Please fix Endless Archive difficulty

jaws343 · November 2023

Jaraal wrote: »

mercer_cap wrote: »

28k hp, 32k spell resists, 26k phys resist, 5 light armour 1 med 1 heavy
Sergeants + order wrath + 1x slime + oaken lightning staff
Unstable wall (aoe spammable if needed), sorc shield, bound aegis, crit surge, flex (pet/execute/storm/streak) and ulti (mostly comet, sometimes atro or destro ulti)

jaws343 wrote: »

Heartland/Torug, heavy armor setup

Sergeant's/Orders Wrath, also heavy armor

With the same bar setup for each:
Crit Surge, Hardened Ward, Bound Aegis, Wall of Elements, Caltrops (Flex of Ele sus), Meteor

Cirt Surge is my only heal, with the CP that heals on direct damage also doing some work.
Hardened Ward gives cover for surge healing
Bound Aegis gives some nice passive armor and max mag
Wall of Elements adds some decent AOE, with a chance to proc enchant, and provide crit surge healing
Caltrops is more AOE, and debuffs enemies, and provides physical damage. Plus, it counts for the assault skill verse buff if that is an option and there are no other better ones.
Ele Sus is a flex for Caltrops if and only if I get more than 1 Focused Efforts. At which point, it becomes a weaved in spammable in between heavy attacks.
Meteor provides some passive buffs, as well as ult return on hit, as well as damage from guild buff verses.

Both of you using Weakening enchants?

Only on my torug/heartland gear setup.

I use poison enchant on my sergeant/OW setup.

alternatelder · November 2023

mercer_cap wrote: »

alternatelder wrote: »

mercer_cap wrote: »

spartaxoxo wrote: »

ComradeBiscuit wrote: »

Trier_Sero wrote: »

So I just tried duoing EA and we died on 3rd Thoat. I don't know what magic those people who say they can solo it use, but I can say for sure that 95% of players won't be able to even duo it. It needs nerf badly!!!.

If you can make it to this point, I reckon you should be able to do it. Do you know what was actually killing ya'll?

What sort of group composition were you running? Tank and DD or two DD's? Are you built tanky?

Were you interrupting the blobs? Were you focusing knight first, then atronach, then mantikora?

There is a lot going on in this fight, but there is no dps check, and other than the heavy attack from the sword in the first phase, nothing should one-shot if you are built tanky.

On Arc 3, the glass ceiling can one shot non-tanks if ignored. It's pretty heavy telegraphed though, just block or dodge.

Ehm, it doesn't one shot me and I play with 26k resists and 28k health xD

You're playing with tank resists, please re-read what they said.

That is literally what you get when you slot 5x light armour, bound aegis, oakensoul and drink a resist pot. Tank resists are maxed at the soft cap, which is 7k higher xD

Soft cap is not 7k higher.

spartaxoxo · November 2023

jaws343 wrote: »

mercer_cap wrote: »

Galeriano wrote: »

Your build is a poor EA build. That marauder is just a hint what would be happening in later arcs. Please show me anyone who is trying to progress EA with one bar HA setup and gets to later arcs with it.

Me, it is not hard to get far into endless archive even with a not too tanky HA setup:

28k hp, 32k spell resists, 26k phys resist, 5 light armour 1 med 1 heavy
Sergeants + order wrath + 1x slime + oaken lightning staff
Unstable wall (aoe spammable if needed), sorc shield, bound aegis, crit surge, flex (pet/execute/storm/streak) and ulti (mostly comet, sometimes atro or destro ulti)

As long as you take the fire, ice and werewolf support and then the increase on status effect, weapon trait and damage and crit on physical attacks (bleed) you will have a lot of damage
Put 2x stamina regen, 1x magicka regen and the rest just max health and together with the ice support you will be invincible.

You can basically roll dodge/sprint/shield everything without running out of resource or being one shot, and your damage will be huge from the bleeds and the fire that kills everything.
Due to time issues I have only been into arc 5 solo with this, but it wasn't too hard getting there with a not too tanky build.

Yeah, my HA sorc setups for EA are one of the following:

Heartland/Torug, heavy armor setup

Sergeant's/Orders Wrath, also heavy armor

With the same bar setup for each:
Crit Surge, Hardened Ward, Bound Aegis, Wall of Elements, Caltrops (Flex of Ele sus), Meteor

Cirt Surge is my only heal, with the CP that heals on direct damage also doing some work.
Hardened Ward gives cover for surge healing
Bound Aegis gives some nice passive armor and max mag
Wall of Elements adds some decent AOE, with a chance to proc enchant, and provide crit surge healing
Caltrops is more AOE, and debuffs enemies, and provides physical damage. Plus, it counts for the assault skill verse buff if that is an option and there are no other better ones.
Ele Sus is a flex for Caltrops if and only if I get more than 1 Focused Efforts. At which point, it becomes a weaved in spammable in between heavy attacks.
Meteor provides some passive buffs, as well as ult return on hit, as well as damage from guild buff verses.

Making it to late ARC 6 so far with that setup and really poor vision RNG. Can definitely go further with more Focused Efforts or Attuned.

I'm gonna try with the armor potions and see if that helps. I have very near the same setup right now, and literally everything else was easy (albeit a bit time consuming dropping attack skills) with the setup.

Running an armor pot would increase my resistances from 25k to 30k, and maybe allow me to drop barrier for a damage ult.

daemondamian · November 2023

EdjeSwift wrote: »

daemondamian wrote: »

Any thoughts and tips on the EA side quests?

Several of them seem to have worse mechanics than Tho'at Replicanum and most of the bosses in EA - so I've only completed them successfully 1-4 times each.

1. collecting the ghost lights the time restraints is tight especially if you get 3-4 lights to collect - yes even wearing Adept Rider, Fiords and Ring of the Wild Hunt- could slot Celerity but not sure if would matter

2. crossing the corridor with tentacles in the floor only worked like twice with selecting buttons from 1 to 5(?) from left to right and having a speed build but now they're out of order and you only get once chance & it then says you can't do it anymore.

3. completing the filer's Archive - I've maybe been successful 2-3 times, but now keep getting killed by skeletons(?) - trying to kill them doesn't work, self healing sets don't seem to work so I tried Plague Doctor with Ironblood, Oakensoul & 1 Piece LW for more health which only helped a little.
I notice you do heal but very slowly so does anyone know if health recovery sets work - Beekeepers etc?

I have 240-300 ping always which doesn't help but I don't know what else to do or try with these side quests as they seem to rely on being faster than seems possible or on random luck.

1. Don't gather all at once, you can do 2 at a time and you'll be fine. There's plenty of time, also you might actually be moving TOO fast, take off half of that stuff and just relax.

2. If you're solo, check which side has the last pool clear and click the buttons from the other side to it and run for your life.

3. Your gear doesn't matter, just avoid, use the 5 to slow and 4 to stun them. I've never been able to heal.

Thanks for the tips, I completed 1. by going into sneak mode & walking backwards while bracing then letting go alternating & also collected 2-3 at a time so I got that achievement

- this would have to be the easiest side quest now I think and is the only one besides the goat and book pages quests that I do anymore.

2. I got lucky & got several goes and an easier combination (I wrote them down first so I could see which to press in the right order) & also I used streak but now I don't do it anymore as I feel for me it's waste of time.

3. knowing that there is a slow enemies and go fast, skill really helped me & I completed it and got the achievement but now don't do it anymore because it seems to require a degree of rng & I don't want to waste time.

Thanks again for the tips

Araneae6537 · November 2023

Okay, I agree that Gothmau is ridiculous. Even with two players, unless one is a tank, forget it. He moves fast AND hits like a truck! He is very doable IF one player is a tank, and not just a tanky DPS. It was very satisfying to facetank the **** after all the times getting absolutely flattened!

spartaxoxo · November 2023

Araneae6537 wrote: »

Okay, I agree that Gothmau is ridiculous. Even with two players, unless one is a tank, forget it. He moves fast AND hits like a truck! He is very doable IF one player is a tank, and not just a tanky DPS. It was very satisfying to facetank the **** after all the times getting absolutely flattened!

I finally got a run without him and it was a night and day difference between him and the other marauders. The lightning one did spawn too many tornadoes I felt like. But, since I happened to get a big arena, it was a fun challenge. I can see it being annoying in an arena with less space to maneuver though.

So, now I think rather than wanting nerfs to all of the marauders....

I mostly think the issue is Gothmau. It's not marauders in general, it's just him.

The tornado guy, I could see adding a limit to make it less RNG for which space you end up in. But, he can honestly also be left alone and I'd be cool with that as well as RNG is also a natural element of this type of content.

Overall, without Gothmau I still didn't manage to beat vet level (though I did get further!) But no element felt unreasonable or unfair anymore. I died to things that I know how to improve upon next time, and the arena was a constant challenge once I hit arc 4. That run actually felt like a breath of fresh air. No. I didn't beat it. But, that's okay. Clears feel better when you progress anyway.

DinoZavr · November 2023

on overall, difficulty progression is fine for me.
what is not are some visions, some bosses, and, of course, a handful of bugs, plus a HUGE annoyance is the inability to save progress. Some are overtuned, some are underwhelming. This way or another.
So at this moment the difficulty progression is not the most important issue to discuss, in my humble opinion.

Visions:
some are way below difficulty progressions, like
- Your direct damage increases! Direct damage increased by 2% per stack.
an me like "Yay! But mobs health increase 2x per Arc" How does this match?
some are overtuned, which might be fine, when developers change multiplicative effect into additive

Bosses:
- Gothmau. i got this guy dozens of time. and never managed to kill him. The fight starts when game drops him into a matchbox-sized room and even at Arc 1 his light attacks are 12K (and like 20K at Arc 2). So just when i manage to target his, he shreds my shield and takes 1/3 of my HP. Gothmau is way too overtuned, at least, from a solo player point of view.
Other marauder guys are killable, but this one is not (of course from my humble point of view)
I would eagerly like to watch how @ZOS developer kills Gothmau solo in a small room by a melee class to teach me (and players like me if they exist) a good "how-to" lesson. @ZOS, please? pretty please?
- Aramril. it took me really quite a lot of attempts with the last round with 2 crystals and 3 mind terrors.
was this even tested for a solo? i really love the good challenge, but i just hate a plain mockery.
(of course, boundary between the two is very individual, but this certain fight has proven me i am a sheety player)
i did my best, fitting venom arrow, gap closer.. but it is still hard for a melee character to beat them Bosmer girl.
- Tho'at best friends the little blobbies. Big Kudos to @SkinnyCheeks - his videos gave a good insight: to install the "Untaunted" addon, which marks them enemies with the highly visible red markers. But i don't get how Console players manage to spot them at Arc2+? Are them players are all psychic? to spot them shiny silver blobbies in a chaos of dozens shiny silver crystals?

Bugs:
- stuck in combat. you can do nothing, nether log out, nor exit. just kill the client by Operating System means
- empty boss arena
- Rakkhat. died to him at least a dozen of times, maybe more. the pillars you meant to hide behind fall apart right on the moment they appear or right before before boss deadly attack. Poof! YOU DIED!. Also they often spawn way to far from the boss (which also tells me developers play only ranged magicka classes and QA.. well.. i can't tell you what i think about pre-release internal testing). And there were 5 weeks of PTS testing. And still...
- mobs stack beyond the floor out of ranged attack reach
- mobs stack at the ladder, level resets, you lose a thread
- mobs spawn too far from your current position, level resets, you lose a thread
and so on, and so on.
needless to comment i had experienced all of these. many times. unfortunately

Bugs in ESO tend to last for a very long time, and re-emerge with new updates, so this very fact is very frustrating, as Developers normally concentrate on moving forward, as half-baked feature has been already served and there is no additional man-hours to fix what is broken. Quality is a HUGE problem, not only in ESO, in MMOs in general. Unfortunately, ESO is not an exclusion.

Saving progress:
i am a working guy and can spend TWO, well TWO and half HOURS to play in the late evenings. This are 2 .. 3 Arcs
then i just quit even with threads remaining. There are several topics at this Forum where players stress this is unhealthy, so i guess, no reason to re-quote that here.
Relevant link: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/7999787/#Comment_7999787

TL/DR; Gothmau and Rakkhat are FORCING me to lose interest to otherwise a great challenging Arena. And @ZOS, PLEASE implement progress saving, PLEASE, players are not robots. we have lives, hope you too.

jaws343 · November 2023

spartaxoxo wrote: »

Araneae6537 wrote: »

Okay, I agree that Gothmau is ridiculous. Even with two players, unless one is a tank, forget it. He moves fast AND hits like a truck! He is very doable IF one player is a tank, and not just a tanky DPS. It was very satisfying to facetank the **** after all the times getting absolutely flattened!

I finally got a run without him and it was a night and day difference between him and the other marauders. The lightning one did spawn too many tornadoes I felt like. But, since I happened to get a big arena, it was a fun challenge. I can see it being annoying in an arena with less space to maneuver though.

So, now I think rather than wanting nerfs to all of the marauders....

I mostly think the issue is Gothmau. It's not marauders in general, it's just him.

The tornado guy, I could see adding a limit to make it less RNG for which space you end up in. But, he can honestly also be left alone and I'd be cool with that as well as RNG is also a natural element of this type of content.

Overall, without Gothmau I still didn't manage to beat vet level (though I did get further!) But no element felt unreasonable or unfair anymore. I died to things that I know how to improve upon next time, and the arena was a constant challenge once I hit arc 4. That run actually felt like a breath of fresh air. No. I didn't beat it. But, that's okay. Clears feel better when you progress anyway.

For the tornados, the trick is to stay tight on the boss at the spot he first spawned them. The innner ones seem to do far less damage than the outer ones. As long as you block his heavy attacks and have either a shield or passive healing, and a small amount of shuffling/rotating around the boss to not be stuck fully in the aoe for a while, the tornados don't do too much in the fight other than be annoying.

redsaaryn · November 2023

i have no issue with EA except for the final boss. I'm a stamina nightblade so I have to go up close and personal. but, the issue is that the boss constantly drops AOE and stays within the AOE so I either go into the AOE to do damage and lose hp or just stay still hoping he would move but even if he moves he just moves to the next AOE not to mention he hits like a truck and being forced to dodgeroll more than 2 times in a row ruins it. you are already spending stamina in chasing the boss, in breaking free, in defending, in attacking so being forced to dodge roll with no stamina by a 1 hit ko attack is a sure way to frustrate people!

the first time I finished the EA was by joining another player, a tank who helped me with the final boss. and let me tell you something. i was able to finish the entire EA from beginning to end not by myself, not with my own effort but because a kind person carried me all the way to finishing it. i was able to realize i would never finish it by myself, after arc 3 common enemies would 1 hit me. the guy carrying me was a tank and a godly tank because he kept reviving me while mobs ganged on him, and I'm not talking about 2 or 3 but up to 7 enemies plus a miniboss all attacking him and he bashes a few times then ult then goes to revive me for me to move away try to do damage help him and then be killed because one enemy lost the taunt and targetted me. spoiler alert. in the last boss, the dragon, he was constantly reviving me even there with the final boss attacking him.

that experience showed me that the EA is for cp999999999999999999999 players so the lowly average guys like me will never be able to experience the end of it unless we are carried, I would recommend do a baby mode and a normal mode then a ESO god player mode that way people can get the dumb rewards from the EA and be done with it. you have no idea how annoying it is to find other players who want to do EA and the group finder doesn't work most of the times because it is usually bugged, specially when it comes to dungeons

jaws343 · November 2023

redsaaryn wrote: »

i have no issue with EA except for the final boss. I'm a stamina nightblade so I have to go up close and personal. but, the issue is that the boss constantly drops AOE and stays within the AOE so I either go into the AOE to do damage and lose hp or just stay still hoping he would move but even if he moves he just moves to the next AOE not to mention he hits like a truck and being forced to dodgeroll more than 2 times in a row ruins it. you are already spending stamina in chasing the boss, in breaking free, in defending, in attacking so being forced to dodge roll with no stamina by a 1 hit ko attack is a sure way to frustrate people!

the first time I finished the EA was by joining another player, a tank who helped me with the final boss. and let me tell you something. i was able to finish the entire EA from beginning to end not by myself, not with my own effort but because a kind person carried me all the way to finishing it. i was able to realize i would never finish it by myself, after arc 3 common enemies would 1 hit me. the guy carrying me was a tank and a godly tank because he kept reviving me while mobs ganged on him, and I'm not talking about 2 or 3 but up to 7 enemies plus a miniboss all attacking him and he bashes a few times then ult then goes to revive me for me to move away try to do damage help him and then be killed because one enemy lost the taunt and targetted me. spoiler alert. in the last boss, the dragon, he was constantly reviving me even there with the final boss attacking him.

that experience showed me that the EA is for cp999999999999999999999 players so the lowly average guys like me will never be able to experience the end of it unless we are carried, I would recommend do a baby mode and a normal mode then a ESO god player mode that way people can get the dumb rewards from the EA and be done with it. you have no idea how annoying it is to find other players who want to do EA and the group finder doesn't work most of the times because it is usually bugged, specially when it comes to dungeons

You just have to kite the boss in circles away from the AOEs. And he only drops the AOEs on your location, so as long as you aren't standing still in one spot, they are practically nothing to deal with.

On top of that, only 1 thing the boss physically does actually hurts you, and that is the extremely telegraphed heavy attack, which you have like 3 seconds to hit block before he hits you with it.

If you are roll dodging in ARC 1, you are doing it wrong. If you are chasing the boss, you are oddly doing it wrong since the boss literally walks right to you. The boss also doesn't stun you at all, so no clue why you would be breaking free at any point.

Necrotech_Master · November 2023

DinoZavr wrote: »

on overall, difficulty progression is fine for me.
what is not are some visions, some bosses, and, of course, a handful of bugs, plus a HUGE annoyance is the inability to save progress. Some are overtuned, some are underwhelming. This way or another.
So at this moment the difficulty progression is not the most important issue to discuss, in my humble opinion.

Visions:
some are way below difficulty progressions, like
- Your direct damage increases! Direct damage increased by 2% per stack.
an me like "Yay! But mobs health increase 2x per Arc" How does this match?
some are overtuned, which might be fine, when developers change multiplicative effect into additive

Bosses:
- Gothmau. i got this guy dozens of time. and never managed to kill him. The fight starts when game drops him into a matchbox-sized room and even at Arc 1 his light attacks are 12K (and like 20K at Arc 2). So just when i manage to target his, he shreds my shield and takes 1/3 of my HP. Gothmau is way too overtuned, at least, from a solo player point of view.
Other marauder guys are killable, but this one is not (of course from my humble point of view)
I would eagerly like to watch how @ZOS developer kills Gothmau solo in a small room by a melee class to teach me (and players like me if they exist) a good "how-to" lesson. @ZOS, please? pretty please?
- Aramril. it took me really quite a lot of attempts with the last round with 2 crystals and 3 mind terrors.
was this even tested for a solo? i really love the good challenge, but i just hate a plain mockery.
(of course, boundary between the two is very individual, but this certain fight has proven me i am a sheety player)
i did my best, fitting venom arrow, gap closer.. but it is still hard for a melee character to beat them Bosmer girl.
- Tho'at best friends the little blobbies. Big Kudos to @SkinnyCheeks - his videos gave a good insight: to install the "Untaunted" addon, which marks them enemies with the highly visible red markers. But i don't get how Console players manage to spot them at Arc2+? Are them players are all psychic? to spot them shiny silver blobbies in a chaos of dozens shiny silver crystals?

Bugs:
- stuck in combat. you can do nothing, nether log out, nor exit. just kill the client by Operating System means
- empty boss arena
- Rakkhat. died to him at least a dozen of times, maybe more. the pillars you meant to hide behind fall apart right on the moment they appear or right before before boss deadly attack. Poof! YOU DIED!. Also they often spawn way to far from the boss (which also tells me developers play only ranged magicka classes and QA.. well.. i can't tell you what i think about pre-release internal testing). And there were 5 weeks of PTS testing. And still...
- mobs stack beyond the floor out of ranged attack reach
- mobs stack at the ladder, level resets, you lose a thread
- mobs spawn too far from your current position, level resets, you lose a thread
and so on, and so on.
needless to comment i had experienced all of these. many times. unfortunately
Bugs in ESO tend to last for a very long time, and re-emerge with new updates, so this very fact is very frustrating, as Developers normally concentrate on moving forward, as half-baked feature has been already served and there is no additional man-hours to fix what is broken. Quality is a HUGE problem, not only in ESO, in MMOs in general. Unfortunately, ESO is not an exclusion.

Saving progress:
i am a working guy and can spend TWO, well TWO and half HOURS to play in the late evenings. This are 2 .. 3 Arcs
then i just quit even with threads remaining. There are several topics at this Forum where players stress this is unhealthy, so i guess, no reason to re-quote that here.
Relevant link: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/7999787/#Comment_7999787

TL/DR; Gothmau and Rakkhat are FORCING me to lose interest to otherwise a great challenging Arena. And @ZOS, PLEASE implement progress saving, PLEASE, players are not robots. we have lives, hope you too.

couple notes:

marauders dont spawn in arc 1 at all, the earliest they can spawn is arc 2
rakkat doesnt use the pillar mechanic, that is zha'jassa the forgotten
if your stuck in combat, then likely an enemy spawned under the floor, the only way to kill it is with the scorching support vision in most cases (an alternative method to force killing the client is invite another player to your group, and then if you do the leave group option, it will give you a "leave instance" option to get out of the instance)
if its taking 2 hours to get to arc 2 or 3, then theres something else wrong, using a basically full on tank it takes me about 2 hours (or just under) to clear arc 4 (the only time it takes longer is if i dont get any good offensive visions)
ive only had the add stage reset on me once due to the mobs spawning too far, that was because i was fighting a marauder near the entrance of the large area, best option is to go and meet the mobs instead of waiting for them to come to you

EdjeSwift · November 2023

DinoZavr wrote: »

Visions:
some are way below difficulty progressions, like
- Your direct damage increases! Direct damage increased by 2% per stack.
an me like "Yay! But mobs health increase 2x per Arc" How does this match?
some are overtuned, which might be fine, when developers change multiplicative effect into additive

It goes up to 3% with the bonus from the mini-games, but it is low, but ti CAN stack to high levels, but it should be 5% buffed at the minimum

DinoZavr wrote: »

Bosses:
- Gothmau. i got this guy dozens of time. and never managed to kill him. The fight starts when game drops him into a matchbox-sized room and even at Arc 1 his light attacks are 12K (and like 20K at Arc 2). So just when i manage to target his, he shreds my shield and takes 1/3 of my HP. Gothmau is way too overtuned, at least, from a solo player point of view.
Other marauder guys are killable, but this one is not (of course from my humble point of view)
I would eagerly like to watch how @ZOS developer kills Gothmau solo in a small room by a melee class to teach me (and players like me if they exist) a good "how-to" lesson. @ZOS, please? pretty please?

I primarily play melee and yes, he's a huge challenge for me, but he is beatable, one thing I've noticed is that if you heal/shield through their initial big flurry they slow down a little and it becomes manageable, but it's all about getting 8 or so seconds into the fight and then fighting, before then, shield, pot, do anything to stay alive, then after that, block, heal, shield, damage, repeat.

DinoZavr wrote: »

- Aramril. it took me really quite a lot of attempts with the last round with 2 crystals and 3 mind terrors.
was this even tested for a solo? i really love the good challenge, but i just hate a plain mockery.
(of course, boundary between the two is very individual, but this certain fight has proven me i am a sheety player)
i did my best, fitting venom arrow, gap closer.. but it is still hard for a melee character to beat them Bosmer girl.

Again, melee primary character, this fight is all about patience and understanding.
At 90% solo she invulns and activates the shard, and will do her channel of doom. Interrupt, kill crystal, interrupt as needed until crystal dead.
75% Mind Terror Spawn, She teleports. Kill Spawn and interrupt as needed. Then get her down.
50% Teleport, Mind Terror, Crystal. Interrupt her, rush Crystal, interrupt her as needed and then the mind terror
25% Teleport and final mind terror, if you're here, fight is done, since you only need 10% more to win.
Take it slow and you'll win.

As for your combat bugs and spawns, as a melee player you gotta know which levels you can and can't LoS enemies, if it's a tier level with stairs or platforms, move and get in there, otherwise you'll hit the bugs with resets

Jaraal · November 2023

jaws343 wrote: »

redsaaryn wrote: »

i have no issue with EA except for the final boss. I'm a stamina nightblade so I have to go up close and personal. but, the issue is that the boss constantly drops AOE and stays within the AOE so I either go into the AOE to do damage and lose hp or just stay still hoping he would move but even if he moves he just moves to the next AOE not to mention he hits like a truck and being forced to dodgeroll more than 2 times in a row ruins it. you are already spending stamina in chasing the boss, in breaking free, in defending, in attacking so being forced to dodge roll with no stamina by a 1 hit ko attack is a sure way to frustrate people!

the first time I finished the EA was by joining another player, a tank who helped me with the final boss. and let me tell you something. i was able to finish the entire EA from beginning to end not by myself, not with my own effort but because a kind person carried me all the way to finishing it. i was able to realize i would never finish it by myself, after arc 3 common enemies would 1 hit me. the guy carrying me was a tank and a godly tank because he kept reviving me while mobs ganged on him, and I'm not talking about 2 or 3 but up to 7 enemies plus a miniboss all attacking him and he bashes a few times then ult then goes to revive me for me to move away try to do damage help him and then be killed because one enemy lost the taunt and targetted me. spoiler alert. in the last boss, the dragon, he was constantly reviving me even there with the final boss attacking him.

that experience showed me that the EA is for cp999999999999999999999 players so the lowly average guys like me will never be able to experience the end of it unless we are carried, I would recommend do a baby mode and a normal mode then a ESO god player mode that way people can get the dumb rewards from the EA and be done with it. you have no idea how annoying it is to find other players who want to do EA and the group finder doesn't work most of the times because it is usually bugged, specially when it comes to dungeons

You just have to kite the boss in circles away from the AOEs. And he only drops the AOEs on your location, so as long as you aren't standing still in one spot, they are practically nothing to deal with.

On top of that, only 1 thing the boss physically does actually hurts you, and that is the extremely telegraphed heavy attack, which you have like 3 seconds to hit block before he hits you with it.

If you are roll dodging in ARC 1, you are doing it wrong. If you are chasing the boss, you are oddly doing it wrong since the boss literally walks right to you. The boss also doesn't stun you at all, so no clue why you would be breaking free at any point.

Yes, and as a melee I use sticky DoTs and auto-targeting range effects while kiting and looking for blobs. Use a gap closer to damage and then just walk out of the silver pools. Hard to die to early Tho'ats with this strategy.

DinoZavr · November 2023

@Necrotech_Master thank you for corrections!
right. red fiery marauder hits me 12K with a light attack at Arc 2 and approx 21K at Arc 3
the pillar boss is zha'jassa.. another boss was being discussed earlier i probably put his name automatically
thank you for stuck suggestions, was not aware they do exist!
it takes me an hour to finish Arc 2 and i never cleared Arc to eventually meet Thoat v3 with manticora

@EdjeSwift thank you very much for suggestions. my reflexes are not good, though i keep on trying.

HalfDragoness · November 2023

Can visions be more powerful if you are doing solo, but automatiucally become the normal strength if someone joins your gorup?

Necrotech_Master · November 2023

HalfDragoness wrote: »

Can visions be more powerful if you are doing solo, but automatiucally become the normal strength if someone joins your gorup?

i think a vision rebalance is needed before something like that

a couple visions are already extremely potent as is (attuned enchantments, extended favor, ferocious/scorching support, focused efforts)

a lot of the other ones are helpful, but regardless if your running in a group or not, the bonus is basically too low to even really matter

the only ones that are generally not helpful are the +xp or +gold ones, as they dont benefit you combat wise and are more or less a wasted vision choice (and most people running the archive are not going to be doing it for gold or xp)

Araneae6537 · November 2023

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

HalfDragoness wrote: »

Can visions be more powerful if you are doing solo, but automatiucally become the normal strength if someone joins your gorup?

i think a vision rebalance is needed before something like that

a couple visions are already extremely potent as is (attuned enchantments, extended favor, ferocious/scorching support, focused efforts)

a lot of the other ones are helpful, but regardless if your running in a group or not, the bonus is basically too low to even really matter

the only ones that are generally not helpful are the +xp or +gold ones, as they dont benefit you combat wise and are more or less a wasted vision choice (and most people running the archive are not going to be doing it for gold or xp)

The gold and xp visions should be eliminated— it’s too little to be worthwhile and in the long run, you probably earn more of both choosing useful visions and getting deeper into the archive anyway. At least the verse that gives you gold (Shakedown, I think it’s called) also does damage and can be amusing to use.

Some of those visions you mentioned can be powerful with the right build, but nerfing them would make them less generally useful IMHO.

Necrotech_Master · November 2023

Araneae6537 wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

HalfDragoness wrote: »

Can visions be more powerful if you are doing solo, but automatiucally become the normal strength if someone joins your gorup?

i think a vision rebalance is needed before something like that

a couple visions are already extremely potent as is (attuned enchantments, extended favor, ferocious/scorching support, focused efforts)

a lot of the other ones are helpful, but regardless if your running in a group or not, the bonus is basically too low to even really matter

the only ones that are generally not helpful are the +xp or +gold ones, as they dont benefit you combat wise and are more or less a wasted vision choice (and most people running the archive are not going to be doing it for gold or xp)

The gold and xp visions should be eliminated— it’s too little to be worthwhile and in the long run, you probably earn more of both choosing useful visions and getting deeper into the archive anyway. At least the verse that gives you gold (Shakedown, I think it’s called) also does damage and can be amusing to use.

Some of those visions you mentioned can be powerful with the right build, but nerfing them would make them less generally useful IMHO.

yeah i think gilded sleight verse is great, and the gold it drops does scale with the arc (100*arc number, so it gives like 600 gold per pile on arc 6) (shakedown is the name of the synergy it gives you)

ferocious support and scorching support are pretty much always useful regardless of build, its basically free dmg, even if your not a HA focus build (on my arcanist i use velothi, but i still lead with a heavy attack to start fights because that vision does so much), the other one, scorching, literally just has a 50% chance to spawn the lava pool at your feet every 15 sec, so you dont even have to change your rotation

focused efforts you dont have to build around either, as all dmg can apply status effects, even having something as simple as a fire dmg enchant will let you proc burning

attuned enchantments works with all of them (though im not sure how it works with the oblivion dmg enchantment, i doubt it does though), it does shine more with weakening enchants, dmg buff enchants, shield enchants, or absorb enchants (health, mag, stam, or tri) because it buffs a lot of the secondary effects of those (more -dmg on enemy, more +dmg on you, bigger shield, or restore more resources)

HalfDragoness · November 2023

Having played EA again today and meeting Gothmau (four armed fire marauder) twice, once in arc 2, once in arc 4. My main feedback is that his range needs to be much shorter. His attacks are by far the strongest, and I was trying to strafe around and have him walk through my AoE's, but his attacks could still hit me from what appears to be 15-20m away from me. Well beyond triple the lengths of his swords.

If he's going to hit for that much in solo his range should be shorter, or the damage lessened.

EdjeSwift · November 2023

HalfDragoness wrote: »

Can visions be more powerful if you are doing solo, but automatiucally become the normal strength if someone joins your gorup?

I don't think this is in the plans because as we have noticed outside of the mini-games the Archive is aimed for duos. The mob density/difficulty doesn't change regardless of duo or solo. I do believe that it is designed for duos with solo being an option for those who want the challenge/don't like grouping.

spartaxoxo · November 2023

jaws343 wrote: »

spartaxoxo wrote: »

Araneae6537 wrote: »

Okay, I agree that Gothmau is ridiculous. Even with two players, unless one is a tank, forget it. He moves fast AND hits like a truck! He is very doable IF one player is a tank, and not just a tanky DPS. It was very satisfying to facetank the **** after all the times getting absolutely flattened!

I finally got a run without him and it was a night and day difference between him and the other marauders. The lightning one did spawn too many tornadoes I felt like. But, since I happened to get a big arena, it was a fun challenge. I can see it being annoying in an arena with less space to maneuver though.

So, now I think rather than wanting nerfs to all of the marauders....

I mostly think the issue is Gothmau. It's not marauders in general, it's just him.

The tornado guy, I could see adding a limit to make it less RNG for which space you end up in. But, he can honestly also be left alone and I'd be cool with that as well as RNG is also a natural element of this type of content.

Overall, without Gothmau I still didn't manage to beat vet level (though I did get further!) But no element felt unreasonable or unfair anymore. I died to things that I know how to improve upon next time, and the arena was a constant challenge once I hit arc 4. That run actually felt like a breath of fresh air. No. I didn't beat it. But, that's okay. Clears feel better when you progress anyway.

For the tornados, the trick is to stay tight on the boss at the spot he first spawned them. The innner ones seem to do far less damage than the outer ones. As long as you block his heavy attacks and have either a shield or passive healing, and a small amount of shuffling/rotating around the boss to not be stuck fully in the aoe for a while, the tornados don't do too much in the fight other than be annoying.

I'll remember that if I get in a small space. I just moved out of them and it worked fine in the larger one.

mercer_cap · December 2023

Jaraal wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

redsaaryn wrote: »

i have no issue with EA except for the final boss. I'm a stamina nightblade so I have to go up close and personal. but, the issue is that the boss constantly drops AOE and stays within the AOE so I either go into the AOE to do damage and lose hp or just stay still hoping he would move but even if he moves he just moves to the next AOE not to mention he hits like a truck and being forced to dodgeroll more than 2 times in a row ruins it. you are already spending stamina in chasing the boss, in breaking free, in defending, in attacking so being forced to dodge roll with no stamina by a 1 hit ko attack is a sure way to frustrate people!

the first time I finished the EA was by joining another player, a tank who helped me with the final boss. and let me tell you something. i was able to finish the entire EA from beginning to end not by myself, not with my own effort but because a kind person carried me all the way to finishing it. i was able to realize i would never finish it by myself, after arc 3 common enemies would 1 hit me. the guy carrying me was a tank and a godly tank because he kept reviving me while mobs ganged on him, and I'm not talking about 2 or 3 but up to 7 enemies plus a miniboss all attacking him and he bashes a few times then ult then goes to revive me for me to move away try to do damage help him and then be killed because one enemy lost the taunt and targetted me. spoiler alert. in the last boss, the dragon, he was constantly reviving me even there with the final boss attacking him.

that experience showed me that the EA is for cp999999999999999999999 players so the lowly average guys like me will never be able to experience the end of it unless we are carried, I would recommend do a baby mode and a normal mode then a ESO god player mode that way people can get the dumb rewards from the EA and be done with it. you have no idea how annoying it is to find other players who want to do EA and the group finder doesn't work most of the times because it is usually bugged, specially when it comes to dungeons

You just have to kite the boss in circles away from the AOEs. And he only drops the AOEs on your location, so as long as you aren't standing still in one spot, they are practically nothing to deal with.

On top of that, only 1 thing the boss physically does actually hurts you, and that is the extremely telegraphed heavy attack, which you have like 3 seconds to hit block before he hits you with it.

If you are roll dodging in ARC 1, you are doing it wrong. If you are chasing the boss, you are oddly doing it wrong since the boss literally walks right to you. The boss also doesn't stun you at all, so no clue why you would be breaking free at any point.

Yes, and as a melee I use sticky DoTs and auto-targeting range effects while kiting and looking for blobs. Use a gap closer to damage and then just walk out of the silver pools. Hard to die to early Tho'ats with this strategy.

Well, too bad you want to melee there xD
To refer, I play a melee (magicka) DD or a tank in most PvE situations. The first few runs in my glass cannon build made it quite obvious that not only you should play tanky, but also that range is one of the most important things in this arena.
How are you going to snare and kite all the incoming melee damage when you are melee?

Jaraal · December 2023

mercer_cap wrote: »

Jaraal wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

redsaaryn wrote: »

i have no issue with EA except for the final boss. I'm a stamina nightblade so I have to go up close and personal. but, the issue is that the boss constantly drops AOE and stays within the AOE so I either go into the AOE to do damage and lose hp or just stay still hoping he would move but even if he moves he just moves to the next AOE not to mention he hits like a truck and being forced to dodgeroll more than 2 times in a row ruins it. you are already spending stamina in chasing the boss, in breaking free, in defending, in attacking so being forced to dodge roll with no stamina by a 1 hit ko attack is a sure way to frustrate people!

the first time I finished the EA was by joining another player, a tank who helped me with the final boss. and let me tell you something. i was able to finish the entire EA from beginning to end not by myself, not with my own effort but because a kind person carried me all the way to finishing it. i was able to realize i would never finish it by myself, after arc 3 common enemies would 1 hit me. the guy carrying me was a tank and a godly tank because he kept reviving me while mobs ganged on him, and I'm not talking about 2 or 3 but up to 7 enemies plus a miniboss all attacking him and he bashes a few times then ult then goes to revive me for me to move away try to do damage help him and then be killed because one enemy lost the taunt and targetted me. spoiler alert. in the last boss, the dragon, he was constantly reviving me even there with the final boss attacking him.

that experience showed me that the EA is for cp999999999999999999999 players so the lowly average guys like me will never be able to experience the end of it unless we are carried, I would recommend do a baby mode and a normal mode then a ESO god player mode that way people can get the dumb rewards from the EA and be done with it. you have no idea how annoying it is to find other players who want to do EA and the group finder doesn't work most of the times because it is usually bugged, specially when it comes to dungeons

You just have to kite the boss in circles away from the AOEs. And he only drops the AOEs on your location, so as long as you aren't standing still in one spot, they are practically nothing to deal with.

On top of that, only 1 thing the boss physically does actually hurts you, and that is the extremely telegraphed heavy attack, which you have like 3 seconds to hit block before he hits you with it.

If you are roll dodging in ARC 1, you are doing it wrong. If you are chasing the boss, you are oddly doing it wrong since the boss literally walks right to you. The boss also doesn't stun you at all, so no clue why you would be breaking free at any point.

Yes, and as a melee I use sticky DoTs and auto-targeting range effects while kiting and looking for blobs. Use a gap closer to damage and then just walk out of the silver pools. Hard to die to early Tho'ats with this strategy.

Well, too bad you want to melee there xD
To refer, I play a melee (magicka) DD or a tank in most PvE situations. The first few runs in my glass cannon build made it quite obvious that not only you should play tanky, but also that range is one of the most important things in this arena.
How are you going to snare and kite all the incoming melee damage when you are melee?

I am visually impaired and don't do as well with ranged attacks as I do with melee range combat. And I agree with you, ranged would be preferable in the Tho'at fights.

Necrotech_Master · December 2023

Jaraal wrote: »

mercer_cap wrote: »

Jaraal wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

redsaaryn wrote: »

i have no issue with EA except for the final boss. I'm a stamina nightblade so I have to go up close and personal. but, the issue is that the boss constantly drops AOE and stays within the AOE so I either go into the AOE to do damage and lose hp or just stay still hoping he would move but even if he moves he just moves to the next AOE not to mention he hits like a truck and being forced to dodgeroll more than 2 times in a row ruins it. you are already spending stamina in chasing the boss, in breaking free, in defending, in attacking so being forced to dodge roll with no stamina by a 1 hit ko attack is a sure way to frustrate people!

the first time I finished the EA was by joining another player, a tank who helped me with the final boss. and let me tell you something. i was able to finish the entire EA from beginning to end not by myself, not with my own effort but because a kind person carried me all the way to finishing it. i was able to realize i would never finish it by myself, after arc 3 common enemies would 1 hit me. the guy carrying me was a tank and a godly tank because he kept reviving me while mobs ganged on him, and I'm not talking about 2 or 3 but up to 7 enemies plus a miniboss all attacking him and he bashes a few times then ult then goes to revive me for me to move away try to do damage help him and then be killed because one enemy lost the taunt and targetted me. spoiler alert. in the last boss, the dragon, he was constantly reviving me even there with the final boss attacking him.

that experience showed me that the EA is for cp999999999999999999999 players so the lowly average guys like me will never be able to experience the end of it unless we are carried, I would recommend do a baby mode and a normal mode then a ESO god player mode that way people can get the dumb rewards from the EA and be done with it. you have no idea how annoying it is to find other players who want to do EA and the group finder doesn't work most of the times because it is usually bugged, specially when it comes to dungeons

You just have to kite the boss in circles away from the AOEs. And he only drops the AOEs on your location, so as long as you aren't standing still in one spot, they are practically nothing to deal with.

On top of that, only 1 thing the boss physically does actually hurts you, and that is the extremely telegraphed heavy attack, which you have like 3 seconds to hit block before he hits you with it.

If you are roll dodging in ARC 1, you are doing it wrong. If you are chasing the boss, you are oddly doing it wrong since the boss literally walks right to you. The boss also doesn't stun you at all, so no clue why you would be breaking free at any point.

Yes, and as a melee I use sticky DoTs and auto-targeting range effects while kiting and looking for blobs. Use a gap closer to damage and then just walk out of the silver pools. Hard to die to early Tho'ats with this strategy.

Well, too bad you want to melee there xD
To refer, I play a melee (magicka) DD or a tank in most PvE situations. The first few runs in my glass cannon build made it quite obvious that not only you should play tanky, but also that range is one of the most important things in this arena.
How are you going to snare and kite all the incoming melee damage when you are melee?

I am visually impaired and don't do as well with ranged attacks as I do with melee range combat. And I agree with you, ranged would be preferable in the Tho'at fights.

melee works OK in there, the only portion of the tho'at fight that doesnt work well is the ice atro because it ports around a lot, and/or is surrounded by tentacles

ground dots also dont work great in tho'at fights because of how much you have to move/kite everything (ice patches and eye beams), so more sticky dots + a gap closer to get to the ice atro faster

i would heavily recommend having a staff on hand to be able to cast ele sus, as that skill is extremely potent with focused efforts, and costs no resources

Jaraal · December 2023

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Jaraal wrote: »

mercer_cap wrote: »

Jaraal wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

redsaaryn wrote: »

i have no issue with EA except for the final boss. I'm a stamina nightblade so I have to go up close and personal. but, the issue is that the boss constantly drops AOE and stays within the AOE so I either go into the AOE to do damage and lose hp or just stay still hoping he would move but even if he moves he just moves to the next AOE not to mention he hits like a truck and being forced to dodgeroll more than 2 times in a row ruins it. you are already spending stamina in chasing the boss, in breaking free, in defending, in attacking so being forced to dodge roll with no stamina by a 1 hit ko attack is a sure way to frustrate people!

the first time I finished the EA was by joining another player, a tank who helped me with the final boss. and let me tell you something. i was able to finish the entire EA from beginning to end not by myself, not with my own effort but because a kind person carried me all the way to finishing it. i was able to realize i would never finish it by myself, after arc 3 common enemies would 1 hit me. the guy carrying me was a tank and a godly tank because he kept reviving me while mobs ganged on him, and I'm not talking about 2 or 3 but up to 7 enemies plus a miniboss all attacking him and he bashes a few times then ult then goes to revive me for me to move away try to do damage help him and then be killed because one enemy lost the taunt and targetted me. spoiler alert. in the last boss, the dragon, he was constantly reviving me even there with the final boss attacking him.

that experience showed me that the EA is for cp999999999999999999999 players so the lowly average guys like me will never be able to experience the end of it unless we are carried, I would recommend do a baby mode and a normal mode then a ESO god player mode that way people can get the dumb rewards from the EA and be done with it. you have no idea how annoying it is to find other players who want to do EA and the group finder doesn't work most of the times because it is usually bugged, specially when it comes to dungeons

You just have to kite the boss in circles away from the AOEs. And he only drops the AOEs on your location, so as long as you aren't standing still in one spot, they are practically nothing to deal with.

On top of that, only 1 thing the boss physically does actually hurts you, and that is the extremely telegraphed heavy attack, which you have like 3 seconds to hit block before he hits you with it.

If you are roll dodging in ARC 1, you are doing it wrong. If you are chasing the boss, you are oddly doing it wrong since the boss literally walks right to you. The boss also doesn't stun you at all, so no clue why you would be breaking free at any point.

Yes, and as a melee I use sticky DoTs and auto-targeting range effects while kiting and looking for blobs. Use a gap closer to damage and then just walk out of the silver pools. Hard to die to early Tho'ats with this strategy.

Well, too bad you want to melee there xD
To refer, I play a melee (magicka) DD or a tank in most PvE situations. The first few runs in my glass cannon build made it quite obvious that not only you should play tanky, but also that range is one of the most important things in this arena.
How are you going to snare and kite all the incoming melee damage when you are melee?

I am visually impaired and don't do as well with ranged attacks as I do with melee range combat. And I agree with you, ranged would be preferable in the Tho'at fights.

melee works OK in there, the only portion of the tho'at fight that doesnt work well is the ice atro because it ports around a lot, and/or is surrounded by tentacles

ground dots also dont work great in tho'at fights because of how much you have to move/kite everything (ice patches and eye beams), so more sticky dots + a gap closer to get to the ice atro faster

i would heavily recommend having a staff on hand to be able to cast ele sus, as that skill is extremely potent with focused efforts, and costs no resources

I have pretty good success with close quarters staff, my nightblade runs Noble Duelist and gap closes with Ambush to proc ND and Empower for the heavies. Other set is Unleashed Terror, which procs off the Ambush and applies a sticky DoT as well as a new status effect every tick. It's not as tanky as the DK, Templar or Sorc shield builds, but is good enough to get the daily done in a short amount of time.

Elsonso · December 2023

EdjeSwift wrote: »

HalfDragoness wrote: »

Can visions be more powerful if you are doing solo, but automatiucally become the normal strength if someone joins your gorup?

I don't think this is in the plans because as we have noticed outside of the mini-games the Archive is aimed for duos. The mob density/difficulty doesn't change regardless of duo or solo. I do believe that it is designed for duos with solo being an option for those who want the challenge/don't like grouping.

Not only that, but Endless Archive is set up so that a solo can be joined by someone and continue as a duo, or someone can leave the duo and the remaining player can continue as a solo (although as a duo on the leaderboard). In the latter case, another player can apparently join the solo and it will become a duo again.

Having different power for verses and visions would be an obvious exploit path.

HalfDragoness · December 2023

Elsonso wrote: »

EdjeSwift wrote: »

HalfDragoness wrote: »

Can visions be more powerful if you are doing solo, but automatiucally become the normal strength if someone joins your gorup?

I don't think this is in the plans because as we have noticed outside of the mini-games the Archive is aimed for duos. The mob density/difficulty doesn't change regardless of duo or solo. I do believe that it is designed for duos with solo being an option for those who want the challenge/don't like grouping.

Not only that, but Endless Archive is set up so that a solo can be joined by someone and continue as a duo, or someone can leave the duo and the remaining player can continue as a solo (although as a duo on the leaderboard). In the latter case, another player can apparently join the solo and it will become a duo again.

Having different power for verses and visions would be an obvious exploit path.

I think making it so that if you are in EA solo the verses are 33% stronger, but when you become part of a group they drop back to normal would work. So Vision/verse strength updates at the start of each round depending on if you in a group or not (rather than updating in real time to avoid a dead group member leaving in a boss fight so that the solo player suddenly gets buffed)

Or, make it so that the general mobs have 33% less health from arc 1 onwards. Bosses largely remain untouched.

I make this suggestion based on time constraints rather than difficulty. I've crafted a build on which I can survive and kill everything up to arc 4 it just takes so long. Having a person with me cuts the time spent killing mobs in half.
Playing in a duo does make things easier, but it also makes things faster, and in a game mode with no save point time is valuable.

With everything the way it is at the moment, it takes me about 3 hours (solo) to get to Tho'at 4. The most time consuming part of the whole process is burning slowly through mobs when their health gets over 250k. As a solo player I really enjoy the challenge of needing to both survive and do damage, I just feel like EA needs some tweaking to make it slightly faster for solo players to progress (Or a way to save, but that's another topic).

EdjeSwift · December 2023

HalfDragoness wrote: »

I make this suggestion based on time constraints rather than difficulty. I've crafted a build on which I can survive and kill everything up to arc 4 it just takes so long. Having a person with me cuts the time spent killing mobs in half.
Playing in a duo does make things easier, but it also makes things faster, and in a game mode with no save point time is valuable.

With everything the way it is at the moment, it takes me about 3 hours (solo) to get to Tho'at 4. The most time consuming part of the whole process is burning slowly through mobs when their health gets over 250k. As a solo player I really enjoy the challenge of needing to both survive and do damage, I just feel like EA needs some tweaking to make it slightly faster to progress. (Or a way to save, but that's another topic)

But isn't this the whole point of the archive? Risk v Reward? You're not taking risks because you're going tanky to get to that point. I run primarily DPS through the Archive and getting through Act 4 is a challenge because I gotta be careful, manage my pots and resources, but I do clear in a decent time frame. When I take my tank it can take twice to three times as long, but no risk. Cutting all trash mobs by 1/3rd is a bit extreme IMO, part of the challenge is killing them fast enough in Act 3 onward where the dots and mechanics of the trash mobs don't overwhelm you.

Braffin · December 2023

HalfDragoness wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

EdjeSwift wrote: »

HalfDragoness wrote: »

Can visions be more powerful if you are doing solo, but automatiucally become the normal strength if someone joins your gorup?

I don't think this is in the plans because as we have noticed outside of the mini-games the Archive is aimed for duos. The mob density/difficulty doesn't change regardless of duo or solo. I do believe that it is designed for duos with solo being an option for those who want the challenge/don't like grouping.

Not only that, but Endless Archive is set up so that a solo can be joined by someone and continue as a duo, or someone can leave the duo and the remaining player can continue as a solo (although as a duo on the leaderboard). In the latter case, another player can apparently join the solo and it will become a duo again.

Having different power for verses and visions would be an obvious exploit path.

I make this suggestion based on time constraints rather than difficulty. I've crafted a build on which I can survive and kill everything up to arc 4 it just takes so long. Having a person with me cuts the time spent killing mobs in half.
Playing in a duo does make things easier, but it also makes things faster, and in a game mode with no save point time is valuable.

I think there is an easier solution for this issue than nerfing content into oblivion: Simply increase the amount of currency players gain for running solo to reflect the slower progression. Everyone should be happy with this change.

SilverBride · December 2023

After making changes to my character and progressing in the EA my view on some of this has changed. My comments are referring mostly to Solo play.

I tried a few different classes and discovered my Sorcerer did the best, so I researched builds and set her up with one specifically for the EA and it made a significant difference. I also completed all the Unknown Portal objectives and purchased all the perks that those unlock. After these changes I can now easily defeat Arc 1 Tho'at solo. So the original issue for me was more one of not being adequately prepared.

But I still have an issue with Arc 2 Tho'at and beyond because of the Shards. They just take forever to defeat and I have yet to succeed in this level solo.

I also still have problems with some of the stage bosses. I do fine on most of them but every now and then I get what must be a trial boss and just can't make it past. It seems to me that these bosses should increase in difficulty as we progress through the Arcs rather than trial bosses appearing in the lower Arcs.

I would like if they would look at the shards and these stage bosses and see if any changes could be made, at least for the lower Arcs.