Stormreach Beacon?! Unfinished.

[Aelonwy]

So I got to thinking about the intro into the Sharn expansion thanks to this thread:
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/514398-The-Lost-Gatekeepers-(Update-46)-Flower-Sniffing-Reflections

Of course the real intro into Sharn isn't Lost at Sea, its the Disciples of Rage where the major storyline, the major action and hook of Sharn is the theft of the Stormreach Beacon and the rage plague it creates in Stormreach. But... but even when we get the Beacon back and end Vaunt... there is no recognition in Stormreach. Its unfinished business. Does anyone give a formal acknowledgement that the Beacon has been returned? I checked and the Beacon's light is back on in the Harbor for a character of mine that has completed both series (Disciples and Sharn) but I feel like... there really needs to be someone in Stormreach that gives a speech praising the character's heroic deeds for completing this entire story-arch. Maybe a Coinlord, maybe someone in House Jorasco where it all began, maybe the Free Agent newsie, idk but someone should be gushing with gratitude that everyone isn't foaming at the mouth with anger-craziness and this important artifact has been returned to the city.


https://i.imgur.com/OJgocnW.jpg

[AstorPotamus]

That’s a really good point. As long as it’s NOT done like the overly loud npc segue way after Spinner, I’m all for this.

Perhaps they can transform that useless elevator they added in the harbor into a presentation stage, but there are likely an infinite amount of better ways to implement that.

[Tricosene]

You are right.

It could even be part of a new quest chain.

Baudry's shipping agency is hired to bring the beacon back, but an undead Hazadill returns and tries to intercept the shipment. Meanwhile, without the beacon's influence, there is still a risk of madness striking the populace.

1. You are guarding the airship bringing back the beacon. It gets attacked by pirates and stops. You know what you need to do - fight your way to the engine room on the pirate ship and take their elemental driving the engine! But no, once you return to the deck of the pirate ship with elemental in hand, you watch as your ship reactivates, now under the control of the pirates, and leaves with the beacon. At least you can put the elemental back in place and fly the pirate airship....

2. Upon return to Stormreach, House Jorasco reports to you that followers of the Lord of Eyes have been found in Delera's Graveyard. Fight your way through a tomb (with a group of mobs standing around every corner). An alhoon is raising the dead. But why?

3. You don't have time to wonder because the steam tunnels have been overrun by cursed kolbolds that are threatening to overrun Stormreach. Could the hobgoblins be involved? Fight your way through the steam tunnels to the hobgoblins again, killing cursed kobolds and kobold necromancers. You find the hobgoblin village has been overrun. A survivor tells you that the boss kobold necromancer you just killed raised a certain bugbear...

4. Baudry contacts you because he has tracked down the beacon. What you don't realize is that an alhoon is controlling him and has set a trap for you. You enter a sewer and chase a guy "carrying the beacon on his back." Easy, you've done this before. Except when you get to the guy and thrash him, you find he doesn't have the beacon. Instead, you spring a trap and are teleported into a compound deep in the sewers, controlled by undead Lord of Eyes cultists. You don't succeed in killing the alhoon, and must find safe passage through parlaying with Clan Tunnelworm.

5. Fred helps clear Baudry's head and directs you to a final showdown with the alhoon. His airship is delivering the beacon to its final destination. You get to the airship while it is docked and kill him, but it takes off and you can't stop it. It stops at a remote castle upon a mountain top. You have the beacon - but maybe not for long as a horde of monsters comes on board, thinking the airship is still controlled by the alhoon, then attacks. Once you stop them, you still can't leave because you don't have control over the airship. You need to enter the castle and fight your way to the person who controls it and the airship. The boss for this is undead Hazadill. Once you kill him, you return to Stormreach and, on a balcony over the harbor, return the beacon to the Coinlords. Delera uses magic to get the beacon in place again, and you watch as it turns back on and there is a celebration.

[Nonesuch2008]

I'm just glad that it didn't turn back on while I was inspecting it...


https://i.imgur.com/sSsu56a.jpg

[Aelonwy]

It could even be part of a new quest chain.

Baudry's shipping agency is hired to bring the beacon back, but an undead Hazadill returns and tries to intercept the shipment. Meanwhile, without the beacon's influence, there is still a risk of madness striking the populace.

I kind of like where you are going with this... but please no more sewers or steam tunnels. I'm more or less done with sewers. I've gotten to the point where I almost don't like some of my favorite quests anymore because they took place in sewers. NO MORE SEWERS DDO! How about Necromantic Paragon kobolds from Mired in Kobolds area? If it must be kobolds at least let it be outdoors. Maybe its just me but I'm pretty much done with with kobolds too.

You know what might make an interesting storyline... a conflict between the Quori and agents of Xoriat for control of the Beacon and thus control of the minds of Stormreach.

[Tricosene]

I kind of like where you are going with this... but please no more sewers or steam tunnels.

I understand what you're saying. Both sewers and kobolds are overdone, and it's hard for more to be introduced without it being tongue in cheek.

What I really like is revisiting areas we've been to, but seeing how they've been changed by events. It adds a depth to the overall story lines of DDO. It also lets you set up some pleasant reversals on player expectations - and DDO has so much repetitive content that reversals can play out well.

Still, any of my rough outlines can be moved from one setting to another. There's no reason why my kobold necromancers couldn't be paragons and moved to someplace like Mired in Kobolds, like you suggest. Heck, that's probably a better location for Hazadill's final resting place. I'd love to see a bugbear burial ground! Imagine what that would look like, and what encounters could be built in.... Maybe even switch the kobold necromancers for bugbear or hobgoblin necromancers.

If it was goblin necromancers, they could worship an undead Hazadill as a god-king, creating an ironic play off the overdone undead Wizard-King trope.

[Aelonwy]

I understand what you're saying. Both sewers and kobolds are overdone, and it's hard for more to be introduced without it being tongue in cheek.

What I really like is revisiting areas we've been to, but seeing how they've been changed by events. It adds a depth to the overall story lines of DDO. It also lets you set up some pleasant reversals on player expectations - and DDO has so much repetitive content that reversals can play out well.

Still, any of my rough outlines can be moved from one setting to another. There's no reason why my kobold necromancers couldn't be paragons and moved to someplace like Mired in Kobolds, like you suggest. Heck, that's probably a better location for Hazadill's final resting place. I'd love to see a bugbear burial ground! Imagine what that would look like, and what encounters could be built in.... Maybe even switch the kobold necromancers for bugbear or hobgoblin necromancers.

If it was goblin necromancers, they could worship an undead Hazadill as a god-king, creating an ironic play off the overdone undead Wizard-King trope.

Goblins sounds good. Yes more goblins.

[Aelonwy]

If they don't want another storyline I'd be happy enough with a letter from the Coinlords in my character's mailbox the first time she completes Reach for the Sky with a message to meet some Stormreach official. And upon meeting such I get a Thank You speech and some moderately useful reward selection like you get from the first Argonnessen patron. Maybe this would be THE moment to give out 5 Commendations of Heroism? I know there's a paltry number of barely ran raids that give them but some people just want them to make a cosmetic of the red or green cormyrean dragon armors and here is a great opportunity to get some once per life for such a use.

I mean getting the Beacon back for the city and saving the whole populace from the Rage Madness has to count as HEROIC right?

[Aelonwy]

*bump*

Because lacking some Stormreach recognition is lacking in the immersion of the whole Stormreach Beacon storyline. This is an EXPANSION story for goodness sake why is the completion of it so unheralded?

[Gregen]

It's true. There isn't a much of a sense of closure after completing Reach for the Sky. The quest NPC mentions that you got the beacon back, but there really isn't anything to get into your head about how the beacon was safely brought back to the harbor, placed in the Emperor's hands and lifted the curse. A little something that does that would be cool.

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

Too bad no-one told me (not even the Wiki) that this story arc begins with the Disciples Of Rage ... This name does not hint to it in any way.

I would have preferred to play through the whole story arc from its beginning, but now I only know the middle part, it seemns to me ... ( And I always wondered what that guy in the Sharn quest meant with "Stormreach Beacon" ... ).

[Aelonwy]

Too bad no-one told me (not even the Wiki) that this story arc begins with the Disciples Of Rage ... This name does not hint to it in any way.

I would have preferred to play through the whole story arc from its beginning, but now I only know the middle part, it seemns to me ... ( And I always wondered what that guy in the Sharn quest meant with "Stormreach Beacon" ... ).

Huh. I didn't know the information was left out of the wiki. I really don't know anything about webpages or script, or whatever code language is called or I would definitely fill out the pages with probably way more story than anyone is truly wanting.

Yeah, the Beacon is mentioned a few times throughout the course of the Sharn story... namely the dwarf that handles the first part of the Sharn chain mentions it, and A Sharn Welcome pretty much explains why Vaunt wanted/needed the Beacon. You have your first experience with that jerk and then the whole chain is about bringing him down so you can reacquire the Beacon for Stormreach from Reach for the Sky but if you've never done Disciples of Rage you can't possibly know how important and necessary that is... I mean you really should run at least the first three. The very first one has this awesome story changing event in it that is just a key immersive moment for the entire DDO experience. The second is very apropo to now, and the third has several throwbacks to other stories in the game that so long as you have run them give you the feeling that your character is actually having an effect on the game world. I love those. The last two are just your further attempts to save or at least delay the city and citizens of Stormreach from ultimate destruction.

I mean this is a storyline worthy of leading into an expansion, its a real shame the conclusion is pretty much glossed over and ignored. I mean I get that Stormreach is a backwater, city of yahoos to Sharn, but this should be more important and more potent to the story of our characters because Stormreach is central to us. If this were a PnP game your characters would get a parade, a medal of honor, your rep across the area would be skyhigh. I'm talking crying mothers and free drinks in every tavern, and journeyman bards writing truly great and truly dreadful songs. This wasn't one of those tales of heroism that the average citizen can view as some far off fairtytale... this was something that impacted everyone and in the course of a PnP story would have been impossible to ignore. But in a digital gaming experience the NPCs barely emote or acknowledge anything. :(

I haven't watched it yet but my hubby said he asked on the most recent Weekly Wednesday Livestream about this thread and why the Beacon returning doesn't get more notice. According to him, Cordovan said it had something to do with MotU and "versioning". I'm not sure what that means. I don't think its too much to ask for a Leader of Stormreach to send our character an ingame mail when we complete Reach for the Sky the first time and thank us for our heroism with a small reward of some kind. I'm thinking something generally useful ingame like the first Argonesson favor reward, with maybe some Commendations of Herosim or something equally useful but not absolutely required.

[J1NG]

It just might be that it doesn't get further expansion until later on. So much stuff from before that never got expanded until much later. It might be the case here as well.

J1NG

[SiliconScout]

That’s a really good point. As long as it’s NOT done like the overly loud npc segue way after Spinner, I’m all for this.

Perhaps they can transform that useless elevator they added in the harbor into a presentation stage, but there are likely an infinite amount of better ways to implement that.wait … what?

There's an elevator in the harbor? Where pray tell can one find this monstrosity?

[SpartanKiller13]

There's an elevator in the harbor? Where pray tell can one find this monstrosity?

At the staircases on the cliff face between Haverdasher and the Leaky Dingy, right next to Info is Key.

It definitely seems like an odd design choice compared to like putting a few boards between the stairs and cliff so new/drunk players fall off less XD

There's also a new staircase out of the water on the north side of the channel right next to the FR portal, which is super nice when running up from the Gatekeeper's Grove to the hut.

[Aelonwy]

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/606136065

Just watched the livestream over lunch he answers the question at the 30 minute 54 second mark. I'm still not sure what he means. I wish he'd explained further what is a versioning issue and what one with MotU has to do with recognizing the return of the Beacon which to me seems like a quest completion check or something similar would work.

[Tist]

I wish he'd explained further what is a versioning issue and what one with MotU has to do with recognizing the return of the Beacon which to me seems like a quest completion check or something similar would work.
I guess versioning refers to the game deciding what version of an area / zone / map you will be shown. Completing the Lords of Dust quest chain results in the cave in the harbor being open so you can go into it and do the Beyond the Rift quest. That's the MOTU access chain.
Before the quest chain is done, you see a wall, after, the wall is knocked down.

If the game is only set up to allow 1 "versioning check", and apply the outcome of that check properly for you, then Stormreach beacon being there or missing cannot be checked. It seems like just a very unlucky chance that this happened to be 2 things needing this rarely used code, in the same zone. Probably most other zones don't use that check at all.

[Aelonwy]

It seems like just a very unlucky chance that this happened to be 2 things needing this rarely used code, in the same zone. Probably most other zones don't use that check at all.

Thank you for the clear explanation.

I don't think unlucky chance is applicable. They could have set the entrance to Khyber and MotU anywhere but they chose the Harbor. The Beacon absolutely is in the Harbor, no choice. ...and Oh Look! They're doing it again, and the beginnings of the Feywild look to be in... you guessed it! The Harbor.

If this versioning code is going to be an issue, why put so many intros to the expansions in the same location?

Nothing about this "versioning" stops them from finishing the story by lauding the player for saving the city and returning the Beacon. That's just apathy.

[SpartanKiller13]

If this versioning code is going to be an issue, why put so many intros to the expansions in the same location?

Well, it's the first place everyone goes to after they leave the tutorial island. Having a bunch of immediate plot hooks there helps new players get an idea of what to do (although given how many of those are P2P I'm not sold on that).

[Nonesuch2008]

I like continuity with storylines & it is a bonus if the individual pieces fit into a larger picture. Some good thoughts here on bringing some of these elements together with a satisfying conclusion.