What do you think of vDSR?

f047ys3v3n

So, I've been proging vDSR with several guilds the past couple weeks and it is entirely different than any of the newer trials. Every single boss has at least one group wipe mechanic where a single player wipes the group if they miss a mechanic. Some fights have several of these. On the other hand, most of the bosses don't have much in the way of dps checks. More often, the extra dps tends to push phases and give you more issues than it solves. Today in fact, Zos stealth buffed the final boss to prevent the bridge mechanic skipping strat for groups under 780k. I can see what they meant by that but given 780k will still skip I expect they will get the opposite result and farm groups still won't play that mechanic but will require players to do 100k on that boss, ~120k or so dummy parse.

I guess, what I'm saying, is I'm very confused where ZOS wants to take trials. Consistently for the last many, many, years they have designed content that is exponentially easier to do with higher dps. Most mechanics they design simply don't happen with high dps instead of stacking on each other quicker with higher dps. This trial is very much the opposite most of the time. Furthermore, they seem to have designed most trials to carry a few players. Even the trials with mechanics typically don't require all to get them right. vMoL and vCR+3 were a long time ago. This trial really requires everybody to get it right. All of this is a big shift in focus.

Personally, I feel quite torn by this. I'm a big mechanics first guy. I run a moderate dps build with higher than average health, a passive self heal and a shield. I have consciously prioritized survivability when things aren't perfect to max dps when they are. I do the mechanics roles in every trial I do and do them well. I like that part of this new focus. On the other hand, I've spent probably 20 hours in vDSR the last week and have no clear because all of my guilds have somewhat shifting groups instead of dedicated cores and fundamentally it is hard to avoid having a loose wheel or two on the buss. In vDSR that loose wheel is death to the group. I'm not sure having a normal Vet level trial require vCR+3 levels of competency is a good thing. Ok, I am sure it's a bad idea I'm just not sure how you fix it without wrecking what is good in the trial.

I think in the end, I'm really going to enjoy the couple of runs with a core group who has painstakingly changed all the loose wheels out one by one. I also think Neither I, nor anybody else is ever going to run this thing again in 6mos after our initial successful core finishes proging it and people start moving as they finish the gear they want or life intervenes.

Necrotech_Master

Pie is nice.

i have been enjoying progging this with the guild that i run with, we made it to the 2nd boss last night

the first boss is pretty mechanically punishing like the twins on vMOL, but with more added on top of it

the last 50% of the boss phase is where i think they could improve the gameplay just a little, right now i feel there is too much going on and some of the mechanics like the brands could possibly be moved to the HM

the side bosses prior to the 2nd boss i felt werent too difficult

the 2nd full boss we were still learning mechanics, but seems a little more straightforward compared to the first boss, although the full group wipe there is also kind of annoying

i think this will be one of those love/hate type of trials like vMOL, some people really love it even if the twins fight there is painful too

the only thing i would have to say is that if you need an addon to keep track of all the mechanics going on in a trial, its probably too complicated lol

WrathOfInnos

Heck yea, about time mechanics really, and I mean really, mattered.

I agree it's like vMoL, where one clueless player can do a lot of damage. I think vDSR is a little more forgiving tbh, since even mistakes like dome explosions and deluge are survivable (barely) on non-HM. Failure to swap colors in Maw is a guaranteed one-shot to multiple players.

I approve of this design. Everyone should learn how to do mechs for a clear, not just coast through with good teammates.

Soarora

Heck yea, about time mechanics really, and I mean really, mattered.

I absolutely adore this direction. I’m a bit frustrated by “parse culture”… I’m not at a dummy, I’m in content… I want to do mechanics. vMoL was my favorite trial before vDSR because of The Twins fight so having the similarities to vMoL that vDSR has makes me thrilled for the future of group content. Only downside I see is that it takes hourS to clear if people don’t know what they’re doing. The trial is still new though so I’m sure the time to clear will go down as more leads get a handle on how best to go about it and more tutorials come out.

I will also note that this seems like a good way to deal with power creep. Nerfing sets and cp doesn’t do anything, people just get stronger. Making mechanics have much more power than dps… that might change something.

f047ys3v3n

Today's group had no loose wheels, we cleared, and the boss fights were super fun even with doing 2x bridges.

Between the boss fights..... hunting for dirt mounds, the random speed buff sending you off the edge into the abyss, and getting your rear end shocked doing stupid levers, its just the worst experience. I do not understand the desire to troll us so bad.

aaisoaho

Heck yea, about time mechanics really, and I mean really, mattered.

For me, the pinnacle of fun in trials is vMoL. I absolutely loved to learn how to do the twins, and I love running the backyard. Clearing vMoL for the first time made me feel good, made me feel that I really earned the clear. I only have a stamina sorcerer fully levelled, specced and geared, so my PoV is solely from the dd pov.

It took us a couple of weeks to finally get the clear in vDSR with changing roster. Often times the twins took an hour or more to clear. I still haven't seen a clear under 2 hours. That being said...

I love vDSR. I feel like the twins is an amalgamation of Bahsei (non-hm) and vMoL twins. The mechanics felt clear and enjoyable to do as a dd. The only RNG in the fight is which twin goes first (unlike Bahsei and the curses that turn randomly and can infect you without you being in the aoe on your screen). Ly and Turly does not feel like a chaotic fight.

The sidebosses are just extra pinatas you get access to after beating the twins. If I didn't choose to chase some sets, I'd feel them to be a bit of a chore to do.

The coral earthgore has a bit chaotic upstairs, but fun downstairs. It is manageable to do a reef heart solo, and is frankly more fun that way. Returning from the downstairs does disorient a bit, since I usually need to seek out which of the guardians is the smallest and where are our team. If it were not the disorientation, it would be an enjoyable fight too.

The final add pull is a pain. I feel like there is one add too much. Like without the keelsplitter, it would be easy to manage it, if there was not the one with Dread Cellar lines, it'd be manageable. As it is, it is a bit chaotic pull.

I have once seen the final boss and we cleared it on the second pull. On it, I have not seen the portals as a dd, so my view is incomplete. What I saw was a relatively clear fight. The hitbox is huge, making the targetting easy. Deluge has clear visuals, but timing it can be hard without addons. The fight is clearly structured and less of a chaos than what the reef guardian was. I felt like I got to do some parsing paced with some mechanics to follow.

Overall, the trial felt fun. It had some pain points that made it lose to vMoL in my eyes. The trial also made me respect the title Seaborne Slayer which I find to be a cool title.

Astrid

It’s boring in all honesty. Bosses are just bigger versions of things that already exist, the reskinning and remodelling is getting rather old now.

Co-ordinated lever pulling amidst all the poison which is like Sanctums less annoying sibling is almost as boring of a mech as the grappling hook. Once again add pulls doing more damage than necessary and are genuinely more likely to cause a death than a boss - a trend that started with Kynes and seems to be going nowhere. The 3 hardmode shebang we have nowadays is straight up dull, gone are the days of vMoL/vHoF where it was an optional HM with a skin reward or even a beloved mini trial.

All in all, terrible - they really need to go back to how things were. The reskinned mount is also ugly af and the trifecta title.. Lmao.

haelgaan

Nobody will be running this in 6mos. It's too painfull to bring new players along.

hate this crap dungeon. i am really disappointed with the content team, if this is the direction they're going - cheesy mechanics, IMO. i know my opinion is not popular, but this dungeon just feels stupid and even just a norm trial with a casual guild is a trainwreck because of the intentionally trash mechanics.

M0ntie

Pie is nice.

I really like this trial. Well done ZoS. The variety in this makes it fun. The group I run with is supportive of people who haven’t done it and with explanation they learn soon enough.
A vet trial shouldn’t be just an outing for dummy humpers who hit 120k. If you’re that good do the HM.