Rework Drytop reward.
Join an organized map, most champs die in a few seconds. It’s still boring as hell but thats the fastest way to get your geodes.
Indeed, dry top was built with this idea of splitting up zergs. This is what makes it relatively refreshing compared to the SW where this is just 4 big blobs.
In an organized dry top, you have one big zerg and 5 other little group that each constribute to the favor level. And thanks to this level of coordination you can purchase lockpicks for cheap.
The only tedious part in the map is the chest farm that cannot be done reliably.
As for you not surviving some champions (I bet it’s the acarid storm) →* Just range it.* Call me a crasy but dual pistols is a working option against the acarid storm. Daggar/dagger does not work here.
Dry top is a map that has been created recently meaning the devs started to take in account the berserker meta when designing monsters/ennemies. Champions have additionnal defenses vs melee combat to prevent them from being trivialised by zergs or high dps builds.
Known as Reegar Else, Linda Else, Xiana Else and Thorgall Breakstone
I usually do Tootsie event he’s a pain to deal with since you can’t go mid range. And it would be nice if there’s NPC to show which event pop where because it’s hassle to keep announcing in map chat till you get suppressed
I was looking forward to do some Amber weapons but the event reward is really bad compared to Silverwastes.
For pure loot, no open world map beats the Silverwastes.
The things is that it encourage people to split off and do events
YES, a zerg-free map. :-) It’s not a bug, it’s a feature.
Most of the events are obscure in a random place or require skill play are reward the same as other easy to access simple events.
Then do the simple events. :-) Also, the events follow an almost entirely predictable schedule. Google will easily let you find out what that schedule is, so you can custom-taylor your personal event sequence.
And finally on that point, I’m not at all sure that “most” events in Dry Top require skilled play. Sure, some events or mobs have mechanics that you need to know in order to succeed, but none of the mechanics are all that hard to figure out, or do.
I played Thief and hardly going to survive most of the Champs event because they are immune to CC and speed reduction conditions.But had to tag up and go in first. It take awhile before random people join the fight and when people joined up champ HP just scaled too much .
Uhm, then wait until you have a group of people before attacking the champ? Also, a great many events in Dry Top are sensitive to scaling and are more easily done with a group of roughly the right size, whereas groups either significantly smaller or larger than this will have a hard time. Depending on the event, this “right size” can vary between 1 or 2 players on one end and 10-15 on the other.
Perhaps Drytop should have buff that increase events reward and scale Champs to the less HP especially Gaints and Dust Devil.
Funnily enough you just named two of the events I never do. The Giant is a complete waste of time if you’re going for the maximum amount of Geodes per sand storm, and I rarely see the Dust Devil succeed.
it’s hassle to keep announcing in map chat till you get suppressed
That’s really the only big problem in Dry Top, as far as I am concerned.
The giant will be a waste of time until they turn him into a world boss with the appropriate rewards and a spot in the rotation. It’s long and boring but it can be zerged.
Known as Reegar Else, Linda Else, Xiana Else and Thorgall Breakstone
Today got another shot at Drytop gonna break down which events have problems
Crystals Race usually have AFKers or Dust Devil champs that got drag Near the WP. causing randoms scaling = too much inquests and crystals for few people to Handle. Champs are pugs magnet and most pugs don’t read boss description text end up doing no damage.
Tootsie. People stuck at Race have to hop throught some obstacle so They dont bother coming. Most Pugs dont equip , change skill to do interrupting Moa.
Tendrill. Hard to solo due to tankiness of adds and hard hitting AoE. Always strating with 5 v1 with mobs that down you in 2 hits. Veteran revive mechanic not visually clear.
Mine Zypherite rescue events.Definitely group events with objective that require more than just DPS build .Mobs have load of HP Need more than 5 people who can split up .Lots of movement needed and lots of dead trap
Serene escort. Mobs knock you off the cliff. Serene walk too slow. Reduce the time that Serene stop to gather crystal might be good.
Vine bridges.Mobs drop no loots.
Crash vctims. Same as Tendril events. too much things going on for solo players.People walk pass it when event pop scale it up.
Gather beetles parts. Again mobs drop no loot.Random guys scale the events up
Stop Skirtt from stealing. AFKers and random passby scale evetns
So basically most of the events aren’t for soloing and discourage players participating because there are no drops from mobs.
I hope Drytop won’t get left behind after HoT expansion.Mastery System might slove some problems .Such longer aspect skill time and more charges ,Clearer vision under sand storm , Chance to get geode from gathering .etc
(edited by LONGA.1652)
Uhm, then wait until you have a group of people before attacking the champ?
Its an encouragement if people see champs HP whittle down when I solo them to 70-80%. And still not downed. I spec a bit tanky for the champs.
Instead of discussing how difficult/non rewarding some events are, I would rather suggest what can be done, to make people actually play in Dry Top instead of popping in only for sandstorm. Having more ppl show up earlier and help with events = easier/funnier experiance.
Reason why people join on sandstorm only is quite simple: there are 4 big farm events, and 2-3 champion events and if you split you can do 2 more events within 20 minutes. Also in this time window you can easily get more geodes than in the remaining 40 minutes of the cycle.
There is little to no initiative to push favor to 2 or 3 level, we can observe similar “problem” with Silverwastes map.
Quite simple solution I think would be to introduce equivalent of Perseverance buff from Silverwastes. In Silverwastes the buff does not motivate people to stay longer on map, because it is easily stackable to max within few minutes before breach.
In Dry Top rewards obtainable from events are determined by the level of Favor of the zephyrites, and during sandstorm they are doubled. How about introduction of Dry Top Perseverance or however you call it, that each person on map gets each time a Favor of the Zephyrites is increased? This buff would affect how many geodes you get from events (or maybe it could give small MF increase), it could either dissipate after sandstorm or last little longer (maybe 1 hour stack) so people staying on map for over an hour get the most of it.
I would predict that such solution :
-Would not punish too hardly people coming for farm only (they will still get whatever they came for – with exception of geodes, geode rain would stop for them – only 4 geodes per event).
-Would preserve current scheme of rewards for people staying longer and helping with Favor at worse, at best it would increase their drops.
Final note: as I mentioned, this solution have not worked in Silverwastes too well because it is too easy to get max stacks contributing so little. To get better rewards in my opinion you should contribute: time, effort, skill – whatever. This is not the case for Silverwastes.
If you make the rewards better people will come,
The problem is that in open world PvE , Silverwastes dominates for loot and rewards, im stunned Anet has not reviewed this and push better rewards ( fix the loot table, im looking at you cursed shore ) in other zones,
Its funny how megaserver destroyed some zones and yet it makes other zones great places to be, with CS it was destroyed, I never see temples available for capping anymore, they are always done, events are normally always done, because there is no proper reset timer on them, yet in SW where it resets the entire map after a battle you can pretty much bet no matter what time of day you go there, events/loot will be waiting.
They should add a reset timer to every zone that has a world event in it, CS should auto reset every hour, where everything becomes contested, ( you can only get the reward chests once per day so whats the issue ).
Well I have to say it, to lure people into area rewards do not need to be generally good. It is enough if they are specific, and unique in a way (unobtainable anywhere else, see SW armor or DT weapons).
See in current situation, people who want these unique for region skins, do not need to spend in this area more time than 20 minutes an hour. There is no actual need for them to push Favor up, it is enough if they get to r5, r6 once or twice to buy recipes.
I postulate, it would be more beneficial for map to have higher number of people playing on it at all times, except of rapid influx before and sudden desertion of map right after sandstorm. Even if these numbers are a tiny bit higher (10-15%) and people will get rewarded for pushing Favor up and not for being present during sandstorm, I bet average sandstorm rank would increase also.
I really like dry top as a map cause of the non zerg aspect and its multi-level design that just looks way kooler and prettier than silverwastes. If they upped the rewards to be on par with silverwastes I would probably spend more time there than silverwastes( I could care less about the bug weaps and I alrdy have mawdrey). Make it happen anet?
:[
Maybe make it so the higher tier map you get the more buried locked chests will appear during a sandstorm. I always try to find those chests and end up really bored and just leave because it takes forever just to find one. Especially when compared to silverwastes…
(edited by OMNIBUS.2913)
Crystals Race usually have AFKers or Dust Devil champs that got drag Near the WP. causing randoms scaling = too much inquests and crystals for few people to Handle. Champs are pugs magnet and most pugs don’t read boss description text end up doing no damage.
The Crystal Race, like the Mine Rescue, should probably be labelled as a group event. The zephyrite NPCs are not enough help to be able to solo it and you get overwhelmed by the number of crystals and inquest.
The actual problem with the event, though, is that people are way too focused on killing the inquest instead of simply CCing those that carry crystals and then getting the crystals into the basket.
Tootsie. People stuck at Race have to hop throught some obstacle so They dont bother coming. Most Pugs dont equip , change skill to do interrupting Moa.
Dumb people are not a problem of the event mechanics.
Tendrill. Hard to solo due to tankiness of adds and hard hitting AoE. Always strating with 5 v1 with mobs that down you in 2 hits. Veteran revive mechanic not visually clear.
Mine Zypherite rescue events.Definitely group events with objective that require more than just DPS build .Mobs have load of HP Need more than 5 people who can split up .Lots of movement needed and lots of dead trap
Agreed. Except that 4 people running in two pairs is actually enough for the Rescue Captive Zephyrites event.
Serene escort. Mobs knock you off the cliff. Serene walk too slow. Reduce the time that Serene stop to gather crystal might be good.
I don’t like the event because Serene is so slow, but it is quite doable. Pre-emptively killing mobs before they can get close helps a lot, because Serene will otherwise deviate from her path, fight the mobs and then go back to the point where she left her path instead of simply going on to the next objective from where she is standing right now.
Vine bridges.Mobs drop no loots.
Hmm, sure? I’m fairly certain that I’m getting at least junk from them.
Crash vctims. Same as Tendril events. too much things going on for solo players.People walk pass it when event pop scale it up.
Gather beetles parts. Again mobs drop no loot.Random guys scale the events up
Stop Skirtt from stealing. AFKers and random passby scale evetns
I’m never doing those, so I can’t comment.
So basically most of the events aren’t for soloing and discourage players participating because there are no drops from mobs.
The lack of drops from mobs is more than made up for by the geodes->lock picks->chests mechanic. But I agree that the whole deferred loot thing going on here could be explained better to newcomers in the zone.
As for soloable events, Shaman, Serene, Vine Bridge, Basket Defense and Rustbucket are all soloable, although Rustbucket suffers from the scaling issues that you’ve mentioned due to nearby players.
Join an organized map, most champs die in a few seconds. It’s still boring as hell but thats the fastest way to get your geodes.
I wish I could, but they’re hardly on LFG tool anymore… only “SW 0-90%” and “SW VW” on there plus the occasional misplaced “p1-3” ads…
Lord Sazed / Hasla the Huntress / Seaguard Hala
Seamarshal Belit / Initiate Xun Tsu / Mistwarden Roshone
Seafarer’s Rest | Northerner @ Dragon Season
Seamarshal Belit / Initiate Xun Tsu / Mistwarden Roshone
Seafarer’s Rest | Northerner @ Dragon Season
I postulate, it would be more beneficial for map to have higher number of people playing on it at all times, except of rapid influx before and sudden desertion of map right after sandstorm. Even if these numbers are a tiny bit higher (10-15%) and people will get rewarded for pushing Favor up and not for being present during sandstorm, I bet average sandstorm rank would increase also.
The difference between tier 4 and the higher tiers is not the number of players, it is the number of players who know what they’re doing. You can get t4 by brute force with a high population. You can’t get t5 or t6 without players who consistently get bonuses and do events that are neglected on most t4 maps. Just increasing map population won’t get you there.
As for soloable events, Shaman, Serene, Vine Bridge, Basket Defense and Rustbucket are all soloable, although Rustbucket suffers from the scaling issues that you’ve mentioned due to nearby players.
I would disagree that Serene is soloable, but maybe I’m just bad. The others I have soloed many times. I have also died many times while doing Vine Bridge solo and sometimes when doing Shaman or Rustbucket solo, depending on how the spawns go. Getting the bonus for Basket solo is about a 30% chance for me depending on whether Plume stays focused and near the basket or runs off after a trash mob and gets herself killed. And all of these events will scale due to nearby players. Shaman in particular starts throwing veterans at me as people afk at Oasis or run through on their way elsewhere. I would say two-three people are about ideal for all of these, especially if you want Basket bonus.
Even when I do not finish these events solo, I almost always have to start them solo. The problem is that people do not see the need to be in position when events start. Someone will usually come along after I’ve got 50-75% of the mordrem down, or will throw a rock or two to get event credit when Rustbucket gets near the end, but that’s about it. Events started or finished late can throw off the schedule, preventing the event from popping again at the next scheduled time, and being late for Basket is pretty much an automatic loss of bonus.
Abandoned Mine is a pretty sad case, because a bunch of people will come in just to get coin, llama, and/or PoI. If necessary, they will take out a couple of key containment cells just to get the crystals up and then ignore the event. The event scales, of course, making it harder for anyone who is actually trying to succeed. I no longer go near the mine unless there’s a node in there. (Which, of course, means that I am now part of the problem.)
If HoT is anything like this, I fear I’m going to find it an exercise in frustration.
Oh, as for loot, I’m getting more than just junk from all of these. I’m getting a good amount of t5/6 crafting mats, charged lodestones from the elementals at Oasis, and foxfire clusters from the mordrem. Not to mention poultry meat from all the poor pink moas that I have to slaughter.
I would disagree that Serene is soloable, but maybe I’m just bad. The others I have soloed many times. I have also died many times while doing Vine Bridge solo and sometimes when doing Shaman or Rustbucket solo, depending on how the spawns go. Getting the bonus for Basket solo is about a 30% chance for me depending on whether Plume stays focused and near the basket or runs off after a trash mob and gets herself killed.
I haven’t done Serene in a long time – as I said, I find her frustrating – but I do remember soloing her on occasion. Doing it with two people is a lot easier, though.
As for the other events, my Dry Top character is a condi thief, and I am by no means a great player. That said:
Vine Bridge has been easy since ANET nerfed the wolves to apply swiftness instead of retaliation. The husks just melt to conditions. I have enough evades that less than three wolves at a time pose no major threat. The leeching thrashers are an exercize in distance control (jump in when the roots come out, jump away when the goo circle comes up), and the vile thrashers are annoying but doable once everything else in the vicinity is dead. The key for me is being careful about the mobs I pull, usually with a ranged attack so I can lure them away from their companions.
The key to Basket Defense is either high burst damage or cripple (which resets the inquest technicians when they pick up things from the basket), and having no more than two players, as with three players the event starts spawning Veterans. I can reliably solo this event with bonus favour (yay off-hand dagger!), as long as I am on time and no-one comes along to upscale it. Having Plume around helps (revive her if you have the time!), but is not necessary.
Shaman is actually the easiest to solo. Just kill everything that’s already there – again, I’m on a condi build, which isn’t exactly known for its high kill speed – and once that’s done and the Shaman starts channelling, kite newly arriving mobs out of the circle before dispatching them. If there are veterans, leave them for last while killing the trash mobs first, then kite the veterans out of the circle and kill them at your leisure.
Abandoned Mine is a pretty sad case, because a bunch of people will come in just to get coin, llama, and/or PoI. If necessary, they will take out a couple of key containment cells just to get the crystals up and then ignore the event.
Yeah, I love the Abandoned Mine event, but I don’t do it anymore for exactly the reasons you stated. Doing this in a group of four (two teams of two players) is a breeze and loads of fun, but normally I was the only one in the mine who was doing the event, and I just don’t have the DPS and skill to solo it.
Everyone who’s looking for weapon will agreed that doing pvp reward tracks will be less hassle
No, no we won’t agree. Join a good map and avoid the awfulness that is PvP.
I just came up with another idea to incentivise player activity on Dry Top outside of Snadstorm time window.
Bouncing chest for events done outside of Sandstorm might have a chance to provide a Zephyrite Lockpick (similaryli to Silverwastes’ Bandit Skeletonkeys). This additional key-chance would not be present during sandstorm.