The Three Sisters - Review Trading

ananvilhurtz

NW-DUFO3G89P

It is a medium length quest (I'm guessing 30-40 minutes), intended for two players, but all of my playtesters have done it solo successfully. A bit heavy on the combat, but it also has lore and interactions and a bit of a puzzle (skippable, for those that don't like puzzles).

Please leave your short code below, and I'll get to your quest as soon as I can! (Probably within a day or two)

(Be kind, it's my first one!)

vold316

Hey, I added you quest to my "To Review" list.
Please review my quest, the information is in my signature.

delthanin

I'll make sure to review your quest tomorrow morning after work. There's one other quest I need to review before yours.

Need to support the fellow first-timers.

ananvilhurtz

Thanks folks. I just ran through yours, vold316.

I'll do yours shortly, delthanin.

ananvilhurtz

And yours, delthanin. I liked it quite a bit.

beeblebrox69

Heya, I'm going to run yours as soon as I'm off the forums. If you wouldn't mind checking mine out in return, I'd appreciate it! (But no hurry

The Vaalyr Prophecy-Prologue: Misty Hollow
NW-DISM87G71

Thanks!

mrthebozer

Hey there ananvilhurtz,

I'm always happy to do a review trade - my own quest, "Bonderleaf's Thorough Aggregator (NW-DBFUDMT8L)" is just about where I'd like it to be before I get proactive about promoting it. But every review helps, so if you have the time, definitely check it out.

Just finished my run-through of The Three Sisters. That was...quite a lot of encounters. Definitely about as hack and slash as you can get. I burned through a ton of potions (and a few hours) on my lvl 16 wizard going solo. Died exactly once, and it was out of combat, so it was a worthy challenge without being impossible. The stacked encounters were a bit much at times (not in terms of challenge - waves of minions just slow progression down to a crawl), but the sheer number of minions was a good match for what you were obviously looking to deliver. Rather than judge harshly based on what is ultimately my personal preference, I would suggest making sure you make it abundantly clear in the quest description what players can expect to face. This is an exceptional adventure for those looking to test their might - it almost had an end-game raid vibe to it - but people looking for something more story-centric might be put off by hundreds of monsters between dialogue points.

I usually take notes while reviewing, but things ran long and I needed to focus on the fighting, so I only have a few points.

1) There is a crate that drops a quest objective key in the caves that is almost completely under the ground. It's still clickable, but you might want to go in there in 3d mode and adjust it.

2) the wisps lighting the bridge was a great visual touch. The fire caves were also excellent, especially the last rooms.

3) It might be nice to have a respawn point in the village. My one death was falling from the stairs, and it set me back to the beginning of the outdoor map, leading to a long, boring hike back to where I was.

4) Those stairs - that was a really nice touch, and they look great. But I couldn't tell if you were trying to keep players on their toes, or if some things just didn't line up quite right. Not a major issue, but unless your goal was to include a few pitfalls, you may want to check where each staircase object lines up with the others.

5) The end boss fight was truly epic, and a LOT of fun. I can tell you put a lot of work into that. However, watch some of the smaller encounter spawns - specifically, I had some emerge behind me after the "talk to x sister" objectives came up. I would start the conversation before they would engage (before I knew they were even there), and they would attack, forcing me to abort the conversation. Good for catching me off guard, bad for the flow of your quest, since it means restarting an interrupted dialogue tree.

That's all I've got. Took longer than I expected, but still definitely an enjoyable combat experience with very few bugs. I would say add more polish to your maps to make them more unique, but for the amount of focus on the fighting, you hardly need to - and in the areas where it counts, you did a good job. Great work, and thanks for taking the time to build it!

ananvilhurtz

mrthebozer wrote: »

<snip>

Thanks a bunch for your feedback! I hadn't expected it to take quite that long to finish.

1) Yes, I noticed that as well, but I don't actually know if pushing an update would prevent people from playing it, so I was going to fix that later on.

2) Thanks! There are some sound effects that are a bit creepy in that area too, once the sounds are fixed.

3) What would happen if you die before the village? Would it send you to the beginning? Or the village?

4) I was intending to make the stairs a bit harder to navigate actually, but it completely slipped my mind. I wanted the player to feel a little nervous about climbing up to the bluffs.

5) Good point. I'll fix that.

I ran out of detail allocation for the outdoor map, I wanted to make the bluffs a bit more interesting than the sort of blank-stone look that they ended up with.

I'm headed to bed, but I'll check out yours tomorrow evening, probably. Thanks again!

beeblebrox69

Heya,

Well, I know I pretty much suck, but the final battle wiped out all my potions and was just an exercise in frustration for a 38 GWF solo. I gave it my best shot, but I had to give up after a couple deaths. I just couldn't keep up and my cleric companion would last about 10 seconds. Otherwise, I'd pretty much reiterate what the review above had to say. I died once at the archway after the village getting swarmed by the zombies and respawned all the way back at the beginning. Having a mount made the run back better, but still, putting the respawn more towards the center of the map is helpful. The atmosphere was good and you did a good job decorating, both indoors and out. The fire caves were pretty darn cool. Perhaps a FEW too many interactables in the tomb, particularly if you don't know which ones are quest-related and which ones are for the puzzle.

As a solo quest, I'd probably have to give it 2 stars, just because the swarms of zombies hit way too hard. But even if I would have beat the final battle, I wouldn't have hit you like that, since you clearly state it's for 2 people. So since I don't have to give even stars, I'd give you 3 1/2. I'd knock a star off for the lack of polish with many/most of the interactables still retaining their built in name ("Bookcase 1" or whatever). I'd knock you down to 3 for the pretty repetitive battles, particularly since some of the areas looked like you just cut and pasted the same encounter throughout. However, I'd definitely give you a half a star or more back for at least giving some of the encounters customized names and such, and the fact that you did a good job with the scenery.

So, sorry I couldn't finish to give you an in-game play/review.

Unfortunately, my critique is colored by a solo run-though, at mid-level where the encounters are much tougher than low levels, and thus my play experience wasn't what was intended. So...take my review with a grain a salt.

ananvilhurtz

beeblebrox69 wrote: »

<snip>

Thank you very much for your playthrough and review (if not ingame ).

I'm going to reduce the difficulty of some of the areas. I only have a low 30s GWF and GF to test balance with, and I'm pretty addicted to the AH, so I probably have better gear than average.

I'll add your quest to my list to things to play. Thanks again!

beeblebrox69

No problem... Like I said, I know I suck. I'm not a terribly great player--I'm a much better designer. Someone with some decent skill probably could've taken 'em down with a lot less difficulty. Sorry I couldn't getcha an in-game review.

ananvilhurtz

I was trying to ride the line between difficulty and frustration, and I think I overshot it a little bit.

Scaling things back would make it more accessible to more people, so that's what I'll do.

ananvilhurtz

A question -

Did any of you have difficulty with the Moment of Perfection encounter on the bridge? I'd rather not reduce that, as its all very weak mobs, and intended to be a Holy$#(& moment.

beeblebrox69

Not really...just pulled the groups one at a time. If you wanted to modify it at all, maybe make some of them the easy skeleton minion groups and reskin them as zombies. The skellies are quite a bit easier. But again, if you're targeting 2 players, they shouldn't have any trouble at all if they pull single groups.

delthanin

I just finished it. Loved this quest. Interesting story, good dialogue, interesting NPCs.

It was pretty tough, but you did warn that it was meant for at least 2 people. Luckily I was a control wizard focused on AoE, so I managed.

I don't have any real issues, as everything was well made. I'm forced to do some really minor nitpicking. I might put a little more detail into the village. Cobblestone paths, things like that. Some more detail on the forest path towards the village would be nice. It was mostly a long straight path with very little to distinguish one portion of that path from any other portion.

5 stars, and I subscribed. I look forward from seeing more from you in the future!

As a side note, looks like I was the playthrough that finally qualified your quest for the Daily Foundry quest.

dominemesis

Will run and review as soon as I can. My quest is in the signature if you will be so kind as to return the favor. Thanks.

ananvilhurtz

delthanin wrote: »

As a side note, looks like I was the playthrough that finally qualified your quest for the Daily Foundry quest.

Thank you much.

You're right about the little details. I'll probably put a bit more polish on it as the week goes on.

My next project is in the works, I'll be sure to post it up.

ananvilhurtz

beeblebrox69 wrote: »

The Vaalyr Prophecy-Prologue: Misty Hollow
NW-DISM87G71

Thanks!

Absolutely awesome, mate. Loved it. (Only found Red, Yellow and Blue though. )

vaelic

ananvilhurtz wrote: »

NW-DUFO3G89P

It is a medium length quest (I'm guessing 30-40 minutes), intended for two players, but all of my playtesters have done it solo successfully. A bit heavy on the combat, but it also has lore and interactions and a bit of a puzzle (skippable, for those that don't like puzzles).

Please leave your short code below, and I'll get to your quest as soon as I can! (Probably within a day or two)

(Be kind, it's my first one!)

sure. I reply in the thread for people with notes, so expect that

can you review mine? quest info in my sig

beeblebrox69

Heh, glad you liked it. Blue is fun, and the contents of that hidden room will play a role down the road... My favorite is Black, but it's also probably the hardest, since it requires an item that, while easy to find, is hard to see even with the sparklies because a light is shining right on it.

So thanks for giving it a shot. The main complaint I'm getting is the length, so I'm going to try to chop some of it up in the next day or two.

ovaltine74

Alright, don't think I have done this one. Be back in a bit to give you my impressions.

ovaltine74

Defiantly difficult to solo. Didn't have anyone to run it with, so no review. All I can tell you is that anyone who runs it solo is asking for hardship.

lewdug

Hey I would love it if you could review my map. In return I will review yours sometime tomorrow. My link is also bellow, please post there with your review, thanks.
Knowledge is Power
NW-DF4G5MYRG
Forum Link

ananvilhurtz

Thanks, I'll try to get to everyone.

I have to admit I stopped looking for the dice after looking for the Orange one for around 20 minutes without any idea of even where to start looking.

ananvilhurtz

dominemesis wrote: »

Will run and review as soon as I can. My quest is in the signature if you will be so kind as to return the favor. Thanks.

I ran your quest a short while ago, and it has a few issues.

1) The spike traps need to go, I was stuck on one for several minutes before I remembered /stuck was a thing.

2) The traps seem entirely out of place, and in some cases are completely unavoidable. They're built into solid stone by Wererats that presumably have not been there long.

3) There is a hallway where the traps are below the earth and thus unspottable.

4) There doesn't seem to be any motivation for the wererats beyond them being evil and having a hatred for inns.

5) The ending Bird doesn't really make a bunch of sense. Why does Tymora care that I killed some Wererats?

6) Many of the encounters are probably too difficult. My companion died in nearly every encounter (which happens, she's an aggro magnet), but difficulty scales poorly as you rise in level.

7) The cave entrance to the second area should not spawn you two inches from an instant-death cliff. One accidental twitch would send you back a not-insignificant ways.

8) The transitions between rooms have gaps and you can get stuck in them. This isn't your fault, but I still recommend fixing them.

dominemesis

Thanks for your feedback, but some of it I just do not agree with, and others seem a bit nitpicky, like my quest offended you personally or something.

1. Sorry about that, the snare effect on spike traps in general causes issues, as it can happen on just one trap, placed out in the open. I am hoping Cryptic, when they do a foundry update, removes the snare, or gives us the option to adjust trap settings.

2. Some of the traps are unavoidable by design. Whomever would place traps is actively trying to surprise someone and kill/hurt them, not set them in a fairly and reasonably distributed location so a rogue can check them off the list or anyone else can simply spot them and avoid them. As for your criticism about them being in solid stone or seeming out of place, this same thing could be said of virtually any dungeon with traps in it for a good portion of NW content.

3. Initially this was because of odd issues with the y axis, but I kept them that way because the traps still sprung. Traps, monsters, layout aren't supposed to be an exercise in fairness, they are trying to kill intruders.

4. Their motivation, much like most monsters, is plunder. This seems to be an extreme over analysis, like going to an action movie and wondering what Jason Statham's motivation for punching 100 dudes in the face was. It is a hack n slash quest.

5. Tymora is the god of luck, and the patron of the Lucky Dragonfly is a follower.

6. I may adjust this, depending on more feedback, but hard encounters is what I am going for. I have played it through in testing in the foundry with characters at the 1, 10, 20, 30 ranges of each class, and my lvl 60 CW. I am surprised you found it difficult given the difficulty of the encounters in The Three Sisters.

7. By design, it is a trap.

8. I will take a look at this, but room transitions and attachments are what they are, and one of the transitions functions not unlike a pit trap. The only thing I dislike is that on some of the transitions it causes a weird see through effect.

Thanks again, I will try to review yours when able. I sent you a PM yesterday about getting stuck at the area with the 3 tombs, and not being able to progress the quest but I never heard back from you.

ananvilhurtz

I'm not offended, I'm just trying to provide a bit of feedback. If its how you want it, such is life.

I didn't personally have difficulty with the encounters, and I have since decreased a bit of the difficulty in The Three Sisters based on similar feedback. But not everyone has the same level of skill/gear/etc.

Traps being there to kill intruders is fine IRL, but if Foundry traps were as powerful as real NW traps (Which I hope they someday will be), at least one hallway will be impossible to get through without using pots.

Anyway, thanks for your effort with my quest, I responded to your PM - despite having changed my settings a few times, I still do not receive emails when I get PMs. PMing me in-game will likely get you a response faster.

dominemesis

I tried to finish The Three Sisters, but I ran into two technical errors that just made it so I couldn't complete it.

I attempted it a total of 7 times, and here are the issues I ran into;

1. The stack of books that I assume should have a graphic accompanying it, didn't, and I tried on two different PC's with different hardware and settings, and it didn't display on either. It was just through luck and looking around the camp area after you PM'ed me back that I found the prompt near the bedroll and was able to continue, at least until...

2. The quest objective,"Destroy Vianna's Minions" one of the minions spawned in behind the invisible wall blocking Vianna from the middle section of the room. This made the minion completely untargettable and therefore unkillable, thus making it impossible to progress the quest. Twice I tried leaving the dungeon and coming back to The Final Tomb, which respawned new minions except for the one behind the invisible barrier, which was still there and attacking Vianna.

At that point I was unable to continue, and after so many attempts at this fairly lengthy quest and repeatedly being stopped short because of technical problems, I just didn't have the drive to try again, sorry. It is a shame, otherwise this is a really good quest. The heavily stacked encounters and combat difficulty are a challenge, but not impossible to do solo. I had no problems with any of the combat as a lvl 60 T2 CW, and you give a fair warning at the beginning that it would be tough to solo, so people should expect it.

I liked your map and layouts, I also liked how encounters shifted from tough single targets, to swarms of smaller monsters, this kept me on my toes, forcing me to switch my powers to match. I never had a problem with the difficulty, rather I only mentioned the difficulty of your quest in relation to you saying my quest was too difficult, which I found odd considering that by comparison mine is a walk in the park.

I also really enjoyed the story line, and was interested in seeing how it played out. All in all I would have probably given it 4 or 5 stars if I could have completed it.

Thanks.

data314159

I will run yours now ananvilhurtz. Please review mine when you have a chance.


Edit. I ran your mission, loved it all, did it solo. was real hard in bits. Layout was really good. Mob fights were well spaced. Only problem I had was I could not finish it because of a bug or stupidity on my part. stuck on Explore the tomb. I have clicked on everything, all bookshelfs, the crypts, the campfire and sleeping bag. Can't find anything else to click on. and nothing is happening. I will keep it and go back and see if I can find out whats left. But I did really like it.

ananvilhurtz

Sorry data, it looks like there is some sort of issue with that objective rendering suddenly, as Dominemisis reported that too. Not sure why, I haven't changed anything about that in quite a long while, and people have completed the quest many times.

Unfortunately, I'm away from a computer that can run Neverwinter until 6/6/2013, so I guess I just recommend no one attempt this quest for the moment til I can get home and take a look.

ananvilhurtz

ananvilhurtz wrote: »

Sorry data, it looks like there is some sort of issue with that objective rendering suddenly, as Dominemisis reported that too. Not sure why, I haven't changed anything about that in quite a long while, and people have completed the quest many times.

Unfortunately, I'm away from a computer that can run Neverwinter until 6/6/2013, so I guess I just recommend no one attempt this quest for the moment til I can get home and take a look.

I've made some adjustments, but I was unable to replicate either of those issues, so I can't say with confidence that I fixed them.