Up, Up and Awa...OW! what's burning me!?

So I Did Apex last night for the first time..(you see where this post is going)..We get to the end and I do not think any of us had any experience with the task force so were fighting Battle maiden the blue flames appear I'm hovering and few others are hovering.... I'm scooting around avoiding the flames suddenly I take a crap load of damage and face plant OW! I come back swords attack me I fly up take a crap load of damage face plant. Third time I'm standing over as far away as I can get trying to summon my minions..no flames in sight suddenly.. you guessed it, crap load of damage face plant!

So I am laying there in the rubble making this face And suddenly I remember Keyes Reactor and the words " NO FLYING!" I Realized what was going on all us flyers were making the flame patches appear in the sky!

Now I love my flight but gosh.. If so much end game stuff has these bizzaro patches of floating death that force me to cut my hover (and loose 2-5% Defense) Is it just better to take CJ? What about hover blasters? do you guys just train yourself to not pull up when you in danger? Because my first instinct is to fly up when I'm being pounded on! Oh and not just end game but I realized that the bubbles of doom in DFB might act in the same way. Some times you just get creamed but no bubbles ever appeared!

EDIT: I Also wanted to ask.. has anyone else heard of hover changes in I24 like a speed increase or did I dream that?

If you are in an incarnate trial you will likely be perma buffed over the softcap during the important parts anyway. Even if you don't have any +def buffers in your incarnate trial Barrier is a very popular incarnate power so it's usually getting put up constantly.

One solution for a ranged character is to stay high enough that the patches will be well above the rest of the team. I find that staying ~40' + in the air keeps the patches from becoming a problem, it keeps some of the patches away from the melee teammates and as an added bonus it keeps your squishie butt away from those friggin' swords.

Just keep watch for the blue under your feet and move before the patch appears. If the rest of your fliers are doing the same and paying attention the patches become mostly a non-issue. Keep your camera zoomed out as well so you'll see if any patches have formed around you as well.

Also, I stay in Fly instead of using Hover; it lets you move out of the way faster.

Still, Apex isn't my favorite TF by a long shot.

If you like using hover then stick with it by all means. Sure there are some 'no fly' fights when you should turn it off, but don't change your preferred play style in the rest of the game because of a few specific fights.

I wouldn't count on it getting a speed buff any time soon though. It's already considerably faster than it used to be. At launch hovering had basically the same speed as swimming through molasses.

I'm curious because the OP didn't mention it, but what AT were you playing as? Because when I do that tf, that couple % of defense from hover isn't what will make the difference--it's getting butchered by the mobs of swords and warriors because you were within arm distance. Fortunately the swords can't touch you in the sky, and the warriors are limited in that regard. The sky is a safe haven, as long as you're careful about not accidently getting your friends killed.

IIRC, the "patches" have an infinite Z axis. You can be at the top of the map, and the patch will hit you.

A reason NOT to fly is because, again, infinite z-axis: If you're in the sky and the patch targets you, the graphic appears in the sky... but the folks on the GROUND will have NO CLUE there's a patch above them, and they get kildified. SO "no fly" isn't meant to say "flying is useless", it's "flying can get teammates killed!"

I actually have a bigger beef with the TF. In the second mission, you start off in a helicopter, but you enter the "mission door" through a portal. This makes no seeeense >_<

The patches are spheres centered around where the character's feet/legs are.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dispari I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

Am I thinking of a different kill-patch, then? Or have they always been spherical as opposed to cylindrical? All I know is that the first few times I played this mission I accidentally griefed the team flying a good 30 feet over them >_>

They have always been spheres. I don't think the game has any effect that is a cylinder.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dispari I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

hover is fine as long as you remain close enough to the ground for poeple to still see the patches

but i agree the death patches can get kind of annoying

It's a 25 foot radius sphere. (So, a 50 foot diameter.)

Hover at your range, about 80'. Do not hover near the ground. High or the ground... not in between. That will give people below you plenty of room to jump and not hit the sphere of damage. Also, if they do fly into it and get hit with the -fly, the good news is they drop out of the damage of the sphere.

Hover is not being buffed in I24. However, all movement bonuses in IO Sets are becoming Universal Movement buffs and are being made 50% stronger.

Also, Steam Jump and the Jump Pack from Good v. Evil will turn Hover into capped flyspeed for most of the time.

Choosing to NOT take fly because of Apex and Keyes would be like choosing fly because of the STF and Hamidon (and the Shadow Shard)

I would suggest you turn off hover. Have no travel powers on except sprint, at least until you get used to recognizing the light blue patch on the ground before the patch actually slams down from above. There is an auditory cue that warns you - and if you play with your sound off, you might be well-served to turn it on, at least for this part of the task force.

The reason I suggest no travel powers is the same reason we ask folks to only use sprint in Keyes - travel suppression. Reaction times vary - and some players, typically support toons, are so focused on lending support that they don't see/hear the warnings of the blue patch about to land on their head.
In short, attack and move. You have to stop to get the attack off -but other than that, just keep moving. That way, even if you are in a blue patch, you are only in it for 3 or 4 ticks - enough to hurt, but not enough to kill you.
Ignore the swords. The more you stop to damage them, the longer Battle Maiden is going to last. If Battle Maiden has left the map, focus on her Champions.

Stick and move. Stick and move. Most players will take damage from the patches here and there. A sword may get a nice shot in on you - but if you're almost always moving, you should be just fine.

'struth. I often run the iTF double header (hey, 80 Merits in 50 minutes for incarnated toons!). And as we're about to get to Battle Maiden, I tell my team:

To avoid the Blue Patches of Death, CLICK MOVE CLICK MOVE CLICK MOVE. Don't queue up the next power.

And the team usually does very well.