LordXenite

No, I think he wants you to "speak your mind" in the proper thread that the Forum Moderators have set aside for such discussion. Since the volume of threads about this issue is so potentially big, the moderators would like to keep this discussion limited to the particular threads they've set aside... you know?

Oh.. and IBTL.

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BTW Darth, have you noticed that someone made a map of nothing but Voids? I think the arc was called Dubya Tee Eff or something of that nature. Talk about a challenge arc for a Kheld...

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Surprisingly, I actually took my All-Kheldian SG team (6 Kheldians team, if I remember correctly) through an Arc (not the one you speak of) where for the better part of two missions, we were constantly ambushed by Voids. Believe it or not, it was quite fun, despite the wipes. I believe people may learn teamwork from wipes, rather than from u883rly-built characters.

Now, soloing an Arc that has nothing but Voids... that's just nuts for a Kheldian.

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Maybe I'm mistaken, but I was referring to the current over-reaction to Posi using his "Dad-voice" making people afraid to use the MA for fear of being punished for unwittingly farming.

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Ah.

Well, I know my own MA stuff isn't focused on farming and cannot be mistaken for a farm.

Positron's warning about not even putting the word "farm" or making any association to it in ones' arc description was probably just meant to help lessen the workload for the GMs making the call about whether an arc is or is not a farm.

I think the Devs simply intended that our story-arcs involve a healthy mix of canon critters and custom critters so that story-arcs are both interesting, and present acceptable challenge levels across all AT/power-set combinations.

The thing is of course, that this still leaves the opening for people who so wish it, to twist the system and design a mission with crazyu88er critters.

The Devs however, coming from the point-of-view of maintaining their definitions and ratio of Risk vs Reward, are the ones who get to restrict us and determine for us what should be considered a healthy mix of canon critters and custom critters so that story-arcs are both interesting, and present acceptable challenge levels across all AT/power-set combinations.

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I right-click on everything: enemies, allies, objects. I also read everything. As such, I try to make sure my arcs include descriptions, clues, and souvenirs, and am disappointed when I'm playing an arc that doesn't include much in the way of background.
*
How important is all the "wordy" stuff to you?

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Wow... I'm exactly the same. However, when I solo an Arc, I can afford the time, when grouped, that's a different story... which reminds me of my original reasoning about why I shouldn't have gotten into MMO's in the first place!

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Well, so would I, but the current storm clearly demonstrates that obvious to some is "OMGBBQ, THERE[sic] GOING TO . . . ." to others.

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You lost me there Tripp.. did you mean to say that the same NPC's may prove a challenge to one AT and not to another?

EDIT :: And now Decorum says: "True. Undeniably true. Reading IS fundamental.", which again confuses me even more... have mercy guys, I'm out of coffee and after debugging some crappy code here... what am I missing? what current storm?

/cried

(QR)

I'm actually starting to wish (again) AE arcs carried no rewards what-so-ever but instead would let us grant the player who's playing through them with unique temp-powers and special costume pieces (that we could craft based on AE-tickets) instead.

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Maybe it would more effective if I posted a proposed build and had you guys pick at it.

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Good idea.

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I will say that all those power options make it a bit overwhelming....

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Definitely, but you'll overcome it.

One question I wanted to ask though, why the focus on forms, why not play a TriForm?

I think you'd find that the secret to playing a form-centric Kheldian is to build your Kheldian by taking Human-form powers based not so much on what those powers can do for you (although that does come into play, of course), but rather on what IO-sets you can slot in them to gain bonuses that directly benefit your forms.

In my opinion, you'd get a weak version of a Blaster/Scrapper when soloing, and based on your team's composition, your Kheldian could shine as either a Blaster-wannabe or a Scrapper-wannabe, possibly both, but you'd be lacking in general utility that your Human-form powers grant a Kheldian.

Just like Memphis Bill said, you'll miss out on a lot of potential (and fun) by not taking or not slotting Human-form powers.

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Although, without XP or tickets, I guess technically it wouldn't be an exploit any more, since it wouldn't be giving "unnatural or unintended benefits". There certainly wouldn't be any point to it for powerlevelers.

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This would mean Challenge for the sake of Challenge.

To be honest, at first, I figured the whole MA system would be completely rewardless! As in we write story-arcs for the sake of putting a story out there that people enjoy playing for the sake of a good story. I've long since realized that if you don't sprinkle the candy on top, the kids won't come to your party because without the promise of cake, no one's even interested to see if you're lying about it (the cake) or not

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Who's the woman on the right side of the picture?! Answer that for me please!!!!!!

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From the Press Release:

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Desdemona, a demon-summoning villain who has been redeemed.

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YES!!! I finally found the Press Release!

When I first clicked the link for the Press Release, there was nothing there

So, basically, does this mean Masterminds get Demon Summoning (Desdemona), and Blasters/Defenders get Pistols (or perhaps Dual Gun Wielding because of that other Hero mentioned) as new power-sets?!

Who's the woman on the right side of the picture?! Answer that for me please!!!!!!

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Again, considering that Positron said very strongly that they were only going after the worst-case exploiters, challenge missions should be okay. It's not difficult to tell the difference between exploits (fire imps with 5HP giving LT level XP) and challenging content (all boss missions, which will vary in difficulty based on AT).

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The fire imps giving Lieutenant-grade XP wasn't something decided by the Arcs' author. What the Arc authors did do to create an abusive Arc, was to provide missions filled with Fire Imp summoning NPC's that would be easily defeated and provide no risk to any AT.

An all Boss mission however, yet again, provides risk to some AT's and not so much to others, so again, we're talking about something that is going to be exploitable for some AT's and not so easily exploitable for others.

I'm not into Scrappers myself, so I'll give an example from my two Kheldians. I have ran an Arc (we'll leave its info unknown because I think it's been removed anyway) with a Lv50 Warshade and later with a Lv50 Peacebringer, both tri-forms.

The Warshade was usually at more risk if certain power missed or if I made errors in judgment with my form-shifting but generally swept through the mission much faster than my Peacebringer who faced a lot less risk but paid for it with a slower rate of progress.

I think however that were I playing on a Scrapper, both rate-of-progress and risk factors would make it appear as if I was actually engaged in farming because I'd gather the rewards with more efficiency than either Kheldian. (Perhaps that explains the arcs' removal?)

Essentially, my point is, if you want Challenge for the sake of Challenge, you shouldn't have a problem giving up on the rewards. If you want Challenge and rewards, then you have to commit yourself to the arbitration process conducted by the Devs in which they get to decide what's the proper RvR that suits them.

For myself, the Challenge I like to undertake at the moment is to actually craft an entertaining and interesting story-arc.

But how do you make a mission that is a challenge to one and all AT's? It is already clear that Scrappers for example can go through NPC's like nobody's business while other AT's may struggle and face greater risks than a Scrapper would, and even within the Scrapper AT, the build probably influences a lot of the Risk/Reward factor.

Until the game can accurately determine the Risk/Reward based on real-time data-mining from the actual battles and adjust the rewards according to the risk, I doubt the Devs can do anything better than inflicting global arbitrary guidelines that either ignore AT/Build considerations or take them in as global factors only.

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specially constructed AV's, powerset mixes, that sort of thing

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Thanks. I assume we're also talking about soloing these missions?

Sorry to barge in like this, but what exactly are Challenge Missions? Are they like those Scrappers' Challenges with Lv54 Rikti Bosses?

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What they do can actually change the course of the story and have lasting consequences. It's a novel experience in an otherwise very static world.

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To me, that's putting the RPG in MMORPG.

Thank you for the kind and thourough review. I will be making changes to the story-arc, and possibly re-publishing it with a new ID.

Very glad you liked it.

Clue order is determined by the goal-creation order. Put simply, Goal1's clue will appear above Goal2's clue, so set up the goals in the orders you want their clues to be revealed.

Global: @Xenite Blackthread
Loc: Canada
Gender/Age/Height: Strictly on a need to know basis.
SG affiliation: Umbra Illuminati
Most Recognizable Toon: Ascendantia

Although this feature means the Devs would possibly have to change the login procedure at the very least to expose more information than is already exposed, I'm all for it and have been wanting this since Day 1.

/signed!

I fixed the issue with NPC default description being longer than the filed-limit. Once again you may enjoy the Vampire Bunnies

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Childhood Horrors 5349 would not start for me either.

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I appreciate the notice, I'll try and see if I can fix it when I get home tonight.