Hero Missions unplayable at highest difficulty

[Krym]

No it isn't hard - just mind numbingly boring. Quit out in frustration - dont think I can convince myself to play it any further.

I get that playing the hardest difficulty should be challenging, But killing hundreds of zombies in dozens of rooms with just a handful of grenades is not challenging - just boring as ♥♥♥♥. 1 hour into the second map and I am still looking at hundreds of zombies and realise that it is going to be hours before I finish and that there is absolutely zero skill, decision making or strategy involved in clearing it. THIS IS NOT FUN.

Which Dev/tester thought this was a good idea? Did you even play it on highest difficulty - pretty sure you gave up after the first few rooms if you did....

Yes I know I can play on easy mode - but choosing easy mode because you hate playing half the game is a pretty sad reflection on a game.

As a minimum add some grenade crates or something on high difficulty - better still get rid of hero mode entirely ... total FAIL

[Demonic]

+1

They should give players ability to hire units for hero missions. It won't be that boring then

[snuggleform]

I'm not sure why it's taking you so long, it takes me between 20-30 minutes on apoc on the first few hero missions. Maybe you aren't taking advantage of the unique features? (one of them has a sniper squad, one has a room full of turrets, etc). And no I'm not particularly good at the game either, I beat the campaign on easy first so I generally recall what the features of the map are but really not much other than that.

If you don't want to sit through 20 minutes of kiting then say so but don't make it look like it takes hours...it doesn't even take close to one hour.

[Krym]

OK - Go play the hero mission south west of crossroads with Calliope on level 2. I don't see any turrets, havent found any snipers, just hundreds of zombies. Time your run - I am sure you have a spare"20 minutes"

[HeathenSW]

I'm not sure as well, playing on apoc difficulty. The array and weapons factory took me something like 20-30 mins, like wsc said. Array is boring initially, till you find snipers - you can speed it up somewhat by not exploring some rooms, namely chefs one, the one across chefs room, waste disposal. Powerplant something like 40 mins, since I screwed up with one room and didn't activate what I should've, otherwise it'd be around 30 mins I guess.

As an advice - do you use skip animation trick? You can press q and click on the enemy and that way your hero almost won't have any delay between shots. Calliope with this turns into literal machinegun. It'll also make you do something, so it won't seem so like a waiting game.

Also what upgrade did you pick on Calliope? It really helps to pick damage, since with it she kills walkers with 2 shots (not 3) and runners with 3 (not 4).

About units for hire I made a suggestion but it seemed to be ignored by devs. X/10 or something where X is your current empire points would be quite fine, with the introduction of always present noise from these units (noise that is specific for attracting out-of-map zs), so that zs would constantly come forcing you to not have deathball of units.

[Krym]

Ok found the snipers - knowing where they are and ignoring the rest of the map would save hours

[snuggleform]

Originally posted by Krym:

OK - Go play the hero mission south west of crossroads with Calliope on level 2. I don't see any turrets, havent found any snipers, just hundreds of zombies. Time your run - I am sure you have a spare"20 minutes"

That mission you refer to took me 22 minutes, and it was the longest one I've played so far.

You can rescue 5 vet snipers in that mission, but you do have to get past some hordes of zombies first.

I don't really mind if you feel impatient/bored with 20 minute missions, we each have different thresholds for boredom, but I do have an issue if you try to exaggerate it to make it look like it takes hours, it doesn't even take close to one. Your thread title is also hyperbole, I have little patience for that.

[Three-Headed-Monkey]

Originally posted by wsc150:

I'm not sure why it's taking you so long, it takes me between 20-30 minutes on apoc on the first few hero missions. Maybe you aren't taking advantage of the unique features? (one of them has a sniper squad, one has a room full of turrets, etc).

and how would a new player know there a vet snipers waiting at the end of the level, before he clears everything and enters their room? ;P

hero missions are just poorly designed, nothing more tedious than to kill 1000 infected with a slighty buffed soldier/ranger

[snuggleform]

Originally posted by Three-Headed-Monkey:

Originally posted by wsc150:

I'm not sure why it's taking you so long, it takes me between 20-30 minutes on apoc on the first few hero missions. Maybe you aren't taking advantage of the unique features? (one of them has a sniper squad, one has a room full of turrets, etc).

and how would a new player know there a vet snipers waiting at the end of the level, before he clears everything and enters their room? ;P

heros missions are just poorly designed, nothing more tedious than to kill 1000 infected with a slighty buffed soldier/ranger

you click on the signs, they give you hints....if you totally ignore the signs and actively try to kill every zombie you meet without exploring/thinking just a little bit, yes it will take you about twice as long as it normally would. For example, in that very same mission if you click on one of the early doors you have ot face 2 chubbos on apoc, but if you read the door it tells you come back at the end of the show.

Maybe it's just playing other games that gives me this intuition but if you feel like you meet tons of hordes with no reasonable way to kill them quickly, there's probably another way you could have explored to make it easier.

I've seen a lot of illegitimate complaints about hero missions people complaining they died to rng or not knowing what was behind the door, but if you read the signs....it removes this particular complaint.

[snuggleform]

Originally posted by Three-Headed-Monkey:

Originally posted by wsc150:

I'm not sure why it's taking you so long, it takes me between 20-30 minutes on apoc on the first few hero missions. Maybe you aren't taking advantage of the unique features? (one of them has a sniper squad, one has a room full of turrets, etc).

and how would a new player know there a vet snipers waiting at the end of the level, before he clears everything and enters their room? ;P

heros missions are just poorly designed, nothing more tedious than to kill 1000 infected with a slighty buffed soldier/ranger

but a new player wouldn't start on apoc....they are very quick on easy mode which is recommended for new players as well as impatient ones/ones that dislike hero missions. No one cares if you beat a hero mission on apoc or easy, and you get the same amount of research points...if you want to challenge yourself then do apoc and spend the 22 minutes to do it, if you don't wnat to challenge yourself do it on easy and you can discover all the elements with less time spent.

[Three-Headed-Monkey]

Originally posted by wsc150:

you click on the signs, they give you hints....if you totally ignore the signs and actively try to kill every zombie you meet without exploring/thinking just a little bit, yes it will take you about twice as long as it normally would. For example, in that very same mission if you click on one of the early doors you have ot face 2 chubbos on apoc, but if you read the door it tells you come back at the end of the show.

Maybe it's just playing other games that gives me this intuition but if you feel like you meet tons of hordes with no reasonable way to kill them quickly, there's probably another way you could have explored to make it easier.

point still stands, chubby room is only 1 single room which is a dead end ... snipers are still at the end of the map, there is only 1 way to them.

Originally posted by wsc150:

but a new player wouldn't start on apoc....they are very quick on easy mode which is recommended for new players as well as impatient ones/ones that dislike hero missions. No one cares if you beat a hero mission on apoc or easy, and you get the same amount of research points...if you want to challenge yourself then do apoc and spend the 22 minutes to do it, if you don't wnat to challenge yourself do it on easy and you can discover all the elements with less time spent.

sure they can start on apoc/nightmare/brutal ... there is nothing challenging about hero missions, unless you are trying not to fall asleep

[Krym]

Well this "new player" started on Apoc - unlike some players I dont play on easy mode first as a cheat to learn where everything is.


Poor level design = frustrated players. Boring Game play that requires zero skill = frustrated players. FAN boys apparently dont get frustrated.

Smart level design would have a radio message sent to the player requesting rescue. Hoping player skips all the right rooms and interprets vague message on door near end of level - stupid design.

Your arrogance in assuming because you took the easy option first that all players should have the same knowledge depreciates your argument

[snuggleform]

I don't understand what you're saying; you read the signs you know you can rescue them, if you ignored them and go the other way sure you deserve to be punished. The hordes before the snipers are annoying but 10 minutes at the most to clear, then you find out there's 2 doors at the end of the map... either go into the final room with thousands of zombies or snipers...you'd pick the snipers first if you just read the signs.

My guess is op spent 2 minutes fighting the horde at the beginning trying apoc first then come to forum to complain...

tldr: that mission takes 22 minutes, if you have an issue with that amount of time then just say so instead of exaggerating to hours

[Three-Headed-Monkey]

Originally posted by wsc150:

I don't understand what you're saying; you read the signs you know you can rescue them, if you ignored them and go the other way sure you deserve to be punished. The hordes before the snipers are annoying but 10 minutes at the most to clear, then you find out there's 2 doors at the end of the map... either go into the final room with thousands of zombies or snipers...you'd pick the snipers first if you just read the signs.

the sign which talks about prisoners, is the sign INFRONT of the prison ... when i was talking about "the end of the map" i was talking about the crossroads between prison & last area, because 75% of the map is before that, filled with infected

[Krym]

The sign for the cook and the prisoners are clearly vague. Would help if I played on ♥♥♥♥♥♥ level first

[Krym]

I guess I shouldnt have to look up the location of a 3 pixel pocket watch either - am I expected to spend 30 min checking every single object. When a game forces you to be bored or to cheat it is FAIL design