Better dungeon design?

[civilpaw]

So far I like the encounters. You guys did a good job of designing encounters but the dungeons just dont feel like dungeons, and I think I know why. It's the little portals. Why is it that we have to teleport to the next section of the dungeon when we kill a boss? Why not run out of the room and continue on?

Coil just feels insubstantial. It feels incongruous. It just doesnt feel like its a single dungeon. And Amdapor Keep seems like it would be so much more awesome if we got to run up one of those collapsing circular stair cases to get to the second level.

On a side note: Not everything needs to be a dungeon. I miss world content from FFXI and WoW. Specifically FFXI. I miss epic zones like Temple of Uggalepih and the Boyahda Tree and etc.

[Marxam]

If you played Star Ocean 2 and went to Cave of Trials then you know what good, end-game dungeon design should be like

[sylin]

I have really liked the encounters so far also, but, I would love to see some overland dungeons put in, and just in general some VERY hard content.

Or, maybe just whole dungeon zones would be good.

I'd like to see beastmen zones wherein maybe agro works differently and mobs WILL not break away chase unless you zone out, or I've heard tell of ff11 having strange agro rulesets like undead all agroing across zone if your really low on life, some flavorful zones like this would make this great game even better.

Id like to see insane or even impossible content added, in EQ I cant recall which dragon it was but they meant for it never to be killed, it was an impossible mob, and that's kind of how eq raiding was born, an organized group of players got together (like 200) and managed to kill a mob that was meant to be impossible to kill, things like this really add flavor and soul to games and those players will never forget they achieved the impossible.

[civilpaw]

If you played Star Ocean 2 and went to Cave of Trials then you know what good, end-game dungeon design should be like

I played SO2, and did clear that dungeon. And it was fun. But Im not entirely sure it applies to this sorta game.

edit: wait, are we talkin the PS version or the PSP version. Cause I havnt played the PSP version.

[sylin]

another thought Ive had in regards to really hard content, that maybe not every player can get thru, is instead of segregating casuals by making it so they feel they MUST obtain X gear from X event that they cant possibly do. Don't make the stats better than they can receive elsewhere, just simply make the gear cooler, ie particle effects or glows or clicky abilities, in essence let those of us who desire impossible content have it, but don't break the game for those who can't or don't want to, let us show off how uber we are via our displays over via our stats.

(I personally do feel the best gear should be obtained by those who are best, but in an mmo that we want to succeed and lets face it there are many causal/solo type players in this market, so somewhere we need to find middle ground so all are happy)

[MirariMirai]

So far I like the encounters. You guys did a good job of designing encounters but the dungeons just dont feel like dungeons, and I think I know why. It's the little portals. Why is it that we have to teleport to the next section of the dungeon when we kill a boss? Why not run out of the room and continue on?

Coil just feels insubstantial. It feels incongruous. It just doesnt feel like its a single dungeon. And Amdapor Keep seems like it would be so much more awesome if we got to run up one of those collapsing circular stair cases to get to the second level.

On a side note: Not everything needs to be a dungeon. I miss world content from FFXI and WoW. Specifically FFXI. I miss epic zones like Temple of Uggalepih and the Boyahda Tree and etc.

+1 so agree with you

[Kelberos]

I reckon its more to do with server stability. If you spawn a full dungeon from the get go the way you do in WoW and other lower level dungeons - you will put a lot of strain on the server.

On a side note: Not everything needs to be a dungeon. I miss world content from FFXI and WoW. Specifically FFXI.

We already have a couple of content thats not dungeon based. Look at Odin and Behemoth. How much fun it is stacking on one map tile with 200+ other people that are spamming AOE on a small piece of land. Or how it would occasionally crash the server?

IMHO - they do not have a good handle nor a good solution to handle non-dungeon based content. Its not their fault per se since World events are hectic & messy. Unless something has changed or can be done i would refrain them from trying.

I understand where you are coming from - and i do root for them myself. But i would not trade them off for server stability/availability.

[Kellauchia]

They did say that they plan to release hard mode for some dungeons (some already confirmed).
whose to say they don't plan to do so for the AK or many more.

I remember hearing them say, when they put the HM of the dungeons, they will be with different enemies and different places or routes for that dungeon...

[Zaft]

Coil is split up so that you can clear it a turn at a time. You can leave, come back another day, switch jobs around, or even come back with an entirely different group.

[Alice_89th]

I reckon its more to do with server stability. If you spawn a full dungeon from the get go the way you do in WoW and other lower level dungeons - you will put a lot of strain on the server.

Personally I think the usual glowing blue dots you see when changing zones could already be an improvement. Of course it would still be ''start walking down the tunnel/staircase/cave on one end and magically skip the middle and come out on the other end'', but it might feel a little more coherent than warping around.

But personally I have been busier pondering how those aetherflows would work (lore technically), than that they annoy me.