PTS Update 41 - Feedback Thread for Bedlam Veil

ZOS_GinaBruno

This is the official feedback thread for Bedlam Veil. Specific feedback that the team is looking for includes the following:

• Did you enjoy this new dungeon?
• How did the difficulty compare to existing dungeons on Normal and Veteran versions?
• Did you complete Normal or Veteran (or both)?
• Which was your favorite boss in this dungeon, and why?
• What level and build was the character you used?
• Did you happen to notice or find anything particularly interesting or different?
• Do you have any other general feedback?

AJTC5000

Greetings!

Cleared both Hard Modes with @code65536 @ninibini and @skinnycheeks - here once again to provide a Solo Normal perspective as well as a Vet HM DD perspective from the first day of running.

Some general initial thoughts:

• Atmosphere and setting was really cool and it was great to see Fa-Nuit-Hen and Tutor Riparius again after 8 years! (Disregard having just ran Maelstrom Arena about 30 times over this last event so they were already intimately re-familiar ...)
• Some of the portals seemed a little pointless, especially the first one in the Foundation Core area (why not teleport us across the map instead of like five feet below where we were just standing?
• The puzzles felt a little tacked on and straightforward compared to previous dungeons, and the buffs only being able to be used on the final encounter is a unique choice.

Boss 1- Shattered Champion

Not a lot to say on this one, pretty straightforward all around and a lot easier than some of the previous dungeon Boss 1s. The adds in the previous trash pulls do a decent enough job of explaining the Glazier immunity mechanic and the area denial in the room is relatively fair compared to other encounters that utilise it. Vet HM has the standard eat-this-or-enrage heavy attack with a heal absorb to keep the healer engaged. Normal and Vet HM are practically identical in terms of mechanics as . . . there isn't really a mechanic other than killing the adds and watching your feet.

Boss 2 - Darkshard

This is probably the most mechanical fight of the dungeon, which is good, but it's also kind of a letdown that it has to rely on 8-year-old mechanics to accomplish this. The boss itself has a couple of telegraphs you need to dodge but beyond that, everything is basically the same as Maelstrom Arenas 1, 6 and 7.

The only thing that became apparent to us is that the Stage 6 obelisks can be very delayed (especially the very first one, since the spiders come out quite quickly), and this causes a level of mechanical overlap which seems a little unfair. The spiders will basically one-shot you if they catch up to you on Vet HM, but you're also then having to watch your feet to avoid Stage 7 flowers whilst waiting for an obelisk to come up, along with substantially more tanky Venomcallers detonating those flowers, and the Minders that eventually Overcharge if they are not killed. On Normal, I managed to use the obelisk stun on the Argonian Behemoth and skip all of this. On Vet HM, we did the same and then just attacked the boss since the Venomcallers would continuously respawn. Whether this is the intended way of finishing this encounter, I'm not sure, but the obelisks at the very least could spawn a bit more frequently.

Boss 3 - The Blind

First off, amazing to see Morla Gorrondona voicing. Now we have Savathun and Eris Morn as scions of Ithelia!

On Normal this fight is fairly straightforward. You can use the green buff to clear a lane, the purple buff for a temporary immunity to the moving shards, and the orange buff to slam The Blind to the ground when she does her jump attack.

On Vet HM I feel this fight looks intimidating but really it's relatively simple as long as you're watching your feet. Hit the boss, kill the adds when she goes immune, roll dodge the Malediction, etc etc. One thing we did notice was that we didn't see the orange buff become available to use once, even though we'd done all three puzzles.

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I completed solo Normal before doing vet HM this time. On Normal I was able to complete all encounters solo just using a standard Ansuul/Deadly/Velothi build on my Arcanist - I felt I didn't really have to play defensively that much, and each encounter only took me a couple of tries to feel out the mechanics before I cleared. Definitely a lot easier than some of the previous dungeons on Normal.

WhiteCoatSyndrome

Haven’t gotten past the second boss yet, but after the first one (Glass Atronach) Tutor Riparius is acting like I hadn’t beaten Maelstrom Arena - going on about how the Hall of Barons is there to help Fa-Nuit-Hen remember said Barons, with no mention of how that’s no longer necessary.

Freelancer_ESO

Did you enjoy this new dungeon?

Not really. It had some nice views but otherwise I didn't really like it. I never really liked Maelstrom or the Infinite Archive so much of the stuff the content was drawing from really did not appeal either from a visual perspective, story perspective, or mechanical perspective.

How did the difficulty compare to existing dungeons on Normal and Veteran versions?

I'd say the difficulty was comparable to recent DLC entries.

Did you complete Normal or Veteran (or both)?
Normal
Which was your favorite boss in this dungeon, and why?

Fight wise, I disliked Darkshard the least as it leaned less on the flashy visuals. Character wise, I felt that The Blind had some interesting dialogue.

What level and build was the character you used?

I did it with Mirri on a CP 1800+. I used Leeching and Crimson on a HP stacked Warden.

Did you happen to notice or find anything particularly interesting or different?

The puzzles in the dungeon felt a bit easier than other dungeons puzzles and they were closer to the path. I was concerned that the shift in approach was due to less resources but, after doing Oathsworn Pit it felt like it was more of a different style which isn't necessarily bad.

Do you have any other general feedback?

You may want to extend the time that players have in this dungeon before they get booted after the rest of the group leaves. The people that want to do the bonus content are going to be really annoyed if the group runs straight by it kills the boss and then exits and they get booted before they can solve them all by themselves.

Blood_again

Did you enjoy this new dungeon?

It was fun. I am glad to meet these NPC characters again in a new journey.
Siteviews are amazing!

How did the difficulty compare to existing dungeons on Normal and Veteran versions?

Normal mode feels like slightly heavier than nICP, easier than nBloodroot.

Did you complete Normal or Veteran (or both)?

Solo+companion Normal run.

Which was your favorite boss in this dungeon, and why?

Darkshard was the most challenging and fun. A little bit chaotic at the end (mechanics of 3 arena stages at once was a little overkill for solo), but doable. I felt happy after winning the battle.
Died once by spiderlings+lurcher stun.

Shattered was simply boring.
Died once by accidental alt+tab

Blind did a lot of pressure, but less challenging than Darkshard. Dance curve was way simplier here, "moving maze" from adds is readable and understandable. Also Blind allowed some breath between phases, while Darkshard didn't.
Didn't die.

What level and build was the character you used?

One sleepy ManaNB, mediocre trial DD, CP 1400.
vMA firestaff backbar, 5 Perf FalseGod, 5 Pillar of Nirn, 2 Stormfist

One companion: Isobel as poorly geared healer (mostly green). Usually played dead after 1 minute of any bossfight. Didn't res her.

Did you happen to notice or find anything particularly interesting or different?

Reading barons' stones was a good part of the story. Thank you!

Meeting tutor and prince chilling around wherever you go was funny.

Fa-Nuit-Hen's saying "I just want to see how hard you fail" (or similar) just before the last boss has made me laugh.

In the Darkshard battle the safety mark on the runestone, when spiderlings attacked, was very comfortable.
I would love to see the same in vMA during my first runs.

Do you have any other general feedback?

The first puzzle was totally unclear until reading the hint book.
After reading the hints puzzles are clear and solvable in seconds.
Puzzle interface is not obvious, but simple and easy manageable after 2 tries.

I totally missed buffs in the Blind battle. Just read about them in this topic and was surprized. Didn't use any of them. Well, something green once happened, but I didn't get it

Thank you for nice encounters. That was cool!

Soarora

[*] Did you enjoy this new dungeon?
Take this with several handfuls of salt as my opinions on things tend to shift drastically as I’m given more time to sit on it, and across different roles… but so far, not really.

[*] How did the difficulty compare to existing dungeons on Normal and Veteran versions?
It’s hard to say. I’ve run it with two different groups. With one group (vet, though we only had 1 DPS), it felt like the hardest dungeon ever. With the other (HM, full group), it felt very easy and mechanically lacking.

[*] Did you complete Normal or Veteran (or both)?
Veteran and HM.

[*] Which was your favorite boss in this dungeon, and why?
The second one. It is cool to see Maelstrom mechanics make a comeback in a group environment and the boss itself is pretty scary with how it suddenly attacks people.

[*] What level and build was the character you used?
CP 2k+ sorcerer tank. Yoln/turning tide/tremorscale/dragonstar arena sword and board.

[*] Did you happen to notice or find anything particularly interesting or different?
The branching areas into cliffs is interesting though it does make it feel like this dungeon is built for story mode. The puzzles are pretty cool.

[*] Do you have any other general feedback?
I’m a bit concerned the trash leading up to first boss might be an issue for PuG groups where DPS and/or healing is low.

As a tank, I felt pretty helpless. First boss I felt like I needed to just stand next to the boss in the center of the arena and do nothing else. Can’t heal myself, can’t go too far or it might enrage due to a missed HA… I can stack the adds and do crowd control if my resources aren’t eaten by the boss but it just didn’t feel engaging.
Second boss I also just… stood there basically. Move to pillar if theres spiders on me maybe and thats all.
Third boss I’m not sure where its best to stand but it also felt like a “stand and hold block” fight. Move left and right sometimes if you want to. Only chaotic time was execute really because there’s just so many waves.

James-Wayne

Did you enjoy this new dungeon?
I found it enjoyable, little easier than Oathsworn Pit and the world build was amazing as usual. I would love to see a massive realm like this with its floating islands as a home to allow people to build from island to island. Interesting to see the mirror creates come back to play again.

How did the difficulty compare to existing dungeons on Normal and Veteran versions?
Like Oathsworn Pit this one I also found super easy, way more so than previous normal DLC. Mechanics were super easy to understand and telegraphed well.

Did you complete Normal or Veteran (or both)?
Only on Normal as again no one online during my play time.

Which was your favorite boss in this dungeon, and why?
Darkshard was the coolest by far. I love those creatures they are so creepy and giving them a mirror like finish where they have the ability to bring in prey they caught from the chains above is very cool. I would love to see a dungeon or boss fight that actually scares the *** out of you gets the blood pumping, I think there is enough creatures after Necrom to do it and the world builders could make something scary I feel. As I was on Normal didnt see much of the mechanics but what I saw was familiar so no issue for me once I get to do Vet.

What level and build was the character you used?
Over 2500CP, Templar bruiser style build using Inner Rage, sad I lost the extra damage buff from this but I'll eventually work around it.

Did you happen to notice or find anything particularly interesting or different?
Was looking for the bonus stuff thought I missed it but then saw them all at prior to last boss. Puzzles were easy but I liked that kind of content and its ok its easy and quick because you will want to be able to do them for those people in pugs who want to rush through a dungeon. Didn't realise till halfway through last boss fight they provided synergies to use but on normal they were not needed anyway.

Lets talk about those puzzle rewards now Fa-Nuit-Hen says throughout this entire dungeon that he has powerful oblivion style weapons in he's vault and when you get there and start unlocking puzzles, open the chest and you get a set piece. Whatttt?? In fact all 3 of my puzzle box rewards I got the exact same thing:



Really? I dont know if this is curated (I hope so) but I was pretty sad once I got to the vault to not find any powerful oblivion style weapons, massive, missed chance. Maybe instead of just secretly applying the synergy you could have an oblivion weapon inside the chest that you pickup which gives you an active buff and then during the fight when you use the synergy the animation is you using the weapon. That would have at least kept in line with this story that Fa-Nuit-Hen was talking a about how he guards the most powerful weapons.

Do you have any other general feedback?
Are the knight's bodies supposed to disappear halfway through the fight?? Never quite understood if that was on purpose as the sword and shield is still seen. I did like how you how to target the mages first who were protecting the others, gave something extra to add fights rather than just group up and flatten.