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Cryptic OFFICIAL Feedback Thread: Dread Ring Epic Dungeon: Valindra's Tower
dpaynedev
Cryptic Developers Posts: 6Cryptic Developers › Arc User
Greetings Adventurers!
The new Dread Ring Content will be arriving very shortly on Preview and we would love to get as much feedback as we can. We would like your help to make this Epic Dungeon the best it can possibly be before it goes live!
Below is more information about Valindra’s Tower and the things we would like feedback on.
Dungeon Overview
While participating in Dread Ring Content players will earn various resources that can be used to unlock the Epic Dungeon Key through the Campaign System. Players will enter the Dread Ring portal chamber and first stop Valindra from summoning a Dracolich, then chase her through a portal which transports them to a city in Thay. Once there, they must make their way through a series of arena style challenges against Thayan wizards, including battling the giant bone golem Shatterspine, who guards the gates to Valindra’s tower. Once inside the tower, players will engage in battle with Valindra Shadowmantle herself. The goal for Valindra’s Tower is to feel less “grindy” with a shorter playtime (around 45 minutes) compared to the other Epic Dungeons.
Feedback
It will be really helpful if your feedback is categorized so we can gather it as effectively as possible! Therefore, please use the following format when submitting feedback to help us make sure your voices get heard:
Type: Bug, Feedback
(Pick one or the other)
Category: Rewards, UI, Encounters, Boss, Environment, General
(Please list only categories that apply to your feedback)
The new Dread Ring Content will be arriving very shortly on Preview and we would love to get as much feedback as we can. We would like your help to make this Epic Dungeon the best it can possibly be before it goes live!
Below is more information about Valindra’s Tower and the things we would like feedback on.
Dungeon Overview
While participating in Dread Ring Content players will earn various resources that can be used to unlock the Epic Dungeon Key through the Campaign System. Players will enter the Dread Ring portal chamber and first stop Valindra from summoning a Dracolich, then chase her through a portal which transports them to a city in Thay. Once there, they must make their way through a series of arena style challenges against Thayan wizards, including battling the giant bone golem Shatterspine, who guards the gates to Valindra’s tower. Once inside the tower, players will engage in battle with Valindra Shadowmantle herself. The goal for Valindra’s Tower is to feel less “grindy” with a shorter playtime (around 45 minutes) compared to the other Epic Dungeons.
Feedback
It will be really helpful if your feedback is categorized so we can gather it as effectively as possible! Therefore, please use the following format when submitting feedback to help us make sure your voices get heard:
Type: Bug, Feedback
(Pick one or the other)
Category: Rewards, UI, Encounters, Boss, Environment, General
(Please list only categories that apply to your feedback)
Post edited by dpaynedev on
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This discussion has been closed.
Comments
(Concise Feedback & Screen Shots are much appreciated)
Bug: Dungeon: Rewards
I did not receive the correct rewards in my inventory when the Dungeon Delves Event was running. I received the AD, Gold, and the Potions but not the gear item.
Feedback: Dungeon
Our Party could not beat the “Portal Room” encounter. I feel that if there were fewer portals this fight would still be difficult but not impossible. (screenshot)
Thank you again for all your help Adventurers! We look forward to hearing back from you!
After a wipe during Valindra's fight, those ghost-like adds that show up during the transition between 1st and 2nd phases stayed inside the room, and attacked as soon as we entered. We couldn't make them despawn with further deliberate wipes.
Feedback: Valindra's Fight
First impression is that the fight with Valindra is insanely hard. The 1st stage is fine, the boring "move away from red" copied from Malabog is also fine, just a bit harder because of the "ghosts", but the 2nd stage... almost no breaks between her choke and her hand attack, and far too many strong adds spawning at the same time. We didn't stand a chance. (And then the bug mentioned above made it much harder.)
This is just a first impression, the party composition wasn't ideal (just the few people we could find with keys: 4 CWs and a GWF), and I'm sure people will find better tactics than we could, but we did manage the rest of the dungeon without a single wipe, and in less than 30 minutes. The gap in difficulty between the last fight and everything else should be addressed.
I liked the rest of the dungeon a lot, the city exterior was a nice change of scenery. Lots of adds as always, but I'm used to it by now, and we had plenty of AoE. We only found one mini-boss on the way, is that all? It dropped a fragment, so I'm pleased with the drop rate so far.
First boss - standard, lots adds, simple fight
After first boss there is group of Servitor, they really hit hard from distance.
Drop is the same as in Malabog, only chance to drop purple.
Last boss: Valindra
It's insane. Time between Phantom Claws is too short. Also too many totems at same time, 5 totems for 5 people so all need take 1, but who will fight with boss or who will destroy phantom claw. No enough time to interact with all totems so you have extra Unhallow to fight.
Checking out the new armor set I see it has improved stats over the current sets. Awesome. Then I look at the set bonus and think meh. One problem I've seen in every MMO I have ever played is that set bonuses are never used twice. This is good and bad. It's good that you have lots of variety on sets but bad when the latest and greatest set doesn't have the set bonus you would like.
Solution: Make set bonuses movable by making them enchants. Each armor piece would have it's own type, I.E. a boot enchant only works on boots. Put two enchants from the same set on your armor and get the 2 piece bonus. Four and you get the four piece bonus.
So how does this work in practice? Let's say I'm a CW that wants the HV set bonus but the SW stat allocation. I would run the T2's until I got complete set of HV and a complete set of SW. The pieces would drop as they do now with the appropriate enchant already in it. I could then remove the enchants from one set and put them in the other (hopefully for a reasonable fee).
This will give people reasons to acquire multiple sets, increasing the replay level of dungeons. It also give players a lot of options when it comes to builds. It's also completely optional for the players. I.E. you can just get an armor set like you do today.
You could also add different enchants as rewards for new dungeons. For example this dungeon could have 1 armor set and a couple different sets of enchants as rewards. Again increasing the replay value. Also from a development perspective you created multiple armor sets while only do the artwork for one.
As you play Valindra's Tower and provide feedback, if you can let us know your team make up (Thanks CCSPAM for already doing this)
and gear scores if possible.
Cheers and happy Hunting!
GS: 14k DC (me), 12.5k DC, 12.7k CW, 12.6k CW, 10.7k CW
When she cast the skill that do damage and drain the Ap, the circle is invisible. When she move from phase 1 to phase 2 some of the red section are not correctly displayed
Also the hands seem to spawn at insane frequencies. However because i was in a pug (me on GF + DC guildie + 2CW 1 TR) It is hard to gauge how difficult this encounter is.
Until someone has a good shot at this boss in a full premade with voice coms!
and also the featured satirical comedic adventure "A Call for Heroes".
The city looks rather nice, but it's just mobs scattered around waiting to be plowed through. In comparison, there's at least some story to Malabog's Castle. You first start outside the castle, see all the siege things, and have to destroy them, then get into the castle, etc. This dungeon was just walking around what looked like a city for civilians, but actually filled by angry armed people, monsters and portals that summon monsters, with the denizens standing around the streets waiting for you to arrive to fight you.
FPS was sometimes very bad when I did this dungeon. I am using a radeon 7850 and usually have 40-50 fps during normal fights, 25-30 fps in very dense auction house areas in town, and I was getting worse shutter here. Two GWF's were using new powers and I wonder if that was the cause, because I hadn't done anything with other players in preview except Valindra's Tower.
The boss fight with Valindra during the hand trap phase strongly favors ranged dps. If for example a team had 2 gf's and 2 gwf's and a dc, if one of them is trapped, the melees will run towards the trapped person, while all the adds do massive damage AoE swings against the trapped person when they are actually trying to target the melee characters trying to free the trapped players. If this aspect of the fight remains the same on live, a party will have strong incentive to have 3-4 cw's, just for the sole benefit of being able to free teammates from a distance as opposed to trying to free them at melee range while at the same time getting enemies to do 10k damage blade swings to everyone nearby.
Mobs are level 60,not level 65 like they're supposed to be in a T2.5 Dungeon
Boss(es) drops blue items:
Yes I consider this a bug.There is no reason to run the hardest dungeon in the game for such a poor loot while you can get epic drops from easier T2 dungeons.
Feedback:
Dungeon design is really bad imo, in the OP a Dev said this should be the hardest dungeon in the game, it isn’t.
With a good group getting to the boss is very easy and takes less than 20 minutes.
There are no cc immune adds and this heavily favors CW, unlike Malabog's Castle where they have to be careful when fighting Witches\Totemists\Fomorian Warriors. The first boss has no new interesting mechanic, just add spam.
Then you get to the tower.... I thought there would have been enemies and another boss before getting to Valindra, but there aren’t, just the final boss fight, this makes the dungeon really too short. Add another boss in the tower before getting to Valindra.
At Valindra the difficulty spike is just INSANE.
I tried this dungeon 2 times in preview wiping multiple times, in one run we were 2 GWF\GF\CW\DC, all 13k+ with greater\perfect enchantments and augmented companion, the other we were 2GWF\3 awesome CW's (same, 13k+ and greater\perfect enchantment), we had no chance.
The first phase is very easy, nothing to say about it, the second is like MC but with ghosts running around to make it harder and bugged textures, then we get to the 3rd phase which is almost impossible.
Valindra gains new attacks, all of them go through cc immunity abilities like Unstoppable, spawns caskets which summon adds and chokes your team with hands, leaving you immobile but dealing no direct damage.
We tried every strategy possible, nothing seemed to work, because even if we understood the battle mechanics (standing apart to reach and destroy caskets before they release adds, ignore hands too if needed when caskets spawn),one or two of us ALWAYS got caught by hands or hit by Valindra's cc attack without red zones,not being able to destroy casket our group always got overwhelmed by 15\20 Wights,leading to a wipe.
I think devs should tone down the difficulty a bit,the parties I played with can easily clear all the content in the game but couldnt take Valindra's healt below 50%,hands should not spawn or despawn when she gets to the center to summon caskets (or just decrease caskets number to 3 from 5),there is nothing here about coordination,the fight from the third phase on is totally random because of the hand\attacks\casket mechanic which prevent teamwork and all the good stategies from working.
Besides,I really liked the Thayan city,the dungeon itself looks really really nice.
Vicboss89, you are correct about map level; that has been addressed and should be in the next update.
There has been a major rework on The Valindra boss fight based upon all of your feedback, especially regarding the grabbing hands.
Valindra's Death cutscene is expanding, which you will all get a sneak peak of, as a WIP.
Regarding length of the EPIC dungeon: Up till now, all of our dungeons were touted at 45 minutes of game play, but because of the Epic-ness of them, were hitting much longer times. Castle Never anyone? The design of this dungeon allows you to replay it more often. I think that you will find now that the map has been set to level 65, that the fights (and the loot drops) will change up game play some.
As more play testing and feedback happens (and thank you again for that) we are assessing the places where the game play experience can be made better. Has anyone found the secret room full of mimics yet? (I kid)
Cheers, thanks and keep the comments and bugs coming!
I'd be rather interested on the reasoning behind the fact that bosses in the hardest dungeons can drop nothing of value. Fulminorax (if attempted legit) is by far the hardest fight (or at least on par with Dracolich) and from the feedback here it seems that Valindra further raises the bar. It takes longer to get to Dracolich, but in my eyes that doesn't justifies the gap between an Ancient Weapon / Offhand and blue <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font>. Why should I run MC/VT over T2/CN? Outside the GWF (why this exception?) you can do 2/3 to get your offhand and claim the Malabog Profession (Riser the only real expensive) items off the AH with the ADs you make from other dungeons, which is more lucrative than just running MC itself.
You guys really need to make a Mimic King secret optional boss in a dungeon at some point, maybe with a fakeout optional boss before him.
I appreciate the answer. Thanks for responding to players, this level of direct involvement from the developers is awesome.
However... please. Epic dungeon, epic loot. Simple as that. Please reconsider.
Team: 13,8k DC (new paragon), 2xTR (12k+), 2xCW (13,5k both, spellstorm and firemage)
Short dungeon - good, I want short and hard challenge.. BUT (and its huge one.. like there is a sign "SUPER ULTRA WIDE LOAD")
Performance:
This location has more lags, than whole game. 500+ping, 10fps? nononono..
Encounters:
Any AoE is really hard to see - everywhere. Sand and red circles? No go.. Sand, red circle and clerick poweres (astral shield, clense, or any AoE -- definetly no go.. I dont see astral, nor AoE, or even combo.
There are way to much mobs. I really dont mind - I like it, but huge pack of ranged, or like hundreds of devils.. yeah.. sure, but when whole team wipe 10times, because if we enter, we all get oneshot? Well.. another situation - near the end - pack of Thayan servitors - oneshot whole team.
Valindra fight:
How about that.. First phase is really good.. no visible AoE, but surviveable. I like it..
2nd phase: you kidding me? red stripes with wrong FX, invisible? oh yeah.. ghost (i like them..) sometimes dont despawn.. oh cool.. red stripes again? i cant see them...
ok, stripes done. Now - another invisible AoE, hands, which can get whole party, without any AOE to avoid? Caskets? way to often spawn, too short time to destroy them.. another hits from mobs, another hits from invisible AoE, which I cant name..
my personal record is 75.26% Vals HP.
Problem is not that fight.. its good, problem is to avoid invisible AoE, or kill hands.. I spent like 1 minute, and i cant destroy one holding teammate..
but BTW nice work, but.. you have to play it before you release it.. not just concept, art, desing, modeling.. but actual testing.. We players will provide betatest, but only when you kinda finish it..
I cannot get new quests as well. Do both facts influence each other?
Team Composition for Fight:
1x TR, 1x GWF, 2x CW, 1x DC
Guild Roster in alphabetical order
Ashema (CW), Essence Shift (CW), Imudes (TR), Jaqen (CW), Law (TR), Nightxwing (TR), Sera (DC), Suzume (DC), Valiant (GWF)
Boss Loot Drop
1x Mark of Power, 1x Blue Item, 1x Shard, Seals
Chest Drops
In addition to 10x Seals and some Vanguard Scripts the loot comprised various items - a few people got a new companion called "Thay Renegade Evoker" while others got armour pieces with the new set bonus.
I assumed he meant that it will drop better loot when it gets increased to 65.
I thought the devs wanted to move away from the bajillion adds in dungeons and focus on stronger enemies (but less of them!!)
GWF more than doubled my damage. the CW also nearly doubled my damage
I felt the whole time that I wasn't needed and that they were better off bringing a different class.
14.2k, executioner build, perfect vorpal, formorian weapons.
This was a massive drop in the share of damage I do in other dungeons. I ALWAYS out damage ANY other TR so if I do this badly I can only imagine the other TRs and how they feel. MC was much much better.in terms of adds and such. MC also made it so 3+ CWs wasn't the norm... this will break it for sure. I almost feel like you guys want for there to be a major class unbalance in this game. When I saw the overwhelming amount of adds in all the fights I immediately thought wow.. they did it again. Another dungeon for CWs
Cant really think of any reasons why you would want to take a TR to this dungeon. Which is just plain moronic considering they represent the bulk of the player base in this game.
Congratulations on your kill
Did you record the kill on video between? I would like to see the tactic used for this fight!
Still drops blues... is this a bug?
- failed attempt at Val. Rainbow party, GWF 16K GS all R10s and perfects, me CW 13.2K GS R7s and Perfect Vorpal/HV set+usual CW PvE gear, geared TR and DC, dunno about GF, didn't inspect.
- dungeon is WAY too short, just 2 bosses? This would be fine if you would have added another 2-3 dungeons in the module... but as the only dungeon, it's not nearly enough
- <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> BLUE DROP, MC style, from first boss, which was a joke
- again huge amount of mobs, again red zones - NOTHING NEW. No true boss mechanics to deal with, no true strategies for trash, just AoE all down, drink pots, stay out of red and into blue. Common guys. I KNOW you can do better.
- nice dungeon design from an aesthetic perspective; please alternate open zones with corridors, not just corridor, corridor, corridor...
- GWF topped damage, which is a positive change for the class, I like it. Please make the TR also be competitive - without giving them even more PvP power. CWs look to be fine, although the new path is useless
Val fight:
- 1st phase: OK, just fine
- 2nd phase: OK, just fine, I like there aren't just stripes of red this time. Please modify the AoE graphic tho' so it's not the same as for Fulminorax, it's gotta be unique; same goes for the sound
- 3rd "hand" phase:
IMO, I think it is basically bugged. Why?
- when people interact with a casket, they should NOT be grabbed by the hand - this is crazy and stupid
- interacting with a casket should be instant, not channeled
- caskets should not appear as hostile objects that you can kill, but as distinct entities that can be interacted with
- caskets should not appear together with hand or more than 2 at a time
- learn to use screen prompts for your fights: "Valindra tries to summon help from Soul Caskets". "Player X is choked to death by a claw of doom", whatever. Why? Because your game has not enough perspective/zoom out, even with increased FOV, so you don't have a good vision of your surroundings. Please consider this. Also, targeting/attacking makes your char face the enemy, reducing overall vision even more.
Overall, the claw phase is ridiculous because what I consider to be broken and unfair mechanics. Most important is getting choked as you deal with casket.
- 3 CWs, 14.5K (perfects), 13.3K (perfects), 11K (or so) without enchants, TR 14K/vorpal, DC didn't get to inspect, looked geared/perfects
- lag, lag, lag (the graphical type). Too many mobs, too many effects, big framerate drops
- this party didn't have a damage soaker like my last one with GWF, so all mobs were constantly on the CWs causing multiple wipes on the portal zone. Also the knife-throwing pack caused one wipe. Both these encounters were harder than Shatterspine, which should never, ever happen, bosses should be way harder than trash.
- many mobs hit too hard on the CW, just like the adds from 2nd boss in CN, where you can get 2-shotted easily by chargers
- again, first boss dropped just a blue whatever. Common, Cryptic, don't do this stuff to us. I mean we can go and kill any T2 boss from months ago and we get an epic... yet here in the latest&hardest dungeon we get TRASH? Please reconsider...
Valindra fight:
- phase 1, 2 went OK again.
- phase 3... I counted, at ONE TIME, 4 caskets simultaneously appearing. OK. Now, at the very same time, a party member was choked. OK - I started to DPS the hand. As I was DPSing the hand, I got choked myself! So 4 caskets, 2 hands at one time in the arena.
After all this, Val came close and AoEed down both of us choked guys...
- Val has yet ANOTHER choke? I just discovered this. So basically if you're first on aggro table, Val chokes you from time to time. As you're being choked by Val, you can also get hand-choked
To the devs:
Please try to run this one yourselves and see if you can do anything...