Rainbow in the Dark - Trap Puzzle Solves

[DSL]

It amazes me that so many people refuse to believe the dev's. In the quest, you get a DM message saying that it's random. Dev's have strongly hinted that there is no pattern. Many who have posted in this thread are indeed making the assumption that it's a puzzle with a solution.

My personal guess is that there is a 1 in 6 chance each time an outer wheel is turned that the floor will fall out, leaving a roughly 1 in 3 chance in getting the gate open without dropping the floor. I have no trouble believeing that the dev's would be perfectly willing to place a bonus treasure room with a random 1 in 3 chance of being able to be accessed. This notion may be terribly frustrating to some, but this sort of thing is classic insidious DM material.

[BlueLightBandit]

It amazes me that so many people refuse to believe the dev's. In the quest, you get a DM message saying that it's random. Dev's have strongly hinted that there is no pattern. Many who have posted in this thread are indeed making the assumption that it's a puzzle with a solution.

Well, random is one thing... but a truly insidious DM would have a plot and a story line. Why on earth would a bunch of people go around killing things and consider themselves good aligned or neutral aligned? There has to be a REASON for everything... a reason that you find a vorpal longsword extended from a hand in the middle of a lake, a reason why the trolls have aligned with the ogres, a reason why the Stormreaver is plotting to destroy whatever it is he's destroying and a REASON why you have to stop him.

What would the REASON be to make this puzzle/trap random? That would be my biggest complaint... the same as my complaint regarding the reason why the undead in the Temple of Vol all suddenly became immune to fire. I only see poor reasoning on the dev's part, but that's my personal opinion.

Is there a reason those items are behind a locked gate that has a truly random opening mechanism such that it has no definite solution, thus forever ensuring that the rightful owners of those items (the gnolls in the quest I'm assuming) would never be able to access their own loot?

If it's just truly random, then that's bad DM'ing, as then we're just running random quests for random loot and killing random things for random reasons. Some of us deal with random every day in the real world, and play DDO to get a little less random.

However, if it was the intentions of the DM that the mobs be evil and have specifically placed this treasure behind a devastating trap with the intention of causing harm... then why would it have a solution at all? To keep people who have been there before trying it? That answer would negate the whole DDO thing because if we'd been there before then we'd already killed all the mobs and there'd be nothing there the second time we went in.

Basically... rewarding adventurers for random reasons is a bad thing, as it provides no benefit to a well built, well played character... which is what RPG's are all about, creating a character that does things. If we were to all just have things randomly happen in game, it would no longer be a game, it'd be called the REAL WORLD.

Any way you look at it... I see poor DM'ing.

And don't get me started on the "dev's are just giving us what we asked for" aspect either. That's a whole other discussion, saved for when we want to talk about static end rewards and traps, not puzzles with solutions. And yes it's a puzzle, because it HAS been solved/opened.

[tihocan]

(...)If it's just truly random, then that's bad DM'ing(...)

Are you also among those who complained because you weren't winning at the lottery in the leaky dinghy?
Random games are fun for a lot of people (see how they are popular in RL), I don't see how it would be a bad thing to have one in a quest. If you're not a gambler, just ignore these chests... otherwise, try your luck at "loot or die"

[jjflanigan]

If it's just truly random, then that's bad DM'ing, as then we're just running random quests for random loot and killing random things for random reasons. Some of us deal with random every day in the real world, and play DDO to get a little less random.

And don't get me started on the "dev's are just giving us what we asked for" aspect either. That's a whole other discussion, saved for when we want to talk about static end rewards and traps, not puzzles with solutions. And yes it's a puzzle, because it HAS been solved/opened.

So...you are playing a game based entirely on randomness of dice to "get a little less random" Everything in the entire game is random to one extent or the other...this one item was just taken to the total extreme of being 100% random, nothing wrong with that.

And no, just because it has been opened does not believe it has ever been solved. That's like saying that the way to win a lottery has been solved because there was a winner.

I can understand being frustrated in the situation because you are missing out on loot that you want, but it isn't bad DM'ing.

[EspyLacopa]

Is there a reason those items are behind a locked gate that has a truly random opening mechanism such that it has no definite solution, thus forever ensuring that the rightful owners of those items (the gnolls in the quest I'm assuming) would never be able to access their own loot?

Pish posh.

That place is old: therefore, that trap mechanism is old, and prone to malfunction. When it malfunctions, the floor doesn't drop out. See how simple that explanation is?

[DSL]

Pish posh.

That place is old: therefore, that trap mechanism is old, and prone to malfunction. When it malfunctions, the floor doesn't drop out. See how simple that explanation is?

This more or less sums it up (although I see it as also being prone to collapse the floor when it's not supposed to). If you're paying attention to the DM text, the reason is given. When a DM wants to rebalance things, there are always rationales available... Vol might have gone to a lot of trouble to make sure that those undead shadows were immune to fire, for the exact same reason that you put up acid resistance when facing the black dragon.

The point is, the Rainbow in the Dark dials' being essentially random is very strongly hinted at in the quest, and so far I have not seen anything official from Turbine suggesting that there is a reliable "solution" to this "puzzle", so I just don't see why people seem to feel tricked or cheated here. As a DM, I have on plenty of occasions given players a random chance at something good, and they roll the dice and take their chances. Really, a Deck of Many Things is an extreme example of this, and assuming they understand that it's all about luck, the players don't complain when their luck is bad.

Of course, I could be wrong and there is in fact some secret trick to it that will let you get it every time, but I for one am not going to spend time trying to figure it out.

[Shaamis]

Maybe a new thread to post the results at the top of the thread, compiled by the thread owner?

[cryptic]

good call Shaamis,


this Thread has taken a wrong turn.

[Deaths_ward]

How about we just fix the entire problem and have disintegrate work the way it should, then wizards can just pop a hole in the wall. Problem solved. Give us environments we can affect.

[aldan]

Look at the results guys. Do you see any pattern. I dont for sure. Some say clockwise, other counter, some say the bullet theory some not.

There have been sooo many ways it has been solved is must be mostly random if not all random.

Have fun trying and if ya dont get it, take the shortcut to the end and finish the quest.

[Targitaj_Silverskin]

hey guys im not all read but u talk about random or "bullet" theory.
now what i say: here 6 levers? right?
anybody try pull this levers at the same time? maybe devs want prevent looting this chests solo? anyway think it should check - all levers at the same time - like at good-old times (von5)

[insania2016]

It is random as in trap placement I think. Depending on where the trap boxes and the traps are will tell you what pattern it is.

This has to be tested but I believe one pattern is this:

10
8
2
4
12
6

The trap box placement was like this:

[loot area]
---------------------
|*.........................|
|#......[ puzzle].......|
|........[column].......|
|.........................*|
---------------------
[hallway]


# = lightning trap
* = trap box


oh pooh it farks my formatting.

basically from the hallway facing the backside of the puzzle column the first trap box in on your right.

In the puzzle room facing the puzzle the trap box and lightning trap is on your right.

[sumnz]

What happens if one person in the party each take a specific lever and pull them simotaneously? Or am I way off on this question.

[cryptic]

What happens if one person in the party each take a specific lever and pull them simotaneously? Or am I way off on this question.

someone said that they tried that, but the timing may have been of

[Vizzini]

Interesting idea.. but I don't think it would work because I belive you have to pull the middle one before the outer ones will unlock - then the lightning trap starts, so unless you've all got insane reflex and improved evasion forget it.

What happens if one person in the party each take a specific lever and pull them simotaneously? Or am I way off on this question.

[Turial]

Has anyone checked the levers against the red tiles on the rainbow puzzle at the end of the quest?

[Kaldaka]

From what I have seen running it multiple times on all difficulties:

It appears that the solution is NOT random. At least not totally random. There are many variables in the quest. Such as the rusties/earth ellys ratio in the first two hallways and by the named beholder), the placement of the fire elly 'button', the placement of all the trap boxes throughout the quest (at least 4 spots that can change I think, including 2 near the puzzle), in addition to a couple other things I can't think of right off the top of my head. Taking all these into consideration, there are only a finite number of variations that can exist. I think each of these finite variations has a unique puzzle solution, and I think that its just a matter of compilation of all the data at this point.

But IMO for this to work, ALL the variables must be accounted for.

[Raithe]

I think each of these finite variations has a unique puzzle solution, and I think that its just a matter of compilation of all the data at this point.

I doubt that. The center wheel is probably in place to help randomize what the outer wheels do. It really doesn't have much of a function otherwise. Where in many quests the random elements might be able to be identified through careful research of the permutations that are actually used, I think the center wheel spoils that.

And, even if there were ways of identifying if this is the "right instance" for getting the 2 chests, it would probably involve more work than running through and just attempting to get them.

[cryptic]

Hard
Rainbow buttons 1 and 7
fire button at first intersection
gears 10, 2, 6 (electric), 12 (floor dropped)

[Pellegro]

This is the best thread EVAH!!!!

I'm going to map out every variable in every run of the this quest, and post results.

I invite you to join me.

Together, we can crack the code.