Foundry Quests - What's the deal ???

saskdaddy

I have only been playing this game 2 weeks. Now that my character is level 70, I am trying to get all the boons from the campaigns, these require a good deal of AD so I am doing the quests for bonus AD... this includes the foundry quests.

Now, before I say anything else, I do want to say I think it's an amazing idea letting players create instances. I've never seen player created content in a game before, and I think it's a really good idea. My only question is, are these checked before they are put into the game?

The reason I ask, is I have found several errors that seem to repeat themselves in various Foundry Quests, and I'm wondering if it's because of errors creating them, or errors after they get introduced into the game. I'd like to list the things I found, and see what other players have to say... if they're experiencing the same things, etc etc...

AUTO PATHWAYS: The glowing yellow line you follow to destinations.... they don't work most times. They lead into walls, or up cliffs you can't climb, etc etc... Most of the Foundry Quests I did with it turned off, because it leads me so badly astray. More than once I've had to use the GM Help - Defeat Me because I got lead somewhere I couldn't get out from. This is probably after the instance is put into the game, and no fault of the instance creator, but I'm not sure.

TRAPS: Simply put, if you step on one, you die. They do not let you off again. I can't walk off, I can't use dodge (roll) as a TR, there's literally no way to get off the trap once you've stepped on it. Not only do you die, but you get a TON of injuries from it. I have had to use upwards of 8 remedies to heal all the injuries I got from a single trap, once it was done killing me and I respawned.

TINY AREAS: 95% of the areas I've have had to fight adds were tiny little rooms, or worse, small hallways. As a TR, this is brutal because there's nowhere for me to dodge (roll) to. I have literally had to hit adds once, then beeline back a long ways, in order to get into a space where I can actually move around and fight.

PHANTOM NPCS: More than once I've had to leave a Foundry Quest incompleted, because I was directed to go to an NPC that simply isn't to be found. I go to the marker on the map where it says the NPC is, but there's nothing there. I can't advance the quest line, and have no choice but to leave.

HIGHLIGHTED OBJECTS: Those glowing things you're meant to click on. I've found a ton of them that serve absolutely no purpose. They are not part of the quest line, and clicking on them gives you a pop up window that simply says "Hmm". Why are they even in the instance?

On average, in the 3 days I've been doing Foundry Quests for the bonus AD... it has taken me approximately 10 quests per day to find 4 that can actually be completed. I'm wondering why the ones that cannot be completed are in the game. Were they checked before being put into the game? Did errors occur after they were put in and just haven't been corrected as yet? Or...? The biggest problem with the quests that cannot be completed because of one error or another, is you cannot "comment" on the instance to say there's an error, because you didn't complete the quest. This should be changed. If there's an error, I'm sure the person that created the quest would like to see it fixed. But how do you tell them if you cannot leave a comment? Yes, I suppose I could send an email, but far easier to be able to just leave a comment saying "this or that doesn't seem to work".

zbkolde

saskdaddy wrote: »

AUTO PATHWAYS: The glowing yellow line you follow to destinations.... they don't work most times. They lead into walls, or up cliffs you can't climb, etc etc... Most of the Foundry Quests I did with it turned off, because it leads me so badly astray. More than once I've had to use the GM Help - Defeat Me because I got lead somewhere I couldn't get out from. This is probably after the instance is put into the game, and no fault of the instance creator, but I'm not sure.

Foundry authors cannot control where the glowing line goes. Most likely, in quests made by authors who care about the craft, the text and dialog tells you where to go. You have to pay attention to what the text says. Good foundry quests are more sophisticated than just "follow the sparkles and kill something."

...

saskdaddy wrote: »

TRAPS: Simply put, if you step on one, you die. They do not let you off again. I can't walk off, I can't use dodge (roll) as a TR, there's literally no way to get off the trap once you've stepped on it. Not only do you die, but you get a TON of injuries from it. I have had to use upwards of 8 remedies to heal all the injuries I got from a single trap, once it was done killing me and I respawned.

I never personally used any traps, but I know there were issues with them. Someone else may be able to answer this.

...

saskdaddy wrote: »

TINY AREAS: 95% of the areas I've have had to fight adds were tiny little rooms, or worse, small hallways. As a TR, this is brutal because there's nowhere for me to dodge (roll) to. I have literally had to hit adds once, then beeline back a long ways, in order to get into a space where I can actually move around and fight.

This would be a decision by the foundry author on placement of the enemy mobs. Not everyone thinks through these sort of details when creating.

...

saskdaddy wrote: »

PHANTOM NPCS: More than once I've had to leave a Foundry Quest incompleted, because I was directed to go to an NPC that simply isn't to be found. I go to the marker on the map where it says the NPC is, but there's nothing there. I can't advance the quest line, and have no choice but to leave.

Every single module for Neverwinter has caused new bugs into the foundry. They would remove features, change rules, break things, et cetera. Lots of quests were broken because of these changes, and lots of authors got tired of fixing them over and over and just walked away. If the quest you're doing has a lot of plays and reviews, indicating that at some point in time it was completable, then it's likely it was broken and not repaired.

...

saskdaddy wrote: »

HIGHLIGHTED OBJECTS: Those glowing things you're meant to click on. I've found a ton of them that serve absolutely no purpose. They are not part of the quest line, and clicking on them gives you a pop up window that simply says "Hmm". Why are they even in the instance?

Sometimes these items are placed for role-playing purposes or just interesting non-relevant activities. Or, if the quest has told you to find a certain item, there may be decoy items placed around for challenge. Again, you have to actually read the text the author has written out for you.

...

saskdaddy wrote: »

On average, in the 3 days I've been doing Foundry Quests for the bonus AD... it has taken me approximately 10 quests per day to find 4 that can actually be completed. I'm wondering why the ones that cannot be completed are in the game. Were they checked before being put into the game? Did errors occur after they were put in and just haven't been corrected as yet? Or...? The biggest problem with the quests that cannot be completed because of one error or another, is you cannot "comment" on the instance to say there's an error, because you didn't complete the quest. This should be changed. If there's an error, I'm sure the person that created the quest would like to see it fixed. But how do you tell them if you cannot leave a comment? Yes, I suppose I could send an email, but far easier to be able to just leave a comment saying "this or that doesn't seem to work".

Because a lot of authors, like myself, have walked away. So many bugs and changes to the foundry have made it very difficult and frustrating for the legitimate, creative authors to make anything new, it got tiring having to go back and repair or change our old quests after the new update broke them, and a lot of us just gave up. I took the time to log back into the game and unpublish all of my quests, but not everyone does. The foundry was just too neglected and mistreated. Yes I'm disgruntled, because I put months of my life into my foundries, only to have them steadily damaged or destroyed by the modules and updates. If you want to understand what's happening inside the foundries, try making one yourself, see it from the author's perspective.

valcontar73

Traps doesn't work properly, even if you are a TR and disarm them, they continue to work. That's Cryptic's fault, NOT author's fault. We asked for a fix since beta, but you know what? It always falls in deaf ears.

Oh sorry! I forgot! There is a fix for all traps: Go VIP.

And yes, usually every new mod adds new bugs to the foundry.

maegmaag

• Fairy Trails sometimes dont work "properly" even on official maps. Author has to not only optimize the map, but adjust the level design from its start for it to work (at least partially). But i doubt there is more than a couple of authors actually knowing how to do it and even less of those who would ever waste that much time and details budget.
• Traps cant hold u permanently per se. If u run into a spike trap that roots u permanently, then its authors fault/intention and its caused by stacking such traps (this should not be possible now, so tmay be a problem of old quests, but i never tested it tho).
• Tiny Areas - sad story rly i hear u...not. If there are too many mobs, then again its authors fault/bad design of stacking encounters.
• NPCs may drop under geometry or terrain, its authors fault simply because it should be tested. Also some objectives may be deliberately made inaccessible for the very reason of the quest being unfinishable. Bad practice, bad author - if its published for testing only, it should be in the description.
• Interactables with "hm" are just unfinished probably, but saying "serve absolutely no purpose" because its not part of "quest line" and are not mandatory for the progress is plain ignorant.

Overall, majority of the quests are HAMSTER, made of prebuilt detailed maps with a trivial storyboard and mere randomly placed encounters, with no effort put into it. That causes plenty of issues itself. Still the finishable/unfinishable ratio is much better now compared to what it used to be year+ ago, just the quality is the same in average. Authors should use the quest description to inform players about the quest state and its type.

I as well wasted hours upon hours trying various foundries and u have to either deal with the fact only one out of ~10 is worth playing, or not play foundries at all. That said, i never ran foundries for the dailies and am pretty hard to please (i rarely gave all 5 stars). Plenty of foundries are "optimized" for only one thing: 15 minutes play time, to make them eligible for daily quest. There may be quests finishable only to "knowledgeable" so they cant be downrated or reported, etc.

The quests/maps are tested for some things during building, but if something does not work when published, then its authors fault, unless the quest or its part became broken due to some patch (mod upgrade usually).

iandarksword

Mine works fine. It finally re-published, so I did my usual post module release walk through. Often times a new module release will change collision with certain floors or objects that had collision prior to the module. (The Blackdagger floor where you walk a foot above it comes to mind.) It's become a common problem that module releases break quests. It is perfectly fine to email an author if you find something that doesn't seem to be working correctly. Unfortunately, if the quest that you find broken has been Featured, there is no way for the author to edit the Featured copy. They may fix and update their original quest, but you'll have to search for it manually. The editor is unavailable for an undetermined amount of time following a Module release, so it may be some time before authors can get in and fix what is broken (that's if they are still around to fix it.)

saskdaddy

zbkolde wrote: »

Because a lot of authors, like myself, have walked away. So many bugs and changes to the foundry have made it very difficult and frustrating for the legitimate, creative authors to make anything new, it got tiring having to go back and repair or change our old quests after the new update broke them, and a lot of us just gave up. I took the time to log back into the game and unpublish all of my quests, but not everyone does. The foundry was just too neglected and mistreated. Yes I'm disgruntled, because I put months of my life into my foundries, only to have them steadily damaged or destroyed by the modules and updates. If you want to understand what's happening inside the foundries, try making one yourself, see it from the author's perspective.

Your post was really informative, thanks a lot. I figured it was not the original authors fault, but I didn't know. I can well understand the frustration of repeatedly fixing something you didn't break, I feel for you. I do think player content is an amazing idea, it's a shame they've let it go to HAMSTER... thanks for your input.

saskdaddy

maegmaag wrote: »

Overall, majority of the quests are HAMSTER, made of prebuilt detailed maps with a trivial storyboard and mere randomly placed encounters, with no effort put into it. That causes plenty of issues itself. Still the finishable/unfinishable ratio is much better now compared to what it used to be year+ ago, just the quality is the same in average. Authors should use the quest description to inform players about the quest state and its type.

I as well wasted hours upon hours trying various foundries and u have to either deal with the fact only one out of ~10 is worth playing, or not play foundries at all. That said, i never ran foundries for the dailies and am pretty hard to please (i rarely gave all 5 stars). Plenty of foundries are "optimized" for only one thing: 15 minutes play time, to make them eligible for daily quest. There may be quests finishable only to "knowledgeable" so they cant be downrated or reported, etc.

The quests/maps are tested for some things during building, but if something does not work when published, then its authors fault, unless the quest or its part became broken due to some patch (mod upgrade usually).

The previous post said much the same thing. I really feel badly for those that put in the time and effort to make something for others, only to see the game ruin it... my apologies if I came off like I was complaining, I wasn't. Frustrated yes, but not at those I figured were not at fault. Thanks for your input.

saskdaddy

iandarksword wrote: »

Mine works fine. It finally re-published, so I did my usual post module release walk through. Often times a new module release will change collision with certain floors or objects that had collision prior to the module. (The Blackdagger floor where you walk a foot above it comes to mind.) It's become a common problem that module releases break quests. It is perfectly fine to email an author if you find something that doesn't seem to be working correctly. Unfortunately, if the quest that you find broken has been Featured, there is no way for the author to edit the Featured copy. They may fix and update their original quest, but you'll have to search for it manually. The editor is unavailable for an undetermined amount of time following a Module release, so it may be some time before authors can get in and fix what is broken (that's if they are still around to fix it.)

I very much want to complete the 4 Foundry Quests daily for the bonus AD. Since my toon is being 'developed', they are a godsend. I will most certainly search for and play your Foundry Quest, I wrote the name down so I'd remember... thanks for your input.

iandarksword

@saskdaddy The Stat curves the developers implemented for Mod 6 made mine a little extra difficult for fresh level 70 characters. When mod 6 was released, the kobolds were killing me (yes, me the author) left and right. It gets easier as you get better gear (Alliance, Elemental Alliance, and eventually Elven.) It is able to be completed with each of those gear choices, but you may need to survey certain objectives before partaking in combat, separate mobs by the group so you don't get overwhelmed. It may also be helpful to duo the quest with another player, but the end portal bugs with a group. (Use the Arrow through the Door button near the Mini-Map after you review to exit if this is the case.) The "Boss" is designed to be a tough fight, bring injury kits you'll probably need quite a few of them. Once they implement the changes to difficulty they've advertised, it may get much easier. If you get too frustrated, send me a friend invite and I'll come walk you through some strategies to approach the tougher fights.

mrgiggles65

saskdaddy wrote: »

TRAPS: Simply put, if you step on one, you die. They do not let you off again. I can't walk off, I can't use dodge (roll) as a TR, there's literally no way to get off the trap once you've stepped on it. Not only do you die, but you get a TON of injuries from it. I have had to use upwards of 8 remedies to heal all the injuries I got from a single trap, once it was done killing me and I respawned.

Traps used to not do proportional damage, so they were basically pointless except for very low level characters. As a result some authors stacked them to get decent damage against higher level characters. Then there was a bug where you could get stuck in place by multiple spike traps and be unable to get off them (not fixed as far as I know). Then Cryptic made traps cause injuries. That caused what you experienced.

Cryptic doesn't check every Foundry after every big update (nor could they). Thus, Foundries that may have worked at some point no longer do. If the author is gone, or not checking on them after updates, they won't realize it. The best you can do is send the author an ingame email.

eldarth

Even a single spike trap can usually permanently make a character stuck - it seems there is only a tiny little window of time (like 1/10th of a second) when you can move/dodge off a spike trap. If you don't dodge in that instant, you get caught again for another round of damage/paralysis. That's why most experienced authors don't using any spike traps.

Also, as mentioned Foundry is FULL of bugs that authors have no control over.

Sparkly path is also nearly worthless in any heavily modified foundry -- in my "Rise of Ingeloakastimizilian" quest the sparkly trail was leading directly through giant cliffs and even right through 1000'x1000' invisible walls. My only option was to disable it for that portion.

Also, your best bet for finding quests that you'd enjoy are to post requests in the foundry topic - plenty of people will off suggestions - then when you find something you like, subscribe to the author as they will often have other quests you'll probably enjoy.

Oh, also as mentioned "featured" quests may not be the latest version - when you want to play a featured quest ALWAYS search by the author and see if there are later/updated versions -- I think I've got four outdated versions of "Old Magic" that are featured and contain minor bugs that have long been fixed and several improvements.​​

angrysprite

95% of the O/P complaints are HAMSTER-poor designs; the Author's fault
(even the screwy sparkly path: Author's fault - well-designed quests don't have that issue.)
The rest (i.e.: Traps) are bugs.

@O/P: Keep looking. The really well designed quests are in there, but hard to find. When you do find one, try to remember the name of it again, then list it in the catalogue and subscribe to that author. If an author creates an awesome quest it's not an awesome quest, it's an awesome author. And that's how you find the best there is.

saskdaddy

eldarth wrote: »

Even a single spike trap can usually permanently make a character stuck - it seems there is only a tiny little window of time (like 1/10th of a second) when you can move/dodge off a spike trap. If you don't dodge in that instant, you get caught again for another round of damage/paralysis. That's why most experienced authors don't using any spike traps.

Also, as mentioned Foundry is FULL of bugs that authors have no control over.

Sparkly path is also nearly worthless in any heavily modified foundry -- in my "Rise of Ingeloakastimizilian" quest the sparkly trail was leading directly through giant cliffs and even right through 1000'x1000' invisible walls. My only option was to disable it for that portion.

Also, your best bet for finding quests that you'd enjoy are to post requests in the foundry topic - plenty of people will off suggestions - then when you find something you like, subscribe to the author as they will often have other quests you'll probably enjoy.

Oh, also as mentioned "featured" quests may not be the latest version - when you want to play a featured quest ALWAYS search by the author and see if there are later/updated versions -- I think I've got four outdated versions of "Old Magic" that are featured and contain minor bugs that have long been fixed and several improvements.​​

Maybe because I'm new and not super fantastic on my toon yet, I was not able even once to get off a trap I had triggered. The worst one caused me to use 8 remedies to remove all the injuries I sustained from it. I went from 65K HP to 0 in about 9-10 hits from the trap, each once causing a new injury or an existing injury to become 'serious'.

I quickly learned disabling the 'sparkly path' made life in Foundry Quests much easier and a lot less frustrating.

saskdaddy

angrysprite wrote: »

95% of the O/P complaints are HAMSTER-poor designs; the Author's fault
(even the screwy sparkly path: Author's fault - well-designed quests don't have that issue.)
The rest (i.e.: Traps) are bugs.

@O/P: Keep looking. The really well designed quests are in there, but hard to find. When you do find one, try to remember the name of it again, then list it in the catalogue and subscribe to that author. If an author creates an awesome quest it's not an awesome quest, it's an awesome author. And that's how you find the best there is.

Excellent advice, thanks! I found 4 Foundry quests that not only work and can be completed, they were tons of fun. I did not 'subscribe' though, but I will, and thanks for the good advice. For what it's worth, the following are the 4 Foundry Quests I did (and will be doing daily) for the bonus AD...

The Whispers from the Void A Clash of Wills Whispers of an Ancient Evil [v2] Frozen Follies

Frozen Follies was probably my fave. It starts off outdoors in a winter setting and there's real ice with the snow! Nothing funnier than watching a troll runt trying to run up and attack you, and sliding right on past while you whack him a time or two in the gnads. Both me and my pet, and all the adds sliding around trying to kill one another, made it absolutely hilarious and a blast to play. If anyone knows of any other Foundry Quests where you slide around like that, I'd be happy to hear of them.

Thanks to everyone for your input and ideas, I do appreciate it.

charononus

saskdaddy wrote: »

TINY AREAS: 95% of the areas I've have had to fight adds were tiny little rooms, or worse, small hallways. As a TR, this is brutal because there's nowhere for me to dodge (roll) to. I have literally had to hit adds once, then beeline back a long ways, in order to get into a space where I can actually move around and fight.

This isn't always a mistake. I used to search out maps like this because tons of mobs in a tight space where there is no room to dodge was the only way foundries had to kill a player.

torontodave

You could try mine.

If you have a problem with them, your character's prolly a sissy. ;D

valcontar73

For example, we cannot do multiple levels of a cave, instead, we can use an outdoor map to create a cave with ramps, but then, what happens if the player or an enemy "Kill objective" falls down? You can't complete the quest, so I usually use a sky map with a death plane. so if anyone falls down, they die.

For example:
(sorry for the pop-ups) How to do a map with multiple levels:

The Lost Seneschal, act 2

The Drowned Shore:






Finished quest, but still with some bugs, now they're all fixed: The Drowned Shore: Disembark

Testing a Hole Trap:

This screenshots are not the finished map, just work in progress, as you can see, sometimes you easily reach the cap level of 1700 objects per map. And you need to test it several times to make everything is ok.

It happened to a player that one enemy didn't fall to the end and didn't die, neither was reachable to kill, it happens 1/100 (and yeah maybe is lack of good design, but I want to make the player feel the sensation of void or vertigo).

We cannot foresee all situations that may occur in a scenario with all classes and skills available in the game. But I always read the reviews and if something is going very, very wrong, I always try to fix it.

beckylunatic

The /stuck command usually works to dislodge yourself from a spike trap in Foundry if you blunder into one. It moves you over a little bit.