Winter event up on test.

The new mission is so cool but the boss is hard. (((Bring help.)))
I was a lvl50 tank and got swatted. Not exactly a well built or slotted one but still.

Interesting.. must try with my scrapper!

Very interesting. The level on the EB is hidden, like a GM or invasion mob, but she appears to spawn at the player's level, unlike those mobs, based on the hit points she has. The mission has the same reward choice table as the Baby New Year mission, which is fantastic, since it gives us some variety. Plus this is an all new winterized instance map.

New badge for her is Cold as Ice. Nothing new in the Candy Keeper's list that I see. The badge for logging in is Festive, which was also last year's badge.

...
*Stabs EU Test server visciously and repeatedly*

Piece of junk...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

has this been disabled? who gives the mission? I don't see father time anywhere at all :/ on test or beta servers

EDIT Ok i just logged in again and father time is now showing on my map. Does he have the same issue that the costume turn in npc (halloween salvage) for praetorians has with not showing up at times due to the way he's flagged?

Quote:

Bug! Acantha seems to fade in and out of appearing on the map. (This bug may because she is on the static NPC timer instead of registering as a contact.) If players cannot find her at her location, they should move outside of drawing distance and then return (repeat a few times if necessary).

That may be doom mongering. They may have made it like that so people don't run the mission on a level 15 and bring in a level 50 to pwn the EB's face for the badge.

I'm not saying I like that precedent either, but I think you're jumping to conclusions about it being because of incarnate level shifts. We can't even create them yet.

Ok just ran it on my mostly soft capped IOed out bs/sd and I had to use one small green due to a string of lucky hits from ice blast and she only hit me once with ice sword for...

Lady Winter slashes you with their Ice Sword for 314.32 points of lethal damage!
Lady Winter freezes you with their Ice Sword for 551.79 points of cold damage and slows you!

so 866.11 total damage as the worst hit. My bs/sd scrapper only has about 1670 hp or so as I don't have the +hp accolades yet and my bonuses are mainly aimed at +def/+rech

In the hopes of providing something the devs will read, here's my concerns and points without the ranting:


-She's highly deadly in melee range and a joke at range.

-I don't think she shouldn't be highly deadly at all. It's a throwaway mission from the Winter Event, why shouldn't it be easily solo-able by all?

-While this new mission is little shorter than a Snaptooth run because the number of enemies you have to go through is smaller, I don't think the rewards are proportionate to the increased effort needed.

-Also the fact of the matter is, for an Incarnate, I don't consider the mission being potentially shorter a plus. Speed runs are hopefully going to be a thing of the past because people will want more opportunities for a Shard to drop.

-I'm also highly concerned that this isn't getting/going to be tested or datamined enough because everyone will be distracted by Incarnates and i19.



.

I just ran the "Lady of Winter" mission on the Test Server (it can be had from Father Time, in case anyone else is a little lost there). Having been suitably forewarned by the thread, I came in forearmed with a plan: the tried-and-true "wall of purple Inspirations" gambit. I wound up using two big Lucks and Eye of the Magus. That, coupled with my self-protection set's mitigation (a /Dark Armor Scrapper, for the record) was more than enough.

The gimmick to the fight is [Crystallized], as I recall: it's an autohit aura lowers Resistance to darn near everything by 10%. The icon stacked some 8 times in my buff/debuff tray, but I didn't have Combat Attributes on, so I don't know if I was stuck with one non-stacking -10% malus or a half-dozen or so of them.

Regardless, Resistance-based sets will find their inability to withstand her blows startling; a melee character with no native Reistance will likely be obliterated with only two or three hits. For instance, the odd hit she did poke through my defense buffs did do a high amount of damage. This is not an enemy I'd want to solo with a melee character that didn't have a lot of purple Inspirations in their tray and some form of self-heal.

I'll leave commentary on ranged combat for others to make. I did not make use of the NPC allies, so I can not say how well or poorly they would perform.

I'll say this: it's a single mission with only one exclusive reward, and that's a single badge ("Cold as Ice"). Everything else it gives can be had other ways, including street-sweeping. Badgers, even those who aren't well-equipped to take Lady Winter, will probably form a team on day 1 of the event, check the box off their checklist, and only go back to the mission for nostalgia's or comraderie's sake. I don't think the developers put much time into designing it, and I'm not entirely sure they should.

One more random bit of feedback: a map would be nice. This isn't a Trial, after all. And "malus" would make a good name for a character...

I soloed her on my Claws/Invuln Scrapper who is not anywhere near softcapped with Unstoppable and some inspirations. It was quite close, though... and only afterwards did I find the Tuatha that you can send to patrol. That would have been handy...

Still, I'm pleased to see some variety. Had fun ice skating circles around Agincourt.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vulpish_one And "malus" would make a good name for a character...

I've got an evil lawyer who uses black magic on Freedom named Juris Malus.

I just ran it on my level 25 copy of my Claws/WP Scrapper and managed to take her down without dying. I used some insps and hit and ran. Staying in melee with her is a bad idea. I can't muster up a lot of outrage over this since AT neutering effects like purple triangles have been in this game since Issue 1.

I wanted to try it out on an even lower level character, but it wasn't available to my level 14, much to my surprise. If the copy tool is working, I'll try on something between 15 and 20, and maybe something between 20 and 24. My initial assumption is that it's a level 20+ option only.

Edit: I tried it on a level 17, and it wasn't available, then on a 22 it was. That pretty much confirms level 20+ for the new mission. Looks like my lowbies can sit this event out, since I had all of the old stuff, save for Lord Winter's realm, on them all.

A little advice for Scrappers and Tankers, if you are Invulnerablity and you have Unstoppable, USE IT! My level 50 SO'ed Scrapper had practically no issues (Only 1 death) with her. Snaptooth is still the Evil Grinch of the Holiday Events, for the record.

Ooh, I was about to hop on the beta for soem testing - but I think, I'll go check out Test instead