The smell of defeat has been lingering in the air as Tequatl's new evolved form brings terror into the hearts of players. ArenaNet beefed up the flying nightmare in an event known as Tequatl Rising. Finally, a dragon in an MMO that’s a true threat, and not just another easy loot run. The changes to Tequatl are diffidently impressive, breaking the fight into different phases, and throwing in some new attacks causing panic to even the largest of zergs.
Chances are if you're reading this then you’ve failed the new event countless times. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Tequatl is one tough dragon, so expect to fail at least a few more times. I think the difficulty level is right where it needs to be, but I feel like there should be a penalty for failing. I may be the only one who feels this way, but it seems weird that a dragon would just leave if the players fail to defeat him within a certain amount of time. Something really bad should happen. The exploding fish heads just aren’t enough.
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Tequatl's weapon of choice, poison clouds.
I'm not saying every participating player should be killed and forced to to use a waypoint. I want to see something more interesting. Maybe the entire area should be engulfed in a massive flood, with hundreds of undead swimming in the depths. Imagine if your actions caused an area of the map to physically change!
Waiting for the event to spawn is something else that needs to be addressed. One could say waiting for two hours for a respawn is punishment enough, but you are playing a video game, and video games are suppose to be fun. Upon failure, after the area is lost to the flood, perhaps some events can pop up where the players will try to reverse the effects of the flood. Protecting a strange Asuran device that can suck in water, and taking out waves of undead are just a few ways to keep players occupied and having fun while still keeping the focus on the dragon.
Now I know the event is already live on the servers, and these ideas will never happen. But ArenaNet will be revamping other giant world bosses in the game, and these are the things I would love to see in future updates. I just feel like the event, though much more engaging, feels pointless. It feels like if no one shows up to oppose him, the world will still be OK. That breaks the feeling of a living world, and makes me feel like my character isn't really that important. I know I sound crazy saying failure isn't punishment enough, but look at the scale of the threat. There needs to be a real consequence for losing to a dragon, which is the most powerful threat the world of Tyria has ever seen.
I'm sure there are lots of players out there who feel the new event is too hard. If something is too hard, it means it's impossible to overcome. As I'm writing this a few servers have beaten the dragon. This proves the event isn't too hard, it just requires more coordination between all the players. So instead of whining and complaining, do some research, and talk to your fellow players about strategy. Sure the size of the server probably helps to an extent, but each server has more than enough players to rally up and coordinate their attacks. My server has started using a teamspeak channel and we are already starting to see some serious results. Victory will soon be ours!
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If you want to take on a dragon, you're going to need some help.
Overall the new Tequatl encounter is awesome! The dragon has new attacks, and the fight is broken up into different stages forcing players to always be alert. The fight feels like you're actually fighting against a dragon. I'm really excited to see how more world boss encounters will be changed. By the looks of it, they will be become harder to defeat, but will bring players closer through cooperative combat. To those who have slain the mighty Tequatl, I say congratulations. For those of us who still need to drive our blades deep into the flesh of the beast, good luck. We're all going to need it.
David North / David North is a freelance writer for MMORPG.com. David loves to play and makes games, but now he writes about them! If you want to creep on him and make fun of his ability to draw, follow him over on twitter @David_the_North.
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