I know this may seem to be an unpopular opinion. But the catacombs are still super easy. None of the bosses in this ‘end game’ content are remotely difficult.
Here is my experience. I have 3 parts of dragoon set, and end of tomorrow will have vanguard ring and everything I want from this dungeon. I run the king around 75 times, and prince viggor around 15 times, and have beaten all bosses outside of the devourer- which I won’t do cause I don’t need the Wands.
All the bosses including the ‘hardest’ boss in the game the Renegade Druid, where cleared on the first attempt, with a random party that was found with no preparation. We beat it in 8 rounds. Not a single person died. Same with sathirilis (or how you spell it)
I was very disappointed with this content. Being a long time player of wiz, and loving hades- had the full set for every wizard of level 90 + malistare. I can tell you this content is completely inadequate to be considered hard. In fact it so easy that most bosses can be beaten in 3 turns. This should not be the case.
I want to congratulate kingsisle for their attempt at making harder content, I do. However this was not enough. Here is why, and when you create the level 150 dungeon you get this right.
(1) Bosses like the devour are not hard. Hardness should be seen in relation to how difficult it is to remain in control of the fight. This boss gives the player no agency. Your either swallowed, or your not. You go first, or you don’t. You win or loosing has no agency. This is bad design.
What made malistare and hades so fun, was that it tested your ability to remain and maintain control. Let hades go mad, he will heal all his allies 90% of their hp. Die? Heals.
Shane von Shane, malistare undying all those bosses are about map control. Hit within X rounds, dispel at X moment, cast doom and gloom X or deal with X. Aka a hard boss should be giving you massive punishment for loss of control, and the harder it is to regain control, the harder the boss.
Another good example is Aphrodite. You loose control of the boss for 1 round you die. Same for omen.
This is why the devourer and all bosses here are bad. Either cast a juju, or shield, or anything. Boss becomes subdued like a kitten. Devourer latterly can’t be controlled. If you get lucky you will win. This is not hard. It’s boring.
(2) To make a good boss, the boss must be significant in variance from fight to fight. But regardless of he variance the pattern must remain consistent.
Eg- the Cerberus fight. You have no control where or when each boss will do what. Nor do you control their order. But you know that X will always do Y. That’s important. You want to offer changing pattens. But patterns must exist. It can’t be random.
This is why catacombs are bad. Prince viggor is the worst offender. He is so random, that he is a chore to fight. Not hard, but random.
Most of the people in the catacombs simply farm king because he is the only boss that is designed relatively well.
(4) hard bosses need to have incentive to do. You could have simply added a spell to each achievement regarding the bosses. To promote players to do them.
Even if it’s just a small variant of a spell. Like let’s say, a blade. Give a upgraded version of let’s say fire blade. Make it a 1 pip spell with a bonus 5% pierce. Something small. But something that will give reasons for players to do them.
(5) Bosses should be so hard, that when you beat them, you get a guaranteed reward. Take a look at one of my older suggestions like level 150-200 Aquila bosses. If you need an idea.
The gist is simple- kill boss get a token. Go to npc redeem at choice a piece of gear. Simple. The token economy in the catacombs is a HUGE step forward. So well done. Took 10 years for it to sink in.
The next step should be to do so properly. Dungeons loot like catacombs have a place in wiz. They are good for casual players. And for those who can’t beat god tier dungeons.
So we do need both. Good luck. I believe you won’t let us down with the dungeon.
