Oil Floes Meta In Need of Adjusting

[rrusse.7058]

Thunderhead Peaks is overall a great map with stunning vistas, suitable story, interesting lore, amazing soundtrack and the list could go on like this. Though one thing that was fairly interesting about this particular patch was the way in which one had to get Serpentine Jewels. One had to complete the meta events in both the north and south to get the necessary parts to do the mini-dungeon or buy the parts.

Having options is always nice. Personally I prefer playing the content to get where I want but to each their own. That said. North meta is set in a way that it is possible with a relatively small amount of players. South on the other hand needs a large amount of people to be taking part for it to not fail. (Looking at you Southwest Drill.) Regardless of numbers a large number of Veterans, Elites and Champions always spawn whether there are 2 or 200 players present.

This has to change. The prices on the TP speak for themselves. It's not as though one event is more rewarding than another. Please adjust the spawn rates and types of enemies that spawn to suit the number of players. This is the case with the rest of the game so why not here? It is incredibly disheartening to have to wait 2 hours for an event only for it to fail time and time again. With so many maps and more on the way with the coming Saga the player base is going to be split further and further.

If left unchecked then players will simply be forced to play TP baron games, and I don't think that's the direction the game needs to go.

At any rate, thanks for reading.

Other thoughts and opinions?

[Ayrilana.1396]

It’s not the number of mobs as a party of players at each is more than enough for them. It’s people not knowing how to efficiently kill the hydras that’s the real issue. The hydras are the only real threat in that meta.

[Randulf.7614]

I think the whole lot needs reevaluating. It is a poor set of metas in an equally woeful map.

North

• you set traps which are by and large useless
• The special effects do not combine well with the bransdstorm and you end up with one if the worst visual noise events in the game
• The final boss is uninspiring
• Instead of utilising the keep to make it feel like the original, the keep itself feels incidental. In the original it felt like you were defending an a rual keep against oppressors. This just feels like any other landscape.
• It is over too quickly and too easily

South

• Scales badly as you say. A small group is fine until the hydras turn up then its usually game over
• The mechanics are actually all really good right until the final boss. The boss is barely visible through the visual pollution, combined with sliding around oil, melee attacks basically involve randomly moving and hitting to hope you are in range.
• The branding is a real cool moment, which is barely visible through the pollution and doesnt change the fight apart from bringing in adds which only add to the clutter. What makes the first stages work by splitting the groups is undone by bringing everyone together at the end in a tight area. The game isnt set up for that

Im ambivalent on the rewards. Linking these to an unrelated mini dungeon at the expense of the rest of the map bring empty and ignored is an odd design. Plus it is more inventory clutter with the half keys snd full keys that you have then transfer if other characters want to use. But they encourage participation in a map that otherwise does not.

I hated Thunderhead - for me prob one of the worst maps in the game for gameplay, events, lore exposition, map storytelling. Even the visuals are a mess compared to other Shiverpeaks maps imo. The mess of the metas, despite their clear potential, didnt help.

Tldr: I agree with you, but any excuse fir me to rant about this map ill take ;)

[rrusse.7058]

@Ayrilana.1396 said:The hydras are the only real threat in that meta.

I'm all for teaching players mechanics and taking down enemies efficiently. I just have issues with the fact that Champ Hydras show up regardless of how many people are present. There is no CCing a Hydra with 1 or 2 people.

[Ayrilana.1396]

@rrusse.7058 said:

@Ayrilana.1396 said:The hydras are the only real threat in that meta.

I'm all for teaching players mechanics and taking down enemies efficiently. I just have issues with the fact that Champ Hydras show up regardless of how many people are present. There is no CCing a Hydra with 1 or 2 people.

It’s a group event though so you most definitely should not have one player. Depending on the classes present, you should be able to CC it with 1-3 players.

[Leablo.2651]

I completely disagree. Your implied premise is false; key prices are on a decreasing trend and are currently at a historic low. Buying your way out of doing the event is not only more accessible than ever, it's an option that most metas do not even have in the first place. IMO that puts this event very low on the list of metas that would need adjustment. Even if key prices were going up, that would only mean more people would start doing the event just to sell them, and that would make it easier to find groups. So if you really wanted to earn your way and not buy the keys (as you claim) then you should want prices to go sky high, but it seems like your only real objection to skipping this content is that it's not cheap enough to do so, which makes the whole argument seem pretty disingenuous to me. If new keys are appearing on the TP at all that means someone is doing the event, and you should find out who that is and when they are doing it to see if you can join them. Otherwise, are you using LFG?

[rrusse.7058]

@Leablo.2651 said:I completely disagree. Your implied premise is false; key prices are on a decreasing trend and are currently at a historic low. Buying your way out of doing the event is not only more accessible than ever, it's an option that most metas do not even have in the first place. IMO that puts this event very low on the list of metas that would need adjustment. Even if key prices were going up, that would only mean more people would start doing the event just to sell them, and that would make it easier to find groups. So if you really wanted to earn your way and not buy the keys (as you claim) then you should want prices to go sky high, but it seems like your only real objection to skipping this content is that it's not cheap enough to do so, which makes the whole argument seem pretty disingenuous to me. If new keys are appearing on the TP at all that means someone is doing the event, and you should find out who that is and when they are doing it to see if you can join them. Otherwise, are you using LFG?

You've made several assumptions about the content of my character which you would know nothing at all about and are not accurate at all.

You might have a point in that an increase in price may increase the number of people that take part in the South meta, it would not address the issue of the fact that a single piece is given to a single character per account. Depending on the time of day that can mean either a large number of players are going to be doing or significantly less as they cannot get anything out of it.

2G is not terribly expensive but there is little pleasure in having to take that route as I already mentioned. The major issue is the event itself is horribly unbalanced when it comes to just how many adds come out during the event.

For your last point yes I have used LFG and I highly recommend any player try using it whenever possible, but it can be hit or miss.

Please try to remember what people say about making assumptions about others. It only makes you and me look like an ass.

[rrusse.7058]

@Ayrilana.1396 said:

@rrusse.7058 said:

@Ayrilana.1396 said:The hydras are the only real threat in that meta.

I'm all for teaching players mechanics and taking down enemies efficiently. I just have issues with the fact that Champ Hydras show up regardless of how many people are present. There is no CCing a Hydra with 1 or 2 people.

It’s a group event though so you most definitely should not have one player. Depending on the classes present, you should be able to CC it with 1-3 players.

I agree, it most certainly is a group event. It's just sometimes there is no group to be had whatsoever. Sure some instances its an issue that players simply don't understand the mechanics and too many crowd around 1 drill or another.

The main point I am trying to make is that while it is indeed a group event, it should be possible for even smaller groups and that mobs scale to the number of players in the immediate area. Not spawning champs and elites even if no one is there.

[Kiza.5630]

I've done this event with very different group sizes. Down to only a few players at a drill. The hydra is only a problem, because ppl tend to lead it to the drill where it wreaks havoc. If you make the hydra face away from the drill, it will not breath at it constantly nor charge into it. It can be drawn away if players mind their surroundings a bit. They don't even need to die super fast.

[rrusse.7058]

@Kiza.5630 said:I've done this event with very different group sizes. Down to only a few players at a drill. The hydra is only a problem, because ppl tend to lead it to the drill where it wreaks havoc. If you make the hydra face away from the drill, it will not breath at it constantly nor charge into it. It can be drawn away if players mind their surroundings a bit. They don't even need to die super fast.

I've heard some players say that there is a way to get the Hydra to focus fire on you. Is there any truth to that?

[Sylvi.8372]

Bringing up this topic again. Tried to lead this twice during off peak hours.

The scaling still hurts.

When there's only 3 people that can be left behind at the Drill, the meta would fail. (Sometimes people don't understand how important it is to stay, and follow the tag instead.)
The deluge of enemies doesn't scale well even when some really good players are defending.

In the NKC meta, just 3-5 people defending the breakers left behind is doable. In here it's tough and the risk to even start makes the meta not as popular.

Edited December 14, 2022 by Chrysline.2317

[Khisanth.2948]

6 hours ago, Chrysline.2317 said:

When there's only 3 people that can be left behind at the Drill, the meta would fail. (Sometimes people don't understand how important it is to stay, and follow the tag instead.)

While that is a valid point, should everything in the game be nerfed because people refuse to learn?

6 hours ago, Chrysline.2317 said:

In the NKC meta, just 3-5 people defending the breakers left behind is doable.

1-2 people per breaker is fine but it is also a 6 way split versus 3.

If you can tell 3 people to stay behind and they do for the breakers but not for the drills then that is clearly not an issue with giving instructions or mechanics. Why are people who do the oil meta less likely to follow instructions?