Rebalance Snowman PQ

After a full day, there has still only been a single clear for the new snowman PQ. I think it is safe to say that the PQ is functionally broken, and practically impossible. I’m not sure what kind of difficulty the devs intended this content to have in relation to its reward, but it’s clear that the PQ needs to be rebalanced, even if it means decreasing the final reward. After trying it myself for several hours, I have come up with a few ideas of how this PQ can be fixed.

1. Flying mob HP reduced to 1 and 2 respectively.

Flying mobs were already a menace in tower PQ with only 2 HP. Flyeyes have 4 HP and stirges have 2. There is basically no counterplay if you get swarmed by even a modest group of 2 flyeyes, and if you are by yourself it’s nearly impossible to avoid taking damage if you get aggro.

2. Put a 0.5-1s CD on all Body 3 attacks.

This is event content and this guy is throwing out attacks like he is zakum 3. Make this dude chill out a bit. It’s not so bad when you are all together damaging the boss, but the moment something goes off script (e.g. you have to climb the tree to get health or a flyeye charges into your group from a bad angle) it’s absolutely brutal.

3. Increase the visibility of the ice attacks

There needs to be a black outline on the snowflake attack, and also ideally on the edges of body 2 attack. It’s very difficult to see and I have perfect vision. For people with vision problems the attacks might as well be invisible.

4. Move Rudolph below the snowman

This NPC blocks vision of the fence on the right side, which is one of the best places to be in Body 3. The low ground below the snowman on the right would be better because you wouldn’t stand here anyway due to the awkward attack range.

5. Remove the healing mechanic entirely from Body 3 or give it a long CD

This mechanic basically kills any run that loses more than 2 people. He outheals your damage unless your entire team is focusing him nonstop. Not sure why it even allows you to enter with less than 6 people when this mechanic exists.

6. Modify the hitbox on Body 3 attacks to not hit the ice platforms at the top

The situations where you can safely DPS the boss from these platforms are limited anyway, and the attacks are very difficult to see from the top. With the snowball projectiles flying at you and the flying mobs terrorizing you, it’s basically impossible to safely use the team heal mechanic in Body 3 because of this.

7. Add a more forgiving foothold to the top of the Christmas tree

Amidst the chaos of Body 3, dealing with the janky foothold to jump to the first ice platform on the left is its own monumental trial. A flat foothold at the top of the tree could alleviate this.

8. General HP nerf on Body 3

Considering this is supposed to be possible with 3 people, the HP on Body 3 should be nerfed by 20-40%. Even when you have your whole team in the zone DPSing constantly, it’s rare to get the boss below 30%. Even if the mechanics were rebalanced, I think this guy is still just a little too chunky.

I think an HP nerf could also be used in the Snow Spirit PQ, but that is just mainly because the KB mechanics are unreliable with the snowball skill and it makes the PQ inconsistent. That sorta defeats the purpose of an easy hold down button PQ for earning raffles.

Even if every single one of these changes were implemented, I think the boss would still be quite challenging. In its current state, there is no consistent way to win even for a skilled group. Maybe it was designed to be that way, but if it was, that is just bad design. If need be, the EV of the final reward can be nerfed but I think most people want a version of the PQ that can actually be cleared more than 1 time if you put in the effort to learn the mechanics.