Ah Colicoid, the pug destroyer.

[Yakuzah]

I think I noticed the gigantic flaw in your battle plan. I noticed that you said you were the last to die early on. Later, you mention that you're the tank.

 

The reason your group is failing is because you're failing as a tank. If your healer is getting killed before you, it's your fault. If the DPS aren't killing in the correct order, it's your fault. If classes aren't CCing the right targets, it's your fault. You're supposed to be the one marking targets and explaining what they mean. It's a PUG, it's assumed that MAYBE one other person has run it before. You're the one that is supposed to, above all, keep the healer from dying because it means death for all of you if they do.

 

If you're the last one dying and you're the tank, it isn't because you're some legendary tank of the gods, it's because you're absolute **** that can't hold threat.

 

Are u Stupid? How can u tank whilst sitting on a laser cannon? I suggest you keep your opinions to yourself and zipped quite tightly into that small brain of yours and comment on things u know about.

 

Its a mini game where u have to use some strategy... LOL What a plum!

[archifikoss]

After reading this thread I can't wait to try out this flashpoint

[Varatesh]

+1 to all above. I'm sad that they didn't make this instance hard mode.

 

 

 

Everyone in my guild groups hated it but I loved how it required thinking. The Starship troopers theme is also awesome <3

 

 

The puzzles and mobs who knocked people to their deaths were also awesome, laughed hard every time someone fell to their death

 

 

The cannons were rough - we probably wiped 4-5 times before everyone got the hang of it (and I'll admit, a little warning on how they worked beforehand would have been nice). Luckily, those of us who caught on quickly were patient and were able to laugh off the defeat. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard at an MMO as the second half of the instance, when we were constantly being pushed off ledges, isolating each other on accident, etc. It really felt like the flashpoint was just being sadistic, which is definitely some compelling design.

 

 

A soulmate! Everyone thought me weird because I started cackling like a madman every time those droids knocked someone off.

Edited January 12, 2012 by Varatesh

[SLTassasin]

hey when you are in the cannon hold your right mouse button and moe turret you do not get dismounted. Just FYI

[Requimo]

Cannon controlls are actually easy to figure out after 1-2 wipes but instructions would be better I mean there is no reason not to do it. Leaving the healer out in the turret phase almost makes it too easy (I'm talking about the normal btw).

 

The turret phase was decent but the actual fun part was the second part. It actually required thinking and teamplay (I'm not talking about "I tank, you dps, he heals" kind of teamplay ) so considering that most of the people lack the ability to perform the basic teamplay second part served a reason for very good laughts.

 

The FP shouldn't be changed, it's original and fun (mostly). Tho end was very anticlimactic. I honestly think that there should be more flashpoints like this (but better designed maybe).

[urborror]

This flashpoint is awful. My 4 man group wiped 5 times on the turrets and disbanded. They could have gradually scaled up difficulty over 4 minutes, but whoever's designing the "MMO" gameplay has a "hardcore" fixation on display in all its foolishness here. For all the stupid criticism on this board, this might be the biggest threat to this game's survival--grouping isn't fun since everything's on hard mode--and this is a poorly designed minigame with no instructions that they saw fit to make "very hard" right out of the gate.

 

I'm not looking forward to even TRYING the end-game raids, especially after hearing complaints on this board.

 

You can't say people wiping "suck" at MMOs, this is just a badly-designed minigame where the difficulty is instantly tuned to "ludicrous." I wipe 5 times, goodbye, it doesn't create yearning in my heart to overcome the content, I'm just done.

[FoxNemhauser]

haven't been here yet, was a bit surprised that you need to use your rotate left/right keys to operate the turret but was relieved to see that mouse is also an option

 

 

anyways - am i the only one who unbinds the 'rotate' keys immediately? (actually, rebinds them to strafe left/right)

[theFreakus]

haven't been here yet, was a bit surprised that you need to use your rotate left/right keys to operate the turret but was relieved to see that mouse is also an option

 

 

anyways - am i the only one who unbinds the 'rotate' keys immediately? (actually, rebinds them to strafe left/right)

 

Why? You can strafe with A/D if youre holding RMB anyway. Unless youre the keyboard turning type (i dont hope so) its perfect that way imo

[FoxNemhauser]

Why? You can strafe with A/D if youre holding RMB anyway. Unless youre the keyboard turning type (i dont hope so) its perfect that way imo

 

i turn my character with my mouse exclusively, that's why i would never use a/d to do it

 

if i had to use RMB to strafe then i would not be able to use my mouse for any other function while strafing (so: no clicking on any slot in my skillbars, no inventory management while runningn and so on...)

 

in my normal play the turn left/turn right is not used at all. (and turning that way is too slow)

 

 

 

p.s. i've just checked the settings, turn left/right is still bound to arrows so i could use that for the colocoid if needed

Edited January 12, 2012 by FoxNemhauser

[ImmortalAlien]

I actually found Colicoid fun and different. Dit it at 47 as Jugg with a 47 Sorc, 45 Merc, and 42 Assassin. It was hard at times, yet that was mostly the hazard course. The turrets were simple with me covering two areas while the Sorc dedicated all his time to heal. Then again, we quickly figured out how the cannons worked, so we were pretty chill with the whole thing.

 

And this was a pug, btw.

 

I think the best strategy for the turrets is to kill the colicoid droids first. They have ranged attacks, which makes them a bigger threat sooner. After that, just kill the closest bugs to you and that should be that. Get a healer that can heal pretty well and it's pretty easy. Never had to get off the gun to taunt and no one died.

[PhoenixMatrix]

The cannon part is completely trivial.

 

Have 3 people on cannon, and a healer who -isn't- manning the cannons.

 

That way people, even squishies can be wacked senseless and it just doesn't really matter. The healer will outheal it, everything dies. Completely trivial.

 

The bosses are typical tank and spanks. The buttons and gates, if you do it slowly (pulling mobs one at a time back to your group) takes forever but is foolproof. It can be done faster if your group is good, but if you have a "typical" pug, just have everyone come back everytime you pull a mob, kill it, move on.

 

There you go. Pugging that instance like a boss.

[ToadSlayingJEDI]

i encountered colicoid for the first time this evening, and I have to say, it is the dumbest flash point from a game design perspective imaginable. first off, the thing you need to do to play it has no relation to anything you did at any point during the game for the previous 40 levels. its a mini game that bears no resemblance to the way the game is played outside of that flash point.

 

it doesn't tell you that the cannons auto-fire. you figure that out yourself the hard way when you try to press a button to shoot and it dismounts you. it doesn't tell you that the only way to rotate the cannon is to use the movement keys. if you try to rotate the way your character normally rotates, by clicking the right mouse button and moving the mouse, that causes you to dismount the cannon. only way to learn that is the hard way too. then you might think, maybe I can heal or use some other non-attack ability while on the cannon. nope, do that and it auto-dismounts you and again. you literally cannot press any button or execute any power other than the move left and move right keys or you are dismounted from the cannon. and since there is no combat log and no feedback on what is happenning, it's quite easy to reach the erroneous conclusion that the mobs are the thing knocking you off the cannon rather than the horrible game design of the mini game.

 

now, don't get me wrong. it is not hard. its just a completely different game then the one you played for the previous 40 levels with no hint of this fact until after you've tried it a few times and discovered the hard way what the rules of the mini game actually are.

 

once you figure that out, it isn't hard. quite the opposite. It is utterly mindless because literally the only thing you can do is press the move left and move right keys constantly as mobs stream toward you. even attempting to do anything else causes you to lose the mini game.

 

it is literally nothing more than 1970 era Atari 2600 space invaders but your cannon auto-shoots for you, with the added "feature" that if you try to shoot the cannon yourself by pressing the fire button, the game has to be restarted from the beginning.

 

fun.

 

that is right, i said it: the gameplay for that mini game has less thought behind it than the original space invaders, and is infinitely less interesting.

 

i was stunned at how ridiculous the whole thing was when i encountered it for the first time. that is a case study for how to design a flash point badly.

 

yes i'm being harsh, but Bioware deserves it. they really should be embarrassed that they allowed that to even go live.

 

I actually enjoyed the change of pace and Starship Troopers feel. It wasn't too hard to figure out, also, I held down the right mouse button to rotate and it never dismounted me once.

[ToadSlayingJEDI]

This flashpoint is awful. My 4 man group wiped 5 times on the turrets and disbanded. They could have gradually scaled up difficulty over 4 minutes, but whoever's designing the "MMO" gameplay has a "hardcore" fixation on display in all its foolishness here. For all the stupid criticism on this board, this might be the biggest threat to this game's survival--grouping isn't fun since everything's on hard mode--and this is a poorly designed minigame with no instructions that they saw fit to make "very hard" right out of the gate.

 

I'm not looking forward to even TRYING the end-game raids, especially after hearing complaints on this board.

 

You can't say people wiping "suck" at MMOs, this is just a badly-designed minigame where the difficulty is instantly tuned to "ludicrous." I wipe 5 times, goodbye, it doesn't create yearning in my heart to overcome the content, I'm just done.

 

Interesting, first time with a PUG, all level 39, never wiped once. I actually thought the instance was WAAAAAY to easy...

Edited January 13, 2012 by ToadSlayingJEDI

[Grunnd]

Wouldn't be so hard if the turrets worked 100% of the time.

 

Half the time I attempt to mount a turret and it just doesn't fire or straight up disappears.

 

That and some turrets seem to do differing amounts of damage, taking more hits to take down the ranged mobs than other turrets.

Edited January 13, 2012 by Grunnd

[KovuTalli]

Ah Nerd rage, Dont ever change.

 

I've done this a few times on my tank at various levels and have seen various different spawns on the turrets - so it may be bugged. Sometimes we'd get one spawn, then another wave and another. Other times we'd get mobs triple or quad spawning at once. - This may not seem hard because of then grouping and the turret AoE but it makes a difference, especially to bad groups.

 

Also as previously said, Turrets can be very unresponsive and/or vary in damage - Not sure why this is as it doesnt seem to be gear dependant? (Maybe Weapon dependant - but not overall "gear score" I use that term very losely)

Edited January 13, 2012 by KovuTalli

[NarutosRamen]

What everyone in this thread has failed to say (or failed to infer) is that the "use right mouse button" means "hold the right mouse button down to turn the character"

 

That is all.

[DarthPunitor]

never had a problem with a pug group. I mean, usually on the first round we wipe twice but after that its ok.

 

and that fp is awesome, a relief after foundry

[oredith]

i found this instance to be hard, if you had half way decent players who played intuitively.

 

to succeed in this instance, the key is to shut down your brain, and play like you're stupid. don't push buttons, don't touch anything, just look at the mobs and hope things happen like you hope they would.

 

it took a while for my friends and i to grasp "omg, it really IS that stupid.. you really don't interact with the canon aside from turning it!"

Edited April 10, 2012 by LexiCazam
Inappropriate content

[Astarica]

The cannon uses your mitigation and HPs but does constant damage, so a tank will always be better at using the cannon than anyone else. In fact you really should wear all tank gear and go into tank stance if one exists for your class since the cannons only care about what your armor and HP is and nothing else.

[hulkweazel]

Wouldn't be so hard if the turrets worked 100% of the time.

 

Half the time I attempt to mount a turret and it just doesn't fire or straight up disappears.

 

That and some turrets seem to do differing amounts of damage, taking more hits to take down the ranged mobs than other turrets.

The reason it kicks you off is because your regular attack is in your first quickslot. When you rightclick, it does the action of your first quickslot, so in this case, it kicks you off the turret so that you can use a normal attack.

 

Yes, it's a bug/oversight with game design. However, it's easily fixed by just taking it off your quickslot for the first part.

 

I've done CWG numerous times and encountered the problem many times on my own character and when other people get kicked off. Taking off the first slot of your quickslot fixes the problem every time.

[Taleek]

The reason it kicks you off is because your regular attack is in your first quickslot. When you rightclick, it does the action of your first quickslot, so in this case, it kicks you off the turret so that you can use a normal attack.

 

Yes, it's a bug/oversight with game design. However, it's easily fixed by just taking it off your quickslot for the first part.

 

I've done CWG numerous times and encountered the problem many times on my own character and when other people get kicked off. Taking off the first slot of your quickslot fixes the problem every time.

 

I have my first attack on my quickbar, and right mouse button works fine on turrets. On topic though, I dislike the way the turrets were handled. It was kind of annoying that pretty much every button dismounts you.

[Stenrik]

I really enjoyed Colocoid, one of my favorite flashpoints.

Both times run with PUGs. The cannon part and barrier parts are easy when you've figured it out. Sure it was more challenging for a PUG than tank and spank, but, still fun.

[DawnAskham]

I really enjoyed Colocoid, one of my favorite flashpoints.

Both times run with PUGs. The cannon part and barrier parts are easy when you've figured it out. Sure it was more challenging for a PUG than tank and spank, but, still fun.

 

I disagree. I'm not leveling an auto-firing turret, I'm leveling whatever class I happen to be playing at the moment, and would enjoy an actual challenge for my class, not some 'how stupid do I have to be' vehicle based combat design.

 

Chalk it up to another failure to learn lessons from other MMOs. While there will always be at least one person saying 'OMG it was the greatest thing ever', I feel the majority of players want to play their class and not some turret / vehicle game.

 

Evidence? Check comments from designers at WoW post WotLK who tried to push vehicle based combat in their game, and ultimately realized that most places, it fails as most players want to play their class, not try to figure out some new interface for one fight.

 

That isn't to say things like puzzles that require thinking or encounters with more than tank and spank mechanics are bad, they are actually very good in my opinion.

 

But forcing players to use 'vehicles' instead of their class while also forcing them to learn a new UI element instead of focusing on providing challenges that require them to play their class well is generally a recipe for player apathy, if not outright disdain, for said design.

 

Edit to add: I find the encounter very easy. The ONLY challenge is explaining how the turrets work to new players and dealing with any glitches or bugs. So no, it has nothing to do with disliking it because it is hard and everything to do with disliking it because it is a stupid mechanic that once understood leads to an encounter that is worse IMO than a tank and spank fight.

Edited April 10, 2012 by DawnAskham

[oredith]

it's not just "vehicle combat"..

 

yes, most people hated them in WoW, but even with the annoying Ulduar fight, at least there was some complexity to the fight.

 

colicoid turrets is completely dumbed down. It really should have been part of the FP dialog:

 

"warning, turrets are highly advanced ( ) and do not require any input from contestants except to turn them facing the opponents"

 

it took several tries to realize anything you did, dumped you off the turret. after finally realizing it's just that simple, it then became a realization of "wow, that's a stupid fight".

[DawnAskham]

it's not just "vehicle combat"..

 

yes, most people hated them in WoW, but even with the annoying Ulduar fight, at least there was some complexity to the fight.

 

colicoid turrets is completely dumbed down. It really should have been part of the FP dialog:

 

"warning, turrets are highly advanced ( ) and do not require any input from contestants except to turn them facing the opponents"

 

it took several tries to realize anything you did, dumped you off the turret. after finally realizing it's just that simple, it then became a realization of "wow, that's a stupid fight".

 

Exactly.

 

Might as well be a big button that appears on your screen. If you hit it when it is green, you win. If you hit it when it is any other color, you lose the button, and possibly lose.

 

Someone who had never seen it would still find it 'challenging', though most players I believe would say 'that's the dumbest thing I've ever seen'.

Edited April 10, 2012 by DawnAskham