I recently received a request for feedback from Bioware and wanted to share what I sent them with regards to PVE (Operations). I know they are not perfect, and I know Bioware does have smart and invetive developers working there. Just sharing my input.

 

Operations:

1. I like that the normal mode is friendly to new 50s.

 

2. I don’t like that there is nothing new in Hard/nightmare mode beyond more health and harder hitting attacks.

 

3. No desire to do 16 man content as 8 is easier and provides the same ratio of loot (4 pieces drop in 8, 8 pieces drop in 16, 8 is easier, so forming 2 groups is faster and more efficient), don't get me wrong I like a challenge, but would like incentives.

 

4. Loot scaling seems off. Tionese is a wasted set, blue and quest reward armor when hitting 50 is equivalent so it makes sense to skip it.

 

a. Loot should go: 50 Quest items (120) ->Hard mode instances (126) -> 8 man ops Normal (130) -> 8 man Hard/16 Man Normal (136) -> 8 man nightmare/16 Man Hard (140) -> 16 man nightmare (146).

b. If 4 pieces drop in 8 man then 10 should drop in 16 man ops to incentivize the larger group.

 

5. Bosses should have more abilities to make them hard.

a. Evaluate how a normal mode boss can be defeated then adjust for expected player strategies.

 

i. Annihilation droid XRR-3.

1. Normal. Same as now

2. Hard. Increase Health, increase dmg, when players hide behind first turret structure he lets them be safe, then destroys it when he stands up. Repeat again on the other turret and for the last 1-2 missile barrages they players must mitigate damage better and heal more effectively.

3. Nightmare. After players hide the first time he “analyzes group tactics and destroyes both turrets” additionally at 30% health he can activate additional facility defense measures in which two additional turrets appear from the door and begin to track players and hit for high damage, forcing the group to continually move.

 

ii. Gharj.

1. Normal. Same as now.

2. Hard. On pounce 50% of the island (Gharj’s side) becomes unstable and sinks forcing players closer to gharj, and unable to stay out of range of at least one pounce.

3. Nightmare. Same as hard, but after first frenzy stalactites begin to fall at controlled random intervals. If hit players are knocked down, stunned, and pinned until other players break them out.

 

iii. Pylons.

1. Normal. Same as now, 2 pylons

2. Hard. Add a third pylon the group can either split more or transition between pylons. Mobs spawn at all pylons even if players are not there. Mobs do not leave pylons, but stay to prevent activation at that pylon. All three pylons must be solved.

3. Nightmare. Four pylons which require players to transition and fight mobs. Same rules as hard, now four pylons.

 

iv. Council.

1. Normal. Same as now.

2. Hard. More difficult mix of mobs, players must kill all mobs within 10 sec of each other.

3. Nightmare. Two sets of Mobs, players must kill each wave within 10 sec of each other and same mob types do not spawn in same places between phase 1 and 2.

 

v. Soa

1. Normal. Same as now but add beam which projects down on the ground to show crystal position for boss placement.

2. Hard. Same as now but shrink the phase 2 entire floor by dropping the outer ring, maybe decrease ball-lightning damage a bit from current state, phase 3 Same, with smaller area.

3. Nightmare. Same as hard, add in (for every 5 sec a player is in a mind trap Soa heals 1% of his health. Ball lightning now has a timer to explode and cannot be destroyed by running into it but must be kited, keeping players moving. Shorter duration of shield being down maybe 8 sec vice 12. But increase enrage timer to allow for more crystal drops.

 

6. Please fix operation boss bugs.

7. Fix loot issues in operations as well, add in a /roll function and increase timer for round robin. Look at how players raid and distribute loot and give them the proper tools.

I love this guy.

Some of the best ideas I've seen.

Simple and effective and provides a challenge.

Some good ideas. In my signature there's an active topic with gathered feedback.

Not bad, I especially like the ideas for Gharj. The Pylons ideas sound pretty fun too! But...

 

i. Annihilation droid XRR-3.

3. Nightmare. After players hide the first time he “analyzes group tactics and destroyes both turrets” additionally at 30% health he can activate additional facility defense measures in which two additional turrets appear from the door and begin to track players and hit for high damage, forcing the group to continually move.

 

I don't know of anyone running Nightmare that still hides behind the towers. Even without pacify, this mechanic is pretty trivial with current levels of gearing. The missile salvo would have to hit a lot harder to make this meaningful. Go too far and you defeat the purpose of the fight, which is to be a gear check. If the first boss becomes a raid crusher, and you have no means of gearing up to beat him then you run into a pretty big problem.

 

And

 

v. Soa

3. Nightmare. Same as hard, add in (for every 5 sec a player is in a mind trap Soa heals 1% of his health. Ball lightning now has a timer to explode and cannot be destroyed by running into it but must be kited, keeping players moving. Shorter duration of shield being down maybe 8 sec vice 12. But increase enrage timer to allow for more crystal drops.

 

I like the timer/kiting thing. What is the point of shortening the duration of his stun in P3 though? If you get him that far then you either have the DPS to burn him down or you don't. Taking four seconds off each pylon drop and spreading it back out across a longer enrage and more drops doesn't make sense. Also, what happens if you get a pylon drop at the same time he casts mind trap on someone? If you take DPS off to kill the trap, you run the risk of missing your window on Soa. If you ignore the trap, he heals for 2% or more of his health. And what if it happens again? And again?

Edited February 23, 2012 by Talorra

I agree, just some simple adjustments, i see your points on Soa but there should be some minor tweaks they could do to make it more difficult.

I approve of this post, and approve of adding new tactics, not just harder hits and more health.