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Ulfheim - spoilers

Discussion in 'Release 70 Feedback' started by Vladamir Begemot, Sep 21, 2019.

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  1. Vladamir Begemot

    Vladamir Begemot Avatar

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    Loven it so far! Running notes:

    Area: Ulfheim (Novia_R9_Forest02_03) Loc: (-4.671, 50.004, -57.073) DBG: Tm92aWFfUjlfRm9yZXN0MDJfMDN8fCgtNC42NzEsIDUwLjAwNCwgLTU3LjA3Myl8KDAsIDAuMDI4LCAwLCAxKXwzNjMuNjA5MnwxMy43NTIzNHwyLjQ0OTk5Ng==

    Viola died and used the Ankh before I had a chance to rez her. This led to a lot of frustration as she was now outside, and I didn't immediately know how to finish. I thought I had finished everyone and still wasn't getting the doors open, then after a while three more showed up. I let them kill me to verify that there is only one Ankh ("let them", probably didn't have a choice honestly), and to get back out to her now once again dead body (there are enemies right outside the gate).

    Takeaway: I'm not sure that the ankh shooting you out is the best way for the battle to flow. Obviously we will try to avoid it unless getting a total wipe now, but is that the best? If she had a way to crawl back over if she wanted to, to get back in with me?

    Second run, man I really like this fight, I think we're going to be spending a lot of time here! I like how they come out of the tents, the pressure is pretty steady. I understand how I thought they were all dead the first time, though. I was over messing with the cooking pot and they were probably on the other side of their tents.

    One thing that would be nice is a horn or drum roll or something to indicate the next wave is coming.

    And kettle drums in there, of course. :)

    Got disconnected for a few minutes (our internet sucks this time of year) and when we came back we were at the entrance again.

    Checked to the left, getting mauled by boars and razorbacks, hilarious!

    Dang, those skeleton fire mages are no joke!

    Ankh from them puts you right in the middle of a bunch of skeletons and a crazy high HP zombie.

    That's it for tonight. I'm pretty sure Ulfheim is our new spot, great job!
     
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  2. Pawz

    Pawz Avatar

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    Yep it's going to be my favorite solo spot as well, so many mats to get for crafting! :)
     
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  3. Belladonna Rose

    Belladonna Rose Bug Hunter

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    Two camps of undead was freaking crazy. And all those obi critters. Still didnt see alot of resources to harvest though....trees and ore. I saw some gems but ummm got ganked before i could get to them. It will be fun for sure just the outer area. Just wish it was a bit bigger. Havent gotten inside except to die....but should be fun with help. Kinda like it though
     
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  4. Arya Stoneheart

    Arya Stoneheart Avatar

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    There is a fair amount left of the default entrance, but it can be hard to do that with the petrified zombie there.
     
  5. Sannio

    Sannio Lead Quest and Level Designer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    Thanks! I love your post so far! :D

    This works similar to our other "closed door" wave battles throughout SotA. If you die during the battle, the ankh will resurrect you to a location outside the "front entrance." If you don't die but want to leave anyway, there are "Sturdy Vines" at the front entrance area that you can interact with to teleport outside the entrance (Grannus Colossus has the same mechanic). (In my notes, I call them "emergency exits.") What probably didn't help is that we had a very-recent change to disabling teleporters and I bet that these teleporters were inactive for you, so I'll check on them and make sure they work after those recent changes. Issue #65744

    We don't have "spawn closets" like some other games, but I like faking them by having NPCs spawn by tents and doors, in bushes, by ladders, etc.

    I have a lot of these NPCs on special walking paths, for players who are maybe not in line of site when a new NPC spawns. The paths have the enemies randomly run zig-zag across the area to hopefully catch site of a player. I'll double-check to make sure they are all on these paths, or maybe make them run faster.

    The new version of Ulfheim always spawns you at the entrance when you come in fresh. This is to diminish the chances of skipping content and to ensure the players always earn the tougher battles later in the scene.

    Yeah, there's a lot of animals fighting other animals in the scene. I considered overriding their animosity to each other, but in the end I left it in and we'll see how things play out. I reserve the right to make them all happy friends at a later date.

    I'll look into that. I know I moved a bunch of ankh targets to eliminate--or at least minimize--the chances of or being killed while rsurrecting, but I'll check it.

    Thanks again!
     
  6. Feeyo

    Feeyo Avatar

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    Cant wait to have some free time and try the new scene!
     
  7. liz_the_wiz

    liz_the_wiz Avatar

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    @Sannio while I’m glad there are people who like the new zone. Please can you now tell us of locations where there are pockets of bears and wolves for those of us who don’t want to do waves of humans or can’t and are happy just killing animals where we may grind our xp at the level Ulfheim bears used to give us. As this was how we enjoyed our time. And some of us don’t like fighting the humans in this game.
     
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  8. Sannio

    Sannio Lead Quest and Level Designer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    I'll look into that for you when I get the chance.

    In the meantime, Regarding Ulfheim, the humans aren't in the woodlands area, which is the large section at the entrance of the map.
     
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  9. Sannio

    Sannio Lead Quest and Level Designer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    These are all the scenes which may spawn at least one bear at Tier 8: Ravensmoor, Greymark Forest, Deep Ravenswood, Moors of Northshore, Sawtooth Thicket, Crag Foothills, Savrenoc Stronghold, Shores of Malice, Far Hinterlands, Ulfheim, and Ruined Keep.

    These are all the scenes which may spawn at least one wolf at Tier 8: Ravensmoor, Wynton's Folly, Deep Ravenswood, Spectral Foothills, Necropolis Barrens, Spectral Peaks, Sequanna Colossus, and Ulfheim.
     
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  10. Vladamir Begemot

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    I'm making a news story out of this Sannio, thank you!
     
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  11. Belladonna Rose

    Belladonna Rose Bug Hunter

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    Savenroc areas have alot of bears, wolves and boars. So try Deep and Stronghold
     
  12. Sannio

    Sannio Lead Quest and Level Designer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    Woo hoo!

    Since I'm being quoted, I'll also point out that I specifically said "may spawn" and not "will spawn." Because of the way we dynamically spawn adventure scenes, there's a chance that those high-threat bears and wolves won't spawn and a lower-threat enemy will spawn instead. Maybe most people know by now that sometimes you have to kill a few typical enemies before the big bad comes out, but some people might not so I figure it's always good knowledge to share.
     
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  13. liz_the_wiz

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    Thanks @Sanio, its a shame none of them truly have bear camps to grind in, but thank you all the same.. there are some areas I havent spent a lot of time in there and maybe there are more bears there than I recall

    theres a couple of pockets of bears but there arent many in DR.. I dont remember stronghold having any decent clumps of them either.. the best bears in DR got removed and mainly replaced with low level wolves, so theres like 20 wolves and 6 bears now.
     
  14. Vladamir Begemot

    Vladamir Begemot Avatar

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    Noted and I will add that in, thanks!
     
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  15. kaeshiva

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    Had the opportunity to spend more time here this evening.
    My general impressions -
    Way better than the old version, lots of satisfying beraga-berserker-etc smashing instead of just the handful on the road.
    The progression/choices/etc. were a nice change of pace. I like that you have a defined progression/goal instead of just sitting in one place or going in circles.

    The scene is -very- archer/mage heavy, without a lot of places to take cover - felt like in most of the 'magically sealed' area you just had to stand there and get shot at which diminished it somewhat for me.

    Ran into a bit of a frustration at the end, party member died/used ankh "cause its right here, I'll just rez" and ended up outside with no apparent way back in. (I'm told there's a vine or something he missed?). But, I was inside, alone, with a really angry dragon, and the waves of humanoids never really let up for a good 15 mins while my party member struggled to get back in. There was also no way whatsoever for me to get back -out-. There was a ladder up onto a wall, but no way to get back 'out' to safety to regroup, short of apparently killing myself.

    But nevermind all of that.

    I had a glorious time outside the bandit area, in the big valley of endless maple trees, cottonbushes, and iron nodes, reapers and obsidian creatures. It is a harvesting extravaganza. For me, having the occasional reaper or wyvern was a bonus (both from an adv xp and loot perspective) - but definitely requires you are more "on your toes".

    I did have one wyvern that kept aggroing me at one edge of the map, and, when engaged, would take to the air and fly clear across the scene (leashing). This happened quite a few times. Never could figure out where he'd gone / couldn't find him unless I went back to that map edge (up on the hill, near the lake thing) and he'd appear out of nowhere, hit me to interrupt me getting the cottonbush, and the moment I turned to engage it, off it went.

    If the wyverns/reapers aren't a problem, its a very nice/relaxing harvest run, not overwhelming in terms of 10 things coming at you at once, and despite my best efforts, I did NOT run out of things to harvest. Very pleased with the pacing here overall.
     
  16. Sannio

    Sannio Lead Quest and Level Designer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    I was a little worried about that, but I want to see how it plays out a bit more for players before I make any changes in that regard. If it continues to be a problem, or even just a severe nuisance, I might make some changes.

    I don't know how many locations you fought, but I tried to mix up the composition a bit in each area and wave battle. For example, one wave might have mostly melee enemies, another has mostly ranged, a third has animals, a fourth only casters, etc. If you progress through all of them, it might seem balanced, but if you hang out in one or two spots, it's more likely you'll see the same enemy types over and over.

    I explained about Ulfheim's ankhs and "emergency exits" over in another post.

    I'm glad you found the woodlands area to your liking!

    I also found a wyvern acting unexpectantly. He should have been down in a deadend valley on the opposite side from where your wyvern, but he was far from home and fighting skeletons. Something's up with these traveling wyverns! I'll keep an eye on them. I know I rebuilt the navmesh in the next update. Hopefully that fixes their issues.

    Thanks so much for the review and feedback!
     
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