Do you care about arcs or just missions?

[DougGraves]

I generally don't care about arcs.  Arcs are reading.  Missions are the fun.

 

There are some arcs that have enough story to be interesting.  Mostly arcs in AE.

 

Most arcs I don't feel like I did anything in the mission to make the story matter.  It's basically just a long text broken up by fighting.

 

Even something like Freakalympics which I feel is a fun idea, I don't know or care why I do each mission.  

[MistressOhm]

Generic one-off missions are fine, but it's always fun to discover there's more to the tale, that there's a reason for whatever was going down that you've now put a stop to.  Or, maybe you didn't stop it entirely, and the scope of the problem just got a little bigger. 

 

The one that always grabs me is the Petrovic Brothers stuff going on in Kings Row.  You kick over a few drug dealer dens, standard "mission" fare, and find there's a Lot More Going On.   

[High_Beam]

29 minutes ago, MistressOhm said:

Generic one-off missions are fine, but it's always fun to discover there's more to the tale, that there's a reason for whatever was going down that you've now put a stop to.  Or, maybe you didn't stop it entirely, and the scope of the problem just got a little bigger. 

 

The one that always grabs me is the Petrovic Brothers stuff going on in Kings Row.  You kick over a few drug dealer dens, standard "mission" fare, and find there's a Lot More Going On.   

Totally.

[TerroirNoir2]

I love both.  And arcs in the AE are generally a lot more fun than a lot of the earlier in game material. 

[starro]

I like both. I will take a really good mission and a story told over a series of missions. 
 

As the game shut down I was bummed we were getting the story arcs released one piece at a time that told bigger story and added to the game lore.  I wanted that as far back as when they published the Top Cow comics.    I like the COH lore bible. 

[Luminara]

Planescape: Torment.  System Shock 2.  The Fallouts.  Mass Effect 2.  KotOR 1 and 2.  Max Payne, Shadow of the Colossus, Half-Life 2...  When I look for story, I look for it in any game other than Co*.  What is here isn't up to my standards.  So I'm only here to beat things until they stop twitching, and look amazing while doing it, of course.

[laudwic]

I like arcs because I really enjoy some of the Stories.  If you have played Red Side, you will remember Radio, Television, and the Slot Machine Arcs.  On Blue Side, I remember being recruited by Laura the events of those missions, and then having the ability to redo everything to make one important change.  (The best use of Oroborus)  Plus, the finish arc xp bonus is nice and always satisfying when it leads to a level.

 

Part of what makes CoH is that you can drop in and out, do a mission and feel like you accomplished something.  Arcs are great is it gives greater depth to the game, and is more satisfying that just a bashfest.  Sure, is it Planescape: Torment, no.  Even so, there is a certain amount of joy in doing Laura's arc a second time.  I still think some of the Red Side Arcs just have amazing writing.  The ability in Gold Side to see other contacts and alter missions is great.  

[Akalabeth]

I like reading quest text.  I like reading books, too. 🙂  Sometimes I mix it up and read quest books. 😛

 

 

[MTeague]

I solo probably 60-70% of the time, specifically because I enjoy reading mission text, and NPC's chatting, and cutscenes, and teams have all the patience of a 3 year old on a triple mocha latte.  (Note: do not actually give coffee to the little ones).  It doesn't matter if I've done the missions 30 times before. If it's new to the character I'm playing, I want to read it. 

 

 

 

[twozerofoxtrot]

Most missions bore me to tears. You're really only ever doing the same basic things over and over.

 

Arcs are what make me come back to play again and again. Exception to the above are the missions which have enough deviation from the routine and pivotal moments in the arcs themselves.

 

For example, the Dean MacArthur and Leonard arcs in Sharkhead. Probably my favorite story in the game. The 8v1 clone battles is a great mission that breaks up the usual routine (if you go for the badge). Lots of humor, serious twists, and foreshadowing for later on.

[Sir Myshkin]

Hi, my name is Sir Myshkin. *pause* I... I've... I'veneverreadanyofthestoryarcssincelaunchIjustplayforthecommunity. *phew*

[Greycat]

Arcs.  Though, granted, some arcs (like most of the VEAT story) are annoying and disappointing. Individual missions? We'll use those while RPing sometimes, though it sometimes takes a little fishing to find someone with something appropriate.

 

(Also, part  of why I tend not to like redside... a lot more railroading and assumption of what your character's doing and what their motivation is.)

[Ruin Mage]

Both.

[Oubliette_Red]

The story arcs. This is my answer to when folks ask why anyone would solo in an MMO, because when I'm on a team I don't have to option to experience the arc at my own pace.

 

[Techwright]

I love the stories, so yes, I like the arcs.  However, I'm most often in PUGs, so sadly, there's never time to read the story.

[MistressOhm]

This is one area where SWTOR has a definite edge over CoH, or even WoW.  The "Class Story Arcs" that put your character at the beginning of the journey, with three 'chapters' to progress through, and then when you get to the last planet, all of the loose ends get sewn up and you're a Somebody in the Galaxy.   Granted, aside from a few flashpoints (what they call Task Forces), you could treat it as a single-player game with 8 branching storylines, in a shared world with other players in. 

 

CoH having something like that centered around one's Origin... that'd be awesome.  Especially if you could fill in a template early on, kind of like an AE mission builder, that would define an Ally group, a Nemesis group, and perhaps one, two, or three EB's to face along the way.  The 'story arc' would plug in these parameters, such that if you were aligned with Group A, and pitted against Group B, A would supply your mission contacts, the Origin would supply the actual text and the maps used, and B would populate the enemies. 

[DougGraves]

24 minutes ago, MistressOhm said:

CoH having something like that centered around one's Origin... that'd be awesome. 

 

In theory your origin does that.  You talk to the contact for your origin in city hall and they introduce you to contacts of the same origin.

 

But you  don't have one villain group as your nemesis.  You work your way through many.

[Neiska]

Neither. I care more about who I’m doing activities with more than what activity it is. If I’m solo I am not motivated to do either of those things. If anything I am motivated to “not” do them. But with friends? Depends on our mood. With randoms? I rarely team with randoms anymore. More trouble than it’s worth and not particularly enjoyable. I dislike the “gogogogo” play style that seems to be the default now.

[Akalabeth]

I have to disagree about SWTOR having the better story.  I did scoundrel when I played and quit the class story in Chapter 3 because "my" character was an idiot and nothing like what I expected and it doesn't let you skip past parts or choose not to do them.  In CoH you don't really have to do any particular missions you don't want to.

[MistressOhm]

1 hour ago, Akalabeth said:

I have to disagree about SWTOR having the better story.  I did scoundrel when I played and quit the class story in Chapter 3 because "my" character was an idiot and nothing like what I expected and it doesn't let you skip past parts or choose not to do them.  In CoH you don't really have to do any particular missions you don't want to.

 

That's always a problem when there's a set narrative that the player has to follow, regardless of choices made during the game.  With SWTOR, you had two outcomes to each class story, a "Light Side" and a "Dark Side" narrative, reflecting how the character had migrated from "dead center" at the beginning.   And yeah, the Smuggler storyline often had them being a complete dumbass, especially once Risha wasn't the one directing things (post Act 1). 

 

My fave storyline was the Imperial Agent, very much a 'spy thriller' wherein the railroading wasn't so much limiting the choices the character was given to make, but the chess moves behind the scenes that drove things forward.  Secondary was the Bounty Hunter, mainly because it seemed every dialogue choice had a "give no fucks" option that when chosen turned out to be hilariously in-character.  It was kind of an underdog/anti-hero "action movie", whereas Smuggler was straight-up "romcom."

Edited November 9, 2022 by MistressOhm

[Clave Dark 5]

On 11/9/2022 at 7:52 AM, Techwright said:

I love the stories, so yes, I like the arcs.  However, I'm most often in PUGs, so sadly, there's never time to read the story.

That's it pretty much for me too.  I like the idea of them, but I find the game moves at a more exciting pace for me when I'm on a team, and I've never been able to stay in an SG.  So I could solo them  but rarely do.

Edited November 13, 2022 by Clave Dark 5

[Shred Monkey]

Sometimes I read the arcs and get fully invested.  But if I'm honest, most of the time I'm just wandering through missions watching my toon kick ass, and enjoying the show.

[Ukase]

There are very few stories that I have found to be worth the read. But that's more to do with me than the stories. I'm 55. The stories are designed for kids, at least most of them. So, if I did find them interesting or entertaining after already having read them multiple times, I'd be concerned with mental decline. 

I do the arcs for the merits and the xp bonus. Nothing to do with the stories - although I do enjoy some of them due to the dialogue. The Red Caps for example, in Croatoa. They amuse me with their dialogue. Becky in Aeon was hilarious the first couple of times. Still amusing. 

But for me, doing one off missions is rather pointless, unless there's a badge for it. Other than that, I don't see the point. For the time invested, I could be getting through an arc that would pay merits and an XP bonus. The only reason the one-offs are in the game is to help a character get to the next level so they can do story arcs, historically. At least, that's my understanding, I've certainly been wrong before. 

If there are no merits or badges, I'm most likely not going to do it. 

[StrikerFox]

I used to prefer arcs but it slowly changed after i9 with the introduction of IO's. Pretty much stopped arcs all together after discovering Mids'. Just wanted to make builds, churn out as many characters as possible, and slot them up. And I loved incarnate trials at i19. Had a lot of fully slotted heroes and villains to dust off and replay.

[golstat2003]

On 11/8/2022 at 2:50 PM, Luminara said:

Planescape: Torment.  System Shock 2.  The Fallouts.  Mass Effect 2.  KotOR 1 and 2.  Max Payne, Shadow of the Colossus, Half-Life 2...  When I look for story, I look for it in any game other than Co*.  What is here isn't up to my standards.  So I'm only here to beat things until they stop twitching, and look amazing while doing it, of course.

 

Same except for story I usually go with FFXIV, KotOR, the Mass Effects, SOME of the OTHER Final Fantasies, and Baldur's Gate series.