Masterminds on PUGs, and Other Comedies


BenRGamer

 

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Originally Posted by firespray View Post
With the exception of PPD, heroes fight all those groups at high level too (I don't know of any missions where heroes face off against PPD). We get Carnies and Malta a bit more frequently than Longbow, but we get to fight them all as well.
Some of the vigilante tip missions set you against them.


 

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I think there are a few factors that make Redside a bit harder.

Bank Missions: Mayhems are harder than Safeguards, no question about it. A team running a Safeguard can rush the bank, beat the boss and be out with their shiny new raptor packs in less than 5 minutes. Mayhems are far more likely to be thrown into chaos with the constant threat of ambushes.

Choice: Heroes have more zones and can to a greater extent pick and choose what they will fight. Vazhilok, far more common on blueside, are IMO, the nastiest pre-20 group in the game, but it's relatively easy to avoid facing them unless you want to. Unless a redsider sticks to papers they will run up against a lot of Arachnos and Longbow, who get tough quite early on. Arachnos in particular stop being pushovers from the mid teens when the Mu and Fortunatas start showing up, and from there they only get tougher.

EBs: This not so much as blueside gets more newer content - the Hollows, Faultline and Striga all have them, but the fact that most redside arcs from the mid-20s on seems to include at least one definitely adds to the perception of redside being harder. The shorter redside arcs also mean you'll face one every 3 or 4 missions, as opposed to every 10 in the blueside stuff (up to 40 at least)

The Higher Levels: Blueside gets more Malta and Carnival I think, but Redside gets tons of Arachnos (aka just about every damage type in the game in a single spawn in the late game) and Longbow, as well as PPD and Arachnids.


 

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I find heroes fight a lot more Devouring Earth in the 30s which are a right royal pain, especially for defensive toons. Croatoa mobs also seem a bit tougher than most other stuff around the same level.

A lot of difficulty/perceived difficulty comes from the powersets you play (For instance I've yet to find longbow particularly difficult on any of the heroes I've used that have faced them). I think rather than being easier/harder Heroes offers more choice in what you face (unless you level simply via newspaper missions).


 

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Originally Posted by DMystic View Post
So has anyone here seen a hero die because they followed the Stalker to the mobs?
This isn't limited to blue side, sometimes people just forget, or don't notice. A few weeks ago I was slightly ahead of the team to check around the corners of an intersection on an Oranbega map with my stealthed huntsman. I announced the bosses and succubi, and a friend followed me and aggroed the enemy. This is someone with lots of experience on both sides, and someone who knows all about stalkers, VEATs and stealth. We defeated both spawns, but that player died, and then made a comment about forgetting not to follow a stealthed character.


 

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Hopping into the thread just to snark:

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Originally Posted by DeaconBlue View Post
I am further stunned that anyone thinks that it is difficult for a well built tank to jump into a mob of +4/8 carnies. I'll be happy to show you any time.
You may want to rephrase how you put that - my Fire/Fire Blaster can "jump into a mob of +4/x8 carnies"... typically because the tank is too afraid to do so. Jumping into the mob isn't difficult at all! And since she has Rise of the Phoenix, I can even jump back out of the spawn, too.


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Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle View Post
it has gone from unconscionable to downright appalling that we have no way of measuring our characters' wetness.
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Originally Posted by Brillig View Post
It's hard to beat the entertainment value of Whackjob Wednesdays.

 

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Siolfir, you are quite correct that anyone can jump into a mob of +4/8 carnies. What I meant was that a well built and played tank can jump in, hold aggro, survive and do it again on the next mob. Sorry if I was unclear.

Omnipotentmerlin, we must just disagree. I should point out there there is no such AT as "bruiser". I assume you mean Brute. Deathbadger makes a cogent argument. Do you have a response to it?


 

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Originally Posted by DeaconBlue View Post
Omnipotentmerlin, we must just disagree. I should point out there there is no such AT as "bruiser". I assume you mean Brute. Deathbadger makes a cogent argument. Do you have a response to it?
When did I say bruiser? I have said Tank many times but not bruiser. And yes I know bruiser is the tier 3 thug pet from MMs. I play MMs the most. If I remember right he is a SS/Inv Brute as a pet.

As far as Deathbadger. He is true mostly. The red side mobs tend to have more refinements and more stuff added to them. Be it patches of fire that gets thrown down alot redside. I have yet to see that happen that much blue side. There seems to be more groups of mobs that debuff you redside.

Okay here is a test. Point out what groups of enemies redside that are considered as easy for the blue side. All I can think of are Snakes.

Off the top of my head we got these villian groups redside CoT, Council, Arachnos, Longbow, DE, Vahzilok, snakes, Luddites, gold brickers, cockwork, skulls, very few hellions, 5th, crey, corlax, family, legacy, Wyvern, Mooks, Carnies, Freakshow, Tsoo, Wailers, Banished Pantheon, cage, raiders, Knives of Artemis, oh and the best of them all Nemesis.
Probably missed a few.

Oh and about longbow. You said the toons you play. The only AT, in general, I can think of blue side that doesn't find Longbow a pain is the tanker. From what I have seen very few builds can breeze through Longbow without investments into sets. And you do realize that you "Have to do Papers" to do story arcs. You don't have that blue side. For the most part blue side it is easy to forget about radios. Redside you can't forget about them. To get new contacts you have to do them.


 

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Originally Posted by DeaconBlue View Post
What I meant was that a well built and played tank can jump in, hold aggro, survive and do it again on the next mob. Sorry if I was unclear.
Very true. My dark/dark tank laughed at carnies.

It was kind of funny actually. That was my first high-level character, and I didn't understand why everyone else thought they were so hard.

The next time I got a character into that level range it was a blaster, and I understood very quickly.