I know there was another thread, but after spending 3 hours out there today, I thought a feedback thread was needed.
Just a quick note on the type of toon I was running with out there: The template is nothing fancy, just a 100 str/coord/quick, 60 end HW guy. Melee D spec (buffing to 584), 470 Hp, full lum except for 2 world augs, 5 hearty/4 dedication legendary suit, using tower shield or rare shield (shield of engorgment), lense for imping. I am also using 1 cold prot aug & running all 3 defense aetheria just to be safe while testing this area.
Initial thoughts: Doable. It is in fact solo hunting doable. I was able for the 3 hrs to pull right around 6.5k lum/hr. I just entered the valley right by the luminance flagging dungeon, worked down that little valley till it opened up, then backtracked back to the luminance dungeon. Short route but I kept w/ the spawn perfectly so no complaints.
After working that route for about an hour I ventured up around the hills and explored more of the main central area. I was able to stay on the ridge tops and pick off a few mobs here and there, but nothing nearly as effecient as that 1st small little valley.
Where it all went wrong: Having been out there for about 2 hours now I decided ok, lets venture down towards some of the keeps, and see how that works out....
How did it work out you ask?...... It didnt. At all. Why? 3 reasons:
1 - Spawn density & aggro: What a joke this was. If the mob is 2/3 from the edge of your radar or closer, you will draw it. Thers no way around it. Tip-toeing through the area proved utterly useless once you get out of any of a valley. STAY IN THE SIDE VALLEY. Dont ever bother going up the ridges or near the middle. Nobody likes swimming in yellow pools. My radar looked like pools of yellow. Nobody likes yellow pools in real life, and AC is no different.
2 - Snow Tuskers: Do they look cool? Absolutely. Will they kill you? Absolutely. Now I will say 1 on 1 they are 100% manageable. I was able to land a DF attack debuff and they missed a fair amount of the time. However, when they DID connect, it hurt bad with full lvl 8s, and legendary wards (30-50 regular hits, 90-110 crits). The problems arose when more than 1 was present, or when it would run up when I impd a nearby gurog (see point 1: stupid aggro). If 2 were on me it was constant switching attack debuffs between the 2 and healing healing healing. Shield didnt make a lick of difference (al 661 tower shield)
3 - Frozen archers: Nothing was more annoying than these when trying to explore the middle. Why? They hit for 20-40, have SNEAK DAMAGE, and a number of them sit up on towers throughout the middle that are too tall (and too clusters with mobs below) to even think of attacking. As if running through pools of mobs werent enough, you have these twits popping you in the back as you go just for good measure. Want to run into the fort for cover? NOPE! Archers all on the ramparts as well.
Summary
I was successful hunting, but I used maybe 5% of the entire area. Going near the open areas even on the periphery was an absolute waste of time. Packs of tuskers were to be avoided at all costs. Gurogs/wights/golems were managable, provided I didnt aggro 500 of them at once.
It should be noted though that ther perimiter is NOT bad here. Anywhere down the slopes on the side is viable for lum/T8, much like neftet. Unfortunately as I said though, only 5% of the lum area is really viable for people looking to go out and hunt for a bit.
Suggestions
1. Fix Snow tuskers - They need to be toned down, placed in smaller packs, or limited to the very interior of Frozen North. Also their Lum XP per kill was a waste of energy.
2. Get rid of the towers/sentries - There is no need for the extra damage from sources you cant fight back on. The area is crowded and damage dealing enough.
3. Spread the mobs out a bit more - I get that its meant to be a challenging area. There can be levels of difficulty within an area though. As it is maybe 5% has a spawn density that is viable for use by solo hunters. Heck, if you spread them out more, you might not even NEED to worry about adjusting their damages, as they would be more manageable and the space would allow players to maneuver/retreat if needed.
4. Get rid of the sneak attack on Frozen Archers - when you put 10 of them in each fort, and on guard towers, theres no way they WONT hit in the back, and the forts are already death traps as it is. Let a player try and get up on the ramparts for a bit of breathing room if they want to try. Dont make it a death wish.
Phew. Sorry for the wall of text. I was just bummed to see another potentially sweet area go 95% to waste. The players seem to have said pretty clearly that fellow-outdoor hunting areas are no longer worthwhile, given the responses to the Hoshino Area. While Frozen North isnt quite that bad, it has so much wasted potential. Maybe hoping for a bit tougher, bit larger, frozen neftet in the north was naieve, but I really had hoped it would be an area where you could see masses of players running around either on their own or with a buddy or 2 and doing quite well.
Just a quick note on the type of toon I was running with out there: The template is nothing fancy, just a 100 str/coord/quick, 60 end HW guy. Melee D spec (buffing to 584), 470 Hp, full lum except for 2 world augs, 5 hearty/4 dedication legendary suit, using tower shield or rare shield (shield of engorgment), lense for imping. I am also using 1 cold prot aug & running all 3 defense aetheria just to be safe while testing this area.
Initial thoughts: Doable. It is in fact solo hunting doable. I was able for the 3 hrs to pull right around 6.5k lum/hr. I just entered the valley right by the luminance flagging dungeon, worked down that little valley till it opened up, then backtracked back to the luminance dungeon. Short route but I kept w/ the spawn perfectly so no complaints.
After working that route for about an hour I ventured up around the hills and explored more of the main central area. I was able to stay on the ridge tops and pick off a few mobs here and there, but nothing nearly as effecient as that 1st small little valley.
Where it all went wrong: Having been out there for about 2 hours now I decided ok, lets venture down towards some of the keeps, and see how that works out....
How did it work out you ask?...... It didnt. At all. Why? 3 reasons:
1 - Spawn density & aggro: What a joke this was. If the mob is 2/3 from the edge of your radar or closer, you will draw it. Thers no way around it. Tip-toeing through the area proved utterly useless once you get out of any of a valley. STAY IN THE SIDE VALLEY. Dont ever bother going up the ridges or near the middle. Nobody likes swimming in yellow pools. My radar looked like pools of yellow. Nobody likes yellow pools in real life, and AC is no different.
2 - Snow Tuskers: Do they look cool? Absolutely. Will they kill you? Absolutely. Now I will say 1 on 1 they are 100% manageable. I was able to land a DF attack debuff and they missed a fair amount of the time. However, when they DID connect, it hurt bad with full lvl 8s, and legendary wards (30-50 regular hits, 90-110 crits). The problems arose when more than 1 was present, or when it would run up when I impd a nearby gurog (see point 1: stupid aggro). If 2 were on me it was constant switching attack debuffs between the 2 and healing healing healing. Shield didnt make a lick of difference (al 661 tower shield)
3 - Frozen archers: Nothing was more annoying than these when trying to explore the middle. Why? They hit for 20-40, have SNEAK DAMAGE, and a number of them sit up on towers throughout the middle that are too tall (and too clusters with mobs below) to even think of attacking. As if running through pools of mobs werent enough, you have these twits popping you in the back as you go just for good measure. Want to run into the fort for cover? NOPE! Archers all on the ramparts as well.
Summary
I was successful hunting, but I used maybe 5% of the entire area. Going near the open areas even on the periphery was an absolute waste of time. Packs of tuskers were to be avoided at all costs. Gurogs/wights/golems were managable, provided I didnt aggro 500 of them at once.
It should be noted though that ther perimiter is NOT bad here. Anywhere down the slopes on the side is viable for lum/T8, much like neftet. Unfortunately as I said though, only 5% of the lum area is really viable for people looking to go out and hunt for a bit.
Suggestions
1. Fix Snow tuskers - They need to be toned down, placed in smaller packs, or limited to the very interior of Frozen North. Also their Lum XP per kill was a waste of energy.
2. Get rid of the towers/sentries - There is no need for the extra damage from sources you cant fight back on. The area is crowded and damage dealing enough.
3. Spread the mobs out a bit more - I get that its meant to be a challenging area. There can be levels of difficulty within an area though. As it is maybe 5% has a spawn density that is viable for use by solo hunters. Heck, if you spread them out more, you might not even NEED to worry about adjusting their damages, as they would be more manageable and the space would allow players to maneuver/retreat if needed.
4. Get rid of the sneak attack on Frozen Archers - when you put 10 of them in each fort, and on guard towers, theres no way they WONT hit in the back, and the forts are already death traps as it is. Let a player try and get up on the ramparts for a bit of breathing room if they want to try. Dont make it a death wish.
Phew. Sorry for the wall of text. I was just bummed to see another potentially sweet area go 95% to waste. The players seem to have said pretty clearly that fellow-outdoor hunting areas are no longer worthwhile, given the responses to the Hoshino Area. While Frozen North isnt quite that bad, it has so much wasted potential. Maybe hoping for a bit tougher, bit larger, frozen neftet in the north was naieve, but I really had hoped it would be an area where you could see masses of players running around either on their own or with a buddy or 2 and doing quite well.