Okay, so I’ve been messing around with this “dungeon tier list” idea, and let me tell you, it’s been a wild ride. I started off thinking, “Oh, this’ll be easy, just rank some dungeons,” but boy, was I wrong.
First, I had to actually define what makes a dungeon “good” or “bad.” Is it the loot? The challenge? The overall aesthetic? I ended up making a list of criteria:
- Loot Quality: Are the drops worth the effort?
- Challenge Level: Too easy is boring, but too hard is just frustrating.
- Boss Fight: Is it epic, or just a damage sponge?
- Atmosphere: Does it feel like a real, creepy dungeon?
- Fun Factor: Did I actually enjoy running it?
Then came the hard part – playing through a TON of dungeons. I mean, we’re talking hours and hours of grinding. I started with the ones I knew well, jotting down notes about each one. Like, “Okay, the ‘Whispering Caves’ has decent loot, but the boss is a total pushover.” Or, “The ‘Forgotten Crypt’ is a nightmare to navigate, but the final treasure is insane!”
I even roped in a couple of my buddies to get their opinions. We’d run dungeons together, then argue about where they should rank. It got pretty heated sometimes, especially when we disagreed on whether a particular dungeon was “S-tier” or just “A-tier.”
After all that playing and arguing, I started putting together the actual tier list. I used a simple spreadsheet to organize everything, with columns for each dungeon and rows for my criteria. Then I started assigning tiers: S, A, B, C, and D. “S” being the absolute best, and “D” being the ones I’d probably never run again.
My rough draft, so not set in stone
It took a lot longer than I thought it would, with all the replaying the dungenos and my friends give me different opinions.
It’s definitely a work in progress, and I’m sure I’ll tweak it as I play more. But for now, it’s a pretty solid starting point.
It made me realize how much variety there is in dungeon design. Some are clearly designed for speed runs, while others are all about exploration and puzzle-solving. And that’s what makes it so fun – there’s a dungeon out there for every play style.
