New Finder Series starts with Losers Weepers

markfalcone

My apologies since I don't frequent the forums. If you would like quid pro quo, please feel free to drop me a line in game.

However...

Introducing my first work, Losers Weepers (NW-DUTBFV2UI) for your inspection. Appreciate any and all critiques as I want to really learn well how to use the Foundry and look forward to creating more works, including the second part coming soon, It Cults Both Ways (and yes, this will be an entry into the Cult of the Dragon contest currently ongoing).

Thank you.

wininoid

Hey,

I just played through and made some notes. Overall I quite enjoyed it. Interesting story.

Here are the notes I made:
-Consider searches along the coast, otherwise it is easy to ride around the fights and finish that map without doing anything.
-Put an invisible clicky in the doorway at the exit of the cave, don't have a random door magically appear.
-Start of Saurian Village: the walls look weird since they seem to be floating/have lots of gaps. Maybe use big rocks instead so it looks like a natural valley opening?
-There is a lot of time spent traveling between interactions. That feels boring as a player. Ideas: more things to do along the way (e.g. searching crates), tighten up zones so you don't run so far (put contact closer to zone gate, put telescope closer to entrance, etc.) Don't give the player so much down time.
-Make sure objects look OK, e.g. half of the telescope is floating. Move it to a flatter spot, add a rock or two under the floating part so it looks like it is on solid ground, etc. Do this for every object you place.
-The Saurian village was pretty small. Maybe expand it since they've been there a long time.
-When the elementals attack, the golems should help, yes? Maybe have golem corpses around to show they tried and failed.
-Avoid stacking encounters on top of each other. Players expect to fight one group at a time, and that is how the game is balanced. Maybe stack for a boss fight, but too many at once can make many people stop playing an adventure and/or not be able to get past the area to finish. The early zones were a bit on the encounters too spread out side and the final map had them stacked too closely.
-Ending was a bit of a let down. Since you can't accomplish your initial task, at least make it more clear you saved the day for the final contact. That lets the player feel like a hero even though they don't get the closure they expected.

I have a new quest as well, and I would appreciate a playthrough and review to help get out of the beta testing tab. Black Ice Capades NW-DNOZ488LI

Thanks.

markfalcone

Awesome suggestions. A few of them I knew weren't right, just wasn't sure how to go about fixing them. And unfortunately you're making me think my second installment may also be a bomb to some; to make the story flow more than for player likeability it has a lot of map changes. But I'll go over this list and see if I can't fix most of them.

As for the multiple groups, did that on purpose because others in the guild were saying it seemed too easy. I thought it was overkill myself, but then I tried it and found I could handle it with most of my assorted class characters, so I left it. What did you think of the final battle? Didn't want to slam all three at once on the player, but figured it could be a real challenge and maybe fun. I kind of like it, but it still feels off to me. Not sure why.

wininoid

I just rolled up a new character, so I happened to do it with a level 5 GF. I have the Greycloak weapon, so the fights were all super easy for me. But, I'm sure it would have been a challenge with my higher level characters.

I really prefer the chained groups like you did at the end. It makes for a long fight with no breaks, which makes it tough, but you don't get dogpiled like you do with a bunch of groups at once. With a huge mob, you can get chain stunned, etc. and get totally wasted. With a series of groups right after another, you can get overwhelmed but it always feels like you have a fighting chance.

My 2nd quest had lots of map changes and I got a bunch of dings for it in my ratings. Gotta learn the hard way. One thing you could do is have separate locations on one map and have teleports to get between them. Then you don't have so many loading screens, but it feels like you are traveling.

Feel free to hit me up if I'm online, or here about specific things. I'm always happy to talk shop.

markfalcone

Awesome ideas. Thanks. Looks like I have a lot of work to do. Just played My Best Friend's Evil Wedding. Things like that I look at and go "Where am I going to find the time?"...

wininoid

It gets quicker each time you do it. I can do a lot pretty fast now, but building custom areas and doing all the detail work takes forever still.

markfalcone

Still looking for more reviews. But if everyone thinks it looks up to entering to see if it can get featured, I guess it must be okay. (Everyone being less than 22 players so far.)