Maelstrom too stronk!

[GM Impervium]

In the Calvin Scott mission "Collapsing Support", you're made to fight Maelstrom. If doing the mission as a flashback, you're limited to level 20... but Malestrom spawns in at a minimum of level 24.

So, THAT'S a thing.

[Xiddo]

LOVE that a GM is reporting this. ONE OF US, ONE OF US, ONE OF US.

[Bionic_Flea]

LRN 2 play, newb!

 

*Runs and hides in @Luminara's fields of tundra*

[GM Impervium]

3 hours ago, Xiddo said:

LOVE that a GM is reporting this. ONE OF US, ONE OF US, ONE OF US.

 

The devs prefer bug reports to go here, so, I'm obliging 😃 Also wanted to see if anyone else in the community had run into this or knew a way around it.

 

1 hour ago, Bionic_Flea said:

LRN 2 play, newb!

 

*Runs and hides in @Luminara's fields of tundra*

 

I actually beat him pretty soundly without taking any damage*, so I'm wondering if it's just a display bug?

(Though I was on a naturally level 50, IO'd out toon; also I buffed up with large inspirations and mezzed him before fully engaging, so.... grain of salt.)

[SeraphimKensai]

I'm assuming your difficulty wasn't set to +4.

 

Does he exhibit the same level behavior if ran as a standard mission and not as a flashback?

[GM Impervium]

Nope, diff was set at -1/x1.

I didn't test if it happened when played normally.

[UltraAlt]

41 minutes ago, GM Impervium said:

The devs prefer bug reports to go here, so, I'm obliging 😃 Also wanted to see if anyone else in the community had run into this or knew a way around it.

 

It maybe level 20, but it's level 20 in Ouroboros and your character is probably level 50. 

So what... you get like 5 levels of power over that, so you have powers up to level 25 and Maelstrom is  only level 24?

And how many set bonuses and Procs that are attuned that can be used at to level 20 that could be factored in to your advantage?

 

Are you soloing or running with a group of other 50s that are also essentially exemplar-ed down?

 

+ he's only an LT. It isn't like he's an EB or AV.

 

I don't run 50s and I don't do much Ouroboros stuff, but I know what level 50's are like when they play lower level content.

It just doesn't seem to be all that much out of proportion, but I assume it is a challenging fight.

Edited March 31, 2023 by UltraAlt

[Luminara]

3 hours ago, Bionic_Flea said:

*Runs and hides in @Luminara's fields of tundra*

[Luminara]

58 minutes ago, UltraAlt said:

 

It maybe level 20, but it's level 20 in Ouroboros and your character is probably level 50. 

So what... you get like 5 levels of power over that, so you have powers up to level 25 and Maelstrom is  only level 24?

And how many set bonuses and Procs that are attuned that can be used at to level 20 that could be factored in to your advantage?

 

Are you soloing or running with a group of other 50s that are also essentially exemplar-ed down?

 

+ he's only an LT. It isn't like he's an EB or AV.

 

I don't run 50s and I don't do much Ouroboros stuff, but I know what level 50's are like when they play lower level content.

It just doesn't seem to be all that much out of proportion, but I assume it is a challenging fight.

 

It's a bug report, not a discussion of the potential of exemplared characters and whether or not enemies spawning at +5 to the difficulty setting is justified, numpty.

[Astralock]

2 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

I'm assuming your difficulty wasn't set to +4.

 

Does he exhibit the same level behavior if ran as a standard mission and not as a flashback?

 

I've done it at least two dozen times over the past three years or so, including last month, and I don't recall that being an issue.  Defeated Maelstrom just fine each time at level.  Must be an Ouroboros Flashback thing.

[srmalloy]

1 hour ago, UltraAlt said:

So what... you get like 5 levels of power over that, so you have powers up to level 25 and Maelstrom is  only level 24?

And you're fighting a +4 opponent without having selected any increased difficulty (and activating the 'purple patch' reductions in to-hit and damage); that is the bug. If a character that was level 20 ran it, they would get the same +4 Maelstrom without having any of the benefits that exemplar would give a higher-level character; that is what's being reported. It's a bug in the way the mission spawns Maelstrom.

[Burk]

In my experience, Maelstrom always spawns at 24 in that mission. I believe Chief Interrogator Washington also spawns as 24 in one of the other level 20 preatorian alignment arcs.

[lemming]

I have definitely seen this in the past.  Not sure why I didn't report it then.

[lemming]

5 hours ago, UltraAlt said:

Are you soloing or running with a group of other 50s that are also essentially exemplar-ed down?

It's a single player mission

[UltraAlt]

21 hours ago, srmalloy said:

And you're fighting a +4 opponent without having selected any increased difficulty (and activating the 'purple patch' reductions in to-hit and damage); that is the bug. If a character that was level 20 ran it, they would get the same +4 Maelstrom without having any of the benefits that exemplar would give a higher-level character; that is what's being reported. It's a bug in the way the mission spawns Maelstrom.

 

I don't believe that it is the intent for a level 20 to be running a level 20 Ouroboros mission.

Ouroboros missions are meant for higher level characters, and I think the intent of their creation was for level 50 end-gamers to give them something to do.

[Luminara]

2 hours ago, UltraAlt said:

Ouroboros missions are meant for higher level characters

 

In the original run of the game, Ouroboros could be unlocked at 20.  Not through tricks or exploits, but by completing story arcs.  When Issue 11, the Issue which added Ouroboros and the Flashback system to the game, went live, the badge was retroactively granted to characters who had completed any story arc which involved time travel, which included A Faultline in the Sands of Time, The Magic Man, Ubelmann the Unknown and other pre-existing sub-50 arcs.  Had Cryptic/Paragon intended for Ouroboros and the Flashback system to be restricted to level 50 characters, they would have done just that, restricted badge acquisition to level 50 content and set a level lock on the zone to prevent sub-50 characters from entering,

 

Moreover, any sub-50 character accessing the Flashback system sees only arcs and badge missions up to their level.  Cryptic/Paragon made it a point to include code to prevent sub-50 characters from running content above their level.  This directly and incontrovertibly proves that they expected sub-50 characters to use it, because they prepared for it and implemented safeguards.

Stop trying to push your One True Vision of how the game is "supposed" to be played.  No-one's buying it, and bug reports aren't the place for it.

[Luminara]

On 3/31/2023 at 10:41 AM, SeraphimKensai said:

Does he exhibit the same level behavior if ran as a standard mission and not as a flashback?

 

I just happened to stumble into this mission while leveling a character, and the answer is no.

 

 

Character is level 21, Maelstronk spawned at 20.  So it's only the Flashback exhibiting the bug.

[SeraphimKensai]

1 hour ago, Luminara said:

 

I just happened to stumble into this mission while leveling a character, and the answer is no.

 

 

Character is level 21, Maelstronk spawned at 20.  So it's only the Flashback exhibiting the bug.

Interesting so it's something unique with the flashback.

[Astralock]

3 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

Interesting so it's something unique with the flashback.

 

That's what I said two days ago. :P