Feedback - Quest - Fear Factory

[Thoon]

Reporter Felicity Mallow is looking for your help!

After heading to the Harbor and speaking with Chronicle Editor Tessa Aster, find Reporter Felicity Mallow and help her dig up the secret of Blode's Curio Shop.

After running this new quest, please use this thread to provide feedback on this quest.

In addition to forum feedback, we are also looking for your feedback in an online survey. The survey should will only take a few minutes. When giving the survey feedback we request you run the quest with a level appropriate character, generally 14 - 18 in this case, if at all possible. To participate in the survey browse to the URL (http://preview.U9-FEAR-LM.sgizmo.com/s3/).

[TDarkchylde]

Y'know, for a quest called Fear Factory, it didn't mesh that well with metal. Seemed to sync better with the types of music Tolero likes. :P

On to the quest, soloed on Normal again by my level 16 light Monk. The tunnel parts were nostalgic - felt like being new in the Harbor again. Yark! The laboratory areas made me glad I hadn't eaten in eight hours. Creepy. As for the end... just wow. I felt my mask of sanity slipping away there.

Difficulty-wise, this one seemed a little more balanced than the other two - 49 AC was enough to get hit a decent bit, but not be smacked around like a robe-wearing Barb. Perfect, if you ask me. The peaks and valleys between tough and squishy mobs were much less pronounced than the first two quests.

All in all, a good old fashioned dungeon crawl with a few things to make you think. But don't think too much, it might make you crazy. :P

[slimkj]

Love the design aesthetic in the fleshy Xoriat style bits. Reminds me of Delirium, one of my favourite quest designs in the game.

Some nice moments of tension and surprise too.

Noticed in a couple of the new quests, but particularly this one, that multiple particle effects really slow the FPS down. This doesn't seem to occur elsewhere in the game and this setup is more than capable of handling the workload here so not sure what that's about. Feels like Air Savant effect is quite a lot of the problem though... not as bad on other chars.

[kevroar-eu]

If you try to target the "Display" Taken you get a table property missing error in the on screen blocked message.

Kev

[RandomKeypress]

This was a fun quest. I liked the merging Xoriat / Sewer aesthetic. I didn't find all the cocoons - missed four of them - but I was in a hurry and lagging like crazy so I'm not too worried.
I didn't like the mechanic where you couldn't open the doors until you'd destroyed the taken - there didn't seem to be any link between the two actions. I would prefer to be able to progress, but loose the optional or maybe just get ambushed by all the taken I'd left behind me at some strategically embarrassing point.
I was also a little confused by the chase. A magic user of that level should just teleport away. There were also a lot of rusty pipes that needed to be broken - how did stuff move around in there? How did the mage get through the pipes? I'd prefer he just teleports away and you find a dis-used back-entrance to the lab, but that's just me.
I feel sorry for the poor Tunnelworm kobolds - constantly being kicked out of their cosy homes. Did feel that 'Kill those fools' was an odd dialogue for a kobold though, even if it was a shaman.
Undead adventure party - really cool idea. Would have preferred more of a fight, though. Would be a cool high-powered boss fight if you upped the DC and made it a party of six, not four.
Was there anything I was supposed to do with the acrobat who had been stabbed in the back? I ended up just walking away from him.

[patang01]

I liked the quest but would like to second the strangeness of not being able to progress unless I first killed all the cocoons. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but it was not logically as to what 'opened' the door. It would've been better if there was a forcefield or something that came down as you did what you needed to do. That way you have a more visual aspect that tells you that you need to do something before you can progress.

[nerdychaz]

I didn't like the mechanic where you couldn't open the doors until you'd destroyed the taken - there didn't seem to be any link between the two actions. I would prefer to be able to progress, but loose the optional or maybe just get ambushed by all the taken I'd left behind me at some strategically embarrassing point.

Seconded

I agree completely. These type of things always kill Immersion. If I kill my cat, my bedroom door does not open. Fix this by what the OP said above, or make the last MOB killed in the objective drop a key. We can always go back for a key. Or you could fix this by using DM speech to say "the last of the taken has fallen, the Mindflayers have lost psionic control over the door, hurry to catch your quarry!"

[GoldyGopher]

Completed the quest solo with a TR Level 16 Hybrid Character, most notably a 50AC.

Well a 50 AC for most level 16 Characters is a little high it is still easily achievable in a party. With this high AC before the end fight only the Arcane Oozes really did any damage to my character and were responsible for at least 75% of the damage I took (just under 500 points total) up through the end fight.

The "Taken" were more dangerous in packs then individuals. What I mean by this one on one they only seemed to hit me for grazing hits 1 to 3 points (with one exception one hit for 10 points), while in packs I got hit for 4 to 6 points and saw some 10s, 12s, and a 16. Not many mind you but enough to see a difference in the two fights.

Like the Kobolds wish they had better scripting. The Caster and the Witchdoctor could have just stood there and not done anything for the effect they had.

The Greater Thrasak Hounds did more dancing than fighting. Not sure either one actually took a bite/swipe at me.

The mind flayers didn't not attempt to dominate my character or eat my brain which of course made them simple beat downs.

The mobs in the end fight seemed to have slightly more HP and did more damage, again not a bad thing if that was intended, if not thye need to be balanced.

The final boss fight Neihoden was to simple. I took 150 points of damage in the time it took to beat him down, he kept leaning back and screaming, it was almost like there was supposed to be something attached to that animation.
Also the water in the end room provide an area that can be used to exploit of beat down Neihoden. Cast spell hide in the water he stands at the waters edge and takes the damage.

There were a couple of points I wondered what things had to do with one another, like the coccoons and the door.

While I under decent XP 6105 with no buffs it seemed high and low at the same time. The Base XP 3700 seems to high for the quest, yet the optional for a mere 370 was way to low. I attempted to make sure I got all the other optionals and spent a good half hour wondering looking for additional boxes and mobs but only got aggression (99 mobs) and vandal (51 items) also looked for trap boxes (Search 36) but didn't find any.
My suggestion would be lower the base XP and increase XP for optionals.

The Coccoons were difficult to make out from the back ground. Could they be made a slightly different color?

The first time through the end fight is confusing, not that is a bad thing, but after destroying all the coccoons along the way I spent some time trying to destroy them again during the first wave, some took damage others didn't. When it became apparent that the taken sprang from them it was like, what that's it, that was easy. I would suggest that damage to the coccoons springs the taken, which of course makes the first two waves more difficult.

The overall loot in the quest is poor. Two Chests, one level 12 item, two level 8 items and more plat picked up in the broken crates at 35 gold per pop than in the two chests.

I reran the quest on Hard and took some time to actually do some buffs.
I took slightly more damage, again not as much as I would Gianthold or other similiar leveled quest.
I spent time making sure I found all the mobs and breakables and again came up with the same number of mobs and 1 less breakable.
The XP again has the same problem and again the loot was horrible.
Knowing how the end fight worked I used the water to slaughter Neiholden taken about 225 points of damage solo.

If I would have had more time would run on Elite.

On Normal and Hard I would add I didn't find the level of challenge equal to exisiting quests in game, it was much easier than say "A Cry for Help", the XP was okay but I think how it is awarded should be modified, and the loot was substandard.

[Crazyfruit]

What do you guys at turbine consider a "Veteran" & "Casual" player for the surveys?

[Tumarek]

Just played it with a 16 fighter (intimitank) and 2 casters (also level 16). Looks fun and all but 3 Shrines? With the new casting system nukers have become really usefull and i applaud that but putting a shrine in every corner of the quest just makes it silly easy... too bad, it actually could have been fun otherwise.

[phalaeo]

I played through the whole quest chain on a Level 20 Clonk with a Level 20 Wizzy.

I don't remember the names of individual quests because I was so excited to try the stuff out... apologies.

Comments:

1. The end boss Mindflayer in the last quest bugs out. He just stands there. Remedied the situation by exiting and re-entering the quest. Did the same thing to a friend.

2. A few too many respawns of the Taken. Some re-spawns for atmosphere and challenge is good- swarmed all the time is obnoxious

3. Love the completion mechanic on the last quest with the giant Mindflayer. Took us a few minutes to work it out, but it's a neat way to do stuff.

4. Saves *might* be a little high. Both of us are epic geared and specced for DCs and there were a puzzling number of saves on Normal. Which is embarassing, or I'm missing something about what spells to use.

5. Quests were a nice length.

6. No spoiling, but I like how the WF "changes" into something else....that just grows and grows and grows... my Halfling almost **** her DTs wondering where it was going to stop.

[Jaid314]

4. Saves *might* be a little high. Both of us are epic geared and specced for DCs and there were a puzzling number of saves on Normal. Which is embarassing, or I'm missing something about what spells to use.

aberrations have good will save progression, try targeting reflex or fort? (and if it's the taken, from what i've seen they look like they'd have high con... so reflex might be your best bet)

[I_Bob]

Level 18 cleric. Normal.

Loved the atmosphere. Music a little off in this one. Seeing the labs and all makes for a good story.

Didn’t find all the cocoons, went back and tried but to no avail.

Door openings being connected to Taken and cocoons didn’t make sense. The story line is good thru these quests but that kind of takes us out of the story.

Again, over leveled by some, not as much as the first two.

Again, loot was terrible. Don’t need epic items dropping, but +1 studded leather just doesn’t cut it.

[nerdychaz]

forgot to mention, I filed a bug report. The water tunnel with the "steps" in the midle does not allow you to jump while on the concrete steps. Easy fix is just to remove the steps and no one will be the wiser, well, except those that read this thread.

[nerdychaz]

Quest: Fear Factory

Difficulty: Casual (level 15 on normal)
Party: Solo
Hireling: No
Summon: Air Elemental (CC Gem)

Character: Level 20 Rogue, Halfling, Assassin, Deadly Shadow Capstone
Build in Brief: Strength based opportunist
Main Feats: Toughness, Khopesh, TWF (except OTWF), Precision, Opportunist, skill mastery, improved evasion, etc.
Maxed Skills: Search, Disable, Diplomacy, Tumble, UMD, Open Lock, Balance, Jump, etc. Spot is half most ranks.
Gear: Brawling Gloves, Duelist’s Leather, Spyglass, Buccaneer Ring, GS Bracers (+45 hp, +6 dex skills, haste guard)
Weapons used: +2/+3 Vorpal Khopeshes of some useless suffix
Buffs: None, except for haste guard activated haste
HP: 427
SP: N/A

FIRST IMPRESSION

I was surprised at the amount of story arc information available inside the quest. The story was quite intriguing. I was hoping for more roleplay opportunity as you are supposed to confront the bad guy at the beginning, but he just unleashes his minions on you and he runs away, never to be seen again until the end fight. I found this disappointing as the DDO devs have been getting better with the whole immersion thing. The shop where the quest begins is really kind of common looking for Stormreach. I didn’t look around too much though, as I was short on time. I feel more detail could be added to the shop and interactive dialogue with the bad guy would be fun. Even if you could simply say: “Hello, my name is Skarro. You made random people disappear. Prepare to die.” Otherwise I find myself asking “Why would a shop owner run at the first sight of me? Doesn’t he want to pretend to sell me something then kidnap me? Was he expecting me to kill him? Why?”

ADVANCING THE QUEST
Quest advancement took very little effort, although I was overpowered and on casual. Excluding the monsters, I only had to find and pull two levers. Although, one is slightly difficult to find the first time around, after that it will prove to be of little consequence. I remember unlocking a door and a trap or two, but that poses little problem in a full group. I can imagine the trap DC’s and MOBs will be tougher on higher difficulty. But, the quest was very linear. This may not be such a bad idea for a hook quest, though. There was a door that only opened once a quest objective was completed. I do not like this in any quest. It kind of kills immersion. For example, if I kill my cat, my bedroom door does not open. Ways to fix this: (1) the last MOB killed in the objective could drop a key. (2) DM speech could say something like, “the last of the Taken guarding this area is dead, the Psionic link between the taken and the door has been interrupted, catch the bad guy before you are too late! (3) “The Taken in this area are all dead, the Mindflayers have lost psionic control over the door, catch the bad guy before you are too late!” (4) you could allow us to open the door and allow the MOBs to awaken and chase us! Dungeon Alert! We can’t ignore them now! (5) Have a forcefield up. When the last of the taken is killed, the DM could say “The last of pods have been destroyed. The power supply to the forcefield has been disrupted! Get that bad guy!”

MOB ART
The taken and their little pods were done very well. The pods blended in too easily with the rest of the mindflayer labs though, perhaps a slightly different color is appropriate to provide contrast. It was quite grotesque. However, the mindflayers looked like every other mindflayer. Do they all shop at the same store? Can we add a little more variation? Maybe one is wearing a Dolly Parton wig? Hey, they are from xoriat, right? We can call him Suzy. It was nice to see the arcane oozes again, they make for a nice little challenge. Do they all have to be the same color? They are Arcane Oozes, could they perhaps be prismatic or glowing? I don’t know if this will conflict with DnD doctrine, but it sounds fun. The various other MOBS (the soon to be transformed) in the quest did make for a nice amount of diversity. I also found myself briefly wondering why there were kobolds there, but that was before I shoved a vorpal in their gut, so I guess I kind of missed that part of the story arc.

ENVIRONMENT ART
Other than the curio shop looking only a little more curious than most shops in Stormreach, the rest was great. The weird cube looking things in the center of the labs with the runes floating in the air were nifty looking and quite curious. I loved to see some sewage in the sewers that looked like sewage. I actually was wondering if jumping in it would do con damage or something. Maybe it does on higher difficulty. I will have to investigate further. The space for the end fight looked like a fleshy nightmare. I loved it.

DIFFICULTY
This quest seemed easier to solo than others at the same level. However, this may be WAI because I remember reading somewhere that we should solo this chain our first time, in the dark, by ourselves. The taken do little damage on this difficulty when by themselves. In a group, however, they are quite deadly and I even had to retreat for some potion chugging briefly. Turns out, if you are underwater and drinking pots, they can still hit you with acid spells. This makes sense as it is magic and doesn’t really matter if you are under water. However, the boss fight was way too easy. The first time I soloed the Droam quest with all the minotaurs (on casual at level 17) the fight took me 15 minutes, I rezzed my hireling cleric five times who must have rezzed me twice, I used tons of heal scrolls and wands for us both, and used up over 1000 bolts (repeater). My point is, that was an epic fight to solo. This felt like I beat up a third grader. I know, it was on casual, but did he have stand and scream every time I hit him? Way too easy.

LOOT
Considering how overpowered my toon was, the loot didn’t seem too bad. I should have paid attention to the XP, though. I picked up 4 shards of good I assume are used for that crafting. I will look into that once the crafting is released.

BUGS
Steps in the sewer area with flowing water do not function as steps. Still behaves as flowing water and prevents jumping. Bug report submitted at location. Suggested solution: Remove the steps, no one will be the wiser at release.

EXPLOITS
None found.

FINAL THOUGHTS
1. Let us talk with the man we are pursuing before he runs away. No evil businessman runs from a customer.
2. Fix the door thingy.
3. Make quest advancement more difficult or complex. Finding and pulling two levers to drop a bridge wasn’t difficult. Perhaps if they had to be pulled within 5 seconds and reset it would be more difficult.
4. Make the end fight more challenging, if not simply longer.

[redgod]

another great quest was fun and the aesthetics were great the cocoons were a great add wish more that one mob spawned on breaking (peas in a pod and all that).

[Coldin]

Not a bad quest. I kind of zerged through this one because I was running low on time. Overall I liked it. I didn't mind the guy running out of the back door because, honestly, I don't think he was a mage at all. It's in fact the Mindflayer and Xoriat that's doing all of this.

The cameo from the kobolds was neat. I actually felt a bit bad about having to kill them.

The fleshy pods were pretty interesting, though the requirements to destroy them was a bit odd. There were many more pods to destroy than were required. The door that couldn't be opened until the pods were destroyed was a bit silly. It wouldn't be hard to add a better reasoning behind the gating mechanic.

If you add some Xoriat looking roots across the door, you could have the DM state. "This door is held barred by the living roots that cover the walls. It appears the pods are giving their strength to the roots. Perhaps if they were destroyed...." Something like that.

Overall, a fun quest. There's not much emphasis on the actually chasing after the guy. "The Snitch" quest does that a lot better. But I appreciated the journey through invested sewers all the same.

[Claver]

I grade this C+. It was a fun straight forward dungeon crawl; the one that I could most see repeating out of the series.

STORYLINE CONFUSION: So I walk into a store to check it out and suddenly I have to break 10 cocoons from another dimension? Where did this come from? Where is the story transition to explain this? It felt confusing. The man in the store might have said something but i didn't get a chance to read it on the screen - he ran out the door too fast. Why did all of his goons jump me?

It would be much better storytelling if I had a chance to interact with him and ask him some questions, maybe find a half crazed survivor in the process of being cocooned who explained what was going on and why I needed to destroy the cocoons.

Speaking of cocoons, they were hard to see - I missed the optional of destroying all of them. Can you make them pulse with color intensity faintly like a beating heart or give them a slightly different color?

BOSS CHALLENGE: Yeah!!!! Finally, the end boss had some hit points (Nieninoh, the Taken). He wasn't a tremendous challenge but he did manage to kill my Hezerou and I was thankful that the encounter lasted long enough that I could cast a few spells on it. Much better than the end bosses from The Missing and Sinister Storage. The conversation with mind flayer and the man began too soon. I could see little tiny words from across the room but I wasn't close enough to read them. Unless you will have audio for this delay the script until we are close enough to read it.


I ran the quest solo on Normal with a level 18 sorcerer Water/cold Savant with Hezerou Summons. The challenge felt ok; maybe a bit easy but I was over level. I struck me as balanced for a level 15 party.

Why so many shrines? I counted three and only used two. My mana was maxed out when I arrived at the shrined prior to dropping down the shaft for the end fight. This extra shrine isn't needed. You should consider removing it.

ENVIRONMENT: The fleshy hallways (ala Delirium) and radioactive sewer water (ala the Pit) set the look of this quest apart from The Missing and Sinister Storage. When I provide feedback I always ask myself if the quest in a particular update are distinct from each other (either in look or in gameplay). I think this is an important standard of quality for Turbine to strive to achieve.

SECRETS??: There was water everywhere but nothing to find - nothing I could find at least. This was a missed opportunity to hide something interesting under the bridge or in a pit. More could be done in the nooks and crannies of the dungeon to raise the overall quality of the quest.

[Angelus_dead]

It would be much better storytelling if I had a chance to interact with him and ask him some questions, maybe find a half crazed survivor in the process of being cocooned who explained what was going on and why I needed to destroy the cocoons.

Yeah, basically you should've rescued someone to talk with from the end room of Missing, and then had a discussion + fight with the owner of Fear Factory in the first room, before he runs away.

[Seikojin]

Loved this quest as well. I really like the chain, love the xoriat line of quests all together. I wish there was more difficulty from the combat aspect, some more traps or thematic traps, like stun bombs or something cc related to the player.

Oddly enough, I liked the message saying I couldn't open the door and fit perfectly with the 'mastermind' theme this line uses.