Is Baldesian Arsenal discord a mistake?

[Alucard135]

The arsenal is an amazing piece of content that challenges players in a way that the game has never seen before. Don't treat it like a mistake just because the method of matchmaking needs work.

It is and it's good that SE is stepping into that direction. But I guess some just like doing the same mindless dungeons we have 100 times rather than a single challenging one lol.

[Iromi]

The whole implementation of BA seems to be all over the place. I think the matchmaking needs a bit of work done to it.

Everytime I go into Eureka all I see is people arguing over a premade group trying to get in, and randoms just wanting to go in and try.

[CyrilLucifer]

They need to either segregate them, or do more to help parties in BA contribute to the rest of the instance, because apart from one extra FATE they can spawn (which might not even happen if they wipe before AV) BA alliances are a net detriment to the instance as a whole. Spawning more fates that rarely drop items from inside the dungeon, or killing things inside grants a buff to all the players in the instance outside, things like that.

To your average person in Hydatos, the presence of a BA alliance in the instance is a liability because that's 50~ people that are not contributing to spawning normal NMs and other activity, that's 1/3 of the entire instance and they can't be replaced by newcomers for an hour or more. It effectively turns the instance semi-dead on the spot for the sole benefit of that alliance. It's not as simple as simply leaving and finding another instance either, as someone who got to the instance first has things like chains, logos actions, and fairy buffs that will disappear when they exit. If you're wondering why there are cases of people not helping to clear the support fate out of spite, it's probably because people don't like being treated as waterboys while the BA alliance gets all the rewards. It's simple game theory, people will sometimes act against their own best interest if they feel the system as a whole is rigged against them, and it allows them to punish the other party.

Fantastic post.
This is exactly right.

The Arsenal is interesting content but it's also an active detriment to the people outside, say, crystal farming. They gain nothing from helping and they get a dead instance.
It needs to be segregated if SE plans similar content in the future.

[Akonyl]

IF the people are not invite to the discord, they can basically never get in BA as a party, net alone train and get crystal to boost their equipment.

I don't know about your server/datacenter, but when I've been in BA groups, the people in the group almost always shout a link to the discord in eureka, asking that people join the discord if they want to get in on organized BA runs. There are multiple public discords out there, running groups ranging from newbie-friendly fragment farms + prog learning, to clear attempts. If you look around, you should be able to find one for your DC pretty easily.

[Hustensaft]

Quite frankly, i don't get how from a development standpoint anyone could think BA would ever be a good idea (looking at the japanese forum, it's doesn't seem overall positive). They should just turn it into a 100% puggable experience accessible to anyone in the instance: Make one single portal anyone can enter, allow ressing and job changes inside, get rid of the enrages, and be done with it.

While this removes any sort of "difficulty" and "speciality" the dungeon has, it also makes it accessible, and future proof. There will be no fear of ever being unable to clear BA again, right now people fully expect BA to be only a thing for two, maybe three weeks.

Further, as the ultimate conclusion to Eureka is locked behind BA, i personally think it should be available to anyone that reached it. Right now BA just isn't, and we don't know how long it will be for the few it is available to.

Eh, there have been instances on JP servers of players sniping the portals to BA, and one where an entire instance collectively refused to kill the outside NM to allow further progression inside BA (not Ovni but the other one that spawns where you need Feint L and Dispel L).

As mean as it is to not do the fate, it also sounds like an impressive stand from the people outside. It also ultimately shows how horrible the BA design is in the end.

Imo, BA right now creates a rather unhealthy situation for anyone involed. From people never seeing the real Eureka ending, snipers (accidental/deliberate), up to two hours of trying to get an instance-premades, unnecessary discord between the community - all for the sake of artificial difficulty and some 20 year old "novelty".

[Fiorinol]

Had the same problem as OP. I was one of the party leaders for one of the groups in one of the big discords. We spent roughly 4-5 hours just organizing for a fragment run and trying to queue in. No new instance would spawn, and when one did, another discord group got in, half of their players had Ozma mounts, and we got more or less told to go kick rocks.

This also sucks for random players just wanting to go in without wanting to bother with this Discord nonsense, because every instance available was monopolized by 56-man groups. Some discord servers on some data centers are now jotting down who is "sniping" and banning/removing/griefing players who just pick up a portal. I don't think the portals are anyone's property. Personally, there are some players on that discord I have on my blacklist that I would rather avoid.

This content is very frustrating. 5 hours for 12 fragments while all the hardcore players are rushing the content (And also monopolizing instances) feels like we're just going to miss out on Ozma.

[Barraind]

BA is great and as a longtime EQ raider, I would love to see more 48/56 man raids.

The problem with BA is locking it in a piece of content with a 144 person cap that you cant pre-form alliances with, where everyone else in the zone probably has a desire to do it, and if they dont, BA being open actually hurts the rest of the zone significantly (48 level 60s is a gigantic amount of level 60s).

[HyoMinPark]

As mean as it is to not do the fate, it also sounds like an impressive stand from the people outside. It also ultimately shows how horrible the BA design is in the end.

The second BA FATE needs better incentives, I think. It allows for 8 more people to enter after completion, but it will require far more than that to complete. So the individuals not going into BA need a large incentive to even participate in it. As it stands, I think it gives something, but I don't know if it's enough to promote participation.

I can't say much on it as a whole, though, as I've never been in an instance where it has spawned. Most BA progression stops at the East/West bosses it seems for the unorganized groups (and, as I said before, I'm never in an instance where there is a preformed group or even interest in poking at it to see what it's like).


I like the idea of BA. I want to do it. But it's implementation can be improved on.

[Dyvid]

Man, they really captured FFXI's end game almost perfectly XD

[Vahlnir]

I don't think it's a mistake. It's just a byproduct of SE's terrible design choice regarding BA. People are simply using a tool that's available to them since SE neglected to give them one themselves. We should be able to recruit people, especially since we need so many, much easier in game. Thankfully I don't have much interest in it, though I may be tempted to at least try it if wasn't such a pain to get into to begin with. I'm not a fan of voice chats either, tbh, and have done plenty of extreme primals without such a chat which is what I hear is difficulty level of BA.