Review of Twilight Assault

Review of Twilight Assault

in Twilight Assault

Posted by: PolishSausage.1279

PolishSausage.1279

After having to deal with morons who wouldn’t listen, I was finally able to get people that would actually be able to complete this dungeon. Outside of the human analogue, it really is well designed and incredibly detailed, with some new and interesting mechanics that require people to do more than just stand in one place and mash 1.

Let’s go a bit more in depth with this though, and focus on each aspect and how they shape up:

Slick and Sparki: Easily the hardest fight out of the entire path, in that it requires the most coordination. Having to lure the ooze around to keep damage floors from appearing is an engaging but challenging mechanic. I found that keeping everyone in a group and moving at once was the best option for this, since it allows the oil splurts to land in relatively the same area, and we can keep the ooze in a general proximity without it going too far in one direction. The only problem is that taking Slick down, compared to Sparki, is an incredibly long procedure, even with this strategy. I’m not sure if he gets any bonuses outside of his frenzy buff when his partner goes down, but, maybe a slight health reduction may be in order to keep it from going on too long?

The Foreman: Generally a straight forward fight. Avoid the electric traps he throws down, and make sure to roll away when he does his whirling attack to avoid taking heavy damage. Him constricting the arena means you can’t just stay at max range all the time, further requiring you to pay attention to what he’s doing. Not a hard encounter, but it keeps you on your toes.

Clockheart: Definitely the most unique encounter, as it uses mechanics that you learn to use earlier in the dungeon (killing the holograms to remove his buff). Staying at max range only causes him to throw out gears that create damage areas and other powerful AoE attacks, so staying in close is a recommended course of action. You still need to watch for his power moves, though like other oakheart mobs, they’re fairly easy to read. Being able to dodge effectively is key, and again keeps players on their toes for the fight.

Bonus Content: Having the extra content at the end of the dungeon is pretty ingenious, and a great incentive for players to stick around an extra few minutes for more rewards, especially extra empyreal shards. The only problem is that there’s nothing stopping the party leader from screwing the entire party over and dropping group, resulting in booting everyone out of the dungeon before that can take part. No idea why that hasn’t been fixed yet, really.

The only other critique I have on this part is having the aetherblade chests being a part of it. Especially this early after the release of the dungeon, not many people are going to have an aether key to open any of the chests, much less five of them, and from what I’ve heard you don’t exactly get anything really special for as well as they are hidden, especially when that part of the event doesn’t even affect the dungeon itself. Could it be possible to simply have them as their own separate goal instead for the explorers to go after?

The Puzzles: The ooze puzzle is kind of tricky to rate, since it requires an amount of brain power that the vast majority of the GW2 community isn’t used to using. However, a group of people that actually know what they’re doing can figure this one out without a problem. The electric floor room in a similar situation, though we eventually got the idea that you can’t touch the floor at ALL before getting on a platform, lest you get knocked off. Navigating the floor is the hardest part, as the formation of the safe zone changes really quickly, making it hard to react without swiftness or any other speed buff active. Could it be possible to slow it down a bit to make it a bit easier to navigate?

The Rewards: Generally what you’d come to expect from a dungeon, though the bonus tokens for the next couple weeks definitely give a bit more incentive to try it, and the chance for new aetherblade weapons is definitely intriguing, since they look pretty slick (and I have a hell of a time finding appropriate weapon styles for my Necro and his three gear sets [p.s. please implement gear loadout switching]). The aether chests, again, are the primary quirk of this part, as they take a good amount of exploration to find for questionable rewards.

Overall, the new path is an interesting revamp of an old path that players generally disliked for various reasons, and solves a lot of problems with the old dungeons: it encourages using tactics and teamwork to get through, has bosses that are more than just loot pinatas without being overly frustrating, and gives a strong middle finger to skippers that are too lazy/stupid to know how to do regular content. It has a few quirks that could be addressed, but it’s still a pretty good addition nonetheless.

Grade: B+

(edited by PolishSausage.1279)