Now that was boring (White Plume Mountain)

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

Hello,

well, that was boring. I dare to go through this insanely long chain of a challenge - at least it was a *good* challenge ! - and what do I get out of that ?

No sentience gems ! No named loot except 1 piece !

Well, I won't go through this any time soon ... but wait, my guild has planned exactly this ... oh, my ...


I enjoyed the challenge, yes, but I was just hugely disappointed with what I got for all these troubles & repair costs ... And my bad loot roll luck is legendary ...



Honestly, I have on the one hand great respect for people who do more than 10 runs of certain quests - the blade of Jack Jibberes comes to mind - but on the other hand I personaly couldn't stand it, doing such a long quest more that ... 5 times, for example.

The shorter a quest is, the more likely I'm replaying it (and i didn't do TOEE since my first try a year or so ago again).

Of course, it's the problem of the original adventuremodule, not of SSG.

And, of course as well, it's my personal problem, since I'm playing for story, not for loot.


What I don't have I don't have, that's my personal philosophy. So I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't get any jewels (read : gems) there, but then it is so.

*sigh*


P.S. : I liked the liked two of the other quests very much ! There are still 2 more to play, though ...

Alrik

[Alttab]

I always do White Plume Mountain in a team, be a pug or with friends. It is much quicker in a team, and if others are strong enough they can also divide and conquer more quicker. Also more chances to get the loot you are looking if the others don't need it.

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

Yes, I assume that it's also more fun in a team.

[AstorPotamus]

A great group makes all the difference, so I think you'd enjoy that quest more running it with others. Besides, more loot gets pulled/passed around that way.

Best of luck!

[Mofus]

I feel your pain, but be glad it's not like farming an ESOS or other old epic gear. Although, those were some fun times

[mikarddo]

It is unclear to me if you found it "boring" because you did not get loot, or if you actually found the quest boring.
It is also slightly unclear to me if you mean the actual WPM quest or also the other quests in the same adventure pack.

Assuming you mean the actual WPM quest. Once you know what to do and have a decent group its a pretty fast quest. I would say its doable in 5 mins if you split up and skip the optionals and 15 mins if you go as a group and do everything. If you are low dps, alone and do everything though, it takes a very long time, that is true, as the bosses have loads of hp.

In short - dont solo it unless you have lots of dps.

[Annex]

After reading your post I decided to finally give White Plume Mountain a try. After about 30 minutes it was clear I have no business being in that quest and gave up. It was most certainly not boring! I am glad I went, though. While challenging and fun, it will be a long time before any of my characters can handle something that difficult. I can wait for a deep discount sale, which is fine. It gives me time to work on other stuff.

[Airgeadlam]

Hello,

well, that was boring. I dare to go through this insanely long chain of a challenge - at least it was a *good* challenge ! - and what do I get out of that ?

No sentience gems ! No named loot except 1 piece !

For being in for the story and not the loot, you complained twice about not getting loot and didn't actually say what was boring about the quest. The story behind it? The dungeon itself? It is because it's "too long"?

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

It is unclear to me if you found it "boring" because you did not get loot, or if you actually found the quest boring.
It is also slightly unclear to me if you mean the actual WPM quest or also the other quests in the same adventure pack.

I meant the actual quest with that name.

I found it a good, yet time-consuming challenge.

But what I found boring was that I got so few back from it, so to say. In-game, story-wise, I'd even say that the mad wizard cheated on me by withholding better items from the chest from me !

What was a HUGE surprise was to me these mouths in the walls ... that's an ancient design I have seen in only a few RPGs of the 90s ... Shows how old that adventure module is ! I have never ever seen mouths in the walls like this in modern RPGs.

I do know that it is wrong to turn a fun advenrture into a business, but I kinda felt like I was investing lots of time and concentration into this quest and earned so little from it.

I was especially disappointed that I got no Sentience Gems. Whereas I don't even know whether they drop at the quest's level (9). The Wiki doesn't make that clear. (I don't do Epic Quests these times, since I don't have any char that's suited for that.)

So, all in all, it's kind of fun - I loved the diversity of the challenges ! - but what I got from the end chest was only very small in my eyes, hence the disappointment.

For being in for the story and not the loot, you complained twice about not getting loot and didn't actually say what was boring about the quest. The story behind it? The dungeon itself? It is because it's "too long"?

It IS long !

But - one of my main goals for doing this quest was getting one of these Sentience Gems. I finally have my very first character that is in level 20 range and I really want to try that out !
(I won't be using the Dragon Gem until I have found a weapon which can be used by any one of my cvharacters. Some classes just can't use certain weapon types.)




Regarding The Other Tales : Memory Lapse, Big Deal and Another Man's Treasure quickly climed up into my personal top 10 most liked quests - meanwhile Dorris tale went as quickly into my personal top 5 of most hated quests (we did it in Reaper 1 with my guild last night).

[darkniteyogi]

I enjoy the quests except the one with the lava and the flying.

White plume i found easy and fast. I dont get how not having loot is a problem. Its something someone new to ddo would say.

If youve played ddo long enough you know loot is not given every quest.

[Grimtooth333]

I was especially disappointed that I got no Sentience Gems. Whereas I don't even know whether they drop at the quest's level (9). The Wiki doesn't make that clear. (I don't do Epic Quests these times, since I don't have any char that's suited for that.)

Sentience Gems only drop in epic/legendary levels.

[acemonkey]

Sentience Gems only drop in epic/legendary levels.

100 xp gems drop in heroic, 1k xp gems drop in legendary IIRC.

Burkett and Snarla chest is fast and always there, about 25% chance of sxp on elite/reaper imo, plus the named item chance is separate so you can get both. The other named that drops xp stones is only sometimes up by the entrance to the muddy jump room (Drek something, not sure if he had named loot also), and obviously the chance in the final chest takes much longer to farm. Never seen a sentient xp stone in Bluto's chest, if it drops there it's Jack Jibbers odds seems like, but he drops items at the normal rate.

[Cernunan]

100 xp gems drop in heroic, 1k xp gems drop in legendary IIRC.

They aren't talking about xp sent stones, they are talking about the sentience gems themselves (Wave, Whelm, Blackrazor), which do not drop in heroics.

I love WPM, it is a great recreation from P&P, best of the translations so far. It is a quick run with nice XP, with some good items.

[Enkidu]

I'm on the "love it" side of this one. The WPM quest line just rocks with style and variety. I love helping players run this line because it has so many nifty things to see and do. The end quest under the mountain takes time to learn, but with a r3/r4 group you'll get great drop rates on everything. Go with people who know it until you learn it, much less frustrating and way more rewarding since we just feed everything to our gems.

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

Its something someone new to ddo would say.

I did it for the very first time. And I'm a "flower-sniffer".

Sentience Gems only drop in epic/legendary levels.

So, my complete run was totally wasted !

I won't do this again.

Good bye, Mr. Mad Wizard ...

[Enkidu]

Also, sentient gems easy to get in Ravenloft, you just ask Tabor and he gives them to you! Run the first quest (Into the Mist) when you hit epic levels on any difficulty (Takes five minutes) and when you get to town get your free sentient weapon from Tabor and then talk to him again and you get your choice of three sentient gems for free. So much easier than soloing under WPM...

[Annex]

Just in case you were not aware, the DDO Wiki includes a list of all Sentient Jewels. Many individual sentient jewel pages even include a list of known dialog.

As mentioned above, sentient jewels only drop from epic level activities with one exception: You may acquire a Sentient Jewel of the Kobold for 250 Party Favors, themselves acquired by running the Anniversary Party. The Anniversary Party event will very probably shut down on June 1 so if you decide you want a Kobold, get to work _now_.

As Enkidu stated, once you reach Epic levels you can easily acquire a free Sentient Jewel from Tobar the Smith. To reach him, head to House Jorasco. Click on the swirling cloud of mist, located near the teleporter, and complete the quest Into the Mists at L10 or L31. If you complete the L10 version, you will arrive in the heroic Ravenloft wilderness. You will see a little pillar on your immediate left. Click on that to return to House Joraso. Once again, click on the swirling mists. This time, the portal will offer to send you to the quest Into the Mists or directly to the Ravenloft wilderness. Select the latter, select the epic wilderness, and continue. Once you arrive in the epic Ravenloft wilderness, jog up the road for about 15 seconds and you will reach Tobar the Smith. When you speak to him, he will offer you a free weapon. Take whatever weapon you like. Now speak to him again. This time, he will offer you one of three free sentient jewels. Warning: The epic Ravenloft wilderness is L29. Monsters will attack you on the road, even during the short jog to Tobar the Smith. If you cannot handle them consider using invisibility, bringing help, or gaining a few epic levels.

White Plume Mountain drops three unique sentient jewels making it a worthy dungeon for protracted exploration. While a given run may bring frustration due to bad luck, DDO, more than most games, rewards tenacity. If you keep trying you will succeed. Your runs were not wasted because you learned how the dungeon works and can thus run it faster the next time.

Good hunting!

[Airgeadlam]

There's always the option of running the anniversary event every now and then and get the kobold gem. I wanted to do this, but after having the sailor/pirate/whatever one, I don't know anymore...

[zooble]

For being in for the story and not the loot, you complained twice about not getting loot and didn't actually say what was boring about the quest. The story behind it? The dungeon itself? It is because it's "too long"?

Funny thing is, he actually did say he got loot rofl. Only it was worded in a manner to push his "I want raining loot" cause.

Like saying it gave no XP except the 100k on Epic.

[droid327]

Op, I could type up an itemized rebuttal to all your concerns, but I think I can just summarize it as this: you just need to read the wiki first from now on, so you can know what to expect, rather than simply assume things and be disappointed.

Like why would L20+ sentient jewels even drop on a L9 quest in the first place?

Also, story is story and loot is loot...don't conflate the two just so you can disavow being a loot monkey