Judgement_Dave

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Aren't they just glowies / objectives though, I thought they'd be stripped out.

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As far as I can tell (from memory) - The mole machines/generators are more like destroyable objects - i.e. when/if destroyed they appear as destroyed versions of themselves and don't de-spawn as mobs would.

Even if you take the destructable element out I think the chassis of the generator trucks and the surrounds of the mole machines will possibly be just background - which could leave the map looking decidely odd without the targettable portions!

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*Edited to counter JDs ninja edit (although signposting it with EDIT probably doesn't count as ninjaing)!

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But... I thought my non-ninja edit was only in response to your semi-ninja edit (only marked by the 'Edited by' comment at the bottom of the post). Either that or I was blind to the StM/Johnny Sonata comment/question when I composed my initial reply!

*cough* Only 14+ hrs behind the stats police *cough*

Supposition:
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Hmm "To all your chars"
I expect all Current chars, wonder if this will mean those you create after you get it.


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I'd expect it's treated in a similar manner to Vets rewards badges.

The badge is signifying that the player wrote an outstanding arc, and really has nothing at all to do with individual characters - so the badge is granted to all characters, present and future, that the players plays on the account.

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the Cap Au one from the "Protect the Transmitter" RWZ mission

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Whilst the original may be in there, (from memory) I'd imagine it could be worth doing another copy without some of the debris from machines surfacing.

TBH that is the sort of map that I can easily imagine being unavailable as it may be set up specially with the machines/generators.


EDIT:
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does one of the Johnny Sontana missions have an instance of St Martial in it?

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Yes. Around one side (North iirc) of the pyramid, and extending to the shore opposite.

Could do with the casino district and fairground - yes I know we have fairgrounds in Paragon... but.. but..

Ace_of_Hearts wrote:
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I like the spooky hospital map featuring Malaise and Mother Mayhem which I know is just a normal abandoned office with different furniture but I actually think its really creepy

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Omega_MCX wrote:
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Would like to see the CoT lab invasion map with the melted elevators, even though its a slight difference it really does make the map standout.


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Which is why I've been hoping that even if a more fully featured map editor doesn't hit MA v2.0 that we'll at least get a few skins and lighting/environmental options for existing maps.

Just changing the look of a well known map can make it feel off-kilter and new (for the first run through at least). Heck - even the first few times I hit CoV offices they felt different to the CoH offices and the only difference was carpet/decoration. I imagine we'd get the same effect with offices using the tech_war_torn and magic_war_torn skins...

Now if some of the existing maps could be re-spun with the entrance/exit moved as well, there'd be newer feeling maps with little overhead.

I think we also need a quick burst of odd/interesting maps before MA mission players get sick to death of every single mission arc including 2 or 3 previously-unique maps.

But like MA in general, I'm hoping that letting users use virtually all the maps and write a lot of missions will give the devs more time to come up with the really-interesting new missions that utilise new maps and tricks.

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Sorry JD, didn't mean to make out that you were a pedant....more that I am

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No apology needed. I am a pedant. I've been a systems developer for many years. The two things may not be entirely unrelated.

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Have they doubled the dev team just for CoH or is this for all their franchises?

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The NCNC dev team just does CoX afaik - it's certainly nowt to do with GW, Aeon, lineage etc

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Or can you settle the ticking bomb that is my mind and appease me

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Cut the red wire... or was it the blue.

It won't replace devs - though it may mean that they only produce really good/unique content as any old fool can produce 'normal' missions.

There may be some slight trouble finding teams at first when MA hits - but for most people that'll wear off quite quickly. Heck - we've been playing for years to play the game - why would we all stop and turn into full time designers????

I just found it pleased me on both pedantry and irony fronts, given that the botched spelling was in a section upon the importance of correct spelling. :P

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Hall of fame = 1000+ ratings with an avarage rating of 5 (rounded to the nearest whole number, so actually 4.5).

That's probably even harder to get than 1000 5 stars though.


I'm not even going to think about getting in the HoF (I think the devs will find they need to ajust the criteria for anyone to get in). I'm just going to create what I enjoy, and hope others enjoy it too.

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Actually the original redname info (think from Ex Libris, I quoted it and linked source yestterday...) said 1000+ ratings with an average of 5 rounded up. Rounded up seems to imply a ceiling function, so >4.000000 is rounded to 5.

Your example would be rounding to the nearest integer - whether that is up or down.

Still probably nigh on impossible if people rate how they would if they had no idea of the ratings requirement for HoF.

EDIT: think that one of the interviews or player questions in the US discussions thread asked about HoF requirements (even after Ex Libris had posted what appears to be quite unambiguous) and the redname answering seemed a bit vague. I take this as it being outside the 'vague' rednames sphere of expertise... I'm sure that Ex would have checked the info before posting, so I'm still going with that. SO 1000+ votes with a mean average of >4 (to allow for rounding up).

BTW - they said average.. I hate people saying that - it is meaningless. Mean, median or mode actually mean something. But since a mode and median are usually integer values, and the common man normally means 'mean average' when they say average, I believe that they probably meant mean average.

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you can use supercariflighdealistcexpalidoeshus... (that's the one in Mary Poppins for anyone who can't understand it)


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Glad you clarified - as it was spooled wrnogly I didn't know what the heck it was.

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The main reason I put difficulty over plot though is that no amount of good writing will make an unwinnable battle fun.

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Further to my earlier reply about the difficulty - obviously shout it loud in the description if you write something that is meant to be nigh-on impossible to complete, or to be some sort of iron man challenge for only the hardiest characters.

But there's maybe no need to mention increased difficulty if it's just going up a couple of notches from usual missions - like a anti-khled boss or several spread-out AV ambushes would possibly be.

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Difficulty balance (equivalent in difficulty to the rest of the game for the most part. Advanced challenges are fine if you give a warning in the arc description, for EG "warning, this arc forces a Void Slayer boss to spawn, solo Kheldians may have problems" or "warning, 5 AV ambushes in a row." I'm guessing that MA arcs will lock us in Task Force mode and we won't be able to buy insps or get allies to help us.)


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Wouldn't have thought a warning need be so explicit that it becomes a spoiler! If it's possible to do then I'd actually expect many MA arcs to be harder than most existing dev-created content. I'd expect this from the number of threads you often see about how the game has become too easy (in the posters opinion, obviously) and MA may give players a way to rectify this perceived problem.

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Consistency with the real game-world (arcs where Statesman beats up civilians and worships Satan probably wouldn't wash)

...

Of course, any of the above might be ignored if the arc is meant to be funny, satirical or just weird, but they'd have to do it well.

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Glad you included that last line.

From an in-game rationale some funny/satirical/weird arcs could be expected as AE (the company running MA mission simulators) is an entertainment company. Surely it's produce (MA missions) would stand a good chance of surpassing cinema/TV for mass entertainment... And like cinema/TV I'd expect some serious arcs (the dramas/thrillers) and some comedy and light entertainment. If done well my character wouldn't necessarily want/need this spelling out explicitly in the arc description - of course me (the player) wouldn't object to a pointer if an arc is too subtly tongue-in-cheek.

Game-world consistency can only go so far, especially in a game-reality where multiple dimensions and timelines are known to exist. I'm pretty darn sure that in the infinite possible universes the multiverse has a smaller infinity subset of universes where Statesman does beat up civillians and worships Satan.

And if the devs love a well-written arc which has Statesman doing this then it could become a devs choice and even become elevated to canon... Maybe unlikely - but PCC can lead to additions/changes to canon, so what is 'consistent' will have chance to change.

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In the video you can see the mission selection screen, and it does seem to give you are fair bit of summary info. Ill try to type what I can read:

Kidnap
by <authorname>
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Length: Long
First published: <date and time>
Morality: Heroic
Mission 1: <title> <level range> <objective types>
Mission 2: <title> <level range> <objective types>
etc...

Enemy Groups: <blah> <blah>
Something illegable: Possibly a plot summery

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Beneath by <Authorname> there's a line I can't make out and another stating Arc ID: <integer>.

On the individual mission lines the 1st part is a map size description, not a title - e.g. the ones on screen say things like 'small size map', 'medium size map' or 'large size map'.

The something illegible appears to be the word Description - so it does look like an author written description for the arc.

The 2nd arc on the same screen seems to have a Length of Very Short - I'd guess that this may just be a description based upon number of missions (possibly including number of mission objectives).

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There is xp in it. And influence/infamy/prestige too.

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Only if you run it without testing options, IIRC (or even only if you've actually published it.)

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I'd guess that anything not published is counted as 'testing' - even if it's effectively finished but 'private' content (e.g. for SG RP arcs).

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No, anyone can run any arc, at least it was in the very first officcial article and we weren't told differently since.

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More than that - pretty sure it's been confirmed very recently* that the missions are cross-faction, cross-server, cross-region and cross-eyed. Though as you say, we've never been told contrary to this.

I've not seen anything stating that missions need to be marked as co-op, and given that they are already available to both heroes and villains I'd guess that any mission can be run as co-op if you can get the team in a co-op/neutral zone to begin it.

So I'd guess that PD is a definite AE site for I14 and there may even be an AE-type suite in the RWZ vanguard base (using the rationale that it's for vanguard training in simulation excercises). It wouldn't surprise me if at least one more zone open to both factions gets an AE in I15 - whether that's something like a moon/space zone or a revamp of an existing zone (shards?).


* For some reason some posters in the US seemed to keep getting confused over whether US and EU shared the same MA missions... pretty sure that the post (last week?) reconfirming the position restated that heroes and villains can run any MA mission.

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I'm a bit concerned that players might not find out what level a mission is until they are in it.

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And that's what I refer to as summarising the level range... it's easy for an individual mission but I wonder what people would see as a suitable description for an arc (as the missions may have different level ranges)?

What if the example skull-power-theft arc had missions something like:
mission 1 - 20 to 50
mission 2 - 30 to 50
mission 3 - 1 to 15
mission 1 - 40 to 50
mission 1 - 30 to 40

Would an automatic summary describe it as 1-50? Or maybe usually 40-50 (as 3 missions cover that range)? Or usually 30-40 (3 again)? Or maybe 40 (as 4 missions allow level 40)?

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I'm a bit concerned that players might not find out what level a mission is until they are in it.

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It may not be too bad for the odd individual mission if they use level changes creatively (e.g. my previous example of power-theft) but it does sound bad if players don't know what range arcs/missions are at all.

If that's the case then it is (at the least) a bit off-putting. And I'd have thought that the devs would get less than favourable feedback on it.

I'd hope that the search facility summarised the arcs level range in the results. Heck - arcs can only be up to 5 missions, so you could display the level range for each mission if neccesary (but that would remove some surprise from creative uses of level-shifting).

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Create custom NPCs to fill the level-gaps (or extend the range) and use them, especially if we can grab most NPC powersets. Since the defeats don't count to defeat badges it doesn't matter if that storm-shaman-alike at level 34 isn't a true BP as no-ones counting.


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But this is where not being able to flag the zombies he summons as undead becomes a problem...

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Let them have some minor irritances for v2.0!!

But, if we can plug the gap with a custom designed NPC that uses the shaman powerset from the dev-created NPC I'd expect the summoned zombies to already be flagged as they are for the existing death shamans. I'd have thought (my assumption, not based upon anything read or rednamed) that the summoned zombies were effectively part of the power.

Now I can see the issue if creating custom NPC lvl34 dry husks and other BP dead-zombie-thingies.

BTW - you planning something using mid-30s BP or are we doing the usual analysis and speculation for the hell of it?

Of course, all this can probably be sidestepped by a skilled MA designer putting in enough time.

Create custom NPCs to fill the level-gaps (or extend the range) and use them, especially if we can grab most NPC powersets. Since the defeats don't count to defeat badges it doesn't matter if that storm-shaman-alike at level 34 isn't a true BP as no-ones counting.

OTOH I'd guess that the devs may fill the gaps - it shouldn't affect the dev-written game (as the arcs/missions don't exist in the missing level ranges) but it would help smooth a couple of potential bumps in MA content.

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Interesting that it is on a par mission basis rather than a per arc basis, and it appears that you don't select the mission level: it it determined by the mobs you choose.

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I can understand this from the point that you could introduce a story-based rationale for level shifts (you lose most of your powers at the end of the 2nd mission as the skulls have somehow taken them... so it's off to fight skulls in mission 3 to regain powers to fight the main Malta threat in mission 4).

However it's possibly a shame that you can't optionally further limit for the arc for consistency. E.g. if you hav ethe following in an arc:
mission 1 mobs give a range of 20-40
mission 2 mobs give a range of 30-45
mission 3 mobs give a range of 10-40
It may have been a good idea to allow the arc level to be set as any subrange of 30-40.

Heck you could probably implement something fairly easily taking an arc range limits and individual mission limits and using the intersection, default the arc range to 1-50. Could even limit to a single level then.. e.g. a lvl32 mission.

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He doesn't say what happens if mob A is 1-20 and mob B is 40-50.

And I think the BP is 20-30 and 40-45.

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Well he does say When you make a mission, all of the level ranges must overlap at some point which suggests that you cannot create a mission with mob types that do not overlap at some point. I'd guess exactly how the system stops you is unimportant... maybe a dynamically filtered list (filtering mob types on already selected types) or just a warning/refusal to save when you try to save/move to next stage of design. As I say, unimportant - as long as it works!

BTW - didn't realise that BP has a split range. Is it the case that none of the mob types can exist in the range 31-39 or merely that there are no arcs/missions using them in that level range?? An important distinction, as the latter means that the full range is a continuous 20-45 but no current dev-created content utilises them between 31 and 39.

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Oh, yeah, something else that doesn't seem to have been answered yet: If you want to play an outleveled mission in the MA, does it autoexemplar?

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I thought it was answered by pohsyb at around the same time he spoke about mob levels... I'll just have a scan US-side...

EDIT: Found! Emboldening by lil ol' JD:
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Every critter has a level range where they are valid. When you make a mission, all of the level ranges must overlap at some point. If you are outside this level range when you go to play the mission you will be brought up or down to the level rang of the mission.
Example, I use critters A (1-54), B (34-45) and C (40-48). The level range of the mission is (40-45).

If I am level 5, I will play mission at level 40.
If I am level 50, I will play mission at level 45.
If I am level 42 I will play at level 42.
If I am level 5, but have set my difficulty to max, I will play at level 38.


Note: I said mission here, not arc, each mission has an independent level range.




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There is one thing I would like with cursom mobs which thier doesn't seem to be available, in the screenshots: flagging as "undead" or "robotic" or "keldian" with respect to special damage.

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I've already been thinking of this type of flag as obvious v2.0 material. More generally - sure that some form of customisation of relative strengths/weaknesses would be a good idea.

But if v1.0 does go down a storm then I'd have thought some form of map customisation would possibly top it.

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True it's been said that you could play your entire career 1-50 in MA missions and not be any worse off than someone playing normal missions, which seems to imply that salvage, enhancements and recipes will be available to buy from MA-ticket vendors as well.

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All that is really needed for that is pool A random drops, pool B random drops, and convert to reward merits.

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True - though working with the current reward merits system that's still something that would be assigned to an individual character rather than the account.

And that is the point: there would seem to be some things which account-wide MA merits will be used to purchase for individual characters.

Like I said though - I don't see an issue with that. Why shouldn't someone be able to get the odd reward for playing MA content? Why shouldn't designers get the odd reward for designing content that others like and want to play?

I'm pretty sure a nice balance can be found that rewards MA-based effort without causing any real balance issues.

About the only thing I can imagine people getting their knickers in a twist about is the possibility that someone could earn lots of merits (and so good recipes) by writing arcs whilst they hardly play the game. But, so what? If someone does this then:
* they've written content that others actively want to play - why not reward them?
* if they mainly write then I imagine that they'll spend the merits on MA-packs to help them create a wider range of content
* if they mainly write and hardly play, then what does it matter if every single power is full of purple IOs?? They aren't playing anyway...

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I wonder if "none" is an option for custom boss primary or secondary?

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You were the last person I thought would be designing a farm of custom bosses with no powers!