List of existing dungeon affixes in S9 PTR click to expand
(Probably incomplete)
positive
- obol chests
- gold chests
- enemy experience increased
- enemies drop 20% more Obducite
- 25% more Horadric Knowledge
- Horadric Artifacts can be found
negative
- +25% attack speed for monsters
- +30% monster damage as Bleeding/Burning/Shadow/etc damage over time
- +20% monster physical damage as Lightning/Cold/Fire/etc damage
- 30% extra life for monsters
- Monsters receive 85% barrier
- High chance for monsters to spawn with a barrier
- High chance for monsters to explode on death
- Stormbane’s Wrath chases players
- Drifting Shade chases players
- Volcanic erruptions break out
- chance for killed monsters to spawn a Blood Blister
- Elites always have Shock Wave
- Elite spawn with the Hellbound affix
- Elite spawn with the Summoner affix
- Elites always have Suppressor
- Elites always have Poison Enchanted
- Monsters enraged after kills
- Distant hits are able to Slow
- Certain shrines can be found (at least one)
Affixes are not meaningful enough for dungeons to feel different click to expand
Most of the negative affixes were known before. Season 9 added a handful of positive affixes and the Astaroth encounter that should feel rewarding and make the dungeon running appealing. Not sure whether Strongrooms are here to stay, or just the seasonal gimmick.
Since the rework didnt touch the dusty dungeon structure itself, the stacked affixes play an even bigger role for the escalation. But here I dont think this role is filled to a satisfying extent. At least not enough to make running a dungeon feel anyway different than before.
All this is very unfortunate, so I decided to come up with a few suggestions for different affixes to show where I would go with them.
Suggestions for positive affixes
Enough with the rewards, I want to play the game!
Since dungeons are a short instanced area, I wondered whether positive dungeon affixes would benefit the run more if they give unbalanced player buffs instead of rewards. A bit like seasonal powers, but randomly and in a smaller time frame. That way dungeons could become a cool testing ground for players and developers, independent from seasons.
I suggest to add:
- Player Run- & Attackspeed are maxed out
- Size and duration of all skills increased by 100%
- Incoming damage will always be dealt as damage over time
- Skillpoints of equipped skills are doubled
- All 4 mercenaries active at the same time
- Number of player summons is doubled
- You get the Suppressor ability
- Unlimited Evade charges
- Player attacks always have a large push back effect
- Dungeon tasks disabled
Suggestions for negative affixes
Season 9’s negative affixes are mostly about slight enemy damage buffs that a player hardly notices or finds annoying, ultimately undermining the purpose of these effects.
A better example of negative affixes is Drifting Shade, the removed Lightning Dome, and Stormbane’s Wrath.
Of course, they are annoying, but not only that. Effects that create a noticable twist in how things normally work, even if they require just some movement from the player, give a fresh touch to the run, or give the drill I miss with the unexciting ‘20% more damage as bleeding’ for example. A visual presentation is also always a plus.
Other ideas:
- A randomly directed wind of destruction shoots straight across the entire dungeon (perhaps every 10-20 seconds, intensity similar to Wandering Death worldboss)
- Dungeon walls are covered with thorn tendrils that damage you for [enough to keep players avoid contact]
- The current floor number determines how many invincible Butchers roam around. If they come close together, a chain of fire is created between each of the Butchers.
- Dungeon goes dark, Map and Minimap unavailable. Small light radius for players & elite enemies. Killing Elite enemies increases your light radius for some time.
It is a bit hard to describe the graphical things, and I am sure there are better suggestions. Nevertheless, you get the idea for what level of torture I have in mind.
Optional: General affixes per floor click to expand
I dont like the floor limit. For the next suggestions, lets assume that Season 9 is now about a 10-floor dungeon, where after each floor you can choose to either peace out to Asteroth or to crawl deeper for higher bonuses.
I also believe that the new treasure chests would be better suited as general reward for visiting a dungeon and doing its events. Always enabled instead of something you need a key for.
For the following properties imagine them to be multiplied by the number of the current floor. (for example: Floor 10 == 2000% more gold)
- Chests and Elite enemies drop 200% more gold
- Chests have a 33% chance to drop obols
- 10% more Obducite from everything
- 50% more experience from monsters
- 10% higher chance of goblins being part of the floor
- 10% more attack speed for monsters
- 10% more movement speed for monsters
- 10% less cooldown for monster attacks
- 10% size increase of elite attacks & effects