»Hey there! Helpful MxO Story Stuffs =)«

Hey there, long time MxO player here. Was recently browsing the site and saw a few of you were interesting in The Matrix Online story but didn't really have good contacts from the game.

So i thought i'd offer to help ya out ^.^

First off, mxostory.com... - bookmark it! Lots and lots of lovely storyline related links from critical mission transcripts to live event postings put in the correct orders!

Second, cinematics can all be found for viewing/download at
forums.station.sony.com...

Third, live event posts can all be found at
forums.station.sony.com...

Forth, transcripts are your friend over at
mxotranscripts.fortunecity.com...

Fifth, videos are always good! Check out
youtube.com...

Oh and it might be a bit vein but i kinda consider myself a pretty good MxO storyline knowledgable person so feel free to ask any direct question here in this thread =)

And CloudWolf has been in-game for a long time, right? How did you find this site?

Hey, you found my sig, nice ^.^

But yeah, been around from late beta. Oh, must've been october 04?

And the site? I chop it up to boredom im afraid, got looking for some matrix fansites, muddled through dead ends here and there, came up with some other folk who seemed to hate MxO with a vengence so i ended up here =P

Cloudwolf! Hey, greetings man! I don't know if you remember me, but for a while I played MxO under the name of BananaBread (smg.photobucket.com...). I was trying to track the story like you were, but I just didn't have the time.

One of the things I am really interested in is the Pandora's Box storyline. Aside from all the extremely interesting Records (from Arcs 1 through 4) which I've already posted at matrix-explained.com..., I have been trying to get other players to tell us even more stuff from that storyline. I know for a fact that there is more than just the Records, because I've heard from several sources that the Pandora's Box storyline tells you a little bit about Persephone's past (a connection to a character named Dame White) and a character named the Boxmaker. None of these things are mentioned in the Records, so they must be revealed some other way, probably through conversations with characters. I just wonder what else is revealed that we don't know about.

No one has ever tracked the storyline from the Pandora's Boxes, only the "player's guide" type info (go here, grab this item, bring it here, etc.). I'm hoping maybe you can shed some light on this matter.

I thought i remembered you from somewhere, was your forum handle on DN1 Feral Boy too?

Hey, hows it going? =D

PB... well i've been meaning to do them again sometime soon so when i do ill be sure to transcribe everything.

As for persephone, theres been quite a lot of info, albeit vague, about her past circulating in recent merv storyline criticals too.

Seems she was quite involved, with like you said, Dame White (if i remember correctly the revelation in PB is that DW is her predessor in some way) and an Exile named The Apothecary.

Lesbian threesome i say, haha.

But yeah, any questions, feel free to ask mate.

CloudWolf wrote:

I thought i remembered you from somewhere, was your forum handle on DN1 Feral Boy too?

Yes indeed! And I'm doing great, thanks for asking. You?

CloudWolf wrote:

PB... well i've been meaning to do them again sometime soon so when i do ill be sure to transcribe everything.

That would be extremely helpful. I know with your efforts to track the ongoing storyline, you're probably already strapped for time, so I understand if the PB stuff goes at a snail's pace. But at this point, I'll take anything!

CloudWolf wrote:

As for persephone, theres been quite a lot of info, albeit vague, about her past circulating in recent merv storyline criticals too. Seems she was quite involved, with like you said, Dame White (if i remember correctly the revelation in PB is that DW is her predessor in some way) and an Exile named The Apothecary.

I left the game before the appearance of the Apothecary. Could you give us a quick rundown of who the Apothecary is and what her function is?

Im very well thank you, though i'll say now my formal work on documenting the storyline is long dead ( though primed for a possible revival this summer, who knows )

The Apothecary? Well theres a pretty tale. Now she was pretty much all handled in Merv and Mach missions and im Zion so i only know so much but...

General gist is shes a program whos proficient with the creation of termination codes (remember how the oracle lost her first shell?) and in the recent storyline the Merv needed her expertise to help work on the Oracle Kill-code he's making. To do this he pulled the Trainman out of his long recluse and sent the Apothecary an unknown message (if i remember correctly from Persephone, hence the link there).

This message brought her into the matrix (im pretty sure it was mentioned somewhere that it wasnt the first time she'd been to the matrix either, prompting the question is return to the machine civilisation possible? Or is it possible machine programs can make their way to the matrix even not in exile?) under the mervs temporary employ.

However, her presence in the matrix was noted by the machines while investigating the merv's movements (he attacked agent pace as a test of the kill code) and her deletion/recovery was assigned. Afterall, it not good to have kill code makers running around in the simulation now is it? =P

That and she had an uncanny ability to terminate redpills RSIs with the flick of the wrist. xD

She recently finished her work on the kill-code though and demanded a return to the machine mainframes. The Merv however considered her too much of a liability to let her return alive. He had his operatives tip off machine forces as to her location as well as sending his own people in to take care of her.

Despite putting up a venerable resistance she was eventually gunned down in a dark westview alley.

Much to Flood's (who had built up quite an admiration for her) dismay i might add. He was later seen drinking heavily in some bar, what was interesting, the only real affection sory he's ever had. Really fleshed out his character a bit.

Apothecary Live Events:

Arrival - forums.station.sony.com...

Demise - forums.station.sony.com...

So is this kill code different than the termination code that the Merovingian used to terminate the Oracle's shell between Reloaded and Revolutions? I'm assuming that if it's different, it's supposed to be more effective than just terminating a shell.

And has it ever been revealed why the Merovingian hates the Oracle so much?

Feral Boy wrote:

So is this kill code different than the termination code that the Merovingian used to terminate the Oracle's shell between Reloaded and Revolutions? I'm assuming that if it's different, it's supposed to be more effective than just terminating a shell. Im not sure, it hasnt really been elaborated on much atm... And has it ever been revealed why the Merovingian hates the Oracle so much? Well this little crusade in particular was brought on by her refusing to do what he asked when he broke through the Zion defences after Seraph's little swim in 6.3 and confronted her over... well, "it is said they can not be taken, only given". I think its all built up from his superiority complex. She can accurately predict the future, took seraph from his employ, her exile is fully sanctioned by the machines and is generally kinda unphasable. Thats frustrating for a bully like the merv.

Hey, speaking of Oracle's exile being sanctioned, that's something I never quite understood. If it's sanctioned, she's not really an Exile. Or maybe I'm just thinking too logically on this point. Perhaps it has something to do with the metaphorical necessity of having the intuitive, "un-balancer of the equation" being an Exile to fit her nature. Or something like that. When it was revealed in Reloaded that Seraph is her guardian, I had taken that to mean that she needs him BECAUSE she is an Exile and is on the run from the Machines. Unless she needs protection from the Merovingian, who hated her even BEFORE Seraph switched sides. Just thinkin' out loud...

Oh, one last thing. I remember reading in the Wikipedia entry on MxO that Seraph had found something more important to protect than either the Oracle or Sati. Has that been revealed yet?

Feral Boy wrote:

Hey, speaking of Oracle's exile being sanctioned, that's something I never quite understood. If it's sanctioned, she's not really an Exile. Or maybe I'm just thinking too logically on this point. Perhaps it has something to do with the metaphorical necessity of having the intuitive, "un-balancer of the equation" being an Exile to fit her nature. Or something like that. When it was revealed in Reloaded that Seraph is her guardian, I had taken that to mean that she needs him BECAUSE she is an Exile and is on the run from the Machines. Unless she needs protection from the Merovingian, who hated her even BEFORE Seraph switched sides. Just thinkin' out loud... Oh, one last thing. I remember reading in the Wikipedia entry on MxO that Seraph had found something more important to protect than either the Oracle or Sati. Has that been revealed yet?

Well i personally take the term 'exile' to more so mean a program that has chosen to exist inside the matrix as opposed to living as part of the machine world than mean being hunted down by the machines.

The oracle is a prime example as the machines have gone straight out and consulted her in a few missions in mxo but shes not the only one, other exiles like Kalt (head of the organsation Kalt Chemicals) seem to be allowed to exist freely as long as they fit the machines wim and dont mess with stuff.

As for the wiki thing, nothing like that has ever been revealed as far as im aware. And im pretty aware, lol.

Theres actually quite a lot wrong with the wiki info for the various characters, i mean to clean that up one of these days.

Here's what Wikipidia says about Seraph's new mission:

Wikipedia wrote:

The 7.1 Cinematic revealed a wet return from the river for Seraph. Emerging from the Bathary Row access node, Seraph approached three redpills and attacked one, MoonAvatar, without provocation. As MoonAvatar fell to the ground, Seraph performed what could only be described as a 'code exorcism', placing his foot on the neck, his hands over the body and extracting some unknown code from the victim. So began Seraph's spree of attacks across the Megacity, both Red and Bluepill, without a word to anyone. Each victim would recover eventually, and would not remember the past few months. Although Seraph's attacks seemed random, after a few days a group of redpills managed to approach him and asked him for his reasons behind the attacks. Seraph, who now sported a dirty coat, and a yellow code aura around his head, stated that he saw a 'dangerous deception' something that he could see because a 'veil had been lifted from his eyes', and that he had a new, more important purpose than guarding the Oracle.

I've seen Cinematic 7.1 (downloaded from the MxO forum), and so I do know about Seraph releasing individuals from that weird code. I just don't remember it being stated that this is his "new mission" as such.

Feral Boy wrote:

Here's what Wikipidia says about Seraph's new mission: Wikipedia wrote: The 7.1 Cinematic revealed a wet return from the river for Seraph. Emerging from the Bathary Row access node, Seraph approached three redpills and attacked one, MoonAvatar, without provocation. As MoonAvatar fell to the ground, Seraph performed what could only be described as a 'code exorcism', placing his foot on the neck, his hands over the body and extracting some unknown code from the victim. So began Seraph's spree of attacks across the Megacity, both Red and Bluepill, without a word to anyone. Each victim would recover eventually, and would not remember the past few months. Although Seraph's attacks seemed random, after a few days a group of redpills managed to approach him and asked him for his reasons behind the attacks. Seraph, who now sported a dirty coat, and a yellow code aura around his head, stated that he saw a 'dangerous deception' something that he could see because a 'veil had been lifted from his eyes', and that he had a new, more important purpose than guarding the Oracle. I've seen Cinematic 7.1 (downloaded from the MxO forum), and so I do know about Seraph releasing individuals from that weird code. I just don't remember it being stated that this is his "new mission" as such.

First off, yes, for that time he wasn't protecting the Oracle. He was off across the whole city hunting those people down for about... 3/4 weeks. So in a way, yes that was his 'new mission' but it was only a temporary new priority, not a new meaning of existance. lol

But yeah, here is the event that wiki entry refers to:

Wow, it sounds like there are a lot of mistakes on that Wiki entry. You know, part of the whole problem of keeping the storyline straight is that there's no official place you can go to on the MxO website where you can read about everything (of importance) that's happened since day one. I wrote a suggestion of how the devs could track all that, but I don't have access to the forum to post it and I don't know any of the devs' email addresses. Here's what I wrote:


The Matrix Online is a very unique experiment, in that it has been given the task of picking up the saga of the Matrix series where the movie trilogy left off. Unlike many other games, there is a continuing storyline that helps to constantly expand the Matrix universe. As the story progresses and the various organizations are pitted against one another, the loyalties of the players are tested to their limits. Each player must be skilled not just in battle but in strategy as well.

It is the presence of a continuing storyline that is one of the most attractive features of the game. And yet, ironically it is also its greatest weak spot. However, it is not the storyline itself that weakens the game but rather a lack of decent coverage of the storyline. Historically, there has not been a consistent manner in which a running tab has been kept on all the events that go on in the game. For the average new player who joins at this stage of the game where there has been two years’ worth of storyline, it would be very confusing to try to figure out how everything has progressed since the game first went online.

Now to be fair, it is not as if no efforts whatsoever have been made. In fact, the exact opposite is true. When the game began, there were very lengthy summaries of each event, along with helpful pictures. However, these summaries soon disappeared, and the average player was left only with the cinematics and the postings of fellow gamers on the forums. In the absence of good reporting, some loyal players took it upon themselves to begin writing their own summaries of the game’s storyline. But even this was limited, sporadic and dependant upon the players to continue the coverage.

Eventually, the developers resorted to posting screenshots on the Live Events section of the game’s official forum of the various in-game visitations by major characters. And while this was a step in the right direction compared with having nothing at all, it is still woefully inadequate. The basic problem is that all the existing methods of reporting the storyline are cumbersome for the new player who wants to catch up on the entire story thus far. The Live Event coverage on the forum is very thorough, but it is mostly helpful for existing players who are already caught up with the story. New players have to wade through a sea of forum postings and screenshots, as well as try to sort out the correct chronological order of each thread in conjunction with the others. Because anyone can respond to these forum postings at any time, they are prone to getting out of order very quickly.

A major overhaul of the method for reporting the storyline is necessary in order to ensure that new players have a sure footing when joining the game. As it stands right now, the current story tracking methods are only truly helpful for recurring players who basically have been around since the game began. These players already know the back-story and only need to check in on the Live Events forum sporadically in order to keep abreast of the current goings-on. If a more ideal method is to be implemented, it must be beneficial not only for recurring players but new ones as well. The storyline should be presented in a chronological manner so that new players do not have to spend any time trying to sort it out themselves. The easier it is for players to keep track of the story, the easier it is to keep existing players on the same page while also making sure that potential new players are not intimidated and are able to join in on the current storyline with little effort.

The best way to manage all of this is to have a specific framework that can be used on an ongoing basis. If the story is reported as the game goes along, the workload is not much heavier than it already is. Once the structure is in place, all that’s left to do is fill in the blanks of the continuing storyline as events occur. However, the difficult part about beginning this process is the fact that there is two years’ worth of back-story that will also need to be summarized. But the work will be very much worthwhile, especially as time goes on. Over time the story is just going to get longer and more complex, and without a concrete method of reporting it for new players, soon there won’t be any new players who will want to join. In other words, the sooner this new method is put into place, the better.

There are several strategies that can be employed to meet this goal. First and foremost, there needs to be a central location on the game’s official website where all players can go to see the storyline at a glance—like a “story thus far” type of section. This feature should be available not just to the existing players but also to potential players who are not currently paying customers. The main focus would be on eliminating any daunting roadblocks for anyone who thinks it’s too late for them to join in on the action. This will be more and more important as time goes on and the story gets longer and longer. The more inviting the game can be made to the non-player, the better the odds that they’ll want to play the game.

The synopsis of the story needs to be organized and practical. There should be an overall “Big Picture” view of the entire story from day one until the current point in time. This will provide a quick review for new players and it will also help to illustrate how all the various chapters and subchapters fit together. Basically, it would be an ever-increasing summary, which would grow in size each time a subchapter is implemented. Screenshots would be ideal, as well as the occasional video. The basic idea is that this would be the place where new players would go to get a rundown of all the important events that have taken place prior to the time that they joined the game. Keep in mind that this would be like a Cliff’s Notes summary and would not include a description of every instance of the Oracle showing up in-game to hand out cookies. Only major items that affect the overall storyline should be included. For more detail, links to the Live Event forum postings can be included.

The storyline summary can be in the format of an indented outline, as follows:

I. Chapter 1
a. Subchapter 1.1
b. Subchapter 1.2
c. Subchapter 1.3
II. Chapter 2
a. Subchapter 2.1
b. Subchapter 2.2
c. Subchapter 2.3

This format would continuously expand as time goes on and more subchapters are added. Special Anniversary Events, such as Piece of Blue Sky or the Smith Virus, would also be included in their proper chronological placement. Each line, whether it’s a chapter or subchapter, would be a link that takes you to another page. If you click on a chapter link, it takes you to a page that provides a summary of the entire chapter, including all three subchapters. If you click on a subchapter link, it takes you to a page that provides a summary of only that subchapter. The subchapter summaries will be more in-depth than the chapter summaries.

The subchapter summary pages will be the meat and potatoes of the storyline summary. This is where you will find the corresponding Sentinel newspaper, cinematic and storyline summary. You will also find links to the Live Event postings on the forum in chronological order and embedded in the text summary of the subchapter at the point in the summary where that particular Live Event took place. That way, the subchapter summary can devote one sentence to a Live Event (“The Oracle shows up to hand out cookies.”), with that sentence being a clickable link to the Live Event forum posting illustrating the whole thing. Players who read the summary can either continue reading the summary or click on the link to get more info from the Live Event forum posting. This will also eliminate the problem of Live Event forum postings being out of chronological order due to reply postings by players. They will always be in the correct order in the summary.

Whenever a character makes his or her first appearance in the storyline, there should be a picture of that character in the corresponding subchapter summary in which he or she first appeared. This also helps to ensure that the storyline is clear and alerts new players who to look for in-game if they happen to see one of them during a Live Event. Names are extremely helpful, but in a visual medium like an online video game, a picture is definitely worth a thousand words. Including links to the Live Event forum postings can take the place of including pictures in the summaries, but there should be an effort to include pictures in the summaries whenever possible. As an aside, it might be helpful to also include dates for Live Events in the story summaries. While it might be difficult to catalog by date the past Live Events that have already occurred, it should not be a problem to do so on an ongoing basis once this new process has been implemented.

O.o

I'll be sure to post that up sometime =D

Though yeah, i keep meaning to do a brief synopsis thing myself... and of course theres release 2 of my first year stuff to do...

xD

CloudWolf wrote:

O.o I'll be sure to post that up sometime =D Though yeah, i keep meaning to do a brief synopsis thing myself... and of course theres release 2 of my first year stuff to do... xD

Thanks for your help, man. Tracking the MxO story is a daunting task, and it never stops progressing. Ack! Hey, have you tried doing those archived missions? I left the game before those became available, but I remember wanting to try them out.

Ahem.

I just wanted to point out that the seated man in "the Real" in Cinematic 7.3 seems to play a cameo in the 5/31/07 Live Event (the one about Kid and the "Pure Mosh" flyers).

No one seemed to post about it on the MxO forums, and since I don't actually play the game, I can't post on it. I thought that his presence in the Event probably has something to do with the mission's content (or why else would he appear?) and the mysterious "J.M." who ordered the flyers.

He also seems to be in Rarebit's current Avatar, and to be the perspective from which one of his older sketches is seen, namely the one of a screen (and the characteristic machine bug on it) showing Neo negotiating with Deus Ex Machina.

Nous wrote:

Ahem. I just wanted to point out that the seated man in "the Real" in Cinematic 7.3 seems to play a cameo in the 5/31/07 Live Event (the one about Kid and the "Pure Mosh" flyers). No one seemed to post about it on the MxO forums, and since I don't actually play the game, I can't post on it. I thought that his presence in the Event probably has something to do with the mission's content (or why else would he appear?) and the mysterious "J.M." who ordered the flyers. He also seems to be in Rarebit's current Avatar, and to be the perspective from which one of his older sketches is seen, namely the one of a screen (and the characteristic machine bug on it) showing Neo negotiating with Deus Ex Machina.

I dont see any sort of cameo, the delivery guy is a bluepill, certainly not the guy in the seat, i think thats gonna be a far bigger mystery.

Unless you mean the guy looking down from the rooftop? I just presumed that was a player. EDIT: confirmed as a liasion player character.

But yeah, doesnt appear to be, or at least in a grounded theory, rare's current avatar either since the full sketch for that shows the figure with spiky hair while the one in 7.3 is shown with a smooth head. Especially if it that guy from the event, since the name of that image specifically highlights the cossack, and its the focal point of the picture. The guy from the event most certainly isn't wearing one.

But the other sketch, the one with DEM, certainly seems to be the same scene as seen in 7.3, good catch.

Feral Boy wrote:

CloudWolf wrote: O.o I'll be sure to post that up sometime =D Though yeah, i keep meaning to do a brief synopsis thing myself... and of course theres release 2 of my first year stuff to do... xD Thanks for your help, man. Tracking the MxO story is a daunting task, and it never stops progressing. Ack! Hey, have you tried doing those archived missions? I left the game before those became available, but I remember wanting to try them out.

Yup, i have, they're probably the single greatest piece of content for me actually, being so into the storyline and all. ^.^

They're actually part of a reply i was gonna post earlier too; I think one of the main ideas of the storyline is using it as content for the players. I mean, when you join up you dont know whats going on so you think "right, how do i catch up?" and the game actually provides a very good way of doing just that through the mission archives. I mean, they are every single storyline mission released thus far up to the current chapter =P

By doing them you get a damn good catch up session as well as excellent longitivity content, especially in the SOE story telling model which has a much greater reliance on the missions to drive the story as opposed to events.

Plus you get to do em from all 3 sides with no negative effects on ya rep so you get all sides of the story - making a cohesive whole.

Of course with the older stuff its a little more complicated since with Monolith the story telling was pretty much entirely focused on the big ol deathly lives events. But like you've also said, those early stuffs were pretty well documented by players *cough* so it just takes a little effort on the players behalf.

Basically it comes down to this. To experience the storyline of the matrix online and keep up you really need to play it. i mean, that makes sense doesn't it? But if you don't thats fine, thats why theres people like me who want to help by providing what we can in the form of nice clickable links but to really be apart it helps to just have access to, and experience the world first hand.

Taking a step in another direction for a moment, this is how i'd experience the old story to catch up.


1. Read up some basic blurpage about the game and do my newbie intro missions - this all sets the scene and basic premise.

2. Find those mission archives.

I know early storyline followed the format of "release mission pack, do big ol live event." so i start doing the missions (theres a couple of ways to go about this, but i feel the most coherent is x.x.1 for each org then x.x.2 for each etc etc - far more cohesive and easy to comprehend and follow that way i feel) then read up on the old events in players recaps *cough*

mxoresource.com...

3. When i reach the point where events were becoming documented on the forums i consult a cronological timeline of mission releases against the event dates and consult them in between my missioning... oh wait, there isnt one... ill have to make that sometime, hadnt realised that.

Though there is the chronoligical list (see below) it hasnt gone on to add sub-subchapter tags on the old events based on release dates yet.

forums.station.sony.com...

4. When i reach the point where live events became chapter tagged i realise its alot easier to relate to my missions and can easily consult them inbetween, especially with the chronological list helping.

ALSO more recently theres been these...

warcry.com...

is that something along your lines of thought Feral?

Feral Boy wrote:

Wow, it sounds like there are a lot of mistakes on that Wiki entry. You know, part of the whole problem of keeping the storyline straight is that there's no official place you can go to on the MxO website where you can read about everything (of importance) that's happened since day one. I wrote a suggestion of how the devs could track all that, but I don't have access to the forum to post it and I don't know any of the devs' email addresses. Here's what I wrote: 0.o

posted

forums.station.sony.com...

CloudWolf, thanks for posting that. I'm in the middle of moving, so my computer at home isn't up, and the computer network here at work prevents me from opening up game-related websites like MxO (and most of the other websites for which you've provided links). So I haven't had a chance to go to the forum and see if anyone's responded.

Anyway, as soon as I can set up my computer at our new place I'll check out those links you included, as well as the MxO forum. But it sounds like doing those archived missions is a great way to catch up. One question, though. Unless you're an avid player who plays a LOT, how long would it take the average player to play ALL the missions from ALL the organizations from 1.1 all the way up until the current point? The reason I ask is because my thinking is that it would be much more beneficial if new players could simply scan through some sort of story summary on the main website rather than take the time to do all the old archived missions in order to get the same result. Because if new players wanted to know what the heck all the new missions were all about, that's what they'd have to do--otherwise the new missions are confusing and meaningless.

That being said, I do hear what you're saying about archived missions being a great source of longevity, and I suppose for players that want to go that route rather than read a summary, they could very well do that. Perhaps what I'm suggesting is an alternative that would help a new player QUICKLY catch up to what's currently going on.

And the storyline summary doesn't even have to be absolutely current, either. It can be one subchapter behind, or perhaps even an entire chapter behind (but no more than that). My recommendation, however, would be to stay just one subchapter behind. Meanwhile, the devs could be typing out the info for the summaries as the story goes along, but wait until the subchapter actually ends before they go ahead and post it to the website. That way, only completed subchapters are posted up on the website for new players.

I understand your point but you've also got to remember, despite the heavy focus and official status of the continuation, it's still a game. The more content encouragement for players, the better in the long run.

However, i also agree with, and have for a long time encouraged and suggested, a synopsis as you plan. I suppose it'd all be a balancing act with the level of detail.

As for the length of time in the archives... lemme see.


On average i'd say a good crit lasts about 20 minutes, if your paying good attention to the story.

Theres 5 missions per org, per subchapter. So thats 15 missions altogether every subchapter.

3 subchapters means 45 missions altogether in each chapter.

Thus far 6 chapters are archived (although next patch sees the addition of 7 so we'll count that too for now).

Thats a grand total of 45x7 = 315 missions.

At av20 minutes per mish thats 315x20 = 6300 minutes.

In hours thats 6300/60 = 105.

105 hours of heavy storylined gameplay.

CloudWolf wrote:

I understand your point but you've also got to remember, despite the heavy focus and official status of the continuation, it's still a game. The more content encouragement for players, the better in the long run. However, i also agree with, and have for a long time encouraged and suggested, a synopsis as you plan. I suppose it'd all be a balancing act with the level of detail.

I agree with you about the necessity of the balancing act. I guess what I would say at this point is perhaps there should be a summary which would sufficiently provide game players with enough info so that the game is fun and not daunting.

CloudWolf wrote:

On average i'd say a good crit lasts about 20 minutes, if your paying good attention to the story.

Back when I was playing the game, I could easily take an hour for every mission, but that's because I was busy taking tons of screenshots so that I could put them into my Photobucket account later. And that hour doesn't include the editing job of narrowing down which screenshots I was going to use and then posting the final shots to Photobucket. I got faster at that as I went along and a little more creative (and used less fighting shots), but it still was about an hour for each mission. Obviously, this will not be other people's experience, because only a select few bothered to make some sort of "journal" of each mission.

Cloudwolf wrote:

Theres 5 missions per org, per subchapter. So thats 15 missions altogether every subchapter. 3 subchapters means 45 missions altogether in each chapter.

And that's a lot of subchapters, man! I had this idea the other day about the number of subchapters, and how they could diminish them. It sounds like a bad idea to diminish the number of subchapters since that means less content, but you know as well as I do that a great deal of those missions are simply running from one spot to another while being led on a wild goose chase. Most of the contacts you encounter have nothing useful to say, but only tell you to see someone else instead, which often feels like a never-ending chain of useless contacts.

My idea was instead of having five missions per org per subchapter, have only three missions per org. But because you're getting less missions, there has to be a payoff for that loss. And my idea was to have one mission per class--one for coders, one for hackers and one for operatives. The missions would be tailored for each class instead of being a one-size-fits-all type of scenario. So if you want to complete a coder mission successfully, you'll need to use your coding skills. Same with the hacker and operative missions. This opens up a little bit of elbow room for the game's writers to have some variety in the missions and how you go about completing them. There would be less running around all over the place, and the missions would feel more like they had a point to them. It would also encourage each player to learn all three classes (I know I tended to only develop my operative skills) if they really want to get the most out of the storyline.

CloudWolf wrote:

Thus far 6 chapters are archived (although next patch sees the addition of 7 so we'll count that too for now). Thats a grand total of 45x7 = 315 missions. At av20 minutes per mish thats 315x20 = 6300 minutes. In hours thats 6300/60 = 105. 105 hours of heavy storylined gameplay.

That's a lot of gameplay, at least for me anyway. Let's say I play an hour every day. That's 105 days of straight game-playing before I get caught up to the current storyline. That's fifteen weeks, or nearly four months. Four months! Ahem. I think I'd like to have a text summary that I could read to get up-to-date on the story, then do the archived missions in my free time ON TOP OF doing the current missions--which don't stop and keep coming during that four months of playing the archived missions!

You know, I wish I had the time to keep a proper MxO entry on Wikipedia. I'm into the TV show "Lost" and they've got their own Wikipedia site dedicated solely to the show (lostpedia.com...). It's very well put together and covers all the pertinent details--some in very GREAT detail. That's how I picture the ultimate MxO resource being. Unfortunately, there are way more dedicated Lost fans than Mxo fans, so it's just a pipe dream. But I can dream anyway, right?

CloudWolf, I was looking for your correcting entry on the MxO Wiki, but I couldn't find it. Maybe you've got a different posting name on there than CloudWolf.

Yeah, havn't really got round to it yet (hectic last week of college ftl) - ill let ya know when i do though ^.^