Dispari

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How do I make an optional objective display on the nav bar? Any time I set something as optional, it won't show up top. But I know pohsyb accomplished this in an arc.

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If you leave the singular and plural text of an optional collection empty, nothing shows in the Nav. If you actually put text in those blanks, the MA assumes you want it to show, and that text will show in the Nav whether the collection is optional or required.

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So I need to put text in BOTH of the fields, even if one is irrelevant? I ask because it's usually something like "Defeat Council base leader (optional)," so having one for plural would be pointless, unless of course the system requires me to fill that field in to display it.

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If you have 1 boss you would only need the singular filled in.

If however you have multiple collections with the same name, use the plural, for example "Bookcases to search"
then in the singlular for each, you can put "search the last bookcase" So when the player gets down to the last one, it'll change over to the singular text in the nav.

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I know that. What I'm asking is, do I have to fill in BOTH fields to have an optional thing display on the nav bar?

I have, for instance, a mission that has two boss fights. One is required and one is optional. On both, I only filled in the "singular" field. One says "Defeat raid leader" and the other says "Defeat base leader (optional)." The optional one is not set to be a required objective for the mission. As a result, it will NOT display on the nav bar.

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How do I make an optional objective display on the nav bar? Any time I set something as optional, it won't show up top. But I know pohsyb accomplished this in an arc.

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If you leave the singular and plural text of an optional collection empty, nothing shows in the Nav. If you actually put text in those blanks, the MA assumes you want it to show, and that text will show in the Nav whether the collection is optional or required.

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So I need to put text in BOTH of the fields, even if one is irrelevant? I ask because it's usually something like "Defeat Council base leader (optional)," so having one for plural would be pointless, unless of course the system requires me to fill that field in to display it.

How do I make an optional objective display on the nav bar? Any time I set something as optional, it won't show up top. But I know pohsyb accomplished this in an arc.

Arc Name: David and Goliath, the David Wincott Task Force
Arc ID: 6568
Faction: Council (minor), custom Trolls (major)
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Dispari / Dispari
Difficulty Level: Challenging; soloable on lower difficulties with some ATs. Regular enemies aren't too hard but EBs/AVs are.
Level Range: 1-54
Suggested Team Size:: Low diff: 2-4, High diff: 6-8
Synopsis: The Trolls are back! Help David Wincott stop a new generation of Trolls from taking over Skyway City. Fight new Trolls, including new gang leaders! Designed for heroes, but villains encouraged to play too.
Estimated Time to Play: 15-45 minutes (depending on amount of ghosting)
Link to More Details or Feedback: Official thread

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Lets pretend you picked a map with 15 of the first type and 15 of the second type. If you wanted it to be empty until your trap is hatched, you could add a patrol detail with quantity 15 and and a battle detail with quantity 15. Next, add a collection detail and have both the patrol and battle trigger on completion of the collection.

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OK, but how do you make the map empty in the first place? You have to pick an enemy group to populate the map, right?

(I used to use the 'custom villain group with only an AV in it' trick, but I had thought that stopped working)

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Doing what pohsyb said will make an empty map. The patrols and battles will use up the spawn points that the normally spawned enemies would use. There are only so many spawn points in a map, and if one is being used up by a patrol, a normal group won't appear there. So if you fill all spawn points with events that don't appear until something happens, the map will start out empty.

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There was a "Reflection" power pool in addition to Flight that apparently could be added to a mob's power set. How does it differ from Flight?

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From what I've seen, it just makes them translucent and glowy like Shadow Shard Reflections. I used it for some ghosts.

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But be warned: every custom critter takes about 6.5% of your *total* mission file space. You're not going to be able to get more than about 14 custom critters into a single mission arc - 15 if they all stand in a phonebooth and don't speak.

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Please clarify; 14 per mission? or 14 per arc (14x5=70 total)?

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14 per arc.

That is why some people have split their story up between two or three mini-arcs.

Hey, movie makers only get 2-3 hours to tell a story, and, if the story doesn't fit, they make sequels or trilogies.

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Damn. So I guess I wasted the last couple weeks designing a dozen new factions, over a hundred costumes, and planning out plot arcs tying them all together. lol@me

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Join the club, and shout in my thread about double filesize limit. =p

I was planning for a 5-mission arc that would include 10 custom bosses and 2 allies, which uses up almost my entire filesize. Plus I wanted a new gang in there.

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But be warned: every custom critter takes about 6.5% of your *total* mission file space. You're not going to be able to get more than about 14 custom critters into a single mission arc - 15 if they all stand in a phonebooth and don't speak.

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Please clarify; 14 per mission? or 14 per arc (14x5=70 total)?

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Definitely per arc. I created a new arc and imported my gang which has 9 units in it, and hit 70% before I had even edited any text.

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I have a question, if this has been shared or if a dev would like to comment.

Will we be able to pick between different versions of power sets? Will I be able to say whether I want the Blaster (blue) Energy Blast or the Corruptor (red) Energy Blast? Will I be able to pick between Blaster and Defender Psi Blast? Will I be able to pick between Scrapper and Tanker Fire Melee? Will I have to use the Brute Dual Blades, or can I pick the Stalker version if I want BU/Placate?

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Since when is corruptor energy blast red? is that a i14 thing or something

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Isn't it? I guess I just assumed. I know my Dom's energy blasts are red. And the electric powers are red villain side. Oh well, still.

I have a question, if this has been shared or if a dev would like to comment.

Will we be able to pick between different versions of power sets? Will I be able to say whether I want the Blaster (blue) Energy Blast or the Corruptor (red) Energy Blast? Will I be able to pick between Blaster and Defender Psi Blast? Will I be able to pick between Scrapper and Tanker Fire Melee? Will I have to use the Brute Dual Blades, or can I pick the Stalker version if I want BU/Placate?

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Regarding Trial Accounts using Mission Architect, if they are going to put a new box on the shelves, specifically promoting MA, wouldn't they HAVE to let trial accounts use it?

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No, the boxes come with a month of time. They aren't trial accounts, they're real accounts with a month on them.

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You can then claim tickets out of that pool onto any character.

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Question:

Can you redo Reward Merits that way? It'd be helpful for people who play alot of alts and never accumulate many merits on any one character.

EDIT: Also, first after Redname.

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If we're lucky... maybe that's what this means:

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According to Synapse "...there will be some small changes to the merit reward system (and the reward system in general) in Issue 14, that I am sure will be viewed as positive changes."

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But it could also mean they're going to redo costs to be cheaper (I kinda hope for that... 250 merits for a stealth IO? 55 merits for an uncommon recipe there are thousands of?) or maybe offer more ways to give merits. Who knows.

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I'm quite certain it will be possible to make a mission where you're guaranteed to fail. Making a mission that cannot be completed, on the other hand, is another matter entirely.

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So you're saying "escort Cardboard Box to safety" is probably out of the question?

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That's an clicklie or blow up thingie. I doubt the MA will allow you pick an object as a hostage. Now "escort (Nemesis) Colonel Comet to safety" should be entirely doable.

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I still fully intend to do some tinkering, like seeing what happens when you give AVs and hostages Teleport (if that's even possible -- I saw a "travel power" tab in screenshots).

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So, apropos of nothing... who else has spent the weekend making costumes and saving them against Closed Beta Acceptance/Open Beta/Launch?

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My friend and I have been slowly ironing out a storyline, and I've been busy creating units for an enemy gang that's going to be included. We're trying to make it as believable as part of the CoH universe as possible. Needless to say, some of the new units have some unique and interesting powerset combinations.

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I'm quite certain it will be possible to make a mission where you're guaranteed to fail. Making a mission that cannot be completed, on the other hand, is another matter entirely.

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So you're saying "escort Cardboard Box to safety" is probably out of the question?

I'm sure this is a solid guide, but I was too lazy to read it.

I have a question, if this is public knowledge or if something devs want to comment on.

I understand that missions are cross-faction. Will the players be able to see anything about the person who made it?

Of course, for maximum exposure I intend to make a mission that either heroes or villains can do without feeling like they're playing for the wrong team, but I'd rather create it on a villain character since it's the one I'll be playing the most and be getting architect badges and unlocks with. So will people be able to see that a Night Widow made the mission they're about to do, and skip over it because they think it's not a mission intended for heroes? Is there any sort of short summary we can put to note that the arc is intended for both heroes and villains?

I think after a few days of staring at icons in-game and out I finally came to the conclusion that concerning myself with the icons is detrimental to my mental health.

I'm dangerously OCD to begin with, and little things like this can easily capture my attention for extended periods of time. Since the icons were already something that bugged me, the idea of a new package of icons that "fixes" many of them was something that immediately interested me. There were a lot of good adjustments, mostly for the PPP sets which always seemed to me like the substitute who was working on powers that day made all the icon decisions. However, there were still a lot of things I thought needed fixing, so I set out to fiddle with them and offer suggestions.

Halfway through the work, I started wondering things like "Why is Crane Kick's icon a knockback," and "why are ranged attack icons so inconsistent?" I set out on a task to standardize melee and ranged attack icons, and then began analyzing powers like Crane Kick and Total Focus to examine their attributes and finally came to the conclusion that only mixed/hybrid icons could accurately display what these powers do and what they should be used for. After spending a few hours trying to fuse Stun with Extreme Damage or High Damage, Short Range with Knockack, I started to seriously consider coming up with an entirely new icon system. It was at this point I realized that such a task could quite literally drive me insane.

Please, for your sake and mine, keep me out of this thread! No matter what I may say or do to persuade you otherwise, I should not be here. It's the OCD talking.

You've done a great deal of good work here. I leave this task to you. May your efforts not drive you crazy.

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My ninja MM:
http://meru.xfury.net/images/tray_Hurricane.jpg

Here's where I'd like to voice a request or two. Smoke Flash's icon is not what it should be. This icon is usually used for "uber buff" or "more than one buff" type powers. Smoke Flash is placate, essentially, or more accurately the Smoke Flash from Ninjitsu. It should either be a stealth icon or, more accurately, a placate icon (however, this may be confusing because a targeted placate may lead players to believe you use it on foes). The primary purpose of the power is to add crits to a target, which it does by placating and hiding the target. A targeted stealth icon would probably make the most sense.

[/ QUOTE ]Smoke flash is grant stealth (54ft in PvE - full invisibility is 55, most stealth powers are 35) and grant placate power (and it also sets the Meter value so that a crit-from-hide can occur, just like Hide does). Since the placate isn't actually a part of smoke flash (It's a power smoke flash adds to the pet), I don't even think a placate icon should be considered for it.

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A stealth icon with the ST border would be appropriate, from what I can see.

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I definitely agree here. A placate icon would be confusing for the player, but a stealth icon would suggest "this power makes your target stealthy," which is exactly what it does.

Hello. This is going to be a long post.

First of all I'd like to thank you for this. I'm really OCD about stupid things, so the icons in CoH have always bothered me. You did a good thing here, updating quite a few of the icons and making them more accurate. I have a ton of characters who were affected by this patch, so I'd like to mention a few thing and point out some opinions I have even after the patch. So here goes!

GENERAL STUFF:

My dominator:
http://meru.xfury.net/images/tray_Sandra.jpg

THANK YOU for fixing the icon for Total Focus. It's always bothered me that it was marked as a status effect over an attack, and even then, the WRONG status effect. I know it couldn't have the stun icon because the power Stun has it, but the stun is only a secondary effect. ALL the powers in Energy Melee do stun. Total Focus is an extreme damage attack. Thank you for fixing it.

My MA scrapper:
http://meru.xfury.net/images/tray_Itsumi.jpg

You did a good job fixing and messing with some of the icons, but you missed one. Eagle's Claw should have an extreme damage icon. It's not just a high damage attack (that would be Crane Kick). It's the tier 9 with an extreme damage component with a bonus crit chance, so it should reflect that.

My ninja MM:
http://meru.xfury.net/images/tray_Hurricane.jpg

Here's where I'd like to voice a request or two. Smoke Flash's icon is not what it should be. This icon is usually used for "uber buff" or "more than one buff" type powers. Smoke Flash is placate, essentially, or more accurately the Smoke Flash from Ninjitsu. It should either be a stealth icon or, more accurately, a placate icon (however, this may be confusing because a targeted placate may lead players to believe you use it on foes). The primary purpose of the power is to add crits to a target, which it does by placating and hiding the target. A targeted stealth icon would probably make the most sense.

My claws scrapper:
http://meru.xfury.net/images/tray_Roxy.jpg

The tier one attack does not, in fact, hit more than once. It should have a standard minor damage attack icon.

http://meru.xfury.net/images/tray_Theta.jpg

Here, the kinetics powers have better icons, I think, even though it's really hard to get correct icons for them. The heal is technically an AoE heal, even though it hits an enemy target. Siphon Speed is technically a self buff, even though it has to hit another target (changing it would make it look like Speed Boost, besides). All in all I think the kinetics powers are as good as they can be. My only real complaint here is Fire Imps. Yes, it's way better with three pets on the image, but the blue is too dark and it doesn't match the other Fire Control powers.

My brute:
http://meru.xfury.net/images/tray_Tanya.jpg

Taunt is accurate now. So is Heightened Senses. Indomitable Will is better because it's primarily a status protection power, so I approve. Strength of Will is technically correct, even though I liked it when it matched Rage's icon. And although not pictured, I agree with High Pain Tolerance's new icon. It matches Dull Pain, which is a heal but mostly an +HP power. The clock signifies Health Over Time, which makes sense. I approve of the icon.

I'd like to see Hurl's icon changed. I'll elaborate more below. I have a whole rant about ranged power icons to discuss.

My crab spider:
http://meru.xfury.net/images/tray_Ardent.jpg

Thank you for fixing the epic pet icon. They all now correctly match. I'm practically a mastermind! =) However, the first two attack icons should be switched. Read more down below about my ranged icons comments.

RANGED POWER ICON NORMALIZATION:

My bot MM:
http://meru.xfury.net/images/tray_Elise.jpg

Here you can see the icons are strange for the attacks. MMs seem to have a big problem with this. For another example, here's my thug MM:

http://meru.xfury.net/images/tray_Riley.jpg

The icons here make even less sense. I don't understand them. Tier 1 attack is "thin" and tier 2 is "fat"? I believe this means "minor" and "high" but that's not accurate either. And the cone attack doesn't share the burst icon that most cones and AoEs have. These should all be fixed. Normal ranged attacks should look more like this:

http://meru.xfury.net/images/tray_Calabaza.jpg

Here the icons are more accurate, but switched. You can see Dark Blast's icon is regular while Gloom's icon is "thin." Dark Blast does less than Gloom. Here's a set that's slightly better, but not without additional problems:

http://meru.xfury.net/images/tray_Meru.jpg

Here they almost got it right. The first two powers are right, and the cone has the burst icon, but the third icon for "high" damage implies long range, when the power in fact is short range. Here's another example where it's ALMOST right:

http://meru.xfury.net/images/tray_Texiel.jpg

Here the first two icons are fine, the AoE and cone have burst, the nuke is extreme, and everything seems about right. They use the "high damage, short range" icon for Blaze, but this icon shows short range... but seems to imply the damage isn't high. It seems to imply "moderate damage, short range."

If anything, the "high damage, short range" attacks should be a mix of the two previous images, showing that it is in fact short range, but does a lot of damage. I don't think such an icon currently exists. In summary, the blast sets should be normalized, and look like:

Tier 1 - Either the "thin" or the slanted icon
Tier 2 - The regular, generic range icon
High damage - The "fat" icon seen on Sonic and Thugs (Hurl should have this icon)
High damage, short range - A new icon, because an accurate one doesn't exist

COMPLICATED POWERS:

My tank:
http://meru.xfury.net/images/tray_Sable.jpg

Status protection is correct, so yes there. Rest is about the same.

I do however disagree with Dark Regeneration's icon. It is NOT a click heal like Reconstruction or Healing Flames. It's a power that feeds on enemies near you to heal. It does in fact damage enemies, and drains health to add health. It could technically be drawn as an attack, or even with a siphon icon. If anything, it should have an AoE border with a siphon icon on it. It acts basically like an AoE Siphon Life. However, that doesn't solve the problems of all the related powers. Here's the one that really gives problems:

http://meru.xfury.net/images/tray_Jackal.jpg

Soul Drain. This power does damage to enemies around you and gives you +DMG and +ACC (or actually ToHit). While it is technically right for the buff icon, it's misleading. The lack of any border implies that it's a self-power, so you can just click it and get a bonus, but you can't. Although the primary function of the power is to buff you, it is in fact an attack. A siphon icon would not be accurate because you are dealing damage to buff yourself, which isn't a siphon. Adding the AoE border would seem to imply that the buff effects allies around you, which would also be inaccurate. Changing it to a damage icon would imply that the power is first and foremost an attack, which it is not.

I would recommend making it have an AoE border, but ultimately, anything done to this power (that I can think of) would leave its icon inaccurate in some way. If you have any ideas, please speak up. =)

Lastly:
http://meru.xfury.net/images/tray_Sudona.jpg

I know you already stated that Howling Twilight and Soul Transfer are linked, but I think you should swap them anyway. Soul Transfer suffers from the same issue as I addressed with Soul Drain above. While it technically is a rez, it does have to have someone nearby to work, so it has an attack component. Additionally, this attack component is AoE. Having a ring around it would imply that it's an AoE rez, but having no ring around it also implies that it's a simple self rez, which it is not. Plus, since you already swapped a couple powers (like Detonation vs Time Bomb), and I'm sure a lot more people take Howling Twilight than Soul Transfer, they should probably be switched.

As a final note, why do Sprint powers have their own running icon buff instead of using the general movement speed icon? I'd accept that maybe it's because they also buff jump power, but the icon itself doesn't suggest that, and Swift boost flight speed but doesn't show it on the icon.

That's all for now. I can't speak for things I don't own, but hopefully some good will come of this post. Keep up the good work!

Mids is wacky then, which is what I was looking at. After double checking, for some reason it was listing 240s as the duration. But mousing over the stuff, the 240 seems to come from... knockback...? It lists some sort of 240 second knockback duration and is listing that instead of the 30 second Water Spout duration. Weird.

That being said, it looks like Tornado/Water Spout duration/magnitude is the same regardless of the AT that summons it. Unless Mids is off there?

I don't know if this is a Defender issue so much as an observation about powers.

Tornado - 20.8 end cost, minor damage, knockback, fear, disorient, -DEF. Duration: 30, Recharge: 60

Water Spout - 26 end cost, minor damage, knockback, fear, disorient, -DEF. Duration: 240s, Recharge: 180

Magnitudes and duration of mez powers are identical. The only difference is Water Spout uses a little more endurance for a much, much longer duration and an overlapping recharge.

Considering most epic powers are dulled down with increased recharge times or even weakened beyond use (I'm looking at you, Stalker snipes!), it's very strange that a Stalker has access to Tornado that has eight times the duration and is permable out of the box, slottable for double and nearly triple-perma, while the Defender version has to be three slotted for recharge to keep one up. On top of that, the Stalker version offers the same debuff and mez potential. Even with the slightly increased end cost, Water Spout is a much better end/use power, and with the ability to easily summon 2-3 without outside recharge buffs, it becomes a much better debuff power.

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On test as of yesterday

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USER INTERFACE

• Players below level 12 can no longer use the in-game Mail system.


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Its a sledgehammer approach but will be very effective in this case.

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No complaint here. I've only ever received a VALID in-game email about twice in the history of my gameplay, and both were someone from a supergroup sending me information about their group that I asked for. This would be worth it to avoid having 3 of these things every time I log on my brute.

Although last night I got a tell from someone selling while playing my mastermind.

The biggest thing here for me is the "real math" update. I think this is a big step in the right direction.

I've played a number of other MMOs. Very few really tell you everything that's going on. Games like Ragnarok Online and Granado Espada just tell you your attack is doing "500%" or "1200%" and nothing else. And then you miss vital information like how the stats work and what numbers to aim for, or exactly what each stance does for you.

By far the best game I've played for this is Guild Wars. In GW, everything told you exactly what it did. If you have a debuff, you know how long it lasts. If your armor gives you resistance to bleeding, you know how much. If your attack does damage, you know how much, and what element it is. You know the cast time, cost, and recharge time of every single skill.

The thing that's always bothered me about CoH is the vague descriptions of powers. If I'm told the attack does "high" damage, how much is that? What's better, extreme or superior? And the worst is recharges, where 6 seconds and 10 seconds are both "Medium" while 8 seconds is "Moderate." "Very Long" could be anywhere from two minutes to 15 minutes, and how long is "Very Fast" anyway?

If we start getting more information to tell us what's going on, people can make better decisions about their characters -- without having to check forums, wikis, and builders just to see exactly how much DEF you get from Shadow Fall and if it's worth slotting for it.

So when are we doing away with negative stealth? The last patch noted that the passive powers like swift and hurdle don't accept sets anymore, which I thought was the entire reason for introducing negative stealth to begin with.