Colanius
Active Member
Running dungeons all day, I noticed how simplistic and yawn-inducing they are, there's no challenge, no mechanic, only a wonky pull/leash system and tank and spank.
Here are my suggestions on how to improve them a little, also pushing every role inside a party to actually make people work and pay attention to them.
- Fast travel
One thing that would ease the grouping would be to have a sort of "summoning stone" at the entrance of each major dungeon, so you don't have to wait 30 min waiting for someone running from DF to ML for example.
How to do it: Call it Ember Stone or re-use the ember spire things that are similar to the EV portals but with 1 spike coming from the ground, and make it cost 5 ember essences to summon each person.
- Static Bosses
Besides the chances of named spawning, add Bosses to the dungeons with their own boss rooms, more HP, more damage, and adds (also mechanics but this is a separate bullet explained below).
How to do it: Make unique items drop from them (with a low drop chance for each class/playstyle) and make the loot tables be shared across all Bosses, so people can't spot farm only one that drops their own item of interest and force them to kill them all.
- Simple Mechanics + Party Composition
Add mechanics to big encounters such as bosses or even named monsters that require the team to play strategically. I'm going to give a few examples of how this can be done and how it would improve the challenge and engagement inside dungeons instead of just tanking and spanking.
- Side note: Skills
One thing that must change is making some skills to be instant (with 1 GCD interval) and just the normal CD when used. Taunts, Heals, Buffs, and Debuffs should be instant. It will make combat a little more dynamic.
How to do it:
Example a) Make some bosses have the ability of "armor breaker" reducing the AC values of the tank to -50%/70%, so another tank (off tank) must taunt the boss and switch aggro until the debuff worn out or until the boss applies the armor debuff to the second tank, making the first to re taunt and switch aggro again (make the armor debuff only able to be active in 1 target at the time). This will help more tanks to be included, instead of running with just one, and make them pay attention to the debuff and when to swap aggro.
Example b) Make some bosses have the ability to stack a healing reduction debuff on the tanks, reducing healing received 5-10% for each stack applied, so the boss fight becomes a DPS race to burn down the boss before the healers can't keep up with the healing. This challenges everyone, tanks and healers must play more strategically with their defensives and DPS must know their rotations and make their damage efficient to kill the boss fast enough.
Example c) Make bosses have adds spawning to prioritize and kill. Every 10-15 seconds an add is spawned with fairly low hp but very high damage, so DPS must kill it fast before it kills the tank. Once an add is spawned the boss gains a big 25%-30% stacking damage reduction buff for each add still alive. This will challenge DPS's attention and awareness to switch and prioritize targets to keep the tank alive.
Example d) Make bosses have a Dot volley to all members (elemental damage could be poison or whatever the flavor of the dungeon is) that deals 10-20 damage every 2 seconds. The debuff is only canceled when the target is fully healed (100%). This will keep the healer's attention on the edge and make the rest of the party watch the hp and healer's stamina to help them chug a potion if the healer can't keep up and also make some use of the overhealing.
Example e) Make bosses spawn adds that require different forms of damage to get killed. Adds that have a very nasty small radius AoE in melee range, that can only be killed with ranged weapons, other add can only be killed with dots and be immune to direct damage. And stacking a buff on the boss that adds 10-20% more damage dealt for each add still alive. This will make dps have a variety of weapons equipped, and not only rely on being melee only, also healers and their crossbows can contribute too.
- Dungeon Environmental hazards
Make dungeons have a debuff inside that grows in strength the longer you remain inside. Keep in mind these suggested debuffs can be cleansed in the ember rings by applying the ember dust to the fire of the ring. So every checkpoint is a good way to rest and cleanse.
How to do it:
Example a) Central veins (or any mine dungeon), debuff "Poorly ventilated mine", every 10 minutes, a stacking debuff is applied to all players draining 1% of their total hp every 10 seconds, stacking to 2% in 20 minutes, 3% in 30 minutes and so on. That will keep the healers at bay maintaining the hp of the people up and making use of the AoE healing abilities more often.
Example b) Ember Veins (in general) debuff "Ashen dust", every 10 minutes a stacking debuff is applied to all players reducing 10% of their AC total value, stacking every 10 minutes +10%. This will keep the challenge of staying longer periods with the buff applied.
Example c) Flooded Depths (or any damped dungeon) debuff "swamp feeling" every 10 minutes a stacking debuff is applied to all players reducing their haste by 10% of their total value.
All values I mentioned can be tweaked, it's just numbers as a reference to see how it could potentially be challenging or engaging.
Here are my suggestions on how to improve them a little, also pushing every role inside a party to actually make people work and pay attention to them.
- Fast travel
One thing that would ease the grouping would be to have a sort of "summoning stone" at the entrance of each major dungeon, so you don't have to wait 30 min waiting for someone running from DF to ML for example.
How to do it: Call it Ember Stone or re-use the ember spire things that are similar to the EV portals but with 1 spike coming from the ground, and make it cost 5 ember essences to summon each person.
- Static Bosses
Besides the chances of named spawning, add Bosses to the dungeons with their own boss rooms, more HP, more damage, and adds (also mechanics but this is a separate bullet explained below).
How to do it: Make unique items drop from them (with a low drop chance for each class/playstyle) and make the loot tables be shared across all Bosses, so people can't spot farm only one that drops their own item of interest and force them to kill them all.
- Simple Mechanics + Party Composition
Add mechanics to big encounters such as bosses or even named monsters that require the team to play strategically. I'm going to give a few examples of how this can be done and how it would improve the challenge and engagement inside dungeons instead of just tanking and spanking.
- Side note: Skills
One thing that must change is making some skills to be instant (with 1 GCD interval) and just the normal CD when used. Taunts, Heals, Buffs, and Debuffs should be instant. It will make combat a little more dynamic.
How to do it:
Example a) Make some bosses have the ability of "armor breaker" reducing the AC values of the tank to -50%/70%, so another tank (off tank) must taunt the boss and switch aggro until the debuff worn out or until the boss applies the armor debuff to the second tank, making the first to re taunt and switch aggro again (make the armor debuff only able to be active in 1 target at the time). This will help more tanks to be included, instead of running with just one, and make them pay attention to the debuff and when to swap aggro.
Example b) Make some bosses have the ability to stack a healing reduction debuff on the tanks, reducing healing received 5-10% for each stack applied, so the boss fight becomes a DPS race to burn down the boss before the healers can't keep up with the healing. This challenges everyone, tanks and healers must play more strategically with their defensives and DPS must know their rotations and make their damage efficient to kill the boss fast enough.
Example c) Make bosses have adds spawning to prioritize and kill. Every 10-15 seconds an add is spawned with fairly low hp but very high damage, so DPS must kill it fast before it kills the tank. Once an add is spawned the boss gains a big 25%-30% stacking damage reduction buff for each add still alive. This will challenge DPS's attention and awareness to switch and prioritize targets to keep the tank alive.
Example d) Make bosses have a Dot volley to all members (elemental damage could be poison or whatever the flavor of the dungeon is) that deals 10-20 damage every 2 seconds. The debuff is only canceled when the target is fully healed (100%). This will keep the healer's attention on the edge and make the rest of the party watch the hp and healer's stamina to help them chug a potion if the healer can't keep up and also make some use of the overhealing.
Example e) Make bosses spawn adds that require different forms of damage to get killed. Adds that have a very nasty small radius AoE in melee range, that can only be killed with ranged weapons, other add can only be killed with dots and be immune to direct damage. And stacking a buff on the boss that adds 10-20% more damage dealt for each add still alive. This will make dps have a variety of weapons equipped, and not only rely on being melee only, also healers and their crossbows can contribute too.
- Dungeon Environmental hazards
Make dungeons have a debuff inside that grows in strength the longer you remain inside. Keep in mind these suggested debuffs can be cleansed in the ember rings by applying the ember dust to the fire of the ring. So every checkpoint is a good way to rest and cleanse.
How to do it:
Example a) Central veins (or any mine dungeon), debuff "Poorly ventilated mine", every 10 minutes, a stacking debuff is applied to all players draining 1% of their total hp every 10 seconds, stacking to 2% in 20 minutes, 3% in 30 minutes and so on. That will keep the healers at bay maintaining the hp of the people up and making use of the AoE healing abilities more often.
Example b) Ember Veins (in general) debuff "Ashen dust", every 10 minutes a stacking debuff is applied to all players reducing 10% of their AC total value, stacking every 10 minutes +10%. This will keep the challenge of staying longer periods with the buff applied.
Example c) Flooded Depths (or any damped dungeon) debuff "swamp feeling" every 10 minutes a stacking debuff is applied to all players reducing their haste by 10% of their total value.
All values I mentioned can be tweaked, it's just numbers as a reference to see how it could potentially be challenging or engaging.
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Already pay $15 a month there.