We have now had a few days of Solar Eclipse Events occurring in Esior's Cove. Thanks to our brave initial testers, I have made quite a lot of changes to not only try and balance the event better, but to also make it more rewarding. The following is a summation of everything the Solar Eclipse Event offers:
Stage 1
During Stage 1 of the event, players are meant to turn in Sun Shards to Lady Nyrian, who is located just east of the entrance before you reach the beach - the grassy area. Players can collect Sun Shards by defeating Named, defeating Nightfall Bandits, and collecting Flotsam and Wooden Crates floating in the water.
For each Sun Shard that an individual player turns in, they will increase their personal Attraction Bonus as well as progress the Stage 1 requirements. Once the required amount of Sun Shards are turned in by the community to Lady Nyrian, the event will enter a 15 minute preparation stage.
Stage 2
After the 15 minutes of preparation, the event will increment to Stage 2. Stage 2 will last for 15 minutes. During Stage 2, the community will have to coordinate and divide themselves amongst three different areas of Esior's Cove: the Beach, the Woods, and the Caves. If a player is battling in one of these three active areas, they will encounter Sun Cultists. Non-Themed Pet Sylesti and Nightfall Bandits are disabled in these three areas while they are active. So if you are encountering regular Sylesti or Nightfall Bandits, you are not contributing to these areas.
For each Sun Cultist defeated in an active area, players will increase their personal Attraction Bonus and progress the Stage 2 requirements. The goal is for each of the three areas to reach 100% cleared. If this happens, the entire community receives a significant boost to Solar Eclipse Themed Pet Encounters in Stage 3. If the community fails to achieve this, they will instead receive a small boost relative to the total progress.
Sun Cultists have a high chance of dropping Sun Shards as well as a regular loot table. So Stage 2 is an excellent way for players to work on their personal Attraction Bonus.
Additionally, regular zone Themed Pets will have an increased chance of spawning in an active area. If all three areas are at 100% cleared, the entire zone will receive this increased boost. This boost scales all the way up to doubling (at Tier 5 Difficulty) the base encounter rate. All Zone Difficulty Tiers receive this boost.
Twice during Stage 2, the Sun Cultists will make a push towards one of the three areas. This will reduce the progress on the targeted areas by 25%. The community is expected to strategize and coordinate around these occurrences.
Once the 15 minutes has passed, the event will enter a 5 minute preparation stage before Stage 3 begins. During this time, if all three areas are at 100% cleared, the zone-wide Themed Pet encounter boost will continue until Stage 3 begins.
Stage 3
Stage 3 is the final stage and comes with a 20 minute duration. After the 20 minutes, the event will immediately end and return to Stage 1.
During Stage 3, the entire zone (with exception to the water), will be under a Solar Eclipse effect. All encounters during this time will either be Sun Cultists, a Solar Flare (Tier 2+), a Sun Seeker Champion (Tier 3+), or a Solar Eclipse Themed Pet.
Additionally, during Stage 3, all enemies will be enhanced with a Solar Surge buff. Solar Surge increases the damage, critical hit chance, and accuracy of enemies. It also increases the Health of Solar Eclipse Themed Pets, but makes it so that they cannot run away from battle. The Solar Surge buff increases in power with every passing minute of Stage 3. This means that the less time remaining in Stage 3, the harder the enemies become. However, as the time increases, the chances of encountering a Solar Flare, Sun Seeker Champion, and Solar Eclipse Themed Pet increases.
If a player has a [Perfume of Themed Attraction] active during Stage 3, it will not consume any charges unless you encounter a Solar Eclipse Themed Pet. This is a bonus for players enduring the challenge of the Solar Eclipse to help reduce the potential frustration of "dud" perfumes.
The Attraction Bonus that players have accumulated is also used to enhance the chances of encountering a Solar Eclipse Themed Pet. This bonus has a significant effect on encountering a Solar Eclipse Themed Pet. Once one is encountered, the Attraction Bonus will reset to 0.
Defeating Solar Flares gives players the chance of obtaining the following rewards:
Solar Eclipse Avatar Held Item
[Salvaged Mold (Majestic)]
[Salvaged Mold (Fabled)]
[Salvaged Mold (Regular)]
[Premium Clam]
[Regular Clam]
Individual Sculpting Supplies
[Bundled Sand Sculpting Agent]
[Sand Sculpting Agent]
[Sun Tokens]
Sun Shards
Defeating Sun Seeker Champions gives players the following guaranteed rewards:
Title: Sun Seeker (Tier 5 Difficulty only)
[Sylestiopoly Property]
[Mystery Sculpting Mold]
[Regular Clam]
[Iron Beach Shovels]
[Iron Fishing Poles]
[Bundled Sand Sculpting Agents]
[Sun Tokens]
Sun Shards
Other Notes
I have further reduced the difficulty of Sun Cultists in Stage 3 of the event. Additionally, I have adjusted the amount of enemies encountered by each Tier so that, on average, each Tier faces less enemies per battle - with exception to Tier 5, which is still always 3 enemies.
A lot of changes were made since the last Solar Eclipse Event ran, but not all of them. So I encourage players to give the event another go if they were frustrated from their initial attempts.
That said, there is nothing wrong at all with lowering your Zone Difficulty Tier for the Solar Eclipse Event, or even just for certain parts of it. There are still plenty of rewards to be obtained even all the way on Tier 1. You can still encounter Solar Eclipse Themed Pets in Stage 3. You can still benefit from the boosted encounter chance during Stage 2. On Tier 2 and higher, you can encounter Solar Flares. On Tier 3 and higher, you can encounter the Sun Seeker Champion.
Also, on Stage 3, I have made it so that [Perfumes of Themed Attraction] will only consume a charge when encountering Solar Eclipse Themed Pets. Sun Cultists, Sun Flares, and Sun Seeker Champions will not reduce the charges, even though you are still benefiting from the perfume being active. This is just a bonus exclusive to Stage 3 of the event. After Stage 3 ends, your perfume will continue the rest of its charges as normal.
I will continue to monitor and balance the event as time goes on to make sure it's fun, fair, and rewarding. Thank you for your patience and understanding! |
