In defense of the progression system, I think there's a misconception regarding the effort required to unlock the zones. It takes 2 tasks to access Trials of Smoke, 1 additional task to access Empyr (a smoke trial), 2 more to access Aalishai, and 2 more to access Esianti. That's 4.5/6 zones unlocked over the course of 7 tasks (the .5 being because the static Plane of Smoke requires all 5 trials). The actual time commitment is pretty small (like 3 hours). The problem, imo, is twofold. First, having only one zone unlocked is bad optics. I can definitely understand feeling underwhelmed by only having access to one zone at start, and I'm sure that's deterred some people from purchasing it. That's especially true because, while I like Stratos, it isn't a great starting zone given its size/layout. Having Stratos, Plane of Smoke (static), and Empyr unlocked at the start would've made a lot more sense. Secondly, while the progression is quite quick, parts are definitely challenging. I don't really see random PuGs or people's box groups getting through some of the content just because of the difficulty. That's not to say it can't be done by a box group, but the average box group will struggle. I love having some challenging group content, but it really shouldn't be involved in unlocking the first few zones. TDS's progression was much more tedious, but the content was far more lenient. I'm all for quicker and harder (giggity), but the casual playerbase should still probably be able to access more than one zone. Personally I think only the last zone of the expansion should be locked (a la VP). TBL has some great zones (tuning notwithstanding), it's just a shame so many people are funneled into Stratos right now.
The entry zone having tiny islands you can fall off of with mobs that have flux mechanics doesn’t seem particularly well thought out. Not that I’m surprised, but yeah...
Right, and if you don't have full time access you have to do that trial every time. If you are joining a group beyond, SoL. They are not going to come back and do a trial so you can join them, and finding a pug to help you do the trial is going to be virtually impossible after the first few weeks. Completing all 6 trials is going to be beyond what a lot of subscriptions are reasonably capable of. What are those folk supposed to do? The practical effect is that they are going to be semi-permanently locked out of the expansion. This flagging HAS to be changed or it is probably going to kill the game.
This information is not accurate at all, if you've completed a smoke trial, you can simply run through to empyr at anytime. There is a faint text message that pops on your screen and informs you, "You have entered The Trials of Smoke. You have recently passed a Trial of Smoke. You may, if you chose, continue your journey without taking another trial."
I was under the impression that if you beat a smoke trial, and still had the lockout timer, you could pass along to Empyre. Once the lockout timer expired, you'd lose that temporary access to Empyre.
Alt-Z if you loose your Smoke Trial lockout timer you can not zone into Empyre from Smoke. Empyre: 1. Do a new trial will re-get you access to get a new lockout. 2. campire in 3. raid banner in 4. get one temp access and just never leave Empryre.
