After doing the dungeon a few times, I thought I would provide a bit of feedback.
1. Ooze Room
Not bad, but not awesome. The problem here is that without proper coordination it is nearly impossible. And the problem with coordination in dungeons is that it is like herding cats.
I think that with a few tweaks this could be a nice addition. For example, all players need to be able to use their abilities. AoE heavy players trying their best will still often harm the ooze. I understand the idea of them getting killed, but I would rather this be due to burning, or the elementals, instead of accidental AoE
2. Slick and Sparki
The mechanics here are pretty cool, and it’s not actually a bad fight. The problem is that the toxic fumes are super annoying. I understand that the idea is to lure the ooze to suck up the oil, but i often find myself with 3-5 stacks of fumes, and nowhere to go.
I can’t make the ooze follow me, I can’t condition remove the fumes, I can’t dodge them, nor heal them. I’m simply at the mercy of them as they quite quickly kill me.
What I think would have been a better mechanic is that the fumes do only a little damage, but the longer the oil is on the ground and/or burning, the more the room fills with smoke. The smoke would progressively blind players and make it harder to see, and avoid the ooze.
That way there is still a penalty for not clearing the slicks, but not in the predictable AoE damage way.
3. Hologenerators are annoying
I like the idea of blowing up the holograms by the generators to create damage, but I personally find the actual process of doing so rather unfulfilling. What I mean is that every time is have done these fights, I’m just wildly shooting into a mob, hoping the holos will explode.
I’m not actually really doing any sort of gameplay, but just relying on the fact mobs are generally pretty stupid and will just bunch up. I would rather see less mobs, but a more controlled experience. A few higher HP holos that need to be killed by the projectors would feel nicer than just zerging a group and hoping for the best.
4. Foreman
Not a bad fight. The only real issue I have is that from a realism perspective, its kinda stupid. I mean, a player runs in, kites 8 enemies and the Forman doesn’t even take notice?
This room was perfect for Arkham City, covert ops style gameplay. Sneaking around, picking off patrol mobs, possibly setting bombs on ships, smacking a pipe so it breaks and rolls down onto the mobs in the center would have been really fun.
This “kite and fight” mechanics kinda bores me personally.
5. Electric Boogaloo
The electric security room is by far the worst part of this dungeon. I remember the Molten Facility security room and how fun that felt. This, is nothing more than a super fast, super annoying floor that isn’t worth caring about.
Unless you’re going for the achievement, it just makes sense to gun it across the floor, die, and spawn on a platform.
The floor needs to slow down, and allow players to figure out what is going to happen. This insta-react mechanic is too punishing for players who are not super amazing wither the mouse/keyboard.
This same concept was done in Arkham city, but it was done much better. The floor had a “tell” which meant you had a few seconds to figure out what to do, or you took damage. You had time to learn the pattern, but it was still a challenge.
Slow the floor down, provide a “tell”.
6. Final Boss
The first part is yet another stupid floor electricity mechanic. It turns on way too fast to be avoided, and if you don’t get to the platform, or the “dead” floor…you’re done.
I personally hate these mechanics. You should always give the player some very obvious indication the floor is going to turn on, and give the time to react.
The boss himself is fine aside from a few bugs that others have pointed out. When all goes correctly, it’s pretty fun. The only real suggestion I have is making it a big more obvious what needs to be done. I honestly just melee him because I don’t really understand the mechanics.
7. End achievements
This is another one of those ANet guessing games. How is anyone supposed to know where the chests are without a guide (or playing it 20 times)? I would really like to see ANet spend some time scripting NPCs to lead “missions.”
Anyway, all n’ all it’s not a bad dungeon. It does feel really long though. I don’t think I’ll touch it much after the achievements simply due to the time commitment. Also, I have to add that I think it was in poor taste to make this a “Living Story” thing
You guys need to understand that it is completely unfair to allow everyone to participate in the story, only to cut them off at the end. We complained about this a few times already, and yet you continue to do it.
Don’t hide the story conclusion inside high level dungeons without providing options. It’s poor form.