So I was reading the patch notes and am really confused by several changes to the new trial:

Hunter-Killer Fabricants

• The stun effect from Static Cascade now applies correctly even if you block.

Pinnacle Factotum

• Increased the health of the Pinnacle Factotum in Veteran difficulty.
• The Liminal Transformer will now overcharge and be active more often in Veteran difficulty.
• The stun effect from Shockwave now applies correctly even if you block.

Two of the changes I have highlighted are the "stun correctly applies even if you block", which to me seems incredibly silly, as blocking these attacks wasn't super easy (as you had to time it according with the tell), but would let you stay in melee range if you could figure it out (i.e. giving you counter to the move). With these changes the ranged lightning staff heavy attack builds are just made even better as they can stay at range and still do good dps, while melee dpses are getting the short end of the stick, by being forced to A: either eat the stun or B: go ranged and have lower dps and it hurts stam builds, which seems counter to the idea of having so many magicka drains in the trial that does seem to encourage a resurgence of stam builds.

Secondly, the health increase of the Pinnacle boss and the increased frequency of the Liminal Transformer (which is a group wipe mechanic if you fail, similar to the backyard in the Rakkhat fight) are kind of frustrating to me as all the times I've beaten this boss it has taken between 14-18 minutes, and with this change, not only will it be a lot easier to end up wiping the group, but the fight will also become longer. Considering that there are 5 boss fights in Halls of Fabrication, that usually tend to take upward of 10 minutes each if they are fast and 15-20min on average (at least in my groups, I'm sure some are faster), these changes are pretty frustrating. I don't think the new trial is incredibly difficult, but it takes such a long time to progress through it since the fights are incredibly long, like for example usually when my groups would wipe on the 2nd boss around the 30% mark we'd have wasted 15minutes or more, meaning that you get maybe 5-6 attempts on a boss within a 2 hour timeframe.

I don't think these changes are really making the trial harder, but just more annoying and pushing the meta further towards the afforementioned lightning staff builds. I do like the new trial and the focus on mechanics over being able to dps through them, but I think these changes are bad and nonsensical and it would definitely be nice to hear what the people making these changes are thinking, similar to the developer notes on the major Update notes.

I haven't beaten the trial yet, but I've cleared to the first two bosses several times, though I would like to hear the perspective of someone who has cleared the trial and what they think about these changes.

EDIT 1: My thoughts after trying out the changes

After seeing these changes I can say that a lot of them really suck. The health increase (he now has 67million, up from 51ish before) alone is annoying, but the shift from 30% to 40% health to trigger the spinners, means that you end up with a very messy fight and so many mechanics (spinners, conduits, add increase) that last almost half the fight. Couple that with the top phase, which now happens 1 minute (down from a 1½ before) after the top group returns, means that there is a lot less group dps, because you have 4 dpses out of the main fight a lot more often than before, making the removal of the invulnerability shield only a slight nerf on the boss, and not as much as most of us thought it would be. The damage increase from the steam is also very consistently killing the main tank during the palm strike phase, which is quite frustrating.

I still don't think the fight, nor its mechanics, are incredibly difficult by themselves, but the fact that a lot of groups spend so much time on it, means that you have ample opportunity to screw up. For example, I had a run that lasted nearly 19 minutes, where we wiped on 8% boss health, that is a lot of time to waste on a wipe, and personally the most time I have ever spent on a boss fight, which says a lot considering I have in past spent 13 minutes on 4manning the top boss in vHRC. Personally I think they should not have increased the health at the same time as upping the percentage triggers for the mechanics, since it ends up being a double buff, considering 40% of 51mill vs. 40% of 67mill is quite a substantial difference.

I think that if ZOS wanted to make the trial harder they should focus on the last boss, which from everything I've heard is one of the easier fights, which explains why all groups I know to have cleared the 4th bosses have ended up beating the trial. Although, it does seem to be a constant in ESO that the last boss in a trial is not the biggest challenge (hardmodes not included), so I suppose that this is just how it is.

EDIT 2: The developers listened to feedback!

Pinnacle Factotum

• Reverted the Pinnacle Factotum's maximum health back to what it was before the previous patch; it will now match what was in patch v3.0.8.
• Reverted the change to Shockwave so the stun can once again be blocked.

Hunter-Killer Fabricants

• Reverted the change to Static Cascade so the stun can once again be blocked.

Very happy to see that these nonsensical changes were reverted, especially the inability to properly counter the stun.