Southern Front Problems

[NealSnow]

So yesterday I tried going into the front only to find... it had like 5 people in it, counting me. And I had a strong feeling this was going to happen that it would die fast, but didn't think this fast.

1) Making the relic totally doable AND faster to do OUTSIDE the instance!
While I understand they wanted to give people options since Eureka was divisive I feel they really really REALLY dropped the ball by making the new content for the relics... the WORST way to get the relics. I feel, and this will be divisive as well, that it shoulda been the reverse, have it easier to get it in the instance and harder out of it.

2) Shadow of Eureka
Back on Eureka, as above it left many angry, including me I HATED eureka til hydatos where I felt it finally got better, and have since calmed down about Eureka. But it's shadow loomed over the front because imho the devs did a terrible job showing, not telling people it would be different. They should have shown it off more, the nonstory bits some of the fights, to show people it'd be different vs "Hey totally believe us its not going to be the same thing." I feel that was an issue.

3) The future of the front as a whole
With all of this said, do you think there is anything they can do to assure the future instances don't die as fast? Because outside of people through discord scheduling jaunts into it for the raid, thats now locked off for a lot of people at least Eureka, something that was hated lasted far far longer then front did.

Should they instead make future parts vastly smaller installments? Like maybe 8 party small zones ot at least 24 zones and build them more as alliance raids? Stop with them altogether and just make the relic updates alone with no new content with them?

I'm curious at to what people think could, or couldn't be done to save the front as a whole.

[Jandor]

In my opinion it was probably a mistake to let people get the relics outside of Bozja, it was definitely a mistake to make it the fastest method.

I much prefer doing Bozja to grinding HW fates, but the knowledge that I'm playing inefficiently inherently saps some of the fun out of the content. I'm not the best player in the game but I do at least try to avoid deliberately playing the game wrong, and that's what engaging with the relic content to get my relic feels like, playing the game wrong. In the time I can get one from Bozja, I could have got two or maybe even three from Heavensward instead.

[NealSnow]

In my opinion it was probably a mistake to let people get the relics outside of Bozja, it was definitely a mistake to make it the fastest method.

I much prefer doing Bozja to grinding HW fates, but the knowledge that I'm playing inefficiently inherently saps some of the fun out of the content. I'm not the best player in the game but I do at least try to avoid deliberately playing the game wrong, and that's what engaging with the relic content to get my relic feels like, playing the game wrong. In the time I can get one from Bozja, I could have got two or maybe even three from Heavensward instead.

I felt the same way! I love the fights but getting your relic done in the content is so paaaaainfully slow its like a damn punishment for even doing it in the first place (probably a big reason it died so fast, its not optimal nor efficient and way to slow)

[ItMe]

In my opinion it was probably a mistake to let people get the relics outside of Bozja, it was definitely a mistake to make it the fastest method.

I much prefer doing Bozja to grinding HW fates, but the knowledge that I'm playing inefficiently inherently saps some of the fun out of the content. I'm not the best player in the game but I do at least try to avoid deliberately playing the game wrong, and that's what engaging with the relic content to get my relic feels like, playing the game wrong. In the time I can get one from Bozja, I could have got two or maybe even three from Heavensward instead.

If you're just in it for the relic then yes, its doing it the slow way.
But Bozja is still valuable because you can get exp, practical experience using a class you're levelling at cap, lockboxes, clusters, coins, mettle, AND grind a relic.
If you're only interested in one of those... yeah, you should probably focus on the content that specializes in getting you that one thing.
But if Bozja were the fastest way to get the relic... why would anyone do Fates?
Imo the system is fine as is.

[Garnix]

1) True....but I don't see many people farming HW Fates either. People just moved on from the relic stuff for now. I don't think this impacted the longevity of the front that much.

2) I don't think so. The story itself is what drove casual players to do it. The upcoming raid is what drove more "hardcore" players to do it.
But the thing is....when you are at rank 15....why would you stay there? Even if you want all the weapons, you'd probably be done by now.
Also...Eureka had the bunnies. Bunnies were fun. Bring back bunnies.

3) The short-term future depends on the loot system in Delubrum. If we will be able to upgrade the Bozjan gear, people could go back to the front and farm coins. (but I think they said there will be new gear, not upgrades. not sure though)
If Delubrum doesn't drop many fragments, the front will be populated with many farm parties too.
We don't even know how Delubrum works. Maybe dying there will make you lose mettle, and you'll have to go back to the front to get your mettle back to queue for Delubrum again.
And we do not know what the 5.5 part of the relic will be like either, so it is hard to predict.

IMO, the main issue with Bozja is Castrum. In Eureka, the boss of each zone used to have unique loots, which they had to make obtainable via other ways later on, because there was basically not enough people doing the boss fates anymore...
For the Castrum, due to the way it is implemented in the story, I don't know how they will be able to work around the same situation. Same for Delubrum normal mode. You'll probably want to run this on day one....


Also....they should make Bozja a better place to farm tomestones. I'd rather do that over dungeons and hunts to get my weekly cap. I might be wrong, but I believe Eureka was a lot more generous for that...

[Avatre]

If you're just in it for the relic then yes, its doing it the slow way.
But Bozja is still valuable because you can get exp, practical experience using a class you're levelling at cap, lockboxes, clusters, coins, mettle, AND grind a relic.
If you're only interested in one of those... yeah, you should probably focus on the content that specializes in getting you that one thing.
But if Bozja were the fastest way to get the relic... why would anyone do Fates?
Imo the system is fine as is.

Honestly, if they released Bozja MUCH earlier in the expansion(like no later than 5.1 - which might even be considered too late by some), then I'm sure people would have used it to level classes. As is, there was likely a very large(myself included) portion of the player base who had all their classes at max by the time it came around. Not only that, but if they put it at 75% chance of getting a memory from inside Bozja(or varying degree, like a mob has a 50% chance, 75% chance from skirmishes, and 100% from Critical Engagements, then 100% chance to get one of each from Castrum), and say 50% - at most - from HW FATEs, then I'm sure Bozja would have had more people in there even now - though I saw around 50 people in there yesterday when I went in...but only 3 of us queued up for Castrum when it popped.

[Vahlnir]

It is very likely that you entered a fresh instance, OP. Try to requeue a few times and you will probably end up in a full or reasonably populated instance. One queue is not enough proof that the content is dying or dead since instances "die" after awhile and new ones are created. That said, Bozja needs more incentives to keep people coming back. I cannot disagree with that. But it is not dead content, at least not yet. Castrum Lacus Litore maybe, but that has its own share of problems.

[Seraphor]

The funny thing is, people complained about Eureka being the only way to get the relic, and that Eureka wasn't fun.

I think Bozja is an improvement on Eureka in almost every way, and actually makes for a rather fun grind, as far as grinds go, and I wouldn't mind getting my Relic purely through Bozja, but they also addressed that other complaint, and added an external method.
It's almost like addressing both these issues cancelled each other out, and now Bozja isn't a fun way to get the Relic because you know there's a better method.

[Jandor]

If you're just in it for the relic then yes, its doing it the slow way.

Yes, and that's the problem. It's the relic content, I don't think it's unreasonable to want to be in it for the relic.

The other stuff is nice I guess, but it also doesn't seem like it's actually enough to get people in there.

[Liam_Harper]

But if Bozja were the fastest way to get the relic... why would anyone do Fates?

Honestly, who cares. They're HW Fates, old content that can easily be soloed. Shouldn't the participation rate of un-soloable current expansion content tied to storyline and future instalments be more important?