Devs: three small questions on epic mode

[Angelus_dead]

I'm asking these questions not for the developers to publicly reply, but just in the hopes that they'll think about the answers and their implications.

1. Is this how it's mostly going to be for level 20 content? Release epic modes for lower-level packs?
2. How can Aspect Mine (normal) be appropriate for level 19 characters while Prisoner of the Mind (epic) is appropriate for level 20 characters?
3. Looking at the answers for 1 and 2, do you think that's a good idea?

Bonus Questions of Less Importance
4. Which is more successful: epic raids or epic dungeons? Why do you think that is?
5. Is Epic Sentinels going to include some weapons worth using that are compatible with Weapon Finesse or Ki effects?

PS. For comparison, in a level 20 raid (normal) you'll find generic monsters that have 3000 hp, 45 AC, 20s Will saves, and do 20 damage per hit. In level 19 quests there will be trap DCs from 40s-60s (with the higher numbers reserved for less-damaging ones). In epic, those numbers are more like 5000 hp, 60 AC, 40+ saves, 50 damage per hit, and 90+ trap DCs.

[Henrieta]

This reminds me of my question, is epic difficulty one set difficulty or is there supposed to be some sort of scaling?

It really seems like the epic vons are much easier than the epic desert quests.

I'd be very interested in answers to your questions.

[Cyr]

Good questions A_D.

We may be seeing that EPIC will not strive for a universal level of difficulty (as the vons clearly did not try to be of equal difficulty of the DQ quests).

We may find that the new EPIC's coming from even lower base level quests then the vons end up being even easier then the vons and much closer to what we would expect from a level 20 quest. Hopefully the loot is slightly worse then (while still good enough to bother running of course).

It would make sense why they held off on releasing epic GH since it is of a higher base level then the DQ stuff. They might be giving themselves the degree of difficulty filler upto DQ epics first and the time to do a third pass at DQ loot to make it more in line with it's relative difficulty. Then when all that is done they will have GH ready to go with it's slightly upgraded loot and difficulty compared to DQ...and so on through the high level content.

[ColinQ]

We may find that the new EPIC's coming from even lower base level quests then the vons end up being even easier then the vons and much closer to what we would expect from a level 20 quest. Hopefully the loot is slightly worse then (while still good enough to bother running of course).

EPIC Korthos with IQ level difficulties so I can grind for EPIC Archivist amulet

[Halock]

EPIC Korthos with IQ level difficulties so I can grind for EPIC Archivist amulet

++++

[sephiroth1084]

It definitely seems like the concept of epic difficulty hasn't been pinned down yet. Is it supposed to represent a supreme challenge for the hardcore endgamers to work on, or simply challenging quests for capped characters?

Epic Wiz King, VoN 1 & 2 seem like they're designed to be about as challenging for well-geared level 20s as their original versions were for characters around level 10 and 12, respectively (in the case of Wiz King, more like the difficulty of running elite on-level).

Then, on the other hand, epic DQ 1, DQ 2, and VoN 4 & 5 seem like they are aimed at only the hardest of the hardcore players with things like ludicrously high DCs for traps and some very unforgiving fights and mechanics.

Personally, I'd prefer the quests be approached as something like difficult level 20 quests, as though running all of your quests on elite, rather than something beyond that.