Perfidus through the Mists

[DM Cataclysm]

The path to Perfidus through the mists seems to have some cyclical issues that are flaring up again. When Perfidus was first taken out of caravan service, it was fairly certain if you set out into the mists that you could reach it – given enough time. After a few months, some problems popped up and in the past several days, they seem to be happening more frequently.

The typical problems in reaching Perfidus:

1) You reach a lot of maps with three blocked exits, leaving the only option to return from where you came. (I did an @debug on one of these maps just as a reference)
2) The Deserted City map is somewhere along the way and the ways north or south to avoid it are blocked. This map is essentially impassable unless you have greater sanctuary (even then, it is dicey with auto-attack) – sometimes this is the first map off of the mist camp, preventing you from going anywhere at all.
3) The mists don't seem to be resetting as frequently as they used to. The maps seemed to shift every 20 or so minutes in the past. If paths were blocked, you could generally wait it out and try again – now they seem to stay set for an extended period (I tested last night and they stayed put several RL hours without shifting).

I've mainly been trying to reach Perfidus to collect adamantine (which is difficult in its own right, due to the meteorite weight, small drop rate, and even smaller probability you'll smelt adamantine vs. iron).

Hoping we can clear up some of these issues – I'm on board with Perfidus being more difficult to reach than a caravan hop away, but currently the chance of a failed travel attempt there seems too high. Some possible fixes (not sure how the scripting works or if any/all of these are possible):

Reduce the chances of maps spawning with 3 blocked exits
Prevent ooze city from spawning directly off of mist camp. Allow paths around this map (north/south) when it spawns in the middle of the mists
Increase the rate of the mists shifting, so that if paths do wind up being blocked - they reset sooner than every few hours

[Nemesis 24]

Has anyone even bothered to do anything with Ooze city other than turn smartly around and leave it?  It honestly feels like a waste to even bother trying to deal with it.  The risk vs reward ratio is completely one sided.

[DM Cataclysm]

I've been part of a few attempts with groups of level 20 characters to try to fight there and they all ended with retreat. Those oozes hit hard, corrode hard, have a ton of HP, and there's a DC: 25 to even stand up on the permanent grease effect. There's also an absurd number of them (I took them out in waves with Wail of the Banshee / Sunburst and they just kept coming). It's definitely not passable in its current state, aside from using GS.

[Nemesis 24]

It is rather silly.  There's a challenge and then there's just deliberately impassable, Ooze city is definitely the latter.  And the reason for the numbers is that the enemies are infinite spawning.  They'll never stop coming.

[julienchab]

Cutting down the DC 25 knockdown + the infinite spawn would actually keep the challenge high, but make it doable to clear it I think.

[Syl]

You know, rumor has it Bronze doesn't corrode.

That said, the reflex save is amusing to see. and not many can make it easily. They can make it.... just not easily lol

[Night of Reod]

The path to Perfidus through the mists seems to have some cyclical issues that are flaring up again. When Perfidus was first taken out of caravan service, it was fairly certain if you set out into the mists that you could reach it – given enough time. After a few months, some problems popped up and in the past several days, they seem to be happening more frequently.

The typical problems in reaching Perfidus:

1) You reach a lot of maps with three blocked exits, leaving the only option to return from where you came. (I did an @debug on one of these maps just as a reference)
2) The Deserted City map is somewhere along the way and the ways north or south to avoid it are blocked. This map is essentially impassable unless you have greater sanctuary (even then, it is dicey with auto-attack) – sometimes this is the first map off of the mist camp, preventing you from going anywhere at all.
3) The mists don't seem to be resetting as frequently as they used to. The maps seemed to shift every 20 or so minutes in the past. If paths were blocked, you could generally wait it out and try again – now they seem to stay set for an extended period (I tested last night and they stayed put several RL hours without shifting).

I've mainly been trying to reach Perfidus to collect adamantine (which is difficult in its own right, due to the meteorite weight, small drop rate, and even smaller probability you'll smelt adamantine vs. iron).

Hoping we can clear up some of these issues – I'm on board with Perfidus being more difficult to reach than a caravan hop away, but currently the chance of a failed travel attempt there seems too high. Some possible fixes (not sure how the scripting works or if any/all of these are possible):

Reduce the chances of maps spawning with 3 blocked exits
Prevent ooze city from spawning directly off of mist camp. Allow paths around this map (north/south) when it spawns in the middle of the mists
Increase the rate of the mists shifting, so that if paths do wind up being blocked - they reset sooner than every few hours

 In my experience, this is not recent at all. Mists are random, and sometimes you just get unlucky. There have been times I got to Perfidus in under three minutes a few times in a row, and there have been times I couldn't find it at all for a week, and that is from a time period of since adamantine was implemented. As for the ooze city, the DC 25 Knockback is definitely manageable, at least for the right group, but I agree that infinite spawn, if there is infinite spawn, could do with a change.

[DM Cataclysm]

No, I wouldn't say the problem is particularly new - though I'm not sure it is functioning as intended. Originally, there was essentially always a path through to Perfidus. Luck played in, but was more to the effect of getting there in 3 minutes or getting there in 30 minutes. Now, you can go several days with no open path to Perfidus at all.

I think the intention of walking the mistway to Perfidus is to complicate the journey, not to block off the domain entirely for varying periods of time. 

[EO]

No, I wouldn't say the problem is particularly new - though I'm not sure it is functioning as intended. Originally, there was essentially always a path through to Perfidus. Luck played in, but was more to the effect of getting there in 3 minutes or getting there in 30 minutes. Now, you can go several days with no open path to Perfidus at all.

I think the intention of walking the mistway to Perfidus is to complicate the journey, not to block off the domain entirely for varying periods of time.

We haven't made any changes in a long time to the mist system.