Our impressions of the Lazarus expedition
We had the chance to test the Lazarus expedition for 40-45 minutes. This preview event was divided into three parts:
- A first part presenting the expeditions and Lazarus in particular;
- The gameplay phase (see video below);
- A question and answer session.
The event took place in early July on the Alpha servers between members of the European press.
After having created characters directly propelled to the maximum level (specifically for the event), we were able to build our character for about fifteen minutes before entering the expedition (or almost)!
Unfortunately, in my group, one person showed up very late (and left in the process…). So we had little time to discover the mechanics and progress in the dungeon.
Once the group was formed, after a wipe and some adjustments, we could finally start exploring Lazarus. We progressed for a good twenty minutes through packs of mobs and puzzles until we came across the first boss of the instance.
We started the said boss in parallel with the Q&A session. Unfortunately, we just missed it…
In summary: I could hardly have an exhaustive opinion on this expedition as I only saw half of it at most.
As far as I could see:
- The atmosphere described by the lore is well transcribed in the expedition, especially with the use of puzzles;
- As for Amrine, Lazarus is very nice visually with a rich atmosphere and environments;
- With the help and explanations of the group’s developer, we didn’t have too much difficulty to manage the first packs of mobs (until the first boss), even with 4 players;
- As for the PvP part, the gameplay feeling is good and the discovery of this dungeon was pleasant;
- If some still had doubts, it is necessary (at least for players who discover) to have a properly balanced group.
Finally, as for the first boss, we wiped a first time without knowing the boss, then rewiped in the following tries. We almost took it down, but I think we lacked anticipation of the boss mechanics. Overall, I would say that with 5 players it would have passed despite our general lack of knowledge of the game.