I like the creativity in this post and think it's refreshing to see someone put forth their own ideas on these forums instead of just whining incessantly, but I do have a few criticisms of this dungeon.
The mechanics you chose were a little lackluster and honestly repetitive. Frostbite and Weight of Darkness are perfectly fine mechanics that I like quite a bit, but I feel like using them both isn't needed. They both function similarly (you slowly tick down to an ultimately unfavorable state unless you stand in an area or do something to decrease the timer) so both aren't needed, I would just use frostbite. Building off of that, motes decreasing the frostbite timer is good (kind of weird that the cap is 21 stacks, but it's not really relevant) but unless those motes are available for all teammates (ie one person picking them up doesn't consume them for everyone), it could leave fireteams in situations where other players could be deprived of motes while one player picks them all up, especially if they're RNG based against normal enemies. I also don't think that the mini bosses would work super well with such minimal set up, as an experience raid/dungeon player, it seems like they would either have to have a ton of health to prevent them from getting immediately melted (which may turn into a series of DPS checks that some fireteams or solo players may die while trying to beat) or they would have a reasonable amount of health so they could be realistically beaten back to back to back (which would make them absolute cakewalks as experienced fireteams melt them and move onto the next without worrying about frostbite). Either way, while I do like the mini boss idea, the way you proposed it sounds more like a good strike encounter than a good dungeon encounter. Overall, I think your first encounter would work better as an intro encounter like the opening to Prophecy where you first have to open the doors with motes or the opening to Duality where you learn how to use the bells, but I don't think there's enough meat to it to be a full encounter.
I actually like the second encounter quite a bit in theory, the use of a relic to destroy the cruxes is cool, but I don't like that players would start with 10 stacks of Weight of Darkness. It makes killing the hydra a bit annoying, seeing as you couldn't use jump abilities or sprint while trying to run over and kill a guy for the relic. My suggestion would be to do the encounter in reverse, so you start with zero stacks but gain 2 stacks for each crux you destroy, with some kind of mechanic to decrease stacks BUT the amount of Weight of Darkness you have on you actually increases your damage during DPS, meaning you could still have the mechanic in play in a more meaningful way than just a thing you progressively get rid of. I think I would have personally had hydras spawn in for additional relics instead of harpies just for consistency, but that's just me. I also wouldn't use the Glassway boss room here, I feel like the way its designed doesn't interact with the limited movement that Weight of Darkness entails and I think that having a different arena with more platforming and less covered areas would make the encounter more challenging. Overall though, I like the encounter and think that you have a good idea here, maybe work at it a little more but overall, not bad.
Finally, I really wasn't a huge fan of the final encounter. It's a solid idea and I like the reincorporation of taking cover from the sun, that was a really memorable part of the Red War for a reason, but I don't like almost anything to do with the boss. The health could be decreased to five million to keep it in line with Caiatl's, but I don't think that the mechanics relying on how much the players damages it is very fitting with previous dungeons or dungeons period. The way the boss just sends you to a different place to do a thing until you get teleported back is also not very interesting, I would have liked to see a bit more work go into getting to a DPS phase than just 'kill mini boss while managing debuffs', as well as more constaints on how long you can spend in a DPS phase. Damage phases that only end when you hit a certain limit with no timer or mechanic that limits how long you have are very easy and don't really offer much in the way of an endgame experience since you can just plink away at the boss until you get teleported away with no concern for DPS until the final phase (the numbers don't add up either, the total damage you described players dealing is only 4.44 million, which is a better number than you said earlier but it's inconsistent). I don't think there should be a last stand either, dealing 10% of a boss's health isn't hard if you're given ample prep time to regen supers and collect ammo for a fireteam and you could probably melt the boss no problem, but for a solo player, that's a bit annoying. It would be frustrating to potentially wipe because you don't have a fireteam to back you up and thus lose a solo or solo flawless run, there's a reason why no dungeon bosses have last stands or enrage mechanics. Speaking of things that dungeons don't have, this is a minor change but switch the champion out for a mini boss, dungeons have never used champions outside of master mode and never will according to the devs. Overall, this encounter sounds more like a year one raid lair encounter than the final boss of a dungeon.
Now, with regards to loot, I feel like the weapons aren't spread out across the 3 slots enough, I'd recommend changing the hand cannon to either void or arc, seeing as the current notable roll + archetype is remarkably similar to Vulpecula. Stasis is a cool element (pun intended), but more diversity in the elements present on these weapons would have to keep the overall loot pool less samey. Also, Rewind Rounds shouldn't be on these guns, it's a fun perk but it's meant to be exclusive to VoG weapons. The reskinning of EDZ weapons isn't something I mind, but I feel like you could have been a bit more creative with how the weapons would look, maybe make them look more like the EDZ weapons but partially corrupted or transformed by the Vex. I'll get back to that in the next paragraph, but I'd also like to say that the exotic is a bit lackluster. I thought your stasis version of Firefly was cute, but the exotic perk just feels a little too specific and relies too much on the catalyst to make it fully function.
I also wish you went more into what the 'Vex theme' would look like, at the moment it just sounds like the normal brass metal and white radiolarian we always see, I want to hear more about what sets these Vex apart visually. Part of my complaints with your idea stem from a lack of identity, I feel like this dungeon is like one of those Taken King strikes that took an older strike but added taken elements, this feels like an expanded version of Glassway opposed to new content. I also wish you went more into the lore of the dungeon. You said that we were looking for three hunters that were consumed by darkness, how does that tie into the Vex? The Vex aren't able to use paracausal abilities, it feels like any three guardians could have been hooked up to a vex mind. Also, why were there pyramids in the boss room? I get they look cool, but you just used them as decoration for the sky box, they should feel more involved in the dungeon and its mechanics.
This feels more like a strike with extra loot or a raid with half the encounters than a dungeon, I would recommend trying to flesh it out a little more. I also realize this is a mock up of a dungeon and I just wrote a full essay on it, but it's a slow night and these kinds of things interest me, so I might as well.
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[quote]I like the creativity in this post and think it's refreshing to see someone put forth their own ideas on these forums instead of just whining incessantly, but I do have a few criticisms of this dungeon. The mechanics you chose were a little lackluster and honestly repetitive. Frostbite and Weight of Darkness are perfectly fine mechanics that I like quite a bit, but I feel like using them both isn't needed. They both function similarly (you slowly tick down to an ultimately unfavorable state unless you stand in an area or do something to decrease the timer) so both aren't needed, I would just use frostbite. Building off of that, motes decreasing the frostbite timer is good (kind of weird that the cap is 21 stacks, but it's not really relevant) but unless those motes are available for all teammates (ie one person picking them up doesn't consume them for everyone), it could leave fireteams in situations where other players could be deprived of motes while one player picks them all up, especially if they're RNG based against normal enemies. I also don't think that the mini bosses would work super well with such minimal set up, as an experience raid/dungeon player, it seems like they would either have to have a ton of health to prevent them from getting immediately melted (which may turn into a series of DPS checks that some fireteams or solo players may die while trying to beat) or they would have a reasonable amount of health so they could be realistically beaten back to back to back (which would make them absolute cakewalks as experienced fireteams melt them and move onto the next without worrying about frostbite). Either way, while I do like the mini boss idea, the way you proposed it sounds more like a good strike encounter than a good dungeon encounter. Overall, I think your first encounter would work better as an intro encounter like the opening to Prophecy where you first have to open the doors with motes or the opening to Duality where you learn how to use the bells, but I don't think there's enough meat to it to be a full encounter. I actually like the second encounter quite a bit in theory, the use of a relic to destroy the cruxes is cool, but I don't like that players would start with 10 stacks of Weight of Darkness. It makes killing the hydra a bit annoying, seeing as you couldn't use jump abilities or sprint while trying to run over and kill a guy for the relic. My suggestion would be to do the encounter in reverse, so you start with zero stacks but gain 2 stacks for each crux you destroy, with some kind of mechanic to decrease stacks BUT the amount of Weight of Darkness you have on you actually increases your damage during DPS, meaning you could still have the mechanic in play in a more meaningful way than just a thing you progressively get rid of. I think I would have personally had hydras spawn in for additional relics instead of harpies just for consistency, but that's just me. I also wouldn't use the Glassway boss room here, I feel like the way its designed doesn't interact with the limited movement that Weight of Darkness entails and I think that having a different arena with more platforming and less covered areas would make the encounter more challenging. Overall though, I like the encounter and think that you have a good idea here, maybe work at it a little more but overall, not bad. Finally, I really wasn't a huge fan of the final encounter. It's a solid idea and I like the reincorporation of taking cover from the sun, that was a really memorable part of the Red War for a reason, but I don't like almost anything to do with the boss. The health could be decreased to five million to keep it in line with Caiatl's, but I don't think that the mechanics relying on how much the players damages it is very fitting with previous dungeons or dungeons period. The way the boss just sends you to a different place to do a thing until you get teleported back is also not very interesting, I would have liked to see a bit more work go into getting to a DPS phase than just 'kill mini boss while managing debuffs', as well as more constaints on how long you can spend in a DPS phase. Damage phases that only end when you hit a certain limit with no timer or mechanic that limits how long you have are very easy and don't really offer much in the way of an endgame experience since you can just plink away at the boss until you get teleported away with no concern for DPS until the final phase (the numbers don't add up either, the total damage you described players dealing is only 4.44 million, which is a better number than you said earlier but it's inconsistent). I don't think there should be a last stand either, dealing 10% of a boss's health isn't hard if you're given ample prep time to regen supers and collect ammo for a fireteam and you could probably melt the boss no problem, but for a solo player, that's a bit annoying. It would be frustrating to potentially wipe because you don't have a fireteam to back you up and thus lose a solo or solo flawless run, there's a reason why no dungeon bosses have last stands or enrage mechanics. Speaking of things that dungeons don't have, this is a minor change but switch the champion out for a mini boss, dungeons have never used champions outside of master mode and never will according to the devs. Overall, this encounter sounds more like a year one raid lair encounter than the final boss of a dungeon. Now, with regards to loot, I feel like the weapons aren't spread out across the 3 slots enough, I'd recommend changing the hand cannon to either void or arc, seeing as the current notable roll + archetype is remarkably similar to Vulpecula. Stasis is a cool element (pun intended), but more diversity in the elements present on these weapons would have to keep the overall loot pool less samey. Also, Rewind Rounds shouldn't be on these guns, it's a fun perk but it's meant to be exclusive to VoG weapons. The reskinning of EDZ weapons isn't something I mind, but I feel like you could have been a bit more creative with how the weapons would look, maybe make them look more like the EDZ weapons but partially corrupted or transformed by the Vex. I'll get back to that in the next paragraph, but I'd also like to say that the exotic is a bit lackluster. I thought your stasis version of Firefly was cute, but the exotic perk just feels a little too specific and relies too much on the catalyst to make it fully function. I also wish you went more into what the 'Vex theme' would look like, at the moment it just sounds like the normal brass metal and white radiolarian we always see, I want to hear more about what sets these Vex apart visually. Part of my complaints with your idea stem from a lack of identity, I feel like this dungeon is like one of those Taken King strikes that took an older strike but added taken elements, this feels like an expanded version of Glassway opposed to new content. I also wish you went more into the lore of the dungeon. You said that we were looking for three hunters that were consumed by darkness, how does that tie into the Vex? The Vex aren't able to use paracausal abilities, it feels like any three guardians could have been hooked up to a vex mind. Also, why were there pyramids in the boss room? I get they look cool, but you just used them as decoration for the sky box, they should feel more involved in the dungeon and its mechanics. This feels more like a strike with extra loot or a raid with half the encounters than a dungeon, I would recommend trying to flesh it out a little more. I also realize this is a mock up of a dungeon and I just wrote a full essay on it, but it's a slow night and these kinds of things interest me, so I might as well.[/quote] I see your points ill work on that starting with the weapons