"story mode" raids

[Valerianus]

i mean a casual soloable\heavy shortman raid. just to see the finale of the story for those interested.

make it drop no loot, no runes, just some random stuff if you feel like it, it does not matter, just a way to let new players see the finale of a pack\expansion, it is fitting for a fantasy roleplay game themed mmo. this is particularly true for heroic-only raids but epic ones too, just let them explore the content that was created, let the good content be accessible and the good work of the world-builders be enjoyed. also being familiar with the map layout and some mechanics, it may push em to group. there are people who don't join raid lfm just because they have no idea, and reading some guide does not help em to break the wall even if tutorial resources are available, there's plenty. also it may be used for teaching run. imho normal diff covers it, but given that the game population is not that high, it may be useful to have a casual raid diff that players can heavily short-man, just to show it to a friend\guildy.


just suggesting, raids cannot be run in casual diff by default. for raids, enable the casual difficulty and name it "raid story mode" or something.

[Xanom]

imho normal diff covers it, but given that the game population is not that high, it may be useful to have a casual raid diff that players can heavily short-man, just to show it to a friend\guildy.

Are there raids for which "normal" would not be good enough? For example, just not practical (even if over-levelled) without a minimum party size?

My group has observed that "Mists of Ravenloft" is something of a narrative oddity. The main story arc completes at nominal level 12. But if you want to face down Strahd himself you need to wait until level 32. It feels like it needs a heroic version of the raid at about level 15.

Narratively, Strahd is powerful, but not demigod level powerful. It would not be unreasonable for high level heroics to put him in his place.

[Valerianus]

Are there raids for which "normal" would not be good enough? For example, just not practical (even if over-levelled) without a minimum party size?

My group has observed that "Mists of Ravenloft" is something of a narrative oddity. The main story arc completes at nominal level 12. But if you want to face down Strahd himself you need to wait until level 32. It feels like it needs a heroic version of the raid at about level 15.

Narratively, Strahd is powerful, but not demigod level powerful. It would not be unreasonable for high level heroics to put him in his place.

well, i was thinking to mess with the casual raid diff because atm casual does not exist for raids so maybe (?) if enabled it would allow to mess with the raid both in diff scaling and mechanics, obviously without touching the "real" raid, allowing all of them to be solo. it's a double issue, mobs power (in such a setting, it must be really easy also for weak\undergeared chars, so a special scaling) but also some mechanics, when you need the party to split to pull levers together, or activate laser beams, and so on. i was thinking, the casual version of the raid, that would have to be tailored for it, a modified version in some cases but why not, it's a raid, it's special, special treatment, stupid example, von raid, pull lever\rune\target on a side to open the other, make the casual version easier by e.g. requiring to just pull em once and stay active. the example of strahd raid is also really good, allow an heroic strahd in this casual story mode just for basic learning\narration sake. in that case, for sure disable e.g. the deadly freeze\trinket thing. like i was saying, basically it involves to set up another quest, similar to the original raid but different, because the original raids are fine as they are generally speaking, no one want to force raid development to must-be-soloable...but for those that want to enjoy the story and btw paid for it, make an alternative raid, with no challenge, all super easy and sorta auto-win, and no rewards, just to enjoy the story. not only new players, but also vets could enjoy a way to explore a raid slow paced, look at the scenery, read the dialogue lines, like, watch a movie. seriously, you paid for it, e.g. they want 60 bucks for expansion trove, at least let new players see lolth and strahd. and even if money were not involved, just for narration sake, let the players see the story, the game will be more enjoyable, it will look more epic, and the players happier. some will say hey look, just gather a couple of friends and shortman normal. while such a remark has actually its worth, my point is having the option to enjoy narration as sorta "idle activity", or to let a solo player or a small group of friends in static group\small guild, let em see the story, i don't know if like 3 or 4 undergeared chars can shortman e.g. strahd on normal...also some raid mechanics will be disabled but they'll learn the map layout at least, or some minor mechanics. it's something, whatching a video or reading a guide it's not the same as going in there yourself and do something yourself, they could be pushed to group for the real thing, this could improve grouping, population is low, this could help grouping and player retention.

the only minor caveats could be...how much favor is a casual raid worth? whatever make it like 1 or 3, whatever, probably relevant just because the system\quest list probably needs a non-zero entry. how much exp points? also whatever, give a nice reward why not, since it will not be anyway profitable in terms of xp\min, it's not an issue, can't be exploitable.

put a big warning sign like you are entering the raid in story mode, mobs are weaker and some real raid mechanics are not present\disabled but narration and events are present 100%. and make it drop no named loot\runes\etc obviously.

alternatively, since we end up with a raid but not really, specific casual raid loot, underpowered versions of the real thing, useful if you are geared in random loot but useless if you are geared in named loot. you know, just a candy, not a meal. but tastes sweet. or since the ddo development discarded cosmetics marketing since its inception, what a gargantuan mistake, and keeps on that path, like, why are they are not selling old raids weapons\armor skins in the store? well then try to sell mirrors if story mode raids drop easily underpowered versions of cool looking stuff, someone will hunt for it ssg you know it, you have lotro players that do older content runs specifically for a chance to drop house decorations! c'mon sell some more ddo mirrors. or make the story mode raid drop directly cosmetic copies, not gear. as i said, a candy, a raid reward "feeling", the end of the story, but no "real" reward.

well, this whole pseudo-gear rant is just an idea, i'm self-derailing myself, it could be safely disregarded, the main point of story mode is the story duh, the rest i said is ranty fluff.