U55 Preview 2 (6/1 - 6/3)

[shawnvw]

These are the ones Ying posted on discord:

I love that items which literally had no use will have recipes again. BUT the Dev's should announce this prominently. Players in the process of clearing out thier inventories may decide to throw out their Mystical Fish because they don't know that they're important once again!

[DYWYPI]

Steelstar, it would have helped if the NPC in the Test Dojo also allowed you to directly enter the quests (like last preview). Personally I don't want to be wasting my precious limited testing time trying to find the quest entrances in the wilderness. If I wanted to just explore the wilderness - which is full of bugs - I'd do that later on.

Furthermore since all the NPC text was seriously screwed up plastered with DNT about every other word... It would have helped if the new quest names had been posted in the forum thread.

[Archfae]

So I loved the few rares that I came across in the wildnerness area. And even some of the monsters. I fought the TRex purple named rare, and it was kinda cool. I also thought the lava in different areas was a kinda nice thing. And love me some frog looking humanoids, at first I thought they were grung but bullywugs are cool too! Grung as a player race when?

Also, I want to add that the notes strewn out especially the ones from vecna's pov were amazing. I don't want to spoil any here, but I loved all the nods to various bits of lore about him. 10/10 my favorite "explorable to find" in a wilderness.

The area did suffer from a lack of monsters to fight. It seemed super open and spread out without much available. I fought 3 rares, I believe. And one of them didn't get me a chest despite being on their own and a red named? For as much walking about, I would say it was a bit dissatisfying. (More monster spawns and more rares and little places to explore please).

The two biggest disappointments for me were: the inability to get to many areas that looked kinda cool but I ran into invisible walls, and the inability to fight the brontosaurus who's just chilling eating vegetation. If I can't fight them, I'd at least like to be able to talk to them

Lots of promise with the wilderness area. 1 more thing, I do want to note that the entrance to the wilderness right next to the sewer drain seems to be a much more limited wilderness compared to the other wilderness entrance? I think i came across like 3 mobs to fight total in like 15 minutes of exploring out that entrance.

[Carpone]

Will the Legendary Dread saga have +4 skill tomes as a reward option?

[Kielbasa]

Will the Legendary Dread saga have +4 skill tomes as a reward option?

I like this idea. Nice added value but not must have.

[majster67]

Gameplay Changes:

• There are new Cannith Crafting recipes!

Have you also added Guard Shards? Because it can be found in every other random item, some named, disassembled in the destruction machine but it can't be crafted either as bound or unbound shard. Also, could you please halve the amount of Purified Eberron Dragonshard Fragments needed to put a minimum lvl shard into an unbound item? Especially those from 26lvl upwards. The cost of making a few items for a guildmate or just a second character is sickendous.

UI Changes:

• Items within the Shared Crafting Storage now update their names and descriptions automagically should they be changed in a game update!

It would be better if you added a search field and sorting e.g. by level or alphabetically from A to Z in TR cache

Quests:

• Creeping Death: Some Traps have been updated to affect monsters, and the number of monsters has been reduced.

Could you also reduce the range of the traps there? In those corridors near the floor especially the traps are knives, so small that they are barely noticeable but they chop half the corridor. Even if you stand in a seemingly safe distance, or withdraw because something is cutting you, you can still get hit by something you can't see. And this is on ultra details, not on low and 600x400 resolution.

Thanks
Yours sincerely

[Lyreaneia]

Greater Shout is not healing with the 4th core in Fatesinger IF some one is wearing any type of spell absorb item, it also depletes charges from the item. I noticed this in the test dojo and a guildie came over to Lam so we could test. It is happening in quests also and with Crystalline Gauntlets, Pale Lav, or Magestar.

[Lokeal_The_Flame]

These are the ones Ying posted on discord:

I can't figure out how to craft these....... I went to cannith crafting hall and tried but to no avail....

[rabidfox]

I can't figure out how to craft these....... I went to cannith crafting hall and tried but to no avail....

Try the unbound station, I don't see bound versions of them.

[Sam-u-r-eye]

What does a woman want?

More feats!

<3

Get funky. Give us stuff we don't have from other editions.

Support inquisitive, or throwers, or wierd stuff.

Give abilities which have a long cast time and do something impactful!

Give tanks an i-frame similar to the green-dream-clicky but let them move and hold agro.

Give a strong feat with a strong penalty. (E.x., You have-75 PRR but gain 150 melee power.)

[Wongar]

The idea behind consolidating the Teleport Items is really good. Testing it leaves me with concerns and hopes for implementation improvement.

My two main concerns are:

1) Using one puts THEM ALL on cooldown
Currently they have two sets of cooldowns so while not ideal, you can plan your ports to not have to wait long. For example handing in sagas where you need to visit every expansion in a short time. I also frequently use them for a quick sell/repair - for example from sharn, click saltmarsh, hit bartender, click sharn without having to wait for cooldowns.

2) Once started, they can not be interrupted
This is a big problem - if you misclick in a quest, you are ported out no matter what you do (and can't get back in if reaper)

[majster67]

2) Once started, they can not be interrupted
This is a big problem - if you misclick in a quest, you are ported out no matter what you do (and can't get back in if reaper)

I would add one more thing. In the case of Key to the city - Eveningstar the cooldown starts when Mustering starts, not when it finishes. Which makes it difficult if you accidentally click, move, or something that interrupts the action. Not once I had a situation, that such a player left the party, so the rest didn't have to wait for him for 30min, or we waited 30min because a guildmate accidentally moved. Wouldn't it be better and even more honest if the cooldown started after the move?



And besides if you unite all teleports to instances from expansions in one item it would be good to add possibility to buy those teleports in store instead of whole ulti addons for one item, right? I think there would be more people willing to do that than pay for the whole ultimate edition expansion when someone already paid for the collector anyway.

[mikarddo]

The idea behind consolidating the Teleport Items is really good. Testing it leaves me with concerns and hopes for implementation improvement.

My two main concerns are:

1) Using one puts THEM ALL on cooldown
Currently they have two sets of cooldowns so while not ideal, you can plan your ports to not have to wait long. For example handing in sagas where you need to visit every expansion in a short time. I also frequently use them for a quick sell/repair - for example from sharn, click saltmarsh, hit bartender, click sharn without having to wait for cooldowns.

2) Once started, they can not be interrupted
This is a big problem - if you misclick in a quest, you are ported out no matter what you do (and can't get back in if reaper)

1) Aye, the cool down needs to be really low (say 5 sec) if they are all on the same timer. Otherwise it is more a nerf than an improvement.

2) Well, I like the fact that these cannot be interrupted. Finish quest (e.g. Delaras 1) and click the teleport item - and the mobs that spawn cant interrupt it. So changing it to be interruptable also has drawbacks.

[Rakehell]

For the consolidation of the teleport items, it says you have to own them but don't need to carry them. Do you have to retain them in your BANK account to still own them, or can you delete all but one to save bank/inventory space?

Assuming you can delete them... I have never tried.

[SpardaX]

What I still REALLY hope for is that you finally change the Stunning Fists feat to also work with all Ki weapons (working when you are centered), Trailblazer is a LOT of fun but it really needs a working single target stun with a cooldown that takes not ages.

If you're a dark monk and your target is humanoid (Most player races basically, which is not all stun-able enemies, but IS a lot of them)

Can I interest you in Water - Dark - Water - Finisher? It makes enemies helpless. Also...

CD is literally as quick as you can do the combo
Lasts 60 seconds
Can strike through.
DC = 10 + Monk level + Wisdom + Stun, with an additional +3 available in Henshin Tier 1, so on a pure monk, I'm pretty sure their DC's are potentially some of the highest in the entire game? (Not including Epic Destiny "DC = 10 + Character level + X" stuff)
Not bad?

Or for all other stun-able enemies,

Can I interest you in Earth - Dark - Earth - Finisher?

All notes above apply
Doesnt make enemy helpless (sorry)
But DOES make enemy unable to do....anything except move veeeeeeeery sloooooowly.

To my knowledge, E-D-E is the only effect in DDO that inflicts
https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Nauseated
Which is just awesome.


Oh I forgot!
If you're a Pure 20 monk
You can Earth - Air - Fire - Finisher
For the really funny finisher that works on even more stuff than the 2 above.
It also doesn't apply helpless (sorry again)
But it has all the benefits of the above, plus it's a Will save, not Fortitude! It works on those tough to stun enemies! And you don't have to be dark to learn it! Just level 20 monk.

[Bjond]

Steelstar explained [..] the Eveningstar Key is specifically listed in the contract for the First Expansion, MotU

Revisit the contract? If it only mentions the key specifically, just add a different item. Add E.Star to the list for teleport or greater teleport. Add it to airships. Add it to the portal destinations. Etc.. The more explicit the wording in the contract, the easier it is to follow to the letter while doing whatever else you want.

Eh, expand the nifty clicky-keyring-of-teleports to include other locations around the game you can unlock via questing, favor, or whatnot. If SSG wants something worthy of being a little "mini-expansion", a set of unlocks for that kind of thing would almost certainly be welcomed; eg. little quest sagas each leading to an unlock that threaded through appropriate existing quests would cover it -- perhaps quests not already in a saga.

BTW, you can already fast-port (nearly) to E.Star using the Bottle of Mist. Mist > Exit to E.Star. I do carry the key, but rarely use it over Mist>E.Star; key is only for mid-group porting, such as to speed unlocking the last quest in a set when saving that extra 30s of riding into town can matter to an impatient group.

[Seph1roth5]

Yeah but the key you can get without having to have had forked over $120.

[DYWYPI]

The Isle of Dread (U55) Preview 2 Wilderness

The Isle of Dread wilderness is pretty large, and annoyingly, it can take quite a bit of travelling time getting to the dungeon entrances. At this stage I don't know whether I like or dislike the wilderness. Climbing the four-legged living statue was a nice innovative approach.

Sinking like a stone up into mid-air.



I think this joyride was a big mistake.



Sleeping on a hollow log.



Are those clogs or platform shoes on your feet?

You tap the black wooden box soundly, and the imp inside informs you that he needs some more black paint if he's going to make any more iconographs...


The Isle of Dread (U55) Preview 2 Dungeons

The official OP forum post wasn't in the least bit helpful regarding the names of the Preview 2 quests. Neither was the Information NPC in the game, which erroneously mentioned four new quests for Preview 2. The DDO Developers' in-game calculations didn't add up either as can be seen: 4 + 5 + 4 + 1 = 14. Unless there has been a last minute change and there are going to be two raids, I was under the impression it was; 12 quests and 1 raid, i.e. (4 + 5 + 3 + 1) which totals: 13 quest items, not 14. :-/


Following on from my last critique on: The Isle of Dread (Preview 1), [Post #63], we now move onto: Preview 2. There had been five additional quests added since the last (Preview 1). It looked like most of these five quests were nearer to completion stage than some of the first four.

All Hail the King: in this quest we've got to track down a Tyrannosaurus along some gullies and bamboo thickets.

A stepping stone, a plant.

The atmosphere was reasonable, but the quest was rather linear and there wasn't much in the way of tracking the beast.

Shaking' the dead birds from the trees

It might have been more interesting; if you had to lure it into a huge cage or trick it into falling into holding pit for the final showdown. Or maybe if there were more than one path where the lizard could wander down - so it'd feel more like a hunt.


The Stone Crypt Chronicle: the quest had similar look to the Test Dojo canyon, with rickety rope ladders and crumbling ruins.

You put your bones on the bridge.

We are searching for a missing tome, which involved a lot of climbing stone blocks.

Do we want to lock the door and throw away the key?

For a "retrieve the crest" quest it wasn't too bad. I did get a little disoriented after I'd been crossing several ladders and also being turned around. One of the narrow rope bridges was problematic to step onto - it wasn't flush with the rock (anchor block). One of the Content Developers might want to fix that glitch, else people might get confused as to why they cannot step onto the bridge.

With my minion fingers working for some God.

Also the water (inner temple) was rather grey and murky and since the walls were also pale it was somewhat difficult to see the cracks (you could swim through) in the broken floors.


Spiders and Flies: this quest did have some good humour. Apparently the local Ettercaps have been capturing Pixies and taking them back to an old tree (flypaper). It's a 'rescue quest' where luckily there are far more pixies than you need to collect. The tree layout wasn't overly complex to explore and that was bonus.

These spider webs are my home now.

The sleeping spiders were a good feature; the use of that type of "Simon Says" puzzle was probably one of the best uses, I have seen for the entire game. That is, it was not actually mandatory, to progress... None of the more complex "Simon Says" really should have been used for: 'critical path' barriers. It can severely stress people that have cognitive disabilities; unwitting discrimination, against those individuals. In this case that specific puzzle type was aptly deployed. :-)

Neural pattern like a spider.

I'm a little disappointed that the "tropical birds" really were birds, and not actually some flying reptile. Albeit that foulmouthed squawking parrot: 'Show us yer knickers!' made up for that. ;-)


The Trouble with Tar pits: the Tar Tribe Ogres have been experimenting and making: Tar-Babies... I liked the journal entries albeit you probably would no longer read them after several runs.

Because the magic perfect second is about to arrive.

It was mostly a regular hack-and-slash with some added 'sticky pitch'. I'm surprised there were no flaming spheres or major explosions.


Whispers of Return: some local Turtle clan members have gone missing and have taken hostage. The local Kopru have some big plans and seem to be brainwashing the locals - for slave labour - to help them achieve their dastardly plans.

Screaming in my face, whisper in my ear.

The Kopru were quite talkative, and it appeared to be a fairly short easy quest.


I haven't gone into great detail and just reiterated those issues that I found most memorable.

[R1ncewind]

We need something fun, somethign that shake things a little, thats what an expansión should be.

What does a woman want?

More feats!

<3

Get funky. Give us stuff we don't have from other editions.

Support inquisitive, or throwers, or wierd stuff.

Give abilities which have a long cast time and do something impactful!

Give tanks an i-frame similar to the green-dream-clicky but let them move and hold agro.

Give a strong feat with a strong penalty. (E.x., You have-75 PRR but gain 150 melee power.)

[Phoenicis]

Quests:

• Black and Blue: The number of monsters has been reduced. Several groups of monsters were also removed entirely.
• Newcomers: The number of monsters has been reduced. Several groups of monsters were also removed entirely.

Seriously? Legendary only I hope, because the only thing that's a serious challange in Heroic is the Dragon in Black and Blue, not even that in Newcomers.

I LOVE these quests. Fight in doorways, around corners. Tactics were actually useful. After this change? Gonna be just another snore fest.

So many quests have gotten this treatment over the years, kinda disappointing in my mind.

Wasn't Reaper added because people wanted MORE challange? But here we reduce the challange?

To be fair, we've never done these on Legendary, so I can't speak to the difficulty there, I and my wife are running alts 1-20 and reincarnating. Eventually we'll be running legendary content but not any time soon.

NOT a change I'm fond of in case you couldn't tell.