Hey guys, i have been in a dozen runs now in both instances, mostly in hib but also in mid.
I feel ready to give some fact based feedback and encourage the other run-leaders and regular runners to join me in helping the DEVs to make the DS/HoH-experience fun, not too grindy and reduce punishment for taking in new players.
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Darkspire:
My impression is overall the instance is in decent shape after the changes, a bit slower, but actually easier and in hib more fluent (because of the new ench manareturn buff).
I have 2 suggested changes for more openness for new players and less rng punishment:
1)Nyav (poison staff boss)
This is the only true dmgtest besides Maeviel in Darkspire - with the overall dps reduction i think it would be great to simply reduce his HP by 20% to give lower dps groups a chance to kill him in time.
Another idea i had was to let the first staff disappear after 3 or 4 staffs spawned, then with every staff spawn the next existing staff disappears, a bit like on Maschunga in HoH - so lower dps groups can do a "circle". - That way you can leave the HP at the current value.
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2) Aval (Lion spawn Boss)
I think Aval is being the 2nd new player punishment Boss here, having a lot of frustration potential in store. - If you don't have the extra con and HP of 26 runs you get exploded almost immediately on lion spawn. Even with cap runs it explodes you if a mezz/stun gets resisted - and i oppose a 10% rng chance to die
I have 2 ideas how to make this encounter more nice:
- Lions dmg could be more reliable, always taking 3 hits to kill a fullbuffed caster with cap resists and 0 runs.
-Or: Aval could do a /region message, something like: "Now my Lion will eat you alive Xpovoc!!!", a second or two before he spawns a lion, so the tank has a chance to put guard and intercept on the next Lions target to save their lives and the ccers can target this persons position for the next mezz/stun, I think this option would be fun and mechanical, so exactly what you intend the instances to be.
----------
I also have 1 idea for more excitement, as some encounters got significantly more boring with the removal of pbaoe:
Olvoran (the channel boss):
This encounter went from some excitement and skipping the mechanic to no excitement at all, except for the poison cure person and the tank.
I suggest reworking the channel to: If the channel hits, the target takes 4x the damage of now, no matter how many people are inside = basically if you are inside the bomb you die, no matter what. - At the same time i suggest increasing pbaoe dmg on Olvoran to 75% of the pre-change value, so it will pay off to pbaoe, while the casters have to carefully watch their bladeturns, to not get 1shot by the boss, when running in and out, and can't ever miss a channel or skip the mechanic.
I think with this change the encounter would be a bit shorter (not too much, because people have to run in and out and recast bladeturns), but very exciting to play.
-
The other bosses are good encounters, only Otravair (the Gatekeeper) could maybe use some more excitement, maybe increase the time between gaze and hit and make the aoe bigger? to force people to actually move again.
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Halls of Helgardh
Overall HoH feels a lot more grindy now, than DS and the time increase is much more significant. Besides more openness for new players i intend to tune down the grind feel factor a bit.
- Beluna (Horse) is in great shape- defnitely more fun than before
- Mother of Ice is defnitely in a better shape than before, because of the reduced powercost of nukes.
Suggested changes:
1) Zorsch/Rorsch (Brothers)
I like the idea to force the mechanics here. The highest end groups can still barely skip the mechanics tho.
I suggest ramping up dmg of marks after the 3rd mark, to force groups to switch the bosses. (The idea is: If you don't switch after 3 marks you die.)
At the same moment switching the bosses is an impossible task for new tanks, so i suggest the following:
- Less melee hit dmg by Zorsch and Rorsch, so new tanks can switch the bosses and survive the process.
- Increase time between mark and next focus by 3-5 seconds to give new tanks a chance to switch the bosses in time.
Or: After 3 Marks by one Boss that boss reduces incoming dmg by a player he marked by 99%. (this way tanks could skip the mechanic with purge, but the dps would have to switch to the other boss to keep dpsing) - It could be even after every mark to make it a very mobile encounter for the dpsers.
I still think giving the tanks more time to switch would be good, no matter what. And reducing Zorch and Rorschs melee dps will help new healers to not go out of power here, meaning their slot would be not for experienced high powerpool players only.
-
2) Maschunga (bubbles)
Maschunga felt a lot too grindy, there is no way to skip the mechanic, so i suggest simply reducing Maschungas HP by 20-25%, the encounter is a lot more challenging already, as adds go wild regularly, especially for non all-expert groups, this is a frequent wipe spot.
-
3)Zregoo (Dragon with many adds)
The encounter is overall in decent shape, i think reducing his HP by 10-15% will help new groups, especially with new healers and tanks a lot tho and make him feel less grindy. - There is no way to skip mechanics here.
-
4) Ogoga (cackle, Switch!, No don't!)
Ogoga is a bit slower than before and you want him to be challenging so that's ok.
I only suggest increasing the time from color assignment to the hit of the fireballs by 1s, to give new players, who understood the mechanic a chance to follow it in time.
-
------------------------------
Idea for more excitement:
Halgratha (Dragon with healing adds) is a bit of a difficult one to balance. It is a big grind with a low dps group, but if you reduce the HP high end groups can skip the mechanics.
An idea: You could make Halgratha take 50% reduced dmg by everyone as soon as an add passes the pillars, there could be a message in /region like: "Halgratha is being empowered by her minion". As soon as the add gets killed Halgratha takes full dmg again.
If you do this you could reduce Halgrathas HP by 25%.
You could also make the adds faster until they reach the pillars or you could make them faster in general and a lot more squishy, so groups would have to kill them fast but more often, during the encounter.
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
A general idea for both instances is to make the tank dmg reduction formula:
shield+parry/2
or
shield+parry+evade/2
to simply open the tank spot to more classes, and to give Midgard the option of offtanking with skald and have speed6 in HoH.
It would still not allow minstrels or bards to tank bosses, so i think it would be a healthy change.
-
Also, if you didn't do it yet, please remove the extra dmg against tanks, when they have their 2h or bow out - 1 fatfinger for a second = wipe Some tanks started unequipping 2h and bow, just to counteract the natural clumsiness inside every human being 
At least let them take just double dmg or so, so they get a big hit but dont insta die.
I feel ready to give some fact based feedback and encourage the other run-leaders and regular runners to join me in helping the DEVs to make the DS/HoH-experience fun, not too grindy and reduce punishment for taking in new players.
----------------------
Darkspire:
My impression is overall the instance is in decent shape after the changes, a bit slower, but actually easier and in hib more fluent (because of the new ench manareturn buff).
I have 2 suggested changes for more openness for new players and less rng punishment:
1)Nyav (poison staff boss)
This is the only true dmgtest besides Maeviel in Darkspire - with the overall dps reduction i think it would be great to simply reduce his HP by 20% to give lower dps groups a chance to kill him in time.
Another idea i had was to let the first staff disappear after 3 or 4 staffs spawned, then with every staff spawn the next existing staff disappears, a bit like on Maschunga in HoH - so lower dps groups can do a "circle". - That way you can leave the HP at the current value.
----------
2) Aval (Lion spawn Boss)
I think Aval is being the 2nd new player punishment Boss here, having a lot of frustration potential in store. - If you don't have the extra con and HP of 26 runs you get exploded almost immediately on lion spawn. Even with cap runs it explodes you if a mezz/stun gets resisted - and i oppose a 10% rng chance to die
I have 2 ideas how to make this encounter more nice:
- Lions dmg could be more reliable, always taking 3 hits to kill a fullbuffed caster with cap resists and 0 runs.
-Or: Aval could do a /region message, something like: "Now my Lion will eat you alive Xpovoc!!!", a second or two before he spawns a lion, so the tank has a chance to put guard and intercept on the next Lions target to save their lives and the ccers can target this persons position for the next mezz/stun, I think this option would be fun and mechanical, so exactly what you intend the instances to be.
----------
I also have 1 idea for more excitement, as some encounters got significantly more boring with the removal of pbaoe:
Olvoran (the channel boss):
This encounter went from some excitement and skipping the mechanic to no excitement at all, except for the poison cure person and the tank.
I suggest reworking the channel to: If the channel hits, the target takes 4x the damage of now, no matter how many people are inside = basically if you are inside the bomb you die, no matter what. - At the same time i suggest increasing pbaoe dmg on Olvoran to 75% of the pre-change value, so it will pay off to pbaoe, while the casters have to carefully watch their bladeturns, to not get 1shot by the boss, when running in and out, and can't ever miss a channel or skip the mechanic.
I think with this change the encounter would be a bit shorter (not too much, because people have to run in and out and recast bladeturns), but very exciting to play.
-
The other bosses are good encounters, only Otravair (the Gatekeeper) could maybe use some more excitement, maybe increase the time between gaze and hit and make the aoe bigger? to force people to actually move again.
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Halls of Helgardh
Overall HoH feels a lot more grindy now, than DS and the time increase is much more significant. Besides more openness for new players i intend to tune down the grind feel factor a bit.
- Beluna (Horse) is in great shape- defnitely more fun than before
- Mother of Ice is defnitely in a better shape than before, because of the reduced powercost of nukes.
Suggested changes:
1) Zorsch/Rorsch (Brothers)
I like the idea to force the mechanics here. The highest end groups can still barely skip the mechanics tho.
I suggest ramping up dmg of marks after the 3rd mark, to force groups to switch the bosses. (The idea is: If you don't switch after 3 marks you die.)
At the same moment switching the bosses is an impossible task for new tanks, so i suggest the following:
- Less melee hit dmg by Zorsch and Rorsch, so new tanks can switch the bosses and survive the process.
- Increase time between mark and next focus by 3-5 seconds to give new tanks a chance to switch the bosses in time.
Or: After 3 Marks by one Boss that boss reduces incoming dmg by a player he marked by 99%. (this way tanks could skip the mechanic with purge, but the dps would have to switch to the other boss to keep dpsing) - It could be even after every mark to make it a very mobile encounter for the dpsers.
I still think giving the tanks more time to switch would be good, no matter what. And reducing Zorch and Rorschs melee dps will help new healers to not go out of power here, meaning their slot would be not for experienced high powerpool players only.
-
2) Maschunga (bubbles)
Maschunga felt a lot too grindy, there is no way to skip the mechanic, so i suggest simply reducing Maschungas HP by 20-25%, the encounter is a lot more challenging already, as adds go wild regularly, especially for non all-expert groups, this is a frequent wipe spot.
-
3)Zregoo (Dragon with many adds)
The encounter is overall in decent shape, i think reducing his HP by 10-15% will help new groups, especially with new healers and tanks a lot tho and make him feel less grindy. - There is no way to skip mechanics here.
-
4) Ogoga (cackle, Switch!, No don't!)
Ogoga is a bit slower than before and you want him to be challenging so that's ok.
I only suggest increasing the time from color assignment to the hit of the fireballs by 1s, to give new players, who understood the mechanic a chance to follow it in time.
-
------------------------------
Idea for more excitement:
Halgratha (Dragon with healing adds) is a bit of a difficult one to balance. It is a big grind with a low dps group, but if you reduce the HP high end groups can skip the mechanics.
An idea: You could make Halgratha take 50% reduced dmg by everyone as soon as an add passes the pillars, there could be a message in /region like: "Halgratha is being empowered by her minion". As soon as the add gets killed Halgratha takes full dmg again.
If you do this you could reduce Halgrathas HP by 25%.
You could also make the adds faster until they reach the pillars or you could make them faster in general and a lot more squishy, so groups would have to kill them fast but more often, during the encounter.
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
A general idea for both instances is to make the tank dmg reduction formula:
shield+parry/2
or
shield+parry+evade/2
to simply open the tank spot to more classes, and to give Midgard the option of offtanking with skald and have speed6 in HoH.
It would still not allow minstrels or bards to tank bosses, so i think it would be a healthy change.
-
Also, if you didn't do it yet, please remove the extra dmg against tanks, when they have their 2h or bow out - 1 fatfinger for a second = wipe
Some tanks started unequipping 2h and bow, just to counteract the natural clumsiness inside every human being
At least let them take just double dmg or so, so they get a big hit but dont insta die.