Dungeons in 2017

[zephyrus.3476]

I can't remember where I saw/heard it, but I'm under the impression that dungeons were something ANET was never going to revisit again. But yet, with the new update to the forums when they had the chance to rename their folders, they still lumped in "dungeons" with fractals and raids in the same sub-forum. Does this mean that ANET still views dungeons as important content in the game?

I realize that Fractals shares many of the same ideas that dungeons does (did?), but I still have found fractals to be harder to invest time in and a much higher skill cap. I was just curious if ANET has any interest in taking a second look at dungeons or if any in the community might have a fresh idea or two that could bring a little more attention back to them.

[Orry.1297]

I would really like it if the dungeon explorable modes were revisited to be more of a 5-person raid experience, which is more like what they were originally stated they were supposed to be. Unfortunately this would take a large amount of time and effort to do in a satisfactory way so it is unlikely this will happen. Additionally I would like to see the story modes of the dungeons be slightly more accessible, but only because they are tied into the story of the base game quite heavily with Destiny's Edge.

[Slice Of Life.9712]

By following forum posts by devs here and on reddit, I have seen that they want to keep the existing dungeons functional, but there is not a team currently working on 'dungeon' content.

There is a running list of dungeon bugs that devs fix when they are able or feel the motivation if I understand correctly. New content will be exclusively fractals and raids, and as someone who loves dungeons, I am ok with this given how successful they have been at pacing fractal releases in the last 1.5 years.

[Sorin.4310]

I'm not sure that they view Dungeons as "unimportant content", but I would not expect Anet to revisit dungeons in the foreseeable future. They've made it pretty clear Fractals are the focus of future development for 5 man content.

As to difficulty, certainly fractals like Nightmare/Observatory on T4 are harder than pretty much every dungeon, but T1 fractals are just as easy, if not easier, than the easiest dungeons. I don't think there's a difficulty covered in dungeons that isn't covered in fractals at some level.

[Tyrone Jones.3724]

@Sorin.4310 said:

As to difficulty, certainly fractals like Nightmare/Observatory on T4 are harder than pretty much every dungeon, but T1 fractals are just as easy, if not easier, than the easiest dungeons. I don't think there's a difficulty covered in dungeons that isn't covered in fractals at some level.

That is an interesting observation as a new returning player these are something I would like to try you may have provided the push to start!

[SunTzu.4513]

I like Dungeons for their storrytelling parts. It would be so awesome if this content would get more love from the devs. Fractals are okay, but the gameplay feeling in dungeons is imo much more intense and better.

[GrimmR.3541]

Let's be honest, dungeons are dead content. Anet has stated multiple times already that they do no longer work towards dungeons and instead started working on raids.With heart of thorns, the dungeons died.

[Sickaan.2856]

I think it would be cool to give dungeons a timer and to have speedrunning leaderboards, much like Adventures in HoT. Also, give greater rewards for players achieving a certein time/tier. So you can have a gold, a silver and a bronze tier, with the bronze tier giving the same reward as dungeons give right now. And gold/silver gives more rewards, thus making dungeons relevant again. Would be super fun and exciting and not so much work(?) because you don't need to add new mechanics/make the dungeons harder. What's your thoughts to that?

[crosknight.3041]

i REALLY hope they revisit dungeons, would like to see them add scribing decorations to the dungeons as well as the vendors. probably get rid of some of the lame puzzles in them and rework bosses. then add new dungeons/ challenge mode to dungeons for more rewards.

[IOJOSKNO.9847]

With the new expansion and the current changes due to development regarding the release of PoF. Dungeons were part of the original story with fractals as it's updated area. Then Raids were part of HoT as an addition to their story. Anything can happen, but I do feel like the dungeons have been forgotten but hopefully new ones will be available within PoF or some new form of activity available. :)

[Alimar.8760]

I look at the old dungeons and they were nice. I mean, they could use a little updating but honestly, it's been so long that it's kind of fallen beside the way in lieu of Fractals/Raids. Which in and of themselves, are still in the same aspect of Dungeons for PvE experiences. One could argue that Dungeons introduce you to the basic concepts of challenging PvE, and that if you like dungeons, then you should invest your time into learning Fractals and Raids.

[npmis.7860]

Many of the the old dungeons can't hold up with the quality of the fractals and especially the new fractals. However I don't think that abandoning the dungeons was a good idea. With HoT and PoF they had the chance to create dungeons, that tell Tyrian side-stories and have the quality of the newer Fractals.Especially with Rata Novus having so many options for nice mechanics(Traps, laser and more) I see a big missed opportunity.Maybe we'll ANet will revisit the dungeons some time and try to look into some polishing/bug-fixing. One can hope.

[Parlance.9584]

I honestly think dungeons being dead are an incorrect community belief. They are still fun (to me) and make a decent bit of cash, someone on reddit made a big thread explaining how dungeons are worth doing. They could definitely use some bug fixes though.

[Assasinhunter Fire.2087]

I personally really enjoyed how dungeons were 5 man content that really let you somewhat bond with your pug members. Raids its kind of hard to establish that sense. Fractals are much too short to have that kind of bonding experience.

[TexZero.7910]

Unpopular opinion incoming....

I think dungeons now, more than ever could be brought back. But i'm not talking about the old content dungeons but rather new dungeons for PoF. This would give the devs space to tell interesting and short side stories. Now i know that's work and not currently on the table, but that's my 2cents on the matter.

[NotOverlyCheesy.9427]

To OP's impression of devs going back to take a look at the dungeons again. Devs have no intention of doing so as of now.The content is still there and quite profitable however. It's just that the hardcore community moved away from it since it was the only relevant content for so long. Few want to run something they've done a speedrun of thousand of times.All in all dungeons aren't dead but not in community's or dev's style.

[accelerated.3581]

@GrimmR.3541 said:Let's be honest, dungeons are dead content. Anet has stated multiple times already that they do no longer work towards dungeons and instead started working on raids.With heart of thorns, the dungeons died.

What is exactly dead about them? Are vanilla explorable maps dead content since there's nothing really being developed there? I believe Anet won't revisit Dungeons like we all wish, but they're far from dead. There's many speed run groups still up and running.

[Oglaf.1074]

Dungeons were such a big and fun part of the game when I last played.

Saddens me greatly to see the LFG lists empty for most of them 24/7.

[Cyninja.2954]

Dungeons, fractals and raids are all similar instanced content. The alternative would have been to not provide players with any venue of disscussion for dungeon related issues.

There is a big difference between supporting old content, completely abandoning it and actively developing for it. Dungeons are in the supported old content but not getting developed for at the moment.

[Einlanzer.1627]

I've been saying for years that Anet's decision to dump dungeons was misguided. There's nothing wrong with FoTM, but it alone really doesn't and can't replace classic world dungeons, and open world PvE certainly can't, no matter how good it is. We should be getting a new classic-style dungeon every year or two in addition to new Fractals, frankly.

I think they over-invest a bit in the open world, personally - it can be really fun, but you just can't get the same level of immersion and proper challenge as you can in more organized dungeon content. Instanced content is also much better for establishing camaraderie among players, which is important in an MMO.

[Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582]

@Sickaan.2856 said:I think it would be cool to give dungeons a timer and to have speedrunning leaderboards, much like Adventures in HoT. Also, give greater rewards for players achieving a certein time/tier. So you can have a gold, a silver and a bronze tier, with the bronze tier giving the same reward as dungeons give right now. And gold/silver gives more rewards, thus making dungeons relevant again. Would be super fun and exciting and not so much work(?) because you don't need to add new mechanics/make the dungeons harder. What's your thoughts to that?

I suggested something similar a while back and I love the idea of it. In GW1 there were Challenge">https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Challenge_Mission]Challenge Missions and I enjoyed doing those a lot more than the Adventures in GW2 because it was instanced and there were no latency issues for me etc, but turning the dungeons into something similar would be pretty awesome, could have some unique rewards you could earn perhaps too.

[Oglaf.1074]

Or - just or - how about adding an Ascended tier of dungeon armour/weapons (with an approriate price increase over Exotic of course)...?

[drkn.3429]

It's worth noticing that getting a PUG running for dungeons is very doable - maybe except for Arah, haven't tried that one recently, while i have run all other dungeons / paths within the last ~3 months to finish off my Dungeoneer. Sure, there are less LFG posts visible at all times, but if you set up your own LFG, it will fill up within 5~10 minutes.

One other observation is that a lot of new players (under 1k AP) join dungeon groups frequently, quite obviously oblivious not only to the common skips and shortcuts, but the path's mechanics in general. Some of them are upfront about it, some are quiet and nervous.

If you are an experienced player and see someone coming on a non-80 toon, with low AP: give them a chance! We all were there at some point. Now, if they are given a chance and they blow it or turn out to be rude pricks, only then 'take measures'.

If you are a new player and only start getting into dungeons: welcome! Dungeons are super fun, even if not that popular anymore; it still is quite easy to get a group running, including friendly experienced players who will gladly explain the mechanics and take it slowly. When setting up a LFG on your own, please indicate you're new to the format; when joining a group, please just say that you're new to this dungeon path on /party chat.You will see that there really are great many helpful veterans if you are upfront and listen to advice.

That said: if dungeons are revisited and made harder (even if only to account for power creep from elite specs), they will stop being the first natural stepping stone of instanced group content for newcomers. As much as i loved dungeons and still enjoy them, they actually do have a place in the current system as a whole.

[Crey.5263]

@Oglaf.1074 said:Dungeons were such a big and fun part of the game when I last played.

Saddens me greatly to see the LFG lists empty for most of them 24/7.

I think they could breathe new life into dungeons if they would just make it easier to find people to party with. I agree with the above poster that the lfg stays empty, but if Arena net would just implement a dungeon finder based off of the pvp match making function it would be much easier to still run this content. Especially for those of us who don't like PvP/WvW, but still need dungeon tokens...

[Ventris.3208]

@Oglaf.1074 said:Or - just or - how about adding an Ascended tier of dungeon armour/weapons (with an approriate price increase over Exotic of course)...?

LOL. That would kill fractals for sure...Dungeons are what they are and nothing will change in near future. Dungeons should have been gap between open world PVE and fractals but that failed since T1 fractals are much easier than dungeons.