Feedback: The Dome of Stars (6-Man)

[ThePinion]

Hey everyone, I'm going to make a thread so I can keep things organized!

I'd love any and all feedback on the Dome of Stars instance, both on Tier 1 and Tier 2. The challenge will be changing from its current incarnation, so I'll update this to include it when it's ready.


Some things to consider:

1. What did you like? What were the stand-out moments?

2. What didn't you like? Did certain parts drag?

3. What did you think of the Mûmak encounter? Did it feel well-balanced? Was it approachable on T1, and engaging as a first fight on T2?

4. What were the high and low points for the regular monsters? Did one section (Haradrim/Troll, Orc, Easterling, Animated Armour) seem too weak or too deadly?

5. What monster skills did you like? Which ones didn't you like? Did some seem too weak/too strong?



I'll edit this to include the Lord of Pinions encounter and the Black Blade encounter once I finish my initial pass on them.

Thanks everyone!

[Giliodor]

Experiences in T2

Hey everyone, I'm going to make a thread so I can keep things organized!

I'd love any and all feedback on the Dome of Stars instance, both on Tier 1 and Tier 2. The challenge will be changing from its current incarnation, so I'll update this to include it when it's ready.


Some things to consider:

1. What did you like? What were the stand-out moments?

When our tank and red captain were down on the first boss but we nuked it hard enough to finish it. The first boss is a well balanced fight in my opinion. The trash pulls have some interesting features too, but they're pretty easy. Then again, there's a lot of trash pulls. Archers are a killer, but don't tone their damage down, please.

2. What didn't you like? Did certain parts drag?

The distance from the first to the second (and last?) boss. It's just pretty long and dull. Also, the normal warrior mobs don't do much damage. Give them a +inc damage debuff, perhaps.

3. What did you think of the Mûmak encounter? Did it feel well-balanced? Was it approachable on T1, and engaging as a first fight on T2?

Fun fight and well-balanced.

4. What were the high and low points for the regular monsters? Did one section (Haradrim/Troll, Orc, Easterling, Animated Armour) seem too weak or too deadly?

Trolls - pretty weak apart from special attacks.
Haradrim - ok as it is
Orc - Warriors are too weak, rest is fine
Easterlings - Weak
Animated Armour - quite ok

5. What monster skills did you like? Which ones didn't you like? Did some seem too weak/too strong?

The on-expiration Mamoth skill is quite nice. Not lethal, but dangerous. The classic Eye-and-kite ability is... classic. There is another very hard hitting skill, which seems strong, but that's how it's supposed to be, I'd say.

Again, the first boss is very well-balanced, it'll require very little fine tuning. Good job there.

Lord of Pinions

I may have missed that one... Is it in-game yet?

[Nuelenion]

Lord of... Pinions? Er... Hm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinion_(disambiguation)

This presents some interesting possibilities. At first I thought of a pinwheel.

[Castorix]

There are big memory leaks : on 32-bits (Windows 7 SP1), this instance (or Ruined City) crashes in a few seconds asa I entered (I reported this "bug"...)
I must increase VM with increaseuserva boot bariable to test them but my OS becomes too unstable.
BTW, from what I could test, T1 are like on live, a lot too easy and don't prepare for T2...

[PKCrichton]

Hey everyone, I'm going to make a thread so I can keep things organized!

I'd love any and all feedback on the Dome of Stars instance, both on Tier 1 and Tier 2. The challenge will be changing from its current incarnation, so I'll update this to include it when it's ready.


Some things to consider:

1. What did you like? What were the stand-out moments?

I liked that there were some different mechanics in play from dealing with troll knock backs, adds, archers, a captain that negated enemy damage.

2. What didn't you like? Did certain parts drag?

I thought the incoming damage debuff was to extreme that was granted to the mobs. You can get to to a point where a hit that normally is for 16k is hitting for less than 200 if I remember right.

One time when we went in we had a bug where some of our group would have an issue of once they walked into the Mumak's room they couldn't see or target anything. Only when a target was out of that room were they visible. This made doing the Mumak impossible. We also found a whole in the ground that people can fall into and it takes them some work to jump back out of.

3. What did you think of the Mûmak encounter? Did it feel well-balanced? Was it approachable on T1, and engaging as a first fight on T2?

Tier 1 of this was fun when we ran in build 1. Didn't run it on T2 due to number of people.

4. What were the high and low points for the regular monsters? Did one section (Haradrim/Troll, Orc, Easterling, Animated Armour) seem too weak or too deadly?

The Haradrim and trolls were a bit to weak when you are only dealing with them. I'm fine with the adds being at the strength they were but when facing only the trolls, haradrim etc they should be a bit stronger.

5. What monster skills did you like? Which ones didn't you like? Did some seem too weak/too strong?

The only one I saw was the incoming damage debuff that not only negated damage but it stacked if there were multiple of I think it was the Orc Captains around. This makes killing anything near impossible! This is the largest issue we had in T1 and it made it so we all died.

[Vulcwen]

The only one I saw was the incoming damage debuff that not only negated damage but it stacked if there were multiple of I think it was the Orc Captains around. This makes killing anything near impossible! This is the largest issue we had in T1 and it made it so we all died.

If you pull 1 captain.. focus fire the captain, then kill the rest.
If you pull more than 1 captain.. pull 1 cappy away, kill it, pull the next one, kill that one, until all are dead, then you can kill the rest of the pull.

It only drags when you're doing it wrong.

Anyway, I'd have to run this again in this build, I'll post my thoughts after that.

EDIT:
Alright, did a run at T1 (did T2 in the first build), duo with a guard up to the first boss.. seemed to lack DPS to kill the first boss, so we filled the entire group and continued.
The first boss is easy, you won't really need to use the incoming damage debuff, but I guess that's fine. The damage feels right for T1.
After that, the damage is quite low in general, and all the mobs die so fast it's just too easy.

The easterlings part is still filled with bugs. I liked to see who the Lord of the Pinions was (no details cause spoilers :P). If the craban-swirling-around-you-AoE would actually work, I think that fight can be somewhat challenging, although it seems the Lord of the Pinions tends to use that effect on most of the people in the group, which also gives you that -90% incoming damage buff (if it'd actually work), it's kinda pointless if everyone gets that buff :P

Inside the dome of stars, mobs are quite easy if they're tanked, the spirits die quickly. I do like the black screen effect.

About specific skills:
Haradrim archers: that 100% damage corruption and the poison make them the most dangerous mobs in the instance now, I like them. It seems approachable enough in a full group.
Trolls: The AoE smash that can be dodged is nice.. deals a good amount of damage even on T1.
Warriors: I like taunt immunity, creates some chaos because DPS can actually pull them off the tank.
Corruptor: The eye seems pretty insignificant.. it might be bugged, or nerfed (didnt look at the tooltip) with the latest build, but there was no need to spread out.
Captain: apparently they are elite master now, but the protective aura was nerfed to 20% (down from 85%), which basically made the aura completely irrelevant, other mobs will die before the captains with AoE nuking. It's fine at 85% I think, it'll create some challenge in threat management.
Easterlings: I'll wait for the bug fixes here..

Black Blade of Lebennin: I like the visuals on how it starts:


The fight itself could end up interesting, but currently, it's too easy (mobs die too quickly.. especially the "special" adds).

[Askanko]

The trash pulls in the Sunken Labyrinth T1 (Trolls) are more challenging than the whole Dome instance on T1.

And depending on the loot tables I doubt that people will spend much time in it because the first boss is just at
the instance entry while the other two bosses requires a massive amount of trash pulls.

What I have noticed is that some damage (I do not what skill exactly) in the second boss encounter is doing the
same damage on level 100 and level 50 (something about 2k HP when you hit the minions).

The last boss mechanics are far too easy if you have a enough AOE dps.

[Siddharta]

Just did successful T2C run, so here is the feeback:

-1st boss is good as i mentioned before, guess mammoth damage (Red eye especially) can be slightly increased.
-Rook (Side boss) is my favourite in the whole insctance cluster for the moment. I don't think much things need to be changed here, liked this fight, found at east 2 different ways to kill it. Guess you can change damage reflect debuff to not only melee.
-Last boss 1-shot skill damage have to be reduced for sure, cause without yellow-spec LM it is seems too deadly. Fell-Beast must have an Adaptation buff (https://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Adaptation) i believe or full invulnerability to any kind of CC.
-Will be pleased if some kind of teleport to the tower entrance be added after trash cleaning.

[Dark-Rebel]

Just did successful T2C run, so here is the feeback:

-1st boss is good as i mentioned before, guess mammoth damage (Red eye especially) can be slightly increased.
-Rook (Side boss) is my favourite in the whole insctance cluster for the moment. I don't think much things need to be changed here, liked this fight, found at east 2 different ways to kill it. Guess you can change damage reflect debuff to not only melee.
-Last boss 1-shot skill damage have to be reduced for sure, cause without yellow-spec LM it is seems too deadly. Fell-Beast must have an Adaptation buff (https://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Adaptation) i believe or full invulnerability to any kind of CC.
-Will be pleased if some kind of teleport to the tower entrance be added after trash cleaning.

Well this is a 6-man, if you can do with a LM so they don't need reduce the damage, but if it was a 3-man: yes
- I did in t1 and the damage was very strong, i just think aoe should be frontal (280º) and not 360°
- Aoe 360º can just subtract morale it will never be a oneshot

I don't like this style: the boss do weak damage but have a strong aoe (can oneshot people). All new instances have the same mechanic.

[Siddharta]

Well this is a 6-man, if you can do with a LM so they don't need reduce the damage, but if it was a 3-man: yes

I think that in every instance except raids you should have an opportunity to replace every single class with another. That's my point of view.

[ThePinion]

The Black Blade is going to be substantially more dangerous in the next build, so I'll be interested to know what you think of him then. He's definitely too easy right now mostly because his skills weren't finished or balanced properly. Also, the Fell-beast will be bumped up to an Elite Master in all likelihood, and be given immunity to most CC.

I am curious, though, which skill or attack was one-shotting you during that fight?

Other things:

-After further thought, I'll be un-nerfing the Morgul Captain aura and making it so they either need to be pulled away or killed first.
-What are the issues/bugs you're seeing in the Easterling area? I'm going to look into making them tougher, but it sounds like the current issues go beyond just balance.
-I'll look at the Corrupter skill since it should be pretty potent, and I'm guessing it's not firing correctly.

[Vulcwen]

-What are the issues/bugs you're seeing in the Easterling area? I'm going to look into making them tougher, but it sounds like the current issues go beyond just balance.

To be specific (from memory):
- Silences don't work (you get the effect on you, but no graybar, you can still use the skills that are normally surpressed while silenced. The LM skill Sign of Power: Righteousness also doesn't remove it like it does normally for silences)
- If Im right, if you get those crebain swirling around you, it should damage other players around you.. it doesn't do that at all. The -90% incoming damage buff that comes with it also doesn't seem to work at all.

[God_Of_Wargs]

The Black Blade is going to be substantially more dangerous in the next build, so I'll be interested to know what you think of him then. He's definitely too easy right now mostly because his skills weren't finished or balanced properly. Also, the Fell-beast will be bumped up to an Elite Master in all likelihood, and be given immunity to most CC.

I am curious, though, which skill or attack was one-shotting you during that fight?

Other things:

-After further thought, I'll be un-nerfing the Morgul Captain aura and making it so they either need to be pulled away or killed first.
-What are the issues/bugs you're seeing in the Easterling area? I'm going to look into making them tougher, but it sounds like the current issues go beyond just balance.
-I'll look at the Corrupter skill since it should be pretty potent, and I'm guessing it's not firing correctly.

My issue is with how there are going to be instances (3 and 6 man) when there is such a major class imbalance currently?

For example, instances/raids (for example, a 6-man instance) will just be best served by using 6 wardens. They have the highest dps of any class, and also have insane survivability. A single warden can solo a 12-man skirmish raid on-level - using level 1 weapons, and a frying pan - there is a video on youtube of it.

So I question what the point of instances are when classes are so terribly imbalanced, and when certain classes are just hands-down better than others in every single way, so much that the best group formation would essentially be stacking wardens, and maybe one other class to buff or heal the wardens.

[Aedfrith]

My issue is with how there are going to be instances (3 and 6 man) when there is such a major class imbalance currently?

For example, instances/raids (for example, a 6-man instance) will just be best served by using 6 wardens. They have the highest dps of any class, and also have insane survivability. A single warden can solo a 12-man skirmish raid on-level - using level 1 weapons, and a frying pan - there is a video on youtube of it.

So I question what the point of instances are when classes are so terribly imbalanced, and when certain classes are just hands-down better than others in every single way, so much that the best group formation would essentially be stacking wardens, and maybe one other class to buff or heal the wardens.

Don't forget the DPS minstrels.
Raid = 2 tank wardens, 4 melee DPS wardens, 2 captains or yellow minstrels buffing and 4 red minstrels for ranged DPS.

God help RKs, champions, hunters, LMs, guards and especially the poor burglar, who might offer something in the mischief line for debuffs but is SOL as far as DPS, CC or Fellowship Manoeuvres, which are now laughable and don't work on any worthwhile mob in any case.

[Siddharta]

I am curious, though, which skill or attack was one-shotting you during that fight?

I don't remember the exact name, but it contains the word "Fear". The Black Blade turns to a random player and cast it.

[Siddharta]

b3:

Rook:

-Boss not gains his protection buff again if you wipe\reset after killing sorcerers .
-Cant leave boss area after killing it...invisible walls appear all around.

The Black Blade:

The Spirit of the Dark Plague scored a hit with Morale Damage on Evil for 7,343 damage to Morale.
(my hp ~ 25.000, 1 Morale damage defuff)
So morale damage deals ~30% instead of ~10%. Bug?

[ThePinion]

b3:

Rook:

-Boss not gains his protection buff again if you wipe\reset after killing sorcerers .
-Cant leave boss area after killing it...invisible walls appear all around.

The Black Blade:

The Spirit of the Dark Plague scored a hit with Morale Damage on Evil for 7,343 damage to Morale.
(my hp ~ 25.000, 1 Morale damage defuff)
So morale damage deals ~30% instead of ~10%. Bug?

The 30% burst is intentional. They're meant to be split off and killed instead of being AOE'd.

I'll look into Rook's problems today.

Update: Invisi-walls are fixed, and now he gets his buff back. Rook was being forgetful and thought his sorcerers were still dead, so his birds didn't show up for work.

[Siddharta]

The 30% burst is intentional. They're meant to be split off and killed instead of being AOE'd.

I'll look into Rook's problems today.

Does this mean that when you have 2 Morale Damage debuffs they will be hitting 60%? Or 30% is permanent?

[ThePinion]

The Spirit's on-death burst always does 30% of each person hit's total health, but since your total health will be lowered by the Black Blade debuff (-10% morale), it'll actually do less to you than it would if you weren't debuffed by the Black Blade. The Black Blade just lowers your health for combat, and the spirit burst is just a flat 30% instant hit.

[Siddharta]

The Spirit's on-death burst always does 30% of each person hit's total health, but since your total health will be lowered by the Black Blade debuff (-10% morale), it'll actually do less to you than it would if you weren't debuffed by the Black Blade.

Ok, got it, thank you for the reply!

[Askanko]

The 30% burst is intentional. They're meant to be split off and killed instead of being AOE'd.

I had no problem killing all mobs at once (Level 50 version) with Raging Blade as the range is greater than those acid clouds.

IIRC they are also CC able meaning there should be no problem for a Champion to grab aggro, start kiting them around and use Champions horn to stun them for 9 seconds so they can
be safely finished off all at once. Last but not least you can sprint away before the mobs are going to die.

[ThePinion]

I'm still looking for more Beta 3 feedback if you've run it!

[Leixy]

but but but.... anniversary festival!!!

get them to extend the anniversary festival an extra week, maybe you'll get more people taking time to alt over to bullroarer =)

Lots of people farming both types of festival tokens while they can on live.

We're literally on a limited timer on what we can do in the festival, and it takes a lot of tokens to get everything.

[Siddharta]

I'm still looking for more Beta 3 feedback if you've run it!

Going to run T2C with my mates tomorrow hopefully, so we'll record a video from each boss.

[Siddharta]

b3, LVL 100, T2:

5\6 (2 Hunters, Gurdian, Minstrel, Captain)


Rook

-Crebains\Adds sometimes not reset after wipe
-Sorcerers now fully reset every ~30 seconds if their target stays in range (not on the boss square). Guess, it's a bug cause in this case sorcerer removes all the defuffs\marks\dots from himself.

The Black Blade

-5.000.000 hp is a mistake i think, this fight took us ~15 minutes. Too long. Guess, you can increase puddle area and return pre-b3 HP status.
-Liked revamped boss abilities as the whole fight except its duration! Corruptions are great, but they slow down the fight a lot with such amount of boss HP.
-New Beast is much better now! (Threat drop debuff )

PS: We didn't pay attention to changed Challenge quest, so were following older rules (left the Beast alive). New challenge is good (but a bit easier i believe
), you have to choose which Add you prefer to leave.

Overall:
Best 6-man instance after Mines Of Moria cluster
Ryan, hope you'll be designing a new raid!

I'll upload video a little bit later.