U48 Preview 2: New Dungeons and Landscape

[Aelonwy]

It's an Easter egg to the short story "A Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe. A character, Fortunado, gets tricked into being passed out drunk, and then gets sealed behind a wall... brick by brick.

Thank you. That was bothering me, I haven't read Poe since high school.

[Graskitch]

yeah, that pixie village was the highlight of the feywild wilderness - that is what I am expecting from feywild. The swamp below is also very interesting looking - would like to see a variety of even more toadstools/mushrooms down there though.

The rest of the wilderness was a bit bland for me. I did notice the new tree models, but it is not as vibrant/different in an alternate plane aesthetic as I was expecting for the feywild.



wild nymphs - can you please not have them make the same dryad 'whooping' sound?

blink dogs - the animation/teleport effect was cool - I was a bit sad that they were attacking (they are good-aligned and intelligent creatures) - hopefully, you will put out a gold seal blink dog companion at some point

redcap - very nice model and animation

if you are going to re-use some creatures for the feywild, is it possible to get some variation on their appearance? it was a bit boring to see the sharn goblins, water elementals, spiders, fire beetles, and just have them add 'feywild' prefix to their name.

[Jeff_F]

A few comments:

1) In some of the quests and the wilderness areas, there are invisible barriers have no corresponding physical object (tree, mountain, etc.) preventing me from advancing. This has the effect of ruining the immersion and reminding me I'm just playing a video game.
2) As many others have stated, the cut-and-paste nature of the various creatures (e.g., spiders, razorcats, goblins, crayfish?, etc) with the word "feywild" prepended is pretty disappointing. I hope this will be addressed before going live.
3) I thought the wilderness was pretty, but I guess I was expecting something a little more "other worldy" for the feywild, like the steed in the witchhunt quest (which is apparently there just for decoration?)
4) I have never liked the whole "You can't enter this quest until you talk to xyz NPC". Once again it reminds me I'm just playing a video game. I would much rather not have a swirly on the quest entrances I can't enter. Same for the map.
5) I don't understand why the game won't allow a character to accidentally fall off a cliff. I really enjoyed the areas in the Menace of the Underdark (and other areas) where you could actually fall to your death. Once again the invisible wall destroys the immersion.
6) Is the "cartoony" satyr next to Hyrsam? the new look for satyrs in the feywild? I hope not. Don't care for the cartoony goblins in Sharn either.
7) On the positive side, I do like the new skin for the "redcaps". Still looking forward to seeing the new skins for the other new creatures.
8) Endless Revels - I can't think of any logical explanation why the house would be full of fey creatures that are trying to kill me if this is Lord Arden's cottage. The satyrs are supposed to be the problem, right?
9) Endless Revels - Just finished end fight and two of the satyrs remained standing even though they were dead.
10) Seems odd to me that I can kill a displacer beast in the wilderness easier than cooshee, red cap, etc
11) I like the blink dogs, the cooshee, and the way the earth elementals are coming out of the walls.
12) I didn't expect the nymphs to be wearing red dresses and they sound a lot like the dryads. (reskin?)
13) Just ran into "Feywild" sea lions. They were cool but not new.
14) Just got killed by Kelpie Swampcaller and Swampriders. Interesting being attacked by a horse.
15) Congrats on finally doing another underwater quest!!! It was fun and quite challenging.
16) Are the new "crowns" supposed to be hats or is that just a placeholder?
17) I have noticed that some of the Wood Woads and Crayfish or "fun-sized"? Is that intentional?
18) A few of the "chests" handing in the tree appear to already be opened and then switch to locked when you get closer.
19) I've noticed having issues resizing some of the maps

[Jeff_F]

Forgot to mention that shifter appearance is broken. No armor, clothing, etc. Hair is visible sometimes.

Also forgot to mention that I like the new "pixies" a lot. Just killed one and its wings are still flapping in the air.

I just realized that the crayfish are reskinned scorpions. Good job!

[Jeff_F]

A few comments:

1) In some of the quests and the wilderness areas, there are invisible barriers have no corresponding physical object (tree, mountain, etc.) preventing me from advancing. This has the effect of ruining the immersion and reminding me I'm just playing a video game.
2) As many others have stated, the cut-and-paste nature of the various creatures (e.g., spiders, razorcats, goblins, crayfish?, etc) with the word "feywild" prepended is pretty disappointing. I hope this will be addressed before going live.
3) I thought the wilderness was pretty, but I guess I was expecting something a little more "other worldy" for the feywild, like the steed in the witchhunt quest (which is apparently there just for decoration?)
4) I have never liked the whole "You can't enter this quest until you talk to xyz NPC". Once again it reminds me I'm just playing a video game. I would much rather not have a swirly on the quest entrances I can't enter. Same for the map.
5) I don't understand why the game won't allow a character to accidentally fall off a cliff. I really enjoyed the areas in the Menace of the Underdark (and other areas) where you could actually fall to your death. Once again the invisible wall destroys the immersion.
6) Is the "cartoony" satyr next to Hyrsam? the new look for satyrs in the feywild? I hope not. Don't care for the cartoony goblins in Sharn either.
7) On the positive side, I do like the new skin for the "redcaps". Still looking forward to seeing the new skins for the other new creatures.
8) Endless Revels - I can't think of any logical explanation why the house would be full of fey creatures that are trying to kill me if this is Lord Arden's cottage. The satyrs are supposed to be the problem, right?
9) Endless Revels - Just finished end fight and two of the satyrs remained standing even though they were dead.
10) Seems odd to me that I can kill a displacer beast in the wilderness easier than cooshee, red cap, etc
11) I like the blink dogs, the cooshee, and the way the earth elementals are coming out of the walls.
12) I didn't expect the nymphs to be wearing red dresses and they sound a lot like the dryads. (reskin?)

Okay, I have to take back #5. Just fell off the pixie tree and took lots of damage. I still think you should still be able to fall off a cliff into a ravine to your death.

[Andu_Indorin]

A few comments:
10) Seems odd to me that I can kill a displacer beast in the wilderness easier than cooshee, red cap, etc

This is a particularly good point. Perhaps they could all be upgraded so they function like Astral Panthers in the King's Forest (or at the very least, Dire Bears).

[SpookyNoodle]

I haven't had a chance to play through all the dungeons yet, just digging around in the Wilderness area, and had some fun in Endless Revels and Make Believe. I included lots of little notes in #lammania-screenshots, things like typos, map issues, but mostly typos.

In general, I've noticed a few things so far, hopefully I'll pick up more as I can dig into the quests a bit more.

• Redcaps don't yet have a stun animation
• The un-named Displacer Beasts in the wilderness area, and in the quests, are all CR 6
• Mob names aren't very interesting, just things like "Feywild X" or "Fey-Y X", and that's obviously better then <stringtable 0x00000000>, but if you have time, it might bear going through and giving them more unique names

And thing that stood out to me the most, exploring the new areas, was how dark and how blue everything was. Which would be fine, if it was specific areas, but the area is so huge, and feels just so same-y,





If we get some areas that are blue/purple and dark, that's interesting, but the entire zone is just the same shades of Blue and Green.

I created the altered versions in Photoshop, but it's probably a lot harder to adjust things in the game engine. I'm not sure, it just seemed worth noting.

I'll go through and do more detailed notes for each of the quests tomorrow, including more spotted typos, because I don't know why, but those keep catching my eye :|

[Malex]

NB: the quest Make Believe is full of DNT in portal, quest log, etc

[DYWYPI]

There's a fairly small area/zone of the Wilderness where it tends to glitch for me and crash the DDO Client. I think it was somewhere near the Chessboard and "The Knight..." quest area. I should have taken the coordinates.

That Screenshot is where I came back after the crash. Also you'll notice the annoying issue with the Chat Server not connecting is still present. The Chat issue has already happened several times on Lammania thus far...

I'd already disconnected and rebooted the Router a few hours before just for any completely wild and unlikely reason an issued Routing Table hadn't been cleared within the last month or the Router cache wasn't optimal, etc. So I can conclude it's certainly not my Router at fault with regard to these ongoing daily: Chat issues. Keeping trying SSG, because the current "Thelanis Chat issue" persists and even occurs on Lamannia. :-(

For some reason the graphics textures failed near the 'Folly' and I could see through the floor and got distant green backdrops for a little while, etc. It sorted itself when I got to the Folly itself.

[krzyysiek098]

Another stuck spot found in the wilderness:
(Standard): You are on server 18 at r4 lx509 ly1686 i7 ox100.59 oy124.29 oz818.31 h15.5. Game timestamp 166339.341.

[Fants]

There's a fairly small area/zone of the Wilderness where it tends to glitch for me and crash the DDO Client. I think it was somewhere near the Chessboard and "The Knight..." quest area. I should have taken the coordinates.


For some reason the graphics textures failed near the 'Folly' and I could see through the floor and got distant green backdrops for a little while, etc. It sorted itself when I got to the Folly itself.

I'd be interested to know what graphics card you have, and what DX setting[9-11] you're running on.

[Fants]

Another stuck spot found in the wilderness:
(Standard): You are on server 18 at r4 lx509 ly1686 i7 ox100.59 oy124.29 oz818.31 h15.5. Game timestamp 166339.341.

Fixed!

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

I do not understand this quest title :

"The Knight Who Cried Windmill"

Did he cry out "Windmill !" ?

Was he sad and cried on the stairs of a windmill ?

Did he cry out = shouted out when he saw the very first windmill in his whole life ? (Because he just couldn't believe that things like this existed ?)

Was his name "Windmill" ?

[SpookyNoodle]

I do not understand this quest title :

"The Knight Who Cried Windmill"

Did he cry out "Windmill !" ?

Was he sad and cried on the stairs of a windmill ?

Did he cry out = shouted out when he saw the very first windmill in his whole life ? (Because he just couldn't believe that things like this existed ?)

Was his name "Windmill" ?

It's a double reference, firstly to Aesop's Fables' "The Boy Who Cried Wolf," and secondly to the tale of Don Quixote, a delusional book worm who declares himself to be a knight, and in one instance, attacks the arms of a windmill, thinking the structure to be a giant.

[niknight]

I do not understand this quest title :

"The Knight Who Cried Windmill"

Did he cry out "Windmill !" ?

Was he sad and cried on the stairs of a windmill ?

Did he cry out = shouted out when he saw the very first windmill in his whole life ? (Because he just couldn't believe that things like this existed ?)

Was his name "Windmill" ?

If I had to hazard a guess, it's a reference to two things:

1. The children's fable "The Boy Who Cried Wolf"
2. The novel Don Quixote, where the main character (somebody who deludes himself into believing that he's a knight) attacks a windmill.

[Andu_Indorin]

I do not understand this quest title :

"The Knight Who Cried Windmill"

As we're on the topic of literary references, the knight's name in quest is Alonso, referencing Don Quixote's actual name, Alonso Quijano.

[Steelstar]

As we're on the topic of literary references, the knight's name in quest is Alonso, referencing Don Quixote's actual name, Alonso Quijano.

Though, apparently, this delusional knight in this quest might be more appropriately named Alonsa?

The Knight in question is named Dame Alonsa already!

[Andu_Indorin]

The Knight in question is named Dame Alonsa already!

Oops. Trying to get everything done in two days ... fatigue setting in!

Mea culpa.

[Andu_Indorin]

Arc Quest giver: A little odd, perhaps, having a female Dryad sporting a traditionally male name (Hawthorne). Just saying ...

Icemount Curse - additional note:
Quick run-through on HN, Azra was no longer a Red Name. As intended?

THE THORNWRIGHT: Rating 2 of 5
This quest is genuinely too short for a Legendary Quest; a player could be in the final battle in under two minutes.
When I first ran this on HE, at Salix's Test I started run around the exterior of the room and some of the Bling Dogs activated and commenced attacking before receiving and accepting Salix's challenge. Is this as designed?

NEEDLE IN THE FEYSTACK: Looks like it will be good when finished.
Love the quest name. Like the setting. Still don't quite know what's going on ... Look forward to trying it next week (?).

IMMORTALITY LESSONS: Rating 4 of 5
Unlike the previous quest arc finale, this one was a satisfying conclusion, with multiple possibilities.

East Wing: Are Shrines "officially" "use or lose" or are they supposed to re/appear after the fight with Rothor?
East Wing: When cycling through objects on table in one Heroic level instance, dinner plate and crystal bottle had identifying text (and Hermia, of course), bottle of wine did not have identifying text.
East Wing: Is the dungeon intentionally designed to remind us of Eberron? I'm hoping this is just temporary. The section imported directly from Tomb of the Shadow Knight is a particularly jarring appearance.
East Wing: Are Optional Objectives not yet implemented? (Free the Eladrins?)
East Wing: Ladder out of Sewer too short to complete climb (!); ALSO in another instance on a previous run, the "successful ascent" text triggered even though that option not taken in that instance.

South Wing: DDoor appears to be available? Is this as intended? Placing a Teleport Lock Enforced might save unnecessary tickets to the GMs.
South Wing: When first arriving at Tourmaline battle site I used the fiddle from behind the iron lattices to attempt to enter and instead shattered the floor. Might this cause issues?
South Wing: Final Battle with Tourmaline was a bit easy. Players have the high ground from which they can easily and safely range attack the supporting mobs before tackling Tourmaline.
South Wing: Took me a while to find that final wall to knock down, camouflaged as it was by the rest/rez shrines. That was almost cruel!

Epic: Is Look for Curious Door (optional) an epic only optional. I did not see this on heroic.

[Andu_Indorin]

As mentioned before, the landscape is generally very pleasing to the eye with lots of interesting details. I just wish it was larger, with more to explore. We cannot have everything, i guess ...

There will probably be a need for a pair of shrines in the NE, especially for newer players on heroic to restore spell points before entering Frosty Reception and Icemount Curse. The rock alcove between these two quests looks like a likely spot.

In the southeastern, swamp portion of the map there might be a better locale foe the shrines than the current spot. Upon exiting Needle in a Feystack, if one turns slightly northeast there is a grouping of trees that just begs for a pair of shrines. It is a little more centrally placed to the three quests in the south east, and can provide a bit of shelter from ranged mobs. Again, I'm thinking about lower-level players, especially casters under duress and in need of spell points.

The chess board might be a little larger. And is there any chance of transforming some of the boulders to the south and east into actual chess pieces, broken, cracked, and weathered. I'd think that'd be a nice fantastical effect.

Regarding the Offerings explorer spot: normally I never point out the "unrealistic" in a fantasy environment, but this explorer really does push the envelope. Waterfalls are inherently slick and slippery -- as witnessed by the number couples who have taken screamers while trying to take selfies by waterfalls. And unless anchored to the ground, the offerings would likely be swept away by occasional torrents of water common to waterfalls.

THE KNIGHT WHO CRIED WINDMILL: Rating 3 of 5
Different, and I enjoyed playing Sancho. It took me a while to figure out something that worked. Partly because I was given an "interact" option that didn't have any discernible effect -- just like the portals with which I had troubles with in Witch Hunt.

Combating Corruption: As mentioned last week, it was unusually boring. Thank goodness it's not integral to any quest arc.

(... And so 'good night, sweet prince')

[Phew! 30 minutes to spare.]