RWZ challenge?

Figured I needed to run this again. I'm going into it with a single philosophy: "Finish no matter the method," and backed by the tactical genius of Zoey when she stated "RUN LIKE HELL!"

I'm guessing having spawns 2 and 3 jump you at once is not the way to do this.

Nahh, gettin my *** kicked. Death on 2nd wave. Death on 3rd wave. 2 deaths on 3rd wave. I really hate resurgence.

This is doable. But only if I run away a lose aggro a lot.

Vanguard Sword, maximum number of "fight a boss" objectives, boss is that guy that nails you with the -50% end debuff that lasts forever, boss group difficulty set to hard, +4/x8. That should give you three or four bosses per spawn. Maybe use the Atlas Park map so everything is all spread out and nailing you with debuffs from range.

Oh, Gaussian's is looking like it needs another few runs through.

Just FYI: I've been testing adjustments to that arc off and on via the test server, but I haven't had the time to really do a completely new version justice. I'm finding its extremely difficult, under the rules of the AE, to make a version that hits that fine line of "really hard, but not impossible" that the current version does, in a different format other than ambushes (i.e. a more conventional mission).

I *think* its just the right level of difficulty that hard-core players who try it believe they *could* beat it with just the right level of effort/insps/temp powers, so they know its not mathematically impossible. And that's the key to making the challenge at least nominally credible.

For now, the ambush version is only version I've designed that is viable. The comments I get for it as people run it continue to be just about where I wanted them to be, namely just at the edge of "are you crazy?" and "I'll be back." A few people claim to have beaten it without too much difficulty, but those are rare outliers (A Willpower tank claimed to finish it without deaths or inspirations back when it was more of a smoke-fest).

On the subject of making more missions like this, I'd encourage anyone that wants to try their hand at it to give it a go. If nothing else, make one that specifically challenges your own build. But if you can make one that other people agree is a worthy challenge to undertake, and its possible to beat but not easy to beat, that's a great target to set for yourself. It takes a lot more knowledge about how the powersets work and how people play than it first appears, and its definitely a learning experience (mine is not version 3.X for no reason: I went through three major revisions and about ten minor ones between beta test and the live servers).

Is that no temps no insp also? If not, vanguard curse braker ftw

Sounds good, and I'll surely try what you've suggested, and maybe I'll make a really challenging arc for my best scrapper, Silence. Great work Arcana!

Broken Voltage (War Mace / Electric Armor Brute) Main Toon

It should probably be noted you'll want to run this on Tenacious at least for the full challenge.

I took my casual gamer friend into it so he could stress test his MA/SR with IOs...we did both wipe on one of the waves, but this was mostly due to him Scrapperlocking on the Challenge Master and all the following ambushes.

After I explained the procedure to him, he got the first ambush well, the second gave him progressively more difficulty and so did the third. He did complete it though; to be fair, it should be noted he used Break Frees, Respites as well. Additionally, we cleared the entire map of the Sonic Engineers just to give ourselves an easier time.

He did have a ton of fun though; he stated repeatedly this mission was far more fun than regular content and that he wished more stuff like this would come out.

Tomorrow we'll hit RWZ and try the challenge. I've gotten ganked pretty good tonight on my Kat/Regen on it (Mesmerists drop Integration, bad stuff happens) though I did survive longer than I had thought while using two 54 Chief Soldier and one 54 Chief Mesmerist.

Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately.

Those guys are specifically there to present the choice of clearing them, or working very hard not to draw them. Or, if you are a maniac, trying to complete the challenge while pulling them into the fight. They can rapidly increase the difficulty exponentially with their sonic buffs and debuffs.

There have been a few players that have left comments stating that on even difficulty levels it was actually sufficiently difficult to clear the sonic engineeers themselves they left to find a better respec before actually doing the core challenge itself. And to be honest, if they are giving you trouble before the challenge starts, that's probably for the best.