My only actual complaint is the Exocets. My fast activating ranged attacks (TGM, Lead Tempest) are only 50' range so there's a a lot of maneuvering to get those in range and my 100' attack is minigun, which has such a long wind up (for this event) that by the time it winds up the Exocet is out of range.
If I had a 35+ melee character I would not take them on this alert, as lunges are 30'(?) ranges and 50' attacks were difficult to use. Any melee without a true lunge would have to be just boned.
A gripe would be would be that for 50' attacks it seems you have to be right next to him to be in range which doesn't leave much time to block and run.
This is my Risian Corvette. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
The chaotic feel is interesting for a little while. It's one of the things I liked about the carrier mission, too, or pulling an entire Train Stopping instance.
Auto-follow was pretty helpful for me too, in spite of some people having a low opinion of it. You have to get the target properly selected for it to work, though. A 100' attack will do that easily with the right control set-up.
The slideshow at the end hurts my head, seriously. It makes it hard to tell what's going on, too.
Targeting is a hassle, but not unplayable, for the most part.
Having a res is pointless, because it's impossible to find anyone in the mess.
I liked this mission, pretty entertaining, although the boss can get tedious, specially the uber-damage attack when he stop taking damage, but otherwise, it's mostly pretty good.
I love the idea of an invasion, as it provides a sense of urgency. And to have a group of heroes called into action for it feels rather epic. Having objectives breaking the mission into parts lets me feel as if I'm doing a lot of heroing with my friends and I have thoroughly enjoyed playing this alert today. At the end of it all, you get some nice mods, a big reward of Questionite and maybe an action figure, costume or a lemurian tank. That's pretty rewarding for the effort invested.
I ran many of my characters through it, from range/melee to support etc. There's plenty of tricks to getting through the alert for every type of character.
I've probably ran it over 20 times today, without ever failing one, either with friends or complete PUGs.
1. Hover Discs, get around fast and fly over unnecessary mobs.
2. You will start seeing plenty of 'Immune' damage counters first for a couple of seconds so be prepared to block Bleak Harbinger's AOE spike.
3. Bleak Harbinger's punch seems to be 100ft, you can simply get out of range to avoid them, and they only hit those having his aggro.
4. Bleak Harbinger's 2 other attacks are a breath and a dimensional rift. Keep blocking the breath if it's on you, the damage follows you even if you move, until you are out of range. The rift however, you can safely sidestep out of danger.
5. 100ft charge or maintain power, tap it against the exocets. Much more effective at catching them when they fly by.
6. Tanks seem to be able to continue generating threat on Bleak Harbinger during his invulnerable phase so please do, and free the others to go after the exocets.
7. There's more than 26 civilians to save, so you don't need to go after every enemy and wear yourself out.
Regarding "Teddy" on the Harbinger, it works, even when it's invulnerable, but the health doesn't scale down, like it does with some other bosses. This means that it will draw the fight out a little if you Teddy while the Harbinger is vulnerable, but it will make things easier if you Teddy the Harbinger while it is invulnerable, (because it wont be able to attack anyone). The reduced bounding box might even help with targeting the Exocets, because normally it's easy to pick up the Harbinger by accident, while trying to select them.
3. Bleak Harbinger's punch seems to be 100ft, you can simply get out of range to avoid them, and they only hit those having his aggro.
I think that punch has a greater range than this. Several times I flew to a range where none of my targeted attacks could activate (not even Sniper Rifle) and was still being hit by the Harbinger. That looks really bad because you can see that the character is nowhere near close enough for one of the arms to even come close to them...yet they are taking damage by Harbinger waving his arms at nothing.
I think that punch has a greater range than this. Several times I flew to a range where none of my targeted attacks could activate (not even Sniper Rifle) and was still being hit by the Harbinger. That looks really bad because you can see that the character is nowhere near close enough for one of the arms to even come close to them...yet they are taking damage by Harbinger waving his arms at nothing.
Maybe you're getting hit by some of the Seaweed and Sand that the Harbinger is made out of. Because you know "the Harbinger was never really alive".
Played through it, here are my thoughts (mostly cosmetic issues):
1. Okay, it's supposed to be a dark stormy night, but it's a bit too dark for my taste. I'd put the lighting in the whole alert a bit up.
2. The Protean Master is cool, just cool.
3. The cutscene just before theBleak Harbinger appears is a bit confusing. Does the last Ritualist transform into the Harbinger? If yes, make it more apparent that he does.
In general I feel its a shame that they locked the final mission behind a lvl 35 Gate especially as all the lead up missions were open to all. To not be able to complete the story arc is a pretty poor in my view. This first release of it should have allowed any one in and auto lvled them to 40 for the duration. Then make it a lvl 35 when it moves into the rotation.
Specifically tho I trued it with my Melee dude and god was it boring Those fighters were a pain in the **** to chase down so much so I left it to my ranged flying team mates and the vulnerably faze was no where near as fun as the lead up mob battles at least with them I could see what i was hitting
It used to autolevel to 40 in test. This led to many, many player complaints, so it was changed to be more similar to the Gravitar Rampage. The refrain of the song "Garden Party" comes to mind once again...
I've only played through it three times so far, because I have other things I have to do. First two times I used Spider-Bat, and gave him the Hawkwing because I didn't think a Master would be much use (and I was right; a couple of times, I tried taking on the mobs without my jet, and got my webs kicked). The very first time, I hit a glitch that respawned me outside the map when I died; that was the first and only time I ever quit an Alert that was ongoing. Second time worked out better, but I was confused by why I had to be all up in the Harbinger's grill to hit it with my plane's weapons.
Third time, I used Happifun Security System X-4, who is an Invincible (that's the name for the PA AT, right? ). I decided to forgo the jet, as Happifun uses a Jetpack; it didn't seem to make much difference. Once again, the confusing bit was that even my shoulder gun wouldn't target the Harbinger unless I was close enough to punch it. (Is the targeting set to the exact center of the Harbinger? If so, is there any way to change that so we can target its skin?) Maybe it's the three levels of Invulnerability, but when the Harbinger woke up from its radiation-induced nap, the punch merely threw me away (up in the air, as I was flying) and took half my health. No big deal.
Overall, I had more fun with this Alert than with Gravitar, and got more loot too. Thanks to the intense frustration that accompanies fusing vehicle mods, those rewards aren't worth a lot to me - but so far, the smallest Q reward I've gotten was 1200, and my first complete run netted the action figure too. One day, perhaps I'll see that silly tank...
"Science teaches us to expect -- demand -- more than just eerie mysteries. What use is a puzzle that can't be solved? Patience is fine, but I'm not going to stop asking the universe to make sense!"
It used to autolevel to 40 in test. This led to many, many player complaints, so it was changed to be more similar to the Gravitar Rampage. The refrain of the song "Garden Party" comes to mind once again...
I thought the rage was directed at the fact it auto lvled to 30 making the last 10 lvls you had gained kinda pointless
I don't like that IFO saucer thing. If I have to use that, then I won't be playing this again. Seems pretty counter-intuitive not to make it easier for players to know how to find one.
You start the alert right next to them. I always pick one up there, and use it for the entire alert. You can also grab one at the place with the cannons, which is also your revive point while you're fighting the boss.
2) Rewards? There are rewards? I opened the little case at the end and got an Ego Armoring V mod and 3 vehicle mods. Unless I missed where I was supposed to pick up other rewards, that seemed REALLY lame for the time invested.
What you will always get: 1200 Questionite Ore, 1 Rank 5 mod, 3 Rank 4 equipment mods, and 3 Rank 4 vehicle mods.
What you might get: Harbinger Action Figure, Lemurian Collar costume unlock, Tsunami Tank.
After about 15 runs I got all three of the "What you might get" items.
4) Targeting area on the Harbinger was weird. Tab targeting (well, using a controller but still) just wouldn't grab him. I had to actually click to select this HUGE boss in front of me.
Yeah this is the most frustrating part of the alert, in my opinion. While the Exocets are out, my tab targeting likes to always target the Harbinger, unless I get him like 100% behind me. When the Exocets are down, tab targeting does nothing, even if the Harbinger is filling up my screen. FRUSTRATION!
My only actual complaint is the Exocets. My fast activating ranged attacks (TGM, Lead Tempest) are only 50' range so there's a a lot of maneuvering to get those in range and my 100' attack is minigun, which has such a long wind up (for this event) that by the time it winds up the Exocet is out of range.
I've found that hard-hitting tap attacks are best for taking these guys out. My main uses Force Cascade, and he has a better time taking them out than one of my alts I tried, who's munitions. With munitions maintains, you can tag em, but sometimes they just keep moving and don't aggro to you, which is really annoying.
I think that punch has a greater range than this. Several times I flew to a range where none of my targeted attacks could activate (not even Sniper Rifle) and was still being hit by the Harbinger. That looks really bad because you can see that the character is nowhere near close enough for one of the arms to even come close to them...yet they are taking damage by Harbinger waving his arms at nothing.
Yeah I can attest to this. You have to bone the hell out to be truly out of his range.
Yeah, it's pretty good! Not an amazing/epic/grand event, but a pretty good mish. However, if you have a rubbish team, it really seems to drag on for ages, but I guess that's the same for most missions/alerts.
Sound is not good through decent headphones: The harbinger's 'roars' loop and overlap. It really could do with an 'epic' soundtrack to really add suspense and atmosphere. I think then the roars would blend in better. I do like the rain sound though!
I agree with the above that the shapeshifter part could have been made into something a bit more exciting (blink and you'll miss it!)
Oh, and I quickly found that after the AA guns are activated, its best to fly over the mobs and go straight to the final group.
I don't have a vehicle at all* but I have r3 jetpack, so taking out the Exocet fighters was pretty straightforward. Pressing F to auto-follow the target is pretty much essential.
I found it easier to chase the Exocet's when using the hoverdisc though (again, using F to follow them) The Exocet Fighters blowing up looks amazing!
I have turned down the graphics a lot to make the game run more smoothly and found that worked well (it got pretty laggy otherwise)
Otherwise Hooray and Huzzah all round. :cool:
*not even after 5/6 runs through this mish, dont have the AF yet either
Yes. But, with a caveat. This is not for squishies, lol. My power armor blaster (who's since been retconned into lightning, so deep was my frustration) couldn't chest beam the flying jets because it couldn't keep a lock on em long enough for the power to go off, and it had to leave the harbinger fight 30 seconds before everyone else because if it was nearby when the knock went off? One shotted.
This may sound like I'm complaining. I'm not. It's the first time in forever my squishy actually felt squishy, and pointed out a few holes I didn't know existed in my build. I love this, it's actually got a bit of challenge to it, while not being impossible for weak toons.
Still have yet to get the tank, tho. 20 runs in.
In game, I am @EvilTaco. Happily killing purple gang members since May 2008. RIP Caine
Yes. But, with a caveat. This is not for squishies, lol. My power armor blaster (who's since been retconned into lightning, so deep was my frustration) couldn't chest beam the flying jets because it couldn't keep a lock on em long enough for the power to go off, and it had to leave the harbinger fight 30 seconds before everyone else because if it was nearby when the knock went off? One shotted.
This may sound like I'm complaining. I'm not. It's the first time in forever my squishy actually felt squishy, and pointed out a few holes I didn't know existed in my build. I love this, it's actually got a bit of challenge to it, while not being impossible for weak toons.
Still have yet to get the tank, tho. 20 runs in.
My squishy characters will only take about half their health of damage if they block the big boom attack. Alternately, you can count to 30 after he goes vulnerable, and then bone out of there, get behind a building or something, and you'll avoid all the damage.
Let me say that this is the alert that Sky Command could have been. Clearly something good was learned, and PTS feedback was listened to! Delays for quality = good.
The whole mission seems like a crisis zone, a zone introduction.
It's an epic challenge, I actually got killed once! And it gives epic rewards to match that challenge level, 1200 Q and some random R4 to R5 mods to everyone who participates. Very nice!
The debuff effects of Negative Ions and Fire Snake really horribly lag out and cut speed, and causes seizures. If there is a way to remove the visual effects on the boss than lag and not being able to look at the screen won't be factors in its real difficulty.
*fixed*
Yeah we had that issue with Pulse Beam Rifle on Mega D if y'all recall.
Blinding huge flashes are ok if it's rare, but if players are causing it frequently on HUGE targets... yeah it needs to be toned down visually.
The new Grav tanks actually give me a headache with their strobbing effect when they do that "gravity pull" attack...
The Until Carrier in the cut scene...can we have one permanently there in zone? That would be awesome to hang out on![/COLOR]
We have one. It's supposed to be the UNITY headquarters blimp.
For some ridiculous reason they moved UNITY HQ to the UNTIL HQ (two years ago?), which makes no sense really. The interior decoration colors & textures inside the UNITY HQ are a dead giveaway too.
The elevator that take you up & down the blimp still works by the way.
I thought the Dev's delayed it so they could improve it? All they did is make it harder. The mooks have WAY too many hit points. I'm tired of being defeated.
They do seem to have a bit too much HP, but not "way too much"
"Exocet Fighters" boss mechanic is dumb. Boss is magically invincible until you kill the fighters, which allows for UNTIL to fire their deus ex machina cannon at it. Supposedly these fighters are attacking the carrier and giving them trouble...except they're not. They just fly around a lot, and make themselves hard to kill for anyone who isn't in a vehicle. In fact, when they aggroed me, instead of attacking, they just flew away from me as I tried to catch up with them. I don't use a vehicle. I don't want to. I don't think I should have to use one to participate.
1. Get a hoverdisk.
2. I fly around after those fighters with my Legacy Accelerated Aethyric Incantation with no problem.
3. Yes, they should be attacking the UNTIL carrier. It would help with immersion. This was mentioned during playtesting.
I like this alert a lot, but I really wish the Exocet fighters were more aggressive.
Also, the Harbinger's melee attack range is like, 200+ feet. It's a great alert but getting punched out of the air when the Harbinger is far, far, FAR away... kind of annoying. Also, does Smoke Grenade's Escape Artist work on him? I had to fly, like, across the map to get him to stop attacking my Soldier after hitting him with Smoke Grenade... and when I came back he started punching me again.
Also, tab-targeting the Exocets is hellish, and using a /bind target command often targets Exocets on the other side of the map rather than any of the relevant ones nearby.
I did have an issue today with tab-targeting an Exocet that was half-buried in the side of a building, and thus invulnerable. It reminded me of that one Borg Probe in STO's Ker'rat warspace where the stupid thing is embedded in the side of a piece of debris, and if you're close that's what your systems autotarget.
Although at least with the Exocet in the building, it just costs me time - there's no Tactical Cube sneaking up behind me...
"Science teaches us to expect -- demand -- more than just eerie mysteries. What use is a puzzle that can't be solved? Patience is fine, but I'm not going to stop asking the universe to make sense!"
Also, tab-targeting the Exocets is hellish, and using a /bind target command often targets Exocets on the other side of the map rather than any of the relevant ones nearby.
This is a controls & binds issue... Yes.
I think a part of has to do with a number of players who were playtesting it were using 360-style game pad controllers.
The Bleak Harbinger is sooo huge that he oftentime is the first thing to be targeted. My personal solution is to use my key that is bound to "target next", I tap that once or twice and I'll have a nearby fighter to attack.
The ideal solution would be to make the Harbinger untargetable as well as invulnerable. And then when he's vulnerable again, making him targetable again.
This would allow for proper use of "target nearest" which is a bind most people use in the game.
The Harbringer fight can get a little boring. You can only kill aircraft and them shoot the Harbringer soo many times before it gets a little old...but the instance and Harbringer are sooo cool looking.
That's false statistical confirmation from not having a large enough sample size, Wimpazoid.
I opened about three dozen of those boxes recently, everything I collected and not one of those special items yet. It's purely luck based, like getting Legion gear.
Sure there's some inconsistancies and glitches but... IT'S SO MUCH FUN!
Thats the key for me. It's immersive, it's cheesy in the good way, it feels epic and it is fun. I am happily jetbiking around chasing those exocets and i don't care that they aren't attacking the carrier because fighting them looks good and keeps moving around rather than hovering in mid air like some turn based rpg. Sure harbinger takes up more than the whole screen by the time i'm in range to unleash volterrific fury on him but i'm having way too much fun to care.
You now what this mission does? It gives me a good time. It even has me liking vehicles (bought the wild eagle in the c-store the instant i got online after they became available).
This is good stuff and i'm gonna grind it.
Good Job Cryptic crew!
___________________________________
While she has been rescued
what diabolical mastermind
was behind the devious brain-napping of
the Volterrific Dr Cerebellum?
It's absolutely hilarious.:biggrin: Another fun one along with Hi Pan.
I had no trouble targeting Harb inger. IN fact all I could target was Harbinger unless I was facing away from him. Didn't matter how many exocets were right in front of me.
Yes the range was odd, I had a 100ft attack and felt like I was trying to land on his head to get close enough.
Get killed by flailing arm(and once by a tentacle) NO problem, ressed at tent and just flew back, its not far. I just looked for the damage signs in the air and went to them.
Opening boxes, I opned my first one and got the cute AF, the next just mods but never fear theres always today for more tries.
I didn't like the fact that I had to be in the creature's belly to use my 50 foot attacks. Curse you fire for having such a tiny range! The huge amount of GFX going off on the creature caused my computer to lag really bad.
I also didn't like how the ending cut scene kind of swept everything under the rug. It was sort of like WELP, NOW THAT THAT'S OVER WITH. Completely anti-climatic. I think the creature should have AT LEAST had a dying scene but it just popped up as being stone.
Am I the only one thinking this would have been really cool if it was set up with a Comic Series or something? I mean, MC got destroyed. >:L Kind of felt the same way about Hi Pan, maybe even Gravitar. Oh well. I've only played it once so I'm not sure if I missed anything or am remembering incorrectly.
However, the counter is we got some content finally, woohoo! It was a nice taste. I'm not full but maybe it's more to come. Harbringer was REALLY nicely rendered. He definitely had weight and heft. Honestly, I was a tad scared approaching him. Good work on that end Champs team!
EDIT:
Run 2
Got me an action figure woo! After turning down my graphics I didn't lag and thought I would be able to do a sizable amount of damage. Then the conflag range glitch made it so my conflag never touched him. Such an annoying glitch, was practically a growth on his carapace trying to get conflag to work but it never did. The intro cutscene also switches too fast between shots. It really doesn't let us absorb the destruction.
I say stuff and I say things, sometimes together but only when I'm feeling adventurous.
Can we get a bigger hitbox, please? My melee sg friends are begging for it, you gotta be up harbinger's butt to hit it with anything close quarters, and I just feel like stabbing him in the face is so cathartic.
Also, died 10X more today on my squish when doing it. And loved the whole experience. My only beef? Make the mobs between the shifter and the harbinger necessary. People skip, and that sucks when someone aggros all of the mobs behind those tents.
In game, I am @EvilTaco. Happily killing purple gang members since May 2008. RIP Caine
From my point of view, they spent more time designing the look of the Epic Boss then actually on the gameplay of the mission.
It's just a mob beat-em-up, go to map point, trigger Harbinger, kill.
Granted, I did like the Harbinger fight, it was interesting with the Barcelona using it's deathbeam to render it vulnerable so you can beat it down.
It's the rest of the fight I don't find interesting.
Especially those blasted fighters, they zip around too much for me to chase them down easily!
Also, the one thing that frustrates me is there's no real way to shoot the Harbinger from range.
You basically have to go up to his head and shoot it.
And then you're too close to his Zerg blast.
I've been one shot a lot of times, experimenting with minimum safe distance.
I didn't find it!
It would be more interesting if someone could put some AA guns around the area, so if you don't really feel like getting in his face, blast him with an AA round instead.
Also, the rewards don't really seem worth it.
I got my Action figure on my 3rd or 4th run.
And judging from the tank on exchange, it's not really worth my time running the alert to try and get one via drop.
It doesn't seem all that special to me, just a tank skin.
If I'm really that interested, I'll just buy one from the exchange.
So, I've got no reason to do this alert now.
Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad
Only had time to run it twice so far, got the tank first run and the af on the second, will be running it more after the weekend to get the collar as well as for fun!
Good overall, a few minor things but hardly worth mentioning again after 9 pages.
Now how about making carrier defence 35+ with the same rewards (q and mods at least, and maybe a chance of something else) so that isnt wasted effort and will get played again.
Someone shared earlier a control I was unaware of, that made the Exocet portion of the fight easier (and made it quicker to get to the Harbinger when it was vulnerable): tab-target until you get what you want to shoot, then hit F to follow the target. Watch your powers; when one lights up because you're in range, fire it up. (Happifun used his Energy Builder for that; Spider-Bat, in a Hawkwing, just hit the wing guns, and launched an occasional missile.) When the Harbinger's weak, tab to it (pretty easy - most of your tab-targeting will hit it), F to get in close, and shoot.
If you're strictly melee and don't have a vehicle, grab a disc from the tent near the AA gun, where you'll respawn if you drop in the boss battle.
"Science teaches us to expect -- demand -- more than just eerie mysteries. What use is a puzzle that can't be solved? Patience is fine, but I'm not going to stop asking the universe to make sense!"
The normal ones are too slow, but you could switch to them when you don't need to move, so that you can use other devices.
So the Hover Disc TP is slower than the device is it? typical.. I was thinking of getting it.
Shame! I'd buy a hoverdisc device if it was just like the ones available in the Harbinger alert.. I really like zipping around on it. I even used it for a while around ren cen before it timed out.
So the Hover Disc TP is slower than the device is it? typical.. I was thinking of getting it.
Shame! I'd buy a hoverdisc device if it was just like the ones available in the Harbinger alert.. I really like zipping around on it. I even used it for a while around ren cen before it timed out.
I said the same. I'd totally pay real money for one of them.
The control on the travel power version is slippery, like the device is, but the speed is the same as normal flight, I think.
I use it on a character that I wanted to have a grav-bike travel power for. I'm not too sure these giant bikes are quite the right aesthetic. The disc device feels about right, but it doesn't have the look.
I still want to see something in the style of the Flash Gordon Rocket Sled. Y they no make that? It's a one pose, one model re-skin; about as much work as energy slide. I'd love to chase Exocets on one of those.
The control on the travel power version is slippery, like the device is, but the speed is the same as normal flight, I think.
I use it on a character that I wanted to have a grav-bike travel power for. I'm not too sure these giant bikes are quite the right aesthetic. The disc device feels about right, but it doesn't have the look.
I still want to see something in the style of the Flash Gordon Rocket Sled. Y they no make that? It's a one pose, one model re-skin; about as much work as energy slide. I'd love to chase Exocets on one of those.
/signed
As a big Flash Gordon fan, huge retro scifi fan, huge art-deco fan and player of War Rocket i must say that this is a great idea.
Champions art direction has always had a strong element of Art Deco in it from Ren Cen to a lot of the cars on the roads to a lot of costume pieces.
We should definately have some art-deco vehicles in this game!
___________________________________
While she has been rescued
what diabolical mastermind
was behind the devious brain-napping of
the Volterrific Dr Cerebellum?
Overall I was not impressed with the event. I thought the challenge level was pathetically low, cutscenes (again) poorly voiced, and the Harbinger fight itself required no real special tactics other than back off every 30 seconds to avoid being blown up, kill fighters, rinse repeat again and again until done. About the only thing good about the fight was I managed to get the Lemurian Tank dropped my first try, because I don't plan on running it again. (I had more fun flying around rooftops blowing enemies off the tops of skyscrapers than i did with the invasion event.)
Those Exocets are pretty annoying for melee. Maybe they can make it so only melee attacks can deal damage to the Harbinger without having to wait for the radiation beam?
I found it reasonably enjoyable, enough so that I ranit 15 or so times until I got a tank, and once more for the character who hit 35 over the weekend. (Fortunately, I had the tank: employing a pet-master normally against the Harbinger would have just been an exercise in frustration!) Some thoughts:
1) Lemurian Invasion Gazebos are just hilarious.
2) Defender needs a drama coach. The voice actor's inflections were just off: he sounded disgusted when he said "They didn't plan on YOU."
3) Harbinger really needs a bigger attack box. As others mentioned, you have to be hugging him to use your mid-range powers. If I had a melee type in the right level range... *shudder*
4) The event does highlight the Pay-To-Win nature of vehicles quite clearly. Rank three movement powers need to just skip the acceleration phases, the same way vehicles on UNTIL hover disks do, or we need a separate advantage providing this buff. I certainly would spend advantage points on it.
-
Formerly @Seschat pre PWEmerger. @Seschat on the Titan boards.
Someone shared earlier a control I was unaware of, that made the Exocet portion of the fight easier (and made it quicker to get to the Harbinger when it was vulnerable): tab-target until you get what you want to shoot, then hit F to follow the target. Watch your powers; when one lights up because you're in range, fire it up. (Happifun used his Energy Builder for that; Spider-Bat, in a Hawkwing, just hit the wing guns, and launched an occasional missile.) When the Harbinger's weak, tab to it (pretty easy - most of your tab-targeting will hit it), F to get in close, and shoot.
If you're strictly melee and don't have a vehicle, grab a disc from the tent near the AA gun, where you'll respawn if you drop in the boss battle.
Those Exocets are pretty annoying for melee. Maybe they can make it so only melee attacks can deal damage to the Harbinger without having to wait for the radiation beam?
The Exocets have a couple groups that stay put after spawning for almost a minute. If you are at the ritual artifact facing harbinger one is high up on the skyscraper to your right. The other is mid-level on the skyscraper to your left. They both do like three in-place circles before starting to orbit him and are easy for melee to take down. Also, each group has one that occasionally get's stuck on the skyscraper wall and just sits there waiting to be destroyed.
Second, the exocets all orbit harbinger counterclockwise. facing him from the ritual artifact they go from your left to your right. So if you travel the opposite direction they come right at you.
It is easier with a vehicle or a ranged attacker, but I did ok on 4 runs with a heavy weapons character.
Comments
If I had a 35+ melee character I would not take them on this alert, as lunges are 30'(?) ranges and 50' attacks were difficult to use. Any melee without a true lunge would have to be just boned.
A gripe would be would be that for 50' attacks it seems you have to be right next to him to be in range which doesn't leave much time to block and run.
The chaotic feel is interesting for a little while. It's one of the things I liked about the carrier mission, too, or pulling an entire Train Stopping instance.
Auto-follow was pretty helpful for me too, in spite of some people having a low opinion of it. You have to get the target properly selected for it to work, though. A 100' attack will do that easily with the right control set-up.
The slideshow at the end hurts my head, seriously. It makes it hard to tell what's going on, too.
Targeting is a hassle, but not unplayable, for the most part.
Having a res is pointless, because it's impossible to find anyone in the mess.
Gas Pellets.
I like cats :cool:.
UGC Campaign: The Coldblooded Scrolls
I want one to hug.
Me too, actually. x3
I ran many of my characters through it, from range/melee to support etc. There's plenty of tricks to getting through the alert for every type of character.
I've probably ran it over 20 times today, without ever failing one, either with friends or complete PUGs.
1. Hover Discs, get around fast and fly over unnecessary mobs.
2. You will start seeing plenty of 'Immune' damage counters first for a couple of seconds so be prepared to block Bleak Harbinger's AOE spike.
3. Bleak Harbinger's punch seems to be 100ft, you can simply get out of range to avoid them, and they only hit those having his aggro.
4. Bleak Harbinger's 2 other attacks are a breath and a dimensional rift. Keep blocking the breath if it's on you, the damage follows you even if you move, until you are out of range. The rift however, you can safely sidestep out of danger.
5. 100ft charge or maintain power, tap it against the exocets. Much more effective at catching them when they fly by.
6. Tanks seem to be able to continue generating threat on Bleak Harbinger during his invulnerable phase so please do, and free the others to go after the exocets.
7. There's more than 26 civilians to save, so you don't need to go after every enemy and wear yourself out.
Regarding "Teddy" on the Harbinger, it works, even when it's invulnerable, but the health doesn't scale down, like it does with some other bosses. This means that it will draw the fight out a little if you Teddy while the Harbinger is vulnerable, but it will make things easier if you Teddy the Harbinger while it is invulnerable, (because it wont be able to attack anyone). The reduced bounding box might even help with targeting the Exocets, because normally it's easy to pick up the Harbinger by accident, while trying to select them.
I think that punch has a greater range than this. Several times I flew to a range where none of my targeted attacks could activate (not even Sniper Rifle) and was still being hit by the Harbinger. That looks really bad because you can see that the character is nowhere near close enough for one of the arms to even come close to them...yet they are taking damage by Harbinger waving his arms at nothing.
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Maybe you're getting hit by some of the Seaweed and Sand that the Harbinger is made out of. Because you know "the Harbinger was never really alive".
1. Okay, it's supposed to be a dark stormy night, but it's a bit too dark for my taste. I'd put the lighting in the whole alert a bit up.
2. The Protean Master is cool, just cool.
3. The cutscene just before theBleak Harbinger appears is a bit confusing. Does the last Ritualist transform into the Harbinger? If yes, make it more apparent that he does.
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Specifically tho I trued it with my Melee dude and god was it boring Those fighters were a pain in the **** to chase down so much so I left it to my ranged flying team mates and the vulnerably faze was no where near as fun as the lead up mob battles at least with them I could see what i was hitting
I've only played through it three times so far, because I have other things I have to do. First two times I used Spider-Bat, and gave him the Hawkwing because I didn't think a Master would be much use (and I was right; a couple of times, I tried taking on the mobs without my jet, and got my webs kicked). The very first time, I hit a glitch that respawned me outside the map when I died; that was the first and only time I ever quit an Alert that was ongoing. Second time worked out better, but I was confused by why I had to be all up in the Harbinger's grill to hit it with my plane's weapons.
Third time, I used Happifun Security System X-4, who is an Invincible (that's the name for the PA AT, right?
Overall, I had more fun with this Alert than with Gravitar, and got more loot too. Thanks to the intense frustration that accompanies fusing vehicle mods, those rewards aren't worth a lot to me - but so far, the smallest Q reward I've gotten was 1200, and my first complete run netted the action figure too. One day, perhaps I'll see that silly tank...
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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I thought the rage was directed at the fact it auto lvled to 30 making the last 10 lvls you had gained kinda pointless
You start the alert right next to them. I always pick one up there, and use it for the entire alert. You can also grab one at the place with the cannons, which is also your revive point while you're fighting the boss.
What you will always get: 1200 Questionite Ore, 1 Rank 5 mod, 3 Rank 4 equipment mods, and 3 Rank 4 vehicle mods.
What you might get: Harbinger Action Figure, Lemurian Collar costume unlock, Tsunami Tank.
After about 15 runs I got all three of the "What you might get" items.
Yeah this is the most frustrating part of the alert, in my opinion. While the Exocets are out, my tab targeting likes to always target the Harbinger, unless I get him like 100% behind me. When the Exocets are down, tab targeting does nothing, even if the Harbinger is filling up my screen. FRUSTRATION!
I've found that hard-hitting tap attacks are best for taking these guys out. My main uses Force Cascade, and he has a better time taking them out than one of my alts I tried, who's munitions. With munitions maintains, you can tag em, but sometimes they just keep moving and don't aggro to you, which is really annoying.
Yeah I can attest to this. You have to bone the hell out to be truly out of his range.
Sound is not good through decent headphones: The harbinger's 'roars' loop and overlap. It really could do with an 'epic' soundtrack to really add suspense and atmosphere. I think then the roars would blend in better. I do like the rain sound though!
I agree with the above that the shapeshifter part could have been made into something a bit more exciting (blink and you'll miss it!)
Oh, and I quickly found that after the AA guns are activated, its best to fly over the mobs and go straight to the final group.
I don't have a vehicle at all* but I have r3 jetpack, so taking out the Exocet fighters was pretty straightforward. Pressing F to auto-follow the target is pretty much essential.
I found it easier to chase the Exocet's when using the hoverdisc though (again, using F to follow them) The Exocet Fighters blowing up looks amazing!
I have turned down the graphics a lot to make the game run more smoothly and found that worked well (it got pretty laggy otherwise)
Otherwise Hooray and Huzzah all round. :cool:
*not even after 5/6 runs through this mish, dont have the AF yet either
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This may sound like I'm complaining. I'm not. It's the first time in forever my squishy actually felt squishy, and pointed out a few holes I didn't know existed in my build. I love this, it's actually got a bit of challenge to it, while not being impossible for weak toons.
Still have yet to get the tank, tho. 20 runs in.
RIP Caine
My squishy characters will only take about half their health of damage if they block the big boom attack. Alternately, you can count to 30 after he goes vulnerable, and then bone out of there, get behind a building or something, and you'll avoid all the damage.
Let me say that this is the alert that Sky Command could have been. Clearly something good was learned, and PTS feedback was listened to! Delays for quality = good.
The whole mission seems like a crisis zone, a zone introduction.
It's an epic challenge, I actually got killed once! And it gives epic rewards to match that challenge level, 1200 Q and some random R4 to R5 mods to everyone who participates. Very nice!
Oh and the best thing about it?
IT CAME WITH IMPORTANT BUG FIXES!!!
*standing ovation applause!*
FINALLY SOME MAJOR BUG FIXES!
:biggrin:
*fixed*
Yeah we had that issue with Pulse Beam Rifle on Mega D if y'all recall.
Blinding huge flashes are ok if it's rare, but if players are causing it frequently on HUGE targets... yeah it needs to be toned down visually.
The new Grav tanks actually give me a headache with their strobbing effect when they do that "gravity pull" attack...
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!)
Git Gud M8!
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They do seem to have a bit too much HP, but not "way too much"
So?
As opposed to Clarence or Takofanes which is just a mob of players punching a single target?
No, this is an improvement over that. You actually have switch things up.
1. Get a hoverdisk.
2. I fly around after those fighters with my Legacy Accelerated Aethyric Incantation with no problem.
3. Yes, they should be attacking the UNTIL carrier. It would help with immersion. This was mentioned during playtesting.
Strongly disagree!
You apparently lack situational awareness...
I had no such trouble keeping track of what's going on. Nor did any of my friends that I'm aware of.
Learn to play.
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!)
Also, the Harbinger's melee attack range is like, 200+ feet. It's a great alert but getting punched out of the air when the Harbinger is far, far, FAR away... kind of annoying.
Also, tab-targeting the Exocets is hellish, and using a /bind target command often targets Exocets on the other side of the map rather than any of the relevant ones nearby.
Although at least with the Exocet in the building, it just costs me time - there's no Tactical Cube sneaking up behind me...
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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This is a controls & binds issue... Yes.
I think a part of has to do with a number of players who were playtesting it were using 360-style game pad controllers.
The Bleak Harbinger is sooo huge that he oftentime is the first thing to be targeted. My personal solution is to use my key that is bound to "target next", I tap that once or twice and I'll have a nearby fighter to attack.
The ideal solution would be to make the Harbinger untargetable as well as invulnerable. And then when he's vulnerable again, making him targetable again.
This would allow for proper use of "target nearest" which is a bind most people use in the game.
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!)
Then i simply stopped opening them and collected 10 boxes before opening them all at once and got 1 or 2 of each random drop. It's SUPER EFFECTIVE!
I opened about three dozen of those boxes recently, everything I collected and not one of those special items yet. It's purely luck based, like getting Legion gear.
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!)
Thats the key for me. It's immersive, it's cheesy in the good way, it feels epic and it is fun. I am happily jetbiking around chasing those exocets and i don't care that they aren't attacking the carrier because fighting them looks good and keeps moving around rather than hovering in mid air like some turn based rpg. Sure harbinger takes up more than the whole screen by the time i'm in range to unleash volterrific fury on him but i'm having way too much fun to care.
You now what this mission does? It gives me a good time. It even has me liking vehicles (bought the wild eagle in the c-store the instant i got online after they became available).
This is good stuff and i'm gonna grind it.
Good Job Cryptic crew!
While she has been rescued
what diabolical mastermind
was behind the devious brain-napping of
the Volterrific Dr Cerebellum?
I had no trouble targeting Harb inger. IN fact all I could target was Harbinger unless I was facing away from him. Didn't matter how many exocets were right in front of me.
Yes the range was odd, I had a 100ft attack and felt like I was trying to land on his head to get close enough.
Get killed by flailing arm(and once by a tentacle) NO problem, ressed at tent and just flew back, its not far. I just looked for the damage signs in the air and went to them.
Opening boxes, I opned my first one and got the cute AF, the next just mods but never fear theres always today for more tries.
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I also didn't like how the ending cut scene kind of swept everything under the rug. It was sort of like WELP, NOW THAT THAT'S OVER WITH. Completely anti-climatic. I think the creature should have AT LEAST had a dying scene but it just popped up as being stone.
Am I the only one thinking this would have been really cool if it was set up with a Comic Series or something? I mean, MC got destroyed. >:L Kind of felt the same way about Hi Pan, maybe even Gravitar. Oh well. I've only played it once so I'm not sure if I missed anything or am remembering incorrectly.
However, the counter is we got some content finally, woohoo! It was a nice taste. I'm not full but maybe it's more to come. Harbringer was REALLY nicely rendered. He definitely had weight and heft. Honestly, I was a tad scared approaching him. Good work on that end Champs team!
EDIT:
Run 2
Got me an action figure woo! After turning down my graphics I didn't lag and thought I would be able to do a sizable amount of damage. Then the conflag range glitch made it so my conflag never touched him. Such an annoying glitch, was practically a growth on his carapace trying to get conflag to work but it never did. The intro cutscene also switches too fast between shots. It really doesn't let us absorb the destruction.
I say stuff and I say things, sometimes together but only when I'm feeling adventurous.
I'm @blu8 in game!
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
I am the harbringer... I be bringin' the hars.
har har har!
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
Also, died 10X more today on my squish when doing it. And loved the whole experience. My only beef? Make the mobs between the shifter and the harbinger necessary. People skip, and that sucks when someone aggros all of the mobs behind those tents.
RIP Caine
From my point of view, they spent more time designing the look of the Epic Boss then actually on the gameplay of the mission.
It's just a mob beat-em-up, go to map point, trigger Harbinger, kill.
Granted, I did like the Harbinger fight, it was interesting with the Barcelona using it's deathbeam to render it vulnerable so you can beat it down.
It's the rest of the fight I don't find interesting.
Especially those blasted fighters, they zip around too much for me to chase them down easily!
Also, the one thing that frustrates me is there's no real way to shoot the Harbinger from range.
You basically have to go up to his head and shoot it.
And then you're too close to his Zerg blast.
I've been one shot a lot of times, experimenting with minimum safe distance.
I didn't find it!
It would be more interesting if someone could put some AA guns around the area, so if you don't really feel like getting in his face, blast him with an AA round instead.
Also, the rewards don't really seem worth it.
I got my Action figure on my 3rd or 4th run.
And judging from the tank on exchange, it's not really worth my time running the alert to try and get one via drop.
It doesn't seem all that special to me, just a tank skin.
If I'm really that interested, I'll just buy one from the exchange.
So, I've got no reason to do this alert now.
Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad
Good overall, a few minor things but hardly worth mentioning again after 9 pages.
Now how about making carrier defence 35+ with the same rewards (q and mods at least, and maybe a chance of something else) so that isnt wasted effort and will get played again.
If you're strictly melee and don't have a vehicle, grab a disc from the tent near the AA gun, where you'll respawn if you drop in the boss battle.
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
I really like the event.
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
So the Hover Disc TP is slower than the device is it? typical.. I was thinking of getting it.
Shame! I'd buy a hoverdisc device if it was just like the ones available in the Harbinger alert.. I really like zipping around on it. I even used it for a while around ren cen before it timed out.
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I said the same. I'd totally pay real money for one of them.
I use it on a character that I wanted to have a grav-bike travel power for. I'm not too sure these giant bikes are quite the right aesthetic. The disc device feels about right, but it doesn't have the look.
I still want to see something in the style of the Flash Gordon Rocket Sled. Y they no make that? It's a one pose, one model re-skin; about as much work as energy slide. I'd love to chase Exocets on one of those.
/signed
As a big Flash Gordon fan, huge retro scifi fan, huge art-deco fan and player of War Rocket i must say that this is a great idea.
Champions art direction has always had a strong element of Art Deco in it from Ren Cen to a lot of the cars on the roads to a lot of costume pieces.
We should definately have some art-deco vehicles in this game!
While she has been rescued
what diabolical mastermind
was behind the devious brain-napping of
the Volterrific Dr Cerebellum?
Grappling/Wrestling Power Set Suggestion 2012-2013
How a Wrestling Power Set Can Work
1) Lemurian Invasion Gazebos are just hilarious.
2) Defender needs a drama coach. The voice actor's inflections were just off: he sounded disgusted when he said "They didn't plan on YOU."
3) Harbinger really needs a bigger attack box. As others mentioned, you have to be hugging him to use your mid-range powers. If I had a melee type in the right level range... *shudder*
4) The event does highlight the Pay-To-Win nature of vehicles quite clearly. Rank three movement powers need to just skip the acceleration phases, the same way vehicles on UNTIL hover disks do, or we need a separate advantage providing this buff. I certainly would spend advantage points on it.
Formerly @Seschat pre PWEmerger. @Seschat on the Titan boards.
Supporter of the Titan Project.
The Exocets have a couple groups that stay put after spawning for almost a minute. If you are at the ritual artifact facing harbinger one is high up on the skyscraper to your right. The other is mid-level on the skyscraper to your left. They both do like three in-place circles before starting to orbit him and are easy for melee to take down. Also, each group has one that occasionally get's stuck on the skyscraper wall and just sits there waiting to be destroyed.
Second, the exocets all orbit harbinger counterclockwise. facing him from the ritual artifact they go from your left to your right. So if you travel the opposite direction they come right at you.
It is easier with a vehicle or a ranged attacker, but I did ok on 4 runs with a heavy weapons character.