Creole Ned
02-18-2007, 11:16 AM
Yes, this is an event already underway and in fact it's one that Circuit and I (the only people left still playing) have already done, but I felt like posting my observations, having done this thing with a few pick-up groups.
First, it's a repeat of the event last year, although they have expanded the rewards you can choose from to include several costume pieces and badges. Last year it was the first time heroes and villains could team up, this year it follows the winter event which offered a much simpler single mission for cross-faction teaming (and was voluntary to boot, you could solo the mission if you wanted).
There are four missions in total, with each faction having a unique second mission that requires someone from the other side to take part to destroy an object only they can destroy. You also can purchase three temp powers that offer huge boosts to members of the other faction. For Circuit and I to do this without relying on a PuG, we had to use two lowbie heroes we had on Pinnacle from the earliest days of the game, a pair of defenders named Professor Flatt and Big Cake.
The final mission has you defend a portal from Snaptooth (the official event mascot, apparently) and his minions on an instanced version of Sharkhead Isle. He first appears as a lieutenant. When defeated, he dives into the ground and reappears as a boss. Upon defeat again, he dives and comes back in his final form as an elite boss. All the while, hordes of Redcaps file in to ambush players.
For the final mission, we brought on our main villains, Iguanatron and Carl the Bat. The Redcaps shredded Carl to ribbons, too spread out for him to reliably control. The little guy died twice. :( Iguanatron managed to stay alive with his brutish charm and self-heal.
However, we now have togas, which look great on lizards and bats.
My most notable run on a PuG was with Lime Interloper (36 kin/rad defender) teamed with a 39 ninja/dark mastermind, a thugs mastermind and an illusion controller. This meant we had 17 pets at our disposal.
Everyone died at least once.
I managed to survive the first time by flying up out of sidekick range when the others had fallen. I thought I'd land on a roof away from the bloodbath and teleport the bodies over for revival. I never saw the snaking line of redcaps below heading back and around the building. They somehow managed to make it up and I had 20 arrows in my back before I knew what had happened.
Once you complete the final mission, you can repeat it indefinitely in order to collect all five unique rewards. We ran it again and managed to not have everyone die.
Overall, I am split on this. I don't like forced teaming in principle (although when it is by design -- a task force for example, it's fine) and swarming redcaps are probably one of the toughest opponents you can face in the game. However, I'll admit it certainly does provide a great challenge and when the ninja mastermind and I ran the first three missions as a duo, we tore through the Council and Arachnos like nobody's business (fulcrum shift + AoE heal = happy ninjas).
I also think the event runs too long. I suppose they are trying to make sure everyone has a shot at it but two and a half weeks is kind of a long time.
On an unrelated note, another real challenge was last night on a PuG with Apple Conundrum (38 fire/energy blaster). He got invited to a team and was warned up front that the leader was running on Invincible.
We ran a CoT mission that was insanely brutal. We had to rescue some woman and the final room where she was being held had at least seven purple Death Mage bosses -- all within aggro range of each other. Yes, it got a little messy.
Amazingly, Apple never died once, although he burned through every inspiration save an awaken and hit the elevator more than once with his health flashing red and a DoT (dots!!) ticking away 30 health every second. The final assault on the room was against five Death Mages. The scrapper decided to run in and aggro all of them at once, then lead them back to a corner for, um, something. Nuking purple bosses doesn't do much but make 'em angry, but we pulled through that fight without having to retreat. As a blaster with a lot of AoEs I chose my targets very carefully. :bg:
Anyway, just a rambling post on this lonely old forum. As you were, people.
First, it's a repeat of the event last year, although they have expanded the rewards you can choose from to include several costume pieces and badges. Last year it was the first time heroes and villains could team up, this year it follows the winter event which offered a much simpler single mission for cross-faction teaming (and was voluntary to boot, you could solo the mission if you wanted).
There are four missions in total, with each faction having a unique second mission that requires someone from the other side to take part to destroy an object only they can destroy. You also can purchase three temp powers that offer huge boosts to members of the other faction. For Circuit and I to do this without relying on a PuG, we had to use two lowbie heroes we had on Pinnacle from the earliest days of the game, a pair of defenders named Professor Flatt and Big Cake.
The final mission has you defend a portal from Snaptooth (the official event mascot, apparently) and his minions on an instanced version of Sharkhead Isle. He first appears as a lieutenant. When defeated, he dives into the ground and reappears as a boss. Upon defeat again, he dives and comes back in his final form as an elite boss. All the while, hordes of Redcaps file in to ambush players.
For the final mission, we brought on our main villains, Iguanatron and Carl the Bat. The Redcaps shredded Carl to ribbons, too spread out for him to reliably control. The little guy died twice. :( Iguanatron managed to stay alive with his brutish charm and self-heal.
However, we now have togas, which look great on lizards and bats.
My most notable run on a PuG was with Lime Interloper (36 kin/rad defender) teamed with a 39 ninja/dark mastermind, a thugs mastermind and an illusion controller. This meant we had 17 pets at our disposal.
Everyone died at least once.
I managed to survive the first time by flying up out of sidekick range when the others had fallen. I thought I'd land on a roof away from the bloodbath and teleport the bodies over for revival. I never saw the snaking line of redcaps below heading back and around the building. They somehow managed to make it up and I had 20 arrows in my back before I knew what had happened.
Once you complete the final mission, you can repeat it indefinitely in order to collect all five unique rewards. We ran it again and managed to not have everyone die.
Overall, I am split on this. I don't like forced teaming in principle (although when it is by design -- a task force for example, it's fine) and swarming redcaps are probably one of the toughest opponents you can face in the game. However, I'll admit it certainly does provide a great challenge and when the ninja mastermind and I ran the first three missions as a duo, we tore through the Council and Arachnos like nobody's business (fulcrum shift + AoE heal = happy ninjas).
I also think the event runs too long. I suppose they are trying to make sure everyone has a shot at it but two and a half weeks is kind of a long time.
On an unrelated note, another real challenge was last night on a PuG with Apple Conundrum (38 fire/energy blaster). He got invited to a team and was warned up front that the leader was running on Invincible.
We ran a CoT mission that was insanely brutal. We had to rescue some woman and the final room where she was being held had at least seven purple Death Mage bosses -- all within aggro range of each other. Yes, it got a little messy.
Amazingly, Apple never died once, although he burned through every inspiration save an awaken and hit the elevator more than once with his health flashing red and a DoT (dots!!) ticking away 30 health every second. The final assault on the room was against five Death Mages. The scrapper decided to run in and aggro all of them at once, then lead them back to a corner for, um, something. Nuking purple bosses doesn't do much but make 'em angry, but we pulled through that fight without having to retreat. As a blaster with a lot of AoEs I chose my targets very carefully. :bg:
Anyway, just a rambling post on this lonely old forum. As you were, people.