Variant & Criterion Dungeons

[Deveryn]

Rewards aside (I wasn't expecting anything ground-breaking tbh), I really liked the Variant Dungeon a lot. It's like they took what was good about CLL, Dalriada and Delubrum Reginae and made something interesting. The bosses are long but aren't -too- long, the mechanics have a bit of variation to them between choices and just exploration-wise it's so well-made.

Of course, there are a few things I didn't really like.
- The middle boss needs a bit more to him if that's what we're meant to grind. Otherwise he gets repetitive and tedious fast.
- It's quite obvious which skills to use between roles. Bozja and Eureka had some really good skills to use. They could honestly have explored that avenue a bit more.
- LOTS OF MOBS. The mob pulls themselves aren't too bad, what I'm referring to is how there's nothing but mobs and a couple of bosses, at least in the Variant version, with one of them being
- In the end, this too will be repetitive. I understand Square likely isn't one for "true"* randomness, but this structure still lends well to some randomization. The "randomization" we have is reliant on our choices, but it becomes rather obvious after a while which path we should take.
I'm not saying to throw away the patterns, but do add one or two random elements to keep the variety going.

*"true" randomization is almost impossible in videogames. Stuff is calculated from a seed. So it too can be predictable, though it requires exceptional know-how or just plain hacking into the game to know.

Too many skills make it too complicated. You really don't need much more beyond what's presented. Remember variant is supposed to be soloable and people already have enough of a kit at 90.

One of the worst parts of bozja was actually when people didn't have what was needed. Odds are more in your favor for a smooth run, especially with an all DPS group. At least one person will probabl have raise and one should have heal.

The lack of mobs is actually a refreshing change. Everything doesn't have to be wall to wall and the criterion pulls (so far) are a nice throwback for me, with roamers and small packs to deal with. It's the right kind of spicy. I feel like I could tolerate doing this via PF and progging through to the savage mode.

Overall, it feels very chill, but still retaining a level of challenge.