A sneak peek at Update 24’s dungeons … and beyond

[Oxarhamar]

I'm on the forums every day and I haven't seen any concerted player feedback for OR against Anauroch!

This feedback isn't coming from the forums - It's not coming from In-Game - Where is it coming from exactly?

My guess would be in the original Producers letter that introduced the plans of Anaurock.

Either a few "boos" or not enough excitement about I just like the Augs in Cove

Still that's a small bit of players commenting on that thread.

[Oxarhamar]

Please make the ToEE consist of several quests instead of just one large one.

ten thousand times this.

You beat me too it I was distracted by the deletion of Anaurock.


Haunted Halls is great but, give us more than one quest.


Take a look at Tangleroot.
Tangleroot has 2 conjoined instances with a total of 10 quests.

This is development time spend wisely build a dungeon then create different quests within. Many a pnp GM knows how to reinvent a new quest in an old dungeon the adventurers have already visited.


And before I forget STOP THE INSANITY with the BTA or BTC loot if it's not tradeable it's trash!

[nibel]

Also: Why yet another Lvl 18 Pack?
We already have more than enough Lvl 17-19 content that doesn't get run!

Even a Legend can hit 20 with ease off Gianthold and Vale these days {Maybe taking in IQ but even that's not seeing the multiple daily LFMs it used to!}.
Once at 20 no-one wants to run Lvl 17-19 quests on Elite as they give less than HALF the XP of an Epic Normal VoN 3/4, Spies or Wiz King!

Another Lvl 16 quest isn't needed either - Lvl 10-12 is where we need new quests!

P.S. There's 13 Lvl 18 Quests according to the DDO Wiki and 21 {TWENTY ONE} Lvl 19s!
There's also 14 Lvl 16s and 14 Lvl 17s
You know how many Lvl 15s there are?
TEN!
You know how many Lvl 12s there are?
ELEVEN!
13s?
TEN!
14s?
TEN!

Yep, 16-19 is oversatured. Put more spice earlier in the road.

Finally: You're looking at this Heroic/Epic Dual-Pack system the wrong way round - You're making Epic versions first and reducing for High Level Heroic versions.
This means that NONE of the Heroic quests added since Beyond the Rift has felt {lore and role-play wise} like a High Level Quest!
NOT ONE!

Eveningstar, The High Road, Wheloon, The Stormhorns - Every single one of these could easily have been placed between Lvl 7 and Lvl 12!

As for your Epic only Quests:
Study in Sable - Great Quest though it is could easily have been placed at Lvl 9 {Same as Shadow Crypt!}.
Schindylrynn - Lvl 10-12
The Demonweb - Lvl 17-19 {This is the closest but even then the quests are so short that it doesn't quite work.}

These don't FEEL Epic!

I have been talking since MotU was released that almost every quest in FR can be 20 levels lower and still fit perfectly within their lore (with the exception of Demonweb) and equivalent DDO quests. King's Forest chain? Equivalent to Khortos. Schildylryn chain? equivalent to STK. Druid's Deep? only animals and plant creatures as opponents. Easy level 6-ish. High Road? Sharn Syndicate equivalent. Heck, Vault of Night (a level TEN raid) feels more "epic" that both Thunderholme raids.

But we all know why those quests are not on level 10-15 range. It is because of Iconics.

[Calinthus]

After you're done perfecting that, maybe... Council of Wyrms????

[The_Human_Cypher]

You guys are great! I'm really excited about this new content. I think the majority of players enjoy the Xoriat quests, which is among the best content in Eberron.

Hopefully, the Temple of Elemental Evil quest will contain at least one sly reference to its video game predecessor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tem...l_(video_game)

I do hope that Anauroch gets done at the end of 2015 or in 2016. That area would build on the Netherese story arc and would be a welcome addition to the Forgotten Realms content.

[noneill]

Awesome, Greyhawk comes to DDO, my dream come true!
Even if it is officially a FR version of TOEE , I know it is really Greyhawk.

Very excited about this and can't wait for more details.

[fmalfeas]

Eh, I honestly don't feel like anything with mobs called 'Netherese Arcanist' should be in heroic (at least change out those mobs). Why? Because Netherese Arcanist is a 3.5 Epic Prestige Class built around Epic Spellcasting. Like Elven High Mage. Netherese Arcanists cast spells like 'Proctiv's Move Mountain'. Yeah...MOVE MOUNTAIN. They first cast an epic spell to slice the mountain off, then use that one to make it fly. Then they turn it upside down, and put a city on top of it.

The Arcanist Kings of old were even scarier, but I don't think that the current Shar-warped Netheril has more than one of them left. Of course, there's a couple puttering around the Realms, doing very little other than amusing themselves with spell research and magic item/artifact creation.

[fmalfeas]

You guys are great! I'm really excited about this new content. I think the majority of players enjoy the Xoriat quests, which is among the best content in Eberron.

Hopefully, the Temple of Elemental Evil quest will contain at least one sly reference to its video game predecessor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tem...l_(video_game)

I do hope that Anauroch gets done at the end of 2015 or in 2016. That area would build on the Netherese story arc and would be a welcome addition to the Forgotten Realms content.

Only one reference to that game is needed. The frogs auto-swallow paladins, every attack, and make them their primary targets.

[DANTEIL]

This is really great news to have! (and very interesting that it doesn't come from an Exec Prod) For me personally, it's a mixed bag.. the Delirium quests are not my favorite so I'm not terribly excited about revisiting those, but the Cult of the Dragon quest sounds cool.. and I'm super duper excited about the possibility of Temple of Elemental Evil in the future. also, I suspect I am in the minority here, but I hope that there is a way to allow lower level characters to experience this module.

[The_Human_Cypher]

Awesome, Greyhawk comes to DDO, my dream come true!
Even if it is officially a FR version of TOEE , I know it is really Greyhawk.

Very excited about this and can't wait for more details.

Good point about Greyhawk and TOEE. I think that having a DDO version of TOEE in the Forgotten Realms shows that Turbine has some flexibility in its IP with WoTC, despite what some players have suggested on these forums.

TOEE could be one very large quest that includes parts of the entire T 1-4 module series such as the Village of Hommlet. It will be interesting to see the final product.

[Braegan]

First, thanks for the update on things to come!

As far as more Xoriat quests, I am kinda meh about it until I see it. The ones in game currently are not my favorites so I do tend to skip them mostly. They are fun the first time or on a lark to run them, but not so much for repeatable content, IMHO. Of course these new ones could totally rock, so I'll hold back on judgment.

Regarding Anaurouch , not sure where you got feedback it wasn't wanted. I know a small vocal bit that hate the Realms, but they are the minority for sure.

As far as giving us more table top feel adventures like HH, I friggin love it! ToEE! Hearing this really makes me excited and can't wait to try it out. Please make it huge and epic!

[MisterTee01]

I’ll skip right to the awesome part and give you five simple words:

The Temple of Elemental Evil.

okay i am officially excited for this

[The_Human_Cypher]

Also related to the TOEE and Greyhawk: where will TOEE be placed in the DDO game world? Might we actually get to visit Greyhawk?!?!

[Oxarhamar]

Good point about Greyhawk and TOEE. I think that having a DDO version of TOEE in the Forgotten Realms shows that Turbine has some flexibility in its IP with WoTC, despite what some players have suggested on these forums.

TOEE could be one very large quest that includes parts of the entire T 1-4 module series such as the Village of Hommlet. It will be interesting to see the final product.

Interestingly enough if you talk the Mindflayer teleporter on the ship it mentions serving on a Spelljammer type ship (Easter egg?) but, with that lore DDO could go to just about any setting without restrictions.

[Sgt_Hart]

but the truth is we’ve been listening to what excites you guys when it comes to D&D settings.

Then Gimme My Ravenloft!

Future plans and Update 25

So what kind of cool things led to the detour away from Anauroch? One of them will be coming in Update 25. Since The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar was received so well, we’ve decided to adapt another classic pen-and-paper module to DDO. Rather than blabbing on, I’ll skip right to the awesome part and give you five simple words:

The Temple of Elemental Evil.

Yep, we will be creating our own version of the original, classic Temple inside DDO. We’re very excited about adapting one of the most famous modules in Dungeons and Dragons history, and we hope you are too.

In the meantime, though, we have a date with insanity. Hope to see everyone this weekend on Lamannia for a preview of Update 24!

And no greyhawk either?

[Hilltrot]

My copy of T1, T2 and T1-4 was read and reread so many times it fell apart to shreds. It's a good classic. Dungeon ecology is one of the primary reasons why it is a classic. Keep on the borderlands is another good example. DDO hasn't always done a good job with dungeon ecology - especially years 3-4.

The best i can see you doing with TOEE is something similar to Tangleroot. Keep on raiding the same dungeon, until you kill the final bad guys. You haven't done this recently, so I guess that would be ok. I don't see being able to team up with the "bad guys" to defeat the other "bad guys".

Another thing is that TOEE was meant for levels 1-8 . . . so you'll have to epic-size the dungeon.

If you're looking at deserts and want a blast from the past, might I suggest reading X4 and X5? A little less known, but popular enough to come back in X10. There's also I1-I4, but I never really like them too much. But they have more of an Egyptian feel.

Though honestly, I like The Pit. But maybe I'm sick.

[die]

Thanks for the update. Always appreciated. How many quest in update 24? I heard 3 . But I may not be reading your post right, I am seeing 2 new quests.-Doom

[LeoLionxxx]

Thanks for the update. Always appreciated. How many quest in update 24? I heard 3 . But I may not be reading your post right, I am seeing 2 new quests.-Doom

4 new quests - 3 in the new pack (with one presumably taking place in the same inn as delerium/acute delerium), and a f2p one in the forgotten realms.

[AbyssalMage]

The best i can see you doing with TOEE is something similar to Tangleroot. Keep on raiding the same dungeon, until you kill the final bad guys. You haven't done this recently, so I guess that would be ok. I don't see being able to team up with the "bad guys" to defeat the other "bad guys".

Please NO Tangleroot Clone!!! Freaking hate that series of adventures. I know people enjoy it but I have never understood why. I can barely handle Sorrowdusk Isle and that has the same basic set-up. Ruins of Threnal is also another is the same vain although I think once they fix the level range of the adventures (*hint hint*) it will be better received. With the revamp to Coyle, I can't wait to watch him "die" a few times this life. The loss of xp will be worth it.

Another thing is that TOEE was meant for levels 1-8 . . . so you'll have to epic-size the dungeon.

Hopefully they adjust the level range (because they are listening to the players), maybe lower the level to 12-15 and mark it an Extreme Dungeon
But can't wait. Let's skip U24 and do U25. Doesn't sound like many people are too excited for more Xoriat crud.

Though honestly, I like The Pit. But maybe I'm sick.

Yup

[FranOhmsford]

Please NO Tangleroot Clone!!! Freaking hate that series of adventures. I know people enjoy it but I have never understood why. I can barely handle Sorrowdusk Isle and that has the same basic set-up. Ruins of Threnal is also another is the same vain although I think once they fix the level range of the adventures (*hint hint*) it will be better received. With the revamp to Coyle, I can't wait to watch him "die" a few times this life. The loss of xp will be worth it.

Splinterskull is superior to Grey Moon/Cult of the Six in almost every way imaginable!

But the biggest difference is that Splinterskull doesn't require you to cross half the slayer zone to get to the questgiver between each d@rn quest!
Also: You can Teleport to Splinterskull - You can't to Cult of the Six! {not a problem for the early Grey Moon quests but a pain for the later quests!}.