Ok first of I will be using this video for reference as many of the things I will mention happen right in it:
1) First issue is the environment – many targets are covered up and the icons don’t help as they gain distance from the targets the further they are. Also some of the targets like 4 and 5 are surrounded by tangible obstacles and thus the shots don’t always hit even if they seem to be going in right direction. I once had to shoot target 4 like 5 times before it hit and no I did not change position or shifted the shot direction. No they all went in the exact same direction only 4th one finally counted.
2) It’s the random spawns. That would not be a problem if it was not for the environment. Like if we were in a real shooting range where you have all the targets up front or in a circular room where we stand in the centre and shoot. This is a problem because for some targets you need to get to the right position in order to shoot them.
Some targets are very bad most notably target 5 at the end of the cave and 15 which is behind that stone pillar which I call “the d*** targets”. I call them that as for these 2 you need to be in right position so they require more running around.
But sometimes during phase 2 we don’t get them and thus it’s more easy to reach phase 3. Notice that in that video the player gets the best start for phase 2 – he gets targets 1,2,3,7,8,9. He does not get any targets inside the cave nor target 15 thus he does not have to run back so far to fire at target 13,16 and17.
3) There are bugs most notorious is the bug where the blue icon does not disappear even after you shoot the target. Which is bad if the target is far away or covered up as then you can’t be sure if you hit or not unless you keep checking the score for which there is no time. This bug occurs in the video when the author shoots targets 11 and 12 to score his 37th and 38th point both targets have these icons remain on them.
Also phase 3 is bugged in overall as it starts randomly. In this video it starts after scoring 29 points which is the earliest I have seen when I did it too. However sometimes phase 3 does not start till the score reaches 32 points. And in fact I once didn’t get phase 3 AT ALL – yes I’m not kidding I scored 34 and phase 3 didn’t start and I couldn’t make it to score 35 because my next target was target 15.
Phase 3 is also picky about multiplying the targets as sometimes I have to shoot 3 or 4 before the number of targets goes beyond 2 at once.
But now look at the video – he gets very easy 6 shots starting phase 2 and after the next 3 targets phase 3 starts. Yes right after scoring 29 points phase 3 starts for him, after scoring 30 the targets go instantly from 2 to 3 at once and after scoring 32 it instantly jumps to 4 targets at once.
So yeah the author of this video does get gold, but he gets the best start for phase 2, phase 3 starts for him at 29 points and at 32 he has 4 targets to choose from. While some of us only start phase 3 at 32 and more often than not get crappy target location during phase 2.
CONCLUSION! Getting gold is based on luck rather than skill. Seriously it would be more simple to just run phase 1 twice – wouldn’t you agree? I mean it is possible to hit all 20 targets in less than 1 min so you would have the other to run the course again.
EDIT: OK so I did manage to get gold but I still stand by what I said here.
During my round I had a semi-lucky phase 2. I say semi-lucky as I did get target 15 which would noramlly make me restart, but this time my phase 2 was similar to phase 1 as I got targets 12, 13, 14 so I was much closer to the right position than usually.
Also I had a feeling it will appear thus I ran it similar to phase 1 so you could say I took a gamble that payed off. My phase 3 was also semi-lucky as it started at around 32 points scored, but I got good target locations in my proximity.
In overall it was mostly luck as before my best score was twice 37 so it’s obvious my skill did not suddenly skyrocket so high.
I’m posting a screen not to brag but to show how few can do it with all the luck needed. Notice my lifetime position is/was 124 with my time being 1:58. So if we include all those that got 1:59 how many actually did it? 200 or so?
“Salvage Pit” was so easy I got gold first try not knowing exactly what to expect.
All adventures should be more or less same difficulty i.e. gold requires a bit of practice.
Instead of some being so easy it’s disappointing while others being a frustrating lottery.
