Originally Posted by Roland_D'Arabel  View Post
I am wondering about this as well. Get ready for LFM with "have extended unlocked or don't join". I can also see having to rerun standard over and over again because one guildy that joins the group hasn't unlocked extended yet. This mechanic makes no sense.

Turbine, if you want to gate content, make it a quest within a quest only accessible after initial quest is completed or make it like Shaagh's Helm in STK. Or make it like the optional in Feast or Famine. Or make it only accessible to lvl 28 and higher characters. Don't make us have to unlock an optional in a quest and then have to rerun the whole quest just to play that optional. This serves no practical purpose I can imagine.

PurpleFooz:
Hmm, I should probably clarify what we intend for the play modes, and what to expect from them in the future.
The standard, extended, and commentary modes are not intended as a quest flagging system. In fact, you can play the dungeon in any of the modes in order to get the same completion from the questgiver. Future quest arcs that look like the Haunted Halls play modes is not really something that makes sense to us.

The reason we made those modes available for Haunted Halls is in the spirit of creating an homage to an original D&D module. The published module corresponds to the Standard mode. After we began working we Ed, we learned of the extra content. We realized we had an opportunity to present that previously unreleased work. But just doing a single mode with only the longer extended version didn't feel right, as the point of doing this was as an homage to the published module for D&D's 40th anniversary. So we went with a separate "standard", "extended", and "commentary" formats. There are obvious similarities to "director's cut" and "commentary" features on DVDs - that's really the spirit of what we're trying to accomplish.

There's also a bit of debate on whether we should even lock the extended mode until you complete the standard mode. One of the things that led us to try it out is because the extended mode is more difficult. But that's exactly the type feedback we want from players once they get a chance to play it, and hence we are all here on Lamannia

One bit of trivia: the Haunted Halls play modes is actually a re-use of old technology. It's the same tech that you use to access Dryden's Chambers when you're in different parts of the Catacombs arc. You'll see exactly the same interface if you're in a party with another player who's at a different point of the Catacombs arc, and you both attempt to enter Dryden's Chambers.

Cool I guess?

I haven't run STK in months, did they recently remove the quest "The Sacred Helm"? Was "The Sacred Helm" originally accessed from within "Cloven Jaw Scourge" (and if so, how long ago)? I even checked the wiki and can't figure out what you mean.

"This whine was already old when the Consuls were young"

Shit I still haven't run ... Forge yet.