Into the Puzzling Content

[Hotride.2187]

So I ... ugh ... just spent 45ish minutes doing "Into the Puzzling Dark" for the first time and I have to wonder... who is this for?

TL;DR is this a jumping puzzle with no jumping and group play bosses? Who is going to play this?

It went basically like this. I enter the "maze" (really just a glorified circle with some branching paths), seeing some chests going "this reminds me of the IBS boneskinner crap but OK whatever". I wandered for some time, finding some 0 loot chests (typical) and some pillars that tell me I can damage some boss (RGB colors, really original; can you try CMYK next time?). Great, now to find the boss. I find the first one and boy is it tanky. Luckily for the game, I've dueled cele builds in wvw for upward of 10 min, so  I am armed with patience and low expectations. I kill the boss (it is mega boring, just like wvw roaming, so it has a familiar feel).

I find the 2nd boss room, apparently there is an object you interact with to spawn the boss. So someone started the last boss and gave up, I don't blame them. This one is a mesmer (I knew from the purple); just like the war boss it has trouble landing damage on you if you circle it (... the game is a technological wonder considering its 2022). I kill that one too and search for the final boss. Which is an 1-trick pony ele. I kill it and I get loaded with weird buff icons. Which I read, they tell me I can loot the "treasure" only once. Boy am I excited, I'm sure I'm gonna get at least 50 silver worth of crap for my (so far) 30+ min.

I wander off, looking for the treasure room entrance. I cannot find it. I check the wiki cause at this point my patience is running out, turns out I have to interact with "the light" after the last boss. I return to the ele boss, looking for the light. Theres this start encounter thing, but SURELY it will port me to the treasure room. No, it starts the encounter again. OK, I beat it again, no big deal, what is 10 min of your life doing 1 1 1 1 (that too is core wvw gameplay, I got it covered). The light  spawns (don't ask me how I missed it the first time; maybe I got blinded).

I enter the treasure room fully expecting GREAT TREASURE (well not really). I loot 3 chests. I get 3x Jade Runestone (I still don't know what the crap is for, but I have a few). I'm like "this better be worth SOMETHING. I check TP price... 60 silver for all 3.

So to re-iterate... who is this content for? Am I supposed to gather my friends (would I even be playing this game if I had friends... would THEY be playing this game and still be my friends), go into some weird maze that is not a maze, hop around like a moron from safe space to safe space (very trendy but I've got more of a boomer mentality), to kill some dmg sponge mobs that use profession abilities which can barely connect, to then loot nothing?

Don't get me wrong, this game is full of dead content that someone likes and that is what makes it magical - you might like the biggest niche content and the game might still have something for you. But this?

Edited June 16, 2022 by Hotride.2187

[voltaicbore.8012]

I myself only did it twice to get EoD mastery points, and I agree with your assessment of it being quite boring. The second time around went full glass cannon just to get it over with faster, and it was only marginally less boring.

I think this content is for players who haven't (and for some time, will continue not to) face a serious larger-scale challenge in PvE. You can take a group of a few friends who also know little about optimizing combat, yet have a very high chance of success. Furthermore, the bosses are both HP sponges and mechanically forgiving, so they don't fall over instantly but won't wipe you for failing to avoid their first few major attacks. For anyone brand new to the game who boosted just to get into EoD right away, it might also impart a sense of mystery and "oh I found something that the game doesn't actually direct me to!"

So yeah - I think it's for new/not-good-at-combat players, given that it's in the EoD starter zone. I haven't met a single experienced player who actually liked (and in some cases, even remembered) that content.

[Gibson.4036]

The only time I've encountered Into the Puzzling Dark was by mistake, since the story marker looks like it's in the middle of the maze. We wandered around a bit, running from lamp to lamp, uncertain of the point of it all. Eventually we figured out the story point is above all this, and got out of there as quickly as possible.

Nothing about it made me want to go back and figure out what it's actually for. This is not typical for me, as I usually really like disovering the little out-of-the-way things they've tucked in the game.

Edited June 16, 2022 by Gibson.4036

[Khisanth.2948]

I think the mistake you made was not realizing soon enough that there was no way this was ever going to be worth the effort. It would have made sense to continue if you were enjoying it but it doesn't sound like you were.

[Wolfb.7025]

It's a mini dungeon maze for random groups. And it's mostly only done once for mastery points and achievement points, not really for farming and profiting.

EoD rewards are really lackluster, even content that is supposed to be farmeable and profitable gives almost no liquid gold.

[Strider Pj.2193]

8 hours ago, Wolfb.7025 said:

 

EoD rewards are really lackluster, even content that is supposed to be farmeable and profitable gives almost no liquid gold.

So it IS just like WvW like he said..

[Silent.6137]

 

11 hours ago, Hotride.2187 said:

So to re-iterate... who is this content for? Am I supposed to gather my friends (would I even be playing this game if I had friends... would THEY be playing this game and still be my friends), go into some weird maze that is not a maze, hop around like a moron from safe space to safe space (very trendy but I've got more of a boomer mentality), to kill some dmg sponge mobs that use profession abilities which can barely connect, to then loot nothing?

Don't get me wrong, this game is full of dead content that someone likes and that is what makes it magical - you might like the biggest niche content and the game might still have something for you. But this?

It's nothing more than a mini dungeon for mastery and achievement. Completely soloable with 3 minor bosses. No harder than some of the more difficult JPs. Or for achievements such as the fight against Scruffy  2.0. And lots easier than for some achievements such as in the fight against Modremoth in Hearts and Mind. Aside from the achievements and/or masteries, you really don't get anything much from those. They are all meant for once and done encounters.

So, why would you expect great rewards from this?

Edited June 17, 2022 by Silent.6137

[Lottie.5370]

It is needed for the "A Guardian Once More" collection, and it's a decent source of unusual coins.

[Cuks.8241]

I liked it. Its just a mini dungeon, its not the best but also not the worst. I dont really expect rewards from them, just something you stumble over in ow thats a bit more than it seems. 

The bosses are hp sponges but I think these are balanced arouns 2-3 players while still reasonable to solo. 

I actually did it several times just for fun or just helping some random player. Theres actually more chest around than in an average minidungeon. 

I like minidungeons because they actually add some depth while exploring. Its good they added a few in Eod. Its not like you miss much if you skip them, just ignore if you dont like.