Official Thread: Safeguard Missions
By
1tonweasel,
Posted on: 2006-11-14 21:05 in Developers' Corner
I don't know about Safeguards being easy. I find Mayhem missions to be much easier in the sense that you can gain time and engage each side mission when you want. Sure Safeguards you can too but that first onset of "The Bank is being robbed!!" can be tricky, at least for someone with retard-lag like me.
Case in point, last night I enter the bank right away (now on Mayhems I leave that for last, sometimes only killing the boss to farm for the kill sig villain/hero badge) and apparently lag stopped me from noticing 1 person escaping out of the mob I was handeling solo. I think when I entered, a Nightwidow was leaving at the same time. They should stay and fight when engaged, I know they have fixed some of those issues already. Lag is my own problem, only 512 RAM, but still, I find being forced to chase a runner to be more of an issue than just standing and fighting. Minus the lag, both versions are easy enough 
"..why o' why didn't I take the BLUE pill?"
I agree that after a while I statred doing them just for the travel power.
Then I started getting other temp Powers like slightly increased speed, a self-Rez, stuff like that. Now that makes it more interesting as far as end result but they could be a little more interesting, both Mayhems and Safeguards. For instance:
You hit a Mayhem and SOMEBODY ELSE steals the money before you can get there! Now you have to chase down villains/gangers while being shot at/chased by cops, Longbow and heroes! Talk about mayhem!
On the other side how about the occasional Safeguard where they hit the armored car before you can get to the bank! Now you gotta chase them down...no chance to stop them in the bank!
Btw I'd reccomend dropping the little side missions from these types of things. Wayyyyyyyyy too hairy otherwise...
"Comics, you're not a Mastermind...you're an Overlord!"
Mayhems and Safeguards have the same fatal flaws
1: There is really no reason to do the same Mh/Sg more that once. The reward is 1 time, the mission is long making regular missions worth more XP, and the novelty dies quick.
2: They are HARD at your own or higher levels and on large teams Hard =/= Fun.
3: Hero and Villain missions are the same. But Villains are cooler.
All of this stems from the same point: Mayhem/Safeguards are designed like PvP missions, but they don't include PvP.
[censored].
^^^^ Wow, didn't know they did that to "doubleyou tee eff"
The maps on Safeguards should be all revealed at the start, this is normally a city the character is already familiar with, why wouldnt they know heir way around atlas park already?
I can understand villains not knowing, but the heroes should.
Mayhem missions could use a "mob" factor, It would be cool if as you ran the mission your could pick up more support from random thugs. You see a group of hellions attacking PPD or parking meters and you get them on your side now. You offer them a stack of hundreds and they will for sure cause some inteferene to the longbow agents for you.
I just have a few things to add:
Mayhem Missions are fun and different.
Safeguard missions are more of the same.
Can I cause mayhem for villians please?
I would not mind blowing up rows of inactive spider bots at all.
Not at all.
Blow up a 5th, err, Council base? Nope. I don't think any law-abiding hero would mind that one little bit. Nope.
Wouldn't mind that at all.
In summary...
Good guys can go on the offensive too.
[ QUOTE ]
Mayhems and Safeguards have the same fatal flaws
1: There is really no reason to do the same Mh/Sg more that once. The reward is 1 time, the mission is long making regular missions worth more XP, and the novelty dies quick.
[/ QUOTE ]Side mission badges. Not everybody cares, but there's a badge for doing a number of each type of side mission.
[ QUOTE ]
Side mission badges. Not everybody cares, but there's a badge for doing a number of each type of side mission.
[/ QUOTE ]
Plus Temp Powers from the Raid side mission.
You can get some pretty spiffy temp powers.
* Keys shouldn't me dropped at all. We're heroes for crying out loud. It should all be open. The baddies should...confess or provide information as to the whereabouts of the side quests.
* Heroes should be able to defeat the signature villain before they break open the vault. This could be counted as the equivalent to the villain side mayhem mission where you get a badge for breaking open the vaults.
* As stated before, our starting out point should be at the bank not on the other side of the zone. Stopping the bank robbery is forced on heroes unlike the villains. Villains can do that anytime they want (with time allowed).
* Like the mayhem missions, the baddies should not attack you if you have a stealth type power. Not to mention their insane aggro range.
* I think the heroes should have their own type of mayhem mission in the Rogue Isles. Save a captured hero, bust up boxes and vehicles carrying illegal stuff, rob a building containing stolen merchandise/money. This would pretty much negate all of my previous suggestions.
* The villain and hero side should be able to access all side quests regardless of level.
A bug?
When I was doing a safeguard mission, the signature villain defeated me. I promptly went to hospital and ran about a block away from the villain escape point to head them off. I started fighting them but then got kicked out of the mission for failing. What's up with that?
You have to stop more than just the signature villain, you have to stop all their minions, too. IF even one gets to the truck- mission failed. =(
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You have to stop more than just the signature villain, you have to stop all their minions, too. IF even one gets to the truck- mission failed. =(
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Must mean that one of the minions took an alternate route to the truck. Aargh!
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<QR>
to Large_Man, you do get bonus time for spawns in a Safeguard..defeat the "Villians causing Mayhem" and get another 1:30 like in Mayhem mission.
to JusticeZero, the robbery is triggered by either 5 minutes passing or someone getting close to the bank. that just means they're heading down to the vault, not actually leaving the bank yet. the "stop the robbers from getting away" message means they are com ing up from the vault.
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Yer incorrect. I've done a ton of Safeguards at multipule levels. We have several machines here and several accounts, my system is the beefy one and i load incredibly fast. Missions, instances, zone crossing, I'm usually always the first guy to get anyplace. I have stood outside the van and waited until my team has jumped in. Then jumped in and loaded and stood by the van and waited (assuming im not getting attacked) for everyone else to load. The robbery on every map i've done is always triggered within 30 secs of me entering the map. Usually before the entire team has loaded. That's with me standing next to the van still. I've even had ppl type at me in all caps "OMG WHY DID YOU GO IN THE BANK?!!!11" only to reply "I'm standing next to you dummy." The whole team is loaded before the second message pops up normally, but because some of them miss the "Bank is being robbed" message they get confused when someone says, "run for the Bank it's being robbed".
They may have intended for the event to start 5mins in or be triggered by proximity, but this is not what's happening. i also wonder if the insane aggro is by design.
ATM the *only* real reason to do safeguards is for my pre14 travel powers on the lowbie alts. Can't make anymore of them anyway since my slots are full and we can't transfer.. but i digress.... I'd say they were worth it for the other temp powers but i don't see an annoying green glow i can't toggle off as a good thing. You can delete the temp power, but why the hell get it if yer just gonna delete it cause it makes you look stupid?
Safeguard missions are anti-climatic, tedious, confusing, buggy, and boring...
Mayhem missions are fun as hell, even thou the rewards are minimal...
P.S.: some of the special maps like the Sewer that turns to a cave that busts up into an office, and the pawn shop and jeweler store are really cool. So is the Nemesis drilling thing. WHY AREN'T THESE THINGS IN NORMAL GAMEPLAY *cough*.. sorry.. But yeah.. work this stuff into our normal game world plz kthx...
safeguards are mind-numbingly boring.
the only reason I do 'em is to get a temp power.
mayhems on the other hand are very fun and engaging (solo, anyway).
Taking your villain into those familiar Paragon City zones has novelty value. And there are some fresh enemies you haven't already seen a billion times. And you get to trash the place, earning you more time to find some side missions and earn more time so you can trash MORE of the place.
All in all, a fun diversion from 'regular' missions. I do feel the ambushes on team mayhems are borked, but solo or with a small, well organized team it's a neat way to spend some time.
Safeguards on the other hand are just 'more of the same', fighting stuff you always fight in zones you've spent too many hours in. You can do side missions to get extra time...for what? To 'arrest' more hellions, or whatever?
Lacking the novelty of setting and gameplay the villain Mayhems offer there's no reason to do a safeguard other than the temp power.
And they're painfully, boringly easy.
I feel the Mayhems are way too tough in certain circumstances, but I actually prefer that to the tedium of a Safeguard.
summary-
safeguards need a new setting and they need an equivalent mechanism to the fun of blowing up cars, boxes and parking meters for kicks. And they need to be harder. And some unique enemies wouldn't hurt.
=D
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