User:Falconeye/Revamp/The Fissure of Woe
This place is an elite? Why on all that is dead (and that's a lot) is this place considered an elite? Because of special stuff? Bleh! The Realm of Torment in normal mode is harder than the Fissure of Woe in hard mode! This needs major overhaul. Everything but one thing is a breeze, and that one thing is a "make or break" scenario.
But enough with the ranting, and onto the suggestions. Like with my Underworld suggestion, I will not be suggesting changes to currently existing non-quest enemies. In fact, I find them to be the best enemies among Prophecies. I wouldn't be object to altering their skill bars a little bit to show that it's an actual core area (e.g., using skills from Factions, NF, and EN), but it's not sommething needed.
As such, I will propose the following things: Changes to quests and quest-based enemies; A final boss in the area; Non-core profession enemies; environmental effects.
Quests[edit]
IMO, the biggest issue with these is that the actual enemies within the tower are far too easy. It's a bigger issue clearing out the area before the towers, mainly because the two shadow lords are merely copies of Shadow Beasts. As such, I propose making the shadow lord NPCs that need to be killed to be harder - these new builds would emphasize needing what the tower is of (courage and strength) in order to defeat the enemies. Along with this, for Tower of Strength, I propose adding 2 Abyssals within the tower that spawn with Shadow Lord Vogris to mirror Tower of Courage.
28 Shadow Lord (Normal Mode) |
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30 Shadow Lord (Hard Mode) |
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28 (30) Shadow Lord Vogris |
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30 Shadow Lord Vogris (Hard Mode) |
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Dissipation 15 1 15
- Hex Spell. Target foe and adjacent foes take 50 damage. If any of the affected foes had more Health than you, that foe is hexed with Dissipation and suffers -3 Health degeneration for 10 seconds.
Recurring Scourge 5 1 1/2 10
- Hex Spell. For 10 seconds, target foe has -3 Health degeneration. Whenever that foe is healed, this hex is reapplied.
Bloodletting 5 1 10
- Enchantment Spell. For 10 seconds, your skills and attacks cause Bleeding. Foes that are already Bleeding become Weakened for 10 seconds and Diseased for 5 seconds. Also hexes foes adjacent to target.
Confusion 10 1 5
- Hex Spell. For 20 seconds, target foe's attacks may damage any character in range, including the target.
Like most other unique enemies of the Fissure of Woe and Underworld, this guy is just a mimic of the normal version. I say change this. Unlike the shadow lords, this guy won't be unique in terms of using monster skills, but two elites. Likewise, the Dragon Lich's could use a slight change.
28 Priest of Menzies (Normal Mode) |
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30 Priest of Menzies (Hard Mode) |
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30 Dragon Lich (Normal Mode) |
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32 Dragon Lich (Hard Mode) |
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I'm not going to suggest actual skill bars for Khobay and his guards, but instead suggest a theme: I would expand the number of professions in the group (currently it's Khobay (mesmer)+1 monk+1 elementalist+2 warriors - I'd change it to 1 per profession including Khobay being the mesmer).
The Shard Wolves are made out to be these "hard to kill" enemies - but the only thing that makes them hard is Obsidian Flesh... which isn't that hard to counter nowadays and can be seen as a nerf in some ways (can't attack, energy degenderation). What I propose is to make them akin to Chromatic Drakes - give them 4 builds that they can switch between with Elemental Shift. Because Elemental Shift is a form spell (and thus would turn users into the drake model according to the skill's page's notes), a new version would be needed to be made to not alter the model/use the same model per form.
20 (20) Shard Wolf Earth |
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20 (20) Shard Wolf Air |
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20 (20) Shard Wolf Fire |
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20 (20) Shard Wolf Water |
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Note: The Shard Wolf has 8 skills per attunement in both NM and HM. HM attributes are in parentheses.
Expansion Enemies[edit]
Like with the Underworld, since this place is core I see no reason why to keep this place limited to Prophecies skills and professions, as such I suggest the following new NPCs:
28 Skeletal Stalker (Normal Mode) |
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30 Skeletal Stalker (Hard Mode) |
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28 Bound Shadow (Normal Mode) |
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30 Bound Shadow (Hard Mode) |
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30 Shadow Dervish (Normal Mode) |
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30 Shadow Dervish (Hard Mode) |
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28 Shadow Overlord (Normal Mode) |
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30 Shadow Overlord (Hard Mode) |
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- Jagged Stalkers would be placed throughout the Battlefield along with the Skeletal Army.
- The Bound Shadows do not attack and cannot target enemies - they merely spawn spirits (and use Armor of Unfeeling). Like how Banshee's and Wailing Lords are larger than their normal spirit counter parts, these guys would also be large.
- The Shadow Dervish would be placed certain Shadow Army groups. The skill bar is designed to be a minor hindrance to solo perma sins, to slow down but not prevent any speed clearing splits, while not being too deadly to groups.
- The Shadow Overlords would be the current version but altered into paragons.
Environmental Effects[edit]
These guys are nice things, and I'd like to see them added to the Fissure of Woe. The Underworld has it to a slight degree, and that's perfect for it - Urgoz and the Deep have this to an extreme extent but the places are balanced with those removal effects in mind. I'd like to mix how those are done for the Fissure of Woe. But why add environmental effects in the first place? Quite simply because FoW is easy, and I think it would be even with the above changes. This is to add a little more randomness and tactics to the fray. But don't worry, I won't overdo it.
The environmental effects come in three forms:
- Lava
Remember playing in the Ring of Fire or in the fiery dungeons in Eye of the North? When you walk into lava, the lava hurts. You get constant burning and cripple while there. Considering that the Fissure of Woe is an elite area and the Ring of Fire is not, why did the latter get the harmful lava while the elite gets mere decoration?
I merely say that the lava should add burning and cripple (I also say that A Time For Heroes needs cripple but that's something else entirely).
- Fire and Brimstone
An Environment effect taking place over the entire realm, effecting every creature (PC, allies, and enemies).
- Environment effect. Beings within the Realm of War are subject to the immense heat of the realm. Cold and fire damage and burning have unique effects within the realm.
Effects:
- Burning for 5 seconds cause exhaustion
- Every 50 fire damage causes 3 seconds of burning on the target
- Every 50 damage of cold damage reduces exhaustion on the target
- Fire Magic enchantments have a 25% chance to cause 5 seconds of burning
- Water Magic enchantments have a 25% chance of removing exhaustion
- Falling Sky
Remember Ascalon? There's (not-so-)random cases of getting struck by Lightning Strike. Remember Hell's Precipice? There's cases where you can get hit by Meteor.
I'd like to suggest a similar situation utilizing Meteor and Fireball to rain down. These would affect every NPC, not just party members and/or allies. Likewise, I'd like to suggest a few Fire Spouts being added in such areas. Locations that would have these effects would be:
- Burning Forest
- Great Battle Field
- Lake of Fire
- Tower of Courage
- Tower of Strength
Finale[edit]
Ever since Dhuum came about, people have been wanting to fight Menzies. While I too would love to fight/see him, I don't want him to be the end of Fissure of Woe for one very specific reason: Anet most likely has future plans for him. I say such because of the Shadow Behemoth in Guild Wars 2 that's accompanied by other figures that resemble Nightmares (including Aatxes), uses a skill called "Chaos Rift," and very well could be linked to Menzies and/or events happening in the Mists.
Because of this belief of mine, I view that if Menzies made a physical appearance in GW1, he'll have to survive. I don't want a repeat of Dhuum's "put him back to sleep" or Menzies turning into an ally at the last 5% of his health and going "now it's time for me to gogoGO!" and retreat.
That's bland, boring. I want to kill something.
As such, I propose, rather than Menzies, we have Menzies' right-hand "man." A figure stronger than the Priest of Menzies, Shakahm the Summoner, and/or the Greater Darkness. For the purpose of this suggestion, I shall nickname him "Shadow Commander" (this is not the actual name I propose, but merely a placeholder - I would suggest an actual name for the enemy, with some background lore put into the quest; if I think of a real name and/back better background lore, I'll put it up). Also, this boss fight will function differently than most "big bad" boss fights.
Upon completing all current FoW quests, the Eternal Forgemaster offers a new quest: Coastal Invasion. As the name implies, the quest will take place at the Fissure Shore.
An example script/dialogue/etc. (apologies for the jokes but I couldn't help myself) The idea for the theme of this example - which is what I would hope be the case - is to have a war in the Realm of War. And I mean more than just the PC party of 8 vs enemies of 3-8 party sizes, but rather the PCs+other NPCs vs many enemies. There'd effectively be 11 NPCs (10 of which are replaced upon death) and the 8 PCs, fighting against waves of 10, and then an endless group (endless until the main enemy is killed that is).
- Innitial dialogue
- Eternal Forgemaster
- "Ah, <character name>, you have done much in Balthazar's name today, but there's one more task I must ask of you before you leave. When the Shadow Army overran us, they sunk our entire fleet that Saidon controls, and we've recently recieved word that because of this the Shadow Army's commander is coming to shore. This is unheard of before. The commander is Menzies' right hand man and has been laying siege for centuries, but has never left the safety of his boat far off the coast behind an armada. It seems he has grown confident - and now we must strike! If we kill him, the Shadow Army will be like a headless chicken. Unfortunately, I must remain here to continue crafting armor and weapons for our men, so I need you to go. You will be accompanied by our finest men, of course. Will you accept this task?"
- Intermediate dialogue
- Admiral Saidon the Eternal
- "Did the Forgemaster send you? Good. We'll need as many men as we can get. I just saw a ship dock east of here past the tunnel, we should hurry."
When approaching the first group of enemies:
- Admiral Saidon the Eternal: "Kill them all! Leave no shadow alive!"
After first group of enemies:
- Admiral Saidon the Eternal: "Their commander wasn't on that ship. Did he flee?"
- <party leader>: "A ship is docking to the west!"
- Admiral Saidon the Eternal: "Good eye! Onward men!"
Upon arriving at the second group:
- Admiral Saidon the Eternal: "All this running is killing me. I need to be on a ship, not the shore!"
- Shadow Commander: "Where have all my men gone? There's no way a group of eight humans could of killed them all!"
- <party leader>: "It's possible and we did! And you're next."
- Reward dialogue
- Admiral Saidon the Eternal
- "That was a grand battle! Nothing like getting the blood pumping right? Ah, I miss the days when I had a heartbeat. You should return to the Temple of War, I'm sure that you've gained Balthazar's favor with all you've done today."
- Quest spawns
When accepting the quest, a group of Eternals spawns as allies and follows your group. It doesn't matter if these guys die or survive - they're just there for extra firepower. They'd be level 20 with 8 skills each - balanced builds. Likewise, whenever all of these guys die, they are replaced - same numbers - and march to the Admiral automatically, and once in spirit range follows your group.
- 20 (20) Eternal Warrior
- 20 (20) Eternal Ranger
- 20 (20) Eternal Monk x2
- 20 (20) Eternal Necromancer x2
- 20 (20) Eternal Mesmer
- 20 (20) Eternal Elementalist
- 20 (20) Eternal Paragon x2
Upon talking with Admiral Saidon the first time, a ship moves from the sea to the beach, once docked a group of Shadow Army enemies will spawn and come off of the ship (or spawn next to the ship via dropdown animations as if they came off the ship). The group would be as follows:
- 24 (26) Shadow Warrior
- 24 (26) Shadow Ranger
- 24 (26) Shadow Monk x2
- 28 (30) Shadow Beast
- 24 (26) Shadow Mesmer
- 24 (26) Shadow Elemental
- 24 (26) Shadow Dervish x2
- 28 (30) Bound Shadow (Note: Unlike most of these spawns, this do not auto-resurrect).
Upon killing the first group of enemies, another ship will move to the shore to the west and like previously, enemies will spawn once it's docked in the same fashion. However, archers will spawn on top of the ship as well as the landing spawns.
- 18 (23) Shadow Archer
- 24 (26) Shadow Monk
- 28 (30) Shadow Beast
- 24 (26) Shadow Elemental
- 24 (26) Shadow Dervish
- 28 (30) Bound Shadow (Note: Unlike most of these spawns, this do not auto-resurrect). x3
- 31 (31) Shadow Commander
- Shadow Commander skills
Since these skills will all be monster skills and some without icons of their own (I will use some from the List of removed skills, but not with the original name). For any skill which I'm not boring a skill icon for, I'm just going to use . I'm not concerned what profession the guy is, but I think using a spear is most appropriate considering his role, so I'd guess paragon.
- Spear Attack. Deals +50 dark damage. If this attack does not hit the target, you gain 5 adrenaline.
- Shout. For 15 seconds, allies within earshot gain 50 health every 3 seconds and have +10 armor. The caster is not affected. This skill is deactivated for 25 seconds.
- Passive skill. This creature's non-skill attacks deal shadow damage and blinds foes for 5 seconds.
- Skill. Send a flare to summon reinforcements. This skill is hard to interrupt. Fails if there's at least 2 nearby allies.
- Spell. Deal 50 shadow damage to target foe. If you're under the effects of Vanish, you also steal 25 health.
- Destroy the Humans! 5 25
- Chant. For 5 seconds, all allies within earshot do +75% damage to humans with their next attack.
- "Victory or Death!" 10 20
- Shout. For 10 seconds, allies within earshot that have less than 50% health deal 50% more damage.
- Vanish 5 2 60
- Stance. For 15 seconds, this creature merges into the surrounding shadows and cannot be targeted or seen.
- Passive effect. All shadow creatures gain 5 damage reduction and take half damage from shadow and dark damage as long as the Shadow Commander lives.