Mission "Get the PPD files in Independence Port!" from Leonard in Sharkhead Isle nearly impossible to complete due to missing objective marker.

[BlakeTheDrake]

This issue has, according to a veteran player who helped me clear it, apparently existed for several years - but I could find no reports about it in this forum, so... I'm going to make one here, since this is just shy of a 'showstopper' class.

 

The mission mentioned above - "Get the PPD files in Independence Port!" - has several steps. You first infiltrate the local PPD, fight some police inside, access a computer - and, if you do not chose to betray your Freakshow allies, you proceed to the basement prison-cells to free a Freakshow Tank there. Whether this issue occurs if you DO betray them is unclear, but it seems to be highly consistent if you DO NOT and thus carry out the side-objective of rescuing the Tank.

 

After fulfilling the 'Rescue' objective, your new objective will simply be "Get to the PPD files!" However, there is ZERO INDICATION of where said files ARE - the objective-marker that should be pointing you towards them is missing. Worse, this isn't a regular instance, but rather a reused 'Mayhem Mission' map of Independence Port - meaning, a rather large chunk of that zone's map. You are supposed to leave the PPD station and enter a warehouse elsewhere to recover the files, but without an objective-marker (or a veteran player who is already familiar with this mission and its bugged objective), the only way to FIND that warehouse would be to run around and click on every door on the map until you randomly find the right one.

 

How this bug has gone unaddressed for four years (the helpful fellow mentioned running it back in 2020 with the same result) I do not know - but considering how consistent and easily replicated it seems to be, it shouldn't be terribly hard to fix, if it is simply brought to the devs' attention.

[Rudra]

I don't know what to tell you. I just ran that arc to check it, and while the map has no marker on it, I always had a waypoint leading me there. And I didn't betray the Freakshow to make sure I was duplicating this as much as possible. (Edit: I didn't check to see if I set a different waypoint for some reason if the mission waypoint came back, remained, or disappeared, but just running through the mission, I got the waypoint.)

 

(Edit again: To be clear, I've run that arc several times on HC. And since the waypoint was added back on Live, I've always gotten it. Which is what prompted me to run this test. So I have no idea why you aren't getting it.)

Edited February 9, 2024 by Rudra

[BlakeTheDrake]

9 hours ago, Rudra said:

I don't know what to tell you. I just ran that arc to check it, and while the map has no marker on it, I always had a waypoint leading me there. And I didn't betray the Freakshow to make sure I was duplicating this as much as possible. (Edit: I didn't check to see if I set a different waypoint for some reason if the mission waypoint came back, remained, or disappeared, but just running through the mission, I got the waypoint.)

 

(Edit again: To be clear, I've run that arc several times on HC. And since the waypoint was added back on Live, I've always gotten it. Which is what prompted me to run this test. So I have no idea why you aren't getting it.)

 

Hmm. One variable comes to mind. Were you running it through Flashback, perchance? Because I WASN'T. It is entirely possible that could make a difference.

[Oubliette_Red]

Just ran this last night with a friend and there was a waypoint to the warehouse for us. Some weird happenstance for it to not show up for you.

 

[Oubliette_Red]

3 minutes ago, BlakeTheDrake said:

 

Hmm. One variable comes to mind. Were you running it through Flashback, perchance? Because I WASN'T. It is entirely possible that could make a difference.

 

Interesting, my friend and I were running it through the Flashback system.

 

[BlakeTheDrake]

If that is the case - if the issue only appears when you run that mission 'au naturel', so to speak - that might explain why it hasn't been noticed that the issue (still) exists. There's a lot of content, and it's easy to outlevel stuff like a level 20-29 arc - especially one that can only be accessed by completing a DIFFERENT level 20-29 arc. If most people are just running it through Flashback, if at all... well, I've got another villain-character edging close to 20. Once I get there, I'll be sure to run through it (he's a Stalker, so he tends to skate through anything that doesn't involve 'kill all' objectives) and maybe take some screenshots if it does indeed reoccur.

[Rudra]

2 hours ago, BlakeTheDrake said:

 

Hmm. One variable comes to mind. Were you running it through Flashback, perchance? Because I WASN'T. It is entirely possible that could make a difference.

Yes, I was running it through Ouroboros, but I routinely run it while leveling up too. (I don't have a character immediately available to do so however, so I ran it through Ouroboros.) And just running it at level and not through Ouroboros, I always got the waypoint.

[BlakeTheDrake]

Strange! It is possible that something glitched, indeed, but the fellow who helped me did not seem at all surprised at the issue... I mean, *I* only have the one datapoint, but his reaction made it seem like this was a well-known issue. Perhaps I have been misinformed...

[Rudra]

It was a well known issue back on Live. And there were a lot of complaints that only if the player knew where to go or if they clicked every door on the map that the mission was essentially broken. Then the waypoint was added. However, the map was not changed to place the location on it, so if you managed to lose the waypoint somehow, not saying you did, then you would have to rely on mission familiarity or lots of patience to get through it. There is a chance, however slight, the person that helped you was remembering from way back then. There is also a chance, which is more likely, that the waypoint marker itself glitched. This happens occasionally on the zone maps where the mission waypoint gets stuck on a door or the wrong part of the zone map. However, if that were the case, you should still have seen the waypoint marker, just affixed to the wrong place. So in all honesty, I have absolutely no idea what happened to the mission when you did it. I can only vouch for my own experiences and what happened back on Live. So even if what you are reporting is a rare occurrence, it still needs to be looked at. It just means troubleshooting it is going to be a matter of luck if it isn't readily replicable.

[Nova Rose]

Heya! I just did this mission on a 27 Tanker and the bug is very much still there. I did not betray the Freakshow and rescued their Tank and then wandered the map, looking for doors to click until something let me in.