Does EA really need damage scaling?

TheDarkRuler · November 2023

During endless archiv there comes a point where enemies dish out so much damage that not even a full tank can survive it without Magma Shell. This is the main reason why 90% of the top-end leaderboards currently feature at least one dragon knight inside. However, is that really needed? How about increasing damage dealt until cycle 6-7 or something like that and then only increasing health points. That way other builds could shine as well because it is really sad to see that to get high in Leaderboards only 2 classes really pack the punch.

Treeshka · November 2023

That would not be good in long run in my opinion. In my opinion rewards for currency should be increased and Arcs should get more harder quickly. Arc one should be an exception because of the daily. But changing the design is not an easy task because if they change the difficulty curve again they probably need to change visions and verses as well.

In later Arcs mobs should also deal other type of damages like more sources of Oblivion damage or damages that can not be mitigated by Magma Shell. I say this because current iteration of Endless Archive encourages to play non stop for long if you want to farm currency efficient, or want to land on a good position in leaderboards.

Ranking in Endless Archive is so different compared to other content, because to get a leaderboard place you have to play a lot without resetting, but for trial leaderboards or other arenas you have to spend less time in the instance to get a good score.

LunaFlora · November 2023

yes please.
i've reached arc 4 once, but the enemies take so long to die and honestly deal way too much damage.

tho'at's fights were actually fun compared to the stage fights in between the boss fights.

Lykeion · November 2023

If you want to go far in EA a DK tank is pretty much the only option. This doesn't surprise me, but it does make me feel some disappointment. Duo is now an uninteresting grinding

Ph1p · November 2023

EA is designed to provide a steady increase of difficulty until players can't beat the enemies any more. If enemy damage is capped at a certain Arc, then there is no more challenge after that. If you can clear that Arc, everything afterwards only takes longer, requires a bit more sustain perhaps, and is otherwise a mindless grind.

I don't think that makes sense and all it would do is create endless debate over where that cutoff should be. I actually like that ZOS took a different approach with EA: They let players find their own limit against increasing levels of difficulty instead of providing 2-3 fixed modes (like normal, vet, HM) and trying to balance those to suit every player.

Kisakee · November 2023

So what's the point of getting far in EA? Yes, you're on the leaderboard which means "fame" only. The time you spend in there making it to arc 30+ can easily be used to farm more mats and transmute crystals than you would ever get as weekly rewards. The currency is nothing but a number that will stack up over time so you just need a little longer to get it. And that's it.

Is it really worth it after you got to arc 10 or even 5 if difficulty is the only changing factor? After unlocking everything (which can be done by completing arc 4) there's not much incentive other than trying out new things and getting better as a player.

Ph1p · November 2023

Kisakee wrote: »

So what's the point of getting far in EA? […] trying out new things and getting better as a player.

You pretty much gave the answer (or maybe one answer) right there. Obviously, some people have fun doing just that and any rewards are just a nice bonus.

jecks33 · November 2023

Kisakee wrote: »

So what's the point of getting far in EA?

Challenge, find ways to survive and win in an extreme scenario

kojou · November 2023

There are those that want to see how far they can get, and for that it currently requires a DK magma tank, although you can use the Weakening Enchant cheese build to get pretty far as well.

I have found that in the amount of play time I have on a Friday night Arc 6 or 7 is about as far as I can get. The only way I will get farther is if the Arcs were made shorter. It just takes more playtime than I have to get farther than that, so it wouldn't matter in my opinion if the damage scaling stopped there. Adding health and making it take longer would mean I would still stop at Arc 6 or 7 and cut my threads.

I personally would like to see one more trash round removed, so the Arcs would be shortened by a third and it wouldn't take as long to get to Arc 6, then I would see how far I can actually go. Optionally, all of the weak damage oriented visions could be buffed 100% so that I can do more damage sooner and get to Arc 6 quicker as well too. At this point once I hit Arc 6 I want to die and end the run because I am tired.

Theignson · November 2023

There are visions that give 3% damage increase, and visions that give 500% damage increase. If you randomly get one or the other, it determines the whole run. Getting 3 of the 500% increase makes the higher level trash much easier. If you don't get them , it's just a slog.
Once you get past arc4, the Tho'ats don't seem to get much harder and the bosses only marginally harder, but the marauders get much harder and the trash.
So these days if we don't get good visions we just stop, because its too boring

Necrotech_Master · November 2023

Theignson wrote: »

There are visions that give 3% damage increase, and visions that give 500% damage increase. If you randomly get one or the other, it determines the whole run. Getting 3 of the 500% increase makes the higher level trash much easier. If you don't get them , it's just a slog.
Once you get past arc4, the Tho'ats don't seem to get much harder and the bosses only marginally harder, but the marauders get much harder and the trash.
So these days if we don't get good visions we just stop, because its too boring

the tho'ats do scale up, but they seem to do so slower than the rest of the archive

tho'at in arc 1 only has like 1.8 mil hp, its next hp jump is not for several arcs when it settles on 2.3 mil (for human tho'at, but the other bosses also have higher health), i think tho'at gets its next hp increase at like arc 7 in which its 3.2 mil

i would agree though that some of the bonuses are incredibly unbalanced

3% increase direct dmg, 3% increase aoe dmg, are pitiful compared to focused efforts, which at 4 stacks can make even a tank deal 130k dps spamming ele sus (its even more potent on a dps)

katorga · December 2023

kojou wrote: »

There are those that want to see how far they can get, and for that it currently requires a DK magma tank, although you can use the Weakening Enchant cheese build to get pretty far as well.

That is why EA is fundamentally broken.

DK has the only defensive skill that scales infinitely alongside EA damage scaling. A boss could hit for 10 million damage, and it will always be 3% of your health. Elfbane gives you 17 seconds. Build the rest into whatever other sets you want to give you enough utlimate regen.

Rely on either Focused Efforts and/or the 60% enchant damage visions to do all of your damage. Backbar an infused weakening glyph for that extra safety net and you are all set.