Ossein Cage: I'm underwhelmed

moderatelyfatman · June 16

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

The first boss is too grindy....remove 1 or 2 of the flesh shaper...

Imo the worst trial for me is still sanities edge but OC isnt very high up the list either....too long, too grindy....the whole point of secret bosses is so you can skipp them for a short version....here its between long and super long and the secret bosses are more fun.

Im also reeeeally wondering what that new mmo from zos is that has been in development for yeeeeears and we know nothing about, not even the theme or ip. The only in dev mmo that peaks my interest is GW 3...

ZOS's new MMO? Given that ZOS track record so far is turning Bethesda single players into MMOs (Elderscrolls and Fallout), I'd say the new game will the Starfield Online.

tiriusavarao · June 16

As someone who generally liked the rest of the zone (and just wishes there was more of it), I too struggled with my first OC run last week. I understand that "nostalgia" is the theme of this release, so I have no issues with old bosses from the early days returning for a second chance to smack them over the head, nor am I overly interested in sets from these things, so I am probably relatively easy to please. That said, it's going to the bottom of my list; here are a few things I'd wish they'd done differently...

Aesthetics. This is my main issue. The entire trial looks roughly the same with the old Coldharbor terrain and decoration. It is very samey, looks very dated and I for one am not a fan of this setting. It would have been a perfect chance to show us a revamped Coldharbor terrain set, much in the way all the base game areas got their upgrade in later DLC (Auridon vs Summerset, etc.)
The trash packs all feel very similar.
Some of the trash packs are very close to portal exits, not handy because you'll end up in combat while people are still on the other side sorting loot.
The first boss (the one with the blobs) is a very repetitive, long haul. It brings back bad memories of the endless wamasu spam in SE... Perhaps a few less blobs might have been better.
Trial went live without its associated motif pages *again*.

I like the boss mechanics well enough, but that alone is not enough to draw me in.

Major_Mangle · June 16

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

Major_Mangle wrote: »

ZOS should ditch the trial format they've been doing since Elsweyr. "3 bosses 3 HM" is repetitive and boring, everything feels reskinned. Lucent citadel was a small breath of fresh air from a design PoV with the section where you had to carry the ball back, but still felt somewhat reskinned with it's design as a whole.
Would also prefer ZOS to get rid of trifectas as well and instead add a 3rd difficulty tier that is significantly harder, but just completing it gives you the best rewards (similar to WoW and their mythical tier).

I dont think it makes commercial sense to focus more effort on content 1% of players will actually do vs the other way around

I'll explain further why I think this would be a better approach. My experience from doing progression runs for trifectas has been a very mixed bag. I'm not against more challenging content, but the way ESO does it makes trifecta prog extremely demoralising. Spending months progging and doing things nearly perfect just to have a minor slip-up during a run, essentially wasting another 25+ min retrying it again, is so absurdly demoralising/demotivating that it's the main reason majority of the prog groups I've been in disbanded. Few people enjoy feeling like all their efforts are just wasted.

I know some people like the trifecta design and that's fine, but I personally would rather ZOS changed things and added another difficulty tier without no death, speed run and HM as the conditions to achieve the best rewards. As much as I dislike WoW for it's combat design, the design of the PvE encounters in trials/raids is much better and unique compared to ESO. Having something similar to a mythical tier would imo encourage more people to attempt harder content (assuming no trifecta conditions exist, but rather just complete the trial on the hardest difficulty setting).

Would ideally come simultaneously as ZOS making more unique trials with more bosses or other more gimmicks approaches to make trials actually fun again, and not feel like reskin #6 of previous trials.

Soarora · June 16

I like the coldharbour theme. We don’t have a coldharbour trial but we do have a tropical one already. I feel the randomness aspect should be a complaint of sanity’s edge. We could’ve had an apocryphal or cyrodiilic trial and we had randomly vaermina?

I will say though, Molag Kena can’t be there if we killed her in WGT, unless she was made to reform at super speed due to being Molag Bal’s “daughter”. Lord Warden absolutely cannot be there because he’s made into a shield. He’s never coming back. So, if the Lord Warden clone is in fact Lord Warden himself, it’s a plot hole. It HAS to be another Daedroth pretending to be him.

robpr · June 16

All these years and Maw of Lorkhaj is still the best designed long trial in the game.

sarahthes · June 16

robpr wrote: »

All these years and Maw of Lorkhaj is still the best designed long trial in the game.

Long? LOL it's being cleared in under 8 minutes by (endgame) pugs.

Desiato · June 16

As I keep mentioning in other threads, obviously an issue with the new DLC is the heavy re-use of art assets. It seems as if the eso art team has been reassigned to another project and there's other reasons to believe that.

I enjoyed all of the encounters though. The last fight was a lot of fun to learn. I have only done the first HM which was pretty easy.

I can see why people who just run normal trials would hate it though. I recall when I started in trials around 13 months ago with normals, I was drawn-in by the artwork and themes. Especially Dreadsail Reef. It was exciting just to be there.

So I imagine it's really boring to blast through nOC.

I'm not saying that only people who run normal trials would dislike it, but I would guess they get even less out of it with no mechs and 2014 ambience.

tsaescishoeshiner · June 16

I would have liked more story related to the Corelanyas and argonians, or the Three Queens, or Solstice's ancient necromancers, but I love a large, malevolent orb floating around and showing up at pivotal moments lol.

But chasing a large magical object in a daedric realm is repetitive after Lucent Citadel. Seeing the daedric bosses return was kind of cool, and a reminder that they do reconstitute and continue their agendas.

I guess the side bosses help farm for gear? I feel like the trial gear farm comes down to getting weapons/jewels from the final boss, but at least there's a bit of extra farm to get started.

Ultimately, while story tie-ins are nice for the trials, I think it's more important in the long run that the trials are rewarding and fun for trial guilds.

Cooperharley · June 16

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

The first boss is too grindy....remove 1 or 2 of the flesh shaper...

Imo the worst trial for me is still sanities edge but OC isnt very high up the list either....too long, too grindy....the whole point of secret bosses is so you can skipp them for a short version....here its between long and super long and the secret bosses are more fun.

Im also reeeeally wondering what that new mmo from zos is that has been in development for yeeeeears and we know nothing about, not even the theme or ip. The only in dev mmo that peaks my interest is GW 3...

If WoW ever came to console, that'd be my biggest thing. I'd give GW3 a go if it was on console as well.

The problem with ZOS's new MMO is that everyone will look at the company's reputation going into it and how they handled the community and game that they had for long before. I personally am not really looking forward to that based on management of ESO if that makes sense.

Pixiepumpkin · June 16

Cooperharley wrote: »

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

The first boss is too grindy....remove 1 or 2 of the flesh shaper...

Imo the worst trial for me is still sanities edge but OC isnt very high up the list either....too long, too grindy....the whole point of secret bosses is so you can skipp them for a short version....here its between long and super long and the secret bosses are more fun.

Im also reeeeally wondering what that new mmo from zos is that has been in development for yeeeeears and we know nothing about, not even the theme or ip. The only in dev mmo that peaks my interest is GW 3...

If WoW ever came to console, that'd be my biggest thing. I'd give GW3 a go if it was on console as well.

The problem with ZOS's new MMO is that everyone will look at the company's reputation going into it and how they handled the community and game that they had for long before. I personally am not really looking forward to that based on management of ESO if that makes sense.

Told my wife today as I crossed the threshold from the hallway to the stairs that I would not play ZOS new MMO if it was the most perfect game I have ever dreamed of, that I would not give them a single red cent.
And that is based on how the community has been treated, either here, twitch, or even live events. I don't feel like we are seen as valued customers. Not even in the slightest. Only ZOS_Kevin ever gave me that feeling.

Cooperharley · June 16

moderatelyfatman wrote: »

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

The first boss is too grindy....remove 1 or 2 of the flesh shaper...

Imo the worst trial for me is still sanities edge but OC isnt very high up the list either....too long, too grindy....the whole point of secret bosses is so you can skipp them for a short version....here its between long and super long and the secret bosses are more fun.

Im also reeeeally wondering what that new mmo from zos is that has been in development for yeeeeears and we know nothing about, not even the theme or ip. The only in dev mmo that peaks my interest is GW 3...

ZOS's new MMO? Given that ZOS track record so far is turning Bethesda single players into MMOs (Elderscrolls and Fallout), I'd say the new game will the Starfield Online.

Somebody bookmark this post

Heard it was space-themed or something anyways!

robpr · June 26

sarahthes wrote: »

robpr wrote: »

All these years and Maw of Lorkhaj is still the best designed long trial in the game.

Long? LOL it's being cleared in under 8 minutes by (endgame) pugs.

long meaning not arena like AS or CR.

mdjessup4906 · June 26

Lord Warden absolutely cannot be there because he’s made into a shield. He’s never coming back. So, if the Lord Warden clone is in fact Lord Warden himself, it’s a plot hole.

I must now tank him at least once with that shield equipped

. Would be epic if he has unique dialog if you do.