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Hi Pan Alert: How To Drive Players Away
thearkady
Posts: 337 Arc User
Please, Cryptic: unless "drive players away"! was the specific instruction given to whoever designed the Hi Pan Alert, fire them. Because that's all this piece of gameplay crap will achieve. There's two mechanics to it that are bad and worse.
1. The Dragon
This is actually a cool idea in principle. It might actually be good given the right circumstances, the right circumstances being "any map where travel powers actually work and it thus is possible to dodge out of the way in time". As it is, it the warning circle appears dead center on your character, you might as well type /killme. Same effect on a non-tank.
2. Yin-Yang
It's a completely unfair mechanic because it's completely random. Again, it might merely be bad instead of atrocious on a map where travel powers actually work and it is thus possible to escape the circle of doom. Doubtful though, as damage ticks are way tooooooooooooooooooo high for a non-tank.
Aside from that: I'm pretty sure players have been calling for maps that shut out travel powers since 2009. But instead of actually doing it where people ask for it, when it is finally implemented, it's part of the single most un-fun play exprience I've had since ptrying out the Blackwater Kinect shooter.
Seriously? Somebody actually got paid to think that one up? I have a ton of bad ideas I'm willing to share if you send a cheque my way...
This post has been edited to remove content which violates the Cryptic Studios Community Rules and Policies -Smackwell
1. The Dragon
This is actually a cool idea in principle. It might actually be good given the right circumstances, the right circumstances being "any map where travel powers actually work and it thus is possible to dodge out of the way in time". As it is, it the warning circle appears dead center on your character, you might as well type /killme. Same effect on a non-tank.
2. Yin-Yang
It's a completely unfair mechanic because it's completely random. Again, it might merely be bad instead of atrocious on a map where travel powers actually work and it is thus possible to escape the circle of doom. Doubtful though, as damage ticks are way tooooooooooooooooooo high for a non-tank.
Aside from that: I'm pretty sure players have been calling for maps that shut out travel powers since 2009. But instead of actually doing it where people ask for it, when it is finally implemented, it's part of the single most un-fun play exprience I've had since ptrying out the Blackwater Kinect shooter.
Seriously? Somebody actually got paid to think that one up? I have a ton of bad ideas I'm willing to share if you send a cheque my way...
This post has been edited to remove content which violates the Cryptic Studios Community Rules and Policies -Smackwell
Post edited by thearkady on
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That being said, I'd like to see the issue w/ pets going in before the cutscene is triggered, fixed, and to have the cutscene actually play all the dialogue.
"Is it better to be feared or respected? I say, is it too much to ask for both?" -Tony Stark
Official NW_Legit_Community Forums
But honestly, it's not that hard of an Alert if you know what you are doing. I've done it easily with both melee and ranged toons (yes, with some face-planting on occasion, I'm not perfect).
1. Dragon - Ring the bell. Seriously. It scares him away for a short time.
2. Yin Yang - It's not just a Circle of Doom. It's both good and bad (appropriately so). I'll agree the bad side of it tends to feel more effective than the good side of it. I usually try to play things safe when I start seeing it and be defensive.
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1. ring the bell
2. only the black dot deals dmg, the white one buffs you.
30 positive chi stacks, increase your damage by around 100%.
the black dot only works if you actually touch the ground.
jumping may help.
yes, lvl 6 characters can die from the dragon's fire.
(mobs in westside don't hit hard *hint*)
It can be tanked on a blade at, with ease.
The Hi - Pan alert is the best alert there is.
i would give you the occassional l2p now, but i'm too lazy.
This post has been edited to remove content which violates the Cryptic Studios Community Rules and Policies -Smackwell
This. So much this.
@flamingbunnyman in game. Formerly @Roderick in City of Heroes.
I'd totally be up for more like it.
Deliciously nutritious!
yes no TP is a pain, most of mine are fliers.
Trouble is you fly straight to HIpan, which people were doin g during the first live. It glitches the alert.
I've had no problem getting melee/ranged and support to survive.
If you have a 100ft ranged attack, go bell. That means everyone else can keep him on the other side.
If you have aggro DON'T haul him over to the bell.
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This guy speaks the truth. Well put.
Long-range shooters should stand by the bell whenever possible, to scare off the Dragon; you'll still have to move sometimes, because the yin/yang can happen there too.
If you can't jog out of the way fast enough, jump. It seems to make you move faster; at the very least, it gets you out of contact with the ground occasionally, which reduces the damage done by the black dot.
Just don't stand still.
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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Sorry, but this ALert is great.
The first time I did this alert with my heavy weapon character I stood still the entire time, moving only to stay close the Hi Pan. It just happened that I never got hit by the bad dot or the breath (I stayed away from the dots even though I didn't know they actually did anything, I figured they must be bad because I come from CoH, where they developed a terrible fetish for ground effects like that). The second time I hit the black dot trying to avoid it, because movement is so ridiculously slow.
The last point is one of my major gripes about CO. The base movement rate is slower than I move in real life. And I'm no superhero.
It has inventive game mechanics, unlockable costume pieces, a decent story, new mobs, and some actual character development on an old boss.
If this alert is driving you away, you're not doing it right.
I certainly wouldn't say it's original, the 'keep off the red circle' type of combat is fairly common in other games. But I do agree it's pretty fun.
[SIGPIC]http://imgur.com/9gptU4e[/SIGPIC]
I think this is a great idea; There's no way a player could actually keep up w/ the dots of the Yin Yang. Slowing down the rotation a little seems like a good idea.
Also, please fix the cutscene and the ability of pets to mess up the Alert.
"Is it better to be feared or respected? I say, is it too much to ask for both?" -Tony Stark
Official NW_Legit_Community Forums
Actually the trick is not to catch up with the white dot to get the buff. Due to a lag of graphics or whatever the actual buff point is ahead of the white dot. It is very possible to stay ahead by cutting across the centre. Do not move to where the white dot is, move to where it is going to be.....ommmmmmmm Zen meditate....
It is actually quite possible to stack 30 positive stacks with at most only a few stacks of negative or none at all. After gaining the 30 positive stacks, spam attacks away at Hi-Pan and you will gain the aggro back despite not spending the first 10 to 20 seconds of the fight not attacking.
Most players feel that they cannot keep up because they have not found the sweet spot for stacking. I was like that in the past until I saw someone who was able to gain 30 stacks within the first yinyang and I asked them how she did it and she explain that the spot is not the dot itself.
Evasive manuvers works nicely if you need to get out of the circle quickly. Or backflip off a cliff. Which I've never done. Ever. Really. Probably shouldn't EM over a black dot though. It kind of hurts.
Also: You could try blocking. It's what I do sometimes when no one mans the bell or when the old circle fades out before the new one shows up.
The black dot has been known to kill my squishier toons outright, which is annoying. All that walking back takes forever. Sterga doesn't have very high HP and is most certainly not a tank yet she's only died once playing through Fury because I wasn't paying attention to my health and had a black dot appear under me at 1/3 health. Oops. Normally, I like to heal. And use my Active Defense.
[at]riviania Member since Aug 2009
Breakaway Shot works just as well as Evasive Maneuvers for getting out of the circle in a pinch, and it keeps the damage flowing
Where do I begin with a noob such as you Thearkady...
2. Tumorboy (aka. the tacohead dude) was actually one of our best environmental artists and he cares about the community. He was moved over to work on Neverwinter by management and yet he still found some spare time to make this alert for us.
2. Learn to play, no offense dude.
A. The dragon can be countered with somebody ringing the bell.
B. The Yin-Yang "circle of doom" can actually be used to increase your damage!
C. Don't stand in the Yin-Yang circle if you're ranged! The stacks that increase the damage the "Universe in Harmony does to you" are bad mmk?
D. Learn when to block.
E. Teamwork!
No... The only problem is that you died.
Why should you be rewarded for dying with a closer spawn?
This is a player skill issue, not a design issue.
The Hi-Pan alert is actually one of the best ones. If Thearkady hates this, he's going to really hate Vikorin, Warlord, or Ao'Qephoth...
I think I maybe died once ever, when this alert first came to the PTS, and that's because I didn't understand what the stacks did initially. Cryptic could have made that clearer though... (i.e.: instructions for newbies)
This post has been edited to remove content which violates the Cryptic Studios Community Rules and Policies -Smackwell
Consolidate the currencies! (Please!)
Does your Champion have a theme song? (share it!)
Got a funny in-game screenshot? (share it!)
Please fix the Overdrive energy unlock! (Should help promote thematic build diversity!)
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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-Sterga
I second that ! The bloody Worm needs to die !!!
On the original issue:
I really like the Hi-Pan Alert. Sometimes i hate the people doing it when they just stand there taking damage and i feel the need to perma heal them. (Damn heal instinct)
But the alert is great, nice setting, quick, the bell adds a responsive element and the randomness of the dragon attack and the yin-yang actually makes it more interesting imho.
The only guys that really bug me are Ao?something and the Harlekin "i will one hit you in melee k thx bye" poser.
Both are doable and are simply an l2p issue on my side.
Only thing i disagree with is that you used so many spaces... so I went ahead and got rid of those for you.
@TheArkadey:
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
Alright, thx.
This is the only alert in which a full team of lvl 6's,
with being the only lvl 40 in it is actually fun.
Since i can buff myself up to a frigging monster
their dps doesn't matter.
seems like a haiku
one glance can be decieving
too many linebreaks
Brick_McDuggins in game.
=^ _ ^= Kitty Lives!
Lag happens. I agreed that the Alert is one of the best ones, but the fact that if you do faceplant you face a longer walk than in any other, AND you're locked out of travel powers DOES substantially hamper the fun. This isn't Gravitar where it's the gated high-level content (or a mediocre excuse for it), it's an available-to-all-players custom, and the massive walk back is stupid. A closer respawn isn't a reward for dying, it's a reasonable progression to the Alert, much like how if you die to the boss in the UNTIL vault mission, you spawn at the top of Storage 2 rather than way back by the entrance, or in Warlord where you spawn just outside the lock-out field.
you made a haiku
i'm in caligas armor
we all have problems
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
@Quincy-St-Moth's PRIMUS page
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
1: How do you get the buffs to your dps? Let the white circle hit you and hope like heck you don't lag and get nuked by the black one?
2: Is the buff really worth the effort given how easy it is to get nuked?
To my perception, a minor damage buff (Cryptic math means that even a 100% buff isn't going to result in jaw-dropping dps) is not worth the tradeoff of risking instant death, so if you're a melee you're screwed and forced to attempt to do the dance to stay alive while ranged get to simply blaze away with gleeful abandon, moving a little if the circle shifts. Heaven help you if you have 3-4 melees in this alert, one or most of them are getting nuked at some point.
OTOH, the only downside to death (aside from the loss of stars, which can be bought back when you get back to RenCen) is the loooong jog back to the field of battle. On the bright side, at least this can drive home the importance of actually taking out everybody on the way up, not just knocking them over the side (because they'll be back in position when you have to jog back to the fight).
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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Especially if you're melee. You COULD run around in the white circle like an idiot OR you could stab/punch/whatever Hi-Pan in the face. He's going to die either way and probably not any faster by buffing yourself.
But then again, I consider pushing a button to backflip out of the big circle too much effort. If you don't know, you can easily have 2 or 3 people stand in the center and not take damage from the black dot. For some reason, people see the big circle and freakout, running away screaming. (How I like to imagine it.)
[at]riviania Member since Aug 2009
The max damage of my reaper's embrace, with 30 positive chi, goes up from
around 8k (regular with 3 focus), to around 16k (buffed 3 focus), combined with will of the tiger
and radion's revenge, eventually a red damage boost orb (boost enhancers are very
effective in this alert), this results in 90k+ critical hits*, once i've gained 8 focus. For example,
a lvl 60 backup device, fully buffed and attacking a debuffed target hits for around 170k-280k.
In my case, given the fact that we never run out of energy and also can make use of the rush buff,
this is 45-90k spike dmg every 2-5 seconds, and / or 6- 12k dps with reaper's caress.
I am also using expose weakness and penetrating strikes + 112% severity + setup.
*with a stack of 5 bleeds.
If you are getting nuked the #!$% out, you can A. pop a nimbus, B. pop a demonic flesh graft, C.
use supernatural possession, or masterful dodge / your ad. If you are a ff, you can shield / heal
without being in need of devices. etc.
Yes, it is worth it, just imagine a full team using 30 pos. chi... the boss wouldn't even
last longer than 30 seconds until it is defeated.
Getting the 30 stacks is easy, once you know how to. Try to be in front of the white dot,
run away from it, obviously by running in circles. Once the white dot is about to go past your toon,
jump to the right (jumping somehow makes you go faster) to gain space between you and the dot again.
This way you can get the full buff within 10-20 seconds.
When Hi Pan leaves combat his health resets to the top of his current bar. They couldn't even take off half a bar without me, but I wasn't quite tough enough to fight him without at least having one other person to ring the bell, or something, so when they all died, I would get worn, or spiked down before they could get back (which took a very long time, for some reason).
And about people that run away screaming from the circle, yes it really does happen. How they still manage to get themselves killed, I have no idea. x3
After successfully running away from the ying-yang sign, they try to dps
without having the buff and they also don't ring the bell, so the dragon eats them.
Its a mechanic to dance among the chaos to get the best reward and this game needs MORE of this.