Events, Trials, and the Skills Gap: Part 3

El_Borracho

First off, love events with double drops, especially when it involves group dungeons and trials. Haven't run veteran Sunspire this much since it first came out and had a great time filling out the stickerbook. And to put this post in perspective, when there is an event like this, I run primarily with guilds but also do a fair amount of pugging in between guild runs.

In the last two events, Dreadsail Reef and Kyne's Aegis, I saw A LOT of failed pug groups that could not get past the first bosses in either trial. Disorganized raids, people not on audio, low DPS, dead tanks, ignoring/missing mechanics, etc. It was pretty rough. Expected the same this time, and was pleasantly surprised with the number of successful random groups I ran with. Maybe its because Sunspire is easier than vet DSR and KA and has been out longer than those two, or maybe I just got really, really, lucky.

Or maybe, after the issues with the Dreadsail and Kyne's events, there are more players out there who realize that listening to the raid leader and familiarizing themselves with mechanics makes the trial fun. Perhaps that is wishful thinking, but it would be nice to see the trials community grow again. Was wondering if other players had the same experience.

Treeshka

Veteran content in this game is too hard for majority of the people. Normal to veteran difficulty gap is way too big.

Necrotech_Master

i think kynes is much closer to sunspire in terms of difficulty, sunspire also doesnt really have any super nasty add pulls like the last one in kynes before the final boss

dreadsail also has a higher learning curve because of the twins fight, there is a lot going on and a lot of coordination is needed, not really too different from the twins in MoL coordination wise

dreadsail also has other issues, such as the enormous difficulty gap between normal and vet, where as most other trials are much smaller difficulty gap between normal and vet

pelle412

If you are the one organizing veteran trial runs, the first rule you need to accept is that you're not going to make everyone who wants to run happy. The next most important thing to decide is what kind of run do you want to put forth? Smooth gear farming runs, or teaching runs for newer players? You set the requirements based on that expectation. If you decide on "smooth gear farm" but recruit unknown PUGs and the run does not go well, the people who signed up may not return and you're left with a smaller recruitment pool.

If you're a player who hasn't done veteran trials before but want to, you have to take a self-interest in improving your gameplay. If you do, you'll find resources to help guide you, be it explanatory youtube tutorials for classes and trials, and mentors who can help you grow.

Barring all that, normal trials also drop non-perfected gear which is very close to perfected gear in terms of stats and is perfectly good enough for 99.99% of content.

The difficulty gap from normal to veteran is large. It's either normal is too low difficulty or there's a missing difficulty level between normal and veteran.

endgamesmug

I saw alot of vets in crag joining vet runs while the double drops are happening, makes sense and why not get in there for the stickerbook while the goings good. I see a few people a bit bewildered asking for normal trials and getting ignored, i have to advice them that the small population has already progressed through that content and now its vet only unfortunately. Your only choice until they add a finder is a raiding guild, pretty grim times if you ask me for new players and those incapable of vet.

DMuehlhausen

Treeshka wrote: »

Veteran content in this game is too hard for majority of the people. Normal to veteran difficulty gap is way too big.

I wouldn't say to hard for people. To hard for PuGs yes. Specially when nobody is running a discord nobody can get into. That first boss in vDSR is rough on organized groups. If you can't communicate easily you have no shot. Yet all the people in the failed PuGs could probably handle the content in a guild communicating in discord.

Vulkunne

I was in one of those vet groups btw. Too much yelling and blame being thrown around. True the group failed but I think a lack of civil communication was the first failure.

El_Borracho

endgamesmug wrote: »

I saw alot of vets in crag joining vet runs while the double drops are happening, makes sense and why not get in there for the stickerbook while the goings good. I see a few people a bit bewildered asking for normal trials and getting ignored, i have to advice them that the small population has already progressed through that content and now its vet only unfortunately. Your only choice until they add a finder is a raiding guild, pretty grim times if you ask me for new players and those incapable of vet.

I feel dumb for not considering this as well. There were a good number of players that overlapped in the pug groups I was running with. At the same time, there were still enough new players that meshed well within that overlap. But a good core helps tremendously

@Vulkunne I remember a lot of that in those VKA runs during that event. Didn't see the same amount of hostility this time, but again that might be due to what @endgamesmug pointed out.

ForzaRammer

Vka is no more difficult than vss.

Vdsr is a lot more difficult than both.

Amottica

There are guild/raid groups for all skill levels and experience. It is a choice as to how much effort we put into seeking out such groups and then when we find one actually listening and working to improve.