With 3x misfortunes (jumping into the deep end, I know lol), I'm currently stuck on the first boss in MHK, because of Bloody Cleave.

It does something like 22-25K damage unblocked, similar to the amount of an unblocked Crushing Leap, for example.

The difference, though, is that Crushing Leap has a 1.4s cast time, so you have time to react: dodge, block, etc. While there is no reactive counterplay to Bloody Cleave.

These are the combat events reported by the game's API: the first number is a timestamp in seconds. Boss starts the ability at 208.671, and less than 0.1s later, the damage has already hit at 280.760.

[280.671] {BEGIN} [60997/Jailer Melitus]->[45222/Snow Øryx] : Bloody Cleave (265037) : [100] [PHYSICAL]
[280.760] {DAMAGE} [60997/Jailer Melitus]->[45222/Snow Øryx] : Bloody Cleave (265037) : [22178] [PHYSICAL]

What I see on my screen at the 280.6 timestamp when the ability starts:


(The telegraph also lasts longer than the ability; going frame-by-frame in my recording, I see that the telegraph lasts for half a second even though the ability had already hit me after just 0.1s.)

Anyway, everything else that does a similar amount of damage is well-telegraphed and give the player at least 1s to react. Well, everything except for this, so it feels like this was an oversight. There needs to be more windup for the Bloody Cleave, or the damage needs to be brought down to be in line with things like light attacks.

EDIT: for context, I did both solo dungeons with two misfortunes, to test out the "veteran" mode.
• Did you enjoy the Solo Dungeon Experience?
  I liked it well enough. I've been able to solo the group versions of Moon Hunter Keep and March of Sacrifices for a while, and the specific solo dungeons are a lot less tedious, overall.
  
• How did Solo Dungeons feel as you were playing? Did they feel balanced?
  The mobs were pretty easy, even on the "veteran" mode-- I didn't have any trouble with them, and didn't die to a 'trash' pack. It was the bosses I had issues with: it was really punishing to be a melee dps in both, but especially march of sacrifices. A few notes I made while playing:
  
  mos:
  - wasn't able to figure out how to pick up the "protection" synergy of the other four seasons on the spriggan "Aghaedh of the Solstice". I tried standing in the glowing lights of each color that wasn't "autumn's protection" (the only synergy I was able to pick up). I had to heal/shield through the blast.
  - Lingering AOEs on Tarcyr pulled me out of stealth, is that supposed to happen?
  - Balorgh-- seems self explanatory, but the cone of cold he breathes did not give me warning or a way to dodge out of it. Can't block through it, can't survive it. Running far enough ahead was the only option? (I was able to streak far enough ahead, but for classes without a portal/streak option, this seems like a nightmare)
  mhk:
  - Jailor-- favors ranged builds again, but pretty much like the group dungeon. dodge-rolling his cone attack didn't seem consistent, though
  - hedge maze guardian: more frustrating to find the spriggans than actually difficult. The maze feels a lot bigger. I appreciate that it just halts the boss's health as opposed to actually healing it.
  - Mylenne Moon-Caller-- killed by her 'shred' ability when it looked like I was well out of it.
  - Vykosia-- a lot easier than expected; the pacing of the adds was even easier than the boss just before her, the thunder-caller/mage with symbols.
  
• Did the Solo Dungeon offer the experience you were looking for?
  overall it's fine.
  
• If Yes, could you elaborate on your experience?
  as I said, I was able to solo them already on both NA (where I have all the bells and whistles like perfected gear, lots of crafting resources, etc) and EU (where I haven't done as many trials or have as many CP) but if you're just wanting to experience the story, I think this is a great option.
  
• If No, what fell short for you?
  I don't think this is something I would do for more than the achievements: for one, if I'm looking for the gear and want to go at my own pace, I'll do the other one on my own. I think it's kind of lame that even on the "veteran" mode of the solo dungeons, you're still getting base game gear. I understand if it's not possible at all, but it feels like if you're taking two misfortunes at the start, you should at LEAST get green or blue dungeon gear. It felt pretty bad to struggle through some bosses and end up with a blue soulshine staff at the end of it all.
  
• What (if anything) would you like fine tuned for these solo dungeons and/or future solo dungeons?
  I think that both solo dungeons really favor ranged builds. I suppose that's fine, sacrificing power for mobility, but not being able to run my best build (melee pure-class stamina sorcerer) wasn't my favorite.
  
• Any other feedback?
  The transumte crystals are a great bonus, especially for people who people who are low-leveled, or don't pvp very often and rely on random daily dungeons for their transmutes. Other than the potential for monster masks, there doesn't seem much reason to do veteran outside achievement hunting. The rewards just don't match.

Did 3x MHK.
1 death on second boss.

Second boss: final phase is a bit overtuned. Spriggans spawn deep inside labyrinth, forcing boss to roll there, and that's where chaos starts. Also too many adds in final phase.

All other bosses (first dude, big dawg dude, rune dude and final chick): perfect balance. Hard (and it should be) but doable.

Overall, the entire dungeon is an AoE fest and classic "adds first, then boss", cuz adds almost always hit million times harder than boss.

Now for the bad part: rewards are absolutely not worth the effort. They gave me 200 of whatever currency, but vendor's prices are insane — a coffer with just 1 Undaunted key costs 2k. Wat?

Who knows no fear of beast or blade?

Erickson9610 wrote: »

I thought it was underwhelming to be rewarded with Overland sets even when I selected all three Misfortunes:

I just finished Solo Moon Hunter Keep with all three Misfortunes. For those curious, this is what I got from the final boss:


What I didn't know is that the repeatable quest from this Solo Dungeon gives you a curated piece from the Group Dungeon:



The tooltip on the curated coffer says that it is a weekly reward. Is this true? Even if we return to repeat this quest every day, will we only get a curated coffer once a week?

I've tried MHK only, +0MM and +1MM

>Did you enjoy the Solo Dungeon Experience?
I did really like that I can play on story mode and just plough through and not be bothered by anything (on arc parsing 120K). This will be super for taking my less used and low DPS toons through for story and skill points.

Deciding this was too easy, I tried normal mode (+Warm Welcome) and dusted off my abandoned, half-built necro that I really struggle with. Much tougher experience and made me really concentrate on mechs and rotation.

>How did Solo Dungeons feel as you were playing? Did they feel balanced?
Story mode - yes, hopefully will open this up to people who are put off group content or just want to chill with the quest.

Within the context of +1MM, overall yes. Individually, damage from the accursed WWs might need adjusting? Felt like they did more damage than the hulking WWs and I died more to them than anything else.

>Did the Solo Dungeon offer the experience you were looking for?
Yes!

>If Yes, could you elaborate on your experience?
Story mode was accessible, I got to take my time and explore the dungeon (MHK has so many places to look and investigate)
+1MM it was tough but beatable with a toon I was not familiar with with concentration and without being too frustrating. If I had more time I would definitely be going back to try the harder difficulty and MoS on PTS!

>If No, what fell short for you?
N/A

>What (if anything) would you like fine tuned for these solo dungeons and/or future solo dungeons?
As others have said above, some of the telegraphs for the cone attacks don't feel quite right, especially on the MHK first boss. Damage from cone AoEs feels worse than it should be compared to other attacks. I can't quantify this, it's just vibes.

>Any other feedback?
I think that this will be an excellent change to game and give players the opportunity to experience dungeons through a breadth of play styles and abilities. Love the visual effects of the Meted Misfortunes pile, so pretty!

How did Solo Dungeons feel as you were playing? Did they feel balanced?
I only tried Moon Hunter Keep with three Misfortunes on a Stamplar thus far. I definitely died a few times, but completed it.

I thought the balance, overall, was fine. I did find the difficulty of the last boss a tad underwhelming compared to the other bosses, however. I actually found the first boss the most difficult myself, but in hindsight that was because I didn't pay enough attention to the adds in the beginning.

What (if anything) would you like fine tuned for these solo dungeons and/or future solo dungeons?
I think the rewards for doing the dungeon with three Misfortunes seem a little bit lackluster. Getting a gold piece of companion gear at the end is nice, I suppose, but the Overland gear you get throughout the dungeon is underwhelming.

Any other feedback?
I think it'd be cool if one piece of the Mylenne Moon-Caller set would grant Minor Slayer instead of Weapon and Spell Damage. It would give solo players a way to get that buff, which would be nice since it will work in Overland content too, and being able to get Minor Slayer from one piece of a Monster Set would also be nice for theory crafting in general.

-Did you enjoy the Solo Dungeon Experience? MoS 3, Liked being able to stay in WW form the entire time. Ran on a Werewolf DK werewolf cost nerfs where massively felt here.
-How did Solo Dungeons feel as you were playing? Did they feel balanced? Overall MoS 3 was a challenge, Boss 2 was hard to damage at the end with WW and ground effect in place Heavy attack damage was worthless with the challenge mode and was really the only thing that could touch it. Some bad RNG on some chain spriggan pulling on boss 2 made for a bad time.
-Did the Solo Dungeon offer the experience you were looking for?
If Yes, could you elaborate on your experience? Overall yes to challenge level on hardest mode,
If No, what fell short for you? Rewards should be increased for 3 challenges (more collectables for the skill style would be nice, better gear besides overland junk).
What (if anything) would you like fine tuned for these solo dungeons and/or future solo dungeons? Better rewards for completing on hardest mode.
Any other feedback? Overall great way to test the werewolf nerf to sustain, too heavy handed and Sorc sustain mastery should have been the main target. Hircine Rage should be a HOT.

Did you enjoy the Solo Dungeon Experience?
Yes

How did Solo Dungeons feel as you were playing? Did they feel balanced?
Almost perfect level of difficulty. I did MHK 3MM, on a pure beam arc, without a companion (TBH I forgot I could until the 2nd boss, but after realizing, I stubbornly decided to solo the whole thing). I did slot some defensive or sustain skills and CP, but used regular stamdps trial gear with ROPO. Of course, I'll be interested in trying it with a companion and playing around with weapon damage debuffs to see how much easier it could be made. Wild idea: a 4th misfortune that prevents use of a companion?

I liked this difficulty because it was definitely hard, but not impossible to do without changing the pure DPS build a ton. By that, I mean artificially increasing enemies' damage so much that you have to spec attributes into health or wear tank gear, which serves only to reduce your damage done and is IMO unfun. So this difficulty is great because that's not necessary, unlike some Vestige difficulty overland encounters where there's uncounterable one-shots everywhere.

Balance thoughts in the later section.

Did the Solo Dungeon offer the experience you were looking for?
Sure?

What (if anything) would you like fine tuned for these solo dungeons and/or future solo dungeons? Any other feedback?
Thoughts dump:
1. Jailer Melitus' Bloody Cleave hits oddly hard for an attack that has no wind-up and is not very kiteable.
2. It doesn't feel great to get stunned by the werewolf berserkers' Flurry, into another berserker's Crushing Leap, because Flurry happens so fast if you're not kiting. Maybe just a L2P issue though, trash went better after I made sure to keep moving.
3. Hedge Maze Guardian is by far the most difficult, and IMO tedious and a little overtuned. The last threshold for spriggans was moved to 15%, so are you intending for us to try to execute it before heals? Otherwise, having to tromp around the maze killing yet another 5 spriggans feels... excessive. If anything, I think there should be fewer spriggans in total, because this is the same number of spriggans as the group dungeon, where you have 2~3 DPS to split up the job.
4. Those wildbriar senches have no business hitting so hard with their Double Strike, but at least they're CC'able and kiteable.
5. I really wish Narazda would shut up about the spriggans. Yes, the spriggans are still out there, I GET IT! I'm trying to kill the adds!
6. Mylenne Moon-Caller encounter felt pretty fair, hard enough to enforce killing adds, and the boss herself was threatening enough.
7. Archivist Ernarde was slightly too easy. His only really damaging attack is Shock Blast, but it happens so infrequently. The adds are more threatening than the boss, though the adds are well-balanced because their "heavies" are easy enough to tell... at least with addons.
8. Vykosa was pretty underwhelming. I went into the first pull afraid of the werewolves because managing those and the health thresholds was hard when the dungeon was new, but... there was only 1 werewolf per phase, and only 2 phases? Given I was on 3MM and the description said monsters have all mechanics at their disposal, I was even expecting some hardmode mechanics, perhaps the colors or shock wardens, but it ended up being a ridiculously easy fight compared to the others.

Regarding rewards:
1. Overland sets are kind of lame, but understandable for the low difficulties.
2. I think the chests found within the dungeon should have at least intermediate difficulty on 3MM, if that's doable, given it's arguably harder than a vet dungeon. Then, with Treasure Hunter, we're guaranteed to be underwhelmed by an overland piece.
3. 200 crests for a 3MM clear?! It's crazy how little that is, after seeing the vendor's prices for gear and style pages. But if the maze guardian were nerfed a bit, I wouldn't feel so insulted. Apothecary's Parcel seems rather cheap though.

Things that may be bugs (I'll also repost these to the bug thread with more media):
1. On occassion, the Guardian spawned 5 spriggans on the second spriggan phase. It might have been because I pushed the health lower past the threshold? Usually it spawns 3 on the second phase, and in the group dungeon too, so I think this might be unintentional.
2. Hedge Maze Guardian's animations sometimes get desynced, after Thorn Toss. The subsequent Crushing Limbs were not animated, and I died, or would have died without addons.
3. Vykosa's Rending Slash animation is consistently desynced from the actual damage. She's still on the ground when the damage hits, and only after does she jump up. The damage lands ~700ms before the animation appears to.
4. Some tooltip grammar nitpicking that I'll spam in the bug thread instead.