Suggestion : An area/scenario where the players lose...

baeyorn

Have been mulling this over a long time.

Being a long time MMO player, it does get stale because.. we the players always win... save the day/rescue the dwarf maiden in the cave/ defeat the BSC femme lich/etc..

Why not have a campaign/scenario/etc.. where all we do is.. survive..? and then have to fight our assinines off to get back..?

couple or three examples using some current game content..

Tower district
* we fail at stopping the orc's in the skirmish
* we are pulled to safety by the last fleeing guard members..
* orc's roll on and blitz the Tower district.
* we gave to fight building by building to get back to where we are now..
* this would be very similar to current tower district, but with a decidedly different start..

Ebon Downs
* we fight the voidwalker, death serpent, etc.. but fail to contain them..
* the undead roll over the neverwinter guard..
* players fight a delaying action so everyone can get out.. reference WW2 and the British at Dunkirk.
* Ebon downs is thus lost to the Thayan forces and the undead..

Icespire Peak
* we make initial progress using the region as shown now..
* Hrimir and his giant brethren storm back with a vengeance..
* all gains are lost as we fight our way down the mountain..
* In a future patch after we lose the battle/war.. we go all D-Day and take it back..

Comments welcome, as always..

:cool:

beckylunatic

Eh, so many games do something like this, where you sort of win but not really because you got there too late to prevent... something, as a way to keep you moving through the story.

Anyway, Neverwinter does as well, with the overarching Valindra plot. All those levelling zones are places where you are recruiting allies which will come up again in the Dread Ring level 60 campaign.

bioshrike

If you think about it in meta-terms, we never really tangibly improve the situation in any areas - the Neverwinter guard is still just trying to hold back the orcs, the undead still dominate the area in Ebon Downs, and devils still control the streets in Helms Hold... even after we defeat the big bad of that area.

We sort of get this with the culmination of the cleric class story arc, though.

chaoscourtesan

I like the idea. You could sort of do it yourself in the foundry I guess, but it might be cool, if there was a final zone you unlocked in each of the modules.. where after you've thrown your head back and howled to the stars in your glory, you realize you are still in deep... and have to make it home. And you've made some unexpected enemies, who really want their pound of... Sounds really cool to me.

@Becky, you are right.. Dread ring is just as you say.

But they could extend each leveling zone if they want to. Who knows, maybe they already have thought of this and OP just let the cat out of the bag. XD

orangefiree

They sort of have a player failure in VT. Not quite what you suggest but (WARNING: SPOILERS.) Valindra's essence is seen returning to her phylactery which you never actually destroy.

baeyorn

all good comments...

but guess I am thinking of something where after you *think* you've beat the big bad..

all holey hades breaks loose...

and it is all you can do to get back to survival mode..

Please pardon the movie reference.. but the battle scene in Aliens, where the "uber" elite Space Marines get chomped and sliced.. while they are fighting their way out of the terraformer power plant... losing men and women all the way out.

That sort of vibe/feel where you know you just got your kiester handed to you like a corndog onna stick.

sockmunkey

Ask Wilfred how he feels about us "Always winning"


Honestly, there are several places where the player comes up short. It might still count as a win, but often with a high cost.

Sure, you take the bridge. But at the cost of Wilfred.
You defeat Razaad, but he destroys a large section of the city and directly hurts an innocent couple. And you never do find out who he answered to.
You fail to stop Valindra from freeing the blue dragon in the water clock tower.
You come up empty in Skyhold. Company Yargo was there primarily for more skyships. They never actually get one.
You arrive far to late in Icespire. You defeat the giant, but the Dwarves have already been routed and displaced.
Even in Sharandar you end up having to destroy Celedaine. Who was simply enspelled and tricked into serving Malabog. In the end you end up defeating the one person Malabog couldn't. Its hardly a victory.

bioshrike

sockmunkey wrote: »

Ask Wilfred how he feels about us "Always winning"

Well if he didn't go all "Leeroy Jenkins" on Valindra, he might be singing a different toon...

Regardless, it would be nice to see some more story arcs that didn't quite end on such a high note - like success just means you held the line, or that your efforts simply reduced the number of casualties, but didn't actually gain any ground in the overall scheme of things.

Unknown

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vasdamas

....and inevitably die in the end.

Lol joke but still...would rather have some bad endings than never losing scenario