"Deliver the Tabula Scutum to Ghost Widow in St. Martial" Mission WTF Hard?

Did anyone else find this mission from Sister Airlia in Cimerora ridiculously hard?

I mean everything was find up until the point I defeated the captor mob that was holding Ghost Widow, but I was thinking, "I've got a signature AV with me. It'll be fine, right?" Wrong. Not only do a half dozen Longbow minions pop up right next to us, but a Longbow Warden and a named Longbow Ballista Elite Boss.

Still, I thought having Ghost Widow with me would balance things out and she'd own everything in sight while I offered support. The EB put me in a Detention Field which seemed to last forever. GW wiped out the minion mob that popped up but as I'm sitting there with the Warden and Ballista whiffing at me, I look over and notice she's got no damn endurance.

Finally I popped out of the Detention Field and get ready to do some damage. With a Boss and Elite Boss still in play, I pop a big Purple, a Yellow, and a big Red inspiration. Only apparently the EB's Force Field's are ridiculously potent because I can't hit anything at all, even after popping the Yellows, having two Accuracy SOs in every attack, popping Build Up, as well as picking up Combat Training: Offensive.

I figure I can at least hold their attention while GW gets some endurance back since neither mobs are really getting hurt, but even with my defensive powers in place and inspirations active, they start getting big shots in. Luckily, I had about five big Greens as well as a few small Purples. I pop a few of each to stay alive and still they keep hitting me while I can barely scratch them, and GW still has no endurance.

Eventually I'm defeated and then GW all of a sudden has endurance and I'm thinking, "Oh well, at least I get to watch the signature AV avenge me." Only it takes about 15 seconds for GW to get defeated as well.

So what gives?

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- CaptainFoamerang

Silverspar on Kelly Hu: A face that could melt paint off the wall *shivers*
Someone play my AE arc! "The Heart of Statesman" ID: 343405

Is it still bugged where the Longbow Ballista spawns at level 40, regardless if the mission holder is lower (like level 35)?

I've been waiting until my character's are over 40 to do the mission (until I see that they've fixed it.)

Edit: It would appear that ParagonWiki still has the "Level 40 spawn bug warning" up for the mission at the bottom of the Sister Airlia page.

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"Chew Electric Death, Snarling Cur!"

I was wondering if it was just me.

I got my head (and GW's) handed to me when I did this one. I had about the same thing happen as you did. GW wiped up the minions and I was doing pretty well on finishing off the Boss then **WHACK** next thing I know I'm eating floor tiles and waiting for GW to clear out the room so I can wake myself up and get moving.

No such luck. GW held up for about 2 minutes then dropped like a stone.

Heartbreaking, since she's my patron.

I like the thought that this might be bugged. It really did seem unusually hard.

Eh, I'll try it again with someone else, maybe I'll have better luck next time.

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Writer of In-Game fiction: Just Completed: My Summer Vacation. My older things are now being archived at Fanfiction.net http://www.fanfiction.net/~jwbullfrog until I come up with a better solution.

I've beaten two Ballistae in two different missions in the last two days. Double check it's approx hit points and make sure it's spawning as an EB then keep trying, because it's doable for sure.

I will note, that even as a true EB, the Ballistae does have an attack similar to the Nemesis Staff in terms of KB and lots of damage in one fell swoop. If that hits, the fight is usually over quickly.

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"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill

As stated in paragon wiki:

"Though Ghost Widow is presented as an Archvillain, her Hit Points and attacks are more like those of a Boss-class ally."

So, it isn't surprising that she's getting defeated while fighting against EB alone.

On another note:
I've never done these arcs while being below lvl 40, so I haven't been affected by Balista bug. I found this mission to be pretty easy while doing it on mind/fire dom, bane and fort.

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I've done these missions two or three times. Failed the first two on my MM and Stalker solo. Nearly did it with my stalker, but the MM was a mess. I had no idea what to expect that first time.

The third time I did it as a duo with two brutes. It took a while, but we managed to keep GW alive and defeat the EB and his minions. Even with two brutes, I still had t use inspirations, though neither of us died.

I wasn't aware of a bug, but now that I think of it, I believe I did notice the EB was 40 near the end of the fight the last time. We were both 37 or so.

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I had some shock problems when I first did it on my MM, but did not have much problem with GW or me surviving. The most problem I had was on my stalker, where I was trying to balance agro from all to keep boss Widow alive.

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