Official Feedback Thread: River District Introduction Quests

commanderander

Hi everyone! Sean “Commander Ander” McCann here, and this is the feedback thread for the following quests:

Chapter 1: River District Unveiling
Chapter 2: A Crown for the King
Chapter 3: Going Undercover
Chapter 4: The Missing Link
Chapter 5: Ascendancy's End

Known Issues
- VO has not been hooked up.

Access
Players can access these quests at level 70. Speak with Lord Neverember to begin.

Feedback Desired
We’d like you all to focus on playing these instances and finding any potential issues with them. Did you find any issues? Let us know!
If you find a bug or have feedback, please follow the guidelines below when posting:
• Respond to this forum post.
• Type: Bug/Feedback (Please only choose one)
• Spec: (Please enter the spec that you are providing feedback for here)
• Format: Please use “Bold” face text for the Type & Spec then type your feedback in the body of your post. If you are listing a bug please have this text in RED, if you are posting an opinion or feedback please use BLUE.
• (Bonus: Concise Feedback & Screen Shots are much appreciated)

Examples:
Bug: Lord Neverember's Dialog
Lord Neverember referred to himself as Bill. Lord Neverember isn't Bill. Please stay focused, Commander Ander! Sheesh.

Feedback: Quest: Chapter 4: The Missing Link
I wanted more link puns out of this quest. Please deliver!

beckylunatic

Feedback: General: quests thus far
I'm a pretty slow player to begin with and haven't been putting in a whole lot of time on preview, so I am not up to the point where everyone else has gotten stuck. There's a story! I am excited about that. What I did last night was a sequence where I collect some resources and buy a map and check out one of the lairs, and that was an acceptable introduction of new systems and mechanics, not the most engaging quest, but a straightforward and probably necessary "how this works". The next set of quests from Kavatos look very suspiciously like they will become repeatable quests (go kill 10 mobs and twiddle some interact points), which was an extremely aggravating aspect of SKT and SoMI in particular. I may prove to be mistaken, but stringing a bunch of non-repeatable versions of future dailies together as part of a story arc just ends up feeling tedious. Having a set of dailies as part of the intro to older campaigns works because they are fast and there is relatively little story anyway. With campaigns that actually are set up to be story-based, while both the travel and the combat involved in dailies (and repurposed dailies) take ever longer, they serve as padding.

Feedback: General: quest rewards
It is disappointing thus far to see only modest amounts of XP and gold as quest rewards. SKT's intros to the initial 3 zones had additional rewards that were useful (campaign currency, refining stones, insignias), which were sorely missing from the excruciatingly boring introduction to SoMI (aka. every daily, 2 at a time... maybe forever idk?). The Maze Engine offered resonance stones (blue/green) and a really tiny amount of AD (600/400) for both chapter quests and dailies, and yet this was a huge positive step as far as making routine questing more rewarding went. SoMI and now Cloaked Ascendancy feel like they are going backwards for not offering anything but XP and gold, not even a scrap of campaign currency. Also of note, even that small amount of AD on dailies does make a QoL difference for players who don't/can't/won't do group content.

Feedback: General: un/droppable quest cautioning
Because some players inevitably start a campaign and then stop doing it for whatever reason and drop the associated missions (not me! my journal is a disaster zone), make sure safeguards are in place to either always allow quests to be picked up again anywhere you left off, or forbid dropping quests. The former is probably better based on my guess that these chapters represent several hours of play to get through and fresh 70s will tackle them and find they have to retreat.

beckylunatic

Apparently I am well past what this thread is intended to focus on. Most feedback went into the notes thread.

I do seem to have possibly been mistaken about the sequence of quests from Kavatos. Got back into plot intrigue shortly thereafter.

brewald

Bug: Chapter 2: A Crown for the King
The orientation of the character is opposite to the door when opening animation.

Feedback: Chapter 4: The Missing Link
The hit points of mobs isn't sufficient, need to up them to lvl 70.

urabask

I'm sick of having to do hours of intro quests every mod just to get to the point that I can play the actual content for that mod. I understand that it may not be possible at this point to make it optional for mod 11 but I'd much rather not have to waste time on intro quests if I don't have to. I ran through parts of it on preview and most of it seems self explanatory. Gating progress behind intro quests just means that I have to waste a day or two getting my toons through it before I can run content with my guild.

hustin1

Bug: Chapter 4: The Missing Link
The cult leader in the Cathedral of Madness died rather unexpectedly. One arrow: down. It should not have been THAT easy.

After looking at the scroll, in the dialogue with Linkletter his lips don't move as he is speaking. It looks odd.

beckylunatic

As Sean has already replied to the patch note thread that the one-shotting of FEARMYAWESOMEPOWUH was an intentional bit of humour, maybe a slight further nudge in the ribs for players would help with recognition that it really is a joke and not a bug. Either give the NPC an obviously silly name or add an achievement like "Hubris Slayer"?

warpet

think mobs in new quest line and whole zone should have lower lvl i hate idea of lvl 73 mobs in zones and quest because they are still easy for us old players and dpsers while lvl 73 mobs makes game frustrating for new players and supports

beckylunatic

warpet said:

think mobs in new quest line and whole zone should have lower lvl i hate idea of lvl 73 mobs in zones and quest because they are still easy for us old players and dpsers while lvl 73 mobs makes game frustrating for new players and supports

I don't agree with this as the story is set after SKT and SoMI. While it is possible to play modules out of sequence with the open design of an MMO, difficulty is one way of trying to herd players in a direction such that the plot mostly still makes sense.

hustin1

Fun fact: when you do the quest to return to the Lynching Tree, there is still a gnoll Fang hiding in the far corner (by the Kelemvor banner that you can still use to keep the dead from rising). I guess he was the smart one and hid when we went there the last time

On another note, I'm glad that I don't have to kill any more redcaps. For me that would be heartbreaking (and somewhat nonsensical since there are no Fomorians involved, and they created the redcaps in the first place).

hustin1

Feedback: Hawthidon's first sewer quest
I found part of the sewer quest somewhat confusing. When you reach the treasure room and loot a couple of things, the waves of enemies keep coming while the quest tracker tells you to return to the river district. It should tell you to defeat the reinforcements so you know to stick around and loot the large treasure pile afterward.

hustin1

Feedback: introduction quests in general
I had a thought a little while ago about the chapter quests in general. From everything I've seen since mod 8, people *really* enjoy the storytelling part, especially when your player is explicitly included in the story. I found the four intro quests really enjoyable, but please, don't stop with just four. This is for two reasons: first is that they really are enjoyable, and second, because they can help break the monotony. Instead of front-loading all of the chapter quests, have more become unlocked as we progress through the campaign. Ideally, by the end we'll have seen at least a dozen "deep story" quests.

ironzerg79

I just started this morning going through the intro quests, but I'm super pleased with the first two chapters.

Feedback: End of Chapter 2: That last touch is what makes this a D&D game. Well played, MK, well played indeed. These are the little touches that only a D&D game can pull off, and each one is like a little love note to the fans.

mistran

quest: the lychin tree

bug: there is no quest tracker leading you to the exit when completing the quest

hitmark

Err, is it just me or are those dryads that portal in during chapter 2 hitting for some 20k+?

Holy power creep batman...

beckylunatic

hitmark said:

Err, is it just me or are those dryads that portal in during chapter 2 hitting for some 20k+?

Holy power creep batman...

Don't stand in Rain of Arrows, especially not if you're being debuffed too. I think they're reasonable.

floppies

bug?
hmm, i completed now the (until now) bugged tower quest, and returned to river district to questgiver. but what next?
I have only 2 blue Quests in Journal and noone will offer me fresh yellows..

Lord neverember seems to have chapter 5 quest, but he is not willing to give it to me..
no clue what to do now..

melinden

I'm very happy you have had the chance to go back and dig into the core story. I enjoyed the four chapters very much. More would be wonderful. Maybe at a midway point in the campaign?

hustin1

Bug: You can't replay the first intro quest
If you go to Neverember and attempt to replay the first intro quest, it turns out to be impossible. While you can select the quest, when you try to go to the River District, it takes you to the normal one (assuming you have unlocked it) instead of to the intro one.

hustin1

Bug: Chapter 4: Portal appears too early
I don't know if this happens the first time or only if you replay the quest, but in the Chasm, the portal to take you deeper into the Chasm is available before you talk to Linkletter. I don't believe this should be the case.

beckylunatic

hustin1 said:

Bug: You can't replay the first intro quest
If you go to Neverember and attempt to replay the first intro quest, it turns out to be impossible. While you can select the quest, when you try to go to the River District, it takes you to the normal one (assuming you have unlocked it) instead of to the intro one.

This is also going to be a problem with missed achievements. I never found a dummy to throw a water balloon at during my first run, though apparently they are around somewhere.

treesclimber

Bug
On chapter 3 going undercover mobs dont scale to player level. Me lvl 70, mobs lvl 65, 66, 59

Bug
On chapter 4 missing link in the cathedral only the cultist leader head appears in the cut scene, camera is too elevated

Bug
On chapter 4 missing link in the cathedral cultist leader not scaling properly to player level

Feedback
Chapter 2: A Crown for the King : our character plays the claping animation when the mean tree lady appears....it's weird

Feedback
Chapter 2: The Fireplace point should work as respawn point and not just only the beggining of the vault...it's quite a long walk =/

hustin1

The animation the player character does when Nostura appears isn't a clapping animation: the player is waving her hands back and forth to signal "no" to Neverember.

hustin1

Feedback: Inconsistent dialogue in Chapter 3: Going Undercover
The opening dialogue reads as if you're speaking with Kavatos, but (at least when you replay it) you're getting it from Neverember. As long as the quest initially comes from Kavatos this is probably fine, but perhaps someone should double-check.

When you first go up to the hideout in Blacklake, you're given a dialogue option: "Out of...curiosity, why do you think ____ would be so scared?" This doesn't really follow, since in his dialogue there is no implication that you would be scared; he only mentions that the men are scared of you.

Later on, when you begin talking to Kabal, you're given this option: "I'd prefer to hear from you himself. You seem to follow Gyrion. Why?" Two parts of this don't read right to me: "from you himself" and "you seem to follow Gyrion". If I was writing this I might word it as, "I'd prefer to hear from you. You seem willing to follow Gyrion. Why?"

Same mission: when speaking with Gyrion...

In response to "Are you really the heir of Lord Nasher?" he respons with, "I didnt believe it myself. The Far Realm have a way..." I think this should read as "has a way".

commanderander

Thank you for the feedback and hard work to track down these bugs!

Re: level scaling, we purposefully set the levels lower on certain enemies that we wanted to be easier.

I'll be looking into the other bugs mentioned, as well as the text inconsistencies, today.

hustin1

Bug: Top half of Nostura disappears
When you first encounter Nostura, in the last part of the dialogue (right before she offers you her "gift"). the top portion of her often disappears. It appears to be a projection plane issue (i.e. camera getting too close).

beckylunatic

commanderander said:

Re: level scaling, we purposefully set the levels lower on certain enemies that we wanted to be easier.

I actually like this, and it makes all kinds of contextual sense as you're the hero and they are just lowly Nashers (though the ones in the River District proper have apparently had some training and/or steroids).

But it also feels strange as we're used to modules trying to throw progressively harder foes our way, so after the all the frost giants and enraged yetis, it's disorienting.

I wonder if naming some creatures "recruit", "trainee", "initiate", etc. would make it less likely to read as a bug, along with my prior suggestion. Put in some indications that you're supposed to have been able to squash them all like bugs.

treesclimber

commanderander said:

Thank you for the feedback and hard work to track down these bugs!

Re: level scaling, we purposefully set the levels lower on certain enemies that we wanted to be easier.

I'll be looking into the other bugs mentioned, as well as the text inconsistencies, today.

I ran into some more visually gliches today, turns out the problem behind them is actually the settings, so probably that camera one is too, these problems get fixed more or less at medium settings so should only affect a small part of players. And about the scalling, ok i get that the mobs dont scalle to be easier but the cult leader is a little bit too smackable, i did one single lance of faith and i could have killed 10 like him xD, but thinking about it some people will find it funnier because he just vanishes and other may be disapointed so it's a good chance.