(Probably best to tackle this issue early, before the “but changing it now would devalue all of the time and effort other people have already sunk into completing it” counterargument gets a chance to solidify.)
Normally I don’t consider myself much of a complainer, but this one penance for the Skitarii class has been driving me slightly mad.
In order to make any progress with this penance whatsoever, all of the following conditions must be met at once:
The player has Voltaic Emitter or Enhanced Arc Grenades equipped (that means NOT using other abilities and blitzes)
The player has saved at least 2 capacitance charges or a grenade for a ranged elite encounter (if you don’t have enough charges when a ranged elite shows up, then you’re out of luck; move on, and hope you have enough for the next encounter)
The ranged elites are within range of the source of malfunction (and have a completely unobstructed line of sight, apparently?)
The player’s teammates don’t kill the ranged elites before the malfunction can be triggered
The malfunction effect actually, er, functions properly
It might not seem so bad in theory, but most of the elite encounters are melee-based instead of ranged, and 500 is a pretty damn big number. The rate at which you can progress is limited by both the rate at which you can build up capacitance and the amount of ranged elites that show up in a mission to begin with. I’d be lucky to be able to cause more than ten elite ranged malfunctions throughout an entire Damnation difficulty mission. If I were to dedicate all of my available time towards completing just this penance, I’d estimate that it would still take several days.
There isn’t much skill involved in completing this penance; just some opportunism and an agonizingly tedious grind. It also creates a perverse incentive by discouraging players from using their charges on more immediate threats just in case a couple of gunners are around the corner.
I don’t think it’s reasonable to have such an absurd requirement for a penance that is a prerequisite for the vast majority of unlockable headwear for the Skitarii.
Changes that I would consider acceptable would be to have all ranged disablements (including non-elites) count towards completing this penance, and maybe to have the required number reduced from 500 to somewhere around 150.
While using dedicated loadout specifically for this penance I can do at most 30 enemies per mission. Given that ARC grenade kills elites before they can be disarmed and Voltaic Emitter requires line of sight, my only choice to progress this penance is running towards elite spawns hoping that I wont get killed and my teammates wont kill elites before me.
All would be fine if it was just a completionist penance, but “Curse of Malfunction” locks 12 cosmetic helmets behind it which seems unreasonably harsh.
It’s really not. Remember not everyone is playing on higher difficulties where they can bomb 10 ranged enemies in a single hit.
It’s extremely random, inconsistent, and the requirement is simply high even if you can do 30 in a game on damnation+. Is it the worst thing ever? No, there’s significantly worse penances. But it’s overly grindy and the sheer difficulty is heavily dependent on what difficulty you play on, making it simply a bad penance.
It’s an annoying penance, but after playing yesterday, I’m at 128/500, so it’s not impossible.
I would guess that spamming Havoc 40 games would be the most effective way to finish this penance, but for the time being, I just rush into groups of Gunners in Auric Maelstrom, wait for them to start shooting, and then press Voltaic Emitter.
Everytime, I’m praying that no one else on my team interacts with them and like others are saying in the thread; there is something wonky going on because I can do everything right and it still doesn’t count for the trh penance at times.
It’s an annoying penance since it’s one of those penances where you have to play against how the game is supposed to be played, similar to the Zealot penance where you have to be out of coherence.
The only way to do this seems to be 1. reach level 30 2. make a build specifically for it 3. get really good at the game 4. grind auric or high-intensity mortis trials specifically to complete the penance
all for any of the unlockable helmets… seems unreasonable for the sake of more casual players.
Edit: now that I understand how the penance works I think I have a method so I can get it in only 30 missions (15 hours of being locked into a specific build). There’s no way in hell that players who aren’t searching up tips for this online are going to be able to get any unlockable helmets.
I have to say that I’m okay with penances that can’t be done by most players in the first week. Some of them should be the reward of more time and/or effort, or even have a certain skill filter.
My group of regulars, all with 1,000+ hours in the game but just not H40 material, is still struggling to reach Havok 25. We’re finally at 23 and the goal seems to be in reach. I guess that it will feel glorious when we finally get the pants.
I agree, but this penance has nothing to do with skill.
I’m currently at 440/500, and the best way to finish ‘Curse of Malfunction’ is to play Auric Expeditions and run away from your team so you are completely solo.
Wait for your two charges, find groups of Gunners/Reapers and aggro them (they need to be shootign at you first or it won’t work), then use ‘Voltaic Emitter’.
The problem is not doing all of these things, but that the penance is so glitchy so even if you do everything exactly right, you will not always get progress for the penance.
Also, keep in mind that if ‘Voltaic Emitter’ kills a enemy, you won’t get credit and progress.
I think it needing a high number of enemies is fine, but Voltaic Emitter needs betting targeting/hit scanning. Arc grenades could probably have some better ability to make ranged malfunction too.
