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Calacoid War Game (40 FP) is a perfect example of how not to design a flash point


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Calacoid War Games very first encounter is a perfect example of what not to do when designing a flash point.

 

The very first encounter uses a very confusing mechanic in the turrets that has not been used before and that no one knows how to use initially. There is no tutorial, you're just thrown into a wipe with no idea how the turret functions. In the future when adding new mechanics such as a vehicle/turret style encounter some quick instruction would be helpful.

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Calacoid War Games very first encounter is a perfect example of what not to do when designing a flash point.

 

The very first encounter uses a very confusing mechanic in the turrets that has not been used before and that no one knows how to use initially. There is no tutorial, you're just thrown into a wipe with no idea how the turret functions. In the future when adding new mechanics such as a vehicle/turret style encounter some quick instruction would be helpful.

 

Granted I've only played WoW but they don't generally give tutorials on how to beat the dungeons. Deadmines comes to mind where you have to have 1 guy get in the Robot and hold off the adds while everyone else takes out the boss. There's no tutorial for this, people had to figure it out.

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Took us a bit to nail the first encounter last night, but felt rather rewarding when we did.

 

Honestly, I'd completely disagree with you. It's a perfect example of how *to* design a flash point. Felt very different to the typical MMO dungeon experience.

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Lol, you expect flashpoints and game encounter mechanics to come with a manual? What kind of challenge is that? It completely ruins the point. You are supposed to have to figure things out on your own.

 

When the entire encounter is based off of a gimmick of being in a turret where you are given no explanation of how to control the turret? Yes i expect a manual.

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Anyone remember the days where you couldnt find out everything ever on the internet?

 

I agree with a previous post it is more fun and more rewarding to figure it out for myself rather than be spoon fed tactics.

Much to my Guild leaders annoyance I never read up on tactics in WoW, just turn up and hope for the best ^^

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Anyone remember the days where you couldnt find out everything ever on the internet?

 

I agree with a previous post it is more fun and more rewarding to figure it out for myself rather than be spoon fed tactics.

Much to my Guild leaders annoyance I never read up on tactics in WoW, just turn up and hope for the best ^^

 

Get in a turret

 

50 mobs spawn

 

Go

How do you shoot the turret?

How do you aim the turret?

 

Respond within 5 seconds or you wipe.

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Wiping is not a big deal. How many times did you wipe before you figured it out?

 

6 before we just quit and went back to questing because it just wasn't worth continuing.

 

We figured it out after 4 attempts, but the encounter is extremely buggy and inconsistent.

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Not impossible to complete. The firing rate is slow, but not unmanagably so. Biggest problem is that the guns just refuse to fire unless you're aiming directly at a creature. But that can be overcome with, well, practice.

 

We successfully completed the FP last night. First encounter admittedly took almost a dozen wipes till we had memorised every single spawn point, but we got it down. Got some good loot for it, too.

 

Subsequent encounter was interesting.

 

Final boss was quite fun and relatively challenging, too.

Edited by Anthya
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I kinda agree with OP for the factor that wiping tons of times really shouldn't be mandatory in order to learn boss fights. In order to succeed, maybe, but if something is so complicated that after an attempt you don't have any idea what's going on, that is poorly designed.

 

It wouldn't be a big deal if wiping didn't get so damn expensive. It is very pricey dying half a dozen times in a single FP. The death of your whole group shouldn't be a mandatory stepping stone of FP progression. It should be that happens when you mess up, or don't quite understand the encounter yet, or a combination of not performing on par and a surprise/mistake or two.

 

I don't want a manual, and I don't want boss fights to be easy. I want them to be designed in a way that lets a group take a leap of faith and try their best to figure it out with guaranteeing they'll be slaughtered just to get a small taste of the strategy required. That's just stupid and poor designing.

Edited by Mhak
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Not impossible to complete. The firing rate is slow, but not unmanagably so. Biggest problem is that the guns just refuse to fire unless you're aiming directly at a creature. But that can be overcome with, well, practice.

 

We successfully completed the FP last night. First encounter admittedly took almost a dozen wipes till we had memorised every single spawn point, but we got it down. Got some good loot for it, too.

 

Subsequent encounter was interesting.

 

Final boss was quite fun and relatively challenging, too.

 

The fact that it seems every other attempt someone had an issue getting onto the turret to begin with was a huge headache (Ive had it where you "mount" the turret, but cant control it. I've had to click it 1-3 more times before I actually control it). That almost guaranteed a wipe.

 

Combine that with the fact that the shooting speed is highly unreliable and many of the ranged cociloids spawn already shooting at you and you have a recipe for disaster. The group I run with has never wiped to any boss (even the first time we ran into the Republic Boarding Party in MR) and we struggled for about 1/2 a dozen attempts before we just gave up and went back to questing.

 

Extremely aggravating and not enjoyable whatsoever aside from the first attempt when it still had a novelty feel to it.

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Granted I've only played WoW but they don't generally give tutorials on how to beat the dungeons. Deadmines comes to mind where you have to have 1 guy get in the Robot and hold off the adds while everyone else takes out the boss. There's no tutorial for this, people had to figure it out.

 

Deadmines taught you how to use the robot on the trash before the boss.

 

Theres a difference between handing someone an instruction manual and easing them into a new mechanic.

Edited by Lightmgl
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Calacoid War Games very first encounter is a perfect example of what not to do when designing a flash point.

 

The very first encounter uses a very confusing mechanic in the turrets that has not been used before and that no one knows how to use initially. There is no tutorial, you're just thrown into a wipe with no idea how the turret functions. In the future when adding new mechanics such as a vehicle/turret style encounter some quick instruction would be helpful.

 

Go back to WoW

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Hokay, now here's the deal. Having a tutorial and having the game tell you what to do are two different things. Mordeqai thinks that you should learn how to do things on your own.

 

Mordeqai thinks that people who think they need a manual for everything will not prosper in end game content.

 

Mordeqai's 1 Credit is worth more than your 1 Credit.

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I love this response, it shows true ignorance :)

 

True ignorance, seems more like 0 tolerance for the WoW babies who need hands held. IMO kids like this are the reason MMO's general content has dropped in quality just to be more fitting to those who cant figure out a mechanic on their own or are all pissy when they need to put in work to get a kill.

 

Personally I couldnt be happier that a boss got under your skin this badly that you chose to post on a forum so we can all laugh at your stupidity and obvious lack of skill.

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True ignorance, seems more like 0 tolerance for the WoW babies who need hands held. IMO kids like this are the reason MMO's general content has dropped in quality just to be more fitting to those who cant figure out a mechanic on their own or are all pissy when they need to put in work to get a kill.

 

Personally I couldnt be happier that a boss got under your skin this badly that you chose to post on a forum so we can all laugh at your stupidity and obvious lack of skill.

 

You win the internetz!!!

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True ignorance, seems more like 0 tolerance for the WoW babies who need hands held. IMO kids like this are the reason MMO's general content has dropped in quality just to be more fitting to those who cant figure out a mechanic on their own or are all pissy when they need to put in work to get a kill.

 

Personally I couldnt be happier that a boss got under your skin this badly that you chose to post on a forum so we can all laugh at your stupidity and obvious lack of skill.

 

I wouldn't poke fun at his skill. I will bet he is killing end game content before you.

 

Regardless, if the fight was not so insanely bugged, the encounter might be more "fun". Maybe add a few practice bugs so everyone feels the turrets better and then bring on the waves.

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