This started as a comment on Masonry's blog post today, but as it got longer and longer... well, I'll take up my own space instead of Mason's. :)
On Mayhem
We seemed to get a Longbow ambush right when we reached the bank. These ambushes were huge. The only time it seemed smaller was when, as Keen had suggested, we took out a SWAT van before getting to the bank. May have to try and do that in every Mayhem from now on.
The Mayhems do seem a lot harder than they used to be. It felt like bonus time was a lot harder to come by, the Longbow were individually a lot tougher, and just getting to the bank, dealing with the ambush, cracking open the vault, and dealing with the hero and subsequent ambush... that was taking up all our time.
We'll have to figure out a better way to handle it, I guess.
On Story
Mason commented: "Storyline didn't seem to be happening, I'm not sure why." I have a different point of view on the subject: Everyone is laying down the groundwork for storyline. Here's what I've seen...
Kain X' - Brainy, scientific type, hates/fears Longbow, did something terrible to them to make them hate him, desperately trying to keep his identity (and more?) secret, not enthusiastic about what he has to do to make a living in the Isles, but does it anyway.
Lunatrix - Used to be a huckster but turned into the real deal, doesn't like to be touched, is a big fan of money, doesn't like snakes, thinks Ryu might be more insane than Bomber, still has a few qualms about breaking certain laws, may have a conscience buried in there somewhere, and kind of likes Bomber.
Ryu - Is more than a bit curious about the Rogue Isles, has a hatred of nuclear weapons, seems to be trying to see to the needs of each member of the team, dislikes the Snakes but was offended by Luna's comments about "flying snakes", his servants return almost immediately after being killed, and he says his servants have "duties" to perform.
Suicidal Bombardier - He's nuts, was in the Air Force, flew a helicopter, hates submarines, has taken a blind and fast liking to Luna and one of Ryu's servants, loves weapons, and treats Ryu as if Ryu is the leader of the group.
I know there's more I'm not getting yet, but since these are brand new characters, I don't expect we'll really get to the "meat" of the story-telling 'til the late-teens, early 20s in level.
On Tactics
The tactics Mason suggests (setting up the traps, sending in the pets, calling them back, battle ensues) are exactly what I was hoping we'd get to. Unfortunately, Mason and Keen are still fighting like tanks, running into the badguys and fighting from close range. With the team make-up we have, range and traps are our strongest assets, and we're not using them to best effect yet. In my opinion, we should be pulling more, relying on the pets to "tank"/draw aggro, and trying to take out the badguys from a distance as often as possible, using the traps to create a field of death between us and them.
Oh, and Keen and Mason keep trying to "save" the pets. Silly. :)
As far as I'm concerned, we can take as much time as we need, especially with larger groups. After all, how many times did E, Fyre, and Mason stand around waiting while Frost "gathered them up"? I don't see any difference in waiting a minute while the Bomber lays down his traps and then either sniping to pull or sending the pets in and then pulling them back out (probably the safer way to manage the aggro).
In Conclusion
These are just some thought and ideas that occured to me while playing and while reading the post on Masonry's blog. Obviously the team is still young, both RP-wise and mechanically, and everything is subject to change.
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4 comments:
Excellent post! I'm forgetting that we've got to do the set up before the actual BOOM/Wee happens. Our story is not in media res.
Once a tank, always a melee. It's why he's suicial, doncha know. I have enough toys to make a decent welcome mat so we can try sacrificing the pets now. Yeah, we save the pets. Kain even heals the mortar, too.
Kain doesn't run into mobs. He just follows Bomber. There's a slight difference here. ;)
Kain thinks Bomber is *totally* crazy with his tactic (throws himself into the group to set the acid mortar), and he feels he needs to give him support. One of his jobs is to be a healer after all. So he jumps on his back to heal and "share" the aggro with him so he doesn't go *splat*. He will keep doing that (following Bomber) until he stops going suicidal. Will he ever? :P
But yeah, Kain runs into mobs when they're Longbow. His chance to play suicidal every once in a while. :D
I did figure that following Bomber was at least part of the reason Kain kept ending up in melee range. :)
Oh, forgot about the "heal the pets" line. :)
Kain is a former doctor. It's hard for him to understand that they'll "come back," it's just that he can't stand seeing them pummeled around "for free." He's somewhat disturbed by that. It's mostly an IC reason, because I as the player don't mind them the pets going suicidal. :P
But IC, Kain will try to heal the pets when the team itself is in a safe situation. Playing him, I may fail a few times, but if I get good at it, less will be the times you'll need to re-summon them, and IC, Kain will be not so disturbed. ;)
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