The Dead Ends is yet another error in the push to make everything hardcore

[nebby00]

I play on the lowest settings possible on a crappy laptop and... I didn't have a problem? The visual indicators are very obvious, especially the aoes do give you enough space to find the safe spot. Standing in between the lasers is their safe spot too, and you only have to move a little bit so you don't get clipped by an aoe. And literally for the last boss the things to avoid are super obvious. I don't know what to tell you. At level 90 I would probably expect this difficulty, which isn't particularly difficult or unforgiving by any means, but it is a step up from previous dungeons so you can't just face roll during bosses.

The last boss is especially obvious with indicators too. So... I have no idea what the OP is talking about.

[Sathona]

what was difficult about it? xD

[SherlottaEryut]

Practice makes perfect! You'll get the hang of it eventually. There's plenty of Youtube guides online that tells you what specifically to look out for in order to understand the fight better. You know, when I first played The Ridorana Lighthouse I was ATROCIOUS at it, you would not believe how many times I died on each boss. But now? I can go through it all and not die once. Honestly, you'll improve. Just keep trying.

[Omedon]

1. It's the last dungeon in the MSQ. It should be more difficult than the rest.

No.

I'm kinda with the OP on this entire line of thought. The longer the MSQ goes (and it does look like all future MSQ will be stacked on top of what we have now), the less... I wanna lightly use the word "right" the game has to tell us "welp, after Xhundred hours, I guess you're just not good enough to unlock the whole MMO!"

This goes deeper than dungeons ("In from the cold" anyone?), this is a big problem with the idea of "MSQ as both gate to the game *AND* a skill test." It's busted, it's escalating, and the entire concept is audacious. There comes a point where you've proven yourself and should just... get to rely on unlocking the game because it would be ridiculous to get blocked at the 11th hour.

The dead ends is a part of the problem. Less so because yes, it's group content and you COULD get carried through it, (again, see "in from the cold") but it's still a problem. After Xhundred hours in the MSQ, I should not have to be Xhundred times better to just... unlock the game! Should I just expect that the day will come in another decade where, at a decade older, my reflexes won't be able to hack the MSQ? Am I just done then? In any other game it might be reasonable, but not in an MMORPG like this.

Just my opinion.

[Kolsykol]

Dear lawd forbid people have to use their brains every once in a while in games.

what was difficult about it? xD

I can understand dying to the first boss the first time if you're not paying attention to the winds.
But so what?
You wipe and then you turn your brain from off to on and you learn.

People gotta stop being so scared of wipes and failure...

[basilbc]

The second boss was hard yeah, and the third boss has golden indicators on a golden floor, but honestly? It’s all p survivable and I think it’s important to learn these mechanics at some point.

[Avidria]

...

Ok Im like 99% sure the OP is entirely trolling based off their other posts in this thread, but like... gonna give the benefit of the doubt and just say there is absolutely nothing "hardcore" about the Dead Ends at all. It's not even the hardest (or even most annoying) 4 man dungeon in the game. I mean, I've seen more wipes in Keeper of the Lake, no joke. Which is to say, I've seen several wipes in Keeper and zero in Dead Ends. People seemed to struggle more with tree doggo in Don Mheg than with Buff Lazer Turret in Dead Ends, at least from what I've seen so far.

Obviously different people are gonna find different things easy, but if someone is genuinely having trouble with this they can do it with trusts and literally stand on top of one of the trust friends for like 90% of the dungeon because they will always do the mechanics correctly (except possibly Alisaie I've been told? not too sure on that lmao). I think there's like one spread mechanic on the second boss, but that's it. Just slap a danger dorito on G'raha (or whoever) and become his best bud.

The only "new" mechanic I can even think of in this fight is the prancing quarter room aoe's on the last boss and MAYBE the big laser he shoots, and like? One hit from either is survivable and after that it should be clear that it's just a pretty aoe marker and a straight line aoe. The only annoying part of that fight is the butterflies, imo, because it is kinda hard to tell which way they're facing when they're so uniform in color. I'm genuinely struggling to think of what other mechanic doesn't have a clear indicator, or clear enough once it's gone off once, except maybe the triangle lasers? But they face outward and make a V shape between them all, so there's always going to be a safe spot in between them near the outside of the arena. I dunno, I'll have to run it later to see, but genuinely what new and un-telegraphed mechanics are there??

Like I'll be real, I've done hardcore content, and I've also struggled hard with mechanics other people have had no issues with, but I'm genuinely struggling to see how anyone could genuinely and unironically consider any of the MSQ dungeons to be "hardcore."

Even general story wise, like... they nerfed In From the Cold, making the easy mode easier, and heck even adding the easy mode in the first place is a tool to make the story more accessible. If they start like genuinely throwing no-forgiveness one shot mechanics into every fight or something then yeah, that's a bit too far for story content, but I have a hard time believing they WILL go that far (and if they do, I've got a harder time believing they won't backtrack on it later).

[Amariel34]

For me personally, Dead Ends is nowhere NEAR as difficult as Shinryu was when SB first dropped. It took me 3 days to finally find a group that beat it, and it was almost a tie between him dying and the last person standing (healer) dying. I know they nerfed it at some point, but in the beginning it was HARD. But beating it was worth it.

[Sorimachi87]

Its the final MSQ dungeon of a 10 year arc coming to a close. No concerns from me about the difficulty. And yes i struggled with it as well. Now i can do this reasonably ok.

[Jeeqbit]

They aren't ridiculously difficult. They are faster paced yet still very easy to do and this is probably why they have been making classes easier to play.

The Heroes' Gauntlet was not difficult. It's actually one of the most boring dungeons and I'm so tired of doing it. This is a welcome change in EW.

They are dungeons, so if you do get hit by things you will probably still get through it. It's not like savage where your mistake wipes everyone else, so you can get a res.