Feldon From SmokeJumper on the EQ2 Forums:
We’re making some changes to make dungeons more attractive to players in DoV. We’re adjusting base pop and boss health so that the dungeons take less time to complete so they’re more fun for folks, as well as to allow more frequent chances at boss loot drops on revisits. We’re also making a few changes so that bosses don’t wipe parties so easily since they seem to be a bit tougher than we’d originally planned.
We’re approaching these changes conservatively so that we don’t overshoot the mark. If these changes don’t do the trick, we’ll probably do another round of small changes later. But the overall goal is to make the dungeons more attractive for everyone.
P.S., These are not the only fixes we’re making for tomorrow’s hot fixes, but we wanted to call these changes out specially because those of you that gave up on dungeons because they were too challenging for the payoffs you were getting may want to give it another go now.
This is great news – I’ve found it frustrating how you currently need 2-3 hours commitment to join a group unless everyone is very well equiped. Its killed pickup grouping – previously there was a mix of quick and easy and hard & long which covered all play styles.
I am assuming kael Drakk is not one of the ones. I like that it’s difficult and we’re not gonna get it all done in an afternoon/ but of course the rewards need to be better, though i haven’t been in there since the last update that said they had been improved
Yeah I hope that the focus is on getting the easier ones being quicker as well – there is certainly room for harder longer dungeons too. Just this time theres no quick run dungeon which has frustrated me since I only have short playtimes atm with a new baby.
I completely agree with SteveT i’m in the same situation where i just don’t have 2 hours to play outside of two raids a week. And at the moment i only found Ascent doable within an hour and perhaps forgotten pools. So i’m glad for this change. Not saying that there shouldnt be longer ones but also enough short ones :p
HoS is also a quick zone (ToFS3)
Add daily token quest to HoS would be nice…
Shard dominance :
Tower 8 token
Velk 12 token
Kael 14 token
Tower should be 10 token for be more in live with diff between velk and kael.
And revisit is mostly for shard… So reitemization of the 300 token items is need (or change price to 30 token).
I am hoping for the Hold of Rime Fortress Spire and I wouldnt mind seeing Kael tamed down just a tad. Fortress Spire has too many fail conditions thus it takes much too long to get through. Kael wouldn’t be bad if all the previous zones leading up to it dropped gear with the proper stats to make Kael more surviveable. The gear revamp thats coming (I believe along with this update) really needs to take this into consideration. Just my opinions :).
Lathaine: ToFS3 sucks 🙂 . The shards would be the ONLY reason I would go back in there (well, that and to progress several guild members HQ). As it is, my steady guild group avoids that place like the plague ;). The loot drops are garbage.
I can’t believe they are nerfing these zones and creating a giant loot orgy. As though the early zones weren’t easy enough already. And not, I am not a raider and wasn’t when I started doing these zones.
I seriously hope they are not taking challenge out of these zones. Already TOFS and the first velks are just shard farming zones. Spires is a good challenge as is, and I’ve had more fun in Kael then I had anywhere else in the game.
I’m a bit mixed over this. I hope they don’t take all the challenge out of the zones. My regular guild group has had a ton of frustrating fun so far with some of these zones. Its been hard but enjoyable. I really dont want to go back to a face on keyboard steam roll through the zones.
Gotta nerf it so the PQ scrubs can do something.