Just a few quick points: <ul type="square">[*]Please let us teleport hostages to the end of the level. It may seem like it cheapens the experience, but I think the point of the hostage system should be to ensure there is some route out, not that it is by clearing most of the level.[*]It would be nice if hostages moved a little faster.[*]Could we please not have Quantum gunners/Voids in waves of enemies? The general response from a Kheldian, to these turning up, has to be to hide. That just doesn't work in this case.[/list]
I would like to see these types of missions be made entirely optional. I have no problem with the "defend against waves of enemies" missions but I have an intense dislike of "escort" type missions due to the limitations of computer AI and the usual fragility of the escorts. I do not like having to repeat a mission just because the enemies got lucky and landed three crits in a row on the escort or whatever. Please add a contact like the hero corps difficulty people to turn these types of missions on and off or have special contacts solely for these types of missions.
So far I've only encountered two new missions, as such.
The first I think was a 'wave' mission; I'm not really sure. I got a 'stop the gang war' timed mission and when I got there I was supposed to defeat all the thugs. I cleared all the map save one room, where I was on the second floor and looked down on two Skulls next to one of the glass case artifact things. They didn't do anything. After ensuring I'd cleared the whole place, I leapt down, at which point they declared they were going to destroy the artifact. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do, but I knew I had a timer counting down, and needed to defeat all the Skulls. So I arrested them. Nothing happened, and I saw no way out of the room other than back the way I came. Two more Skulls appeared, and I defeated them. Another pause, and I decided to leave the room- I heard a gunshot and came back. Yup, more Skulls. These I also finished off. I think there were another two, and then I got mission completed.
The second was a mission a teammate had, while I was testing out Force Fields. We had to escort some hostages out of the sewers. It seemed simple enough. We beat up a few Lost, then while we were saving the first hostage we'd run across, I noticed the Nav bar said 'save the last hostage!' So we finished the fight, and escorted him back to the sewer entrance. He followed my teammate without any issues- we got him to the door, and after some profuse thanks, he left. But the Nav bar still wanted us to escort hostages out. We wondered if we were supposed to arrest all the Lost. We weren't sure, but there were some more Lost; it seemed like they'd followed us and then stopped moving when the hostage left the map. My teammate disconned and I got sent to the hospital, so we didn't complete the mission.
I like the idea- and the situation with Flower Knight in the tutorial was a nice switch. However, I think there needs to be more work done on explaining the missions and making it clear what the mission goals are. The missions themselves seem great- I just wasn't sure what my lines were in them. 
It would be nice if missions that include a hero that will assist you (i.e. the new Outbreak door mission) would make sure the NPC is not randomly placed in the "last" room. If you end up having to kill every enemy on the map to reach them do to unlucky placement (as has happened to me), you totally miss the experience.
Want better looking NPCs Contacts? Check out this NPC Contact/Trainer/Etc Revision Thread and Index
-
Remember: Guns don't kill people; Meerkats kill people.
I've seen the same two missions as Takarik.
The timed 'stop gang war' gives no indication that you need to protect an object before you take it, and only a minor reference after you accept which I only understood in hindsight. I bugged this. Other than not realizing what's going on, the mission was good. The fact that you need to defend something needs to be made much more obvious.
The rescue hostages from Lost mission was very bugged. I was on a team, and number of hostages that need to be rescued changed repeatedly throughout the mission for all of us. The follow AI seemed to work well, however. I tried to bug this, but crashed as I was submitting it.
In the Croatoa mission where you escort the archer guy out of the Tuatha caves, his AI was really bad.
He stopped moving every time he got to a "seam" in the level (where one part of the tunnels would meet another part of the tunnels). He just stood there every time until I clicked on him, then he said "Thank you, friend" and kept walking... until he got stuck the next time. Multiply that by twenty and you have my experience escorting him. 
Does the new and enlarged helping hand fit into this category?
If so, or even if not: It is annoying. It also gets in the way when trying to slot; combine; respec, enhancements. May we see it reduced? Please?
The waves of attacks are quite fun. I have not run into many hostage missions yet, but at least I got a taste for the Ally in the Tutorial.
CatMan - some form on every server
Always here, there, and there again.
Other games that have escort type missions have "Wait" and "Follow" commands that can be sent to the object being escorted. This insures that a player has full control over the situation, which is as games should be, because they can now tell the object being escorted, when to follow and when to not follow. This can be crucial for task (mission) completion).
Will we see "Wait" and "Follow" commands implemented?
Wave mission instructions are very unclear and people end up trying to figure out what they are supposed to do next.
Hostage pathing, as with all pet pathing, has issues. Pet commands would be very useful (in this AND with pets!).
Scorus
Whenever I get a mission that includes a wave of enemies, I get hit with a huge lag spike as soon as I trigger the waves. This lag spike generally forces me to lost connection to the mapserver and disconnect, thus causing the mission to reset.
i'd also like to voice my opinion that voids/quantums spawning in waves is a generally bad idea as we have to look very carefully for them and plan out our attack before we aggro them...also wondering if there are sappers in waves, it may be a good idea to stop them also
The biggest complaint I have is that NPC escorts tend to get stuck in doors, trapping you inside. This yinks pretty bad.
I love all the new mission changes though I do have a couple issues.
1. In about half the NPC Ally missions I've had, the ally was in the very last room and rescuing them completed the mission. Not much point getting an ally if I'm already done. 
2. In the enemy wave mission I was in in Croatoa, I was using my lvl 41 fire/fire/fire blaster to help out two players who kept failing it. With me and a lvl 50 tank helping, we barely managed to complete the mission (21 of the 30 Fir Bogs managed to get past us). My point is, this missioned seemed way too hard for who it was intended for.
3. I had no problem with the escort stuff except I kept having to stop and let them catch up to make sure they were still following me... and I was moving as slow as possible.
On the wave missions, I agree with some of the other comments. Quantums and voids are not appropriate for waves. And there really needs to be some indicator as to what we're supposed to do...a countdown of the number of waves left, or something.
A counter might also help with another problem I've run into on at least some wave missions where the mission just didn't complete, for whatever reason.
Pathing and placement problems aside, thank you very very much for the inclusion of these spiffy new spices.
On the whole, FANTASTIC spruce ups to the missions.
Bit buggy though. Croatoa mission with waves of Tuatha and Firbolg failed to complete 3 times despite defeating all mobs. Have also had a wave mission in which the group that was supposed to be defending the obelisk (CoT) came in a wave that attacked it.
I've only got the Rescue Archer mission.
I liked the mission. But it was on Invinc and it was a breeze for the Inv/SS tanker and my Claws/Regen. I was lvl 30, the Tanker was exemped from lvl 36.
Perhaps the mission was so easy because I had a tank with me, which is why I think we need a lot more missions like this. They force us to use other AT's and need non-combat type powers as well.
However, I think we should be able to remove missions. Let us fail a mission with whatever consequence, but allow players to remove misison that they feel they can't do or realize they don't want to do. Since we are heroes, I do feel like there should be some consequence to not doing something we've accepted.
The only mission I've done that has this is the one in outbreak with the flower girl.
PROs:[*]She had a back story in the right click info, glad to see she wasn't just a random person thrown into the mission.[*]I've been wanting this for the longest time.
CONs:[*]She was in the last room of the mission so I had already cleared the enemies by the time I got to her. [*]While I was fighting the enemies that were accosting her she just stood there and cheered me on. Could allies begin helping you out once you start attacking the group that was on them?[*]There was a considerable delay between me moving and her moving to catch up. I understand why this delay is there because I don't want the ally obsessively and constantly moving to be as close to me as possible, but I think it should be a bit shorter. I think she should also have had an inherent swift power to help her catch up.
Loved the Wave Attacks, but alas, they are all I've seen so far. Haven't run across any hostages or helpful NPCs yet - looking forwards to them a lot however.
Great feature but a "Mission Objectives" window that updates sudden changes would be very helpful. Maybe a message that flashes up like an Enhancement Gift? Otherwise we won't see it on the compass in the heat of battle.
I haven't seen hostages or waves yet so I cannot speak of them. I love the new friendly hero implementation, though. I'd like to see much more of it. Like maybe armed police officers that help you in some missions. I'd love to have a personal SWAT team for at least one mission.
It'd be cool if sometimes you'd have to join forces with villains too! Like having a council guy follow you and help you for a mission, but maybe at the very end he turns on you!
I heard that there's an early Croatoa mission that starts in the sewers and goes into the caves. This is good, it needs to be done more often. I've lost track of the times when I go into mission doors that start at sewer grates and warehouse doors and a small paragraph of exposition explains to me how I found the secret lab/Council base underneath it all. I want to find that base myself, instead of being told I did.
Maybe it could also be used for outdoor maps. Maybe missions that start you out in an instanced outdoor area and tell you to go to a building. When you get there you can see the police surrounding the place, the place burning, the place covered by vines or some such. I remember being disappointed when I took the mission to arrest that Lockheart guy working for Nemesis and the game only told me that the police were surrounding the building. I want to see that for myself.
Keep adding more mission types and more maps. This game's missions need more variety. Especially when it comes to maps.
[ QUOTE ]
<ul type="square">[*]Please let us teleport hostages to the end of the level. It may seem like it cheapens the experience, but I think the point of the hostage system should be to ensure there is some route out, not that it is by clearing most of the level.[/list]
[/ QUOTE ]Nobody likes escort missions... in any game.
First off, thanks for these new mission types! I love missions so much more than "Arrest 20 XX" and street hunting blandness. More! More! More!
The only big downers I see have been mentioned numerous times, but I feel the need to be repetitive:
For all "Ally" missions, make sure the "Ally" is not in the last room. I rescued her, only to have her thank me and tell me she would help me fight....nobody! Kind of a downer. Let them spawn early on (earlier the better), and have them be "defeat all enemy" or "click on glowie (and glowie IS in the last room) type missions versus "rescue hostage".
Do not spawn massive Voids in the "wave" missions, as Khelds have enough problems with just one.
All told though, love the new varieties!
[ QUOTE ]
Nobody likes escort missions... in any game.
[/ QUOTE ]
You're wrong.
EDIT: oops, posted twice because the generalisation annoyed me - mods please delete!
Many existing missions have been updated with hostage escorts, friendly heroes who fight by your side, villain wave attacks and more.
Discuss the new mission types and how you liked them. More of them? Less? Hostages AI Ok?
This thread is for you to provide feedback to the Devs on the above issues. You are allowed to post ONCE in this thread. Make it count! If you post more than one time - the extra posts will be removed.
If a dev responds this count will be reset.