Assault on Terok Nor Normal - First Impressions

cmdrscarlet

Short version: fun as hell. This is a top-level statement based on what I remember and is just after a single run today. I think the PuG simply had fingers on the trigger ... until the end.

Beaming onto the station, the main goal is to stop Mirror Leeta. She sends waves of her minions to stop you. So, what to do?

Some specialists join the team and you are to protect them ... from waves and waves of Mirrorites . We failed this optional. No sweat.

Run up and along the main corridor while shooting more Mirrorites . Somewhere along the way some consoles have to be clicked in a certain order. Scarlet clicked one while shooting. Oh, yeah Mirrorites are shooting from the upper deck and dropping grenades on the team. All consoles clicked? Good. Stop Mirror Leeta!

Running down into a large room, there are three circular platforms on the floor and nearby consoles to match. Mirror Leeta is infused with orbic fire power and is immune to damage. We figured out that when she's on a platform, activate a console. This slows her down and weakens her, thus making her able to take damage. Meanwhile Mirrorites are teleporting in to help her. There is a VO that declares stunning her will weaken Leeta as well. I was not prepared for that.

Defeat her for the win.

It was a rush and I respawned up to seven times because I was trying to keep up with the rules of the mission while smashing the fire button. It was challenging to keep up with the team as well so I'm stewing on weapon/kit recommendations.

Does anyone have anything to share?

theraven2378

It's not bad, just had a go at it

Ground gear was 2 piece Iconian ground with the TR 116 and Zefram Cochrane shotgun
made dealing with the mobs a lot easier and leeta at the end, she's a tough boss first time round

good thing I maxed out the commando spec tree

oceansong

the rubbish with the console activation sequence wasn't good, plus on a first run how are you supposed to know what you're doing? overall, too long.

cmdrscarlet

Well, I think with experience and figuring out the better kit+modules+gun sets will decrease play time.

theraven2378

practice makes perfect, though the overall feel of the pve is very nice.

It was a challenging fight getting through but with a good team it's doable, the fight for the promenade is hectic with combat on the same floor and the grenadiers dropping down grenades from the floor above, it feels like a starbase ground assault and in that respect it works.

In regard to the grenadiers, the barrage of grenades can a bit too much at times so if you have access to a temporal paradox device, slot it because it will be a great help to the team and you don't put yourself at too much risk trying to pick someone up if they go down

lordsteve1

I found the console part just utter nonsense. It's hard enough trying to survive being bombarded with grenades and swarmed with mobs but to have to get the order of those with no indication of how is asking a lot of pugs. Plus I know for a fact I did the correct order at least twice and it reset the sequence regardless.

The final fight again doesn't really explain much and I still have no idea how we killed Leeta. Activate consoles, floor glows....then??? Do we have to stand on the pads? Or shot her whilst it's activated? I literally have no idea what we did.

Finally the rewards were utter TRIBBLE, but we know that is getting looked at so hopefully it will become more appealing once it's all working and we learn it more.

cmdrscarlet

I've only been able to run it twice now and the last room is still a mystery.

Although the first room has two areas that need attention, so I think one tactic would be to have the team split up and have the fifth run between the two groups. This may help with that optional.

seriousdave

Well, the console part

lordsteve1 wrote: »

I found the console part just utter nonsense.

Indeed it is.
I noticed 1 hint popping up for the 3rd console but for the most part it's just trial & error to figure it out. Very frustrating and even aggravating to do the first time.

As for the part were you have to keep the NPC's health up while they futz around on those consoles: HOW?
Srsly, even by laying mines all over the and wrecking everything with AoE attacks there's just too many of them. I even placed a health generator right next that guy and even used Vascular Regenerator all the time (god bless those research lab kit-frames ) but his hp still dropped like crazy. That optional is ridiculous.

Also how does that last optional at Leeta work?
You have to lure her on those active plattforms to make her vulnerable be be able to kill her. But the optional to "downpower" her got stuck at 2/3.

peterconnorfirst

seriousdave wrote: »

Also how does that last optional at Leeta work?
You have to lure her on those active plattforms to make her vulnerable be be able to kill her. But the optional to "downpower" her got stuck at 2/3.

Don’t the optional just mean that one has to lure here on all 3 different platforms and manage to trigger her vulnerability?

All in all the map is cool and has some fresh elements in it. Main problem for me is that the average reward there feels extremely low. I don’t see myself playing it after I got the marks needed for the reputation.

That’s sad but simply what it is if one tries to progress 9 toons at endgame. Time is not on your side at all on this map. Sorry.

cmdrscarlet

Admittedly, for nowI think I'll play this event once daily for my Marks (Daily bonus + Rep Mark pool = lots in one shot) and buy the components for gear. It'll take longer to get what I want from the rep store, but I won't be grinding for Marks daily, I'll avoid Counterpoint, and get to do more with my time.

postinggum

Ran it twice and thats enough for me: first console puzzle is absurd, beyond stupid design; the Leeta on pad thing suffers from getting hit everytime I try to activate the console, mostly random volcano spurts, once again activating a required clicky is stopped by almost unavoidable damage.

cmdrscarlet

For the upper-level consoles I think the best strategy - even for PUGs - is to have one person on the team activate them. If you PuG, then either volunteer for the job or ask for a volunteer before beaming down. Otherwise, five people are going to try the click around and that will cause optionals to fail. This is sure to get the ire in Advanced+ versions.

As for the lower level with Leeta, again the team would need to coordinate to root her on a pad while someone activates the console. The problem there is that the activation time is relatively long. Leeta typically moves off the pad by the time the pad lights up, usually because the player who agro's her runs away to avoid her one-shot gut punch.

In a perfect world: 2 to root, 2 to shoot non-Leeta mooks, 1 at the console. Rinse-repeat x2 ftw.

angrytarg

Saving the computer-hacker-NPCs works with one or two engineers. Put a cover shield in front of them and a health generator behind the shield and they don't take damage at all (advanced difficulty). The leeta-console thing is rather easy the console activates an "overload" on the platform. You have to lure leeta there and hit her with the overload to stun and make her vulnerable. The console puzzle in the grenadier sequence seems unlucky, though. Of course you can guess the right order while being fired upon, intel module aggro removal helps a lot with that. But it doesn't really "flow" that well.

All in all, though, nice ground mission. Too much continious firing and way too many mooks for my taste but that't STO.​​

cmdrscarlet

Agreed. I'm going to see if the upper-level consoles are random or fixed. If they are fixed then it's a matter of finding the sequence. Otherwise, damn.

cmdrscarlet

So ... the console sequence is random per queue. The game graciously tells you what the second or third consoles are needed by color. Well, either it's my graphics card or setting, but I'm having a hard time seeing the consoles by color.

Knowing there are three on each side - knowing the color pattern in the hall will help. Can anyone assist?

I know the two consoles closest to the shield wall are: green to the right and red to the left (looking at the shield.

seriousdave

cmdrscarlet wrote: »

So ... the console sequence is random per queue.

And they've lost me....
Srsly, putting in a trial and error guessing game as timed optional that is also required to solve to progress at all is bs.

As for the colors, I think they refer to the dislays on the console not the whole brick itself, which are somewhat hard to see when everything around you constantly explodes.

shadowfirefly00

angrytarg wrote: »

Saving the computer-hacker-NPCs works with one or two engineers. Put a cover shield in front of them and a health generator behind the shield and they don't take damage at all (advanced difficulty).

Someone suggested using the photonic barrier generator (from the IR rep) - damage to those temporary HP doesn't cause the techs to flinch (Attack Pattern Expertise is used to similar effect in space scenarios).

The console puzzle in the grenadier sequence seems unlucky, though. Of course you can guess the right order while being fired upon, intel module aggro removal helps a lot with that.

A 2-2-1 setup should work here as well: one person dealing with the consoles, one pair dealing with the tangos at ground level, and the others dedicated to plinking the grenadiers.