Tahliah

1st: Airhead
2nd: Liz
3rd: Darth Delicious

It's too early to say for sure, EI (at least for me). I don't know what the new VIP server will be like nor what the impact (if any) of the f2p people. It does sound like the devs went to great lengths to limit the ability of f2p's to grief, spam, generally annoy, but at the same time, as Canadian Stars mentions, what if you're on a team doing something that someone on the team can't do because they are f2p? It's a lot to absorb and sort through, but my first impulse here is to wait and see before I decide to move there wholesale (I'll definitely make and/or move at least one toon there, whatever happens).

Has anyone tried an all or mostly MM Lambda with level shifts / ipowers? I can see (barring nastier than usual lag) such a league burning through the warehouse / training facility phase killing everything in and out of sight. A minute of time is added with each crate destroyed by both teams, so it's rather like safeguard mishes in the sense that you can make it last as long as you want--within reason and in theory because there are what? 20 crates? and as long as both teams are moving and destroying the crates, both teams will get more time. I guess 10 additional mins are theoretically possible?

I haven't (and won't) run an MM on Lambda because of the problems mentioned here and elsewhere on the boards, but I would be game for trying something like this (though mine wouldn't have level shifts, so . . . ).

You've got some great advice here, and some of it I may take myself. I don't tend to spend a lot of time on concept or back story or any of that. I really don't care about that stuff. I just like to enjoy what I enjoy about the game and don't get caught up in trying to do what other people enjoy (even though it's great for them, it may not be great for me), so I pick power combos that I think would be fun, that I know I prefer, or that I've seen someone else play with awe-inspiring finesse (these latter ones usually stall for obvious reasons).

Another thing that keeps me interested is setting goals for my toons--anything from getting another bar of xp on a stalled toon to purpling out one I love. Badging is another thing that can keep you going when you start to lose interest (unless you have no interest in badging, of course).

I guess what I'm trying to say is that maybe it's okay that you don't have a concept toon. Maybe you're putting too much pressure on yourself to do something that you don't really have an interest in doing. Maybe you enjoy making new toons and running them until they hit 20ish and then creating another one. If so, run with that. You said you get hung up on the game mechanics, well, there's nothing wrong with that. If that's what you enjoy, then focus on that--use mids, use the invention system to create enhancement sets for your toons, set goals to soft-cap or perma something, whatever. There's nothing wrong with that at all, and who knows, maybe you'll hit on a power combo that you want to keep playing.

How many level 50's are you attempting to 'become an incarnate'?

Just one (blueside)

Do you feel that doing more than say one hero and one villain is doing 'too much at once'?

For me, yes, but for someone who has the time, energy, interest . . . no limit!

Do you feel a shift has occured to more time devoted soley to level 50's leaving far less time to level an alt?

Yes, but as with AE and GR and everything else, the shininess will wear off, and everyone will go back to doing what they like best. For some, that will remain running lvl 50/incarnate content, and for others, alts will be dusted off. Not-50 alts can also run the not-50 WTF's, so that's a way to have your cake . . . .

Do you feel this is a good thing?

You're presupposing the answer to your previous question, but yes, it's a good thing. People are having fun playing the game. That's always a good thing.

Do you seem to not have enough time to devote to alt characters because you feel you need to be collecting shards and such?

For me, it's a choice. I love my main, so I'm having fun running her and working on the incarnate stuff. But because I am only doing it with one (so far), I've still got oodles of time to run alts (if I want, and I sometimes do).

Do you think changing the Weekly Task Force to a Bi-montly Task Force would be 'better'? Perhaps offering a more relaxed atmosphere for the playerbase?

No, what would be the point of that? If you're feeling stress or pressure (or something else that is making you not feel relaxed), then you've answered your first question. You, personally, may be trying to run too many incarnates at once.

Am I just nuts? - This I already know the answer to, but seemed like a good humorous thing to say.

Possibly. heh But most likely just an over-achiever.

That rocks, Rockmar! Wtg

Thanks, Jade Dragon, that's very helpful and makes a lot of sense.

Awesome guide that obviously took a lot of time to put together (not just playing and working though it, but actually organizing and writing it).

I still have a question: if you are a (say) hero and then select hero missions to reaffirm your hero status, are you then "stuck" as a hero? Or can you later decide to become a vigilante (then villain, rogue, back to hero)? Can you do this cycle numerous times or just once? (not sure why you'd want to do the whole cycle numerous times on one toon, but am curious on that point)

Also, I do see the concept behind not having villain porters in hero bases (and vice versa), but isn't this only a problem for role-players? I mean I could care less if there are a bunch of "evil" porters in my hero base--it's about convenience and cutting travel time more than anything, but rp sg's may choose not to place them. As someone wrote, it would make sense to be able to place them but to only allow vills/rogues to use "evil" porters and heroes/vigilantes to use "heroic" porters. This could open a whole new avenue for base design and layout, too. Just my twenty-two cents (adjusted for inflation).

Btw, I like how you separate Praetoria from the alignment switching; they're two totally different things. Well, right now anyway (though I guess one day they'll expand Praetoria beyond lvl 20, filling in the levels between 20 and the lvl 50 Incarnate content).

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Hi,

Your character levelling up is of interest to you, and you alone. However, the side effects of that levelling up are felt by a wider audience.

If you get up to level 50 and start playing with a character you have no experience of, you will have lower skill with that toon. This affects the people you team with.

But you only solo or play with your SG who also PL and know what to expect. Fine.

But if you have an SG who competes with other SGs to be the "best" if you use low risk methods to get high rewards, you force the people who you are competing with to either lose or use the same techniques you are using to remain competitive. This affects their gameplay experience.

But you don't compete with other SGs anyway. Fine.

All you do is use low risk high reward methods to level up characters to play, and maybe to get a bit of extra inf to buy the good loot. Which affects everyone who uses the in game economy to buy things, forcing them to do the same high reward low risk dull as ditchwater (in their opinion) content in order to compete for the enhancements they want.

The way I see it, its a balance issue. If there is a way for you to get xp, and influence, and tickets that is significantly better than any other way it reduces the overall pool of players who will play non-optimal content because it is fun. You doing the power levelling affects the entire game whether you like it or not.

By balancing risk vs reward across all content in the game, the developers seek to encourage people to play a wide variety of content. That is what the MA is about, more content and more diversity. By abusing the system to break the risk vs reward balance you end up unintentionally messing it up for another large group of people who also pay money every month.

That is why some people, get annoyed at PLers and the explosion of PLing the MA seems to have brought.

Cheers,
Conker

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This is a specious argument. You assume that people who are not power leveled are automatically "the best." That's just not so. I've seen people with 48 month vet badges run the worst defenders I've ever seen or run tanks that are as squishy as my blaster. Some people just have rotten hand-eye coordination, a bad internet connection, have no idea what to do or how to do it with a particular AT, don't know their left from their right, or whatever else.

Some people play this game for fun, and for some people being the "best" isn't fun, it's pressure and work that they'd rather not deal with. Sure, some people are totally awesome on numerous ATs, but I'm not so sure that's the norm.

If someone is not up to your standards, don't assume they PL'd, just make a little note on them and give them the appropriate star so you'll know them when you see them again, and move on.

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This seems like a very selfish argument. "I don't want you to farm because then you're not filling spots on MY team doing what I want!"

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It's not a selfish argument because before MA, you were, in fact filling out my team. There was a middle ground where people farmed, but most people just played. And I'll guess you were in the "just play" group...which meant you teamed with me, and roleplayers, and noobs and (probably) someone's mom.

That doesn't happen now. The balance has shifted to farming, and the fence sitters (people who "just play") have gone to farming and that's about 75-80% of the population.

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This overlooks the novelty of MA and the big splash it made in the forums and in the industry as a whole. It's been out, what? three weeks? a month? I've heard more than a few people say essentially that they want to get max rewards before the devs do "fix" MA, so there's that. But mostly, people are doing it because it's new. And In that sense, it's no different than any event. It's not easy to find mish teams during the Halloween or Winter events, either.

I think that a lot of the farms would have faded away due to players who aren't hard-core farmers turning back to more regular content. I know that a lot of people have given up on finding decent story arcs in MA because of the horrible search options currently available (granted, a zillion farms don't help that sitch; but giving them a "legal farm" tag would eliminate that. A LOT of people farm, and a LOT of people don't. Having farms there is not an immediate swan song for story content. That's why this thread is so thought-provoking. If you don't farm, will you be forced to if there are MA farms or when people go back to the PI farms? Nope. And you're not likely to suddenly turn into a farmer, either. Likewise, the farmers aren't going to join your team if all farming is nerfed, banned, etc. They'll find new ways to play the game they want, or they will go to a game that hasn't made so much effort to force people to team in story arcs/regular content.

As an aside: "Solo" is not a four-letter word (er, I guess it is, and in more senses than one), but a lot of people like to solo and prefer it to teaming. It's still possible to do this in CoX and MA, but just as farmers would leave the game, so too would soloers. The devs know this, that's why teaming is encouraged but not required for most aspects of the game (and of course depending on your AT and other factors).

A lot of people don't like to team as a rule, and nothing the devs can do will force them to do it. I personally love to solo and do so at least 75% of the time I play. People who solo do so for any number of reasons. And sure, we'll hop on TF's for badges/merits/drops now and then, but that will still happen even if MA is farm-infested because once the thrill of the tickets and badging has worn off, people will want to earn merits and regular rewards again (and they can't in MA except on DC arcs).

I ran the Midnighter Arc with my sg the other day, and I can't tell you what a massive relief it was. We all discussed how it felt like home as we made all the usual mutterings about Lady Jane and griped about the CoT. It's all done with fondness and comfort in content you've run a hundred times. MA is still new, let people enjoy it, burn out on it, get their badges . . . they'll come back, and your teams will be just a full as they are post-Halloween event.

Thanks for your feedback. The arc is at 99.something%, and I had to delete the customs' descriptions to make it fit.

I take your point about the Freaks; I have them there because I love Freaks! I will have to give some thought to that, though, because obviously, it's self-indulgent rather than plot-specific.

As for the complexity of the plot . . . I'm not sure what to say to that. It's complex because I like complexity, and I prefer not to play simplistic storylines. The story is dependent on Nemesis, he being the antagonist and all, so that part stays. My main concern about this point is whether or not you could follow the plot based on what was said by the contact, found in the clues, etc. If so, then I feel that I did my "job." But if you got lost or were confused about something, please let me know. Complexity, to me, is a good thing. Confusion and lack of clarity are not.

I had the customs all with ice powers, but I got complaints that they were too difficult for some AT's. I went in and tried to make them more balanced as a result. Now I'm rethinking that, too.

Again, thanks for your feedback!

Now, I have an arc for people to take a look at

Vectors of Infection
Arc ID: 141338
Faction: Custom
Creator Global: Binary10
Difficulty: Medium, the last two missions each have an AV but allies are provided to assist.
Morality: Heroic
Description: A plague has broken out that is turning people into zombies! Nobody can figure out how it's being transmitted to new cases, and the situation is growing desperate as the infection count rises.
Duration: 5 missions, about an hour of play.

The arc is meant to tell a story more than to be a real challenge, and as long as your character is decently effective the provided allies will pull you through the tougher fights.
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I really enjoyed this arc over all. I decided to run it in heroic mode--all the better to enjoy the story line, read clues, bios, etc.--and I'm glad that I did. I ran it with my lvl 50 ice/ice blaster and some of the customs do mad endurance draining.

The story was fun, and there was an interesting twist at the end of mish 4. Loved that.

Okay, on to the mish by mish commentary:

The mission one/arc set up was basically good, but I did wonder who "we" are (Longbow, obviously from the contact, but more information would be good here). I found it a bit confusing that there were "a few" Longbow in there to rescue; I wasn't sure how many there were or if I needed to rescue them all (I didn't). The same is true of the glowies; there were a LOT of them, but luckily, I got the one I needed on my first try and simply ignored the others (I wasn't on my badger). I also found it curious in the mission one end text where the contact enthuses about how "all were apprehended." They weren't. It wasn't a kill all, and I left most of them. Small stuff, though, the customs are fun and well-balanced.

In mission 2, I was again confused when I rescued the hostage who turned out to be an ally not a "rescue and lead out" per se as had been implied by the contact (and thank God for that, hate leading them out), and he mentions the head researcher. I assumed that meant that I had to find and kill her, but there was no directive or clue telling me so. Not a biggie, again, though, as I think this was a defeat all (should have written that down, but didn't).

The hostage/ally was very squishy and was immediately killed by a lieut who conned blue. Granted, I was taking notes at the time, but that struck me as peculiar. It didn't ultimately matter, though, because he wasn't needed to complete the mission. I also got a giggle out of the zombies in neatly tucked-in sweater vests. hehe

Mission 3 was probably my favorite--excellent work on the NPC dialogue in this mish. It kept me smiling the whole time I was in there. And the map choice was good for a defeat all (small and with no trackbacks).

Mission 4 made me groan when I saw it was an outdoor map with multiple objectives, but that's my personal taste and has nothing to do with the arc or story. The map fit the story beautifully, and the EB was fun. I ended up ditching the ally because like all allies in outdoor maps that don't need to be cleared, he got on my nerves by running into mobs we didn't need and generally being a pain. Again, this is down to my personal preference, he fit the story line (and was easy to ditch, hehe). As I said, the end of this mish provided a great story line twist that I hadn't seen coming.

The final mish map may be too large for the objectives it contains, but it went quickly and the EB was a blast! He killed the allies very very quickly and gave me a good run for my money (as it were).

My only complaint story-wise was that it didn't seem to end; I wasn't sure if all that work had solved the problem, and I felt a bit cheated by that. The writing was error-free, though, from what I could tell, and I gave the arc 5 stars. Its minor little problems were more mine than with the story or customs.

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And now mine:

Title: Frozen Earth
Arc ID#: 57928
Faction: Freakshow, Winter Horde, Customs
Creator Global: @Tahliah
Difficulty: Medium. There are two EB/AVs, but there's an ally to help. It's not good for lower levels and on high difficulties may pose problems for some ATs.
Morality: Heroic
Description: The planet is in danger of being frozen solid; only you can save the day (and the earth).
Duration: 3 missions; the first two are quick and on smallish maps. About an hour or so of play.