Appocalypse Gauntlet Content Idea

[Jaegernault]

Hey there,

 

Im not sure if this will even get seen by the powers at be but over the many years of playing City Of Heroes Ive had a lot of ideas for things that could spice things up, some would be harder to implement as they would involve a lot more code but others are only slightly out with what we can already do ourselves via AE.

 

Here is one such concept I've always wanted to see. separated into a reason for wanting it, A guide to how it would run and how it would be hard to exploit (because we all know someone will try to)

 

Reason for wanting it:

As we level our characters they gain incredible power, what was once a challenge at +1*4 is now easy on +4*8, the concept of Min/Maxing is not a new one and im very guilty of this, My characters are made to solo all content, so that when I team up I know I can just have fun safe in the knowledge that if the entire team goes under, I can hold the line while they wake up. But this also means that if its solo-able, team play is easier. Yes, you can do the Liberty TF to fight the hardest enemy, but even that, with a good composition is fairly easy. Hamidon is the ultimate enemy but he needs multiple teams coordinating to do it, its not something you throw together in 15 minutes! My suggestion is an "Endurance Trial", specifically one that CANNOT be completed as its made to get progressively harder. Sure you can run it solo, but no matter how amazing your character you will get overwhelmed, even in full teams, eventually the horde will win as the entire campaign will essentially be waves of ever increasing enemy mobs. Some will read that and instantly go, so why play it, the reason, it will be leader board based. Every run will be logged to what spawn you defeated, both solo and team based. The reasoning being that you have to think creatively in team composition, raw damage wont save you, you will need the team to be coordinated, and synced up to get to the top. Very little content can floor a team of 8 incarnate level characters regardless of archetype, this could potentially make even the strongest fear for their characters survival while letting those who arnt so powerful still have fun testing their metal.

 

How it would run (suggestion):

It would start like a normal trial, via a contact. you would enter a map, not a large one, for this concept I thought zombies would be a fun idea so say a graveyard with a path through it like some of the MOT maps. The team assembles and has to activate the mission via either a contact of object inside. Once active the mission starts with the first wave (easiest)

 

Wave 1 - Would consist of Minions/Lieutenants

 

A new wave would spawn 5 seconds after the previous wave is cleared. Each new wave would reweight the enemy mob to a higher rank, so

Wave 1 would be say 60% Minions/40% lieutenants,

Wave 2 being 50% Minions/50% Lieutenants.

Wave 3 being 40% Minions/60% Lieutenants.

Wave 4 being 30% Minions/70% Lieutenants

Wave 5 being 30% Minions/50% Lieutenants/20% Bosses

Wave 6 being 20% Minions/60% Lieutenants/20% Bosses

Wave 7 being 10% Minions/70% Lieutenants/20% Bosses

Wave 8 being 80% Lieutenants/20% Bosses

Wave 9 being 70% Lieutenants/30% Bosses

Wave 10 being 60% Lieutenants/30% Bosses/10% Elite Bosses

Wave 11 being 50% Lieutenants/40% Bosses/10% Elite Bosses

Wave 12 being 40% Lieutenants/50% Bosses/10% Elite Bosses

Wave 13 being 30% Lieutenants/50% Bosses/20% Elite Bosses

Wave 14 being 20% Lieutenants/60% Bosses/20% Elite Bosses

Wave 15 being 10% Lieutenants/70% Bosses/20% Elite Bosses

Wave 16 being 80% Bosses/20% Elite Bosses

Wave 17 being 70% Bosses/30% Elite Bosses

Wave 18 being 60% Bosses/30% Elite Bosses/10% Archvillians

Wave 19 being 50% Bosses/40% Elite Bosses/10% Archvillians

Wave 20 being 40% Bosses/40% Elite Bosses/20% Archvillians

 

And So on, hopefully you get the Idea, until eventually your facing waves of just Elite Bosses and Arch Villains, Until only Arch Villains are spawning, at which point they start getting +1 to their respective level, up to the +3 we see in Dark Astoria Final AV's. It would take an impressive team to beat 15 Arch Villains all at once when they are all +3 to you, even at incarnate level. Levels within the Trial can also be respective, similar to when the Rikti invade zones, or the Halloween event that summons the horde and banners. So it cannot be exploited for power leveling unless your happy to die a lot and not get far and even a team of low level characters could try it out for fun. If by some unimaginable feat a team composition was found that could take out  a wave of AV's, Giant Monsters could be introduced, anything to ensure that there is always something slightly harder to aim to beat. 

 

The main purpose of the waves is a sense of accomplishment, a sudden increase in difficulty kills a team, the waves would get steadily harder, starting out very easy until your throwing your all into the wave and barley hanging on, the mission ends when the entire team is dead, no hospital is available but  team Res powers and inspirations are permitted

 

What do people think of such an idea? especially Developers who kinda HAVE to like it if its to ever happen!