Sometimes epics, the reactive bonus attacks, do not activate when they should. I thought that only relentless, burst fire and mojo echo had just a chance to activate but I have seen almost every epic not trigger when it should. This is also not a new thing. I have been seeing it happen for quite a while now (I have posted about it before but not got any response) and it affects the enemies as much as it does me & my companions.

I'm not posting this in the bilge pump because it is a random thing and I cannot reliably reproduce it. However, I have noticed a couple of situations where it is more likely that an epic won't trigger.
On the first turn: This usually only happens with repel boarders and overwatch. I give my orders, then the enemy does theirs and moves into range but nothing happens. They aren't moving through anyone, which would stop it, and the epics definitely haven't been used yet.
With rank 2 epics: The first of the 3 hits usually activates fine, but if the next one should activate on a different enemy or during the enemies turn (if the first was in your turn) then is is likely that it wont trigger. And I am counting right, I know when there are epics left to trigger. This has happened on almost all epics, with the possible exceptions of bladestorm (I rarely get more than one kill per turn anyway) and relentless/burst fire/mojo echo.

Again, this is all random. There is no specific enemy or world where this happens, because it happens everywhere. I have probably noticed it a lot because I try to activate epics on enemies in order to activate my own epics (I like epic chains). And with enemies in MB having more epics it is becoming more obvious.

Matthew Ashford on Jun 9, 2013 wrote:

This is nothing important, the developers created it so that epics would not always activate, it isn't a bug and there isn't a difference in how often they activate ( unless there is a difference in accuracy), turns shouldn't affect it either.

Hope this helped!

Loyal Matthew Ashford

You wouldn't happen to have a quote or something from the devs confirming that. Because I thought that all epics (except relentless, burst fire & mojo echo) would definitely activate as long as the conditions were correct. Repel boarders used to have a 70% chance to activate but it was changed to 100%.

This certainly seems like a bug to me. Otherwise, why would I see it happen less with the first activation than on the second or third. Did I waste an epic slot by getting rank 2 of an epic?

I would have liked it if a dev had chimed in on this topic. It would be good to know if this was intended or if it really is a bug. Due to how random it is it's hard to tell.

I hate to have to beg, but One-Eyed Jack can you please say if this is a bug or is it some undocumented "feature" of the epic mechanics.

Ok, I'll take your word for it Ratbeard. But I'll be watching to see if there is any pattern. It isn't a huge problem, battles just go much faster when epics activate.

I have another insight on this. With overwatch not working on the first turn, this is more likely to happen if I don't give my companion any orders on the first turn. But again, this is random.

Coolster, you mention the agility modifier for burst fire. I remember reading about that and I wonder if it is the same for other epics as well. It shouldn't be but it would explain things.

I'll try to record the game next time I play. Then at least if I think it is going wrong I can go back and watch the footage to check.