Hey folks, I spoke to designers Toby McCall and Jesse Sky and this is what they had to say about this:

 

When Nightmare Mode was released, Overload had no activation time, but its ballistic component was not working (which meant Overload could be completely ignored). We corrected this in the patch. In Nightmare Mode, the optimal path will always appear on either the left or the right wall, so a wall will always be available for tanking the demolitions probes.

Very interesting. While I'm absolutely grateful for the efforts to make this fight harder and more interesting (at least for the non-solver), there are some problems with the way this was done. Specifically, putting the optimal path on *either* the left or the right wall is problematic because you need to commit to one side or another almost immediately. This is particularly true of the right wall, since it is one square longer than the left. If you get unlucky and commit to the wrong side, there's no viable way to backtrack in time to make the enrage. So, the best we can do is just reveal left and right sides as well as the second square in the respective files and make a guess based on which ones turned up green.

What I think would be really nice to see would be if the optimal path were always on the left, but not necessarily a straight line. It is actually possible to defuse *one* mine that is not against the wall, so long as it connects to a chain of greens which lead back to the wall with no defusal. This would be interesting, since it would force the solvers to branch out, and also compel those in the minefield to move quickly across multiple squares to the defusal target, following a probe kill (which of course, must be against the wall).

Hey folks, I spoke to designers Toby McCall and Jesse Sky and this is what they had to say about this:

 

When Nightmare Mode was released, Overload had no activation time, but its ballistic component was not working (which meant Overload could be completely ignored). We corrected this in the patch. In Nightmare Mode, the optimal path will always appear on either the left or the right wall, so a wall will always be available for tanking the demolitions probes.

So the intended change is to no longer make this boss a "puzzle" boss. There's no more reason to try and find a solution.

Seriously? Plus, as the previous poster pointed out, if it's "either left or right" what guarantees that we will know at the beginning and not halfway through the minefield when it's too late to turn back? If the solution is "if left is green at first square, then it's left, if right is green at first square, it's right" then that would be doable... however, if you an't tell which path to take from the very beginning... then this is just stupid. Basically picking the wrong door w/out any hint as to which way to pick would be a stupid mechanic. I seriously hope you guys put that much thought into it...

so no cast time is working as intended. think people are very unhappy with the fact that we are losing a mechanic that requires player response and turning this into another tanking/positioning mechanic.

They're probably not going to respond anymore to this post as it seems pretty obvious that this is a bug. Just like the puzzle boss in EV where you had to solve the pillars in a specific order for no reason whatsoever. Finally BW came out and said something like, "Oops... we didn't mean that, but, hey, it's an extra level of depth to the puzzle."

Seriously?...

so no cast time is working as intended. think people are very unhappy with the fact that we are losing a mechanic that requires player response and turning this into another tanking/positioning mechanic.

I agree, it is still easier then HM, mechanic wise.

Tank positioning mechanics are the oldest and simplest mechanics that can be used in a raid, and overall are not worthy of a nightmare label.

There are multiple mechanics in this fight that could have been buffed up to make this fight more of a challenge, but for some reasons BW did the opposite.

To be honest the majority of NIM EC is very disappointing with the added diffculty mainly lying within higher health pools on mobs, and greater amount of damage being done Even Kephess is pretty much the same fight, except you have to deal with 2 warriors with shields instead of one in the second phase... you still use the same tactics for the first and third phase, and for Kephess himself even.

path will always appear on either the left or the right wall, so a wall will always be available for tanking the demolitions probes.

As my guildy pointed out... if you make the solution "all right" then it's physically impossible to get to the console unless the square in front of it (i.e. the 3rd column on the right, 2nd most right to right wall) is green. If it isn't and you take that into account for your "Working as intended" mechanics... then that will be an extra square to solve... meaning enrage issues will be harder on the right.

Seriously BW... this is just terrible...

Simple fix: make the knock back shorter than the diagonal length of a green box but longer than the side.

Pros:

- This change makes the mechanic harder because it would require the raid group to position themselves properly (dps/healers in one corner and the boss nearly on top of them - tank nearby but on the front side of boss)

- Keeps the entire minefield in play as a puzzle

Or, if they really wanted to mix things up, make it conditional:

Overload has a cast bar - if interrupted it knocks back the front 270 cone, if not interrupted it will knock back the back 270 cone. (This would also require the knock back to be shorter than the diagonal length)

This could very well be one of the dumbest things I've seen come out of an MMO design team. The person responsible for this mechanic design should have all of their work audited because they might end up being responsible for half of the idiotic things implemented in this game.

This mechanic change is wrong on so many levels it's mind boggling. Most notably, it removes the puzzle aspect that the minefield was designed around and replaces it with a coin flip (left or right) for success or failure. Secondly it relies on the most overly used boss mechanic in the game, because lets face it, all tanks want to have their character and camera smashed against a wall and have a screen full of zoomed in boss crotch the entire fight.

Sheesh... who thinks up this garbage?

This could very well be one of the dumbest things I've seen come out of an MMO design team. The person responsible for this mechanic design should have all of their work audited because they might end up being responsible for half of the idiotic things implemented in this game.

 

This mechanic change is wrong on so many levels it's mind boggling. Most notably, it removes the puzzle aspect that the minefield was designed around and replaces it with a coin flip (left or right) for success or failure. Secondly it relies on the most overly used boss mechanic in the game, because lets face it, all tanks want to have their character and camera smashed against a wall and have a screen full of zoomed in boss crotch the entire fight.

 

Sheesh... who thinks up this garbage?

Probe droid crotch? lol? You clearly have never done that fight so i dont know why you QQ.

The fact that the encounter is still easy or easier than Hard mode is the worse issue out of it.

Probe droid crotch? lol? You clearly have never done that fight so i dont know why you QQ.

 

The fact that the encounter is still easy or easier than Hard mode is the worse issue out of it.

Not really? W/out interrupts you're forced to hug the wall. Can't really adjust when assassin droids start coming over cuz you're still stuck against the wall.

I disagree that it's easier, but it's a dumb change, nonetheless.

Well if this is how things are going to be, I can't wait to see NiM TFB: Operator IX only casts rainbow color deletion protocol so anyone can cleanse it.

LoL that fight is ****ed up already. Let's say a purple person get purple deletion. Now you have two options:

1. Let the other purple person run in and get rid of both the debuffs, meaning you have no left for the next time purple deletion happens.

2. Say goodbye to the first purple person as their own debuff will not protect them but at least you will have the second debuff ready for the next purple deletion.

Probe droid crotch? lol? You clearly have never done that fight so i dont know why you QQ.

 

The fact that the encounter is still easy or easier than Hard mode is the worse issue out of it.

It doesn't make the encounter that much more difficult, but how on earth can you argue its easier than hard mode? The changes now are, you cannot interrupt the knockback, you have less space to work with, assassin droids cannot be CC'd/moved, and everything hits harder.

What changes are you seeing that makes this easier than hard mode?

That said, I agree with the poster you quoted, its a dumb change because it negates the puzzle aspect of the puzzle.

Probe droid crotch? lol? You clearly have never done that fight so i dont know why you QQ.

 

The fact that the encounter is still easy or easier than Hard mode is the worse issue out of it.

You clearly have the reading skills of a gradeschooler. I was also not claiming the fight was hard. While explaining my opinion that the new meachanic is lame, I was speaking in generalities when I pointed out that tanking boss fights where you plant your back is not fun anymore. Besides, probe droids have legs and therefor have a crotch.

LoL that fight is ****ed up already. Let's say a purple person get purple deletion. Now you have two options:

 

1. Let the other purple person run in and get rid of both the debuffs, meaning you have no left for the next time purple deletion happens.

 

2. Say goodbye to the first purple person as their own debuff will not protect them but at least you will have the second debuff ready for the next purple deletion.

If you have yellow and are targeted by yellow(yellow is an example, can be any colour) you dont die. you basically shield yourself.

If you have yellow and are targeted by yellow(yellow is an example, can be any colour) you dont die. you basically shield yourself.

I died to IX in phase 2 by getting a purple color deletion protocol (I had the purple bisector buff), so at least this week, you do die if you get your own color. It was hard mode IX and it was the only time that it happened. It ended up not affecting us too much. We raised me back up and still finished the fight fine, but it does seem to be a messy bug.

Very interesting. While I'm absolutely grateful for the efforts to make this fight harder and more interesting (at least for the non-solver), there are some problems with the way this was done. Specifically, putting the optimal path on *either* the left or the right wall is problematic because you need to commit to one side or another almost immediately. This is particularly true of the right wall, since it is one square longer than the left. If you get unlucky and commit to the wrong side, there's no viable way to backtrack in time to make the enrage. So, the best we can do is just reveal left and right sides as well as the second square in the respective files and make a guess based on which ones turned up green.

 

What I think would be really nice to see would be if the optimal path were always on the left, but not necessarily a straight line. It is actually possible to defuse *one* mine that is not against the wall, so long as it connects to a chain of greens which lead back to the wall with no defusal. This would be interesting, since it would force the solvers to branch out, and also compel those in the minefield to move quickly across multiple squares to the defusal target, following a probe kill (which of course, must be against the wall).

You can't go into the middle of the minesweeper with the new mechanic because of the fact that you can only have one green square up at a time.

You can't go into the middle of the minesweeper with the new mechanic because of the fact that you can only have one green square up at a time.

Unless they changed something with the patch Tuesday you actually can get 2 greens in a row, however the one you are on does return to red after the one ahead is defused.

Hey folks, I spoke to designers Toby McCall and Jesse Sky and this is what they had to say about this:

 

When Nightmare Mode was released, Overload had no activation time, but its ballistic component was not working (which meant Overload could be completely ignored). We corrected this in the patch. In Nightmare Mode, the optimal path will always appear on either the left or the right wall, so a wall will always be available for tanking the demolitions probes.

If theres need for further proof that BW fired all their developers/programmers, this is it.

Turning a bug into a "feature". gg bw