Hardcore Hound bugged out and killed me. AVOID WATER

[mr.stevens]

Forget the favor, I was just going for lvl 20 and the sash. I was playing normal. All was going well I was level 9.

Then a hound spawned on the water and started yo-yoing. Impossible to kill. Everytime it yo-yo'd I gained another DOT. I was dead in no time.

Not only do we have to learn the intended mechanics. Some of us learn the bugs also.

[C-Dog]

And they yo-yo FAST in water! (Observed in Korthos, where it's only a stack of "vulnerability", not DoT).

@ Devs - another bug that has no defense, simply "your bad luck, now you're dead".

PLEASE FIX. PLEASE.

[ekaterina]

For now - if this happens try quitting the game. Fastest way I know to leave a dungeon and while it is not guaranteed to be safe - if a bug is going to kill you its easily worth the risk.

[slarden]

Yeah this is really annoying - died this way also and who wants to spend all season learning how to work around the flaws of the hound spawning and related death dot.

It's ridiculous, but your best defense is wand of teleport from the ddo store. If things go south get out asap.

[Drecas]

Forget the favor, I was just going for lvl 20 and the sash. I was playing normal. All was going well I was level 9.

Then a hound spawned underwater and started yo-yoing. Impossible to hit. Everytime it yo-yo'd I gained another DOT. I was dead in no time.

Not only do we have to learn the intended mechanics. Some of us learn the bugs also.

This is why I have a quickened dimension door on my character.

[mr.stevens]

For now - if this happens try quitting the game. Fastest way I know to leave a dungeon and while it is not guaranteed to be safe - if a bug is going to kill you its easily worth the risk.

Thank you. I tried this. Unfortunatley the dots stack so quickly you have little hope. But you're right, it's worth the risk if you have no other option.

Video from another thread shows how quickly they stack.

https://clips.twitch.tv/RepleteResou...dG4Fr7PTSR30r-

Here is the thread.

https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showth...ounds-in-Water

[Steelstar]

Hello! We are actively looking into this issue. It appears to be caused by a very old failsafe system meant to handle monsters falling too far that makes a few baseline assumptions about monsters that are not accurate in the current game. We're working on a fix! Additionally, we're looking at adding some effect cooldowns to make sure that if any other similar situations are floating out there, you can't get stacks of the DOT and vulnerability much faster than the normal rate.

We don't have an ETA for fixes yet, but we will keep you all posted as that develops!

(P.S. Before anyone asks, we're also looking into Hounds not becoming attackable on spawning, no updates there yet.)

[Halciet]

Hello! We are actively looking into this issue. It appears to be caused by a very old failsafe system meant to handle monsters falling too far that makes a few baseline assumptions about monsters that are not accurate in the current game. We're working on a fix! Additionally, we're looking at adding some effect cooldowns to make sure that if any other similar situations are floating out there, you can't get stacks of the DOT and vulnerability much faster than the normal rate.

We don't have an ETA for fixes yet, but we will keep you all posted as that develops!

(P.S. Before anyone asks, we're also looking into Hounds not becoming attackable on spawning, no updates there yet.)

Thank you for addressing the issue working on a solution.

[Mand_OLin]

Hello! We are actively looking into this issue. It appears to be caused by a very old failsafe system meant to handle monsters falling too far that makes a few baseline assumptions about monsters that are not accurate in the current game. We're working on a fix! Additionally, we're looking at adding some effect cooldowns to make sure that if any other similar situations are floating out there, you can't get stacks of the DOT and vulnerability much faster than the normal rate.

We don't have an ETA for fixes yet, but we will keep you all posted as that develops!

(P.S. Before anyone asks, we're also looking into Hounds not becoming attackable on spawning, no updates there yet.)

Excellent news! However, having spent 20+ hours building up characters only to have them die because of your (programming) errors demands more than simply fixing the bugs. My character (same name) is still sitting in "Land of Lost Souls". When I see that character alive and well again, I will resume playing hardcore, and not until then.

This is my first season running hardcore and I was REALLY enjoying everything about it (hounds and all)... until I encountered the hound bug and could not close the client fast enough.

[Stead_man]

Excellent news! However, having spent 20+ hours building up characters only to have them die because of your (programming) errors demands more than simply fixing the bugs. My character (same name) is still sitting in "Land of Lost Souls". When I see that character alive and well again, I will resume playing hardcore, and not until then.

This is my first season running hardcore and I was REALLY enjoying everything about it (hounds and all)... until I encountered the hound bug and could not close the client fast enough.

I'm in the same position. Character is stuck in Last of Lost Souls after dying from this bug. Not interested in trying again until the charater is brought back to life.

[ekaterina]

They said from day one that many things not at all your fault could kill your character and that was just a risk of the event. Server crashes at a bad time - start over. Power goes at a bad time - start over. A bug kills you - start over. All clearly stated. I am afraid your character will float in lost soul land until the server goes away after the event.

If I am wrong that is fine with me but other people will scream how unfair it is that they followed the rules and deleted their characters so why should someone else be brought back.

[Stead_man]

They said from day one that many things not at all your fault could kill your character and that was just a risk of the event. A bug kills you - start over. All clearly stated.

Where did they say that, exactly? Can you quote it please?

[Vordax]

Where did they say that, exactly? Can you quote it please?

Others have explained it above, but that part of the FAQ is intended to prevent tickets to customer service related to Hardcore deaths. Sorry, we are not assisting in bringing players back to life on Hardcore regardless of cause, and we aren't resetting quests or completing them either due to the variables involved and the conflict it might inevitably cause. We of course do apologize for any issue you might run into.

Here you go.

[Stead_man]

Here you go.

Ah, an obscure forum post. Wish they would put that in the FAQ so the playerbase would know not to waste money.

[mr.stevens]

Hello! We are actively looking into this issue. It appears to be caused by a very old failsafe system meant to handle monsters falling too far that makes a few baseline assumptions about monsters that are not accurate in the current game. We're working on a fix! Additionally, we're looking at adding some effect cooldowns to make sure that if any other similar situations are floating out there, you can't get stacks of the DOT and vulnerability much faster than the normal rate.

We don't have an ETA for fixes yet, but we will keep you all posted as that develops!

(P.S. Before anyone asks, we're also looking into Hounds not becoming attackable on spawning, no updates there yet.)

Here are a few examples of apologising you could have used.

1) "Sorry for any inconvenience caused to so many of our loyal players."
2) "We sincerely apologies for this issue."
3) "Unfortunately we were unaware of this issue, I am sorry to hear about your experiences."
etc..

[Razor_Wit]

Ah, an obscure forum post. Wish they would put that in the FAQ so the playerbase would know not to waste money.

There is also the ever-present HCL icon on your screen that says "you have one life to live."

It's pretty clear to me what they are saying.

[slarden]

Hello! We are actively looking into this issue. It appears to be caused by a very old failsafe system meant to handle monsters falling too far that makes a few baseline assumptions about monsters that are not accurate in the current game. We're working on a fix! Additionally, we're looking at adding some effect cooldowns to make sure that if any other similar situations are floating out there, you can't get stacks of the DOT and vulnerability much faster than the normal rate.

We don't have an ETA for fixes yet, but we will keep you all posted as that develops!

(P.S. Before anyone asks, we're also looking into Hounds not becoming attackable on spawning, no updates there yet.)

Thanks, and I would add when you are jumping from place to place up high (e.g., a small problem) it's the same issue.

I would suggest a fairly quick fix to have the permadot work like fear reaper where if the dog spawns wrong (yellow or where you can't even see it) it doesn't start the dot until you are in range. I think there might be quest-specific issues that are difficult to address fully in one patch, but putting a range on a dot would solve most of the issues immediately.

The lack of range also seems problematic in cases where the party needs to split up by design not to have a range on the dot (thinking one of necro 2 quests here, spinner of shadow, crucible).

https://www.ddo.com/news/ddo-hardcore-league

Directly from the FAQ (I even bolded and underlined the pertinent part):

What happens when you die in the Hardcore League?
You are immediately sent to the Land of Lost Souls, and can no longer play that character on the Hardcore server.

There is no exception made for the cause of death, whether it be in combat, falling, an Internet outage, playing the last section of The Shroud, or for any other reason. There is no way to interrupt this process by being raised from the dead and certain abilities that promise to save you from death will not function (such as Death Pact). When you die, you will lose your spot on the leaderboards for that character, but you will not lose access to any Milestones that you may have earned with that particular character. You will be able to chat, move around, emote, and manage your guild, but beware...there is no escape from death ...

So I went into hardcore minutes after it opened and in borderlands I could already see several people took level 5 which used to be the max level to run level 1 quests - presumably with daily dice to get there so fast. Now I didn't do this, but I do feel the level 2 lockout could have been communicated so people didn't waste astral shards like this.

The hound I have no issue with - bugs happen and I feel my death to a hound dot was out of my control and sucks but at the same time I applaud the devs for trying something new even if not everything is working as they intended. I appreciate them responding early Monday to acknowledge the issue.

I saw 3 hounds bug out yellow giving debuff/dot - not sure if I am doing something that makes it more likely, bad luck or the same thing others experience. But literally at level 5 the only option to live is a rod of teleport from ddo store unless you get out the front door fast. Teleport scroll isn't available until level 7 and has a rather high umd for most first lifers.

[Moribund_the_Greater]

Ah, an obscure forum post. Wish they would put that in the FAQ so the playerbase would know not to waste money.

https://www.ddo.com/news/ddo-hardcore-league

Directly from the FAQ (I even bolded and underlined the pertinent part):

What happens when you die in the Hardcore League?
You are immediately sent to the Land of Lost Souls, and can no longer play that character on the Hardcore server.

There is no exception made for the cause of death, whether it be in combat, falling, an Internet outage, playing the last section of The Shroud, or for any other reason. There is no way to interrupt this process by being raised from the dead and certain abilities that promise to save you from death will not function (such as Death Pact). When you die, you will lose your spot on the leaderboards for that character, but you will not lose access to any Milestones that you may have earned with that particular character. You will be able to chat, move around, emote, and manage your guild, but beware...there is no escape from death ...

[LrdSlvrhnd]

Ah, an obscure forum post. Wish they would put that in the FAQ so the playerbase would know not to waste money.

https://www.ddo.com/news/ddo-hardcore-league

What happens when you die in the Hardcore League?
You are immediately sent to the Land of Lost Souls, and can no longer play that character on the Hardcore server.

There is no exception made for the cause of death, whether it be in combat, falling, an Internet outage, playing the last section of The Shroud, or for any other reason.

[Stead_man]

Perhaps they should add "or the stupidity and gross incompetence of our programmers".

I stand by my statement in that I will not play hardcore again until the fix the bug and bring my character back to life.

If enough people take this stand, the powers that be will mea culpa and bring the characters back.

This.

Or let's just unsub. We shouldn't be putting up with this as consumers.