Update 39 Preview 2: White Plume Mountain and Other Tales

[GotSomeQuestions]

The Falconry Tree will be available at a future date as an a la carte purchase. There will also be ways to unlock the tree in game on a per character basis.

Thank you! This is great news. I personally prefer to unlock abilities like this in-game, rather than purchase them, even if it's tied to other purchases (favor unlocks or the like). For me, character-specific, action-based unlocks improve verisimilitude.

[Niminae]

Being a VIP will not exclude anyone from being able to purchase the White Plume Mountain Bonus Items collection.

Wonderful! Now make it so that "being a VIP will not exclude anyone from being able to purchase" anything at all.

[Niminae]

At least it looks like they [the cosmetics] are BTA this time so I suppose I can delete most of them, that's still more work than I want to go through. (plus the whole paying more because of them thing)

I really hope they are BtA.

[Aelonwy]

Well I'll be buying the cosmetic bundle + falconry tree, which I'm sure surprises no one. I do want to give a heartfelt thanks that the cosmetics are BTA, please I beg you never again go the Ravenloft route of BTC cosmetics... having to throw any away to save inventory space is distressing to me. Seriously. Don't judge me.

[GramercyRiff]

bta is a big plus for these cosmetics. they look pretty good and would wear, but it always sucks when it's btc.

[Matuse]

Are there firm numbers on how much the pack and the widget bundle will cost in store points when it goes live?

[glmfw1]

Well I'll be buying the cosmetic bundle + falconry tree, which I'm sure surprises no one. I do want to give a heartfelt thanks that the cosmetics are BTA, please I beg you never again go the Ravenloft route of BTC cosmetics... having to throw any away to save inventory space is distressing to me. Seriously. Don't judge me.

It surprises me...
Only because I thought SSG would have given it to you for free for all your Cosmetic know-how.

[DANTEIL]

I just ran through White Plume Mountain, and I want to congratulate the devs on doing such a good job capturing the look and feel of this classic. I was unsure how it would play out, given the new monsters and unusual dungeon features that would be required, but it all was great. I was especially impressed by the tech achievement of the spinny tunnel, and the looks of the giant crab and crayfish! I did this over level, so i can't speak to how hard/easy it was, but this is something that I am definitely looking forward to running again.

only buggy things I noticed was the fact that the popup message at the end of each section always said that this was the "last crest" (even when it was the first). Also, the crests somehow magically appeared in the sockets at the end during the fight with the djinni, even though they were still in my inventory. But I did appreciate the DDoors as a concession to DDO

[Aelonwy]

It surprises me...
Only because I thought SSG would have given it to you for free for all your Cosmetic know-how.

*shrugs* I'm more than willing to support the game I love. If they want to do me a favor they can make all those armor cosmetics that have been added to Gold Daily Dice available in the store so I can purchase what I want happily.

[Aelonwy]

Is that Dorris from Frame Work?

[FlimsyFirewood]

Is that Dorris from Frame Work?

Yup. Thank you for spotting these!

[Ausdoerrt]

The Falconry Tree will be available at a future date as an a la carte purchase. There will also be ways to unlock the tree in game on a per character basis.

Great news!

[Aelonwy]

Okay so I ran the quest inside the wizard's memory and didn't encounter any issues... it was quite enjoyable except for the flying bat-books. The quest against the rogue Transmuter was okay... more humorous by the nature of the mobs and their names but less interesting to run the quest. I started a third quest, Kind of a Big Deal, and very early in a very enormous spider started chasing me down so I kept backing up to shoot it on my Mechanic (because I didn't have a boot big enough) and only after it was slain did I get the quest OBJECTIVE to slay it. As we all know completing a quest objective before receiving the quest objective is a big NO NO. As its close to dinner time I just shut down the client because I need to go cook. Kids require feeding, or so I've been told. ;p

I'll check out the rest of the quests later tonight. I won't be running WPM, I want that to be fresh and new and sans spoilers when the update hits.

[Marupal]

<potential spoilers>

White Plume Mountain:

-The water walls were something out of the box. Definitely provided a few jaw dropping moments aesthetically. Whoever came up with them wins dev of the year.
-Appreciated the way the rivulets appeared in the hallways and flowed naturally. Thanks for taking the time to drop in those elements.
-New mobs all over the place in there. Bravo! Surprised that isn't being advertised a bit. Whoever came up with them wins dev of the year as well.
-It had that "lived in and used" feel. The atmosphere in the quest was solid. In particular the fight for the crest in the dark room and the trident crest stand out vividly. (my son stood behind me singing "shiny!" during the trident crest boss fight. about died laughing)
-The spinning slippery black and white tube, tables with potions neatly lined up, rooms filling up with water and then gradually emptying back out and a few other things we aren't used to seeing. +1.
-Really enjoyed this quest. Knocked it out of the park like you did with Ravenloft IMHO.
Since nobody else mentioned it, please keep the loading screen as-is. SS'ed it just in case.

Oddities:
-At a waterwall that led to propellers (trying to be cryptic) there were 2 spots on the ceiling that thought they were doors. I couldn't find a way to open them from below or get to them from above. WAI? /loc: r2 lx728 ly8 i2050 cInside ox-244.83 oy184.65 oz-190.96 h322.0 (was mesmerized by this area BTW, nice!)
-Where you have to navigate a slippery platform suspended in air, "Immunity to Slippery Surfaces" from the Rock Boots doesn't work. WAI?
-There were a couple of "man-made" hallways that had a copy and paste look to them. They weren't, but they look it. (compare this "/loc: r2 lx728 ly8 i2050 cInside ox297.93 oy-306.21 oz-189.39 h88.6" to this "/loc: r2 lx728 ly8 i2050 cInside ox-106.36 oy140.67 oz-190.46 h177.2" and this "/loc: r2 lx728 ly8 i2050 cInside ox-193.95 oy141.39 oz-190.46 h274.2"). Maybe some elements to help make the differences more distinct?
-Treasure bags don't seem to be hooked up yet.
-The red-named pudding is hostile but has no attack. He bobs there and waits to die. /loc: r2 lx728 ly8 i2050 cInside ox167.60 oy-82.10 oz-199.46 h284.1
-Pretty sure I saw the magic mouths moving but couldn't hear them if they said something. Assuming the audio isn't hooked up yet.

The Other Tales:
I haven't run them (and probably won't get the time before the preview closes) but really like the Epic level variations. I wouldn't mind seeing just about every quest have a legendary version but the 20 to 30 range needed some love. Thank you.

[Kenaustin]

One thing that has annoyed me for many moons is the Close Window option in NPC dialogue. This used to say something a lot more appropriate, such as Walk Away.

This really breaks the sense of immersion and I have been hoping this would have been addressed by now......

[PsychoBlonde]

Another Man's Treasure:

I love the invisible maze. That is the coolest new puzzle!

Memory Lapse:

When you pick up one of the books in the south wing, the pop-up says "all south wing books collected" but there are other books to find--this is confusing, the objective should be renamed so that it doesn't sound like you have ALL the books right away.

After you successfully give the speech, the Tara inside the library still complains about the library being a wreck. She should have some dialog like "you did it!"

The rest of the quest design I love, it's really fun!

[PsychoBlonde]

Kind of a Big Deal:

Nimue's name is spelled differently when you talk to her in the tower before she teleports you to the village. It's spelled "Nymue" in the floaty over her head but Nimue everywhere else.

Nice spider

The invisible walls blocking in the ledge that leads up to the shrine above the spider are REALLY obtrusive, especially when they prevent you from simply jumping down.

I'd suggest giving the giant critters slow-mo sounds so that it sounds like they're actually big. Rats that big shouldn't make high-pitched squeaks.

The control panel after the second blade trap is inaccessible, no matter where I stand to try and disable it, it says "control panel is blocked". Move it down some.

Also, I know that it's not the same blade traps, but it feels weird that they're re-activated when you come back through.

The Price of Freedom:

OMG aiming these platforms is HARD. Could you make them a bit bigger please?!

[Niminae]

The Falconry Enhancement Tree may be available by other means at some point. Coco noted this above.

If this is correct then it really needs to be spelled out clearly before people buy the Falconry tree only to discover that they could have earned it for free in game.


EDIT: And a post in this thread does not qualify as being spelled out clearly.

[SinnJinn2]

In The Price of Freedom down around the lava areas I had some bad video and audio stuttering.

[PsychoBlonde]

White Plume Mountain:

OMG that splash screen! DED

I got a message saying that I'd found the last crest and the treasure was mine when I'd only found 2 crests. I did the hammer and the trident first.

The objectives for acquiring the three crests became UNCHECKED at the end.

It feels kinda short compared to the other classic dungeons, but I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

The place looks AMAZING.