Propagator Core XR-53 Lair Boss PTS Feedback - STORY MODE

Hi everyone!

Please answer the following questions about the new lair boss, the Propagator Core XR-53. Feel free to also leave overall general feedback. 

If you are streaming or recording your gameplay while on PTS, we would love to check out the VODs. Seeing players experience the content in real time is incredibly helpful, so feel free to post them here or DM them to me.

Additionally, players will be getting a very early look into 7.6 content at this stage. To set expectations, know that the content that will be released at this time is still a work in progress and not polished. As an example, you may see placeholder or unfinished assets and art.  

If you are reporting a bug, please clearly state that and if necessary, include steps that would allow us to reproduce said bug. 

Important notes for this current iteration of PTS: 

• Players can either fly to Ilum and walk through the phase door or use Group Activity Finder (this will be the only Encounter listed in that window). 
• The name of the Encounter is called Relentless Replication
• Veteran Mode is currently blocked.
• Trash mobs have not yet been implemented. 
• The final model for the boss has not yet been implemented.
• Gear vendors are available in the Supplies Section of both Fleets and near the phase gates. 

Please feel free to answer as many or as few of these questions as you’d like. All feedback is valuable.

• Did you enjoy fighting the Propagator Core XR-53?
• What was your operation comp by role?
• Knowing that the art is still WIP, did you find that an ability was confusing after you had seen it multiple times? Put another way, did you find what the boss was doing to be intuitive?
• Did you find the phase transitions clear? 
• How did you feel about the clear time of the fight?
• Did you find that the small skulls effectively communicated an increasing sense of danger? Did you notice them during the fight? Were they helpful or distracting?
• Were there any abilities that felt too strong or too weak in damage output?
• Were there any abilities that you felt were too complex, specifically for a Story difficulty encounter? 
• Did you feel that the Propagator Core XR-53 was sufficiently difficult for Story difficulty? Did you find it significantly more or less challenging than other Story mode Operations?
• Did you feel that the difficulty of the Powerful Construct and Imperfect Construct were appropriate for Story mode? Did you have difficulty dealing with either enemy?
• Please mention any bugs that you encountered, and please include any steps required to reproduce that bug. 
• Do you have any other thoughts, comments, concerns, or criticisms about the Propagator Core XR-53 fight?

Thanks! 
 

On 11/5/2024 at 4:27 PM, The_Hightower said:

Some further thought regarding the Lethal Strike ability and Tanks, since this appears to be intended as a tank swap mechanic.
As far as I presently understand it, the debuff on dps and heal are not intended as part of the mechanic when played as intended by the devs, but as punishment in case of incorrect positioning etc.

In our only run with tank, the tank had already one debuff stack and was one-shot by the second Lethal Strike (546k), (no idea why the quality of the screenshot is so bad, sorry for that):

The Lethal Strike is executed roughly every 12 to 15 seconds (cf. below) and the debuff lasts 45 seconds.

Hence, assuming playing with two tanks.

Situation A

10 sec The first tank gets Lethal Strike 01, second tank taunts

28 sec The second tank gets Lethal Strike 02, debuff on the first tank still has 27 sec left

41 sec The second tank gets Lethal Strike 03, mitigation using Power Yield/Force Shroud seems required, debuff on the first tank still has 14 sec left

54 sec The debuff on the first tank still has 1 sec left, second tank gets Lethal Strike 04 and very likely dies

 

Situation B

10 sec The first tank gets Lethal Strike 01, first tank retains aggro from boss

28 sec The first tank gets Lethal Strike 02, mitigation using Power Yield/Force Shroud seems required, debuff duration reset to 45 sec, second tank taunts

41 sec The second tank gets Lethal Strike 03, debuff on the first tank still has 32 sec left

54 sec The second tank gets Lethal Strike 04, mitigation using Power Yield/Force Shroud seems required, debuff on the first tank still has 19 sec left

69 sec (1:19 min) The second tank gets Lethal Strike 05 and very likely dies, debuff on the first tank still has 4 sec left

It appears that the damage of Lethal Strike can be mitigated using sonic rebounder (but the stack is still applied). We tried that in our zero tank runs, but it should work with tanks too. This appears to require 2-3 pyro PTs. However, forcing a specific line-up for an sm boss does not seem to be appropriate. It's ok for nim bosses (e.g., PT stacking at Nahut/Scyva). However, in contrast to Nahut nim, where the tank does not die when having full live in case a rebounder is missed, with this boss, the tank will simply be one-shotted when already having some stacks of lethal strike.

The time of death in the above situations may be extended using sin tanks, two cloaks tactical, cd reduction on force cloak and Shroud of Madness (2 seconds force shroud upon force cloak), but this will not be sufficient for the entire fight. Furthermore, it would again force a specific line-up which, as already indicated above, does not seem to be appropriate for an sm boss.

Playing with tanks and having one or more dps/heal soak(s) the debuff, cannot, imho, be an intended mechanic.

In case one dps soaks all debuffs, after receiving the second debuff this dps does no damage for the rest of the fight. However, why should a dps play a tank mechanic?

In case a dps should not soak more than one debuff, four dps would permantly have one stack of the debuff, i.e., four dps would only do 25% damage for the rest of the fight since the debuff lasts 1 min and the Lethal Strike occurs every 15 seconds or less. The "soft enrage" (cf. my previous post) will very likely not be beatable in said situation.

So please let us know how this mechanic is meant to be played.

Hey there, 

Wanted to chime in momentarily and say that the team is aware of the issue with Lethal Strike's cooldown being lower than intended. It'll be fixed in the next build we roll out (exact date TBD). 

Thanks!