Dev Discussion Episode 34: "JLD: Darkness Rising" 4-Player Operation

What's the reasoning behind making everything in the Etrigan fight un-pullable?

Hello Charon, ( * = Important Notes/Points).

Thank you for the updates, they are vey much appreciated. Just wanted to mention that sometimes on the Etrigan fight, just as he is about to die it seems his mechanics tend to overlap.

The main thing I noticed is when the group has the orbital (any really) artifact active it can get chaotic. When he is at low health just as the seal phase is done he tends to warp/summon images of himself and at the same time performs his death sentence, In which the tell/skull can be missed/doesn't show promptly and can cause a wipe.

(If any are lucky to survive, pickups can be difficult as the role less buff becomes inactive with less than 3 players and during the phase the artifact mechanic becomes active and Etrigan and his images will be attacking plus performing his mechanics, mainly fire breath/fireballs from each of them. The room can become a bit chaotic with all those mechanics happening at the same time).

* Just wondering if it is possible to set some safe measures/gaurds to prevent most mechanics from overlapping, mainly his death sentence. That seems to get the group most of the time, especially when running without support roles and relying on the role less buffs.

Perhaps the groups missed something or was a bit slow during the phases but that overlap gets the group most of the time when it does happen. Its just difficult to time each action when all of that is going on. Now with a healer/support role most of that can be mitigated but you can still tell when it happens. Having a support role just makes it easier to get through in those situations.

I've had to solo it on my main and another alt a few times. Both of them have their support armory/tank stance, which makes it easier but is still a pain. (Of course it was easier on my main as I have multiple builds). I can probably handle it on my alt healer too but haven't had too as either I was healing or we had another healer/support role. But when using a non-support role/self-survival toon/build it can be a real pain in those chaotic situations.

Now as I've mentioned it can be done as those situations can be mitigated with a support role/survival toon in the group to get through it. I've also been in decent groups that can get through it without a support role though most were already geared and seemed experienced enough. It can be a real pain though without at least one support role mainly a healer or tank.

Its possible the group took some time to get to the real Etrigan soon enough, Which may have caused the delay/overlap with some of the mechanics. These overlaps when they do happen are noticeable in any setup but more so without a support role as it can be extremely punishable and too much for the role less buff to keep up with.

Just wanted to inform you of this particular situation that can happen and causes most group wipes, Which would otherwise be avoidable if it didn't overlap/delay the messaging and other mechanic phases. This alone when it does happen makes this alert unfriendly to pug groups, especially ones without a support role to help them get through it.

* If a safeguard can be put into place to prevent this overlap from happening with other mechanics (mainly his death sentence + imaging happening at the same time which causes the prompt/tell to be delayed/missed), especially when he is at low health he tends to perform those mechanics together at the same time.

I'm sure if you are able to that will definitely help most groups who would otherwise get caught up in that chaotic situation and struggle to get through it or just give up. If not, then perhaps toning it (death sentence) down some so that it's not as punishable to those groups. Though the prompting is something that should at least show correctly and in time/not with another prompt overlapping it for a proper reaction either way.

I suppose for now I would recommend most groups to have a support role to help them get through that situation. Though random queues at times will not guarantee that you will actually get one. So a pug/random group will have to decide how to proceed in those situations.

So that's what I've noticed so far during that fight. It's manageable, though it can cause problems in some groups. Hopefully something can be done to help out with that some. Either way I appreciate your hard work and dedication.

This episode has been very entertaining and a bit different which is refreshing. The new system seems a bit more grind oriented but I believe it will balance out once more players have progressed further into it. So far I am enjoying it and will continue to progress my characters further in preparation for the next episode.

Thank you for your time and dedication.

Sincerely: Brav

For the laser-feat, how i did it with a group is going through them one by one. Sinds indeed if you just wanted to run through it, it seemed inconsistent. So we went for the safe route, and let each one show up and once it went down, run through. Then kill the adds and the feat popped for us.

Is the Magical Locations node in the Castle’s “Frankenstein” room missing or am I just not seeing it?

There's one by each fountain on either side of the map. That one I believe is right outside the door going into the halls that lead to the mad science room, not actually in the room itself.

I'll look into making it so Death Sentence doesn't overlap with the Mirror Images. No promises for the protection phase.

Another tip...pets will totally set them off.

Yeah, my bad. I don’t really think of those as doors because they stay closed forever.

Torikumo posted this



At the 17 second mark. So it used to be there. If it's not there for some random reason, I'll look into it on Monday. Not sure why it would vanish all the sudden.

No, I misinterpreted what you said about it being outside the hallway, because that door stays shut. I watched that video this morning, saw the bodybags lying around and just assumed it must have been inside the mad science room. Sorry I’m having one of those days where I’m even denser than usual. Seriously, I wouldn’t blame you if you never listened to anything I said again.

Got the feat easily with the on-screen messages yesterday, thank you. It definitely felt "right" with them. I'm guessing that, before, we'd think everything was clean but we'd not get credit for a phase and not be able to tell, compounded with the fact that we weren't really sure if the feat would pop on 5th interrupt or on boss defeat. We appreciated the message popping in chat as well. Overall, this feels perfect now.

Thanks for the quick updates to it. Much appreciated!

I agree Displaying the Message that the group was successful in that attempt to vanish is Great and Will help in acquiring this feat.

No I disagree I think it's fine.

The real one will lunge the tank /heal he's the only one that will lunge and do melee attacks

Anyone find it odd that there are no videos for the stake well done feat? Must be “magic” pc precision dps getting the fea! Seriously if there is a video can someone direct me to it!

Thanks!

Doable for sure, not all will do the feat right away. It needs dedicated loadouts, Lamp consumables are helpful and a bit of work. Don't expect to do every feat the first two weeks.
We tried it once only and came close with around 60 seconds (the vampire lord died shortly before the CD of the Righteous Pyre was finished). What we did was using all possible SC, four dps (one with Consecrated ground SC) and used the Pyres and Orbitals at the beginning. I think that was your mistake and we should have used itt probably when he teleported to a pool around 10% since both Orbital and Pyre do % Damage and ignore the Lord's buffs. Probably gonna try it again this week when I come home at the weekend.

Yeah, i have all the items...cant find groups to do it!

Not even that, its "something" else ;-)

Well, we listening!.....