The Official A Break in the Ice Discussion Thread!

Please use this thread to discuss the Storm Horns Quest: A Break in the Ice.

I did this on Epic Normal.

A fairly straight forward quest. I didn't use a stealth toon, but it looks like this quest can be stealthed since all the levers to open doors are away from mobs. If that's the case, I really like that.

The XP was actually pretty decent for the type of quest that it was. The quest is a bit long, but nothing too complicated, at least on Epic Normal. I checked out the XP for the Heroic version: 3737/6700/6936/7172. That is probably the most optimistic Heroic XP that I've seen in a while for new quests. That was until I discovered the Eldovar the Shortcut guy won't help you get there after completing the quest (like the Restless Isles guys do). Ugh! Double the XP for this quest for that single reason. You just made three quests in this Expansion even worst to run than all the 3BC quests combined with DQ1 and the House C Raids and the initial runs to the Restless Isles quests. Seriously, I dropped a buttload of money for the Expansion and now you're going to milk me for more money just to run the quests with horrible Heroic XP. Someone in management needs to be busted back down to janitorial duty for this asinine decision.

As far as within the quest, the only complaint is the same as other people in other quests: the Red named Giants have too much HP. On Epic Normal, it feels like I'm beating on an old Epic mob boss, but with even more inflated HP. The HP needs to drop down on these guys.

I found this the dullest of the quests. The setting was interesting in a glacier. Maybe this quest was designed with a bit more stealth in mind.

I did like the 3D of map, climbing up scaffolding to get to new levels and a somewhat twisting path to follow. This quest could use, some rare spawns in the dead ends... and this quest is just calling for an White Dragon... One of the best part of dungeon crawls is... "you made a wrong turn, you see an X.. prepare to fight!" this quest could use more of that.

End fight was straightforward, Red named Frost Giant has too many HP.

I enjoyed the rampage through the narrow passages of a glacier, with the slight confusion of trying to find all the gear, which lead to a few fights but thematically about fighting ice ellies, negotiate with Orcs and raiding ice wolf lairs. (Ice ellies not vulnerable to fire? Seriously?)

It all ended with a brief battle with the wiz and the giant.

Not a bad quest.

Long quest, Very fun. Needs more random rare spawns. And named need to not have more HP than all the rest of Eberron combined... seriously, they have a LOT of HP. And better XP

Straightforward quest, but the giant's knockback affects you while you're fighting the wizard. Giant added about a minute to the fight just because he kept pushing me away. Please fix.

Not sure why, but this was the first of the quests where it did not feel like the bosses had too many hps. Still, it's generally a good idea to lower the hps of the red names throughout.

I liked this quest. It was different than the others, and had a linear path to the end without feeling linear at all (possibly due to the ice break). Nonetheless, it had various optionals during the equipment search which have the potential to add more fun and variety to it. The only weird part was that the ultimate boss ended up being the giant. Since he gave you the choice to leave, it would seem that he should be an opt, and should provide a quick way out in case you want to take him up on his offer to go away. It seemed weird after the Netherese was vanquished waiting around for a capricious giant to aggro before you could finish the quest. Still, a good run.

Liked the visuals a lot, a big improvement on the Prey on the Hunter glacier. :)

End of storyline is a bit abrupt as in: yeah, let's fight together, oh, you killed the wizard, you aren't gone yet, let me kill you. Wait, when was my time to leave again?! :D

And the quest is literally "far out, man".

M.

I completed this on Epic Elite.

Pros:
The layout is cool, as is the art direction.

Cons:
The arena area was brutal; melee don't stand a chance. Four waves is a bit too repetitive.
88 breakables smashed and only Vandal achieved. The threshold for Ransack needs to be lowered.
149 monsters killed and only Onslaught bonus achieved. The threshold for Conquest needs to be lowered. A high number of mobs to kill != entertainment.