Wilderness prelude

[Ebok]

Beautiful area, but I've a number of concerns.

To begin with the experience award given through the prelude and the resulting expulsion into the game-world is extremely low for characters that really have no means of equipment. Seeing as most experience drops through the other options are significantly greater, it just begs to wonder how any non-druid could viably use this feature. The lack of supplies really makes every other entrance into the gameworld more viable, even though this is truly very cool.

The gathering event is extremely slow, very few spawns and nearly no source of healing for lower level characters who don't know where they're going. The fact that you have to navigate the dialogue even when you're  turning in the rewards (which aren't much considering) just seems clunky, unless the npcs truly does forget who you are after the 2 minute interval.

I foudn lots of dead player characters and a lot of empty space. Maybe if the npcs spoke, or just said random chatter if you sat around and watched them for awhile–which would be awesome even if they completely ignored you. Like the ambient npc dialogues of efum. (the teacher in particular could just say things to the others that might reveal their unique perspective on the world)

The layout of the place is sweet, but once again the lack of directions is rather painful. There is at least one npc that wants something that doesn't seem to be there at all. Very limited gold for the fact they charge for things, including the EXIT.

The lack of ways in or out of the area may be intentional, but was very confusing. Since no npc tells you how to get out, you have to either metagame knowledge or get lucky. One exit is ... well, a little problematic if your particular wilderness loner might not wish to use that means of travel. Maybe strange tunnels that take you out into various places in the UD like the Kepti tunnels of old (yet not 2-way).

There doesn't really seem to be a transition in the theme or story from the surface into the dark. What I mean by that is you're being introduced to things up until you're in the underdark, where the information becomes significantly slimmer. I also was kind of wondering why I was where I was in the starting location anyway. It seems like some WHY are you here moment could be useful.

It has lots of potential, but doesn't feel completed.

If this is just something that the team doesn't have time for, I'd be willing to help in any manner.

[xXCrystal_Rose]

Because a certain kelp only spawns 1 unit per reset and a particular travel feature is ambiguous it is also very easy for someone to accidentally and completely unknowingly find their way into the canal ward (or dead) before they are ready to leave.

[xXCrystal_Rose]

Ok I made a third character to test this out and see what Ebok is saying, and have a few contributions as well.


Clarify the exit a little bit so it isn't accidentally clicked on, because once you click on it knowing what it is or not there is no going back. It swallows you even if you do not use a specific spoiler resource to call it- this may be unintentional. People who aren't aware of that system may very likely end up clicking it without knowing that there is a spawn point to set or to gather the certain resource to return from it or safely travel anywhere else other than the dangerous canal ward option which is near always lethal because of the... specific means of egress. Thankfully when I did it there were only PC corpses in that area.

On the surface part of the quest there are certain scavenge items, but it seems that once one character gets it no others can loot them. They appear as being empty. Maybe it's a bug, but that is what I experienced. They have basic items to traverse the wilderness and are pretty important, especially when you can't afford to buy them from the npcs. If those scavenges are problematic and buggy it could maybe be solved by having a little thing where you can drop rocks on some hostile on a ledge below you and find them as loot, or be given from the npcs on the surface part to help you pass the cliffs below.

There is a spoiler npc that asks you to get a spoiler herb, a reincarnation of a quest from past chapters. It is level 3 minimum though which means new characters and struggling characters can't do it. There is no combat involved in it and it is in a safe area so I think it might be fair to lower it to level 2 minimum.

There are fishing locations but no npc around that sells fishing bait! They do sell a rod though. So add fishing bait to the same npc who sells the fishing rod please :)


(I ended up drowning in the water area by the way because of a shark and it counted it as a pvp full-death. Old drowning bug already reported many times, but just reminding about it.)

[Howlando]

Thank you for the posts, I agree it is pretty unfinished. Probably should avoid it for now until I get a chance to work on it some more.

If someone would like to help me writing some dialogue or a little book that explains how to survive and what to do to be in the shop I'd appreciate it, I've just been too busy lately. :-(

[Howlando]

I have labored to improve this. Further suggestions for tweaks and content are welcome.

[granny]

I forgot!

There is this instructor with tiny students around. They could be teaching the newcomers as well.

[Pandip]

Could the scratch marks be changed so that it starts a conversation that asks you if you want to use it as a transition?

[Howlando]

Not easily, but I don't see why that would be necessary? You have to present an offering to trigger the *spoiler* after all... unless that's broken, in which case tell me asap.

[granny]

Howland... maybe make sure that the item placed into the scratch to disappear after the thing comes. Currently, it stays into the scratch, so, if you click it and keep the item inside the thing will come when you close it.

[Howlando]

Oh, that'd be a bug.

[Zango_Unchained]

Make the *Spoiler* mentioned above usable by pcs with high wilderness survival who would know how to make the *spoiler* throw up by knowing the *Spoilers* anatomy. I say this because druids already various ways of fast travel and this would aid a non-druid nature pc in traveling.

[granny]

Hrmm... lurker/termite/ rock worm burrow passages could be added to some specific concepts maybe. But they would be spiced up: the exits would always be random (kinda like the mist ways)