A blog about testing the latest patches for Cabal Online, as they hit the GM test server - weeks before they go live. This is your place to get the best information about what is coming for Cabal Online.
Siena the Queen: The New Dungeons
Posted 17-09-2009 at 14:09 by [GM]Viral
Welcome back.
In today's blog I will finally take a closer look at the two new dungeons, the Panic Cave DX, and the Altar of Siena b2f. There has been one or two questions about the Panic Cave especially that appeared here and there on the forum, and I hope to be able to answer them in the course of this. Of course, before we go any further I have to say the following.
If you enjoy discovering every part of a dungeon yourself, and working out what to do and where to go, then perhaps you should stop reading right here
I will of course try to be deliberately vague on some aspects of the dungeons, since this is not meant to be 'The Complete Guide to Dungeon X', but it is inevitable that some information will slip through. You can also check out the gameplay video hosted on MMOsite, just follow this link, in case you missed Caesar's post in the Developer's Notes thread about it.
The Panic Cave
My first impression of this short dungeon is rather simple: This one is harsh, and very well-named. You better heed the quest descriptions and ingame clues, or you will be punished
You are going to have to be fast, and confident in handling your character if you are going in here.
Of course, you all know by now that the dungeon comes in three different difficulty levels, and you have to choose which one you want to try. Even if you are level 170 you can choose to run the dungeon on easy mode, but from my personal experience bragging rights will come from finishing this on hard mode. It is always hard to make accurate comparisons of the actual difficulty level of the dungeon from the test server to the live server, due to the nature of the characters we use while testing. Even with that in mind I think that the vast majority of the completed runs will be on easy and normal mode. Normal mode should prove interesting enough for any decently-geared level 150-ish character - and I say this as a personal guesstimate, nothing else. You will have to try the dungeon for yourself in order to judge what hard mode is going to be like.
Hard mode... now that one is going to prove to be a lot more interesting. I am certain that the dungeon will be finished on hard mode on the first day of the update - for one it's really short, only 20 minutes, so you can try many times - but you will have to be very confident of your damage output and survivability if you select the 'hard' option. Try it on easy first, just to get a feel for the dungeon, before you ramp up the difficulty to hard, although that is of course just my personal advice.
I can also urge you to at least try one run before scurrying off to Youtube to try to find a complete guide for the dungeon. It will be more fun that way, take my word for it. But that's enough of that for now.
Panic Cave is short, fast and brutal. You do not have the option to use an Odd Circle, so once you die you are out, which is simply due to the way that the dungeon is made. It's a narrow, winding cave (or tunnel, if you want to be more accurate) leading down from the surface deep beneath the rocks of Desert Scream. There is also a rather surprising amount of life down there, at first... I also think that you should not let the relative ease of the first sections lull you into a false sense of security, because it does start out rather smooth and easy - relatively speaking now, of course The boss itself, once it appears, is really big, and I think the word 'huge' is appropriate to use here.You can catch a glimpse of it on the gameplay video I linked to above. The developers also borrowed some of the newer developments that we first saw used in the Forbidden Island dungeon, so be prepared for anything.
And of course we will have to talk about the drops in the Panic Cave. I am not going to get too specific, or give examples of what drops in there because you simply cannot compare the drop rate on the test server with that of the live server (it's much lower on the ITS, before you ask), but I will talk about the bound drops again. The new binding drops appear to be limited to the Panic Cave for the vast majority of the cases, so be warned that if you enter the normal or hard versions of the Cave you will get something that is bound in some way, either as character bound, or as character binding when equipped. Apart from cores, of course, but weapons and armour are bound. I can also say that it might well be worth farming that dungeon for a while - you never know
Here's two images from in there, just to give you a general feel for the atmosphere of the dungeon.
The Altar of Siena B2F
The other big dungeon, and from the start I can say that this one really impressed me. You can clearly see the way the developers are improving with every successive dungeon, and this one is no exception. It's longer than average - you get 1 hour and 20 minutes to complete it - and also more complex than the B1F version. They have taken the general feel of the B1F dungeon, and made it a bit darker and heavier, using much more green tones and plants especially in the later stage of the dungeon, as opposed to the brown stone from the first one.
The first thing that struck me was how far you had to move into the dungeon to receive the first chest. Both the Forbidden Island and Altar of Siena B1F dungeons had you facing a boss from the moment you entered, with no mobs around them (at least at first). This one is different, and you will have gone through several encounters and quests before you even see a chest. The dungeon is also harder than the B1F version, although not quite as punishing as the Forgotten Temple B2F. You have several optional side-quests to discover - no, I am not going to give an exact number - and the results from some of these will make the dungeon even more challenging. More rewarding as well, yes, but more challenging, which is a very good thing.
Another aspect that you will quickly realise is that the developers played around with the debuffs from the bosses, amongst other things. I can think of one particular place that is going to prove a real challenge on the live server, and you will have to plan your party to compensate for this. You will also find firegates, and plenty of them. At first they appear similar to the ones used in the Forgotten Temple B1F, only blue-white, but there are one or two... improvements
You will also notice that the major opponents inside the dungeon not only speaks directly to your party, but also to each other. This is quite fun to see, so look out for that. I can also just urge you to read the quests very carefully, because you will find clues to the hidden quests concealed in the normal quest text. I know there is a rather large part of the playerbase who simply click through the quests as fast as they can, not bothering to read it - well, I guess none of them would be reading this blog in the first place - and it is of course your choice, but if you want to get the most from this dungeon take the time to read.
OK, I think I cannot say too much more about this dungeon without moving into major spoiler territory, so I think I will stop here for now, with this little image. If you've read the developers' notes you will know what is so significant about it.
Oh yes, and I've been meaning to mention this for a while now. You now receive a title for completing both the B1F and B2F versions, Contamination Curer for Altar of Siena B1F, and Rotten Seed Judge for the new B2F version. One gives +1% Experience on the level 2 one, and the other gives +1% Pet Experience for the level 2 title. I'm also still waiting for ESTsoft to get back to me with some questions from the previous blog entry, I did not forget about those, I just have not received any decent answers yet.
If you have any questions, as always feel free to ask them in the comments section - I do try to answer as many as I can.
Viral
In today's blog I will finally take a closer look at the two new dungeons, the Panic Cave DX, and the Altar of Siena b2f. There has been one or two questions about the Panic Cave especially that appeared here and there on the forum, and I hope to be able to answer them in the course of this. Of course, before we go any further I have to say the following.
*****MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD*****
If you enjoy discovering every part of a dungeon yourself, and working out what to do and where to go, then perhaps you should stop reading right here
I will of course try to be deliberately vague on some aspects of the dungeons, since this is not meant to be 'The Complete Guide to Dungeon X', but it is inevitable that some information will slip through. You can also check out the gameplay video hosted on MMOsite, just follow this link, in case you missed Caesar's post in the Developer's Notes thread about it.The Panic Cave
My first impression of this short dungeon is rather simple: This one is harsh, and very well-named. You better heed the quest descriptions and ingame clues, or you will be punished
You are going to have to be fast, and confident in handling your character if you are going in here.Of course, you all know by now that the dungeon comes in three different difficulty levels, and you have to choose which one you want to try. Even if you are level 170 you can choose to run the dungeon on easy mode, but from my personal experience bragging rights will come from finishing this on hard mode. It is always hard to make accurate comparisons of the actual difficulty level of the dungeon from the test server to the live server, due to the nature of the characters we use while testing. Even with that in mind I think that the vast majority of the completed runs will be on easy and normal mode. Normal mode should prove interesting enough for any decently-geared level 150-ish character - and I say this as a personal guesstimate, nothing else. You will have to try the dungeon for yourself in order to judge what hard mode is going to be like.
Hard mode... now that one is going to prove to be a lot more interesting. I am certain that the dungeon will be finished on hard mode on the first day of the update - for one it's really short, only 20 minutes, so you can try many times - but you will have to be very confident of your damage output and survivability if you select the 'hard' option. Try it on easy first, just to get a feel for the dungeon, before you ramp up the difficulty to hard, although that is of course just my personal advice.
I can also urge you to at least try one run before scurrying off to Youtube to try to find a complete guide for the dungeon. It will be more fun that way, take my word for it. But that's enough of that for now.
Panic Cave is short, fast and brutal. You do not have the option to use an Odd Circle, so once you die you are out, which is simply due to the way that the dungeon is made. It's a narrow, winding cave (or tunnel, if you want to be more accurate) leading down from the surface deep beneath the rocks of Desert Scream. There is also a rather surprising amount of life down there, at first... I also think that you should not let the relative ease of the first sections lull you into a false sense of security, because it does start out rather smooth and easy - relatively speaking now, of course
The boss itself, once it appears, is really big, and I think the word 'huge' is appropriate to use here.You can catch a glimpse of it on the gameplay video I linked to above. The developers also borrowed some of the newer developments that we first saw used in the Forbidden Island dungeon, so be prepared for anything.And of course we will have to talk about the drops in the Panic Cave. I am not going to get too specific, or give examples of what drops in there because you simply cannot compare the drop rate on the test server with that of the live server (it's much lower on the ITS, before you ask), but I will talk about the bound drops again. The new binding drops appear to be limited to the Panic Cave for the vast majority of the cases, so be warned that if you enter the normal or hard versions of the Cave you will get something that is bound in some way, either as character bound, or as character binding when equipped. Apart from cores, of course, but weapons and armour are bound. I can also say that it might well be worth farming that dungeon for a while - you never know
Here's two images from in there, just to give you a general feel for the atmosphere of the dungeon.
The Altar of Siena B2F
The other big dungeon, and from the start I can say that this one really impressed me. You can clearly see the way the developers are improving with every successive dungeon, and this one is no exception. It's longer than average - you get 1 hour and 20 minutes to complete it - and also more complex than the B1F version. They have taken the general feel of the B1F dungeon, and made it a bit darker and heavier, using much more green tones and plants especially in the later stage of the dungeon, as opposed to the brown stone from the first one.
The first thing that struck me was how far you had to move into the dungeon to receive the first chest. Both the Forbidden Island and Altar of Siena B1F dungeons had you facing a boss from the moment you entered, with no mobs around them (at least at first). This one is different, and you will have gone through several encounters and quests before you even see a chest. The dungeon is also harder than the B1F version, although not quite as punishing as the Forgotten Temple B2F. You have several optional side-quests to discover - no, I am not going to give an exact number - and the results from some of these will make the dungeon even more challenging. More rewarding as well, yes, but more challenging, which is a very good thing.
Another aspect that you will quickly realise is that the developers played around with the debuffs from the bosses, amongst other things. I can think of one particular place that is going to prove a real challenge on the live server, and you will have to plan your party to compensate for this. You will also find firegates, and plenty of them. At first they appear similar to the ones used in the Forgotten Temple B1F, only blue-white, but there are one or two... improvements
You will also notice that the major opponents inside the dungeon not only speaks directly to your party, but also to each other. This is quite fun to see, so look out for that. I can also just urge you to read the quests very carefully, because you will find clues to the hidden quests concealed in the normal quest text. I know there is a rather large part of the playerbase who simply click through the quests as fast as they can, not bothering to read it - well, I guess none of them would be reading this blog in the first place - and it is of course your choice, but if you want to get the most from this dungeon take the time to read.
OK, I think I cannot say too much more about this dungeon without moving into major spoiler territory, so I think I will stop here for now, with this little image. If you've read the developers' notes you will know what is so significant about it.
Oh yes, and I've been meaning to mention this for a while now. You now receive a title for completing both the B1F and B2F versions, Contamination Curer for Altar of Siena B1F, and Rotten Seed Judge for the new B2F version. One gives +1% Experience on the level 2 one, and the other gives +1% Pet Experience for the level 2 title. I'm also still waiting for ESTsoft to get back to me with some questions from the previous blog entry, I did not forget about those, I just have not received any decent answers yet.
If you have any questions, as always feel free to ask them in the comments section - I do try to answer as many as I can.
Viral
Total Comments 34
Comments
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damn nice !
at last we can say siena :PPosted 17-09-2009 at 14:10 by prikalist 
Updated 17-09-2009 at 14:18 by prikalist -
Rain in the CAVE FTW! :)
Posted 17-09-2009 at 14:16 by metac
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You're my favourite GM <3
Posted 17-09-2009 at 14:34 by sMMatsuo
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cant wait for the panic cave and bound items
Posted 17-09-2009 at 14:37 by triton21 
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huhuhu
fastar update plzzzzzzzzzz
:PPosted 17-09-2009 at 14:40 by Monstermutch
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what drops can we get in aos2? max jewellery +6 or +7 too?
and what about sig amped/crafted stuff? will it drop? i hope eox 7.5 will be dropable too..Posted 17-09-2009 at 14:59 by Yoshikou
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So i'm guessing that means a sfs will have a harder time completing Panic Cave compared to another class such as the blader who is equally geared simply because of the sfs' naturally low dps...
Posted 17-09-2009 at 15:38 by Raven2k8
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is Panic Cave class specific?
i mean, will it have the same mobs/bosses with the same stats independent of the class you take there?
Can you activate your "godly" powers? for example FS AoD, BL Flee Rate
Can you use BM or Aura?
Do you have space to dance?
Can you use SP pots in there?Posted 17-09-2009 at 16:33 by MaKo Leonhart
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viral,
Im intrested about the drops
low, med, high
are the drops same?
what can we get?
uchh, mithril or sigmetal?Posted 17-09-2009 at 17:16 by kovacs725
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Do the old runs we already made in Siena B1F count?
Posted 17-09-2009 at 17:46 by barton90
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Yoshikou: Think of how much fun I will be taking away from you by telling you
Raven2k8: I think the normal difficulty should be fine for everyone. Hard is... well, let it hit the live server first, before we judge. I actually think FS might have an easier time on one specific section, as a matter of fact.
MaKo Leonhart: No, it's not class specific - it's like any other dungeon. You can use whatever you have in there, for sure. You will HAVE to use BM or Aura, take my word for this. There is space to dance, but yeah... You'll see what I mean soon enough. SP pots? If you have them you can use them.
kovacs725: There is a drop quality improvement on the different levels, the harder the better the drops could be. That does not mean it WILL be better, just that you have better chances to get something good on the harder settings. As for the specific question about drops - see my answer to Yoshikou
barton90: No, unfortunately not. It's like any other title - only the runs that are made after the title was introduced will count.Posted 17-09-2009 at 18:00 by [GM]Viral
Updated 17-09-2009 at 18:03 by [GM]Viral -
"so be warned that if you enter the normal or hard versions of the Cave you will get something that is bound in some way"
So you're saying that in easy there's no bound items, armour and weapons, only cores? Or that you can get a normal, not bound, item in easy version?Posted 17-09-2009 at 18:20 by delacroix22
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on the siena site you say september...will it be released in september because it will be extremly cool to have it in 2 weeks tops...thx for this blog update it's the best from my point of view
Posted 17-09-2009 at 19:38 by lexutza22
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I've been wondering - why does it rain in Panic Cave? Does the water soak through the ground and simply drip drop by drop :P?
Can't wait :) !Posted 17-09-2009 at 22:02 by VandraGor
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only kids or dumb ppl don't read those blogs or the quests in dungeons ^^
i can't wait for this, tell them to hurry up!!! hehehe
gonna spam the dungeon, at least Panic, cuz for B2F i think we need 160 at least, and i'm 15x xD
Hopefully FA's gonna be a "Must-Have" in b2fPosted 18-09-2009 at 06:08 by steffx21
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about must have we will see... and ofcouse it must be uber FA with full mith e.t.c I don't wana loose 150 stast just for wear mith... this is unfair
Posted 18-09-2009 at 10:37 by bosmer
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Viral, if someone didn't ask you to, I have my small, humble request for you - ask EST to clear out the process of upgrading from +9 to +12.
I'd like to know is the chance exactly the same as with +7 to +8 and +8 to +9 upgrading, whether the change of +8'ing and +9'ing the item will be increased since there are more upgrade grades and also if the upgrade rates from +0 to +7 are left exactly the same as they were.
Another thing I'd like to know is whether we get any FX effect on items +10 and above, and whether the upgrading effect is any different than +7-+9 one (e.g. higher attack/defense bonus than the former or the same).
PS. Feel free to share your personal opinion on the matter, because right now it seems to me that ability to upgrade item up to +12 is just a 'smart' way to unbind the item by failing to upgrade it in case it is already +9 (and with 50/50 chance every upgrade, getting item upgraded to +12 chance is like [B]3.125%[/B] ... lol, that's not funny at all!).Posted 18-09-2009 at 20:02 by NightShade
Updated 18-09-2009 at 20:04 by NightShade -
could u say at least the date of the next blog update? pls^^
Posted 19-09-2009 at 20:29 by lexutza22
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i cant w8 for the day panic cave will drop me for ex myth wa boots 14% sword amp character bind on my wi so i can quit cabal cursing the day the developer(who came up with the stupid idea)was born.
btw i don't think panic cave will improve drop rate of rare items if u wont be able to make profit from the items they are just as useless as wi gloves 14% sword amp or any other fail drops cabal usually gives us....Posted 20-09-2009 at 01:40 by Gh0stSentinel
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ye i'm quite interest in this part... any informations have been given throught the forum?Quote:Originally Posted by NightShade
Viral, if someone didn't ask you to, I have my small, humble request for you - ask EST to clear out the process of upgrading from +9 to +12.
I'd like to know is the chance exactly the same as with +7 to +8 and +8 to +9 upgrading, whether the change of +8'ing and +9'ing the item will be increased since there are more upgrade grades and also if the upgrade rates from +0 to +7 are left exactly the same as they were.
Another thing I'd like to know is whether we get any FX effect on items +10 and above, and whether the upgrading effect is any different than +7-+9 one (e.g. higher attack/defense bonus than the former or the same).
PS. Feel free to share your personal opinion on the matter, because right now it seems to me that ability to upgrade item up to +12 is just a 'smart' way to unbind the item by failing to upgrade it in case it is already +9 (and with 50/50 chance every upgrade, getting item upgraded to +12 chance is like 3.125% ... lol, that's not funny at all!).Posted 20-09-2009 at 05:04 by SpliffStar
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