Rescue Mission Hostage...

[SFkenny]

Yes, we all know where this is going. We're eleven updates in and the hostage continues to act like a victim of lobotomy. It's really depressing to see DE cut the artifact Raid missions in favor of keeping this mission type, because even though it was basically a copy of Destroy missions it was at least *functional.*

 

Chief list of problems:

 

1. Pathfinding errors. Hostage will get stuck on objects frequently, whether it's walls, props, or spawned treasure chests. I suggest an entity to be added to the level editor: "hostage avoid zones" to ensure that the mapper can proactively add zones where the hostages cannot walk to force them to stay away from objects that could disrupt their movement.

 

2. Hostage navigation is insufficient for more recent levels. For instance, in the rather zipline heavy areas of the Grineer Settlement, the hostage constantly decides to use the stairs. The hostage should be able to follow us wherever we go, and closely, so the more animations the hostage has in common with the player's moveset, the better they will be able to follow us. Rail hopping, wall runs, zipline use, all essential improvements. Of course, this would require an expansion of the existing AI pathfinding system, but work on this front could then be backported to other units to make enemies able to use the environment better, such as the Stalker being able to wallrun more frequently.

 

3. Hostage shows no fear and will race into danger. This is fine if the player is trying to rush the map and get through a heavy battle zone, but with the present AI it's just exposing the hostage to more danger. Please add a hotkey to let us have the hostage "hold position" and a double tap to "follow me." This will MASSIVELY assist players in completing these sorts of missions.

 

These improvements would go a long way towards making Rescue maps friendlier to players. If these can't be done or would take too much time, please cut the mode entirely and put in something better. Thank you for reading!

[Probta16]

I agree and would like them to put the hostage in a cryopod for now until these improvements. If until now it didn't get significantly better, i don't know why it would be different now. It seems to me that we aren't playing to improve rescue missions, we are playing to get frustrated.

[ScorpDK]

should I mention that most of the missions I haven't done yet (and which have bosses like Sgt. Anyo unchallenged) are all these horrible, horrible rescue ones?

 

I would rather punch the Hostage in the face and absorb them into my glove, than try to lead them anywhere. They constantly run into the open, get between me and the dudes trying to kill us, and he/she thinks it is a good idea that, with the Warframe who came to rescue them crouching behind a low wall, that they should just stand there like a #$&(% and alert all enemies to our presence. Those Tenno seriously are NOT worth rescuing.

DE made it so the enemy doesn't focus on them, but that doesn't hold true if they can't see you, in which cases the bullets will rain down on those suckers anyway. And considering Loki cannot switch-teleport them into a safe location (on top of a high container, for example) there's no way to get them out of harm's way while you fight off the 200 enemies that they alerted by being dumbasses.

 

This mission type is the least fun out of them all, and really needs to be more entertaining and less babysitting. Heck, there's not even a way to tell that the guy is getting attacked, you have to actively look out where he currently is, in case he gets stuck and a bunch of enemies are wailing on him.