Test Discussion Episode 35: Scarlet Speedster Solo

Feedback
I feel like this entire solo could use more polishing work before it hits Live. As is, several mechanics feel unrefined and the instance becomes repetitive very quickly. To leave some feedback on specific points:

Central City
The playing area is too large and the objectives are too spread out. As is, it feels too much like the missions you would normally do in any other incarnation of open world Central City. The Metal Effect itself makes it look like everything is wrapped in tin foil.

Poster Puzzle
If you're just following the in-game bulletin text, it would have you believe that you are "repairing" the displays so you can gain access to the Rogue Room. When I initially saw the puzzles, I though the "Flame" picture was the one that needed repaired. An icon of a flame is a common warning signal on certain types of IT equipment. Turns out you have to rearrange the order of the posters to fix them. The in-game motivation for doing so doesn't make much sense to me.

Also, I'm not a fan of having to backtrack multiple rooms just to pick up "repair" parts. It doesn't add anything to the mechanic except to make it more annoying.

Rogue Gear
I'm not seeing what the point of any of this is supposed to be. It is possible to skip all of the adds between the Rogue Tech room and Red Death. You don't need any of the Tech itself for the Red Death fight. It all ends up being a lot of setup for something of dubious usefulness.

Red Death Fight
The first time someone sees this fight, I think the reaction most people is going to have is that the cogs on the bombs need to be turned. Turns out that isn't the case and you can completely ignore them to focus down Red Death. Red Death himself isn't particularly dangerous. You can dps him down very quickly.

After defeating Mirror Master, I needed to go back to my base. I couldn't find a way back to the mission. I didn't see an operations teleporter in the usual spot to get back. I wound up having to restart it.

Although i understand what you're saying about the size of the central city area it's not actually that much of a hassle because you can actually follow an identical path every single time, it never changes and you'll be at mirror master in less than a minute give or take I'll post a video of the path tonight.

With that being said i agree with you though another solution of course is increasing the number of adds and interaction points instead of reducing the size of the map to make the area busier.

Unless it's already changed since i ran it

There is no reason we need any of the area off to the sides of the museum nor behind it, all that is doing is tying up more asset allocation which could be spent better making central city differ from the multitude of times we've seen it before recycled. Especially since the mission objective counter is deceiving so the first part before the boss like you said can be done quite quickly.

Im not sure it'll ever feel different because all they'll do is put up a wall it'll still look the same to the player.

But sure if you think it'll be better for asset allocation that's fine you can shrink the area, I'm not sure you'll get the differing experience though, maybe they could change the environment lighting lol, perhaps make it feel like is night time instead.

You mean like they did to Earth 3 for the open world

Better than nothing right lol

Feedback:

The cog to skip the cut-scene is delayed a bit so if a player was running to the flash treadmill it won't actually appear, they would have to pause for a moment near the terminal and then it will appear. This could lead to alot of players missing the terminal and having to go through the cut-scene.

are there any feats for the solo planned ?

I didn't see/find any Investigation, Briefing and/or Collection on Metal Gotham City open world. Is this correct?

Feedback
Some notes from the current version of the Solo:


I earned the 15 year bad luck feat on Mirror Master without trying. It didn't seem like he was doing much to spawn mirrors.

One thing the patch notes didn't mention is that grounding portals have been added to each room in the Flash Museum. That means no more flying/running past all the adds. I didn't have any luck sneaking past any of the groups with Stealth. So that means you end up having to clear most of the add groups.

Red Death feels like he is overtuned now if you are going in at entry CR. I can see a lot of people complaining about this fight once it hits Live.

The current incarnation of the bombs feels even more poorly messaged. I'd rather have the timers back.

Even if you are decently geared, I was finding the Red Death fight to be annoying. Red Death likes to spend a lot of time performing the laughing emote and being invulnerable to all damage.

If I'm pressed for time, I think I'll prioritize running all of the other content over running the solo. I'm not finding the current version of the solo to be much fun.