The first time I completed the Darkmoor graveyards, I thought it was annoying, but bearable. The next few times, it became frustrating. But now as I write this after completing the final dungeon for the tenth time or more without getting a single piece of the top tear gear, I only see it as disappointing and ridiculous.
I would understand if the point of it was to be challenging, but it's not challenging at all. With the ability to flee and come back with full health at any time, there's never a chance of losing. The only challenge of the dungeon is to keep your sanity while mindlessly running through it over and over again, each time getting no closer to achieving the goal of a full set of top Darkmoor armor.
I would also understand if it was truly an "optional" dungeon, but it's not. It's like Waterworks - skip it, and you'll pay back the misery in the next twenty or thirty levels where it's essentially necessary. The Blade of the Felled Titan is optional, and I had no problem working for that because I knew I could stop whenever I wanted to and just go back to the main storyline with very little repercussions.
No other game that I've played has had such an intense grindwall as Darkmoor. A two hour dungeon that you have to run a ridiculous amount of times to get an armor set necessary for continuing the game. I'm not sure if this is just a ploy to get people to buy Crowns gear, but I wouldn't be surprised.
I'm disappointed, and I'm considering cancelling my membership rather than force myself to play through a tedious prison with no visible end.
Honestly the Darkmoor gear really isn't a necessity. For most schools, the Krokopatra hat and Rattlebones robes (from the Krok and Rattlebones exalted duels) are comparable to or even better than the top tier Darkmoor ones. If I were you, I'd just go for those. They're a lot faster, only one fight, and seem to have a similar gear drop rate. You can get the duels from each world's final dungeon. Personally I find they're easiest to get from Jade Oni for quick fighting, or Mirror Lake because then you can also get mega snacks in the process. For boots, the Darkmoor ones really aren't even that good, mainly because they don't give any critical. Pack boots are going to be the best for that level. If you don't want to spend actual money, you could just do the crowns trivia every day, which gives you 100 crowns for 10 quizzes per day. That means you can buy a pack every 4 days. And honestly, Waterworks boots will be okay in the meantime. For the athame and amulet, you can get both of those from Morganthe. For the ring, I'd recommend the one from Gladiator (side boss in Mount Olympus) For the deck, again, Darkmoor decks aren't great, and you can get better ones just from the bazaar.
