Official Feedback Thread: Bryn Shander

commanderander · July 2016

Hi everyone! Sean “Commander Ander” McCann here, and I’m excited to present to everyone the first of our three new overworld zones, Bryn Shander!

7.11.16 Known Issues
- Icons are still placeholder
- Repeatable quests have an issue where they do not reward campaign currency.
- Some geometry may be floating above the ground
- The Icewind Dale overworld map pogs are not in their final positions
- VO is not currently hooked up.

Access
Players can access Bryn Shander by taking the quest, The Festival of Bryn Shander, from Sergeant Knox in Protector’s Enclave

Features
- New zone, Bryn Shander
- New Icewind Dale overworld map that includes a larger portion of the Dale
- New overworld map to overworld map travel, selecting the Icewind Dale Pog or the Underdark Pog will now open the Icewind Dale/Underdark Map

Feedback Desired
We’d like you all to focus on playing these instances and giving us feedback. Was the story easy to follow? Any potential issues that hampered your game play or stopped you from progressing? Did you find any issues? Let us know!
If you find a bug or have feedback, please follow the guidelines below when posting:
• Respond to this forum post.
• Type: Bug/Feedback (Please only choose one)
• Spec: (Please enter the spec that you are providing feedback for here)
• Format: Please use “Bold” face text for the Type & Spec then type your feedback in the body of your post. If you are listing a bug please have this text in RED, if you are posting an opinion or feedback please use BLUE.
• (Bonus: Concise Feedback & Screen Shots are much appreciated)

Examples:
Bug: Quest: The Festival of Bryn Shander
There was placeholder text that said, “Commander Ander rocks!”. While I agree with the sentiment, it seems like it doesn’t belong in the game, or at least it shouldn’t be so on the nose.

Feedback: Quest: The Festival of Bryn Shander
Commander Ander rocks for making this quest! But I was confused regarding where to go when I arrived at Bryn Shander

Unknown · July 2016

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scathias · July 2016

I am posting this now in advance of the drops and rewards that will be available from these quests and the dungeon. Please place all rewards in a shop (like the wonderous bazaar) where we can claim and test the items so that we can try and iron out any potential bugs (no one wants another Orcus set fiasco, or Warlord's Inspiration).

This is going to be especially important to be able to test the Ostorian Relics. I have no idea what these are, but from the sounds of it there will be multiple versions and they will be earned as quest rewards or rare drops or bought with some sort of seal. In any of those cases it would be a huge burden lifted off the player base if we can get all of them available for free for easy access so that the players can make sure nothing bad is happening.

Thanks

valwryn · July 2016

What do these EF! numbers mean....I'm guessing it some Freeze damage. Nothing is showing on combat log and my pally isn't losing health.....course she has 82% DR.

The starting videos are awesome and funny

Now I found it....it's the Everfrost damage from the beasts. All the squishy toons are gonna luv this!!! >:)

The Artwork in this place is awesome.

scathias · July 2016

Still have not logged into preview, i just hope everfrost damage works out better than the black ice resistance/damage from mod 3 XD

loboguild · July 2016

Quest: The Gathering Storm
Enemies are not dealing Everfrost Damage in that quest.

Quest: Wolf Clearing
The quest has too many waves/reinforcements. It's completely annoying. Dailies are dull anyway. Don't make it even harder on players ny letting them fight through dozens of meaningless mobs please... two waves max here.

Quest: Caravan Distress
The quest has too many waves/reinforcements. It's completely annoying. Dailies are dull anyway. Don't make it even harder on players ny letting them fight through dozens of meaningless mobs please... two waves max here.

Unknown · July 2016

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tripsofthrymr · July 2016

I enjoy the theme of the module so far. I'm focusing my feedback only on things that should be changed/improved. I saw plenty I liked too

Quest: The Gathering Storm
The quest tracker decided to tell me to go to The Red Wizards (Repeatable). This is a broader issue in current production too, but please can you sort all quests in the tracker by zone and always have any quests in the current zone at the top, and make sure you select the next quest in the quest line? Very often I'm suddenly sent to turn in The Red Wizards or claim my worthless potions in IWD (wish I could permanently drop that quest...)

Environment
The environment is too washed out. It feels depressing, but not in a "what happened to these poor guys" way. It just makes me want to head back to Dwarven Valley and roast some meat over a fire to warm up. Go for bright and snowblind over grey and dreary.

Abominable Yeti on the Wall
This is a really nice idea. Looks scary with that Yeti charging at me. Disintegrate + Ice Knife, no more Yeti. Would be nice if it would last a full rotation. Even nicer if it were a really tough battle (and since this is an "intro" quest, it is fine if the battle scales somewhat to item level, if that is something you can do).

VIP
It's a bit of a pain at times not to have VIP available on Preview. Enable the 12 month version for everyone. They'll get back to live and wish they had it. Zen in your pocket.

Quest: The Gathering Storm - Examine Cocoon
There is no cocoon, but there is an egg-shaped sparky. Suppose there should be an object here?

Quest: Wolf Clearing
At the first stop the wolves spawned into a block of ice and were trapped. If I step close the wolf can attack me, but the opposite is not true even with AoE spells.

Quest: Fangstrom Fur / Frozen Glove
I would be seriously bummed riding a 50% mount just to cross the frozen wastelands to turn in those missions for 12K exp reward. Even on a 140% mount I'll never turn those quests in again. Way too much riding around to an isolated spot for nearly zero benefit.

Quest: Caravan Distress
Too many waves. Recycled mobs from IWD with no new twist. Already know how to fight them (and the only minor challenge is avoid being briefly knocked down by wolves). Highly repetitive.

Boon: Tier 4
Chance to do 1500 HP damage when killing an enemy vs. 3200 HP? Hmm, choices, choices...

Manaseeker Armor
The 1- and 2-piece set bonuses are very underwhelming compared to my current Dusk bonus. Unclear if the 3-piece set bonus applies for the duration that the potion is in effect (1800 seconds?) or some shorter duration.

Out of things to do
I have done all quests that I can find. There are no more quests, and no "tomorrow and tomorrow" type quest directing me to check back tomorrow.

jazzfong · July 2016

Feedback:
I agree the number of waves is too much for the quests and the must-do HE. If possible, reduce it into two waves but add in more and stronger creeps per wave. It is a bit easy especially when u have your companion out to tank and you wipe everything in the following seconds.

loboguild · July 2016

Quest: Fighting Barbarians
The quest has too many waves/reinforcements per totem. It's completely annoying. Dailies are dull anyway. Don't make it even harder on players by letting them fight through dozens of meaningless mobs please... two waves max here.

Bug: Relics
Looting Relics with Trowels doesn't seem to work. You can interact with the node indefinitely, but get nothing.

valwryn · July 2016

Quest:Fighting Barbarians

After activating some of the totems....the barbarains won't continue the spawning waves after the first round and the totem remains lit.

Recover Relics
Having the Common Trowel in my inventory is not allowing me to pick up Relics from all over the map that shows the Interact sparkles.

loboguild · July 2016

Boons
The boons have an AD cost attached to them, which does not align with the other campaigns.

valwryn · July 2016

Ya have a floating Relic at coords (1061, 1101).

And another at coords (1491, 1629).

commanderander · July 2016

Great feedback so far, everyone. A lot of the issues you're seeing with enemies vanishing, stuck in ice, no cocoon, should have been fixed with a few things I did on Monday morning that came in too late for the current build.

Regarding the found quests (Fangstorm's fur, etc.), there will be campaign rewards attached to them. That was also fixed yesterday, but didn't make it into the build.

The !EF! on the Everfrost damage is a placeholder until we make it all pretty and presentable. Those changes aren't specifically related to Bryn Shander, but we're aware of it and are working on improving it.

Unknown · July 2016

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valwryn · July 2016

After a break to the LIVE server, upon my return to Bryn Shander, I found myself spawn'd under the map. It is hard to tell down here as everything is white and icy.

beckylunatic · July 2016

scathias said:
Still have not logged into preview, i just hope everfrost damage works out better than the black ice resistance/damage from mod 3 XD

It's an interesting design decision to go back to a special damage type like this after chucking black ice damage/resistance out the window with Elemental Evil. Mind you, I don't think it was ever a bad mechanic. Not being able to get a 4-piece black ice set because RNGsus hates you was a big drawback there.

loboguild said:
Boons

The boons have an AD cost attached to them, which does not align with the other campaigns.

I noticed this too. AD costs were removed from most campaign tasks and all boons to improve quality of life. I don't think they should be reintroduced.

Unknown · July 2016

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lwedar · July 2016

Feedback: Love the intro to this, very creative, extra points on the dragon. Are you planning on voicing the intro dialogue before live? It would be a nice touch

foxxy · July 2016

valwryn said:

What do these EF! numbers mean....I'm guessing it some Freeze damage. Nothing is showing on combat log and my pally isn't losing health.....course she has 82% DR.

The starting videos are awesome and funny

Now I found it....it's the Everfrost damage from the beasts. All the squishy toons are gonna luv this!!! >:)

The Artwork in this place is awesome.

I think that ef! dmg is another dmg, different from the red one. and the one to which we have to take the new frost resist to mitigate it

tripsofthrymr · July 2016

Relics don't despawn
Forget botting software or an AutoIT script. Any decent gaming keyboard can press F in a loop all night long to cash in on relics. If these have value, you need to do something to prevent easy botting. Random spawn points would help as would spawning near something that can attack decently.

Can't complete Fighting Barbarians
After first wave no further enemies apparent. Maybe under the map but nothing visible at all. I do have agro, so that is likely it. /locvec 252.004180 -166.550796 657.248291. Update: was able to progress by logging back out for a while and back in.

Blizard's Return
Unclear where/how to "take shelter." No quest marker / sparky trail.

Blizard's Return
The first time I encountered the yeti on the wall it was pretty cool (if very easy). The second time it felt like "that dang pesky yeti is back up on the wall again. Guess it's my turn to get it down." Put different thing there. Make then progressively harder, and a bit different. Put a Giant scout on the wall, trying to climb up and get a peek inside. Put some looters up on the wall trying to take stuff out (like a competing adventure party type of battle... not just a bunch of one rotation trash ads). Put stuff on the wall that a clever CW can push off the wall (and no invisible walls please). Put a child up on the wall searching for a parent (story instead of fight). I know it is more work, but figure out how to put some variety in this type of encounter. A little goes a long way toward a satisfied player base.

Blizard's Return
Again I just ran out of missions with no clear indication that I should come back tomorrow. A "warm yourself by the hearth (and come back tomorrow)" quest would be helpful, at least for the first night.

scathias · July 2016

Bug
The initial relic in the Recovering Relics quest that you are pointed at is not visibly a relic (not proper graphics, no sparklies)

Bug
Relics located at (749,1997) and (179, 820) and (701,628) do not seem to drop anything. I looted them about 15 times and got nothing. I did complete the Recoverying Relics quest and I had the Common Trowel item. after trying 3 of these i feel like it is something I am doing wrong

Unknown · July 2016

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Unknown · July 2016

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treesclimber · July 2016

Bug: Quest: Recovering relics

In the place were should be a relic on the map is a simple cilinder not interactable until purcase of a item from the store next to chetlebell, there is no info about this

Bug: Yeti taking a snowbath
Yeti is lower than terrain, check image for coordinates.

Bug???: Deflection chance much lower than usual.
On the image is the list of some attacks made agains my GF wich deflection should be around 95%.

Feedback: EF damage too big
EF damage was 75% of all my damage taken and almost got my 122k char dead with a simple mobs attack, for players with lower hp it wont be easy to survive without the new armour set.

http://extrazoom.com/image-63188.html?heuln50x50

tripsofthrymr · July 2016

treesclimber said:
Bug: Quest: Recovering relics
Feedback: EF damage too big
EF damage was 75% of all my damage taken and almost got my 122k char dead with a simple mobs attack, for players with lower hp it wont be easy to survive without the new armour set.

My squishy CW was never in real danger of death. Perhaps the EF damage cannot be resisted and you're not used to taking that much damage and not equipped to heal it fast enough? I have enough lifesteal to heal through damage.

treesclimber · July 2016

tripsofthrymr said:

treesclimber said:
Bug: Quest: Recovering relics
Feedback: EF damage too big
EF damage was 75% of all my damage taken and almost got my 122k char dead with a simple mobs attack, for players with lower hp it wont be easy to survive without the new armour set.
My squishy CW was never in real danger of death. Perhaps the EF damage cannot be resisted and you're not used to taking that much damage and not equipped to heal it fast enough? I have enough lifesteal to heal through damage.

I am used to take this much damage, the char i tested was 3900 il but in live server i use to go CN with 2500il, the point is there will be GWF with 90k hp with barelly life steal going there so yes, i think it is too much and TR's for example that main defencive is deflect, if it's suposed to be that low they will have a hard time. Im not saying "EF damage is too freaking high, cut it in half", i am saying tune it down 10-15% would be more than justified, the mini bosses inside bryn shander hit pretty hard.

obsidiancran3 · July 2016

Its just too white.

I also found it horribly laggy and that was with only a couple of people in it. The map is huge and there are a lot of fx to make the snow/blizzard effect function, and all of that means lag.

Unknown · July 2016

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valwryn · July 2016

Quest: Hunting the Yeti

Can't interact with the final node (367, 1012) to "Finish the Yeti".

Upon relogging to the game, I was able to interact with the node, but after the first wave of wolves, the next spawn'd under the map. Still needs fixing!!!

I finally finish'd this quest.....I had to relog 5 times to get everything above the snow. I once spawn'd under the map....again. There was one wolf, I could only see the teeth poking out of the snow. Wish I took a pic of that.

instynctive · July 2016

Oops.. I had posted this on the wrong thread, so here it is in the correct one:

Bryan Shander

Siege Towers
What is the purpose of the siege towers? Those wouldn't be used for castle defense. Perhaps replace with towers (archers towers, sorcerers' towers, whatever).,/font>

Ice Shards
The ice shard next to the main gate (1181,2238) would have blown out that wall.. perhaps re-angle it, or remove it.

Epicenter Cutscene
"The worst of the storm has *past*." Should be "passed".

Invisible Frost Giant?
(736, 2475) - "I'll cleave you in two!" but no giant (other than a frozen one).

The Gathering Storm
Banner at (1446,2295) (while on top of the battlements) going through wall of the turret.

There is no coccoon, that I saw.

Block off the steps back to the wall after the cocoon is found. Since the rest of the map is devoid of people, it creates a great deal of inconsistency.

Hunting the Yeti
Unable to interact with the knucklehead at (376,1017) to complete the Abominable Yeti quest. However, the yeti just.. appeared ..after a couple minutes.

General Thoughts

I have to agree that the washed out/overly bright ambiance is a bit much.
Lots of stuff to kill, but it's all quite simple. The !EF! is having little effect on my 3.5k ilvl GWF, which is nice, but so far this zone doesn't feel any more difficult than IWD, and it really should be.
I have no real need or desire for the new armor, so what other motivation/rewards could be put into place?
Instead of Rank 5 enchants dropping, please make them R6 or R7.

Thanks!

Official Feedback Thread: Bryn Shander

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Bryan Shander