MA Open Beta: Soon™

[MJB]

I know some of you don't like peaking at your presents but I do.

Today Ex Libris had some new Open Beta threads show up in the Dev Digest. The threads can't be viewed because they are apparently still in the blocked Closed Beta forum.

Being in a closed beta before I know that they used to let us read the open beta threads for errors and mistakes before opening the forum to everyone.

So... Open Beta soon™?

-MJB

[MJB]

Issue 14: MA is now in open beta!

Yeay!

Double Post!!

-MJB

[BlueBard]

Break it (in) for me, would you?

[Midnight]

Perfect time for me to come out of my alcohol stupor.

[BlueBard]

Okay, now the bad news.  Bear in mind this is third-party information from reading the release notes and the feedback.

Every account can -publish- a maximum of -three- story arcs.  A 4th arc is unlockable if you get Hall of Fame or Dev's Choice status, I believe.

(Each arc can consist of up to five missions, with up to 25 objectives per mission.)

But if I can only ever publish three stories, that is going to suck.  Especially if you can't un-publish.  (Which I don't know because I'm not playing the Open Beta and probably won't.  Mostly because I barely have time to devote to Live.)  I don't know if there's an upper limit to what you can have unpublished.

There is not an unlimited selection of maps, which should surprise no one.  Not really a big deal, unless the story you have in mind really, really needed a certain map that you can't get.  (No, I don't know what they are.)

You also can not pick and choose the individual powers of your custom factions.  There goes that thought.  So if you're thinking you're going to tailor them to your strict specifications, no uh uh.  You get to choose the powersets and the actual powers gained/used within those sets are strictly a function of level and difficulty.  I can live with that, though. 

It's the limitation on the number of story arcs that's really bringing me down.  I should have expected there would be some limit, but somehow I didn't think it would be quite so low.  I hope they either relax that limit or let you increase it by some method.  Vet reward, maybe.  Or even buy a slot, if you're desperate.  Otherwise I'm going to have to get creative about how I string my 'stories' together, if I can.

One hint appears to be gaining tickets in order to unlock things you can use in MA.  So you're better off playing other people's missions to earn tickets before you start to build your own arcs.

Another useful hint is that you can change the order of your missions for testing purposes.  Float the one you want to test to be the first one in the arc.

The main focus outside of MA appears to be PvP related, which does not thrill me as it will some.  However, my illusionist's superior invisibility will no longer be detoggled when held, so there are some nuggets to be happy about.

Here's what I would like to know, for those of you who will be on Test and might be in a position to observe... is there a min level limitation?  Can you build missions that level 2 characters would be able to play through?  Are the MA buildings only in higher level zones?  (I get the impression there will be one in every city zone, but it would be nice to know.)

[Lionheart]

I'm not on test (though this is the first issue that is really tempting me!).

However, based on dev notes, there are no limits on unpublishing arcs, just so long as we only have three up at one time.

I also like that you can have an unlimited number of "test mode" missions/arcs -- that can be shared with friends. So you can run them together. True, you don't get any "rewards" for doing missions in test mode, however if I'm running concept missions geared toward my own characters, my family's/friends characters, or one of our SGs, I don't really care about rewards. That's more the RP side of things.

So I'll be making a mix of published arcs and unpublished arcs, depending on what we want to do (I mostly play with my wife or daughter -- maybe both if we decide to get another account. Yes, MA is making that very tempting for running a family threesome).

Also, you can republish arcs as well -- and keep their previous ratings. So if you choose to pull one down to put another one up and get calls for the first one to come back so others can try it, you can swap them out again.

As to level limitations: The devs has stated a number of times that we can level from 1-50 entirely through the architect if we want to. The only limitations are the critters we decide to include. Built in NPCs have specific level ranges that will apply to MA missions. Custom NPCs are always applicable.

One thing of note: Custom critters are tougher than built in NPCs, because they use the same power sets as the player characters. Built-ins operate on a lower power scale; customs are equal to us. People are creating AVs/EBs that are decimating them. This will be great for group content, not so much for solo unless you play on Heroic. If you play on Heroic, AVs will scale down to EBs and EBs to LTs for soloers (why LT instead of Boss is a mystery).

But they still hit harder than their NPC counterparts.

[electro]

It all sounds Ok to me - I have alot of characters & if each one can have 3 to 4 story's & i'm playing other peoples storys then that should be enough for me - I understand Bluebard you probably wanted to make some massive epic & that sucks that we can't do that but, I think you nailed it with the pay to play or vet reward idea to get more story arcs

[BlueBard]

It all sounds Ok to me - I have alot of characters & if each one can have 3 to 4 story's & i'm playing other peoples storys then that should be enough for me - I understand Bluebard you probably wanted to make some massive epic & that sucks that we can't do that but, I think you nailed it with the pay to play or vet reward idea to get more story arcs

BZZZZZST!

Nope.  Not characters.  Accounts.  3 story arcs per ACCOUNT.  As in multiples of $15 per month.

I'd actually be happier churning out lots of mini arcs and one-shots with recurring themes and characters as opposed to epics.  But that's not what we get, at least for now.  But if I can rotate them in and out, I think I can live with that.

[Alaric]

It all sounds Ok to me - I have alot of characters & if each one can have 3 to 4 story's & i'm playing other peoples storys then that should be enough for me - I understand Bluebard you probably wanted to make some massive epic & that sucks that we can't do that but, I think you nailed it with the pay to play or vet reward idea to get more story arcs

BZZZZZST!

Nope.  Not characters.  Accounts.  3 story arcs per ACCOUNT.  As in multiples of $15 per month.

I'd actually be happier churning out lots of mini arcs and one-shots with recurring themes and characters as opposed to epics.  But that's not what we get, at least for now.  But if I can rotate them in and out, I think I can live with that.

Also, there are ways to get additional mission slots;

Each City of Heroes game account can publish a maximum of 3 stories (each of which can contain up to 5 missions). However, if your stories reach Hall of Fame or Dev Choice status, you will be rewarded with an additional story slot! And you can continue to earn additional story slots with every Dev Choice or Hall of Fame honor you receive – there is no limit! Also, if your mission gets awarded Dev's Choice, you can STILL achieve Hall of Fame status (and vice versa) – so you can earn both!

From here.

[Midnight]

Needs more sprinkles.

Take it back.

[Tortuga]

I was messing around with MA tonight.  Some aspects are confusing at first but it's pretty nifty overall.

[BlueBard]

I broke down and installed Test.  Got through the MA tutorial and started messing with it, then I lost my connection and gave up for the night.

It's worth taking your time and going through all of the answers in the tutorial and looking at all of the helps in the interface itself.  I would also recommend reading through the feedback on the board.  You can jump right in, but it's not completely intuitive.

It was -packed- with players, even at 3 am.  I can only imagine what it will be like when Issue 14 goes Live.

I will probably want to do my Architecting on one of the less-trafficked servers.

[Alaric]

I broke down and installed Test.  Got through the MA tutorial and started messing with it, then I lost my connection and gave up for the night.

It's worth taking your time and going through all of the answers in the tutorial and looking at all of the helps in the interface itself.  I would also recommend reading through the feedback on the board.  You can jump right in, but it's not completely intuitive.

It was -packed- with players, even at 3 am.  I can only imagine what it will be like when Issue 14 goes Live.

I will probably want to do my Architecting on one of the less-trafficked servers.

I've been on test for the past couple of days, myself- this is exactly the thing to get me back into the game. I especially like being able to create my own enemy groups, made up of custom characters, despite the limitations.

A few pieces of advice;

1) Once you've run the tutorial once, with one character, I recommend not using the MA facility in Atlas- it's too crowded. There's one in every zone (though the others don't have the tutorial). You can find them on your map.

2) We all have grandiose visions of epic mission arcs, but for your first published mission, I recommend doing a fairly simple one-mission arc. You can always expand it later. If you want to be creative, you can create a new enemy group, then make a fairly simple single mission against them.

3) To unlock additional content, such as costume options, maps, and enemies, you need to earn tickets. Take a break from your mission creation from time to time to play some missions created by other players. You can earn tickets very quickly- I already have all the extra costume parts unlocked, plus several maps and some enemies.

[Marmeille]

I would not go crazy with the unlocked MA options on test server, because while we'll be able to copy the missions we do on test to the live servers, everything using unlocked stuff (maps, factions or costume parts) wont be compatible untill you unlock them on live too.

[AncientSpirit]

This is something that I've been waiting for ...

I had a cute little story in mind, nothing epic, but I wanted to flirt with creating my own villain group and having fun with it.

The thing to watch out for is the file size limit they give you.   The more custom characters and groups you have the faster you burn up the file.

But for us storytellers, its going to really sharpen our skill with words ... because every word eats up that space as well.

Right now, I am CLOSE (but no cigar) to have a three-arc mission ... but slightly over in file size.   I know how slightly because I can see what to take out to get it under ... and have already had to substitute existing bad guys in the middle of the story to place my customs more efficiently.

There are Tips and Tricks on the CoH boards, so be sure to spend some time there checking them out.  I know some people are using their quoto of missions to piggy back onto "completed" arcs, but I have a feeling that for my story, at least, its not going to be about getting more into it ... but getting enough out of it without hurting the basic story structure.

Happy writing, all.   And I look forward to sharing our work with each other  ...     

[Alaric]

I would not go crazy with the unlocked MA options on test server, because while we'll be able to copy the missions we do on test to the live servers, everything using unlocked stuff (maps, factions or costume parts) wont be compatible untill you unlock them on live too.

That's true, but, as I said, unlocking them can be done pretty easily and quickly, so I don't see that as a problem. Right now, I'm mostly just playing around with the MA, anyway, and more unlocked content means more stuff to play with.

[Ephemeris]

TW set up an 'FR and NRF' channel on test so we can find each other.

[Zapow]

I have two missions up if you guys want to try them out.

Shock to the System: Kid Dynamo's evil Praetorian twin comes to town.

Here Come The Clowns: Fun Gun and The Fun Gunners hit Paragon. Time to hit them back.

[Courtnall6]

Cool runs Zap. I did them solo so Fun Gun ended in a stalemate and Kill Dynamo kicked the holy crap outta me

I'm working on my own at the moment it's alot of fun so far...creating your own super villains and minions to fight against. I am having some trouble with trying to keep "rescue a captive" at the front of the map...it keeps ending up in the back with the AV.

[AncientSpirit]

I have one mission up and hope you check it out:  

Waging War On Wonderland

(by Super X Girlfriend)

[Zapow]

I added another.

Men of Steel by Kid Dynamo4. I might tweak it a little.

[Viking]

I've just put up a mission for those who enjoy playing as villains:

Cutthroat Competition

(by Absolut Brut)

[Courtnall6]

Played Men of Steel Zap...very fun with great character designs for Weaponeer and his minions. Completed it solo...with the help of Captain Steel ofcourse.

Any one else having crashing issues while working on your missions? It's happend to me 4 or 5 times over the past 2 days.

[MJB]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's a known issue.

-MJB

[Zapow]

Played Men of Steel Zap...very fun with great character designs for Weaponeer and his minions. Completed it solo...with the help of Captain Steel ofcourse.

Any one else having crashing issues while working on your missions? It's happend to me 4 or 5 times over the past 2 days.

Glad you liked it. I did make a much better version of it but I can't publish. Bah.

[Courtnall6]

I just published mine called Red Storm Rising by Peoples Protector Arc ID# 11941

[Zapow]

I updated the Men of Steel mission. You can find it under the name Onouris.

[AncientSpirit]

FN, I tried to email you back on the Test Server but I got a message you didn't exist.      

Thanks for trying out my Mod -- and for your glowing compliments.  I also struggled to beat the minion debuffers you mentioned.  But I realized that regardless of whether I played at level 50 Invincible or level 27 Heroic, whether I used a Tank, A Scrapper or a Blaster, I was able to defeat them, although they did send me to the hospital a few times.  But I figured, in a real game, I get sent there, too.  (Like with regular mobs, you have to target certain ones and take them out before, or while,  - the others are attacking.  And what I like about these is that their special effect graphics makes it easy to figure out which ones you need to take out.) 

I keep tweaking and republishing this first mod because I keep catching tiny typos and I'm a bit of an anal-retentive perfectionist.    To your point, I think there are just a few of the villians that I don't have proper discriptions for, and I will go back and finish them up.  By the way, what did you think of the talking bombs?  I've never seen that done in a mission before -- and don't think you can get away with it in any setting other than Wonderland or Oz, or some similar place.   Not sure why the Devs don't use it in the Magic places, where it would also work well.) 

Now that I'm basically finished with this story (and long before I dare try my hand at a second), I'll be turning my attention to trying out other mods -- and, of course, your's - Cutthroat Competition -- is first on my list.        Best of all, I can use one of my villians from another server -- so I can actually play as a villian!!!!!   One question though: since this is done across all servers, doesn't that mean that villians have access to hero mods and vice-versa?

BTW:  Who was the other person who tried out "Waging War On Wonderland" and also gave it a 5?   I would really like to reciprocate, and I can't believe that someone just browsing along all possible posted stories, simply chose mine just from its description.   I could understand wanting to remain nameless if you gave it a 1, but not after giving it a 5.     So putting a name to the rating would be great.

I do wonder how one gets seen by the broadest possible audience with all the choices out there, though.  The first tweak I made, I know, was changing the story discription which everyone can see without playing. My first attempt made it sound like a generic "rescue the hostage" story as opposed to the "uncover the dark secret" mystery angle, which is really what the story is about.

[Ephemeris]

I published my first attempt.  It still needs some work.  FN and TW gave me some feedback already and those corrections will be made later today or tomorrow.

The arc is named 'Green With Envy' posted by Heir Head

[Viking]

AncientSpirit,

Thanks for the feedback on my feedback!  To answer some of your questions:

1) Yes, even if certain content is recommended to be done by heroes, or villains, or either, it can still be done by either heroes or villains.  Just not a combination of both, since that would require a Mission Architect site to be present in a cooperative zone.

2) The talking bombs were quite appropriate in the Wonderland setting.  Though I'll make a note of caution - having a bunch of similar goals, which necessarily have the same repeating dialogue, runs a risk of getting repetitive in a bad way.  For me, this was somewhat mitigated by the fact that they were on a Carnival tent map, which had the carnival pipe organ music running to pleasantly divert my attention.


I had a question for people who had been "republishing" their stories - in so doing, have you been unpublishing your story first?  What is the process for editing and republishing a story that you've already published?