Hello everyone,
Today we are launching the beta version of The Coliseum which is a 2 player wave-based dungeon. I will get into more detail on mechanics and what to expect but first I wanted to take a second and share with you how this came about.
Development:
We have wanted to do a wave based dungeon type game mode for a while now, but have not had time to make this a reality, so instead we approached it from a different angle. Using our existing systems of monsters and bosses we put together something that we think the players will like (which took very minimal development time with some minor tweaks). With that said, this is very much a beta product, and depending on the feedback from the player base, it may just stay that way or may be removed completely. If this is something the players enjoy spending their time with and feel like this adds something fun to the Orbus experience then we will look into putting real development time into it to create a true new game mode based on player feedback (this would be next year).
What to expect:
I want to stress again this is a beta test. There can be bugs, but we’ll also be making changes to it as we progress to see what works the best like number of players, monster groupings, etc.
There are no rewards for participating but you can still earn XP.
How it works:
- Currently this is a 2 player dungeon with 25 waves of enemies with wave 10,15,20 and 25 being bosses. The system is largely based on the Airship dungeon that spawns in waves of monsters (the biggest difference being that the waves will only spawn after the previous wave has been cleared). The monsters and bosses are all dynamically scaled and are level 40 monsters. This might seem bad, but it should mean that all players, no matter if you are a level 4 or level 30, will be fighting the monsters as evenly as we can make it.
- To enter you will find a new door inside the Highsteppe Tavern on the second floor on the left. Be sure to party up with your teammate (if you choose to have one) before entering. When you die you will be taken to a separate island in the coliseum with a door leading back to the tavern. You can only enter if you are in a party of 2 or not in a party at all.
Future plans:
We are planning on making some adjustments as we gather feedback, but will not be making any adjustments to the difficulty, monster groupings, or player number for the first week or so to ensure everyone has a chance to try it out as it currently is. We will gather up all the feedback and make changes from there. We do not have any development time scheduled for this until after the new dungeon has been released along with a few bugs we are working on. Any major changes to this feature will happen the beginning of next year (if needed).
With that said, we look forward to hearing your feedback on this feature; I just want to set expectations of when changes could possibly be implemented.
Known Issues:
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When you die and go to the island, if both you and your partner are dead, one can leave via the exit door, then re-enter via the entrance door in the tavern and “save” your spot in the dungeon (ex. if you were on wave 15, as long as you both don’t exit and restart the dungeon instance you would still be on wave 15). Just wanted to make sure everyone was aware of this, as we are currently looking at it like a “bookmark” feature, but would likely change in a full feature.
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The mobs wont auto aggro you if your not directly on top of them, so you have a breather in between waves, and could even change classes if you choose from wave to wave
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There is no visible timer inside of the dungeon, which is a feature we would want in the future so not only could you brag you beat it, but also compete to see who got the quickest time doing so.
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Currently when you finish the dungeon and beat the final boss (Wave 25) there is nothing that happens, you just finish the dungeon and can exit via going to graveyard.
We are looking forward to the feedback from the player base, and we’re excited to share more details about the upcoming Chaos dungeon in a blog post in the coming weeks. Until then, hopefully this can help pass your time inside of Orbus!