World The Spire Of Dern

So currently we have

The Tower of Ascension of Wynn: A large tower based in the Ice Plains near Lusuco, representing the hardest challenge in Wynn. Starting at level 40, one can fight mobs of increasing difficulty to show their fighting prowess until they reach Death, an ethereal level 150 boss who is what stands between the player and finishing the hardest quest in this province.

The Qira Hive of Gavel: Serving the same purpose as the Tower of Ascension, the Qira Hive poses the ultimate challenge of Gavel (safe for Orange Wybel). Much like its Wynnic counterpart, the player will have to go through many high level mobs and then face a boss. Once this boss is defeated, they will be able to buy something as a reward. The player will have to go through 5 of such bosses until facing Qira, lore-wise the most powerful being in Gavel and also level 150. Defeating her will grant the player some of the best gear in the game.

Legendary Island of Corkus: While not technically part of the island of Corkus, Legendary Island is commonly associated with it. At this level 90+ island, players will test their skill by fighting improved versions of some of the most powerful bosses, including Death, the Corrupter of Worlds and even Bob. When the player has defeated the final boss, Doctor Legendary, they will be able to buy all sorts of powerful accessories (and also a legendary medallion but wtf man).

So... it seems that every province has some kind of grand challenge. That leads me to believe that Dern will also have one of these things. However, what could set this place apart from these other challenges?

I think I have just the idea for that.

:::ACTUAL SUGGESTION STARTS HERE:::​

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you the Spire of Dern!​

So since nobody knows what the level range of Dern will even be, this suggestion is very likely to change. However my predictions suggest that since Road to Dern will come before Dern, the level range of Dern itself will be about level 100-130. This would nicely follow a trend of beating Qira and then coming to this place, just like how you go from the ToA to Qira Hive.

The Concept: ​

The Spire of Dern is supposed to be not just a very high and thin tower, but also a huge flat plain around it. Considering the overall view of Dern as a dark and desolate place, I would be surprised if there wasn't any place for a flat desolate wasteland. I'd see it a bit as this:

(This is Aku's tower in Samurai Jack, but it actually comes really close to what I'm trying to convey)

To start the challenge, the player(s) will have to enter the spire and press a button. After this, the player gets teleported to just outside the spire, and will not be able to leave the wasteland or enter the tower again until they die.

This is where the fun starts. Gradually, waves of mobs start spawning in, by the tens at first. This wave will be very easy and contain only weak level 80 mobs.
Once the first wave has been defeated, a second wave will start, with mobs of level 85. The weaker level 80 mobs will still spawn, but either in greater numbers or accompanied by stronger mobs.
At wave 3, the first bosses will appear. These bosses are high level mobs that can cast multiple spells and have a lot of HP for their level.
Every wave, mobs will become 5 levels higher on average. This will go on forever. Why? Because it allows the creation of a leaderboard to show who has gotten the farthest in this challenge.
This means that - if you have a sufficiently large and proficient party - you could meet level 200 enemies that would effectively become the most powerful mobs in the game.

Rewards: ​

First, something of note: the Spire of Dern is hard at level. The wave that corresponds to level 100 is wave 5, and will be very hard to beat on your own because of the large amount of mobs. If you want to solo the Spire of Dern, it is thus advised to be very well equipped before you do the challenge.

Anyway, rewards will be unlocked for the Spire of Dern every 10 levels, starting from wave 3 (level 90). This means that rewards will be unlocked for the following waves:
Wave 3 (lvl 90)
Wave 5 (lvl 100)
Wave 7 (lvl 110)
Wave 9 (lvl 120)
Wave 11 (lvl 130)
The rewards will range from stronger horses (e.g. lvl 45), to armor, to powders and much more depending on what wave you got to. However, just like the Qira Hive, you will only be able to buy 1 item per milestone.
Another reward for reaching a certain wave is that you can choose to automatically start the wave before that. This is done so that high level parties don't have to plow through the first few waves in order to get an actual challenge.

Mobs:​

A challenge like this wouldn't be anything without its mobs (literally). Now I'm not a master mob designer, but I can give some ideas of types of mobs that I envision being in the Spire of Dern.

Normal mobs: Being the first mobs you encounter, these critters are weak and basic with no elemental defenses or damages. They have no spells and attack with melee weapons only. They range from levels 80-150, only one normal mob per 5 levels. These mobs mostly just serve as filler to make the battles you're having feel more chaotic.

Elemental mobs: Also appearing at the first wave are elemental mobs. These have much more variety and can be weak or strong, fast or slow, ranged or melee. All elemental mobs have one spell, which they use semi frequently and corresponds to their element(s). What they also have in common is that each and every one of them has at least one elemental weakness, defense or damage.

Support mobs: These mobs will spawn along with groups of other mobs and help them stay alive. Support mobs are very weak but make other mobs stronger and so should be eliminated quickly.

Swarm mobs: The weakest of all mobs, these enemies are small, agile and spawn in huge groups. They are meant to distract the player from the stronger enemies if not overrun them. The easiest way to get rid of them is to have one of your friends focus on group control.

Elite mobs: These mobs stand out by being exceptionally strong compared to normal mobs. Usually boasting 1-2 spells and spawning in small groups, they are a force to be reckoned with. Elite mobs will usually be the cause of death for many players as they can come as a surprise to many people. However, there is a weakness for elite mobs: All of them have an elemental weakness.

Boss mobs: These are the strongest of the wave and spawn on their own. In later waves multiple bosses can spawn, just not together like Elites. Boss mobs are very very tanky but also slow. Their damage is incredibly high (especially on earth and thunder bosses) and should be treated with caution. Many bosses will also buff or even spawn other mobs, which means that bosses can't just be brushed aside. Every boss has at least 3 spells, but some may have more.

Superbosses: These spawn starting from wave 11 and are exactly what the name states: superbosses. These mobs have no weaknesses, are fast, strong, tanky and cast many spells. Your only saving grace is that they only spawn at the end of a wave, meaning that there's usually no other mobs around to harass you while fighting a superboss. The function of a superboss is to test how well coordinated a team of players can be.

Final Notes:​

Yes, Spire of Dern's endgame items are very difficult to obtain solo. However, that is intended; endgame gear isn't supposed to be easy to come by and guilds are also a thing. Besides, doing a swarm challenge like this is much more fun with multiple people.
Also, Spire of Dern sounds a lot like guild wars. That is because I like guild wars and thought: "hey what if this was an actual challenge where the mobs got harder and harder" so yeah.
Please vote on the poll if you like my idea and tell me if I forgot to talk about anything.

 

Cracking

 

I would probably make this underground as Durn is all about digging and mystery (I think)


You also need a quest, you can’t just expect players to find something important to the end game by pressing a button on a spooky tower somewhere. It forces players to use the wiki to find out where important powerful stuff is located, breaking immersion. This is an issue, because the entrance to Durn appears to be tailored towards lvl 30ish people and some level 37 noob could just run up to it and ring aku’s Doorbell without knowing what is going on.


This issue I discussed above is further amplified by the lack of defense of said tower; Aku is arrogant and complacent. He is not motivated enough to create defenses. This means that nothing stops an average 7 year old from running straight to their doom in an anticlimactic way. This is just bad game design.


I would like more context regarding the lore, however I understand that it may be difficult without prior knowledge regarding Durn.


Maybe add an optional quest for the magic sword (samurai jack’s sword) that makes it easier, so the fight isn’t just an endless mob arena.


Overall, I can tell that a lot of thought has been put into this thread and I like it despite all that criticism, I like it, I would add this with a moderate-large amount of tweaks, edits and balancing.


Summary with other important side comments


Please note that this is simply my opinion and the idea is great on its own, I just think it needs to be introduced similarly to how aku’s name is widely known in samurai jack’s universe in order for a large undefended evil black tower to work. This must be done to the point where a 7 year old does not want to fight him or is carefully advancing towards his tower, with unreasonable confidence or caution. Anyway, No harsh feels. good luck to you!

 

I agree with what you are saying. But, as you said, thinking of lore for this tower is really hard because I have no idea what the story behind Dern is. Also yes, this tower would have a quest or at least NPCs referring to this place so that it is obvious what the Spire is meant for. But as for level 30 peeps blindly running into this tower... I don't think that will happen since they'll have to go through the Road to Dern first, which will likely be a large high level area.

 

Good point,