Feedback on TOEE having played all diffs

[Oliphant]

Overall, I liked it but I hope for sequels because some elements seem under developed. I give it 3.5/5 stars overall for a great dungeon and awesome encounters but a little weak on interactivity. I'd happily give a 5 star review if there were more classic d20 interactivity, even some token interaction to be honest. Given a deadline, I'm not sure the devs could really prioritize any differently. That dungeon is massive and it had to look very cool; that takes time and they succeeded.

1. I enjoyed the dungeon crawl feel, all the groups I've played with stuck together and we had to work as a team, playing proper roles. The fights are well tuned, not insanely difficult but requiring team work and a strategy. This most important aspect was a success.

2. I love the look and detail of most of the dungeon, it all feels more like classic DnD, like Haunted Halls; if this is the trend, keep it up!

3. Very little interactivity. I'm glad that the DnD franchise is still building worlds, so I guess I'm glad there was a company-wide deadline and our DDO made the cut, but I wish some more time could be spent to fill this fantastic dungeon with decisions and encounters that involve skills and rolls.

4. Nice music!

5. Spammy with the epic weapons but stingy with the ingredients, and the loot's so so.

6. Very cool end fight! I think bosses should fight back, but they rarely do. This boss does!

7. Quibling now, but the dungeon seemed to have the classic 90 and 45 degree walls like PnP graph paper maps but the in-game map didn't match the actual terrain. The in-game map squared off the corners and I wondered, why? I couldn't figure out a reason why they'd bother to square off the classic 45 degree angles on the map, it doesn't match the terrain now and it steps away from a classic DnD element that people notice.

A few suggestions:

1. Why not get rid of all those chests with mushrooms in them and place the mushrooms in all that cool scenery, among those detailed tables and bookshelfs and desks, etc., like collectibles, but ones you can see (little mushrooms not pouches)? It would go a long way to better using all those cool details and more immersive than just finding mushrooms in mini-chests. This is sort of a window dressing approach to solving the problem but I think it would go a long way, tbh.

2. How about two sequels (3&4) that use the same dungeons (1&2) but the extra dev time is used to fill up the spaces with interactive elements from the original module? Or instead of brand new quests, even just adding maybe 5 more interesting encounters (not just fights, something unique) from the module that can sprinkled randomly into the existing quest. (That would be awesome!)

3. Maybe be less stingy with the mushrooms and less generous with the base epic weapons. It seems like I'm finding weapons at 20x the rate of complete mushroom sets (I have almost 10 items and fewer than half of the shrooms I need for a set).

[SealedInSong]

1. Why not get rid of all those chests with mushrooms in them and place the mushrooms in all that cool scenery, among those detailed tables and bookshelfs and desks, etc., like collectibles, but ones you can see (little mushrooms not pouches)? It would go a long way to better using all those cool details and more immersive than just finding mushrooms in mini-chests. This is sort of a window dressing approach to solving the problem but I think it would go a long way, tbh.

I love this suggestion.

For comparison, one of my absolute favorite things about Baldur's Gate was that you could find items in weird places, like:
under rocks
behind picture frames
in desks
at the bottom of a pool
behind cogs in machines
at the base of trees
in an altar

That sort of thing. DDO's immersion level with items is more or less: dropped on floor, in a chest.

If there were more ways to interact with the environment (with loot incentives especially), the game would feel a lot more immersive, and give us players a good reason to appreciate the game art by actually paying attention to it, instead of just looking for chests.

The only other place I remember items coming out of a non-chest would be the mailbox in Chronoscope, which was a GREAT touch! More of that.

[Domacett]

I also generally agree with Oliphant. Especially suggestion #1. I thought ToEE looked cool, had nice music too, but it was generally a lot of beautiful nothing. With packs of random mobs to kill.

It lacks the immersion and interactivity of Haunted Halls, but then Mr. Greenwood was so neurotic about every little detail and we're reaping the benefits of that.

[Saitiss]

...

5. Spammy with the epic weapons but stingy with the ingredients, and the loot's so so.
...

A few suggestions:

1. Why not get rid of all those chests with mushrooms in them and place the mushrooms in all that cool scenery, among those detailed tables and bookshelfs and desks, etc., like collectibles, but ones you can see (little mushrooms not pouches)? It would go a long way to better using all those cool details and more immersive than just finding mushrooms in mini-chests. This is sort of a window dressing approach to solving the problem but I think it would go a long way, tbh.

3. Maybe be less stingy with the mushrooms and less generous with the base epic weapons. It seems like I'm finding weapons at 20x the rate of complete mushroom sets (I have almost 10 items and fewer than half of the shrooms I need for a set).

Cant agree more. THis morning i had a free hour, which is not enough to solo finish all TOEE part 1 on Epic Hard if you want explore a bit and search for rare encounters without zerging invisible. Total : 0 mushs.

I have runned part 1 and 2 equaly and i cant figure why i have more yellow mushs from part 2 (and they only drop in part 2) than Rusty ones wich drop in part 1 ANd 2.

I realy like the content but 1 hour for 0 result is a bit frustrating if you cant go to end fight.

Another point is that armors drop rate seems realy lower than weaps, i mean realy lower. Btw is there any outfit in armors ? I hope, but still didnt saw any.

Ahh yeah last point, The smoldering scale armor... Design is perfect if i plan to go to the love parade this year, otherwise... (those you looted it may know what i mean).

[DagazUlf]

All very good points.

[Oliphant]

Another observation (or hypothesis):

TOEE seems focused on building up the health of the game by attracting new players and the loot system seems set up to help them get some decent gear quickly that is really quite good, but not as good as other top tier stuff that takes longer to get. The Experienced Evil trinket makes more sense viewed from this lens. For a brand new player attracted by TOEE, getting a 5% xp trinket for their trouble would be pretty cool, even if there's a slightly better trinket you can get from a slightly trickier chain. I support that.