Vooduspyce
07-21-2018, 03:07 PM
White Plume Mountain was really cool! It had a lot of interesting tricks, traps and puzzles. Old school Dungeons & Dragons at its finest! My guildies and I had a lot of fun poking around it for the first time and there were a lot of ooohs and ahhhs. We had some newly designed monsters to fight- giant crayfish and crabs, sea lions and a sphynx. We didn't fight the sphynx but it seemed like there was an option to fight it. You can watch our first experiences and reactions to this new classic module below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2-nYKkKk_k
So now that I've run WPM I give it top marks in fun and an overall thumbs up. And now I'll never run it again. Why? Nothing I want and nothing to grind for. I'm not disparaging the loot, there are some really cool items. Just nothing that I want for my toons. I'll probably try for the mass Deathward clicky, but it's low on my list of priorities. I think the biggest failing of WPM is the lack of replayability. Not every quest is going to have a lot of replayablity, but when the makers of DDO put the time and effort into bringing us a big fancy classic module, I think they ought to add more to it in terms of replayability. I will also say that I found the end fight anti-climactic. I thought it was just a build up to what was going to be a much bigger end fight, but just like that it was over. I've never played the pen and paper module, so I'll have to assume it was true to its roots, but it definitely left me wanting more.
The brilliance of our last classic module, Slave Lords, was that it gave us a big long-term grind at a time when the game needed a grind. 2 years later, Slavers is still a thing. People still grind for ingredients because the loot is still that good! Some of it may not be best in slot any more but you can still make really awesome craftables from the chain. Like so many, I have run Slavers countless times, and still run it for ingredients as needed today.
Maybe now wasn't the time for another grind because everyone is busy grinding reaper points and racial lives. But reapers and racials have been out for a year so I think it indeed was time. I raised this point prior to release and the response was that people didn't want another crafting system. I can sympathize with that sentiment. But a classic module release is a special time and with all the effort put into making this cool dungeon, I'd like to see widgets and thingy-dingies to collect to upgrade loot or add new properties. I fear that WPM will be a dead quest in a few weeks time. It was fun, but just as I feared, I thought it was going to be a one-and-done for me and that bummed me out... until I realized something subtle.
I may be too hasty in my judgment. Because I'll have to run it a few more times to collect Spark of Memory (http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Spark_of_Memory) so that I can add the 8th slot to my sentient weapons. So it is nice that there is at least one item that is virtually essential for everyone, regardless of class and build. Going forward, everyone will have to run WPM to get a Spark when they make a new sentient weapon much like how we all run Dreaming Dark for a Pale Lavendar Ioun stone for every new toon we make that we're serious about. I think that's the subtle genius of WPM that I overlooked. It doesn't have hard core grindy replayability, but it contains a must-have item for every toon that uses a sentient weapon. A very smart move and for as long as sentient weapons are a thing and White Plume Mountain is the only source of Spark of Memory, I think this classic module will have staying power for years to come. Nice work devs! :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2-nYKkKk_k
So now that I've run WPM I give it top marks in fun and an overall thumbs up. And now I'll never run it again. Why? Nothing I want and nothing to grind for. I'm not disparaging the loot, there are some really cool items. Just nothing that I want for my toons. I'll probably try for the mass Deathward clicky, but it's low on my list of priorities. I think the biggest failing of WPM is the lack of replayability. Not every quest is going to have a lot of replayablity, but when the makers of DDO put the time and effort into bringing us a big fancy classic module, I think they ought to add more to it in terms of replayability. I will also say that I found the end fight anti-climactic. I thought it was just a build up to what was going to be a much bigger end fight, but just like that it was over. I've never played the pen and paper module, so I'll have to assume it was true to its roots, but it definitely left me wanting more.
The brilliance of our last classic module, Slave Lords, was that it gave us a big long-term grind at a time when the game needed a grind. 2 years later, Slavers is still a thing. People still grind for ingredients because the loot is still that good! Some of it may not be best in slot any more but you can still make really awesome craftables from the chain. Like so many, I have run Slavers countless times, and still run it for ingredients as needed today.
Maybe now wasn't the time for another grind because everyone is busy grinding reaper points and racial lives. But reapers and racials have been out for a year so I think it indeed was time. I raised this point prior to release and the response was that people didn't want another crafting system. I can sympathize with that sentiment. But a classic module release is a special time and with all the effort put into making this cool dungeon, I'd like to see widgets and thingy-dingies to collect to upgrade loot or add new properties. I fear that WPM will be a dead quest in a few weeks time. It was fun, but just as I feared, I thought it was going to be a one-and-done for me and that bummed me out... until I realized something subtle.
I may be too hasty in my judgment. Because I'll have to run it a few more times to collect Spark of Memory (http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Spark_of_Memory) so that I can add the 8th slot to my sentient weapons. So it is nice that there is at least one item that is virtually essential for everyone, regardless of class and build. Going forward, everyone will have to run WPM to get a Spark when they make a new sentient weapon much like how we all run Dreaming Dark for a Pale Lavendar Ioun stone for every new toon we make that we're serious about. I think that's the subtle genius of WPM that I overlooked. It doesn't have hard core grindy replayability, but it contains a must-have item for every toon that uses a sentient weapon. A very smart move and for as long as sentient weapons are a thing and White Plume Mountain is the only source of Spark of Memory, I think this classic module will have staying power for years to come. Nice work devs! :)