Shadow lairs can't stay like this
Tue, 08/20/2019 - 16:28
Increasing enemy hp by this much inflates the time shadow lairs require to run.
Us peasants can't 1 hit enemies with our crowbars and run around at mach 10.
I haven't been able to sort out a single dark fire vanaduke party since the update other than on Lego's streams.
Naturally, when you make something harder (or possibly TOO hard) there 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 to be a payoff; a reason the player still wants to run them.
The crappy armors give no incentive to run any lair other than GWW.
There has to be a loot increase. When depth scales up in a tier, so does loot.
It was interesting at first, but once you're good enough to not have to spark, there is no fun to be had.
There is no fun to be had in hitting multi-thousand hp enemies.
All it does it take longer with nothing in return.
Please change it, tyvm.
Wed, 08/21/2019 - 21:08
#2
I think the health aspect of shadow lairs is fine, but that the increased damage is a little much. Ultimately it comes down to us getting better at the game and adopting a defensive play style again.
The reward obviously needs a massive increase, since it isn't even that much more than farming FSC or DAN.
Thu, 08/22/2019 - 11:21
#3
Increased damage
The scaled damage is unfair, yes.
If I spec properly and bring my maxed gray owlite shield into rrt, it's reasonable to think that it can do well there.
Nope, one shot from one rocket puppy rocket and the fire gets through, too.
Even using suitable armour for the lair with the right defenses can't save you from getting 2-3 shot by every attack.
Generally larger heart drops, scaled shield health, or larger vitapods, maybe?
The worst kind of "difficulty increase" is a raw stat boost to already existing enemies. Dfv was already hard to the average player because the added difficulty comes with new, dangerous layouts, new, unexpected waves in fights, and carnavons having their back-shields. I like this difficulty increase. It feels genuine.
I speculate that they aren't going to touch raw cr payout because if that were the case, dfv would potentially payout more than 450e, thus leading to shadow lair farming with no cost.
Thu, 08/29/2019 - 10:34
#4
Some tips
Some tips to beat Shadow Lairs:
* Make sure you bring proper resistances and defenses for the mission. Your shield should protect against the damage type and the status of the level.
* Use the right damage type against each monster family! Don't use Acheron against Constructs, instead use Glacius.
* Spread poison e.g. by using Maskeraith Quills, Obsidian Crusher or Venom Veiler: this lowers enemy defense and decreases their damage output, meaning your shields and hp will last longer.
* Use Seraphynx Aura to safely charge and drop a Vortex bomb like Obsidian Crusher for crowd control and killing monsters with AoE damage.
* Charge attacks are more powerful than regular attacks
* Strategize with your teammates before entering a Shadow Lair, so that your loadouts have good synergy
Sincerely,
a Defender Elite
Thu, 08/29/2019 - 16:38
#5
@Zincamania-Forum
I'm sure you have only the best of intentions, but please realize that A. most people on the forums are experienced players who are well-aware of everything you've said, B. point A is doubly true for players taking on Shadow Lairs, and offering newbie-level advice in this context borders on condescending/sarcastic, and C. inexperience is not relevant to the subject of this post. Being experienced does not change the fact that the recent buffs have made Shadow Lairs unfun and unfair slogs, where players spend ages chewing through thousands of enemy HP despite using appropriate weapons with powerful charge attacks, and their carefully picked armor and shields get torn apart like paper. In stereotypically bad game development fashion, inflated numbers were used as a stand-in for increased difficulty, and players were hindered unnecessarily with nothing given in return.
Fri, 08/30/2019 - 12:30
#6
In stereotypically bad game development fashion, inflated numbers were used as a stand-in for increased difficulty, and players were hindered unnecessarily with nothing given in return.
OP has mentioned this too and I disagree. Just because numbers were increased doesn't mean that the stereotype applies here. In fact the SL's bring new mechanics like more difficult room layouts and shields on Zombies which the OP also mentioned. A raw stat boost isn't necessarily a bad thing, considering the amount of power creep that accumulated over the years while the Shadow Lairs remained unchanged. They could have introduced difficulty 'the right way' but as it stands some weapons are just too powerful and it is only a matter of time before players learn the new mechanics and become able to dodge everything while one-shotting monsters. And if they introduce something that is truly a lot harder than other content, it will get met with complaints anyway. A raw stat boost to monsters by increasing the depth is both easy and gets the job done, it's better than nothing being done at all. I'm not saying the change is perfect though, but I like seeing that Acheron and Blitz are finally not dealing more damage to neutral targets than other weapons to weak targets.
It doesn't bother me that Shadow Lairs take longer to get through. Their purpose is not to be a place to farm loot anyway. The reward that players get for the increased difficulty is that the exclusive craftable items at the end of the SL become more prestigious. Now for the existing armor sets that's kind of a moot point since everyone could get them easily in the old SLs. But perhaps Grey Havens can add some new craftable items after they are happy with how difficult the SLs are.
I agree with this in some capacity. I do like the idea of making SL runs harder but mega tanks aren't really difficulty. It was fun when I first went but having to sit through this each time does sound absolutely unbearable.