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[Feedback] Neverwinter Audio-related Feedback

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  • yokihiroyokihiro Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 510 Bounty Hunter
    edited September 2013
    since one of the last patches my audio often is missing shortly. it is not like i have no audio but for example 2 seconds are silent very often here and then. like you don't hear the sound of the finished quest or the ambient sound stops playing or whatever. bever had that issue before. since 2 weeks or so I have this problem
  • kwsapphirekwsapphire Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 671 Arc User
    edited October 2013
    In the Tower of Celadaine quest, in the area where there are the two Cyclops guards, if you go behind where the guards are standing to fight them, I often lose combat sounds there. Twice now I've been able to reproduce this bug.. just go behind the guards to fight them and there are a couple spots back there where combat sounds don't work.
    qtPt2I
  • spirals999spirals999 Member, NW_CrypticDev, Cryptic Developers Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2013
    kwsapphire wrote: »
    In the Tower of Celadaine quest, in the area where there are the two Cyclops guards, if you go behind where the guards are standing to fight them, I often lose combat sounds there. Twice now I've been able to reproduce this bug.. just go behind the guards to fight them and there are a couple spots back there where combat sounds don't work.

    We actually just looked at this room this week. This particular room is a known issue and we are working to resolve it as soon as possible.

    Thanks for calling it out Kwsapphire!
  • beckylunaticbeckylunatic Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 14,231 Arc User
    edited October 2013
    It seems like I lose audio for a moment right after using the TR skill Path of the Blade.
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  • gek1956gek1956 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2013
    First of all kudos on the game audio, I think its better aesthetically than either COX or CO. My immersion level is very high, particularly in outdoor areas.

    Second,you sound jockeys get an "A" for change/patch quality. If the rest of your team there could implement as well as you do there would be a lot less complaining and cmpin could get by with a lot less apologizing. Extremes like Nightmare Thursday have resulted in some HILARIOUS threads out here, but so far none have been about you. ;)

    One suggestion for mount/pet noise in PE. I have noticed that when I ride very close to Rhix that I will be involuntarily dismounted. That can be a very crowded area there and this works nicely to alleviate it. As far as I'm concerned, followers, pets/mounts should be involuntarily dismissed/dismounted when around both the Shrine of the Gods and the Auction House. Both noise and crowding would benefit from this. Even better for you, you wouldn't have to change anything soundwise, and it looks as if a mechanic of this nature already exists over by Rhix/Bazaar/Tarmalune.

    Ok, so much for the nice stuff, ;) now I have a complaint. It's the one noise in the game that DRIVES ME CRAZY. (well crazier, anyway) The Arcane Reservoir pool in Sharandar sounds exactly like a urinal in a public men's room when it activates. Which it does ALL THE TIME. When it's really busy it sounds like halftime at a freaking Knicks game in the Garden!!! Yes, people, right there in the middle of Sylvan paradise, side by side with sprites, elves, psychedelic mushrooms and mother nature herself.... PHHROOOOOOOOSH!!! I'm sorry if this sounds a bit intense, I'm not normally like this, and no I do not have POTTY issues, not any more anyway... but as Charlie Brown would say, "ARRRGGHHH". Can you help me with this? please...please... PLEASE?

    Whew. I feel better now. I'm OK. I'm fine.

    Seriously, you're doing a great job. Thank you and keep it up.
  • suxip01111suxip01111 Member Posts: 217 Arc User
    edited October 2013
    Different voices for your character would be nice, perhaps dependent on race. My Dwarf and my Tiefling sound exactly the same.

    I know we only hear various grunts and groans as the character jumps, takes damage, etc, but it would be a nice little addition.
  • spirals999spirals999 Member, NW_CrypticDev, Cryptic Developers Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2013
    gek1956 wrote: »
    First of all kudos on the game audio, I think its better aesthetically than either COX or CO. My immersion level is very high, particularly in outdoor areas.

    Second,you sound jockeys get an "A" for change/patch quality. If the rest of your team there could implement as well as you do there would be a lot less complaining and cmpin could get by with a lot less apologizing. Extremes like Nightmare Thursday have resulted in some HILARIOUS threads out here, but so far none have been about you. ;)

    Thank you so much! I made sure the whole audio team saw this great compliment :)
    gek1956 wrote: »
    One suggestion for mount/pet noise in PE. I have noticed that when I ride very close to Rhix that I will be involuntarily dismounted. That can be a very crowded area there and this works nicely to alleviate it. As far as I'm concerned, followers, pets/mounts should be involuntarily dismissed/dismounted when around both the Shrine of the Gods and the Auction House. Both noise and crowding would benefit from this. Even better for you, you wouldn't have to change anything soundwise, and it looks as if a mechanic of this nature already exists over by Rhix/Bazaar/Tarmalune.

    This suggestion certainly has merit. We will escalate this to production and see what can be done.
    gek1956 wrote: »
    Ok, so much for the nice stuff, ;) now I have a complaint. It's the one noise in the game that DRIVES ME CRAZY. (well crazier, anyway) The Arcane Reservoir pool in Sharandar sounds exactly like a urinal in a public men's room when it activates. Which it does ALL THE TIME. When it's really busy it sounds like halftime at a freaking Knicks game in the Garden!!! Yes, people, right there in the middle of Sylvan paradise, side by side with sprites, elves, psychedelic mushrooms and mother nature herself.... PHHROOOOOOOOSH!!! I'm sorry if this sounds a bit intense, I'm not normally like this, and no I do not have POTTY issues, not any more anyway... but as Charlie Brown would say, "ARRRGGHHH". Can you help me with this? please...please... PLEASE?


    Just took a look at this and we might be able to rework this. I agree it could be a bit less Flushy. Stay Tuned.


    Thanks so much for your great feedback and suggestions! Keep em coming.
  • zimwizzlezimwizzle Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    Overall I enjoy the audio in this game. It really adds to the immersion when you have sounds like the people talking, yelling, and bustling around in the city to make it feel full of life. I have one huge problem though.

    There's an NPC ability that drains your AP. I know it's cast by one of the Redcaps, the Powrie I think. That ability has an absolutely horrible, grating, high-pitched sound. It's painful to hear!

    Even if I turn the audio down low it sticks out as excessively loud among everything else. I have to completely turn off the audio every time I go to Sharandar so that the sound doesn't set off a migraine.

    The thing is, I really enjoy the audio in Sharandar, except for that one ridiculously painful sound. Is there anyway it could be changed to something less high-pitched and terrible?
  • spirals999spirals999 Member, NW_CrypticDev, Cryptic Developers Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    zimwizzle wrote: »
    Overall I enjoy the audio in this game. It really adds to the immersion when you have sounds like the people talking, yelling, and bustling around in the city to make it feel full of life. I have one huge problem though.

    There's an NPC ability that drains your AP. I know it's cast by one of the Redcaps, the Powrie I think. That ability has an absolutely horrible, grating, high-pitched sound. It's painful to hear!

    Even if I turn the audio down low it sticks out as excessively loud among everything else. I have to completely turn off the audio every time I go to Sharandar so that the sound doesn't set off a migraine.

    The thing is, I really enjoy the audio in Sharandar, except for that one ridiculously painful sound. Is there anyway it could be changed to something less high-pitched and terrible?

    Hi Zimwizzle,

    Thanks for the feedback! Sorry to hear that your experience in Sharandar is less awesome because of this sound. We'll take a look and see what we can do. It's quite possible that we might be able to make the experience more enjoyable for everyone.

    Thanks again!
  • zimwizzlezimwizzle Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    spirals999 wrote: »
    Thanks for the feedback! Sorry to hear that your experience in Sharandar is less awesome because of this sound. We'll take a look and see what we can do. It's quite possible that we might be able to make the experience more enjoyable for everyone.

    Thanks again!

    Wow. Thanks for the quick response. You guys have done a great job with the audio. It's nice of you to take our suggestions into consideration.

    Cheers.
  • spirals999spirals999 Member, NW_CrypticDev, Cryptic Developers Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    zimwizzle wrote: »
    Wow. Thanks for the quick response. You guys have done a great job with the audio. It's nice of you to take our suggestions into consideration.

    Heya thanks for the appreciation Zimwizzle! You'll be happy to know that we took a look at the powrie power you mentioned today and steps have been taken to make it much more bearable while in Sharandar. We hope this makes your game experience at least a little bit better!

    You should hear the change after the launch of Shadowmantle.
  • bendalekbendalek Member Posts: 1,983 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    I haven't plaid every location in NW, so I can't speak for everywhere in NW, but THE most annoying sound I've heard in game so far is made by the Acolyte of Kelemvor. Cant remember which one it is but I think it's the "Blessings of Kelemvor" one. She castes it every few **** seconds and it is driving me INSANE!!!

    Even in PE or around a Campfire she is casting the **** thing, please make it stop!!! I beg you, make this a "Silent Invocation" or something, or, seeing as how there is already an audio trigger when you enter combat, would it be possible to at least limit when she casts the blessing to only be during combat?

    If you want me to pay 10000 Zen for a "Silent Companion" token, I will gladly pay it!

    Otherwise I love the audio in MW, especially (perhaps intentional or not?) the way the audio changes on different maps,and most importantly different environments. The "echoing" effect in temples or sewers and the "muffled" audio in caves, it's amazing how something so simple can make a massive difference to the immersion, so well done to the Audio Team for this wonderful attention to detail.
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  • sockmunkeysockmunkey Member Posts: 4,622 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    Just want to point out that, your very complaint is getting fixed in a few days. Module 2 has a fix for the Cleric of Kelemvor, she will only cast her blessing spell while in combat, and it will be the first action she takes. No more zing zing zing zing while wandering around town.
  • kattefjaeskattefjaes Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 2,270 Bounty Hunter
    edited May 2014
    The volume on the new HR Pathfinder ability.. unnh, I just forgot the name.. The one that puts a crosshairs on the target (anyone? someone with actual memory that works?)

    The volume is far too loud, much louder than anything else in the game, and because HRs seem to spam it endlessly, it's quite headache-inducing. It probably needs a tweaking pass, knock the amplitude down at least 30%.

    It's really unpleasant, especially in headphones.
  • postagepaidpostagepaid Member Posts: 125 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    I'd split audio into 3 sections music, fx and voice

    Music is something I turned off fairly early on as it didnt really do anything to lift the game. A good soundtrack can work wonders to add various moods to a scenario but NW's just seems generic and almost as though it was transposed across from other cryptic titles like STO.

    FX for some of the skills are good. Melee hits sound like they have some weight to them and the spells sound like they have power. The HR seems to have got the tail end of the budget however with the plopping noise that comes with rain of arrows (which in fairness is more of an arrow drizzle given the area it doesnt cover) as the stand out culprit. Bow's work because the string is under tension and as such arrows sing, bowstrings have a taut sound to them when the arrow is loosed and impacts are certainly not a plop unless you fire into water with a blunt.

    Finally voice. Cryptic games can be incredibly hit and miss with the vocal work, neverwinter gain over STO by the fact they dont use known voices like Michael Dorn or Tim Russ. As an example check the recent sto dyson episode where you and tuvok are on a station with someone who you'll want to shove out an airlock as soon as they start talking. Neverwinter dredges the same depths with examples like the dread ring skirmish, a voice made worse by the fact you CANT SKIP CUTSCENES! IWD has strayed from the norm by having what appears to be a dwarf called Rory speaking with a female west country accent rather than the vomitting marbles that comes with the diabolical scots inflicted upon the dwarves.

    Dwarven mythology has germanic rooots so why someone thought they should massacre the scots accent at every attempt I don't know.

    Some of the voices arent bad however the range at which you can hear their chatter needs to be reduced. If you're stood 20+ metres away it shouldnt sound like they're right next to you. Likewise the repetition of some npc's is far too high given how limited their chatter is. This is something that was worked on during the beta with the companion who would announce to the entire world that a smart fighter doesnt know when to shut up.
  • thegrandexenothegrandexeno Member Posts: 239 Bounty Hunter
    edited May 2014
    My opinion:

    Music/Soundtrack: very good
    Voice Acting: excellent (imho, at least the interpretation)
    FX: very good, with a nice discovery: in Icepeak the sound of the whirling wind is the same as in Ultima VIII: Pagan. Nostalgic? Noo, more more!
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  • cedonlegacycedonlegacy Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 5 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Personally, I'd like to see a reduction of the howling wind's volume in Dread Ring near Phantasmal Fortress. Similarly, I'd like to see its volume reduced slightly but made more widespread in Icespire Peak.

    I'd also like it if something could be done about the sounds made by scrying stones. It can mesh a little with some ambient sounds and is itself an ambient sound. (I've got poor sight and do my searching for the stones based on audio.)

    Others have mentioned the muting sounds in the cyclops' room in ToC but there are a couple of places (near the walls typically) along the passage that makes up most of that level where the same thing happens.

    Finally, please change the sound of refinement failures. It grates so badly.

    Thanks for all the good work.
  • thegrandexenothegrandexeno Member Posts: 239 Bounty Hunter
    edited May 2014
    I'd also like it if something could be done about the sounds made by scrying stones. It can mesh a little with some ambient sounds and is itself an ambient sound. (I've got poor sight and do my searching for the stones based on audio.)

    If you ever need it, there is a thread about all the locations of the Scrying orbs :cool:
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  • spirals999spirals999 Member, NW_CrypticDev, Cryptic Developers Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Woohoo! 4 new posts!

    I check this thread every day and more often than not I find that nobody has posted anything new. So imagine how happy I was this morning when I find all this great feedback! Thanks guys! Keep it coming!. Now for my response:
    kattefjaes wrote: »
    The volume on the new HR Pathfinder ability... is far too loud... It's really unpleasant, especially in headphones.

    Hm. I'll check it out today. Thanks!


    To postagepaid:

    Wow, what a great write up. Thank you for your well-written feedback. I think you made your points succinctly and intelligently and we really appreciate that. Much of what you addressed is pretty broad and would require a general change of approach in how we handle those areas going forward. The NPC chatter radius however is something we may look into if we get a general consensus that it is too large.

    To thegrandexeno:

    Thanks for the feedback. I haven't played Ultima VIII: Pagan. However if you're able to recognize similar wind ambiance you've got quite the ear!
    Personally, I'd like to see a reduction of the howling wind's volume in Dread Ring near Phantasmal Fortress. Similarly, I'd like to see its volume reduced slightly but made more widespread in Icespire Peak.

    I'd also like it if something could be done about the sounds made by scrying stones.

    These things will be looked at today or this week.
    Others have mentioned the muting sounds in the cyclops' room in ToC but there are a couple of places (near the walls typically) along the passage that makes up most of that level where the same thing happens.

    That map has been a thorn in or side for a long time. The volumes need a complete overhaul and that's an environment artists job. Now that M3 is out hopefully I can sweet talk one of them into helping us with the map.
    Finally, please change the sound of refinement failures. It grates so badly.

    Noted. Will look into it.
    Thanks for all the good work.

    Thank you for the feedback!
  • dragoness10dragoness10 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 780 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    My mounts.

    I don't know if anyone else has the exact issue (I did try read back through the pages here), but sometimes I think they are levitating as I just cannot hear the hoofbeats/ pawpads of them when riding through Dread Ring, or other "flat dirt" I suppose you can call it.

    On a similar note when I am in the Tower of Celedaine there are places where the sounds cut out in part. I could hear the "oof oof" of my character and the main voices of the monsters, but a lot of the ambient noises cut out like the dagger slash noises.

    It's a bit hard to describe what you don't hear somewhere. This "omitting of part of the sounds" can also occur in other dungeons for me especially if there's a lot of spell casting or heavy melee going on.

    - Overall as effectiveness of the noises to help describe what's going on I think there have been some very good choices made by the devs here.
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  • spirals999spirals999 Member, NW_CrypticDev, Cryptic Developers Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2014

    I don't know if anyone else has the exact issue (I did try read back through the pages here), but sometimes I think they are levitating as I just cannot hear the hoofbeats/ pawpads of them when riding through Dread Ring, or other "flat dirt" I suppose you can call it.

    The footsteps for the mounts are pretty quiet and can easily be swallowed up by ambient noises. However, if you would be willing to give specific mounts and specific areas, it would make it easier for us to look into the issue and see if something is not working as intended.
    On a similar note when I am in the Tower of Celedaine there are places where the sounds cut out in part. I could hear the "oof oof" of my character and the main voices of the monsters, but a lot of the ambient noises cut out like the dagger slash noises.

    Yep. Tower of Celadaine needs a major overhaul. We've known for a while and still trying to get it fixed. Thanks!
  • unholydragonkingunholydragonking Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 147 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    spirals999 wrote: »
    The footsteps for the mounts are pretty quiet and can easily be swallowed up by ambient noises. However, if you would be willing to give specific mounts and specific areas, it would make it easier for us to look into the issue and see if something is not working as intended.

    Yeah, my Nightmare mount's hoof sounds will not play properly when riding over certain surfaces, for example the wooden Docks in Caer Konig, in fact any 'wood' surface like bridges etc, and area's of the Dread ring. When you first enter the Vanguard camp and a number of other places around the zone. Hope this helps you to find the cause of the problem.
  • hustin1hustin1 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 3,467 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    I don't know if this applies, but one strange thing I found about the audio is that it sounds a lot different (read: worse) in Win7. I typically play on Win2k (typing this on it now), but I gave it a try on a nearly identical Win7 laptop just to see how it played. The sound in Win7 was muddy, as if most of the treble was washed out. I even tried plugging in powered Yamaha speakers, and the result was the same. I did some searching around the web and it appears that Win7 wants to resample all sounds to a "standard" rate before playback, whereas 2k (and I presume XP) simply play sounds exactly as they were recorded. I would expect sounds like hoofbeats to contain a lot of frequencies toward the treble end, and if those were lost you would lose most of the sound effect.
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  • hustin1hustin1 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 3,467 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    azlanfox wrote: »
    One annoying thing that always slightly annoyed me was how companion voices, their 'just summoned' comment, could be heard through the descent down the portals cut scene when transitioning primary areas in the Chasm.

    Other then that, I've no major complaints or issues.

    The Aranea does that after every single fight -- I call her the "fortune cookie" companion, as she always has some little "word of wisdom" that she insists I hear after anything remotely eventful. After a while I just have to mute the speakers.
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  • shiikuushiikuu Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 65
    edited May 2014
    Some of the voices arent bad however the range at which you can hear their chatter needs to be reduced.[...] Likewise the repetition of some npc's is far too high given how limited their chatter is. [...]
    spirals999 wrote: »
    The NPC chatter radius however is something we may look into if we get a general consensus that it is too large.

    i too think that the radius/repetition of the chatter is to high/often, especial when you stand in Dread Ring by the fire/Sharandar by the shrine in the main camp, try standing there for 3min.
    also when you login you will get immediately some chatter, which get really annoying when you switch chars to pray/craft at those locations
  • hustin1hustin1 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 3,467 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    shiikuu wrote: »
    i too think that the radius/repetition of the chatter is to high/often, especial when you stand in Dread Ring by the fire/Sharandar by the shrine in the main camp, try standing there for 3min.
    also when you login you will get immediately some chatter, which get really annoying when you switch chars to pray/craft at those locations

    I think the radius is fine for combat dialogue ("Rip your guts!") since monsters tend to be farther away and if it was lowered you wouldn't be able to make it out. The annoyances seem to come from non-combatant dialogue since you tend to be standing in the same place for a while and hear it over and over again (and in Dread Ring, it's too loud overall; they drown each other out). Ideally, we'd have an audio slider for each. I'd leave combat dialogue as-is and cut noncombatant dialogue to half its radius.
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  • nedruodnedruod Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 31
    edited May 2014
    I would like the ability to adjust the volume of the quest turn-in notification. It's quite loud in comparison to other games sounds and I think most of us have heard it a few too many times. Along the same lines, the horse mount/dismount sounds, and the cleric divine/non-divine transition.
  • spirals999spirals999 Member, NW_CrypticDev, Cryptic Developers Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    We've made a few audio adjustments to make note of:


    The HR Pathfinder ability: Careful Attack has had its volume lowered. (a couple other pathfinder abailities have had their volume adjusted slightly as well.)


    The Silverback bear no longer whinnies like a horse when summoned.

    Sgt Knox no longer has 2D callouts with an infinite radius in Dread ring

    These fixes should go out in the next couple of patches.


    Tower of Celadaine has finally been fixed. (But the change won't go out until M4 unfortunately).

    Thanks!
  • docsc00terdocsc00ter Member Posts: 291 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    spirals999 wrote: »
    The Silverback bear no longer whinnies like a horse when summoned.

    YAY! Thank you! :D
  • beckylunaticbeckylunatic Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 14,231 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    This thread didn't really take off, but I thought I'd link it up
    http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?679561-Sounds-you-like
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