The Colicoid War Game

[Viertel]

How many of you out there have gotten high enough to test out this instance?

Of those that have, what are your thoughts?

Personally, I think it's single-handedly the best group dungeon I've ever come across out of every single MMO I've played.

Most of the flashpoints have been really well done overall from an overall design flow. Story aside, they flow really well and the bosses slowly being to introduce more complex abilities and concepts to players from older MMOs (or even non-MMO players) so that they're not bombarded with raid style bosses while trying to get a handle on their class. Black Talon/RepublicPlace introduces the style of the runs, Hammer Station tweaks up the difficulty a bit on the bosses as heals become available. The Athiss starts to introduce more Elite packs along with a final boss requiring movement, and by the time you're getting through Cadimemu, Boarding Party, and The Foundry you're picking up on the essentials of "Don't Stand In Shit" and "Run Away From Boss".

By the time you've gotten to TCWG you're ~40 and have a decent grasp on things. So the developers decided to throw you a curve ball and give you something different. From the start you're manning turrents to mow down waves of Colicoids, then you're running through a few heavy packs of Champion monsters where they game does it best to remind you "You Need to Crowd Control". The difficulty's fairly steep through the first half of the flashpoint in comparison to all the previous ones because both the first and third parts of the instance are puzzles and implemented really well (PUZZLES IN MY MMO!? GTFO!).

It's a really cool design to me because it shows that Bioware isn't going to just rely on making X instance filled with Y bosses and Z trash all the time and will give us a unique one here and there. Sure, there's a few fights and there is a boss at the end, but the reward is after 'solving' the puzzles as well.

I figure I'd throw some tips out there so people can have an easier time with this place versus trying to say "It's Bugged!" when they don't steamroll it right away. If you prefer to not have anything ruined, don't read below the break.



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1) 1st section - 3 people take the turrents, healer stays out and stands in the middle.

2) 1st section - Have everyone facing inwards (not outside like you'd automatically go for) so that everyone is covering each other's 6 and you maximize firepower (the shots go through multiple monsters). Focus on the droids first as they're long-range shooters and that's where your damage intake will come from.

3) 2nd section - There's a Champion patrol that walks up to the first actual trash pack (which is 4 elites), but he has a slow path (4-5 minutes, roughly). Either CC the rest and pull him, or wait until he leaves and fight the first pack.

4) 2nd section - The Elites gain a buff that gives them complete immunity (10 seconds) randomly. This makes the packs take a long time if DPS is low.

5) 3rd section - It's a puzzle gauntlet, there's a patrol that respawns every 3 minutes, and people will have to stay behind in staggers to open the way forward. It's fairly easy and just realize that it's better to leave a DPS behind to operate a gate than to leave a tank or healer.

6) 4th section - "Arena" fight with two minibosses (one can be CCed), a third miniboss, and then the final boss comes out.

[Deleted]

Yeah I agree, the flashpoints were all pretty cool and the difficulty sure is incremental. My only objection is that so far running Hard Modes the emphasis on enrage timers seems to be a little bit overdone.

[Migey]

The Flashpoints are mostly good and challenging, yet mechanics are still a bit lacking in creativity. Also, half of these instances seem designed for 3 dps, not 2. It feels like they designed the encounters and afterwards said ''btw lets make 4 man groups instead'' and rolled with it. Still pretty good though.

I do wish there were more interesting mechanics though. Admittedly i've only done 4 Flashpoints but in all of them, i have only fought ONE boss with anything even remotely resembling an interesting mechanic, and he wasn't too hard (final boss in Athiss. We even managed him with an under-level healer who didn't have dispel or cleanse).

They really should have copied WoW and Rift in this. Both of those games had plenty of difficult, inventive mechanics, yet so far and by reports even later on this game doesn't have many.

Of course, i could be griping about nothing since im only halfway to 50. If i am, sorry.

[Vampyrr]

The hardest part about the flashpoints (dungeons) is finding people to run them. The lack of a dungeon finder or good way to do lfg REALLY shows up here. Spamming general in Imperial Fleet is soooooo 2007 there needs to be a better way.

[Viertel]

Yeah I agree, the flashpoints were all pretty cool and the difficulty sure is incremental. My only objection is that so far running Hard Modes the emphasis on enrage timers seems to be a little bit overdone.

To play Devil's Advocate, it's not like raiding hasn't devolved into that for most of WoW post-Vanilla. That it would bleed over into 5 man dungeons in other games isn't surprising and it *does* actually force people to L2P fairly quickly.

The lack of a combat log makes it almost impossible though to see what you/the group is doing wrong sometimes.

[Razael]

The Flashpoints are mostly good and challenging, yet mechanics are still a bit lacking in creativity. Also, half of these instances seem designed for 3 dps, not 2. It feels like they designed the encounters and afterwards said ''btw lets make 4 man groups instead'' and rolled with it. Still pretty good though.

I do wish there were more interesting mechanics though. Admittedly i've only done 4 Flashpoints but in all of them, i have only fought ONE boss with anything even remotely resembling an interesting mechanic, and he wasn't too hard (final boss in Athiss. We even managed him with an under-level healer who didn't have dispel or cleanse).

They really should have copied WoW and Rift in this. Both of those games had plenty of difficult, inventive mechanics, yet so far and by reports even later on this game doesn't have many.

Of course, i could be griping about nothing since im only halfway to 50. If i am, sorry.

Agree 100% done all FPs except The Foundry (FML i know, still couldnt get a group going for it) and very few bosses actually have mechanics. That said i haven't yet done heroic modes for these so they might change.

[Deleted]

The hardest part about the flashpoints (dungeons) is finding people to run them. The lack of a dungeon finder or good way to do lfg REALLY shows up here. Spamming general in Imperial Fleet is soooooo 2007 there needs to be a better way.

I think the same, but so many people complain about WoW and how LFD has ruined the server community because you can join up with people on different realms, run a dungeon and never see them again. It's QQ'd about all the time, I'v seen it in so many threads since the thing was introduced. Bioware could do it and people would complain about it on SW too, damned if they do, damned if they don't

[Vampyrr]

I think the same, but so many people complain about WoW and how LFD has ruined the server community because you can join up with people on different realms, run a dungeon and never see them again. It's QQ'd about all the time, I'v seen it in so many threads since the thing was introduced. Bioware could do it and people would complain about it on SW too, damned if they do, damned if they don't

Trust me even back in vanilla there really wasnt a community to 5mans. If you didnt bring friends it was spam til you got a whisper then youd invite the first guy you brought and tough it out through the dungeon. Could just do a lfd that was server only and avoid that qq nonsense to an extent. Id rather have "no community" and be able to find groups then have "community" but not run anything from lack of interest. There is no server wide lfg channel to broadcast in they are specific to area such as planet or IF. So people who might want to do a run to interrupt questing cant interact with someone in the fleet or another planet.

[Deleted]

Colicoid Wargame is kind of retarded. Its a fun idea, but the turret bosses feel as if they aren't properly tuned or something. There are 4 cannons provided but just try doing it without the healer staying out (hint = you'll die). The turrets also have no abilities, it simply point it at the bugs and wait for them to die: could've used a few activations like most vehicle events we see in MMO's. The rest of the instance is decent though. The gauntlet section however is made quite laughable by Sith Inquisitors or Jedi with force push or anyone else who can knock back.

But Flashpoints in general get a lot better from the Foundry onwards. Up until then they're mostly run of the mill bosses sometimes with a gimmick. Foundry gives you longer, more complex bosses with multiple phases and it only gets more interesting from there. Darth Ikoral in Red Reaper is a great fight for a 5 man; makes me excited to see what the lv50 FP's have in store.

[Deleted]

Spamming general in Imperial Fleet is soooooo 2007 there needs to be a better way.

I think already there is something called a "guild".

I kind of enjoy having to go back to old school. Build myself a good rep on my server as a healer. Increase my friends list as opposed to WoW where I anonymously ran LFD and only spoke to my guild.

[Vampyrr]

I think already there is something called a "guild".

I kind of enjoy having to go back to old school. Build myself a good rep on my server as a healer. Increase my friends list as opposed to WoW where I anonymously ran LFD and only spoke to my guild.

And if your guildies arent interested you are fucked. You cant force them to go whenever you want to do a run especially if they under or over level something. But I like how you say use your guild but then complain about talking to your guild. And of course it's easy for healers to find people but not everyone is a healer so for those who arent you get the short end of the stick.

[Deleted]

The hardest part about the flashpoints (dungeons) is finding people to run them. The lack of a dungeon finder or good way to do lfg REALLY shows up here. Spamming general in Imperial Fleet is soooooo 2007 there needs to be a better way.

LFD is basically what killed wows comunitee and has made it no longer fun. being forced to meet people and become friends is one of the best features of this game.

[Vampyrr]

LFD is basically what killed wows comunitee and has made it no longer fun. being forced to meet people and become friends is one of the best features of this game.

Remove the sparkles from your eyes most times it goes like this, 1.) Spam general for 15-30+ minutes for a group 2.) Finally fill up and zone in 3.) Run the Flashpoint with varying successes with not too much chatter other than what to cc and ready? 4.) Finish Flashpoint say thanks for group 5.) Drop group and go back to questing/pvp

It doesnt build much community to just invite random people to your group and leave as soon as the run is done. LFG with other servers is the same exact way. People should take off the rose tinted glasses methinks

The cross server did kill the pvp communities but lfd didnt have much effect on the pve. There wasnt much of one for just 5 mans the big communities were guilds and guild alliances. And that was mostly for raids.

[Deleted]

Remove the sparkles from your eyes most times it goes like this, 1.) Spam general for 15-30+ minutes for a group 2.) Finally fill up and zone in 3.) Run the Flashpoint with varying successes with not too much chatter other than what to cc and ready? 4.) Finish Flashpoint say thanks for group 5.) Drop group and go back to questing/pvp

It doesnt build much community to just invite random people to your group and leave as soon as the run is done. LFG with other servers is the same exact way. People should take off the rose tinted glasses methinks

The cross server did kill the pvp communities but lfd didnt have much effect on the pve. There wasnt much of one for just 5 mans the big communities were guilds and guild alliances. And that was mostly for raids.

Or

You could try not acting like you have autism and talk to your group!

[willowe]

My major problem with dungeons atm is the fact that my server was 'created' after launch, so most people are still hitting 20.

I'm 29, and there's only like 10-20 people in Alderaan at peak times. Yet there's ~200 in Taris and Coruscant.

So, to me, it's not lack of interest, it's being above the leveling curve. I still don't think my server has a level 50. Only AH items that are 40+ are from my 4 guildies who are 40-44.

[Deleted]

Remove the sparkles from your eyes most times it goes like this, 1.) Spam general for 15-30+ minutes for a group 2.) Finally fill up and zone in 3.) Run the Flashpoint with varying successes with not too much chatter other than what to cc and ready? 4.) Finish Flashpoint say thanks for group 5.) Drop group and go back to questing/pvp

It doesnt build much community to just invite random people to your group and leave as soon as the run is done. LFG with other servers is the same exact way. People should take off the rose tinted glasses methinks

The cross server did kill the pvp communities but lfd didnt have much effect on the pve. There wasnt much of one for just 5 mans the big communities were guilds and guild alliances. And that was mostly for raids.

Yeah... see i am not talking about nostalgia, maybe i wasn't clear enougha bout the fact that i am playing SWTOR And my OPINION is that it not having a LFD tool is one of the best bits of the game, i have become friends with more people in the past week of playing TOR then i have playing WoW in the past year. if you dont like spamming /1 for ages for groups, why dont you reroll healer or tank? problem sloved!

[iceberg265]

Really you think CWG is the best? Hmm I haven't done it yet but so far I thought Essels was #1 and Taral V was #2. I haven't heard anything about CWG so far, I will have to give it a try.

[Phoolish]

Bit of misinformation in the thread in regards to the turret event in Colicoid. You do not have to have a healer outside of the turrets. You do not have to face inward. If you have 4 competent players who all watch their own zones, it is no problem to kill all the bugs that spawn. I have only ever done this in pugs and that is the only way I have every completed the event. It may be easier to do it the other way, but it is obviously intended for all 4 players to man a turret and it is not difficult to do it that way.

[Glorious Leader]

Remove the sparkles from your eyes most times it goes like this, 1.) Spam general for 15-30+ minutes for a group 2.) Finally fill up and zone in 3.) Run the Flashpoint with varying successes with not too much chatter other than what to cc and ready? 4.) Finish Flashpoint say thanks for group 5.) Drop group and go back to questing/pvp

It doesnt build much community to just invite random people to your group and leave as soon as the run is done. LFG with other servers is the same exact way. People should take off the rose tinted glasses methinks

The cross server did kill the pvp communities but lfd didnt have much effect on the pve. There wasnt much of one for just 5 mans the big communities were guilds and guild alliances. And that was mostly for raids.

Heres the funny thing. If you make the effort to add people and you know actually communicate with them, youll see how much of a network you can build. If you just treat the whole thing as some mechanical process than your effectively using a looking for group button without the button. Trust me when youve finished the dungeon or the heroic quest, offer people your services as a healer/tank/dps and add them to your friends list. Check up on them every couple days if you need a spot filled. Stay in touch, keep communicating. You'll see it works.

[Tore]

I did a Hard Mode-The False Emperor last night (no one in the group had done it on normal, we just jumped in to HM) and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that it was the best non-raid PvE experience I've ever come across.

The fights had relatively simple yet incredibly deadly mechanics and had ludicrously tight enrage timers. We wiped on each boss several times, had to pop stims, and had to come up with our own strategies since guides aren't available yet. It was so much god damn fun. The boss fights in that instance felt important and had actual relevance to lore which greatly added to the epic feel.

In short, it was the perfect balance of difficult and doable. The atmosphere was great and it ties into the story beautifully. I loved it.

I am only saddened by the fact that I now know that flashpoint and as such I wont live the same experience a second time.