Hard Core season over

[CherryLaBomb]

For me, hard core season lasted one day. I spent the entire day rolling toons and getting killed by hounds. I never was able to finish any quest in korthos wilderness. 7 toons. 7 hound related deaths. 2 party wipes. Hard core season is over. thank you.

yeah, I know. It is alll my fault, so save it.


Edit: The original post was at the end of day 1. A guildie persuaded me to re-evaluate the HC after the day 2 update. I did and have found the experience to be much nicer. I had spent a couple weeks reading and building test toons for HC survivability. I was very frustrated with the original release. Now I think my studies and practice will make be rewarded with a much better experience.

[Teslana]

I've not even managed to connect to the HC server yet, but that sounds really harsh.

Would a party of ranged characters work? I can't see anything lasting for long against 6 artificers and their clanking metal warrior-dogs.

[Wahnsinnig]

Sounds like this years hardcore league is just as hard as DDO was back at launch then.

Back then noone soloed anything, because everything was too hard for anyone to solo. Even normal.

As it should be, if you ask me

[Sylvado]

I've not even managed to connect to the HC server yet, but that sounds really harsh.

Would a party of ranged characters work? I can't see anything lasting for long against 6 artificers and their clanking metal warrior-dogs.

I have been doing lvl 1 solo on hard as an arti and have killed about 20 hounds. The last one as my hire and pet hid around the corner

[Nebless]

I have been doing lvl 1 solo on hard as an arti and have killed about 20 hounds. The last one as my hire and pet hid around the corner

I'm running solo on a Tempest Ranger and have killed the one's I've encountered too in normal and hard dungeons. At worst I lost half my hitpoints in one attack.

I'm not going to say it's fun, but it's doable.

[fatherpirate]

am soloing Korthos wilderness just fine with both
my arty and my Inq ranger - with a couple of hirelings

I drop them the moment the show.

as a solo, I do not know how they can take you by surprise since your
the only one there so the blue arrow always tells you they are coming.

also

when they form you have several seconds
while they zone in and do a howl (styling I guess)
It is dead before the howl ends.

so

I have no idea how your dying to these at level 1-2 ?

Not paying attention ?
Making a damage light build that will improve latter ?
(you would never get to later)

If you can not dish out damage quick in HCL,
your dead. Hounds or no hounds.

I guess a lot of vet players (not all)
forgot how to play a low level toon.

If you can't hang, leave.
and stop crying about it.

[OzmarDDO]

For me, hard core season lasted one day. I spent the entire day rolling toons and getting killed by hounds. I never was able to finish any quest in korthos wilderness. 7 toons. 7 hound related deaths. 2 party wipes. Hard core season is over. thank you.

yeah, I know. It is alll my fault, so save it.

LOL... whaaaaat? the heck?

I've been in two days. Made two characters. Up to level 4 on each. Going slow and carefully. No deaths.

Killed 5 hounds soloing MP at level 4...

I was scared of hounds. Still am, a bit. But I think I've learned how to prepare for them and handle them.

It's hardcore, man. I love it.

-Ozmar the Survivor

[Hirosue]

For me, hard core season lasted one day. I spent the entire day rolling toons and getting killed by hounds. I never was able to finish any quest in korthos wilderness. 7 toons. 7 hound related deaths. 2 party wipes. Hard core season is over. thank you.

yeah, I know. It is alll my fault, so save it.

yup , its sucks, is a dumb idea to bring reaper mechanics into heroic game arena.

Yah same thing happned to me 3 times. so im done also.

2 hits and dead at lowbie levels and you know you will be targetted sooner or later.

So reaper type mechanic in non reaper quests , great idea not.

However it does mean i wont waste more than a few hours on it this year.

I really wonder at the thought process behind it.

" lets make HC more fun this year by having players randomly targeted by mobs which will kill them in two hits, Oh the players are going to really enjoy random deaths."

But its a even stranger thought process to introduce a mechanic that will absolutely stop people playing and loose revenue. AND HC is basically a cash grab .It really doesnt make sence.

To Qualify my last death.

In Misery peak quest at lvl 2 Bard. about 1/3rd in we pull the lever to open the door. archers and Magic missile casters behind it.
,

Cleric 1 - lvl 2 - incapped immediately
FVS 1 -lvl2 - incapped immediatly
Me bard lvl 2- throw cure light wounds on cleric 1 , and circle to avoid arrows, getting ready to CLW on FVS 1

Hound appears

Cleric 1 dies,
FVS 1 Dies

Kinetic hound hits me 2 times with magic missile i die.
Monk dies.
Artificer dies

This is not fun. We were on elite
2-3 hours play wasted X 3 . Bye BYE HC

[boredGamer]

To Qualify my last death.

In Misery peak quest at lvl 2 Bard. about 1/3rd in we pull the lever to open the door. archers and Magic missile casters behind it.
,

Cleric 1 - lvl 2 - incapped immediately
FVS 1 -lvl2 - incapped immediatly
Me bard lvl 2- throw cure light wounds on cleric 1 , and circle to avoid arrows, getting ready to CLW on FVS 1

Hound appears

Cleric 1 dies,
FVS 1 Dies

Kinetic hound hits me 2 times with magic missile i die.
Monk dies.
Artificer dies

This is not fun. We were on elite
2-3 hours play wasted X 3 . Bye BYE HC

Why were ANY characters in a level 2 quest on elite that weren't capped level 4 characters?

It sounds like you were getting wrecked BEFORE the hound even appeared. This is not good hardcore play. If someone in your team goes incapped at any time you should be very, very worried about the group you are in.

[Wahnsinnig]

yup , its sucks, is a dumb idea to bring reaper mechanics into heroic game arena.

Level 2 characters doing a lvl 3 quest on elite (lvl 5) on Hardcore server?

[brian14]

Level 2 characters doing a lvl 3 quest on elite (lvl 5) on Hardcore server?

Misery's Peak is level 2, not 3, so level 4 on elite. Still, good point.

[Kayze]

To Qualify my last death.

In Misery peak quest at lvl 2 Bard. about 1/3rd in we pull the lever to open the door. archers and Magic missile casters behind it.
,

Cleric 1 - lvl 2 - incapped immediately
FVS 1 -lvl2 - incapped immediatly
Me bard lvl 2- throw cure light wounds on cleric 1 , and circle to avoid arrows, getting ready to CLW on FVS 1

Hound appears

Cleric 1 dies,
FVS 1 Dies

Kinetic hound hits me 2 times with magic missile i die.
Monk dies.
Artificer dies

This is not fun. We were on elite
2-3 hours play wasted X 3 . Bye BYE HC

So... If I'm reading this correctly, you're blaming the hounds for being 2 levels under the quest level and for not being prepared for the normal monsters that spawn?

In the future, I would recommend doing Korthos village, then the island except Misery's Peak, followed by Borderlands, before finally going back to Misery's Peak. That will put you at level 3-4.

Getting incapacitated in Misery's Peak is a pretty big warning sign.

[ekaterina]

I have been known to say negative things about the hounds. Especially the impact on ability to go afk or the unfairness if a hound is a lot easier for a group than a solo player. Of course AD&D is a group game but rightly or wrongly DDO has done a lot to make solo play feasible and it shouldn't limit HCL to grouping. Since, as we all know, a bad group can get you killed faster than any dog.

But in fairness - I have never died to a dog at normal or hard difficulty. Not even at level 1 when classes like cleric and favored soul have pathetically poor divine offensive abilities. I have gotten 6 characters through Korthos solo with 2 deaths - both on elite in dungeons where the mobs are trivially easy at that difficulty but the dogs .... are not.

[Mofus]

I don't mind the dogs, they just need to be toned down a bit, especially in the low levels.

[Parsley]

I’m pretty done with the season too. Previous seasons I’ve stayed up all night grouping, meeting new players, and enjoying seeing various public spaces with multiple instances. The first week or two of hard core were some of the best times in ddo. I know people who take off from work because they don’t want to miss the experience of the first few days.

This season the groups aren’t the same. When half the pug dies to hounds, it’s not fun. I don’t mean one hound killing everybody, it’s hounds picking off the group until it disbands.

If I can’t afk for a quick bio, doorbell, or even a short chat with my spouse it’s not fun. With people I know, we all stand around waiting for life’s little interruptions before we can start a quest and I’ve never been so bored in ddo with online friends. It’s not fun.

Hounds have made this season the worst in what was previously an exciting and fun time playing.

[Caver]

Why were ANY characters in a level 2 quest on elite that weren't capped level 4 characters?

It sounds like you were getting wrecked BEFORE the hound even appeared. This is not good hardcore play. If someone in your team goes incapped at any time you should be very, very worried about the group you are in.

Oh I agree. Why were you even there? You had to have skipped most of the Korthos quests or you would be minimum level 3 which still lets you do level 1 quests. People complaining because they're lazy and overconfident and want to speed through low levels like they do on their main server. This is HC.

[Kayze]

If I can’t afk for a quick bio, doorbell, or even a short chat with my spouse it’s not fun. With people I know, we all stand around waiting for life’s little interruptions before we can start a quest and I’ve never been so bored in ddo with online friends. It’s not fun.

You can afk in town. Where it's safe.

It is incredible to think that half of the outrage against the hound mechanic is the inability to afk in hardcore.

[Enoach]

When the group I'm running with saw the number of hound deaths as we were gathering and had communication from others we know, we made the decision to run Korthos Village N/H/E. The goal here was to get people to level 3 and earn some low level gear to be prepared for the elite run of the wilderness.

We also came up with a strategy of staying together avoiding any single member from needing to face the hound alone.

It is a nasty mechanic, it will be interesting to see how the hounds progress in higher levels.

[Halciet]

If you have to afk I would recommend using a teleport item to get you safely to a town. Log out sometimes does not complete in a timely manner (I've seen 5+ minutes before), Alt+F4 also might not close your connection properly leaving your character standing around waiting to die. I suppose there is also the chance for the teleport to fail, but it might be the better option.

[TedSandyman]

Ok. To everyone saying "Ive killed them. They're not so bad." to you I say, good for you. You are awesome. I worship you.

But look at the list of deaths. Every few seconds a new death from hounds, for two days straight, every five or 10 seconds someone dies to the hounds. Its a relief to see someone die from something else every now and then.

Something is wrong if this many people are dying this fast. Blame them if you want. "Those no good loafers don't know how to play and should die" seems to be what you are saying.

I know you are awesome and the best and all, but how about we make the game work for everyone, not just you gods of DDO.

These hounds are killing a lot of players at low level. It is a fact that can be seen by the death announcements.

And it isn't right even in a hardcore league.

You don't want to exclude even 50% of your customers if you plan on making money off of the game. I would think, looking at the number of deaths, the number is higher that 50% of the players dying multiple times from hounds.

Once again, thank you all for being so awesome.