10-16-2024, 02:57 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-16-2024, 02:57 AM by Trexmaster.)
Now that we have experienced Part 2 for the first time on live, here are my thoughts on it:
The Mechanics
The most major change was the introduction of the now complete Crescendo phase. Featuring a mini-boss fight accompanied by the Wall being subject to the new mechanic introduced, Dark Snakeheads. Thus creating an effective resource sink in the siege shields required to prevent damage to the wall from either the opening salvo of 4 or any potential mechanic failures in the mini-boss fights.
While we did get an increase of 1 round spawn delay for the Pariahs in the mini-boss fight, I believe there could afford to be another round delay to clearly signal the Pariah being spawned into the circle to make it more obvious and perhaps list the effect of its sacrifice as a skill if nothing else. It's a very punishing mechanic that's effectively trial and error to figure out, and actively punishes everyone in firing another Dark Snakehead at the wall for players figuring this out the hard way, so it could afford to be more transparent.
The construction of siege shields makes for a good resource sink but it is effectively left in the hands of a few players to foot the bill without much room for others to contribute bar finding said player to fork over their resources to. With how the shields are meant to only ever be put into specific spots I don't see why they couldn't instead be constructed on the spot with multiple others being able to contribute to the resource cost. That way it's easier for there to be more diverse contributions. There's a lot of ways it could be handled to allow others to provide resources as needed if not specifically for the shields. Perhaps a wall specific resource pool to donate to? Who knows. The repair feature being fixed/functioning on shields could make this a moot point.
That's about it for the specific mechanics of the raid. The out-of-combat interactions are fine even if the horn's are all so specific in their requirements we tend to only ever see Tone of Battle. I have no further complaints aside from wishing that the merits, rather than rolling over at the end of the month, rolled over at the start of the next Preparation phase so we can actually see everyone's contributions for the current cycle rather than having merits wiped mid-raid. It's happened 2 out of 3 times now.
The Enemies
Sneak mine.
Seriously, Sneak Mine alone warps fights around it due to how much damage it does and the fact there is no answer to it other than killing the Caimic responsible through its 50% extra DR or actively moving away from it repeatedly as it chases you down slowly. The other enemies barely even register compared to how absurd Sneak Mine is. Something needs to change about it, and I along with many others have already spoken to death on it.
While hilarious to some it was very clearly targeted at my setup utilizing Divine Shower to give Caimics light reflect, then give Manscorpions dark absorb to counter Blackened Faith being able to alter Divine Shower to dark damage, on top of causing Sneak Mines to travel per damage tick so attacks like Divine Shower cause the mine to move 8+ tiles toward you. Making it so my setup now has to begin each fight moving as far as possible away whilst not being able to damage the Manscorpions.
I can't say I appreciate bringing my character to these raids and having said raid adjusted to counter me. It put me off participating at all. What's the point of building a character to succeed if when you do, the game is changed so you cannot succeed? Some argue that you 'shouldn't be able to solo easily'. The price I pay for being able to solo easily is that the build drops off after that burst of damage. I'd still have to party for the boss fights. Even prior to these changes if I did not move in certain spawn combos I could die before I could act again.
I'm glad I can at least play the character still but the main thing I set them up to do ICly now tries to hard counter them. Doesn't feel great.
The Prince/Darkmage and Manscorpion are all fine, I already listed the issues for the Darkmage fight above. Manscorpions are a bit loaded on eHP and I don't know why it's become normal to slap 50% unlisted resists on newer mobs.
The Timing
Perhaps the biggest issue in all honesty.
The raid now has a runtime of approximately 7 real life hours. It has historically started at roughly 7PM EST, 10PM EST, and now 7AM EST. With no control over when the raid begins OOCly participation can be bordering on the impossible for some people. Having the option for nation leaders if not GMs to adjust the start time would be a step in the right direction. I think it could afford to have a shorter total runtime as at least to me it feels awkward to be unable to reasonably participate for the full length of the raid, especially now that there's the Crescendo phase to catch midway through, which ended this time at around 11AM EST.
Compare this to say, the Black Beast raid on G6. That lasts half an hour, and occurs roughly every 3-4~ hours. Obviously the Wall Raid should not happen that often but combine being able to dictate when it happens on the day of and cutting the runtime, it'd be less OOCly daunting to have your character participate in the raid to its fullest.
For something as integral to the nation as the Wall's defense it feels very strange to have to dip out midway through an attack because of how egregiously long the event is right now, and the inconvenient times it can start at.
Removing the Rest Phase (90 minutes) would be the easiest and quickest way to cut the raid's runtime down by a significant chunk that I don't believe would cause many if any issues.
Final Thoughts
The raid system has a lot of potential and I appreciate all the work put into it, especially the out of combat skill system introduced alongside it. More difficult and engaging content helps keep the game alive and interesting. This feedback/suggestion is made in hopes of seeing it improve as it slowly makes its way to being introduced to the other three nations.
I did not touch upon the rewards as comparatively underwhelming as they are to what you could get farming outside the raid, as Dev himself said if I recall correctly, that more specific rewards would likely only be when similar systems reach the other nations, so it's a bit early to give a verdict on the reward quality with that in mind.
I can only hope in the future changes are not made to spite player's efforts to clear said content without anything being given to said players to work around those changes without compromising their setup entirely. It only discourages players from participating if they have to fear their characters being nerfed or countered because they were observed by Dev performing well.
The Mechanics
The most major change was the introduction of the now complete Crescendo phase. Featuring a mini-boss fight accompanied by the Wall being subject to the new mechanic introduced, Dark Snakeheads. Thus creating an effective resource sink in the siege shields required to prevent damage to the wall from either the opening salvo of 4 or any potential mechanic failures in the mini-boss fights.
While we did get an increase of 1 round spawn delay for the Pariahs in the mini-boss fight, I believe there could afford to be another round delay to clearly signal the Pariah being spawned into the circle to make it more obvious and perhaps list the effect of its sacrifice as a skill if nothing else. It's a very punishing mechanic that's effectively trial and error to figure out, and actively punishes everyone in firing another Dark Snakehead at the wall for players figuring this out the hard way, so it could afford to be more transparent.
The construction of siege shields makes for a good resource sink but it is effectively left in the hands of a few players to foot the bill without much room for others to contribute bar finding said player to fork over their resources to. With how the shields are meant to only ever be put into specific spots I don't see why they couldn't instead be constructed on the spot with multiple others being able to contribute to the resource cost. That way it's easier for there to be more diverse contributions. There's a lot of ways it could be handled to allow others to provide resources as needed if not specifically for the shields. Perhaps a wall specific resource pool to donate to? Who knows. The repair feature being fixed/functioning on shields could make this a moot point.
That's about it for the specific mechanics of the raid. The out-of-combat interactions are fine even if the horn's are all so specific in their requirements we tend to only ever see Tone of Battle. I have no further complaints aside from wishing that the merits, rather than rolling over at the end of the month, rolled over at the start of the next Preparation phase so we can actually see everyone's contributions for the current cycle rather than having merits wiped mid-raid. It's happened 2 out of 3 times now.
The Enemies
Sneak mine.
Seriously, Sneak Mine alone warps fights around it due to how much damage it does and the fact there is no answer to it other than killing the Caimic responsible through its 50% extra DR or actively moving away from it repeatedly as it chases you down slowly. The other enemies barely even register compared to how absurd Sneak Mine is. Something needs to change about it, and I along with many others have already spoken to death on it.
While hilarious to some it was very clearly targeted at my setup utilizing Divine Shower to give Caimics light reflect, then give Manscorpions dark absorb to counter Blackened Faith being able to alter Divine Shower to dark damage, on top of causing Sneak Mines to travel per damage tick so attacks like Divine Shower cause the mine to move 8+ tiles toward you. Making it so my setup now has to begin each fight moving as far as possible away whilst not being able to damage the Manscorpions.
I can't say I appreciate bringing my character to these raids and having said raid adjusted to counter me. It put me off participating at all. What's the point of building a character to succeed if when you do, the game is changed so you cannot succeed? Some argue that you 'shouldn't be able to solo easily'. The price I pay for being able to solo easily is that the build drops off after that burst of damage. I'd still have to party for the boss fights. Even prior to these changes if I did not move in certain spawn combos I could die before I could act again.
I'm glad I can at least play the character still but the main thing I set them up to do ICly now tries to hard counter them. Doesn't feel great.
The Prince/Darkmage and Manscorpion are all fine, I already listed the issues for the Darkmage fight above. Manscorpions are a bit loaded on eHP and I don't know why it's become normal to slap 50% unlisted resists on newer mobs.
The Timing
Perhaps the biggest issue in all honesty.
The raid now has a runtime of approximately 7 real life hours. It has historically started at roughly 7PM EST, 10PM EST, and now 7AM EST. With no control over when the raid begins OOCly participation can be bordering on the impossible for some people. Having the option for nation leaders if not GMs to adjust the start time would be a step in the right direction. I think it could afford to have a shorter total runtime as at least to me it feels awkward to be unable to reasonably participate for the full length of the raid, especially now that there's the Crescendo phase to catch midway through, which ended this time at around 11AM EST.
Compare this to say, the Black Beast raid on G6. That lasts half an hour, and occurs roughly every 3-4~ hours. Obviously the Wall Raid should not happen that often but combine being able to dictate when it happens on the day of and cutting the runtime, it'd be less OOCly daunting to have your character participate in the raid to its fullest.
For something as integral to the nation as the Wall's defense it feels very strange to have to dip out midway through an attack because of how egregiously long the event is right now, and the inconvenient times it can start at.
Removing the Rest Phase (90 minutes) would be the easiest and quickest way to cut the raid's runtime down by a significant chunk that I don't believe would cause many if any issues.
Final Thoughts
The raid system has a lot of potential and I appreciate all the work put into it, especially the out of combat skill system introduced alongside it. More difficult and engaging content helps keep the game alive and interesting. This feedback/suggestion is made in hopes of seeing it improve as it slowly makes its way to being introduced to the other three nations.
I did not touch upon the rewards as comparatively underwhelming as they are to what you could get farming outside the raid, as Dev himself said if I recall correctly, that more specific rewards would likely only be when similar systems reach the other nations, so it's a bit early to give a verdict on the reward quality with that in mind.
I can only hope in the future changes are not made to spite player's efforts to clear said content without anything being given to said players to work around those changes without compromising their setup entirely. It only discourages players from participating if they have to fear their characters being nerfed or countered because they were observed by Dev performing well.
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