Today saw the release of Part 3 of 5 in Joe “jwbarry” Barry’s Developer Diaries concerning the re-vamping of instances in the upcoming release of “Free to Play”. Today’s was specifically focusing on the Eregion and Annúminas instance clusters. For those who might not have reached this part of the game yet, the Annúminas instances are located on the southern bank of Lake Evendim and are three fellowship sized instances, while Eregion is just to the south of the Trollshaws and west of Moria.
Annúminas
One of the bigger changes to all the Annúminas dungeons (other than those mentioned in previous diaries) is that they no longer require the capturing of “camps” within the city area to be under player control. They may now be entered at any time.
Although it was considered that Haudh Valandil was “…in fairly solid shape”, Joe states that he was guided by player feedback stating that the pacing of the front area versus the back area was out-of-balance and the lack of messages from lighting torches (which is a player objective in the dungeon) was frustrating. This is the one of the two dungeons that Goldenstar and I have gone through in Annúminas, so we can completely agree. The first part is quite long and almost frustrating, while the second area is short and quick. In order to resolve these issues Joe states,
”We wound up deciding to give you 2 of the 6 lower rooms for free, having the entrances blocked off and the torches inside already lit. We then added “billboards” (large text notifications on the screen) as you lit the torches to better guide you through the experience. We also removed the cave-claws’ ability to burrow and disappear during combat for five seconds, as it’s just annoying.”
I have to agree that the cave-claws’ ability to disappear is annoying and I’ll be glad to see it gone. (Can we get it removed from the rest of the world now?) I think that these changes will go a long way to making the instance seem a lot less tedious and a lot more fun.
No gameplay changes were made to this dungeon as it was considered “…in very solid shape…” which is not something that I can personally comment on since I’ve never been inside.
According to the diary, this instance needed the most work and there were quite a few changes that were made to it.
- The lever puzzle was entirely removed
- The darkwaters had their auras adjusted so that instead of slowing players, they speed the attacks of those with the same auras (other darkwaters)
- The darkwaters also had another aura that drained power from players to one with an “…increased multiplier on the amount of power your skills use.”
- The last boss now summons darkwaters of each type immediately before the battle begins with no further waves or respawns.
This was the second dungeon that Goldenstar and I were a part of, and I have to agree with the lever puzzle being confusing. Although our group was well familiar with what we had to do, I was completely lost as to why I was pulling a lever and I’m glad to see it gone. I honestly don’t remember much about the darkwaters or the last boss so I’m guessing that it was trivial at our level and it will be much more of a challenge on-level.
Eregion
Both of the Eregion instances (The School and Library at Tham Mirdain) appear to have required almost no change at all. Azz took us through these instances a long time ago (and yes, we still became friends) and I thought they were pretty standard dungeons. They weren’t excessively long and they had some interesting areas and quests within them that I think will be enjoyable in the future. I wouldn’t mind running them again because they are 3-man’s and they’re short; both of which are pretty good inspirations for me to run them!
Overall the changes seem good. I can’t stress enough how much I’d like to thank Joe for changing the Annúminas ones. I have to admit I was surprised when Byrandt was raving about the instance in the Beta, but now I can understand why. If they’re anything like the other revisions that we’ve seen by other Turbine staff then we’re in for some good times.
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August 4, 2010 at 4:54 pm
“I have to admit I was surprised when Byrandt was raving about the instance in the Beta, but now I can understand why. ”
Say true, say thankya.
August 5, 2010 at 6:06 am
You’re welcome
August 4, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Someone on the EU forums suggested what is the point of controlling the points in the city now as they are not gated, other than lower levels wanting to run through it.
I suggested maybe a small skirmish mark acquisition buff for people running it if all three contested points are held, nothing huge, just a little buff as a reward for those who want to be bothered. Thought it would be fun.
I’m very pleased about the levers, not due to complexity, but now we can have a go at 4 manning it with our Dwarves without needing 6 people to pull them- Hooray!
August 5, 2010 at 6:07 am
Is it a part of a deed to do this? I honestly cannot remember, but it would make sense to put it in a “meta deed” somewhere if for no other reason than nostalgia.
August 5, 2010 at 6:57 am
I think there is a deed for slaying all the bosses in annuminas, at the camps and elsewhere, but I don’t think there is a camp capturing specific one.
That would be a fun addition, like you say just for giving them a purpose and for nostalgic reasons.
August 4, 2010 at 7:09 pm
I played the Annuminas instances more than any other SoA dungeon and I’m really looking forward to their return. I’m pretty optimistic about them after reading the dev diary. I only hope that the darkwater fights in the Gardens (some of the most challenging trash mob pulls in the game when done on level) are still challenging after the changes. It sounds like they should be improved, but I’ll have to run them a few times to see. I look forward to earning the Annuminas armour again as it is probably the coolest looking set that I ever earned.
August 5, 2010 at 6:12 am
Yeah, they’re an interesting change aren’t they? I can’t say I have a lot of experience in that instance, but changing the auras so that they’re based on the proximity of the number of darkwaters near each other; it should provide for more strategy based fights other than “kill as quickly as possible”.