[UGC] "The Dweomerkeepers" Campaign - Feedback

schirmerk

This mission was very fun. Any of my feedback for the maps was already covered by zentrasi. I specially loved the way you had that twist ending that I won't spoil for any who haven't done the mission. Well written and executed like a pro. You will definately get some astral crystal donations from me!

granville7482

This was an excellent campaign thus far. Me and a friend have been dying to get into a DnD game (We used to table top but live too far now). Both of us were Neverwinter Nights 1 and Nevewinter Nights 2 junkies. We didn't like DDO. So far we're really enjoying this game (Hoping the difficulty increases.) Our party was a Halfling Guardian Fighter and a Half-Elf Cleric. The Guardian was specced for full survivability and the Cleric for full healing. The Halfing was level 30 and the Cleric was level 15 when we started, so all of the monsters were 30. What is amazing is how this engine works, My friend was able to play his Cleric without an issue. Sure his damage was a little low, but he could connect enough to heal my character.

Now onto the reviews. We made it though the first two chapters.

Interaction with the NPC was fantastic, no grammar errors, lots of lore, but not too much to make the player bored. All in all perfect for what my friend and myself were looking for. The very first section, the forest: well layed out. I don't think this could have been made to look any better. No bugs, the monster composition was both appropriate and enjoyable, but not too challenging. Then you have the alter. Classic DnD here. Well explained, intricate interaction. We didn't quite understand how to use the skills. I know your class gets one and you have items to use others for three minutes. Im not sure if using one allows you to use them on the alter and it's options. I had Dungeoneering, the other options were greyed out. My friend ended up able to use all the skill options, so we went along our way.

The house:
Again an amazing layout, perfect atmosphere for the enemies inside. This was very enjoyable. We encountered out first bug here, some kid of arrow traps you could not disarm, and did not damage. I'm not sure if those were supposed to be dangerous or mimicking some kind of narrative effect. Either way, I suggest just removing them. The house is perfect without them. (But leave the buzzsaws, those were placed in rather awesome locations) Really, it is. Maybe one of the best dungeon layouts i've seen in a while.

Turning in the quest and getting more if you found the three items was icing on the cake. Really good stuff. The first part was five stars.

I'll write about part two later.

tinbender02

Thank you! Do you remember which mission this was in? Was it in the first one or the third one? This is a bug but it is one that I can overcome if I can locate which Mob is doing this by re-positioning their spawn locations.

Sorry, haven't had much time for forums or testing. It was the first one "neverwinter woods" according to what I wrote in my notes. I was going down the hallway and did not follow the little trail into the room but continued down the hall. I heard something and then briefly seen part of the drow through the wall about halfway between the door and the end of the hall. Then as I stopped for a second the drow just came through the wall.

ganiries

Overall, your storytelling and lore skills are amazing. I will be subscribing to your creations. Thank you for your work (both on foundry quests and as a mod). I look forward to seeing more.

All this. Really enjoyed your first campaign! Dialogue wasn't too wordy and well-written, monsters well placed and much of what has already been said above.

For the flatness or "island" feeling someone posted above, would it be possible to have a "staticy" background, as in the high road map? And if someone gets too far (past the road signs), they're presented with an option to travel? Again enjoyed the D&D experience, without it being too long with time spent reading. Looking forward to more!

zebular

Thanks for the replies and feedback!

Yeah, the surrounding background also is due to the maps calling for a setting that no longer exists or was updated, so they just aren't showing. This has already been fixed and published, it just didn't propagate to the beta servers in time.

I'll be making several passes to them all by the next weekend beta test, so I'll make sure that all the lighting and backdrops are calling for the correct settings. I also noticed on the High Road, that the stars are appearing to shine through the moon, so I'm making a note to remedy this also. Also, when leaving the cave and gong back to the High Road, the mishap in lighting is making it daylight - it should have been night time still.

I do like the sound of trying to make the high road feel more like it is on the coast! That does make more sense to me and may help to break up the "endless expanse" feeling.

maxwelsilver

Thank you. It was one of the most enjoyable quests we did of the weekend. Sorry for the late response, but we were too busy playing this weekend to do something as menial as posting! :-) Hats off, looking forward to more of your creations in march!

rharsin

A few notes...

I liked that you could interact with the shrines with dungeoneering/etc based on your toon.. but there didn't seem to be a point to interacting with it beyond including more story/lore.

I don't know if you can disable the blue circles on the map, but they're a dead giveaway that you're going to get attacked/ambushed in the first adventure. Kind of ruins the element of surprise when you can see it coming.

The open fielded area with the large city wall needs something to break line of sight with the edge of the map... It was basically like you could look out into nothingness. Tree walls would be a good addition, maybe a stable-like area or training areas for the city guards outside the walls... Something other than a big expanse of field. If you're leaving the city, try having a large worn road trailing off into the distance... You can block the route out of the map with a fallen tree across the road or broken wagon with some NPCs trying to fix it.

The ogre cave spawned me in (dwarf cleric) half-way into the rocks... I had to jump quite a bit to get out, but after that was fine.

The portal mechanic was a little confusing.. I'd thought I'd grabbed it, but apparently had to open another bag to get the item..?

I felt there were excessive traps in the last portion of the quest. Traps are a good means of catching adventurers unaware and dealing damage to them... They make you jump out of your seat. By the time I hit the (unavoidable) hallway of arrows, I was overly accustomed to them. That said, I couldn't find any pressure plates for them which made me sad that I couldn't avoid them when I had retreated back from the hallway to kill undead.

Overall, it's a good idea for a story. Could use some fine-polish and tweaking. I haven't had a chance yet to play with the foundry and know it's limitations so some of my comments might be idealistic.

zebular

Campaign Update:
A Discovery in Neverwinter Wood has seen many more passes and updates.

It's now: Version 1.3.2b


Neverwinter Wood (map)

• Invisible walls in the Woods now work properly again! (been missing from mission for many playtests now)
• Added a new objective when appearing in the woods after Protector's Enclave.
• Cabbage-like grasses have been redistributed or moved around so they didn't stick out and look out of place.
• Replaced the defunct campfire at spawn point with decor for the first objective.
• Almost all MOB Spawn locations have been revamped.
• Player Respawn (upon death) location has been moved next to the Abort Alcove near the start of the map.

An Unknown Inn (map)

• Replaced Abort Alcove inside the Inn with a more concise themed setting (it no longer sticks out like a sore thumb and also is no longer accidentally use-able prior to the Harper reading).
• There is now minor dialog (lore) when interacting with the 3 relics.
• There is now a minor Boss spawn prior to leaving the Inn!
• The player Re-spawn has been re-positioned inside it's own room (the second room upstairs that is empty).
• Spiders should no longer speak drow upon attack.
• There is now a surprise encounter (optional) that only appears after the Boss Battle. If you leave the Inn right away, you will most likely miss it. If you wait, turn around or go hide somewhere right away after the Boss encounter, you may be able to watch and engage the encounter(s).

Overall (mission):

• The mission becomes more and more challenging at higher levels.
• Defunct traps removed.
• Added more surprise / ambush factor to most encounters.
• Removed the Minimap/Map location reticules/blips for ambush/surprise encounters.
• Various spelling and typo fixes.
• Both maps have had adjustments to lighting, ambiance, and surrounding (outdoor) scenery.
• Adjustments to a few of the Objective locations to be more clear that some take place in Protector's Enclave and not just "somewhere" in Neverwinter. Some other Objectives were also adjusted to be more understandable.

Known Issues:

• Some ambush spiders may still speak drow in the outdoor map. Will be found and fixed in a future publish.
• Companions do not like to go over or around traps, these traps were out of place for an inn anyway so they have been removed. The Companions also like to get stuck going around the balcony inside the Inn. This is a known pathing game-bug. Please file actual game bug reports on this. It is not exclusive to my (or anyone's) UGC. Unsummon them and resummon them beyond the obstacle.
• Some of the drow guarding the Relics in the Inn are not correctly facing these relics. This is apparently a game/foundry bug as I can see nothing to indicate why they are doing this.
• Please leave me feedback and let me know what class you played as I have not been able to playtest all the classes on my missions yet.

A Note on Sequel Missions:

• Both "The High Road" and "Dweomerkeeper Temple" missions are offline for the time being. "The High Road" has begun to be rebuilt from scratch using entirely new maps. Much of the dialog should remain intact. Just the maps and objectives will vary greatly to the new version.
• The third mission may also be remade from scratch, or it may not be. It is as of yet undecided.

therealtal

I saw "A Discovery in Neverwinter Woods" being played in one of the videos released the last beta weekend. I wanted to play it right then and there, but I didn't have beta access yet. I'll definitely play it on the March 8th weekend.

elthuzar

Zebular, just a quick question regarding the foundry as I haven't had a chance to check it out yet.
Are you able to script boss encounters yourself under the advanced foundry tools or are you just given generic bosses to place?
How complex is the foundry regarding what you can/can't do?

Oh, and I'm really looking forward to running through your campaign next beta

thrynsyst

elthuzar wrote: »

Zebular, just a quick question regarding the foundry as I haven't had a chance to check it out yet.
Are you able to script boss encounters yourself under the advanced foundry tools or are you just given generic bosses to place?
How complex is the foundry regarding what you can/can't do?

Oh, and I'm really looking forward to running through your campaign next beta

He obviously cannot answer that in detail atm, as the Foundry is still under NDA in many respects. That said, I obviously have something to do during the upcoming BWE, as well as general playtesting, and that is to at least start this UGC campaign. I am definitely looking forward to doing so, to see The Foundry in action, even though I will still not be able to see 'the nuts and bolts' of content creation myself...

zebular

Yeah, as Thrynsyst said, I'm unable to answer that specifically as the Foundry is under separate testing and has its own NDA. What I can say, is that if you're cleaver enough, there is so much you can do. I keep learning new ways to do things almost every time I work in the Foundry. It is very awesome, indeed - and just keeps getting better.

The only way I, and a few others, are able to even acknowledge our foundry creations and get feedback on them is because PWE let it slip who were Foundry Testers and what their Foundry Works are by allowing our works and names to be shown in publicly released demo videos and the live streams. I think this was intentional though because they had always planned on having "good" UGC ready for players to test. And boy, there sure are a lot of good ones!

thrynsyst

I was churning some ideas in my head for my *own* Mystra-related campaign using the Foundry, and I'd like to see how what was implemented compares to what I was envisaging.

optimates

I played the first mission in your campaign and I thought it was very well done. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to play the other two missions, but I saw a video of the third one and it looked really good. When the next beta starts, your missions are going to be some of the first I'll be playing through.

I did want to tell you that on the first map, I thought the balance was great. It's always hard to make it challenging without it being overly difficult (UGC seems to be really prone to making it way too difficult), but I thought you did a fantastic job with it. The fights were challenging, but not frustrating. Looking forward to seeing where it goes!

zebular

Thanks, it will be some time yet before Acts II & III are ready again for testing and playing. They had to be taken down due to some issues that prevented me from being able to maintain them properly. I'd rather have them be unavailable than have them be up, buggy, causing people issues and aggravating folks at them not being fixed. So, I thought it would be better to take them down while I redo them from scratch, if needed.

Act I is ready and waiting for Beta and should be in its "final" state - unforeseeable future events not taken into account.

kalvorak

Not sure if this has already been asked (I didn't want to read the thread since it went into great detail about the encounters etc and if I do play the campaign I'd rather save that ) but how long roughly have you spent on the campaign so far? Can you it down a bit, e.g. time taken for each encounter/zone etc?

zebular

A Discovery in Neverwinter Wood has seen significant changes and updates since last beta weekend and should be in a "mostly" final state! It should now be version 1.3.4b. Thanks for all the feedback so far, hope you all continue to enjoy.

In addition to the 1.3.2b changes linked above, here are some notes for the 1.3.4b (current) version:


It is now version 1.3.4b - A Discovery in Neverwinter Wood, Act I

• There are far too many small things I did to mention them all clearly. Suffice to say, I did a lot of small tweaks to almost every use-able object and mob spawn.
• I also added functional doors in the Inn. This should stop unintentional out-of-the-room aggro from other Mobs.
• I toned down the angered Lolth spider spawns. They now only happen three times in the Inn, once with a small group and then two times each having just one large special spider (you won't see these large two if you leave the inn right away after killing the Priestess, they're optional special encounters).
• In the Wood map however, there are a number angered Lolth spider spawns. These don't seem over-the-top out here because of the size of the map. Inside the Inn, with how many I had prior and the close quarters of an interior small building, it was turning into nothing but a spider killing spree. So I removed most of those inside.
• No spiders should speak drow anymore. If one does, please let me know where it was.

kalvorak wrote: »

Not sure if this has already been asked (I didn't want to read the thread since it went into great detail about the encounters etc and if I do play the campaign I'd rather save that ) but how long roughly have you spent on the campaign so far? Can you it down a bit, e.g. time taken for each encounter/zone etc?

I'm not too sure how much time I put into the mission, as I worked on it a little here and there for quite some time.

kagetempest

Hello, I tried the first part of your Campaign this morning and boy was it great. I specifically loved your level design in both the forest and the Inn. How much time have you spent making this section of your campaign? And... if you can answer this if it isn't restricted, can you set up cut scenes and animate them? The very first section of the Neverwinter Woods there was a campfire and objects you could examine. It had me thinking, what if we could see the person getting attacked by the Drow before the hero arrives?

razorrxgdb

Zeb, I have to say that yours has been my favorite foundry quest so far. I like the way you have used current lore and tied the quest chain into what is currently going on in the realms.

The environments were nice, the mobs were well placed and very much in tune with the setting. I do have one question - can you set it to be day or night? It would be cooler if it were dark when you first arrive.

Again - kudos for a great adventure - I look forward to the rest of it!

voodoopapa

I felt the spider encounters were overdone. I did this the first beta weekend and it was more memorable than any of the Cryptic quests. It seems you tweaked the spiders this beta weekend and it just got to the point of annoying instead of fun.

Overall, you write really well. I love all the elements in the first module, still not sure why im picking all the "tears" flowers, but im assuming that comes later?

zebular

Thanks! The Tears of Selune were added when they had no real use, save for one time. They were added for lore and flavor and without giving away why I am using them, they are merely being used to convey nothing more than a bit of upcoming story elements in a later mission. They have no other use in the missions. If I could make them non-functional, I would.

ryger5

The campaign hints at larger things to come, I loved that, teasing to the next "episode" to me is really key and so often forgotten.

It also appears to tap into the "biggest" event since 4e came along, the death of Mystara, so lots of wonderful potential to explore one of the most epic events to take place in Forgotten Realms. I wish you luck!

zebular

Thanks!

*the mage bows in gratitude*

Act II has been published in a testing state. Even if it is not in a "Public," by my own standards, I'll leave it up for Beta Weekend 3 testers to test out and give feedback. What I will mostly be seeking feedback on in Act II is the mission difficulty. I'll have some release notes posted on Act II either Thursday or Friday.

I'm trying to get Act III ready again for play. It's in an old finished state so I just need to update things to the foundry changes that have happened as well as dialog changes in acts I and II that would be inconsistent with Act III now. With any luck and the Gods' blessings, Act III might be ready for BW3 as well.

zebular

Off the High Road, Act II

Current Version: 1.2b

• Total replacement and triggers for every spawn.
• The cave has seen an enormous amount of remodeling, with multiple layers and hidden areas.
• The abort alcove has been moved to its own room with its own lore and....*spoilers*
• Added kobolds, as they tend to work with lizardmen, and they're supposed to hint at... *spoilers*
  • Explore the cavern, there's places all around. If you get stuck anywhere, please type /locvec and then copy those numbers and post them here for me.

Updates/Fixes are not possible during the Beta Weekends. I apologize for any issues encountered, here are some known issues:

Known Issues/To Do List:
Overall

• I do plan on adding several more bits of lore in various forms as there aren't that many at all right now, save for a couple times in the dialog with Cymathetra.
• Kobolds: Unfortunately I cannot seem to get idle chat working properly, so they may just look like they are talking. They should have functioning battle cries though.

Off the High Road (map)

• The Panicked Lizardman runs very slowly. This is a game limitation issue. He should out-run the player and not be seen. Following him may yield undesired results but won't harm the functionality of the mission.
• The Panicked Lizardman seemingly spawns twice, a second time near the Cave Entrance. Here, he should actually be despawning (from initial fleeing) and then when the guards are spawned, he should respawn and flee towards the shore...

A Lizardman Infested Cave

• The Lizardman Mystic needs some lighting love around the area he is performing his water ritual.
• Players can easily not notice two of the lizardmen up on a platform they need to jump to. Added an additional torch, this may help.
• Ending Dialog with Cymathetra she says, "where when" and should just be "when." Her whole state-ment here will be re-written to hint at discoveries in Act III better.

Now that it's been updated to how I want it, I'd really love any and all feedback. Especially the monsters and difficulty. Please let me know what class and level you where and whether you were solo or in a party. Thanks, I hope you all enjoy this second installment. Act III is soon to follow!

zebular

Dweomerkeep Temple, Act III

Current Version: 1.0 CBT (03.21.2013)

The Dweomerkeep Temple has returned to a published and playable state. However, there are some underlying issues not seen until after live playtesting and after the publish had been pushed to Beta. They are just a couple small things that could prevent someone from completing it if they got frustrated and didn't figure out what was going on. However, it is complete-able and continues the story progression.

Major changes since first beta weekend's publish:

• Took down the barriers that prevented players from going back farther into the temple when you got to the Darkmaiden.
  • This was unintentionally breaking up party members.

Updates/Fixes are not possible during the Beta Weekends. I apologize for any issues encountered, here are some known issues:

Known Issues/To-Do List:
Overall

• Version number needs updated to current format (e.g. 1.0b).
• All Maps are Void of my "Decorating Pass-over," that I do last. They have the basics but it's not like how I want yet. This should be done by the next beta version.
• Mission description, "Neverwinter" needs changed to "Protector's Enclave"

Protector's Enclave

• The young commoner girl's dialog is missing a bracket for the ending [/OOC] code, making part of this code visible in dialog.
• Waypoint Guide for the South Gate is not working. Please find it on your Map (M).
• When using the South Gate, if you're too close, you have to use the target reticule to select the correct choice to advance to the Ambush Location. I'll change this to normal transfer selection next publish.

Ambush Location

• The Dweomertor Key is not correctly despawning.

Dweomerkeep Temple Grounds

• Due to the Key not despawning, the player ends up having two on this map.

Dweomerkeep Temple (interior map)

• There are three traps along the dark, alcove lined-corridor, that are not disarm-able. Normally, if a rogue inches down the corridor, they can disarm all the traps before spawning the guards.
  • Unfortunately because these specific three are not disarm-able, this flavor is lost in the corridor making it feel over trapped.

The Catacombs (map)

• When talking to the elven woman for the first time in the "The Catacombs" (map), her dialog is so long that it cuts off the selection from view.
  • Pressing "1" on the keyboard will allow you to continue to the dialog and misson.
• The Player is not able to reach the Spelltome in time before attacked by the Risen Mystryllan Guards.
  • This makes the battle very hard in this part. The Player is supposed to be able to get to the Spelltome and grab it quickly. If they do so, they will despawn the risen Mystryllans (for they won't attack a wielder of the tome), leaving just the Undead Drow.
  • I'm going to fix this so that these will instead spawn as NPC guards and when the player grabs the tome, they will turn into Friendly NPCs and assist the player in defeating the High Priestess.
• Difficulty! Might be best to take a friend or two.

crimson46

I'm sure this is "User Error", but I can't seem to find the map for Act III.

The quest from the cleric is telling me to exit via the south gate and enter the Neverwinter Woods, but I can't find a travel point on the map in the Neverwinter Woods that is unlocked.

zebular

crimson46 wrote: »

I'm sure this is "User Error", but I can't seem to find the map for Act III.

The quest from the cleric is telling me to exit via the south gate and enter the Neverwinter Woods, but I can't find a travel point on the map in the Neverwinter Woods that is unlocked.

Thanks and I apologize, it is indeed user error ==> my error for forgetting to change that.

This is due to the old way this objective is handling looking for the gate. You'll need to find the south gate on the map, go to it and stand about 2 character heights away from the gate and your target redicule should light up with a tooltip when pointed at the gate, detailing how you will need to travel for a day and a nigtht. Next publish I can do, I will switch this to the newer and better way of map transitioning.

This is one of those left-over things from a very early build that I forgot to fix before it got pushed to Beta. I have it listed in my Known Issues for Act III above, under Protector's Enclave section.

crimson46

All good.

I'd noticed the different tool tip mentioning the "travel for a day" but obviously didn't try interacting with the gate from that distance.

Keep up the great work.

poigt

I am about to start Act 3, and really enjoying this set of quests. They are lore heavy but don't let that put you off because if I've not been reading NPC text, mostly I have been button mashing trying to stay alive!

Couldn't find a way to report bugs to you so I'm doing it here:

3rd act, introductory text from the cleric in the city: he says 'indulge the information' when he means 'divulge'.

Yes. That's ALL I've found wrong so far, and I'm a grammar fascist who notices spelling and what not.

Really - nice job.

poigt

whoops found another - Young Commoner Girl outside the moonstone mask - you may want to work through her dialogue tree. There are some text flags and some grammar issues but rather than point them out here (spoilers etc) I'd suggest you just go have a look through the tree and tweak