Feedback: Sobekite Eternal

[Idi]

After reading the announcement pertaining to the Sobekite Eternal instance, I noticed some potential issues based on the cited intent and implementation of the instance.

You can expect to face new boss mechanics which require good coordination between the members of your group.

Issue: Basing this instance on the ability of a set, idealized group, instead of a random group of players and classes, is a mistake, and unhealthy for server population. Other servers using high level instances made this same mistake which resulted in many classes and specs being completely eliminated from contention for slots, and a small segment of the player population actually running the instances with any regularity.

Recommendation: Create an instance that can be regularly and successfully completed by a variety of classes and specs common to the pick up groups that make up the majority of a server.

It is also recommended that players are decently geared with some realm rank.

Issue: Favoring characters already equipped with decent gear and realm rank for a PvE instance is the exact opposite of what a PvE instance should be, as the instance should help gear out freshly created characters so they can then be more viable in RvR.

Suggestion: Rather than require players to kit out their characters and RvR so they can then be viable for a PvE instance, take the approach that the PvE instance will help their freshly created characters be more viable in RvR. If a greater difficulty level is the goal, then perhaps a scaling system could be implemented that increases the difficulty based on the average realm rank of a given group.

Other servers implemented high level instances, and while they were taken advantage of by some of the community, most of the community ignored them due to the unrealistic requirements needed to complete them. Entire classes were ignored for participation, and of those classes that were viable, most mandated a single spec in order to be accepted and effective. This resulted in the need to respec an acceptable class, or to create and keep an "instance" character for use solely in the instance / PvE. While those options are acceptable to some of the players, they make up a minority of players, while excluding the majority, and the goal of any shard should be to engage and maintain the majority of the player base, not the minority.

[Fin / Valar]

It should be done on a daily maximum basis, for example only once every 24h. Otherwise we will see the same situation of Darkspire and HoH on Phoenix: people with thousands of runs, grouping together only with other run-seasoned players so they can farm in the fastest way possible. This made me have 2 BDs and 2 SMs, one of each for "regular" play, the others only to farm DS, since those builds could not be played in RvR in any way.

It is good to have a very high-end PvE content, but if it becomes "farmable" it will clearly unbalance the economy towards people that can actually regularly farm the content and make a lot of money and whatever else.

[Marcus]

Sobekite is a difficult dungeon with high end rewards. Like any high end content for any MMO, you will need good players with good gear and a decent composition of supports + tank + dps. That is all that was meant in the announcement. It is not a freebee dungeon where participation rewards are given out. Some group compositions are more optimal and some are less optimal, but both melee and magic should be able to complete it. However, if you are the leader it is up to you to make the group, we can't control that.

I do like the idea of a 24 hour timer on this for balance reasons. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll bring it up to the team internally.

[Fin / Valar]

Sobekite is a difficult dungeon with high end rewards. Like any high end content for any MMO, you will need good players with good gear and a decent composition of supports + tank + dps. That is all that was meant in the announcement. It is not a freebee dungeon where participation rewards are given out. Some group compositions are more optimal and some are less optimal, but both melee and magic should be able to complete it. However, if you are the leader it is up to you to make the group, we can't control that.

I do like the idea of a 24 hour timer on this for balance reasons. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll bring it up to the team internally.

Thanks for your words!

Yes surely it will be a very difficult dng. But you know very well that any difficult task will be easily done after a certain time, when players will set up the optimal group build, know the mechanics of each mob and then it will be only a run against time to complete it in the fastest possible way. And this is true especially in a more-than-20-years-old game.

So, as far as I can see, there 2 options to avoid it to become only a farm-ground for very hardcore players:

1- you intentionally and periodically modify the dungeon, change monsters, mechanics, and optimal setup to finish it (a lot of work for sure for a free-shard....they don't do it this way even in other, well-paid, MMOs)

2- as I said, there should be a timer to avoid people to continuosly farm it (something like the Dragon respawn time, but much longer).
Since it is instanced I think that the timer should be account-wise on the players that have just finished it. And maybe only related to a single Realm toons, in case that someone wants to repeat it 3 times with the 3 realms and has the toons able to do it, well it should be possible. But nothing more after that, next runs after 24 hours!

[Idi]

It is not a freebee dungeon where participation rewards are given out.

What does that even mean? This game has never had anything that even comes close to that description, and nor should it.

[Vidiv]

24 hours timer is the worst thing i could ever imagine, we want to template in maximum 1-2 weeks of dedicated farm not 4 months. Make it harder if needed but a timer that high is ugly...and evil.

[Fin / Valar]

24 hours timer is the worst thing i could ever imagine, we want to template in maximum 1-2 weeks of dedicated farm not 4 months. Make it harder if needed but a timer that high is ugly...and evil.

I can understand your point..... but it is exactly why the timer is needed: to avoid hardcore players to have a full temp in no time while the remaing 99% players will struggle for months. This, and the fact that the ones who will be able to farm it repeatedly will totally unbalance the whole economy of the server (because many people will do it just to farm, not to template and go RvR lol)

[Jens]

And if its a really difficult dungeon, farmers are the only chance sneaks like me can get any item from there. If its highly farmed, prices will drop. If its 1 run a day, good luck on buying anything from there

[Chihuahua]

In my opinion some things have to be competetive, either by optimal group setup or gear wise (temp). And this dungeon is a high-end dungeon and should be competetive. Making everything easy and suitable for everyone is socialism and might get boring quickly.

People will be able to do templates without these dungeon items and there are several "less competetive" places to farm, where you can get decent items for your template. I personally love that there is everything in Eden, you can even farm solo on a stealther and template yourself.

[Jens]

Oh, i wasnt advocating to make it easy. its great if its hard and you need a cooridnated group. just dont put a timer on it so people like me can buy gear one day and not in a year