Soloing and destined to fail missions

[Without_Pause]

Yes, I know, I don't "have to solo" on +1/x4 while leveling. This issue only gets worse when you do end game content at x8 diff setting.

 

But.

 

Rescue Black Widow. I cake walk the mission and free her. Instant mass ambush and I don't mean a single mob. The beauty of it? A boss instantly puts me in Detention Field. I can literally do nothing while Black Widow gets slaughtered. I barely get free, do all of like two attacks, and see the load screen.

 

"I'm disappointed in you. I thought you would have been better."

 

I would have expected a better mechanism for soloists, but alas.

 

Out of all of the BS destined to fail missions I have done while soloing, this had to be the most infuriating one yet. I could literally do nothing.

 

And yes, I was trying to pop purples when I saw how big the mob was. The mass horde was around a corner so there was no real chance to see what was coming. Good luck knowing it is that Longbow boss as well.

 

I enjoy a number of the most difficult arcs while solo, but this is simply anti-fun.

 

This says nothing of possible failing arc ending missions with similar mob spams with NPC rescue. There's a special hell for those.

[Luminara]

15 minutes ago, Without_Pause said:

Rescue Black Widow.

 

[Without_Pause]

The story arc mission was a calk walk "destroy an ancient artifact." Sorry, Black Widow. You weren't more important than a hunk of stone.

[ZorkNemesis]

Trap the Renegades from Gaussian is also bad in this regard if your player count is high.  The idea is that Lady Grey is setting herself up as bait to be captured by the renegade Vanguard Sword, despite the fact that she's possibly the most powerful NPC in canon.  When you defeat her captors, you have two whole groups spawn on top of her and she seems to aggro everything.  If you can't immediately mass control everything she's as good as dead, and you probably are too since Vanguard is one of the strongest enemy groups outright.  

[Snarky]

I soloed every arc and side mission that had to be completed pre 50 on my project toon recently.  A Brute that I ran everything at -1/x1 That feeling of crushing your enemies after they talk about their big plans never gets old

Edited March 24, 2022 by Snarky

[Luminara]

8 hours ago, ZorkNemesis said:

Trap the Renegades from Gaussian is also bad in this regard if your player count is high.  The idea is that Lady Grey is setting herself up as bait to be captured by the renegade Vanguard Sword, despite the fact that she's possibly the most powerful NPC in canon.  When you defeat her captors, you have two whole groups spawn on top of her and she seems to aggro everything.  If you can't immediately mass control everything she's as good as dead, and you probably are too since Vanguard is one of the strongest enemy groups outright.  

 

We can't have this discussion without including the mission to rescue the Nemesis defector, too.  He's categorized as a Pet, thus vulnerable to combat damage despite being coded not to engage in combat until he's owned by your character, and he's in the hands of Nemesis forces, so you have to aggro the spawn and pull them away from him or he'll be murdered by the AoEs coming from the Jaegers.  If you do manage to keep him alive while attempting to free him, the follow-up ambushes, coupled with his aggressively suicidal combat script, make escorting him all the way to the exit an exercise in frustration.  I've lost count of the number of times I've been jarringly kicked to the load screen while in the midst of combat in this mission (at +0/x1, no less).

 

The same thing happens to the PPD in safeguard missions, and if they're defeated before you defeat the spawn holding them captive, they don't count toward that badge.

[Shred Monkey]

Sea Witch (level 20ish red side) was a big jump in difficulty with my level 20 level locked brute project.  It wasn't anything I couldn't solve with purple inspirations, but I was trying to avoid using a specific inspiration set (and succeeding) until I ran into this big roadblock.  I think more than anything it was disheartening that I wasn't even coming close... She just crushed me.

Edited March 24, 2022 by Shred Monkey

[Ukase]

I think I understand the frustration. I know, anecdotally, I've had missions fail due to things like this. I even had a character fail to rescue the fortune teller. I was surprised to say the least. It never occurred to me this could be failed! My character did just fine, but I was on a brute - with no taunt, heck, didn't even occur to me the fortune teller was in trouble, because there's no way to tell how she's doing unless I target her, and if I'm targeting her, I can't effectively clobber any of the ambush. 

Some times, there will be a mission objective, and I'm just in there clobbering, not really trying to speed through like normal, as I'm looking for XP, or perhaps I need these family goons to die for Gangbuster badge, and prefer to get it organically, rather than hunt for them. And suddenly, mission fails because I neglected to keep some hostage alive, and I wasn't even looking for a hostage. Now, that's my fault for not paying attention, but I do think a health bar, like the one Desdemona gets in the Underground trial would be useful for missions like this. 

 

[Without_Pause]

16 hours ago, Luminara said:

 

Damn it. I was too angered and I crossed the streams. 

[Without_Pause]

13 hours ago, Snarky said:

I soloed every arc and side mission that had to be completed pre 50 on my project toon recently.  A Brute that I ran everything at -1/x1 That feeling of crushing your enemies after they talk about their big plans never gets old

I couldn't tolerate leveling that slow, but your goal is different than mone so I get it. Also, depending on the build, KD becomes KB and that gets annoying on melee characters.

[Nefertari]

3 hours ago, Shred Monkey said:

Sea Witch (level 20ish red side) was a big jump in difficulty with my level 20 level locked brute project.  It wasn't anything I couldn't solve with purple inspirations, but I was trying to avoid using a specific inspiration set (and succeeding) until I ran into this big roadblock.  I think more than anything it was disheartening that I wasn't even coming close... She just crushed me.

That mission is tough with all the mobs and her.

 

What I used to try to do was lure her to the dock out in the water.  The extra Family there help whittle her down.

[Faelia]

4 hours ago, Ukase said:

I think I understand the frustration. I know, anecdotally, I've had missions fail due to things like this. I even had a character fail to rescue the fortune teller. I was surprised to say the least. It never occurred to me this could be failed! My character did just fine, but I was on a brute - with no taunt, heck, didn't even occur to me the fortune teller was in trouble, because there's no way to tell how she's doing unless I target her, and if I'm targeting her, I can't effectively clobber any of the ambush. 

Some times, there will be a mission objective, and I'm just in there clobbering, not really trying to speed through like normal, as I'm looking for XP, or perhaps I need these family goons to die for Gangbuster badge, and prefer to get it organically, rather than hunt for them. And suddenly, mission fails because I neglected to keep some hostage alive, and I wasn't even looking for a hostage. Now, that's my fault for not paying attention, but I do think a health bar, like the one Desdemona gets in the Underground trial would be useful for missions like this. 

 

Did you run the healthbar script?  /optionset ShowVillainName 1 and /optionset ShowVillainBars 1 shows name+health bar on enemies and combat npcs

[Doomguide2005]

1 hour ago, Faelia said:

Did you run the healthbar script?  /optionset ShowVillainName 1 and /optionset ShowVillainBars 1 shows name+health bar on enemies and combat npcs

Does that put the health bar over their heads or place it in your window like a pet or teammate?  If I'm not mistaken @Ukaseis talking about the second.  A health bar over their heads I can't see if I'm a melee character with foes ahead and the hostage behind me.

[Major_Decoy]

Yeah. I tend to run missions at x1 or x2 just because I'm never quite sure which of the missions are going to have a rescuee that can't survive a spawn higher than that. It's especially annoying on my tanks because it feels like I'm not holding aggro even when they drop  to AoE damage.

[DougGraves]

18 hours ago, Snarky said:

I soloed every arc and side mission that had to be completed pre 50 on my project toon recently.  A Brute that I ran everything at -1/x1 That feeling of crushing your enemies after they talk about their big plans never gets old

 

Lots of players talk about how they want to feel like a superhero so they need to be even more overpowered.  But they want to be overpowered at +4/x8.  Because they really don't care about feeling powerful, they just want easy influence and XP.

 

As you have shown, anyone can feel superpowered if they are just willing to turn the level of the enemies down.  But that would mean less xp and influence.

[Riverdusk]

There are always the infamous "prevent <name> from escaping" as well.  I never believed the stories people would tell of the escapee literally going through walls to escape sometimes until I saw it for myself.  Also almost impossible on some maps even if they don't "cheat" depending on the map layout if the map has two very divergent branches and you choose poorly.

[Without_Pause]

5 hours ago, DougGraves said:

 

Lots of players talk about how they want to feel like a superhero so they need to be even more overpowered.  But they want to be overpowered at +4/x8.  Because they really don't care about feeling powerful, they just want easy influence and XP.

 

As you have shown, anyone can feel superpowered if they are just willing to turn the level of the enemies down.  But that would mean less xp and influence.

The only difference between 0/x8 and +4/x8 is currency drops and ego.

[Six-Six]

I think some missions favour some ATs and/or powers more than others. I've both succeeded and failed in the same mission depending on the toon I brought. Most of them can be accomplished with a bit of planning and preparation, knowing what to expect... of course, that in itself is a bit of a catch-22 since you're not supposed to have prior knowledge of what's about to happen. 😃 

The one that irks me the most is the stop X from escaping. I block THE ONLY corridor he can exit, but he still manages to get past me without me seeing him.

[Major_Decoy]

1 hour ago, Six-Six said:

I think some missions favour some ATs and/or powers more than others. I've both succeeded and failed in the same mission depending on the toon I brought. Most of them can be accomplished with a bit of planning and preparation, knowing what to expect... of course, that in itself is a bit of a catch-22 since you're not supposed to have prior knowledge of what's about to happen. 😃 

The one that irks me the most is the stop X from escaping. I block THE ONLY corridor he can exit, but he still manages to get past me without me seeing him.

Really? I got one of those (It was the level 20-25, I think Frankie Drake or something) on Blazing Idiot and I actually had to kite him to the door to fail the mission. He just kept on walking back to his default spawn point.

 

The Bank Safeguard missions, however... (not Blazing Idiot, so I wasn't playing to fail) I got the boss, but there must have been a minion I never saw. And there was only one exit out of the bank.

[Vanden]

Destined to fail? Hmph!

[biostem]

On 3/23/2022 at 6:58 PM, Without_Pause said:

I would have expected a better mechanism for soloists, but alas.

I'm confused - you are running at a difficulty geared toward 4-8 players, then are upset when you run into issues doing it solo?  There is an option for soloist - run it at x1.  Even if you were able to handle the bulk of the mission without issue, you enter it with the understanding that it is geared toward more players...

[ZorkNemesis]

22 hours ago, Luminara said:

 

We can't have this discussion without including the mission to rescue the Nemesis defector, too.  He's categorized as a Pet, thus vulnerable to combat damage despite being coded not to engage in combat until he's owned by your character, and he's in the hands of Nemesis forces, so you have to aggro the spawn and pull them away from him or he'll be murdered by the AoEs coming from the Jaegers.  If you do manage to keep him alive while attempting to free him, the follow-up ambushes, coupled with his aggressively suicidal combat script, make escorting him all the way to the exit an exercise in frustration.  I've lost count of the number of times I've been jarringly kicked to the load screen while in the midst of combat in this mission (at +0/x1, no less).

 

The same thing happens to the PPD in safeguard missions, and if they're defeated before you defeat the spawn holding them captive, they don't count toward that badge.

 

And then you have Captain Mako's mission to Rescue Arachnos Operatives.  A timed mission.  The timer isn't the complete issue, but the captors are Longbow and if you have a high enough player setting (x3 or more) there is a very high chance the hostages spawn with a Spines Warden.  The Quills run by said Warden will generally kill the hostage before you can even see them yourself and the mission becomes softlocked (until time runs out) if that happens.  And because it's a timed mission, you cannot use autocomplete without GM assistance.  If the hostage dies before rescue, you have to fumble with another mission to abandon and reset that one.

[Without_Pause]

2 hours ago, ZorkNemesis said:

 

And then you have Captain Mako's mission to Rescue Arachnos Operatives.  A timed mission.  The timer isn't the complete issue, but the captors are Longbow and if you have a high enough player setting (x3 or more) there is a very high chance the hostages spawn with a Spines Warden.  The Quills run by said Warden will generally kill the hostage before you can even see them yourself and the mission becomes softlocked (until time runs out) if that happens.  And because it's a timed mission, you cannot use autocomplete without GM assistance.  If the hostage dies before rescue, you have to fumble with another mission to abandon and reset that one.

I have a feeling this might of happened in a similar way with a mission I did the following day. I rescued the three NPCs. I didn't see them anymore so I assumed they eventually died. Mission would not succeed or fail and it was timed. I logged out and back in and abandoned it. And yes, I cleared out the map.

 

Some missions are just quirky. I had another where I had to rescue a NPC. Ends up there were 5 different versions of said NPC, but they only cared about the named one. The funniest part? All of the NPCs generated ambushes except for the named one.

[Without_Pause]

3 hours ago, biostem said:

I'm confused - you are running at a difficulty geared toward 4-8 players, then are upset when you run into issues doing it solo?  There is an option for soloist - run it at x1.  Even if you were able to handle the bulk of the mission without issue, you enter it with the understanding that it is geared toward more players...

There is a difference between being hard and being auto fail.

[Ukase]

17 hours ago, Faelia said:

Did you run the healthbar script?  /optionset ShowVillainName 1 and /optionset ShowVillainBars 1 shows name+health bar on enemies and combat npcs

That's useful. Not only have I not run the healthbar script, I didn't even know there was such a thing! Thanks. I'll see if I can't start running this as I exit the character creator.