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Black Drake Villa: awesome & The Cauldron: awful

Seraphayel
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The two new dungeons really are a mixed bag. I love love love Black Drake Villa. It’s vast, it’s open, it’s fun and it looks great. And Eveli is kinda... nice? A very enjoyable experience.

The negative: Fire salamanders.

The Cauldron on the other hand... I don’t know what to say, this dungeon is horrible. And on normal it’s completely overtuned. Not like a bit overturned like other DLC dungeons, this right here might be the worst dungeon I’ve played in ESO yet. The last two bosses are especially horrible and your entire screen is cluttered with effects. Fire everywhere. Lightning everywhere. Lava everywhere. Adds everywhere. This dungeon is a mess and the bosses have so much HP on normal already, it’s just too much.

The negative: Fire. Everywhere. Too much of everything.

Flames of Ambition has for me one of the best and one of the worst dungeons in ESO at the same time. Guess it’s a success then?
PS5
EU
Aldmeri Dominion
- Khajiit Arcanist -
  • Kurat
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    Both dungeons are almost overland difficulty on normal. And on vet they are among the easiest compared to the rest. I would put them in same category with WGT and ICP
  • amm7sb14_ESO
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    Disagree. Cauldron is immediately one of my favorite dungeons in the game. I love the mechanics of the final boss fight on vet. I like it better than Black Drake Villa, although I do enjoy that one as well. The secret boss at the end is possibly my favorite boss of both dungeons. But I really like both.
  • Hallothiel
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    Kurat wrote: »
    Both dungeons are almost overland difficulty on normal. And on vet they are among the easiest compared to the rest. I would put them in same category with WGT and ICP

    Disagree. Cauldron is just annoying. And too many effects as op said.
  • Seraphayel
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    Kurat wrote: »
    Both dungeons are almost overland difficulty on normal. And on vet they are among the easiest compared to the rest. I would put them in same category with WGT and ICP

    Cauldron is insanity with a random group that’s not coordinated, even in normal. I don’t want to imagine it on Vet. The spike in difficulty is extreme, even compared to Black Drake Villa. Don’t expect everyone to have 800 CP going in there in normal mode...
    PS5
    EU
    Aldmeri Dominion
    - Khajiit Arcanist -
  • TwinLamps
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    At least we saw how monk will look like when they add it as playable class in 2022/2023
    Awake, but at what cost
  • Luke_Flamesword
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    I PUGed both dungeons on normal and vet, both was quite easy, on Cauldron we took some time on final boss but only beacuse tank was running all the time, when we convinced him to stop from time to time, we burned boss quickly. And I play Breton stamdk :D
    PC | EU | DC |Stam Dk Breton
  • ccfeeling
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    1st pug in Cauldron last night on PS4, all of us are 810 plus, i agree with OP, too much fire and its not necessary, its a bit harder than I think, healer left after 1st boss, no big problem until final boss and we got the healer finally, final boss play like VBRP 1st boss, was fun :)

    With a good tank, i think 1T3D is better in non hm run, one more thing, I really dislike one shot mechanics, thats why I say dps is better than healer in pre made group.
  • emilyhyoyeon
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    I like the fire spin on The Cauldron last boss and I like the oil thing on the Lyranth boss tbh. Completely agree about the flooding of effects on screen though
    IGN @ emilypumpkin, imperial pumpkin seller
    Tullanisse Starborne, altmer battlemage & scholar of the ayleids

    High Priest Eraamine as a houseguest please C:
  • robpr
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    The mechanics are fine in Cauldron but holy heck its a nightmare for learning tanks. You absolutely see nothing on last boss and have to rely on either permablock or dodging often the Hammer Down attack. Main offenders are armored daedroth cones, they should be smaller or have less health. The fire 'clock' borrowed from Molag Kena is clearly telegraphed so no issues here.
  • Brrrofski
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    They're way too easy.

    Did them both blind on vet earlier. 3dds and my damage tank. Wiped on final boss of cauldron like twice and that was it.

    Blake drake villa is stupidly easy.
  • Contaminate
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    Idk how anyone is saying The Cauldron is overtuned. It’s by far one of easiest DLC dungeons to-date. My group ran it on vet blind the first time and got the trifecta in our second go around.

    I took my stamblade in with just Tzovgin’s, Briarheart, and Selene, and solo’d it on normal. No Pale Order required and I didn’t hit above 10k dps on the bosses in any fight. It’s a nice solo challenge and not even remotely overtuned for a standard group.

    Basing any feedback off pug runs is a bad idea since these are group dungeons that are intended to require coordination. That means explaining to your teammates how mechanics work, and removing any teammates who cannot or refuse to follow mechanics. The fact that high dps completely neutralizes the majority of mechanics is kinda sad, but even low dps groups aren’t going to struggle with the mechanics that exist because they aren’t dps checks. It’s really basic awareness stuff and an ability to put two and two together.

    The only non-option adds in the final fight are the tiny watchers. All the rest will never appear if you follow the mechanics and get rid of the pillars using Lyranth’s synergy.

    In Normal there’s hardly any ground AoEs to avoid. The lightning is avoidable by everyone including the tank, but its damage is only moderate, and ignorable with a healer.

    Fun fact, BDV is also soloable on normal, as all the mechanics that would require a partner (well, just mino chains tbh) don’t ever occur in normal.
  • hcbigdogdoghc
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    Cauldron is only easy if you have a high dps coordinated group.

    When I ran it with guild mates when it first came out, and guess what? I thought it was insanely easy too, cleared hm blind second try. Until I ran it in a PUG as a tank.

    First 3 bosses were a pain, 4th and 5th boss were a nightmare, I can survive by myself with the whole PUG team dead in FL, FH, DOM, etc. But I struggle to say the same with this one, Ogrim's aoe and daedroth's fire dot will absolutely wreck you.

    People saying this is WGT tier has to be playing a dps or only play with pre made 120k+ dps groups.

    Edited by hcbigdogdoghc on March 17, 2021 3:53AM
  • Vanya
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    I find it entirely opposite, Eveli is boring,bland,extremely overrated with Mediocre outfit,etc Villa feels shorter and its way more common ,Roman architecture and 3 bosses compared to Caluldron that was way Epic. I could go for more and tell why is and why is not, but I wont today.

    Negative for you since you do not like fire, Well that means I have bad news for you ,Dagon is
    fond of fire in his realm of Oblivion upcoming fire,ash,lava, burning everything.

    "Nice" "Fun" all relative and nowhere near enough to provide some sort of insight. Ultimately it all remains for personal perspective. For me Villa was average,Cauldron a total blast.

    Eveli is possibly is the worst character for me to the point I have not even started Orsinium DLC Story arc. I cannot stand her and I must admit, She and pretty much any Breton is where is the point when I usually ignore any dialogue in ESO, with very few exceptions. I dislike them so much.
    Edited by Vanya on March 17, 2021 2:18AM
  • Chrysa1is
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    It's not called Flames of Ambition for nothing IMO
  • ccfeeling
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    Cauldron is only easy if you have a high dps coordinated group.

    When I ran it with guild mates when it first came out, and guess what? I thought it was insanely easy too, cleared hm blind second try. Until I ran it in a PUG as a tank.

    First 3 bosses were a pain, 4th and 5th boss were a nightmare, I can survive by myself with the whole PUG team dead in FL, FH, DOM, etc. But I struggle to say the same with this one.

    People saying this is WGT tier has to be playing a dps or only play with pre made 120k+ dps groups.

    The difference between high tier premade group and low-mid level PUG are too large .

    As we can make a group via dungeon finder , these dungeons should be puggable technically or ZOS you have to restrict low CP players join these hard DLC dungeons .

    PUG , failure , someone leave , que , failure , someone leave , que , failure , someone leave , disband .
    That's what happen I see mostly in Lair of Maarselok ...

    I know that CP is not everything , but I will feel a bit comfortable with some high CP players in PUG .
  • hcbigdogdoghc
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    ccfeeling wrote: »
    Cauldron is only easy if you have a high dps coordinated group.

    When I ran it with guild mates when it first came out, and guess what? I thought it was insanely easy too, cleared hm blind second try. Until I ran it in a PUG as a tank.

    First 3 bosses were a pain, 4th and 5th boss were a nightmare, I can survive by myself with the whole PUG team dead in FL, FH, DOM, etc. But I struggle to say the same with this one.

    People saying this is WGT tier has to be playing a dps or only play with pre made 120k+ dps groups.

    The difference between high tier premade group and low-mid level PUG are too large .

    As we can make a group via dungeon finder , these dungeons should be puggable technically or ZOS you have to restrict low CP players join these hard DLC dungeons .

    PUG , failure , someone leave , que , failure , someone leave , que , failure , someone leave , disband .
    That's what happen I see mostly in Lair of Maarselok ...

    I know that CP is not everything , but I will feel a bit comfortable with some high CP players in PUG .

    Cauldron is the exact same with maarselok just to a smaller degree, insanely easy with high dps coordinated groups, almost base game level. But a total nightmare if not unclearable with low dps even if everyone know mechs. Compare to stuff like SCP where if you know the mechs and have the very minimum dps level you can 100% clear it without much trouble.
    Edited by hcbigdogdoghc on March 17, 2021 3:00AM
  • Minyassa
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    Cauldron was kinda boring for the most part, but...gross. I mean I'm glad that someone's 8-year-old was given the chance to participate in building a dungeon, but yuck. >__<

    I *love* Black Drake Villa, though.
  • Ringing_Nirnroot
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    That fart mechanic was 10/10
    ~Farts of ambition
    Edited by Ringing_Nirnroot on March 17, 2021 3:57AM
  • Contaminate
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    Cauldron is only easy if you have a high dps coordinated group.

    When I ran it with guild mates when it first came out, and guess what? I thought it was insanely easy too, cleared hm blind second try. Until I ran it in a PUG as a tank.

    First 3 bosses were a pain, 4th and 5th boss were a nightmare, I can survive by myself with the whole PUG team dead in FL, FH, DOM, etc. But I struggle to say the same with this one, Ogrim's aoe and daedroth's fire dot will absolutely wreck you.

    People saying this is WGT tier has to be playing a dps or only play with pre made 120k+ dps groups.

    There are only two meaningful combat mechanics in The Cauldron, one is the Ogrim boss when you have to kill the green blobs. The other is the final boss when you use Lyranth’s syngery to destroy the pillars thus eliminating 90% of the adds from ever spawning. The Cauldron is not a dps race, it entirely doable with low dps, I literally solo’d it with a whopping 9k dps in most boss fights. Granted that was normal, but vet isn’t much different even with a mediocre group, the only new mech is the ogrim cage. 50k group dps will be a bit of a slug for some of the fights, but it’s not going to make or break your run.

    PUGs generally fail because they’re unwilling to obey the mechanics or follow extremely basic combat cues like not standing in stupid, interrupting bosses, and focusing the right targets first.
    Edited by Contaminate on March 17, 2021 4:28AM
  • zaria
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    Seraphayel wrote: »
    Kurat wrote: »
    Both dungeons are almost overland difficulty on normal. And on vet they are among the easiest compared to the rest. I would put them in same category with WGT and ICP

    Cauldron is insanity with a random group that’s not coordinated, even in normal. I don’t want to imagine it on Vet. The spike in difficulty is extreme, even compared to Black Drake Villa. Don’t expect everyone to have 800 CP going in there in normal mode...
    Agree last boss in Cauldron can easy wipe an group in normal, we wiped couple of times on an group who does vet dlc.
    Granted it was with fake tank I believe but it was the mechanics who killed us.
    Don't looks fun for pugs until people get the mechanic.

    Black drake villa was better and loved the secret boss system but don't say black cauldron is bad. Loved the oil and lighting fight. Slotting ring of wild hunt and doing 2 and 2 nodes is cool.
    Grinding just make you go in circles.
    Asking ZoS for nerfs is as stupid as asking for close air support from the death star.
  • Kurat
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    People who say that the Cauldron is hard must've gotten really unlucky with bad pugs. I've done it 10+ times now as dps and as tank. Group dps ranged from 30k to 120k.
    10+ runs on vet and I still dont know mechs because I haven't seen any. Not just with high dps but with 30k also. Some base game vets have more noticeable mechanics lol.
    1st boss is the one that farts. I assume the green snot needs to be killed before they reach the boss. But it really didn't matter. The boss seemed to enrage but as long as tank has aggro it didn't change anything for dps or healer. So as dps I just kept parsing and as tank I just taunted and blocked. Cant get any easier. He also doesn't hit hard.

    2nd boss has lots of aoe and adds but basically the same as 1st boss. Only "mechanics " I saw was aoes. All dps has to do is step out of aoe and parse. As tank I just taunted and chained adds in. Adds have so little hp that they died almost instantly in aoe. The boss again hits like wet noodle. As tank you hardly take any dmg even without blocking. Only thing that can kill you if you stand in aoe. I had 1 run where I was tanking and everyone else died coz they didn't move around. But it was easy to recover. Since there was no mechanics I was able to rez them all. In most dlc dungeons at least its harder for 1 person to rez if everyone else is dead. And when I was dps, most tanks didn't even taunt or chain adds. They just stood there shooting arrows which seemed to only hit 1-2k. So that can also be ignored completely.

    3rd boss is the iron atro kind ( literally lol, doesn't move). Basically just target dummy parse. It stands still and teleports to other sides of platform occasionally. Didn't see any mechs even when group dps was 30k. Every time he changes position, 2 small adds spawn but they just stand there and shoot fire sometimes. I assume we are supposed to kill them but why bother if their dmg is not noticeable. Dps just parsed and tank taunted. Occasionally red lines appeared on boss, indicating that interrupting was needed but some pug tanks missed it and nothing happened lol. There was some lava and fire flying around but as tank I was just able to stand in it without taking much dmg.

    4th boss is basically just add waves (only 3-4 adds at time). Very difficult to die, especially as tank. This was the only boss where I saw 1 mechanic. You have to take the green oil and drag it from the small dome thingies to the middle large one. If you dont then you simply dont have anyone to fight lol. When the final thingie is destroyed then boss flies down. But wtf is with his hp? Not sure if it's a bug or intended but I'm sure I briefly saw 5 mil hp when he was in air. But when landed, he only has 2-300k and dies in 5 sec lol.

    Last boss has alot of aoes and I got hit constantly as dps but didn't kill me. Tank ofc has to block his heavy attacks but that's about it. There will be fire wall moving from 1 side and then later from other side and everyone needs to move away from it. That's the only "hard" part there. You cant just stand still and parse, you gotta move and parse lol. There was some kind of friendly aoes on ground that we can synergize but whether we did or not didn't make any difference. So basically just another parse boss and when dps was low it just took longer.

    Conclusion: very easy dungeon for a dlc. Even vet Banished Cells 2 is more trouble for low dps pugs than this.
    No noticeable mechanics at any of the bosses and if there was any then they can be 100% ignored even with low dps. Everything was simple and common sense. If you get growing aoe under you - step out, if you see red lines - bash, if heavy attack- block or dodge.
    There are plenty of dungeons where low dps simply prevents from clearing, Cauldron is not one of them.
  • Vevvev
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    Trying to heal on the last boss of the Cauldron on veteran was not fun at all. So many effects I just threw heals onto the biggest clumps of things I saw lol. I did really enjoy the Villa though and would do it again for fun like with Unhallowed Grave and Moon Hunter Keep.
    PC NA - Ceyanna Ashton - Breton Vampire MagDK
  • AyaDark
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    https://youtu.be/_MHRfmZ7XR4

    Do not know, 3 in 1 from 3rd run, (only was there 3 times)

    See nothing bad with it.
  • DreadDaedroth
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    The only awful thing is the reward skin design :(
  • Seraphayel
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    I‘m not talking about Vet modes. I‘m talking about normal dungeons where players with bad gear and low CP go to farm gear, get the quest done or just want to complete their daily dungeon quest. Even if you follow the mechanics, the fights take on forever and some of them spawn so many adds that it takes a very long time to kill a boss or you eventually wipe because one mistake gets you killed and with a handful of adds coming for you you’re not able to rez your fallen mate.

    The Ogrim boss wasn’t too bad, neither was the Lyranth in a cage fight. The Atro, the endboss and the other Dremora were the problematic fights when it comes to pugs. And as I said, there are just too much AoE effects. You have the boss effects, you have environmental effects and on top of it you have adds that love to do AoE. Now multiply this by 10 and you have The Cauldron in a nutshell.
    PS5
    EU
    Aldmeri Dominion
    - Khajiit Arcanist -
  • TochTom
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    Seraphayel wrote: »
    The two new dungeons really are a mixed bag. I love love love Black Drake Villa. It’s vast, it’s open, it’s fun and it looks great. And Eveli is kinda... nice? A very enjoyable experience.

    The negative: Fire salamanders.

    The Cauldron on the other hand... I don’t know what to say, this dungeon is horrible. And on normal it’s completely overtuned. Not like a bit overturned like other DLC dungeons, this right here might be the worst dungeon I’ve played in ESO yet. The last two bosses are especially horrible and your entire screen is cluttered with effects. Fire everywhere. Lightning everywhere. Lava everywhere. Adds everywhere. This dungeon is a mess and the bosses have so much HP on normal already, it’s just too much.

    The negative: Fire. Everywhere. Too much of everything.

    Flames of Ambition has for me one of the best and one of the worst dungeons in ESO at the same time. Guess it’s a success then?

    I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you on this. The hardest boss in this whole DLC was the secret boss in Black Drake Villa if you did all bosses on HM before. We, me and my group (all around 1500CP) went in blind and completed both trifectas on the same night. The Cauldron was especially easy in our eyes. We figured that we could nuke boss 1, 2 & 3 without even having to play the slightest of mechanics (exception for the 1 interrupt boss #2 if you don't kill her quick enough). The final boss was really easy on HM, we had a pretty clear layout as our healer would get rid of the stone walls/pillars with the synergy and me + the other damage dealer kept focussing the boss and cleaving the adds in the process, by rotating destro ultimates everytime the spinning flame phase stopped. We haven't gone into the PTS before or watched videos on it, we basically went in and gave it our best shot.
    PC-EU | CP 2200+ | 52 590 Achievement Points | Salty Sorcerer | Altmer Sorcerer (Magicka) | AD | Former Empress, AW Rank 50 | Flawless Conqueror (602,803 Score | U22), Immortal Redeemer (114,473 Score | U24), Dro-m'Athra Destroyer U25, Gryphon Heart (130,902 Score | U25), Tick-Tock Tormentor (220,587 Score | U25), Godslayer (251,386 Score | U26), Kyne's Wrath (238,405 Score | U27), Unchained (106,377 Score | U27), Spirit Slayer (301,402 Score | U28)
  • Raegwyr
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    Seraphayel wrote: »
    I‘m not talking about Vet modes. I‘m talking about normal dungeons where players with bad gear and low CP go to farm gear, get the quest done or just want to complete their daily dungeon quest. Even if you follow the mechanics, the fights take on forever and some of them spawn so many adds that it takes a very long time to kill a boss or you eventually wipe because one mistake gets you killed and with a handful of adds coming for you you’re not able to rez your fallen mate.

    The Ogrim boss wasn’t too bad, neither was the Lyranth in a cage fight. The Atro, the endboss and the other Dremora were the problematic fights when it comes to pugs. And as I said, there are just too much AoE effects. You have the boss effects, you have environmental effects and on top of it you have adds that love to do AoE. Now multiply this by 10 and you have The Cauldron in a nutshell.

    There is no mechanic or enemy on normal that will provide problems to solo player if he/she follow the mechanics (and there are almost none of them there lol).
    1st boss is easy
    2nd slot crushing shock and avoid big aoe and you can kill it with really bad dps
    3rd require you to change ground dot position once in a while and bash main boss so not really a complicated stuff (all of his aoe did almost nothing to you)
    4th is just a trash fight, you can do one lightning thing per fire explosion to spawn less adds
    5th is just roll dodge one in a while, avoid fire spin and destroy the things that spawn adds (with synergy it is always one-shoted with LA). You can basically block spawn of 90% adds there

    There is NO THREAT there if you spend 30 minutes learning the mechanics there. Vet can be done with really bad dps group without problem if only one player know what to do (done hm with 2 player party). Normal is an overland difficulty indeed.
  • Fischblut
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    Fun fact, BDV is also soloable on normal, as all the mechanics that would require a partner (well, just mino chains tbh) don’t ever occur in normal.

    Chains mechanic occurs only on Hard Mode for that boss.

    I did both dungeons on normal alone, and while they are not too bad, I won't go there alone again :D

    In Cauldron, the Iron Atronach boss killed me once. I didn't even realise why I died :o During next try I figured it out... If boss and two mini Atronachs hit me with their projectiles at the same time, it's instadeath :/

    In Black Drake Villa, I absolutely hated the pressure plates mechanic :angry: I can't unlock any optional boss alone; even with a friend I would not be able to unlock all optional bosses...

    I love when dungeons can be done solo. These two dungeons could be okay, if not for optional bosses in BDV :/
    Best part of both dungeons is: Fire Behemoth is naked :D Why can't my character be naked when using same skin?

    kvWMMnP.jpg

    And Wild Life designers never disappoint me! <3 I'm very sorry about killing 3 cute sleeping Scuttlers in Cauldron :'(

    UrCoJzI.jpg

    MTwofdN.jpg
  • Seraphayel
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    Raegwyr wrote: »
    There is NO THREAT there if you spend 30 minutes learning the mechanics there. Vet can be done with really bad dps group without problem if only one player know what to do (done hm with 2 player party). Normal is an overland difficulty indeed.

    No they’re not overland difficulty, stop with that nonsense. Go into The Cauldron on normal mode with < 200 CP and blue max level items and you’ll have a hard time, even if you follow the mechanics.

    It’s ridiculous that people with 1500 CP and full maxed out gear are stating how easy that dungeon is. Remove all your purple or golden equipment and CPs and see how easy it is then. It’s a normal dungeon, you’re not supposed to go there with full gear and CPs unless you want to faceroll it.
    Edited by Seraphayel on March 17, 2021 10:29AM
    PS5
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    Aldmeri Dominion
    - Khajiit Arcanist -
  • Hallothiel
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    Brrrofski wrote: »
    They're way too easy.

    Did them both blind on vet earlier. 3dds and my damage tank. Wiped on final boss of cauldron like twice and that was it.

    Blake drake villa is stupidly easy.

    For you. “Way too easy” for you.

    I too did them on vet last night, and was fun. But then I do a lot of this stuff.

    But not all players can or do. And to be honest it can be dispiriting for less experienced to see people dismissing as easy things that are harder for them.
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