Thoughts on Veteran Lucent Citadel

El_Borracho

I love it. The add fights are tough, the boss fights are actually fun, and the mechanics are logical. The Ryelaz and Zilyesset fight has a burn control mechanic, but it doesn't punish a lot of burn like Rockgrove's Flame Herald or stop the burn like Sanity's Edge's Exarchanic Yaseyla. Cavot Agnan requires the group to coordinate, healers to heal a lot, and tanks to pay attention. I think the Orphic Shattered Shard might have the best mechanics of any trial boss. Love the mirrors and the sensible use of adds that you have to control with the mirrors and the group. The knot running is reminiscent of Chaosball, but its like nothing else in PVE. Yes, I can see some frustration with a group dying on the run to the final boss, but again, it rewards group coordination. The final boss again is manageable, if not easy, as long as the group coordinates.

The obvious overriding theme of vLC is not just requiring people to communicate and work together, but rewarding them for it. The bosses are not overly difficult as long as the group is on comms and you have a decent plan on how to handle the mechanics. I've seen some say vLC is a pug killer along the lines of the twins from vDSR, but its not. The mechanics in vLC make sense. To this day, even after clearing vDSR many times, I still find those mechanics annoying and arbitrary.

Haven't run hard mode as I just played it yesterday (console), but am looking forward to it. I hope this is a sign of things to come for trials

Necrotech_Master

yeah i found it to be slightly more difficult in some aspects than sanity, but slightly less difficult than say dreadsail

the biggest threat to pugs that i could see would be the shattered shard boss, because in vet there are 8 mirrors and the dot from them starts high (and stacks) so you cant just have 1 person run and hit multiple mirrors very easy

i heavily agree that running the knot feels like a chaosball style scenario, though it does have the feel like there is 1 really long add pull with a couple minibosses/bosses thrown into the mix at different milestones

El_Borracho

Yep, the final boss run is made to feel chaotic with the amount of skeletons thrown at the group (which melt with one Elemental Blockade), but once you realize when you have to stop to kill crystals, minibosses, and the atros, all while managing the timer on the shard, its pretty simple. I think the hardest things to fight on that stretch are the necros.

The mirrors with the adds could easily wipe a group that is not communicating as you have to flip them to kill the adds, then flip them again to focus back on the boss, repeat. We did a similar thing with the shard, running a 6 DPS rotation on it because of the cooldown.

Honestly, with all the stuff I heard about this trial prior to its release on console, I expected another vDSR but worse. It totally would be if you have a group that refused to use comms. Not saying its AA easy, but with what came out with Oathsworn Pit and Bedlam Veil, and the forced DPS stops in Sanity's Edge to lengthen fights, I expected something much different.

Necrotech_Master

yeah the only part which really required heavy coordination is the shattered shard, mainly with the group wipe mechanic and a secondary on add management

the only part i kind of wish was done a little better on that was some more distinct symbol in the mirror, as all the mirrors look identical and the best way to keep track of who is on which mirror is cardinal directions (N, S, E, W, NE, NW, SE, SW) and the only 2 "unique" parts of the room which are the entrance and the platform that zoryn stands on when he is downed