Notes from a raiding GM

rokrdt05 · June 2016

code65536 wrote: »

We want the ability quickly travel to our group within the instance.

@rokrdt05 made a thread about this a few weeks ago, and I agree that this is a huge pain point, especially in places like SO where there is so much physical distance to cover.

This is a deliberate design choice by ZOS because if someone crashes, disconnects, or logs out in nSO or nMoL, they will log back in at the exact location they were at. But in vSO, vMoL and other scored trials, they are placed in the lobby. That they have two different systems for nSO vs. vSO and nMoL vs. vMoL means that this wasn't some oversight on their part--this is deliberate.

Which then begs the question: Why? I don't see how allowing someone to log back in at the point they logged off could be problematic. I can't imagine any scenario in which this could be exploited to give a group an unfair advantage, esp. since you can't voluntarily log out in mid-combat, and if you are involuntarily logged out, your character still remain in the game for a period of time (i.e., you can't Alt-F4 to avoid an imminent death).

I really hope @ZOS_Finn would pop in here and either explain why this mechanism is needed for scored trials or deliver us some good news about how they are reconsidering this design choice.

Agreed. However the devs have yet to comment one way or the other regarding this issue.

Armitas · June 2016

You have listed 2 of the reasons I don't do vMA or vMA...or long dungeons for that matter.

I lose gold, time, and resources/ potions every time I do it.
The RNG, time sink, and gold sink for say an elemental succesion set with the right traits is not worth it. In fact its quite possible that I could run vMA for a year and never get it in the right trait. Its even worse if you are going for a weapon.

I want to run any dungeon or trial in this game and finish with more gold and resources than I started with...not less.
I want to work toward the sets I want through undaunted currency while also having a chance at those sets through RNG.

I'd like to see 3 currencies added for the completion of a dungeon and its bosses. 1 for normal dungeons that let you purchase crafting resources, 1 for vet dungeons that let you purchase dungeon set pieces, 1 for trials that lets you purchase trial sets. Each dungeon tier gives that tier of currency as well as the currencies below it. Any currency can be coverted downward.

So now rather than farming flowers for 2 hours I can do a few dungeons and buy the mats. Or if I want to improve my vMA score I can practice without losing gold and resources. So there is never any reason not to do a dungeon or kill all its bosses.

omfgitsbatman · June 2016

mike_de wrote: »

Wreuntzylla wrote: »

I am not much of a PvEr, but reading this list, I would have thought these things were so basic that any game would have them at release.

I agree. Seeing this list, it's a good reason never ever going into these raids. Too much bother, too little gain. Guaranteed loot is essential. Like waypoints and shrines for respawn. This games logs off itself more often than i can count. And if it does this in a raid, it's NOT my fault.

As long as the game is that unstable it is not a very good idea to let the players respawn at the raid enrance, or even worse, lock doors before the boss encounter. ZoS does not look very competent, doing things like that.

I have heard this sentiment echoed about a thousand times while raiding... Something like "FFS!!! If we're gonna crash this often, then let us get back to the group quicker!"

omfgitsbatman · June 2016

I think I'm going to add a proper tab targeting system to this list.

Oreyn_Bearclaw · June 2016

omfgitsbatman wrote: »

I think I'm going to add a proper tab targeting system to this list.

You mean you don't like it when you have someone tabbed with your cursor center mass and your chains go straight sideways and grab the wrong add? I thought this was how they made the twin boss difficult.

Oreyn_Bearclaw · June 2016

Also, since half the new sets revolve around using synergies, maybe we should see if we can get those to work as well. Having to spam X 5-7 times in the middle of my rotation doesn't make synergy use particularly appealing.

SteveCampsOut · June 2016

omfgitsbatman wrote: »

[*] RNG based loot systems are only fun in conjunction with a guaranteed loot system. If one wants a specific piece of loot that drops from a specific encounter, then one should eventually be able to earn said loot if one beats that encounter enough times. A completely RNG based loot system does the exact opposite of what it's intended to. It is intended to make people do certain content more often. What it actually does is discourage people. When someone wants a Maelstrom's Inferno Staff in sharpened/precise, and one continues to recieve defending Maelstrom's swords and Rings of Glory, one gets very frustrated and sees no light at the end of the tunnel. One then quite frequently abandons hope and stops running this encounter. However, If one recieved a small number of tokens (that don't take up bag space) at the end of an encounter, specific to that encounter that they could trade for specific items after accumulating a large number of said token, then there would always be that light at the end of the tunnel. People would know that they would be able to earn their desired loot after 'X' number of runs.

As a hard core casual player, RNG is the very epitome of why I won't even try trials or long ass raids. It's just not worth it to me for RNG crap to stress my already old man arthritic hands to the bone with. I rarely even do Vet dungeons because of this.

Lyudorashi · June 2016

Instead of introducing tokens i would rather see the ability to deconstruct unwanted BoP trial items into some sort of material which we can craft/trade for BoP set pieces with desired traits.
I don't like bosses just dropping tokens, it sounds too WoWish.

I must say though, that new loot drop in vMoL and vSO is definitely improvement to what we had before but it still a long way to go (especially vMoL Rakkhat loot table). But i would like to see more difference between normal and veteran loot tables (like normal dropping only weapons and veteran dropping only jewelry)

I would like to see improvement to character screen interface, i would like to see crit damage modifier, all % modifiers for stats, penetration, % increase to specific damage types, block, dodge, bash cost and everything else.

It would be really nice to have wayshrines before every boss, right we are experiencing TONS of crashes (which should be fixed on its own ASAP) which frustrates us by itself, but also the run we have to do through the whole dungeon to last is multiplying our frustration.

omfgitsbatman · June 2016

Edited To add the synergies problem to the list.

Also, Spent another night in vet maw where our attempts at the last boss were severely hindered by the disconnection boss and the huge run back. We probably spent about an hour or more just waiting for important people to run back from disconnecting.

omfgitsbatman · June 2016

Spent a night in Vet sanctum. DC'S were crazy. Spent a ton of time waiting for people to run back. Couldn't attempt hard mode for fear of someone disconnecting and having to play a man down the rest of the time since the doors don't let people through. I believe this falls under the "Should be playable by live" and "we want to fast travel to group" categories.

Personofsecrets · June 2016

I am concerned that when the item level cap is increased that we will all have to just do drudgery to get the same items that we have always used but at a higher level.

I, and I think many others would agree, would like there to be a way to increase the CP level of an item via the crafting or some other game system. It doesn't necessarily have to be easy to obtain this ability, but the drudgery of re-grinding the correct trait monster helms and weapons will be otherwise defeating.

Personofsecrets · June 2016

I think that another issue is that the vast majority of players don't even have the ability to be successful in Maw of VSO, but it isn't like those places should be made easier.

I have no idea of a solution to get players more interested in achieving high enough skills to run these dungeons, but maybe it is related to them not having, for one, a place to learn about the game efficiently, and for two, a crystal clear route to obtain the best gear.

Personofsecrets · June 2016

Trying to find a synergy, especially from nova, standard, bone shield, and orbs is like using a metal detector to look for centuries old lost treasure at a popular beach.

Attackopsn · June 2016

A really big problem is that end game is not rewarding outside of laterally relevant sets. You sink all this gold and make zero money back from the hard stuff like vet so and vmol, but running things that barely require a group like normal sanctum make you millions. Veteran content needs to be profitable so that at least while you aren't getting what you want you are making money in the process. I love that we are finally getting new content, I really do, but I hate that after beating all the new trials in the game I've sinked tens of thousands of potions and not made any money.