Serpent Spine Mines

I like the new look for the mines. However, I am concerned that there seems to be only one ore node and its located on a cliff wall that can't be reached. I realize you are not anywhere near done with it but even with all the great new ooh ahh changes. I hope and pray you won't be taking away the nodes of ore and crystal for mining. It seems like when changes are made things end up taken away leaving us with fewer and fewer sources for materials for crafting. For instance, when clay was added to many water scenes you simply took out black pearl spawn and replaced it with clay. Now I know there are those who will say "Oh but you still have the swamps." but again, the clay replaced black pearl. Now there are very few pearl in the swamps and the only location for black pearl (which now has to be farmed at night if you want more than one pearl per harvest) is in one scene in Hidden Vale. I know doing this is "easy" but must expediency be at our expense?

 

Yes, that is why I said that I knew it was in early stage of development. That was not the point of my concerns.

 

I ran around in here again today now that there are actual spawns but I really really hope this is just the initial test phase and not the finished result.

At the very bottom of the pit I found a total of 3 silver nodes and 1 iron amongst various citrines and onyx spawns. The silver and iron gave 300 xp instead of the other mines normal 500 xp and they were guarded by a Lich Fighter, a 2500 hp skeleton warrior, Skeleton archmage and archers. These were the only nodes i found in the whole "mine" and the mobs are way too hard for what is in that small mine able section.

The risk vs reward scale is very much in favor of risk in here at its current state.

 

I hope they plan to make it an actual mine...as opposed to a dungeon with a few nodes in. The existing mines spawn rate can barely support a single player mining alone, and already half the time is spent fighting. Had high hopes for a new location, given the lower xp nodes, that would be a bit more user-friendly. Don't get me wrong, it looks fantastic, but 2500hp mobs? Really?

 

I would like to point out that I seem to get pushed by the minecart wehn I am standing/fighting on a track, but the cart seems to pass right thru the mobs.
I would like to see mobs get pushed as this introduces another mechanic players can use to help during combat.... luring combatants in front of a minecart to possibly (temporarily) move them out of combat range. IT could be this is jsut not implemented yet, but it was worth mentioning in case this is not being considered.

 

If they add mobs like that then they should label it as a 5 skull area.

 

Hell, that kind of mob is not 5 skull its more like 6 skull+

 

Yeah I would like them to expand from 5 to 10 on skull markers. They sound like Elite undead from the description.

 

Sure does, going to make it hard for us who like to harvest for crafting, and now sounds like we won't be able to without a group, and that SUCK, since I as many many others, SOLO.....

Why can't they put that elite in a separate room, where there are no nodes, but maybe a treasure chest you get to loot upon defeating it? ANd you need to break down a hidden wall to get to him.

 

I wouldn't assume that the spawns are correct in here yet....node spawn is certainly not correct. There are lots of crystals but only a few nodes (I think I found 4 iron and 1 silver). I think they are still working on it.

 

I am exploring in here today and found 3 iron nodes and 1 silver node with lots of citrine, some amethyst and clay. Mobs so far include kobold fighters and archers, water and earth elementals, and some slimes. I do not believe I've explored the whole place yet.

 

1 silver, OMG that sux

 

I'll go back in, then, to see if there is now a way out of the chamber at the bottom of the scene.

 

If you are referring to that very long drop in that deep cavern, I just tried, and the only I was able to get out was to use the /stuck command.

 

I played at Serpent Spine Mines today for 4 hours. In general I like the change, but... Here my notes (may contain some spoilers for people, who never been there yet):

1. Too many drops to brave. It slows down an avatar significantly. Suddenly mining ore is an ordeal. I am not sure that it has a positive re-playability factor. And it makes transition to other underground areas slow, dangerous, and difficult. The previous version allowed to migrate to other areas (Equitas Pass, Spindrift Pass) naturally: I am mining, fighting off enemies, and in a course of general migration through a mine I find a door to some other area. Now it is a major quest by itself, pretending to be a mountain goat.
2. For some reason the visibility is very limited. Complete darkness. Hard to see where to go. Hard to see any ore nodes. Crystals are very visible, but it is supposed to be (or used to be) an iron ore mine.
3. Vast spaces. While it is a positive thing, together with a very limited visibility it makes hard to navigate, and explore. Additionally it allows enemies to swarm, which can be difficult for low-level players. I remember how I had no problem with an elemental, but 2-3 could overwhelm me completely. In Serpent Spine Mines I had routinely 3-4 elementals at the bottom.
4. Not a lot of ore nodes. What kind of mine is that? 38 iron ores in 4 hours --- pitiful. (Just to be sure: I mined all nodes I could find, but I didn't camp at nodes, opting for a natural discovery process.) Found some nickel, and tungsten, but no tin.
   
5. Found Equitas Pass and Brittany Sewers (!). Both a guarded by minor puzzles, which is good (at least different). It was hard to jump there, which was fun only first 10 times. Still not found Spindrift Pass, but I have a key for it, so it is somewhere there.
6. Rode a mine cart. Wheeee!
7. Found two treasure chests in relatively close proximity. So far they have the best loot I ever seen!
8. Some valves can be turned with no obvious effect. Probably need more investigation, but the limited visibility makes tracing where pipes go impossible. Most pipes vanish in the complete darkness. (Hmm, should I try Night Vision?)
9. Found couple places, where I can blow up rocks causing slides. Fun! I still have no idea what a practical purpose of those is.
10. Many decks that can be used only once. In some places it makes one-way walkways, in some places (namely in the Well) it forces to die, to retraces steps from above. Not the best way to explore things.
11. I stuck once, and fell through the cracks once. Because of total darkness, it was hard to find the place of the fall, so that bug went unreported. In general, too many places, where an avatar is likely to stuck, many places, where there are some things, but an avatar cannot reach them. Yet I found a place, which looks benign, but guarded by an invisible wall.
    
12. In the Well, I have noticed that there is a water surface above me (???) in some places around the rim. A bug?
    
13. I still have no clue how to drop down safely at the beginning (I just jump losing health), and how to get back so I can return to the entrance.

 

Sounds like a place I care not to explore

 

From what I'm reading the revamp of this mine isn't finished yet. I'm hoping to see FAR more ore nodes than I have today. Running around, I found perhaps half a dozen total (so far). And those are more or less in the bottom by the elementals and slimes. Not much incentive to visit when there isn't much ore to mine. And yes I've GM'd all mining skills. I'm hoping for more work to be completed before r40 is released.

Crossing fingers

 

THIS PLACE ISENT A mine ITS AN KOBOLD OUT POST with 2 nodes!!! I use to send fledgling miners to owls nest to start then serpents spine now im worried
mabe the mobs will drop ore now?? whats next i have to fight the bears and wolves for wood scrap?

 

Went back in here today and here are some observations/things that should be improved, imho:

1. There are more nodes than before, but not much. For such a big mine, where is all the ore? I am not sure how much I harvested (it wasn't much), but nodes were few and far between for so much wasted space. While it is fun to explore, I go to a mine, to mine. There are much better places I would go at this point. Hopefully, the node spawn is still being tweaked, because otherwise this beautiful area will go largely unused.

2. The entrance to Spindrift passage is only accessible once. Once you break the walkway leading to it, you can't get back up there. It would be nice to be able to get back up there as I use the passages to travel between different mines, a lot of times.

3. The bottom area with the elites is fun. I had fun figuring out how to get down there without dying. However, you are pretty much stuck down there if you can't handle those mobs. I died several times (killed the lich but those arch mages hurt) and there was no way out besides recall or teleport (perhaps this is intentional, if so, that's fine but kinda sucks)4. Also, if you happen to die near the ankh and the bottom is filled with water (as it was in my case) and you res and mobs are waiting for you, you can end up in an endless death cycle (I ended up just exiting fast out to the menu to stop this). Maybe move the ankh someplace outside that area or have the mobs reset to their spawn points. I do think, however, there needs to be another ankh or it needs to be moved outside the tunnel somewhere.

Things I liked:

1. I liked finding the little area down at the bottom with the door that requires more than one person to go through. I want to know what's back there!
2. I liked filling the caverns with water....I didn't realize until I got down to the bottom that it served a functional purpose.
3. I like the exploding barrels
4. Thank you for making the lighting better, I could actually see!
5. Keep up the good work!