PTS Update 25 - Feedback Thread for Unhallowed Grave

ZOS_GinaBruno

This is the official feedback thread for Unhallowed Grave. 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)?
• Did you find anything… interesting?
• Which was your favorite boss in this dungeon, and why?
• What level and build was the character you used?
• Do you have any other general feedback?

Vinterskald

Just ran through it on normal with a random group I was lucky enough to find, me healing on my sorc, and we had a DK tank, as well as stamsorc and stamplar dps.

It's definitely fun, though the flame lady and the lich had mechanics where we weren't 100% sure if we figured them out correctly. Some more hints would've been nice there, but maybe we also just missed whatever was to be found there except for quest dialogue and the achievement descriptions.

The last boss was kind of underwhelming after the ones we had met before, but I'm fairly sure that would've changed if we had found a way into Voria's sanctum, which we didn't

During the lich fight, it was sometimes hard to target the grappling hook even during phases where we could, theoretically. Other than that, it was definitely challenging, but doable

Now the only other thing I wonder is about the characters we met there, but I haven't looked at the prequel quest or Icereach yet, and maybe we'd have found some more information on them in Voria's sanctum, but if not, then I hope we'll get to know more about these two.

Auldjohn

Couldn't find or create a group. Solo not recommended, even CP160.

code65536

Group composition:

• DK tank
• Templar healer
• Stamcro DD
• Magblade DD

We completed Veteran Hard Mode. Did not attempt normal or non-HM.

Boss-specific feedback:

Keeper of the Kiln:
This fight was confusing at first, but we eventually figured it out, and it's pretty straightforward once we understood what needed to happen. We loved the mechanics of this fight, though I suspect that this will likely be a stumbling block for PUGs.

Ondagore the Mad:
The tank reported an issue of not being able to use the grappling hook while he was being attacked. There's quite a bit of damage during the Mender phase that didn't seem readily intuitive/understandable.

Kjalnar Tombskald:
Abyss is not very well-telegraphed. It's super-fun getting whacked by Abyss coming from behind you while you are dealing with Imbued skeletons. We kept wiping to the skeletons and couldn't really get past 78% until we figured out a strategy of CC'ing the skeletons so that we could kill them more reliably. When we cleared HM, we also got the achievement for not letting any of the skeletons empower.

The giant skeleton that spawns at 50% is... disappointing. Great visual effect. But then disappointing to see that its bite does not match its bark. The second half of the fight did not feel significantly different than the first half.

It's hard to compare difficulty, but if we are to use the time it took for us to clear the HM, then from the time we first laid eyes on the final boss to when we killed him in HM, we had spent only about an hour. In contrast, Frostvault HM from that dungeons week 1 PTS took us something like 2-3 days with a 2-3hr session per day to clear. Maarselok HM took us at least 3-4 hours to clear for the first time on PTS. So by that metric, this dungeon's HM was easy. And repetitive. Again, the fight after 50% did not feel any different than the fight before 50%.

What is noticeably missing is from this HM is teamplay. In Frostvault HM, the rat phase enforced a division of labor and coordination. In Maarselok HM, the puzzle of the seed mechanic requires coordination and communication. And the Ghastly Wound from MGF HM strongly rewards good coordination and division of labor/roles. The amount of coordination/teamplay required for Unhallowed HM is disappointingly less than what we got with last year's dungeons.

Versus Icereach HM, I do like that Unhallowed is less chaotic and it that it felt like we had control over what was going on.

https://youtu.be/Hpm5tKU6emY

LtSnowballin

code65536 wrote: »

Group composition:

• DK tank
• Templar healer
• Stamcro DD
• Magblade DD

We completed Veteran Hard Mode. Did not attempt normal or non-HM.

Boss-specific feedback:

Keeper of the Kiln:
This fight was confusing at first, but we eventually figured it out, and it's pretty straightforward once we understood what needed to happen. We loved the mechanics of this fight, though I suspect that this will likely be a stumbling block for PUGs.

Ondagore the Mad:
The tank reported an issue of not being able to use the grappling hook while he was being attacked. There's quite a bit of damage during the Mender phase that didn't seem readily intuitive/understandable.

Kjalnar Tombskald:
Abyss is not very well-telegraphed. It's super-fun getting whacked by Abyss coming from behind you while you are dealing with Imbued skeletons. We kept wiping to the skeletons and couldn't really get past 78% until we figured out a strategy of CC'ing the skeletons so that we could kill them more reliably. When we cleared HM, we also got the achievement for not letting any of the skeletons empower.

The giant skeleton that spawns at 50% is... disappointing. Great visual effect. But then disappointing to see that its bite does not match its bark. The second half of the fight did not feel significantly different than the first half.

It's hard to compare difficulty, but if we are to use the time it took for us to clear the HM, then from the time we first laid eyes on the final boss to when we killed him in HM, we had spent only about an hour. In contrast, Frostvault HM from that dungeons week 1 PTS took us something like 2-3 days with a 2-3hr session per day to clear. Maarselok HM took us at least 3-4 hours to clear for the first time on PTS. So by that metric, this dungeon's HM was easy. And repetitive. Again, the fight after 50% did not feel any different than the fight before 50%.

What is noticeably missing is from this HM is teamplay. In Frostvault HM, the rat phase enforced a division of labor and coordination. In Maarselok HM, the puzzle of the seed mechanic requires coordination and communication. And the Ghastly Wound from MGF HM strongly rewards good coordination and division of labor/roles. The amount of coordination/teamplay required for Unhallowed HM is disappointingly less than what we got with last year's dungeons.

Versus Icereach HM, I do like that Unhallowed is less chaotic and it that it felt like we had control over what was going on.

https://youtu.be/Hpm5tKU6emY

Any tips for Keeper of the Kiln boss? We're lost af

Edit: We figured it out, so. What we did, the adds HAVE to die first, then the tank holds the boss over the rune with only 1 filled circle (There are 4 area, one on each side off the room like north, east, south, west) Then the boss stabs the floor, blowing the fire away and it's doing that until it's done. So each add phase, kill the adds first, then burn boss to fire, and make her stab the rune with only 1 filled circle.

Edit 2: Turns out what I listed above is for the achievement for "Ceramic Panic" Which is apparently the hard way of doing the fight. My question is, what in the world is the "easy" way?

code65536

@LtSnowballin Non-spoiler hint: Look up. (And if you don't mind being spoiled, there are more details in the spoiler section below.)

To elaborate...

If you pan your camera up, you'll see that there are three grappling posts above you. During the fight, the boss will gain a damage shield. When this happens, everyone (except the tank) should use one of the three grappling posts. One of the three areas above will contain a sigil on the ground.

Once this sigil has been identified, everyone can jump back down. Tell the tank which sigil was found, and the tank will bring the boss to the corresponding sigil down below. Once the boss is standing atop the correct sigil, break its damage shield (don't break it before it reaches the correct sigil, as it will just recast the shield), and that will cause the boss to kneel and stop the kiln mechanic.

code65536

I joined another group a few hours later and cleared Unhallowed HM as tank.

Keeper of the Kiln:

We got stuck on the Keeper boss (it was their first time there, so I didn't say anything about how the mechanic works) until after several wipes, at which point I gave them the hint to look up. In my first run, we were also stuck there for a while before one of us--and I don't even know how it happened--happened to notice that there was something of interest above us.

So I wonder if it might be useful (since this is only the second boss) to perhaps have a stronger hint to nudge people to pan upwards?

Final boss, HM:

Our tank during the first run was complaining about the incoming damage on the final boss in HM. And when I had a chance to experience it myself, wow, he was not exaggerating. His light attacks are fast and frequent and hit me for well in excess of 30K unblocked and can easily kill me if I wasn't topped off at full health. I got myself killed a number of times from bar-swapping on a light attack or when I had dropped block to do a heavy. I basically ended up perma-blocking during this fight. But since this is HM, I think it's fine... just a bit inconsistent to get a boss that encourages so much perma-blocking when there's been so much emphasis in recent years on getting tanks to not do that.

Hidden secret things...

Did you find anything… interesting?

And finally... we took some time to explore! We found all three hidden bosses and got Knock Knock.

Well, we found the first two on vet (after we had killed the final boss). And then the second boss escaped because we did not understand her mechanic until it was too late (being teleported back across the chasm and seeing that she had teleported there was a useful hint, though). Not being able to try again seemed a bit harsh, but I suppose it's understandable given the super-secret-bonus nature of these objectives.

We then re-ran the dungeon, but this time in normal for the sake of expediency, to re-try the 2nd bonus boss, which we got right this time. Unfortunately, because it was normal, the third bonus boss was a letdown, since it died in a few seconds without anything interesting happening.

I loved the bonus objectives. Much more interesting and exciting than the Indrik hunts in MoS. And it was so much fun to discover and do the crazy grapples needed to get through it. I don't see this as being very repeatable, though, since it is kinda out of the way. But it was definitely fun the first time through. Superb addition!

Bug reports:

For the final boss on normal: If you kill the boss while he's still summoning the big fella, it stays around (doesn't despawn) when the boss dies and keeps doing mechanics like the ice breath and fire circle. It also keeps us permanently in combat until we leave the dungeon instance.

During one of our wipes on vet HM, the bomber skeletons did not despawn when we wiped. They stuck around and bombed us after we had rezzed up.
https://clips.twitch.tv/CheerfulSassyFrogPupper

Finally, in both my first and second vet HM runs, we ran into problems with block failing to work. We'd be unable to activate block at all despite having full stam, and dying, wiping, and reloading UI did not fix it. It could be fixed only by logging out and logging back in. And if this bug happens to the tank... then... well, RIP. Not sure what causes it to happen, as one of the times it happened, it happened right in the middle of combat. I was able to block one attack, and then suddenly I was unable to block anything else until we wiped and I relogged. I expect this is one of those bugs that we've been asked to look out for as a side effect of how the combat team refactored blocking on the backend.

LtSnowballin

code65536 wrote: »

If you pan your camera up, you'll see that there are three grappling posts above you. During the fight, the boss will gain a damage shield. When this happens, everyone (except the tank) should use one of the three grappling posts. One of the three areas above will contain a sigil on the ground.

Once this sigil has been identified, everyone can jump back down. Tell the tank which sigil was found, and the tank will bring the boss to the corresponding sigil down below. Once the boss is standing atop the correct sigil, break its damage shield (don't break it before it reaches the correct sigil, as it will just recast the shield), and that will cause the boss to kneel and stop the kiln mechanic.[/spoiler]

So, what we did was the harder way? The way you described y'all doing it, seems to be the MUCH harder way to do it than the way we did. I just tanked the boss away whilst they killed the adds, then I brought him all 3 times to the sigil with only 1 of the circles filled out.

code65536

LtSnowballin wrote: »

code65536 wrote: »

If you pan your camera up, you'll see that there are three grappling posts above you. During the fight, the boss will gain a damage shield. When this happens, everyone (except the tank) should use one of the three grappling posts. One of the three areas above will contain a sigil on the ground.

Once this sigil has been identified, everyone can jump back down. Tell the tank which sigil was found, and the tank will bring the boss to the corresponding sigil down below. Once the boss is standing atop the correct sigil, break its damage shield (don't break it before it reaches the correct sigil, as it will just recast the shield), and that will cause the boss to kneel and stop the kiln mechanic.[/spoiler]

So, what we did was the harder way? The way you described y'all doing it, seems to be the MUCH harder way to do it than the way we did. I just tanked the boss away whilst they killed the adds, then I brought him all 3 times to the sigil with only 1 of the circles filled out.

Were you on normal or vet? I'm pretty sure you can disregard the entire grapple-and-find-the-correct-sigil mechanic on normal.

Nebthet78

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

This is the official feedback thread for Unhallowed Grave. 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)?
• Did you find anything… interesting?
• Which was your favorite boss in this dungeon, and why?
• What level and build was the character you used?
• Do you have any other general feedback?

Unhallow Grave was rather interesting. I did it on Normal twice last night.

It was enjoyable and a tad frustrating to figure out the mechanics in a couple of places. Especially the one with the sigils and the grappling hooks up top. You had to get the boss right onto the actual glowing part of the sigil to activate it to stop the flame and the one that was the right one, was random with no indicator. There really does need to be an indicator people can see for that.

Yes, indeed I found Hero of None found the Secret rooms and Secret Bosses that go with them. Voila or whatever her name is, her fight made me want to hurl. I don't like heights and using the grappling hook very quickly twice to get to the other side of the one area gave me that, I want to hurl because I'm gonna fall feeling.

I liked the fact the dungeon had something extra for those who like to explore. My first partner through this dungeon didn't want to stay and explore after and left group, which kicked me out of the dungeon after. So thankfully my second group with HeroofNone and another person, we finished the dungeon, but I had found the area the went to the first hidden boss, while they ran ahead first, and thankfully Hero wanted to stick around and explore after. That was fun and I feel players who do that, should actually get a little more of a reward for spending the time actually playing the content and exploring.

I'd have to say my favourite boss is the Lich boss because it's not just about standing there and attacking. You have to break off and kill the adds or die.

We were CP810, I took a StamNecro and Hero was on his Kitty.

General feedback: There were instances when blocking became an issue and animation took priority over and I was unable to swap cancel or even to just swap weapons. I think this is an old bug that has returned. My first partner through this dungeon also complained about being unable to block several times as well. So there is something a big off about this is being calculated.

If you are going to put this much story and exploring in dungeons, you need to consider making a story mode version for those who are either new players or lore mongers only who aren't interested in the dungeon for the challenge, but for the lore. There is a lot of good story in this place and a lot of players are not going to buy it because they can't solo it for the story. Bite the bullet and make a story mode of these dungeons, but have no rewards at the end, no loot or other drops from enemies inside.

LtSnowballin

code65536 wrote: »

LtSnowballin wrote: »

code65536 wrote: »

If you pan your camera up, you'll see that there are three grappling posts above you. During the fight, the boss will gain a damage shield. When this happens, everyone (except the tank) should use one of the three grappling posts. One of the three areas above will contain a sigil on the ground.

Once this sigil has been identified, everyone can jump back down. Tell the tank which sigil was found, and the tank will bring the boss to the corresponding sigil down below. Once the boss is standing atop the correct sigil, break its damage shield (don't break it before it reaches the correct sigil, as it will just recast the shield), and that will cause the boss to kneel and stop the kiln mechanic.[/spoiler]

So, what we did was the harder way? The way you described y'all doing it, seems to be the MUCH harder way to do it than the way we did. I just tanked the boss away whilst they killed the adds, then I brought him all 3 times to the sigil with only 1 of the circles filled out.

Were you on normal or vet? I'm pretty sure you can disregard the entire grapple-and-find-the-correct-sigil mechanic on normal.

We ignored the grapple entirely on vet. We never went up, just burned the adds then held the boss on the rune with only 1 circle filled nad when he hit it, it worked.

code65536

LtSnowballin wrote: »

code65536 wrote: »

LtSnowballin wrote: »

code65536 wrote: »

If you pan your camera up, you'll see that there are three grappling posts above you. During the fight, the boss will gain a damage shield. When this happens, everyone (except the tank) should use one of the three grappling posts. One of the three areas above will contain a sigil on the ground.

Once this sigil has been identified, everyone can jump back down. Tell the tank which sigil was found, and the tank will bring the boss to the corresponding sigil down below. Once the boss is standing atop the correct sigil, break its damage shield (don't break it before it reaches the correct sigil, as it will just recast the shield), and that will cause the boss to kneel and stop the kiln mechanic.[/spoiler]

So, what we did was the harder way? The way you described y'all doing it, seems to be the MUCH harder way to do it than the way we did. I just tanked the boss away whilst they killed the adds, then I brought him all 3 times to the sigil with only 1 of the circles filled out.

Were you on normal or vet? I'm pretty sure you can disregard the entire grapple-and-find-the-correct-sigil mechanic on normal.

We ignored the grapple entirely on vet. We never went up, just burned the adds then held the boss on the rune with only 1 circle filled nad when he hit it, it worked.

Ahh, okay. Hmm, it's possible that just happened to be the correct sigil each time, in which case, you got really lucky. Or maybe there's a bug with the mechanic working even if you go to the wrong sigil.

tpanisiakb16_ESO

Group composition:
- Stam DK Tank
- Stam NB DD
- Mag DK DD
- Templar Healer / DD

Dungeon completed on Vet, HM's attempted once for fun.

Did you enjoy this new dungeon?
Yes! This is a step in the right direction. The mechanics were fun to learn and engaging.

How did the difficulty compare to existing dungeons on Normal and Veteran versions?
I would stick Unhallowed Grave there with Frostvault and Moon Hunter Keep -- nothing really hard or difficult, but certainly has mechanics you need to be aware of and watch out for and reach to.

Did you complete Normal or Veteran (or both)?
We did not attempt Normal and completed it on Vet.

Did you find anything… interesting?
Yes! Our Templar friend was persistent in trying to figure out what that one door does so it led us to exploring. Those fights are also exciting, and finding the secrets felt rewarding. We did this AFTER the final boss so we're excited to see what type of reward we get at the end (similar to vMOS's alchemy satchel).

Nothing we would ever repeat after getting the achievement on live, but something we're also looking forward to doing again.

Which was your favorite boss in this dungeon, and why?
The first and last boss was a bit more boring but visually exciting. Loved the Kiln boss and the Litch -- lots of fun movement and coordination to be had on these bosses. It was exciting figuring out the Kiln boss mechanics, but I also find it's easy to miss the sword-stab on the rune if you're not quick enough so may be the PUG killer.

What level and build was the character you used?
810 CP, Stam DK Tank
Ebon / Alkosh (Lightening Staff)

Do you have any other general feedback?
To be honest with you ZOS, I really dislike when you build in gimmicky mechanics into fights. Kujo (vMGF) on PTS and pre-nerf with the sliding box mechanic was very wonky, Grundwulf still telegraphs his FUS RO DAH and it fires in a completely different direction, the laser mechanics on Frostvault still desyncs, and the wolves in Moon Hunter Keep still don't always obey the tethering chain and derp out often enough. I say this because I was worried the grapple mechanics would suffer the same problems as the above problems---and it still might when it drops on the live servers--- but so far it feels fluid and triggers properly.

Unhallowed Grave is the step I would love to see you take more often. Mechanic-heavy fights that don't rely on swarms of adds to propose a challenge (like the entirety of Lair of Maarselok...). It's a shame that it seems you poured all your creativity and uniqueness into Unhallowed Grave and left Icereach boring and uninspired.

Also, like said by others, I agree the big colossus at the end of this dungeon adds a wow factor, but it's short lived as it doesn't do much else. I thought it would be similar to Dranos Velandor fight in Cradle of Shadows, but it only added a few AOEs I had to step two feet out of. It was a bit of a let down, but still really cool seeing it the first time.

DarkShadowFax

Did you enjoy this new dungeon?
Sure did, both on norm and on vet difficulties.

How did the difficulty compare to existing dungeons on Normal and Veteran versions?
I'd probably put it somewhere at Frostvault in terms of difficulty, maybe Moonhunter Keep's Archivist too.

Did you complete Normal or Veteran (or both)?
Both Normal and Veteran. HM has not been attempted yet.

Did you find anything… interesting?
I found both the hidden bosses but couldn't unlock the door yet.

Which was your favorite boss in this dungeon, and why?
I think it'd either be Keeper of the Kiln or Ondagore the Mad. Both of them initially tore us a new one, but once we figured it out and cleared it that was very rewarding.

What level and build was the character you used?
Max CP Magicka Nightblade (Iceheart/PFG/MS)

Group composition: Sorc Tank, Warden Healer, Magicka Sorc / Stamina necro, Magicka Nightblade.

Do you have any other general feedback?
One of the fights' mechanics on norm did not stop killing us until well after the boss had died. Not sure if intended, but I do hope not, cause if that happens on vet it'd most likely result in a few lost no-death runs too. (Keeper of the Kiln's flames:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0EhwkKxkgA

)

The grappling mechanic on one of the side bosses seems to work poorly for people with higher ping. 2 people from New Zealand and myself (Netherlands) constantly rubber-banded between the grappling posts, which commonly lead to some deaths as well. (

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s8MiPPQkeQ & https://youtu.be/C47lg0-MVy0

)

LtSnowballin

code65536 wrote: »

Ahh, okay. Hmm, it's possible that just happened to be the correct sigil each time, in which case, you got really lucky. Or maybe there's a bug with the mechanic working even if you go to the wrong sigil.

So, after 3 manning (1 tank 2 dps) both Trifectas yesterday, we were able to replicate it 2 times on the keeper of the kiln where we never went up, but only held the boss on the rune with only 1 circle filled after killing adds. It could very well be a bug. Overall, both of these dungeons were honestly disappointing and too easy. Like said, we 3 manned each dungeons trifecta and I have the videos to prove each. They're too easy, the mechanics don't hurt at all. The only one we struggled with was the timing with Icereach last boss HM.

NeptunXIV

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Do you have any other general feedback?

So, about The Keeper of the Kiln boss...

The first time my group did this fight, we apparently did it the "hard" way and ended up getting the Ceramic Panic achievement. But honestly, there should be a separate achievement for the way we did it.

How you're supposed to do it:
Boss gets a shield, someone uses grappling posts up top to find the symbol and presses E on it to highlight the correct one for the tank to go to with the boss to stop the fire.

How you're likely supposed to get Ceramic Panic:
Same as above, but you don't press E on the symbol and just post the number 1-4 in the group chat/voice chat.

How we did it:
Focused adds, then focus boss once there are no adds, then when the boss starts the fire thing the tank went to hold the boss always on the symbol with 1 circle on it for the boss to do the sword in ground thing to stop the fire. Rinse and repeat until dead. Personally, this way is far easier than doing it as intended.

My suggestion:
Add a separate achievement for doing it that way with the description "without using the grappling bow" or whatever, because it just seems this would be a given. Possible oversight?

Morridune

hi there,
So I went into the dungeon and was traversing the platforms with mobs on using the grapple. On one while fighting a group I was feared causing my character to run into a collection of rocks and a bush. This resulted in me been stuck inside in combat and the screen swapping to a 1st person pov and shaking all over the place. Despite been in combat I couldn't interact with the mob and trying to use lotus fan to teleport to them didn't get me free. The game then promptly crashed to the log in screen. On relogging I was still stuck in the bush/rock but no longer in combat so tried to use the " /stuck" command while it was buffering I was again returned to the log in screen. I re logged and tried to bring up the bug reporting but again game crashed to log in screen before I could input the issue. After another few attempts were I would paste a message I'd pre written and receiving an error message saying I couldn't sent a bug report, I found a "fix" in so far as using the player house teleport from the collections screen managed to get me out. Hope this helps raise awareness of a potential problem and gives other players a potential way to un stuck a character if they run across the same issue

code65536

NeptunXIV wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Do you have any other general feedback?

So, about The Keeper of the Kiln boss...

The first time my group did this fight, we apparently did it the "hard" way and ended up getting the Ceramic Panic achievement. But honestly, there should be a separate achievement for the way we did it.

How you're supposed to do it:
Boss gets a shield, someone uses grappling posts up top to find the symbol and presses E on it to highlight the correct one for the tank to go to with the boss to stop the fire.

How you're likely supposed to get Ceramic Panic:
Same as above, but you don't press E on the symbol and just post the number 1-4 in the group chat/voice chat.

How we did it:
Focused adds, then focus boss once there are no adds, then when the boss starts the fire thing the tank went to hold the boss always on the symbol with 1 circle on it for the boss to do the sword in ground thing to stop the fire. Rinse and repeat until dead. Personally, this way is far easier than doing it as intended.

My suggestion:
Add a separate achievement for doing it that way with the description "without using the grappling bow" or whatever, because it just seems this would be a given. Possible oversight?

IMHO, that and what @LtSnowballin posted sounds like a bug with a mechanic.

NeptunXIV

code65536 wrote: »

IMHO, that and what @LtSnowballin posted sounds like a bug with a mechanic.

Ah, fair enough. And yup we were in the same group! We're going to try again later to see if we can replicate it.

tpanisiakb16_ESO

LtSnowballin wrote: »

code65536 wrote: »

Ahh, okay. Hmm, it's possible that just happened to be the correct sigil each time, in which case, you got really lucky. Or maybe there's a bug with the mechanic working even if you go to the wrong sigil.

So, after 3 manning (1 tank 2 dps) both Trifectas yesterday, we were able to replicate it 2 times on the keeper of the kiln where we never went up, but only held the boss on the rune with only 1 circle filled after killing adds. It could very well be a bug. Overall, both of these dungeons were honestly disappointing and too easy. Like said, we 3 manned each dungeons trifecta and I have the videos to prove each. They're too easy, the mechanics don't hurt at all. The only one we struggled with was the timing with Icereach last boss HM.

Come to think of it, each time we wiped learning the boss, the boss cleared the fire automatically each time it was on the rune with one lit up. So I think it might be an unintended bug.

GrumpyKlam

Disclaimer: sorry, english isn't my first language

1. Did you enjoy this new dungeon?

Unhallowed Grave is a very nice dungeon. It will probably be in my top 3 (with Cradle of Shadows and Scalecaller Peak). It has a very good pacing (Trash/Bosses) and it has a strong HRC vibe.

At first, I was very skeptic with the hookshot gimmick but it turned out pretty good (if the synergy/action button can work properly). This is how you should implement gimmicks in dungeons: it is directly involved in boss fights and it doesn't break the flow of the fight (like the dwemer rat phase in Frostvault).

My main concern about the dungeon is three of the bosses:

Keeper of the Kiln: On our first try on vet, we rushed in and started attacking the boss. We saw the tiles light up tried to do something with it (synergy/action) and run the boss over the tiles in order (1-2-3-4 circles). Then came the fire. We pushed through it and it stopped at one point. We did that until the boss died and got the achivement Ceramic Panic (wrong pad/tile).

After we killed the boss (on vet), we realized there was three hookshottable spots up top. We never saw those before pulling the boss and still manage to get through without knowing what to do. My suggestion would be to maybe lower a bit those three spots so you can easily see that there is something that you can grabble right as you enter the room. The other thing is, we were still able to defeat the boss without knowing what was going on, which seems kinda bad for a "mechanic" fight.

To sum up, (1) make the gappling spot more noticeable (lower them or add a character or dialogue line that says: Oh, what's up there). (2) Increase the fire dot over failed symbols so you can't clear the boss without ignoring completely the mechanic (IE: 3 miss in a row = wipe).

Eternal Aegis: the boss and adds need more life, we just stacked and burned him without any issus.

Kjalnar Tombskald: Main problem: Abyss is not very well-telegraphed. We knew when it was coming based on his patterns but it could be clearer (maybe a dialogue line, like: "Fear the wrath of the abyss" or something like that before or have a delay on the cast). Other thing, the light attack could do a bit less damage, we had one tank struggle and the other was fine, who knows.

Second problem: 50 % to 0 % is underwhelming, big time. The first time I saw the skeleton pop out, we were like OH SHHHH... Then we realized he probably is the less threatening thing in the whole dungeon. He could do so much more:
- Breath Bomb circle (better telegraph, like the vCOS HM statue)
- Ice Breath (needs to do way more damage, it barely does anything)
- ADD MORE ATTACKS: (1) Slam with his hands (2) at 25 % he could summon enough skeleton to fill all the circles in the room! etc.

This boss is extremely underwhelming after such a great dungeon!

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

This dungeons compares to vCoS / vSCP / vMoS and maybe a bit to vMHK. It is easier than vLoM and vMGF by quite a margin.

3. Did you complete Normal or Veteran (or both)?

Overall, it took us around 1h30 to fully clear the dungeon on vet HM blind (all four of us).

While we were waiting for other people, my healer and I cleared it on normal just the two of us (dps/heal) to kill time. We had no problem.


4. Did you find anything… interesting?

On our second vet clear, we spent a few minutes to look around for a way to open the door. We did find something interesting. On our first attempt on the fleeing boss, we waited to see what would happen with the AoE and had to start over the dungeon. I kinda get why you did it that way, but we were a bit bummed to do it all over again to get back there and get a second shot. We had no problem with what was inside the door

This was really well done and I hope we have more of this in the next dungeons!

About this little expedition, I have two main concerns: (1) 2nd boss doesn't reset. (2) We have no idea if there was a mechanic for the boss behind the door, we just burned it (on vet). If you want this to be a challenge, you might wanna buff that boss a bit.

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

Ondagore the Mad: the grappling mechanic was very well used in that fight. Might need to give better indications for the stun phase, we were way overthinking this instead of just hiding behind the pillars.

6. What level and build was the character you used?

All CP 810

DK Tank
Templar Healer
Magplar DPS (Perfected False God / Mother's Sorrow / Grothdarr)
Stamplar DPS

7. Do you have any other general feedback?

Unhallowed Grave is a very good dungeon but it falls flat on the last boss. (1) Some bosses need more health. (2)The Kiln mechanic (knowing you can go up) needs to be more obvious and you have to punish people for failing to find the correct tile 3 times in a row (aka ignoring the mechanic). (3) Make the big skeleton do more stuff and make something exciting happen at 25 % (like filling all the oblivion circles with skeletons).

Whoever made this dungeon needs to keep up the good work!

Kryser

Ran thru here tonight. Absolutely loved the dungeon, and the extras.

Didnt try hm, was a long day at work, and we had a mag sorc pug doing 5k dps.

Last boss was underwhelming, great looking skeleton colossus though.

Amazing job on this one, might be my favorite.

LtSnowballin

@ZOS_GinaBruno @code65536 https://youtu.be/oXKVJ_jRyD4?t=289 This is the video for us trifecta'ing the dungeon with only 3 people. I honestly feel this HM and dungeon as a whole needs to be buffed severely.

Alienoutlaw

BUG REPORT

the 2nd boss on the knock knock quest Vet bugged as the grapple hook will not always register, boss escaped several times even though we had followed her each time

MasAmedda

Fantastic dungeon, such a strong ambiance. Soloed it on normal with an appropriate amount of ease and difficulty.

My one critique:

with the fight with Voria, giving you one shot to figure out the mechanic or you have to restart the entire dungeon feels way too punishing. It takes what had felt like a fun puzzle and suddenly, because you were a little slow, takes all of your accomplishments away. If there were a way to either lengthen the time before she escapes or give you a second try, that would be really good for a first time run through. The fight progresses so fast, I barely understood what was happening before it all went sideways

kylewwefan

Ended up 2 man ing this dungeon on normal after couldn’t get group. We did not finish.

Tank/ DPS.

The third boss (lich boss) wraiths phase became too overwhelming and wiped us a couple times. We only tried a few pulls of it and had a disconnect issue so could be missing something not sure.

Maybe that’s supposed to be one shot or maybe their damage needs to be looked into?

Awesome use of the grappling hooks!

I was a warden magic DPS, tank was a DK. Both max level.

GrumpyKlam

Feedback #2 (Patch 5.3.2)

Weird bug before the last boss. No more adds, we enter the door, then a Bone Collossus spawns out of no where. ( )

Kjalnar Tombskald:

Adjusted the timing on Freezing Breath and Blistering Brimstone abilities used by Tzirzhalir.
- The Blistering Brimstone AoE hits as soon as it spawns making it still a bit hard to dodge. What we were doing was staying closer to the entrance door so we could see the skeleton shoot and move before we saw the AoE. Once again, I feel like the telegraph circle should spawn before the AoE hits (like the statue in Cradle of Shadows HM).

Increased the damage of Freezing Breath on Hard Mode.
- You still don't die if you don't block it. Hurts more and you somewhat have to pay attention.

Abyss telegraph:
- I would still like to see some telegraph (Like vSS Lokke breath) for that boss ability. He raises his sword fine but it's probably not gonna be enough for players with less experience.

50% to 0%:
- Still very underwhelming, the skeleton does barely nothing. Once again, I suggest you fill all the circles with skeletons at 25%. Or you could have 2-3 skeletons spawn every 5-10 secs to spice things up.

@ZOS_Finn Once again, it would be nice to hear about the dev team vision while building those dungeons and how they approach the fights. Is the big collossus meant to be mainly aesthetic or was it supposed to be a main threat?

ZOS_Finn

The lack of telegraphs on the final boss abilities is intended. The damage won't kill you outright, unless you are low health, and if you watch the projectile when its fired, you can see where it will land. Same with the frost breath. They serve the purpose of consistent damage that will happen in the fight which will ideally be healed through.

GrumpyKlam

Thanks for the reply @ZOS_Finn ! It wasn't too clear if the lack of telegraphs were there by design or not. Both the Freezing Breath and the Blistering Brimstone are easy enough to avoid if you move back and look at the colossus. Nonetheless, I still expect people to struggle with it.

Keep up the good work with your team!

FlawlessXD

Did you enjoy this new dungeon?
This is probably my favorite dungeon of all time, I love what y'all have done with the grappling hook and I hope that some of this creativity transfers over into Kyne's Aegis and future dlc.

How did the difficulty compare to existing dungeons on Normal and Veteran versions?
The dungeon isn't very challenging when compared with other dungeons such as Moongrave Fane, Lair of Maarselok and Moon Hunter Keep - to name a few. The hard mode in this dungeon is probably the easiest hard mode I've ever done - at least in my experience.

Did you complete Normal or Veteran (or both)?
I completed hard mode twice on this dungeon as a tank (once in its original state and once after the changes) with the rest of my group consisting of dps.

Did you find anything… interesting?
My group turned the whole place upside down to find those secret bosses and I must say that it was time well spent.

Which was your favorite boss in this dungeon, and why?
My favorite non-secret boss was Ondagore, my group wiped a couple of times during his channel before we figured out the simple mechanic for it. And my favorite secret boss was Voria's Masterpiece, it was fun grappling through mobs.

What level and build was the character you used?
I ran a DK Tank (max cp) outfitted with Earthgore / Ebon Armory / Perfect Olorimes.

Do you have any other general feedback?
I have some boss specific feedback (from a tanking perspective):

Nabor the Forgotten
The mechanics are engaging but the boss itself isn't very challenging. My suggestion is that when he channels his attack, the group should have to do something to deactivate the channel rather than just surviving the damage. Maybe the adds could shield him and the group is forced to kill the adds - which we would have otherwise ignored.

Hakgrymn the Howler
This boss isn't very challenging, the only thing that caught my group off guard initially was the unexpected phase two when we tried to execute. We were also able to ignore the totems a couple of times, maybe make them more threatening.

Keeper of the Kiln
Tanking this boss, I ran into an issue where moving the boss to the (revealed) sigil would not trigger his mechanic that deactivates the flames properly. I'm not sure if it was intended but I had to "jiggle" him around the sigil a couple of times while my group was still ablaze.

Also there are just too many adds active at one time. Either limit the number of adds that are active and make those adds more threatening or make the boss itself more threatening for the tank.

Eternal Aegis
My group, despite not fully comprehending what the mechanics are, got past this boss with ease. The boss should be made more threatening.

Voria the Heart-Thief
Great fight but the fleeing mechanic seems redundant. Instead of a fleeing mechanic maybe have a channeled mechanic that does damage until the shield is broken.

Kjalnar Tombskald
I was roll dodging most of this boss's mechanics but the fight itself is not very challenging. The only thing that got my group sometimes was an unexpected instant grip, sometimes he does it and sometimes he doesn't do it at all. I think the grip ought to have a slight delay similar to other caster mobs who cast grip so that it's dodgeable.