Test Discussion Episode 31: 'Stemming the Tide' Solo Story Mission

I worked with systems today to make sure the membership box shows up once for the one time play through of the solo mission and shows up in the Event/Normal. The Event/Normal share loot locks for that. The solo one time play through does not have a loot lock. So on day one you can get 2 membership boxes from the missions. After that you'll be loot locked like normal for membership and boss loot.

OKAY but I already did the pointer mission to get the solo challenge moved to On duty. So all 3 of the missions I was referring were access through the on duty menu under solo challenge and I used a replay for missions # 2 and 3. On Mission # 3 every thing worked but like I said on Mission 2 the only way I got in was using another replay to reset everything and the treasure chest was there behind Mera and Orm .. I went back and clicked it.. then checked my inventory and had no reward box. So I guess I found another glitch? I thought maybe the thing was set up with some RNG involved and maybe the reason I didn't get one was bad roll of the dice.

Various loot lock issues were resolved today. Check back when you see official hotfix notes to the test server.

Ahhh I see OK

Cold should now always freeze Controlled Flash. The reason he didn't before was exactly due to allowing players to crowd control Controlled Flash. I'm unsure if I'll keep that but the combination would allow CF to be immune to CC due to player applied CC and that would prevent Cold from using his. I did some tricks to make it more reliable before but that also made CF completely controllable for long periods of time. I did this during the Trickster section too.

The end meet in the middle may be no CC until the Rogues do their shtick and that's when CF can be CC'd. I also have another idea for Trickster's attack if I can't get it to behave as well as Cold's now seemingly does.

Other fixes tonight (not on Test yet):

• Flash has FX and messages when he regens and when he stops regenning
• Rogues never did get knocked back/pulled before they got their item, CF just went after them which gave players a breather to squash Starros, let their soder cool down, or the heal barrel respawn (in Event mode) but if somehow CF got in between them and the table that could cause a delay. I've increased the radius in which they think they're at the table and the portal so they won't have random physical objects slowing them down as much.
• Rogues now run to Flash to use their attacks on him instead of walk.
• Rogues will use their attacks within 5 or so seconds (based on AI re-calibrating if Flash attacks them and slows them down for a second). It was anywhere from 6 to 10 seconds depending on the the rogue.
• Ocean Master and Mera don't get pushed around as easily and if they do get too far away from the dome they'll come back.
• Membership boxes are fixed between solo story and event/normal story.

This should speed things up and make behavior a bit more reliable. I think there were a couple other things but I left the notes at work.

Mera Missing from the Final Cut Scene

On the Villains version of this mission, Mera is missing from the end cut-scene. My character just fights the air. I've ran the Solo a second time to confirm it wasn't just a one-time occurrence, but unfortunately she was missing both times.

Here's a video of the cutscene I'm getting:

Just got that fixed internally yesterday. For real this time!

The next update should have a method to skip the intro cut scenes for the Event and Normal solo story. Basically, I set up a console outside both boss rooms that you can interact with and turn off the first cutscene, for now. If it goes well I did the ground work for the outros too but wanted to see how this was received before doing the implementation on the intro.

This could cause wonkiness with how the boss fights start (they haven't internally but things go sideways when it leaves the nest sometimes), so check them out and let me know your thoughts on how it's set up. Note that I got a new icon made but it's not in yet, it'll be the Camera icon but crossed out ala Ghostbusters style.

Before you ask, this method is really only possible with solo content. We're still investigating ways to make this an option with multi player content in the future.

Thanks for all of your hard work Charon. I'll try out the changes when they hit PCTest.

Just a heads up - unless a hot fix happens to the next update before you guys get the update, you'll see Ocean Master being not attackable in the Hero version. Villain version works fine.

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hah. I *think* we got the hotfix implemented in time, so this may be a false alarm.

These changes won't be in until next week but the Controlled Flash fight has the Rogue attacks called out more specifically and are more obviously effective (sorry, Weather Wizard is still gonna mess ya up a bit, he's a jerk).

• Mirror Master's Mirror Image will now completely taunted Controlled Flash for the duration it is in play.
• Trickster now summons a swarm of toy copters that will confuse Controlled Flash and juggle him with their attacks. This will also allow players and Trickster to do more CC to him as well for as long as they are in play.
• Captain Cold's ice block encases Controlled Flash reliably (this currently happens as of this build).

Question
On the Hero-side version, am I supposed to take damage from Mera's Tempest Guard?

Question
How is Ocean Master's Bubble reflection damage supposed to work? Is the player supposed to receive damage ticks at set intervals or for every damage tick the player inflicts?

I'll have to look into those on Monday. Have you tried the skipping cutscene setup yet?

The way you handled the visitor duo was great, basically giving players who want out the option to leave BEFORE the cutscene starts.

Feedback
From the patch notes:

Controlled Flash isn't being turned into an ice cube for me:


Controlled Flash was doing a great job of keeping Captain Cold countered/stunned in that clip.

Feedback
"Speak to Mera" should probably be at the top of this list:


You can defeat all of the Rogue Atlanteans first and then go back to talk to Mera.

Feedback
The monitors to opt out of the cutscenes are working so far, but strikes me as an inelegant solution. The "Moments Later" black screen initially made me wonder if something bugged out. I assume that is probably a technical requirement to load the proper assets and set NPCs/rooms up correctly. The approach does save valuable time though.

Still, it is possible to see a "Double Flash" as you are entering the first boss room regardless of your first cutscene choice:


An invisible Controlled Flash appears right after you enter the room while the original Flash is still fighting the Atlanteans.