Comments on the Claw of Vulkoor quest

[Cahira]

So, my husband and I just did this quest...knowing nothing about it except that it's the one in which stealth is good and that there's a scorpion sitting on a pressure pad at some point that has to be distracted.

We tried to do all the optionals, but we weren't as stealthy as we could be.

We messed up on 1 of the guardian scorpions and didn't get that optional.

I kept getting spotted by the roaming scorpions and didn't get that optional.

So, we got to the "don't loot the giant's tomb" optional and thought "hey--here's an optional that we CAN accomplish. Yeah, we'll miss out on these 2 chests, but we'll get whatever chest is at the end."

Uhm...yeah...about that. So, it would be good to know that if you are not stealthy enough to do the 2 stealth optionals, that you shouldn't bother with the giant's tomb optional. Otherwise, you get absolutely no loot from the quest beyond the end reward.

That seems like harsh punishment for failing 2 optionals and succeeding on 1...especially since failing 3 optionals gets you 2 chests.

[RobertVesco]

That's what I liked about it and what I found missing in DDO. A choice with consequences. XP or loot. I passed it up as well. Next time I may not be so noble.

[Kaish]

I would also like to point out that listening to the iona (or something) telling you about the scorpions spotting you and all is fun at first, but every time you see a scorpion, that begin to be annoying...

That is all.. for now

[sephiroth1084]

I would also like to point out that listening to the iona (or something) telling you about the scorpions spotting you and all is fun at first, but every time you see a scorpion, that begin to be annoying...

That is all.. for now

Ditto. We can figure out when we've been spotted, when we see the **** things coming for us.

[sirgog]

I would also like to point out that listening to the iona (or something) telling you about the scorpions spotting you and all is fun at first, but every time you see a scorpion, that begin to be annoying...

That is all.. for now

Every Epic run of that quest, I always hear a player mimicing that DM voiceover at least once.

Please keep it spammy, so the jokes continue.

[Cylinwolf]

You get optional XP for looting the treasure room and then defeating the guardian. I'd have to go back and look but I'm pretty sure it's actually more than for not killing him.

So I'd guess that's just a minor "it's okay" bonus if you can't handle him.

[Ovrad]

Please keep it spammy, so the jokes continue.

Oh no! The sahuagins have found me!

[FlimsyFirewood]

Thank you for the feedback!

You get optional XP for looting the treasure room and then defeating the guardian. I'd have to go back and look but I'm pretty sure it's actually more than for not killing him.

This is incorrect. You get 5 times more XP for the optional of not killing him than for the optional that results in his death. It's a direct trade off between loot and XP.

[Yazston_the_Invoker]

This is incorrect. You get 5 times more XP for the optional of not killing him than for the optional that results in his death. It's a direct trade off between loot and XP.

Yes, I noticed this. One comment I would make is that the XP for not killing him does not seem worth it compared to the amount of loot you get for killing him. Though he is somewhat challenging for the level, I, personally, would always take the loot over the XP. In my opinion, the XP for NOT killing him should be closer to the XP you get for the optional treasure room in the other Red Fens quest with the Cube.

As is now, the tradeoff is somewhere in the neighborhood of ~600xp? At that level, that's a drop in the bucket, and the loot is much more useful, IMO.

I must say, tho...kudos on that room...love fighting the guy, and the choice you get (before learning about how much XP you get for it) is really cool.

[Cahira]

Thank you for the feedback!



This is incorrect. You get 5 times more XP for the optional of not killing him than for the optional that results in his death. It's a direct trade off between loot and XP.

And now that I know this, I will probably always take the loot instead of the XP.

However, when you're taking your capped favor character through for the first time and knowing nothing about the quest...it's a bit of a slap in the face not to get any loot at all (i.e. no end chest).

I will know in the future not to worry with any of the optionals. That way, you get 2 chests. And I also realize that neither the loot nor the XP will be helpful to my lvl 20. But she is the character that I take through each quest for the first time...and I try to fully enjoy each quest as I do so.

Getting to the end of the quest and getting exactly zero loot was not what I would call an enjoyable end to the quest.

Thanks for taking the time to read what I've said...and respond. I appreciate it.

[FlimsyFirewood]

Still debating how to fix the situation. More XP for not killing him? An extra chest at the end?

[Lithic]

Still debating how to fix the situation. More XP for not killing him? An extra chest at the end?

Are there named items in those chests? If not, then I'm rather glad I took the exp my first time in there. 800xp or so was quite worth the loss of 2x lvl 9 chests as I have quite enough +2 half plates of lesser sonic resistance thank you.

I would increase the stealth optionals though, as they can take quite a bit longer to achieve than just zerging the quest, and can be lost so easily by one miss step.

[Symar-FangofLloth]

One chest and more xp for not killing, vs two chests and a clam for killing.
That sounds more fair.
I was unaware not killing him gave more xp, but I've not done it at level yet either.

[tihocan]

Still debating how to fix the situation. More XP for not killing him? An extra chest at the end?

More XP! This is what we need at this level, not junk loot

[Crann]

Great quest and great quest line, thank you and the others for a really well done adventure pack.

and fixed your sig line:

Grouping in MMOs is 1-6 players pretending to like each other long enough to start drama over loot.

[rest]

The one time I did this quest, I just used brute force. I'm not subtle. I don't use stealth. Works fine for me.


I'll do it at least one more time for the favor, but that's probably it. The epic gloves might be nice, but I have yet to grind out a single piece of epic gear. So really there's no reason for me to ever do these quests again. There is too much other stuff at that level (for the 2 days I am within that range) that I can do. Plus I only have 1 max favor toon (almost there just 10 more elite quests!) so there's no other incentive to do em. For me, anyway.

[Symar-FangofLloth]

More XP! This is what we need at this level, not junk loot

Oh, right. That's probably a better solution. If it's currently ~600, bump it up to at least ~1000-1200.

[rimble]

Still debating how to fix the situation. More XP for not killing him? An extra chest at the end?

I dunno...xp for not doing anything already seems fine to me...I mean, you just walk by, and poof, xp!

[sirgog]

Still debating how to fix the situation. More XP for not killing him? An extra chest at the end?

It seems like, pre-20, geared characters (TRs in particular) prefer the XP and new players prefer the loot.

Sounds like you've done a good job there - there's two roughly equally appealing paths, and players get to choose which one they take.

On Epic, however, I think you should upgrade the rewards for killing the skeleton. I've never fought him, as every group I've been in has flat-out refused to fight a mob that they say 'takes ten minutes' (I assume this is an exaggeration) for a mere level 23 random loot chest.

Perhaps you could give it a 10% chance to drop a scroll from the pack (equal chance for each).

[dragonofsteel]

One chest and more xp for not killing, vs two chests and a clam for killing.
That sounds more fair.
I was unaware not killing him gave more xp, but I've not done it at level yet either.

Reality you can get two chest for completing all optional and not killing the skeletons or 4 chest doing the not notice optional and killing the skeletons. One optional has nothing to do with the other optional.