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Did they stealth patch the difficulty level?

ogkeltogkelt Member Posts: 27 Arc User
edited May 2013 in PvE Discussion
A full team of level 35 and 36 doing the dungeon with the green dragon, a quest listed as lvl 34, and never able to finish the final encounter. Ended up losing party members to rage quit after 4 or 5 wipes. Impossible to finish that dungeon.

Running a solo lvl 35 cleric, can't even make it from the campfire by the pub to the doors of the citadel to plant the four swords without dying.

My girlfriend was soloing in tower and couldn't even free the 5 guards without dying multiple times and in the end just giving up.

Was able to solo just fine before that last patch. wtf is going on here?
Post edited by ogkelt on

Comments

  • kattara1kattara1 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 6 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Welcome to the club, I am done with Neverwinter for good.
  • contressacontressa Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 2 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    ogkelt wrote: »
    A full team of level 35 and 36 doing the dungeon with the green dragon, a quest listed as lvl 34, and never able to finish the final encounter. Ended up losing party members to rage quit after 4 or 5 wipes. Impossible to finish that dungeon.

    It used to be easier? O.o I thought it's always been that difficult. I just recently hit 30+ to be able to do that dungeon on my main (lvl33 cleric atm) and the lowest I've seen him go down before my whole group wipes is 50%.
  • bittersweet14bittersweet14 Member Posts: 21 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    \
    ogkelt wrote: »
    A full team of level 35 and 36 doing the dungeon with the green dragon, a quest listed as lvl 34, and never able to finish the final encounter. Ended up losing party members to rage quit after 4 or 5 wipes. Impossible to finish that dungeon.

    Running a solo lvl 35 cleric, can't even make it from the campfire by the pub to the doors of the citadel to plant the four swords without dying.

    My girlfriend was soloing in tower and couldn't even free the 5 guards without dying multiple times and in the end just giving up.

    Was able to solo just fine before that last patch. wtf is going on here?

    I thought it was just me. I solo'd up until now (Lvl 38), but now I just shake my head. While I don't think a char should just sail past mobs their own level or higher, it's fairly obvious that the Devs should continue to look at balancing mob strength AGAIN. At almost level 39, I can't get my Cleric & her companion past level 35 mob groups in Ebon Downs. While I expect to be challenged, I don't expect to be nerfed. If you want my money, then please re-look at balance. Even your own loading screens state that regular content is expected to be done with a character and companion.
  • nimassus1nimassus1 Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    I too noticed a change in difficulty. I have yet been able to find a party that can beat the green dragon. Mobs are out of control. And as a cleric with just about every talent to reduce threat, I still get everything on me as soon as I heal anyone. Need to do something about threat reduction and the number of mobs on that boss. Maybe have them spawn on a percentage of damage done to the dragon.
  • gotnksgotnks Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    On my Wizard, we had little issue beating the Mad Dragon, though we wiped the first try on all 3 runs we did. All pugs from the queue.

    On my Cleric, of 3 attempts before outlvling it, and with a smart Rogue I've played together with for years protecting me from the adds, and despite trying 3-4 times each run, we wiped every time. Most of those wipes were during the 2nd wave of Super-Adds that spawn, we did fine till then and just got overwhelmed.

    Part of the problem is the sheer amount of **** going on. Part of it is the Cleric's lack of Stamina & regen only letting you dodge very little vs the tons of Sta & fast regen my Wizard has. Part of it is the fact that those little ****-imps Slow you when they hit you, and since Clerics will be tanking any trash the Wizards don't aoe down quick enough, I spent most of my time slowed or kiting around the wizard(s) just to stay alive.

    The combination of being slowed by the imps, out of stamina from dodging the CONSTANT red spots on the floor from both the dragon & the devil mages, and the Dragon's random freezing + the Devil Mages STILL spawning while the super-adds are up kind of pushes the difficulty a little too high, too suddenly. Don't get me wrong, I like Challenges, but this boss fight feels like they overdid it just a little. The later bosses really aren't anywhere near as hard as the Dragon is. They're challenging, but the Adds are a littl TOO constant + the slowing of the imps is just downright not fun and unfair to the healer whose job is already thankless and it's hard enough to find a good one as it is without making them give up playing the class because they have to tank everything.
  • diedel443diedel443 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    gotnks wrote: »
    On my Wizard, we had little issue beating the Mad Dragon, though we wiped the first try on all 3 runs we did. All pugs from the queue.

    On my Cleric, of 3 attempts before outlvling it, and with a smart Rogue I've played together with for years protecting me from the adds, and despite trying 3-4 times each run, we wiped every time. Most of those wipes were during the 2nd wave of Super-Adds that spawn, we did fine till then and just got overwhelmed.

    Part of the problem is the sheer amount of **** going on. Part of it is the Cleric's lack of Stamina & regen only letting you dodge very little vs the tons of Sta & fast regen my Wizard has. Part of it is the fact that those little ****-imps Slow you when they hit you, and since Clerics will be tanking any trash the Wizards don't aoe down quick enough, I spent most of my time slowed or kiting around the wizard(s) just to stay alive.

    The combination of being slowed by the imps, out of stamina from dodging the CONSTANT red spots on the floor from both the dragon & the devil mages, and the Dragon's random freezing + the Devil Mages STILL spawning while the super-adds are up kind of pushes the difficulty a little too high, too suddenly. Don't get me wrong, I like Challenges, but this boss fight feels like they overdid it just a little. The later bosses really aren't anywhere near as hard as the Dragon is. They're challenging, but the Adds are a littl TOO constant + the slowing of the imps is just downright not fun and unfair to the healer whose job is already thankless and it's hard enough to find a good one as it is without making them give up playing the class because they have to tank everything.

    At least you can dodge sometimes, try playing a GF with all those circles plopping up (in Grey Wolf a few minutes ago). You can only try to walk out, but many are so short you won#t make it, get knocked up (blockable), fall down, take 3.5k damage and fall or your face, just to have the boss on you whacking you for another 5-6k. it is nearly impossible to even block most strong mob attacks. I don't know if it is the latency in EU or if the timings are just super tight, but i have mostly given up on blocking most things, i will get hit even with the shield up anyway.
  • gotnksgotnks Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    diedel443 wrote: »
    At least you can dodge sometimes, try playing a GF with all those circles plopping up (in Grey Wolf a few minutes ago). You can only try to walk out, but many are so short you won#t make it, get knocked up (blockable), fall down, take 3.5k damage and fall or your face, just to have the boss on you whacking you for another 5-6k. it is nearly impossible to even block most strong mob attacks. I don't know if it is the latency in EU or if the timings are just super tight, but i have mostly given up on blocking most things, i will get hit even with the shield up anyway.

    This is -exactly- why I abandoned my GF and don't like the GWF gameplay. Even without the lag the lack of a dodge on the tank is <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font>, and this is one of the few times a GF is actually -useful- in a dungeon, keeping the Dragon pulled against a wall and turned towards it so the rest of the group doesn't have to worry about dodging that straight-line acid "sidewalk" attack he has + keeps him out of the way when adds spawn so the Wizard(s) have a better view of the battlefield.
  • protocol87protocol87 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 85
    edited May 2013
    Had a 4 man group (one disconnected at start) a while back, and our cleric didn't bring heal potions/couldn't avoid AOE some reason (he was prolly worst one I've played with so far). He'd die every engage when dragon was 90%. Anyways, 3 man GWF/CW/Rogue got it from 90% to 30% on last of 3 engages. Just have to stress to group how important it is to always 1. Carry 200-300 heal potions 2. Kite adds/pop heal potions early 3. Most of all avoid AOE at all costs. Keeping mob respawn sets away from boss AOE will hurt the NPC focus dps huge as well which is usually while people die.

    About to start telling people in groups to bring 200-300+ heal potions or not bother coming (any dungeon run). The encounters just seem to be getting harder. Got Pirate King down on 6th engage yesterday had to give people heal potions. Don't forget about buff potions too folks. If everyone pops buff potions before boss engages helps a ton.
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  • tfangeltfangel Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    contressa wrote: »
    It used to be easier? O.o I thought it's always been that difficult.

    Seriously, this is a "new" thing? Since headstart people have been complaining about how hard it is.
  • ideagorasideagoras Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 55
    edited May 2013
    I honestly think you're doing something wrong if you're having so much trouble. There is definately a difficulty increase post 30 and another one beyond 50, but nothing you shouldn't be able to handle with a healer companion/and or pots.
  • zedmuszedmus Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    The lair of the mad dragon is the first dungeon in this game I found fun. I tanked this fight on my GF and finally felt like a tank. My group wiped once and then we fine tuned our strategy. It was me 33 GF, My fiance 35 TR, our healer 33 DC, our mage 32 CW, and a melee 34 GWF and we had no issue what so ever after we decided on a strategy. Me as the tank stayed on the dragon the whole time. I made sure no matter where the adds came up I faced the dragon away from the party so that dps can take down adds and keep them off our cleric. Then the dps jumped back to the boss after adds were down. Once we got into the rhythm we were able to down him without a problem. Difficulty is only as hard as you make it. I sincerely hope that they do not nerf fights like this or it would be the end of the game for me. I was doubting the fun factor in dungeons for me as a tank up until this fight. Most other dungeons before this it was just everyone pulls whatever and it didn't really matter if I was pulling or not.
  • ogkeltogkelt Member Posts: 27 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    zedmus wrote: »
    The lair of the mad dragon is the first dungeon in this game I found fun. I tanked this fight on my GF and finally felt like a tank. My group wiped once and then we fine tuned our strategy. It was me 33 GF, My fiance 35 TR, our healer 33 DC, our mage 32 CW, and a melee 34 GWF and we had no issue what so ever after we decided on a strategy. Me as the tank stayed on the dragon the whole time. I made sure no matter where the adds came up I faced the dragon away from the party so that dps can take down adds and keep them off our cleric. Then the dps jumped back to the boss after adds were down. Once we got into the rhythm we were able to down him without a problem. Difficulty is only as hard as you make it. I sincerely hope that they do not nerf fights like this or it would be the end of the game for me. I was doubting the fun factor in dungeons for me as a tank up until this fight. Most other dungeons before this it was just everyone pulls whatever and it didn't really matter if I was pulling or not.

    So basically you had a premade that has worked together before. I am talking about PUGs with maybe 3 people total who had ever even been in the dungeon. If it requires an experienced premade to complete that leaves... what, 90% of the player base unable to complete this official dungeon? Unacceptable. This is not completable by people who a) haven't already done it and somehow lucked into a team that has the same experience, or b) a premade. Just because you, the elite teamster found it to be a challenge doesn't make it doable by the vast majority of the players of NWO.
    Also the practice of upping the difficulty by adding endless waves of summons/adds is not a quality quest or challenge. Its a lazy way of doing things without having to code unique encounters. I expected the first dragon to be a challenge, I didn't expect it to be a cheesy "see how many adds can be thrown at the team" pseudo challenge.
  • kargisterkargister Member Posts: 51 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Mad Dragon like a poster above me said is doable in a premade sure. With difficulty even then. Sadly though, the average player in a pug need not apply. Wait till your GF tries to kill Packmasters that heal up for 25% of their health bars. Miss one stun and you're in for a long fight. No need to talk about the lightning blasting boss werewolf with 5 or 6 adds that you always hear people in general asking for help with. You think the area you're in now is rough? Fear not, it gets worse.

    Part of me wonders if the difficulty level isn't designed to get you to buy those full heal stones and/or the rez scrolls from the zen store.
  • ednogronednogron Member Posts: 18 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    I don't see a change in difficulty at all in any of the things the OP listed since the first day of Open Beta? Mad dragon has always been ridiculous to me due to all the adds.
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  • trickyflokitrickyfloki Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 28 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Mad dragon is not hard, but it is the first boss in the game you can't just dps zerg down. I have downed md in 2 pugs the second time knowing the strategy we one shot it all level 31 chars. The adds spawn every "bubble" of health the dragon goes down. GF should handle boss all others on adds. Magus are priority 2 spawn each round. At 66% and 33% you get big waves, again focus magus first in those waves and you will have no trouble. Also use the in game voice chat, it is one of the few things nicely implemented here
  • jezgafysjezgafys Member Posts: 33 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    "200-300 heal potions" !!!!

    If any boss/encounter requires the use of 200-300 potions there is deffo something wrong with the game mechanics. Heal potions are a last resort with the healer being able to heal the group. If the healer can't do this then the the healer needs addressing or the encounter is doing too much damage.
  • francodauriafrancodauria Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    The fight is fine. Once the majority of the player base learns the fight, it won't be that difficult. I had no problem pug healing this at 30 on my cleric. Yes, I first did it at 30. Group was 30 rogue, 30 clr, 34 GWF, 35 CW and 32 tank. We wiped once and figured it out, one of the guys had attempted it earlier and coached us on a strategy in party chat, after the first attempt, we all understood.

    It's a really fun fight and I would be sad if they nerfed it :C
  • pizzamuraipizzamurai Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    ednogron wrote: »
    I don't see a change in difficulty at all in any of the things the OP listed since the first day of Open Beta? Mad dragon has always been ridiculous to me due to all the adds.
    You think that's bad, try the skirmish dragon with more AOE, more strong adds that never stop spawning AND heal him.

    Gg.
  • zedmuszedmus Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    ogkelt wrote: »
    So basically you had a premade that has worked together before. I am talking about PUGs with maybe 3 people total who had ever even been in the dungeon. If it requires an experienced premade to complete that leaves... what, 90% of the player base unable to complete this official dungeon? Unacceptable. This is not completable by people who a) haven't already done it and somehow lucked into a team that has the same experience, or b) a premade. Just because you, the elite teamster found it to be a challenge doesn't make it doable by the vast majority of the players of NWO.
    Also the practice of upping the difficulty by adding endless waves of summons/adds is not a quality quest or challenge. Its a lazy way of doing things without having to code unique encounters. I expected the first dragon to be a challenge, I didn't expect it to be a cheesy "see how many adds can be thrown at the team" pseudo challenge.

    I don't remember saying I was in a premade. The only person I knew in the group was my fiance who was the TR. I merely listed the comp that the random dungeon finder gave us. So no it does not take a premade to clear and can be done by a random group of people as long as they know how to play a video game. It would be a giant mistake to cater to a small minority of people who cant take the time to learn a fight by making everything a face roll.
  • nvmbanelingsnvmbanelings Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    ogkelt wrote: »
    This is not completable by people who a) haven't already done it and somehow lucked into a team that has the same experience, or b) a premade.

    while i agree that the endless waves of summoned add bull**** is irritating, both of these points are completely false.

    i queued up for epic mad dragon last night. the queue gave me the following team:

    1 CW
    1 DC (myself)
    2 GF (yes, guardian fighters)
    1 TR

    and guess what? we completed the entire instance. it took a few tries, sure, and even my friends who were 10k gs+ and completed all content (but castlenever) told me to quit the group. i do agree its a cheesy add fight, but saying its not able to be completed by PUGs is downright bull****.
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