Revamp the Nemesis "invasion" event.

[Greycat]

So, for me, the Nemesis invasion event is one of the least interesting, least "put together" events of all the invasions. It's not that engaging, it's mostly "Oh, look, nemesis are spawning on top of me." For the "master planner" that Nemesis is supposed to be, it's... just a disappointment. It doesn't feel like you're fighting, or have fought off, an invasion - it feels like just another spawn writ large.

Essentially, it feels like a GM was asked to "spawn some nemesis" and just wrote a script so they could get some fresh coffee made while it ran.

 

I'd like to see these beefed up and made interesting with elements similar to the Rikti invasion and Halloween banner event.

 

First, the whole "getting there and delivering troops." The Rikti have dropships. Nemeiss also has a troop carrier - mole machines. Now, these are kind of annoying in (I think it's) Black Scorpion's (?) patron arc since they're just giant bags of HP that take a while to wear down. So, let's give them a purpose that also affects the zones (and the troops.)

 

MOLE MACHINE:
1. Has squad of troops defending it. (Standard Nemesis.)
2. Deploys from 2-4 Nemesis "specials" within 100 yard. Nemesis Specials are:
    a. About the HP of a Rikti bomb.
    b. Similar to a bomb, defeating (or doing significant damage) gives credit towards a badge.
    c. Generators of effects - Mole Machine health, Hero damage/acc/def/resist debuff (Destruction reverses the effect and gives a small *buff* to whatever was affected up to 5% while event is active, to some cap) Nemesis troops buff. (Effects go away on destruction.)

3. There are a set number of mole machines that deploy within the first 5 minutes (time is really just a placeholder.) The machines themselves *also* have a small zone-wide effect.

4. At the end of the timer, if all mole machines have been destroyed, a main Nemesis device is revealed as having been under construction. Similar to the old Paladin, you have a few minutes to keep it from being built.
Device types vary - dip into Nemesis lore for it - weather machine, chemical bomb (debuff/damage,) some sort of "control the zone" item (no actual control effect, or at most a minor one - draws minion/lt NPCs within 300 yards to assist Nemesis.)
- If they have not been destroyed, the machine is there, as is a gloating Nemesis/Fak to fight. Destroy the machine.
- If the machine is built, a mole machine arrives with Nemesis. Fight.

 

5. If all mole machines are destroyed, an enraged (add buff) Nemesis/Fake Nemesis arrives with an army from one last mole machine. Fight and defeat.

 

Of course, mobs still do the random spawn after some point (after the mole machine phase?) giving those who want to avoid it some warning to get out of the zone.

 

I'd think this would feel more like an invasion and *event,* (with appropriate badges/temp powers/whatever) versus the current "oh. We're randomly spawning Nemesis mobs and some text" that we have now, and would make things more enjoyable - as well as more avoidable for those that want to skip the event and "just get to their mission/trainer/etc." While ti borrows some ideas from the other events, it also gives it its own lore-related flavor.

[Rathulfr]

I dig it.

[Psyonico]

Cool idea.  I agree the current Nemesis event is a bagful of yawns, BUT it sounds like it's a lot easier to get the badge than what you're proposing.  Perhaps we can find some way of getting the badge at the same difficulty (right now it's just having 10 people standing around each other) while making the actual fighting more interesting.

[ShardWarrior]

4 hours ago, Rathulfr said:

I dig it.

As do I.  Great suggestions!

[Redlynne]

5 hours ago, Greycat said:

Nemeis also has a troop carrier - mole machines.

"Behold!  The Underminer!"

[Psyonico]

5 hours ago, Rathulfr said:

I dig it.

I see what you did there.

[BZRKR]

5 hours ago, Greycat said:

*snip*

Device types vary - dip into Nemesis lore for it - weather machine, chemical bomb (debuff/damage,) *snip*

Oh hey! Your examples made me think of the Warburg Nukes. There could be one of 3 Devices:

A weather machine that causes lightning strikes (Nuclear Blast)

A chem-attack machine that sprays out toxic clouds (Chemical Burn)

A bio-reactor that dispenses Nemesis-buffing substances (Biological Mutagens)

 

Of course, preventing/ defeating each of the devices should have associated badges 🙂

[Uun]

Wasn't there a Nemesis event back on live that had mole machines spawning in Brickstown?

[Greycat]

5 minutes ago, Uun said:

Wasn't there a Nemesis event back on live that had mole machines spawning in Brickstown?

I *want* to say no to that, given they're... items, basically, as far as I know, but a GM could have dropped some there. Or it might be in a mission somewhere?

[Uun]

11 minutes ago, Greycat said:

I *want* to say no to that, given they're... items, basically, as far as I know, but a GM could have dropped some there. Or it might be in a mission somewhere?

Honestly, I don't remember.  I thought it was an event but it might have been a mission.

[Aberrant]

My dream idea for a Nemesis Invasion would involve a piece of Nemesis tech from the leaked CoH Lore Bible called a Macro Assembler. It's basically a box that Nemesis smuggles into a building, which would when triggered rapidly breakdown the interior of the building and rebuild it into a fortress factory for Nemesis robots and troops. Imagine using the phasing tech or the Recluse's Victory model swap system so that when the invasion event begins a handful of skyscrapers in a city zone are replaced with massive brass castles, complete with banners and blaring Nemesis national anthem, that begin pumping out bots and soldiers into the city. The heroes then need to fight their way to the building and inside the structure (for ease of asset creation, a retextured in brass Arachnos base tileset perhaps?) full of robots, troops and defence turrets. You would need to spread out through it's maze like structure and destroy key components within to shut down the factory and end the zone event. 

Edited May 7, 2020 by Aberrant

[Razor Cure]

And the giant Warhulk!