Bjora Marches Meta - Opinion

[aimasira.3786]

Straight forward, just give your opinion regarding the meta on the new map Bjora Marches. The meta includes from the time the pre starts (building defences) until the Legendary boss dies. The 4 champs do not count.

[Ashantara.8731]

Well, maybe not "perfect", but better than just "good". ;) I love it, especially the blizzard. It would have been even cooler if people were actually forced to play in separate groups to get it done, especially at the bosses.

[Randulf.7614]

Like most of the episode, it was unfulfilled potential. Something that could have been great, but lacked creativity.

 

- Messy in terms of visuals,

- no danger of failing,

- a long drawn out defence phase again that had no feeling of danger.

 

Given how cool the boss looked (and it does look fantastic!) I was expecting some Marionette style battle. But in the end, it was just another zergfest when the boss appeared, followed by an A-B champ rush which wasted an entire corner of the map.

 

Maybe “OK” is more appropriate, but I don't feel the need to actually do it.

 

[Ayrilana.1396]

Picked my option only because of the length of the defend event. If it’s going to be that long then make it more engaging otherwise just shorten it.

[Raknar.4735]

Randulf summed it up well.

1. Preparing phase / repair phase is okay for what it is. (Still never used the bomb you can carry around with your mount and drop on enemies)

2. The defence phase is too long and it doesn't really matter if you close the portals down. Mobs not dropping loot or giving exp beside a few exceptions with the "waves" not increasing in difficulty as the time ticks down dampers the experience.

3. Destroying the raven altars and ballistas felt okay, nothing too exciting but short enough for it not to annoy me.

4. The icebrood construct was a letdown. There's no need to do any mechanics, just zerging him down. Making him invulnerable and having to chain him down first before being able to damage him, similiar to the Leyline Anomaly would have made him able to reach the keep, or atleast be threatening.

 

His second phase should be more dangerous. I can see him using his mechanics from the story/strike mission, but they just don't matter in open world.

 

[Matt H.6142]

Boring = Fail.

70 seconds locked into building an Arrow cart if no one helps you is very un-GW2 and the mobs in phase 2 are either trash or tanks. Then along with the Construct, I think the only damage I incur is from the debuff. This is the first meta I’ve really felt how “Press 1” an event can be.

If this borrowed heavily from Thunderhead Keep even, it would be better for it.

[lokh.2695]

Defend event is too long for what little happens, the rest is ok to decent. The boss rush at the end is nice icing and perfect in lenght. The rush after Dragonfall always seemed too long even if it's very rewarding-

[Torzini.1523]

Compared to the four metas in Grothmar Valley, which all have engaging, fun, and unique/dynamic mechanics, the Bjora Marches meta is just a 10-minute slog with a similarly mindless zerg at the end. And like others have mentioned, there are no actual stakes. You can just sit there and eat popcorn while every single bomb goes off, and every portal will still be sitting at full health by the end. It's brain-numbing, and the length doesn't help.

 

I'mt not sure what happened between this and Grothmar, to be honest, to account for the stark difference in quality (purely talking about the metas, not the maps themselves).

[DeathIsVirtue.4105]

The defend phase kills the meta for me. It's just 10 minutes of hacking enemies that give minimal loot and experience that seems to just drag on and on. There's zero fun in it and it could honestly be cut down to 5 minutes.

 

The construct boss could have been neat with the aspect of chaining him, but as it stands, the poor thing gets zerged down and does hardly any damage to players. There are no real mechanics you have to watch for to make it interesting.

 

I'll be honest, I personally ignore the meta because I just can't be bothered to do it, even for the achievement. For the time spent, it's not rewarding or fun enough for me to complete.

[Dragon Priestess.9760]

Cut the defense time down and it will be okay.

[Hannelore.8153]

Just pointing this out: Be careful not to judge the meta at release time, because a year from now 5-10 people have to do this.

[Hevoskuuri.3891]

I think the meta in itself is alright, but the visual noise (the blizzard and the freezing edges) coupled with the maximum amount of players the map can host, is a bit too brutal for my computer to handle. I mean, of course all of the most populated metas will run in the sub 10 fps area, but I can comfortably do any of them and still know what's going on. Even the death-branded shatterer in Jahai, with all of its mobs and AoE effects.

 

But this one is by far the most demanding. By the time we get to the end boss, I literally get less than one frame per second. The screen just pretty much freezes and refreshes every three seconds or so.

 

It's still doable for sure, but I'm kinda hoping Anet will ease on the visuals a little bit in a future patch.

[RoseofGilead.8907]

Like a couple of others, it misses the mark for me due to the 10 minute defense portion. If that were cut down to 5-6 minutes, with some other small event thrown in after, to lead into the next one, then I think it'd be a pretty great meta chain. The visual clutter can be annoying, too, though.

[Linken.6345]

> @"Hannelore.8153" said:

> Just pointing this out: Be careful not to judge the meta at release time, because a year from now 5-10 people have to do this.

 

Unsure if 5-10 can even build the seige to start the meta in time.

[Rubedo.8769]

Personally I enjoy the meta, I wish it had a higher chance to fail though. Like with the length of the defense portion I'd like to see the waves start increasing in difficulty and there be a real danger to the shrines and fort. Although I have wondered what does happen if you do fail the defense? I've never had one fail so I'm not sure if anything does happen if you fail the siege.

[ruikarikun.9402]

I don't see any problems. Maybe we need to decrease attack timer, but all is good in general.

[Zaklex.6308]

Incomplete survey...the 4 champs in Asgeir's Legacy are part of the Meta as far as I'm concerned, since that area only opens after killing the Ice Brood Construct

[Tukaram.8256]

I voted Meh. I would normally have voted Ok, but comparing it to the great prologue... Meh is as good as I can call it.

Not visually appealing. Actually way too much visual clutter. Nothing much to do. Bad chapter, after an amazing intro.

[Kitich.4580]

I like the idea of blizzard. Ok with construct, it brings nothing new to the game - just zerg. 4 champs are just the lootbags, the same as in dragonfall - looks like a bonus loot event for great heroes :-D.

 

The main defensive phase is just boring. Some mobs to be killed and a few tanky ones who ignore you and run. The problem is not in difficulty, but you don't feel it like some heroic deeds. No champions, no special abilities or AoE attacks, no creepy monsters or dragons or ancient gods. Just usual trash mobs and 1-1-1

[hugo.4705]

It's bad pretty bad. The defense of the keep was promising through. It can't be qualified as meta, it's more a big event, it's too fast.

Just a defense and attack on construct. (Eventually asgeir bosses, but that's just loot since there is no tiers or reward chests!)

 

It should had tiers like verdant brink.

Phase 1: Defend keep

Phase 2: Track the mysterious disapearance to the forest: lesser boneskinners and then a huge one spawing.

Phase 3: Kill legendary lieutenants at camps. And Svanir shaman wb elementals ravaging the map.

Phase 4: kill construct ar Asgeir gate.

 

No feel of adventure, no mechanics or strategies, a press 1 fest. One of the worst map.

[aspirine.6852]

I kinda like it, not to hard to people who are new totally fail, perhaps it needs to be also done when the main locust people are gone again.

[Despond.2174]

It's given us one of the best looking back pieces and helms the game has to offer, just on that it gets a minimum of ok.

It also gives us an option to get LW4 currency a bit easier. Also welcomed.

[aimasira.3786]

> @"hugo.4705" said:

> It's bad pretty bad. The defense of the keep was promising through. It can't be qualified as meta, it's more a big event, it's too fast.

> Just a defense and attack on construct. (Eventually asgeir bosses, but that's just loot since there is no tiers or reward chests!)

>

> It should had tiers like verdant brink.

> Phase 1: Defend keep

> Phase 2: Track the mysterious disapearance to the forest: lesser boneskinners and then a huge one spawing.

> Phase 3: Kill legendary lieutenants at camps. And Svanir shaman wb elementals ravaging the map.

> Phase 4: kill construct ar Asgeir gate.

>

> No feel of adventure, no mechanics or strategies, a press 1 fest. One of the worst map.

 

Yes i believe if the meta will take place only once during a day cycle, i dont mind the time, but it should take longer on doing meaningful stuff rather than sitting around

[Sir Vincent III.1286]

The event is ok only because the defense phase is uneven. The north is far easier to defend than the south for instance. The final boss should do more than just walking and we should do more than just DPS. It would be nice if we modify the harpoon/balista and convert it to have a chain just like the one in the Grothmar celebration where we used the harpoon to immobilize the branded devourer. Then you could also have players to fly in their mount and bomb a certain area on the head to temporarily incapacitate the target. As it stands, it fun, but lacking in depth. Also, the reward is rather disappointing.

[Sarrs.4831]

It's almost a complete waste of time. Only worth doing to unlock the post area, and only worth grabbing the 3 chests for Eitrite Ore in there. The event itself is too easy. Auric Basin is an easy meta but if you get rolled over by one of the enemies that the Armor is supposed to deal with, you just straight up die most of the time. Mordrem units as a whole are dangerous; high-rank snipers and assassins straight up delete players who aren't paying attention. Bjora Marches enemies are not scary even without essences, and essences turn them into a joke. The Icebrood Saga is supposed to be scary and inhospitable, back that up with gameplay. Boneskinner is prime example; it's so weak it gets phased before it can even gank a Vigil soldier, it's a joke.

 

Ramp up the difficulty and the rewards in each stage of the assault. Cut the duration of the prep phase to 2 minutes and raise the speed you build defenses at. Cut the duration of the defense phase to 4 minutes and forcespawn a champion to attack each shrine (with more added by scaling)(don't be shy about making them _very hard_ champions, we have the essence attunements for a reason). Add a champion defending each of the shrines, and add a champion defending each set of ballistas (again, make them dangerous). Icebrood Colossus you can leave as a pinata, but the event then has to proceed to a full-on assault somewhere; "reinforcements have arrived and are pushing west, escort them to Svanir Fortress XYZ, use DERVs to smash the gates, get inside and murder millions of Svanir and a big boss".

 

Oh and make the monsters give loot. You give us a shiny +50% Magic Find booster that we need to grind out essence for and then you turn around and tell us that it does nothing for this entire 20 minute long meta-event. What the hell.

 

It's kinda telling when the best part of the patch isn't the new map or new meta; it's the new daily system that is moving players into specific LS3/4 maps to scale them up and make _those_ metas work. Saidra's Haven and Noran's Homestead were both scaled up to spawn champs when I did them earlier! Immelhoof is deadlier than anything in Icebrood Saga so far and he doesn't send you any creepy whispers.