Niph
04-10-2017, 03:51 PM
I have explored Gazluk Keep (GK) with several groups since the last change (march 25th), so this is feedback with the new group size (6 max), loot rules and with pull abilities such as Hook Shot removed.
First of all, GK is in my opinion a well-designed area in term of layout, population and atmosphere. Despite some empty areas that perhaps will be populated later, and of course the fact that the way to third floor is closed off.
Elites mobs (infiltrators, tacticians, etc.) are sufficiently challenging to be difficult to solo, but doable as a duo. As you progress within GK tunnels, a third member is necessary or you won't be able to beat the respawn, and finally with 4 people in the group you can crawl through mobs and still be able to survive the occasional bad pull.
With Hook Shot and Grappling Web no longer usable as pulling tool, body pull is again the only way to bring mobs to the group. Given the design of the place, an experienced puller is required or eventually a mistake will happen, resulting in a wipe. Even then, with all the roamers it's sometimes hard to avoid pulling several mobs together. All in all, a challenging place doable with discipline and practice.
Some bosses are sufficiently difficult that a group of 4 can easily wipe to them, even with good gear, but still doable with a full group. I don't think I ever wiped in the later configuration.
Now for things that could be improved:
1. As a group-only dungeon, one might expect people to wait at entrance in the hope that someone shows up and a group can get started. However, currently entrance in GK is pretty hard to solo, and waiting outside probably doesn't work, because of respawn and because in other games I've always seen people waiting inside a dungeon, not outside.
So my suggestion would be to populate entrance with, for instance, the same mobs as outside, or with mobs with the same RvR.
2. We noticed that one of the quadrants (NE?) on second floor has observers in it, and these mobs pretty much require a druid to be killable. At least we guess, since the last two groups I went there with either didn't have a druid or the druid did not have the proper staff to play.
Is this area designed for some druid event? We did not see any boss there. Anyway, in the past a group of 10 was likely to have a druid in it, but it's not so true in a group of 6.
3. The result of respawn is unchanged. Respawn = you wipe, always. I haven't survived a respawn since the beginning of the year. I can understand the desire, from a game design perspective, to prevent camping an area, and sort of force groups to move all the time. But I think it's too harsh right now.
My suggestion would be to have a respawn queue per area, with something like a five second interval. If mobs all pop together, a group has no chance, but if they spawned one at a time every five second (for instance) then the group might be able to survive it.
4. GK is huge, that means going somewhere takes time. This is OK with people like me, that can commit to play for hours. It works with groups of 6, but as time passes odds are one or more members of the group will want to take a break (they can't, remember respawn?) or stop altogether. In practice it means few groups will actually go down to the second floor and play there consistently. GK may be huge, but if groups don't have the time and commitment to reach its deepest parts, what's the point?
(As I write this, someone just offered to start a GK group, but people declined because it's 22:30 and that's too late.)
Suggestion: there are several possibilities depending on where the game is going:
. Add shortcuts so that people can go quickly from point A to point B (secret passages, portals).
. Add an ability to summon people to the group, to replace a group member that has to leave without requiring the entire group to return to zone in.
. Add some auto-follow feature for people that need to take a short break. Probably a bad idea because it would make the game too easy to bot, I guess.
On a more general note, I would say that DPS is still king. On trash (including elite mobs), the best tactic is often to stun the mob and burn it down. Two stunners usually keep one mob stun-locked long enough (less than 10 seconds) to avoid any damage it might do. So, mobs that actually damage the group are those with long range attacks (infiltrators, mage) and those that manage a rage attack that disables all abilities (tactician). Even then, there is often little to heal. Of course a bad pull will change that, but the most effective tactic then seems to be to AoE everything hard.
And finally, bosses are the extreme case of DPS requirement. It currently does not seem possible to keep aggro with tanking skills, so the goal of the group is to burn down the boss before it manages to wipe them. The most successful groups I've been with would do it in 30s or less, beyond that characters start to bite the dust.
First of all, GK is in my opinion a well-designed area in term of layout, population and atmosphere. Despite some empty areas that perhaps will be populated later, and of course the fact that the way to third floor is closed off.
Elites mobs (infiltrators, tacticians, etc.) are sufficiently challenging to be difficult to solo, but doable as a duo. As you progress within GK tunnels, a third member is necessary or you won't be able to beat the respawn, and finally with 4 people in the group you can crawl through mobs and still be able to survive the occasional bad pull.
With Hook Shot and Grappling Web no longer usable as pulling tool, body pull is again the only way to bring mobs to the group. Given the design of the place, an experienced puller is required or eventually a mistake will happen, resulting in a wipe. Even then, with all the roamers it's sometimes hard to avoid pulling several mobs together. All in all, a challenging place doable with discipline and practice.
Some bosses are sufficiently difficult that a group of 4 can easily wipe to them, even with good gear, but still doable with a full group. I don't think I ever wiped in the later configuration.
Now for things that could be improved:
1. As a group-only dungeon, one might expect people to wait at entrance in the hope that someone shows up and a group can get started. However, currently entrance in GK is pretty hard to solo, and waiting outside probably doesn't work, because of respawn and because in other games I've always seen people waiting inside a dungeon, not outside.
So my suggestion would be to populate entrance with, for instance, the same mobs as outside, or with mobs with the same RvR.
2. We noticed that one of the quadrants (NE?) on second floor has observers in it, and these mobs pretty much require a druid to be killable. At least we guess, since the last two groups I went there with either didn't have a druid or the druid did not have the proper staff to play.
Is this area designed for some druid event? We did not see any boss there. Anyway, in the past a group of 10 was likely to have a druid in it, but it's not so true in a group of 6.
3. The result of respawn is unchanged. Respawn = you wipe, always. I haven't survived a respawn since the beginning of the year. I can understand the desire, from a game design perspective, to prevent camping an area, and sort of force groups to move all the time. But I think it's too harsh right now.
My suggestion would be to have a respawn queue per area, with something like a five second interval. If mobs all pop together, a group has no chance, but if they spawned one at a time every five second (for instance) then the group might be able to survive it.
4. GK is huge, that means going somewhere takes time. This is OK with people like me, that can commit to play for hours. It works with groups of 6, but as time passes odds are one or more members of the group will want to take a break (they can't, remember respawn?) or stop altogether. In practice it means few groups will actually go down to the second floor and play there consistently. GK may be huge, but if groups don't have the time and commitment to reach its deepest parts, what's the point?
(As I write this, someone just offered to start a GK group, but people declined because it's 22:30 and that's too late.)
Suggestion: there are several possibilities depending on where the game is going:
. Add shortcuts so that people can go quickly from point A to point B (secret passages, portals).
. Add an ability to summon people to the group, to replace a group member that has to leave without requiring the entire group to return to zone in.
. Add some auto-follow feature for people that need to take a short break. Probably a bad idea because it would make the game too easy to bot, I guess.
On a more general note, I would say that DPS is still king. On trash (including elite mobs), the best tactic is often to stun the mob and burn it down. Two stunners usually keep one mob stun-locked long enough (less than 10 seconds) to avoid any damage it might do. So, mobs that actually damage the group are those with long range attacks (infiltrators, mage) and those that manage a rage attack that disables all abilities (tactician). Even then, there is often little to heal. Of course a bad pull will change that, but the most effective tactic then seems to be to AoE everything hard.
And finally, bosses are the extreme case of DPS requirement. It currently does not seem possible to keep aggro with tanking skills, so the goal of the group is to burn down the boss before it manages to wipe them. The most successful groups I've been with would do it in 30s or less, beyond that characters start to bite the dust.