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Thread Statistics | Show CCP posts - 23 post(s) |
Zilnam Haa
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Posted - 2009.02.26 00:00:00 -
[61]
Thanks CCP Jasonitas & CCP Big Dumb Object for excellent replies to all the Q's axed here:)
As a mission junkie I congratulate all your hard wurk on the Arc system/series that's just starting, & whats to come.
Yes, I am burnt out a tad on the lvl4's I grind so the new content gives me hope my space life will extend for light years to come
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Tipz NexAstrum
Celestial Horizon Corp.
I.C.C Industrial Drive Yards
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Posted - 2009.02.26 00:23:00 -
[62]
Are these epic missions going to be focused on inter-empire conflicts (Amarr vs Minmatar/Gallente vs Caldari)? Are there plans for arcs that are only against pirate factions, so those of us that regularly traverse the four empires won't degrade our standings down to KOS?
Is there ever an option to quit the arc? Suppose I get to a branch where I don't want to continue for whatever reason, can I just say 'I'm done, see ya in three months'?
 Originally by: CCP Navigator
People who think I am joking or talking big are going to understand very quickly that there will be order in these forums.
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mark atrelli
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Posted - 2009.02.26 00:30:00 -
[63]
Originally by: CCP Jasonitas
Quote:
Quote:
The Epic Arcs are not randomly generated missions, so if we want to make a story that ends with you receiving, say, a shiny storyline or collector item, we can do that. Hell, we can tune the awards to give you a Titan at the end, if we wanted to. You know, as your reward for saving CONCORD or something. We are telling stories now, strings of stories, and the rewards can be based upon what you do in the story.
... if a titan is a reward... then what the hell kind of ships will we have to kill for it? sleeper fleets??
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CCP Dropbear
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Posted - 2009.02.26 01:03:00 -
[64]
Originally by: Tipz NexAstrum
Are these epic missions going to be focused on inter-empire conflicts (Amarr vs Minmatar/Gallente vs Caldari)? Are there plans for arcs that are only against pirate factions, so those of us that regularly traverse the four empires won't degrade our standings down to KOS?
We actually began work on "epics" by focusing on inter-empire conflicts. For Apocrypha however, we've built an arc from the ground up to work with our new tools. We'll likely be adapting the pre-existing texts of those other arcs to fit the new system as part of the ongoing development of epic arc content. We have a head-start on future content, however. 
One thing that's worth emphasizing is that developing an arc in this system doesn't always need to be an epic undertaking. We can make them big, but we are not limited to just that. The system supports endless strings of missions and branching choices, ideal for extended narratives, yes. It's also a powerful new ability, though. We can distill missions down to just include those basic features and still manage to offer drastically different gameplay to what we have now.
It doesn't take much time for us to develop just a few missions (that is, the text and the dungeons that go with it). With just four (or so) missions we can create a story where you make a choice, and then suffer (or benefit from) the consequences of that choice.
For example. You report to an epic arc agent, they ask you to spy on a hostile facility. You perform some recon on their base and report the intel back to your agent. The agent then offers you a choice; go in strong and just wipe the place out, or focus on two supplementary bases first and divert some of their forces away. You make a choice, and that choice has consequences. If you just storm in, you'll find a challenge. If you pick away at them over a series of attacks, the final encounter will be much easier.
The point here is that we can make content with those features even with small 5-part arcs (mini-epics  ). This makes it easier to get content out to all of the factions. It also allows us to get content out in different ways, like you say, where working for an empire could entail fighting other empire rivals, or fighting back pirate incursions - or something else entirely.
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Rhys Onasi
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Posted - 2009.02.26 01:58:00 -
[65]
Edited by: Rhys Onasi on 26/02/2009 02:01:22
Originally by: CCP Dropbear
For example. You report to an epic arc agent, they ask you to spy on a hostile facility. You perform some recon on their base and report the intel back to your agent. The agent then offers you a choice; go in strong and just wipe the place out, or focus on two supplementary bases first and divert some of their forces away. You make a choice, and that choice has consequences. If you just storm in, you'll find a challenge. If you pick away at them over a series of attacks, the final encounter will be much easier.
So you can choose between two missions, is that what you are saying? 
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CCP Dropbear
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Posted - 2009.02.26 02:01:00 -
[66]
You can choose between as many as four, actually. 
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Rhys Onasi
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Posted - 2009.02.26 02:49:00 -
[67]
Originally by: CCP Dropbear
You can choose between as many as four, actually.
GOOD GOD!
*scribbles furiously*
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Manfred Rickenbocker
The Elliance
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Posted - 2009.02.26 02:58:00 -
[68]
Originally by: CCP Jasonitas
Quote:
Does the 3 month restart timer start at the beginning of the acceptance of the arc or at completion? Will there be persistent journal entries to track your arc completions, branches you chose, and when you can try the arc again?
1. The 3 month restart begins once you complete the quest. Epic missions do not time out, thus you can take your sweet time in completing them (if you wanted to).
2. We have a new tab in the journal called "Epic Mission Journal" that keeps track of your Epic Arc status. It's pretty spiffy looking. Check it out on Sisi, if it's there.
Thanks for answering my questions! Cant wait to run through these missions.
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Peace through superior firepower: a guiding principle for uncertain times. |
Rhys Onasi
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Posted - 2009.02.26 04:05:00 -
[69]
Edited by: Rhys Onasi on 26/02/2009 04:05:42
What, exatcly, is a chapter?
I'm trying to figure it out.
There's branches, but obviously it might be too complicated to have it branch after every single mission. Are the "chapters" the periods inbetween and leading up to a branch? A string of non branching missions? Or what exactly?
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Venkul Mul
Gallente
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Posted - 2009.02.26 07:43:00 -
[70]
Originally by: Dolgozo Lany
In 2009 please make all missions multi-sequence, direct-player-decision-based missions like the epic ones.
Please always put in random factors: branches how a mission can be followed up. Even the same named mission should have multiple sequences you can complete. This way you can make the 1 hour long Extravaganzas history.
Let's demolish the opportunity for the agent-macro-farmers. More player decision based missions are the way to go. Simple 'Pick missions -> Kill -> Report mission' repetitions are so '90s.
IMO with the whole Epic Arc missions you will show us if the whole mission system can be changed or not.
No.
People should be capable of logging in, playing 1 hour, complete a mission and then leave the game.
Changing all mission the way Dolgozo Lany asked in her so "well argumented" post will make running missions impossible to anyone that can't devote several hours to the game.
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Venkul Mul
Gallente
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Posted - 2009.02.26 07:54:00 -
[71]
To the Devs, 1 problem and 1 question:
Problem.
have you considered that the auto balancing feature will not work with this Epic mission arc?
CCP usual system of starting rewards at the lowest possible level and then leave the auto balancer to adjust them will backfire heavily there. The mission will be run a limited number of times so the autobalancer will have a limited quantity of data to use to adjust the rewards and the first players to do it will be veterans wanting to see the new epic arc.
So the rewards will stay to the lower level for years, not a month at most like a normal mission.
Question:
the first mission in the Epic arc don't give LP. It is a common thing for them?
Have you considered that when giving out the others reewards?
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Myrhial Arkenath
Ghost Festival
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Posted - 2009.02.26 09:04:00 -
[72]
Remote accept and complete sounds very nice, and it would certainly make me a very happy panda if this was added for all missions.
What about remote declining of missions if this gets added to normal and storyline missions, is that possible as well? And is there a range on all this?
I can imagine a scenario where a pvp player keeps contacting a nice level 4 agent in another region until he gets offered a good mission, without having to leave his base of operations unneeded. What are the thoughts of the team on this?
CEO | Diary of a pod pilot |
MotherMoon
Huang Yinglong
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Posted - 2009.02.26 10:49:00 -
[73]
Originally by: Venkul Mul
To the Devs, 1 problem and 1 question:
Problem.
have you considered that the auto balancing feature will not work with this Epic mission arc?
CCP usual system of starting rewards at the lowest possible level and then leave the auto balancer to adjust them will backfire heavily there. The mission will be run a limited number of times so the autobalancer will have a limited quantity of data to use to adjust the rewards and the first players to do it will be veterans wanting to see the new epic arc.
So the rewards will stay to the lower level for years, not a month at most like a normal mission.
Question:
the first mission in the Epic arc don't give LP. It is a common thing for them?
Have you considered that when giving out the others rewards?
not to mention the auto-balance doesn't work. There is a cap. and every missions ALWAYS hits this cap.
think about it, how many level 4 missions are run successfully 80-90% well the rewards have never been going down.
also factional warfare missions. They don't work, because the success rate is like 20%, and they never went up.
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Mioelnir
Minmatar
Meltd0wn
Imperial Republic Of the North
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Posted - 2009.02.26 11:46:00 -
[74]
Quote:
...you can expect lots of new Epic Arcs for various factions and security levels to appear on a regular basis.
On a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 is Later[TM], 5 is Soon[TM] and 10 is ReallyReallySoon[TM], can we expect epic pirate faction arcs before or after level 5 pirate missions?
Oh, and -1 would be NotAtAll[TM]
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galphi
Gallente
Unitary Senate
Unitary Enterprises
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Posted - 2009.02.26 11:50:00 -
[75]
Great to hear new missions and new ways of running missions is coming along, for older players the current mission setup is stale and lifeless (but you already knew that). Huge, massive changes underway in Eve these days, it's all very exciting, and I for one am patiently looking forward to shiny new things to blow up :D
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Venkul Mul
Gallente
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Posted - 2009.02.26 12:11:00 -
[76]
Originally by: MotherMoon
Originally by: Venkul Mul
To the Devs, 1 problem and 1 question:
Problem.
have you considered that the auto balancing feature will not work with this Epic mission arc?
CCP usual system of starting rewards at the lowest possible level and then leave the auto balancer to adjust them will backfire heavily there. The mission will be run a limited number of times so the autobalancer will have a limited quantity of data to use to adjust the rewards and the first players to do it will be veterans wanting to see the new epic arc.
So the rewards will stay to the lower level for years, not a month at most like a normal mission.
Question:
the first mission in the Epic arc don't give LP. It is a common thing for them?
Have you considered that when giving out the others rewards?
not to mention the auto-balance doesn't work. There is a cap. and every missions ALWAYS hits this cap.
think about it, how many level 4 missions are run successfully 80-90% well the rewards have never been going down.
also factional warfare missions. They don't work, because the success rate is like 20%, and they never went up.
The autobalancer consider only completion time, not success/failure and has no modifier based on group completation, so
- regular missions generally hit the bottom value (or start from the bottom value and never rise) so you rarely see them change after the first month from introduction;
- completing a mission as a group is faster so, now that it work decently and people do it, the regular missions continue to hit the floor;
- FW missions rewards are modified only by the successful missions, the others are not considered, so (probably) the number of completed missions is too small or they are done fast enough that the reward will not rise.
Remember that mission rewards start at the bottom (lowest reward) so if the success ratio is high and the completion time fast they will never move from there.
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Shadowsword
Epsilon Lyr
Tau Ceti Federation
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Posted - 2009.02.26 12:16:00 -
[77]
Edited by: Shadowsword on 26/02/2009 12:16:16
Will those missions give us clues about what to expect? Like, "be carefull, they might have an interceptor", or "there will be sanchas, tank against EM", or will it be a complete suprise each time?
I'm not worried about this mission arc for new players, but others introduced later might get tricky for players without uberfits if we have to omni-tank.
If, say, we destroy by mistake something needed for mission completion, do we need to wait the next DT for the mission to respawn? What if the routines behind the scenes consider you already collected that something and don't give you the possibility to get it again?
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Jowen Datloran
Caldari
Science and Trade Institute
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Posted - 2009.02.26 12:16:00 -
[78]
One arc is better than no arc.
But to be frank; I do remember how we were told years ago the same story, about how great tools you have been given for making missions and how easy it would be to put in new missions to the game, but I do not remember one single instant of you actually adding missions outside of expansions and patches.
And why are regular missions in general so unimaginative and repetitive when you have been able to make great variation in tutorial and COSMOS missions? Perhaps try to focus some effort there?
I could cook up a great number of new missions using existing game mechanics in fairly short time, so I wonder what is the bottleneck for you guys as you at least seem to appear quite creative yourself. Is it the programming team I should be complaining at?
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Mr. Science & Trade Institute
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Daedalus II
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Posted - 2009.02.26 12:26:00 -
[79]
Originally by: CCP Big Dumb Object
The persistence of EVE characters throws this for a bit of a loop. We mitigated this somewhat with the ability to replay an arc three months after completion, but three months is a long time, and not all players are going to have the opportunity to return to the same space to run that mission again. A player character has life beyond the mission content itself. So we decided the best course was to make the branching points as explicit as possible. We have not taken away the ramifications of a choice--you still only see the first mission in any given branch--but we wanted to make sure we did not blind-side the player and ruin the play experience for a character who will progress for long beyond the end of any one arc.
Won't this severely limit new cool missions? Say you are given a mission by the epic agent to kill someone, then upon arriving in the mission that someone contacts you with a counter offer. In that case the branch must be depending on you killing or not killing the person?
Ok maybe not the best example as this could be handled by dialogs. Say instead you have a mission to defend an industrial. Obviously you fail the mission if the industrial dies, but you can't very well choose in a dialog wether or not fail to protect the industrial? Can't we get any protection missions at all then?
There must be many missions like this where the goal with a mission could fail but still continue on a new branch? To fail or not fail a goal can't be picked in a dialog, can it? If the target got away it got away. If the time ran out and you got discovered then you did get discovered. If you tripped the alarm you tripped the alarm.
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Azure Dreams
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Posted - 2009.02.26 12:32:00 -
[80]
Edited by: Azure Dreams on 26/02/2009 12:32:54
Apologies if this question was already asked but...
How about standing rewards?
With this blood stained stars mission, given that your flying around multiple empires (I assume) killing different faction enemies, what will the standing rewards be?
Are we going to see multiple standing increases for each empire or will the choices we make dictate who likes us at the end of it all?
tia
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Zex Maxwell
Caldari
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Posted - 2009.02.26 13:32:00 -
[81]
Edited by: Zex Maxwell on 26/02/2009 13:34:10
Originally by: CCP Big Dumb Object: Post #57
Stuff... lots of stuff.
That's the most i ever seen a dev post on the forums. You sure you don't want to put the highlights at the top so the people that don't want to read the wall of text can still understand what you are say? Its a good read BTW, but you know how the PVPers are: "Get to the point... or i blow your head off."
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Asham Pozor
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Posted - 2009.02.26 14:06:00 -
[82]
Well, I guess an arc for beginners that is great is better than a lot more "Shoot ship type X" for experienced folk. I'm more enthused by the remote completion, but one question:
Does this also include the ability to say "No, thanks, flying 40.000m¦ of garbage into deep 0.0 is not worth it even if I get a faction boost for it since I'll be exploding at the first gate anyway" remotely?
Current storyline missions force you to fly to the storyline agent just to tell him to shut uo, which is a bit annoying if said agent is sitting in low sec. Being able to phone him and say "Nice try Jelzin, but I recognize a courier contract scam when I see one!" would be a major asset.
It would also help if you spoke to an agent and had to be elsewhere before you could accept the mission - right now you're forced to fly back to the agent base within seven days or face a standing hit.
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Blake Rathen
Caldari
Yurai-Tenshin Zaibatsu
Celestial Imperative
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Posted - 2009.02.26 14:50:00 -
[83]
Thanks guys, for the new mission arcs and for your dilligence in answering all the questions here! Your efforts are appreciated.
Q: Will the 'decision points' in the arcs allow pilots to make more 'faction-ish' related decisions? For example, I get a mission from a Gallente who sends me to check out an abandoned mining platform, and warp in to find a dogfight between Gallente and Caldari npcs. Now, none are red to me, so I can pick sides by attacking one side over the other, and end up getting routed to a Caldari agent next time. If that's not how it will work, please explain!
Thanks.
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Pitypang
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Posted - 2009.02.26 16:05:00 -
[84]
Originally by: Venkul Mul
Originally by: Dolgozo Lany
In 2009 please make all missions multi-sequence, direct-player-decision-based missions like the epic ones.
Please always put in random factors: branches how a mission can be followed up. Even the same named mission should have multiple sequences you can complete. This way you can make the 1 hour long Extravaganzas history.
Let's demolish the opportunity for the agent-macro-farmers. More player decision based missions are the way to go. Simple 'Pick missions -> Kill -> Report mission' repetitions are so '90s.
IMO with the whole Epic Arc missions you will show us if the whole mission system can be changed or not.
No.
People should be capable of logging in, playing 1 hour, complete a mission and then leave the game.
Changing all mission the way Dolgozo Lany asked in her so "well argumented" post will make running missions impossible to anyone that can't devote several hours to the game.
Venkul Mul, you have misunderstand me.
What I was saying is that instead of a 1 hour long Extravaganza, make the Extravaganza mission work like a chapter in the new Epic Arc missions. This way I would like to sit down for 15 minutes to finish a part of the quest and move on to RL if I have only 15 minutes to play.
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Zhang Ramses
Chaos From Order
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Posted - 2009.02.26 16:34:00 -
[85]
What are the shortest and longest possible chains of missions that will conclude this first arc? A picture from Fanfest implied that some branches/choices would "end" an epic mission arc sooner than others. Is that still the case? Or by 7 chapters do you mean that there will be 7 opportunities to "choose your own adventure"?
I would also consider re-wording the dev blog, as it implies that the content team has spent months working on this one mission arc.
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Ydyp Ieva
Caldari
Amarrian Retribution
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Posted - 2009.02.26 17:11:00 -
[86]
The epic arcs are a nice addition to the pve side, and I'm happy there is some making progress on them. However I have a few concerns with the new system.
The title says 'should you choose to accept it', but I'm more worried about what happens when a normal mission expires. As I noticed you get auto-offered a mission when you talk to an agent. This mission gets added to the journal and gets a date for when it expires.
So atm on TQ you get a standing hit when you let the offer expires, on TQ this isn't any problem cause it is you who ask for work and then just leave them waiting and not showing up to do the job. With the new system I didn't ask them for work, they just came up with work! That is a big difference.
So I would love to see that auto-offer go away and get a button again to ask for work, or those missions offers should never expire either (but then again your journal will get cluttered), or the standing hit should be removed.
This problem is a real big one for those that frequent use locator agents to find their target and those people that go on a holiday for a few weeks. Or those that are in the region one week to get isk up, then go on a pvp course for 2 weeks with the made isk. And I'm sure I forgot a lot of other scenario's like that.
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CCP Dropbear
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Posted - 2009.02.26 17:43:00 -
[87]
Originally by: Ydyp Ieva
The title says 'should you choose to accept it', but I'm more worried about what happens when a normal mission expires. As I noticed you get auto-offered a mission when you talk to an agent. This mission gets added to the journal and gets a date for when it expires.
Standings hits for mission expiry have been moved from all missions, across the board.
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CCP Jasonitas
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Posted - 2009.02.26 18:18:00 -
[88]
Quote:
Q: Will the 'decision points' in the arcs allow pilots to make more 'faction-ish' related decisions? For example, I get a mission from a Gallente who sends me to check out an abandoned mining platform, and warp in to find a dogfight between Gallente and Caldari npcs. Now, none are red to me, so I can pick sides by attacking one side over the other, and end up getting routed to a Caldari agent next time. If that's not how it will work, please explain!
Branching moments occur at Agent Interaction missions. In your example, you might not be able to choose sides in that battle, but when you return to the agent, your next mission may be a choice between which side you choose. Thus, that battle would begin a branching point in the story. "Blood-Stained Stars" has a branching point where you choose which faction to go with, and the story continues on with that faction. It's a rather small branching point, but it does give you a taste of what we can do with branching.
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Kirja
R.u.S.H.
Red Alliance
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Posted - 2009.02.26 19:08:00 -
[89]
Single storyline? Unique rewards? "Special" agents? Somehow it sounds familiar. Cosmos...anyone? Whats up with cosmos content? Back in 2006 (2005?) i heard that Gallente cosmos missions are kind of lacking compared to other cosmos areas. Devs promised to expand it soon (tm). It's ok though it's been only 4 years...
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Thynar
Gallente
Melita Foundation
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Posted - 2009.02.26 19:19:00 -
[90]
Originally by: CCP Dropbear
Edited by: CCP Dropbear on 26/02/2009 18:14:01
Standings hits for mission expiry have been removed from all missions, across the board.
Good one! Remove standing hits for mission failure in lowsec and I will put a few battleships and cheap jumpclones in the pirates' crosshairs 
Only thing that worries me about Epic Arcs is I'm persona non-grata in Amarr and soon in Caldari space. Although it's a choice I made, I would like to experience these missions without creating an alt. I hope I can experience this content with a ship that does have a chance to finish these missions and get back to friendly space.
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