Yes, I’m probably not the first to say this, and I know I’m not going to be the last, but the Zhaitan fight was ridiculously underwhelming. I have heard no positive responses to this. Just off of the top of my head, these are some of the major problems:
1. There is no difficulty.
2. Destiny’s Edge played little to no role in the dragon’s destruction.
3. There was no “fight” with Zhaitan. (Mashing the 2 skill on the guns does not count.)
4. Trahearne was not even there .
5. Zhaitan’s “Champions” were mostly generic dragons. (Mouth of Zhaitan excluded.)
I’m not going to go in-depth on these problems. It isn’t hard to see why I’ve listed them. What I want to do is show one option to make the fight more like what the culmination to the living story, dungeon arc, and destiny edge’s story should be. This is the apex of three major parts of Guild Wars 2 and deserves to be a memorable experience. Here is my suggestion: a continuation of Arah Story mode (still for five players).
When Zhaitan was shot down, he was not dead. He retreated underground into a cathedral made by the Orrians to honor the gods, then sealed it with a particularly durable bone wall. Because it is underground, the airship that was used to weaken him cannot be brought there. To make up for this, the pact assemble a strike force to infiltrate Zhaitan’s lair, and defeat him in his weakened state. Destiny’s Edge, Trahearne, and the party (maybe add some important figures from the pact as well) are chosen.
Zojja engineers a smaller version of the giant cannons used on the pact ship to breach the wall to allow entry. Once there, they must go through waves of undead (remember, this is Zhaitan’s last stand, so everything he has will be here) as they advance farther in.
When they encounter Zhaitan, he is gaurded by six of his risen champions- the risen priests from the Orrian overworld. To progress, your group needs to split into three groups:
One group will advance in a direct path to the dragon, and will have to face the priests directly in combat to get there. There are there obstacles: the risen priests, the dragon’s corrupting aura, and the sporadic bone walls that are conjured as you progress.
To destroy the walls, Zojja stays behind and begins to repair the cannon that took damage during the way down. Eir and some other(s) from the player’s party stay behind to protect her.
The priests are connected to their statues that are on the upper ramparts overlooking the lower floors where the assault group progress. Caithe and Trahearne go with some other(s) from the player party along there to destroy the statues and weaken the priests.
The corrupting aura of Zhaitan can be held back by Logan’s shield, but not permanently. If the group takes too long, Logan will not be able to hold out, and the assault group will die. Rytlock and some other(s) from the party go with him in the direct assault. As they advance and encounter the different priests, the statue team would destroy the appropriate statues for them to be able to defeat the priest. Similarly, as Zhaitan summons walls, Zojja will fire the cannon to destroy them.
If any one team fails, the encounter fails, will need to be restarted. Every character has a major role to play, and every role is important where different play styles and character types shine..
-Damage is important on the ramparts, since destroying the statues needs to happen quickly.
-Survivability is important in the lower assault team since they will need to hold out until the statues are destroyed.
-A combination of these is important for protecting Zojja as undead will be constantly swarming, and you will need to protect her.
-On top of this, the party will need to choose one player to solo one of these paths, since you have only five players, and there are three paths. The goal here is to make you appreciate Destiny’s Edge more, and rely on them. (Adding some unique abilities to each of the members of Destiny’s Edge would help here.)
When all is said and done, a final showdown with the dragon would follow. The assault group would begin while the other two groups work to catch up to them and rejoin the fight.
This is not the only way to do this, but it would make the fight memorable and epic. The players would feel accomplished when it was over. This is important as the concluding event for three major arcs of the story.