New Feature: The Hellfire Arena

[Flix 5,167]

Upcoming in Diablo 2 Fallen v14 is The Hellfire Arena, a new battle arena quest series that pits the hero against hordes of bosses and superuniques, in groups of 2-6.  Unlike the old Boss Arena mod, these quests have dialogues from the quest givers and full text in the log, as well as voiced lines. 

The Story:

Deckard Cain, tired of standing around in Sloeford with nothing to do, decides to sail south on the Jade Sea.  Along the way he meets the Assassin Natalya, who has heard rumor of a phantasmagoric place in the south seas.  When they arrive, they find a tranquil little island.  The arena nearby is empty and disused, yet strangely it is fervently guarded by two Paladins: Jamella and Halbu.

The two stoic warriors have little to say, but it is obvious they are tense.  Some unholy force is threatening to break through in this very spot.  Will a hero arrive in time to stem the tide of undead, demons, and monsters, before it is too late?  Or will the forces of the Burning Hells burst forth and be victorious in the Hellfire Arena?

The Structure:

There are four phases in the Hellfire Arena, each quest series given to the hero by one of the four guardians of the arena.  The only rewards are the drops and XP from the bosses themselves, until the end of each phase is reached, where more XP, gold, and drops are given.  Upon completing all four phases and winning the entire arena, a very special reward is conferred upon the hero.

There are 8 rounds within each phase, for a total of 32 battles the hero must win.  Here is the full roster:

Phase 1 (Deckard Cain):

Spoiler

Round 1 (Humanoids Small):

Round 2 (Humans):

Round 3 (Barbarians):

Round 4 (Amazons):

Round 5 (Orcs):

Round 6 (High Elves):

Round 7 (Humanoids Large):

Round 8 (Sorcerers):

 

Phase 2 (Jamella):

Spoiler

Round 1 (Poison Creatures):

Round 2 (Swamp Monsters):

Round 3 (Plant Creatures):

Round 4 (Hybrids):

Round 5 (Flying Monsters):

Round 6 (Arachnids):

Round 7 (Giants):

Round 8 (Elementals):

 

Phase 3 (Natalya):

Spoiler

Round 1 (Zombies):

Round 2 (Eldritch Horrors):

Round 3 (Skeletons):

Round 4 (Mummies):

Round 5 (Ghosts):

Round 6 (Vampires):

Round 7 (Cold Creatures):

Round 8 (Fire Creatures):

 

Phase 4 (Halbu):

Spoiler

Round 1 (Demons):

Round 2 (Demon Lords):

Round 3 (Demonic Servants):

Round 4 (Brutes):

Round 5 (Succubi):

Round 6 (Lesser Evils):

Round 7 (Prime Evils):

Round 8 (Fallen Angels - Light Path Only):

Round 8 (Angels - Shadow Path Only):

 

[rm3000 85]

For more than five years you are churning out new modifications and additions. I haven't had a chance to try it, but reading alone is just overwhelming.

To quote Natalie Portman: "Are you, like, a crazy person?"

It's awesome to watch people who love what they do and for that alone I want to thank you, so: THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Edited March 23, 2020 by rm3000

[Androdion 898]

Yummi, as usual! 

Love the new mob designs, that winged critter from the Blood Forest is tip top. So the four phases will be somewhat like a Crucible, and that's the Arena in the Multiplayer Island right?

[gogoblender 3,206]

Flix, the count down to the invasion of monsters in Sacred Underworld was one of my favorite features from Sacred...just the sheer fun of going against a huge load of monsters is exhilarating. when up against the odds or clock.  I love this tension that I see again in Arena fashion for you mod. So Polished!!

gogo

[Flix 5,167]

4 hours ago, Androdion said:

So the four phases will be somewhat like a Crucible, and that's the Arena in the Multiplayer Island right?

That is correct.  You report back to the current phase's quest giver after each "round".  I had the monsters just spawn immediately on receiving the quest but they tended to rush the entrance to the arena and the hero would get trapped in the corridor before he could even enter. 

So you get the quest, and the current round of monsters wait patiently in the arena for the hero to click on them to start the battle.  I think this relative safety and time to prepare is offset by the sheer odds against the player in each fight.  This also affords the player something that is normally impossible: time to actually get a good look at the monsters without worrying about being killed (yet).

[Androdion 898]

Yeah, I can see Holos+Bloodclaw+the other guy being a sure way to see your HP bar go "bam bam bum". 

[Flix 5,167]

3 hours ago, Androdion said:

Yeah, I can see Holos+Bloodclaw+the other guy being a sure way to see your HP bar go "bam bam bum". 

Yes... a lot of that going on in these battles.  

After testing them all, this might be one of the most heart-pounding configurations:

[Androdion 898]

Oh yeah, holy Spell Resistance to the rescue there, as I assume the guy on the left does that rooting web... No kiting there I guess.

[Flix 5,167]

Ok Hellfire Arena is complete and should be ready for implementation whenever v14 is released.  I've tested each battle several times to ensure all the bosses are behaving* and all the quest scripts are firing correctly.  All quest dialogue, journal entries, voices, rewards etc. is all complete.

This has also afforded me a chance to re-balance many of the bosses and superuniques for v14.  There were some unusual/unfair "rough edges" that were filed down a bit, so to speak.

I've added the full roster of all the battles to the first post. I put each phase in spoiler tags so you can see each one in turn.  The final reward will remain secret.

So, what battle looks like the most challenging?

 

* There's still a lingering bug where sometimes a boss will summon minions and the minions will turn against their fellow monsters.  I'm confident this can be resolved, I just have to get a better understanding of the factions.

[Tharkun 40]

The large humanoid on phase 1 is holding a weird sword, is it new? I can't tell from that angle.

[Flix 5,167]

58 minutes ago, Tharkun said:

The large humanoid on phase 1 is holding a weird sword, is it new? I can't tell from that angle.

That's Fire Eye and he always wields the Flaying Glaive of Atheron.  

 

[Androdion 898]

@Flix

Spoiler

Phase 4, round 5. Is that Kerrigan?

Anyway, my bones are shivering just from thinking of running those battles. My oh my, I think this is going to be fun!

Big question for me about this mode is its recommended level, if there is one or not, and if it's possible to run it in each difficulty. You know the, "technical" aspects as to how approach this mode without being plain suicidal. Any thoughts on that mate?

[gogoblender 3,206]

I must see this in action.  How do three big creatures like that come at us? Are they waiting for one to finish battle before the second has to be clicked? Can all three be clicked simultanteously ...and they'll all come at the player at once?

gogo

[Androdion 898]

According to Flix it works on a per round basis, so you dialogue with a group and fight that group at once. Then rinse and repeat.

[Flix 5,167]

3 hours ago, gogoblender said:

How do three big creatures like that come at us? Are they waiting for one to finish battle before the second has to be clicked? Can all three be clicked simultanteously ...and they'll all come at the player at once?

Androdion is correct; the group attacks as a cohesive team.  I designated one of each group as the "leader" (whoever was front and center), and you "talk" to them to commence the battle.  There's no actual dialogue exchanged with the monsters. I just added the "talk-to-begin" because if they spawned as immediately hostile, they would rush the arena entrance and the player would get trapped in the corridor before they could even enter - no fun.

Because you fight each round against a full group, this adds a whole other dimension. Enemy abilities synergize in unexpected ways, compounding the difficulty of the fight.

Take that very first round.  Little Devilkin, Goblin, and Gremlins don't look so tough. And one on one, any well equipped player would have no trouble.

However, when their individual abilities combine... one of them casts a "Blind" debuff on you that slows your attack speed. Another teleports around constantly. Yet another uses "Charged Bolts" which sends out seeking bolts which damage you and heal its allies.  Yet another will Resurrect its fallen comrades.  This means the tide of the battle can turn in an instant.

I've played through it all a few times and it's a lot of fun!

4 hours ago, Androdion said:

Phase 4, round 5. Is that Kerrigan?

She fills in for Andariel in D2F.  http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php/Sacred_2:Andariel

4 hours ago, Androdion said:

Big question for me about this mode is its recommended level, if there is one or not, and if it's possible to run it in each difficulty. You know the, "technical" aspects as to how approach this mode without being plain suicidal. Any thoughts on that mate?

Well, I'd say, in a given difficulty level, if you can try fighting some of the individual bosses pictured here, assess how easy/hard those battles were, then extrapolate how challenging fight a group of them might be.  You can always stop during any round/phase of the Arena and come back later if you need to get better gear or level some abilities.  The quest series is impossible to fail.

Some of the special rewards will not spawn with all their bonuses until at least level 30.  So I'd say that's the bare minimum. 

I'm considering whether to make it available in Multiplayer mode or not.  I don't much care for the way people abuse Free Play to get the static rewards I've added to quests multiple times.

[gogoblender 3,206]

4 minutes ago, Flix said:

Androdion is correct; the group attacks as a cohesive team.  I designated one of each group as the "leader" (whoever was front and center), and you "talk" to them to commence the battle.  There's no actual dialogue exchanged with the monsters. I just added the "talk-to-begin" because if they spawned as immediately hostile, they would rush the arena entrance and the player would get trapped in the corridor before they could even enter - no fun.

Because you fight each round against a full group, this adds a whole other dimension. Enemy abilities synergize in unexpected way, compounding the difficulty of the fight.

Take that very round round.  Little Devilkin, Goblin, and Gremlins don't look so tough. And one on one, any well equipped player would have no trouble.

However, when their individual abilities combine... one of them casts a "Blind" debuff on you that slows your attack speed. Another teleports around constantly. Yet another uses "Charged Bolts" which sends out seeking bolts which damage you and heal its allies.  Yet another will Resurrect its fallen comrades.  This means the tide of the battle can turn in an instant.

I've played through it all a few times and it's a lot of fun!

 

This sound brilliant! lol  reminded of that scene from STar Trek ...the gamesters of Triskelan... with Kirk pumped up in the Arena against the three beasts with that iconic music!

gogo

[Androdion 898]

Something just occurred me, if this arena mode is in the Multiplayer Island then how can you access it without doing the Ancaria Airlines quest?

[desm 330]

That's a good question indeed. It didn't came to my mind personnaly because I always create my new characters in Multiplayer mode. It has several advantages:

-you start in a safe place with all commodities

-you can do how many quick saves you want, no matter where you are (after getting a good loot for example)

-you can/could play multiplayer/lan which you can't with singleplayer characters

and even more now as the characters class quests are available in multi, like the Blind Guardian Concert quest I think and surely other advantages which I forget atm. But I'm curious about Flix's answer.

Edited March 31, 2020 by desm

[Flix 5,167]

3 hours ago, Androdion said:

Something just occurred me, if this arena mode is in the Multiplayer Island then how can you access it without doing the Ancaria Airlines quest?

The portal at the Island of Many Roads has been active in Single Player since the release of CM 1.60.

[Androdion 898]

Really?!  Problem solved then, ha ha.

[Flix 5,167]

The Arena is complete and tested all the way through.  All the quests fire, the rewards are dropping, and you may have noticed there are Light and Shadow specific endings for the final phase.

I've also decided to restrict the quest's availability to the Single Player campaign only.  This is mainly due to the rewards involved.

I still have not quite worked out why some minions who are supposed to be on the same "team" will attack each other as well as the player.  This mainly only affects Phase 3 (Undead).  Once I get that solved the mod should be ready to release.  I'm aiming for May 1 for release of D2F v14.

[desm 330]

4 hours ago, Flix said:

I've also decided to restrict the quest's availability to the Single Player campaign only.  This is mainly due to the rewards involved.

Crap So, personnaly, I think I won't see it. When you're used to play in Multiplayer mode (even if you play solo), you can't go back to Singleplayer mechanics anymore for the reasons I mentioned before (mostly for the capacity to save whenever and wherever you are). Furthermore, believe it or not, I take the example of the High Elf, I've already been one or two-shots (in Niob) by the apprentice casting his fireball while the damned Ice&Blood welcome screen was appearing (but I think it has been been fixed in latest versions of CM patch).

Couldn't there be another solution like, as you previously mentionned I think, flagging the quest to be doable only once?

[Flix 5,167]

@desm  I believe I was able to figure out what to do to make the quest also available in Multiplayer (campaign mode only) so you'd be able to complete it once per difficulty.  Basically the quest would only be inaccessible in "Free Play" mode.

In fact this is what I had done all along, I was just describing incorrectly earlier. So, don't fret.

[desm 330]

Ah great, you rock. Being able to do it once per difficulty fits me very well. Good day to you guys.

[Tharkun 40]

I just finished this quest and it is awesome, hard and challenging but in a good way and the best of all, the loot, I'm absolutely loaded with new gear (and the final reward wich is very, very cool).

The only odd thing I found is when fighting round 7 (phase 1) the one large humanoid mounted disappeared mid fight, but I left the game and re-entered and it fixed.

And now there's 2 Deckard Cains, this one and the one in Sloeford near the soul stone.

Thanks for this awesome addition!