[UGC] -(C)Timeless Trials (Q)The Headless Hero- Reviews welcomed :]

visigoth18 · May 2013

(C) - Heroic Adventures -

NWS-DNA6IVAK2

Campaign Description:

Valindra’s Siege on Neverwinter left many dead and rotting corpses. Groups of grave diggers spend day and night trying to protect the still living inhabits from disease and plague. One such group has made a mysterious discovery while digging in the oldest uninhabited sections of Neverwinter. Rumors spread of the discovery going up for auction on the Back Ally black market.

What secrets are being traded under hushed whispers?!

*It’s time for you to find out!*

- Number of players: 1 to 2
- Campaign Type: [RP] (Adventure?)
- Campaign Length: Undecided
- Amount of Combat: Heavy
- Amount of dialogue: Light - Heavy
- Campaign Setting: (Custom Maps)

(Q) Ch 1.) The Headless Hero

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Quest Description:

While dealing with the casualties of Valindra’s Siege on Neverwinter, a group of grave diggers uncover a long forgotten Crypt…What was discovered…What will this discovery bring?

*It’s time for you to find out!*

A local Merchant, Alrica Fenta has posted a flyer asking for an adventurer who’s willing to check into the validity of an Item she has acquired. The Item in question is supposedly linked to a Legend promising great wealth.

- Version: 2.2
- Number of players: 1 - 2 (if Solo, bring pots)
- Quest Type: Campaign Intro (Balanced, Exploration)
- Quest Length: Medium - Long (depends on you)
- Amount of Combat: Heavy
- Amount of dialogue: Heavy (Length depends on you)
- Maps: 5 (Protectors Enclave, Neverdeath Graveyard, Forgotten Crypt, Underdark, Undead Arena)

visigoth18

My other Campaign <[Anvilbreaker Forgeworks]>

Any feedback/ criticisms are welcomed and appreciated.
thanks :]

visigoth18 · May 2013

@casekuk video playthrough of my quest v2.0+

@Tsumoro video playthrough of my quest v2.0

@Tsumoro video playthrough of my quest v1.0

@drakedge video playthrough of my quest v1.0

visigoth18 · May 2013

If you want, when I have free time "which I tend to have about every day" I'll gladly trade Reviews with you.

Just make a post telling me you left me a review in game "and tell me your Quest info" and I'll play your (Q) ,and do the same for you

<Disclaimer>
I will give you my honest opinion :]

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Reviews

zoustyx · May 2013

Nice job on the quest! It used the foundry quite well! Only one complaint though, too many collectables that fill up your inventory at start lol.

visigoth18 · May 2013

Hey thanks for the (5 star) rating!
and yeah I was worried four might be too much, I was trying to make the quest seem believable/ real and it just kept requiring items lol. "Edit: thanks to you I went back and noticed I had forgotten to turn on (consumes item after use) thanks again I wouldn't have caught that on my own".

I spent six days working it all out/ polishing/ reworking things because of all the bugs with the foundry, and I figured it was at a point where it was at least playable. I was starting to feel like it was a waist of time "but all the 5 star reviews" have made me feel better about continuing to work on it. I still need to seriously redo the combat it sucks..."it was the first thing I did and I've learned allot since then" plus flush out the story some more, so its not just a farming map.

after seeing all the bad "Arena/ Grind" quest, I've decided I'm gonna move away from that a little and try making it a little more RP Questing.

Thanks everyone for all the kind reviews "and the 5 star ratings, you guys rock"

drakedge2 · May 2013

I had fun with it, you saw the youtube video =D

visigoth18 · June 2013

o_o SO MUCH WORK... Version 2.0 is live!

meysa · June 2013

*Review*
Ok, so I fionally had some time to run another quest this evening and here is my review.

I absolutely LOVED the graveyard and the weather effects. Now I need to learn how to do that. I really liked most of the roleplay elements in your quest, and the story was good too.

However, I really did not like that you simply refused to use any area markers for quests. I could've sworn I talked to everyone in camp, including some Doomcaller who sent me off on some side quest, which I just assumed was part of the main quest, because you don't have any area markers. So then I must've killed everything in the graveyard twice, maybe more than that (Speaking of which I really want to know how you did that.) before I finally went back to the main camp and talked to everyone again and discovered that I had, in fact not talked to someone. YAY!

Then I got into the crypt. You did provide a couple waypoints there, but once I got into the main section, you once again decided using waypoints ruined immersion. So I got to go to all three doors before I found the correct one. This is stupid, in my humble opinion. Ideally, we would be able to script multipath quests, so that if I chose to go one way, missed your other content, but yet still find the person I was looking for, then it would complete the quest. Since we can't do that, I think it's very reasonable of you to tell me which way I should be going first so I don't waste my time going places that just dead end. I get what you're going for here, and really I think it's pretty cool and I wish the tools you were provided were up tot he task, but not having ANY direction is frustrating and completely ruins the fun of the experience, for me at least, when 90% of the quest has no direction. Yes, if I went back and ran your quest again it would go much more quickly, but that is entirely beside the point.

So, I complete the quest and go to the next part. Still no directions, but since it's just a one-way to go area, this is a perfect place to implement something like that.

Next area, the arena. You start off with a quest to "find the hawk perch", but once again provide no direction so I start looking for a hawk or an area a hawk could perch. I guess wrong for a while and then find it at the camp eventually. This one I can be more lenient towards because I probably should've walked to the campfire first. :-) Then, I do the quests for the remainder of the piece, but since your spirit doesn't move, it again wouldn't kill you to put a trail to him, or back up to the camp for that matter. Now, I'll admit that by this time it had been a long time and I was more than a little frustrated with your creative decision.

Overall, your quest is brilliantly designed and implemented, but the frustration your lack of guidance caused me to only give you 4/5 stars.

visigoth18 · June 2013

meysa wrote: »

*Review*
the arena. your spirit doesn't move, it again wouldn't kill you to put a trail to him, or back up to the camp for that matter. Now, I'll admit that by this time it had been a long time and I was more than a little frustrated with your creative decision.

Thanks again for the detailed feedback "it's helpful" I'm just hoping that the reason you found this part so difficult was because by the time you got there you were burnt-out from the frustration. I'm not a fan of hand holding in games "but I am making changes that I hope will make the quest progression friendlier for gamers like yourself" I do hope things like "set up a camp" and then "Return to your camp" come across to the player without having to make a sparkly trail for them (the quest tracker dose not like custom maps, and tends to try and lead players through walls and such)

So thanks to a couple people giving me feed back 'I am' working on making quest progression more Player friendly. Hopefully I'll have v2.1 published by tomorrow.

visigoth18 · June 2013

Boom! 2.1 is Publishing as I type

pris23 · June 2013

OK so overall I really loved your quest. I loved the environments especially and can tell that you put quite a bit of time and effort into making those awesome. I also enjoyed the story and combat content. I agree with the above poster that the lack of quest trails in some parts were a little rough. I wouldn't say that it had me frustrated as much as it just took too long for me to complete. Luckily this was a Friday night so I had the time to do it. I do understand immersion, but if you are going to do that I suggest giving the player something to work with. For example, in the crypt with the three doors perhaps you could put a statue or a bookshelf with a riddle that points to the order the doors should open into. Just a suggestion though. Keep in mind that it will take you much less time to complete as you created it and know every little piece of your dungeon.

OK here are my notes. These are only suggestions of course. Do what you will with them.

The door at the end of the graveyard which took me back to Protector's Enclave caused the quest to bug out and I had to relog and re-accept the quest. Perhaps the quet text on the door should say Press F to Exit quest early or something along those lines to make it clear that it is not part of the quest at this time.

- Acolyte Kerin (spelling?) explains to you what happened to the scribe at the Crypt says "it was tarring away chunks..." and I believe you meant tearing.

- It was a little strange that several yards before I actually got to the crypt entrance it said Press F to enter the crypt. Why not put that transition at the door to the crypt instead of 30yrds away?

- Nice touch with the water covering the tomb floor and the creepy whispering effects at some of the doors. It really added to the feeling that this place was not meant for the living.

- I killed the baddies in the crypt with the scribe and see him laying on the ground talking, but I could not interact with him and the objective still says look for clues. I eventually found the missing clue, but I noticed that the backpack was directly next to something else that I could interact with. This made me think they were one in the same interaction. You might consider moving the backpack across the hall or just a little further away to distinguish it from other objects that you can interact with in the room.

- Third set of trolls in the underdark are named Troll 2.

-HaHa not to give anything away, but two of my favorite characters are standing around at the end. :P

Thank you so much for a fun adventure and I look forward to seeing your review of mine soon. You can find the information for it in my signature. If you want to give me more detailed feedback than you can in the in game review my thread is located here http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?330921-Will-trade-for-reviews-on-The-Secret-to-Paradise-Part-1-Paradise-Lost!

visigoth18 · June 2013

you just missed getting to play v2.1 which fixed/ changed some of those "bugs" you mention

pris23 wrote: »

perhaps you could put a statue or a bookshelf with a riddle that points to the order the doors should open into.

That is a great inspiration, I originally tried fleeing NPC's but they didn't work worth a <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> "because of the encounters"

pris23 wrote: »

The door at the end of the graveyard which took me back to Protector's Enclave caused the quest to bug out and I had to relog and re-accept the quest. Perhaps the quet text on the door should say Press F to Exit quest early or something along those lines to make it clear that it is not part of the quest at this time.

>.< I thought I deleted that "it's a leftover Emergency Exit, before I understood how the mini map exit worked" thanks a ton for pointing this out !!!!!

pris23 wrote: »

- Acolyte Kerin (spelling?) explains to you what happened to the scribe at the Crypt says "it was tarring away chunks..." and I believe you meant tearing.

Ha! good catch

"yeah I'm a terrible speller, thanks"

pris23 wrote: »

- It was a little strange that several yards before I actually got to the crypt entrance it said Press F to enter the crypt. Why not put that transition at the door to the crypt instead of 30yrds away?

Oh! that's a totally valid/ astute observation!

I would love to do that... but its a [Cryptic] map "there is actually an invisible wall there that I cant move, you must have barley missed running into it" my idea for that map was to stick the crypt entrance somewhere players might have run across in the "real" game, but the fence/ gate prevents you from entering so you can just barely see around the corner "on the real Neverdeath map"

pris23 wrote: »

- I killed the baddies in the crypt with the scribe and see him laying on the ground talking, but I could not interact with him and the objective still says look for clues. I eventually found the missing clue, but I noticed that the backpack was directly next to something else that I could interact with. This made me think they were one in the same interaction. You might consider moving the backpack across the hall or just a little further away to distinguish it from other objects that you can interact with in the room.

Oh O_O good catch "thanks" I didn't even realize that could happen. the door lock is set to open when you reach a waypoint "but to progress the quest you have to interact with the backpack... so it totally makes sense this could happen /facepalm

pris23 wrote: »

- Third set of trolls in the Underdark are named Troll 2.

Again

great catch, thank you

pris23 wrote: »

-HaHa not to give anything away, but two of my favorite characters are standing around at the end. :P

I think your the first to get that "or at least the first to appreciate it" XD it makes the Literary/ film nerd in me happy!

pris23 wrote: »

I look forward to seeing your review of mine soon.

I'll try and get to it soon.

Your review gave me a huge grin lol Thanks for that

lolsorhand · June 2013

Tried searching for A hero's adventure, but doesn't show up for me. I'll wait for it to turn up, don't want to be skipping the story

visigoth18 · June 2013

weird, I gave every posable way you could find it "short codes, campaign title, quest title, authors name"

lolsorhand · June 2013

I've tried searching by all, doesn't show up. O.o

Wanted to run it with my 60 rogue, though i seem to have it on my cleric 26, so i'll go with her.

- Nope, gone from her as well. And i only left the area to logon and get it on my rogue.. So wierd.

visigoth18 · June 2013

well that's a crappy bug, I just searched for both the (C) & (Q) using the short codes, they popped right up

lolsorhand · June 2013

Well, i'm not a fan of invisible walls. ( Unless they are placed for a reason. And then with some sort of visual effect. - I'm still running it through, though finding myself to wander aimlessly atm. I enjoy searching for answers but for example, when you place a few boxes that say - "it seems they are placed so you can climb over the fence." I do that, only to meet another invisible wall.

On the plus side, i can surely enjoy all the well placed details and FX all around the graveyard. I know how much time it takes to get it right, and get it to look well. Though the invisible walls makes me feel abit confused.

I'll continue on the quest, so far ending up on a 3/5 Mostly because of the detail. (Mind I'm completely lost, and perhaps that's because i'm a terrible player

)

Edit: Well i found the chest, and then it solved itself. Though perhaps give the NPC a conversation after the quest is given, so she can remind the player, or give a hint. ( I might just have been distracted though as i read it, dogs running back and fourth. )

Edit 2: I'll have to try this out another day, irl calls. - But this is more a exploration map imo than hack 'n slash. The mobs were abit too easy imo, but then again i played a cleric. And haven't finished the map yet. But yeah, went into the .. *SPOILER*

Three split corridor catacombs, and wasn't able to find my way around yet. IRL called. But i enjoy the details very much, just that this confusion is keeping me from really enjoying the map. It has great potential imo.

visigoth18 · June 2013

I can appreciate what your saying...

but I would like to think that at a certain point its "ok to expect some basic things from players"

lolsorhand wrote: »

Well, i'm not a fan of invisible walls. ( Unless they are placed for a reason. And then with some sort of visual effect

I did this as a quick fix "because some were just leaving the area and getting lost before they progressed the quest" looks like I'll have to set it even farther so people can't leave until after they have gotten the chest...

lolsorhand wrote: »

when you place a few boxes that say - "it seems they are placed so you can climb over the fence." I do that, only to meet another invisible wall.

I totally see why that would seem completely strange. "but it's because your their Wayyy to early..." and that specific 'invisible wall' I didn't place that, [Cryptic] did "they didn't intend for players to be able to go past the fence, and unfortunately I can't move it" but since you "did" make it to the catacombs you got to see how it was supposed to work... so I guess I just have to make changes to direct players like your self :]

lolsorhand wrote: »

(Mind I'm completely lost, and perhaps that's because i'm a terrible player )

I turned on quest tracking for just about every (Quest Objective) after others like your self were having trouble... So you should be able to just open your map "look around" and see where you need to go...

lolsorhand wrote: »

Well i found the chest, and then it solved itself. Though perhaps give the NPC a conversation after the quest is given, so she can remind the player, or give a hint. ( I might just have been distracted though as i read it, dogs running back and fourth. )

lol...Literally the last thing the NPC tells you is

(She grasps at your sleeve)
Wait!…won’t you need the chest? We left it in our wagon. It’s to the north by the city gate.
(She buries her face in your back, with tears in her voice)
Good luck…Please find Droverson…and keep him alive.

and Chest is Highlighted, Plus there is a "Quest Marker" showing you where it is...But I guess if I block the exit hopefully this will prevent people from running off before they get the chest :]

lolsorhand wrote: »

But this is more a exploration map imo than hack 'n slash. The mobs were abit too easy imo, but then again i played a cleric. And haven't finished the map yet.

thanks I'll try and think of a better way of phrasing it :] it wasn't meant to be that much exploration... trying to balance encounters is weird "there's a video in my OP of a lvl54 TR doing the quest and he was having some difficulty with the mobs" ...so I'm not sure what to do their

lolsorhand wrote: »

wasn't able to find my way around yet.

Just open your map and look for the Blue Circles......

Thanks for taking the time to give me a review, it's really opened my eyes...Hopefully I can think of some fun/ good and interesting ways to help better direct gamers like your self

-Visigoth

Thanks again

lolsorhand · June 2013

Yeah i was probobly abit stressed out and that, but well i liked the map. It just confused me lol ( Free bump! )

Edit: Also i could give it a run on my Trickster, but don't htink it would be harder. ( Just faster with that damage. ) As long as you plan a few moments ahead, usually you come on ontop

visigoth18 · June 2013

v2.2 Tweaking "in hopes of a better experience"

casekuk · July 2013

Hey Visigoth, I did a video review of your quest, and I will post it when I finally have it uploaded to Youtube it will certainly take a while! Here in the UK we only have 1mb upload speed, its a ****ing disgrace, but there it is!

I won't say anymore for now, I will post the review later... Much later

Art. (aka @casekuk - we spoke in the other thread)

visigoth18 · July 2013

casekuk wrote: »

Here in the UK we only have 1mb upload speed.

@_@ dam, my condolences... I get around 25mbps Down 6mbps Up O_O and that's not fast enough...

but thanks, I'm very excited to see another gamers experience with my quest.

casekuk · July 2013

Hey dont be too excited

You have a great rappor with the microphone.. I don't! It made me feel a bit weird.. But hey I got through it and I got it done.. I hope it is of some use to you..

The code for when its done (it's about 50% as I write this) is:

http://youtu.be/W8sRSA2FhY4

I look forward to seeing yours in return... And like I said before man, please dont rush, or put yourself out.. I'm in no rush and going nowhere. When your ready.

Ha! I just realised my video started twice!! I dont really know why, as the 1st intro you hear was recorded about 10 minutes before the 'actual' one... For some reason my game went weird and I had to restart... But I deleted the old??? Go figure... Sorry for the false start!

Art.

visigoth18 · July 2013

casekuk wrote: »

You have a great rappor with the microphone..

lol, I'm slightly uncomfortable too "I think it's only natural, everyone feels awkward at first" <(That's what he said) @_@

*Tsumoro* is one of my favorite YouTubers "That does NW Content"

make sure you set your videos to "Public" so others 'and myself' can watch them ;]

visigoth18 · July 2013

casekuk wrote: »

Hey dont be too excited

That was great! XD

That was the second video review of this quest 'V2.0' "even tho I enjoyed the other one it wasn't as helpful, because the reviewer blew right through it 'like he wrote it himself' O_O" being able to get someone else's perspective is amazing "I never even thought about not fighting the last boss in the crypt lol" you helped me notice a lot of things that need fixing

"you did miss the side quest 'follow the pillars of light' but that's my shortcomings and not on you. "Trying to add non linear side events is a real pain" I really need to take a break from recording reviews and revisit this quest 'thanks to the community I have quite a long list of fixes that will hopefully add to the quality of this quest'

I'm extremely happy you enjoyed yourself 'this quest is very much an exercise in self gratification' it's supposed to be long, somewhat complex etc...

"this campaign is never going to be for 'Dailies' and most additions will probably never be shorter then 30min"

casekuk · July 2013

Haha, glad you found it useful Visigoth, I did enjoy playing your quest very much. I didnt do the short one after yet because I had to finish shortly after making the review, but I will.

I'm glad I helped, I am finding the foundry and foundry quests are quickly taking priority for me over every other kind of play. I still enjoy dungeons with my guild, but the foundry is becoming a second home.. I just WISH I had more time to spend!

Anyway, glad to be of service...

Look forward to hearing from you in due course

Art (aka Casek)

[UGC] -(C)Timeless Trials (Q)The Headless Hero- Reviews welcomed :]

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