Hello again,
as I previously stated in my other thread, I also had ideas for some new dungeon concepts that I would like to share before the day ends. I've tried to make the dungeons somewhat lore-friendly - as terrible as the current lore of TERA is, to make them seem more logical.
That being said, let's start:
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Elleon's Memories * * * (Solo dungeon)
Lore concept:
After Elleon's death, and subsequent funeral in Velika, you meet Jelena again, who hands you over a gem of some sort. After some talks with the Barakas in Highwatch, they reveal that they can transport you into what this memory gem holds, making you relive Elleon's memories, similar to how the Echoes of Castle Aranea worked. Here, you find out about what led to Elleon's corruption by Killian.
The dungeon basically resembles a large hall of an insane asylum - it has elements that feel familiar from both the Citadel of torment as well as the Sinestral Manor in it. The still injured Elleon is resting on a bed, while Jelena watches over him.
Dungeon concept:
Despite being a solo dungeon, it's difficulty is to be set slightly harder than Openworld Exodor.
The dungeon works similar to a "tower defense mode". Here, Elleon acts as the Target you are supposed to protect. The more HP he has leftover (in 25%/50%/75% margins), the better the rewards are. A large quantity of monsters - which are similar to those that you encounter during the questlines involving Killian - will be spawned continuously for a set amount of time. During this, the player has to kill them as fast as possible. After the timer runs out, or all monsters are dead, the boss will spawn. Every monster killed will heal the player by a slight amount.
The boss: Killian's Shade:
The final boss of this dungeon is a shadowy figure of Killian's original body. Aside from an array of basic attacks with a staff, it also has 2 core mechanics.
During the first core mechanic, he will target Elleon directly with a laser of one of three colors. Spread around the room, there colored statues. The player has to hit the corresponding statue of the same color that the laser will have (given away by an Aura around the boss) and then move into that attack to deflect it away from Elleon. Otherwise, Elleon will be damaged severely and thus the rewards run a risk of being much worse.
The second key mechanic is a room wide AOE which blocks certain areas from being enterable - similar to how carpets were in FINM. Entering the areas will stun the player for a prolonged period of time, making both them and Elleon susceptible to damage. The player has to watch out to be properly positioned here.
The rewards:
Given the higher than average difficulty for a solo dungeon, the rewards are meant to help players that are tackling the Exodor content. As such, the following loot is guaranteed:
2x Darkshard Armor Feedstock
2x Darkshard Weapon Feedstock
2 of either the Belt or Mask Tokens
Furthermore, the Dungeon can drop additional Feedstock as well as Duranium and Azart gears and repair materials.
The dungeon can be either time-gated similar to old alliance vaults, or have a daily entry limit.
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Hellfire Cavern * * * *
Lore concept:
After Bahaar's seal was broken, and Bahaar subsequently defeated, a part of the infernal landscape that was previously covered in Lava in Fyrmount has cooled down, revealing a secret entrance to an underground cavern. Out of this entrance, a variety of demonic spawn has taken its way to Arborea, and is threatening the safety of the people of southern Arun.
The dungeon is introduced to the player via a short questline that they receive from Halrath after they reached Item Level 458.
Dungeon Concept:
This dungeon has both a solo and a party version. The solo variant consists of 2 bosses, while the party version consists of 3. The solo version is supposed to be a leveling dungeon alternative while providing an additional way for some extra upgrade materials, while the party version is intended to be a harder, full-on alternative to AQ.
The solo version lacks a lot of the mechanics from the party version, and, of course, has the bosses have much less HP and deal much less damage.
The dungeon itself is a hellish environtment, full of lava lakes. It is in a widely open cavern. Large stalagmites are hanging from the ceiling. The dungeon has a few trash monsters on the way to every boss fight, which are small demon-like creatures.
The bosses:
First boss: Madanak - Naga Brawler (see Manuk), reskinned in a Hellish/demonic way
Madanak has attack patterns reminiscent of other Naga Brawler-type monsters in TERA, like the second boss in GLSH, the last boss in VH, or just open world bams like Manuk. However. he has a few mechanics to boot a challenge.
Special Attack 1: Madanak drills the ground, repeatedly causing fiery shockwaves to erupt from it in a pizza pattern, similar to what happens in Fulminar's cage, or on Khemadia during the awakening questline. There shockwaves deal heavy damage and should be avoided.
Special Attack 2: Madanak jumps high off the ground, releasing an expanding donut wave upon impact.
Mechanic 1: Madanak throws fireballs in every direction. These have to be avoided via an i-frame. During the time in which the fireballs are thrown out, a cone shaped safezone will be telegraphed. After a short period of time, Madanak will blast the entire area with a firestorm - expanding in a way similar to some of Harnavog's wide AOE slash attacks - dealing near, if not lethal, damage.
Mechanic 2: For every 10% HP loss under 40%, Madanak gains 10% Attack speed.
Second boss: Kavmos - a Kylos reskin, but in a hellish way - black and reddish, with lava seemingly peering out of its body.
Kavmos' basic attacks are similar to those of Kylos, but it uses breath attacks much more often. It has no mechanic similar to Kylos where after every "empowered" attack it gains a stack which leads into an explosion mechanic, however, that doesn't make it any less dangerous.
Special attack 1: After one of its attacks, if Kavmos has a fiery aura burst out of him, it will do an extended version of his attack that also strikes the damage dealers, similar to Kylos' empowered attacks. Instead of expanding donuts, Kavmos' wing-strikes to the back cause fiery explosions which need to be i-framed.
Special attack 2: Kavmos will sometimes turn into a damage dealer and try to target them with a breath directly. This breath hits a wide cone and can not be i-framed or even evaded by running out, as it tracks the player. However, it can be blocked. The idea of this attack is for the tank to block for his party member.
Reoccuring mechanic: At certain time intervals, meteors will strike down from one direction in the sky, in a the sky, rolling over the battlefield in a zebra crossing. They first strike down one area, and after the first wave subsided, the second one strikes down the areas that were safezones before. These meteors need to be avoided.
This is where the solo dungeon would end.
The party version however has one additional boss:
Final boss: Hellfire Moloch Pyros: A completely new monster that resembles a fiery djinn, but mixed with demonic elements. Think of a mixture of Ragnaros from WOW and Harnavog that wields an axe.
At first glance, Pyros has attacks that seem reminiscent of both Valona and Demoros, and Antaroth albeit with fiery effects, and much faster. However, it wields an axe which it can use for a variety of attacks, like a whirlwind attack or wide swings that hit across the room, similar to Darkan. While these swings don't push back in the same way, they deal high amounts of damage and inflict a burn debuff that can be cleansed.
Special Attack 1: Pyros targets one player - except the tank - with a meteor above their head. This meteor deals no damage to them, but heavy damage to party members. This meteor needs to be placed away from the party.
Special Attack 2: Pyros has fiery lasers emit from his body which rotate around him, similar to the ones in Verno or the ones from Magnuut in the superior guardian mission.
Special Attack 3: Pyros illuminates one half of the boss room before blasting it with fire.
Key mechanic 1: At certain time intervals, Pyros will make a callout. After this, he will engulf certain areas of the room in lava, making them unsuitable for the fight. These areas stay unusable until he repeats the mechanic. The lower his HP is, the larger the area loss will be.
Special Attack 4: Pyros will target a random person. After a while, he will unleash a fiery lash, knocking up the player and making them susceptible to landing in the lava. Skills with super-armor can prevent this from happening.
Key mechanic 2: Healer check: Pyros engulfs the entire room in lava for a while, dealing damage to every party member. This has has to be healed through.
Key mechanic 3: At certain time intervals, Pyros erupts in rage, causing fiery meteors to fall from the sky, dealing damage. These can be i-framed, however.
Rewards:
The solo version rewards large amounts of EXP and a fair amount of scrolls, skill advancement XP as well as duranium gear, with possible Feedstock and Azart gear drops.
The party version, considering it takes longer than AQ, has better Loot on top of AQ's loot.
Basically, apart from the usual gear drops, it is also guaranteed to drop 4 Feedstocks of both types, as well as the chance to drop 1 superior feedstock which is group loot.
Furthermore, it drops Titans Storm/Earth and gear repair pieces and the designs for mythical gear.
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Drakoon Triad's Hideout * * * *
Lore concept:
Following the main questline on Exodor, the Valkyon Federation, alongside their newfound allies with the Free Exodor Nagas, went on a search for the remaining Leaders of the Azart, the Drakoon Triad. After a tedious search, Dougal has reports of a secret teleportal near the Azart Base at the southern outskirts of Exodor. You are being sent to investigate.
Dungeon concept:
From a design perspective, the dungeon resembles the architecture of the Drakoons, as can be seen in parts of Verrak Fortress as well as Rogash's Manor.
At first, there is some patrols guarding the actual entrance of the hideout. You kill these and enter the first boss room.
The difficulty of the dungeon is similar to that of AQ, with the bosses having considerably less HP.
First boss: Kalligar
After his defeat at your hands in the core room of Exodor, this is your second fight with Kalligar. He has similar attacks to the first time you fight him, but with a few added perks.
Special Attack 1: Kalligar punches the ground, causing a cone shaped AoE that hits in the front and back.
Special Attack 2: Kalligar pounces on a random target, knocking it, and everyone else caught in the attack's radius up.
Special Attack 3: If Kalligar successfully knocks a person up, he combos them, which can deal heavy if not lethal damage unless healed through.
Key Mechanic: Kalligar makes a callout: "Lumikan, assist me!" Following that, several balls are spawned in the room while Kalligar charges up an attack. These balls have to be destroyed. Shortly after, Kalligar releases multiple explosion waves eminating from him, dealing damage to every party member. However, if a ball is hit by an explosion wave, it deals even heavier damage to the party and silences them for a few seconds.
Second Boss: Female Drakoon Commander (unnamed as of now)
She has similar attack patterns to Lilith, however, she also has a wide array of ranged attacks that need to be watched out for.
Special Attack 1: She fires an array of energy balls in a whirlpool-spinning pattern around her, dealing damage.
Special Attack 2: She teleports away into the distance, and unleashes a large laser blast, similar to the firestorm on the last boss in the Labyrinth of Terror, or Nightmare Hexapleons cutter mechanic.
Key Mechanic: From time to time, she does a serious of back-to-back magic attacks, similar to the red magic attacks of Antaroth.
Final Boss: Lumikan
Lumikan inherits attacks from both preceeding bosses as well as Dakuryon, but also summons minions in an attempt to buy himself time to flee.
Special Attack 1: Lumikan charges up a laser, then knocks back whoever gets hit by it.
Special Attack 2: Lumikan continually blasts the outer area of the battleground with lightning, similar to Hexapleon's stompers.
Key Mechanic 1: Lumikan unleashes a series of three donut AOEs that expand from him. Similarly to Lachelith, he gains stacks during these. These need to be plagued/regressed off of him. If this doesn't happen, Lumikan proceeds to target a single party member, stunning them and killing them and everyone that was too close.
Key Mechanic 2: Similar to Dakuryon, Lumikan summons monsters (Drakoon snipers) periodically. These deal damage.
Key Mechanic 3: Once Lumikan drops below 15% HP, he tries to self-destruct the hideout while preparing his escape. During this time he must be killed, or the party wipes.
Rewards: Similar to AQ, but with more Focus on Feedstocks than on gear. Also drops Legacy Essences and Relics/Halidoms.
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Humka Trainingground (Solo/5 Players)
Lore concept:
Humka, being the traditional fighting sport between Amani, has been practiced for centuries in TERA's storyline, yet never openly made any way as a dungeon or challenge into the game.
Dungeon concept:
The odd one out amongst the other dungeons, this one is more of a challenge/competition dungeon rather than a farming dungeon. The whole concept is this - you fight randomly spawned monsters or bosses and go as far as you can, until you wipe, and get tokens as a reward according to your score. You can exchange these tokens for various goodies at a token merchant. The faster you beat the early monsters, the more difficult the monsters that follow up will be.
This is similar to the "Tower of Infinity" from Blade and Soul.
The bosses and monsters that spawn here can be from any dungeon - of course, with adjusted HP so the dungeon doesn't take a year to complete.
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Finally, this may be the dungeon most people have been waiting for, here is my proposal for a 5 Star dungeon:
Spatial Rift of the Exile * * * * *
Lore concept:
After the events in the Akalath Quarantine, questions arose as to where those Argons came from, seeing as the Argon Queen, Manaya, was slain by the player character in the Argon war. While the Valkyron federation is busy with all hands on the Murderwing/Exodor crisis, a note from Tamur summons the player to Kaiator, where they meet up with Tamur, who brings them to Kaia. Kaia warns the player of an impending doom that has long been waiting for its chance to befall the world of Arborea, and urges them to meet up together with Mystel to discuss the ongoing crisis. Arriving at the Fountain of Shara, Kaia and Mystel inform the player of what has happened.
Manahan, after eons of being exiled, has finally succeeded in opening a gateway into the Dream. He now resides within the Spatial Rift, an interdimensional space between the Dream (the world that TERA is set in) and the void. Here, he prepares to gather power to invade and reshape Arborea after his own ideals.
Dungeon concept:
The dungeon looks alien. It is like a series of free floating platforms within a void, with open space surrounding it. These platforms are not too unfamilar from those found in argon structures, yet they are notidably different - more archaic and defined.
The dungeon consists of 2 bosses, though it technically can be considered only one boss. The bosses' attacks are of "universal" and "cosmic" nature.
The difficulty of this dungeon is supposed to be as hard as Bahaar was during its release, if not slightly harder even.
First boss: Mechanical Vessel
This boss, while being a reskin of Dreadspire's Extreme mode Shandra Manaya that bears more resemblance to look like what Manahan would look like, has some strongly altered mechanics.
Notable changes that set it apart from Manaya are the following:
1. Curl -> Bomb:
Before each bomb, all players in the party are sucked into a black hole, which also places a cleansable slow debuff on them. The healer needs to cleanse this immediately, and all players must run out of the range of the bomb afterwards, or - if they are skilled enough - iframe it.
2. Puddles: Puddles place a slowing debuff on the player. At 3 stacks, players are stunned. However, to offset this difficulty, the tick rate is lower.
3. Cage: Instead of only targetting the tank, the cage is now a wide AoE around the boss, which needs to be dodged. If not, it inflicts heavy damage and the same snare debuff that makes players unable to move whatsoever, unless cleansed. Afterwards, it cages all players, similar to the cages of Darkan or Fulminar, and follows this up with donut, pizza and line AoE attacks.
4. Bomb throw: Instead of a bomb, the Mechanical Construct throws a black hole, which sucks nearby players in, and follows it up with a ranged attack which deals lethal damage if not I-framed.
5. Debuffs: The mechanical construct loses the damage resistance that Manaya has during the debuff phase, however, it does two debuff mechanics back to back, one in the correct order, and one in reverse, which need to be done correctly.
6. The Mechanical Construct has no shields, and the speed buffs it gains are unavoidable.
Final Boss: Manahan, the Exile
This bosses look is both alien, and yet in a way ancient, defined and divine.
Apart from its basic and special attacks, it has multiple phases triggered by HP loss - similarly to Bahaar with its perma-enraged state - which will require each and every party member to play well.
Nearly all of its basic attacks hit both the tank and subsequently the DPS, similar to how it was with Bahaar.
Special Attack 1: Manahan explodes one half of the room, damaging everyone caught in the explosion.
Special Attack 2: Manahan disappears, and unleashes a combination of both expanding donuts and star shaped lines eminating from him (similar to Lakan when he does his star-shaped-lasers), dealing damage.
Special Attack 3: Manahan blasts the entire Area with shockwaves in a Pizza pattern (similar to Madanak's special Attack).
Special Attack 4: Manahan does a ranged, then an inner AoE before releasing a wave that needs to be i-framed.
Special Attack 5: Similarly to the Construct, Manahan creates a black hole , sucking all players to him and slowing them. He now tries to build up a cage, which the players have to escape. Whoever gets caught in the cage dies immediately.
Special Attack 6: Manahan has exploding circles either expand from him, or converge towards him.
HP: 100-65%: Manahan does the fight normally with no added mechanics.
HP: 65%-40%: Manahan forcibly does his first "Black Hole" phase. During this, Manahan flies above the battlefield, and the battlefield is turned completely black. Where Manahan stood is now a black ball that the DPS players need to destroy quickly. This ball is repeatedly struck by balls of lightning, each time a lightning strikes it it, the Tank is required to do a perfect block, blocking for his entire party. While this goes on, the ground damages the players, which the healers need to keep up. If the ball is not destroyed in time, the party wipes.
If it is destroyed, Manahan will get stunned for a short period of time.
After this mechanic, Manahan repeats it every one and a half minute.
Furthermore, Manahan begins to randomly make parts of the battleground completely unavailable for passage.
40%-30%: From now on, in addition to everything else, random circles with arrows may appear on the edge of the map, indicating that oneshotting Meteors will soon strike the battleground repeatedly, starting from one edge of the battleground and moving to the edge of the other, following the direction where the arrow points, step by step. FF14 players may recognize this Attack to be similar to the "Exaflare" Attack of Bahamut Prime in UCOB.
30%-15%: Similar to Bahaar, Lasers now fire across the room.
15%-5%: Manahan's Last Stand: He gains additional Attack Speed and Power, a callout reading "Manahan prepares to end the dream" appears, and a Timer of 2 minutes starts.
5%: Manahan's final black hole Mechanic. Instead of one Ball, there is two now, which are directly next to each other, but get struck at different intervals. Tanks must do their best to time their blocks perfectly.
If this mechanic succeeds, Manahan loses all his endurance, similar to Vergos in Harrowhold after his body parts are destroyed, and the fight is over.
Rewards:
Being the hardest dungeon, the rewards should accordingly be a much higher chance to obtain superior gear, superior gear repair materials, mythical gear designs, etching boxes, etching materials, Azart Force Signs and Tokens, Masks, Belts and Brooches, Feedstock, Relics/Halidoms and finally, weapon amplifier tokens.
These tokens are supposed to allow players to choose one of the "old" overline stats for their weapon.
As another jackpot reward, you could add both new innerwears and non-tradable 2.0 dragons at a very low chance.
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And that's it, those are my ideas for new dungeons.
While my hope is pretty dim any of them would be considered, one can always try.
Regards,
Assa
