What do you think of the upcoming Heart of Fire Content coming November?

thevampinator

Well all the waterdeep hints has led to this. Not what we were expecting. Maybe it will lead up to waterdeep hopefully two more classes Bard and Druid hopefully adding them in not really counting on it. Okay basically next mod we will be working for an Adventuring Corporation. Here is the link to tell you what its about and more on the lore about it. Please share your thoughts about this and what you think about all this.
http://acquisitionsincorporated.wikia.com/wiki/Acquisitions_Incorporated_Wiki


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d15thKGxWg

chivonica

I think it looks/sounds fun. I know, I must be ill or something I wrote something positive.

I googled this yesterday and found episode 1 of it. I will be watching these d&d streams more as I already enjoy the more well known ones on twitch and many of the lesser popular ones. Some great creativity etc. They do make me want to explore the foundry more then what I do but I never get around to it.

Maybe the lore masters/experts w/e are having heart attacks over this but from an out side/layman pov so far so good to me. I look forward to more details.

thevampinator

Well it will be interesting if they connect this all into waterdeep if they are planning on doing waterdeep. I'm sure with their limited resources and personal scattered around working on other projects like content for sto and the new magic the gathering mmo they are working on. Waterdeep just might not be ready yet and need a lot of work to even complete so maybe this is just to well distract us till they get it ready. *Shrugs*

chivonica

I'm sure I'm probably gonna trigger someone by saying this:

But what is the big deal with Waterdeep? I mean I read the wiki but if its as simple as it was/is an important city etc then what makes it so special for you personally? Old d&d adventures? Is this what the Imperial city is to Nirn?, the idk Mordor to middle Earth? Worlds colliding, immersion breaking, don't hurt me

thevampinator

chivonica said:

I'm sure I'm probably gonna trigger someone by saying this:

But what is the big deal with Waterdeep? I mean I read the wiki but if its as simple as it was/is an important city etc then what makes it so special for you personally? Old d&d adventures? Is this what the Imperial city is to Nirn?, the idk Mordor to middle Earth? Worlds colliding, immersion breaking, don't hurt me

Well a lot of intersting lore with it. Undermountain would be a very good place for them to take us, would like to be able to explore Undermoutain maybe even helping the Eilistraeans, rebuild and protect the Promenade of the Dark Maiden and well deal with threats in skullport. So much potential with it. Also maybe having to deal with a restored Halaster. With all other kinds of chaos and havoc he could be causing. There is a lot of fun things they can do with Undermountain maybe not a standard queue game dungeon but entire zones you can travel to and explore by descending layer by layer. They don't need to do all the layers at once but add them in over time. So start with three or four levels then add in the rest.

pitshade

I will wait and see what content we get in the module. I don't have any interest in parody events or campaigns however nor am I a fan of Penny Arcade. Neutral towards Waterdeep. A good story is a plus but good content is a must and that has been lacking this entire year. We need less power creep and buff stacking and more things to actually run.

sandukutupu

I just posted about it, on a related thread, Penny Arcade is a group and a web cartoon. Here is the site. Jim Darkmagic is one of the characters played there.

ecrana

Hopefully there's more info revealed at PAX. I have little interest in parody/comedy in my gaming. I'm not a Penny Arcade fanboy nor do I follow D&D outside of Neverwinter so I'm just going to hope there's some new dungeon/skirm/group content of some form. That's what I'm here for.

nunya

Well, I was excited about this until I read the wiki. Now it's just a big bunch of "meh" and I could not possibly care less about this next update (outside of the changes to professions and the possibility of a bard class).

kemnimtarkas

chivonica said:

I'm sure I'm probably gonna trigger someone by saying this:

But what is the big deal with Waterdeep? I mean I read the wiki but if its as simple as it was/is an important city etc then what makes it so special for you personally? Old d&d adventures? Is this what the Imperial city is to Nirn?, the idk Mordor to middle Earth? Worlds colliding, immersion breaking, don't hurt me

Waterdeep is the setting for a LOT of D&D fiction (Salvatore, Grimwood, others). And it's the setting for some pretty famous old D&D modules (Undermountain in particular).

So I think at least some of the anticipation/attraction to Waterdeep is because, like seeing Drizzt & Co. in the Underdark Campaign, it' s just cool to see characters and places you've read about over the years depicted in a playable 3D environment.

menkhar

In a nutshell, Waterdeep is the New York City of the Forgotten Realms setting -- almost anything and everything can be found there, along with a good-sized population, too (the greater Waterdhavian metropolitan area numbers around 1.8 million, including the city itself). Plenty of intrigue and lore (at least, on tabletop). And, as others have mentioned, the infamous Undermountain (of the "Mad Mage" Halaster Blackcloak fame) is literally underneath Waterdeep.

ilithyn

Before I say anything else let me make it clear that I won't pass final judgement on this mod until I see it. I dislike the Ravenloft setting in general - I prefer my gothic vampires and my D&D separate thank you - but I really love this current mod. So I may end up surprised again.
When that is said I really have no interest in what at first glace seems to be a parody mod. Day of the Dungeons Master is fine, you can participate or not and it's only an event. As a mod? No.
Though I am very much looking forward to an overhaul of the profession system and I'm privately praying that it includes an overhaul of the UI which I curse at least once a day. If the "price" for a better profession system and a better UI is a "joke" mod, then I can live with that. I still have all the rest of the game to play around in.
And on the whole I love skirmishes, even joke ones, I've even become fond of IG. So that's almost bound to be a positive thing for me too.

And of course, I have been positively surprised before. So I'm hoping the same thing will happen here.

sandukutupu

ilithyn said:

Before I say anything else let me make it clear that I won't pass final judgement on this mod until I see it. I dislike the Ravenloft setting in general - I prefer my gothic vampires and my D&D separate thank you - but I really love this current mod. So I may end up surprised again.

You sound a lot like I did on Chult. I don't care for dinosaurs in D&D but they were there, so I bit my lip about it. However I feel Ravenloft has been the best module in a long time. I am still hanging out there, although it was done and over in about month. Feels too short and I was hoping for more of a plot twist. I really do like surprises in a storyline.

As for parody and comedy, I recently wrote Mad Monty which is a spoof dungeon in the Foundry and very popular with those who played it. I also wrote two comedies on Star Trek prior to Neverwinter. Many didn't like the idea, but they did Tribbles, and I thought this was no different. If this is a parody module, I just hope it is well done and isn't just more bathroom humor I watched this morning on the site I linked above.

I can't recall a tabletop D&D that didn't have some laughs just from the antics of our group. I remember vividly when an elite group of assassins attempted to kill us at a castle. Our wizard cast sleep on him saying, "I want to interrogate this one!". Brian glared at him and asked, "Did you miss the part where I said, he is repelling down the tower?" The assassin fell asleep, then fell to his death on the rocks below. We didn't get answers but we did get some good laughs.

I can see the point that the entire module being too much slapstick could be a disaster, so let's hope they get the balance.

pterias

I like some fun/funny moments, but I'm rather less than excited about an extended in-game D&D parody, and I have no attachment to Waterdeep at all. Structurally, this does have the makings of a very Underdark style campaign though. I wonder if they may include catch-up component for mods 10+ similar to what Underdark did. That would be pretty nice for alts.

sandukutupu

For those of you who wanted more information on this module from PAX The Panel Video (starts at 18:30) it runs for about 1 hour. Thanks to Foundry Author @iandarksword for sharing this link.

ilithyn

sandukutupu said:

I can't recall a tabletop D&D that didn't have some laughs just from the antics of our group. I remember vividly when an elite group of assassins attempted to kill us at a castle. Our wizard cast sleep on him saying, "I want to interrogate this one!". Brian glared at him and asked, "Did you miss the part where I said, he is repelling down the tower?" The assassin fell asleep, then fell to his death on the rocks below. We didn't get answers but we did get some good laughs.

I can see the point that the entire module being too much slapstick could be a disaster, so let's hope they get the balance.

To me there's a great difference between "comedic elements mainly supplied by player antics" and "pure comedic scenario where the whole point of it is the comedy". I'm not saying the latter can't be done well, but I am not and have never been a fan. Most of the stuff we've done so far have had comedic elements and writing in it, I'm fine with that. But a mod where the whole thing is centered around comedy (and by the looks of it slapstick comedy which has always been my least favorite type)... I think I might pass on it.

I think I've seen your scenarios in the Foundry, at least the Neverwinter one, but I've never played it exactly because it is not my taste at all. There's no reason to subject myself to content I know I'm most likely going to dislike, or leave a hardworking Foundry creator angry reviews - or just echoing silence - because I didn't like it when I know I most likely won't.


And having seen most of the panel that @sandukutupu just shared, I'm definitely sitting this one out. Insofar as that will be possible, because it appears it'll be affecting all of the game on almost every single (character) level. Sorry, but this seems like one of those things I'm going to hard pass on.

hustin1

After watching the clip from PAX I don't feel quite as put off as I did. I was mainly concerned about the game being inundated with over-the-top humor (which to me would ruin the flavor of the game), but it looks to me like it's going to boil down to a campaign like Tyranny of Dragons: one that you start early on and work on over time up to level 70. So I think it won't be so bad after all. At first I was really surprised that the campaign wasn't Dragon Heist since NWO has been I believe contractually obligated to be in lockstep with WOTC campaign releases, but perhaps cooler heads prevailed and someone realized that recreating Waterdeep in a game called Neverwinter in only a three-month window wasn't a reasonable demand to put on the dev team

I think I can tolerate AI it if it's limited to a single campaign rather than "taking over" the game like demons did all over the place in mod 9. I guess the humor of AI is an acquired taste -- I found the AI guy really off-putting to be honest, but it looks like Thomas and company reined it in to a reasonable level.

The discussion about the Wand of Wonder was interesting -- didn't the Spellplague render rods, staves, and wands inoperable? If they're coming back, then I'm hoping for a Staff of the Magi.

sandukutupu

Yes @hustin1 the Spellplague rendered all rods, staves, and wands inoperable... that is 100% correct.

In all honesty there is no possible way for anyone to use those devices.

I really liked the comments from WotC producer at the 35 minute mark (after Julia threw both producers under the bus ) John says, they trust Cryptic to handle it, to reflect D&D and WotC product appropriately. However he seems to be stepping back from the big red button. This means WotC is going to stand aside on this one. This makes Matt on the hotseat for this show.

I am no longer concerned about the bathroom humor, as I was before. Julia threw cold water on Jerry's talk about adult humor, saying we run a PG-13 game. To any Cryptic staff lurking about here in this thread, I plan to download Preview and try it out. This module has my curiosity peaked! I hope it will be available for us to test soon.

fatherfungus

Feels like a new version of day of the dungeon master...yawn
sorry, you asked.

Create Sigil City of Doors in Planescape THEN I will be impressed.

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regenerde

Well, unless there's a new class in this module, and all the Class packs are being returned to the ZEN shop in an improved version, i might just ignore this thing completly. The game really needs a fresh/new class at this point.

And after waiting for over 2 months without getting any official reply or at least some kind of help on the "patching files" at every damn corner issue, i'd rather prefer a larger bugs/issues fix update/patch then another module.

Besides, looking at the ZAX these days, it wouldn't surprise me to see another AD nerf coming along with this module too...

Last but not least, i really hope, that there won't be any more Adventurer or Fashion packs in the next lookbox.

sandukutupu

regenerde said:

Well, unless there's a new class in this module...

No. There will not be a new class in this module. There will not be new dungeons, only a skirmish. If you watch the 1 hour panel on that 9 hour video, you will hear them talk about module 15 covering the present Neverwinter maps. Players will revisit areas that Thomas Foss and Jerry Holkins picked out for the campaign to follow. The last class was the Oathbound Paladin and that was in 6 back over 3 years ago, keep rubbing the magic lamp and maybe you will get a wish. From what I gather in the panel, this is a shoestring budget module, and IF they have a new class for it, they didn't let it slip in that video. I think they exposed more about this module than they wanted to talk about. If you haven't watched the video, the panel starts at 18 minutes and 30 seconds and runs about 1 hour.

pterias

Well, we got the last class after they introduced a low level campaign (Mod 4-5). Maybe we'll finally get our new class in Mod 16 then?

gromovnipljesak

what the living HAMSTER is this xD

checkmatein3

I am going to wait and see what the module actually brings. Wizards of the Coast are releasing 2 Table Top Waterdeep packs (Sept and Nov), so I am hopeful that Cryptic, per customary/legal practice(?), will be following in WoTC's path. Moreover, perhaps a Dev Stream (*hint hint) in the near future might alleviate some disappointments with the content of the announcement/trailer in contradistinction to the manner of weeks of in-game clues that seemed to suggest a huge mod. The PAX vid helped some.

Peace out!

majorcharvenak

thevampinator said:

chivonica said:

I'm sure I'm probably gonna trigger someone by saying this:

But what is the big deal with Waterdeep? I mean I read the wiki but if its as simple as it was/is an important city etc then what makes it so special for you personally? Old d&d adventures? Is this what the Imperial city is to Nirn?, the idk Mordor to middle Earth? Worlds colliding, immersion breaking, don't hurt me

Well a lot of intersting lore with it. Undermountain would be a very good place for them to take us, would like to be able to explore Undermoutain maybe even helping the Eilistraeans, rebuild and protect the Promenade of the Dark Maiden and well deal with threats in skullport.

^ THIS! This is what got me excited for the possibility that Waterdeep (and Undermountain by extension) might be the next expansion. If Cryptic added in that detail into the expansion I would have been overjoyed as, from a role playing standpoint, all my toons are Eilistraeeans. Alas I'll have to wait but after watching the trailer and looking over wiki, I think I can live with this expansion as it stands. It might be a refreshing change from monologuing vampire lords, demilich rants, and incoherent Frost giant threats. My two coppers.

P.S. Bringing back the missing dungeons like Throne, Dread Vault, etc would be a VERY nice addition and welcome Holiday present, if the devs are feeling generous.

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majorcharvenak

dolrey said:

I don't know so much about storyline etc but in my opinion the game needs in fix of its technical isues (because it is mmorpg after all). So the cool stuff for D&D fans is good but a lot of players also were asking for class balance (not only in PvP) and improvements for the game.

And I would agree with that @dolrey. I would add that in addition to balancing the classes they fix the lingering bugs. Personally I don't mind a mod being light on content, even if it's content I really want as a D&D fan, if the gameplay quality is improved and the bugs, glitches, and connectivity issues are drastically reduced. Hopefully the devs shifting focus to something like this type of campaign will enable them to do just that. Two more of my coppers.

callumf

majorcharvenak said:

dolrey said:

I don't know so much about storyline etc but in my opinion the game needs in fix of its technical isues (because it is mmorpg after all). So the cool stuff for D&D fans is good but a lot of players also were asking for class balance (not only in PvP) and improvements for the game.

And I would agree with that @dolrey. I would add that in addition to balancing the classes they fix the lingering bugs. Personally I don't mind a mod being light on content, even if it's content I really want as a D&D fan, if the gameplay quality is improved and the bugs, glitches, and connectivity issues are drastically reduced. Hopefully the devs shifting focus to something like this type of campaign will enable them to do just that. Two more of my coppers.

Not arguing but in most the MMOs I have played for 20 years, from Quake, UO, Everquest, SWTOR, Guild Wars, WoW ... right up to Neverwinter there is a balancing act between getting new players and retaining old players.

Bottom line is MOST MMOs focus on shiney new things [Campaigns/expansions] and mostly ignore bugs as the shiney new things bring in more revenue via players.

So whilst I agree - FIX THE BUGS! I guess its just so unlikely to ever happen from an economic point of view.

nunya

sandukutupu said:

For those of you who wanted more information on this module from PAX The Panel Video (starts at 18:30) it runs for about 1 hour. Thanks to Foundry Author @iandarksword for sharing this link.

I watched this over the weekend. Good God! That video is B O R I N G! I'm thankful I had it on in the background while I was playing Neverwinter (invocations, professions, that kind of thing - so, not really "playing" as much as doing "administrative tasks"). I am not - repeat NOT - at all in any way enthused about the idea of another campaign that's as long as Tyranny of Dragons. Even worse is the fact that I will not have any low level characters until they release a new class. That means if I choose to run this new campaign, then I'll be bored to tears as I go ripping through the lower level content.

I am somewhat looking forward to the changes to professions. Even that makes me nervous, though. I'm finally to the point where all the professions are done on my account and nearly done (two left on each of four characters) on my wife's account. I went through all that so I could produce stuff for the guild. If they mess with that, I'm going to be unhappy. If they take away our ability to generate refinement points using Leadership, that will also make me unhappy. Other than that, they can pretty much do whatever they want and I will be, at worst, neutral toward it.

majorcharvenak

callumf#9018 said:

majorcharvenak said:

dolrey said:

I don't know so much about storyline etc but in my opinion the game needs in fix of its technical isues (because it is mmorpg after all). So the cool stuff for D&D fans is good but a lot of players also were asking for class balance (not only in PvP) and improvements for the game.

And I would agree with that @dolrey. I would add that in addition to balancing the classes they fix the lingering bugs. Personally I don't mind a mod being light on content, even if it's content I really want as a D&D fan, if the gameplay quality is improved and the bugs, glitches, and connectivity issues are drastically reduced. Hopefully the devs shifting focus to something like this type of campaign will enable them to do just that. Two more of my coppers.

Not arguing but in most the MMOs I have played for 20 years, from Quake, UO, Everquest, SWTOR, Guild Wars, WoW ... right up to Neverwinter there is a balancing act between getting new players and retaining old players.

Bottom line is MOST MMOs focus on shiney new things [Campaigns/expansions] and mostly ignore bugs as the shiney new things bring in more revenue via players.

So whilst I agree - FIX THE BUGS! I guess its just so unlikely to ever happen from an economic point of view.

I'm aware of and can appreciate that aspect of game design and continued longevity. I know that every business needs to keep the lights on and new content does that for games. However, I wouldn't be surprised and could understand if they reduced the number of shinies (not eliminate just reduced) for one mod and played catch-up on the back end with bug fixes and rebalancing. From there, they could approach Mod 16 with a robust expansion without some the persisting problems. Just my thoughts...Probably wrong but just my thoughts. There is also the question of how busy are the dev teams with other projects Cryptic is working on. Are they still on the hook for Magic the Gathering? Are they shuffling personnel to and from other games like STO or CO? I don't know, but I suspect those personnel and logistical decisions would be part of the calculus of how much time and energy is spent on new content. Either way, we just have to wait and see. Two more coins.
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