All the zones above Mesa got a tweak last night, but Valdeholm, Ashengate, and Frostcrypt got the biggest changes. The intended progression of the zones has always been Vergalid -> Valdeholm -> Frostcrypt/Ashengate. Before these changes, Valdeholm was actually a bit more difficult than Frostcrypt and Ashengate. Valdeholm should be back to its intended difficulty now and fit the role of a high level single-group dungeon.


Ashengate and Frostcrypt were also in a tough situation. The average basepop NPC in those two zones were more difficult than basepop NPCs in raid zones like Demiplane of Blood, which is well above the tuning mark for those dungeons. They're meant to be top end dungeons, but before the change they were only doable by top end raiders.


If the difficulty stayed where it was, the loot that dropped there would always be worthless to anyone who could actually kill there since we can't award top end raid level loot on single groupable content. That left the zones in a no-win situation. To address this, we lowered the difficultly to be more in-line with the items that drop there (and increased the stats of the items that drop a bit to justify the difficulty of the zones). The dungeons are still the most difficult single group dungeons in the game (well above both Vergalid and Valdeholm), but they shouldn't require the absolutely best geared raid players in the game to succeed there. That being said, I am keeping an eye on the effects of these changes and will adjust things if necessary to ensure the zones fit their role as the topmost dungeons in the game.


Rashere

kisf wrote:
thats all well and good rashere but why doesn't these 2 zones drop the best loot for single groups in the game by far ?

<hr> The loot coming out of both frostcrypt and ashengate should be the best available to single groups of non-raiders. The problem is that the zones weren't doable by single groups of players unless they were raid geared at which point they would have no need of the loot there.


Rashere

Azathool wrote:
The loot coming out of both frostcrypt and ashengate should be the best available to single groups of non-raiders. The problem is that the zones weren't doable by single groups of players unless they were raid geared at which point they would have no need of the loot there.
However, now you have lowered it so any none raid group can exp easily there, it means there is absolutly no challenging group content for raid geared players.
Which if thats the intent, if you really want all content that is reachable without raids to be doable by toosn without raid gear, go for it, thats your design choice. However realise that it leave those of us who ARE raiders with zero, and I mean no single group content we find hard/interesting, which is a real shame.
I can't see why you don't have different parts of these zones hard, ie W wing raid level, E wing normal level, instead of making it so someone like me can easily two box there for AA and be bored to tears.

<hr>
It's a no-win situation. If we tune the content to be a serious challenge for high-end raiders in a single group, you'll complain that the loot is worthless since the only upgrades you could use are raid-level upgrades and those aren't going to come off single group content. If we threw that aside and tune up both the content and the loot so that its an upgrade to your raid gear, you'll complain that there's no reason to raid anymore cause the gear is available from single groups. And, obviously, if we tune the content to the point where its challenging to players who can use the loot coming out of it, you'll complain that the zone is too easy.


Rashere

I think folks are overstating the changes here based or forgetting how much of a difference there is between the top end raiders and everyone else. Sure, these zones are going to be easier than they were before, but they'll still tear the heck out of most people. Also, like I said earlier, I'm keeping on eye on things and if something is off and that turns out to not be the case, I'll make the necessary changes to ensure that remains true.


Rashere

2 things about the loot in FC/AG:

Just about any of the augs are useful for the highest end of raiders.

The gear drops have good HP/Mana in them, but are extremely unbalanced. A high AC 210 hp item with good mods (ie, mpg trial loot) is far better for a warrior than a low ac 240 hp item. None of the fear i've seen from these zones are even appealing to my alts, even if they are hp upgrades.