Official Thread for Mayhem Missions
By
13th_Stranger,
Posted on: 2006-05-01 24:55 in Developers' Corner
I just did my first mayhem mission tonight, and i love it, EXCEPT for getting an elite boss named Valkyrie, who one shotted me (Valkyrie is in CoH in Steel Canyon, where the mish was).
And the henchmen take WAY too long to transition between rooms/buildings with me...needs to be like regular missions, instantly. (also, on a side note, is there a REASON that we cant have pets zone with us in and out of missions? that would be great.
Again, i thought it was great except for a boss that was too tough for the difficulty i was playing on, and the long lag of henchman zoning.
Don't get me wrong, because I love the idea of mayhem missions, but wouldn't it be nice to have a PvP variation of it? I'd like opposing players to be able to come after me, rather than NPC heroes/villains.
Just a little dream of mine, y'know, to actually have conflict between villains & heroes where they can actually affect each other's game. PvP zones don't fit that bill (yet).
Ok I finally got onto test for more than 5 mins and got myself a Mayhem Mission.
Short Version: loads of fun, but very buggy
Long Version: LV40 Rob/FF MM getting a mission to Brickstown from Stela in Nerva, set on villainous.
Time bonus's are defiantly getting given for NPC's destroying things, I happened to see a Crey power tank putting the smack down on a mailbox just as I got a mailbox time award. Secondly the item time awards seem to peter out even when there are plenty of items left to destroy, maybe we could be given an idea of how this is supposed to work?
The side missions were a lot of fun, but I only noticed I had clues half way through the mission, should we have got the "CLUE FOUND" float-text when we get the keys?
Blowing up the building resulted in instant fire with a DOT that took over 3/4 of my health by the time I finally got out and clear. If there had been anything outside I'd have been in _serious_ trouble.
Pets, in general I7 seems to turned MM henchmen into idiots on speed and this _really_ becomes obvious in Mayhem missions. Pets would _not_ come out/in of buildings in anything less than 20 seconds which was _really_ annoying (The rescued villain came out well before my bots) There is defiantly a bug at work here because if I teleported my bots out using recall friend they would instantly phase back through the floor into the building (I know toy keep the "inside" parts of the building below the outside map) I _think_ they are fixating on the doorway having seen you go through then are blocking each other from getting through and they don't lose their "doorway lock" even if you recall them or move outside of the auto-summon distance. I had to re-summon twice in battle (thanks for the 2nd tier upgrade recharge reduction)
My hero was an EB Swan! on the lowest difficulty level solo? Surely that was wrong. She fixated on me and while I did keep using the room terrain to my advantage (She had terrible trouble getting through doors that my bots were blocking where I'd just teleport through, it was _glorious_) I eventually got hit with a big whammy and poof, in jail.
Breaking out was easy (with bots) and I got "hollow point" to help me, though he just phased through the cell door when I went near (those who blew up a few doors and gave up, did you not think you look through the viewing holes in the doors and look for a prisoner?) and _thankfully_ swan hadn't regenerated much. Oh yes, Hollow Point was a corruptor so much scourging ensued.
All in all I _cannot wait_ until I can play this with my SG mates (I.E. a couple of friends and one spare account) I envision a Bot/FF Bot/Trap Nec/Dark Nec/Dark group will rock from the delta to the DMZ.
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Please make the citizens non-targettable, since they can't be harmed. The tab-target spam in these missions is already at an ungodly level.
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QFT. If we can't send the civilians to the hospital, dont force us to tab on them. I mentioned last night on a mayhem mission that we should be able to attack civilians and if we hurt 10 of them a new hero shows up. That would add a new twist to the missions.
Well, just did my first Mayhem Mission last night and I'm sure whatever comments I'm saying now have been said before but repition is sometimes a good thing.
Now, I went to Brickstown out of St. Martial on my lvl 39 bots/FF mastermind Toy Dispenser. I scaled my difficulty down to the lowest level because I had read how people had trouble and I think that made a big difference. However, even on Villainous setting, I still walked out of there with an entire bar of exp. Which is not a small amount. I managed to complete every single side mission, clear the entire area, and kill Malaise in his Elite Boss form with 51 seconds to spare. /gloat
Comments & Issues: 1. When I ordered my pets to attacks large destructible objects such as large metal crates and dumpsters, my bots would run up to melee range and then attack. While not crucial, this was very annoying.
2. Hollow Point is awesome but I wish he'd spend more time following me than shooting civvies. Although he did clear out the streets very well especially since my bots were on defensive when they weren't actiely killing something.
3. When an ambush of PPD attacks me, they don't shout anything when they come in the door. The Longbow ambushes always shouted something along the lines of "Halt, evil villain!" Why can't the PPD shout, "Halt in the name of the law!"
4. When I raided the pawn shop and finished robbing the second group of floor safes, I got swarmed by about fifteen PPD members. I survived but the going got a little iffy. Do the ambushes spawn everytime I loot a safe or whenever one of those cameras see me? If it's the cameras, make them destructible.
5. There were a pair of jail doors in the PPD building that my pets could not reach. Both of them were right next to the elevator and set back a bit. My pets would cluster just off to the side of the door and then one or two of them would shoot at it.
6. When exiting the fire bombed building, my bots fell onto the bottom of the map. I had to dismiss and resummon them. Somehow, Hollow Point managed to get out just fine. Did I mention he kicks [censored]?
7. I like the temporary power I got from the arms dealers. It's the same temp power that I got in a hero mission against the Lost and it brings back such memories of my hero's early days. Kudos to whoever thought this up.
8. Malaise is a [censored]. I know I've done much better than everyone else when I fought him and killed him but do you really know how annoying it is for an EB to focus on you and only you? I was lucky as hell that I'm almost impossible to kill nowadays. Praise be to bodyguard!
9. The times I got the Resisting Arrest time bonus were kind of random. What exactly triggered them?
10. Where is the badge for Brickstown in that area? I checked all over and couldn't find it. =(
And those are my thoughts and questions after my first Mayhem experience. This mission was frigging awesome and I look forward to doing it on the live server. I won't need to worry about running out of contacts as long as I've got the Mayhem.
I'd post a screenie of me standing over Malaise's beaten purple clad body but I'm not at home right now. Cheers!
Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.
Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.
NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.
Just a few of my own thoughts on Mayhem...
I did this with a lvl 30 MM, talk about a whole new level of "Ninjas gone wild!" I'd really like to have the civilians either be untargetable or destructable.
I got the mission in Nerva and had a zone crash trying to get to St. Martial. When I did finally get to the mission I only had 14 minutes left. I summoned up all the ninjas and when I clicked on the last one for enhancement, I promptly walked right back out the door... Back in, resummon and enhancement I had about 11 minutes left.
I had issues with the pets taking their sweet time following me through doors, but was happy that they did and I didn't have to resummon each time. And the glue... how many poor horses were sacrificed for the oceans of glue always around me? lol
I finished my bank heist and noticed my timer still going so I destroyed more stuff. It seemed like my time bonuses were awarded maybe 25% less than before my mission complete. The I saw the new yellow waypoint and went to that. I never did get a key, and I didn't get a temporary power so I can't comment on that. I was having too much fun to look at xp or whatever so I don't even know if I got any lol.
All in all, I LOVED the mayhem. I may never do another regular mission again. (just fix my pets please)
I am so happy you can finally punch that stupid civilian getting in your way during bank robberies, and you actually get rewarded for it.
I'm not sure I see the benefit of smashing a car though, when it blows up and knocks off about 1/2 your health.
I hate to be the naysayer here, but...
What's going to happen to newspaper missions and normal storyline missions? Are they going to go the way of the dodo? No one is going to want to do them with Mayhems available.
Just a thought.
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What's going to happen to newspaper missions and normal storyline missions?
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You have to do five Newspaper missions (or three at low levels) to get Mayhems in the first place.
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Are they going to go the way of the dodo? No one is going to want to do them with Mayhems available.
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Mayhems only last for 20 minutes or so. That's another brilliant feature, IMO - the fact that they're time-limited makes them much more special and unlikely to grow stale.
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You have to do five Newspaper missions (or three at low levels) to get Mayhems in the first place.
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You miss my point. You have an option of doing mayhem missions or normal storyline missions. Who's going to bother doing normal storyline missions when they could just as easily do mayhems?
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You have to do five Newspaper missions (or three at low levels) to get Mayhems in the first place.
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You miss my point. You have an option of doing mayhem missions or normal storyline missions. Who's going to bother doing normal storyline missions when they could just as easily do mayhems?
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The new content will be attractive to many.
Temp powers to receive. New baddie factions. An AV/EB tussle.
Completing arcs before you outlevel the content/contacts.
Mayhems will always be awesome and will always be there, but I suppose that some will make a living out of them...at least early on.
Repeat Offenders
I have 3 issues
1: Pets are taking anywhere between 30 seconds and 90 seconds to pass through doors on mayhem missions. and in some cases "mission pets" aka "resuced villains" are taking the same ammount of time. Whereas police and longbow agents seem to pass throught the door in zero time. So imagine you get your key and pass into a side mission as a MM, you rescue your target and go to leave the building. This triggers a police/longbow response. When you come out of the building you have no pets to fight with. Using a "Recall Friend" doesnt help. the target is recalled and they they run straight down into the ground regardless of stay or passive commands you issue. This is proving to be a huge headache for masterminds.
2: When i have to "defeat hero to escape" I cant get any of the responding longbow or hero to put agro on my pets. They attack me directly outright. I'm not doing any damage at all to them, meanwhile my pets are unloading on them. yet anywhere i go they will follow me to get a shot at me and completly ignore my pets. Is this normal, cause it sucks when you have no attack powers and a AV has your name on his ticket.
3: Please clean up this thread of the "oh wow these missions are fun woooo" posts, some of us have real issue we need to have the dev's see.
danke
2 EA Brutes on relentless ran into Swan as a Hero.
She ate right through our Overloads. 
We knocked her health down maybe 5%
Repeat Offenders
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Maybe beating the signature hero should be a optionnal objective giving the temp power. So if the hero kills you, you bust out of jail and take the money to the exit (like hostages) and you get mission complete, with the bonus and your broker will intruduce you to a new contact.
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I really like this idea. I don't want to be a naysayer that all the awesome heroes come and try to stop you, because I think that's awesome. Well, awesome for a full team.
Not so awesome for a solo or duoist who can't beat the EB
Either that or forget about the whole "Mission Completed" for the bank at all. As soon as your time runs out, "Mission Completed" If you defeat the hero, you get the temp power. You can always leave if you get sick of it *shrug*
Okay, my thoughts...while I can't claim this to be inviolable truth, I did run four mayhem missions with my level 37 stalker main. Twice, I dithered awhile before going to the bank (Brickstown), taking out a buncha cops and Longbow, smashing cars and such, then robbed the bank...and found myself facing Malaise. Solo, not having the defenses of a brute or whatever, and especially facing something that kept confusing me so I couldn't even blasted hit him, I got trashed.
Twice though, I jumped right to the bank, ignored everyone and everything as only a stalker can, sliced open the vault, took the money...and got a lieutenant after me.
Please note all the above were on Villainous, all solo. This leads me to think that your mission difficulty setting means *nothing* when it comes to the level of the 'hero' after you, it's how much property damage, resisting arrest, and such that you do.
Which can be good, to a point...still, if I wanted to face an EB (who may as well have been a hero to a solo stalker, even /regen, I can take out a lot of EB's and have, but Malaise obviously isn't one of them, not on my lonesome) in a throwaway mission, wouldn't I have put my difficulty level higher? As it is, it turned a fun romp into an exercise in frustration, and a guaranteed 'Mission Failed'.
I rather think either the boss level needs to be tuned toward the difficulty level, there needs to be something showing that you're getting higher-level opponents ("$200,000 property damage! A boss is on the way to stop you!!"), or both. I've no objections to having elite bosses in the mishes when somebody's READY for 'em, as much as can be at least, but not knowing what you're gonna face...
You know what I wish? I wish that some or all of the time, the villain I get to break out of King's Row would be ... Jenkins. And some or all of the time, instead of that thorns scrapper, I wish the hero that came to stop me after the King's Row bank job was Flower Knight. In both cases, just for old time's sake, you know?
I also wish that the bosses (or when soloing on the bottom 2 diffs, LTs) you knock over to get the side-quest keys were named. Same for any villain bosses in the side quests. It's not like you don't already have a great list, somewhere, of random boss names for them.
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I'm not sure I see the benefit of smashing a car though, when it blows up and knocks off about 1/2 your health.
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In the early levels, that's a very serious problem. But the good news is that cars are always level 10; eventually, I gather, it becomes much less of a problem.
The biggest problem I can find with this gameplay mode is the targeting. It constantly makes me aim at inanimate objects and civilians instead of the police and Longbow who are actually a threat. The only advantage I've found so far to targeting civilians is for the corrupter buffing power pools... Kinetics, for example, can instantly boost their health and endurance by using their buff powers on the civilians around them.
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Please make the citizens non-targettable, since they can't be harmed. The tab-target spam in these missions is already at an ungodly level.
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Civilians can be hit with various knockbacks, mez effects, etc. It's fun.
Targeting enemies with a good old-fashioned mouse click is easier in crowds.
Devs, please no change to civilians, other than giving us more bonus time for harassing them. 
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You miss my point. You have an option of doing mayhem missions or normal storyline missions. Who's going to bother doing normal storyline missions when they could just as easily do mayhems?
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Um. Me?
I mean, mayhem missions are fun, but I'm not going to cease doing my contact missions just because they exist. There's only so many times I can do a frantic, low-timed mission before I need something normal.
One drawback of the internet is how it has trained so many people to think that one day is a long time.
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Who's going to bother doing normal storyline missions when they could just as easily do mayhems?
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They couldn't just as easily do mayhems. Storyline missions follow one after the other. Mayhems require 5 of the horrible grindy awful Newspaper missions between each one.
I kinda wish there were no other mobs or a less amount in the mission
I like the ambushes, I like the feared civies, I like blowing stuff up. The problem is when 40 other Psi Cops are shooting at you while Longbow is ambushing you. Meanwhile, time is ticking. And you are trying to target things through chaos.
It really doesnt even make sense that all those Psi Cops would just be standing there waiting in Brickstown at the one bank I want to rob. Get rid of the Psi Cop spawns and just let us cause havok till ambushes show up....because thats how it is supposed to happen.
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Devs, please no change to civilians, other than giving us more bonus time for harassing them.
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Maybe I misremember but I thought I got a time extension for beating civilians.
I did my first mission as a mind/psy dominator.
It was pretty much an exercise in frustration.
Ghost PPD, Security Captains, and the Doors were basically indestructable for me.
First impressions:
Mayhem missions are a lot of fun.
PPD are not. The durations/stackability of their debuffs need to be looked at. When one Ghost can floor my accuracy (i use 1 Acc SO and I was literally missing 4/5) with one flash bang (that lasts a very long time) he shouldn't be able to stack 4 of them. Ditto for Equalizers and glue arrows/web grenade. They prevent jumping away, you can't run, and your recharge is floored. Not to mention the acid mortar (although that didn't seem to matter much).
it's nice to have some variety and challenge, but if I got an equallizer and a ghost in the same group, it was a stalemate until I ran and let all the debuffs expire. I can't imagine how annoying that would be on a large team with several of each in each spawn.
I do like the ghost assasin strikes. That's interesting.
Citizens need to zone after they are attacked. The NPC villain you can bust out of jail spends too much time attacking them futilely. I got Mangler (looked like claws/SR) and he got stuck in a group of 5-8 that were running in front of a door for a good 4 min.
Consistent time extensions would be nice. I got time bumps for resisting arrest if I just ran past a patrol. Some objects gave bumps, others did not.
The contact's mission text states the mission has 20 minutes to complete. When I zoned in, I had 14:49 and counting.
I like that the objects explode suitably spectacularly, and they seem to have a neg resistance (or it could be the lvl gap) so they are easy to crush. However, I found it annoying that I got 'Target Blocked' when standing on top of the item I had targeted. I'd like to smash my Stone Mallet on the roof of some car/truck, but it can't be done. Kinda annoying.
I did Vicious, so the Hero was only a boss (Overcharge? Overload? Energy blaster/? he died fast).
Overall I like them, but I think PPD debuffs need to be toned down a bit.