Dev Discussion Episode 47: Overrun Area 51 Duo

There has been some mysterious activity over at Area 51!

Welcome to the thread for the new Duo! Area 51 has been infiltrated and an outbreak of experiments has been let loose! Work with Martian Manhunter to contain the breach!

This thread is a home for your feedback and thoughts.
Enjoy yourselves and thank you for playing!

- Beta

All of my feedback on the test discussion still applies.

Why is one of the briefings in another instance? (The Brainiac Ship Raid) ? Was a bit confusing, because i found all of them in the duo beside the last one...

The 2 different feats in the duo called Bizarre Responders and Surjunn Generul need to be adjusted because all the barrels dont even spawn in within 30 seconds, the feat is impossible on all levels. The time needs to either be increased on how long it will take to heal him or the barrels need to respawn immediately after we pick them up. Tried this feat in event, reg, and elite and its just not possible within the time parameters because of how long it takes for the barrels to spawn even when picked up immediately.

As I mentioned on the test server thread… the duo fest to find all 3 bizarros which I think is only doable after them mission is over

Sometimes you get two loner bizarros instead of 3 of a different kind… don’t know if it’s intended or not but my second run yesterday I was lucky to get all three of the different t kinds so it tells me it’s a bug

is the 30 second feat bugged? Others and I have tried many attempts and could not get it to work.

Regular Duo

First boss - I really liked not fighting any trash adds to get to this boss. It was really satisfying to be able to beat down the weak little bisnatch to start things off. I don't recall rockets or air strikes being a part of superboys powerset. overall this is what a regular boss fight should be.

Second boss - I find it annoying that second boss takes a break from the fight to go outside for some fresh air. Either stay in the room or start outside, no need to go for a stroll in the middle. This boss bottles too often. Through multiple runs I find myself bottled several times in a row without gaining any reprieve or immunity after breakout.

Final Boss - I appreciate being able to skip the adds and move straight to this fight. The heal bizarro part is undesirable. Why cant we just knock this boss out and be done with it? This is a good final boss fight for a regular duo.

Feats. Why so few feats? the feats in this duo aren't real feats. the 4 feral zarros is up to RNG, the 4 loner zarros is just wandering around after the boss fight, and the heal bizzaro in 30 seconds doesn't seem to be possible.

Adds - Stop with the endless stuns from trash adds. Having a group of 3 trash adds throwing the same stun non stop is not a challenge, it is just plain annoying.

Overall this is a good regular duo that is what all duos should be. Melee attacks are easily doable on all 3 bosses. This can be complete fast and there are 3 bosses to get loot from. not a lot of health or mechanics to frustrate the casual player. I would rate this duo 90/100. Easily the most replayable duo released.

To avoid getting bottled you have to lunge at him when the Skull pops. Gotta be a fast lunge tho

The feat for defeating the Feral Clone Zarros is not random.
Finding the 3 Clones (not 4) after beating the boss, that is random.

Can the gear selection screen be made available during the cut scenes? One of my favorite things to do during the cut scene is make the decision between the green gear ring or the other green gear ring. I don't like having to ponder this decision after the cut scene, it messes with my mojo.

Ads have too far-ranged aggrometers, you fly past and all they do is follow you and sometimes kill ya.

No loot drop during cutscene, always a good time to pick it rather than afterwards.

The cc in this episode mimics the gay episode of Dakota city. It doesn’t seem right that ads are more threatening than a boss.

First boss has weird mechanics, since when did he have rock moving powers and a laser beam.

Second boss cutscene at start is hit or miss, just turn it off please. The pellet drones are a bit much at times and are too annoying. And why does the t have to move locations like that.

Last boss is weird. Why damage him if we gonna heal him. And the healing barrels don’t like to break unless it’s in that tiny *** circle, is that intended.

The only good thing from here is the lack of doors that lock you out of fights.

Bug - If Superboy wants to do his laser spin thing and is somehow interrupted with CC, he just stands there with invulnerability until the fight is reset.

Are we sure the newest change to the test server regarding the Serjunn General and Bizarro Responders feat is enough? 50 seconds in elite to heal bizarro and 60 seconds in regular? I could see the regular being enough but only 50 seconds in elite? Unless the barrel respawn time was also increased i dont know if thats enough time to get it done. Only time will tell i guess but it just doesnt sound lie enough time. Increase the spawn rate of the barrels as well.

Also had this issue today with the laser spin/Unstable phase, was on my Might Mental Battle Controller build when it occurred (which probably caused the CC). During invulnerability Superboy will restore health. Reset the fight by allowing the playable character to die to Clone adds scattered around the map.

Event Version -
Damage from adds and bosses needs to be significantly dialed down in this version. Low levels should not be instakilled by every group of adds and every bosses. This is an EVENT version not Reg.

Health of adds and bosses needs to be reduce. Again, low levels do very little damage and it is not desirable to be in the duo all day watching them spam tap range attacks. 15 million boss health seems like a bit much for potential players that don't even have a full powerset available to them. This is an EVENT version not Reg. My low level toons don't spend time in this version for the challenge.

Remove all stuns and control abilities from adds. Three red tornado effects, red vortexes, and debris fields are overly used. Also if the bosses are going to use melee weapon attacks, the range of damage should match the players range of damage for each attack. Bosses tap melee first attack should not hit for 80% health. This goes for all versions and instances. One lunge attack should not knock out full health players.

Is superboy supposed to do eyebeams nonstop until we wipe? How long does this phase last? I have never seen this before in regular. He went into a eyebeam death spin and did not stop, at all. The only way to reset was to wipe and start over. He did not do the eyebeams a second time.

Passive Power Regeneration - Is this nerfed in this version? I normally can spam powers without stopping in all other instances and still have a mostly full power bar. In this version I barely get through one rotation before running out of power. Seems off when compared to other content.

Is it intended that if you get bottled on 2nd boss that a Pellet Drone can still damage and potentially KO you? Seems like a cheap mechanic that you don't get shielded from the Pellet Drone attacks. (also the combat log for the Pellet Drone attacks is incorrect)

Yes the mechanic can be negated if you lunge (or CC) the second boss at the right moment, but its still a little unfair.

Also is it intended that you can re-enter boss fights in this duo (in all versions) after being KO'd? It significantly dilutes any difficulty throughout the duo.

The Heat vision attack wasnt working when DLC was released, now it got fixed. Thats probably why youre seeing it now for the first time (or it could also be skipped if the burn is good enough).
Anyways...to avoid the attack you have to hide behind the boxes around them. If you dont hide, yes, he will KO you, even in reg version.

Also...as other have said, the Heat Vision attack can get bugged if Superboy is CCd at the moment hes about to do it, and he will just stand there without taking any damage. Forcing players to reset the fight and start over again.

Please make us be able to knock Superboy out of his heat vision attack again. The whole sequence is not threatening at all and is nothing but a huge timewaster, on top of also being annoying by Superboy healing himself during it.

Please make us be able to knock Superboy out of his heat vision attack again. The whole sequence is not threatening at all and is nothing but a huge timewaster, on top of also being annoying by Superboy healing himself during it.

Here’s a bug for ya, on last boss area after we beat down bizarro and now have to heal him, Martian Manhunter is now focused on Bizarro and moves him around the map rather than attacking actual enemies. Bizarro gets knocked off the ledge and behind consoles making it difficult to locate him and bring the healing barrel to him.

Another note on last boss and this kinda puzzled me, can the pathing of the ads be looked at cause they can’t walk up the stairs for sheet. They can make it up but then walk off the side and repeat themselves just walking up only to fall off. Maybe readjust something so they don’t do that?

Yeah, this “update” was unnecessary and makes the duo more complicated with boss resets and a waste of time standing around.