The quest is confusing

You get the banner from Captain Burnes. You need to finish the entire questline to get it. @Belladonna Rose - you've got a ways to go. After you get to the point of acquiring the geistesser's skull, you'll be tasked with informing Captain Burnes about knowing his misteps. Once that's all settled, he'll give the banner.

 

@Puuk Thank you so much for your help and instruction. I completed the quest and have my banner. One banner left and that is Honor.
I still believe that more instruction to new players will be needed. But i truly appreciate your help with this quest.

 

My pleasure. I'll go over the series and see where I can make things clearer.

 

Regarding the "Two Stones Crypt". I am in, cleared the room of badies and emptied the chest. But there are two entrances which are blocked with a cold shield. I have looked for a switch, loose break and anything to break as well as a key or something to unlock or smash through the barriers. Do I need to get this as a quest from some onen? I have asked for more quests but nobody will give me this one. I am at my wits end on this one. I have completed all the other quests and this is the last thing I need to do.

 

You didn't complete all the quests, sorry. You need to complete Esmeralda's quest lines. The final battle with the geistesser is on the other side of the barrier, and the only way in is through a large looking glass that requires specific components.

 

I finished that quest long ago. Do I need the skull on me to go through again? I killed the geistesser long ago. I got all the skulls, the wooden arm etc.

 

Oh, then you're done, it sounds like. The other side of the barrier is the geistessser lair. Once you've killed him and given the skull to Esmeralda to remove the curse on Capt. Burnes, there's no need to go back to the geistesser lair (this is actually to prevent people from farming the lair).

 

H ok. Then I am done with all the quests here. Thank you for your help.

 

Yeah took me a few minutes to figure out how to get out of there....killed the geistesser three times before i figured out how to get out. All that running about turning on those stones was insane. LOL But i got in though only to be blocked off....but good goose chase. It was fun. Now i am running through the uncloned scenes and checking them out. Lots of stuff in them to do.

 

I'm looking through my quest log (and my recent memories of Esmeralda's dialogue) and it does NOT mention a head-count on the echoes; only that I have to find all of them.

Really frustrating to hunt down for things in a large map when you don't know how many you're supposed to get.

Also, once I found the fourth one, why do I need Esmeralda's permission to go through the looking-glass?

The Captain's dialogue where he gives you a choice doesn't always trigger when you try to talk to him.

 

By saying the words "Also, to avoid even more confusion, and to basically repeat what Esmeralda tells you and what's in the journal:", you effectively claimed that the game gives this info in either dialogue or journal. It does not. It's ironic given you were attempting to avoid confusion.

You say it's a mystery and it promotes socialization, but when I found myself spending hours combing the entire area (and it's a big area) multiple times during the day and night, I can no longer call that a "mystery". The PROBLEM is that there's nothing to solve; I just have to keep looking and hope I find it.

Like many aspects of this game, you're just left wondering if it's intended to be asinine or just merely a bug. What if the echoes I found were the only echoes in the area but the new dialogue needed for progression didn't trigger? How can I call it a bug if I don't know how many they're supposed to have? Thankfully, in my case, it wasn't a bug but just imagine the amount of information one has to process when we're dealing with these mysteries.

No. I had a clear objective given by the last echo. It is literally impossible to progress without telling Esmeralda first (despite the fact that I knew full well what I needed to do) therefore, it is NOT about keeping her informed of my situation.

Whenever I inform of her or not should be MY decision, not the game's. This quest opened up the opportunity for player initiative and it failed to deliver.

I haven't. Despite my frustration of never getting confirmation on bug reports that I send, I will send one on this particular case but there isn't much information to go by.

P.S.- Replying inside quotes makes it cumbersome for people to quote you back.

 

Just finished this quest with my alt and got the banner. I ran into two problems that will probably vex new arrivals as well.

The first is a frustrating lack of hints to communicate with Esmeralda about the next step. I think I finally guessed the right word but it took MANY guesses of key words and related words. I can see many giving up assuming it's a bug (it's not).

The second was trying to communicate with the Captain at the end. This was insane in that I tried 15-20 key and related words and NONE worked. It wasn't until I gave up and closed the conversation that he acknowledged a 'change' and could continue the dialog. Then, when I got to a point to select "Yes..." or "No...", clicking on the text (which put it into the chat window) did NOT work and I had to type my single word Yes or No in the chat window before it continued.

You also may consider dropping any quest skulls when killed, not when sent one at a time. That would eliminate many back and forth trips that I found annoying since I had already killed many different types that I ended up re-hunting.

Overall, an interesting quest that would be excellent if the frustrating dialog problems were resolved.

 

I thought this was by far the BEST outskirts created. I completed every quest (except for the pillars) solo and found the storyline quite enjoyable. The main reason I loved it so much was that you had to explore and really search every nook and cranny. I love doing that! I loved killing the bogman and then figuring out how to "weaponize" his arm, that was incredible and completely intuitive on how to complete (HINT: Who would you ask about making weapons in a medieval world, lol?). As far as the echoes are concerned, I just kept clicking them as I came upon them and then finally, viola, it was done!

My only complaint about it, is that it might be too hard for a new player. That little village area with all the fighting going on, was easy for me (AL 69 at the time), but at a lower level I couldn't imagine being able to complete it. Other than that, GREAT WORK @Puuk!

 

@Puuk sorry to disturb again,

I am in the last step after giving esmeralda the geistesser skull but her answers for step three and final step are not correct: (Edit: after receiving the banner of courage she still has the same answers to final step and step three)
step three is done, final step should task me to go to the captain...

[10/23/2017 2:47:43 AM]
[10/23/2017 2:47:45 AM] Rentier Woodpicker: final step
[10/23/2017 2:47:46 AM] Esmeralda: Final step? Why are we talking about the final step? We're not even close, yet!
[10/23/2017 2:47:46 AM]
[10/23/2017 2:47:55 AM] Rentier Woodpicker: step-three
[10/23/2017 2:47:55 AM] Esmeralda: Profit! HA! Makes as much sense as blurting out 'STEP THREE' at me.
[10/23/2017 2:47:55 AM]
[10/23/2017 2:48:02 AM] Rentier Woodpicker: step-two
[10/23/2017 2:48:03 AM] Esmeralda: Why are you asking me about step two when, CLEARLY, we've moved on? Your brain turning to icy mush? C'mon! Look forward, not back!
[10/23/2017 2:48:03 AM]
[10/23/2017 2:48:07 AM] Rentier Woodpicker: first step
[10/23/2017 2:48:08 AM] Esmeralda: Well yes, we're done with the first step, that's why we should be talking about next steps. You'll catch on, I have faith in you, young one.
[10/23/2017 2:48:08 AM]
[10/23/2017 2:48:10 AM] Finlas O'Reagan is now offline.


SotA.EarlyAccess.LIVE.Win.64.672.Date.10.04.17
Area: Novia_R6_Hills04_01
Area Display Name: Highvale Outskirts
Loc: (88.6, 36.0, 50.4)
Debug: Tm92aWFfUjZfSGlsbHMwNF8wMXx8KDg4LjU5OSwgMzYuMDE3LCA1MC4zNzIpfCgwLCAwLjk5OSwgMCwgMC4wMzMpfC0xODAuMTEyOHwzNi41NjYxOXw2LjM4MTQzMw==

 

Thanks for the heads-up. I've updated her dialogue to better accommodate which step the player is actually on.

 

@Puuk Had fun with the highvale outskirts quests. There's a lot of stuff to explore in this area. Kinda tough to make out the symbols on the pillars but got it figured out (ahem.. by looking at a certain forum thread) Found some dialogue typos and will submit them.. I wish there was a text zoom feature .. like a + and - sign or whatever that let you make the entire npc chat dialogue interface larger or smaller.

 

Since we are talking about Highvale Outskirts and confusion, I recommend to the devs:

-Find a new new new player with no contact with the game whatsoever;
- Put him to play though the area;
- See the results.

It was very confusing for me, although kinda enjoyable. The extension of the map, the lack of the minimap and the general directions did not help at all. Since it is a starting area, a good deal of the questing should be more "pointed out". I do realize you don't want to casual up the game, and you shouldn't. But starter areas do need to tend to the learning curve.
Do remember that it was enjoyable to me, but I am lvl 62. If I felt some frustration, being used to the game and aware of the state of the game, imagine someone completely new.

It also seems to me that it might be too hard for someone new. The difficulty should be checked. (PS.: the mob density seems hard, based on my experience with the game)

Other than that, the quests are really great in terms of story complexity or immersion, much better than those ridiculous "find 10 rat tails" from others MMO. You guys are on a great path.

 

@Puuk I've done the quest and informed Captain Burnes. But the "Mysterious Looking-glass" Task is still listed.

 

I'm going to do a cleanup pass where if you've finished the questline for the scene, talking to the main quest giver (in Highvale Outskirts, for example, that would be Esmeralda) will clear any stubborn tasks that refused to leave your UI. You won't get extra rewards, just clear the tasks that you have already completed. Stay tuned...