Feedback: Dawntrail MSQ dungeon difficulty

[MrKusabi]

Difficulty in this expac has been fantastic. I want to see more of the same, or even harder dungeons.

I certainly don't disagree! Though I found the story rather lackluster this particular expansion, I've quite loved the dungeons and trials myself. Though I advocated for easier trusts above, I'd relish harder dungeons in general.

[JaxTelmorrow]

Just.. wow. I suggest just not playing at all if you think the DUNGEONS are too hard. C'mon. If you can't beat them.. maybe play something else that fits your no-effort style of play. The story is absolute crap most the time and the only excitement a good number of us get ARE when things are hard. Ask for super duper easy mode trusts if you want a story-only mode. Don't ruin the game for the rest of us.

[zattowangai]

Oh no, I actually have to pay attention for the first time in 6 years!! This is turning into Dark Souls!! Waaah waaaaahhhhh. And no, having a job irl isn't an excuse, I have 2 jobs and volunteer locally, git gud.

[Fingazu]

It sounds like the solution here would be to move earlier. There is no damage requirement for dungeon content, so during the parts of the fight that you struggle with, you could try simply not using spells/abilities and focusing entirely on planning your movement, and moving as fast as possible as the parts of the mechanic resolve.

It is annoying that some trust members move late, I agree. You can mitigate this by learning where they "want" to stand and making sure that you are moving to a spot which will be free, early, for "spread" type mechanics. Trust members will always move in the same pattern.

One could argue that this design is good because it's similar to how players would negotiate positions, or bad because it forces players who wouldn't run hard content to go through a simplified form of that process which they might want to avoid; both are valid, but either way the problem is solvable. Good luck!

[Supersnow845]

Can I ask what it is about the first boss of Alexandria that people struggle with

If it’s his attack where he puts out 6 doughnuts or cross shaped AOE’s then does either a side or front cleave it’s about understanding his rhythm as only the first and last of the 6 doughnuts/cross shaped matter as they are the ones that will fall inside his potential side cleaves

1) if his first attack is a doughnut it will go off before his side cleave, so stand in the doughnut then immediately move out
2) if his first attack is a cross shaped AOE simply preposition closest to the first doughnut
3) if his last attack is a doughnut the cleave goes off first, preposition for the cleave closest to the doughnut, don’t be afraid to press sprint
4) if the last attack is cross shaped then you are already golden

As for the first boss of strayborough his adds are annoying and the punishment for them is too long but the adds don’t actually hurt that much so don’t be afraid of them

If worse comes to worst you can also do these fights on a tank, the tanks are near immortal so if you get hit by one or two AOE’s you’ll be fine

[Bearskjold]

Can I ask what it is about the first boss of Alexandria that people struggle with

If it’s his attack where he puts out 6 doughnuts or cross shaped AOE’s then does either a side or front cleave it’s about understanding his rhythm as only the first and last of the 6 doughnuts/cross shaped matter as they are the ones that will fall inside his potential side cleaves

1) if his first attack is a doughnut it will go off before his side cleave, so stand in the doughnut then immediately move out
2) if his first attack is a cross shaped AOE simply preposition closest to the first doughnut
3) if his last attack is a doughnut the cleave goes off first, preposition for the cleave closest to the doughnut, don’t be afraid to press sprint
4) if the last attack is cross shaped then you are already golden

As for the first boss of strayborough his adds are annoying and the punishment for them is too long but the adds don’t actually hurt that much so don’t be afraid of them

If worse comes to worst you can also do these fights on a tank, the tanks are near immortal so if you get hit by one or two AOE’s you’ll be fine

I play WAR primarily, and I can assure you, if you fail the mechanics of these new fights enough times, you are still going to die. Granted I had a lot more trouble with the NPC groups than actual players, but still, sprint has a cd and if you don't happen to notice the new, more subtle boss prompts at just the right time, you are going to get hit.

[Masekase_Hurricane]

These sort of threads really p*** me off because 9/10 times SE listens to them. The gap between msq dungeon difficulty to Ex Savage has gotten wider and wider over the expansions. There needs to be a more consistent rise in difficulty as you progress through the game and the only time lower dungeons should be nerfed is when the next expansion comes out.

I'm not a Savage/Extreme player as such, but I do like to dabble and challenge myself at them every so often. Nerfing them just makes the end game content harder as it's more of a shock to the system when you reach them.

[Bearskjold]

These sort of threads really p*** me off because 9/10 times SE listens to them. The gap between msq dungeon difficulty to Ex Savage has gotten wider and wider over the expansions. There needs to be a more consistent rise in difficulty as you progress through the game and the only time lower dungeons should be nerfed is when the next expansion comes out.

I'm not a Savage/Extreme player as such, but I do like to dabble and challenge myself at them every so often. Nerfing them just makes the end game content harder as it's more of a shock to the system when you reach them.

I'm not advocating for nerfing the dungeons per say. I'm saying that MSQ should not be locked behind dungeons that the average player will struggle to get through. Many of us play this game primarily for that story, because we have been enjoying these stories in the single player Final Fantasy games for years. When you reach a boss in a single player FF that you're incapable of defeating, you go out and grind levels and/or get better gear and come back. You might research different strategies that utilize abilities you hadn't previously used. That isn't an option with these MSQ dungeons, because there are limits to how far you can level/gear, and strategies for clever spell use in the single player games don't work here. So instead, your option is to continue pounding your head against the wall in frustration, go with a group and hope you have a damn good healer and someone who knows wtf they're doing (preferably the healer), or give up and miss out on the sole reason you were playing in the first place: the story.

It's disappointing to me that over the years, SE has followed Blizzard's example of increasing dungeon difficulty by simply making more crap you have to dodge. Only SE takes it one step farther, by limiting the use of predictive addons and making many "warnings" extremely subtle and easy to miss. There are most definitely ways to increase the challenge in dungeons beyond "dodge the crap". It's group content, engage the whole freaking group. It doesn't have to just be tank gets smacked, healer heals, and dps stand there smashing their heads against the keyboards as fast as possible. Design encounters where the mage has to use his magic to tank something, or the ninja has to sneak past something to unlock a buff, or the bard has to shoot something that debuffs the boss. There's countless ways to add challenge beyond dodge the crap as fast as you can or die, but it is the easiest way for companies to please the young folks looking to turn MMORPG's into the next Elden Ring so they keep on doing it.

So if they really must continue down this path, then all I am asking is that another difficulty is added to dungeons. Let those folks looking for that Dark Souls action have their super fast-paced dungeons, and then make a second difficulty with a little slower pace for the rest of us.

[Volgia]

Let those folks looking for that Dark Souls action have their super fast-paced dungeons, and then make a second difficulty with a little slower pace for the rest of us.

I beg of you people to play or watch someone play Dark Souls so you know the difference between these games.

[Besame]

We are not asking you fanboys to alter YOUR raid choicess as they are. There are many of us with issues that can make the game we love less enjoyable for us and would perhaps enjoy an enhancement we can choose to make our lives a little easier. Why would you hate that so much? We leave you alone and we enjoy the game....