masik233

I'm pretty much in the same boat there. First thing I did in the game was to let my first char leech to 199 (also, XP needed has been halfed since, not to mention idols). Eventually though I made 3 more chars for a team, and bought the first relatively cheap sets with ogrines (thus real money) to save a lot of time. I don't like playing with only part of my spells, but also any non-endgame content seems pretty much dead (sadly), so it's the best way to start playing directly from level 200 due to state of servers. Nowaydays, once you found friends willing to help, you can XP 200 in half a day, or even some hours with XP modifiers, so it's quite a joke, but at the same time something that renders low level content even more dead. I never did any quests except for 3 Dofus questlines "at their prime" (Cloudy, Abyssal, Ivory) since doing that with a team was just a huge kama source. Otherwise you're in no obligation to quest if you don't like questing, unless you really want to maximize achievement score (which has no practical value). I think you perceive the limitations a bit too negatively. You're actually way more free what to do. There are 100% PvP-players that do nothing else other than spamming kolo or AvA. Others just spend their time maging or doing diverse trade for profit. A new feature are treasure hunts, briefly said a feature that includes the decor elements on maps, requiring you to find/identify these in several steps. You can then obtain tourmalines for example that sell very easily (abundant in crafts, such as pebbles). But anyway, the main point is that you can establish yourself by a lot of activities, clearly not being attached to quests. Of course the best is to have a circle of friends and/or a guild with a similar progression and motivation. As mentioned earlier, low level content is dead, probably on solo sever too (dates 1 year already). So indeed with Astrub you won't have luck, players just don't have any motivation to join if it's not for sheer good will and helpfulness x) Hence why I looked for a full XP leech directly. Even quests can be quite fun actually if you do them alongside friends and while a lot of people do them at the same time (such as directly at release), it adds sort of more excitement to it as you compete more or less in a rush.

I started in about 2014. I only used a team until I finished the "official" PvM content, but I always cared a lot about synergies, or let's say that each class is exploited worthy of its potential (otherwise I wouldn't be satisfied). So I think it depends on the context. If let's say you play 100% on range with pushing and MP red, a Strength Ouginak is worthless, yes. But that's pretty much the case with any close range tank, it's not like Ouginak specifically is useless. Chance stays great for range, and many spells are very useful (unless you really try untouchable). In reverse, a Cra is similarly useless when playing 100% CC tanking. There's a channel named "Coldarra", a guy who is similarly bored like me in the game. He solo'd a lot of duns with a chance Ougi, even some that are completely CC-unfriendly (like Tal Kasha). As for Proto, Barbaric isn't actually limiting, just needs to use AP more efficiently (you use the 2 AP bow on all chars, so basically it's just a constant -2 AP, nothing more than that). Statue is nicely doable with a tank (including Ouginak), just locking and having a char that places the tank by 1 cell each time before the tank (= attracter) plays 1/2 turns (the possibilities are endless). So yeah, it often doesn't make a lot of sense that very few approaches are democratized x) Depends on difficulty. If you struggle it's always better to notice (or look up) exact ranges for example, enables an easier placement.

Elio or Rogue had a way higher "power ceiling" than other classes, it's true that they bypassed the rest a lot, but only for dimensions, otherwise it was ok. Then again the blame can also go to a lot of classes being "useless", being leftovers from the original versions (especially Osa and Sadi that have a way higher ceiling now), which was limiting to begin with. Classes are way more balanced between each other in PvM post revamps and spell variants, so such problems wouldn't happen that easily today. We can't deny that new players have more or less no chance to find into the game in the long run with today's state of servers. I'd mention however that at least they organize seasonal servers (Temporis this year). They motivate a lot of older players to participate (rushing competition in all domains) and being at the same time the ideal possibility to jump in for new players (new server = high activity in all domains and all levels, and as characters can be transferred in the end to a regular server). The project seems to be paused for now, however for later editions there should be some exclusive rules to attract more players (XP/drop modifiers, fight changes etc).

Whether you do 1, 10 or 50 attempts depends the most on your motivation and your habit with the dungeon (granted, some combos are certainly easier than others, but classes can never be equal when dungeons are different). Side note: There were quite a number of people choosing a certain composition not because of their conviction that it's the best, but because one or more Youtube videos existed so that they can copy a part of the fight turn by turn, often assuming afterwards that this composition is very good (or even needed) for the respective dungeon (which obviously is no reason at all^^). Often enough compositions were just seen as required because they were democratized by Youtube and copied. This has no real reference to its viability, however. Some ideas were democratized and copied only some weeks/months later. Of course, it makes no sense to assume that the respective classes were unplayable before just because it wasn't shared yet. Some months ago, I did a lot of Ilyzaelle runs. I won't explain the dungeon, but in any case, it's one of the only dungeons left in the game people still struggle with and Elio is often called "mandatory" for it. I was doing it with 3 achievements (constant 1st or 2nd attempt runs, no Elio) using 3 chars, 2 of which the set didn't even matter. At the same time, I saw some guys using the supposedly perfect composition (Panda, Elio, Iop + 1-2 others) and despite that doing dozens of tries dying. This relation just wouldn't make any sense if there were required classes as you explained it. The difference was that I learned all present spells and mechanics, adapting my spells and my approach to them. If one hasn't yet internalised an endgame dungeon, it doesn't make any difference whether he chooses an exotic compo, or the supposedly OP one (without copying videos, ofc). It might be implausible to only note me as an example, but it's enough to search a bit on Youtube. I think Quadro even Duo'd Ilyzaelle easily with Sacrier, a class that's supposedly trashtier in PvM. So yeah, that's why I still insist on the fact that required classes have always been an illusion (even if it's not your perception). The very only exceptions might be to Duo dimensions at their prime, which was nerfed to Trio. For invulnerabilities: You'd have to develop further, because I wouldn't know of any invulnerability for 200s in the game that requires a specific class. Klime, Nileza: pushing - the entirety of classes (besides Xélor) has pushing spells, not to mention release Count, Missiz: inducing a certain placement - independent of classes, even the ones without any placement can do it with simple manipulation Sylargh: kill a mob - no comment... Merkator pre-nerf: locking boss in CC for 1 turn + manipulating Cyclo on a precise cell, a mob with only 6 linear range - accessible for all classes Vortex, Catseye: without any relevance, the invuln disappears by itself, it's just to define the fight (won't continue with recent stuff that you probably don't know of, these are enough for examples) Going from here, you can of course say that "it's the only way to defeat them", but these are for the most part details that don't affect the rest a lot (you can still do any of these dungeons with diverse strategies even if the vulning is always the same, it's clearly not what defines the whole fight). To finish up, I don't intend to sound arrogant or anything like that. I understand well that many players don't have the time, the motivation or the interest needed to not perceive endgame content as a pure pain. Personally however, that's exactly what has me kept playing over the years, so basically you're blaming exactly what I was playing for and which is part of the essence of the game in my eyes, hence why I discuss a lot on it. I'm well aware that players in your case are in the majority, and even among the ones actually tryharding the content, a big amount just copies fights or pays dungeons runs. However, I don't think the content deserves the blame, it's simply an essential part of the game. Otherwise, with too little strategy, you don't dignify the term "tactical MMORPG".

Specific character requirement has never existed for any dungeon in the game. There are simply classes that are the easiest to use when it comes to a certain aspect (Elio for fast damage increase, Iop for easiest blitzing and general damage, Enu for easiest MP reduction, Panda for the easiest placement, etc). However, in PvP, classes are more or less balanced and it's not like Iop for example laughs at the entire rest of damage dealers or anything like that (isnt this weird?!). As it's competitive, players are interested in exploiting more classes even if they are a bit more unusal to use. PvM is naturally easier and non-competitive, so players choose the most straight forward way to do it. If anything is to blame, it's the difference of difficulty between the classes so that 90% of PvM teams are similar. I feel like the issue has absolutely nothing to do with the dungeons themselves, any role is fulfilled by plenty of classes especially since spell variants and shields. It's tiring that this illusion continues to persist, even though they already banalized a lot with the 2.42 update. Immunities, invulnerabilities and generally mechanics are a must, otherwise all dungeons would be exactly the same. There are also dungeons with no invulnerability (Abyss dungeons or QoT for example) and they are neither easier, nor less annoying because of that fact. Invulnerability is weird to mention as it's one of the most banal things when it comes to mechanics (for the most part, it's just a single action required, I have no idea how this can be annoying). At other times it just defines the character of the fight (like Catseye). Different mechanics keep dungeons fresh and make the diversity of approaches that you adapt when doing a dungeon. Basically, what you do is complaining that Dofus is a tactical MMORPG, where in that case it would just be enough to leave the game, because there is nothing to blame. Maybe, they should have invested in different difficulty levels for each dungeon.

As for good points, I'd stress the class changes (along with spell variants, shields being relevant and Dofus revamp). Classes are very "clean" today as opposed to old times where classes were a huge mess (weapon spam, half of spells irrelevant, several times the same spell like Sacrieur punishments or Feca reductions). If the game is worthy of "tactical MMO", it's clearly today and not in its past. You can't list Idols as good since they've damaged the game a lot, not fulfilling their goal at all. The idol pool is big and diverse enough, meaning you can choose specifically the ones that you won't care about, for example "intouchable" idols on a big map and a ranged team (very typical) or "CC" idols as Kyoub or Payo. For the benefit, there's just no reason to increase difficulty when you can just put ignorable compositions. At the same time, they allow to increase drop and XP rate as was never possible before, so they've highly contributed to price dump of PvM ressources. Quests or drop for Dofuses are a matter of taste, but quests are the healthier way. If they're only obtainable as a rare drop, solo accounters have more or less no chance to obtain them (or name me a solo character that grinds Vulbis^^). It's a bit the same principle as with the achievement ressources that lower a lot the price of boss mats, but that give a chance to solo or duo accounters. Otherwise, repeating the same dungeon dozens of times just to craft some items is just insupportable for solo chars. not to mention repetitive and dumb (sorry, this part is subjective!). The era of Dofus being a 99% farm game is over. Come to think of it, rare drop still exists with Vulbis and is getting reintroduced with 2.48 and future updates. Also, modern questlines are driving away from frequent running from NPC to NPC (of course, you still need that to tell a story!). I think for example of the Abyssal Dofus questline that is quite short and rather bases on your skills. You can do it in a single day if you're very experienced and familiar with the content. You could say questlines are also inaccessible with a single character, but recruiting friends for 2-3 group fights is a completely different thing than to have a big team to begin with. Not convinced by your argument of forcing PvM players to do PvP. PvM mats still sell (me for example, I buy 100% of the monster mats in market if I make a new set, and plenty of others too, there are still quite expensive ones especially for the newest areas). Other than that, there are a lot of ways to make money and it's natural for players to possess a certain amount. If someone is disadvantaged, it's by far the PvPers that entirely rely on kolo tokens, not the PvMers. As for the decline of players, you shouldn't forget that back in the day, you were younger and exploring the game for the first time. Now we are all getting older with less time for the game. Also, the competition is just enormous today as opposed to a decade ago (LoL, Fortnite, OW, etc). As the game has remained an MMO with grinding, it just barely stands a chance to attract new players as opposed to let's say Fornite. I feel like these aspects have more weight than all the supposedly bad evolutions. For me, it's obvious that from a quality standpoint, Dofus is leagues and leagues ahead of back in the day (even if there is nostalgia).

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The broadest would be to vary the dungeons chosen in length/difficulty to address different players. I still insist that turns as primary are more appropriate, especially for longer dungeons, and as it doesn't have any influence on the result if most teams have the same number of turns. Other than that, it's debatable as you said, or a matter of taste. Graphical reductions aren't imposed, but my concern was simply that a challenge might reduce itself to that if the difficulty is sufficiently low, meaning there's no chance to outweigh that with the way to play. Then again, it depends on the dungeon etc, and you seem to deny that this aspect is enough, that's assuring. Additional challenges would require videos, but for idols, screenshots are enough as they are shown on the end-of-fight screen (ok, except with screenshot cheating, but that's a general small risk, not only affecting idols). Simple/fast classes have a big advantage for time-based fights, but I wouldn't agree that a turn-based concept would reverse the effect - classes with more actions per turn don't necessarily have a higher average damage, do they? Depending on the dungeon, classes are never equal, but I just mean that time makes them even less equal, clearly less than the turn number aspect. As for hidden replies: How about to only bring out the current best times during the event (without classes)? This would still keep the competition and promotion aspect in my opinion, without a complicated entry. Mono vs Multi account: Highly debatable, the only advantage of 4 players would be a small risk of latency and faster clicks (and you admit yourself that this aspect is not sufficient by itself). Other than that, the fights tend to be longer as all players don't necessarily think in the same direction which gives suboptimal turn combos as opposed to a single player. Of course they can communicate per chat or discord which takes extra time however.

I don't really agree, there are big differences among the players. Whether 90% of participants share the same lowest turn depends on whether the tactical difficulty is trivial or not. Any dimension dungeon for example is long to begin with, having plenty of room for turn optimization, so it's safe to say that the number of turns will vary a lot, especially as there is only a week to prepare. Take as an example an event at the Japan Expo this year, where Ankama offered to the players to beat Dazak Freezammer in a small number of turns, offering prices for the 3 top teams. As far as I remember, the turn number ranged between 10 and 26 which is enormous! And it's not even a dimension dungeon. I don't think Goultard is a good comparison as that challenge has stayed the same over several years, the players got used to it (not to mention YouTube videos that can just be copied turn by turn while trying a lower time). If a dungeon is considered too simple and the lowest turn possible is supposed to be achieved by 90% of participants, additional challenges (like zombie, clean hands, etc) can easily balance out, such as required idols: - Kyoub: ranged dmg reduction - Nyoro: damage reflect - Zaihn, Pikmi and others: anything that requires placement etc Making turn number primary and time secondary is the best choice, even if you suppose that turns will be too often equal (because if they're equal, who cares if they're primary or not, the time will decide anyway). On the other hand, let's say there's a team achieving 5 turns in 5 minutes, and another team making 6 turns in 4 minutes - would the latter team really deserve to be superior? It clicked faster, but it had less average damage per turn, the "quality" of the fight is necessarily inferior to the one of the first team. I would even go as far as to consider first the number of chars playing on the last turn before taking time into account. Moreover, time isn't balanced at all among classes. Classes having their peek potential with direct damage alone (Iop, Cra etc) are highly favored whereas classes with more needed actions (Xelor, Panda, Elio, anything with controlled or uncontrolled summons) become suboptimal. If, however, you mostly have low level dungeons on your mind, or in other words dungeons where class choice doesn't even matter because pure damage stacking is enough, I wouldn't find that to have any notable relation to our game (it's turn-based after all, not based on fast reflexes etc). Also, imposing low quality / no animations / creature mode is ugly (not to be taken too seriously, this point is subjective :p) Some other suggestions: - even if I haven't thought of an alternative yet, adding the 4 times together and taking the average time is far from a fair evaluation: if one dungeon takes naturally much longer than another, the short dungeons become close to irrelevant in the sum, and the whole sum could depend almost only on the longest dungeon - posting the results in a thread might not be the ideal as other participants can watch a video or at least just view the classes used to inspire themselves. The best would be to post with delayed visibility (Idk if that's possible on that forums) or just use private messages Other than that, thanks a lot for the work, such events might have potential.