nvasion Plans

Note: this thread is for planning of the Ænvasion Event, for general info and player feedback, please see this thread in Player Events.

For too long the Mission Architect Superteam experience has been limited to the Triumph Server. Too long have our pleas to the server's limited masses to join in the adventure and wonder we uncover each week gone unanswered. And too long have non-Triumph Ænthusiasts shied away...too uncomfortable to stray from the safety of their home servers.

The time has come to change this. The time has come for "Ænvasion!"

The last few weeks the MA Superteam have been talking about having a multi-week, server-hopping event. The basic concept is simple: each week we run our weekly Mission Architect meeting on a different server til we've hit 'em all.

Bubba's already taken the idea to Pinnacle and expanded upon it, starting up a Pinnacle Chapter that will run on different days! But I'd still like to go forward on the original concept of a server a week. This thread is the place to figure out how best to pull that off and brainstorm ways to improve the idea.

I was thinking, first, we start a thread on the target server 1 or 2 weeks out from the event, outlining the basic Ænvasion concept and looking for interested players & authors.

This gives us time to gauge interest on the server, fine tune any scheduling conflicts, and prepare a list of arcs to play that weekend.

I was also thinking we could have MA Ambassadors, chosen from the AE Community, take up the reigns for their server's Ænvasion.

If anyone would like to volunteer to be an Ambassador, please let me know your Server, Global, & Date you'd prefer to Ænvade so I can add ya to the roster! Bubba and I have alts on every server so we can fill in any that are missing.

Ambassadors:

Pinnacle: @Bubbawheat (4/17/11, 9am Pacific/Noon Eastern)
Justice: @Backfire (4/24/11, 9am Pacific/Noon Eastern)
Victory: @Zamuel (5/1/11, 1pm Pacific/4pm Eastern)
Infinity: @Rayonn (5/8/11, 530pm Pacific/830pm Eastern-time is approx, will follow RWZ raid/s) and P.E.R.C.!
Guardian: @SupaFreak (5/15/11, 9am Pacific/Noon Eastern)
Virtue: @Bubbawheat (5/22/11 9am Pacific/Noon Eastern)
Liberty: @Lord of Storms (5/29/11 9am Pacific/Noon Eastern)
Champion: @Backfire (6/5/11 9am Pacific/Noon Eastern)
Protector: @Backfire (6/12/11 9am Pacific/Noon Eastern)
Freedom: @Backfire (6/19/11 9am Pacific/Noon Eastern)
Triumph: @Zamuel (6/26/11 9am Pacific/Noon Eastern)
Defiant EU: @Backfire (7/3/11 9am Pacific/Noon Eastern/5pm BST)
Union EU: @Backfire (7/10/11 9am Pacific/Noon Eastern/5pm BST)

Should we gather arcs from each Server's authors to consider for play each week?
-update: Going with Ambassador-chosen 'best of' arcs instead to showcase arcs each server has been less likely to have already played. We'll save the Server Author idea for a diff event.
Should we give out prizes to encourage participation?
-update: I am giving out random, unannounced door prizes to new players, inf and recipes from Hero Merit rolls & my base storage.
If members would like to make an alt on an Ænvasion server, we could set up a couple nights in the 2 weeks prior to team up and help level them a bit. Level pacting would be very useful here.
-update: I am dedicating at least 1 night per week to this, if interested, send me a PM or in-game global @backfire
Should we rename the Ænvasion groups to "AE Superteam" or something similar to avoid confusion with Martial Arts Superteams (most players associate MA with the powerset, not Mission Architect.)
-update: I have been using the name, "AE Storyteam" instead and it seems to work much better. No confusion with Martial Arts and players are curious what a "Storyteam" is
Any other brainstorms?

My home server is Victory and there is a thread for AE arcs though I don't know how many people keep up with them.

I don't think you need to level before the event. A team of many doing one of the low level arcs will blitz past the really low levels and there's quite a bit of quality low level content in there anyway.

Yeah, Zam, my initial thought was to play thru some of those and see if there were any noteworthy arcs. Bubba noted that a lot of them were older, but I still maintain it's a great place to start

I've added you to the list for Ænvasion week 3!

As for levelling, we'll be at least level 30 (since that's the minimum level of all my alts on diff servers) but I'm still willing to make runs the week before for anyone who wants to get a few levels before the Ænvasion. Just not on Tuesdays cuz that's my WST night

BTW, if you're not part of the regular MA Superteam but would still like to join in and be an Ambassador for your server, let me know. Part of the point of this event is opening our door to new members so please come in

This is an awesome idea. If you hit Champion and/or Freedom, I'll be there. I don't think I'd want to be an "ambassador" as such since I'm not very active in the Champion server community and not at all active in the Freedom community, but I'll show up for moral support at least.

I'll show up to play (baring some real-life obstacle) on 4/24 for Justice. I'm not wanting to play enough these days to be an ambassador on any of the other servers I've characters on though.

That's great, even if you can't be an ambassador the more players the better

As for the Server Author theme, it seems I'm the only one in love with that idea so we'll dump it. My only concern with doing "Best of's" is I don't want the core MA Superteam to get bored by playing the same ones over and over.

We've been having good luck with our weekly themes (knock on wood). We could just keep doing those or we could leave it up to each weekly Ambassador to choose how they'd like to run their week. I'm flexible

I think there are enough "best of" arcs that we can play new ones each week without repeating ourselves for at least a year.

Now I won't be playing on the Justice team on 4/24 since I'll likely still only have one working hand, and the off-hand at that, to play with by then. Hopefully late next month you'll be doing another run on one of my servers.

I'd be willing to be the Ambassador for Infinity. I've got friends in P.E.R.C. there; I'll talk to them about scheduling.

Sorry to hear you won't make it, Dr G, you can still join us if you wish. You don't have to type

And welcome aboard, Rayonn!! Thanks for the help

Our first Ænvasion is next Sunday (4/17/11) on Pinnacle! I will be on Pinnacle this Wednesday night after 530pm Pacific if anyone wants to make an alt and level up a bit.

Ok, I was talking to a friend on Infinity, and she said the best time on Sunday would be immediately after the Rikti Mothership Raid, which starts at 6:30pm Central. Would that work?

Hmmm, we've never changed our meeting time but I have no problem switching it up for a week. This whole experiment is about getting out of our box and mixing it up, so if you think it's a better timeslot for that server let's do it. I'll be available at that time, at least.

I think I read before that the teams are normally run at noon Eastern? If that's the case then that would certainly work. A large portion of the Infinity community heads to the ship raids (we routinely fill RWZ1 and then run another raid at/near full capacity in RWZ2 afterwards), which could conflict with the ability to draw in participants. If the time of the AEnvasion is before or after then there will be lots of players available with no scheduling conflicts.

Though, if the event is broadcast at the raid and then run immediately following it you'll have an audience of 50-70+ people who will know what's going on and where to go if they want to participate. That's why I made the suggestion; though I didn't know if there was a traditional time the event was run at the time.

Either way, I'd be happy to do whatever I can to support this on Infinity, and it sounds like my fellow P.E.R.C. reps there agree!

Hmmmm...if you do 2 raids then we'd be starting up about 830pm Eastern? That may cut things a bit late for East Coasters as our play sessions usually last 2+ hours. On a Sunday no less. If you think it'll work I'm all for it since I'm on the West coast and that's prime playing time for me

Yep, about 8:30 Eastern sounds right. Infinity tends to be busiest from early afternoon til about 10 PM Eastern from what I've seen. It might make it easier on the East Coasters if it was earlier, but I think it could work either way.

On the plus side, even if you do it earlier on Sundays, the event can still be broadcast at the large gatherings. Since the first scheduled day is the 8th, that gives lots of time to promote. It really comes down to what you, Rayonn, and company feel most comfortable with.

Heya my MA Superteam counterparts... just chiming in to say unless something drastic happens to me... you can count me in to host this on my home server of Guardian.

Also, made up my mind and posted this in relation to the A/Envasion: Global Character Contest.

PEACE! (and happy gaming...)

Great contest idea Supa, and I've added ya to the Ambassador list. Can't wait to kick this off this weekend on Pinnacle

I'll be there, hazards pending. Albeit, level 1 (unless we get free character transfers!) O.O

Actually, for some reason I have a level 4 MM there... so when ya see "Kordor", that's me... and I don't really recall creating him... but seems I did.

Wow, am I ever late on the feedback/input part?

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Should we give out prizes to encourage participation?

I wish I were INFinancially well off to say yes on my behalf... I think either leveling up, teaming, getting tickets and doing something different is enough, but that's just me. I'd happily use tickets acquired from this to get Salvage or whatever for participants or something or other. Hey, saving 2-4 million per rare salvage is nice (IMO).

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Should we dump the server author theme and just pick mishes from our Best Of lists to show off quality arcs?

I vote "Best Of"... not sure what they are... but I'd like to see/play them. Author Theme would be great for next(?) A/Envasion IMO.

Quote:

If members would like to make an alt on an Ænvasion server, we could set up a couple nights in the 2 weeks prior to team up and help level them a bit. Level pacting would be very useful here.

What time I get during the week to play is usually dedicated to my friends and what they want to do. I doubt I'd find time to alt up during the week and just go with noob toons.

Quote:

Should we rename the Ænvasion groups to "AE Superteam" or something similar to avoid confusion with Martial Arts Superteams (most players associate MA with the powerset, not Mission Architect.)

Yes to A/E vs M/A... which seems has already been decided. *thumbs up*

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Any other brainstorms?

You know my answer to that.

PEACE! (and happy gaming...)

Big thanks to Pinnacle for kicking off our Ænvasion event! We had a full team, swapped a couple players in between arcs, and played through a few really fun mishes!

#341194 "Signal:Noise" by @Cheshire Cat
5 Mish, Heroic

#447945 "Damage Limitation" by @AP
4 Mish, Heroic

#453409 "The Lady, The Theif, and The Axe Murderer - A Love Story" by @Neckromancy
1 Mish, Heroic

#204942 "Chris Jenkins: Attorney at Law" by @Jophiel
1 Mish, Heroic

Our Pinnacle Ambassador, Bubbawheat, led the charge thru a very story-rich arc in Signal:Noise. This moody, detailed, and very unique mission really showed off what an arc can accomplish with minimal combat!

Next up was a great action-oriented arc in Damage Limitation, which tied directly into the canon story of Crey, and Hero Corp!

Bubba left us after the 2nd arc but suggested we try The Lady & Thief...it proved to be a bit too difficult for our mostly squishy & low level team, so we dropped that arc and loaded up lowbie-friendly Chris Jenkins! It was a fun comedy arc highlighting Paragon's favorite lawyer and some crafty Hellions!