops out at a level below my current one, I move on.

Next is solo-friendly, if it contains an AV or multiple EBs, I move on.

Next is mob type. There are simply a number of mob types I don't enjoy fighting; Malta for example. I'm much more likely to do this mission if it's Council or Family or possibly Freaks.

Last is effort made. If the description is one short sentence with misspelled words, I'll keep looking.