When designing maps, particularly ones in a quickplay pool, there should be a general consistency in difficulty as players go through them. There will be rises and falls throughout the map via scenarios like “terror events”, which are fine. However, when you run into scenarios like the latest map, Enchanter’s Lair, the spike is too sharp and great and creates a series of problems. Namely, players don’t have fun because they go through an entire map only to consistently fail at the very end.
The majority of the map is a typical playthrough but once you hit the boss, it begins to escalate at a sharper and sharper pace as you proceed through his phases. Problems faced with the boss:
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The flies that come out are very fast and are done in pairs. They disable the player for very long periods of time. They can be chained against a player. They have flawless heat seeking that will follow you no matter how you move. They should be given an additional weakness so players can more reasonably counter them. Examples would be:
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Getting hit by any source of damage releases you from the flies(so you take a hit from an enemy but are released afterwards, rather than being guaranteed death).
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Can’t be chained into fly after fly.
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Can be dodged if timed just right.
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Shorten the duration of the disable to something like 5 seconds.
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This is unnecessary in Halescourge because Burblespue’s flies aren’t nearly as fast and don’t come in pairs. The fight in general on Halescourge isn’t as intense.
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Like every major Lord Fatshark designs, there are endless enemies spawning as you fight. It’s periodic at first but in the last phase there is no break. It’s an endless stream of enemies and that takes away from the boss and makes it unenjoyable for the general player because instead of experiencing a “boss fight” you’re experiencing “horde simulator arena”.
- If the developers are insistent on having endless hordes, there should always be a lull in the storm. That is to say, there should be moments where there are few or no horde enemies at all. This is really only a problem during the last phase when he’s chasing players; particularly if it’s last man standing.
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The final phase where he chases players.
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Hordes never end.
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Allies revive in the fire rings. The fire rings have extremely short detonation timers. Because of this, it is inevitable that the reviving player and/or the revived player will be hit by the fire rings.
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His chasing sweeps of his weapon can’t be dodged. He will always send the player flying on his third swing. This causes the player to be forced to drop their block and take hits on the flight. It is also highly likely that they’ll be sent into the fire rings at some point. The problem is the lack of counterplay. He can’t be staggered or otherwise stopped when he’s in this mode. He also can’t be dodged. This means last man standing can’t revive allies without being knocked back by him or being hit by a fire ring. Only dashes or stealth can allow a last man standing to revive, which should not be the case. Because he will not change from this form until he is killed, it also means the last man standing can’t outlast him either to try and get revives. The oppression makes it unreasonable to try and get hits on him as well.
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Vermintide isn’t the same as a game like Doom Eternal, where it can crescendo levels into a climatic and over-the-top finale that’s extremely difficult. Vermintide has to have consistency from level to level because of what’s expected from players as an experience. Players should also be able to run through quickplays with moderate consistency in their success rate. If they can’t and they come across an experience like this, the map will become the new “skippergate” and players will suicide in the start to skip it all together. That should not ever happen. If players begin doing this for a level, it means there is something wrong with the level that needs to be promptly addressed.
P.S. It’s also important to note that Nurgloth is indeed Berserker and Chaos, but not Monster.
Monster Property:
Chaos Property:
Berserker Property:
If you’re wondering why the Chaos property has 2 less body shot damage for being 1% less, I think it had something to do with Nurgloth taking slightly more damage due to “stagger” (he was bugging out a bit in some of my runs and simply sitting there indefinitely). I don’t fully know. One such bug is this endless fly madness that hopefully no one else has experienced:
