First and foremost, this is neither a "nerf this content, it's too hard" post nor a "make the whole game super hard l33t mode" post, so I'll save many of you a lot of trouble to start.
The new dungeons are great. They're different. They take lots of inspiration and mechanics from just about every other part of the game, tweak them a little, and then implement them with flair. They require good group synergy, cooperation, everyone having their own specific tasks to accomplish, and they're something more than just a big DPS check.
Zero loading screens between areas is a vastly welcome addition.
Here's my problem:
(On Vet) They're challenging. It's not an immediate clear. You have to figure out what your group needs to do differently, and without the use of someone else's guide, this can take some time.
I like that they don't just hand themselves over. Aside from some bugginess (fringe AoE on last boss Scalecaller, for instance) and some apparent client/server desync, they make you feel like you earn it.
I've completed both, figuring them out the old fashioned way, because that's part of the draw of new content for me, personally. (Not that guides aren't awesome or unwelcome. To each their own. Personally, unless I'm just absolutely stuck, I want to be the one beating the content, not the guy/gal that made the guide beating the content for me. Consider it an intellectual challenge as well as a player skill one.)
That being said, I don't believe, in their current condition, they will ever be completed by a typical PuG group. I highly doubt they'd be completed by 3 kick ass players + one typical PuG (role of choice)
Then there's the flipside:
Enter normal mode. I needed to level a couple skills, was limited on time, so I opted for a quick Random Normal for the bonus XP. Got Scalecaller.
It was a joke. A complete faceroll. You don't have to mind the mechanics on almost any part. The NPC practicallly spells out exactly what you (should) have to do, so there's nothing left to figure out.
You can stand in as much stupid as you like. You can eat a conal, skip breaking your teammates free. Heck, you can never set foot near the shield and still get a clear.
These don't teach players anything.
They do not require them to observe the mechanics, even to a lesser degree. They provide "You paid for the content, so you get to clear the content."
Then, later, when someone goes from "Well, that wasn't to bad" to clicking that little checkbox that says "Vet" and proceed to get the crap kicked out of them, how do people not get pissed off about this?
This, of course, ends up leading to typical player outcry, which leads to nerfing, which leads to experienced player outcry. Rinse. Repeat.
Further, who decided along the way that "normal" or lower level players don't want at least some kind of challenge?
Before scaling, even on the normal dungeons (when there was an actual progression), you still had to earn it. It was appropriate for the level at the given time, and when your group cleared, you felt like you did something. You could always go back to lower level dungeons and they would be easier, as expected. But "higher level" content, whether +2 levels or +40 levels had a varying degree of difficulty.
Not everyone wants to just breeze through to the end. Not everyone wants to get their asses handed to them repeatedly.
Find a way to split the difference or offer more difficulty options than the only two extremes that seem to be available right now? Difficulty sliders, the ZoS equivalent of Paragon levels...something?
Make it so all players can find their difficulty of choice, still get rewarded accordingly, and still have enough challenge to keep it interesting.
Thoughts?
