2009 Halloween Event Bugs and Feedback
By
AlienOne,
Posted on: 2009-10-01 18:02 in The Global Training Room Test Server
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For the record, the Greater Mystic Aspect appears as a random GM, not just Eochai. It's also labeled as the Mystic Aspect when targeted. I've defeated it as Jurrasik, Jack in Irons, The Kraken, and Eochai. |
Originally Posted by Kohei
Definitely not. Calling Eochai the mystic aspect was confusing. When the Seek the Mystic Aspect message came up I was looking for something I hadn't seen before.
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Of course, Eochai still spawns in the zones as part of the regular Halloween event. So I understand there could be some confusion and suggest maybe adding something to the event description letting players know that the Mystic Aspect can take on many forms.
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| many complained of lags and crashes-though I experienced neither issue. |
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| I will say that having costume salvage drops tied to trick spawns is awesome imo. |
Positron: "There are no bugs [in City of Heroes], just varying degrees of features."
Vampire Lords in Trick or Treating seem buggy.
Every other enemy appears to be spawning correctly, but I've had 2 doors in Grandville that have spawned lone Vampire Lords, who have proceeded to just stand there doing nothing, ignoring my character, even after I hit them with Provoke.
After a couple of minutes of doing nothing the door opens again and they run back inside. I'll continue ToTing in GV to see if this continues to happen.
Edit: Just got another - spawn of 1 Werewolf and 1 Vampire Lord. Werewolf attacked as normal. Vampire Lord did nothing until one of my pets punched him, then he ran a short distance away, stopped and turned to look at me but did not attack. If I shot at him he ran, if I didn't he stood still. After a couple of minutes he ran in a different door and despawned.
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For me, the banner icons on the MiniMap disappeared too quickly. I would fight at one banner, then go looking for the others and the colored dots would no longer be on the Minimap. I found the others through homing in on teammates and just flat remembering where they were the first time I looked.|
Originally Posted by TheOcho
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While ToTing, enemies in Grandeville spawned at larger than single-player team size and lv53. I love this <3! Love it <3! ToT spawns are now something of a threat rather than a boring and monotonous series of button presses. Last year I was able to hunt all of the Costume temps by going door to door, ignoring any Trick spawns, and trailing dozens of Halloween mobs behind me like the world's scariest navigation hazard =p. I was in zero danger from them because they were so weak.
The higher difficulty also gives incentive to team while candy-hunting, which was absent last year ^_^.
I was not able to confirm that it spawns at +level in any lower-level zone before I mapservered and was unable to reconnect.
I would really like at least a snippet of backstory connected to this new event. Aside from *what* I'm supposed to do in the new zone events, I have no idea *why* I'm supposed to do them. All of the enemies had their original Info biography. I checked info for the banners and it just said 'no one knows why these are here...' (paraphrasing).
The first year of the Halloween event was at least blamed on the Malleus Mundi and the arrival of Croatoa. These "disturbances" have occurred every year (save for '05) and gotten more intense each time. Has *no one* among the NPCs done any research into what's causing this? No premonitions or portents?
"Something" is trying to get in. What manner of creature/force/organization/whatsis is it and why is it trying to get-in/break-out? Why are all these monsters summoned-by/created-by the banners and why do they result in something called an "Aspect"?
I would suggest adding at least vague clues to the Banner Info text; a different one for each. Read all four and you get some hint to what might be going on and what it may/may not relate to in the larger CoX backstory (Malleus Mundi again? Rularuu? Croatoa? Banished Pantheon? Something new? Bueller?). Information like that would be better than "you don't know what it is, but you need to kill it in ten minutes".
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I never saw this, and am pretty disappointed to read this is what the aspect is.|
Originally Posted by Kohei
Calling Eochai the mystic aspect was confusing. When the Seek the Mystic Aspect message came up I was looking for something I hadn't seen before.
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I also wasn't very impressed with the mob reuse for the various critters at the banners. Don't misunderstand - I get that you guys don't have time to churn out a ton of new critters just for a once-a-year event, but the variety of mobs means you have started re-using a ton of stuff. They don't feel at all like special mobs to me - they're all to familiar. Could you slap possibly slap some non-intensive auras on them or something? Recolor them perhaps?
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| Even with Ghost Falcon calling out which zones to hit what to do once there was vague. Unless someone told you to hit the spawns around the banners it was unclear that they had to be defeated before the banner could be attacked. Perhaps a different message in the nav window along the lines of defeat banner protectors instead of banners vulnerable? |
I would rather the banners did something interesting besides flee.
I sort of wish the ToT spawns honored player reputation settings.
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
Able to log back into Mercy again.
Quote:
*grabs bacon and makes a casserole*
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Originally Posted by Obsidius
What was I, chopped liver?
 |
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Hero side seems to be working fine from what I've been a part of. I switched to red side a few minutes ago to be apart of the Cap raid. We took down the banners but no one found the GM.
Is it possible that the GM spawn location is near a drone by chance?
Just some possible things that might help with this event...
Is there a way that there could some type of highlight that would show where (in a general area type of thing) the Aspect GM spawned? Whether that be done through a 'comet-like' thing flying down from the sky, or a light just shining from the ground....something.
Also, can there be a timer that is shown so that the people will know when the GM will despawn?
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Depends on how you do it. Us europeans split up to make the banners vulnerable, and then all went from banner to banner, steamrolling through them. Everyone got all four badges in ones run. |
Originally Posted by SpaceNut
Ok, it seems you can get credit for banners without being close to them. However, due to the damage % rules, you essentially have to run the event 4 times, one for each banner. And that's only if you get on a team that's fighting a banner you don't have the badge for yet.
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Time for an actual feedback post.
The objectives of the event absolutely need to be made more clear. Maybe a pop-up that appears when players first log in, with Azuria or some other magic NPC giving a quick run-down of the emergency situation as it stands (some sort of in-story explanation would be nice). In any event, the following things need to be explained:
- Players need to be made aware that they should check their zone maps once the apocalypse event starts.
- Once at a banner, players need to know that they have to destroy the critters that spawn. A simple active task dialogue that reads "defeat banner guardians" or something like that will suffice. The big "Banners are vulnerable" indicator is fine as-is.
- Players need to be told that the Greater Mystic Aspect can take many forms. From posts in this thread and from in-game chat, a lot of people are either mistaking the real Eochais in zones for the Aspect, or defeated the Aspect while it looked like Eochai. Either way, this has people complaining that it's just the same old stuff and not worth doing. If they knew that The Greater Mystic Aspect can take on different forms, teams wouldn't always be hunting for Eochai or assume that "normal" Eochai is, in fact, the Aspect.
Positron: "There are no bugs [in City of Heroes], just varying degrees of features."
Suggestion:
Besides echoing the cries of "We need a marker for the GM," it would fit the theme of the event if the GM could spawn with the lightning animation from Lightning Rod. That would give people an idea of the general direction to move toward.
Are objectives clear when the Event is running?
-The 'seek the aspect' objective seemed to be a little confusing at first until we knew what we were looking for.
Are rewards being handed out correctly?
Rewards, Badges and Salvage seem to rewarding perfectly.
Are there any graphical effect bugs?
Sometimes when attacking the banner my character would turn around to do a single target attack and then turn back the other way to do a targeted AOE.
Do banner icons appear correctly on the MiniMap when the event is running?
Yes, these seem to be working fine.
Do waypoints correctly appear when the event is running?
Yes, these seem to be working.
Are enemy NPCs appearing at the appropriate level? (i.e. a Level 50 should be able to fight side-by-side with a Level 5 character).
ToT enemies seem to spawning at 52+ for a level 50 team without adjusted difficulty. Not sure if this intended but it is definitely a change from last year.
(Just my observations. I'd also like to applaud the fix to stop the trick or treating from the portals in PI.)
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Fun event. It appears to be working well, and is entertaining. The new UI-changing bits are interesting, and effective, as well as setting up possibilities for future "neat things."
Some issues: badges seem to be awarded a little inconsistently. The banner badges appear to award zone-wide if anyone on the team gets credit, however there have been cases where I've been attacking one seemingly from full-health to 0 and not gotten credit. Some of this might have been from Ghost Falcon ending the banner-portion prematurely, but it's hard to tell.
Badge art-- this is a simple request, and hopefully easily fixed: can the background on the banner badges reflect the color associated with the banner? The map icons and UI-popup are all nicely color-coded, but the badges (which use the same art as the UI-popup) don't have the same background colors. This makes it much harder to connect "which badge do I still need" with "which banner do I need."
Is the timer long enough for low-pop servers after the initial rush? 10-12 minutes or so seems way to short to react to the event message, form a team, take out enough mobs for the banners to become vulnerable, and take out all four. It went easily enough on test with all the players being told where to go, but I can see this getting frustrating on live, especially since it normally takes more than one "sweep" to get all the badges for the accolade.
Not too fond of the re-used mobs, I understand why, and most of them fit well, but CHANGE THE BIOS or something. Also, what the heck do Shivans and Hydra have to do with Halloween? (Yes, I eventually got the "Blob" idea, but that's a stretch.) And the Aspect being a random "normal" GM was disappointing, I hope it's a placeholder.
Rewards: nice ones, but the 1-hour autopowers don't have the same appeal to me as the long-lasting charged temps that I tuck away in my "utility belt" for a rainy day. I'd much rather have a toggle (perhaps weaker, or with a shorter duration) that I could save away and use when needed, rather than just frittering it away while I'm afk. And a medium insp for the 5th prize? Not even a large one, huh? Well, at least it's something once you've killed the aspect 4 times, even if it may not be worth clearing an inventory spot for.
All in all, fun event, good job. Oh, and thanks for the ToT changes, although the difficulty of spawned mobs seems a little inconsistent.
Just some of my 50s on Pinnacle... wave if you see:
Doctor Geist: Grav/FF Controller | Fighting Spirit: MA/Inv Scrapper (1250+ badges) | Bird of Paradise: Sonic/NRG Blaster | Pretense: Ill/Rad Controller
Gothic Horror: Dark/Stone Brute | Technophobe: Bot/Dk MM | Snow Leopard: Ice/Ice Dom
Gothic Horror: Dark/Stone Brute | Technophobe: Bot/Dk MM | Snow Leopard: Ice/Ice Dom
Taking the day off today for other reasons, but testing this event is a bonus
Feedback:
Are objectives clear when the Event is running?
The learning vurve is pretty low. Once I corralled the map with the compass icons and the banner status bar, things fell into place. Scouting for the GM is a little tricky though.
Are rewards being handed out correctly?
AFAIK, yes, although I haven't tested TOTing yet for the costume salvage.
Are there any problems with the event occurring in any City Zone? (Note: The event will only be present In Paragon City or the Rogue Isles City Zones, and not in any PvP Zones, Hazard Zones, Trial Zones or Co-Op Zones)
Besides Atlas Park, not as far as I know. However, wherever the event happens, the lag increases, even when not in lag-inducing combat.
Are there any graphical effect bugs?
Not AFAICT.
Do banner icons appear correctly on the MiniMap when the event is running?
Yes.
Do waypoints correctly appear when the event is running? (Note: Navigation waypoints of active Missions orient players to the Halloween Event objectives when a players character is near one, and should disappear when they leave the area.)
Yes, AFAICT, but didn't have any missions active during testing.
Are enemy NPCs appearing at the appropriate level? (i.e. a Level 50 should be able to fight side-by-side with a Level 5 character).
Looked good to me.
Are all badges awarded correctly?
Yes, AFAICT.
One point of subjective feedback re: the GMs: Hunting for the GMs can be frustrating. Also, since the GMs spawn in the same place in a zone (AFAICT), it only rewards those who have done the event before, since they could easily camp the GM spawn point. If there is only one GM spawn point per map, you might as well place a map marker for the GM in addition, to reduce frustration of players who haven't run the event before.
Edit: I also agree with others that the timer may need to be a bit longer to facilitate low-pop servers in earning badges and temp powers before a premature end of the event.
Objective Feedback:
Banners appeared and functioned normally.
All badges and temp powers rewarded properly on my test villain.
No graphical errors that I could see at the time.
Objectives were clear.
Great sound fx for when event starts
Subjective Feedback: having the map show where the Mystic Aspect spawns would be a great idea. ( this has so far been a popular request in the test chat channel and in broadcast)
Also The Mystic Aspect appears to be able to take the form of any GM, but to avoid confusion, I suggest that it not be able to take the form of Eochai or Jack, also someone in Mercy thought the normal Arachnos Flier was the Mystic Aspect.........perhaps giving the Aspect the same Green Glow that can be seen on the Ghost Ship and the Spirits it spawns will eliminate confusion?
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I agree with both points here. There needs to be some NPC or something that you can go to so that you can read on what needs to be done or something.|
Originally Posted by Human_Being
For me, the banner icons on the MiniMap disappeared too quickly. I would fight at one banner, then go looking for the others and the colored dots would no longer be on the Minimap. I found the others through homing in on teammates and just flat remembering where they were the first time I looked.
I would really like at least a snippet of backstory connected to this new event. Aside from *what* I'm supposed to do in the new zone events, I have no idea *why* I'm supposed to do them. All of the enemies had their original Info biography. I checked info for the banners and it just said 'no one knows why these are here...' (paraphrasing). The first year of the Halloween event was at least blamed on the Malleus Mundi and the arrival of Croatoa. These "disturbances" have occurred every year (save for '05) and gotten more intense each time. Has *no one* among the NPCs done any research into what's causing this? No premonitions or portents? "Something" is trying to get in. What manner of creature/force/organization/whatsis is it and why is it trying to get-in/break-out? Why are all these monsters summoned-by/created-by the banners and why do they result in something called an "Aspect"? I would suggest adding at least vague clues to the Banner Info text; a different one for each. Read all four and you get some hint to what might be going on and what it may/may not relate to in the larger CoX backstory (Malleus Mundi again? Rularuu? Croatoa? Banished Pantheon? Something new? Bueller?). Information like that would be better than "you don't know what it is, but you need to kill it in ten minutes". |
It's great that there may be a guide on the forums/website but....I really never understood why "lore" like this wouldn't be in the game itself. Some what of a side-story here, but when I played Asheron's Call 2, they had tons of lore/what not on the site but no where to be found in the actual game.
How would anyone know where to go for the banners if they didn't look at their map (with "special" as an option on)?
Oh and maybe the badge text/info could be a bit more helpful....when I was on my hero I had 4 out of 5 badges needed for the Accolade badge....but had no idea which badge I needed....until I looked on the forums and found out which one I needed.
Leader of The LEGION/Fallen LEGION on the Liberty server!
SSBB FC: 2062-8881-3944
MKW FC: 4167-4891-5991
Yes, an NPC that could give some backstory on the event would be superb. Don't just explain the RP side on a web page, include some in-game RP as well.
HMmm. As far as I saw most of it is alrgiht. the banners tend
to be laggy a little. However I did expirience a total CoX crash
4 times but I'm on dialup.
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Just finished the Sharkhead invasion/raid....the Aspect GM spawned and was found this time by the villains and we beat him/it down (I was late to the party though 
).
Leader of The LEGION/Fallen LEGION on the Liberty server!
SSBB FC: 2062-8881-3944
MKW FC: 4167-4891-5991
Quote:
No, not really. When the even started, I had no idea really what to do. I approached a banner and tried to attack it but couldn't, just the mobs that were approaching it. When I saw the blue line getting bigger, I thought that we were actually losing, that we were supposed to stop the mobs from getting to the banner and the blue was marking the progress of the mobs we had failed to defeat before they reached the banner. When the bar disappeared and the banner became targetable, however, I felt a little better. When the banners were defeated, though, the confusion started again as we tried to find the Aspect. I'd prefer it if there was an indicator of the Aspect on the map, or even just a general hint of "Aspect spotted near X" to help people in the zone out so that they can get credit for the GM, especially since there are temp powers involved.| * Are objectives clear when the Event is running? |
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| * Are rewards being handed out correctly? |
Regarding the Trick or Treating, though: there seems the be an increase in beneficial drops, and I like it. ScooterTwo and I did some ToTing in Grandville and out of about maybe 25-35 knocks, I got 6 costumes, a rock, and 5 pieces of Halloween salvage. I may have been just lucky though; Scooter didn't get as many costumes but did get more Halloween salvage than I did.
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| * Are there any problems with the event occurring in any City Zone? (Note: The event will only be present In Paragon City or the Rogue Isles City Zones, and not in any PvP Zones, Hazard Zones, Trial Zones or Co-Op Zones) |
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| * Are there any graphical effect bugs? |
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* Do banner icons appear correctly on the MiniMap when the event is running? * Do waypoints correctly appear when the event is running? (Note: Navigation waypoints of active Missions orient players to the Halloween Event objectives when a players character is near one, and should disappear when they leave the area.) * Are enemy NPCs appearing at the appropriate level? (i.e. a Level 50 should be able to fight side-by-side with a Level 5 character). |
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| * Are all badges awarded correctly? |
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Originally Posted by Obsidius
Yes, an NPC that could give some backstory on the event would be superb. Don't just explain the RP side on a web page, include some in-game RP as well.
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Oh and just a quick side-note, I'd like the NPC to not just be something for an 'event' like Halloween....have the NPC do info for all things like this (have info for Valentine's event, Halloween, Winter event, among other things...).
Leader of The LEGION/Fallen LEGION on the Liberty server!
SSBB FC: 2062-8881-3944
MKW FC: 4167-4891-5991
The text for Spectral Touch (Def: smash, lethal, melee; Res: Toxic) doesn't agree with it's detailed info (+3.25% Def To All; 6.5% Resistance to Negative Energy).
Just my two cents:
There definitely needs to be some backstory behind this.
The concept of fighting the defenders of a banner in order to defeat the banner is sound, IF you know what to do. A blurb in the nav bar, something like 'Defeat the banner's defenders!' when the banners aren't vulnerable, switching to 'Destroy the banner!' when it is.
The timer is most likely too short for low-pop servers and will make things difficult towards the end of the event when people are trying to get last-minute badges.
The banner graphics looked pretty swank, but I seriously hope the mobs are placeholders.
Badge art should probably indicate which banner corresponds to which badge.
@Demobot
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I dunno. Call me a whiner, but for such a unique event, I would have expected/liked to see some newly designed characters, not recycled ones.
The event wasn't really clear to me but I like the entire zone nature of it.
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Just now in Grandville, rubber banding reached unplayable levels for me and chat lag was about 1 minute. Netgraph Screenshot here.
Notably, the EBs are actually level 50, and drop level 50 stuff.
The Rikti invasions are the same way.
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA