More customized missions please! More!
The allies that can be freed are annoying though. For one, it appears that they take a share of my experience. This isn't a huge deal but it can get annoying.
Secondly, they seem weak. While I understand that they may intentionally be weak so that they don't just mop everything up, they should at least be able to hold their own for a couple minutes (case in point, Mistress Camille in the fortune teller mission didn't seem to last 30 seconds after she got separated from me and then got ambushed by a wave of CoT which failed my mission).
Escorts can be annoyingly slow to follow. I end up turning Sprint off just so I don't have to stop so many times on the way to the door.
I second the following : rewriting the mission text so all of them match the real obectives before I5 goes live.
- Changing the Ally AI so they fight the minute you attack their captors - makes them not seem so weak and helpless and sets them apart from the hostages.
- Congratulations on varying the vanilla missions of COH - when you finally complete your mission art variation, you will have the best MMO mission system on the market.
Devs, I applaud you for the changes. There are some buggy bits, which I will bug as and when I encounter them. But overall, it really makes the player feel more heroic -- doing comic book like hero things in a mission. Instead of a bully who just walks through and beats everything up.
"Honesty is for the most part less profitable than dishonesty." -- Plato
Playing Gods (51106) - Heroic Lvl 5-20
What Rough Beast (255143) - Villainous Lvl 40-50
I really have enjoyed the missions that I have found with these changes. I do wish they were easier to identify from the contact briefing, so I would make sure not to skip a changed mission 
Transparant door dont allow you to see objects on the other side... just totally empty rooms with no mobs, no details...
looks like a bug anyways... especially since it depends on where you stand... sometimes you catch a glimpse... I hope that's not on purpose... I'd hate to think that where time is spent
Overall very positive. I have to wonder if the 'escort hostages' missions will get rather bad once the 'new' wears off, though. I got one to rescue/escort 4 hostages from red hats with my Claw/SR scrapper and got myself killed even on heroic trying to escort all of them at once. The ambushes were starting to stack once I got three hostages free. Having to escort each one individually back to the entrance was getting dull fast.
Waves are great fun. I hope the Rularuu can do that on the Kora Fruit missions!
I have not had any wave missions on my characters, but I have helped a few others. The Ally missions are the same.
Ally Recomendations: Let them Agro into a fight at the same time a mob is agroed. You start fighting the mob, they start also! Maybe their pathing could be made a little better. Also, well... This might contain a spoiler so I'll understand if you delete it... Let us find Statesman earlier in the Tyrant mission so he can help us with Tyrrant!
Escort Recommendations: Here's the biggest one! Let us stop a hostage from running through the middle of a group of 10 villians and getting face-planted instantly! Allow them to keep a short distance behind the mission-holder, not following the Tanker into the Mob!
Wave Update: First, watch the spawn of Quantums in the Waves. It's easy to see a Void or Kheldian, but when Quantums run in without warning, Calamari Time! Secondly, Whenever, as a Tanker, I Taunted a group of Fir Bolg to come attack me, 5 did... the rest made a bee-line for the exit! It finally took 4 low-levels to exemp 4 50 down, then the 50s SKed the lowbies up to defeat it (Then it took 3 tries at that).
I enjoyed my rescue/escort mission a lot, but a big disappointment was that my ally was stealing exp while assisting me.
I had a sky raider mission which had been converted into an attack wave mission. We were running on a two person spawn and upon aggroing the group around the device in need of rescue around 10-15 mobs rushed through the door of the room combined with the already 5 or so we were fighting. Also after the initial attack it took about 2 minutes before another mob attacked, we had actually walked away a bit at this point and saw the NPC text making us decide to rush back. Then the mobs just started spawning all around the device, around 4-6 at a time I think it was. I think they spawn point for them should be the elevator or a special door somewhere since it was weird then mobs warped in on us (except the porters).
Adding new types of missions such as hostage rescues is a good idea. I would also like to see more patrolling groups of villians within missions and ones that ambush you at the entrance (that'll keep you on your toes). Also add another difficulty setting above invincible that'll add one more level onto villians. That should offer more challenge to those who want it. One last idea I think needs to be added is to give people the ability to abandon a mission should they be beyond the level of the mission. If it is part of a story arc give them the ability to abandon that once the mission is abandoned. If they choose not to abandon the story arc the mission will count as failed and go onto the next one in the story arc. This will give people a way to clear old, outleveled missions and story arcs faster.
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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.
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This happened to me also, and was rather disappointing... 
From what I've seen this is a welcome gameplay change.
Hostage pathing has serious issues however and needs to be fixed before this hits live.
Too bad it pales in comparison to all the horrible changes that came with this issue.
Sailor eX
"Not in the face!"
<sigh> Viv says its no longer "all me".
http://wendy-mags.mybrute.com/
Variety is a good thing, but from my experience in other MMOs, escort missions can easily rise to the top of the annoying/frustrating list. Speaking specifically with regards to the escort missions:
<ul type="square">[*]It would definitely be nice to see them pick up the pace a bit.[*]Once they we have triggered the escort, once we've found them and they start following us, could we please have them show up on the map? As a teammate or whatever. I've had them stop following for no reason that I could see and it was a pain trying to go back and find them again. This would also let us see if they've got hung up or something. Having them show up on the map would be the superior solution to my thinking, but even a sidekick type message -- "You are getting too far from your escortee" would help. [*]These missions do seem to drag out quite a bit overall. Part of this could be helped by speeding up the NPCs, but because it takes up extra time, some sort of compensation would be nice. In one of the escort missions, the rescuee gave me an enhancement and a temp power once I got him to the exit. Him, I forgave. Something along those lines, or even just a nice XP bonus for each escortee, would make me resent these guys less for not being able to find the way on their own and making me take the time to hold their hand. I'm not a patient hero, I guess.[/list]In general, the added variety of missions also makes me ask where we stand on having the ability to abort a mission or to skip missions that we don't want to do? We can't do either of these at the moment. Even more so than aborting, having the ability to skip a mission, or have the "Talk About Something Else" option for contacts actually cycle to a different mission is something we really need. Especially when you've levelled up numerous alts and been through most missions many times, there are definitely some missions that you just don't want to do. Let's have a way to cycle past those. I think a lot of the I5 changes make this even more desirable.
For the allies, I agree that having them show up in the last room with the last mob kind of defeats the purpose and leaves me feeling pretty deflated by the whole experience. I also agree that having them all of a sudden stop fighting (even if it was only "play-fighting") when I take on their mob doesn't make me very well disposed towards them. The first time I encountered one of the allies and rushed into help, my thinking was basically: "Why are you just %^#$$@!! standing there?!? Stop hooting and help me!"
Also, it would be great if we could earn one-shot (one-mission) temp powers (call them "favors" or somesuch) that let us call in one of these NPC allies on a mission where we wanted one to help, as opposed them exclusively being tied solely to specific missions. Say there's a mission where some hero is being held captive and we resuce him/her. They tell us "If you ever need my help, just call."
CoH Codex : Demo Models/FX/MOVs : Demo Info
Arc 111022: "Doctor Geist and the Scientific Method"
Hostage escorts: When I ran into my first one I thought - "hey cool"
.
.
.
5 floors later it is not so cool having to basically STOP playing to walk this VERY SLOW npc all the way back down - many times having to go in and out of elevators before he will take it. It took me 10 minutes just to walk him out of an otherwise cleared map.
BAD. VERY BAD.
BORING.
NOT FUN.
WANT REFUND.
205723: A Different DESTINY
When Soldiers of Arachnos got their names added to the Destiny List, Longbow managed to get a copy of the list and began rounding villains up. But one name on the list shocked them...
I haven't run into a hostage escort mission, but I have noticed that the helper heroes are kinda slow... I don't use sprint in missions, because I always forget to turn it off in battle, and then wonder why my end is draining quicker :P
anyway, this means I run kinda slow, but I was still outpacing the archer guy in the Croatoa mission by quite a bit... he followed well enough, and engaged in the battles against the waves of Tuatha that came after us, which was nice, but his attacks seemed to be slow in coming...
also, when we got to the exit, I had to run right up next to the exit door before he would leave... most missions have a very obvious 'entrance' rooms... I think it would be better to trigger the NPC exit command to this room, than the actual door itself.
the mission was pretty cool, though, and It was cool to have to essentially fight our way out of the tunnel... so, overall I liked it.
I LOVE the NPC helper concept... I've heard that Akarist helps out in the Library of Souls mission now, which is awesome... it adds a lot to some of the old missions, in my opinion.
I would say that the overall speed of the npcs needs to be improved, so they can keep up, and make them a little smarter about noticing elevators and doors... do that, and it will be all good.
also, I should note that I had the problem with Flower Knight being at the end of the mission in Outbreak when I started my sonic blaster on test, but not with my Archer Defender, or my sonic debuff controller. so, it seems kinda random, but 2 out of 3 times I've done that mission, she was in a useful spot.
cus·tom·ize:To make or alter to individual or personal specifications
I was working through the Croatoa missions with my AR/dev blaster (lvl34). A mission came up where I only had to find the glowies to recieve the clue and move on in the story. I turned on cloaking device and SS and made my way through. When I got to the room with the final 2 glowies, I started getting attacked. Though it totally caught me off guard, I did my best to set myself up for a fight. Sure enough, it was a wave of attacks. They kept coming and coming. I ended up using almost all of my inspirations and still just barely survived in the end. It looks like the days of the alternate mission completion objectives are over.
As a casual player, I enjoyed being able to get through some missions without having to fight (especially with my mind/emp). Mission customization should mean that we have the option to alter our missions. As is, this isn't mission customization at all, it's just mission enhancement. I propose that either waves are removed from the heroic setting, or include a new setting apart, but similar to heroic, or something else entirely.
As for the hostage escort missions: snoooring...oops, that's what I was doing, I meant it was boooring. Couldn't they at least sprint? I mean, they are trying to get away from the bad guys...or are they? I loved when I saved them and they just turned back and headed towards the villains again. Assuming that's a bug, they really do need a speed boost. I was able to outrun them eithout even sprint turned on (I don't even have Swift).
The heroes that fight along your side seem smart enough, if not also incredibly slow (especially since these are heroes). It would be nice if they showed up in the team window somehow. I know controllers have always asked for their pets to appear in the team window, maybe add something new for pets and allied heroes.
I haven't encountered many of these, but I found the "stop 30 Soldiers from entering portal" mission to be... extremely tricky. It was like watching the Oklaholma pumpkin rustlers at work, with stampedes of Soldiers cascading over the gentle hills. An awesome sight, but one that spelled "Mission Failed" over and over again.
Maybe cut down the portal's "aggro?"
Otherwise, nifty. I like the helper heroes.
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Other games that have escort type missions have "Wait" and "Follow" commands that can be sent to the object being escorted.
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I see you haven't played WoW. None of "I"ve been captured, get me outta here!" missions I've seen give you any control over the person who's trying to leave. In fact, they always seem to charge headlong into any hostile groups they see...
I don't have any plans to play CoH until I finish GTA:SA on my PC, so I can't comment on the new mission types other than to say: It sounds promising, keep up the good work!
I too would rather quantums/voids not be in the ambush waves. Other than that, I'm enjoying the updates
Pinnacle -- Titans of Paragon
Blue 50s: 4 controllers, 3 defenders, 2 blasters, 2 scrappers, 1 tanker
Red 50s: 4 corruptors, 2 brutes, 1 dominator, 1 VEAT
Arc ID# 1427: High School Reunion
Arc ID#: 1671: Positron Revisited
I finally got my lvl 28 Ice controller over to the new zone today. I was quickly invited to join a team that was trying to complete a "Stop 30 Fir Bolgs From Escaping" wave mission.
We failed miserably several times in a row. The team size ranged from 4-6 over the course of the 4 attempts I took part in; the mission owner said he's been trying for about 2 hours to complete it. The core of the team was a scrapper, a Warshade, and two controllers; a blaster, another scrapper, a tank, and another controller all cycled through.
The first time we tried and failed, it was kind of fun. It got progressively more frustrating at the failures mounted up, though.
We tried all staying near the defense point but could not beat down the massed waves that came at us. We tried splitting the team; keeping some near the gate and others on roving patrol to try to kill waves before they got to the door. We discussed bumping up to an 8-person team to add firepower but were concerned that the waves would get even bigger than they already were & we'd just fail faster.
I did my best to keep a perma-Ice Slick by the door to try to stop anyone who got through our defenses but I couldn't keep it there all the time (apparently even with Hasten you need at least three SO recharges in Ice Slick now). More "run away" powers by the door might have helped - if we'd had an Illusion controller with Spectral Terror, a Storm defender, or even a fire tank with the newly-feared Burn perhaps we could have done better - but none were available at that point in time.
Early after the TV Respec Trial came out, there was a sense that the trial was best completed with only a very specific set of ATs -- which has changed; either the players as a whole have gotten better at the trial or the trial itself was made easier; I'm not sure. The same is probably true here.
One good thing was that the mission was nice XP -- possibly too nice; the potential for farming this mission is quite high. Who need to herd when huge waves come running right at you? Kill what you can, fail the mission, restart it. Repeat until you're sick of it.
The game is a grind, it's its nature. Now we'll have to escort hostages too which is even more of a grind. You're so full of you balencing stuff well balence this: bad=nerf good=nothing.
Just got thru with the "Rescue ritki negotiator quickly" mission. It was timed, and it involved an escort - c'kellah.
Since I remember this mission from other issues, I didnt realize it was a hostage escort at first. We were just testing out some new builds basically.
It was a malta mission, with my lvl 50 ice/elec blaster and a mind/storm controller. Difficulty was set to tenacious.
So we start working on the mobs. One of the first things we notice is that some mobs have up to 4 sappers! Thats kind of excessive I think for the difficulty setting we had and number on the team.
We run across some gunslingers, and suddenly I'm frozen! Yep, gunslingers now have liquid nitrogen rounds.
Ok, so after dying a couple times etc. 
We found c'kellah. We killed the group and she came up gave thanks etc. I wasnt aware at the time we were supposed to lead her to the door, so I moved on to another group of malta. About that time my team mate gets bum rushed, and they kill the escort. The escort was lvl 41 also, not sure if that is a bug or not.
So, we decide to reset and try again. We go back in find c'kellah and this time start working our way back to the door. She runs very slow so we are kinda poking along. Soon as you save the hostage, the malta go on the offensive, and we had to fight a couple mobs on the way back.
When we go to the exit area (it was an outdoor map with the red zone to exit) She wouldnt exit. So first my team mate leaves, then I leave, trying to get her to follow.
Come back in shes gone. I think the malta got her.
So we reset again, go thru the same process, and lead her back to the exit. I exit the mission, and my team mate is still inside. What ended up happening was a malta grenade knocked her back into the exit and we got team task completed.
Overall, it was pretty fun and definitely a challenge, I like it. I would like to see them run a little faster though, so they can keep up. Also, the escort did try to fight with us as well (I believe she was a storm defender) however at lvl 41, actually doing more harm than good by jeopardizing her own safety.
Also at one point we tried to tp her to the door, out of an ambush, and couldnt. Would be nice if you could tp the escorts.
Aside from the bug of her not exiting, it was fun to me and different. Plus the malta coming at you after you save her made it more exciting.
So far I love these changes. I loved it the first time I tried to excort the hostage out only to be ambushed on the way. It was one of those "I know I cleared this area, where did they come from" moments. The number of ambushes and composition is a little bad. The mission I was in sent three ambushes one right after the other, each with 1 lt and 4-5 minions. It got prety harry on my two man team when one of the team got defeated and the other had to deal with the whole ambush.
The waves of villians, wan a nice change of pace as well. One thing though, you need some indicator that you ar supposed to protect the object of their attention. I didn't even realize that I was supposed to be protecting the artifact untill it was 1/2 destroyed.
I haven't encountered the 'friendly heros' in anything except the Outbreak mission, and that was at the end after I had defeated all the villians. So I can't speak to that at this point.
Thanks
Be a hero!!
I just tried a timed save victim mission (level 43 crey mission). The victim once saved said he needed to give me something from his office. So it turned into an escort mission. No problems. He didn't seem to get hurt from the aoe's the boss of the mission was nailing me with. I end up taking down all the baddies. He is still just following me. I take him to the only two offices in the mission. Nothing. I take him to a set of cubes. Nothing. For the life of me, I could not find this blokes office. Is it possible to change it so the victim makes a bee line for where ever he needs to go once all the bad guys are defeated?
Marshal Wagner BS/SR Level 50
Mistress Delight Drk/Drk Level 50
Golden Coy EL/EL Level 42
Helreginn's Hammer WH/WP Level 42
Playing my new Sonic Blaster from level 1 to level 10, doing missions almost exclusively (to see how the increased missions XP looks), I have only seen two missions where I noticed the mission upgrades (one of them was the tutorial).
1. Ally heroes. Since the tutorial I have never again seen a hero ally in a mission. I think that the ally should either:
* begin fighting along with you as soon as you engage the enemy, rather than waiting until you defeat the enemy.
* better yet, be tied up or otherwise shown to be restrained or incapacitated. After you defeat the bad guys you can click on them to free tham.
2. Villain waves. I had one mission in the sewers with waves in it. Although it sounds good on paper, my experience was very frustrating. I felt like I was just getting randomly attacked from behind, with no way to mitigate the situation.
It got to the point where I would wait for a long time before engaging the next enemy, because I kept getting defeated when new enemies would pour in behind me just as I was in the middle of a draining battle. This made for unnecessary boredom , downtime, and defeat. I was defeated only one other time between 1st and 10th, but went down three times in that mission.
At one point, enemies literally appeared out of thin air right around me in a tunnel and started attacking me. I feel like I should be able to play smart, use good tactics, and not get bushwhacked, but if enemies can just materialize on top of me even after I have taken care to make sure I have cleared out an area, that's frustrating.
Additionally, this will, I think, lead to more TPKs, as the team has nowhere to retreat to anymore. Pulling back into the tunnel or the previous chamber just means piling into fresh new villains when you're already hurt.
Gonna call for lots of revisions to the way people play missions.
3. Hostage Escort. My hostages followed me pretty well. I was unsure if they could be attacked by the villains, but they survived running through the guys that spawned in behind me.
After being defeated in that wave-spawning mission several times, I finally kept my distance from the first 2 hostages as I defeated their captors, so they would not pick up on me and begin following. I picked them up on the way back after I found the 3rd hostage. This seemed to cut down on the spawning of villain waves, but it might have just been random timing.
On the whole I'm glad to see an effort to add new mission types and variety to missions. Yay!
BB