Apparently I've had more than I thought I had because I must be reading this wrong.  It almost sounds like they're willing to put a little effort into trying to even out the game.

LOL'd. The quests that are not being run probably are because of high risk vs low reward.

But to me, its not the quests that are the issue, but the fucking champs with Acid or Poison DoTs b/c you can't dispel/remove them, same shit with "ignore fortification" champ buff.
When you get the lucky RNG of True Seeing + Adrenaline + Ignore Fort, might as well just roll over and die.

I think it's a good intention but it's the implementation that matters (and we all know they seriously lack in that area). Plus, Flimsy has been known to be quite the SSG troll - so there is the possibility this could end up as a major corrupt-a-wish.

5 Foot Step wrote on Nov 19^th, 2019 at 10:10am:


outside the optional trap that everyone bypasses in Heyton Family Crypt it would be, unless you run past it do to sacrifices or redemption or something.

Chances are that a lot of players just haven't run it in forever and forget there is a trap there on the puzzle.  The traps up top before the ice breaks are a little wonky too.  Getting spot alerts in places where you can't find a box.   

All that said, I doubt StS is worth messing with.   If you die at that point you have, what, 20 minutes in on the character?   Does anyone die on that trap more than once?  If so then yikes.  Maybe you don't need to be advancing on to higher level content yet.

Asheras wrote on Nov 19^th, 2019 at 1:46pm:


First time players that aren't being led around by current players could easily have several hours into their characters before they get to Stopping the Sahuagin. 

All the things that repeat players do NOT do take non-trivial amounts of time.

Interacting with every NPC to explore options, scrutinizing every chest item BEFORE looting, finding necessary quest givers (for a first time player, yes, this is a thing, even with the floaty signs above their heads), exploring the nooks and crannies of the flagging quests, learning how to talk to other players that are seen in public areas, repeating Cannith Crystal.  First time players can take 20 minutes to complete Heyton's Rest, and can be frustrated if you try to rush them through faster.


A first time player won't have a FF item, won't have points into Jump, probably won't have any movement speed enhancement, and won't have perfect foreknowledge of trap locations and behavior.  For a first time player without assistance, that trap could easily be insurmountable.

What's truly amazing to me isn't that they're investing resources to improve the new player experience, it's that they're addressing something that's plausibly an issue and not changing the location of quest entrances in Harbor.

OldCoaly wrote on Nov 20^th, 2019 at 6:37am:


Were there a lot of first time players on Hard Core?  It was my understanding that given that it was VIP only that the server was really targeted at current and returning players, not as a "new player experience".   If "hardcore" is expected to serve as a "new player experience" friendly setting, it isn't going to be "hardcore"  those two goals are mutually exclusive.   "new player experience" should start on live where death is no big deal.

On live servers, new players learning on their own may well have a bunch of time into the character.   But they are probably on norm or hard (if they can't unlock elite first time) so the trap doesn't kill them or if they die, they just release and start the quest over.   No big deal, besides running back to the quest. 

That said, I like challenges in quests.   I want the quests to be tough.   However, challenges are not "this trap is not able to be turned off and will kill you unless you get lucky with your timing in a game that has a history of some lag".   We have accepted known kill spots in a small number of quests simply because their only negative is -10% xp, 30 seconds to get a raise and get your buffs back and a few laughs among friends.   If there is a PD environment, however, these quests aren't minor inconveniences.  So I like the focus on it.   As long as it doesn't go overboard.

Asheras wrote on Nov 20^th, 2019 at 9:26am:



To be fair, I don't think they are only nerfing the quest on hardcore. But of course you don't lose your toon if if you die on a regular server so, meh.

Of course what he says makes even less sense since new players should be running through these quests on normal, possibly casual, especially if they are starting as f2p. If they die in these traps on casual, it might help them save time later by realizing they need to change some things up.

The data that sparked this came from hardcore. The changes will be on life, too.
In 6 month time there will be only bookbinder rescue quests. Hooray.