Thunderhead Keep meta event changes

I just wanted to say thank you for the recent updates to the Thunderhead Keep meta event. With the charging crystal radius change, that phase goes much more smoothly and I'm not seeing players getting frustrated at each other (as much). And having the wrathbringer down in the middle area makes the fight more engaging, not feeling so cramped, and the ballista and arrow carts are now usable on him. Overall the entire meta event feels more engaging - these were good changes.

Meh. I found it less rewarding after the crystal change, both literally and figuratively. I do agree it was a good change though, as it is consistent with the precedent of siding with the event when an event and a farm are in conflict. And having the boss down in the middle is better as well . . .

It's definitely less rewarding. If the event had launched as it is now, I think people would have been fine with it, with many considering it well designed. It's always a rough transitions from lots of free loot to more modest rewards.

At least it didn't take over a year to change it.

It just now occurred to me that this is where I've been getting all my branded kills for the weapon cheeves :p

What is soo rewarding about this meta?

See, I liked how it worked before because this event comes around perfectly for reset and stalling the event out just long enough for reset to hit stops trolls from finishing the meta before reset.

I welcome this change. It was not funny that some few held the squad hostage so that they can farm.

@yoni.7015 said:I welcome this change. It was not funny that some few held the squad hostage so that they can farm.

Maybe the THK meta just before reset so it happens at reset, but after? I've yet to actually encounter this at all and I've been farming this map pretty religiously to get the branded masses to finish that collection. I've never seen the bodies that reset THK meta has at any other meta on the map. There's not that many mobs due to the lack of scaling. Either way, the farming is done before the event as there's a few hundred branded that spawn there, aren't part of the event, and drop full loot every time.

The loot change was bound to happen, people just ignored the mechanics of the meta and farmed it, so that change was seen coming a mile away, the no loot from branded is going to depend on if it happens at each stage, if you stop getting loot altogether from enemies during the charge the crystal event and nothing after it at all, then this meta will be dead in a few weeks, and people will go back to older maps again, they just cant seem to get that balance of reward vs time/fun, this map will be difficult for people just doing it for the first time in a month from now, when most people have gotten what they need from it.

@Ok I Did It.2854 said:The loot change was bound to happen, people just ignored the mechanics of the meta and farmed it, so that change was seen coming a mile away, the no loot from branded is going to depend on if it happens at each stage, if you stop getting loot altogether from enemies during the charge the crystal event and nothing after it at all, then this meta will be dead in a few weeks, and people will go back to older maps again, they just cant seem to get that balance of reward vs time/fun, this map will be difficult for people just doing it for the first time in a month from now, when most people have gotten what they need from it.

Dont be silly, you still get your chest for finishing the meta.But yeah, it was a -good-change. Ive seen a few north metas fail because of time running out, because they refused to stop farming.

@LucianDK.8615 said:

@Ok I Did It.2854 said:The loot change was bound to happen, people just ignored the mechanics of the meta and farmed it, so that change was seen coming a mile away, the no loot from branded is going to depend on if it happens at each stage, if you stop getting loot altogether from enemies during the charge the crystal event and nothing after it at all, then this meta will be dead in a few weeks, and people will go back to older maps again, they just cant seem to get that balance of reward vs time/fun, this map will be difficult for people just doing it for the first time in a month from now, when most people have gotten what they need from it.

The chest is barely rewarding compared to other metas, especially when paired against competing metas (Istan is on the exactly same time slot). Many people who have only time for 1 meta will chose Istan for the daily farm. People who farm aggressively will move to more lucrative metas. Chances are very low this meta will remain relevant or farmed a lot once the initial living world wave passes.

While I personally am fine with the change (mostly because I was expecting it), don't kid yourself. The amount of loot/karma available was gutted severely.

Pre-change a condi renegade was able to farm close to 50-55k during the event (condi scourge was around 33k karma). Post change/nerf the amount has dropped to around 12-15k karma and around 5 minutes time saved.

It's fine though, 50k karma every 2 hours was just to much.

@"Cyninja.2954" said:The chest is barely rewarding compared to other metas, especially when paired against competing metas (Istan is on the exactly same time slot). Many people who have only time for 1 meta will chose Istan for the daily farm. People who farm aggressively will move to more lucrative metas. Chances are very low this meta will remain relevant or farmed a lot once the initial living world wave passes.Are you trying to imply that this change was made to "save" Istan? Reading the forum these days, people claim all over the place that the recent changes have killed/will kill the Istan meta, but if Istan is dead, how come people would go there rather than here?

Personally, I don't enjoy playing events/maps that are heavily farmed simply because the farmer's priorities (in this case dragging out the event to kill lots of adds) often conflict with me enjoying the event itself, so the change does seem to be in my favor.

@Rasimir.6239 said:

@"Cyninja.2954" said:The chest is barely rewarding compared to other metas, especially when paired against competing metas (Istan is on the exactly same time slot). Many people who have only time for 1 meta will chose Istan for the daily farm. People who farm aggressively will move to more lucrative metas. Chances are very low this meta will remain relevant or farmed a lot once the initial living world wave passes.Are you trying to imply that this change was made to "save" Istan? Reading the forum these days, people claim all over the place that the recent changes have killed/will kill the Istan meta, but if Istan is dead, how come people would go there rather than here?

No, that's you reading something into what I said and/or being ill informed. I specifically mentioned the 1nce per day Istan run, which is just as lucrative as before if not more. Please go check what was changed for Istan, it was the amount of chests available for subsequent runs. Istan remains a very valuable run if run 1nce per day. Definitely more lucrative and valuable over Thunderhead Keep if one can run only 1 per day.

@HardRider.2980 said:What is soo rewarding about this meta?

It opens up the reward path needed to craft Diviner's gear, which is basically Beserker's-lite with a load of boon duration and is solid gold for support builds that don't want to compromise too much DPS.

@HardRider.2980 said:What is soo rewarding about this meta?

Selling plates.

@Susy.7529 said:

@"HardRider.2980" said:What is soo rewarding about this meta?

Be interesting to watch if the price changes on these.(The other variable is that the first adopters are getting close to the minimum needed for a full set of ascended gear for each weight; demand is also going to start going down "eventually.")

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@Susy.7529 said:

@"HardRider.2980" said:What is soo rewarding about this meta?

Yeah, that's for sure, if prices drop it'll be added to the list of "unworthy metas of LSs", like all other metas except Istan.

I heartily approve of the Wrathbringer's move to the middle of the Keep too, yes. The ballistas and arrows carts provide a lot more DPS, which will be crucial to the success of the meta once the player zerg moves on and most metas will struggle to get more than 10 players.

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@Susy.7529 said:

@"HardRider.2980" said:What is soo rewarding about this meta?

I'm surprised they've held up this well so far. I understood it at first when the metas -- particularly south -- were failing occasionally, but that hasn't really been an issue since the first couple of days after the episode went live. You only need one completed plate per day, so the only ppl who would need to buy it are the ppl who don't have time to do the map metas, but those ppl are going to be short on masses more than jewels and the jewels are the only thing you really need the plate for. So I just don't really understand where the demand for those plates is coming from . . .

@Gop.8713 said:

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@Susy.7529 said:

@"HardRider.2980" said:What is soo rewarding about this meta?

Completing the 2 metas takes a good 30-50 minutes (if you factor in being on map slightly early) as well as access to the game over a minimum 90-120 minute time period. 4-5 gold to skip this wait time makes sense for a lot of people. Not to mention the returned value from the 10-12 rates, which reduces the total cost even more. My guess is a lot of people simply buy a plate and get the jewels daily to stock up.

It will be interesting though what will decline first, the supply or the demand. As mentioned earlier, the initial wave of people grinding out the achievements will be done soon. My guess is it will take the vast majority of players a bit longer to be done.

It might just come down to how desired the diviner Stat set becomes since its primary acquisition is from this map.

I do the meta daily for the plates I can then use to do the fun little dwarven loot run in the catacombs. Plan to keep doing it and I enjoy it besides, which is more important to me than a lucrative farm.

@HardRider.2980 said:What is soo rewarding about this meta?

Both meta events are required to receive the Light of Deldrimor. If you have no interest in using it to acquire the materials needed for the local weapon collections, then selling the halves is definitely lucrative.

@Orion Templar.4589 said:I just wanted to say thank you for the recent updates to the Thunderhead Keep meta event. With the charging crystal radius change, that phase goes much more smoothly and I'm not seeing players getting frustrated at each other (as much).

I agree.

And having the wrathbringer down in the middle area makes the fight more engaging, not feeling so cramped, and the ballista and arrow carts are now usable on him. Overall the entire meta event feels more engaging - these were good changes.

I disagree on that. The area is much more bumpy, with holes and obstacles in the way, which often screws up your attempt to dodge-roll out of AoE damage. I preferred the previous location.

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@Susy.7529 said:

@"HardRider.2980" said:What is soo rewarding about this meta?

Possibly fairly quickly now that the meta event chests are character bound. Someone now has the chance to earn up to 24 jewels per day from just the meta events alone.

@Ayrilana.1396 said:

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@Susy.7529 said:

@"HardRider.2980" said:What is soo rewarding about this meta?

But Plates are still once per day.