Dxun Story Mode Feedback

[EricMusco]

Hey folks,

 

Story mode Dxun is available for testing! In order to access Dxun you simply need to gather seven friends and go through the skybridge located on Odessen. Some things to keep in mind when providing feedback:

1. Is an encounter too easy or too difficult?
   
2. Are the mechanics of the encounters clear?
   
3. Anything else you want to add on the environment, trash, etc?
   

When providing feedback be sure to provide details such as which encounter you are talking about, your relative gear level, etc.

 

-eric

 

PS - Technically, Veteran Dxun is also on PTS but since we are not providing gear at this time we are not requesting feedback yet.

Edited August 29, 2019 by EricMusco

[chipequssmlgpro]

Hello Eric and Matt!

 

First of all, I'd like to point we all were in full 258s because the machine on Odessen is not working properly, bolster was NOT working, so we were on a very big disadvantage.

 

I KEEP UPDATING THE POST

 

RED:

-I've got a bad feeling about the DOT stack debuff, might be too hard to manage for casual/conquest players. (maybe put more than 1 Spore next to the boss spawn area, but leave it as it is now for Hardmode and Nightmare difficulty).

-Overall dps check was on SM level, considering we were all in full 258s and bolster was NOT working, we had normal group comp with 2 tanks, 4 dps and 2 healers.

-Acidic Jet can pretty much one shot people, that has to get tuned down for Story Mode.

 

Breach CI-004/Jungle?:

-Well, where do I start… first of all, my group and myself included don’t even know when the boss encounter starts and when it ends, adding some sort of indication that we pulled the “boss” would be neat.

-Other than massive amount of adds and bit of stuttering caused by massive amount of trees I guess (please try to fix optimization on this fight it was God awful : D) it wasn’t that bad of a fight, but it was really messy. The first part was ok, but when we got the the checkpoint and had to run through the coils it gotten a bit more interesting, I dunno if SM players will be able to handle it, I suggest putting maybe some sort of AOE indication behind rocks which tells people this is a safe area from the coils. Also, adding some sort of timer for how much time we have left before we’re being teleported back to the checkpoint would be also nice.

 

Quad Kephess aka Containment Protocol:

-You can start the encounter when you stand too close to the open window on the top floor, I’m guessing it’s not intended? And if you pull them they can just run straight towards the group on the top floor through the doors and so on, I suppose it’s not supposed to happen, but if it is, make them evade if let’s say, some group members drop down and few stay up?

-When the bosses die, door’s not opening, we had Matt to fix it for us.

-When your group wipes, you can't release, you have to relog, but as long as you have the same group going you still have the lockout (Matt is already aware of that).

-Also, huge props to Matt for coming up with such great mechanic,

killing Kephess’ with a train

is hella awesome, give this man a raise. I didn't have that much fun and laugh in this game since ages!

-Whenever you kill Quad Kephess', and you come back to the "main" floor with elevator, and run towards the first pair of stairs, the adds are respawning infront of them after each wipe on the Huntmaster/Apex Vanguard - picture

 

Huntmaster:

-Huntmaster in a certain phase can run rampant in melee mode with taunt immunity (but Matt already confirmed it being a bug).

-On a phase when we have to stay out of circle or he one shots us, he’s shooting towards the group anyway, even though there are adds in the circle that he should be shooting at.

-Huntmasters damage on basically every phase, towards the tanks, is enormous, even through cds, it's defnitely not SM level at all. It's way too overtuned

-Whenever Huntmaster casts Firestorm Grenade there is no indication on the ground where it is. (but Matt is already aware of that).

-Healthpoint numbers on adds are a bit too big I feel, eventhough we didn't have bolster and were undergeared, the adds should be dying a bit quicker, I suggest decreasing their Healthpoints by 1/4?

-I dunno if that's intended or not, but when the Light Probe is moving, Huntmaster is actually waiting to change position only when he's outside of the circle from Light Probe. I feel like he should change position much faster rather than waiting for the circle to run away.

-Whenever Huntmaster is teleporting to new position there is a chance for him to get offsync, just like Tyrans on

Dread Council encounter in Dread Palace.

 

Apex Vanguard:

-Whenever you kill the Huntmaster, you're getting spammed with "the Battery is fully charged" 24/7.

-Whenever Apex Vanguard casts Acid Blast on a tank, there is no AoE indication where it is.

-Also if it's possible, make some kind of markers for the console, what to click and when and so on.

-I feel like Story Mode should not have

3 clickable consoles, let alone a need to recharge the Battery, it's going to be way too hard for SM players, I suggest making Battery having infinite power and also limiting console clicking to only 1 console maybe? Preferebly the one with water to clear Acid Blast on the ground.

 

-I suggest putting maybe some buff or something similar to it to our buff tracker regarding how much power does the Battery have?

Edited September 3, 2019 by chipequssmlgpro

[dipstik]

we wiped killing adds before 3rd boss and couldnt release... also no lock outs makes continuing progress impossible if you have to log out top release.

[Jerba]

I've now ran SM twice in 8-man and once in 16-man, and saw the first boss in 8-man VM.

In SM, we only got to Containment Protocol (4th boss encounter) because of the aforementioned bug where the encounter does not end after a wipe and you have to reset phase and start again from the 1st boss.

 

General feedback

• A lot of the operation feels less like an operation and more like a flashpoint, especially the Trandoshan trash groups. As much as I like puzzles, they should involve the whole group, similar to the trash before Izax.
  In Dxun, the part where one player carries the power module feels wrong in a 16-player raid. Why should 15 players have to sit around and wait for one player to carry the module? How can we find dead scientists when one experienced player can click the bodies, and then the bodies no longer light up blue so you don't know what happened. A stealth player can even go through all rooms by himself, and the group once again can sit around and do nothing.
  
• Can we please get a clarification on whether it is intended that SM has no lockout? Also, can level 50s enter this operation or is it only for level 75 players?
  
• In SM, it appears that there is a 30s CD on battle rezzes, similar to Izax. This is appreciated as the 30s rezzes came very handy.
  However, there is one problem: Only the group-wide Lucky Break debuff has a 30s duration, the player's battle rezz abilities still have a 5 minute cooldown. So the only way to rezz every 30 seconds is to rotate between 10 players who have a battle rezz skill, which is impossible to coordinate in SM.
  On Izax, both the debuff and the abilities have a 30s timer, so please do the same in Dxun.
  
• Players can duel inside this operation. This should be forbidden because it doesn't work in any other operation.
  
• From the starting area, there are two paths inside the building, north and east. However, only the northern door can be opened, the eastern door has no console and stays closed. Please ensure that as soon as players completed the 1st part of the Trandoshan trash (carried the power module), the eastern door opens so that there is a shortcut to the Containment Protocol boss encounter.
  

 

The Pack Leader (Red)

Videos:

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• It is not apparent that to get to the boss, you have to turn left. Most players I've seen ran straight ahead and died to the lightning. Please ensure that you add an orange path on the minimap as soon as it is fixed.
  Also, the lightning around the building looks the same before and after you kill the Pack Leader. Please change the visuals to clearly indicate that this is a forbidden zone before, and that the way is now open afterwards.
  
• In 8-man, the boss has 6m HP while in 16-man, it has 29.7m HP. So you have a 5x increase in HP but only a 2.5x increase in DPS. Please ensure that the HP scales correctly.
  In 16-man, it took us 7 minutes to kill the boss, we even saw the enrage. Granted, this was a PuG group and everyone was new to the fight but SM should not have that much of a DPS check. We pulled the boss a fair length of the path and there were still some blossoms left.
  Meanwhile, in 8-man it is possible to kill the boss at the 1st or 2nd blossom, which means most group won't even see the mechanics.
  My suggestion would be to put the HP around 10m HP in 8-man, and 25m HP in 16-man. Or increase the HP to like 12m HP in 8-man, leave it at 30m HP in 16-man but push out the enrage timer from 7 to 10 minutes.
  
• Interrupting the boss makes the fight much easier because you get no red circles on the ground and no front cleaves. The main problem is that the damage from the cleave abilities is too high. Right now, it can kill a player in 2-3 ticks if he's standing in the wrong spot; this is too much for SM.
  However, the casts are very short and in SM you can't expect players to interrupt them.
  Considering that in VM, you can no longer interrupt the abilities, a balance must be found where tanks are encouraged to kite the boss correctly, rather than having DPS interrupt the boss. But also, the mechanic should not be so punishing as to kill a player if he's standing in the wrong spot.
  So please decrease the damage from the cleave abilities (Hydrochloric Pool, Acidic Jet) and maybe increase their cooldown so they don't occur that often when not interrupted.
  
• Tanks get 160k damage spikes in 16-man but only 70k in 8-man. That kind of spike damage might be fine for VM but when tanks have only 180k HP, it is too much for SM. Please decrease the damage from the boss' melee attack in SM.
  
• Of all the adds, the Stampeding Bulls are overpowered. In SM, all DPS must immediately switch to the bull to ensure it dies before it can wipe the raid. Please reduce the cleave damage from it, or turn the knockback from an AoE into a single target attack.
  Also, in 16-man the Stampeding Bull spawning at the 3rd blossom is invisible to half of the players, so it can easily wipe the raid because the group cannot kill it fast enough. Please ensure that it is always visible.
  
• In SM, the Synthium Derpidric Blossoms are too far apart. When standing at the first one, you cannot see the next one because it is behind the bend. Please add additional Blossoms, at most 30-50 meters apart so that players can always see the next one and know that the boss should be moved there.
  Also, please add a VFX on the floor below clickable blossoms.
  Finally, ensure that blossoms no longer light up blue after they have been clicked so players know that they are now deactivated.
  
• In 8-man (both SM and VM), the Synthium Derpidric Blossoms are placed differently than in 16-man. Is this intended? Since a single blossom can remove the debuff from all 16 players, why would you need more blossoms in 16-man?
  Instead, please only have a "SM pattern" and a "VM pattern", not an "8-man pattern" and a "16-man pattern".
  
• The stacking "Red Venom" debuffs should always be visible in the ops frame so that healers can see who is not standing in the Blossom circle. However, when you have raid buffs and the debuffs from battle rezz, the "Red Venom" debuff is no longer visible. Please ensure it has a higher priority and is always visible in the ops frame.
  
• The Synthium Derpidric Blossom at X -591, Y -33, Z -28 (see screenshot) can be clicked multiple times in 16-man SM, unlike all the other blossoms which can only be clicked once.
  We tried exploiting this and tanking the boss here but we were getting too many adds at this position. It looks like the adds spawn somewhere nearby, so they would constantly attack us, whereas at other positions, it takes some time for the adds to walk across the map to reach you.
  Anyway, please fix this blossom and ensure it can only be clicked a single time.
  
• There is an invisible object causing various line-of-sight issues. Where the path splits into three paths at the third blossom, it can be found in the center path at X -547, Y -54, Z -31 (see the tank marks). Please remove the invisible object.
  

 

Breach CI-004: Lights Out (Holding Pens)

Videos:

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• This feels more like some trash groups than a boss encounter. The groups are standing so far apart that you never feel under pressure, and there is no mechanic involved. Either place some more adds in there with new mechanics, or get rid of this encounter entirely and turn it into normal trash groups.
  
• As chipequss wrote, there is zero indication that when you click the console, you start the boss encounter and stay in combat and can't rezz players. In PuG groups, you may have players clicking random buttons and start the encounter before everyone is there.
  The main problem is that this console looks identical to the previous consoles that all players have to click. Please use consistent visuals to discriminate between clickables for the whole group, and clickables for tanks only.
  Also, please add a tooltip when hovering with the mouse on it, like "Clicking this console starts the boss encounter" and increase the cast time to 10s and change the name from "Accessing" to "Starting encounter".
  
• The Hydrochloric Pool from the Crimson Stalker adds deals way too much damage in SM, especially when stacking three puddles in the same spot.
  Considering that we are in a boss fight and cannot rezz players in between trash groups, nor can players release to area start, you don't want half the group dying to the first trash group.
  
• Whenever the Felshade Hunter uses his Pounce ability, players receive the "Staggered" debuff. This debuff is missing an icon.
  

 

Breach CI-004: According to Plan (Coils and two Czerka Warden Droids)

Videos:

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• Some of the mobs here (and in the previous Holding Pens encounter) give way too much Renown XP, as much as 85k per mob. In other words, each time you wipe on the coils you get one Renown Crate. If it goes live like this, it will be fastest way to farm Renown Crates.
  
• The path to the coils is not intuitive; once you move from the first walkway into the square, there are four exits and only one of them leads to the coils. Please clearly indicate which way to go, e.g. by adding some FX/lights on the entrance to the coils area.
  
• As chipequss wrote, please add a ground VFX behind the rocks so players know it is safe to stand there.
  
• The crabs in the coil area only spawn during the first pull. After a wipe, there are no more adds in the coil area, which makes the encounter much easier.
  However, I've not seen groups be able to kill the crabs, they just deal too much damage or pull you out from the rock. If you fix the crab respawn, also nerf their damage so groups will not be stuck on this encounter.
  
• The console to close the door is not very intuitive. It is very small and easy to miss when walking into the room (instead you'll look at the two droids), and the voice-over says to click it while everyone is inside, when in reality, only one player needs to click it and the rest is ported.
  
• There are a lot of adds when killing the droids and activating the shields; in 16-man it can be very laggy. But as long as everyone is alive and players use their flares, it is doable.
  

 

Containment Protocol (Hissyphus, Greus, Kronissus, Titax)

Videos:

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• In the trash groups, only allow one player to pick up the power module, and ensure that the power module can be dropped by right-clicking.
  
• Currently, walking through a dead player who was carrying a power module results in you picking up the power module, despite there being on VFX on the ground indicating this. Please either add such a VFX, or remove the mechanic entirely since it is easier to pick up the power module from the original spawn than from another player.
  
• As previously mentioned, the encounter stays in progress after a wipe and players cannot release to area start. Please ensure that the encounter correctly resets.
  
• As chipequss wrote, you can accidentally pull the bosses by standing near the window, and the bosses will walk out of ths boss room. This should not happen.
  
• The bosses sound very interesting, with the different elements Fire & Ice, and Poison & Death. We haven't figured out the mechanic yet but we assume you have to combine the bosses in some way, and use their cleaves to hit the objects on the side, and use the train to kill one of the bosses.
  Once the encounter is fixed and we can get in multiple tries, I'm sure we'll quickly figure out the mechanic.
  

Edited September 2, 2019 by Jerba

[Kanci]

Is an encounter too easy or too difficult?

- I was in group with some nightmare raiders and we wiped a lot. Not sure, if they just have fun and beer or they tries really hard, though. For story mode operation it was definitely too hard, normally it doesn't matter what gear you have. I can't remember that god from the machine was that hard, so yes, I'd say definitely too difficult.

 

Are the mechanics of the encounters clear?

- That could be the reason it felt too hard, so who knows :-D, maybe not.

 

Anything else you want to add on the environment, trash, etc?

- Quite nice environment, would like to give it a try again, would you like to fix the boss three, once a group wipes? You can't revive anywhere and you have to leave the group. Maybe add some speeders, too? Don't like the stairs that much :-D.

[Loubibou]

There's just way too much adds and stuff happening between 1st and 2nd boss, and when we got to the facility where the 2nd boss is we got "stuck" with those barrels and we had to keep using /stuck to get rid of it, and just like most people in this post already said, there's a bug that makes the group unable to rez and come back, so we have to reform and reset the phase.

 

EDIT: forgot to say, but there's also a little bug on the 1st boss fight in a certain part of the map which makes the healers unable to heal other people, saying that they're "out of sight".

Edited September 1, 2019 by Loubibou

[DzastinBiberi]

There's just way too much adds and stuff happening between 1st and 2nd boss, and when we got to the facility where the 2nd boss is we got "stuck" with those barrels and we had to keep using /stuck to get rid of it, and just like most people in this post already said, there's a bug that makes the group unable to rez and come back, so we have to reform and reset the phase

 

This ^

 

It was annoying tbh, quiting the group and grouping up together again everytime we died 'cause we couldnt res ourselfs.

 

We ended up leaving for good after clearing 2nd boss.

 

OPS felt like SnV HM for me and I was 2nd tank in the group with 269 gear rating.

[Jerba]

Regarding the question "Are the mechanics of the encounters clear?", I'd say no.

 

Ideally, an encounter is so intuitive that it does not need any explanations at all. For example, players know not to stand in fire and they know they usually have to kill adds.

 

When an encounter is not intuitive, there are two ways to explain it:

• Either the raid leader explain the mechanics before the fight. As long as players pay full attention, you can explain very complicated mechanics. But this only works to about 2-3 boss phases; when the explanation gets too long players will forget it.
  Alternatively, players can read through a Dulfy guide in written form, or watch a video, or check out an in-game Dungeon Journal like in WoW. The important part is that players are not distracted and can focus on it.
  
• The second way is to explain it mid-fight but then it must be limited to five words or less. For example, for the 1st boss it would be: "Avoid front cleave", "Stand in blossoms", "Kill the Stampeding Bull".
  Whenever I raid lead, I call out stuff this way (either in voice chat or in ops announcements), and it can be very effective. It allows me to one-shot fights like Izax SM with new groups, without a long explanation of all seven phases beforehand.
  

 

Unfortunately, both on Izax and now in Dxun, you chose to explain the mechanics via NPC transmissions (both during trash pulls and boss fights).

For example, instead of "Kill all adds", we get the following: "Sensors showing a lot of movement in the jungle..." - "Scattered and disorganized... Those are animals. Ground team, be advised of incoming hostile wildlife."

 

NPC transmissions are perfect in solo content, where players run at their own pace. But in operations, there is so much other stuff going on, and there is so much storytelling/lore mixed in that the signal-to-noise ratio is too low.

You can't count on players listening to the voice-over. Either they have sound disabled, or it is drowned out by the music/combat, or they are in voice chat and listening to their group rather than the in-game sound.

While fighting, players need to pay attention to their rotation, their positioning, what their group is doing and any circles that are laying on the ground. They are too overwhelmed to listen to NPC transmissions, or read debuff texts.

 

In an operation, I'd rather read through the boss' buffs before the fight than have to pay attention to NPC transmissions mid-fight while raidleading and keeping the group alive.

 

Then again, I'm confident that most players will pick up the mechanics after the 2nd or 3rd wipe. Some of the less intuitive mechanics, like having to click the blossoms, can be improved by adding more VFX.

For future content, I'm hopeful that you will put more explanations outside of the fight, be it buffs on the boss, a quest description or a datapad lying on the ground with a tooltip on it.

Edited September 1, 2019 by Jerba

[Aries_cz]

players know not to stand in fire

In my experience, that is a big fat no. "People standing in stupid" is probably still number 2 on my "Reasons we wipe" list

[fushnchips]

I feel this operation lacks a lot and it even feels like a flashpoint was it rushed or they just ran out of ideas on making operations.

[Citrienne]

Just for informational purposes; I realize this already a known issue.

 

Dxun 8m SM

Containment Protocol (Hissyphus, Greus, Kronissus, Titax)

• Wiped on first pull because of a 1) derp pull and 2) miscommunication about when the train console should be clicked
  
• Managed to redo the boss w/o having to re-clear the instance by: everyone zoning out by various means (quitting group, kicked from group, etc) while the group still stayed formed. I passed lead and had new lead remove me from group. When I rez'd outside the instance, she gave me lead back, everyone else zoned out of the instance. Then, we went back in without resetting and were able to get back to boss 4 for a second pull.
  
• Second pull got the boss down but couldn't exit the room
  
• Second pull video: Sorc DPS Perspective
  
• I was the console clicker. Also shows us trying to figure out how to get out of the room after killing the boss, to no avail.
  

[Daasdfg]

If you folks wanted something easier than SM Izax, you have succeeded brilliantly. Dxun will be the new EV.

[Jerba]

We ran Dxun SM today after the patch. The "not being able to release after a wipe" bug on Containment Protocol was fixed, thank you.

Unfortunately, there is still a bug: After killing the four bosses, you are stuck inside the boss room. The door on the ramp doesn't open and if you die, you cannot release to area start because encounter is still in progress. Similarly, when exiting area you cannot reenter because encounter is still in progress.

When everyone leaves area, you can get back in but the door to Containment Protocol remains closed, and the door to the trash groups before Thrill of the Hunt is also closed.

 

Please fix this ASAP so we can continue testing the other bosses.

 

BTW if anyone is having trouble killing the Containment Protocol: All four bosses need to be killed by the train. Get them below 15% while they are standing on the train tracks (they will be immobilized while healing back up), then click the console to call a train. Either do this one boss at a time or kill mutliple bosses at once; each dead boss increases the damage dealt by the other bosses.

Kill video:

(Except for the tanks and one healer, everyone was in 306 gear but not optimized for the correct mods and augments)

Edited September 5, 2019 by Jerba