Please Run and Review My Quest

dojoro

If you have 15-25 minutes and want to try a fun new Foundry quest, please play and review "Trouble at the Boar's Head." You can find it by searching for the short code, which is NW-DS9ZK2K8Z.

I'd really appreciate more plays and reviews. I think it would make an excellent daily Foundry quest. It's challenging, fun, and at times quite humorous. If you have very limited AoE, you may find a couple large pulls to be difficult, but you can overcome them with a few pots and some clever play.

Enjoy, and please let me know what you think. And don't forget to say hello to Innkeeper Dougal McCray for me!

lolsorhand

I'll give you a bump, though I it might take upwards a week or so before I can play yours. (I have quite many in my list atm.)

ash4ll

If you would be willing to trade reviews, feel free to visit my thread. Here there is bunch of people that will definietly trade you some plays if you do play through theirs.

mrpriest1987

My Foundrys are GERMAN : FAST LEVEL UP Arena NW-DL4ZGI53U === BOSS Monster Attack NW-DS6L22N3T === A Big WAR with Many Monsters and NPCS NW-DR7IL47UM=== Search Rules: Best Maps search and GERMAN

dioriel

Nice job! Only a couple things I noticed that might need looked at.

First, the platform thing where you get the first key is a bit too tall, so the player has to jump up on the platform to be able to click it. If you lowered it a bit, you could get activate it without the jumping to find line of sight.

Second, and this is may be just me...but Zombie rotters make me want to punch kittens. They hit disproportionately hard for their rank, and they always come in gigantic packs. I think I have died more often to packs of rotters than to any boss in the game. I would suggest you either remove some of them in the big aoe encounters, or use a different type of mob.

Those are the only two things, and they are really nitpicky, the quest is fine with or without those changes. I especially liked all the different characters in the inn, and the obvious care you took in creating all the flavor with the NPC chats, etc.

Now if you have a minute or 20, my quest needs reviews, too. Oh, and I'll run it again tomorrow to leave a tip. I thought my 24 hours was up, but it wasn't

oggbrox

mrpriest1987 wrote: »

My Foundrys are GERMAN : FAST LEVEL UP Arena NW-DL4ZGI53U === BOSS Monster Attack NW-DS6L22N3T === A Big WAR with Many Monsters and NPCS NW-DR7IL47UM=== Search Rules: Best Maps search and GERMAN

Why... why... why my country is such a mess. Embarrassing advertising, mate.

redneckronin

Ok, where to begin.

Playing this on my new "play test" toon, a level 5 CW.

Quick Question: What level / class combinations have you tested this at?


Starts off very promising. The dialogues in the Inn are fantastic, although the Inn itself could do with more decor I think. Once in to the Tunnels the story progresses nicely through dialogue with the Ghost.

But, that's where the trouble begins.

Room 1: Rotters - 6, maybe 8 groups "stacked" so that if you pull one you pull them all.

Room 2: Skeletons - long corridor with 5, or was it 6, encounters "stacked" that had I not been forewarned by Room 1 may well have killed me.

Room 3: Phantoms - "stacked", this time only two of them, so manageable.

Room 4: Yet more "stacked" mobs.

Room 5: Yet more "stacked" mobs.

None of the "stacks" of Rotters are pullable without pulling the entire room. I am thinking the long, alarmingly devoid of any detail, corridors are to give you room to run away from the "stacks" and pick them off piecemeal.

By the time I had got the 2nd corridor of "stacked" archers, soldiers and who knows what else at the end I had seen enough and pulled the escape handle.

Which is a shame, because you've clearly worked on the story and characters a great deal.

Now, the reason I posed that question at the start is because I am close to 100% certain that some of these "stacked" encounters are simply not possible to defeat solo on, for example, a high level (40+) GWF, I am sure my 51 GWF would have no chance; likewise my DC (47), and I'm not even sure my TR (57) could solo them to be honest.

The problem with "stacking" is that as the player gains levels the mobs do too, and at certain points they gain new powers, so that "stacking" just 2 identical encounters can be very, very problematic.

Now on to the Map: As I said I enjoyed the Inn immensely, the dialogues were excellent but the building itself could do with some more "decor".

The Tunnels: Most of the rooms are empty apart from a few token elements of decor, all of the corridors I saw were totally empty and "off the shelf". Even hanging a few cobwebs and changing the lighting can make all the difference. Throw in some dust, or fog and and the difference is even greater. It seems the Corridors were only there as a conduit down which to run while dealing with the wave after wave of stacked mobs. In some ways only doing the basics on Corridors is understandable, you move through them and rarely interact with them. Rooms are a different matter. Each room needs to be "taken care of", details added, perhaps use elements from other "room sets" to change the geography (I have used the Small-Cave set in Pt2 of my Campaign and every room has had its size and shape changed by using the "Rock Path" elements from the large Cave Set as walls etc.), add details with thought - nothing should be "random" - why are the barrels stacked there?, why is the rubble up against that wall?, why are the lights dimmer in that corner?, etc. And then, if possible as many rooms as possible should also progress the story a bit - a room that has nothing in it except a few random barrels / rubble etc and a combat but no story element is an opportunity wasted, and is a room that, in my opinion, really need not be there.

Now, I am sorry this sounds like harsh criticism, because I really, like the basic premise of the story, and I really, REALLY like the work you have done with the NPC dialogue in the Inn. If you can carry that creativity and attention to detail over to the "dungeon crawl" element in the Smuggler's Tunnels you'll have a sure-fire winner here. Strip out some of the "stacks", use encounter to progress the story, not hinder it, and give those rooms some love so they are part of the story, not just the "paper it is written on".

PS: Just to test my theory on how alarmingly over-stacked some of these encounters are I am about to run through again with my 57 TR.

EDIT: First Rotter "stack" downed my 57 TR in under 30 seconds, and I popped ever cooldown imaginable.

All The Best

dojoro

ash4ll wrote: »

If you would be willing to trade reviews, feel free to visit my thread. Here there is bunch of people that will definietly trade you some plays if you do play through theirs.

Awesome, would love to trade some reviews. I enjoy seeing what other people are coming up with and helping out fellow authors.

dojoro

redneckronin wrote: »

Ok, where to begin.

Playing this on my new "play test" toon, a level 5 CW.

Quick Question: What level / class combinations have you tested this at?


Starts off very promising. The dialogues in the Inn are fantastic, although the Inn itself could do with more decor I think. Once in to the Tunnels the story progresses nicely through dialogue with the Ghost.

But, that's where the trouble begins.

Room 1: Rotters - 6, maybe 8 groups "stacked" so that if you pull one you pull them all.

Room 2: Skeletons - long corridor with 5, or was it 6, encounters "stacked" that had I not been forewarned by Room 1 may well have killed me.

Room 3: Phantoms - "stacked", this time only two of them, so manageable.

Room 4: Yet more "stacked" mobs.

Room 5: Yet more "stacked" mobs.

None of the "stacks" of Rotters are pullable without pulling the entire room. I am thinking the long, alarmingly devoid of any detail, corridors are to give you room to run away from the "stacks" and pick them off piecemeal.

By the time I had got the 2nd corridor of "stacked" archers, soldiers and who knows what else at the end I had seen enough and pulled the escape handle.

Which is a shame, because you've clearly worked on the story and characters a great deal.

Now, the reason I posed that question at the start is because I am close to 100% certain that some of these "stacked" encounters are simply not possible to defeat solo on, for example, a high level (40+) GWF, I am sure my 51 GWF would have no chance; likewise my DC (47), and I'm not even sure my TR (57) could solo them to be honest.

The problem with "stacking" is that as the player gains levels the mobs do too, and at certain points they gain new powers, so that "stacking" just 2 identical encounters can be very, very problematic.

Now on to the Map: As I said I enjoyed the Inn immensely, the dialogues were excellent but the building itself could do with some more "decor".

The Tunnels: Most of the rooms are empty apart from a few token elements of decor, all of the corridors I saw were totally empty and "off the shelf". Even hanging a few cobwebs and changing the lighting can make all the difference. Throw in some dust, or fog and and the difference is even greater. It seems the Corridors were only there as a conduit down which to run while dealing with the wave after wave of stacked mobs. In some ways only doing the basics on Corridors is understandable, you move through them and rarely interact with them. Rooms are a different matter. Each room needs to be "taken care of", details added, perhaps use elements from other "room sets" to change the geography (I have used the Small-Cave set in Pt2 of my Campaign and every room has had its size and shape changed by using the "Rock Path" elements from the large Cave Set as walls etc.), add details with thought - nothing should be "random" - why are the barrels stacked there?, why is the rubble up against that wall?, why are the lights dimmer in that corner?, etc. And then, if possible as many rooms as possible should also progress the story a bit - a room that has nothing in it except a few random barrels / rubble etc and a combat but no story element is an opportunity wasted, and is a room that, in my opinion, really need not be there.

Now, I am sorry this sounds like harsh criticism, because I really, like the basic premise of the story, and I really, REALLY like the work you have done with the NPC dialogue in the Inn. If you can carry that creativity and attention to detail over to the "dungeon crawl" element in the Smuggler's Tunnels you'll have a sure-fire winner here. Strip out some of the "stacks", use encounter to progress the story, not hinder it, and give those rooms some love so they are part of the story, not just the "paper it is written on".

PS: Just to test my theory on how alarmingly over-stacked some of these encounters are I am about to run through again with my 57 TR.

EDIT: First Rotter "stack" downed my 57 TR in under 30 seconds, and I popped ever cooldown imaginable.

All The Best

Thank you very much for the detailed review. I really appreciate your criticism and ideas. That is the kind of input which will help make my quests better.

dojoro

dioriel wrote: »

Nice job! Only a couple things I noticed that might need looked at.

First, the platform thing where you get the first key is a bit too tall, so the player has to jump up on the platform to be able to click it. If you lowered it a bit, you could get activate it without the jumping to find line of sight.

Second, and this is may be just me...but Zombie rotters make me want to punch kittens. They hit disproportionately hard for their rank, and they always come in gigantic packs. I think I have died more often to packs of rotters than to any boss in the game. I would suggest you either remove some of them in the big aoe encounters, or use a different type of mob.

Those are the only two things, and they are really nitpicky, the quest is fine with or without those changes. I especially liked all the different characters in the inn, and the obvious care you took in creating all the flavor with the NPC chats, etc.

Now if you have a minute or 20, my quest needs reviews, too. Oh, and I'll run it again tomorrow to leave a tip. I thought my 24 hours was up, but it wasn't

Cool, I'm looking forward to running Arachnophobia.