Can't you see who gives you a rating? We could compile a list of them and see if they are the same.

Zorbane - We can't see a review if they don't leave any text along with it. This phenomena does not leave text reviews.

That is why IMO it is a person because it seems to be designed to be unidentifiable.

If it's a person, what do you think their motive is?

I always thought it was strange going back 8 months or so that every new mission I published picked up one or two 1 stars right off the bat (before even coming out of the review tab). From what I've read on the forums, it seems this experience wasn't isolated only to me, but was happening to everyone. When a new mission popped up, someone was quick to give it one or two 1 star reviews.

I'm wondering if it could be the same person who is responsible now for these mysterious one star reviews. Maybe now with the game being F2P it's easier for someone to sign up with several accounts and just hammer on the one stars.

I just don't understand why they are doing it? I honestly wonder if it isn't some disgruntled Foundry author who is upset with how his missions have done and is taking out his frustration on everyone else. I can't think of why anyone else would go to such lengths just to one star missions. It seems the average troll would not bother with such an involved undertaking which has such a limited impact outside the Foundry community.

There definitely should be a way to see who is giving ratings. Even if it's only good for the last 24 to 48 hours, at least it could identify people who are abusing the system.

I can't say that I know why but here a few possible reasons for me.

1. They did a mission and got upset that it wasn't as recognised as they thought it should be and as a result 1-star things that look like they are going well as vengeance.

2. They might just hate the foundry take take sadistic glee from 1-starring new missions knowing that means they will never get the chance in a relatively name and reputation driven environment.

3. They might want to keep missions that don't fit their style (anything not a clicke) low in the ratings as that will help them find it.

4. This is the internet - Trolls and griefers are going to exist in some form . Trolling/griefing for some people is it's own reward. Threads like this only feeding them.

Are any of these good reasons to 1-star anyone's mission. No. However that still won't stop people from using these to justify their actions.

1-starring a mission is easy it take you what 5-seconds to pick up, drop a mission then give a no-text 1 star review. It doesn't take much effort. and you know that's what is sad. Is that a person who has spent months working on a mission can have it's chance at being seen by the public at large shot pieces because of a Malevolent person.

If it is a bug. Then we need to find out how to replicate it so at least then we can submit the replication steps to Cryptic and have them deal with it. If it's not.... then well, what can we do? report malecious reviews? Who's to say that the review was malecious or wasn't legimately given a 1-star because they didn't like it and didn't feel like telling anyone why?

As TerilynnS has said many times on PodcastUGC "I hate the 5-star rating system". To not like something is fine but if Cryptic are going to get rid of the 5-star system. What are they going to replace it with.

What we need is a group dedicated to finding a solution to the problem that we all face as foundry authors. Authors who are here to tell a story and provide the player an entertaining interactive experience. Whether it be a group dedicated to finding a bug, or an alternate rating system.

In some ways we need to take charge here and lead the way cause otherwise things are just going to continue on as they are and maybe even get worse.

Ahem. If you're looking for a motive - The Foundry is a threat to officially made story-based content. A person, or small group of people who wish to lash out (and as utterly unreasonable as it is) would probably like to make sure that new players don't get any easy access to new Foundry material in order to (artificially perhaps) inflate the public call for more story-based content by the devs.

Look, I'm not saying this is what's happening, but I've been learning a whole lot about how low the angry portion of this community can get lately and it wouldn't surprise me in the least.

If it is a bug - then it should be QA's NUMBER ONE priority to make sure new material is EASY to find - because the Foundry IS becoming THAT important to the game.

I just have a feeling it's not - because I would have hoped it would have been addressed by now.

I think this is the most likely. There are people who simply get their kicks from being [expletive deleted]. We don't really know because no one has stepped up and said "My name is Joe, and I 1-star missions without playing them and here's why." I doubt it's a bug, though it is possible. Since the default is three stars, and it takes an action to pull it down to one, if it was a bug you'd think we'd be seeing a bunch of 3-stars.

And yes, threads like these do feed trolls, IF they bother to look down here, but I still believe the best way to combat bad behavior is to shine a BIG EFFING SPOTLIGHT on it, rather than sweep it under the rug and say "oh well, that's life."

The reason I made the original thread on the subject was to solicit ideas to help combat this, and we've had many, so a big thanks to the community on that! I know Cryptic has at least looked at some of the threads, and what they do with our suggestions is up to them. I know we're getting a better search come season 6, which I think will help.

In the meantime, I maintain the best thing we can do as authors is go play everyone's missions, especially those to whom this has happened. Give them fair reviews, don't just 5-star to negate a drive-by. I know I don't play near enough of you guys' missions, and I need to get back to that (the call of diablo 3 and TOR is enticing me away )

I am so AGAINST One star ratings.... I believe that should be replaced by a flag or something and reserved for misisons that are broken or somehow dont function right.

I have a few that have gotten 1 starred because the "user" the cant figure out where to go --- though the briefing says so, guess I could be VERY specific. There is also a psuedo-bug that sometimes if you accecpt a mission in First City and the clicky is there it wont show up until the person zones. Get one star because they think the clicky doesnt exist.


Also from may experience with CoX they are gangs of One Star bandits. They decide something doesnt meet their own personal standards or is somehow an exploit and they would go around "cleaning house"... or there are just griefers. **** someone off on the forum or in chat...get one starred

On the flip side.... you could have an awful broken map but be in a fleet and get 10 5-star ratings just because they are your buddies

I think the ratings system could be vastly improved

I firmly believe that the 5 star system needs to go.

Keep the option to comment, that is all that is needed. Comments say a lot more about a mission than stars.
Finally, intelligent and meaningful sorting takes care of the rest. Sorts by age, average playtime, build time, file size, numbers of detail items, dialogues, costumes, objectives, etc.

Useful information, along with meaningful comments.
No stars needed.

It's not that hard to one star a single mission, but it seems like putting 7 one stars would be more difficult. My understanding is that the ratings are per account, so you'd have to log into 7 different characters, accept the mission 7 different times and drop it seven different times. At that point you're talking about 5-10 minutes of your time. It's not really that hard, but it seems like it would deter most trolls who want to just cause mischief.

Then again it could be 7 different people, or maybe someone who just really gets off on ruining someone's day.

I don't know how feasible it is to completely get rid of the rating system. Ratings are a flawed sorting system, but if you get rid of it you end up with no sorting system. There are an overwhelming number of Foundry missions, and some of them are honestly pretty bad (thrown together, very poor story development, ineffective use of the tools, combat grind with no story, etc).

Some of the missions that are made really do need to be weeded out, or people will just end up throwing up their hands in disgust at the Foundry. We definitely need a better, or at least more intricate system than we currently have though. But, truthfully, just getting it so the "New" tab works would be a step in the right direction.