Backloading: Traditional or a Mistake?
By
Bellisaria,
Posted on: 2009-04-25 13:37 in Mission Architect
I know what you mean. I've gone back to my missions and set them all to "flat". If there is an EB or AV in the mission I mention that in the description.
I find that since enemy placement is so unpredictable, I don't like the results when I do anything other than leaving a mission "flat." In theory it sounds good, but it's hard enough to make sure your bad guy doesn't show up in the first room without moving spawns around, too.
At the risk of derailing the thread again, I was referring to purposely designing a mission arc to have significantly higher difficulty in the final missions as opposed to the earlier ones.
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I was referring to purposely designing a mission arc to have significantly higher difficulty in the final missions as opposed to the earlier ones.
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There's absolutely nothing wrong with this, so long as you take the care necessary to make the final mission challenging but not insurmountable. As you mentioned originally, noone enjoys an "impossible" fight, because that is simply frustrating. There is a world of difference, however, between "impossible" and a battle that is wild, difficult, and leaves you and your teammates panting with silly grins at the end.
This last one is the one you're asking about, and it's hard to get just right. Much easier to just throw in a zillion ambushes set to "hard" and have AVs all on extreme. The perfect balance comes with lots of tinkering with the variables (mob power selection? difficulty settings? ambushes? spawn placement? trigger points?) and testing until it's hard-but-not-too-hard. It's worth it, though, IMHO.
EC
Yes, do it. But give a fair warning, e.g. "They are going to be tough, you may want to bring a friend."
climax ... is ... goooo...d
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It's also a pain in the backside to get 80% through an arc and run into an unbeatable battle. To find an unmarked EB/AV and be unable to solo it with your Dom/Troller. Etc and so forth.
[/ QUOTE ]Every mission with an AV/EB in it should be marked as such; I generally prefer text along the lines of "You should bring some friends" in the contact dialogue, along with coloring to make it stand out. Despite the fact that I rarely do bring a friend, I appreciate sticking to the style the devs have used throughout the canon game.
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt
A lot of people like to end a multi-mission arc with an AV or EB or a really tough fight. It's flavorful. It's traditional, judging by the dev arcs we've been playing for a dozen issues. Very very popular as well, based on many of the MA arcs I've played.
It's also a pain in the backside to get 80% through an arc and run into an unbeatable battle. To find an unmarked EB/AV and be unable to solo it with your Dom/Troller. Etc and so forth.
Backloading the difficulty seems both a good and bad design choice. What're people's thoughts on it both as developers and as players?