Official Feedback Thread: River District Zone

commanderander · January 2017

Hi everyone! Sean “Commander Ander” McCann here, and this is the feedback thread for everything related to the River District zone.

Known Issues
- VO has not been hooked up.

Access
Players can access the River District after completing the introduction quests for River District.

Feedback Desired
We’d like you all to focus on playing the overworld zone and giving us feedback regarding the new style of zone flow that we have. Is it fun? Is it clear what you need to do? Let us know!
• 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: Icons aren't appearing.
Instead of sword icons over an area, I'm seeing icons of Commander Ander's face. It's scary, get that out of here!.

Feedback: Dig Sites
I'd like more messaging regarding what to do with the dig sites.

beckylunatic · January 2017

Feedback: Guard Post Progression
I find the level design with guard posts and dig sites interesting. Is a counterattack HE by one of the bosses the only way the posts would lose progress as long as the instance persists? Or can they get attacked by regular mob patrols and take damage that way? I haven't been able to tell.

I've been the only player in the zone the last few nights, which has meant that any time I left and came back, any restoration work I might have done would be reset due to the instance closing. This means effectively having to start fresh every time the shards are reset, but could also be frustrating in the inevitable future when the bulk of players have moved on in the game. Kind of like trying to do various things in Icewind Pass and Dwarven Valley now, if you're new.

Feedback: Dig Sites
I've only done one of these, playing a 3k DPS-oriented DC. I think my character holds her own fairly well, but the final room of mobs in waves just felt like it was never going to stop. Pondering, I think my annoyance with it stemmed more from not knowing how much longer the game was going to keep flinging wights at me, not from feeling overwhelmed. Maybe some feedback with regard to how much % of the fighting is completed? Is that possible? Or was there some and I just didn't see it?

Also related to dig sites, do they have to hide the counters for your reclaimed resources? Assuming this display flips on and off based on being in the River District, can the interiors also be considered part of the River District?

(Waiting for a thread for campaign feedback, presumably from a systems dev. Most of my complaints relate to systems, not the zone itself.)

ctf4void · January 2017

Feedback: Artwork, mobs and ambience
The River district zone doesn't have a unique "personality", it is patched together by using artwork of three existing zones that do not belong together. This makes the zone feel like a phony frankenstein-zone instead of a zone with its very own character. It also lacks its own music which would have contributed to a unique ambience.

The zone also lacks inventive, new enemies, and by "new" I mean mobs that come with a new model, new animations, sounds and combat mechanics, instead of using old mobs that are maybe slightly changed.

All in all I am disappointed with this "new" zone, and would have liked to see something very different. A good template for a new zone is "The Chasm": It has a unique, escalating atmosphere that permeates the whole zone and unique mobs.

adinosii · January 2017

Bug: Falling off the edge

While wandering round in the upper right corner of the map, I fell into the river, and had a nice stroll along the river bottom over to the ships, where I noticed the interesting fact that the piles supporting the piers do not reach all the way down to the bottom. What an architectural marvel!

It was impossible to walk/climb back out, and with no VIP teleport available, I had to suicide there to get out.

commanderander · January 2017

beckylunatic said:
Feedback: Guard Post Progression
Pondering, I think my annoyance with it stemmed more from not knowing how much longer the game was going to keep flinging wights at me, not from feeling overwhelmed. Maybe some feedback with regard to how much % of the fighting is completed? Is that possible? Or was there some and I just didn't see it?

Also related to dig sites, do they have to hide the counters for your reclaimed resources? Assuming this display flips on and off based on being in the River District, can the interiors also be considered part of the River District?

I'll be fixing the issue where there isn't a % progress in the dig site interiors when you have to fight waves of enemies.

We'll be looking into getting the counters to appear within all of the dig site interiors.

hustin1 · January 2017

Bug: Enemy inside terrain
At location -178, -64: an archer inside part of the building steps.

hustin1 · January 2017

Feedback: nonsensical terrain
Steps without any reason for them to be there. A picture is worth a thousand words. Loc: -403, -23 (near the zone entrance):

Thia Duskwalker: "What do you think, Gwyndle?"
Gwyndle: "We dwarves like our ale, but wow. They must have been really plastered the day they built this house."

beckylunatic · January 2017

Feedback: HE mobs should drop reclaimed resources
HE mobs in a lot of quest zones have been patched to not drop loot, which was originally implemented to improve performance because IWD lootsplosions were lagging everyone out. In a module devoted to grinding resources to invest back into the zone, I think it's a bit stingy to not have the HE mobs drop the same stuff as the regular ones. They don't need to drop potions and green gear, but it would be nice if they dropped more module-specific stuff.

nisckis · January 2017

Feedback: Unguided Storyline
After finishing the Plague Tower Storyline quest, you are left unguided about what to do now. There is no available mission.
If you go to Protector's Enclave and you talk to Lord Neverember, he shows the Chapter 5 disabled (I supposed that means it's the current one running), and it states that you must unlock the campaing for defeating the 3 bosses.
At this point, without any further guidance, the only thing I suppose I must do is killing mobs at River District, do Heroic encounters, get treasure maps and find the treasures.

I'm currently waiting until the next day reset comes, maybe that will unlock daily/weekly missions.

After day reset there is still no mission not guidance to what to do.

hustin1 · January 2017

Feedback: Too difficult to determine guard post names
After testing for a few days, I think there should be some sort of on-screen indication of which guard post you are in. We get popups saying that guard post xxxx is under attack, but most of the time I have no idea where that is. I have to always check the map and mouseover the various guard posts to find it. There should be some sort of reminder when you enter a guard post that tells you its name (e.g. when you enter "Blighted Grove" in Sharandar, the name briefly appears in front of you).

hustin1 · January 2017

Feedback: OMG KNOCK IT OFF WITH THE CHAIN-STUNS!
Here's the scenario: you're facing a couple of Nothic Stone-eyes. One stuns you, then the other stuns you again before you can break out of the first one. They take turns refreshing the stuns so that you can never get out. Then a Fell Troll/Bullette/Gorgon comes along, knocks you flat, and you get stunned AGAIN before you've even gotten back up. This is not fun -- it's EXTREMELY frustrating!

hustin1 · January 2017

Feedback: Need some indication where the Stone-eye's gaze will hit
It's very frustrating having no idea how far off to the side or how far away I need to go to avoid getting stunned by one of those Nothic Stone-eyes. Sometimes it seems like the cone is 90 degrees wide, sometimes it seems like it's a full 180 degrees. Sometimes you can dodge around out of its gaze, and sometimes they spin so quickly that it's impossible. This is VERY frustrating.

beckylunatic · January 2017

Feedback: Dig Site Passes
I am not really getting the purpose of these, probably in large part due to having had to unlock all the things myself when I got into exploring. They last one hour. You are allowed to raid each dig site once in an hour. So if you unlock the dig site and loot it, the pass is no good any more and you should throw it out. One time, I received a pass as part of my treasure chest loot, but I had to go clear the corresponding guard post to use it, and then I had to pay to unlock the dig site anyway, which meant I had two passes and no way to use either of them. There was a time when I had 5 passes in total, but not one of them could have been used again, I suppose. The passes seem to only be good if you get one as a drop for a site someone else has unlocked, or that you can ask someone else to unlock, or maybe to save your access if you were asked to run something and then came back (assuming you didn't need to unlock the site again). In most cases, if our friends ask us to run a thing and we're doing a fast quest instance, they simply wait for us to finish.

If you already have the pass, I don't think you should have to pay for an unlock, at least.

The passes also don't show a timer, so the fact that they disappear after an hour is mentioned but not visibly tracked. At least coupons tell you how long they'll last.

hustin1 · January 2017

Feedback: Dig site mechanics are confusing overall
As @beckylunatic said, there are questions around site passes. I think the mechanics of passes vs. maps needs to be revisited. You buy or loot a pass, but you can only use it at a particular site, and only if you haven't visited that site within the last hour (and there is no indication how much longer you need to wait before you can reenter). And, as pointed out above, passes stick around even after you have used them (which makes little sense).

Then there is the question of dig site maps. It *seems* like they are only good for opening a new dig site, but what about when this is live and the zones are better populated? It's not a stretch to think that all of the dig sites will be open and defended most of the time. It's not at all clear what purpose, if any, that maps have then.

When you go do a place like Disney World, you get a day pass for a particular park. You can then go to any attraction at a particular park for that day (yes, I'm old enough to remember the 'A' through 'E' tickets). They went to the current system because the old one was too much a hassle for customers. It seems to me that an adventurer would buy a pass to enter any dig site, and the pass should be consumed upon looting said site. As for maps, I think there really should be a use for them if all the dig sites are opened. Maybe a map can let you enter that dig site type regardless of what is there? If not, then we really could use a better visual indicator of which sites are sewers, dungeons, or crypts. For that matter, what if all of the dig sites in a particular instance are only one or two types? There is the potential for players to be forced to change instances until they can find a dig site matching the one they need. I think this mechanic is interesting but needs a little more thought.

hustin1 · January 2017

Feedback: Terrain missing a wall cap
Loc: 408, -784
Decided to see what was in here and chanced across this. The inside of the wall is showing.

hustin1 · January 2017

Feedback: Incorrect dig site tooltip
If you can't yet enter a dig site, it says, "Has been 1 hour since you last looted this location". It should read, "Has not been 1 hour since you last looted this location". That said, ideally it would show something more informative, like "You cannot loot this location again for ____ minutes).

terrify10 · January 2017

Feedback

I love the idea of not having to do a boring <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> rotation of dailies. Wish all zones were like this. Like the new ideas you guys are bringing to the table. Please not make this campaign and weapons to grindy this time tho....

gabrieldourden · February 2017

hustin1 said:
Feedback: Need some indication where the Stone-eye's gaze will hit
It's very frustrating having no idea how far off to the side or how far away I need to go to avoid getting stunned by one of those Nothic Stone-eyes. Sometimes it seems like the cone is 90 degrees wide, sometimes it seems like it's a full 180 degrees. Sometimes you can dodge around out of its gaze, and sometimes they spin so quickly that it's impossible. This is VERY frustrating.

And on low graphics sometimes the cone doesn't draw properly on the ground. Honestly I like the stunning effect because finally I see a monster control effect that matters and can put you in serious trouble like it did in the old Spellplague, but it should draw properly all time. And really like the Dryad's Rain of Arrows melting you if you stay in place

adinosii · February 2017

There is a bug in The Fey Castle quest:

What happened: I reached Nostura, and removed maybe 40% of her HPs. Then she turned immune and that planar gate appeared. Fine, I jump through it, continue fighting her, destroy all the planar tears and get teleported back to where I first met her.

Then I am stuck. She remains completely immune - there are no planar tears or anything else I can interact with and nothing I can do. (She cannot harm me much either - I auto-heal faster than she hurts me). After 10 boring minutes I gave up.

I then tried again, and that time everything went fine, she was vulnerable, I took her down a bit, we plane-jumped again and then went back, and I finished the quest.

One thing did differently between the two runs was the timing of destroying the planar tears...I suggest checking if it makes a difference whether you do that before you fight her or after she has become immune again.

And yes...please, really.....considering how long tis quest takes and the difficulty of the obstacle course, the quest revard is not really appropriate. some XP, silver and one peridot....really.....come on.

adinosii · February 2017

And yes, the bug where it is impossible to complete dig sites (if you pull some monsters from the treasure room before you get the text about having reached the treasure room) is still present.

This is going to be a big issue for ranged classes. Please fix.

beckylunatic · February 2017

Feedback: Dig Site Access
This system seems like it could be a lot more streamlined. I'd like it if the passes were consumed at the end of the lair, since they're not useful afterwards due to the site cooldown. They can be thrown away, but that in itself is clunky and requires the player to identify the correct pass if they have multiples. I think the only function of the physical pass is the theoretical free access if you find one as treasure, and as a placeholder if for some reason you didn't finish the instance but were able to return to it within the hour.

A few scenarios that have come up with dig sites:

1. I get a site pass as treasure. The associated guard post is not active. Once I have made it possible to activate the dig site, I am required to buy a site pass because the foreman doesn't recognize that I already have one. I should be allowed access using my existing item.

2. I buy a map from the quest hub. I go to an active dig site. I can only go in using a site pass that I buy on location. The site pass indicates a randomized instance, unless it possibly gives me the type of instance determined by the player who opened the site. If the instance is not random but determined by another player, I should be able to find this out without having to go in, and even without buying access (I may require/prefer a specific instance type). If I am only allowed access to a randomized instance if the site is already open, I should be able to use my map in lieu of outright buying a pass. Unless we're running together, it's not like we see the instance generated for anyone else. It's not breaking immersion if I climb down a ladder into a sewer but it's a crypt for somebody else.

3. I no longer recall if it was possible to open a site to a specific instance type on location or if you had to have the map pre-purchased. If the foreman will let you do this on location, the maps are kind of redundant. If the foreman only sells random access if you have no map, the maps should be purchasable from the store interface on the campaign UI. I don't like being penalized for absent-mindedness any more than necessary in my leisure time.

Feedback: Dig Site map in scroll pile
Is there a strong rationale for these being in a pile of papers off to the side and not included in the main treasure chest? Or is it just aesthetics? Or do you not always get one? My sample size might simply be too small if not every instance gives a map, but I ran through three sites yesterday and realized while finishing the third one that I had not picked up the map from the second one, so I was irritated with myself for overlooking it. I'm a little torn, as I do get the general vibe from the dig sites of each being like a small tabletop encounter and it being on the player to look around carefully for loot, but on the other hand, I just get eager to keep pressing forward and then I forget things.

treesclimber · February 2017

Feedback: Mission narration
This is a bit more game wide and perhaps a too big thing, i've noticed already some time ago that accepting the mission and walk away will keep the mission giver speaking but as we engage in battle the voice becomes almost not understandable, what about fading all outer sound while mission giver is speaking to avoid players have to lower them down and up again?

hustin1 · February 2017

adinosii said:
And yes, the bug where it is impossible to complete dig sites (if you pull some monsters from the treasure room before you get the text about having reached the treasure room) is still present.

This is going to be a big issue for ranged classes. Please fix.

This sounds an awful lot like the bug in the Neverdeath quest where you have to go rescue Doomguide Severin. If you attacked from outside the room, you couldn't complete the quest. Same phenomenon?

hustin1 · February 2017

Bug: Weirdness when getting on mount
Since the last patch, I'm seeing some really odd behavior during the animation to get on my mount. Sometimes my character does a jump in midair, sometimes after mounting my character and mount pirouette several times. My main mount is the Small Forest Stag, but in cycling through my mounts I also see it with the Sylvan Stag. WAI?

orclord2 · February 2017

Bug: Chasm in the Chasm
I was in the Chasm walking around to the Cathedral of Madness when I fell in a small crack/chasm or something and can't get out of (it very deep). Location -403, 902

hustin1 · February 2017

This one?

I suspect it's also there on Live. There's definitely no getting out of it without using "defeat me". The "stuck" button doesn't get you out of it.

treesclimber · February 2017

When i disconect instead of being put back in my location i am put in the exit of the last crypt i cleaned.

Another weird thing this map more than the others seems to save more than it should, what i mean is as i play more and more i start getting +erformance issues.

Official Feedback Thread: River District Zone

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