What keeps you away from AE arcs?

These days, there has to be a specific reason for me to need tickets for me to run any AE content. Basically if I need lower level salvage and don't feel like paying for it, or if I want to roll some low level recipes.

Most of the time I do step in the AE, it will be to do my own arc. It's nothing special, but I know that it at least has:

* some relation to cannon
* some reason WHY it is in virtual reality
* some standard mobs I know will reward (two missions of Crey, and I like beating on Crey)
* my custom mobs which *I* think make sense, don't think are overpowered, and just like seeing every now and then

I've come to grips with nobody else playing it, and understand why. At four missions it's VERY LONG, even though two missions can essentially be stealthed. Custom critters can be a put off. It's set for higher levels. There's an ELITE BOSS at the end (though you get an ally). It's not very funny, it's not a farm. While structurally ok (grammar, spelling, etc), the writing isn't particularly epic. But I know what I'm getting.

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What I'd *like* to see are for some of the best one mission arcs to be adapted into tip missions, though I suppose that would really require two variations per mission. Scout for missions that could easily slip into cannon (stock mobs except for a boss or two), put them in the tip rotation. Creators would get a kick out of it, and there would be some more tip variety. Those missions might also feel more "real".

I generally can't be bothered to try anymore. There's not much point.

I've written dozens of arcs since AE's inception. At any given time, I have between three and eight arcs published. They rotate through fairly regularly as I write stuff that I consider to be better than the old stuff. This year alone, I cranked out something like sixteen or seventeen mission arcs, including a ten-arc, 40-odd mission storyline for my weekly coalition group.

Earlier this year, I decided to stop writing for a general audience and just focus on writing for that coalition. There's a very simple reason why.

In the past year, I've had exactly five plays on all of my arcs combined that did not come from my coalition. One of them was on Between Love And Loyalty (still published) asking if it could be put on the Excellent Arcs thread. One of them was on Vault of the Descended (since unpublished) and loved it. Three were from a team who'd run one of the version of The Price of Freedom, the feedback from which I was able to greatly improve the arc's ending for Aeon's Third Challenge. Goodness knows why I bothered.

As a writer, it's obvious to me that my ideas of Fun and Challenge aren't at all in line with what other peoples' are. I write missions for teams to play--people want to solo Architect missions. I write missions with a specific tone with mild humour sprinkled in--people either want epic dramas that explore the human condition or lolbat. I write an arc that's as long as it needs to be to tell the story--people want something they can churn through in under fifteen minutes. I like the idea of tactical encounters that require a plan other than Tank And Spank--people want to tap some buttons while chatting about the latest Thing.

I've written everything from simple lowbie arcs that can be played on Autopilot to intentionally difficult end-game-like encounters that can easily cause teamwipes if the group can't figure out how to overcome the obstacle. To my credit, I have yet to publish a single arc that cannot be beaten, though I've had a few coalition members stare aghast at a couple of challenges I've thrown at them until they figure out a way to deal with it. Those are the rewarding moments, to me.

All that shows up when I'm a player. I got bored very easily with the vast majority of arcs I have run in the past. They're either no different from any other newspaper mission I could be running or the author can't figure out the difference between "tactical challenge" and "arduous." (Hint: Aim, Build Up, Tar Patch, and nukes are not powers that should go on every single Lt or Minion-entity on the map without careful consideration) Nevertheless, I have finished almost every arc I've ever started--sometimes after much slogging and against my better judgement. The only times I don't finish an arc are if it's an obvious farm (not my thing) or I'm crunched for time and have plans for that character later. I leave feedback on every arc I run. Sometimes that feedback has suggestions for improvements and other times it's just a nod to the author that someone played his/her arc. I'd estimate that a third of the time, I get a message back within a week along the lines of "Wow, I didn't know that was still published."

It's fairly telling how clogged the AE is if the authors themselves don't even remember that they have something out there for others to run. Meanwhile, the authors who update their arcs regularly in response to feedback twiddle their thumbs waiting for someone to run into them with the Random button.

I try to run a handful of arcs a month just to support the system. Sometimes I only get in one or two arcs and other times I'll splurge and run nothing but AE missions for most of a weekend. I like some of the Dev's Choice and HoF and dislike others. I try to run a few from lists people have compiled or CoHMissionReview. I don't usually write reviews because I find it more interesting to talk to the author directly than to leave an essay--like I'm doing now, I suppose.

Short version, then (too late).

Right now, I want Incarnate stuff. Even when that's done, I doubt I'll do more than my usual approaches to AE here and there. I haven't published anything in a couple months and am having difficulty psyching myself up to write a New Year's arc for my coalition.

There's just no point to it anymore, which is a damn shame because it's potentially one of the coolest things about this game. Sadly, the implementation simply falls short.

Someone get the PvP, AE, and base editing playerbases together and tell them to stop putting each other down and start realizing how much they have in common.

I'm with Ironik and BackFire on this one.

I solo AE arcs too, for mostly the reasons people stated. Also, from a story immersion perspective, most arcs, both in AE and in the regular game, are written with the soloist in mind. The contact is speaking to you, not the team; they're just along because you asked them. So I write for soloists, since that's where the audience is, and that's what suits my playstyle as well, then balance encounters accordingly. So anyone who has played my arcs and made comments about how so-and-so should be an AV...no, they really shouldn't. AVs are team content that scales down to EBs as a nod to soloists. I write solo content, I might as well just make an EB and avoid the "Dominators and Controllers need not apply" warning.

Let's face it, there's no point in giving your boss lovingly crafted death lines when a team is just going to drop him in three seconds anyway.

If we could color code the attacks of our created enemies like we can ours, if they had access to a few pool powers, and big dreamin' here, if we could IO our mobs, lol. And really big dreamin' here, if we could control the AI of the bosses and such, in the way you can control your allies in Dragon Age, for example.

It can be too hard to find a good arc, and I do like to solo so I can read everything. I know it's been said before.

I do have a trick that sometimes lands me good arcs to play, though. I play on Virtue mostly, and when I see a good looking character with a well written bio, I jot down the name. Later, I may do a /getglobalname on it and then look for any arcs written by that person. It tends to give me better results than blindly searching.

Why don't I step foot in any AE missions, period?

Simple.

User-generated content sucks. Enough said.

If I wanted to deal with heavy-handed railroading, Mary Sue-ism, and grammar that would make every 2nd grade English teacher's head explode, I'd go read the crapton of fan-fic that's out there.

I play the missions done by the devs, because they're professionals.