ALORDIN
Beyond the Barrier Issues
05/01/2020 09:54 AM CDT
I hope this is the right place for this post. A group of us in Plat ran Beyond the Barrier last night, and while we really had fun running a few different quests (we did Tower, Riot2, and Barrier back to back to back!), we had some really frustrating problems in Barrier that I'm hoping the powers that be can look into.
We had a pretty mixed-circle group, and ultimately the difficulty of all of the climbing obstacles nearly made the quest unbeatable. The rope ladder to kill the Corrupted Essence was only climbable by our survival prime (me). I couldn't drag people up it, nor could I lead them up it. I couldn't kill the Corrupted Essence on my own (actually, I could kill the Essence, but everything else up there would murder me quick). Eventually, I was able to get our highest level companion up there and he was able to kill the Essence, but then I had to go around to the gap that opens the way back to the Dead Forest so that the rest of the group could proceed. Had I not JUST BARELY been able to get our high level up that ladder, we would not have been able to proceed and would have been stuck until time ran out.
Group members died twice, and both times they were unable to climb out of the tree where they spawn. I was able to get one out by leading him down, but the other couldn't climb out no matter what we did. I couldn't drag or lead her down the trunk. In fact, she stayed there for the last 1/3 of the quest and would have been out the prize except that one member happened to have a broomstick that allowed her to fly down. Had he not happened to have that rare and niche item, she would have missed out on the end reward. Granted, these are free right now, but had we paid for this quest, that would have been extremely frustrating.
Anyway, TL;DR: The athletics skill checks seem way to high in Barrier to the point that they run a real risk of breaking the quest.
Thanks for reading!
KHISANTH
Re: Beyond the Barrier Issues
05/01/2020 10:23 AM CDT
As part of the aforementioned group, I was very excited as this would have been my first quest since returning to DR after a substantial break. Though thankful for the free quest, the difficulty in what should have been simple game mechanics was frustrating to say the least. After spawning in the Treetop after dying, Phez had to come and grab me to take me down the trunk to join the rest of the group. Shortly after, the group was frustrated by the same mechanic on a few more occasions. Admittedly, our group had big gaps in circle between the party. However, except for our survival prime, all of us had athletics skills that should have had no issues with those mechanics.
I get that the creatures we face should flex based upon the party makeup, but it seemed that the athletics req's also flexed. Again, it may be that the reqs were correct and we were underprepared. If so, there really should be a check before engaging in the quest rather than getting stuck midway through the event.
Just my two kronars.
~ Khis
I get that the creatures we face should flex based upon the party makeup, but it seemed that the athletics req's also flexed. Again, it may be that the reqs were correct and we were underprepared. If so, there really should be a check before engaging in the quest rather than getting stuck midway through the event.
Just my two kronars.
~ Khis
DAMIAN
Re: Beyond the Barrier Issues
05/01/2020 01:37 PM CDT
Agree wholeheartedly, this needs to be looked at and addressed, there's nothing anywhere prior to the quest to indicate that an athletics check will completely wreck your day. Being the smallest of the group my athletics were just shy of 200 and i could not climb the rope ladder or the cliff. I tried to do so with the coiled rope i happened to have as well but no luck. Please review and correct this oversight.
Additionally, the warrior mage who was the highest circle among us, appraised the climb and said it showed easy for him so either something is broken about the mechanics of the climb, appraisal of climbs and swims, in general, is off, and if someone could review if having a rope with you actually makes a difference in the climb when used with CLIMB <OBJECT> WITH ROPE, that would be nice as well.
Thank you.
Damian, a voice from the distant and long-forgotten past.
Additionally, the warrior mage who was the highest circle among us, appraised the climb and said it showed easy for him so either something is broken about the mechanics of the climb, appraisal of climbs and swims, in general, is off, and if someone could review if having a rope with you actually makes a difference in the climb when used with CLIMB <OBJECT> WITH ROPE, that would be nice as well.
Thank you.
Damian, a voice from the distant and long-forgotten past.
DR-YNAMI
Re: Beyond the Barrier Issues
05/05/2020 12:20 AM CDT
The Beyond the Barrier quest was looking at the initial group when calculating the Athletics required for obstacles. This meant late arrivals were not considered. This has been changed to take newcomers into such calculations.
As a note, it is still intended that these quests should be run as a group with players working together. It might still take a bit of teamwork to get everyone over the obstacles.
- GM Ynami
As a note, it is still intended that these quests should be run as a group with players working together. It might still take a bit of teamwork to get everyone over the obstacles.
- GM Ynami
TK-421
Re: Beyond the Barrier Issues
05/05/2020 12:58 AM CDT
Appreciate the adjustment.
>> The Beyond the Barrier quest was looking at the initial group when calculating the Athletics required for obstacles.
Over the weekend (prior to the change) I was part of a group of Necromancers who ran this. There were seven of us in total and we all entered at basically the same time. One HLC character, and at least three others that were 150+ plus. ONLY the biggest character could climb the rope ladder.
Is this calculation done based on an average? And, if so, can the highest (and lowest) be dropped? I'm concerned that one big character can throw off the math.
The majority of our questing group ended up having to sit around waiting for a single person to complete that particular phase of the quest. Athletics is one of my highest skills and I imagine the rest of the participants -- all Survival primary -- had decent Athletics ranks, but the flexing worked against us.
- I
>> The Beyond the Barrier quest was looking at the initial group when calculating the Athletics required for obstacles.
Over the weekend (prior to the change) I was part of a group of Necromancers who ran this. There were seven of us in total and we all entered at basically the same time. One HLC character, and at least three others that were 150+ plus. ONLY the biggest character could climb the rope ladder.
Is this calculation done based on an average? And, if so, can the highest (and lowest) be dropped? I'm concerned that one big character can throw off the math.
The majority of our questing group ended up having to sit around waiting for a single person to complete that particular phase of the quest. Athletics is one of my highest skills and I imagine the rest of the participants -- all Survival primary -- had decent Athletics ranks, but the flexing worked against us.
- I
ENOTS
Re: Beyond the Barrier Issues
05/05/2020 06:31 AM CDT
I also noticed that only the character with the highest athletics in my group could climb, and that most of the combats were skewed toward the character with the highest combat skills. We started at about the same time. My athletics were high for my circle and guild, but I was stuck at the top of the tree where I departed to until my rescue could be effected.
Sometimes the key to happiness is not assuming it is locked in the first place- Ziggy
A journey of a thousand SMILES begins with a single step- Ziggy
Sometimes the key to happiness is not assuming it is locked in the first place- Ziggy
A journey of a thousand SMILES begins with a single step- Ziggy
