Official Thread for Mayhem Missions
By
13th_Stranger,
Posted on: 2006-05-01 24:55 in Developers' Corner
Was able to do my second mayhem mission tonoght. Level 26 SS/Inv Brute.
For the most part it was very good. The Hero was a LT - Overload. No problems in the bank.
Got 2 keys - no clues.
1. Kidnap victim. After defeating the guards around the victim, it took me leaving the vic's line of sight and come back before he recognized me as his kidnapper. (I was not stealthed.)
2. Smash and Grab. Lots of fun until the end. I was fighting 5 swat guys. I had at one time 8 sticky arrows, 6 flashbangs, and 4 web grenades. (the stacking of icons really helps to count those) So, I was basically useless in this situation.
Fighting the outdoor guys. I was chain flashbanged and chain glued. The swat guy I was fighting just kept recycling as soon as one wore off, he was ready with another. Luckily, some of the flashbangs missed.
Still, it was fun. Large truck smashing is cooool!
I was getting random time bonuses that I couldn't figure out.
You don't hit smiling monsters - Sister Flame
Ummm....this is kind of annoying. I thought the Hero was supposed to be random (as per Positron I think). Well, I've done close to 10 Mayhem missions so far (possibly more, I lost count) and have had only 2 differrent heroes...the first 2 I did in Atlas gave me Flambeaux....then, ever since, and it didn't matter which setting I've been on, or WHO'S Mission it was I've only gotten Rosethorn as the Hero. I even upped my difficulty just to see what would happen...still Rosethorn. Solo, 8-man teams, 4-man teams, clearing side missions, straight to the bank, (I know it's been said that it's totally random and they're attempting to fix that) nothing we could do spawned ANY other hero.
the hero herself is based on what zone you are in, the level of the hero is based on, well last we heard that is whats random, altho that may change.
and JJ. flaming ppl for their disablities is rather rude, and that post was as off topic as it gets.
True Alt-o-holic, so... way too many to even think about listing =p
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I've found the mayhem missions to be a real mixed bag.
On the one hand the Atlas Park, King's Row, and Skyway missions were a lot of fun, chok full of smashing cars and crates, and fire hydrants and what not. I very much enjoyed the side missions, be it pawn shop, arson, kidnapping, etc...
However, once the swat team appears all fun vanishes. Flashbangs and glue arrows stack up quickly from even a handful of these guys. Whether with Brute or Corruptor, if the swat team got the drop on me I was in for a VERY long fight (minutes). Miss, miss, miss... crawl, crawl, crawl... this is NOT fun.
I think the stacked debuffs need to be examined, whether in duration or in recharge, and reduced to a sane level. Standing around unable to do anything for minutes at a time, either slowly dying or equally slowly winning is not fun. If the swat team is supposed to be so tough, why not drop the debuffs and triple their damage? At least things would be decided quickly one way or the other.
A more practical consideration is, if there's such an abundant and well equipped swat team that can respond en masse on a moment's notice... why on earth are there even heroes?! The whole game of CoH is invalidated by these extremely potent minions. If they were more like Malta (with the sappers) or Longbow (with the 40+ Spec-Ops) and there was one key baddie to neutralize first, that would encourage smart strategy and be managable. Having 4 minions chain debuff you into total ineffectiveness... and then spending 3 minutes beating you down is boring and frustrating. I for one will not waste my time on Mayhem Missions that include Swat teams, if they go live as is.
One other smaller point, why do ALL the cops in the Founder's Falls missions have to be Psi? This seems unbalanced towards /Fire and /Invul, since above level 30 so many of the enemies use attacks other than Smash/Lethal. Couldn't there be a mix of enemies? Just a thought.
Overall I appreciate the destructable environments and the side missions and the wonderful prizes you can find, but the swat team and their silly/potent debuffs sap the fun right out of the missions they appear in.
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Ummm....this is kind of annoying. I thought the Hero was supposed to be random (as per Positron I think). Well, I've done close to 10 Mayhem missions so far (possibly more, I lost count) and have had only 2 differrent heroes...the first 2 I did in Atlas gave me Flambeaux....then, ever since, and it didn't matter which setting I've been on, or WHO'S Mission it was I've only gotten Rosethorn as the Hero. I even upped my difficulty just to see what would happen...still Rosethorn. Solo, 8-man teams, 4-man teams, clearing side missions, straight to the bank, (I know it's been said that it's totally random and they're attempting to fix that) nothing we could do spawned ANY other hero.
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I have had the exact same problem, same heroes even, flambeaux to start, rosethorn ever since!
Did my first mayhem today and was VERY pleased with it. Seems to be pretty bug free and so much more fun than the heist. I only found a couple things annoying.
1. The flash bags are INSANE! My lvl 35 brute with 3 acc SO's in each attack, 2 To-Hit buffs in Rage and Inv and still I was hitting MAYBE 10%, not to mention the sticky arrows that slowed me down to an annoying crawl
2. As stated earlier, the number of people in the bank is a bit out of control it needs to be turned down.
Other than that I'm pretty pleased with the missions. I am afraid that the sticky and flash bangs are going to ruin the missions for me tho.
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once the swat team appears all fun vanishes. Flashbangs and glue arrows stack up quickly from even a handful of these guys. Whether with Brute or Corruptor, if the swat team got the drop on me I was in for a VERY long fight (minutes). Miss, miss, miss... crawl, crawl, crawl... this is NOT fun.
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QFT.
The sticky and the flashbangs with awesome accuracy and godlike recharge and duration have GOT to go. These missions just ain't fun with them.
Dawnslayer on Virtue.
My character was sliding all over the place during a Mayhem mission. Whenever an object was destroyed, it was like some invisible force started shoving me around. This happened for every object I destroyed.
Four straight times, I've gotten Blast Furnace as the hero that comes to fight me during a Mayhem mission. All of these have been through Isabel the Knife (St. Martial broker) and all have been Mayhem Missions in Brickstown. I thought that the heroes were supposed to be random, but I keep seeing the same hero show up. I've copied over my character with both a full broker bar and done newspaper missions on test as well. I'll try it some more and see if I still end up with Blast Furnace.
The Dark Blade
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I've only done two Mayhem Missions so far. The first was with my Corruptor set to Vicious and I got the mission in St. Martial. The "Hero" showed up as a red conning boss class mob. I forget her name but it was a flying, energy blaster type with a goofy helmet and the big robotic forearm gloves. She wasn't too terribly difficult.
The second one I did was with my EM/FA brute set to Relentless (did this one in Grandville) and based on the last one I figured the "hero" would just be some purple con boss level scrub like the cape mission and previous mayhem mission. Obviously, I was caught a little off guard when a purple conning full Hero class Numina showed up to throw me in the slammer...and try as I might, in the slammer I went over and over again until I failed the mission.
I know that the AV/Hero to Elite Boss thing does not apply on Relentless, but I think that it's a little weird that a "hero" in one mission is a full fledged, un-soloable, thus mission ending in failure type mob, and in another it's just a plain old boss...not even an elite boss, just a boss.
I have yet to test any further mayhem missions with that brute, but it makes me wonder if I'm not going to have to change my difficulty every time one presents itself or if I should just leave it at relentless and beat up the scrub "heroes" when I can and just accept failing the mission whan an actual signature hero decides to show up randomly and beat me to a pulp.
This was the jist of a comment I made, I believe, in the AV/GM changes thread. Basically, if it is the developer's intention to make AV/Hero level mobs unsoloable, then why is it even possible for them to appear in a solo mission?
I -liked- the idea that I could take on a Hero level entity and though tactics, inspirations, luck and brute strength have a hope of walking away victorious. If that's no longer going to be the case, then why should I even bother? I don't play to feel like some second rate minion. I play to feel like a Super.
I'm not even asking to solo Statesman or Recluse here. I consider them (and their various otherdimensional incarnations) to be, well, godlike. But when Mailaise or Numina or some other 2nd/3rd stringer shows up, they should not be able to use me like tissue.
Frankly, I think that hero/av level mobs as they currently stand on Test are actually broken. There are too many reports of individuals and even teams saying that they were simply unable to harm the mob, regardless of what they did. Added to that, a significant number of folks have said that even when they were able to harm the mob, at 25% they turn on some kind of godmode power and become untouchable while they regen to full (ie Mako and Positron).
We'll just have to see what they have to say about these things, should we ever get any sort of public response.
Ok, level 40 bank mission everything going smooth get to bank job and INFERNAL was the Hero. GIVE ME A BREAK. A timed mission set at Ruthless with a MM and Scrapper and we get a Hero = to a Arch-Villain per posts earlier. It is bad enought getting a group to take down Infernal but, would a bank let that Fire Deamon spawning character even in bank vault. 5 secs after he sends us to Jail the Bank burns from the inside out. Would I get points for Arson? Get real please Infernal would never respond to a bank Robbery it is below him. Give me Mynx, Swan, or any other SK of the Phalanx.
If you gonna set hero level in Mayhem Missions give small groups a Weapon to weaken them in the mission like a water hose for Infernal. Hell Lex Luthor would not rob a bank without Kriptnite on a leash to stop Superman.
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. The "Hero" showed up as a red conning boss class mob. I forget her name but it was a flying, energy blaster type with a goofy helmet and the big robotic forearm gloves. She wasn't too terribly difficult.
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This one? Sorry, not the best picture. Pulsewave? Blastwave? Something like that. Yeah, she showed as a Lt in my mission, and got held and pwnt. 
Did the Atlas Mayham mission with my el/el brute noticed a couple of changes from the last time I did it. First while I did get a key off of some skulls I never got a clue or a star on the map to show where it went to. Also couldn't find the side mission just looking around.
Second I broke what appeared to be an Ice/ice corruptor out of jail and well he wasn't all that much help. He would lock onto a citizen and start freezing them in place over and over and over and over and ... oh well you get the idea. Since the citizen doesn't die, and they where frozen in place and couldn't run away... He just kept doing it. Basically he would stop if I got far enough away from him then start up, but unlike the energy/rad corruptor I freed in my last mission this one wasn't to much help. Pity it would have been nice. I did get random time extentions from things he would do but it was just very random.
I did rob the bank defeat my hero and escape, getting the raptor pack. Joy. 
that is well worth doing the mission just for that.
My only other complaint is that it uses the sub at the far side of Port Oakes. That is a very nasty run for a level 7 character. 
But it's MY sadistic mechanical monster and I'm here to make sure it knows it. - Girl Genius
List of Invention Guides
Please please take the boss out of the prison block. Move him downstairs or something but it is frustrating to expend all my endurance breaking out only to be killed by him because of no endurance, then having to repeat the process.
The other night my friends lvl 38 Brute did a mayhem in St Martial but didnt get any xp from completing the side missions. Is that something they changed or would it be a bug?
"YOU DID NOT READ THE THREAD. GO READ THE LONG, LONG THREAD.
Then, perhaps your butt cheeks will relinquish their grip on your chin." -The_Zekiran
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Please please take the boss out of the prison block. Move him downstairs or something but it is frustrating to expend all my endurance breaking out only to be killed by him because of no endurance, then having to repeat the process.
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Try this: Stop attacking, while it has a shred of health left. Heal up. You've got nothing to worry about, time-wise, unless you've massively slacked throughout the course of the mission. Once you're full, finish it. Simple as that.
I have to disagreee with that, without a movement power and only 15 min to do it... and with the bank and the jail being on opposite sides on the map. Every moment counts, I have gotten booted in the middle of the final fight more than half of the times i have tried sence they lowered the time from 20 min to 15.
True Alt-o-holic, so... way too many to even think about listing =p
My AMV.org Page
What's left of my Youtube page
Think-Shirt Page 1 & Think-shirt Page 2
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I have to disagreee with that, without a movement power and only 15 min to do it... and with the bank and the jail being on opposite sides on the map. Every moment counts, I have gotten booted in the middle of the final fight more than half of the times i have tried sence they lowered the time from 20 min to 15.
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The time was always 15 minutes. It was just the broker mission text that said 20 minutes, which was a bug.
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This one? Sorry, not the best picture. Pulsewave? Blastwave? Something like that. Yeah, she showed as a Lt in my mission, and got held and pwnt.
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That's the one, yep. She was a decent fight for my Corruptor who was out of purples and kept getting knocked back out of my own heal radius, but she went down after some effort.
That's the kind of "boss fight" I'd expect in a mayhem mission...tough, but do-able. Not getting stuck with a purposefully unsoloable mob with no time to even think about putting a team together to take them down.
Mayhem missions are great fun, but I think they seriously need to work on how the boss fight goes down. It's going to be really annoying to have to change my difficulty every time I run into one of these things solo.
Did some additional testing with 2 solo Lvl 40 Brutes both set to Relentless.
1st mission, rob Brickstown Bank. SS/EA brute. Went right to the bank, took out all security and got the loot. Malaise showed up and kicked the crap out of me. Mission Failed.
2nd mission, rob Brickstown Bank. EM/FA brute. Went right to the bank, took out all security and got the loot. Overdrive showed up and proceeded to get her butt kicked hard. The Crey Power Tank outside was more difficult than her.
Deleted the SS/EA from test and recopied. Same result as the first try. Malaise showed up again and kicked the crap out of me.
I guess my problem is that there's no way to tell going into one of these missions whether I'm going to end up facing off against a +2 Boss or an even con Hero. Facing a +2 boss is no big deal...facing a Hero solo = mission auto-fail. I'm completely okay with the boss being a random spawn, but c'mon, the disparity there is ridiculous.
In the end, it's just un-fun to be forced into a no-win situation without some kind of warning.
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I have to disagreee with that, without a movement power and only 15 min to do it... and with the bank and the jail being on opposite sides on the map. Every moment counts, I have gotten booted in the middle of the final fight more than half of the times i have tried sence they lowered the time from 20 min to 15.
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Disagree all you want. It's doable with any AT at any level. All you have to do is not chit-chat or slack off in the destruction department.
Lower level mayhem missions specifically Skyway. Killing the Caliban troll gave the message that the key was given but no waypoint appeared on the map. When I went to the building i knew the key was associated with i was told I needed the key to enter. I went to find the Ogre for the next side quest and he was no where in the alleyway.
Also at one point I entered a door entrance to a side quest by mistake then attempted to leave as my henchmen were still coming in. This left me locked up and standing still. i was able to chat and send messages but do nothing else but watch my toon stand motionless before the opened exit. the /stuck command had no effect.
that happened to me a couple days ago on test too, on my stalker. doing a patron mish, using an elevator
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Ok, level 40 bank mission everything going smooth get to bank job and INFERNAL was the Hero. GIVE ME A BREAK. A timed mission set at Ruthless with a MM and Scrapper and we get a Hero = to a Arch-Villain per posts earlier. It is bad enought getting a group to take down Infernal but, would a bank let that Fire Deamon spawning character even in bank vault. 5 secs after he sends us to Jail the Bank burns from the inside out. Would I get points for Arson? Get real please Infernal would never respond to a bank Robbery it is below him. Give me Mynx, Swan, or any other SK of the Phalanx.
If you gonna set hero level in Mayhem Missions give small groups a Weapon to weaken them in the mission like a water hose for Infernal. Hell Lex Luthor would not rob a bank without Kriptnite on a leash to stop Superman.
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Obviiously you haven't encountered Swan in a Mayhem mission yet. She's a pain in the butt Psi/Kin and did a 6 person team wipe the first encounter. We regrouped, with 16 min. left, (the MM was far enough out of aggro and sight to awaken, tp and help rez) and took her down with 2 min to spare.
We weren't slacking on the mayhem part before meeting her, and that's the only thing that saved us.
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And that's just the PPD...there were three Longbow in there as well. That particular shot was taken in a store that did NOT have cameras or red beams.
I've hated bank missions for more reasons than the unholy numbers of people running around, I'd really appreciate if our henchmen could now draw ambush aggro off of us.
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As far as I can tell, ambushes still absolutely ignore hench aggro. I went through a Mayhem mission with my MM last night, and ambushers are still utterly focused on you and only you. Hell, at this point I can exploit that single-mindedness: drop a Tar Patch, run around the corner, tell my gang to Attack My Target. Longbow and guards will run slowly through the patch, trying to get around that corner to me, and will just get owned without firing a shot. It's sort of pathetic.
And hey TwilightSinger, you're not the only one who gets the mega-ambushes. Every Mayhem I've done, I've gotten flooded with 10+ enemies at once, and it's often in the actual bank mission, so a Hero is included. I was not running from them, or herding them, nor was I setting off those pawnshop alarms. The ambush last night was 11 strong, unless my counting ability has been stealth-nerfed.
Mind you, I've never come close to dying from these big ambushes. My Dom installs her Singularity in a doorway and let it throw the guards around, and my MM drops a Tar Patch and a Darkest Night and spams heals. So I'm not actually complaining about them, just wondering if they're intended