Okay, let’s talk about getting through those new Dawntrail expert dungeons.
First Steps In
So, hit the new level cap, right? Felt pretty good. First thing I wanted to do was unlock and tackle the expert roulette dungeons. You know how it is, gotta start that gear grind. Got them unlocked after finishing up the main story quests, which were quite the ride themselves.
I decided to just jump into the Duty Finder for the first few runs. Sometimes it’s quicker, sometimes… well, you know. Queued up as my main job, ready to see what these new instances threw at us.
Dungeon Dive: Take One
The first one popped pretty fast. Visually, it was really neat, gotta say. The atmosphere was cool. The trash pulls felt a bit beefier than usual, or maybe it was just everyone learning the ropes and gear being fresh. We definitely had a couple of moments where things got dicey on pulls leading up to the first boss. Lots of AOEs to dodge, pretty standard stuff but they hit hard if you messed up.
The first boss itself wasn’t too bad once we saw the main mechanics. Took us maybe one wipe? Someone got clipped by a big attack they didn’t expect. Second try, we got it down. The rest of the dungeon flowed similarly. The final boss had a couple of tricky overlaps that caught us off guard, but we managed without another full wipe. Felt okay leaving, got my first bit of currency.
Round Two: Different Flavors
Queued up again. Got the second dungeon this time. This one had a totally different vibe, different setting. I actually liked the look of this one more, personally. The mechanics felt a little more puzzle-like on the bosses? Less about pure dodging, more about positioning or dealing with specific adds in a certain way. We actually wiped twice on the second boss. People kept messing up one particular thing. It got a little frustrating, not gonna lie, but we got there. The trash mobs here also had some annoying abilities, stuns or interrupts needed.
It was a bit tougher than the first one, I think. Or maybe the group just clicked less. Hard to say sometimes with random groups.
Third Time’s the Charm?
Finally got the third dungeon on a later run. By this point, I was feeling more comfortable with the general difficulty spike. This one felt like a good balance between the first two. Some big unavoidable damage kept the healer busy, and the bosses had mechanics that required everyone to pay attention. No room for slacking. We had one close call on the last boss, healer LB3 saved the day. Classic.
- Learned quickly you gotta respect the trash pulls.
- Bosses telegraph stuff, but sometimes it’s fast.
- Damage felt high overall, healers gotta work.
The Grind Begins
After running all three, I started focusing on just getting the daily expert roulette done. Need those tomestones, you know? The gear drops look pretty decent, standard expert dungeon ilvl stuff to get you started before raiding or upgrading crafted gear. Saw a few pieces drop, but nothing for my job yet. Typical luck!
Overall, they feel like a solid step up, which is good. They keep you awake, that’s for sure. Not super punishing, but you can’t snooze through them like you sometimes could with older experts once you outgeared them. Gonna be running these a lot in the coming weeks, trying to get geared up and maybe help some friends through them too. It’s the usual routine, but hey, new content is new content.
