StratoNexus

I agree completely. That was kind of what I was picturing; I am glad you found the words for it.

The resizable window might have tabs for each mission, then each tab would have sections for the Intro Text, Send Off text, Pop-Ups, and Return to Contact text. You could even have it include the text for going back to contact while the mission is still in progress, if you wanted.

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Once you have entered the mission, click the "i" in the red starburst in the navigation compass. That will display everything except the after-mission debriefs.

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Yes, that is the very display that i am saying is terrible, buggy, and ought to be replaced with something of higher quality. Although, I will double-check when I can, because I have always just hit the mission window "more" button, so maybe the red "I" thing is different.

Like I said:
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Some of the text is only available to the leader. If you are not the leader and want to read the mission text, you have to use this tiny window, that can't be re-sized, and everytime someone on your team sneezes it resets your scrolling in that window so you lose your place.

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And understand that some of them LOOK just like farms.

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I do not believe this is true. Unless you want to define "look just like farms" as any outdoor map full of enemies. After jumping into a few spawns, you know if it is a farm or not.

All boss spawns where the bosses had no range attacks and were set to standard/standard with long animation sets (Spines Melee / Ice Melee for example) - obvious farm is obvious. I got invited to a team like this that did not advertise they were farming on my Kat/Regen scrapper. After two spawns I realized, and went and rounded up the aggro cap and stood inside them all attacking me with DA on auto and got a beverage. When I came back, the leader asked me if I would drag them over to the team. I did so, then I thanked the group for the team and said, "I got to go."

Farm missions are designed to be easy, the enemies die fast, do little damage, and lack control/debuff powers. Challenge missions have almost the exact opposite criteria. I am not sure how they could be confused.

I am not even sure why a challenge mission would even be on a big map. Many challenges would work fine on a medium map and most could probably be done on a small one. Challenges on typical farm maps (big outdoor, Atta, etc.) are probably very rare.

The story and text is important enough to me that I feel they ought to improve the experience.

I love reading the text. Even in "bad" stories, I like to read to try to get an idea what they were going for with their attempt. I have read a lot of cool ideas, even if they were not well executed.

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I saw you had a couple story arcs published, and basically picked this one to review because it had the fewest plays through.

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I have been thinking about that line of reasoning. I wonder if people wouldn't prefer their more played arcs to get even more plays. There does seem to be some incentive for that in game and with how the rating system works.

I am probably a week or two away from publishing my 2nd arc, which has quite a different game-play focus than my first. I am not sure how I will feel about plays once I have more than one arc posted.

The user interface for reading mission text has always been terrible unless you were the leader. Now that we have Mission Architect, I really think the decision to leave this area crappy should be re-evaluated.

It is my opinion that everyone on the team should be able to access a mission log window that would function similarly to the contact dialogue window, just without the interactive "accept mission" bits. This window would include all the text from the contact (ideally, also including a way to read information about the contact).

The current system generally forces everyone to wait while the leader reads the mission briefing/return to contact text. Some of the text is only available to the leader. If you are not the leader and want to read the mission text, you have to use this tiny window, that can't be re-sized, and everytime someone on your team sneezes it resets your scrolling in that window so you lose your place.

I believe this system can be improved dramatically and feel it would have a great impact on people's enjoyment of the game.

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I guess my only reason at this point for not doing it is ego. It sounds very self-serving to me.

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Well I'm happy that your free time is worth less to you than mine is. Forbid that someone ask for a little something in return, but that makes them egotistical apparently.

[/ QUOTE ]You just love your misinterpretation.

The only reason I DO NOT DO THE SAME THING is my OWN ego.

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It, of course, is blatantly and honestly self-serving. I do not know if it is necessary to ask for others to review your arcs as a reviewer, since the mere act of having a review thread helps give you visibility (although I recommend you put your arc in your sig, promotion is not wrong).

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The QPQ seems like a kind of automatic quality reassurant,

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I don't know what you're trying to imply there.

[/ QUOTE ]That you're only going to get people submitting their arc for trial who actually want to put forth the effort of doing YOUR arc, so you're going to get fewer trials from people who care more.

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I think that sentence could be read multiple ways. I read it as follows: You will get fewer requests for reviews and the requests you do get will be from people who care more about their arcs and the game.

Frankly, that seems like a win-win to me.

I made a custom group that mixes Knives and Malta. Very fun, for me. I am sure some would find it painful and tedious. After all, if a defender gets stunned, that is fine, but when a scrapper gets slowed down, worst thing ever!

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Have you tried clicking Default?

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It is the Default description that is too long. But, yes, I did type something random in and then click Default, to try that.

I have Sister Psyche as an ally and Malaise as a captive in one of my arcs. When I got the new patch today, their developer made description is now throwing my arc into Error, because they have 972 and 650 of 300 characters. This problem did not exist pre-patch.

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I was hoping a review would highlight the problems, but I'm a little surprised at what they turned out to be.

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That is probably a common thing. If your arc has problems you see or expect, you have likely already fixed them yourself.

I know all three forum reviews I received were very helpful and I am much happier with my story and pacing now. Other people pointed out the problems I didn't see or didn't want to see.

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It loses some of the personality of the contact, but remember this is a game, not a book. When we write story driven arcs, dialogue cannot be too long, because players will not read it and just click Accept. If you actually want players to read everything, you need to choose, lot of story less personality, or more personality less story.

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While that characterization is probably true for most, I'd like to suggest an option that might allow for both routes in the same dialogue.

Leave the longer briefing, but use highlighting for those who just want to skim and line breaks to make it easier on the eyes.

For example:

We do have an...idea, however, and SERAPH has agreed to help us. Of course, they're as concerned as we are. They've arranged for a guide to meet you. This is where it gets...difficult...$target.

The guide will be meeting you in the spiritual plane. This won't be the Underworld, but it won't be heaven, either. It will be the space between. This contact, Gary Owens, exists there, save for moments when he comes to the aid of a Super Group in this world named the Inner Sanctum. He has agreed to help you scour the spiritual plane and see if they have knowledge of this Grimmoricum.

Arc ID 19017

Operation: World War III

I still think it is a bit longer than needs be (minorly tedious at times). In mission 4 ditch the allies as well, they are too strong, IMO.

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But it only works for custom mobs.

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I haven't tried this, but you might be able to do this with a Custom Group, not just custom mobs. Create a new Custom Group and only put the stock Rikti Lt. in it. Then use the custom group to place the "boss" and just surround it with the regular Rikti faction.

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I tried adding one extra detail originally, a boss fight, but I found the choices for Rikti bosses are pretty narrow. And usually without an Ally, soloing one for one of my squishies took a lot of effort to take out just one Chief Soldier. So I removed it from the first mission.

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You could add a named boss, but instead of using a Boss you could use a Rikti Lt. and then bump up the difficulty of the encounter. That would make for a tougher fight, without having an actual boss.

Liberty and Pinnacle work for me, my highest on Virtue is in the 20s. Are we trying for today, or setting it up for next week?

I'd be willing to help this or next Sunday. Test Server or which Live server?

I am not totally opposed to making endurance management easier than the current state. I am not convinced it is good idea, however.

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I've said that you're better off not using rest more often than is absolutely necessary.

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So you are not actually saying anything.

If you want to speak about using Rest more often in order to help a low level player, it is reasonable to start from a point where you use Rest with a moderate degree of brainpower. Instead, you want to make it clear that if you use Rest all the time, even when unneeded, then you would be lowering your speed through missions. I think that is pretty clear. I'd rather not bother discussing times when one's health and end bars are at 75%, but instead actually start the conversation where we conclude that one needs Rest. I thought that is where we started, but you have now backed all the way down to this ludicrous position.

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I've simply said that a character who's sole means of endurance management is Rest is, because of Rest's inherent downtime and other drawbacks, will take longer to get through a mission than one who also has other means of endurance management.

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Your statement is irrelevant. Will someone who has Rest on a three minute timer and uses other means of endurance management take longer to get through a mission (several missions) than someone who has Rest whenever they want? Will teams who have Rest on a three minute timer and use other means of endurance management take longer to get through a mission (several missions) than a team who has Rest whenever they want? If so, then you have improved speed and activity by shortening Rest's recharge (your stated goal, so I am unsure why you keep trying to downplay it). How often will players use Rest in that scenario? How much will Rest with no recharge eliminate our need to worry about end/health concerns?

Perhaps I team more than you and have a different perspective. I can see using Rest almost all the time with nothing but benefit. Tanker runs in, Blaster / Scrappers unleash hell, repeat. When attackers are low on end, they can Rest while Tanker gathers spawn. If Tanker gets low on health, he can pull out and let the team take remaining aggro (since all AoEs are usable at whim because endurance is a non-issue, taking aggro from a lowbie tanker is even easier than normal, and with enemies dying faster less of a problem) and Rest while the team finishes that spawn. You can also choose to cease Rest early without any real penalty when needed. "Hey, I am up to half end and the Tanker got an extra spawn he didn't count on, I'll get in there now." There are more concerns like these that should be taken into consideration, IMO, before simply declaring that Rest with low to zero recharge is not over the top and would be lower performing than other end management techniques.

I use Rest pretty frequently right now on almost every character I play, even in the higher levels. I can use it and have no one notice in many, many cases (my teammates can occasionally handle the last 10 seconds of a spawn and the first 5 or 6 of the next spawn while I am kneeling) . If you give it to me with zero recharge, you better believe I can and will use it to much greater effect than you seem to believe is possible.

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I didn't say rest recharging faster would increase downtime. (Or, using more precise language, that using rest more often would increase my downtime.) I said that excessive use of rest, i.e. using all of your endurance on every single fight without using the endurance management tools that become available as the game progresses, increases downtime.

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and that it's better to avoid resting unless you need to rest in order to ensure that you'll survive the next fight. The second of these is a matter of mathematically provable fact, and the first strikes me as fairly non-controversial.

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The counterpoint is that Rest comes with sufficient other penalties -- long activation time, defensive vulnerability, elimination of any offensive output -- that a high recharge is unnecessary.

It's also a question as to why relying on Rest (given its negatives) would be worse than relying on Stamina or endrx slotting (given the absence of any negatives other than opportunity costs). As I've said before, you're always better off not resting except in those situations where not resting makes a trip to the hospital likely.

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You keep saying that you are better off not using Rest due to its drawbacks. You also guarantee that a playstyle where Rest is always available and used often is going to take longer to get through a mission than one that does not rely on Rest. You speak of the 20 seconds of Rest used after every fight (and claiming use of Rest after every fight instead of after every two or three is making your position look stronger than it would be in reality) and yet do not write about any potential speed up in play due to not worrying about end management. There is little balance in your statements and thus I find it hard to be convinced by your points.

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It also seems evident, although maybe less so, that it will minimize downtime if you build your character in such a way that you end up having to rest as rarely as possible, since Rest itself is downtime.

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While that may seem true on the surface, I do not think it should be dismissed as true so easily. Spending 20 seconds recovering full health and endurance every one to two minutes may indeed work well enough for most folks to strongly consider using Rest often and lead many people to not worry about needing other end management solutions. I think it should be considered what one can do with a build when you can feel free to let the blue bar go down much quicker than you currently tolerate. More endurance spent over less time almost always translates into more damage produced in less time which might translate into more enemies dead faster which often translates into less health lost which can translate into more difficult challenges being reasonable. It may be true that using Rest more often is a detriment, but I'd prefer to be convinced as opposed to having it dismissed as true.

The following is just a start and is not final proof, in case you thought it was:
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And taking a knee between every fight would add about 20 seconds to each fight. If you're spending, say, a minute on each spawn (and that seems to be a reasonable estimate for the lower levels) then your end-hog playstyle still results in a 33% increase in mission completion time.

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If you're spending, say, a minute on each spawn (and that seems to be a reasonable estimate for the lower levels)

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If you spend one minute to kill each spawn, that means even without enhancements, you can use Rest every 3 spawns. Is end management truly so onerous in your experience that you drain your end in one or two fights regularly?

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While you could use the strategery you just outlined and ignore end management options, it seems pretty clear that you'd be running slower than someone who did use a more endurance-friendly build and/or playstyle.

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It is not clear in the least. It might take me an extra 20 seconds to Rest, but it could take the guy using end management tools and equips an extra 20 seconds to fight (stressing their green bar more as well then).

You seem to be talking out of both sides of your mouth. "I want Rest to recharge faster, so I can use it more often, in order to be active more often, but rest recharging faster will actually increase my downtime, so there is no benefit to Rest recharging faster."

Pick a side.

Rest on a fast or zero recharge will increase my speed through missions and thereby my fun and it is a good idea because of that.

Rest on a fast or zero recharge will increase my speed through missions and lessen my need to manage my end bar by killing slower, and I'd rather face that dilemma so I prefer the status quo.

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It's the pro-status-quo faction that is trying to enforce its idea of fun by preventing rest from being up when I'd like to use it. There's nothing keeping you from waiting as long as you want to use rest, there's nothing that's stopping you from, well, not using it.

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There is one thing stopping me from not using it. It would probably be stupid not to. Telling me I can choose to play stupid and not use rest when it is recharged is not very compelling.

If I can use rest after every fight (even if I only need to use it after every three or four), I can fight all out; use all my attacks without any thought towards which ones cost more endurance; toss that AoE out at one target rather than wait for a single target attack to recharge. I can slot all damage/recharge enhancements and probably skip a lot of other end management powers and/or forgo other end management techniques. I can just take a knee between fights whenever I want.

Currently, I have to think about how to manage the blue (and green) bar (even at higher levels). I try to squeak out one more fight before I need to rest, pop a blue, hit Consume, etc. I look at a blue bar that is 15% full and I have to figure out how that is going to carry me through the next 4 minions and 1 Lt. or if teamed I need to think about how to best use that last bit of end before I run out. If I can just hit rest without worry about its recharge, it would probably be stupid to risk running out of blue while a Lt. is at half health and cranky. I currently enjoy managing my end and worrying about trying to stretch it out and trying to push my limits. If rest has no recharge, I have no reason to stretch out my endurance, because I can always take 16 seconds to fill up.

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Personally the "just a bunch of stuff that happened" thing doesn't bug me as much, but it's Venture's thread, so he gets to impose his opinions.

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I know I have seen Venture 4 star some arcs where he also states that the arc is "just a bunch of stuff that happened". So while it is an offense, it is not a terrible one.

Thank you for the look and the advice. I appreciate your time and the detail of your suggestions.

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Um, the first computer I clicked on has the name "Get Info off the Network Fake, ambush 1". This sounds more like a private note to yourself.

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I was unaware those titles translated to a spot the player could view them and never noticed it in game while playing. I did indeed think they were a private note, just to help me keep track of my objectives. The same thing holds true for the custom enemy group, I forgot that that name would display as the faction to the player. I will indeed rename those objects/groups (and will probably use Malta Splinter).

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You could maybe have the real glowy have simply "Get information from network" as its objective and leave the objective blank for the fakes.

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Good point. It seems so obvious now, I am embarrassed I missed it myself.

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As I enter, an Operation Engineer said "Oh! A hero. Excellent. We can kill two birds with a lot of bullets." Nice line, but he says it before he even SEES me. I think maybe that line should be moved to "Active" text.

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It is the active text. I might have to realize that the tehcnical limits of the MiA might restrict me more than I like or just let the player role-play that they were detected.

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Maybe make these objectives more vague, like "Get information" and "Identify Malta's mysterious ally".

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Maybe. I view the Nav compass more as an out of story, game play aid. I might hide stuff if the plot depends on some type of reveal, but in this case, the reveal doesn't seem vital to me. I can see how it might be more enjoyable to discover stuff as the mission progresses though, so I will probably take your advice here.

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But do make the two clues consistent.

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I will look into better phrasing.

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but ... what principles? As far as I know, the Malta are killers and mercenaries, not some shades of grey organization that claims to have ideals.

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I doubt most of the members of Malta think that. I believe they think they are highly principled, so high they are even above the law.

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So far the plot is kind of confusing; but it occurs to me maybe this is intentional on your part, to give it a conspiracy sort of feeling. If so, you can maybe amp this up by using more "conspiracy theory" type language to help set the mood; e.g., Gray Knight gives you a "dossier" instead of a "letter", and have various patrols say "$name has seen too much! Liquidate $himher now!" and have your objectives in this mission be "Find out the Truth" and "Unmask conspiracy".

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While it seems you are indeed getting the idea behind the arc as is, it certainly is a great idea to use more connotative words to help immerse the player.

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When did I do this? She is expositioning about stuff that I supposedly have done, but really haven't. I think it would make more sense if she had learned this on her side mission than to portray the hero as having done it (since really I have done nothing but click on her for the next mission).

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Pretend you have? One thing I have always longed for, was to feel more like I drive the story as much as the contact. I tried to incorporate that feeling here. I tried to be vague enough about how you obtained the information so you could decide on your own how you got it (whether your network of people found out, or you tracked them down through shipping manifests or hacking into a Malta/Council computer, or beat it out of some baddies, etc.) Maybe it doesn't work well, but that was my intent.

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Found Betty Sizzle, she could perhaps use more biographical info.

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Yeah. I thought the description I wrote when I made the custom critter would be available as a contact (Learn more about Contact), but that feature doesn't exist. I will have to copy that information out into the arc proper. Thanks for the catch, I had forgotten about that.

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I still don't get the "Lions and tigers and bears" note; I saw none of those.

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Is a nod to this:
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Also, just to warn you, Knives of Artemis in Oranbega is probably the nightmare scenario for a lot of players.

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and this:
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I teamed up with a brute for this last mission and his comment was "knives and malta mixed? You need to toss in Tsoo lieutenants and Master illusionists too."

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Malta and Knives and Council in the haunted forest. Watch out for flying monkeys! I knew my villain choices would be a turn off for many. I really like these groups, both from a story perspective, as well as for game play. My arc turning off people for those reasons is just something I will have to live with.

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but I think this final mission could've benefited from a named boss or mastermind that is the "big bad guy" of the story arc.

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Talen Lee felt the same way. I am trying to avoid that, preferring instead to have the face off vs. the Organization, represented by the militaryy leaders, but I will have to consider this more since I have gotten that same feedback from my SG as well. Perhaps naming all 4 of the Archons, having unique speeches, and giving them descriptions designating wings of the military might give that feeling better... How to make it feel more final and satisfying, without a singular big-bad...

I see I am coming up in the queue. I wanted to say that I made some changes based on the two reviews I received. I hope the story is more cohesive and the gameplay less tedious, while still being challenging.