new dungeons vs old dungeons

[RopeDrink]

Haukke Manor HM is the best example I can think of.

COUGH - Brayflox Longstop - COUGH.

They certainly haven't given up on the idea, just limited it to chests being visibly a walk away - enough for a stray player to pick them up while their tank is being all 'must zerg and pick up three packs'. In comparison, places like Brayflox encourage the light exploration, seeing as saving goblins (essentially a sub-task) provides chests, while others are very well hidden in their own side-rooms that you are highly unlikely to go to during a clear. Decided to solo it about 8 times to gather the Battlemage Set for an alt (as well as re-do a Hunting log after a GC transfer) and it seems that you can save 3 Goblins (3 Chests + 1 for the first drake you kill after first boss), along with (can't remember if it's two or three) extra chests at the lake, and one (with a hidden Coerl that is tougher than the average trash) guarding a chest at the end which provides class-specific green-rings.

That's 3 guaranteed dungeon drops, 1 ring chest, and 6-7 regular chests (which have a chance of becoming silver chests). I have 1200'ish hours in this game and it was only at the weekend I noticed this, because every group during my levelling days were just chomping at the bit to complete it ASAP. Undersized, you can rush from A to B in about 6.40/7.20mins and snag quite a lot of 31-32 gear for alts (or just piledrive them into your Seal collection), and barely anyone made any effort to capitalize on this back in my day. Some of the later ones have optional rooms or hidden alcoves and crevices that hold chests, but the 9/10 liklihood is they'll be skipped. Don't get me wrong, when it comes to the lower dungeons, I don't want to spend all day max-clearing it, but adding some appeal (extra XP would be an example incentive for, say, mapping a dungeon per visit [preferably without 20 tonnes of trash in the way]) could be good for actual levellers, seeing as chests are largely ignored.

[Acidblood]

COUGH - Brayflox Longstop - COUGH.

When ARR launched most groups did do the optional content in Brayflox (and other dungeons)... but then most people were still levelling at that point, so the extra XP, and chance at good gear (few players had good crafters back then), was welcome.

The problem now is that levelling is so fast (with the biggest reward coming from finishing the dungeon) that taking the time to get a bit of extra XP per run, or a slight upgrade on gear (which is now easy to buy / craft), is rarely worth it.

And when it comes to the new 'expert' dungeons, no one needs XP (level capped), and the iLvl of the gear is already 2 patches old (at best it is OK for less played jobs, or seals), so is it really any wonder that everyone takes the path of least resistance to the only thing of any real value (i.e. tomes). If the optional content was rewarding for the time spent (i.e. better tomes per hour, a chance at relevant iLvl gear, etc.), with a difficultly level to match, then you would see a lot more groups at least attempting it.

[RokkuEkkusu]

I think the question is this:

Are the rewards from the chests in optional rooms worth it?

If not, might as well keep things simple and keep the dungeon design the way it is in Heavensward to appease the majority who like to speed run the dungeons and get them cleared as soon as possible.

[Catboi]

Tam Tara Deepcroft and Toto Rak.. never again. Unless I get tomes.