Nyzul Isle Revamp: Praise and Lamentation

[Insaniac]

I wanted to take a minute to talk about several aspects of my current focus in game to gather the opinions of others and hopefully give the Dev Team some notes for future content so they can avoid the rampage that came along with the first incarnation of NI:2.

THE DIFFICULTY

The luck factor involved in NI:2 before the previous update was so far off the charts that peoples minds were blown. The addition of stoppers and astrariums was maybe the single biggest improvement to an event ever made and I applaud the devs for it. Good groups are capable of reaching 100 while groups with less than perfect set-ups can make pretty steady progress towards goals. The difficulty of this event is now at an almost reasonable level but I feel a few more tweaks could be made to put it right where it needs to be.

1) Setting a stopper should not cap a groups progress. Even a mediocre group that aims for 80 and has trouble reaching it every time should have the opportunity to shoot for 100 once they reach their 80 cap. Pure insane luck could take the group to 100 but because of the extremely low odds they will aim for 80 and may cap out their run after 15 minutes. Being forced to stop on 60 or 80 is already a big enough penalty for the stopper imo.

2) Certain combinations of objectives, mobs, and penalties should be removed. No one run should be decided by a single crappy floor roll. Getting a kill all floor at 90+ with 2-3 HNMs and white magic restriction should never happen. Aggroing gears on a lamp floor where every lamp is surrounded by 2-3 gears should never result in 1 minute penalties in NI:2. ect. ect. FUs like that shouldn't happen in an event where the odds are already stacked against you.

3) Order lamps should be removed completely. This goes along with #2 in that it's quite simply a run ender if you are going for 100 unless you guess correctly on your first try which is extremely unlikely.

4) The timer should not start until you are on F1. This is self explanatory really. Buffing and getting temps eats up to 60 seconds of valuable time. More if someone in your group has a crappy connection and it takes them a long time to zone.

THE GEAR

NI:2 gear is simply amazing. No more VW side grades. Worthwhile set bonuses. Gear that is truly worth the effort to obtain. That being said, I do have a complaint.

It looks atrocious. It's just a recycle of gear that has been ugly for years. Not even a pallet swap. Please go back and do something with it. Best in slot gear should not look so terrible. Doing amazing damage is soured by looking like a 2008 gimpard.

EVENT LONGEVITY

For some groups it's there. Relying on 80s to get 100 gear will keep some groups busy for months and months. For groups able to reach f100 though, this event has pretty much 0 replay value after beating f100 10-15 times. So, we need reasons other than the gear to keep going.

1) Alexandrite output should be drastically increased. NMs should have a good chance to drop pouches. All Bosses should drop their pouch 100% of the time and Astrariums should be worth pouches:

3 Bronze astrarium = 1 cotton pouch
2 Silver astrarium = 1 cotton pouch
1 Mythril astrarium = 1 cotton pouch
2 Gold astrarium = 1 linen pouch
1 Platinum astrarium = 1 linen pouch

We would finally have a viable means of farming alexandrite directly instead of farming gil through other sources and buying it. This would definitely keep me coming back. My guesstimate is that a 100 clear would net a group about 400 alex which would allow them to complete 1 mythics worth of alex in about 90 days worth of tags assuming a high rate of 100 clears. I find that very reasonable considering the other effort involved in the mythic quest.

2) The NMs you put in the zone are terrible. None of them drop anything anyone cares about. Make them worthwhile somehow. For eaxmple; put HQ king pops in the loot pools of the NQ kings that appear. Original nyzul had certain NMs that you might be excited to see and go out of your way to kill like the fei'yin shadows and argus. They also dropped the base mythic weapons. In NI:2 they are nothing more than an inconvenience.

IN CLOSING

NI:2 went from being an awful soul smashing FU event to something I think a lot of people will eventually warm up to and enjoy. I really think the devs should be ashamed of themselves for releasing the original version but they should also receive a pat on the back for reacting quickly to how much people hated it.

[Goliathreborn]

1) Alexandrite output should be drastically increased. NMs should have a good chance to drop pouches. All Bosses should drop their pouch 100% of the time and Astrariums should be worth pouches:

3 Bronze astrarium = 1 cotton pouch
2 Silver astrarium = 1 cotton pouch
1 Mythril astrarium = 1 cotton pouch
2 Gold astrarium = 1 linen pouch
1 Platinum astrarium = 1 linen pouch

We would finally have a viable means of farming alexandrite directly instead of farming gil through other sources and buying it. This would definitely keep me coming back. My guesstimate is that a 100 clear would net a group about 400 alex which would allow them to complete 1 mythics worth of alex in about 90 days worth of tags assuming a high rate of 100 clears. I find that very reasonable considering the other effort involved in the mythic quest.

This has my vote!

[Insaniac]

Oh hey, I thought this thread would slip by unnoticed because I had the audacity to post it in right section. Thank you for the bump, Goliath~

[Insaniac]

Added 3) and 4) under the difficulty section.

[Cowardlybabooon]

At a minimum I think the time should start at floor 1. Shouldn't be hard to balance that into the mix.

[larrymc]

Good groups can reach 100 fairly regularly

I could be wrong about this - but I have yet to hear of a group that has reached 100 without the use of 3rd party tools. With double embrava, 4 eph DD, and speed movement gear, 80 has been a struggle for my group.

This is more of a question, rather than a statement - how do you consistently reach 80 or 100 without these tools - would anyone like to share their experience?

[Insaniac]

I could be wrong about this - but I have yet to hear of a group that has reached 100 without the use of 3rd party tools. With double embrava, 4 eph DD, and speed movement gear, 80 has been a struggle for my group.

This is more of a question, rather than a statement - how do you consistently reach 80 or 100 without these tools - would anyone like to share their experience?

I should change the wording. Semi-reliably is open to interpretation.

[Karbuncle]

I support bumping this thread.

Because I like the idea. Well thought out!

[Insaniac]

Changed the wording to be less misleading.

The only tips I can offer you may be things you are already doing:

Use only 2h DDs. They make better use of embrava.

Don't forget haste. Both of my SCHs had just picked the job up and weren't used to keeping so many buffs up. Once they got used to keeping haste up we went from ending runs in the 70-80s to 90+.

On kill all/family floors never double up on anything but tough NMs. And make sure you fan out when you come to intersections in the map. Embrava/Regen 5 DDs can kill just about anything solo.

Have your AoE WSs ready. 2 cleaves or 2 Sonic Thrusts will level a group of normal mobs in seconds.

Always always always have someone at the rune when the floor is done. If you aren't up within 1 second of clearing a floor someone isn't doing their job.

Sprinter's drinks are awesome. Put em in your preferred items list and use em when it makes sense. Also don't be lazy with your movement gear. Put it on anytime you have to run even a small distance.

Beyond that, pray for good jumps and no lamp order floors.

[Darwena]

Just asking: How the new NI2? The strategy listed look like same as NI1 back in time when lv75 was the lv cap...