Feedback Request: No more Elite Dungeons

[Swede]

A crazy idea but I've been thinking about it for a while now. I'd like to either remove the current Elite Dungeons, or at the very least stop making new ones for the future expansions. There would still be Elite dungeons but more in the style of the Gladiator Arena and 'raid' style dungeons, rather than copies of the 'Normal' dungeons.

But what about the loot?!

The Elite Warchests, bronze, silver and gold, would all be moved to the 'Normal' dungeons. They would have a lower chance to drop in the 'Normal' dungeons than they currently do in the Elite dungeons, since those can be cleared much faster.

In addition, the Gladiator Arena and any future content like that, would remain at Elite difficulty and keep its much higher drop rate of Elite loot.

But why?!

• Designers could stop focusing on maintaining the Elite dungeons, which is quite a time sink, leaving us more time for other content. I've always wanted to do more rare encounters in our dungeons so the 10'th time you play through Oltgar Keep, it all of a sudden has an extra boss with rare loot. Maybe even put rare Elite bosses in 'Normal' dungeons, letting you tell your friends/guild to come help you, if you find one.
• You could now solo and still have a chance at the very best loot in the game
• Players would be more consolidated, so you'd have more full groups playing together, making new friends. In 'Normal' dungeons, they're not locked once you start killing mobs, so new players can come in and fill spots.

Thoughts and feedback/suggestions welcome!

[Linkincena]

Agree with the idea Swede...
Go ahead with implementation plz..

[vholt]

Yes great idea! Maybe move to general discussion to get more people to see?

[Aplyed]

awww no more elite , I like the struggles lol

[Syylent]

I like. For a mobile game it is starting to push the boundaries of not so mobile. I like being able to pick it up and put it down at any point in time. Not having to spend an hour or two and be devoted or start falling behind.. For awhile it seemed like this was the path you were going down. Still is a little more time consuming then what I would picture for a mobile game.

[octavos]

Aslong as the normal maps dont become ELITE and slowly become like endgame PL...then thats fine. At the moment Normal maps help the casual and normal player that dont want the elite status and still want to play and level accordingly without much stress.

I always wanted to do elite..but here some of my reasons I HATE it.

• Potsink, and burning tons of gold
• Groups leave, they cant invest hours to kill 1 boss for hours
• to many deaths
• very little benefits to ELITE maps
• best endgame gears still have troubles

Now I beg you dont change the difficulty to normal maps. I understand you guys wanna focus on better things..but I still prefer the enemies damages at lower levels.

[FluffNStuff]

This is a tricky one. In ~theory~, I loved the idea of the elite dungeons because it reuses old content in a new way. One of the limitations of PL is once you hit the cap you were stuck farming on the same board over and over. The Elite Dungeons gave players a change of pace for some variety, and since it reuses content that is already there I thought it was pretty brilliant and easy to maintain. That of course is all theory. Now for reality.
I missed the Second level cap, but apparently all the players were still farming Jarl and just ignoring the new content because it was that much easier.
Patch that up by making the previous ones only give drops up to one level before, and STILL players are just farming Jarl ... well because it was easier.
Patch that up by making the first ones only go to 26.
So now what we have is an entire area out of play, two where the chests only go up to regular level and players SCATTERED all over the place. Got us a problem that needs some fixing. Hmm, scrap the system, or find a better a way to get those scattered players into games with each other. Yeah, I got nothing either

[wvhills]

I love this idea. I'm all for doing away with elites. Another thing I would like to see is having the occasional pink drop at the boss. The disadvantage of chests is we can never see what other people get. In PL if I saw someone got a pink it would make me want to keep playing because I know "they're dropping". We don't have that in AL. I understand why u have crates (and I LOVE that ur primary way of generating revenue is not game play changing elixirs) but Idk why we have to have chests at all. I realize people just starting out can sell them but they could sell the pinks they get just as well.

So in summary: I say do away with elites, keep crates but get rid of chests and make pinks drop able so we can see what others are getting.

[Swede]

Now I beg you dont change the difficulty to normal maps. I understand you guys wanna focus on better things..but I still prefer the enemies damages at lower levels.

Absolutely not. Any Elite bosses that would appear in 'Normal' dungeons would be clearly marked as 'Elite' and have short aggro ranges so they could easily be skipped. We do not want to make the 'Normal' dungeons harder because as others mention, the whole idea is that you should be able to play for 5-10 minutes and feel like you accomplished something. Our Elite dungeons are becoming so difficult that it's hard to find players to run them and when you do, it's often a 20+ minute adventure, which is rough on a mobile game.

[Frday]

My first reaction was to think no way could that work. Then I reread and saw that you mentioned 'raid' style elite dungeons instead of copies of the Normal maps, so I guess my feedback depends on what you have in mind by that. Similar to the Arena and Mines or something else you could elaborate on? I'm all for more variety in gameplay though so count me as a cautiously optimistic yes.

Side note: Glad to hear you are open to considering major changes like this, my favorite AL update so far was when you reweighted secondary stats. Sounds like you could be on to something equally interesting here.

[tramtamtam]

me like it

[octavos]

Absolutely not. Any Elite bosses that would appear in 'Normal' dungeons would be clearly marked as 'Elite' and have short aggro ranges so they could easily be skipped. We do not want to make the 'Normal' dungeons harder because as others mention, the whole idea is that you should be able to play for 5-10 minutes and feel like you accomplished something. Our Elite dungeons are becoming so difficult that it's hard to find players to run them and when you do, it's often a 20+ minute adventure, which is rough on a mobile game.

AMEN, its just that there is "MANY" times i just feel like playing a map...and not constantly dead from 2 hits. I understand AL will get harder as time goes on which I hope our armors, weapons, and skills will compensate for each change. Im not elite by any means..but thats whats keeps me playing, is the ease of accomplishment.

Then you have my vote..might help to make poll here so ppl who dont respond..can just click a button XD

[Carapace]

I love this idea. I'm all for doing away with elites. Another thing I would like to see is having the occasional pink drop at the boss. The disadvantage of chests is we can never see what other people get. In PL if I saw someone got a pink it would make me want to keep playing because I know "they're dropping". We don't have that in AL. I understand why u have crates (and I LOVE that ur primary way of generating revenue is not game play changing elixirs) but Idk why we have to have chests at all. I realize people just starting out can sell them but they could sell the pinks they get just as well.

So in summary: I say do away with elites, keep crates but get rid of chests and make pinks drop able so we can see what others are getting.

The problem here is inherent in the system of luck. With re-rolls wanting to roll upwards, those pinks would actually drop quite a lot and flood the market. We all know what happens when we have too many pinks of a certain type loose in the game... *cough* crates.

Gameplay wise it would be nice to do this, but it would ultimately trivialize it. The benefit of having crate and chests is that the re-roll applies only to the initial drop, and then we have a better control of loot within the chests themselves.

[Taejo]

I can't say I like this idea 100%. It's good in theory, but there are a few other solutions to the core problem with current elite maps. The idea of rare spawns with good loot tables is a fabulous idea - this correlates with the solutions of making "trash mobs" in elite maps more desirable to kill. Add more gold drops, more rare egg drops, more rare gear drops to these trash mobs, and the incentive of spawning a rare boss when killing X amount of these trash mobs.

Players would be more consolidated, so you'd have more full groups playing together, making new friends. In 'Normal' dungeons, they're not locked once you start killing mobs, so new players can come in and fill spots.

The other solution, which I believe you (Swede) mentioned in another thread, is tinkering with the party system in elite maps. If we could invite people mid-way through the map, a lot of problems would be solved.

The older elite maps (pre-Kraken) are only desirable to farm eggs - nothing else. Perhaps make this a more level-tiered incentive to younger players. Let level 15s run elite forest (scaled down to them of course) for special L15 gear. Let L31s continue to farm it if they want Kettle.

I like. For a mobile game it is starting to push the boundaries of not so mobile. I like being able to pick it up and put it down at any point in time. Not having to spend an hour or two and be devoted or start falling behind.. For awhile it seemed like this was the path you were going down. Still is a little more time consuming then what I would picture for a mobile game.

There has to be something for hardcore gamers, otherwise the fanbase would dwindle down to casual players who aren't dedicated, aren't spending money, and eventually move on to other games because the lack of a challenge. I love elite maps because they take some teamwork and effort. I would not play this game if it was so simple to accomplish everything. Not to mention, this game should be considered a hybrid, not exclusively "mobile". Players can use a computer (like I do) or a tablet.

In addition, the Gladiator Arena and any future content like that, would remain at Elite difficulty and keep its much higher drop rate of Elite loot.

Hmm, is the arena really that popular? Once the achievements are done, most of my in-game friends find no reasons to go back. The loot (Noble chest pieces) and a rare chance at a chest at the end aren't worth the effort. If you guys had introduced new loot, then it would be a different story.

[Wowsome]

This would be awesome, Swede. 100% like.

PS - I love to see how players' feedback is received recently! .

[Rare]

This sounds like a great idea. With the addition of allowing randoms to fill up extra spots it could be very nice. Also, getting rid of the ruined ribs from most maps. Or at least allowing people to join even if the timer had started.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

[wvhills]

The problem here is inherent in the system of luck. With re-rolls wanting to roll upwards, those pinks would actually drop quite a lot and flood the market. We all know what happens when we have too many pinks of a certain type loose in the game... *cough* crates.

Gameplay wise it would be nice to do this, but it would ultimately trivialize it. The benefit of having crate and chests is that the re-roll applies only to the initial drop, and then we have a better control of loot within the chests themselves.

oh, gotcha. good reason.

[Uzii]

Hmm, is the arena really that popular? Once the achievements are done, most of my in-game friends find no reasons to go back. The loot (Noble chest pieces) and a rare chance at a chest at the end aren't worth the effort. If you guys had introduced new loot, then it would be a different story.

I find arena as very good farming place recently. made some gold in there, even with buying pots.
and i like the challenge there its not easy but also not so hard (except bloodhammer) u need to be always cautious. but can be just me... new loot would be nice though.

and abt changes i like them very. i dont run elite maps, too much time consuming and no reward. if no arena i wouldnt be playing probably till next cap.

[Swede]

I love this idea. I'm all for doing away with elites. Another thing I would like to see is having the occasional pink drop at the boss. The disadvantage of chests is we can never see what other people get. In PL if I saw someone got a pink it would make me want to keep playing because I know "they're dropping". We don't have that in AL. I understand why u have crates (and I LOVE that ur primary way of generating revenue is not game play changing elixirs) but Idk why we have to have chests at all. I realize people just starting out can sell them but they could sell the pinks they get just as well.

So in summary: I say do away with elites, keep crates but get rid of chests and make pinks drop able so we can see what others are getting.

Carapace explains why this is a problem, further up.

However, a spot where this wouldn't be a problem is on rare bosses. In that case the boss himself is rare instead but if you do kill him, he always drop Legendary loot, and so we wouldn't need Warchests.

[Darko]

Great idea, poor repetitive equipment, need more diversity of equip. ...