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Another I played was set back in the first Ritki Invasion. The goal was to hold your little patch of ground. It was the same map as the Psy-Clockwork King. That's a nasty map for a defeat all, but the purpose of the mission was to stop the invasion. There's not really a good story based way to do that and still leave some standing.
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Sure there is. The contact says "$name, if you can take down a few of the raid leaders, the rest won't put up much of a fight and the PPD can get in there and clean up." Reference the clean up in the return dialog as well, just be sure not to play down the character's accomplishments.
Just an example, of course, but you can work through the issue if you need/want to. The story doesn't have to end with the player, there are other people hard at work in Paragon as well. The character needs to stay the focus, but it feels much more dynamic if you at least hint at the fact that there is an entire world out there as well.
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I would disagree with this. The AV/EB message should be in the Description as well as possibly in the contact's message. You don't see the contact's message until you start the TF or are part way through it. Even at level 1 AVs will be a problem and many will want to just avoid the mission.
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The problem with this is they may or may not be there, because of the settings. If you're soloing on Heroic, then even an EB becomes a regular boss.
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It does still apply. If you're soloing on Heroic, you expect Bosses to be Lts. Seeing a Boss-rank (downgraded EB) or Elite Boss-rank (downgraded AV) when you're capable of soloing mainly Lts (low-levels, for example) is a nasty surprise.
For example, if I see that a mission has an AV, I know that I'll be facing at minimum an EB, and I cannot rely on controls (soft or hard) to mitigate damage due to the anti-mez triangles. That dictates the sort of inspiration loadout I might carry.
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True enough. Sadly, there's a lot of people out there complaining when they're not thinking about their settings. You, at least, are paying attention. 
Dec out.
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QR
Adding another to the list:
For collection objectives which are required, never make the interact time longer than 10 seconds.
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Heck, I've been making them two seconds, just because unless I have a story reason, I don't want folks to even be bothered with being interrupted.
I could put it at 1, I suppose, but I want people to have at least the opportunity to read the stuff I wrote for it, if they want.
Dec out.
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Another I played was set back in the first Ritki Invasion. The goal was to hold your little patch of ground. It was the same map as the Psy-Clockwork King. That's a nasty map for a defeat all, but the purpose of the mission was to stop the invasion. There's not really a good story based way to do that and still leave some standing.
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Sure there is. The contact says "$name, if you can take down a few of the raid leaders, the rest won't put up much of a fight and the PPD can get in there and clean up." Reference the clean up in the return dialog as well, just be sure not to play down the character's accomplishments.
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That's basically the advice pohsyb gave me for one of my missions during open beta. Instead of Defeat All you just have to defeat their leader and the rest will go into retreat, mission over.
An important note on custom critter design (or any combining of groups in general):
Pay attention to power synergies.
You need to consider the entire spawn group, not just individual critters. Multiple mobs that debuff accuracy or increase defense can make things unhittable, especially if the base critter has defenses of its own. If you've got a bunch of minions that have control powers, recognize that they can readily stack enough of them at a magnitude that will overwhelm player mez protections. If you've got a hard-hitting melee boss backed up with minions with sonic, you need to recognize that this may turn into the ability to one-shot a player.
If you are using heavy endurance drain, DON'T. Okay, this is not really a hard and fast rule, but remember that there is a REASON that sappers show up in a limited context, and that players hate them. Having player endurance bars emptied is certainly an easy "I win" button for your critters, but it's not a particularly creative way to create challenge, and again, most people will hate you for it. Similarly, large number of critters with electrical drain can be just as bad as one critter with major drain mojo.
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(by the way, you cannot get one-shot by anything in game, there's code to prevent that, no matter how big the hit you're always left at 1 HP).
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There are many attacks that do damage in 2 halves, and others that do more conventional DoT. Those attacks by-pass the one-shot code. Even if it only reduces you to 1 hp. Any attack, especially on a freaking minion, that takes 99.9% of your health in a single hit, is too over the top in discrete damage. Spread the damage out so the player has a chance to react that had a duration of over 0.1 seconds. Two attacks that hit for 51% to 65% damage would be acceptable, still overpowered on a minion, but minimally within the bounds of acceptable.
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and having 3 other LT types they never spawned in huge numbers.
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I used a very similar method to limit some troublesome debuffers. It added a nice level of challenge without being totally game-over thru massive stacking.
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Trick Arrow at hard giving them Flash Arrow.
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I've told that same example in coalition. It's one of the first "oh-bleep" minions I created. Even with tactics and 2 yellows I was still helpless. That's over-kill and THEN some. TA is now on my "heavily restricted" list.
Fire Hd/Ninjitsu std Lt with Blaze was the second "oh-bleep" ... one-shotting anything that didn't have a health boost. Even nerfed to the floor as Fire std/Nin std minion it still hits for a bit over 50% health on characters without a health boost.
Sonic Blast EX/Rad Em EX Bosses are another on my black list, pretty much insta-nuke death for 7/8's of the team. Insta-death is not good. Insta-team-wipe is very not good. I'm very hesitant to let any boss get a nuke now, and quadruple play-test and check them if they do.
LT's seem to be the most flexible and useful mobs, I can see having many types of them, while limiting minions, and nerfing bosses.
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Here's one I've died to a few times, kinda like the oriignal Firday the 13th movie. I've done the last objective and received the mission complete and exit option. So I decide to nap in the rowboat and catch up on the clue novels I didn't get around to reading while my end and health refill, and blammo Jason and his two buds jump me.
If the map has a clear finale', don't add an ambush to it. That's my last impression of the mission; I'm gonna bet it effects the rating I give.
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I couldn't disagree more with you here. If the story you're telling has clear-cut objectives and the players achieve them, that doesn't place them in a safety zone where nothing else should be allowed to go after them.
Leave when your objectives are completed unless you're prepared to continue fighting. Nowhere on the map should ever be considered an automatic safety area, mission complete or not. If you've just busted up Object X and Faction Y isn't happy about it, reinforcements can arrive to seek retribution. Exit (ie escape) or accept that you are now subject to reprisals as a consequence of your actions.
If you're in the mission, never assume you're safe. That's what your base is for.
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Daemonchilde: ((fluffy thinks he's a tank)) Demon . Hunter: (( I think mine is >.> Daemonchilde: ((Yours is no longer fluffy, it is Obliteron, destroyer of worlds)) |
even after you exit - some dev missions trigger an ambush.
Ambushes are ambushes - the point is usually to attack you when you aren't expecting it.
Oh I agree completely. Since we can't trigger ambushes between mishes, I figure the next best thing is to have an ambush inside mishes after the required objectives are complete.
Quote:
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Daemonchilde: ((fluffy thinks he's a tank)) Demon . Hunter: (( I think mine is >.> Daemonchilde: ((Yours is no longer fluffy, it is Obliteron, destroyer of worlds)) |
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(by the way, you cannot get one-shot by anything in game, there's code to prevent that, no matter how big the hit you're always left at 1 HP).
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Doesn't that only apply if you're absolutely at full HP?
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A-Yup. But if you were wounded already, it's no longer a one-shot
Note that I'm not saying Ninjitsu's fine. It's not, it's a very serious bug because it's blocking usage of the only powerset that allows for stealth/invisible/ghost NPCs. Being unable to use it is a serious crimp to storytelling, and yes, I think it's practically unusable. I may be able to grit my teeth and slog through countless brushes with death if the narrative calls for it, but I understand those who're not willing to do so.
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