So sad...

I ran it solo a few times with my KinMelee/WP Stalker (Pre-47 she was SO-only. Currently, at 50, she's equipped with what I'd call a mid-line collection of IO sets.) and while it certainly was doable, it wasn't exactly what I'd call a "fun" mission. At Shade's typical +2/x1, it was a bear and a half. Even with Frosty running interference, it was hard to kill the mobs fast enough to get ahead of them.

Inspirations and temp powers do improve the situation a lot, but heaven help you when you run out of the type you need (Blues in my case, since the game just loves sending multiple-sapper spawns at me any time Malta comes up... ), and as many ambush waves as that mission had, running low was a real possibility.

So, while I can see the appeal of the "OMGAMBUSH!"-version from a sheer challenge point of view, I can't really mourn its passing. If I want my toon to be up to her eyes in sappers again, I'll just kick up my difficulty.

Holy "not as I do," Batman!

The cool part about horizons is that they go alllll the way around. A good broadening can be quite insightful.

How does using inspirations count against the argument? They are meant to be used, that's why they drop so often. If I'm set to x3 or higher I pretty much always have at least one inspiration going, usually a purple or a red. Often both.

Wow, really? Then you need to get on better teams. Here's a tip, in case you're one of the many many people that don't seem to realize this: level 40+ missions are meant for level 40+ players. Just because your 50 can sidekick up to seven lowbies, doesn't mean you should.

Yeah, I would, except I was already running on x7. Maybe I'll turn it up to x8. I dunno, are the waves still on a set timer, or do you have to defeat the last wave before the next one's timer begins? If it's the latter, it's still going to be boring.

It really doesn't. Sappers are limited to one per spawn, and have been for a very long time.

And when four waves spawn at once, it doesn't matter. It's still multiple sappers.

They don't. Or rather, they didn't.

What's the bind for targeting a specific enemy? I'm using "targetcustomnext sapper," but that also targets dead ones. Is there one that only targets live ones?

/target_name sapper

Actually, they did. That's why it was bugged.

I did that mission multiple times and repeatedly the ambushes would all spawn DIRECTLY ON TOP OF MY LOCATION (not down the hall or around a corner) in multiple waves, one after the other.

I use "target_enemy_next$$target_custom_next enemy alive quantum" on my tab key when I'm playing my Warshade that would probably work for Sappers too.

The weird thing is that all Tips missions can be dismissed without impacting the 5-per-day limit - so if you get one you don't like, you can just dismiss it and wait for the next drop.

Link to your sources please? I've not heard anything about this.

Try adding 'live' before sapper. I'd have to be on my game machine to be certain since I use it on voids, quants and cysts.

Wimp.

Seemed to be the case when I ran it too with my Ill/TA. I suppose if I laid out Oil Slick and Spectral Terror, popped some insps before talking to the Longbow I *might* have been ok for a bit; Phantasm probably not so much. If Phantasm is down and PA runs out, there's gonna be problems.

edit: I think the first time I ran this I was either at x3 or x4. At some point I figured it wasn't worth running tips that high so I downed it to x2, primarily because some tip missions were trickier than standard content. Even so, I tired of the ambushes and eventually just auto-dismissed this tip.

You can solo just about anything with a tray fulla purples. But should missions be designed under the assumption that the player will have them? Does the technique permit the assumption that the player can just use Inspirations if the mission was poorly designed?

To say "I soloed this mission with Inspirations so it therefore didn't need to be changed" is problematic, since Inspirations can render virtually all combat totally in the favor of the player.

On the other hand, to say "I could not solo this mission without Inspirations" testifies to the mission's difficulty, which in turn indicates if a mission that was meant to be soloable may need to be changed.


Who said anything about lackeying seven lowbies? I only ever run tips on my 50s, and when waves of Malta with 2 bosses each come at you every 15-20 seconds, even on a team of 8, things can get pretty ugly pretty fast.

The fact that the enemies were ambushes was a key factor in the mission's difficulty, since ambushes automatically aggro onto team members at random. You can't have the Tanker charge in and grab all the aggro like you can with normal spawns because aggro has already been established before the enemy is even encountered.

If you're a squishy, you get shot with an ice bullet, spammed with stun grenades and choked by gas missiles before the Tanker can even say "Master of Olympus," which in turn means the group's debuff and healing support is easily incapacitated and everyone gets sapped into limp rags and turned into swiss cheese.

Every 15-20 seconds.

It's not a problem that players face solo, since all enemies in the ambush consistently aggro onto them, and the spawns are much smaller (unless the difficulty settings are cranked up). There's a recurring theme in this thread that "I did this mission solo and it was easy," which is only telling one part of the story.

This Zloth (I couldn't find the link to the page with his demo-whatever stuff). And he said so on our supergroup forums. He will be missed for many reasons, not the least of which are his gigabytes of screenshots.

--NT

On the other hand, you can still turn up the difficulty to +4/x8. Personally, I find Malta boring at any difficulty.

Good luck
Jer

This was not a matter of the devs reducing the difficulty due to players complaining about the difficulty.

It was bugged. The bug got fixed.

Bugged. The mission was bugged. The ambushes were not behaving properly for everyone. Bugged.

I don't know why that's so difficult for people to understand.

/this.

Had problems with it the first time... because I was still set pretty high, and ended up getting my solo butt swarmed by Malta. Those settings with ambushes coming right on each others heels? Just bad news. Drop the setting a little and it's cake.

I can see it being an issue with teams, though, perhaps, as mentioned earlier, so I'm not complaining.

See my Guides and Tutorials

You have an unusual definition of snarky. I was just surprised. <shrug>

Anyway, if the mission was bugged, that's quite different than it simply being too difficult.

Then why were you standing in a spot where they spawn? I used to charge into the first spawn, then when the second or third wave showed up and made a mess I'd head for the cross-shaped thing in the middle of the big room. That way I wouldn't have Sappers and Titans and Gunslingers tearing me a new one from snipe range, they'd have to come closer where I could punch them in the face. Since all but the first wave come from the doorway, anything past that is not a good place to stand.

Terrain, like inspirations, is there to be used.

But to say "I soloed this mission using the inspirations that dropped during the mission" is WAI, as far as I'm concerned.
By your logic, "I could not solo this mission with my FF/Elec Defender with only two attacks" also means the mission needs to be changed. In both cases, you're playing with one hand tied behind your back.

They can if people understand the concept of "line of sight." The majority of players seem not to, and will stand out in the open when they KNOW an ambush is coming and know which direction it's coming from instead of HIDING so the tank can scoop the ambush BEFORE it kills all the squishies.

I did this mission solo and it wasn't easy, which is why I liked it.

Golden Girl made a post that is relevant to the discussion and isn't punctuated by inane emoticons....is this the first sign of the Forum Apocalypse?