HRose posted that 4 hours ago. Surprisingly, he posted it here, not on his blog.
It’s a throwback…
You must gather your party before venturing forth!
I’m trying to quick play a lot and I’ve got the chance of getting into a non bugged mission at maybe 50%. That’s not to say that missions bug out at 50%, only that quick play feeds you into missions that people have dropped out of because they’re bugged.
Heck yes, Collosus changes. Being able to revive with shield out and faster shield switching will be a great boon.
Saw a pretty neat suggestion on the EA forum today to have the colossus shield redeploy automatically after a skill is used or firing a gun. Not sure that really works for guns (because of the animations to put the gun away and take it back out), but would be a cool idea for gear, maybe.
I don’t think I would like this. Using your shield correctly seems to me an important part of Colossus gameplay. Just having it out permanently is “lazy” and not the best way to play I feel. But YMMV of course. The biggest issue with shield use is the sluggish deployment right now, especially when fighting Titans I feel they are not responding quick enough to properly protect from Titan area effects. I hope the patch will fix this.
Yea, colossus play is all about how much you can use the shield. Learning the class is about learning to fly with the shield on, how to change positions with the shield on, defending yourself with the shield, attacking with the shield. Everything else is using your skills, but these are not that different than the other classes, or powers in other games.
My main issue with the colossus shield is that it’s inconsistently usable with other skills and weapons.
Some shoulder weapons can be used while the shield is deployed, but others can’t, and it’s not clearly indicated which are which.
This one is pretty negative one, but it really goes into detail of what fails and why.
Dude, that guy says that combat is bad, which is pretty much the opposite of what virtually everyone says.
And I mean, I played this game. Saying the combat is bad, is wrong. The combat is extremely good.
A fair share disagree, from what I read. Myself included.
From what I remember about Colossus, isn’t there only one shoulder weapon that shoots while the shield is up, the Lightning Coil? Because it’s a kind of self-targeting, passive, turn it on and forget about it kind of weapon?
If so, it’s not really “some weapons can be used while the shield is up and others can’t”, it’s more like “you can’t use weapons while the shield is up with one exception”.
Oh and, whoever says that combat is not fun in this game is certifiably crazy. :) You can nick this game for many things but the sheer minute to minute combat fun is not one of them.
This guy makes one mistake that I think a lot of folks make.
He suggests that enemy weapons are hitscan. In reality, they aren’t hit scan, but they have some slight tracking.
What this means is that simply wiggling around on foot will be largely ineffective for dodging most shots.
But that’s not how you should be moving (unless you’re a colossus). Other Javelins should be using their dodge… like, you should be using your dodge CONSTANTLY. It cools down almost instantly. You should be using it as your primary movement when in combat.
And when you do this, you actually can dodge shots, because while they track, they won’t track far enough to catch you after a dodge, much less after a full chained dodge like with the interceptor. But you see when he’s playing the interceptor, he’s rarely if ever using his dodge at all, and he’s never chaining the dodges. This is a major mechanic of the interceptor (of all javelins, but the interceptor more than any, since he has 3 dodges). When you chain the dodges, you can instantly dash extremely far, and you can cross the field really fast.
I see a lot of folks playing this like destiny with more skills… that’s not how it’s designed to be played. In combat, you should be constantly dodging and flying around.
Again, I think I only saw this actually explained in the game itself ONCE, as a little popup info thing, that I easily could have missed since it was during combat. But poorly explaining their mechanics is classic Bioware.
I think that’s actually the shock coil, which is an AOE damage? The Lightning coil shoots in front of you… but ya, I think the lightning coil does work with the shield up. But the shock coil doesn’t? It’s very weird.
Yeah, this game needs A LOT more explanation of the various combat mechanics.
Depending on loadout, my Level 28 Storm can be a god on the battlefield to being completely worthless.
Fire = Great. Explosive.
Ice storm = Great damage, and it freezes opponents, including turrets!
Lightning = CRAP. CRAP. CRAP. CRAP. CRAP. I outfitted my Storm with lightning and did a fraction of the damage that I did with Fire and Ice Storm. I assume that’s because it’s supposed to be a trigger for combos, assuming another member of your team uses Ice to freeze them. But who the hell has that kind of coordination in public matchmaking? You can’t even change your loadout after the expedition begins; only at Fort Tarsis.
I’m not thrilled with the normal gunplay so far. Flying, hovering, ground movement, and using the magic powers is all good, but the normal gun combat is boring. Destiny at least got the shooting right by having enemies with varied and interesting attack patterns combined with guns that mattered. Here, it all feels pretty lackluster.
It doesn’t help that the loot sucks, so higher-level guns feel as insubstantial as the regular ones.
What javelin are you playing?
Some javelins leverage guns much, much more than others. Hell, some loadouts more than others.
For instance, when playing a storm, I rarely ever use my gun. I’m always shooting my space magic all over.
For my interceptor, I’m using my gun a lot more, but it’s usually a short range beatstick, like a shotgun or a machine-pistol, while I’m dodging really fast around targets. The ranger I tended to use as a long range shooter in a more traditional destiny like shooter role, but also because I had limitations in how many skills I had unlocked for it.
No, it is lightning coil (detonator). Shock coil (primer) can’t do that. It’s why people have been using the lazy lightning coil/flamethrower build. Names are too darned similar.
I think I did quickplay 4 times last night and got stuck in one bugged instance. I’ve seen it a few other times as well. What was weird about last night’s bugged instance was that I couldn’t even quick the mission. Pressing/holding F just brought up the warning and then did nothing. I had to quit out of the game to clear it.
To answer my earlier question about quickplay selecting the last mission, I did get the same mission all 4 times, and it was the last one I did. Granted my pool isn’t that large (I’m maybe 6 missions in?), but I would’ve expected at least a few of the others.
I did also get hit by a bug that I saw during the last demo. Quickplay #3 completed normally, and when I completed #4, the mission end was a replay of #3, complete with the same team (not the ones I grouped with from #4) and my XP ended up at the same point as well (I hit level 8 in #3, and it showed the same in #4, even with the “new javelin unlocked” message). I believe the loot was at least different.
It looks like they’ve posted official day 1 patch notes (instead of just rough versions). This included a lot of what already has been posted, but also has some balance adjustments in it too:
Day One Patch Notes
Day One Patch Notes
High level fixes
- Decreased loading times for older disk drives
- Fixed many infinite loading screens
- Fixed multiple challenges not tracking properly
- A number of issues have been fixed that were causing players to disconnect or crash
- Weapons and gear now have numbers present for modifiers
General Fixes and Improvements
- Loot Reveal and Expedition Summary now correctly play during the end of expedition screen.
- The gather party mechanic has been made more lenient in a number of situations
- At the end of expedition screen players will no longer get stuck on “Recording Victories” or “Skipping All”.
- Game no longer hangs in Javelin menu when unlocking the second, third or fourth javelin
- During the mission “What Freelancers Do” dying after killing Junkmaw & freeing Arcanists leaves you unable to progress, this has been fixed
- Challenges now unlock for players at the correct levels
- Fixed some camera issues during cutscenes
- Legendary Contracts can now be accepted from the Social Hub contract board
- Some enemies have had their shield values decreased
- Loot now properly drops for players who are downed
- The texture quality on the NPC Prospero has been improved
- Final boss of strongholds now drop loot instead of only being shown on the end of expedition screen
- Fixed the time outs on echoes and relics to prevent griefing and to handle disconnections properly
- Players can no longer fall through the floor during the 3rd trial in the Fortress of Dawn
- Completing the tutorial expedition will now show the correct Ranger appearance
- After disconnecting, rejoining an expedition will now place you back into a squad if you were in one previously
- Corrected an issue where players could not interact with each other in the launch bay in certain circumstances
- Corrected an issue during the Mission “Bad Deal” where outlaws won’t spawn, blocking progress
- The start of expedition screen has been improved
- Addressed a variety of situations where killing enemies does not properly progress world events
- Opening a chest now increments Tomb of the Legionnaire progress for all squad members present
- Scar snipers can no longer shoot through Storm Shield
- Corrected an issue where players would get stuck on the end of expedition screen in some situations
- Players will no longer get disconnected if joining the “Finding Old Friends” mission while the cinematic is playing
- Addressed a number of situations where players can get stuck on the environment in the launch bay
- Increased the damage of the electric status effect
- Corrected an issue where the Shield of Dawn could be crafted with less materials then intended in some situations
- The Platinum Mission feat now grants completion as intended
- Status effects can more reliably be applied to Titans
- Fixed loading animations on Marksmen Rifles
- Players can now access the Vault from the Forge
- Swimming into jellyfish underwater no longer leaves a visual effect stuck on players.
- Idle animations will no longer sync up over time in the Launch Bay
- Haluk is no longer dual-wielding canes in the epilogue scene
- Corrected an issue where players could not interact with each other in the launch bay in certain circumstances
- Fixed an issue that could cause players in the launch bay to have identical emotes and be unable to use them
- Interceptor melee ability animations will no longer stretch out in certain situations
- Corrected an issue where the default Ranger appearance doesn’t preview in the forge in some situations
- All animations now play as intended in the Forge
- Players can now enter the Tomb of Gwanes while in a party
- The default Javelin wear state has been changed from “Dirty” to “Old”
- Sentinel Loyalty 2 text no longer incorrectly states that it will lead to a larger vault
- Picking up ammo from the ground now properly gives you 30% of that ammo back into both the current magazine and the maximum spare ammo
- Fixed a bug where some global (Javelin Icon) inscription bonuses were not being properly applied to the Javelin and other gear/weapons.
- Fixed some issues that could cause the Armor Pip count on the UI to break and not display properly
Strongholds
- Fixed an issue that would cause a Stronghold server crash after defeating the last boss
- Temple of Scar - Players can no longer get stuck in the mined tunnel in the explosives room
- Temple of Scar - Players can no longer be blocked from entering the explosives room due to fog wall
- Fixed Tyrant Mine so people that join the stronghold in-progress do not end up locked away from their team
- Adjusted lighting in Tyrant Mine underwater section to make it easier to navigate to the exit
- The Swarm Tyrant will no longer get stuck in the side cave entrances in some situations
- Corrected an issue where players would spawn into different areas of the Tyrant Mine in certain situations
- Implemented more safeguards to stop players from going AFK in Strongholds
Challenges
- Only Masterwork items can now be used to progress Masterwork challenges as intended
- Corrected an issue where some Challenges track progress simultaneously instead of incrementally, as intended. (ex: Blast Missile I and then Blast Missile II instead of both incrementing at the same time
Gear and Weapons
- After having 1st pilot unlock suit after tutorials, creating a new pilot and going to forge no longer causes load screen hang
- Ice damage bonuses are now correctly applied on ice gear
- Suit-wide bonuses from inscription are now functioning properly
- Players can no longer salvage equipped items
- Javelin specific gear and/or weapons are no longer able to be used on javelins they aren’t intended for
- Corrected an issue where in some circumstances Masterwork Components do not have any inscriptions
- The Endless Siege Masterwork Autocannon no longer displays a damage increase of 0% in its tooltip
- Suit-wide specific weapon ammo bonuses coming from infusions are now correctly applied
- A Network Error Message no longer appears when opening an item chest in the second tutorial
- Colossus shoulder gear will now share the appearance of the rest of the javelin as intended
- Deadeye has increased spare ammo 10 -> 20
- Cloudburst has had increased damage 16.3 -> 21
- Torrent has had increased damage 22.2 -> 28.6
- Lightning Strike’s pre-visualization will now accurately depict that the explosion snaps to the ground.
- (Ranger) Inferno Grenade base damage 130 -> 175
- (Interceptor) Cryo Glaive base damage 20 -> 50
- (Storm) Living Flame base damage 50 -> 60
- (Storm) Glacial Beam base damage 150 -> 120
- (Storm) Arc Burst secondary damage 100 -> 150
- (Ranger) Pulse Blast base damage 225 -> 300, and now deals extra damage to Shields (previously did extra damage to Armored).
- (Ranger) Blast Missile now properly scales up in damage as the item level increases
- (Interceptor) Melee attacks now have some minor resistance penetration
- Large Area of Effect abilities will better register multi-kill activities for challenges and medals
- Spark Dash functionality has been significantly improved when the target enemy is at a different height (above/below) the Interceptor.
- Several gear pieces that had missing primer or detonator icons have been fixed.
-
Interceptor
- Tempest Strike - Detonator Icon
- Spark Dash - Detonator Icon
- Venom Spray - Primer Icon
- Detonating Strike - Primer Icon
-
Colossus
- Lightning Coil - Detonator Icon
- Shock Coil - Primer Icon
- Flamethrower - Primer Icon
-
Interceptor
- Several improvements have been made to ensure gear use on PC prioritizes turning the Javelin towards the reticle when used rather than casting in front of the Javelin’s current direction.
Javelins
- The Colossus javelin is now able to activate its shield more quickly after using an ability or firing a weapon
- The Storm javelin now reacts to getting hit when its shields are up
- Fixed an exploit that allowed the Storm’s ultimate attack to be used more times than intended
- The Colossus exo can now shield and revive at the same time
- Interceptor Combo Aura has been increased in power and now has a damage over time component
- Ranger melee now has a cooldown when striking in the air
- The Target Beacon ability now correctly seeks targets
- Spark Dash and Venom Spray now target based on player cursor instead of character facing. This should also improve the travel path of Spark Dash.
- The Colossus will no longer be knocked out of the sky in some situations when the attack was blocked by their shield
Combos + Status Effects
- Combo indicator icons above creatures now are correctly removed when detonated.
- When a Storm detonates an electric status effect the chained electric effect now correctly deals damage.
- Combo damage now penetrates resistances
Crafting
- Non-Masterwork materials purchased from the crafting store now show as their proper rarity instead of incorrectly showing as Masterwork
- A number of javelin components that had different icons for their recipes and the actual items are now the same
- The Battle Cry gear recipe now has the correct description
- Fixed Spark Beam gear having the wrong description when being crafted
- Crafting recipes are now sorted alphabetically
- The items in the crafting store are now sorted by type to be clearer
Controls
- Additional Mouse and Keyboard control improvements have been made
UI
- Some conversations were not popping up the reputation points post conversation completion, this has been fixed
- The squad screen now displays the correct information for each player
- Fixed a number of issues where subtitles will no longer get stuck on the screen after dialogue has finished as often
- Settings should no longer reset upon exiting and restarting the game on Xbox One
- Motion blur can now correctly be turned off
- The Electric Status Effect now shows scaled damage properly
- An option has been added to hide the Squad Member HUD
- The edge of the compass will now pulse to indicate enemy locations
- A notification has been added in Fort Tarsis if a player’s vault is at the cap of 250 items
- On the “Repair the Strider” step of “A Cry for Help” the search radar has been adjusted to correctly lead the player to all 4 tools
- Primer and Detonator icons have been added to all Interceptor gear
- Corrected a user interface issue where a player’s ultimate would show as available when it isn’t
- Toggling the HDR option now properly prompts the Apply Changes button
- Player banners should now display correctly
- Camera shake slider has been added to settings menu
- Players may now track 10 challenges instead of 5
- An option to adjust screen boundaries on consoles has been added
- Changing a player banner through the banner menu now properly saves the selection
- Health, cooldowns, and key bindings now light up on supported keyboards
- Players will now receive more clear messaging when a squad is disbanded or are kicked from a squad
- Squad leaders will no longer always show as ready
- The icon for players in a downed state will no longer appear in cutscenes
- Cypher Annotations will now appear for more than one player if they are looking at it simultaneously
- Removed mentions of respawning on the player UI when they die in a restricted respawn area
- The Player Banner now updates immediately when updated from the squad screen
- Fixed a number of situations where a combo will trigger but no combo floating text appears
- Pressing esc to pass a notification screen no longer opens up the in-game menu
- Quick chat messages will no longer appear from an ignored player
- Removed a message from the mailbox which incorrectly stated that messages will be removed after 3 days
- A number of inscription icons have been updated to properly reflect whether they are Javelin specific or not
- Corrected an issue where players could not change loadout names on PC
- Players no longer need to exit and re-enter the forge for loadout names to update
- The on-screen VOIP indicator which shows a player speaking will no longer be active if that player is muted