Adventure Pack 2 Testing Feedback

[Saavedra]

<DIV>Please post your AP2 feedback to this thread.  Thank you.</DIV>

[EtoilePirate]

<DIV>First and foremost, I'd like to thank Saavedra for the help getting four of us out of this jam: <A href="http://etoilepb.com/goodies/geometry_problem.jpg" target=_blank>http://etoilepb.com/goodies/geometry_problem.jpg</A></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Geometry problems aside (there's another invisible wall at 45.58, -53.20, -133.31), it's a good start.  It's been refreshing in the last two major instances -- Frogloks, and this -- to see more interactivity with objects in the world.    I liked that we had to do a bit of problem-solving.  In fact, I'm always in favor of more problem solving but then again I've been hooked on Myst games and the old-school LucasArts classics since I was 12 so my feelings on that are probably not everyone's, hehe.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The scaling worked well for our group.  We were: 40, 36, 34, and 31, and all the mobs we encountered were groups of four, theoretically suitable for an individual, either at level 37 or level 38.  Four of us together breezed through them.  I will say, though, that even scaled to match my level, I'd have had a hard time soloing.  Groups of four casters are TOUGH when they're yellow or white, at least for an assassin.  And I feel that white-con mobs that say "suitable for an individual" shouldn't take me out -- and I mean, SERIOUSLY take me out -- more than 50% of the time, but white four-downtier-caster-mobs nearly always do.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Luckily, I wasn't soloing, so I got to bask in the loot.  Wide variety of books, many swashbuckler and wizard.  Cash-dropping chests get a BIG thumbs-up from me, and from everyone else it seems.  A whole lot of chests.  Between the windy tunnels to stealth out and the chests to disarm, it was really nice to feel like a useful assassin.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>On the whole I think it's a good beginning, and I look forward to testing the rest of the content.</DIV>

[Rainsoul]

Ok, as we stated in chat heres a few  things. If the zones are ment to be solo instances: Groupings of Mobs needs to be lowered to 3 or less. Also, the mobs seem to be hitting for better than average damage. The chests are nice, but they  are more frequent than I am used to. every 2 to 3  encounters. Chest coin. I love it. Should look into implementing it for all chests in the game world to randomly have a scaled coin drop. You already know about he scaleing of the tradeskill books and loots within the chests. And the geo points where people are getting stuck. Will need more solo tiime in the instance before making more comments. <div></div>

[Kaereni]

I went in with one of the dev's mortal. Group of two, Aislead at 36 and  (forgive me I forgot name) 35th Templer. For us the encounters went smoothly. The only times we had any type or problem was when we would get an add.  Lots of chests and cash chests.  Mobs were 36, 37th level some solo most in groups of 4. 2nd time I went in solo. No change in mobs ether in amount or level.  The first couple fights were ok with below 50% health left over.When I hit the one with 4 casters  they quickly cleaned my clock.  Also in solo instance there were zero drops. No chests or no normal loot off the gnolls.  The mobs were 36 and 37 level same as before. For small groups I would reccomend scaling it up a bit. For solo I would reccomend scaling it down a bit. <div></div>

[Edowen]

<P>First blush feedback.  Will probably have more, later.</P> <P>Delving - I tried that even before the test that Saavedra organized.  I'm normally a conservative player, so it was a blast soloing (and beating) mobs that I thought might beat me.  (Groups of four one-down-arrow yellows I normally might avoid, heh.)  I did run into a problem after a little bit, with a mob popping right next to me, but it didn't aggro.  I soon found out why.  After I moved a bit I did get attacked, but got a "you can't see your target" error (it was right in front of me, no visible obstruction).  So I died.  I sent Palladius a /tell with the /loc, but missed submitting the /bug; however I need to go back to the instance to grab my shard, so will /bug the /loc when i get back to the area.  I am definitely looking forward to exploring further!</P> <P>Captive - grouped with two others, a 34 pally, a  26 coercer (?), and myself (24 warden).  The pally mentored the coercer. We had no trouble fighting our way through the entire dungeon.  Piece of cake.  The loot reminded me of tier 5 loot in overall value, though the spell books were spread over a wide range.  My two cents is the value of the loot needs to be reduced to scale to the level of the group.  It was nice to see coins in chests.  The moveable objects and the puzzles that you solve were really fun.  I pity the people who play this tomorrow, because the test community will know what to expect, and the folks on Live will certainly all have access to spoilers very shortly after the AP is up, if not before.  Yeah, they will have to figure out exactly what to do, but they will have the general idea.  A few more quick comments:</P> <P>- The artwork and general environment looked very nice.  </P> <P>- We did manage to get up onto the ledge behind the fenced in captive, but there was nothing there.</P> <P>- It would have been nice to see some breakable objects, a la Bloodlines.  Maybe we missed them.</P> <P>- I am left wondering what happens to the two NPCs that we found - will we meet them again later?  will they ever get out?  It's sort of like a cliff hanger at the end of a television season.  :smileyhappy:</P> <P>- after one of our group was left hanging in the air due to the geometry problem identified by EtoilePB, we had some fun removing the stuff she had climbed.  It makes me wonder what happens if someone is standing on a moveable object and you try to move it.  Next time... :smileyhappy:</P> <P>Edowen</P>

[EtoilePirate]

<DIV>We /bugged it and spoke with Palladius in-game, but there seems to be a problem with the Darkened Shard quest.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In our group of five, only one player could get the update by examining the softly glowing shard from the chest with the key.  Discussing it in chat channels, it seems to be that only those for qhom the quest is level 25 or 35 can get the update.  No-one for whom the quest is level 45 has, as yet, reported a successful examination of the new shard.  <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV>

[bcbroom]

<P>Scaling seemed to work fine, white/yellow cons seemed to be based on group average.  However (and a BIG however) its similar to the D'Morte instance where solo is fairly difficult (45 wiz, usually had to take out one or two of the 4 downarrow group, break, come back) but in a full group they are still solo con...ie, trivial. Duo/trio seemed to be the sweet spot for this, maybe it should be limited to 2 or 3 in group (like D'Morte was at first).</P> <P>Lots of neat ideas. The prisoner capture thing is a neat idea (but maybe scale up the abductors so they agro on the group aproaching). the movable stuff was also neat. The level scaling is also a great idea.</P> <P>Issues:</P> <P>Like others have said, if this is meant for solo, 4 linked down arrow (and yellow) is hard. I'm ok with it being hard to solo to get something that is fun as a duo.  As long as you can kill 1 mob in encounter, break, finish the rest and still get a chest drop (which I'm fairly sure you can do) Its not far from being balanced. The large mix of casters makes it a little odd to balance. </P> <P>You can move items while invisible, not sure if this is intended. I was able to drag a big stack of boxes around while invisible, and noone seemed to notice. Again, not sure that this breaks anything, but wanted to point it out.</P> <P>No Loot.  There were lots of chests before the patch, nothing after. No chests, no body drops, no language items...guessing this was just turned off for testing.</P> <P>It seems like there are some instances where you get a different version of the instanced area. No teleporters, and no mobs.  I wandered around this for some time, and notice one point where I could see a gnoll leg through a gap in the wall. It turns out this is one of the insubstantial walls (looks like wall, but can walk through..but seems like a pathing bug). I was able to attack a group on the other side (and then 8 gnolls came over to kick my butt). </P> <P>All I can think of now... All in all, it looks good so far.</P> <P>Edit: got my shard back.</P><p>Message Edited by bcbroom on <span class=date_text>06-08-2005</span> <span class=time_text>03:45 PM</span>

[bcbroom]

<DIV>double post...thought the forum timeout ate it.</DIV><p>Message Edited by bcbroom on <span class=date_text>06-07-2005</span> <span class=time_text>05:38 PM</span>

[Edowen]

<P>Okay, went back planning on getting my shard from Delving, ended up doing a bunch more:</P> <P>- I was training a bear as I approached the terraporter, which was in a second location the field near the back entrance from Antonica.  A good number of testers were already there and a battle was in progress.  I was not grouped.  Somehow I ended up being ported to the Captive instance, even though I am pretty sure that the only mob I ever had targeted was that darn bear.  Now I want to go test what happens if one of the abductors beats up on me and I do nothing.  Do I get captured?  Can this be reproduced?</P> <P>- While in the Captive instance, I started fighting my way back towards the entrance.  Those fights are tough, and probably all doable, but at noticable risk and very slow going if you are solo.  The easiest mob was a single yellow.  Groups of 2-4 single-downarrow yellows and whites were the normal case.  It could be just the thing if one were in the right mood, but I will join with others in saying that it probably ought to be toned down a bit for soloers. </P> <P>- A few encounters into my journey, I experienced the stuck in combat bug.  When I camped to character select and came back, I found myself in TS.  There are two potential problems with this.  First, it's an easy way out if you get captured, without CoQ/CotO's inconvenience of ending up in your home town and having to run back to TS  (assuming that is where you wanted to be in the first place).  Also, a fair number of mobs that roam near the second location for the terraporter like to eat folks in their mid-20s and lower.  So if you zone out of the instance, you can immediately find yourself in a fight.  It's also the case that this location is not a good one for a low-mid 20's character to wait for other people to show up to begin a trip through a splitpaw instance, for the same reason.</P> <P>- Next I zoned into Delving to retrieve my shard. In contrast to my first visit there, this time no mobs dropped any loot.  Don't know if this is a bug introduce by the patch that was loaded between my two trips, or if the devs turned down the loot generator <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />.</P> <P>- After that, I went to Delving for a third time, this time in a duo with someone who was mentoring me.  The level of difficulty was just right, some risk and resistance in the battles, not a cakewalk like my first trip (in a trio) through Captive, not a very careful thing like both times when i was soloing.  The level and grouped-ness of the mobs seemed to be the same in all three cases.  Once again, no loot of any kind dropped, with the exception of getting the key (chest item) and one other chest in a close-by battle.  We looked around Delving for a bit.  The zone is very interesting in terms of layout and has great atmosphere.  It seems quite sizable.  Unfortunately there were no mobs to fight after we had both gotten our second shards from the chest.  If there was one thing I would tweak about the zone itself, it would be to introduce a little more variety in the way that the moveable objects are used.  So far, every time they are used in similar ways.  It was great fun figuring it out at first, but after doing that in Captive, when I saw a similar kind of problem to be solved in Delving it was no trick to come up with an approach.</P> <P>- Finally, my duo-partner and I went off in search of the door for the next stage of the quest.  I think we found it but it did not seem to be active (yet).  So, I am left wondering if we managed to test everything that was ready for us to test, or if maybe we ended up in the wrong place.</P> <P>One last comment.  I encountered an old bug (not specific to this AP) that kept me from successfully examining my second shard until after we had zoned out.  Briefly, if your inventory is full, and you acquire an item that should be examined as part of a quest, that item cannot be successfully examined until you zone (or camp and come back).  Destroying a different item in your inventory and moving the quest item to your inventory is not enough.  Until you do zone, any attempt to examine that quest item gives an error message: "you can now examine an item that you do not own."  (Yes, it says now instead of not.)  This is 100% reproducible.  I've /bugged this previously, but have not had a chance before now to mention it here.</P> <P>Edowen</P>

[Kaereni]

Went back in with a group of three on the Delving instance last night. A few notes: In whole instance only 2 drops total. Both were chest drops and both were carpentry #37. We found a whole section that was un populated. At teleporters the gnolls respawned. On the chest, only the person with the key  was able to get the update. That person showed the quest as 35th level. The other two of us were able to get shards but no update when examining it. One person had it listed as 35 and the other (me) had it listed as a 45th level quest. Fights were well matched for a small group as long as you have some type of healer. <div></div>

[Sacha]

<DIV>I have it listed as a level 45 quest. So until some guild members log in to assist I haven't dared touch it. At 37 I can't solo 45s <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV> <DIV>Is this just a visual? Do the mobs scale correctly when you enter?</DIV>

[EtoilePirate]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Sacha wrote:<BR> <DIV>I have it listed as a level 45 quest. So until some guild members log in to assist I haven't dared touch it. At 37 I can't solo 45s <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV> <DIV>Is this just a visual? Do the mobs scale correctly when you enter?</DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>The level of the quest isn't the same as the level of the mobs.  It seems that if you're under 25, the quest is called lv. 25; if you're 25-34, the quest is called level 35, and if you're 36 (me) to I don't know what, it's level 45.  The mobs were all level 38 or 39 when our group was 31, 36, and 40, 40, 40 (mentored).

[Saavedra]

<P>Thank you for the feedback.  I'll take a look at the quest leveling and make sure its correct.  </P> <P> </P> <P>In regards to the unpopulated area, if someone could get me a /loc that would be great =)  I'll poke around and try to find it too.</P>

[Reebwen]

Great job on adventure pack so far. Aside from the bugs posted by the previous posters I noticed a problem with the tradeskill advances that were dropping. They seemed to average around lvl 25 and mobs dropping them were around 47 so I think that needs some tweaking. As for the chest drops they went from  being really  good to being almost none existent after the patch fix. We need to have a bit more then what I was seeing. I went in with 2 others on the 2nd run (50 Guardian, 42 Brigand, 49 Inquis.) that I made down there and we had little problems in the zone. <div></div>

[Heattanu]

<DIV>I am a level 21 fury. I got the level 25 quest last night and spent 1.5 hours in Splitpaw: Delving in Darkness. The first couple times I zoned in there were only two gnolls right by the teleporter and the rest of the instance was completely empty when I ran around. The third time I zoned in, the zone was full of level 21 and 22 gnolls as wandering single solo mobs or static groups of 4 solo down arrow mobs.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>ART: The new gnoll models are very cool looking. I especially like the doberman pincer look of some of them. The cave environment itself was kind of boring - no furniture and no interesting objects, just giant teeth looking things, vines and rocks.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>INERACTIVE OBJECTS: I was kind of disappointed that there weren't more of these as it is a selling point for the AP. I was running my cursor over everything looking for things that lit up. I found a teleporter that wasn't working and a box that I could move in a limited area, but couldn't find anything interesting to do with it. I will explore more tonight to see if I can find more to do.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>LOOT: Chest drop rate was good but not too overwhelming. I got 3 adepts, one tradeskill book and a chest with a coin drop (a few silver). Nice, but I was hoping for some unique items (armor or weapons) from the AP similar to what dropped in Bloodline Chronicles. Maybe they are not added yet or I just didn't get lucky in the short playtime I had. I also didn't find a shard to advance the quest, so I don't know if that was working. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>COMBAT: Difficulty was challenging but not overwhelming for my fury. However, I think groups of 4 yellow mobs would be very difficult for some classes to solo, particularly mages. I had a lot of trouble with interupts which eventually killed me. The casters did a lot of damage, so it would be nice if they were limited to one or two per group.  I ended up dying deep in the caves and revived at the docks in TS. The entrance to Splitpaw was in the griffon fields by the northern gnoll camp, which was a long run from the docks with no waypoint. Thundermist Village would be a better revive point. I would recommend allowing people to recover their shards at the entrance to Splitpaw. It was late when I zoned back in to get my shard. The waypoint went into the walls a lot and I ended up getting killed again before finding my shard, so it reminded me of EQ1 corpse runs. I will have to go back tonight to try recovering my shard again.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Curiousity, 21 Fury/17 Scholar</DIV><p>Message Edited by Heattanu on <span class=date_text>06-07-2005</span> <span class=time_text>10:13 AM</span>

[Kaereni]

The entrance to the big empty area is  -78.66 , -60.79 , -275.53 Just go up hill and from the point listed onward there are zero mobs. <div></div>

[Kadurm]

<P>Nothing much to report on this that hasn't been said already. All of my experience with it has been as a duo (myself lvl 43 Inquisitor and Toralu- lvl 43 wizard) Mobs were in groups of 4 yellow con one down arrow..not listed as heroic but as solo. No loot whatsoever (not even body loots) other than the one chest with the key. No prisoners in the cell..after the chest was opened, all mobs despawned (or were never there in the areas we did not explore prior to the chest) No update on the quest..lvl 45.</P> <P>Respawn of mobs at the teleporters..only one set for one teleporter. couple of invis walls..</P> <P>Love the idea of movable objects and puzzles to figure out. Hearing that drops are happening on an above average lvl, so going in tomorrow to see if that applies only to grps of 3 or more or to duos as well.</P> <P> </P>

[bcbroom]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Kaereni wrote:<BR>The entrance to the big empty area is  -78.66 , -60.79 , -275.53<BR><BR>Just go up hill and from the point listed onward there are zero mobs. <BR> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P>Yep. Went back in, and if you go through the other tunnel and go uphill, there is nothing there but some cool scenery, including a neat looking skeleton, and a hole in the floor (that will kill you if you drop through). </P> <P>Was able to clear to the chest solo as a 45 Wizard (mobs were 45/46). Had to run away and re-engage a few times.</P> <P>I got one chest drop for the whole instance (a lvl 40 Adept) and no body drops.</P> <P>Oh, and the crazy names were interesting...is a brewer a melee, mage or healer type? (I know the answer now, but added something to the uncertainty of the whole thing)</P> <P> </P>

[Heattanu]

<P>Well, it was a long night in and out of Splitpaw tonight. Fun? No. Frustrating? Yes. </P> <P>I left a shard deep in Delving in the Darkness last night that I wanted back. The zone entrance had moved, but I found it easily enough by Tower 2. But now it was surrounded by 2 groups of yellow gnolls and wandering agro blue con beetles. I run around behind the gnolls and click the teleporter. When I zone in I am stuck in the geometry of the teleporter pillars. This was repeatable btw, when I click on the teleporter from the back. Anyway I zone back out and am immediately jumped by a horde of gnolls and beetles, so break the encounter and run. I run back later and zone in from the front. Now I am not stuck in geometry, but I after the first fight I find that I am stuck in combat. Well I can’t play in the zone with in-combat regen rates, so I zone back out, and run at low power. </P> <P>As I run, I am involuntarily zoned into a new instance of Splitpaw, called Captive something. I am in a cell with a dwarf who says he is hurt and can’t get out, but I should save myself. Sounded like a quest, but no quest offered. There are boxes, barrels and a board to play with, and eventually I am able to climb over the barrier keeping me in the cell. I fight several groups of gnolls until I reach the upper levels. I find a gnome in a corner complaining about spiders. Again, sounds like a quest, but no. I kill the spiders, move the boxes in front of him, but he does nothing but say “go away spiders”. Okaaay…. I keep going upward, but I find that the upper half of the instance is completely empty of gnolls. I wander around lost for about 15 minutes before finding my way back down to where the gnolls are and fight my way to the transporter and zone out.</P> <P>I am of course immediately jumped by groups of gnolls and beetles. I fight my way out, regen, fight my way back to the teleporter and zone back into the Delving instance still hoping to find my shard. I start fighting my way into the zone toward my shard, but the waypoint keeps going into walls and barriers. I run into a group I can’t handle and die but not too far from the entrance. I revive and run back to the entrance, avoid the gnolls this time and zone in. I recover my most recent shard, but run into another group that kills me. Run back to the entrance in TS, but agro both groups of gnolls on the outside of the entrance plus some beetle and die again. Run back to the entrance, recover my shard in TS and then watch as the Splitpaw entrance disappears. Poof with my 2 shards inside.</P> <P>I run around TS looking for the new entrance to Splitpaw for over an hour. Others are looking too. No luck. It either didn’t respawn or respawned where I couldn’t go at level 22, like the giant valley or Dead River Basin or near Varsoons. Then the server came down.</P> <P>I have a few suggestions in order to avoid repeating similar experiences on a massive scale when this goes live.</P> <P>1. Please don’t put groups of agro gnolls on both the outside and the inside of the zone entrance. The agro mobs already in TS make it challenging and dangerous enough at the zone in.</P> <P>2. Consider adding shard recovery at the entrance. I am simply never going to get my first shard back. It is too deep in, so I will have to camp my character for the requisite 72 hours to get my stats back up again.</P> <P>3. Don’t move the zone entrance so often and preferably not during prime playing time. The respawn should be very short and should be in areas that lower level characters can access. It was really frustrating to unsuccessfully search for an hour and I wasn’t the only one who was frustrated.<BR></P>

[Sacha]

<DIV>I echo the frustration over finding the entrance.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Tried for one hour last night. Tried again for one hour this morning.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>2 lost hours was not fun for me. I won't be trying again.</DIV>

[Edowen]

<P>Yesterday I returned again to Splitpaw.  In the afternoon I went over and was promptly captured.  I fought my way out, but when I zoned out I popped where I had entered despite the fact that the zone entrance was no longer there!  To me it feels more logical for me to pop out wherever the zone entrance is located, even if it has moved.  After all, I use the terraporter to leave.  Isn't it set to zap people to where it's twin instantiation is?</P> <P>Later on I duoed Delving twice, with a couple unplanned excursions to Captive.  The first Delving run went off without incident.  The second time my new group-mate-to-be got in the area while I was afk and was captured by the gnolls, so I had to wait some more while he soloed his way out.  When he came out and I approached the area to group up with him, I was captured before he accepted my invitation, so he had to wait for me to come out.  (I just camped and popped outside the instance.  It's quicker than fighting out.)  Then after we did Delving and zoned out he was captured again upon exiting;  he decided to CoQ home.  Loot was very very light (one chest per run, maybe; no body drops) for these runs.</P> <P>Maybe the zone-out spot needs to be a bit further away from where the gnoll abductor stands or strolls.</P> <P>Like some others, I also cannot figure out why moving the zone entrance makes the game more fun.  It certainly can make it very frustrating for people looking to retrieve shards, and disappointing to people who were looking to jump in and do a run through the zone.  Maybe in a well-populated Live server people will just /ooc to ask about where the instance is.  However in that case, people will know where to go, so what is the advantage?  And there would still be people who run off to a spot only to be disapppointed because the entrance has moved.  Okay, it's not as bad as moving the entrance to the Obelisk of Lost Souls from one zone to another, but I have never heard a player say that he or she enjoyed that aspect of the game.</P> <DIV>Edowen</DIV><p>Message Edited by Edowen on <span class=date_text>06-08-2005</span> <span class=time_text>10:06 AM</span>

[EtoilePirate]

<DIV>If you Evac inside Delving, it drops you right in the center of a group of mobs near the terraporter.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Generally if you're using evac in the first place, you can't withstand another onslaught.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Also, those groups are more or less unsoloable for a solo 36 assassin.  Those groups of four yellows had me dead or running every time.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Given all that, however, I'm a big fan of the 'retrieve shard' option when you right-clock the terraporter.  That's a winner and a definite keeper.</DIV><p>Message Edited by EtoilePB on <span class=date_text>06-09-2005</span> <span class=time_text>02:03 PM</span>

[Sacha]

<DIV>Finally popped in to the zone last night. Ran across the terraporter while harvesting and thought "why not?".</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>It is VERY challenging. I was able to solo it with my fury, and then my mystic and paladin. I have a sorcerer, conjurer, necro and assassin that are not even going to try. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Loot drops seemed for the most part consistent. Getting appropriate level (and even subclass) adepts/crafting books. Then got a weird one out of nowhere...level 25 mob dropped the level 47 berserker adept Destructive Rage. Thats probably not intended, but was a nice bonus <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Didn't complete the puzzles. I'm like "ok I have 5 chests, a barrel and a plank, now what?" I did make some nifty modern art type structures with them though :smileytongue:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Nice zone. Not amazing, or very replayable, and probably impossible for some classes, but was an interesting evening <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV>

[Kaereni]

I ran through it again last night with a low level group.  Nice scaling level for small group. Soloing with an non healing class is death. At least it has been for me for scouts.  Loot:  Still no body loot dropping.  Cash chests scale with level of group going in  ie 12 sp for 24 level vs 4 gp for 37th level group. 3 Chests drop all at the final room. 5 chests total if you include the key and the explorer chest. All in all nice exp but 4 caster group mobs spells death for non healing solo <div></div>

[Sacha]

<DIV>The loot has been increased by the looks of it. I went round with another char this morning and had many body drops, all stuff like "Gaudy Feyiron Bracelet", "Clouded Opaline" etc. Not rare drops, but could be used in place of resources (if you want to stuff your bank with 26757297987 items that don't stack :p )</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Also had 3 or 4 chests, adepts and craftsmen books.</DIV>

[Kadurm]

<P>Ran into what seems to be a consecutive bug. Dissapearing mobs. After you zone in, if you go to the next room (with the broken teleporter) there is a group of 4 mobs to the left near a small pit. if you happen to be standing between the broken portal hill and the wall to your left and pull those mobs..one will always seem to run away or get stuck in the wall. Sometimes he comes right out after the 3rd mob dies, but other times he seems to run away for upwards of 30 seconds, leaving you in combat mode. </P> <P> The only way we found to get him to show up again was to run back to the start and then back into the room. He then pops right in on top of you. The way to avoid this is to pull the group after you have killed the ones near the broken teleporter and the position yourself on the small ramp leading down to the pit. This seems to keep them all away from the walls so that they dont collide with them. Have done this several times both ways with the same results.</P> <P>Another group that seems to have the same problem is the first one you encounter as you head back down the path from the highest point past the broken teleporter towards the room with the first movable box. Once again, if you run down into them where there is enough room for them to surround you and not hit the walls, they all stay visible.</P> <P>Will go back in and get actual locs for the groups.</P> <P>Also not sure if it has been bugged enough yet, but there is a small invisible rock at the top of the tunnel, that sticks out past the visible ones.</P>

[goboy]

<P>I have attempted this zone 3x with my 38/39 wizard.  Each time I have been able to kill the first two wandering mobs and then died attempting the next room.  As a wizard, I find this next to impossible.  I will try it again with Ring of Cold when I hit 41.</P> <P> </P>

[Edowen]

<DIV>I attempted Delving this morning (after last night's patch) with my 27 Warden.  It was very very tough for her to solo.  She managed to clear the second room, but it required breaking up the group by the non-working terraporter.  (She took out the agitator, then ran back to the first room, then went back to the second room to finish the job.)  However she was helpless against a large group along the uphill path leaving the second room.  Warden's fight primarily with spells, and in encounters such as these, they must heal themselves as they go.  My warden was repeatedly stifled, so she couldn't do much damage, and she could not heal herself.  Throw in some stuns and she could not run away, either.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Perhaps this encounter still needs some tuning.  Perhaps (ulp!) scaling encounters to soloists means taking the soloist's class into consideration when populating mob groups.  It's a strength of EQ2 that different classes are good or bad at different things; some combinations of mobs are cake for some classes and very difficult for others.  That should remain true!  But that may be the core of the problem here.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Just a thought.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Edowen</DIV>

[Edowen]

<P>I just read Saavedra's post on the public board saying that he had successfully soloed the zone as a 31 warden.  I don't know if he tried that because of anything I said or if it was a coincidence, but I am very positively impressed by the care that is going into making Splitpaw a good place to play and the seriousness with which our comments appear to be taken.  It really makes me feel that stopping and filling out those /bug forms is well worth doing.  Thank you for all your work, Saavedra.</P> <P>:smileyhappy:</P> <P>Edowen</P>

[Heiro]

<P>My take on the AP2 thus far.</P> <P>First part :  Solo as a 44 templar : doable .. entrance mobs blue .. majority of group mobs were white and yellow single downs</P> <P> groups of 5  white / yellow  (single down arrow) are decent challenge, provided they are not all casters chaining stifle on me and beating me more than any other mage type could.</P> <P>did this zone solo about 15 times, only died 2 times .. both to the above mentioned type of group.</P> <P> </P> <P>Duo with wife :39 pally / 44 Templar - green and blues --- walk in the park...</P> <P> </P> <P>Loot : prior to the fix, getting 1 chest every 2 battles (tad too much imo)</P> <P>          Post fix, decent amount of body drops (sellable and non) and much fewer chests 2-4 per run .</P> <P>nice little puzzle (changed post fix)  to get the main chest.</P> <P> </P> <P>2nd part (entrance near skindancers )  group consisted of me (26 SK ) . 25 templar, 30 dirge, 27 wizzytype (sorry Liquid) and 47(mentored to 30) other caster type (sorry Raz ;P )</P> <P>Mobs all blue / white   few yellows... mostly all singles (1 or 2 Blue ^^)</P> <P>--------- no chests ---------   lots of body drops ---------- </P> <P>THink we got put into either an solo instance, or 5 is too many .. I couldnt pull enough mobs to make it fun exept for that one time when I ran around the dragon skele and aggro'd bout 8 singles <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P> </P> <P>more later as wife is mad at me and I gotta go to bed.</P>

[Evadne]

In Drowned caverns group arena: The gnoll summons a group of wolves, they break encounter instantly, and then the gnoll cant be hailed again. LOVE the boxes, barrels, planks. LOVE the ledges to no where. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Had fun. ~Eva <div></div>

[Ceruline]

<P>The new sections we hit tonight -</P> <P>I loved Upper Tunnels.  It was a very good integration of puzzles and combat.  Only issues are the umpteen opportunities to plunge to death, and be out of range of the healer's rez, with no in zone revive.  Adding an in zone revive should fix that, as long as those lower levels are all accessible, or the shard can be retrieved later by right clickign the zone entrance.</P> <P>We worked our way to lower tunnels - without a GM rescuing us many times, we wouldn't have made it.  Nearly all of our trouble was due to various group members managing to fall off of things.  Some of the jumps can be rather difficult for a game that really shouldn't be too twitchy in nature.</P> <P>I had a blast, and feel like there's a lot more to the zone that we didn't uncover.  I know there were bits that I thought could be barrel blasted that we didn't get too, and what looked like the start of another puzzle nearby</P>

[Saavedra]

Aye, I was on my day off from doing fan faire all week, and wanted to see what the hubub was all about.  We all play on our spare time as well as doing our work here.  I love my job, what can I say?