Design a TF?

Ok, so, the Devs have asked the Pummit attendees to design costume packs and powers. How about they do a dedicated panel to designing a TF/SF/Trial? Players will be asked to prepare the TF/SF/trial in advance (type it out and attach pics etc) and then present at the panel. Any passable ones should be handed in and then put together.

I would like to see the players design new NPCs etc and have something completely unique. The material added to the game over the last while has been rather stale and repetitive so let's help the devs out

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players design arcs in AE
some are better than the dev created content

I really wish they would just take the best AE arcs and make them real arcs. I know they dev choice stuff - but most of the dev choice stuff is now terrible since it is out of date and/or broken. And people don't go into AE to see the dev choice stuff.

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I'd rather see a "Design an Archetype" panel, but this could be good, too.

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Open Archetype Suggestion thread!, Kirsten's Epic Weapon Pools, Feudal Japan, Etc., Alignment specific Rularuu iTrials!
If Masterminds didn't suck, they'd be the most powerful AT in the game.

Yeah the AT one might be cool too.

I like AE and have stuff on it. 1 of my 3 missions is too broke to play and I can't be bothered to keep fixing it anymore. Players designing a TF etc would be a better option because it would be canon and easily accessible. AE is a bit of a joke full or rubbish; you know it's going downhill when farms become DEV choices. Ugh.

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This is a pretty good idea. I think it's unlikely to happen as a panel, even though it'd work better than some other ideas (powerset design by world's largest committee? really?), for a few related reasons.

First, the automatic dev response is likely to be what the automatic player response was: "Isn't that what AE is?" In fact, while AE can certainly be used to create things like this, a "design a TF" panel could involve more general ideas, such as what kind of fight dynamics to include. (Note how most of the new TF's include at least one odd or unique fight.) The issues like who the enemies would be, what the plot might be, who the contact is, etc., could also be discussed, but in a general way, allowing developers, not players, to iron out their final form, just as in the first costume design panel.

Second, following on the AE point, the devs view AE as a massive heap of exploits and ways for players to cheat. (More informed devs seem to view it, with more justification, in my view, as a forum for players to complain about their own, obsessive ideas about story structure.) With a couple of exceptions, I'm convinced most of the dev team would take it out of the game if they could.

Those two things combined mean that to the devs, the words "player-designed TF" sound like "give the players a chance to talk about/create powerleveling systems for a hour."

There's also a related forum problem. We do not have an Arbiter Fabulous or Arcanaville for AE, or, indeed, for mission design in general, the way we do for costumes and power mechanics, respectively. (More accurately, we did, but he got hired out of the community.) There's no player the devs think of as an authority or a "voice of reason." That hurts the feature's status in the devs' eyes in ways I'm not sure anyone has even thought about. (For a similar situation, see PvP.)

Finally, one problem I see has nothing to do with any of that. With a few exceptions, such as the Penny Yin TF, which replaced an existing one, the devs like to create task force-strike force pairs. Thus, the panel becomes "design a TF AND a SF," twice the work for both player and dev-moderators.

All in all, while this is one of the better ideas I've seen for the (in my opinion) dubious area of players getting involved in development, I think it's the least likely to happen.

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"Bombarding the CoH/V fora with verbosity since January, 2006"

Djinniman, level 50 inv/fire tanker, on Victory
-and 40 others on various servers

A CoH Comic: Kid Eros in "One Light"

I'd like to see a simple "design an NPC" to maybe be an Arbiter, fateweaver, store vendor, etc.

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NCSOFT may take away our servers and beloved dev team, but they can't break our spirit and community. with all your power, NCSOFT, your victory will be bitter-sweet. I, personally will be there to laugh at you when you face-plant into the ground.

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