Devils Roar Rework (Updated May 16)

1. Honestly that's more annoying than it is now.

2. Ashen lords in DR doesn't make too much sense lorewise but I can still get behind it just so we get to see the worlds end move actually make the volcano erupt like it did in the Herald of the Flame adventure.

3. Fire 2.0 (but also technically v1 cause they were first (?)), geysers are pretty ok they just simply don't need to spawn when there's no eruptions. When there is an active quake or eruption, sure, go ham, but otherwise just leave it to the set locations.

4. Lava 2.0 sounds more annoying tbh, we already have small lava pools that become superheated during eruptions and set the players on fire.

5. ? (3) Having more dangerous PvE encounters would be a nice addition, and having more boiling water spots would be cool (but also kind of hard to implement I imagine). It doesn't make too much sense for sea creatures to set fire to our ships which are also on the sea. It sounds redundant tbh

• Skipping 4 (4), nothing to really say

5. (5). Perhaps we could bring back the bright orange skull cloud from early days of the Ashen Tomes and Ashen Dragon release. They certainly stood out compared to anything else. Having them active during other events though sounds like it might be a bit of an issue with server performance...

6. (6). Yes, we need proper support for Lost Shipments and ESPECIALLY for the Phantom Fleets. New islands isn't really necessary, and big no on the second outpost. Morrows gets the job done, it's a small region.

Without adding ANOTHER post onto the mountain of fresh posts we've had about this place, the only other changes I really see necessary besides the Siren Shrines/Sea Forts I've previously mentioned, is a reason to actually stay and risk being on the island while it erupts.
As it is currently, volcanoes serve as little more than a bump in the road, an annoyance, we need something special to happen while the islands erupt, to give us the choice of being safe and far away, or risking it, staying during the eruption, and getting a bonus out of it, not just "oh this voyage now goes 2 minutes faster because I stayed in an extremely dangerous situation"

Random eruptions will be shortened to 30sec

Why shorten it?

Ashen lords will have a new event in DR

Why are AL stuck in DR? That why they are out, they are causing up a storm by plaguing the open seas.

No longer launch players in the air

I can see you been launched too many times...

Lava will slow players while in them, and set them on fire

Or it can just burn them quickly and catch fire. No need to slow down

Molten Sands Fort Event
Unique cloud added

Kind of already is.

Increased spawn Rate

Keep it rare but increase the Loot value X5

New Islands in DR

How would you explain it first

Second outpost in DR

How would you explain it.

Geysers are annoying, and volcanoes were too dangerous to be that consistent.

Welcome to Devils Roar, if you dont like the danger stay out of the pit.

1: Fine, I suppose that's a more refined idea of the volcanoes concept, though a tad nonsensical to believe an eruption last 30 seconds. 1-2 minutes are a little better as to make nearby islands enough of a hazard during naval or island trekking.

2: As much sense as it should make for the Ashen Lords to be in the DR, you'll have to convince me why the Ashen Lords, Flameheart's loyal commanders, would not try and take over the more "heavily populated" areas outside of the DR. The lore comics have shown the Ashen Lords are trying to claim and burn as much as they can, the DR is already burned and inhabitable (relatively speaking as there is still an outpost, several cargo run NPCs and 2 seaposts).

3: I believe I could be down with this change, but rather, geysers are instead just constants set in rock formations made for them, as seen on several islands, including the now-dormant outpost Morrow's Peak. Instead of needing to be on a timer, they're at most, a traversal tool for some knowledgeable sailors first and a genuine hazard second if misused.

4: Volcanoes already have streams of magma that appear during an eruption, which do consistent damage for every second your pirate is stepping in it. I don't think we need to make island traversal more of a hazard for the sake of it. The volcano is already hammering your boat and setting it ablaze while the island is quaking, I'd have reason to believe that's difficult enough.

5: No ashen variants. If you want the value of ashen loot to increase, it's better to limit finding it and increasing it's value much more when found. You should not be finding ashen loot anywhere in the main world outside of the Ashen Winds world event loot pile, thus, making ashen loot rare, and more valuable, and it's low abundance makes it's value more sought after as your payday could be greater than stealing a normal gold key gold hoarder vault.

6: Keep the ashen skeletons the same in terms of attacks and health, but definitely would be nice to see proper ashen waves at forts instead of Ashen Captains and the Ashen Lord's skeleton spawns.

7: Anything that could give Molten Sands some attractiveness is better than the current state it's in, but do make the choice of it being player-activated, or a part of the world event rotation. As of now, it currently has a 1/14 chance of having any event remotely spawned there, and by extension, the Devil's Roar overall (of the 5 currently "unique" world events, Molten Sands requires that the skeleton fort world event is being chosen, and on top of that, it needs to be chosen out of 9 other forts in the whole world; Crow's Nest Fortress, Lost Gold Fort, Sailor's Knot Stronghold, Keel Haul Fort, Hidden Spring Keep, Kraken's Watchtower, Shark Fin Camp, and Skull Keep have to be skipped in order to for Molten Sands to be selected and active). If it's capable enough to be unique it can instead have a 1/6 chance of spawning in the rotation, which is much better than current.

8: We already have Ashen Vaults. We don't need Ashen Lost Shipment voyages within the same region, especially because it lacks enough reasonable destinations in the Devil's Roar for a regular cannon-less merchant ship. Ashen Ghost Fleets would be extremely annoying and eventually unplayable for solos due to the potential of the volcanoes erupting and the amount of ghost ship's shooting at you all at once. The Devil's Roar can definitely stay well adjusted with the current voyages available, as they provide the most appropriate amount of hazards - them mainly being on the islands which are constant obstacles for your voyaging.

A singular outpost in the roar is what I personally think is good intentional design in the place being more dangerous, the islands are meant to be inhabitable, the fact DR even has an outpost at all is a miracle. That being said, there are more than enough islands all around the roar, and having a chokepoint turn-in location for the region still makes the threat of tucking PvP still apparent for crews too confident they'll be safe in the roar entirely.

Reworking the Devil's Roar is a noble concept, but for as much as we wish that the Roar is more accessible, popular, and challenging, it seems fairly decent as it currently is. Its biggest threat was nerfed quite a bit a long time ago, and the value of being in other regions have increased to make preferable PvP more popular and apparent, and as such, the DR is that one slightly ignored region that, like all PvE, is shallow in concept and in mastery. The magic really does come with player interactions, but since the region's hazards are what make it unpopular, it leaves room for a mixture of different types of players to make visits in and out of the region, especially since you have to sail there from the west.

@burnbacon said in Devils Roar Rework (Updated May 16):

Why shorten it?

Because unfortunately, achieving DR voyages in a quick time limit become harder once you hit lv 50 in trading companies, and as a result, waiting 3-5 minutes for volcanoes to finish erupting is a massive pace killer, which, if the recent World Event changes are anything to go by, is not the main outlook of the game anymore.

I can see you been launched too many times...

Not a very constructive comment, it is still very irritating to dig up chests while suddenly getting a geyser sprung on you mid-digging animation. Bonus points if you get juggled to death somehow.

Molten Sands Fort Event
Unique cloud added

Kind of already is.

Your memory is shaky, Molten Sands does not have a unique cloud for it's event, unless you're talking about the event in early 2020 where only Molten Sands was the active Skeleton Fort for a while, or the Ashen Forts event introducing Ashen Skeletons via fort encounters, which noticeably gave the forts an bright orange cloud to view over the horizon and at the fort. I wasn't even there for these events when they occurred and I can recall them carefully.

How would you explain it first

Sadly, not much explanation for the sudden late entry of Molten Sands Fortress, which was officially the final island in the region that was created, and it was after the region was discovered in the original Forsaken Shores update. You don't need much to explain things outside of the Shroudbreaker magically exposing more of the region's islands from the shroud.

Welcome to Devils Roar, if you dont like the danger stay out of the pit.

The challenge of the Devil's Roar is its hazards, unless you're a swabbie getting their sea legs without a guide, you're slowly going to realize that most hazards you might have trouble avoiding, are easily avoided by sitting around and waiting for the hazard to pass, like waiting at a crosswalk in a busy metropolitan area. It's boring, and tedious. One agreed upon goal of a DR rework is to make your visitations in the region rewarded with good island knowledge and traversal, and make the hazards not kill time but... add more on-the-spot danger that can hinder you, but not completely stop you. Losing HP every minute you're on the island and not stopping you in your tracks is a much better risk/reward structure than avoiding danger by sitting on your boat and waiting it out. Spending less time doing a voyage but barely keeping a full HP bar is better for a region you want more rewards out of, it's kinetic.

@lord-loamor said in Devils Roar Rework (Updated May 16):

able to dip items in lava pools that turn ashen loot into volcanic loot

Oooooh I really like that 👀Some sort of "crystalline ashes" loot pool, the first "player-generated" loot we have, doesn't spawn naturally, 2.5x bonus from base loot, slightly higher than Ashen Loot. Could be applied to any kind of ashen variant loot, and gives it a look similar to the crystals and rocks poking out of the rocks on the islands... Very interesting...

I'm not entirely sure what to do about the volcanoes, I like them how they are, personally, but I can certainly see the distaste for them from the rest of the community. Maybe having more set timers around volcanoes could help, maybe not between eruptions, but to know how long they last (shorten it a little bit overall too, so it makes it more of a mad dash to try and dip all your loot into the molten pools, and not just something casual you do while your teammate repairs the ship, it'll make crews reconsider who stays on the ship, if anyone, and who deals with the loot).

Regarding geysers, I like the idea of them doing boiling water damage to compensate for them not being able to launch you in the air. This way they still represent a danger but are no longer an irritation to deal with when roaming an island, digging for chests, or fighting.

Another change to the geysers could be that they do not do any damage to skeletons, this would, in turn, make the PvE encounters more dangerous since players won't have the option to lead enemies into geysers for an easy kill.

I think the majority here could rally behind the above regardless of what you think of the rest of the suggested changes.