Feedback Dunes of Desolation

Yes and no... there has been a rise and fall. In the distant past, events were awful. Though the rewards were nice, the events were either pay to complete or such a huge grind fest that it took 12 hours a day to have a hope. Now, people are upset if an event takes more than 30%-50% of the allotted time for the event because they want to do it on their main toon and all their alts.

From there, it is as you described. Over time, events got better and better like with the introduction of the Sargon series, the initial moon events, the viscanium events, the essence events, and so on, culminating with the introduction of the Dragan events. Problem is that over time, they stopped innovating and started recycling and making the few new events needlessly complicated and convoluted and not making useful rewards worth the effort (the new Attack events, the new-new moon, this dunes event). Also beneficial back then was that Gnob was regularly bringing new stuff that was useful, but now, he brings garbage every day and rarely brings something actually useful. There hasn't been something worth buying since the release of the Dragonsilver set (because it was amazing back then), unless you count Lifekeeper for DKs, but that is the exception, not the rule. Plus, we don't even have the passes to Gnob's cave anymore to get what we want, when we want it.

It is a sad statement that there is only one event that players actually ask for (if you don't count the discontinued Sargon events).

 

Yes, I am one of those players... but it's hard to keep faith in the devs once you get delivered so much cow manure, so excuse the irritation-fuelled comments. As Dragenstein said, if postponement for important reasons is needed, announce a longer one and if things go right, it starts and runs all well at the scheduled date... but not the - "wait, just one more day... uh, oh... tomorrow, OK?... eh, you know, funny story, but... tomorrow...". Do you really expect the delay is due to their being careful not to let any bugs come through? I mean, that'd be nice and a lot of us would owe them huge respect if they actually pulled that off, but one'd be more inclined to think it's due to either laziness or other problems or priorities. Say, if you'd be promised a raise or a promotion... how would you feel being postponed time and time again? The problem with us "no-lifers" waiting a few more days is that, uh dunno, maybe there's school/college/work starting soon and we want to make the most of the last bit of vacation we have? OK, I won't speak for everyone, but for me, college and work start next month, so I basically have this event and the Full Moon to enjoy before I'll re-enter a schedule that's mostly too busy for DSO, because "we have our lives to live", as you said.

On the end note, if it does turn out that they delayed it for bug-correcting reasons in order to deliver a clean event, then they have my (and others', I guess) apologies, respect and thanks (+ the hope of keeping on that right track) and I'll happily take back my own posted reactions. If not, I rest my case, because the problem here is not that they took extra time for whatever (again, yes, a majority of us did encourage them to do that for event-polishing reasons), but HOW they did it this time - that's what irked me (and others).

As for the rest of your post, I do agree and hope for some good stuff coming our way.

 

Pls READ the frikking eventwalkthrough before asking questions that are clearly answered there! (Its sold from NPC Fahid, who is ONLY on map once the minis starts! Pls look at timeschedule in walkthrough before asking WHEN minis start!)

Now to the feedback:
Positive:
Nice maps! I like something new to look at! Nice new mobs also! =o) Nice atmosphaere and well thought out new superboss!

Negative:
Event is overcomplicated as stated by others, and clouds up inventory like a bauss! I could live with that, if the event was easy or if the droprates was good, but its neither!
-Its too hard on easy for new players, and of course all the bosses are bugged, so its impossible to get them stunned, react to aggro or even to take off firedebuff by jumping...
-And the droprates are just AWFULL! Cubes for prem is allmost nonexistant! Anderdrops are even worse, and dont even get me started on the itemdrops!!!
-Even though some minibosses on easy are harder than Q3minibosses on the same diffuculty (which make the event unplayable for n00bs) they drop only greens and occaisionally blues!
-95% of all farming is spent on map#1, but who wants to farm this event anyway?
And finally: The droprates on the other difficulties are scaled even worse than in the Qs!

The uniques in the event are just hilarious! They can ONLY be of interest to new lvl 50s, who are too weak to do the event in the first place!

So to recap: Event = Waste of time!!! And even though we had to wait this long for it to come out, the event is STILL bugged like only DSO can do it! (This time its not bugs in the players favour, so dont expect it to be fixed within a few years time!)

-another facepalming BP-PHAIL!

Cheers!

 

like others are saying this event is garbage, rewards that are not useful and a BIG grind to get anything..

lets not mention the harder modes that are not scaled right in mob hp dmg and the loot(green items from the hardest mode???)

i said to myself i will kill the boss until i get an amulet, maybe i could try it out and have some fun with it. well he droped me one and i look at it and the 404 sec cooldown, yes 404 SECOND COOLDOWN made me break into a fit of laughter at how pathetic it is

i guess maybe the 15% dmg buff might be worth stocking up on for my dwarf

 

- very nice graphics, new map is very beautiful as monsters
- nice story nice quests and mechanism to open new dungeons
- very bad anders drop, very bad special items drop, very bad gold drop, no cubes, no gems
- nice final boss
- very very bad unique items set for medium high chars
- 100k bones u have to farm 8 hour a day for 10days, this is not my type of entertainment

summarizing, it is a very nice graphic/mechanism new event but we have too poor rewards to play it!

 

All I can say about it is that i think ive finished the event already, or atleast thats how i feel.

Got there, did a couple of quests had a look in shops, did some more quests, got to the boss chosed mode2, killed the boss solo it dropped some materials required in the event shop and an unique necklace with the TT skill of RAs had one more look in the shops at all the items and reliazed i dont need the set since its crap for me.

I might farm for the mount maybe but thats it i feel like i finished the event.

 

Or, instead of looking through a 3 page guide full of information on items and NPCs I mostly don't care about, I can ask it here and get an answer while saving time. Thank you

Anyway... as others mentioned, this event requires too much grind and not enough rewards. The mobs aren't really fun to play against, the maps don't scale well and it's not really worth playing a difficulty that isn't normal from what I've experienced so far. It's also not possible to stun/taunt the mini bosses, which is a huge disadvantage for SWs as we need to be a certain amount of distance away from the enemy to do full damage with FS.

 

Yes, that is correct Sir!

The Bad:

- These shovels instead of amphoraes may as well be used to shovel cow dung. I've opened a total of five (5) and although not a significant amount it was enough to tell me to no longer bother with them. Each one i opened gave me 2 - 5 Draken, scoop of dirt(maybe) and a green or blue item. I love how they drop as it appears you are getting a decent amount when 3 Draken icons appear but in reality it is a total of 3...***. How about including an entry to one of the maps, bone coins or stones? Guessing there is no one with stones there at BP.

- Grind, grind and more grind to get the 300 bone coins to complete the quests in each map. I found you needed 4 - 5 runs in each to get all the items required.
- Bosses are all immune to stuns.
- Premium cubes drops are horrible
- I like progress bars
- Rewards are shiddy
- Inventory space is taxed as every event requires us to store items now. For BP inventory space sales must be on the rise...
- Found it weird to be standing by the door to the next map but had to run back to NPC to buy an entry and run back to door again

The Good:

- Maps are nice, as are mobs, new monsters and new bosses. I think it could prove challenging for new people or those with weaker toons (I'm not OP by any means) but for sure a DK can thrive here easily
- Draken quest...I'll take it even if it's only 75 per day. Giveth here and taketh away in the Moon events...

So as I said before I'll plug away for the daily Draken and maybe the Carpet mount as I don't think I have the inclination to do anything more.

 

Ah, as I suspected! Thats really clever! -Except for the fact, that Ur entire post is now by Ur own statement pure SPAM and thus against forumrules! If everyone made lazy posts like Urs, because they cant be bothered to seek out easy obtainable info on their own, then the forum would soon be FLOODED by stupid, lazy questions like Urs!

Have a fun ban!

Cheers!

 

Well so far the grind is not as bad as everyone was saying it was going to be, As i am only farming the first map on lvl3 solo of course and already in 11 hours have 11054 bone coins, i will farm untill i get the 40k for the carpet and then farm the rest of the stuff for fun. So in all the grind is easy and im enjoying the ander drops and the abundant jewels and also the massive blue ess drops.....so for anyone that dont enjoy good drops like that then i dont know what to tell you....DSO player for life...

 

People are complaining for obvious reasons... this whole event is making me scratch my eyes out. I used to think the Dragan event was rather grindy but this is so much worse.
1. What's with all the resources and why all the complicated tables? A simple graphic could have solved the confusion and make it quite clear what's needed. I'll add something on the wiki page after I'm done - might help some people. But even so, if you have to explain something so thoroughly and it's not obvious from the first glance, then it's probably bad game design. Here are some quotes from my favorite Head of Design, Mark Rosewater:
“The best indicator of a game’s future success is the desire of the play testers to play it again.” - did your testers bother to complete the event the fair way, or did they just "buy stuff" the fast way? If nobody did the full event the same way the players would, you are definitely doing something terribly wrong there!
” One of the greatest mistakes game designers make is that they put too much into their design.” - self explanatory.
He also has a very good point about complexity for the sake of complexity brings no value, and doing something just because you can do it doesn't make it okay for the game.
A gazillion of currencies that in the end do the same thing? Stick to Bone Coins everywhere and you're done! This simplifies the understanding aspect from the players while removing little behind the idea of the event and setting appropriate expectations (right now it's kind of like reading $49.99 just because it might look more appealing and much cheaper than $50.00).

2. So you hear lots of complaints about the New Moon event being horribly grindy and unattractive, and the Full Moon being fun because not only can it be completed in a decent amount of time, but the drop is actually decent there (I've seen quite a few good items being dropped there). What you do? You make something similar to the Full Moon. Green and blue items mostly, very bad drop from bosses, yet more difficult than the Full Moon. Now I'm not saying I mind difficult, cause I don't... but I do mind the horrible rewards associated with that difficulty. Very disappointed!

3. End boss unique drop is so bad you might as well say bye-bye to this set. To get to it you need to go through so many hoops and loops and even then there is a significant chance it will drop nada. Talk about pay to win and the entrances available via andermant... thanks, but no thanks! What was wrong with making all three items available similar to the parallel world? Make them all to be both dropped by the end boss as well as bought via the silly coins (without all the crazy other currencies which in my opinion are confusing).

4. Speaking of resources and drop rate, did you know that on average you need around 4200 trips in the Great Desert map to get all the Bone Coins you need for tier 3 items? (that does not include the amulets or ingredients dropped by the final boss... didn't even bother to remember his name). The amount of grindiness for that is just... INSANE. You want to do 3rd difficulty? Talk about 2100 trips. That's still insane.

5. What's with the bosses in the maps being immune to pretty much everything and not even being treated as bosses by the daily quests? This suggests they are treated as something else probably due to a bug and most likely need to be appropriately fixed.

6. The mini-events set on not only days but also hourly timeframes is just crazy! The Viscanium event was already stressful enough that I had two days to complete every challenge and now I have to worry about timeframes? What if it takes more to finish the quests or I can't be in the front of a computer then? That's just messed up, stresses the players unecessarily and for what? To reward people who have a 24 hours availability for this game?! No thanks!

 

There are no RE quests for Key to the Evergreen Oasis and Key to the Temple of Agony. You need to buy them.

I will tell you how I am doing it ... I don't know how their testers are playing.
In order to make a guide I need to run maps hundreds of times ... I need to make material for Wiki and in same time I am testing the drop rates, bugs, glitches, tactics ... etc.
It used to be fun and I was playing the events even after I was done with all my works ... but lately the events are turned into brain hurting repeatable grind crap fiestas. It is impossible to play them because they can lower down your IQ ... because only no brain person can have no objection for this boring way of 24/7 grinding. What does that tell you? That tells you that these events are made to be played by bots ... because even people who buy everything without playing know what are the limits.
Especially these kind of events where you are endlessly grinding the quest lines ... these kind of events are meant for bots or people nursed in some mental institution ... and if you are not there don't worry you will soon be there if playing these nonsense of events.
Instead of action they implement boring style like this ... as if this game was a place where Nancy Drew or Sherlock Holmes are going through their quests and investigations throughout the story line. But those games are different kind of games ... there is a reason why most of them are point and click only ... not ACTION RPG.

 

Spot on, my friend. Lemme add some teeny-weeny things...

#1 The first defending quest you have here is to protect Abbas... but it works silly. I talked to him, but wanted to check something before defending, so I clicked "Back" and not the tick button to begin the onslaught. Guess what? It started anyway. Great... OK, but there was no NPC HP bar... so then it's not defending, just killing? Oh, and to continue from my last post: one of my guildmates had a problem with this weird defense mission and the waves didn't trigger at all... and think now she's stuck... yeah, the week-long postponements were surely worth it and definitely used to ensure a bug-less event... tsk, tsk... (not to mention the problems that brought about the need for a hotfix and other bugs I am sure will come out as the event plays out).

#2 Draken... 75 per day sounds bad, but even so, there are plenty of other stuff to farm for, right? Well, yeah... and you can get 600 more if you put yourself through the hell of those minis. Let's let that one slide as well... but then you need 2k Draken to craft a tier 3 (aside the 100 gold and 3x tier 2, so 12 tier 1s). Not that many will make tier 3s this time around (or ever, since the set's not that groundbreaking), but I thought Draken was the thing we were supposed to EARN from events, not PAY with... this whole mechanic is being abusively implemented. It was OK when it was only the old Dragan set behaving like this (tiers before it was cool and the name for this mechanic itself was non-existent) since it's one of the best equipment options... then they moved it into PWs and events... alright, let's say that's fine too. But then, slam-bam you added the "Spirit Cores" (that I think stemmed from the little stones you offered to upgrade old Dark sets into new Darkness ones)... and to top it off, now that too is in events with Gnob's silly green nut... no, maybe you're nuts, devs... and its tooltip + the fact that it's in Gnob's permanent offers' tab make me worry, since it doesn't say it's only for this event's set... I fear to think further in this respect. So in both cases (tiers and miscellaneous 4th item for tier 3-making), you started off with a good thing and managed to ruin it.

Once again, the only FLAWLESS department is the art/visual one, for the members of which I have the utmost respect! Maps, mobs, everything is beautiful... shame everything else is not on the same level. Meh event overall...

Yet another piece of false info in guides... nice...

On point as well.

 

Silly? How about bugged?

That's another stupid fact. I hear you can buy no more than 75 drakens per day. That's so not obvious. My friend was considering playing the event to gather all the resources he needed, and during the last day buy all the drakens he needed. I was a real party pooper by having to tell him that's not possible... Way to go!

And why would they be? I believe the designers added this new gnob thingie temporarily, and if they see it work, they might consider extending it for other items. But seeing as how enthusiastic and great testers real players are, of course they assumed they could use the item for other upgrades as well. Only makes sense this way...

Couldn't have agreed more.

Bots? Who does that?!

But on a serious note, the first line of defense in ensuring a fun event ought to be the testing team. If such team were emerged fully into the experience they are trying to offer the players they could get a much better grasp on how enjoyable the experience might be. I know Haruki for instance said she hates grinding. I wonder if she got the time allocation and availability to fully test the event herself. Same applies for all testers... no shortcuts, no pumped up to the sky characters, no automatic steps done by bots. Just the way players would do it themselves.

Also, I know there is a lot of discussion between newer player, average players and top players and how each experience ought to target them. I am curious if such profiles are actually discussed and analyzed whenever a new feature is implemented, and then the experience itself iterated through their eyes. It should provide a challenging, fun and rewarding experience for all of them. And this leads me to the topic on how these characters can be determined? With such a huge database of characters, it's not so difficult to think conceptually at least at a Data Mining system that churns all that data and attempts to obtain some knowledge in the direction of these archetypes. From there, it's all about testing and analyzing the experience from the eyes of various players.
People don't give feedback from the testing servers... not enough feedback. And most of the feedback is complaints and whining without too much argumentation. Of course in this situation most of the whining is ignored because... well, the more you give people, the more they want.
And in the end this is caused by the decision power players have in this game. We love taking decisions, those decisions leading to actions that have of course consequences. But the consequences of our actions in this game are infinitely reduced by the power of the RNG gods. As long as your character's growth is fully focused after a while exclusively around drop (or payment, but honestly... where's the satisfaction in that?), and drop is something you can't control, it doesn't give much of a choice to the player. Not to mention the reduced number of builds that I will admit has improved in the past 2 years...
'Nuff venting, but before someone complaints about this not being related to the event, I think it's precisely related to it and our reactions to it.

 

You can only farm the Key to the Sealed Chamber by taking the RE quest A Key of Fine Quality . That is why that key can be only bought with andermants. The other two keys can be only bough ... that is why they can be bought with andermant and Bone Coins ... you can farm the coins and buy the keys.
There are only 3 repeatable quests
1. http://drakensangonline.wikia.com/wiki/A_Key_of_Fine_Quality
2. http://drakensangonline.wikia.com/wiki/No_Drink_for_Free
3. http://drakensangonline.wikia.com/wiki/Everyone_has_his_Part_to_Play
Abas's and Wael's quests are giving a buffs ... not keys.

You don't know? Asian players can. Their game version has a legal "autoplay" feature.

Well you are wrong.
They are all doing their job well ... BUT... there is something you can't see. "Art department" is having a freedom of doing what they can do best and making it appealing for the players. On the other hand designers and programmers are doing their job very well (otherwise they wouldn't be there) ... BUT ... their hands are tied. They must follow the directions and orders from those above them. Those above are the ones who are giving the directions ... not the devs. That is why I am always pointing my finger at them not the devs ... and that is why I am always mentioning the case of one development team showing their middle finger to the publishers ... part their ways ... and won the case in court of law.
If DSO devs can't raise their voice ... hire ME ... I will kick their (those greedy managerial noobs) bottoms and you can sack me the same day.

 

Quick note on the Daily: Needed 4 entries to M2, 3 to M3, at a total cost of 2,100 bone coins.

The reward chest gave me 4 sprayers and 2 dirt ... which would have cost me a total of 2,000 boin coins to purchase.

Moral of the story: Farm M1, ignore the other maps (yeah, simplistic reaction as I didn't try to assign a value to any of the side quests, but the only ones that are repeatable get you buffs or an entry to the boss map with his random drop [ok, maybe you get a necklace ... maybe], so I don't think I'm overstating my position; the only things that matter are the bone coins)

Or, as many have suggested, ignore the entire event. (Still undecided personally if I'll continue as I'm experimenting with a few build options for my still only Level 49 RA, so any experience is potentially valuable.)

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Oh, and side quests? Deep Fall 3/3 asks you to get some stuff from M2, rewards you with 200 bone coins ... but it costs you 300 bone coins for an entrance to Evergreen Oasis, so ... you do the math.

 

So far with the event:

The maps and monsters are quite pretty. Well done. I'm especially feeling that 'builders draw' of wanting to complete things in order to restore the town; I like the way more and more people are gathering and more places are being rebuilt as I move through the storyline.

I've managed to beat the main boss once (though I died twice to do it). The fight was awesome and interesting, and had a complexity that kept me on edge. I think it was well done.

The mini-bosses, as already stated are immune to far more than they should be. No stun or reaction to decoys is kinda insane.

On a kind of side note, I'd really like it if we as players could get access to that acid ability some mini-bosses display the one that either does DoT when hit or can place a couple of acidic patches on the ground that then explode as they vanish! It always gives me a lot of trouble, so I could see it being useful against the monsters. ...I'd also like to see that effect fixed, since it tends to linger long after the monster who placed it has died and exploded themselves. ...which would ALSO be cool to be able to do myself.

It's VERY hard to find any kind of group for this event. I chalk it up to being unable to find anyone who understands me, but I'm not even really gonna go there anymore. I accept the fact that this will never change. The one group I did get in barely spoke to each other, and just kinda wandered aimlessly around. There were a lot of groups that consisted of one lvl 50 person and what was most likely a twink of theirs; this seems to be the main way people are doing groups in the event... escorting people who are way too low level through it to help them level or to gain them some of the event loot. Thre needs to be a better system of forming groups for these things.

I can only agree with other players about the drop rates and quality. if the bosses are going to be clumped together (5 of those giant scarabs at a time is more than I can handle) and given a range of abilities AND also given immunity to certain effects along with being surrounded by hordes of smaller trash mobs, at least have them drop decent equipment or other rewards. If there is also a lack of those special boxes for people who are actually paying you for those bonuses, that's just insanely wrong, since it just makes those people want to stop paying you.

Having to buy a key each time you access a map on top of everything else seems a little silly.

Merchant: "Oh no! The great evil is growing in the dark places and taking over our land and water! Everyone will die! You must save us, great hero!"

Hero: "Of course! I'll head out right now..."

Merchant: "...but first... you need to pay for the keys to the doors to each area, as we can't possibly imagine not earning a profit off your efforts..."

Hero: "...say what now?"

Merchant: "Oh, and these keys break after a single use... you know... so you have to pay us more if you ever need to go back... ...wait where are you going?! We need your help! ...and your money! ...mostly your money...!"

I've read the posts about the complexity of the mental math needed to get things of a decent teir... and I can only agree. It might have been fun to keep the various items involved in the 'trade' system in the game, but simply allow each item to be traded for some unique thing, while keeping the main items for the event simply able to be bought for bone coins. Let people farm the regular stuff by getting bone coins, but if they WANT to, allow them to engage in the trade function for decent, unique or high tier items. Things like the carpet that most people say they're going to farm for them quit the event.

You could have added something for each type of trade item, like... some kind of food that gave a decent boost for the flour, or something that gave an increase to drop rates or quality for the perfume (the 'scent' attracts certain monsters) or even something that REPELS lesser monsters for a while, letting you focus on the boss types. Dreamcatchers could do something like make a special chest that appears only as a mirage in each area become solid for a time, allowing people to get the treasure inside. And so on.

I'm currently trying to complete some of the quests after you beat the main boss for the first time, so I can't speak for the ENTIRE event, but it's been interesting, if a bit disappointing, so far.

 

Gonna try and keep this short. This is my first ever event since I quit DSO about half an year ago. I now remembered why I quit the first time. The event is awful, with some good points:

The good:

• Nice map design
• Interesting changing of maps/mobs after quests
• Good looking endboss
• Nice questline (if only I could finish it)

The bad:

• Droprates on bones are crap. This matters because of the following point.
  
• You need currency to buy entries for the other maps
• The quest rewards and laughable compared to the time you have to spend trying to enter the other maps
• With some pink exceptions, the droprates for other, non-event-related items is bad
• WHY THE HELL AM I GETTING DRAGONBORN AND JUNGLE COSTULE 15X FRIGGIN TIMES PER MAP?
• Event uniques didn't drop ONCE after killing the endboss about 10 times at nomal and painful

There are more bad points, but you should've got it by now.

What I'm more interested in is: Will all events, from now on, have the rewards on drop or will they be like in the past, with the progress bar? If there is no more progress bar and I'm at the whims of an [insert word here] dev team with their unimaginable bad droprates ideas, I'm off.

All in all, with everything that has changed in the game since I last played it (permanently premium), YOU (Bigpoint, devs & dso staff) haven't changed at all, and I'm not saying that in an appreciative manner.

 

there are no repeatable quests.. we farmed and quested around for hours last night, cause we thought once you finish the "first" quests, they'd pop up as repeatables after that.. buuut SUUURPRIIISEEE - they're are not!!! I don't like to be fooled and misled like this!!!
Tbh, that fact destroyed my excitement I had for this event - it's "Dunes of Disappointment" for me

If I knew right away from the official event guide what REALLY is going to be going on, I wouldn't have spent 2000 - 3000 of those "precious" bone coins just for those freaking keys.. So, if I am going to keep playing this event, then I'll farm for bone coins only

 

Update on my opinion of this event:

I think I'm done with it.

I was really hoping to see the end of the story here... or at least the end of the quest lines. But for the quest which requires you to farm 50 poison powder from the snake people and invaders, after farming for roughly an hour and killing about a hundred of them including the randomly huge scarabs and "Bass the Strong" over and over... I got 8. A drop rate of 8 in 100 while having to deal with an unending swarm of sub-bosses and trash mobs i don't even need to kill over and over for a *single* hour is more than I can deal with.

I cleared the entire map of snakes and invaders when I started without a single poison powder drop. That's just wrong. I can understand making rare equipment and other special things people are supposed to be grinding for drop more rarely, but quest items having a drop rate of 8 in 100 is INSANE. At this rate, it will take me over 4 more hours of boring, annoying farming just to complete one PART of the quest I'm trying to complete.

if anyone involved in the design of this event is checking this feedback and even cares what people are feeling about your efforts, PLEASE fix this. It has a lot of potential, and I just feel... kinda deflated about the whole thing now.I really want to like it. I kinda DO like it. Having it be killed off by the tightfistedness of the design is frustrating.