Test Discussion Episode 36: Thanagar (Open World)

Metal Marauders don't have a Quest Marker over their heads even though there is an active quest to find/defeat them. I was flying around for a couple of minutes looking for the icon, then i decided to just look for the names and that's how I found them.


During the quest Lanterns In Need - there is no orange area indicating the quest objective location. I have not seen any over head marker on an enemy or item that corresponds to this quest. I managed to assist cpt. T'Larto 1/4, but that was during a different quest so I don't know what/how I triggered it. I have not clue how to complete the other 3/4. I have been trying to kill other enemies in different areas but not finding the correct ones. I have tried metal red lanterns, metal yellow lanterns, combined marauders, metal thanagarians, metal marauders, and cultists of the 7 devils - none complete this quest?

When you get the quest to go to Thanagar, it never points you where you need to go. I know the teleporter is next to Part I,
But some people might get confused.

You update the quest by doing Daily Missions for T'Larto. I'll take a look at the quest text tomorrow to make it more clear.

-Millbarge

I know as a villain I just LOVE doing missions for Hawkgirl and Manhunter. Hawkgirl said we had to gain the trust of the more warlike Thanagarians...rubbish. My group kicked Darkseid in the teeth and took out Ultraman. We can clip some wings on a few Angry Birds. Grumble, grumble, grumble...

Missions Feedback
I've spent a lot of time in the Thanagar Open World this weekend and completed each of the missions many... many... many times. Overall, I think they're mostly fine and reasonably paced.

My least favourite missions are the ones provided by Thrasher. I found his missions to be the least enjoyable, but they weren't terrible or as boring as other open world missions we've had to do in recent Episodes. I think a slight reduction in the amount of objectives needed for his mission would make them more palatable.

Most of the missions can be done quick with very little difficulty, which makes them ideal for the daily grind. But there's one mission which I see being problematic on a busier server with more people participating.

The mission I'm talking about (I forget it's name) is the one where you have to defeat the 3 merged Metal Marauders. They take forever to spawn and really kill the flow of the open world content. On top of that, if other players kill the merged Marauders, you have to wait for them to respawn onto the map, and then go through the process of forming the giant.

If possible, could you make it so that the giant merged Metal Marauders are either already formed, or if you wish to preserve the cool animation, maybe have all 3 Marauders walk towards the giant bubble at the same time (cutting out the initial Marauder who triggers the formation of the metal bubble) so that the spawn times are slower?

The Audio
The Audio in the Open World can be, at time, unbearable. It got to the point where I had to mute the game, which is something I never do.

The issues for me are:

• The overflying jets. They're loud and the sound effect sounds bad the way it just cuts off. Could you turn the volume down on them a little bit and if possible, make the sound effect fade in/out to make it sound like the jets are flying overhead, not just disappearing in mid air?
  
• The damn Boomtubes. I love the Boomtubes in DCUO. I used to love the Boomtube sound effects before this weekend. Every time you render a Boomtube, it makes a sound, which can be brutal if you're flying fast over the map to a certain area. Also, nice touch with the Boomtube's showing the Oan Sciencells interior when a Metalized Lantern enters the map! I like how that ties into the Alert.

Feedback
On the Ligh'Em Up Mission, one thing I don't like is that you are stuck in combat until a green lantern has finished apprehending the target. Here is a demonstration:

Feedback
I was running the "Ligh'Em Up" and "Collect Nth Metal" missions today. Even though there are only a couple of people in the zone and the NPCs are fully populated, I'm finding myself flying around a lot looking mission objectives. There are a lot enemies in the zone, but I'm finding the enemies required for the mission tend to be very spread out. If you have someone else "competing" with you for objectives in an area, it can take a while to complete these dailies.

Bug Report
I keep seeing this weird bug whenever I fight a group that has a Red Lantern and Hawk Guard. After the Hawk Guard flies away, you see a ghostly outline for a couple of seconds:


You can see it at 9-10 seconds in the video.

We've quieted down the Boom Tubes and the planes overhead and being worked on. They'll only fly over every 5 mins or so - and their sound has been fixed.

-Millbarge

Is the outdoor bounty getting a difficulty boost when it goes live? I beat it several times now with only a group of 6 which is not in line with the rest of the large outdoor bounties recently. Not that you really can test with more then that with the lack of players on the test servers. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The Dare to Hope Briefing/investigation can't remember is floating about head height...along with the bushes surrounding it. Can make it a bit difficult for non flyers to interact with.

Feedback
This "Cure Metal Thanagarian" mission can be a pain. If you're flying around the mission area, you'll sometimes have to look through a couple of "rooms" before you find a Metal Thanagarian. Here is an example:



The first room I was in was composed primarily of Metal Marauders.

You can't exactly just do "quick glances" when you're flying around. Most of the NPCs in the area are covered with the metal effect.

Feedback
This is feedback for the "Guiding Light" mission.

The metal effect doesn't show up very well on the Red Lanterns. They are still very "red".

Exactly what is going on with this mission?


You defeat the Red Lantern and the Green Lantern still has a shield up. Apparently he is "stuck" in his own shield for some reason and you have to free him by moving the shield ball. Is that the correct interpretation? Things get a bit more confusing because another Green Lantern shows up to take away the Red Lantern. Why doesn't the new Green Lantern help out his buddy?

It might make more sense to encase the Green Lantern in a red ball.