@Talon @Harryn
CC: @Aenwyn
I have to agree to this post 100%. As a avid M10 runner through every mutation combination possible, though combating Frenzied II on some weeks, it’s very painstaking when you see “Frenzied II” on the mutation and quickly think “Do I wanna run that or no…” In most cases, players will say “No” and skip that specific dungeon and hopefully the other Mutation is better. I can’t say for every player, but, not everyone skips Frenzied II and “suck it up” to complete the expedition, but, players who’ve been playing NW since Beta’s, Launch and even when Mutations came about in NW, we KNOW how painstaking Frenzied II is especially paired with Paranoia and how Frenzied II suppresses the use of dodge witch is a core mechanic to “avoid” life or death situations but get punished for doing so.
Frenzied II is the type of using your dodge wisely to avoid further damage to you and your group members. The thing about Frenzied II is not many players understand how it works or what to watch for. A single player can have 3 to 5 debuffs from a mutation at a time and to understand which debuff to look for that has the Frenzied II “countdown” from 10 to 0 then drop a pool of Void damage on top of your group can be a result of a group wipe. However, from my experience, you can dodge, (countdown begins), dodge again, (refreshes countdown), dodge a 3rd time (10s countdown until you drop the Void pool). Also, If you dodge once (let the count down go) the player will not drop any void pools on the ground, same as if you dodge the second time, when the time runs out, you don’t drop two stacks of Void pool damage on the ground. Only the 3rd Frenzied II debuff has a “final countdown” that cannot be dispelled or cleansed, this is inevitable, you will drop three stacks of void damage on the ground.
Regardless if players can mitigate dropping the one or two stacks when the timer runs out, it’s mainly the third countdown stack players are unaware of, especially when engaged combating a group of mobs then pretty much four players drop the void pools on top of each other and you’ll see your HP drop drastically.
The problem is, not many players have that situational awareness to check the countdown timer, get away from the group, drop the pools and resume combating mobs or boss. Paired with Paranoia > Frenzied II this is very bothersome. Take some instances for example where Frenzied II and Paranoia are not ideal but they can be paired together for a week which majority of players avoid the mutation like the plague.
First Expedition that comes to mind would be Dynasty Shipyard during the Shipyard Keg encounter. I cannot tell you how detrimental it is to dodge during this encounter from the 5+ melee mobs including the x2 Musketeers. As small of a area you have to fight including getting mobs CC’d for them not to damage the Shipyard Keg, you’re constantly dodging and avoiding incoming damage while the goal is to down the mobs as effectively and rapidly as you can. With Frenzied II, this is NOT ideal. The only option here, bc of the small are to fight in is for players to drop their stacks on the ground, sure, you can run away a few feet come back into the fight, but, those mobs don’t all run towards the keg, you do need to grab the Musketeers along with the melee and “gravity well” them together for maximum damage to the whole group downing them.
Another expedition where Frenzied II is essentially ridiculous is Lazarus when you are at the glyph room area, fighting those mobs which usually the Healer spams the glyphs to spawn mobs and as always, players with “poor situational awareness”, drop their three stacks damaging the group, yet, sure, hopefully the Healer puts down Sacred Ground before then knowing Frenzied II happens all the time in this area where players drop their Frenzied II stacks, it happens ALL…THE…TIME. Another area Frenzied II is bothersome (we’ll call it) “The Cleansing Room” before fighting Cillia. This is another place where you need to stack around to kill mobs by the stairs away from the cleansing well. And most of the time, despite the countless times players in group inform players “run away from the group with three max Frenzied II stacks BEFORE the time runs out”, and guess how that goes most of the time where people don’t understand which debuff to look for when there can be anywhere from 2 to 5 debuffs on a player at any given time. There needs to be a better indication of the mutation debuff for players to recognize. Why not have them color coded to the mutation? I understand there will be a red on red debuff for Fire Mutation, but that still works. Ideally, for Overgrown and Eternal mutation, the debuffs like Frenzied II would be purple in color, green in color for Overgrown, easily recognizable on the status bar above the Mana/Health/Stamina bar. Maybe allow those “countdown” debuffs to have a pulsating visual to inform the player their Frenzied II debuff timer is about to expire. There’s so many numbers and same color debuffs on the status bar, it would confuse players on which debuff needs more attention than others. Sure, if you have a stack of Burning, the player is very aware of that debuff because they are taking damage as the DoT ticks, however, this is NOT the case for Frenzied II debuff where at max three stacks, the player has 10 seconds until the stacks drop a void pool that damages them and players within the void circle.
Overall, with @Harryn idea, shorten the duration or Frenzied II to 3 or 5 seconds and/or reduce the output of damage the stacks inflict on the player(s), especially when the entire five man group drops all three stacks of Frenzied II on top of each other. Does it happen? Yes, it very much so does happen. Players who are unaware to move away from the grp, drop the debuff, return to the grp to fight does not understand (especially melee) that you CAN wipe a entire group if you drop your stacks on top of each other. Pair that with a slow or root effect from the mutation, you’re barely going to survive since the DoT of three stacks x 5 players of that void damage regardless of having Void damage resistance and based on players CON, you can get wiped easily.
