Varsoon longevity

Discussion in 'General TLE Discussion' started by Intenzive, Apr 1, 2022.

  1. Zenji Well-Known Member


    You're equating 1 and 2 room dungeons with a few named mobs to Halls of Fate and Unrest.

    Also leaving out stuff like Nek 3, Nizara, Forsaken City...

    I guess we measure content differently, and won't agree on this topic.
  2. Mountbatten Well-Known Member

    Imagine trying to argue that DoF has more content than KoS, EoF, and RoK. Like, have you even played this game before?
    Rhoks and Zenji like this.
  3. Turkish Member

    DoF is my personal favorite xpac but I can't credibly argue that it has as much content as KoS, EoF, or RoK. I WISH DoF had about 25-50% more things to do because I love the lore and environment. The heroic zones are tiny and many are easily soloed (maybe a function of poor tuning). The raids are fun but incredibly short.
    Xevran and Zenji like this.
  4. TheGreatGatsby Active Member

    I LOVE the idea of Desert of Flames thematically. I hate playing it. I quit DoF early when it was live and I've quit DoF in every TLE leading up to this one. I'm going to do my damnedest to make it through DoF on Varsoon without dipping early, but we'll have to see where it goes. I'm not exactly certain about what makes me dislike it - the raiding environments themselves are cool, I love the concept of the Sinking Sands and the giant Terrorantula, I enjoy the throwback nostalgia of Lockjaw... but something about it always loses my interest so quickly and I have never been able to put my finger on what it is.
  5. Xevran Well-Known Member

    The art and lore are great, the gameplay is generally bad and there's not much content. TLE is primarily gameplay focused in nature and as such that expansion is going to be a flop for it. Four months of DoF was just a terrible decision and I hope they don't repeat that on Varsoon, no expansion should last four months until at least EoF imo.
    Zenji likes this.
  6. Revvix Well-Known Member

    One thing that really hurt DoF on Kaladim was the itemization. Other than the stat mount, the heroic zones dropped pretty much nothing of value whatsoever. There was no reason to run around Clefts because nothing dropped there. There was no reason to farm rare named in Tombs because nothing interesting dropped there. All of the best items came from x2 or x4 raid drops or quest rewards. So, other than hunters quests and mount farming, no one was interested in the heroic content at all.

    DoF also has some of the most annoying and lazy zone designs in EQ2. Running around PoF is a damn nightmare because something agros you every 3ft in any direction. It's not nearly as satisfying to explore as a zone like Kylong Plains or Barren Sky. Getting around in zones like Tombs and Silent City also sucks due to the walls/gates you have to unlock via wikipedia knowledge. Finally, Poet's Palace is probably the worst designed heroic zone in all of EQ2. Moving those 20 statues sucks, waiting for doors to open in random patterns sucks, and having all of the named worth killing at the top, who die in 2 seconds with no challenge, sucks. You run it once for your quests, realize how bad it is, and you never want to do it again.

    As others have said, the theme of DoF is neat. However, the game design is abysmal. It all feels like a slog, a chore, rather than a fun gameplay experience. Even 2-3 expansions later, leveling an alt through the 50s is the worst because there's no alternative to DoF. In general people enjoy dungeons like Fallen Gate, Stormhold, Runnyeye, Varsoon, Kaladim, CT, and Perma. However, as soon as you hit 50, no one wants to form a group to grind xp in Tombs. The fact that people would rather grind out basket quests in TT instead of running heroic content in DoF pretty much tells you all you need to know.

    If they can fix the itemization and make the raids challenging, I think it can support the player base for a couple months without them rioting. However, there's no way people will be happy with DoF for 4 entire months.
    adaria, Turkish and Liliun like this.
  7. Mountbatten Well-Known Member

    I agree with the sentiment that thematically DoF is quite nice, it just gets old pretty quickly. Ancient's Table, Cazel's Mesa, and Scornfeather Roost are basically the same zone with different mobs. Silent City and Tombs are essentially extensions of each other, and are a pain to get around in. They were toying with new mechanics that weren't just tank and spank, some of them worked well, others not so much. Overall, it feels like a dev team finding their feet. The fact that KoS was released only five months after DoF makes me wonder if they originally had planned to release them as a single expansion, but resource/time constraints forced their hand and they split the two. But I wasn't playing back then so I have no idea. Either way, it's kind of impressive they got KoS out so soon after DoF, so it seems to me that they had been working on them simultaneously.
    Turkish and Zenji like this.
  8. Fangrim Active Member

    One thing for sure is it will be The Ruins of Varsoon as soon as they announce NEW TLE Runnyeye!
  9. TheGreatGatsby Active Member

    Three years from May, anyways. That's a long time.
    KythosMeltdown likes this.
  10. Liliun Member

    Lol
    Fangrim likes this.