Thalzokal@Antonia Bayle wrote: I wonder why you are getting excited, TOFS2, hold of rime, FP (when Djinn was flurrying for 60k) means much more coordinnation. Trash is just about Kb (some), nasty aoe for some and Mana drain for others. We killed only one named, he KB (360), meme wiped, feared and probably a couple of others trick (may be a curse ...). This zone is certainly not harder than sebilis long ago or even runnyeye. Indeed in sebilis pulling was probably more tricky and fear was more dangerous (space between mob was very small). For me Kael is not hard, it just requires some gear. It is again a very clear sign of disdain to casual people. Most won't survive there, and it's the only unscripted content available. The message is more or less : If you have good stuff you can tank and spank and get cool loot. If you are not, long unrewarding scripted instances are for you.
Elhonas@Antonia Bayle wrote: Honestly, I had fun the other day even when we didn't manage to kill any named, just exploring the city and learning. Went back again recently with almost the same people and this time using the knowledge gained earlier we actually succeeded in killing a few named (and the loot was an upgrade). I can only imagine that the way it'll go now is we keep killing, exploring, and using the upgraded gear maybe we'll be able to do the named that kicked our butts earlier. Makes me think of the Vigilant zones - they just destroyed my guild's groups at first, but then we gained AAs/levels/items and slowly nailed each named then using that named's drops it made subsequent runs easier. Yet, that's why Vigilant was some of my favorite SF zones. The only thing that gets me about Kael Drakkel right now is the mem whipes - I hate mem whipes when they happen more frequently than your average tank's snap aggro abilities refresh, especially when mobs hit hard enough to almost one shot everybody else except tanks. (nontanks not only have lower mitigation, but also lower critical mitigation, so they get doubly hit by higher dmg compared to pre DoV mobs who didn't crit) I don't want the mem whipes gone though because right now they're what makes everything so danged hard, and I do think Kael Drakkel deserves to be a harder zone and not be diluted down to be easier.
Kander wrote: Did this get ninja fixed? Haven't seen it in update notes, but changes aren't always there.
Hey Kander, can you make the quest Intentions of War be a group update in Kael? It requires each group member to harvest 6 communiques, they vanish when one member gathers it, and it only updates on one person, so right now with a full group you need to find 36 of the communiques and they're spread out over a wide area. Maybe a teleporter to this area from Hypogeum could be added too, or not. (It would be convenient, but I don't know if maybe you want us to have to work through new kael and then into kennel area to get to this particular section everytime) Edit: And the quest after that, Triumph in the Temple should also group update. When you click the teleporter only the person who clicks it gets the update instead of the whole group. If you go on through the next guy does the update for the whole group - but it isn't obvious until the group makes that leap of faith and goes through. BTW - I might also suggest the teleporter either suck in the whole group, or change the destination so it's not in midair in the middle of the room hovering above aggro mobs where you fall the instant you turn/move. Also, if you die in the Temple AFTER hailing the guy and getting your update but before unlocking the door you get in a stuck state. You respawn outside the temple, but because you've been updated the teleporter doesn't work for you anymore. There's no way to get back in the temple unless you delete the quest and start all over from the beginning of it again.
I think KD is just broken beyond repair at this point a month into the expansion and there is still no real use for this zone.
People go back to SoS to farm aa + some quests. They go back to Sebilis for aa and myth faction. They go to hole for muteables and aa. I wonder if they will go back in 1 year for any reason. Right now, noone goes there.
This zone is the end of heroic progression for this expansion. Thankfully, most people have not reached that point in progression just one month into an expansion that is probably supposed to last around a year. Once you get enough crit mit and crit chance and earn some more AAs, you have this zone waiting for you. It offers the best items available to heroic players, as well other bonuses like easy shards/plat/masters.
Novusod wrote: Sorry, you're wrong. I'm having plenty of fun there, and honestly if it wasn't of this difficulty (and commensurate reward) I doubt my guild would really have bothered much with it. (BTW we're not a raid guild either, so it isn't a case of the - 'you must have uber gear then!')
Went in there the other day on my tank with current dov and Sf raid gear and 300 AA, and it was pretty helli-bad. Took a mystic for the healer. Mystic had no stun-breaks and you can guess aside from me the tank who was the other person always stunned was. Yup the sole healer = wipe every time. Either the duration needs to be reduced to 2 secs or changed out for a harder hitting tick. Quabi@Antonia Bayle wrote: End of the heroic progression for the entire tier ends in 11months. IF the level increase comes as it does every other expac, 6 of which is after the mid-year content push that happens. What this means is this is basically going to be an unused zone in 5-ish months. Unlike Seb theres no mythical quest updates required from it. Not only that but the reasoning behind it vs. the easier instances is odd to me. Why make instancing which penalizes player with lockout timers easier for Pug groupers. When the lockout itself hinders their chance at a continuing group formation w/other puggers with said lock outs. Rather then making an easy-top/moderate-middle-/hard-bottom zone that let players progress themselves into the zone at any level of gear they had for the tier. As it stands now on AB after standing in the zone for hours on end looking for others. I started a list. In 8 hours 1 group of level 90's entered the zone for 20 minutes then left. The playtime was early afternoon to early evening (i had to go raid later that evening). But he desolate zone seemed to need some tweaking to help intice players. Otherwise the relatively easier pug public questing is going to draw players away from it just but by the uneeded annoyance of the time/gear/skill/effects needed in the zone. Detor wrote: No sir.. YOUR WRONG! See what i did there? made a response to an opinion. Then play eq1 or even better play EQoA sir. EQoA destroyed your faith in any healer or the best armor with AC and HP you literally lived in fear of the next corner. Difficulty was a gaige of insta-death and insta-death with the mob pooping on you I like that Fear... i like EQ2... i like when the 2 mix in a decent manner of difficulty and execution. This is what needs adressed.
Rezikai wrote: The stun you can avoid, it's actually a failure for your tank not doing something they're suppose to be doing. Even if the tank doesn't catch on, some healers have special skills that can cure through a stun or avoid it as well. (templar - sanctuary, defiler - voice of the ancestors, etc etc.) You said the zone was broken and pointless, but really there are less overall bugs than some of the instances and the point is to explore, learn how to defeat bosses, and improve your gear which is really the point of all zones. If it was easy, THEN it would be pointless to a lot of people because why compete with other people for named when you can just do an instance and get better loot? The loot is better in Kael Drakkel because of it's difficulty, and the loot wouldn't be what it is if the zone's difficulty were reduced. It's the place to go when you have beaten a lot of the instances and you want to continue improving your character without being a raider.
Quite honestly, KD is on the medium to challenging side of an expansion, and certainly doesn't have anything on original Mistmoore Castle (Impale says hi) or Nizara (uncurable Flame claw). It definitely has a challenge present and requires people being on their toes, nevermind casters and utility characters helping out with utility, but it's by no means the hardest dungeon ever. The risk and reward of the zone isn't limited to just it, itemization and risk vs reward has been a problem throughout the ENTIRE expansion (Ascent, Shard armor, etc), KD is just the most cleanly obvious of the bunch. To be frank, if you can handle Iceshard Keep, odds are you could handle almost all of Kael Drakkel as well, apart from some rough bosses and otherwise annoying trash (I hate you forever double headbutt). Any healer with a CC break or a stifle immunity can trivially solo heal the zone, and all healers can do so if they're group with a smart conjuror/chanter/tank. As for risk vs reward, the experience gain is -insane- compared to most other zones, meaning this is an amazing place to bring alts/utility/etc that could use AA. Should it be the only reason to come here? Nah, but the problem -right now- exists within DoV itemization; Kael Drakkel is a well balanced and interesting dungeon all around.
My problem with Kael is not that it is broken or too hard, you need some gear (but nothing amazing) and decent players. But the gear barrier is excluding lot of people. The difficulty is much lower than TOFS2 or TOFS special named (i did them before the nert). The problem is that this old style contant )tank and spank with nasty abiliies -- stun, kb, curse, fear -- is only accessbile one you got some medium gear. We miss a Easy Kael, and i wonder why we don't have 3 different Kael (easy, medium and hard). Turning Kael into 3 areas is very easy (use the same map and quest but give different rewards).
Is there any value atm in having ally faction with kd? I have 50k and only see a bank and a merchant that sells bread and water in the hypogeum, was hoping for a faction merchant tbh
Oglock@Splitpaw wrote: I'm assuming you mean the thrael'gorr orcs? Supposedly there's some really nice stuff they sell, and that's why it's limited to 5 faction per kill. I haven't found the vendor though, and I always admit that I could be wrong or misunderstood the dev statement of a while back.
Leovinus wrote: There's a vendor that sells raid war runes (requires raid shards), but he's a Ragebourne (one of the vampires) and doesn't require you do anything with the Thrael'Gorr orcs. Currently I think the only think getting 50k faction and finishing the Thrael Gorr questline gets you is a title - 'Emancipator of Thrael Gorr'
Running this zone at 200 crit, 250ish DA, and only 130ish crit mit and having no problem with the hall marks and seperating trash etc. Crit mit can go higher but I would loose Crit chance and DA. Running the hallmarks with no issues atm. too many people are avoiding the fun of an open dungeon crawl for scripted instance guarenteed loot. You nerfed the zone too much. The knock backs from beta were epic fun and the constant de-aggro realy kept healers and mages in the group on the ball for cures. Now its just a matter of scouts making sure they place themselves right. I really dont know what people are complaining about. The HQ and quest gear is more than enough for this zone. We were looking fro trash drops but only got a few stupid masters - bleh.
Vlahkmaak@Nagafen wrote: They still exist in some areas. I personally saw our whole group go flying to the other side of the Noble's Quarter when one giant got a knockback off and we were going up that ramp thing to get the crow at the top for the teleport quest in that region.
Novusod wrote: I was there last night. Top end Legendary/ Lower end Fabled gear and alot of it was tradable, this is exactly what an open heroic zone should be offering in terms of rewards + there are a ton of kill quests for shards + plat. I'm loving Kael right now and would not change a thing
