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Official Feedback Thread: Sharandar

terramakterramak Member, Cryptic Developer Posts: 995 Cryptic Developer
Hey there folks!

This is the main thread for feedback on Sharandar, from the intro quests (Mystery of Sharandar / To the Farthest Forest) to all the quests and art inside the zone.

There are a ton of awesome threads and so much great feedback in the Preview forums - Thank you! We'll be using this thread specifically to get the feedback you feel strongly about; we're looking at more than just this thread, but this will help us get an idea of the top issues.

Please remember to stay on point and on topic, and to respect the opinions and feedback of others.

Here are some tips that'll help everyone get the most out of this thread:
  • Try to keep the feedback as concise as possible, while still accurately describing the issue. (Bullet points are my favorite for this!)
  • Try to be specific. Instead of "I didn't like Example Quest A," tell us why, e.g. "Example Quest A doesn't feel rewarding enough," or "Example Quest A's objectives lead all over the map; it takes too long compared to similar quests."
  • If you have an existing discussion thread on your feedback, feel free to link it!
  • In the same vein: If you'd like to spark a discussion about some of your feedback, e.g. getting opinions and experiences from other players, a new thread is the best place to do so (if there isn't already an existing thread on that specific topic).

Covered in this topic:
  • Quests and Environment Art
  • Lore, Dialog, Achievements
  • Pacing and Pathing

We look forward to hearing more about what you like about Sharandar, and what you would like to see improve!
Post edited by terramak on
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Comments

  • dardovedardove Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited July 2013
  • warpetwarpet Member Posts: 1,969 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    can remove it
  • shunterinoshunterino Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    The first solo mini-dungeon felt a bit sparse and barren. The cave and roots look was nice but it was a bit empty and a bit repetitive. Groups of four or so mobs waiting in a line, then another group, then another.

    As this is meant to be a repeatable dungeon some variation would be nice. Perhaps some randomness to the mobs, or a coupel of alternative routes to the boss, or maybe some mobs on higher levels?

    There's a couple of side caves but these didn't really have much in them, either in terms of monsters or rewards (although I realise this may change in the final version). Still it was the same sort of one level, group of monsters waiting, set up.

    Overall it doesn't feel very varied and can be run through in a couple of minutes, which is going to become a bit dull if you have to run it every day.

    The boss fight at the end was okay in terms of difficulty (even for my nerfed TR) but the mechanic is still off the same add summoning template. i know you're making an effort to change things up in the main dungeon, but it would really make a big difference if you did it in the smaller ones too. I imagine the other areas that will open up will also have mini-dungeons and if they all have this same mechanic people are going to feel you haven't listened to their complaints (even if the instances aren't that difficult) and are just churning out cookie cutter dungeons. Any sort of variation (not just in the boss's aoe animation) would go a long way to appeasing the player base, i think.
  • rashylewizzrashylewizz Member Posts: 4,265 Bounty Hunter
    edited July 2013
    shunterino wrote: »
    The first solo mini-dungeon felt a bit sparse and barren. The cave and roots look was nice but it was a bit empty and a bit repetitive. Groups of four or so mobs waiting in a line, then another group, then another.

    They made it that way so that even solo-players who aren't lvl 60 and geared with Castle Never stuff would be able to do it without spending hours pulling 1-2 mobs at a time.
  • shunterinoshunterino Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    They made it that way so that even solo-players who aren't lvl 60 and geared with Castle Never stuff would be able to do it without spending hours pulling 1-2 mobs at a time.

    Sharandar is a level 60 area. And while players might not be T2 geared I'm sure they're all packing some wallop.
  • cheesegromitcheesegromit Member Posts: 540 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    shunterino wrote: »
    Sharandar is a level 60 area. And while players might not be T2 geared I'm sure they're all packing some wallop.
    As someone that has done zero group content at level 60 and as such only has the basic green gear this dungeon was pretty straightforward for me, not quite something I was able to complete in a couple of minutes with a DC but not difficult either.

    I would agree that it was a bit sparse. I'd have to go back to some of the other quest dungeons to see how it compared but I think others have been similar in terms of having to walk for a bit before the next group of enemies. I would also agree that more variety in the fights would aid the repetitiveness. The Tymorian Lockbox event taught me that I'm happy to do repetitive content if there is a desirable reward that drops at a decent rate as well.
  • desjardiniidesjardinii Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 193 Bounty Hunter
    edited July 2013
    Some initial thoughts on the first Sharandar area...

    I like the new mob mechanics, it was nice to see some different types of attacks:
    • Prowies - AP Drain
    • Withers - Channeled Full heals
    • Different AEO attacks on others

    It definitely makes it a bit interesting. The mobs by themselves went down easy, but if you don't pay attention it can drag out the fight.


    As far as the first instanced solo dungeon, I would agree that it felt a bit sparse and plain compared to a lot of the other instances in the game. Going through the game the 1st time, I remember commenting that they were nicely done. I just didn't get that feeling in this one. The boss fight wasn't bad. Various AOEs to dodge, and a few mobs for adds. Nothing overpowering, but a bit of a different mechanic. than others. Easily done on my GF. Fragment drop for loot every time means that the enchantment will be pretty cheap to buy, but I don't think it will be that popular. Maybe that was the design, a cheaper enchantment that works for the more casual players, but not so overpowered as to be game changing.

    Overall I like the zone though.
  • silentraven72silentraven72 Member Posts: 115 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    How does one report a potential spammer when the @name can't be accessed? Found someone with a www.*******.com for a player name. I'm assuming this is an advert and not allowed? I have no idea.
  • dardovedardove Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    After playing around in the area for a while now, I have a few more comments.

    First, more than 2 sets of daily quests would be nice. Them repeating every other day gets old very fast.

    I do like the witches, especially their polymorph power. However a few times I have dodged out of it and still got changed into an animal.

    The end boss for the second solo instance could use some work. She is too easy and too generic. She should have something that makes her stand out from the other witches besides summoning trolls. Also, I'm pretty sure she stopped fighting once the trolls were out.
  • shunterinoshunterino Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    Currently getting a lot of lag and server disconnects in Sharandar. Much more than previously.
  • weyrholdweyrhold Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    I feel that the first boss fight in the Dungeon was a bit of overkill. Between the Thorns and the Redcap withers healing everything in sight and also attacking you at every turn was not a walk in the park. This was a very tough fight that I had to do 3 times just to defeat the boss and is this how we are going forward in Faywild this is going to get expensive in healing and injury kits. My 60LVL GF had a stone of health in play and it still killed me the first 2 times through.
  • s32ialxs32ialx Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    I feel after the extended FAQ is claiming that we should all all of our Knight of the Feywild pack items excluding the Extra Character Slot and the Astral Diamonds on the preview server and us not getting them there is a lot of lies and deceit with this company... I mean they didn't even properly apply my Pack until I called in and complained that I was not able to make my moon elf... and now I am able to make my moon elf I still can't get my mount... companion.... outfit... stone... title... whats going on PWE...
  • shunterinoshunterino Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    campfires don't seem to be healing injuries, certainly not in the Banshee area.
  • maisaanmaisaan Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 166
    edited August 2013
    Ok, so here is my take on Faywild and please correct me if I am wrong (I really hope I am)
    When you reach the "real" quest area, you can do the quests available to you in about 30 min, incl. the instance.
    Then you get a "quest" to plant seedling. It's something that just go on in the background (like crafting) and it takes 20 hours! And not just one time, but 3 times. Everytime the seedling quest is done, you can go back and and do the same quests again for another 30 min. The instance only seems to let you get the chest 1 time, so it's really not worth doing again.
    So is this how it will be? 30 min of game play a day for lvl 60 chars?

    And what about those very expensive keys? Do you need one for a group or do everyone need one key?
    I mean, if there is only 30 min of gameplay a day, how are you suppose to get the crafting mats for them?
  • shunterinoshunterino Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    having played the first two areas quite a bit my reaction at the moment is that it's getting a bit samey and a bit of a chore to do. There's isn't very much variety in quests even though you get two from each quest giver. They're basically the same: kill a number of mobs, collect drops, plant/gather something.

    Compared to an area like Neverdeath Graveyard the missions are much less imaginative here, in fact I've noticed the further I've gotten in the game the more simplistic and repetitive the areas have become. Lots of flat winding roads with small groups of monsters at regular intervals standing around doing nothing until you get close enough to pull them.

    It's like the early stuff had people coming up with lots of ideas for how to make missions unique to an area, but now people are like 'this will do', collect this, kill x number of that.

    The long waiting times between missions and the scarcity of sparks also doesn't help. Now I just get in and get everything I need as quick as possible and get out and only that because i want to see what the third area is like. Nothing to explore, nothing to find, no unique achievements to keep me there. Obviously this is in preview so it may all change by the time it goes live, but as a rough guide i would say the Graveyard area offered a lot more variety in mission types than this one (so far), and since this area is all about repeating missions it would be great to focus a little more on variety.
  • s32ialxs32ialx Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    oh don't forget that now with this expansion buying things and doing campaign requires gold... yep you require GOLD to do things... -.- but they have started removing ways to make gold.
  • terramakterramak Member, Cryptic Developer Posts: 995 Cryptic Developer
    edited August 2013
    Thanks a ton for the feedback, folks! Quick clarifications:
    The Feywild Pack is not 100% complete as of the build that's currently on NeverwinterPreview. I expect that the majority of the items will be working in the next major Preview push (not the one planned for today, but one we're hoping to post to Preview next week).
    The next major push is also likely have some updates to the Campaign System's interaction with Sharandar, taking into account a lot of the feedback we've gotten. I don't have a preview of any specific changes to show off quite yet, but we're listening!

    Thanks again.
  • powereddjinnpowereddjinn Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    The lockout timer for the 'The Arcane Reservoir' dungeon is way to long, 4 days then 7?
    This suggests that it will take 3 weeks of waiting around to get the bits for a Moonlight gate key, assuming they do not drop in quantity anywhere else for solo players!

    Also the whole module needs to grow to 3 times it's current number of quests available per day, as the whole thing so far is just about 90 minutes game time for a DC, which is about 3 times as long as some other classes!
  • dardovedardove Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    The lockout timer for the 'The Arcane Reservoir' dungeon is way to long, 4 days then 7?

    It is always 7 days. It is just the first time you likely saw it when it was midway through the week as opposed to at the start of the week. Also the Battle of Sharandar daily gives 10 Feywild Sparks. Reservoir is 50 IIRC, which means it will take a little over a week to get the needed sparks.
  • powereddjinnpowereddjinn Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    Once a week when you can run Castle Never 4 times an hour?
  • cheesegromitcheesegromit Member Posts: 540 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    maisaan wrote: »
    Ok, so here is my take on Faywild and please correct me if I am wrong (I really hope I am)
    When you reach the "real" quest area, you can do the quests available to you in about 30 min, incl. the instance.
    Then you get a "quest" to plant seedling. It's something that just go on in the background (like crafting) and it takes 20 hours! And not just one time, but 3 times. Everytime the seedling quest is done, you can go back and and do the same quests again for another 30 min. The instance only seems to let you get the chest 1 time, so it's really not worth doing again.
    So is this how it will be? 30 min of game play a day for lvl 60 chars?

    And what about those very expensive keys? Do you need one for a group or do everyone need one key?
    I mean, if there is only 30 min of gameplay a day, how are you suppose to get the crafting mats for them?
    A couple of notes.

    For the first area iirc there were two sets of quests so you're not having to do the exact same content every day. We're still only talking 3 or 4 quest plus the same dungeon on a daily basis though.

    You get one key for the dungeon chest as a quest reward, additional keys can drop from mobs so you don't necessarily need to purchase them.

    Otherwise, yeah, that summary isn't far off, in my experience at least.
  • kingculexkingculex Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    Sharandar seems very nice except for one major glitch I noticed. I play a lvl 60 TR and mainly use shocking execution and lurker's assault (switched to it on the preview to test it) as dailies. When playing in Sharandar my Action points would fill up and reset on their own. Whenever I tried to use a daily, the action points would vanish and the daily would not activate. I think this linked to the adjustment on the nerf that was proposed for lurker's assault. Honestly if this goes live with that bug you will loose tons more players.

    EDIT: This seems to have been an isolated glitch that occured yesterday and was fixed today with a small patch when I tried the preview shard again. Today my dailies worked fine, visual warning around the Powerie worked, and the audio warning worked. My dailies, the visual warning around the powerie, and the audio warning did not work yesterday.
    Every class has advantages and disadvantages. Learn the disadvantages of you class to overcome them. Learn the advantages of your class and the disadvatages of other classes to use them in pvp to win.

    There is no point to whine for nerfs because you win some and loose some. Crying just makes a player look like a crier and no one, especially the devs, should take them seriously. Have a nice day!:)
  • dardovedardove Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    kingculex wrote: »
    Sharandar seems very nice except for one major glitch I noticed. I play a lvl 60 TR and mainly use shocking execution and lurker's assault (switched to it on the preview to test it) as dailies. When playing in Sharandar my Action points would fill up and reset on their own. Whenever I tried to use a daily, the action points would vanish and the daily would not activate. I think this linked to the adjustment on the nerf that was proposed for lurker's assault. Honestly if this goes live with that bug you will loose tons more players.

    It should be noted that one of the enemy types in Feywild can drain you off all your AP. It does take a few seconds for the power to go off, so keep an eye out and kill them before they drain your AP.
  • kingculexkingculex Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    dardove wrote: »
    It should be noted that one of the enemy types in Feywild can drain you off all your AP. It does take a few seconds for the power to go off, so keep an eye out and kill them before they drain your AP.

    So not a bug but poor design? Which enemy? Even when I activated my daily with full AP nothing happened. I can understand draining a little AP at a time as warning but not all the AP gone in an instant. Very bad design. They should also bring back the count down for Lurker's Assault.

    EDIT: This seems to have been an isolated glitch that occured yesterday and was fixed today with a small patch when I tried the preview shard again.Today my dailies worked fine, visual warning around the Powerie worked, and the audio warning worked. My dailies, the visual warning around the powerie, and the audio warning did not work yesterday. I still think it is a bad idea having an enemy that can delete all of a player's AP. The player collects the AP a little at a time. The enemy should only be fair and steal it a little at a time.
    Every class has advantages and disadvantages. Learn the disadvantages of you class to overcome them. Learn the advantages of your class and the disadvatages of other classes to use them in pvp to win.

    There is no point to whine for nerfs because you win some and loose some. Crying just makes a player look like a crier and no one, especially the devs, should take them seriously. Have a nice day!:)
  • powereddjinnpowereddjinn Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    Moonlight gate quest area:
    I opened this area today & have to say it is terrible, long winding paths between the areas, really hard to see which of the 3 'moss covered dinner plates' has the task you are doing in, not helped by not being able to select a quest other than 'Battle for Sharandar'

    The dryad tree wounds - some are green fog, some are just 'tree',
    The 3 areas are each so much the same that finding the single long path out is not easy, more so when dodging the overkill numbers of dark fey, cyclops, fixed and wandering trolls...
    Kill a group of 3 - open pod - talk to podling - get ganked - yer fun :(

    Tower of Celadine:
    No campfire other than at the start: Who's idea was this?


    I can really see people wanting to do this day after day :(
    BTW I was trying this on my DC!!!
  • dardovedardove Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    kingculex wrote: »
    So not a bug but poor design? Which enemy? Even when I activated my daily with full AP nothing happened. I can understand draining a little AP at a time as warning but not all the AP gone in an instant. Very bad design. They should also bring back the count down for Lurker's Assault.

    Powerie or something like that. In the time it takes for them to charge up the power there is more than enough time to kill them or stun. If you see a beam of light directed at you, kill the powerie.

    If your AP is full and you activate your daily before they can drain your bar, your daily should go off normally. I haven't had any issues in that regard. I have even used whirlwind of blades on occasion when multiple poweries were targetting me with their AP drain.
  • alphachaosnowalphachaosnow Banned Users Posts: 58
    edited August 2013
    Very interesting expansion. :D
  • kingculexkingculex Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    dardove wrote: »
    Powerie or something like that. In the time it takes for them to charge up the power there is more than enough time to kill them or stun. If you see a beam of light directed at you, kill the powerie.

    If your AP is full and you activate your daily before they can drain your bar, your daily should go off normally. I haven't had any issues in that regard. I have even used whirlwind of blades on occasion when multiple poweries were targetting me with their AP drain.

    I did not see any beam of light at all and I can understand a slow drain but not a poof all AP is gone. The slow drain is valid because it takes time to build up AP. Having it all gone in a poof without any warning is very frustrating and poor design. My dailies did not go off normally. I tested it in whispering caverns and it worked fine so it seems to be something in that area. They should add a warning on screen at least that lets you know you are being targeted. The warning should be there especially if you are being targeted from behind where the camera is not pointed.

    EDIT: This seems to have been an isolated glitch that occured yesterday and was fixed today with a small patch when I tried the preview shard again. Thank you for telling me which enemy had the ability as well. Today my dailies worked fine, visual warning around the Powerie worked, and the audio warning worked. My dailies, the visual warning around the powerie, and the audio warning did not work yesterday.
    Every class has advantages and disadvantages. Learn the disadvantages of you class to overcome them. Learn the advantages of your class and the disadvatages of other classes to use them in pvp to win.

    There is no point to whine for nerfs because you win some and loose some. Crying just makes a player look like a crier and no one, especially the devs, should take them seriously. Have a nice day!:)
  • dardovedardove Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    There are audio clues as well. Personally, I have problem with it, because there is a warning it will happen and enough time to deal with it. It is also something different which I like it.
  • kingculexkingculex Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    dardove wrote: »
    There are audio clues as well. Personally, I have problem with it, because there is a warning it will happen and enough time to deal with it. It is also something different which I like it.

    You can believe me or call me a liar. I am not lying and I do not appreciate someone implying I was lying. When I tried Shandar yesterday there was NO CLUE that it was going to occur. This means there was no audio or visual clues and my dailies did not work. Between then and now it seems to have corrected itself because I just tried Shandar again and it worked perfectly. There was a small patch when I loaded up the previewshard today. So was it a glitch? Possibly Yes. Does it appear to be fixed? Yes. Is the idea of having an enemy that steals all of a player's AP a bad idea? In my opinion it is a bad idea and I think the enemy should only be able to steal a little to half of the player's AP. It is an interesting touch but I think it should be adjusted.
    Every class has advantages and disadvantages. Learn the disadvantages of you class to overcome them. Learn the advantages of your class and the disadvatages of other classes to use them in pvp to win.

    There is no point to whine for nerfs because you win some and loose some. Crying just makes a player look like a crier and no one, especially the devs, should take them seriously. Have a nice day!:)
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