Disclaimer: I wasn’t sure if this was better suited here or on suggestions, but I thought it would make more sense here. If any moderator moves it to the suggestions board, please notify me so I know where did my topic end up :P
Regarding Dungeons Themselves: I was extremely excited about them. Why? Because I was promised dungeons that would feel like they belonged in an action-adventure game, like Zelda. Traps, puzzles, exploring the area to find the secret way in, and so on. But what i got was a standard “move to the next spot killing things along the way” (granted, done very well on that regard).
HOWEVER, I do know that Arenanet is able to do such a thing, and do it really well. How do I know that? Well, because they’ve made a dungeon like that! It’s not known to many, though, because it’s hidden at the end of a metaevent on northeastern Diessa Plateau. More specifically, the Font of Rhand minidungeon.
The minidungeon I found there provided clever, interesting puzzles, need for exploration, and challenging fights that required skill. The only problem with it is there aren’t more of it.
So please, when designing future dungeons, make them feel like actual dungeons. I loved that place, its clever puzzles and the way you guys turned an object into a “key” to the final door. More like that, please!
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Regarding Dungeon Bosses: Once again, you’ve proven you can do it right, but it doesn’t happen often enough. The two best bosses so far, in the entire game (instanced or not), are the Sorrow’s Embrace final boss, and the Citadel of Flames final boss. They are big, they are tough, they are engaging, and they are unique. The strategy stops being “punch it until it dies” and starts being “avoid its attacks, notice the patterns, and solve the ‘puzzle’ within the fight to deal damage”. Once again, quite similar to Zelda (CoF’s final boss is actually eerily similar to a particular Skyward Sword boss, mechanically speaking, and SS is usually considered the best Zelda in terms of boss battles).
Now I’m not saying “normal” bosses are a bad thing, but they have to have unique mechanics too, like the ghost you fight early on ascalonian catacombs explorable, or the final boss of crucible of eternity story mode. But those bosses should be the steps before the final confrontation against the major one, the one with cool mechanics and that relies on more than just your ability to kill mobs. They should be the culmination of the dungeon, the reward for getting that far, not “just another tough mob, with one or two special attacks you should worry about”.
So more of those unique enemies at the end of the dungeon, and more of those “big, strong mobs with unique attacks” as normal bosses, rather than final ones. And, if I may say, no more of “it’s just a really strong guy” as bosses, those are just plain boring.
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So there you go, my two cents on dungeons, and my hopes for future installments of those.
LegendaryMythril/Zihark Darshell