Looking for Feedback!

runebane

An early version of the ending of Halgarth's Legacy is published. Part5 - Burning Vengeance - NW-DGYLNSKOL Looking for feedback on it. It wraps up the story, and sets the stage for my next campaign. I know I still need to do a bit more detail work in some areas. Also looking for spelling errors and such, I'm terrible about that. Thanks.

Quest Type: These are combat heavy quests. Straightforward dungeon crawls. With a little bit of story explaining why you are killing things. No real puzzles though.

Quest Difficulty: They are intended to be a challenging solo run. Because the quests have so much fighting a lot depends on player skill. Hard mode options exist for duos, small groups, or well geared players. Also group friendly so you can bring a friend if you are having real trouble.

Quest Length: *I* can run all of them except The Dark Descent in under 20 minutes. (Under 25 for TDD.) The average times tell me that many players take a good deal longer though. Just to be safe I'm taking references to "short" out of the descriptions. I don't want anyone thinking I'm trying to mislead them.

If you don't care about -why- you are killing stuff, then for the most part you can just page through the dialogue. I'd suggest reading it at least the first time for fun though.

Helping Halgarth - Daily Qualified!
NW-DB2J8F5F5
Part 1: Help Halgarth clear his underground laboratory of unruly kobolds.

Sins of the Past - Daily Qualified!
NW-DHBGJEOMB
Part 2: Search a waterlogged cave for signs of an ancient orc relic.

A Diversion Below - Daily Qualified!
NW-DIH2R2JJA
Part 3: Follow a cult leader through the collapsed sewers underneath Neverwinter.

The Dark Descent - Daily Qualified!
NW-DKNFEXUX8
Part 4: Travel down to the Underdark on a quest to save Neverwinter from another disaster.

Burning Vengeance
NW-DGYLNSKOL
Part 5: Track down an evil wizard and avenge your friends.

I'm Back! I spent a few months away from Neverwinter. I just removed the notice about my absence in this post. I don't think I missed anyone, but if you requested review trades and I missed it please let me know. Also open to new requests for trades if someone needs them. Not sure if people are still doing that.

lightbringer1102

I'll mark your quest down, play mine too please. Gnolls can be a challenge but my quest is playable and solo-able :-)

runebane

lightbringer1102 wrote: »

I'll mark your quest down, play mine too please. Gnolls can be a challenge but my quest is playable and solo-able :-)

Thanks! Just finished yours. First one is a bit more interesting now that it has his mother in it. And I liked the maze-like corridors in the second.

runebane

Hey lightbringer1102, can you give me some details on the flying stuff on the Helping Halgarth map? I can't seem to recreate the issue.

rogu3ish

Just ran this, it was pretty good No real notes to speak of, it looks polished and was decent combat wise on my 47 CW.

I could use some feedback on my second quest: Fleshrend's Big Adventure, NW-DBWJJYFDK, if you have time

runebane

rogu3ish wrote: »

Just ran this, it was pretty good No real notes to speak of, it looks polished and was decent combat wise on my 47 CW.

I could use some feedback on my second quest: Fleshrend's Big Adventure, NW-DBWJJYFDK, if you have time

Thanks! Just played Fleshrend's Big Adventure and its great. The story really drew me in. The fog was neat, but not overdone. And the town area was very well detailed. Loved it.

runebane

Updated the first post. Still willing to do review trades. Just let me know what you want me to run.

aaldaemon

I'll trade you a review. My quest is in my signature.

I've just played and reviewed - Helping Halgarth.

It was a good combat quest, quite what the doctor ordered if you level up a character. The end was obvious, I'm glad you put that I saw it coming (or something like that line in hehe).

runebane

aaldaemon wrote: »

I'll trade you a review. My quest is in my signature.

I've just played and reviewed - Helping Halgarth.

It was a good combat quest, quite what the doctor ordered if you level up a character. The end was obvious, I'm glad you put that I saw it coming (or something like that line in hehe).

Just finished Assassination Contract. Pretty neat. Liked trying to figure out what was going on. One minor thing, the companions the character gained in the story kept running off on their own. Through shut doors even. Not sure if there is anything you could do about that though. It was a very fun quest.

As for Helping Halgarth... hehe. Yeah. I added most of the stuff that made the ending obvious in after I first published it. It really surprised some people when I first released it. So I toned down the last fight and added hints. Hope you enjoyed it.

aaldaemon

Yup, was good fun. I like this type of quest to level my chars with - much much better than going through cryptic's stuff.

Companion NPCs (aka guards) are foxed atm sadly, I wanted to double facepalm myself on many occasions because of what they can end up doing. They drive me crazy... especially since I wanted to do way more with them... I understand though that there will be a major foundry update which will allow us to do great things companion wise in the future though.

runebane

Recently added a hard mode to my quests. Which should make them more fun for groups of 2-3. Also bundled the three released quests into a campaign. Which may have been a mistake. Anyway... I am still willing to trade review and plays.

antonkyle

I can't swap reviews as I have already played these and I can't increase my ratings. However I will offer some feedback. There all great and if I ever want a fight to let out some frustration with Cryptics profanity thing I know where to go!

runebane

antonkyle wrote: »

I can't swap reviews as I have already played these and I can't increase my ratings. However I will offer some feedback. There all great and if I ever want a fight to let out some frustration with Cryptics profanity thing I know where to go!

LOL. Thanks! I've already rated yours as well.

I had to edit the dialogue quite a bit to get Helping Halgarth to publish when I added in the hard mode. Looks silly with Master replaced with Boss and such. But hopefully its temporary.

antonkyle

runebane wrote: »

LOL. Thanks! I've already rated yours as well.

I had to edit the dialogue quite a bit to get Helping Halgarth to publish when I added in the hard mode. Looks silly with Master replaced with Boss and such. But hopefully its temporary.

My Magical Mystery Tour has 29 Johns in it, it's still published but I have the icon of doom (Just gonna leave it). I actually came across yours because you had played and rated mine. Great quests, combat always win me over. Odd really as I would say it my weakest link in my own quests.

eldarth

antonkyle wrote: »

Great quests, combat always win me over. Odd really as I would say it my weakest link in my own quests.

Have you tried "Old Magic" on "Elite" difficulty? :-)

2 hard mobs attack the safe zone at alternate timess and a hard mob patrols just inside the orc territory.
You can farm the 2 mobs, the patrol, some stationary guards, and when your done, the hadr mobs start respawning -- rinse and repeat all day long.

antonkyle

eldarth wrote: »

Have you tried "Old Magic" on "Elite" difficulty? :-)

2 hard mobs attack the safe zone at alternate timess and a hard mob patrols just inside the orc territory.
You can farm the 2 mobs, the patrol, some stationary guards, and when your done, the hadr mobs start respawning -- rinse and repeat all day long.

I played it during the comp. Some bugs at the time I think. Will give it another go.

runebane

The new campaign version of my quests can finally be seen!

runebane

Updated the first post with info on Part 4. The Dark Descent is now available for play!

runebane

runebane wrote: »

Updated the first post with info on Part 4. The Dark Descent is now available for play!

Like the other quests The Dark Descent is now Daily Qualified!

Kind of funny, because of the review lock it qualified at 0 reviews and 20 plays. First time I ever got one eligible for the daily quests while still in the for review section.

bazgc

Only played the first one so far but it was a very enjoyable quest

runebane

bazgc wrote: »

Only played the first one so far but it was a very enjoyable quest

Thanks, appreciate it.

winterswitch

Just finished Chapter 4. Full tip, all the way. Anyone considering making a hack-n-slash should check it out, to see how it's properly done.

Rune, I found just two minor text errors: In Kentaric's opening dialogue, he says "chansing down" where it should be "chasing down". Also the wounded assassin and the final kobolds are listed as "assasin" instead of "assassin".

I'd appreciate it if you give "Hive Mind" a run-through. Thanks. @Sintered

runebane

winterswitch wrote: »

I'd appreciate it if you give "Hive Mind" a run-through. Thanks. @Sintered

Will do, and thanks!

*Wow. Just finished yours. Amazing detail work. Had fun playing it.*

runebane

Still review trading.

Updated the front page info. Right now I am really looking for reviews for Sins of the Past - NW-DHBGJEOMB and for A Diversion Below - NW-DIH2R2JJA. Hoping to get them up to 25 reviews.

When I put my quests into a campaign I used copies of the originals. So any reviews before that were lost. If I've already reviewed the map you would like trade, let me know. As long as its not a group-only quest, I can use my second account to give you your trade.

eskarine

Ok, so I played 'Sins of the past'. I usually try to tackle previous parts in campaign before I take on reviewing the middle one, but since I am very short on time this week I couldn't do so now.

My notes:

- Not 100% sure how much of the map was premade and how much is decor, but I liked it, it suited the story

- Some interactions (like journal) could use animations

- "Smash the west/east/north barricade" - shouldn't it be western/eastern/northern ?

- "Got search" (runic barrier) - It's somewhat a weird response? Like half of the sentence is missing? (Or maybe it's just me)

- Drows, spiders, orcs, orges, goblins and lizards? Am I missing something from a plot? Is everyone and their mother looking for this relic? If not, then enemies seemed really random. You could change up their names a little, so they feel like a more cohesive group, at least in that aspect.

- Encounter at goblin camp felt stacked (not 100% sure it was, but it sure as heck seemed that way). For a lv60 DC - not fun. Got stuck in the pond at the floating leaves too.

- Stacked goblins and ogre = also not fun

- Boss fight. I managed to pull pack only the Maw while rest went on? Not sure if you want to allow that?

- Author's note on chest could be in 'OOC' or 'info' tags, so it stands out more.

runebane

eskarine wrote: »

Ok, so I played 'Sins of the past'. I usually try to tackle previous parts in campaign before I take on reviewing the middle one, but since I am very short on time this week I couldn't do so now.

My notes:

eskarine wrote: »

- Not 100% sure how much of the map was premade and how much is decor, but I liked it, it suited the story

Thanks! Its pretty much made from scratch. We don't have a small cave that looks natural (All the ones we have look like mines.) so I used large cave rooms and decorated away all the drop offs.

eskarine wrote: »

- Some interactions (like journal) could use animations

Will work on it where I can. Animations are iffy at best though. For example: I have animations on smashing the barricades, but they don't always work. Reading the journal in particular, I can't use an animation for because it is an inspect object objective. You can assign one to the object (I already have actually), but it will never work.

eskarine wrote: »

- "Smash the west/east/north barricade" - shouldn't it be western/eastern/northern ?

Probably, I had it that way once and changed it because it looked funny. Will change it back.

eskarine wrote: »

- "Got search" (runic barrier) - It's somewhat a weird response? Like half of the sentence is missing? (Or maybe it's just me)

Will change up the wording on that up a bit.

eskarine wrote: »

- Drows, spiders, orcs, orges, goblins and lizards? Am I missing something from a plot? Is everyone and their mother looking for this relic? If not, then enemies seemed really random. You could change up their names a little, so they feel like a more cohesive group, at least in that aspect.

Lizardfolk always lived in the cave. Drow and Orcs are after the relic. (You find out why in part 4.) After Halgarth's party came through, then the orcs, then drow... Everyone killed off some of the Lizardfolk. They were weakened to the point that the goblins are trying to move in and push them out of the cave. The goblins don't know or care about the relic. They just want the cave. The Lizardfolk Elder touches on this, but doesn't go into detail since you are focused on getting the relic.

I tried to sprinkle a few references to this kind of stuff throughout the cave without an NPC sitting down and explaining it. Will work on it some more.

eskarine wrote: »

- Encounter at goblin camp felt stacked (not 100% sure it was, but it sure as heck seemed that way). For a lv60 DC - not fun. Got stuck in the pond at the floating leaves too.

Its not *supposed to be* stacked unless you chose the hard mode option or you pull more than one group. The encounters were kind of close so I'll look into moving the them apart to make sure someone doesn't pull more than one of them. The only intentionally stacked encounter in the normal mode is the final boss. There are a few encounters where I mixed and matched them for variety. I did my best to keep their difficulty the same though. If I added a normal strength monster, I pulled a different one away and placed it elsewhere. But the goblin camp wasn't even one of those.

*Moved the hard goblin encounter back a little. The two front encounters I split up three ways into small groups instead of two larger ones. Of course hard mode adds more encounters, but I think I cleared up any issues of normal mode pulling more than one.*

eskarine wrote: »

- Stacked goblins and ogre = also not fun

Again, if it was on normal, its not stacked. Only the boss has 2 encounters. If its the fight I'm thinking of (right after the goblin camp) its an orc encounter, with the orcs reskinned to look like goblins.

eskarine wrote: »

- Boss fight. I managed to pull pack only the Maw while rest went on? Not sure if you want to allow that?

Odd, like I said that's the only encounter that is actually stacked. They spawn practically on top of each other. Will look into it.

*Went ahead and adjusted moved their patrol points a bit. They should stick together better now.*

eskarine wrote: »

- Author's note on chest could be in 'OOC' or 'info' tags, so it stands out more.

Adding this now.


Thanks again for all the feedback! This was exactly the stuff I need.

phoenicianson

Rune... I ran through the quest that you asked me to playthrough, Sins of the Past! I read up on the environment from your response to eskarine! Wonderfully done environment dude, I was going to ask the same question. You definitely put a lot of time and love into the background, and it DID suit the quest very well!

I also went right to this quest, since you referred me to this one, I didn't even know it was a campaign until I clicked through to your post. Even your signature only has two of the four listed. Anyways, excellent job dude... here are a couple notes:

1. Firstly, the dialogue was well done, as I can tell you spent your time proofing it to look for errors, which I love when authors do that considering I am OCD when it comes to grammar and spelling... not for forum posts like this, as they are more conversational, and informal, but for these quests.

2. You may want to see what the deal is with that very first group of encounters, they just stood there and never attacked. A few of them ran up to me, but stood around my character and just watched as I put them down.

3. In those areas where you have to kill multiple encounter groups as part of the objective, I have to be honest, I was running around looking for them... I suggest that you either, (a) move the existing encounters you have towards lit areas so they can be spotted more easily, (b) add some lit areas where they are located, (c) have them roam a bit, or (d) use "Points" rather than "Area", so the player is lead directly to them. This is the case for each of the sections of the environment where you have a multi-encounters attached to a single "kill objective".

4. Finally, and this is more of a stylistic suggestion, but with regards to the dialogue interaction with the Lizard Elder. After the dialogue was completed, the NPC simple disappeared on me, which for me, I think that forces the progression and takes away from the ambience and out of the story. Either, (a) respawn a new Elder post dialogue that walks away, or (b) change the appearance rules for it to disappear post following objective, just remember to set it as "Ignore All" so it does not aggros encounter mobs.

Great job bro! I will definitely hit up the first quest to get the foundation to the second that I missed and play through the remaining campaign. Hopefully, once I build mine, you will do the same. Thanks!

rumrunner711

Hey Rune, thanks for playing/reviewing my quest!
I played through the third chapter so far. Very cool!
I like your map design and story.
The combat (normal diff.) was fun and felt just the right challenge, only fight that made me run was the necromancer.
Very well done.

Some short notes:
Played with a 48.DC + companion

Wererat Wretch Boss fight
- all he did was that "pull you in, slam the ground" move

Metnik (convo after killing necromancer)
- change "somthing" to "something"

When I get a chance, I'll run through chapter 4... and 1 and 2 also.

runebane

phoenicianson wrote: »

Rune... I ran through the quest that you asked me to playthrough, Sins of the Past! I read up on the environment from your response to eskarine! Wonderfully done environment dude, I was going to ask the same question. You definitely put a lot of time and love into the background, and it DID suit the quest very well!

I also went right to this quest, since you referred me to this one, I didn't even know it was a campaign until I clicked through to your post. Even your signature only has two of the four listed. Anyways, excellent job dude... here are a couple notes:

1. Firstly, the dialogue was well done, as I can tell you spent your time proofing it to look for errors, which I love when authors do that considering I am OCD when it comes to grammar and spelling... not for forum posts like this, as they are more conversational, and informal, but for these quests.

Thanks.

phoenicianson wrote: »

2. You may want to see what the deal is with that very first group of encounters, they just stood there and never attacked. A few of them ran up to me, but stood around my character and just watched as I put them down.

Odd. Not seen that, but I'll look into it. I know the skullcleaver tends to aggro first and charge out of the group early. Usually the others join in later. Will try to adjust them though.

*Adjusted their positions. Seems they were set 10 feet up in the air in the editor. Maybe bringing them down to earth that will help. Hadn't noticed it before to test it though.*

phoenicianson wrote: »

3. In those areas where you have to kill multiple encounter groups as part of the objective, I have to be honest, I was running around looking for them... I suggest that you either, (a) move the existing encounters you have towards lit areas so they can be spotted more easily, (b) add some lit areas where they are located, (c) have them roam a bit, or (d) use "Points" rather than "Area", so the player is lead directly to them. This is the case for each of the sections of the environment where you have a multi-encounters attached to a single "kill objective".

I'll see what I can do about making them move visible. I'm guessing this was the drow area?

*Moved one of the drow assassins away from the wall a bit. Also set the drow and the first lizardfolk village to points.*

phoenicianson wrote: »

4. Finally, and this is more of a stylistic suggestion, but with regards to the dialogue interaction with the Lizard Elder. After the dialogue was completed, the NPC simple disappeared on me, which for me, I think that forces the progression and takes away from the ambience and out of the story. Either, (a) respawn a new Elder post dialogue that walks away, or (b) change the appearance rules for it to disappear post following objective, just remember to set it as "Ignore All" so it does not aggros encounter mobs.

Great idea!

*He hangs around now. And is set to be ignored.*

phoenicianson wrote: »

Great job bro! I will definitely hit up the first quest to get the foundation to the second that I missed and play through the remaining campaign. Hopefully, once I build mine, you will do the same. Thanks!

Thanks again. And yes, I'll check yours out when you build it!

runebane

rumrunner711 wrote: »

Hey Rune, thanks for playing/reviewing my quest!
I played through the third chapter so far. Very cool!
I like your map design and story.
The combat (normal diff.) was fun and felt just the right challenge, only fight that made me run was the necromancer.
Very well done.

Some short notes:
Played with a 48.DC + companion

Wererat Wretch Boss fight
- all he did was that "pull you in, slam the ground" move

Not sure what I can do about that other than changing the whole encounter. Will look at it though.

rumrunner711 wrote: »

Metnik (convo after killing necromancer)
- change "somthing" to "something"

Nice catch, changing it now.

rumrunner711 wrote: »

When I get a chance, I'll run through chapter 4... and 1 and 2 also.

Thanks! After making the first two I realized they had way to much back and forth. So I made 3 and 4 to have more of a feel of keeping on moving forward. Might seem a little backwards when you go back and do 1 and 2. Sorry about that in advance.

runebane

The Dark Descent: Made a couple of dialogue changes. Raised a wall at the skeleton area. To prevent Ice Storm and Sun Burst (with divine power) from knocking enemies over it. Moved an explore point so its less likely for the players to miss it.