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Considering playing after long absence - what am I in store for?
mistadobolina
Member Posts: 5 Arc User
Greetings. I'm considering playing again after a long absence, while also trying to convince some friends to come back as well. We quit playing not long after Tiamat.
I've tried to piece together what new content is out there but hope the community can provide a better summary.
How many new 5 man dungeons are there?
What other dungeons/encounters/raids are there at end game?
Can you now queue a group for encounters/raids larger than 5 man? (this was a big reason my friends and I didn't continue much after Tiamat)
Thank you for your replies!
I've tried to piece together what new content is out there but hope the community can provide a better summary.
How many new 5 man dungeons are there?
What other dungeons/encounters/raids are there at end game?
Can you now queue a group for encounters/raids larger than 5 man? (this was a big reason my friends and I didn't continue much after Tiamat)
Thank you for your replies!
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No new dungeons, instead they removed many.
Over inflated trade market, can only get coal wards with zen, AD to Zen exchange is at an all time high for xbox but a bit volatile. Although if just coming back and still have unbound mod5 T2 gear set items you may be able to make some quick AD.
Incoming lostmauth set nerf, pally nerf, DC nerf.
New sub level 70 content that mattered to no one, but perhaps you will be one of the few to benefit from if you're returning at level 60.
Guild strongholds.... ugh, I'm just gonna leave that one alone. Only advice, if you really want the boons and want them fast, it's worth whatever obsurd requirements a high end guild is asking for you to join... and for anyone listening in, yes I have heard the most recent reqs of a guild which will be left unnamed. Consider outfitted with all rank 12 enchants or guild boons.. I'd say the boons prolly have more value and go drop in r7/8 enchants. Just sayin... otherwise be prepared to grind a lot.
Overall it's just a lot of added unrewarding grind compared to premod 6 content. Somehow it got more buggy and laggy as well.
Well Endowed (Xbox)
In answer to one of your questions, yes you can now queue entirely with a premade team for Tiamat and Demogorgon (new dungeon that awards you with the current best artifact weapons).
The Well of Dragons has been made a bit easier in the sense that you can get the full 15 coffers in a single round of the 5 dragon kills in the area instead of having to spend hours farming them.
There are new 140% speed mounts & with the new stable system you can use the benefits from one mount on another that you may prefer to ride - e.g. if you had a pig mount you can now ride him up to 140% speed depending on what other mounts are in your stable. Most of the better mounts come with other bonuses, scaled to whether your mount is blue, purple or orange - e.g. a purple tiger now gives you an extra 2k armor penetration - these stats can also be used regardless of which you choose to actually ride. There are also more minor bonuses on them (insignias) but that's a longer story.
Greater marks are almost a 10th of the price now but you need new Superior marks for making artifacts mythic or enchantments rank 12. It is easier to rank stuff up now but the above mentioned coalescent ward thing upset a lot of people. I'm expecting the zen exchange to drop again in the nearish future - it was down to 120ad and a lot of people got used to it there. Currently it's around 380.
There are several new campaigns and boons, you'd need to run them all. Being in a guild allows you to get Dragon Flight armor which is very good but there are other new options - drow & dusk.
New rings which are better than the ones you'd make for yourself. They drop from the underdark campaign. There are quite a few types and they come ranked anywhere from +1 to +5, with +5 being the best, but they give you all sorts of interesting stuff such as rising power, crit, recovery etc. At +5 the power one will give you an extra 135 power per hit up to 10 hits, so 1350 pwr.
There are other artifact weapons that you can earn through campaign areas - these are better than the free ones you get on reaching 70 but for most classes the Demogorgon is BiS - but will take longer to get.
There's new levelling gear - Mulhorand stuff which you can use at any level - they actually have decent stats that scale with you, kind of like the old Dragon Bone stuff but better. You can get weapons & cloak from the auction house but the zen market also does pants & shirt.
Don't roll a paladin as they are about to get a major nerf. One whole paragon path is about to die.
The GWF is uber again following its mod 5 uselessness but the above mentioned lostmauth nerf will hit them hardest - but they are still expected to be one of the top 2 DPS classes (the other is the Warlock - but only in dungeon groups). CW's have been nerfed so much they are no longer considered a DPS class.
If you say what your class is you can get some more info specifically for that class.
Guilds now have a stronghold - a base with it's own map. These bases (essentially a castle) can be upgraded but it takes a lot of investment but they do give boons. The SH (stronghold) ranks from 1 to 20, boon structures can be ranked up to 10. The boons are the best in the game - e.g. 8k power. You can have 1 offence, 1 defence, 1 utility & 1 pvp active simultaneously. e.g. most of my characters run with power, defence and mount speed.
If you get enough friends back in the game you'll probably want to create your own guild. If you do that the only advice I'd give is to require all members to donate influence daily & make the rest voluntary - and if you are not short on real cash, buy a SH starter pack from the zen store. Gearing your team up then running dragon kills in the stronghold is also a decent way of levelling the SH as the more drags you kill, the better certificates etc you get - and you also need to kill them to get dragonflight armor.
That's all I can think of atm
Xael De Armadeon: DC
Xane De Armadeon: CW
Zen De Armadeon: OP
Zohar De Armadeon: TR
Chrion De Armadeon: SW
Gosti Big Belly: GWF
Barney McRustbucket: GF
Lt. Thackeray: HR
Lucius De Armadeon: BD
Member of Casual Dailies - XBox
They really need to bring back a good AD farm because the drop rates on the few things that are worth anything are extremely low.
You seem to see the absolute worse and a exaggerating some of the "flaws" the game has.
Stronghold boons are great, but the disparity between haves and have nots is huge. I've been in a ptw guild and lower guilds building. The grind is draining. The game should feel like a game, not a job.
This leads me to more "flaws", as you say, that I left out... the disparity has made PVP nearly unplayable, especially when premades are running. I prefer a good fight and not utter domination. Not a fan of getting completely shut out or completely shutting out others. No challenge or no chance, either way is unrewarding. It can be enjoyable if persistent and land a mixed team on both sides.
The new queue system makes public queue very difficult. It can take hours to queue for a specific dungeon and going into menus or changing maps can screw it all up. It can help edemo and tiamat, but even with a full 25 faults in the system can result in timing out and missing the window.
Legendary rings are a joke.. I did enough grind to be lucky enough to finally get 2 +5s, but they were worthless defensive rings that are of no use to dps. Never even equipped. Too many variants and account bound with no way to exchange is brutal at the current drop rate. If dungeons had unbound farmable rewards like premod 6 then there could be some slack, but it's all or nothing with this game and even a determined player can be worn down.
Lag and unstable servers top it all off...
Well Endowed (Xbox)
Xael De Armadeon: DC
Xane De Armadeon: CW
Zen De Armadeon: OP
Zohar De Armadeon: TR
Chrion De Armadeon: SW
Gosti Big Belly: GWF
Barney McRustbucket: GF
Lt. Thackeray: HR
Lucius De Armadeon: BD
Member of Casual Dailies - XBox
So how many celestial coins did it take you to final get one @stpensive?
Well Endowed (Xbox)
As such I was concerned that your somewhat negative viewpoint (i.e. "Just stay away and never come back. . .") was coming from a perspective too limited to be applicable to this situation.
Congratulations, by the way.
Xael De Armadeon: DC
Xane De Armadeon: CW
Zen De Armadeon: OP
Zohar De Armadeon: TR
Chrion De Armadeon: SW
Gosti Big Belly: GWF
Barney McRustbucket: GF
Lt. Thackeray: HR
Lucius De Armadeon: BD
Member of Casual Dailies - XBox
That said, it's somewhat silly to savagely disparage a free game you (likely) play everyday. If the above odds are not to your liking, skip your trip to Starbucks and pony up for one in the Zen market.
It's not to say I do not have my own set of issues regarding the game, it's just this one does not hurt my feelings as much as yours it seems.
Xael De Armadeon: DC
Xane De Armadeon: CW
Zen De Armadeon: OP
Zohar De Armadeon: TR
Chrion De Armadeon: SW
Gosti Big Belly: GWF
Barney McRustbucket: GF
Lt. Thackeray: HR
Lucius De Armadeon: BD
Member of Casual Dailies - XBox
Can it be fun if you don't take it seriously absolutely, can it also be soul destroying yep.
I think the issue most of us have is the shoddy attention to bugs and so forth, we are still getting the square wave crashes and lockups although the causes seem different following maze engine, the lack of tradeable gear is also a major issue imho and one that needs urgently addressing. Drop rate on current lock boxes is pretty poor compared to prior incarnations and lets not talk about the whole Coalward thing.
You pays your money and you takes your choice
[]Full Metal Witch[]
4149 TiL
Guild: (X1) The Legendary Outlaws
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