Since PvE section is yet to be found I’ll post that here.
My aim here is to explain why the current way fractals are picked is not filling its role. It has probably already been said but I didn’t see it so I’m writing this just in case it is not already clear to devs.
The aim of this system was to avoid players having the possibility to get multiple long fractals in a single run, basically to avoid having 2nd and 3rd fractals to both be long and/or hard.
There are two issues about tiered fractal selection : the dual tiered fractals and some misplaced fractals.
I) Dual tiered fractals
The fact that dual tiered fractals exist is not an issue in itself but the way they are currently used is just working against the initial goal.
Let’s take an example : your second fractal is a dual tiered tier2/tier3 fractal. That means this fractal is rather hard/long for a tier 2 fractal and rather easy/short for a tier 3 fractal. So picking this fractal as a second fractal means you get a harder 2nd fractal and you are less likely to get an easier fractal as a third. Basically it is a loss-loss scenario.
What should be done : if you get a harder 2nd fractal, you should be getting an easier 3rd. A proper way to use dual-tiered fractal could for instance be “if you get a tier2/tier3 fractal as a second fractal, your third fractal should also be tier2/tier3”.
II) Misplaced fractals
No need for long explanations here, as someone who plays fractals quite a lot, I can tell you some fractals are not where they should be, let’s take a look at the current tiers :
T1 : Underwater, Swamp
T1/T2 : Harpies, Ascalon
T2 : Svanir, Molten
T2/T3 : Colossus
T3 : Aetherblade, Grawls, Thaumanova, Dredges
First things first : harpies’ fractal is not that easy and is really really long, this is in no possible way tier 1 material. To be honest I find it easier and quicker to do Thaumanova or aetherblade fractal rather than either harpies or Ascalon. So my point here is : t1/t2 fractals are seriously misplaced and no party will ever want to start with them except for the added challenge (or because of a lack of awareness about rerolling the first fractal :x).
Another example : grawl fractal is not long, it might be hard but honestly once you know what you have to do (and what you have to not do ^^) it’s honestly not a bad fractal to get. So that’s probably way more t2/t3 material than colossus which is long no matter what and becomes hard-ish at high level. Actually Thaumanova and aetherblade are also t2/t3 in my eyes and colossus should be t3.
I’m not trying to be exhaustive, that’s just the most obvious examples in my eyes, I could be writing revised tiers but I leave that task to you devs if you think my point is valid.
T1/t2 fractals seems unneeded to me since people will almost always reroll the first fractal to get a shorter/easier one. An idea for this tier (if it is to stay) on next paragraph.
On a last note : dredges are just painful to play. I don’t care if some people say it can be done quickly. Actually quickly in dredge fractal means “only long, not very long”. Seriously it is long no matter how fast you get through its content and there is absolutely nothing about it, no fight, no puzzle, no strat, nothing that I enjoy about it. I even find the “landscape” to be ugly. I think this one should only be rolled if you had 2 short fractals before. This way t1/t2 fractals could be interesting : an anti dredge assurance !
That’s it, I hope the best for fractals in the future, please don’t be too hesitant to improve them !
(edited by Lyndis.4653)