Challenge Duo Zones

Discussion in 'Zones and Populations' started by Kander, Jun 19, 2013.

  1. Lempo Well-Known Member


    No, thankfully it hasn't although there are plenty of other zones and content tht are face roll easy for you to enjoy, much more so than content that actually provides a challenge.
    Neiloch and Davito like this.
  2. Venomizer Member

    I think the nerf is strat sharing by those who can do it.
    Davito likes this.
  3. Davito Active Member

    Once a solid strat is figured out for the duo pair that zones in, it is still a pretty easy concept. Just challenging to execute. I think the only issue ANYONE should have with these zones is the spell resist rate.

    They are enjoyable zones because almost every duo pair you go in with has to have a slightly different strat, and makes you think outside the box (boring button mashing without any knowledge of how to play the class was getting boring)
    Neiloch and Priority like this.
  4. Neiloch Well-Known Member

    Done them all a few times now and they are plenty fun. I maintain the random nature of some aspects is still too erratic or 'intense.' Even if there was some loose coding that kept extreme tile streaking in automaton or prevented sudden fast increment counts on furnace would be a huge benefit. Perhaps something that kept portals from being complete opposite side on aqueduct.

    These can often be dealt with but by their very nature they mitigate how much player skill impacts the whole event. I'm all for more player skill and less button mashing but such random events gets almost a complete opposite result; needing certain classes to overcome or its out of the players hands entirely.

    Ideally I would like to see content that is difficult yet the classes used are almost irrelevant outside of those class's style or most basic/generic role they fill.
  5. Clevemo Active Member

    So I started working on the Furnace of Ages zone since I have the three craftable parts from the other two zones and I'm perplexed as to how I'm going to be able to do this zone without the assistance of a fury/inq maybe mystic.

    For about an hour, I worked on the zone with a warlock spec'd for tanking and how is it the warlock can manage to get the Unmake stacks to fall off and I'm unable to do the same with "Inner Focus" or Superior Guard plus any of the following avoidances Tsunami/Bob&Weave/Tag Team. There's really no way that I'm able to control the stack generation or dropping off. The lack of control is frustrating. Why make it so that it is a luck based mechanic?

    We had one pull where we got the Mastersmith to 75% and I'm out killing adds and the warlock is pro tanking. I get my butt smashed because the blacksmith benefits from the add mechanic "Blazing Weapon." So now the warlock has to tank the blacksmith as well because ofcourse the blacksmith gains the same ability off the adds as the Mastersmith does ... why doesn't SoE just rename that blacksmith "mini-Mastersmith" because there's no difference.

    I really enjoy the other two zones because you can bring in a varied number of classes and succeed, but Furnace of Ages pigeon-holes people into specific DUO sets and that's not fun.

    Obviously Kander, you need to go into the Furnace on some different classes other than a pally and see how difficult that encounter really is.
  6. Ebofu Active Member

    I've done furnace with both beastlord and warlock and the only issue we faced were resist rates.

    Also to clarify, the unmake stacks are not something that can be 'blocked or parried' etc, its merely a % chance that it applies to his current target. You control it with your partner.
  7. Kander Developer

    To be fair... And I know this will be hard to believe... But we tested and defeated all 3 of these encounters on multiple class combinations and especially on what we perceived immediately as weak combos.

    Yes. We tested these on live versions with live characters and we were able to, after a bit of practice, defeat all 3 of these.
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  8. Silssd New Member

    Just curious, what gear level were the toons you tested?
  9. Davito Active Member

    That is something that I actually like to hear, if it is true. Find it hard to believe you guys didn't have any problems with mages resisting though. You would have had to put in countless hours to defeat all 3 zones with multiple class setups. Like, dedicated 2-3 work days to just try and defeat them, especially if you used mages.

    Unless you turned on your Dev hax of unlimited deaths just to test the zones. In which case I can understand how you completed them without an issue on those "multiple weak combos".

    Either way, nice job on the zones other than resists. Really enjoyable.
  10. Kander Developer


    Nope, no dev hacks. We used challenge mode RAID gear, pre-siren's, to answer someone else's questions, its balanced for raiders. I know for a fact there are players out there better than we are who could do them in lesser gear.

    Our test setups were actually weighted heavily towards mages. We did experience issues with resists, but we were able to overcome them with mitigation debuffs, including procs.
  11. Silssd New Member

    When you say challenge mode gear I assume you are meaning Raid level not Heroic

    Also anyone have a link to an item that drops from there? Just wanted to see what the gear looks like
  12. bara New Member

    since this content is designed for raiders i guess it's hm raid gears, you dont get any loot from it you get components for high end craft and some red adornments.

    \aITEM -133882965 1435279419:Reinforced Insignia of the Deep\/a for example

    many people complain about resist but i didn't have any problem, as conjuror or coercer i have almost 100% hit rate on anything so it's probably a debuff issue as kander said.
  13. Davito Active Member

    Good to know they were actually tested by you guys then. But even the debuffs are resisting, and you really only have time for 2-3 spell max before you get boned (especially in Furnace). Not sure what other explanation we can give other than to maybe show you guys over a stream or something, showing that it happens often that the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th spells are resisted completely, then it's a wipe because of fail effect. This just simply shouldn't happen. The zone would have the exact same concept of what you HAVE to do in order to defeat the encounter if you changed it. But when you try as hard as possible to do that and you can't because of a broken mechanic, it's kind of disheartening and frustrating. Fix resists and then zone have to be done the same exact way. Just with less of a luck factor.

    Appreciate the replies btw. Actually means you guys care enough to see what we type. Now just to listen and act on it.

    PS- No that doesn't mean that anyone who asks for something should get it. But you have everyone in this thread (several high end, hardcore raiders) telling you the resists are dumb, and should not even exist in these 3 zones, or at least be toned down. You guys want sensible feedback that does not nerf or change the zone in the slightest if you follow the strat? Here it is on a silver platter. All we need is 3 minutes of your time, or less for you to change the code. Pretty reasonable request imo.
  14. Davito Active Member

    You lie out of your teeth if you are telling us you had a near 100% hit rate. He even acknowledged that there was a resist issue. He just doesn't want to change it, because it has been defeated with luck. And one of their proposed solutions is some more useless adornments. Which won't be useful for anything current except for MAYBE these zones. Waste of plat/obols/blue things
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  15. Quabi Active Member

    The Illusionist I'm doing these with also gets over 90% hit rates, tbh. :confused:
  16. Davito Active Member

    Illy is slightly different because they get Flash of brilliance. So about 90% is understandable. Also depends on how you guys are doing adds.

    But Sorcerers and Coercers especially are having the main issues tbh. No idea about summoners, never ran it with one.
  17. Kraeref Well-Known Member

    Could you please clarify which class combos you guys consider weak? Just curious. Thanks!
  18. Clevemo Active Member

    resist: 21% with 2 red rune and 2 yellow rune and I'm still being resisted often ... fun times but seriously no one likes when your primary AoE for getting adds (Dragonfire) is resisted half the time.
  19. Chronus Active Member

    Getting hit by blazing weapon with 0 incoming damage from the adds, feelsbadman.
    Neiloch likes this.
  20. Clevemo Active Member

    Again, that blacksmith hits for nothing but will proc 60k +/- smite damage every hit. It is damn near impossible to live through one hit without exhausting a crucial temp buff like Brawler's Tenacity and BT only gives me 3 attacks ... I mean Death prevents from the blacksmith smite damage.