Unuthiel

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Seriously he says these same things with such regularity can consistency I have to wonder of some of you people even read these forums.


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Hrm, yes, well in the case of the statements concerning the amount of increase in boss trength (Statesman says I2 +1 = I3 even con, it's been documented it's way more, on the order of a 60% increase), the numbers of sappers in a group (Statesman says 1 down from 2, many see more than that), the numbers, or even presence of, undocumented bosses in missions, repeating something over and over doesn't make it true, if it wasn't true the first time it was said.

How about changing the new bosses so they are actually equivalent to old +1 bosses instead of 60% tougher?

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Just wanted to drop a line...

I've been discussing many of these issues internally with the team...and I think I might have something interesting that satisfies both parties...but I've got to do more research first.

I know some people were upset when I didn't at least post a status in the Burn & Invulnerability threads (even when there wasn't much else to say), so I thought I'd try to avoid that mistake again!

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That's reassuring, however, please keep in mind that on at least one of these issues (the amount of increase in the life/damage/etc. of the new bosses) it really does appear to be the case thet you are mistaken in your belief that an even level I3 boss=+1 I2 boss.

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They are just +1.

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No they're not. They're more. In some way - both in terms of hit points and in terms of damage, they are far more than +1. I have more trouble with +1 bosses now than I ever had with +2 before the patch.

From my own comparison of numbers before issue 3 went live, bosses recieved a +40% to hit points and a +40% to damage. I don't know if accuracy was boosted as well, but I certainly hope that was not the case.

If bosses, prior to issue 3, went up 40% in hit points and damage every level, I suspect people would have complained about boss difficulty long ago.

I'm not sure what the difference is, but this +1 boost in difficulty is not true.

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I compared test to live a few days before issue 3 went live, in creys folly. a lvl32 warhulk and crey protector both went from 1460 to 2355 hp (just checked on live, it is still correct), a 61% increase. Their damage went up 61% as well.

Fighting a +1 makes my powers around 10% less effective and accurate. I dont know how much it affects the enemy, but it is not 61%. Perhaps it is a bug/misstake.

Now I dont have much problem with it... but it seems way too harsh for many.

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Can we get a response to this? It seems obvious that Statesman is at best...misinformed about the implemented status of some of the changes. They are starting to stack up a bit-the number of generic bosses without any warning in "solo" missions, the number of malta sappers in a spawned group, now the amount of the increase in power of bosses between issues 2 and 3.

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States, it has been the experience of a great many players (mentioned on other threads) that *multiple* unnamed bosses show up on missions that they entered alone.


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I'll check this!

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Um considering this has been the case since the game went live, and the *huge* number of people stating this to be the case, I think there's a bit of an issue here that Statesman appears so surprised by this.

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I didn’t want to impact solo play by increasing mobs across the board. Instead, I focused on Bosses. We increased the damage, hit points and XP of Bosses to be exactly one level higher. In other words, a level 30 Boss, now more closely resembles a level 31 Boss.



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Oh really? Testing pre and post I3 seems to indicate roughly a 61% increase in boss HPs/damage, that seems a bit more that an increase of 1 level.

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A solo player (unless the mission calls specifically for a boss in a spawn override) will create spawns with minions and lts. ONLY.

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Then apparently a *large* number of missions have spawn overrides, with no mention of bosses in the encounter text. That combined with the increased hp/heal rate/dmg of bosses is making a lot of my friends shelve certain alts.

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The soloability of a mission does not normally depend on defeating everything in the mission.


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Perhaps, but it does depend on having to kill a boss (actual mission requirement or not) often enough to make his statement, even in the context of soloing a mission, seem a bit disingenous.

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The guys holding aren't bosses. Mez the bosses, kill the hostage holders, and go home.

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Doh, silly me, I keep forgetting to buy those mez enemy inspirations.

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But he has. He admitted error in the I2 difficulty increase. He admitted error in the initial regen changes.

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<shrug> Apparently he found the taste of admitting his errors not to his likeing , since he seems to be having a real problem doing so this time.

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I think if we all do this, the devs will get the message.

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No, they won't. I think Statesman's reply to that PM makes it clear that he simply will not admit he was wrong. Ever. Period.

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His response was for me to /bug it.

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Given the vast number of missions that don't hint at bosses in their text, I view this response as a disingenuous way of saying "/shove it".

Considering how many other threads Statesman has been replying on, I think we can conclude the answer to the claim that bosses are now too hard is "It's the VISION tm, suck on it!"

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I'm supporting these changes. However, in Statesman's defense, he did say that if we discovered a mission with a boss and there was no warning given in the description that we should report it as a bug.


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So, I guess we'll /bug at least 50% of all missions? C'mon, that statement you are referring to comes across as faintly ridiculous, insofar as it implies the bulk of missions aren't "bugged" in this fashion. It boils down to Statesman is unaware of how most missions play out in this game,

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Statesman believes that most all mission texts tell you if there is a boss. You may remember that he believed that most all mission texts told you if the mission was timed. You may also remember his shock after launch when he found out that Task Forces were not and had never been working properly. He is at the top levels and is a busy man and has to just assume that what he told people to do was done.

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That's fine. In that case however, he should certainly refrain from making statements as if he *knows* how a certain aspect of the game is functioning.

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Actually, if a boss will appear in a mission, the mission briefing mentions it. Check the text.

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Merusel Valenzuela: There's good evidence that the Council is planning some kind of major strike soon. Happily, my network of contacts has given me a good idea of where they're massinf the supplies for this attack. If you can take out those supplies, it will cripple their plan. While you're there, keep your eyes open. Anything you can learn about the Council's new plan will help.

With any luck, we can stop this Council strike before it starts."

No mention here of the boss I found in the mission.
(and 'yes' - the boss had to be defeated to complete the mission)

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You are contradicting Statesman, and therefore must be lying.

It's boiling down to it's pathetic how *many* missions have "surprise" bosses in them. It's really saying something about the devs if Statesman doesn't retract the statement in my sig.

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So, where in this text does it mention there will be multiple bosses on this solo mission?

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I vaugely remember that mission. Do you have to fight those Bosses?

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At least some of them, yes. They are guarding some of the hostages.

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I am SURE devs will datamine amount of deaths since I3 is released.
Then they will realize something is wrong, as death is no way a "fun" feature in a game meant to make you feel heroic.


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Irrelevant, it's part of the VISIONtm.

Here's the official final word, we all "misunderstood" what Statesman meant.

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Actually, what I said was that if mob hp, etc. was boosted, we'd give Defenders and Controllers some oomph. That means ALL mob hp, damage. Only bosses, AV's and monsters were affected.


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Of course, it's bosses that give defenders/controllers the most trouble.

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Odds are you don't need to defeat that Boss either.

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Bzzzzt! Wrong! Try to pay attention. There are many, many missions that end up being undocumented "kill all on map" mssions, kill all including those 1 or 2 bosses. It's starting to look like Statesman doesn't play this game much.

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Perhaps what is needed is a 'More Information' button on mission acceptance text. The standard mission text would be thematically appropriate to the story being told and would could be vague, misleading or have other surprises, and the More Information button would open a second window which spoils some of the surprise.

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To quote Statesman elsewhere:

Anytime a Mission has a boss, the mission text SHOULD clearly identify that a boss will appear regardless of the team size entering it (bosses appear in spawns usually if there's 2 or more heroes on a mission map). /Bug it if the text isn't clear. We'll be improving this UI shortly so that there are icons that point out when a mission requires help and when it's solo-able.

So, folks, /bug it if the text isn't clear.

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It would be simpler to have a /nobug report of the ones that do have informative text, since the majority do not tell you a boss is involved. That comment from Statesman is rather disingenous because he is acting as if the exception (fully informative text) is the norm.

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Uh, I think he means the description the contact gives you when you take the mission, not the mission title displayed in your nav bar.

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That's what I mean as well. I mean there is *zero* indication anywhere that you will be required to kill a boss in order to complete the mission.

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It also leaves us in the hitherto unusual position of needing to get help *during* a mission, since we have no way of knowing beforehand whether or not there's going to be a boss in there. That will be awkward in timed missions.


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Actually, if a boss will appear in a mission, the mission briefing mentions it. Check the text.

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Absolutely WRONG. I have had many, many, many missions that just had "rescue x", "recover x equipment", etc. as objectives. That objective is achieved, but the mission does not end. It then turns out that the mission has an undocumented "kill all" requirement. There is typically at least one boss on the map, resulting in a surprise un-soloable mission. Bosses are frequently in missions when they are (supposedley) not part of the explicit completion requirement. I am rather disappointe you are unaware of this.

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This isn't "game balance", otherwise this would have been done MONTHS ago.


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No, no, this is the VISIONtm, according to Statesman.