3 things you want to see with AoC dungeons

Veeshan

Figured we would do a little post to see what people want to see in regards to dungeons in AoC, The main thing i want from dungeons is to feel more dangerous and different vibe than the overworld.
The 3 things i wanna see for AoC dungeons

1 - non linear dungeons (The old School approach to dungeon layouts such as Everquest/Runescape)
2 - No maps (No maps instantly make things feel much more dangerous/different from overworld content especialy when you first go in you will play it safe but more often you go in you will build up an internal map and you feel safer going deeper)
3- Traps (Traps take away a little bit of control the players think they have so it makes thing feel more dangerous especialy things like pitfall traps where you may get dropped in a lower level where mobs are more challenging) of course a class should have detect traps ability maybe rogue or hunter

Extra note: Rogues or ranger should get a detection trap they can place down and this just alerts them if a player triggers it just as a safety net for if somone sneaking up on your group of course they could disarm it and still get the jump.

Azherae

1. I'll second the thing about different Archetypes having ways to detect others moving through the dungeon.
2. Specific strange 'modifiers' from the outdoor/overland weather within the dungeons, especially changes to the dungeon terrain and layout based on the weather.
3. Ways for players/groups to help or hinder each other's progress, by flipping switches, locking or unlocking doors, and changing paths to change the dungeon layout in small ways (or larger ways, on a cooldown, that's good too!)

Ludullu

1. Player-created maps for the dungeon.
2. Dungeon changes every week (or at least roughly that timing, depending on weather/node changes/event influence)
3. Same as Azherae's 3. Players should be able to create some changes within the dungeon to influence others' gameplay. This should be visible on a player-created map, if that player made it after the change

Enigmatic Sage

Going off how currently 80% of the dungeons will be open world compared to instanced being 20% and potentially left open ended for interference:

1 - Not only archetypes/class interactions but potentially professions as well within the dungeon/zone. This Allows for secret rooms for various purposes, traps and pathing. Could even be funny leaving a trail of fish acquired within the dungeon to use as bait for an in dungeon beast trap / diversion to incoming invaders. things like cave-ins, destroyable barricades, mobs that hunt other groups etc.

2 - more immersive environmental encounters for boss fights. Nothing wrong with simpler mechanics to an extent but would like to see interactive options for diversity to prevent just standing around and doing a rotation boringly for however long the encounter takes. Make it feel like it's a fantasy encounter like a well thought out table top gaming scenario instead of just a basic arena. If the bosses mobility is multi-dimensional, the encounter/area should be multi-dimensional accordingly.

3 - Different entrances and pathing with pvp/siege intent in mind. Ways for if you're going to get steam rolled out of the dungeon by other players for to at least slow down until reinforcements arrive/respawn. Nothing game breaking though by being too one sided.

McShave

1. Dungeons designed in a way so that multiple parties can farm different sections without coming into conflict. This involves respawn time, non-linear paths, and total size of the dungeon.

2. Class-unique abilities, like rogue/ranger detect trap/ secret, or cleric clear toxic fog (they showed in one stream a year or more back).

3. The ability to spend as much or as little time as possible. If I want to spend 30 minutes in there, I want it to feel like I got something out of there. If i spend 3 hours in there, I also want to feel like I got 3 hours worth of stuff.

tautau

1. Seasonal changes. Some dungeon passages flood spring and fall, and would then contain aquatic mobs and potentially catchable fish. Underground waterfalls appear, as do small lakes.

Summer, dry season, could change the mobs near the entrances....more lizards and hot weather creatures. New entrances open up when rivers and lake water levels decrease.

Winter, cold season, again different mobs near the entrance based on cold and ice. Some entrances might be closed by icefalls and snow drifts.

2. Surface events, such as the Verran equivalent of Halloween, impact mobs and quests in dungeons. Mating seasons for mobs changes their behavior, making some passive mobs aggressive.

3. Some mobs, both in dungeons and other environments, react differently to different races. Some hate orcs and are aggressive towards them, some feel kindship with orcs. Similar variations to other races, potentially influenced by seasons.

Raven016

0. Dungeons with underwater passages, maybe even complete sunken villages with amphibian creatures.

1. Dungeons with poisonous environment and creatures which cause frequent damage over time.

2. Neutral NPCs which you can hire in the dungeon, useful if a party member suddenly disconnects.

3. Jumping puzzles which change configuration each time a player complete it.

darthaden

I want to see one thing above all others. Randomized mob spawn locations and types. Force players to figure out on the fly which order to take out the mobs instead of knowing in advance where the healer is, where that annoying mage with his silence spell is and so on.

Optics2134

Rare area specific loot and cosmetics. unique mechanics. Hidden rooms and activities that you have to go back for after you reach a skill lvl barrier to entry or something.

Raven016

In some dungeons maybe artisans could have some additional options. Like ability to use a nearby creature to move a boulder with animal husbandry/taming skill, or pull out a sword from a rock if you are a weapon crafter. Or to make some potions or food which degrade fast using some local resources.

Veeshan

Definetly seems like people wanna see more old school approach to dungeons going by this list compared to the WoW onwards approach.
Hopefuly we wil see a few of these atleast ^.^

Taerrik

On the artisan topic, one of the fun things in age of conan was one of the raids was the only spot you could craft a certain sword, it needed the specific magic going on by the boss to be happening. That was fun.

Would be cool to see some of the same idea since crafted gear will be the primary gearing in this game.

Like, players must be fighting in a certain room against a certain boss, and when a certain mechanic is going on the crafting conditions to combine materials are met. And the raid just has to let the crafter go do his thing AAND keep him alive from the mechanic and adds spawning and all other chaos going on.

Veeshan

Events in dungeons will be nice too, could even have the dungeon fight back to a degree when there to many people in there like it starts pushing out endless hoards of monsters at the far depths that just rushes to the entrance down multiple pathways attacking players they come across gradually getting more intense as time goes on till everyone gets pushed out of the dungeon or the groups in manage to push to the end to kill the summoner or something thats spawning them all. Could be a realy tuff event

Fantmx

1. Camps
2. Random spawns
3. Random loot

Astealoth

My favorite dungeon type is Ultima Online style. Elder Scrolls Online uses a cut down version of this type of dungeon for their public dungeons. In UO, a dungeon was a massive labyrinth with up to several floors. They were public access, with certain high efficiency monster camps and respawn loops you could discover and grind. I think Black Desert also draws a lot of inspiration from this dungeon type for their core overworld gameplay loop.

If dungeons are to be small fixed instances like WoW, I prefer them to be relatively quick. There's nothing worse than being in the middle of a 40 minute instance and have someone drop or need to drop yourself. It's not such an issue in relatively short dungeons or more freeform dungeons.

Ace1234

Might be nostalgia talking, but growing up I really enjoyed the dungeons from Digimon World series (specifically Digimon world 4) for the original Xbox, as well as Gauntlet Dark legacy (for Gamecube). The dungeons were pretty fun and intense due to the continuous and steady spawning pace of the mobs, that came from a source that you had to destroy. This made mobs stack up in numbers if they werent dealt with quickly, and also made for some fun grinding sessions by letting them stack up then mowing them down.



As far as brain teasers/jumping puzzles I loved the dungeons from the Zelda series, and from the game Crosscode (for nintendo switch).


Here is an example of one of the hardest puzzles in the game, where you have to shoot a projectile in slow motion, then escort it throughout the room by utilizing the different previously learned mechanics, in order to steer it clear of any obstacles until it reaches the end to unlock the door for you to progress. It was pretty fun to figure this one and and execute it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mw5yjUMm-KM&pp=ygUWY3Jvc3Njb2RlIGZpbmFsIHB1enpsZQ%3D%3D



Other aspects of dungeon design that I like includes
1. having a huge focus on mystery and discovery, such as
A) lots of secrets that you have to use hidden clues to figure out
B- having ties to the lore that when you figure it out it helps fill in gaps in the story
C) has important hidden knowledge available to find that can benefit you if understood and utilized organically
D) Having meaningful rewards that can be found or earned (such as rare hidden tamable pets, potential npc helpers that are stuck, etc.) Its cool when there is a hard to reach spot that you are unsure if you can get to it, and it turns out you can and there is something cool waiting for you. Its also cool when they tease you with a reward in a seemingly impossible to reach spot and you have to figure out how to get to it.
2. Good music
3. A healthy dose of risk and challenge
4. Fun boss fights
5. Well designed layout and level design
6. Immersive atmosphere


There definitely more but I would have to think about it.

RazThemun

1-Dungeons that are always difficult and scale to the players gear or amount of players inside the dungeon.
2- Mobs or mini bosses giving good drops and not just the bosses dropping valuable items.
3- The option to pick from a variety of paths to get to the bosses or end boss. Different gates to open etc.
4- Good music, cinematics if possible, immersive atmosphere

Balrog21

I don't know if this has been scrapped or not, but way back when each archetype will have a special ability to use in the dungeons, i.e finding secret doors, traps, pushing a poisonous cloud or clearing a cloud that does damage, etc. Can anyone confirm this is still happening for launch?

1. THE MOST IMPORTATNT THING!!! - PLEASE DO NOT have the mobs standing still and just sitting there waiting for us to come hit them as loot piñatas. This goes the same for the boos fights as well. Please don't let us stand 30 feet away all grouped up and the boss is just standing there blind, def and dumb towards us. PLEASE don't do this.
2. NO MAPS. Let us learn it on our own and make our own maps of the place. I would be 150% perfectly fine if you turned the mini map off once you enter a dungeon.
3. A rotating mob population. Please don't keep the same mobs at the same spots. This will lead to boredom.
4. Make the dungeons very immersive, awe inspiring, with great lore, and some awesome background music while you're in there, and make them very challenging!

Nerror

Many good suggestions here already, so I'll add just one:

Dungeons with a lot of verticality in them. For example, a giant hole going into the ground like a giant mining shaft, with levels and rooms as you go down. Lots of stairs, ladders and elevators you have to traverse. This lets you see other player parties across the mining shaft on the other side, and as you go past them down the elevators.

For the adventurous with gliding mounts, perhaps let them spiral down through the giant hole, with the risk of overshooting their target level, be shot at on the way down, or fall to the bottom for a nasty surprise.

Veeshan

Nerror wrote: »

Many good suggestions here already, so I'll add just one:

Dungeons with a lot of verticality in them. For example, a giant hole going into the ground like a giant mining shaft, with levels and rooms as you go down. Lots of stairs, ladders and elevators you have to traverse. This lets you see other player parties across the mining shaft on the other side, and as you go past them down the elevators.

For the adventurous with gliding mounts, perhaps let them spiral down through the giant hole, with the risk of overshooting their target level, be shot at on the way down, or fall to the bottom for a nasty surprise.

Everquest had a couple of verticality dungeons, Tower of frozen shadows for example had like 7 levels and some floors had pit traps where u fell down some levels :P

Also a dungeon called the hole :P which one way down was jumping off into the giant hole death sentance without levetate although i think it drops u right in a pretty mean room too if u take that route in haha :P not sure how vertical it is however once in that was one zone iu didnt realy go too in that game