dungeon ideas

Rungar · March 2018

Here are some ideas for dungeons i have that might be useful. Feel free to add your own.

Library of Dusk : Lower Vault (dungeon)

you all comes down a long stairwell that leads to a large room surrounded by smaller catacombs. In the middle of the room is a large caged off area with a sign over saying that only 2 may enter. Two enter here and the timer starts and the other two must search for the proper sequence of books. Opening the wrong book spawns mobs and/or bosses in the cage which the other two players must deal with. Some books switch players in and out of the cage, teleport you around, spawn chests, weaken the boss, strengthen the boss, activate traps, deactivate traps etc. The catacombs are also infested and have roamer mini bosses for added chaos.

You have to find the proper sequence of books from the catacombs before the timer runs out to open the cage and spawn the last boss. The location of the books is random every time the dungeon loads.

Ancient Dwemer Labyrinth (dungeon)

the ruins are full of levers and traps that trigger moving walls and patterned moving walls. Roaming the hallways are shielded dwemer automations. There are two ways to defeat the automations. 1) deactivate the power core and then kill them(someone would have to stealth ahead and do this or fight your way there). 2) trap them in the moving walls/pit traps. There are traps in this dungeon where if you die you cannot be resurrected and are dismissed from the group. The bosses are not difficult with a full group but getting to the boss with a full group is.

Worldboss Challenge Rampage

You have to kill a number of Random worldbosses from anywhere in the world in a limited time. Doing this within the timeframe allotted opens up the final destination where you face the final boss with whatever time you have left. When time runs out its over.

Reedx · March 2018

Dope, hope zeni take some of your ides and make dungeons out of them, really liked the dwemer one

But with WB i would love to see a BIG WB in every zone once in awhile or maybe once all wb are dead in on zone at once, but this big wb would be something like a zone event where it last a while so everyone can get there in time, and have good loot, but only show them selfs rarely or something

Rungar · March 2018

MOAR!

Whitewater cave (dungeon)

Whitewater cave is a linear dungeon where the entire purpose is to break the dams diverting the water. There are two parallel sides of the river and many crossover points. Each dam is guarded by a goblin war party and requires siege to destroy the damn (available at the beginning of the dungeon). The broken dams divert the flow of water away from the central stream. At the end of the river there is a giant ice atro and the power of this boss is related to the final depth of the water. The more dams that are broken the more places you have to stand. Breaking all the damn drains the final area.

goblin work crews will try to rebuild the dams so someone has to keep that from happening while the other dams are being cleared. The final boss will gain more power and the areas you can walk on will disappear if the dams are rebuilt while your fighting the boss.

The siege of Montclair Reserve Fortress (trial)

In the mountains northeast of Shornhelm is the Montclair Reserve fortress which was traditionally used as a refuge for the montclairs. Lay siege to the fortress. That's all you have to do. Of course molag ball is also interested and has sent his forces as well so it will be a three way battle! Anchors will drop. Walls will be breached and repaired, titans will show up and the Montclairs have a few surprises of their own! Penetrate the fortress and capture the flag before Molag ball's forces do.

why should sieges be pvp only?

Rungar · March 2018

the crystal cavern

the crystal cavern is a simon says type dungeon where you can turn a prism and the color (and dmg type) changes. You can do this manually, but it also changes randomly and there is a sequence to the changes.

the last boss is only susceptible to the dmg type which is active as are all the minions in the dungeon. There are various mechanisms in the cave to minimize phases or maximise phases.

the idea is to be equipped with multiple dmg types and be able to adapt to the dungeons shifting rules. Once you learn the sequence of the game it becomes easier but there is still a random component to it.

when the dungeon turns red (fire) you need to find the fire crystal and that will change to the next dmg type. If you don't find the fire crystal for example the game resets.

you need to clear a certain number of rounds to face the boss and during this time is when you send out someone to collect the phase shifter augmentations which can be used to give a dmg advantage(like lightning) or minimize a bad dmg (like disease).

the dungeon consists of a large central cave where most of the action takes place. All the mobs in this dungeon are made of crystal and glow with the corresponding dungeon color. There is a giant crystal there that must be defended as crystal spiders will try to attach to it and cause it to shatter booting you out of the dungeon (failure). You want to find everything in this dungeon while defending the crystal and progressing the crystals colors to the boss.

Rungar · March 2018

you will notice a theme in all my ideas that the mechanics are not concentrated into the boss fights but are instead a function of getting the boss to spawn at all. There is also the secondary idea that players might have to split up occasionally to get the job done. It is also intended to promote roles including stealth, and more of a teamwork over time.

since most dungeons in the game are pugged it gives time to work on the teamwork aspect rather than just the hard fails because you suck at roll dodging or jumping into the yellow circle, that's not even there, at the exact right time.

the reason for this is simple. The current game is becoming far to exclusive and reliant on "one shot" survival mechanisms that are really more about failure repetition/muscle learning the encounters. This is more like trials than dungeons where the content is completely focussed on the bosses. I think that gameplay should be left there and things like one shot mechanics used very sparingly. This may work in trials but it don't work in dungeons.

to balance this change ive introduced the ability to actually fail prior to "giving up". These dungeons are the backbone of this game at its really hard to get anyone to pug any dlc like even mazzutan or imperial city because these dungeons are often frustrating for the average player, but the new dungeons are for worse in that regard and its sad that the new content isn't getting utilized due to a failed structural model.

You can make these dungeons fun for everyone. You can make them challenging without having to resort to constant split second reaction times "mechanics" or even required dps.

I'm throwing a rope down into this hole.

Rungar · March 2018

the Wyrd Tree Underroot: undead infestation

the wyrd tree is dying as its roots have become infected with undead. You must traverse the root structure of the tree, eradicate the undead and heal the roots.

this is a healer based dungeon where the healer in the group will be required to heal a number of root nodes. The nodes require a lot of healing and attract the undead which are buried all around. Three of the nodes will spawn "mini" bosses and you get a root chest for every node you heal. The ones that spawn the minibosses are random every time. The healer must be able to both heal the nodes and keep the group alive. Other players can also assist with the healing.

once a node is successfully healed it will become protected for 45 (25/20 on vet/hm) minutes, thus you only have around that time to heal all the root nodes which opens up the main chamber where you fight the boss and complete the dungeon.

the protection spell can be lengthened by standing in the circle marking and spamming shields. Each cast will increase the timer slightly and it would be a strategy to improve the timers for the first few nodes. If running low on time someone can also go back and add time by doing this. The timers all stop when the final door is opened to the boss.

Rungar · August 2018

Clockwork deep charging station

deep within the clockwork city things have gone haywire and power has been diverted to generate all sorts of clockwork nightmares.

this dungeon is a series of charging stations which are long corridors leading to a platform. Each station generates a charging beam that powers a powerful Haywire automation. when you enter each station it begins a charging process and you must block the beam to reduce the power of the automation. The beam can be blocked by any player standing in front of it, which trips the alarm triggering defence automations.

the beam causes multiple types of dmg based on the color of the beam and has variable intensity. The more power your team can absorb while fending off the defences the weaker the station boss is. Depending on the boss(es) there might be up to three beams to block.

there are 5 stations to clear and while your doing stations 1-4 there is an additional beam to block all the while which charges the last boss. Additionally any defences which enter the beams will be boosted by it so these automations can be used to block beams as well as players. all beams increase in strength every 10 minutes.

on normal the beams operate on normal strength.
on vet the beams operate on double strength
on vet hm the final boss beam does triple dmg in addition to other beams at double strength.

fully charged the final boss has a brutal one shot mechanic so you want to make sure he never gets fully charged by the time you get there.

profundidob16_ESO · August 2018

Rungar wrote: »

Here are some ideas for dungeons i have that might be useful. Feel free to add your own.

Library of Dusk : Lower Vault (dungeon)

you all comes down a long stairwell that leads to a large room surrounded by smaller catacombs. In the middle of the room is a large caged off area with a sign over saying that only 2 may enter. Two enter here and the timer starts and the other two must search for the proper sequence of books. Opening the wrong book spawns mobs and/or bosses in the cage which the other two players must deal with. Some books switch players in and out of the cage, teleport you around, spawn chests, weaken the boss, strengthen the boss, activate traps, deactivate traps etc. The catacombs are also infested and have roamer mini bosses for added chaos.

You have to find the proper sequence of books from the catacombs before the timer runs out to open the cage and spawn the last boss. The location of the books is random every time the dungeon loads.

Ancient Dwemer Labyrinth (dungeon)

the ruins are full of levers and traps that trigger moving walls and patterned moving walls. Roaming the hallways are shielded dwemer automations. There are two ways to defeat the automations. 1) deactivate the power core and then kill them(someone would have to stealth ahead and do this or fight your way there). 2) trap them in the moving walls/pit traps. There are traps in this dungeon where if you die you cannot be resurrected and are dismissed from the group. The bosses are not difficult with a full group but getting to the boss with a full group is.

Worldboss Challenge Rampage

You have to kill a number of Random worldbosses from anywhere in the world in a limited time. Doing this within the timeframe allotted opens up the final destination where you face the final boss with whatever time you have left. When time runs out its over.

very nice except traps that basically kick a group member from the group....

1 cardinal rule of dungeon design says: a group no matter how many deaths or screwups must never be able to become stuck in such a way that 1 or more group members can no longer complete the dungeon. Any exception is considered a bug

Rungar · August 2018

the pound on it till you win type dungeon is not that good. They need dungeons where you can indeed fail and be kicked from the group and dungeon.

profundidob16_ESO · August 2018

Rungar wrote: »

the pound on it till you win type dungeon is not that good. They need dungeons where you can indeed fail and be kicked from the group and dungeon.

we have that already: second boss Fang Lair (the menagerie) => 1 group member kicked or left by themselves within 3 tries on average in every pug run =P =P

Rungar · August 2018

not every dungeon has to be the same. That particular one is designed with losing members in mind as that is the challenge aspect of it.

the point is that even if you lose a member you can continue on and even finish. As long as failure is not directly linked to a split second reaction time (most current one shots) i think players would be ok with it.