Elminster's Tower District quest to drop a note in the well -- brutally hard enemies

hustin1

I took the quest with my new level-18 DC. She has level-appropriate gear, but the wererats were way, way, waaaaaay too hard. Their level showed as 18, but I could barely scratch them. They all moved at the speed of light and ***all*** had uppercut attacks that left you momentarily disabled. I can't speak for higher-level characters, but for a level 18 the difficulty was off the scale. They either had way too many HP or way too much defense. For my character they were unkillable. I had to kite them to the guards (who also couldn't scratch them, though they tried). It took a level-80 who just chanced to be there to kill them.

As a side note, the devs really need to cool it with giving every last mob some sort of interrupt/knockdown/toss-player-like-a-ragdoll attack.

drinkvernors

I had the same experience with the first few level 26 characters that got the quest (lvl 80 mobs) and thought it was a scaling issue missed ... until I noticed that a level 80 player had arrived in the courtyard after I had pressed F and put the message in the well. My level 20 character received the same quest later in the day and spawned level 22 rats so I thought the problem was the presence of a level 80 character anywhere in the general courtyard area.

I would hope that the level of the mobs was determined by the level of the player that places the note in the well ... perhaps not.

caldochaud

My level 80 ranger wearing the new Undermountain Spy-gear died as though nekkid as a wee bairn.

hustin1

Yup I just ran the quest with my level-80 warlock. Bear in mind that she's 23.9k, has a base power of 155k, 80k armor penetration, and high defense and HP. She got **destroyed**. I couldn't get a UI screenshot (because the game decided to muck with my keybinds without my consent) but I noticed that the hp bars for the Wererat Minions had *lots* of little dividers -- like eight of them -- signifying that they had ***insane*** amounts of HP.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Cryptic. What in God's name is wrong with you?

EDIT: I managed some screenshots with a different alt. What the hell, Cryptic? NINE hp bars? This mod not sadistic enough already?




Oh, by the way: the actual well asset is missing. It's just an interactable sphere hovering above the grass. Well-tested, guys.

nitocris83

Same thing happened to me this morning. Escalating it!

frogwalloper

Yes, it's a death trap for everyone I've seen. Teamed up with a level 80 paladin who was slogging away, and we both got wiped out.

I have been idly wondering if you lead them back to the tavern if the guards would be able to handle them.

hustin1

frogwalloper#6494 said:

Yes, it's a death trap for everyone I've seen. Teamed up with a level 80 paladin who was slogging away, and we both got wiped out.

I have been idly wondering if you lead them back to the tavern if the guards would be able to handle them.

I think there might be one guard who can handle them, but I'm not sure which one. This hearkens back to the EQ days where we had to kite a bad pull to the guards.

drinkvernors

TBH, when it first happened to me, I thought "The message is delivered, I have credit for the task, I'll just take this as a quick trip to the campfire that is closer to the exit ..." It's another point of view, seems like the designers didn't want the messenger to survive, would you?

mrdanthedeadman

I survived on my lvl 80 rogue, though it was more because I was dodging around and doing my rotation of smokescreen and path of the blade.

frogwalloper

hustin1 said:

I think there might be one guard who can handle them, but I'm not sure which one. This hearkens back to the EQ days where we had to kite a bad pull to the guards.

Finally got a chance to try it today, and you were right. Not all of the guards could handle them. Leading the rats up the road to the tavern wasn't difficult, but they skewered the two guards stationed there. However, four of the guards posted along the road were in hot pursuit. The moment they caught up, they one-shotted those rats. Remind me never to tangle with a Neverwinter guard.

lucifer

Them Neverwinter guards are nothing to hamster with!