Contested Dungeons - New Challenges - Dynamic Content.

[Nektulos-Tuor]

Contested Dungeons have been or seem to be phased out of many MMOs. However they are some of the funnest most challenging content that has ever been created in MMOs. Learning to pull properly, position things and dealing with interesting mechanics of NPCs/Bosses is one of the most fun things I have done in games.

Contested Dungeons are also not accessible by the Duty Finder, this means players will have to make, and rely on there guilds and friends to do them. This type of content brings the communities together in a way no other content does, of course it also splits it in some ways too.

This new expansion greatly reminds me of the expansion in Everquest 2called KoS: "Kingdom of the Sky" in which you fought and quested on many islands in the sky. This expansion had many raids and fun contested zones to go through, and they all gave rather unique loot too.


So, what makes contested dungeons so special to normal dungeons?

Simply my friend! For one you might want to bring 6-7-8 people for this dungeon, and for two, mobs are not going to be placed the same way, they respawn quickly and spawn in different places. If you wipe, you have to start all over again, or only half way through the dungeon. Also, you must rely on your friends. If someone leaves, you either have to quit or fight all the way back to where you were: Dedication and Tenacity are important traits.

A contested dungeon unlike normal dungeons are never the same. There are many ways in the dungeon to change it, and bosses of course spawn different bosses! The loot is more sparse and there isn't a little counter telling you where you must go. Other players are involved as well, this means you need to be quick to get your nameds, otherwise other players will get them first!

Contested Dungeons can also carry raid bosses! These bosses wander around halls and rooms which normal groups have to avoid or fight around! This adds extra fun, because a big boss can come around the corner and wipe your group if you didn't time it right.



Wait, all this extra work! How is that fun?!

Its fun, because your not expecting what happens. The mobs in contested dungeons are like bosses in themselves, but they actually change depending on what happens in the zone. They also wander around so you won't always know where they are. Since the bosses spawn in random locations and have their own mechnaics you might have to change the way you fight them.



Wait, we arn't locked in a room when we fight a boss?

Nope, in a contested dungeon any boss can be fought anywhere. Even dragged to different rooms to provide better advantages to them. This is called tactics, some times its good to fight a boss a different way to achieve a better victory.



So, since its contested... other players can train you and troll you?

Yep! So its best to be polite and don't make enemies. There has always been a code of honor in these types of zones since the olden days. Of course its a completely legit thing to pull groups on you. That just adds to the challenge of the zone, when you go into a contested zone the zone isn't made to cater to you, you need to cater to the zone.


If anyone says something like: "Well, go play a game with contested zones if you love them so much!" Well, what game? They are being phased out of many an MMO. Lol. I love them so much though.. >~<

Dynamic Content is content that never gets boring no matter how many times you do it, its never the same.

Contested Content is pretty much PvPvE, its a unique experience that I feel games these days miss out on.

You can't just /watch a youtube video/ and get what happens, since its dynamic it may not ever happen that way again! That is what makes it fun.

[ElieDavion]

been there done that trolls would be there 24/7 to just pull a train on you since there is no pk to keep them occupied

[Nektulos-Tuor]

been there done that trolls would be there 24/7 to just pull a train on you since there is no pk to keep them occupied

Unless its actually hard. Trolls wouldn't be able to do so without a group. Also, thats half the fun of it. You don't know what is gonna happen.

[m3eansean]

The reason you don't see this content anymore is because the face of gaming is changing. This type of content if falling out of favor with gamers due to a variety of reasons (trolling, time commitment, etc etc). Most developers know this and attempt to develop content that appeases the masses today and keeps their wallets open.

[Nektulos-Tuor]

The reason you don't see this content anymore is because the face of gaming is changing. This type of content if falling out of favor with gamers due to a variety of reasons (trolling, time commitment, etc etc). Most developers know this and attempt to develop content that appeases the masses today and keeps their wallets open.

Yet its the content that survives for years when other content is done with after a few weeks. Contested content has been around for many years.

The truth is "Masses" don't know what they want. They never did.

I mean, sure content new might be popular for a few weeks, and they love it. However once they have done it once or a few times it becomes dull and old.

[m3eansean]

I agree with you, the contested dungeon thing sounds fun for sure. Unfortunately it seems most things are made to cater to the lowest common denominator, as that's where the money is. So I don't see something like this coming around in a theme-park MMO like this, since it isn't readily accessible to all players.

[Nektulos-Tuor]

I agree with you, the contested dungeon thing sounds fun for sure. Unfortunately it seems most things are made to cater to the lowest common denominator, as that's where the money is. So I don't see something like this coming around in a theme-park MMO like this, since it isn't readily accessible to all players.

Whats better, making 10,000$ a month, or 1,000,000$ over 2-5 years?

Contested Dungeons may not be popular short term, but in long term they are very popular.

They are parts of the reason why games last so long. Since they can be updated to be current content.

[Teryaani]

Part of the draw of this game, for me at least, is the low Grief-Coefficient of its content. The odds of me becoming some trolling arsehole's entertainment in FFXIV compared to say, WoW is very low. All this would do is encourage that segment of the player base to make life difficult for every other segment of the player base when running this content (and possibly to find new and exciting ways of pissing other players off).