Wasteland Diaries: Bosses and battles

This week in Fallen Earth has been, for me, a good mix of PvP and PvE action. I've gotten plenty of both. I literally wished that I had more time to play. Alas, real life was standing in the way again. I haven't played any other games all week. Unless you consider the Fallen Earth forums a game (which I sometimes do). Between protecting territory that rightfully belongs to the CHOTA and cracking the skulls of world bosses for their precious volatile chemicals, I've found myself pretty busy.

I know that everyone feels that Sector 4 is long overdue; it's probably the reason most people haven't come back to Fallen Earth. If you are on the fence about re-subbing or are waiting for Sector 4, there is still plenty to do, especially if you left before Deadfall Point and Deadfall were released. Even if you left in the past couple of months, things have changed, and new content has been added. There is plenty of PvP action if you know where to look, and new faces are joining the fray every day. After the cut, I'll give you some examples of what I've experienced this week, and it may help you decide to come back... or to keep holding out for Sector 4.

I have had no problems finding PvP all week. Fallen Earth is famous for its lack of PvP action, but not this week. There have been small skirmishes and huge engagements in almost every corner of the wastelands. Ever since KAOS has announced its zero-tolerance policy on Enforcers in Office Park, there have been daily battles there. It's amazing how much faction reputation you can earn by killing your factional enemies. You pick up GlobalTech circuits until some enemies come along, and then you kill them. It breaks the monotony of the faction grind. Besides, I think that factional warfare was supposed to be the primary means of gaining faction rep when the devs devised this system.

Haietta and Park City have been the sites of some major battles, too. The "Saints, KAOS and Kings vs. everyone else" kind of battles. There are a few new clans setting up shop in Fallen Earth. They are mainly Enforcer-based clans, but there is actually a new Vista PvP clan training up (and probably tie-dyeing their armor) for some endgame action. It should be interesting to see whether they can bring balance to the wheel. My low-level clanmates are also not having any trouble finding action in Sector 2. New Gallows is still a hot-spot for some quick small-group fights. Usually just announcing your intentions in region chat is enough to get the party started.

All of the world bosses have a chance to drop volatile chemicals. These chemicals are used to upgrade various pieces of armor and select weapons. Considering how many people it takes to bring down a boss and how few chemicals they drop, you will need to be persistent. We killed Earthwalker at least a dozen times, probably more. I walked away with four volatile chemicals and a dyeable hexweave helmet. The helmet is probably the best headgear in the game with 290 primary resists. If you find something better, I'd love to see it. And since it's dyeable, it's even more sought-after.

Killing Earthwalker is a chore, and you'll need a large team to pull it off. There is a trick to killing him (it?), as there is a trick to killing every world boss. I will say, the trick to killing him is obvious, but I won't say exactly what it is. Once you fight him a couple of times (or maybe immediately), it will occur to you what to do. Once he sets his sights on you, your life expectancy is measured in seconds.

Between Earthwalker kills we took down Mama Bear. She doesn't drop chemicals too often, but she does guarantee a Bear Hide (I usually have to kill hundreds of "regular" bears to acquire one of these!), so therefore she's worth the kill. The bear hides are on of the rarer components in the new Primitive armor set. The stats aren't anything to brag about, but it does sport pauldrons made from blight wolf skulls.

We actually had the hardest time killing Speedy. Speedy is a small jackalope that is very fast. Remember back in the days of speed-stacking? That was nothing; this little guy is fast. Remember the rabbit in Monty Python's Holy Grail? He hits like that little bunny. So we killed him after he dropped us all about a dozen times. Luckily we had a dedicated rezzer and always kept one person alive (somehow). The bunny drops a shotgun that looks like a Suzette but has the stats of an Elephant Gun. We rolled for it, and I came up a winner. I would guess I'm the first player to score one.

My luck didn't run out just then, because on our way to the next boss I ran into a little prairie chicken named Leaky. I quickly dispatched him and got a nifty prairie chicken headdress that occupies the shoulder slot. Not very functional, but quite fashionable.

We killed the Panther again (ho hum) and got nothing, again. The Panther is just a nuisance to unwary travelers, but we would miss him if he were gone. He knocks people out of their vehicles and rips them to shreds while they are driving by him and then camps their corpses. There is nothing funnier than an NPC that griefs players.

The Earthbound Scientist was probably the boss that was the most interesting to fight. At first he was not very threatening. He pulled a small pistol and began plinking away at us, hardly doing any damage at all. Then he, after making some smarmy comments, broke out the time-bombs, rats and lizard dogs. That was when things got interesting. Although fun to fight, he didn't drop anything of note besides chemicals. It was the same story for the Shiva's Cherished boss, although he used a rifle and hit pretty hard.

Ever wanted to play a sniper in Fallen Earth? Well now, it's easier than ever. The Volatile Sniper Rifle is the answer to your prayers. It is an upgraded version of the Rangemaster Prime, and it hits a little harder. Noticeably harder. Its range also exceeds the radar window's range, so if you play it right, you can nail people from outside the radar. Another nice thing is the ability to dye the volatile armor. I'm actually in the picture below, but I'm a little tough to see due to my color scheme. Now you can walk around with some of the best armor in the game and blend into the background rather than stick out like a sore thumb (yes, I'm talking about you, Death Toll gear).

The new PvP zone in the southeast corner of Terminal Woods looks promising, but it won't ever be a popular place to fight without something worthwhile to fight over. The distance to the cloner will slow down the flow of PvP too much, so it won't be a very popular place to fight. Hopefully it's a work in progress.

There's a lot more stuff to do in Terminal Woods. I have only scratched the surface so far. But, if you were holding out on re-subbing for an influx in PvP or waiting for new content, now is the time. Pay for a month and check it out. If you are still waiting for Sector 4, I can't help you there. But I can say that you'll be a bit behind the eight ball when it does hit if you give all of this new stuff a pass. So until next week, or maybe in Sector 4, I'll see you in the wastelands.

Ed Marshall has been playing Fallen Earth since beta and leads the KAOS clan. Wasteland Diaries is his weekly column that covers all aspects of Fallen Earth: PvE, RP and PvP. To contact Ed, send an email to edward@massively.com, find him on the official forums as Casey Royer, or hunt him down in the wastelands as Nufan, Original, Death Incarnate, and Knuckles Mcsquee.