Feel like you could take a few different views on what a dungeon should entail. As you mentioned there’s many quests associated with many, if not all of the dungeons I’ll mention below. Then factoring in if it’d be primarily an experience niche, money farm niche, etc. becomes a hard balance. I personally feel that dungeons should really be using Kaesora as a baseline for exp/hour, and FR for plat/hour. It’s no secret that the two biggest time sinks in this game outside of questing are a vast amount of AAs needed to be viable, and your charm. As we continue to dwindle on population, these have to be looked at deeper.
Charm credits were a step in the right direction, however a lot of people will still turn to raw platinum farming for their charm because it’s much faster, group comp doesn’t allow you to play a credit looter, and population doesn’t allow full groups to pop out of no where at any hour. Perhaps look at making credits tradeable with a pristine tag. If the looter cashes in a pristine credit, they get a full amount. If they loot it and trade it, its value decreases. People could then go and turn and sell these for a lesser face value to make it worth looting, and sort of a win-win for both parties. Example being, I buy a credit with a 500 plat value for 300 plat. Makes the seller happy because he didn’t let a ton of these rot instead, and even though the buyer shelled out platinum, you’re still getting a solid investment towards your charm for less. Also strongly urge to make these stackable. Bag space is, and always will be, a premium as you’re constantly juggling bane items, gate clickies, potions, loot, etc.
The biggest problem that I see right now however is that almost every AoE weapon has recently been nerfed. Shards exp is historically an AoE heavy grind. You’d be at a loss if you didn’t bring some combination of an AoE aggro tank, druid with cata, necro with strands, or wizard with harvest. Being able to bring a multitude of classes and not feeling like you’re holding your group back would be a breath of fresh air for many. One thing I personally, and I think quite a few other people, would love to see is something less AoE oriented. More challenging monsters with more gains. As Tev said, OG tunnels attempted this but the laughable platinum/experience per mob is a huge deterrent unless you’re going for quest items or Jenrok. I still do think there should be some zones with huge mob densities for flavor - I think it’s just become too much of a theme.
I think rust coding is a great feature of the game and allows additional opportunities to get more for less and should be utilized in Ikisith / other dungeons as well. This alone could be the touch that a specific zone needs to make it an actual option.
Another interesting topic is the continuation of the Dungeon Delvers quest. Why stop at a tier 6-7 item and not go all the way?
Catacombs: Respawns are too long for this place to be a viable exp location for groups. Even in Seasons on tier we were without monsters for a bit. Plat is also scarce but not expected much. I do think that it had potential as a good view of what an on tier dungeon should entail, offering exp, quests, and no drop gear off bosses. It’s just been easily out grown it feels. Undead only.
Kaesora: Mob density and mob difficulty makes this place one of the best places for raw exp numbers. The trade-off is usually the lack of platinum earned, which in theory is fair. There has to be a few of these kinds of places, but no where quite reaches its exp gains yet. Credit drop rates are good here which help alleviate this.
Citadel: Very cool flavor zone with the amount of different areas you can go to, with different named. Named rarity is an issue however. Has enough questing to bring interest to the zone but could use a buff for anything beyond that.
BQ: Can’t say anyone really touches this zone anymore unless you’re after R1 pieces or MQ. It has really great potential but even a solid on tier group can take down the elite side with at least 10 minutes to spare before respawns. Golem side runs into the issue of construct damage being a hinderance, and there’s no cash over there.
FR: Has been undeniably the single biggest cash cow in the game for a while. Other zones do come close but has to be the biggest bang for the buck based on mob density for all difficulties, trash BoE possibilities, rust codes, etc. The exp is also extremely appealing for the amount of plat too. I really think more zones should strive to reach FR levels for plat/hr. There have been many times where I’ve logged in, seen FR occupied, and logged off because of it. This is the only dungeon guilty of being deity based, but I don’t think it has been a problem for many.
LOIO Fort: This has been refreshing, even for a duo. New content, quests involved, rust coding cash named, good mob density to keep a group occupied, and good experience respectively. This place may come close to Kaesora in exp but never ran the numbers. One thing off-topic (these weapons could be used for refuge faction turn ins). Love the addition of mech suits too.
Highkeep: Obviously a lower tiered zone with scalability. Named are pretty rare, but I think this zone isn’t half bad. The key requirements are slightly annoying based on the named rarity. Also - the lantern quest involving traps has been broken forever. Maybe the recent rogue fixes have turned this around, but TBD. Undead only as well.
Rust: Do we consider this a dungeon? Not sure what you could even do with this place’s footprint other than what’s already been done. Cool zone, wish there were more cash, but it is what it is. Factory monsters are actually pretty tough without solid burst dps for repair drones, and just the sheer amount of adds per mob. Maybe reduce the amount of adds per mob, but increase hp? Spitballing here. Undead / clockwork damage only.
Sunken Cathedral: Not bad from the little I’ve been in there. I’d let other people comment on it though, as I haven’t spent enough time in there yet.
I’ll comment back if anything more comes to mind but that’s my two cents for now.
