Desolation is awful

[Anat.1765]

Worst map in a good expansion. Swarmed by mobs, invisible walls, sad...

[Rhanoa.3960]

Great map, not an issue here! Always room for improvement.

[Anat.1765]

Invisible walls are not "great"

[Renai.9256]

1. It's sort of meant to be a map deep in enemy territory with patrols and such going on, because it's the most contested area. So that's why it has a lot of enemies.

2. Invisible walls are frustrating only to me atleast because of flying on the griffin, otherwise its not a big deal. They have to limit the maps in some capacity and perhaps walls will get updated eventually but for now they don't want you (understandably) flying or jumping your way across entire swaths of the map because you think you're clever. It's like in WoW in Warlords of Draenor where they don't let you fly until you make a big accomplishment- they want you to see the map they created.

[zealex.9410]

The only bad thing about Deso its the lack of a map wide meta to go with it.

[etsubmariner.4690]

The Maw isn't a small meta event.

[dusanyu.4057]

> @zealex.9410 said:

> The only bad thing about Deso its the lack of a map wide meta to go with it.

 

The map is to large for a map wide meta and it has a large event at the mouth of torment

[Boysenberry.1869]

Has anyone actually run and completed the Mouth of Torment meta? Is the reward interesting at all? I've never seen any groups try to run it and any attempts are usually met with the sound of crickets.

[Morgan.5170]

By invisible walls, do you mean the darkened impassable mountains clearly visible on the mini-map?

[Ojimaru.8970]

**Des·o·la·tion**

_noun_

* a state of complete emptiness or destruction.

* anguished misery or loneliness.

* Synonyms: misery, sadness, unhappiness, despondency, sorrow, depression, grief, woe

 

Yep, ANet made the perfect map if that's your response to it.

[Hevoskuuri.3891]

I think the maps are perfectly planned out. First you get three vast, relaxed areas with enough enemy activity but not too much for it to become chaos. Eventually, going down south you get to Desolation with much more going on, and finally to Vabbi which I feel is the most extreme of the maps, but not overly so.

 

I'm glad they added more action and rough terrain into the last two maps. I love them all, but all five being open, calm desert would have been boring.

[Elaysia.1987]

I'm glad someone said it because I was thinking it all night tonight. I really dislike Desolation map!

[sigur.9453]

> @Boysenberry.1869 said:

> Has anyone actually run and completed the Mouth of Torment meta? Is the reward interesting at all? I've never seen any groups try to run it and any attempts are usually met with the sound of crickets.

 

Rewards = Standart Event Reward

Fun = Kind of

Difficulty = not so much, you can solo a lane and kill the boss with 3-5 People

[maddoctor.2738]

Well Desolation is the Tangled Depths of the expansion

[takatsu.9416]

If you've played HoT, TD and DS or even verdant brink... Any map in POF is better than those lol. Don't complain at all til youve played those HoT maps haha

[Ohoni.6057]

I think Desolation is an ok map (the north is actually very beautiful and the SW is super fun), but I do agree that the SE portions are way too busy, there should be places where if enemies are chasing you, you can escape them far enough to get your bearings. Basically there's a large chunk of the map where if any enemies agro you on foot then you're basically perma-agroed until you get through at least 1/3 of the map.

 

Also, I hate how with both Quicksand and Sulfur you can glide over it with the Skimmer, but if you don't start on it then you can't mount up. Just as the Griffon can scoop you out of the air, there needs to be a Mastery that allows you to mount the Skimmer while in damaging terrain. Maybe just code it so that the "you are being killed by sulfur" debuff allows you to bypass the "you are in combat and can't mount restriction.

 

Also, the Jackal portals are often too random, and entering one it's impossible to tell whether it will just take you to the top/bottom of the nearest cliff, or halfway across the map. While it's ok for some "puzzle" portals to be more vague, the general "navigation" ones should be more obvious, with map markers like Nuhoc Wallows and Molten Vents.

 

But other than that I think it's a fine map. So just 1. More safe spots between groups of enemies so you can get out of combat, mount up, check the map, etc., 2. Make it easier to activate the Skimmer while in the Sulfur streams. 3. Make the Jackal Portals indicate direction on the map. that should solve it.

[Omega Mayhem.7163]

Have you been to the Domain of Vabbi, particularly the area known as The Brand?

[circuitnerd.5863]

I like the map for it's aesthetic appeal. Being overly ugly and whatnot. Even though I prefer "pretty" maps I can appreciate it's artistic design. However my biggest issue with it is navigation. I'm sure part of this is because I have not spent much time there but I do believe it's probably fairly difficult to navigate even for veteran players. Perhaps I am wrong but this is just how it feels for me.

[Ohoni.6057]

> @circuitnerd.5863 said:

> I like the map for it's aesthetic appeal. Being overly ugly and whatnot. Even though I prefer "pretty" maps I can appreciate it's artistic design. However my biggest issue with it is navigation. I'm sure part of this is because I have not spent much time there but I do believe it's probably fairly difficult to navigate even for veteran players. Perhaps I am wrong but this is just how it feels for me.

 

It's not that hard to navigate once you really get a feel for it, once you understand how it works (a bit like Tangled Depths), but it's sort of designed to keep you constantly moving so that you can never really get your bearings, which makes it more confusing. My one main suggestion is to "legally map break" the map, use the Springer to get up on a ridgeline, and then use a combination of the Springer and Jackal/Raptor to stay up there as much as possible, just moving from ridge to ridge, planning any movements through occupied territory, and almost never being where enemies are unless you've already planned a way back out. ;)

[Evil.1580]

> @maddoctor.2738 said:

> Well Desolation is the Tangled Depths of the expansion

 

LOL, no...

 

Tangled Depths is the best map ever created - it is perfect.

1. Exploration without gating.

2. Great META event (not some pseudo meta event like the one in Deso). Challenging and very nice rewarding (including the Chak Egg Sac, but not only). Actually, requires more than 5 people to complete.

3. Challenging exploration, not "super Mario jump here, fly there" kind of exploration.

4. Interesting story.

5. Multilayer.

6. A lot more interesting achievements.

[Irreverent.3594]

> @"Omega Mayhem.7163" said:

> Have you been to the Domain of Vabbi, particularly the area known as The Brand?

If he thinks Desolation is worst... nope he wasn't.

 

Op, let us know when you get there and notice any chest and decide to loot it... That is if you get that far at all.

[Tachenon.5270]

Watch out where junundu stand and don't you eat that yellow sand. The Desolation, or, as I like to call it, Morr Orr, reminds me of Orr as it was in the early post-launch days, with all the "Get over here!" stuff. I mean, I get why they do it -- we all have quality armor and they want to take a look, but maybe if they were nicer about it we'd stop and hang out for a while. Kind of a vicious cycle, I guess.

 

Also, it seems kinda odd that we can ride a skimmer over the yellow sand and not die, as I've had my hohosmith die assorted painful, agonizing deaths while trying to climb out of a yellow sand trench, often while not actually touching the yellow sand, almost as it wasn't the yellow sand doing the killing, but the yellow sand fumes, which would still reach us if we were skimming along on our skimmers with the sulfurous breeze blowing through our hair. Uh, unless we're bald or wearing a helm or something. Details, details.

[Spinex.3695]

How many of you that believe this game is hard played or plays Guild Wars 1? Hehe. Some of the maps in there were brutal!

[cafard.8953]

Love those Sulfurous Sands personally. The nostalgia is real from GW1's Desolation, and the skimmer makes it a more seemless experience than the Junundu "riding" of old.

[nosleepdemon.1368]

> @Irreverent.3594 said:

> > @"Omega Mayhem.7163" said:

> > Have you been to the Domain of Vabbi, particularly the area known as The Brand?

> If he thinks Desolation is worst... nope he wasn't.

>

> Op, let us know when you get there and notice any chest and decide to loot it... That is if you get that far at all.

 

The Brand is the only remotely dangerous place in the entire expansion. The jumping puzzle is just 100% troll. It brings together every bad design idea in PoF:

 

1. Mount puzzle requiring precise movement with inherently imprecise tools? Check.

2. Constant aggro? Check.

3. Floor is lava but only when we feel like it? Check.

4. Awful, awful reward? Check.

 

Seriously, point 4 - a champion spawning in your face with a huge healthpool and nowhere to run? Really?

 

Man the more I play this expansion, the more I realise that I really don't like it. They somehow made the story the least aggravating part. Like how on Earth is talking to Taimi now a God damned relief??