Protean: A completely unfair fight. AND I LOVED IT.

The time-travelling villain in the Magic Man arc blueside is fun too.

I honestly never knew he could be so difficult. My SS/Elec brute crushed Protean.

I just tried defeating Protean with my level 26 Katana/SR scrapper - and I most definitely did NOT love this fight.

Now, my archery/TA corruptor defeated Protean easily enough once I learned to keep her airborne - but this scrapper, ugh. Here's how it went:

1. My scrapper missed a lot. I really, really hate when that happens. Especially when it happens over and over and over and over.

2. Even when she did hit, the damage was puny. Someone advised me to use small quick attacks and then hit with big attacks after Protean fired his special attack - well, this scrapper has no 'big' attacks. Still, during one of the 9 or 10 attempts (I lost count) at defeating this <bleep!>, she had him down to maybe 1/3 of his health before he went on a hitting spree, which was unfortunate as she was out of greens.

3. Three hits from Protean, ranged or melee, was about all she could take.

4. Most of the time I couldn't get her away from his special attack in time - he seemed to always fire it off just when I'd clicked an attack. Which lead to me clicking an attack... then waiting... "Is it safe to attack again? Okay, here goes - aw, crap."

5. I tried using a jet pack to stay airborne while attacking with the blackwand and the nemesis staff, but between the infernal missing and the low damage and him running willy nilly all over the place, it was useless.

Anyway, as I said, I tried this several times using various combinations of inspirations, all to no avail. There was just no way that scrapper was going to defeat that guy. Maybe if she had a ton of IO set bonuses - but at level 26, she's using mostly SOs. I finally gave up, contacted the contact, and completed the mission. So, whichever dev designed this mission, there ya go - you won.

Very, very frustrating. Not fun at all. I wonder how my level 26 wp/ss tanker would fare...

Edit: my level 26 wp/ss defeated him after 20-30 minutes of intense jousting - that is, queueing an attack and running past him. Managed to mostly avoid his special attack that way, but he still caught me a few times (KO blow = blessing/curse in this fight). This tanker missed a LOT also, but it didn't matter as much because he could take the return hits. Still, very frustrating when your 'big' attack misses three times in a row.

I fought Protean and lost about five times before I accidentally stumbled on a way to beat him. I was on a character who has no travel powers but a Raptor pack, and I stayed hovered above him while pounding away on him. While I was hovered he never unleashed that energy sap attack. I don't know if I got lucky or if that was WAI, but it worked.

I've managed to kill him with two different stalkers using a combo of assassin strike, and then placate. I then let them recharge and go in after him again. It takes a while, but it avoids the siphon power and wears him down eventually.

On my spines/electric scrapper, I just couldn't take him down at all. So much for drain resistance, I still got sucked dry. I ended up having to scream for aid, and I think it was a rad defender that helped me gank the guy.

I haven't tried it on any other alts.

It has to have balance, remembering that solo players, or small teams, need to be able to have a shot at defeating the enemy. People get upset when their small team of squishies can't complete a mish when they're set at -1/0. And they have a very good point! I think that's why the devs wisely gave people an option to fight AV's, or no AV's. If it is actually impossible for you to complete a mission with the team you have, and you're set ultra-low, it builds resentment that the game is being geared to hard-core players with lots of money for an uber build. That criticism might be totally unjust, but I can guarantee that a whole bunch of people will feel that the game is being biased against them and their playstyle. Why? Because I know a lot of people who already feel this way.

Even if some think they should quit fussing and suck it up, I think their feelings matter as much as those seeking more of a challenge. It's their 15 bucks, too, plus lots of them are nice folks just looking for some casual fun, with other nice people. So maybe there could be a "challenge" level on some of these missions, not unlike flashback missions? One where you can opt for the tough beasties some people enjoy soloing. Toss in a badge, or a badge for defeating X number of Challenge EB's. That will exclude no one.

Regular contact missions should have the ability to be completed by casual players. However, if you're looking for a really challenging EB, try Ghost Widow. Took me almost half an hour (at +3/X4, I think?) of blood, sweat and tears with a scrapper, thinking, just like you, that I'd beat it in a minute like all the other EB's I'd run across. It's one of the first missions in one of the Cimerora arcs, but don't remember which one, I'm afraid.

It was fun when I duoed with with a blaster on my Will/DB tank.
I was jerking Protean around by spamming taunt, well outside of his siphon radius while the blaster kept shooting at him.
If our character models had fingers, I know my tank would have been flipping protean the middle.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow City of Heroes is a game about freedom of expression and variety of experiences far more so than it is about representing any one theme, topic or genre.