Replaying the Hex quest broke my game

[Maximilian]

Important Message to any player reading this:

Avoid redoing the 1999 Hex quest if you have Steel Path enabled or have a Coda adversary active. To avoid any possible issues make sure your Coda is defeated (or any other adversary to be safe) and you are not in Steel Path mode before you attempt the quest. To be truly safe, I'd just avoid redoing the 1999 Hex quest till the issue has been properly resolved.

***

I decided to replay the Hex quest (since I played it on my old PC and wanted to see the proper visuals for it). When I started the quest I had an active Coda Adversary and had Steel Path enabled.

These carried over into the quest, causing massive issues.

Every time a mission is triggered inside the quest, the enemies are at Steel Path settings (there is another possible cause, see ending of the second post). This made the tank unbeatable in the first mission. The work around for this was to exit the game and restart it, this only removes the Steel Path settings for the current mission and will be reapplied on the next one.

On the second mission (exterminate and find Entrati), when dong the workaround would cause the mission to loop back. After the mission I would get my Coda to do his typical log in taunt and then the mission will ask to be repeated. The only way past this was to do it at the increased difficulty (with only the loaner frame and my current drifter). This took almost an hour.

However, the wall was hit with the survival mission since it's also looped if the workaround of restarting the game is used. However, it is impossible for me to do this one at the increased difficulty.

The loaner frame just doesn't cut it as it can't kill the enemies fast enough to get enough life support to sustain yourself, as not enough scrubbers spawn to sustain yourself on those alone. My drifter can't kill fast enough either, and will usually fail at 5 minutes left (so not even close).

***

Now, I am stuck on the third mission, can't progress, restarting the game will let me do the third mission but I will just have it loop back and need to redo it again at the increased scaling. I can't access my arsenal (at this stage of the quest, you can't), so I can't even try different drifter builds that might let me finish this. And naturally, I am locked into the quest.

In short, the game is now technically unplayable, and my account for all intent purposes is stuck. And after 3 hours of slogging through this to finally hit a wall, has left a very sour taste in my mouth.

Edit - Issue has been surpassed, but barely. The bug still exists, and may affect another players.

[Maximilian]

Important Message to any player reading this: Read the beginning of the OP to avoid recreating this bug for yourself.

Update:

I was able to pull off the third mission, my already equiped AMP had half (the more important half) of the best set-up I would need, and the right Tenno school for it. If I had a different set-up I am not sure what I would have done.

The 4th mission also has this issue, but since you can access your arsenal you can easily deal with the Steel Path modifier. The fight in the truck can still be tricky, but any passive survival set-up (which my main frame has) will easily handle it if you are careful (need to use the cover).

The missions after that are not affected by this issue.

Overview of the issue:

It seems the Steel Path modifier (or something else, see end of message for alternative cause) will be applied to the first 4 missions (Arthur's one, Exterminate and track down Entrati, the Survival, and the one you can do with your normal frame with the truck fight) if you have Steel Path enabled when you start the quest.

Mission 1 on Steel Path modifier is impossible as Arthur doesn't have enough ammo to deal with the Tank (and it also one shots you).

Mission 2 and 3 are significantly more difficult, with 3 being especially bad as it has a timer (unlike the second mission which you can just slog through it slowly).

Mission 4 can be handled since you regain your arsenal but the boss fight can still cause issues as you can't use abilities. Didn't test if re-logging has an effect, as I was able to clear it on my first try.

Restarting the mission by logging out and logging back in will remove the +100 level modifier from the first 3 missions (didn't test it on 4). However, mission 2 and mission 3 may be lopped after completion, making you redo them with the increased level modifier. Only completing them at a higher level will progress the quest. Mission 1 can be completed via this work around.

What I am not sure is if this re-looping the mission is part of the overall issue or it was caused by the Adversary (Coda in my case), because when you re-log into the game, it will start the mission automatically, and only after completion do you get the usual log in greeting from the Adversary before the game forces you to redo the mission (which will now have the level modifier).

The rest of the quest will progress normally.

Mission 2 and 3 can easily block progress for many players, and even Mission 1 if the person doesn't attempt to restart the game and try again. Mission 4 can cause issues at the end if the player uses a glass cannon build or a frame who needs to use their abilities to survive.

***

Added note: though I suspect the Steel Path modifier caused the main issue (with the Coda being the possible source of the other issue). it is possible the Coda was the sole issue here, as it is possible the enemies were scaled to normal 1999 POM-chart missions.

I am unwilling to do further test to recreate this bug, as it nearly locked me into the quest till the issue is resolved on DE's end. Now that I managed to overcome it, I'm avoiding touching this again.