Hi-Pan: Fury of the Dragon

guyhumual

I really like this mission. Perhaps one of the best special missions to date. It's hard but not insurmountable and there's no lock out. The only few quibbles I have are the cut scenes (I like when they're interactive to some level) and delay between when the bell stops sounding and the time it takes for you to ring it again. These are minor quibbles though and over all I really enjoyed this mission.

queenchangeling

My problem is that the issue with tanks and threat (or lack thereof) in alerts is exacerbated by the damage increasing mechanic in the fight. Once I got to 20 stacks of positive chi on my lvl 28ish elec character, I pulled threat off of builder and ball lightning alone. (And that's all I had been doing up to that point). And unlike some of the other alert bosses, Hi-Pan kind of hurts and I can't hover over him and laugh as he spams some pitiful ranged attack.

So unless I'm paired with people that are doing even MORE damage, a Hi-Pan run tends to involve at least 2 fatalities for my elec character.

sistersilicon

Am I the only one who gets one-shotted by Universe In Balance? Every. Bloody. Alert?

queenchangeling

sistersilicon wrote: »

Am I the only one who gets one-shotted by Universe In Balance? Every. Bloody. Alert?

That happened to me until I figured out that the glowing black dot on the yin yang symbol = DO NOT STAND IN IT OR YOU WILL REGRET IT.

It deals damage and stacks a permanent debuff that increases the damage you take from it. If you get it to around 7 stacks on any remotely squishy build your next encounter with it is likely to be instant death or close to it.

On the other hand, the glowing white buffs your damage, and rather tremendously.

jonsills

There's also a glowing yellow circle that marks where some major hurtage is about to go down (I think it's supposed to be the dragon's breath attack); when the yin/yang overlays the yellow circle, you can't see the part that's under the white portion, so you can die that way too.

I've found that this can be eased by moving around a lot...

queenchangeling

Now that I've figured out how to really milk the yin yang mechanic for all it's worth, I'm getting up to 40 stacks of positive chi in only 2 cycles of him casting the symbol. At that point he melts faster than Black Fang.

He's... honestly kind of trivial if the group knows to stay away from the bad and ring the bell to stop the dragon fireball spam.

bwdares

I hate that I have been snubbed by getting nothing as an award over a dozen times now. As much as I like the Dragon and the instance, it is now a fail to me.

monaahiru

bwdares wrote: »

I hate that I have been snubbed by getting nothing as an award over a dozen times now. As much as I like the Dragon and the instance, it is now a fail to me.

It's bugged. You are getting costume unlock, check out at tailor and search [dragon].




BTW, this is the most well good balanced Alert for me, If you know the right way to do, you can finish this 100%.

jonsills

monaahiru wrote: »

It's bugged. You are getting costume unlock, check out at tailor and search [dragon].

Also search with some misspellings - apparently, the Dragon Chest comes spelled as either "Dargon" or "Draogn"; I've seen both spellings used in posts, so probably one of those is a misspelling of a misspelling. (Errorception!)

guyhumual

That's an annoying bug, I wish they'd just give you an item instead of the automatic invisible costume unlock. Hopefully this will be fixed someday.

superalfgorn

Hi Champs, is there a mission tied to this alert?

I did not see it, but maybe you have to go to the Chinese master who took in the artifacts and keeps the portal open?

guyhumual

One thing that does irk me about this mission is the vast difference between heal and damage from the yin yang thing. I get hit for thousands of damage but only heal a hundred or so. Also if I'm not blocking and that yin yang thing appears beneath me it sometimes takes my toon out before I can block.

agentnx5

queenchangeling wrote: »

Now that I've figured out how to really milk the yin yang mechanic for all it's worth, I'm getting up to 40 stacks of positive chi in only 2 cycles of him casting the symbol. At that point he melts faster than Black Fang.

He's... honestly kind of trivial if the group knows to stay away from the bad and ring the bell to stop the dragon fireball spam.

I agree. This is hands down, in my opinion, the best designed alert to date. It's a more puzzle-like challenge that makes you have to think tactically, it encourages teamwork (and if somebody can resurrect you don't have to run back), decent visual effects, new environmental designs, etc.

The only negatives I can say at all are the drop rates are low, it's kind of unfriendly to melee users (although if you're melee and having trouble you could just act as the full-time bell ringer lol), and the Dragon's roar at the ending of the initial cutscene doesn't taper off and has too much treble (it needs more base and to have a +6000 Hz logarithmic cutoff decrease starting at 3000 Hz)

Beyond that, I only have good things to say about this alert.

PS: Knocking enemies off the ledges to fall to their deaths = hilariously fun (reminds me of the lava bridge in the volcano on Monster Island)

bioshrike

It has definitely become more manageable after so many repeated goes at it. The only time I die is if the Yin Yang appears under me at the same time the dragon breaths his fire.

It's really too bad the devs can't seem to get the timing on the initial cutscene correct - it is very cool when Hi-Pan says his thing and the scene fades out with the dragon breathing fire right at the camera.

I've also found a few little "divots" on the path and in the final area that won't seem to let your character pass over them - they mostly are the pieces that look like little rocks or stone imbedded in the ground. You can jump over them or walk around them easily, but you get hung up on them if you try to pass directly over.

I also wish that either people were more aware that some enemies they knock off the path during the journey up to Hi-Pan will respawn; perhaps they could simply be eliminated w/ no rewards given for them.

Lastly - I would *at least* like to see the minimum Q reward bumped up to 500. It's kinda frustrating that there's no special mission given from the Alerts coordinator, the mission doesn't count for any of the dailies, and to walk away with only 200Q for your trouble.