The good thing about Praetoria's ambushes

You know, as much as I've complained about the awful game mechanics that Praetorian mission have in abundance, I never actually stopped to think about all the awful game mechanics it doesn't have any of. Just now, running a young villain through CoV's low-level content - namely Radio

RADIO

RADIOOOOO Free Opportunity! As I was doing that, I was beset by a pretty interesting realisation that will make all subsequent Praetorians I make fill me with much more glee.

As I was happily moving along, beating people for their lunch money, I was given a mission to stop a Council spy in Arachnos - "The Council Spymaster" mission - when I got to the boss of the second, timed mission. Merrily I went about beating his face in, when suddenly he announces "I have to get out of here!" In a single instance, the cogs in my brain turned with a sickening squeal and a flood of memories was released upon my mind.

"Oooh, right!" I thought "A running boss, yes, I remember now that the game once had those. Wait, the game still has those. Why have I not fought any for so long that I managed to forget they existed? Ah, of course! Because I've been playing Praetorian missions, and Praetoria doesn't have any of those.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Praetorian Earth content does not have any running bosses, not a single one that I can recall, and I've done all the missions there. I'll be honest here - there is not a single mission type more frustratingly annoying to me than running bosses, with the possible exception of simu-click missions... But wait a minute, Praetoria doesn't have any of those, either! What else doesn't it have? Hmm... I don't recall any breakable objective guarding missions, either, and if there are any, they aren't many.

It occurs to me that, yes, Praetoria does have a lot of ambushes and not much else, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. Sure, it means I miss out on the more relaxing, conventional defeat all/boss missions, but if that means missing out on those GOD DAMN running bosses, I cannot help but think this has to be a GOOD thing.

For a while now, playing a low-level Praetorian has annoyed me because of the constant ambushes, but I think I'll be able to handle it now. Every time I get beset by another ambush spawn, I'll just say to myself "Hey, at least it's not a running boss!" and, believe it or not, that will make me feel substantially better about just having been curb-stomped by five ambushes at the same time.

God damn I hate running bosses! And man am I glad I hadn't met one long enough for me to forget I ever had!

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Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

LOL! I know you're ignoring me, but great post Sam. Running bosses do suck. I had forgotten about those as well. Isn't there a CoV mission where Crimson (an Elite Boss/AV) runs away from you? I seem to remember, logging off immediately after that mission in disgust.

Eh, the ambushes don't bother me any more. Like I said, I'll take ambushes over running bosses any day. Knowing it could be worse goes some way towards making it feel not as bad

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

That's the real reason those bosses suddenly start running away: They're moonlighting as Praetorian ambushes and they realize they're late for their second job.

*sigh* So add another name to the list of people who do not want variety in missions and mission objectives.

Running Crimson is a pain since he gives Synapse a run for his money in a race.

Running bosses is annoying, but the occassional one I don't mind. Maybe if they didn't quite run so fast? Or, what CoX needs is movable terrain in missions: set up passage blockage with things in the mission and not having to require some powers to do it (i.e., Caltrops, Snowstorm). *Bing* Idea, new temp power: Caltrops. But I guess then you could have griefers, but at least a teammate or a leader has a choice: leave or kick.

Here's an idea: a runnng boss that fights and runs and fights. When reinforcements arrive (read: ambush) he stops to lead their attack against you for a short moment, probably until total health of him and reinforcements reaches some low point, and then he runs again until the next ambush.

I want more variety in the way missions behave. Things have improved over the years, but, of course, I want more.

CURSE YOU, CRIMSON!

Thanks for bringing this up, Sam, as it reminds me of another mission from back in the day which I absolutely hated - Stop The Ritual from Skipper LeGrange. Trying to prevent those darned Fir Bolg from sprinting through that mystic gate. If there was a mission that I would swear to never do again, that one would be it.

And now...there's an Incarnate Trial where you have to stop inmates from escaping.

Granted, I've not tried out the BAF. But the thought that it might be anything like the Fir Bolg mission gives me the shivers.

There's a running Circle of Thorns boss in one of the 40 to 50 Grandville arcs (I think it's GW's patron arc) and when I ran that mission on Nightshade (thugs/poison MM) I got hopelessly turned around in the final room of the cave map (the 5 level one) and couldn't locate the exit corridor, let alone give chase. Luckily I did manage to target him long enough to set the pets to attack and somehow they managed to catch him and kill him before he got away, while I stood sulking at the other end of the map, watching the Target window in disbelief.

I was pretty impressed, since he was conning purple to me. I think that was when Noxious Gas confirmed its rep as one of the great Boss Killer powers.

As far as Praetorian ambushes are concerned... some of them are a little bit outrageous, but for a /traps MM they're an absolute hoot, since you can just stand there in amongst your healing beacon and caltrops and watch them charge merrily to their deaths.

Some of those running bosses seems to have superspeed slotted for "OMFG, WTH, I can't move that fast with MY travel power " in all 6 slots.

In Praetoria, YOU are the running boss.

The only time running bosses bother me is in office buildings. Anywhere else I have time to catch up with them. Office buildings though it doesn't matter if they are on the 5th floor. All they have to do is reach the elevator and you lose.

And of course their spawning point is always just a few feet away from the elevator alcove.

I wonder what horrific running antics Diabolique will get up to if she makes an appearance on an Incarnate Trial? Running's like her signature power, so when the Well of the Furies powers her up, it could get pretty crazy

I found a trick about ambushes playing my Elec Storm Corr.

If you use steamy mist and stand your toon at a door...or a little out of the door, but near the door, the ambush will stop in it's tracks. This worked on Archons, and nearly any ambush I have seen so far. I stand there, and like a wall the ambush just collects there. you just cant attack. So the team kills their original targets and you wall untill they come back to take the ambush. If they do get through, click on you magic whirlwindy knockback power and wall em again.