Back bug shard mutation returned accidentially?

Back bug just like Golden Egg was a glitchy affix that could f the party over. It got removed just like Golden Egg. But apparently it is back now but without any rework on the affix I am guessing? Because there was no warning of it coming back at all. So this seems like an accidental return.

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it’s really not very buggy at all, and even if it was the damage it does is low enough that it can pretty easily be healed through as long as you don’t have more than one.
would be nice if it wasn’t active during boss fights tho, but other than that I think it’s perfectly fine as it is.

The bugginess occured when:

  • The bug being ungrabbable once every 5 dungeons or so for a player.
  • If you stand against a wall or any hitbox it could get pushed away from the player and would be hard to grab. Or sometimes even completely gone.
  • Sometimes it kept damaging a player with the bug being a mile away from the player. Grabbing it again and throwing again fixed it.

That was my experience. :man_shrugging:

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Then my opinion is still that the affix is against some playstyles like a lone 30 meter ranger. Those are not allowed anymore.

It also makes some classes who need both hands 24/7 lose more dps than those who don’t. My opinion is still that this affix does not fit in with the current game and their classes. At-least for balancing sake.

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Well summary after checking it out, it’s not that bugged as Golden Egg, however, looks like

  • We can forget Temple Shards for a whole week
  • We can forget Hot Foot shards for a whole week
  • We can forget High Shards which carry a way higher risk for downgrades than with every other mutation
  • We can forget taking distance-rangers with us, least not if there’s not 2 at a time who can care for looking at each others uhm … backs… (!!)
  • We can forget playing with guild members who really hate that mutation, for a whole week, and yea there are some who pause playing or stick to “save” shards, postponing the usual high content, me amongst them.

(This goes for doing majorly or only 15s. And before someone posts yadayadayada it’s all doable, yah it might sure, but it is majorly annoying; why should groups work through that when next week it, likely, becomes way easier or rather, they can enjoy normal play).

Sorry, what for?? Both these minigames - if Golden Egg ever gets fixed - should be OPTIONAL already. Groups who really wanna play like this should have an option to turn it on, perhaps get more dram or something in return. It does not help that SOME enjoy it (we had only 1 outta 5 in the group who did). If even half of the playerbase pauses playing because of this, this is breaking gameplay, for all of us, specially the smaller guilds.

Orbus so far was a game where you learn a weapon rotation, where you move outta AoEs, Bolts etc., where you deal with random debuffs, each and every mutation is pretty well fitting into that picture and none makes shards impossible to do, so far.
The huge difference with both these new mutations, back bug and golden egg, is that you need to do things, with your hands, other than using weapons. So, classes who need both hands to play need to pause their rotation and use their hands to play a kind of ball game instead; and since it takes way more time than just moving out of this and that it takes attention off the actual fights, majorly, which is just nothing I personally enjoy sorry.

Apart from that there’s minor annoyances and bugs like players spawning with several stacks on them after wipes, players unable to get to the chest even after the dungeon ends etc.

Back Bug does rough up Rangers quite a bit, although having your Healer hang back makes it doable. It’d be nicer if the player affected could remove it themselves. Tank on Mist Keeper or Mutated Rat in the poison pools with a Back Bug is CRAZY difficult to remove.

Either way, this is a brutal mutation. It’s supposed to be rough. We nearly broke a Sewer earlier because we had to modify how we play normally to account for it. That’s what it’s supposed to do. It makes content that’s normally able to do be done easily much much more difficult. That’s a welcome change in my opinion.

Looking at recent 15s from several top end guilds/players, it looks like we’ve got 15s down pretty well. Metris, it looks like you’re flying through 15s with crazy good times lately.

Having harder content come through now and then is great in my opinion. Having maybe one week a month where we have to modify the way we play in order to deal with mechanics is great. Nobody is gonna be setting new record times or anything because we’re busy dealing with the Bug, but when end game players are able to handle the hardest content in the game without breaking a sweat, it’s time for something to shake things up.

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We have players who did many hundreds 15s by now, of course it goes fast IF all these stick together! However most the time we have 1-2 in who are less experienced, that alone makes shards harder. We are at a point where people want to practice alt classes too, which also makes shard harder, we practice with new tanks who are slowly climbing the ladder, not even arrived at tanking all 15s yet etc.
All this we can forget now, taking weaker players, alt classes etc. during back bug weeks is hopeless.

Everything you say confirms the fact that this is not a brutal mutation like any other, which makes content harder, it is something so out of the ordinary that the logical conclusion, for most, is not adapting playstyle, but do lower stuff and wait until the difficulty of 15s is back to the regular level any other such mutation provides.

Again, I am very, very fond of the option to spice shards up with optional mutations like these (on any shard level) but for those not bored yet, for those who wanna play the reg content, this is just a hindrance and unnecessary.

If new challenges are introduced these should not be temporary, like a week of “either pause or sweat”, these should be shard levels 15-20 or, finally, Airships 10-15, entirely new dungeons etc., else it is just unbalanced.

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This is the hardest content in the game. You should practice your alt/new class stuff on lower level content. Just like how you learn Raid mechanics on Normal Mode before moving to Hard Mode. 15s are supposed to be the toughest dungeon that can be done. The fact that people can breeze through them shows that the player base is progressing skill-wise at an amazing rate. This is a great way to give us a challenge and make what’s supposed to be hard content challenging.

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Ehm did you misunderstand me deliberately…? Certainly we go to a 15 when, say, a 13 is mastered, to a 13 when an 11 seems no problem to tank etc., this is not the point, the point is there is plenty to do and learn on this content level if you don’t wanna play your same old one class all the time.

And this is not a challenge at all btw if it’s as easy as wait a week and difficulty is back to normal. It’s a flatout lack of balance in content, imo…

The other point is, why should we play silly ball-games instead of playing our classes and fighting mobs? But here the opinions differ most. I think things like these shouldn’t be part of dungeons, at all, well perhaps for one fun bossfight or so, but not every minute, throughout all dungeons, this is just stupid, just my opinion.

No, I did not misunderstand you deliberately, I just get tired of constant complaints about every little thing. There’s just no winning.

I don’t know why I bother. I’m out.

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This is the core of the problem. It is just out of balance. Although I find the arguments of “we can forget dungeon X and Y” too extreme. It is just not preferred because it makes it even more out of balance hard than it was before.

If something makes the game alot harder, it needs to be very consistent the case for the higher dungeons. So yes make them show up for 15-20 dungeon. Not randomly sprinkled in 10-15 shards.

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But the core of this thread was

@Mathieu_D Can you please confirm this was intentional? I would appreciate the open communication on major changes like this. I can not find any reference on this affix being brought back anywere. Not in Golden Egg patch notes, not in anything.

It was intentional, but I was unaware of it at the time or I would have mentioned it, apologies.

We appreciate the feedback about the mutation and we’ll continue to monitor it, we’d like to hear back once more players have had the chance to play with them as well.

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this mutation is honestly stupid. I , along with many others are giving up on this game. The devs just want people to leave at this point… wish you all well and stay safe

i personally really enjoy it as something new and just something harder in general so what i would say is keep it up!

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The mutation while yes it is harder I do feel more involved in the shard. I happen to like having new challenges introduced into runs as I personally don’t like running speed-runs or the same thing over and over again.

Keep it up, I would love to see more.

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@Mathieu_D
Some feedback from my run of a BH15 yesterday and my first time experiencing the bug:

  1. If you die from the bug it stayed with you once you respawn at the beginning of the dungeon. Since it almost always attaches to you shortly after spawning, you end up with multiple bugs until someone throws them off of you again.
  2. If you die and reawaken alone, as a DPS, the bug almost always kills you before reaching your party again later on in dungeons, since, again, it almost always attaches shortly after reawakening.
  3. The spawn rate of the bug seems pretty quick to me. It really takes focus away from your surroundings and unless you are in front of someone, you only notice the bug is on you if you are watching your health bar constantly. (moving as if it is hotfoot sometimes helps)
  4. I personally think the bug should not attach during boss battles.
    BH 1st boss if the tank gets the bug, trying to time the grab between purple orbs is a major pain.
    BH 2nd boss, you are going to have to be very careful to check whoever is in the back of the line and make sure you stay stright on your way back there to help them.

I am fine with the bug sticking around, but i would just change a few things if it is here to stay.

  1. Let the bug attach a little less frequently, and maybe not rigth after you reawaken.
  2. Not have it attach during boss battles, or again, maybe a little less frequently.

Thank you for all the support!

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I really think the bug needs a sound effect when it pops.

the bug has a sound effect

It was kind of fun and interesting; would be nice if it turned off for boss battles though.

@Mathieu_D is it supposed to allow for multiple bugs on a single player all at once?