Feedback - Quest - The Sane Asylum

[~SyZoRe]

Ok, for the sake of all who got stuck in the puzzle and don't wanna die of crazy-ness, i solved the puzzle (for the 4th time, but this time i left the last tile unsolved so i can take pics.)

***SPOILER ALERT***

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images...shot00488.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images...shot00489.jpg/

(just switch the last tile to solve)


yea.. solving puzzles are fun untill you stuck in there for 45 minutes.. ^^

enjoy

[Crazyfruit]

A friend had a terrible solo run in Acute Delirium... said he'd rather be protecting Coyle or doing tomb of the tormented... and that was just at the beds! Didn't want him to go through hell alone in the Sane Asylum & in I went for run #4.

Lots of posts from me because these people don't write in feedback threads.

A mindflayer nommed on the level 20 favored soul's brains prior to my joining him. Other than that he didn't have any monster difficulty, but he's so well-geared & experienced that he should've been doing elite instead. He made it through the maze pretty fast, mostly thanks to luck picking directions. Didn't know how the asylum worked when he reached the prison other than opening doors & killing everything.

He loves puzzles - Sunken Parish's is one of his favorites. This took him about 30 minutes with a few afk breaks. He was pretty stumped until noticing he could turn the eyes. The puzzle stumped him again when he saw the finishing tile was mirrored. He's already forgotten the solution and looking forward to trying it again.

Toured the asylum afterwards looking for the other optionals. The weird floors made him jump when they broke. He could tell where they were - the map gives them away. What controlled the maze wasnt very obvious. He had a few guesses by the time we were done, but not the right one. He liked this dungeon. His favorite of the first three. I'm starting to like the Asylum too now that it's not driving me crazy.

Nurse Ratchet teleported up top to me (near the hole) when I was letting the FVS try fighting her. Eep! The earlier beholders locked me out of their fights with a portal spawning when battle began.

normal Completion time: 105 minutes. ~25 were afk.

This was the first time I noticed the (very short) DM hint w/ visual effects @ the start.

**

These completion times are all pretty long compared to most quests. Very low exp for the time spent there... The first experiences for many people doing the Asylum would be similar unless someone ruins/spoils the place.

On the other hand, it seems like it would be the most xp-farmable quest out of U10 once people have a good plan for the maze. Probably 5 to 8 minute runs from speedster players - bit longer if they fight the beholders instead of using a puzzle solver.

Maybe you guys could throw a few optionals in the maze that only spawn after # minutes to make it rewarding for the slowpokes. A powerful named Eye Horror, Evil Eye & Mindflayer, one for each side of the asylum, could be fun.

**

Dungeon scaling seemed very odd here.

It was much different this time duoing with a 20 fvs than when I duoed it with a 20 wiz. Earlier the monsters had -much- less health. I was taking out mindflayers with just a single acid arrow SLA, while I'd need 3 now unless they criticalled.

Something nasty's effect was barely noticable with my sorc & the wiz. This time, Ratchet was going boom for about 150 damage. Still considerably less though than when the wizard & me joined a soloer (20 bard)'s instance and were being smacked for 320ish. I don't think the system is meant to be that extreme?

**

Re: Endfight,much more interesting in a group than it is solo. Kinda like the New Invasion boss, but without someone getting everyone killed by running like a chicken. Instead they run to you while the beholder portals to them... I can definitely see people having fun there. Or hating the quest after they all wipe after spending 2 hours in the maze hehe.

I'm not sure if I like her slowing/freezing people to being stuck in the explosion, but I do like that it has a save. Much friendlier than NI's Chains that are basically instadeath for everyone without far above average hp... or maybe not, I didn't get a chance to try her on Elite. On normal with large scaling it was enough to 1 hit my sorcerer @ level, and I'm twinked with a decent con, +6 item, GFL, +10 trinket, and +45 hp shroud item.

[Shade]

Something nasty's effect was barely noticable the first time. This time, Ratchet was going boom for about 150 damage. Still considerably less though than when the wizard & me joined a soloer (20 bard)'s instance and were being smacked for 320ish. I don't think the system is meant to be that extreme?

magical damage scaling has always been pretty extreme..

you take about ~30% on normal solo. goes up to about 100% with 3-4 players depending on there class. Then as much as 140% for 6 players. (5x the damage or more)

Casual scales more, so maybe around 20% solo, and 150% 6man.
Elite scales less, about 50% solo, and only 120% 6man.

Due to this, static damage magical abilities that don't directly increases for hard/elite, actually do more damage on normal in full groups. Posisbly the case for her special attack.

Where as melee damage scaling is rather small in comparison. Almost unoticable unless you have some DR, where it works weirdly.

[slimkj]

I also liked the illusionary sense that there wasn't only one path in this quest, it's good to try and diminish that sense that you're a rat in a predetermined maze.

I like the monsters in the new packs, particularly the way you get tranmutations from one type to another related type.

Again, the design was nice - lots of well used tricks here and in the other quests. The use of transparency on the floors and so on really added a lot to the atmosphere. Bravo on the good use of old, low-tech stuff to notch up the enjoyment.

Again, though, sometimes it felt like a lot of distance between stuff. I said the same of the last pack, and I'm beginning to wonder if this is deliberate to stretch out the length of quests so they feel better value? Personally, I'd rather have a shorted quest that felt fulfilling and busy the whole time. Every time I start getting the feeling that I'm not really running for a reason, or that "I've been here before" kind of realisaton, it shatters the immersion.

Disclaimer: I am pretty impatient by nature.

[CarpeNoctu]

This is the only one I've run so far, and I greatly enjoyed it. I soloed it on normal with my capped monk until I ran into a beholder. I killed it but only had about 10 hp left so I grabbed Klin to finish. The whole thing felt seriously twisted and chaotic, which I liked, and there was just enough confusion to make it fun without being annoying. I didn't make it to the puzzle everyone's been talking about, so I'll have to run it again later to see if I can find that...

The only issues I had was not with the quest itself, but with the loot... It sucked. First run and I'm pulling scepters for lvl 6 - 10 arcanes? Seriously?

[EatSmart]

(Spoilers Warning!)

Solo'd with a lvl 20 cleric with a sorc friend mostly piking (duo scaling). Completion time 102 minutes, much of which was running around trying to find the 3rd dream corridor in the SE.

The asylum bit was very confusing. Please pretty please could we have an indicator on our buff bar with a rune/symbol to indicate how nuts we are. It doesnt need an in depth tooltip or anything (A tooltip of "?" would actually be quite funny and fitting). Couldnt tell if I was killing too fast or too slow using the dungeon state and the screen effects.

Right and wrong eye had an annoying amount of self healing when they swapped positions. The character I was using can solo the end fight of new invasion with 5 man scaling, and has solo completions of some epic content (albeit with very long completion times). In contrast they have few max hps and were very squishy once you broke their dps tank. Ended up asking the sorc friend to come in and help, at which point the eyes went down very quickly.

Overall I found it frustrating, and if it went live in its current state I'd always just blitz to the puzzle and take down nurse quickly. I found very little motivation to persevere in fully exploring the dungeon.

[Claver]

I grade this a B+; I would have rated it higher if the story/objective shifting between Nightmare and Daydream mode were a bit more clear - perhaps confusion is the price of insanity. At first I assumed this was "Inferno of the Damned" done right with some mechanic of needing to toggle prisoners on/of on the other side of sanity. But I couldn't figure out what I was doing, I just bumbled my way through the asylum killing things until I found a promising door that I thought led to an optional and instead lead to the puzzle.

Having said this, I wasn't frustrated at all, just felt I might have missed something - which is good. This increases replay value. Overall, I really liked the vibe of sliding back and forth from reality. And I liked the fact that you get to the end much more quickly than "Inferno of the Damned" which I still dread as a chore.

!!!I loved the puzzle!!!! It took me forever to beat it but it gave me such satisfaction when i did. I found this puzzle to be much much better than say, something like Ghost of a Chance, which just feels tedious because it is spread out so far and easy for someone like me to lose track of. The Sane Asylum puzzle was right in front of my field of view and the rules of winning very logical once they could be discerned. And i am not a puzzle person per se.

******SPOILER*******
Not sure if this counts as a spoiler but enjoyed discovering what was linked as a mirror and what was not. I know there were the lightning cues but I was still oblivious and would try to solve the puzzle only thinking Fred mirrored the ceiling, then discover the eyes worked in tandem, and another 15 minutes later figure out the ceiling and floor were linked without realizing the vertical sections of the corner walls were also inked. Armed with that fore-knowledge it would have been much easier to solve. Again, I enjoyed figuring it out on my own and think it is a very fair and fun puzzle. Thanks for continuing to add these to the game. And thanks for making these puzzles optional.
*******END SPOILER******

Miscellaneous Observations

- Very Nice to see Durk Again

- Glad to see the City get expanded with a ward outside the bank - this helps with immersion in the idea that Stormreach is city. Also glad a small part of the dungeon battle occurred in the streets outside so we didn't feel boxed up in a cave setting the whole time.

- Good to have a mixture of ?human? enemies among the abominations

- Like the One Flew over Cuckoo's Nest reference to Nurse Ratched

- I solo'd the End Boss Beholder with a level 18 Fire Savant on casual. Despite being made of ice she held up better than i would have thought versus my fire attacks. She must have some decent fire protection, even if she's just a snow ball, which i applaud for an end boss.

- I really liked the radiowave sound effects for her special attack - not sure what it did other than maybe stun me for a short time.

Enjoyable quest; I look forward to running this one again when it goes live.

[Crazyfruit]

magical damage scaling has always been pretty extreme.. ...

Ah, thanks Shade That explains a lot of weird stuff I've seen on live too.

Has anyone tried this quest on elite? Very curious what Ratchet's like, but no one on Llama currently to group with.

[Dark-Star]

Again another creative quest, kudos.

The non-liniar nature was a refreshing change, and it really wasn't [I]that[I] hard to navigate once you got the hang of it.

All creatures were easily killed solo, all but the Wrong Eye. Not sure if it was intentional, but his FoD DC seemed realyl high, and he took me out several times before I moved on to explore other parts of the dungeon.

I would add one more shrine somewhere in a cell. If it was already there I did not find it.

For me the puzzle was easy, shockingly. It took a couple of minutes to see the descrepency in the tiles high and low, which allowed a speedy solution. One did have to listen to what Fred was saying for an important clue though.

Great job on this one.

[FlimsyFirewood]

Hey look, there's Durk.

Hi Durk!
...

This post's weirdness is intentional. I had the window open while doing the quest, and it was starting to drive me bonkers IRL. Thoughtdump of the last 40ish mins

Working as intended.

Yes, this was done by the same dev as Sunken Parish and Ghost of a Chance.

That puzzle still has a surprise left in it...

Ty for feedback guys.

[FlimsyFirewood]

'Something nasty' scales with her health, as well as her missing health.

If she's almost dead, 'something nasty' hits much harder. WAI.

[Saaluta]

Working as intended.

Yes, this was done by the same dev as Sunken Parish and Ghost of a Chance.

That puzzle still has a surprise left in it...

Ty for feedback guys.

Hmmm....so guess I'll have to go back in and try to find the extra surprise...since this is the only quest I actually liked out of the three flagging quests

Saal

[SisAmethyst]

I really like that Quest, however it took me 84 min to complete it including the puzzle which drove me nuts, but thats OK for me

After killing some of those prisoners that turn into eyes, I just placed dancing balls over the place and stopped killing them as I tried to avoid those force damage which is a bit nasty over time and the cool down on wail is quite long. The biggest obstacle for a caster is probably the number of shrines.

Also I agree to find it strange that ice still do damage on a Ice based Beholder. I got the impression my frost lance actually did more damage then my wall of fire. It was a bit difficult sometimes to cast at her through all the obstacles and the fact that she may suddenly teleport behind you or move around a corner. But definitely doable. I wonder if her aggression is random or if one could hold her on distance from the healers. That would make it in groups with a bit senses of tactical probably easier then solo.

Very cool are the dialogs with Durk and Fred ... How does you butterfly look like? ... and I want hug that old guy Fred


@SyZoRe : there is more then one version of this puzzle, as my one solved totally different. If I get some time I will try to prepare my solution as a 3D sketch.

[Claver]

@SyZoRe : there is more then one version of this puzzle, as my one solved totally different. If I get some time I will try to prepare my solution as a 3D sketch.

Likewise

[Saaluta]

So, if you find one of the eyes and kill it, you have to kill the other as it renders the puzzle impossible to solve

Saal

--hard to light both top and bottom with half the puzzle gone

[SisAmethyst]

So, if you find one of the eyes and kill it, you have to kill the other as it renders the puzzle impossible to solve

Saal

--hard to light both top and bottom with half the puzzle gone

hehe nice, another thing to try then ... solve it half way through and then kill the eye responsible for that path?

[RandomKeypress]

Played through three times. Lev 20 rogue, twice normal, once casual.
Liked the music, but I can understand it getting to you if you get lost.
Like the alternate route, but taking the alternate route meant that you missed the first three renders which taught you how the three states of reality work. Those first three training renders were really useful for me.
The AC on those mindflayers struck me as being a bit high. No biggie.
I found the beholders first and killed them (weird how you teleported between the two during the fight - interesting mechanic). Got stuck trying to figure out the Fred puzzle objective when there wasn't a puzzle to solve.
Nurse Ratchett was easy enough.
Went back in - I think you need hirelings to get the upside down shrines if you're soloing. Got really stuck on the puzzle. Maybe I'm just tired, or maybe really stupid. Found the point of asymmetry but couldn't see a path that would get both lines energised.
Can see this quest being used as an xp farm as it doesn't take long when you know what you're doing. No idea if you can hit the magic 1k xp / min, but it can't be too bad. No bad thing - TRs need the odd cookie too.
Overall, I liked the quest and the mechanics.

[Saaluta]

So, I did this quest twice, first time solved puzzle and got Fred chest. Second time, killed the eyes and got different chest(Fred was mad cause I didn't solve the puzzle). But, one puzzle tile was still there, was the tile just north of where Fred was standing, it could be moved still and was sending a lightning bolt(that's what I call them...not up like it should have(floor tile/ceiling tile) but to the north...wonder if this is what Flimsy was talking about...maybe 4 chest versions possible to be here and direction tile is pointing determines what chest pops?????? Or special event depending on if you solve it using this tile or something else... Will have to experiment more on this

Saal

[RandomKeypress]

Okay, I spent better part of an hour (okay, maybe more) trying to solve that puzzle. Finally, gave up before going to bed, cursing myself for being a senile idiot. Looked at SyZoRe's very helpful screenshots and copied the tiles. It didn't work. I had a tile that was non-symmetrical above / below.
Please see image here:
http://img848.imageshack.us/img848/5268/puzzlew.jpg

Is this WAI?

<edit>
Just noticed Saaluta's post. I had the free-floating tile on my first run through - found it to be confusing. I'm not going to experiment any further until I know that the whole thing isn't bugged. Maybe my tile combination is solvable, but I can't see it.

[Saaluta]

@Random, both times I ran this quest, the puzzle was different...and first time I went through, took me about an hour just for the puzzle. So don't let it worry you that it took a while, with practice it will get easier

Saal