Frostfang Sea feedback and bugs – The City of New Halas [Archive]

kcirrot

04-23-2010, 09:56 PM

EDITED FOR FEEDBACK:You can reach New Halas from anywhere the new bells exists, but New Halas itself doesn't have such bells, only the griffon. That makes no sense. It appears you're using the griffon so that newbies will get funneled to Butcherblock instead of Nek/TS. That's fine, but do that via a quest, don't hurt the City with a crappy travel system. The irony of doing this while you're making travel much more convenient across the board should not be lost on anyone.The housing is phenomenal. Really nothing more need be said.The City is fairly organized, but perhaps have some pets milling about, give the coldain comments to say to adventurers as they past, etc. Those little details make Qeynos and Freeport feel much more alive IMO even when there's not many people there.

Nark

04-23-2010, 11:56 PM

There is no texture on the climbable ladders in the Frostfang Sea starting area (-369.58,47.93,-738.07). they are just the white wire mesh.

Purr

04-24-2010, 12:03 AM

Please make the font/clickable names of travel locations a bit bigger, please.City merchant sell the Kelethin versions of everything. O.OMissing a Mick, you know where I mean. *g*And I'm absolutely loving the druid shrubberies letting you port to other rings now. Great change!Purr~

ChrissyFaey

04-24-2010, 12:30 AM

The new crafter society set of clothes isn't very interesting - it's just bristled armor top and black pants for the bottom. Could we get a color variation like the other cities have?

Einadin

04-24-2010, 12:39 AM

One of the houses doesn't work when you try to access/tour, etc. It looks big on the outside.

Lillaanya

04-24-2010, 12:41 AM

Could the spawn rate for red shinies be nudged up just a little? Been looking for quite some time for the last one now without seeing any at all, they seem a little on the sparse side compared to other collections.

Cyliena

04-24-2010, 01:33 AM

<cite>Einadin@Oasis wrote:</cite><blockquote>One of the houses doesn't work when you try to access/tour, etc. It looks big on the outside.</blockquote>Looks like all the housing is down, actually.

Rocc

04-24-2010, 02:04 AM

Chat: I created a ranger using the same name as my zerker which is Rocc. I went to type a message and it's defaulting to a zerker (good) channel.Chat: If I go to option I see chat channel option in which I select a box and activate the channel. I'm in more channels then are selected first of all. Second is there is an empty box above "Auction" in the options that has no description. I'm guessing there is a bug with the ui settings saved on previous version of testcopy but cant be certain.I'm very disappointed my toon has not transferred over after a week. Name is Rocc from Unrest server. Please transfer me over. Thank you. I will delete the existing Rocc so the name is available for transfer. I will continue to test and reply to possible bugs but I ask that you help expedite my /testcopy add. Thanks.

Purr

04-24-2010, 02:15 AM

<cite>Rocc@Unrest wrote:</cite><blockquote>Chat: I created a ranger using the same name as my zerker which is Rocc. I went to type a message and it's defaulting to a zerker (good) channel.</blockquote>Using the old chars UI?Purr~

Kamimura

04-24-2010, 08:00 AM

New Halas feels very sparse, there's not a lot of life to it... In the main part of the city there's not a whole lot going on, and very little variety. There's a handful of little stone huts, a few larger buildings, and not many NPCs out and about at all. (The lack of any music might also factor into the empty feeling.)Inside some of the buildings isn't much better. For example, in the fighter guild building you just have four trainers clustered right in a row. It's one of the bigger buildings, they could be spread out more to feel less artificial. (I'm also struck by the lack of doors in this place, isn't it cold? :p) The other two longhouses feel more alive. The priest guild building feels a bit more interesting and lively to me, as well.All the other buildings are just the same little huts. Some are nice, like the building with the mage trainers... others are just, meh. Going up to the crafting/housing area... this I like a bit more. There's more for the eye, and the area feels a bit more alive. The city just lacks life when compaired to the other cities in the game. It really leaves me wanting more. :/

Kamimura

04-24-2010, 08:01 AM

Bug: Leaving New Halas on the griff droped me off in the ocean of BBM. (Near where one of the boats zones out.)

Eshaac

04-24-2010, 09:00 AM

uumm, is Frostfang Sea/New Halas supposed to be a selectable starting area on the new char map screen? I do not see it on my starting city map.Eshaac

Bhagpuss

04-24-2010, 09:05 AM

Is Corna Kilgour, the housing vendor, supposed to be selling a Freeport wooden counter?

Sphiriah

04-24-2010, 09:17 AM

I really love the smallness of the city.I think the housing area looks a bit too much like Gorowyn's though. It should really be opened up a bit, not just pushed back in some cave.Also, when can we expect to see houses on test?

Xalmat

04-24-2010, 02:45 PM

<cite>Eshaac@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote>uumm, is Frostfang Sea/New Halas supposed to be a selectable starting area on the new char map screen? I do not see it on my starting city map.Eshaac</blockquote>If you're using a custom UI, you need to update it. New Halas shows up just fine using the Default UI.

Seidhkona

04-24-2010, 05:49 PM

The drop rate of rares seems very high doing the Tutorial: Learning to Harvest.The ratio is 1:25 rare:common.*2 copper*1 lapis lazuli*2 severed alder*2 yarrow------------------------*7 rares07 raw white tea leaf33 root18 Baubbleshire cababge05 leaded loam02 jumjum07 black coffee bean23 lead10 deer meat10 rawhide leather pelt19 tin cluster18 severed elm07 frog legs16 rough malachite------------------------175 commons

Xalmat

04-24-2010, 06:07 PM

<cite>Sigrdrifa@Lucan DLere wrote:</cite><blockquote>The drop rate of rares seems very high doing the Tutorial: Learning to Harvest.The ratio is 1:25 rare:common.*2 copper*1 lapis lazuli*2 severed alder*2 yarrow------------------------*7 rares07 raw white tea leaf33 root18 Baubbleshire cababge05 leaded loam02 jumjum07 black coffee bean23 lead10 deer meat10 rawhide leather pelt19 tin cluster18 severed elm07 frog legs16 rough malachite------------------------175 commons</blockquote>That's about the rate that I get rares on my level 90 character as well.Also keep in mind, Tier 1 harvests have the highest chance at rares, mainly because you will outlevel that tier very quickly.

Seidhkona

04-24-2010, 06:22 PM

Issues<ul><li>Saw some Iceclad cod swimming a few feet above the water (-249, -18, -637).</li></ul><ul><li>Tasha Stillwater (-331, 40, -756) has no spells.</li></ul><ul><li>Wireframe ladders (-399, 88, -738), (-382, 49, -979).</li></ul><ul><li>Flame On! - The Ry'Gorr ambushers ran up, hit me once, then broke the encounter. I went and reengaged, they broke again, and disappeared. Clicking the fire again got them back, and I was able to defeat them, but this was really weird and would be confusing for a new player.</li></ul><ul><li>Killed a glacier bear (247, 31, -434). Won't allow me to loot corpse, message is "You are too far away to interact with that."</li></ul><ul><li>Bear Bottoms - There don't seem to be enough blizzard grizzly cubs. There will be LOTS of people doing this quest when New Halas opens, and I'm having to wait for respawns even with no one else competing for the cubs.</li></ul><ul><li>Some of the tundra beets are growing about 12 feet above my head, up on the ice pillars (81, 22, -588), (108, 22, -588).</li></ul><ul><li>Monk's Pants have no appearance! /blushes furiously. Okay, I am just pretending it's a white kilt.<img src="http://images.yuku.com/image/jpeg/24236dce4f090d69899d5532210dfb82170e508d.jpg" width="310" height="654" /></li></ul><ul><li>Pelted - Quest reward text says boots, but we get bracelets. "Flibbit was pleased with the quality of the icemane cub pelts I collected for him. He was able to repair Splorpy's jacket and made me a pair of boots as a gift of thanks." Reward: 81c and either aITEM -688510941 2009745362:[Bracelet of Old Blessings]/a or aITEM 1051660407 182837225:[Arcane Bangle of Subtlety]/a</li></ul><ul><li>You loot aITEM -1094037021 850171366:[waist_melee_dps]/a from the Small Chest of The Risen Ry'Gorr Conqueror.</li></ul><ul><li>You loot aITEM 369392387 850171366:[waist_melee_dps]/a from the Small Chest of The Icy Snowbind.</li></ul>Feedback<ul><li>I hate, hate, HATE quests that don't update every kill, where you must kill some random number of whatevers to get ten bodyparts. I'd MUCH rather have to kill 30 monsters, if I got an update each time.</li></ul>Kudos<ul><li>I love the transition into the sea where there's clear ice for a few feet. That looks cooler than all get out.</li></ul><ul><li>Being able to loot the fallen pilgrims is fun, too.</li></ul>

Armawk

04-24-2010, 06:53 PM

<cite>Sigrdrifa@Lucan DLere wrote:</cite><blockquote>Flame On! - The Ry'Gorr ambushers ran up, hit me once, then broke teh encounter. I went and reengaged, they broke again, and disappeared. Clicking the fire again got them back, and I was able to defeat them, but this was really weird and would be confusing for a new player.</blockquote>It seems that if you step off the white snow they disengage.

Woody67

04-24-2010, 09:52 PM

Also wonder if the "flame on" quest can get bugged if more than 1 person starts it at a time. i was there with about 2 others and i killed one of my two but the other was killed by someone else. I had to wait for another set to spawn before i could finish.Regarding the quest where you place the wards for the dwarves, is there supposed to be a clear indication of where they need to go? I have stumbled across 3 of the 5 places but I think it was by shear luck, nothing really indicated where to place the wards. I see the text you about the blue runes but i do not see any. There are some rocks with runes but i cant seem to place a ward stick around those.

Senya

04-24-2010, 09:59 PM

If New Halas is supposed to be good/neutral (only good races/classes can start and/or live there but everyone is tolerated) there's a bug. Evil toons are attacked there and merchant npc's won't talk to you. I was under the assumption it would work like Gorowyn and my good toons can visit there and shop there.

Kamimura

04-24-2010, 10:11 PM

<cite>Senya wrote:</cite><blockquote>If New Halas is supposed to be good/neutral (only good races/classes can start and/or live there but everyone is tolerated) there's a bug. Evil toons are attacked there and merchant npc's won't talk to you. I was under the assumption it would work like Gorowyn and my good toons can visit there and shop there.</blockquote>Yep, as I understand, it's a known bug and a fix will be coming eventually.

Kamimura

04-25-2010, 12:19 AM

Got the quest 'Trust Issues' from Brogan just outside the city. His last line of text reads "TALK TO PEOPLE AND COME BACK." Place holder text, accidental capslock, or just a shouty barbarian? :pFor the quest 'Ham and Beans' part way through the dialogue one of my replies is "BUG: No reply text in: dialog/halas/new_halas/barker_gordon/barker_gordon_007"For the quest we're told the pig is in the pen next to the Stone Hammer, but there are only sheep in the pen.

KerowynnKaotic

04-25-2010, 01:55 AM

Why does Halas have 2 language merchants? You have Ricka Stonehide [sage] and you have Dannon Ramsdell [linguist], who both sell the exact same Language tomes.--There are several things that look like hanging signs in Halas but they don't say anything when hovered over. Are they ever going to say anything or just zone art?--There is this snowman outside a building in Halas that disappears at certain angles of the camera. -77.25, 147, -11.48. ---The Halas Tradeskill outfit has got to be the lamest ever! Where's our kilts? Kilt as a special faction item would have made sense .. the reuse of old (OLD!) armor graphics looks sad and pitiful. Would have been nice to at least get the outfit that Olga Macleod is wearing.---Why are there various fuel merchants running around in the main parts of Halas when all the Tradeskill devices are in another shoved out of the way area and they already have several fuel merchants.---If Halas is good-neutral .. why is the [Housing Goods] merchant Corna Kilgour selling Freeport house items? Not that I mind too much. All Qeynos has are those stupid barrels & a couple of paladin lights. ---Does the TS Red-shiny for Halas only pop at the Horse Merchant? I've been running around Halas for a while now and that's the only place I've seen it. 2x so far. Let's see if I can make it for 3x .. o.O

Armawk

04-25-2010, 03:05 AM

I dont think the town is too small at all. I think it is a little bare in the middle and could do with a covered market or even just another longhouse in the square, and one of the stone huts replaced by a wooden house (mages maybe? cant bear to see the mages clustered in a tiny hut!). Then it would look more bustling.. plus the barbarian building graphics are a ton better than the stone ones.

Vili

04-25-2010, 04:53 AM

New Halas isn't too small, but there are not enough houses. There is the huge center of Halas, but only some houses around it. New Halas doesn't look like there is anyone actually living in it. It looks more like a trading outpost with some bored traders, nothing more. (But that's the case with all the new cities, expecially Gorowyn.)My first thought as I entered the city was: "Oh, some nice outpost in the style of New Halas..."... but then the messege popped up: "The City of New Halas" and I thought "What? That's it? Nooooooo..." Although the housing and crafting area is cool, New Halas is far from being a "city". I'm okay with the crafting and housing part of the city. Also I realy like the general style of the houses and the nice shrine of Erollisi.The new looking armor pieces you get with the first quests look nice, but why are they bound to classes? I know, that this makes it easier for newcomers but we need this armor styles as tailoring reciepes (Appereance Armor please!)! And sadly, there are no kilts <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />.

Xalmat

04-25-2010, 06:52 AM

<cite>shaunfletcher wrote:</cite><blockquote>I dont think the town is too small at all. I think it is a little bare in the middle and could do with a covered market or even just another longhouse in the square, and one of the stone huts replaced by a wooden house (mages maybe? cant bear to see the mages clustered in a tiny hut!). Then it would look more bustling.. plus the barbarian building graphics are a ton better than the stone ones.</blockquote>This.

kcirrot

04-25-2010, 11:49 AM

I have to echo the thoughts about New Halas feeling small. The buildings in the main square do not give the sense that this is anything more than a small outpost. The housing center/tradeskill area feels claustrophobic. The city is very efficient, but it's almost terribly so. It has everything a good adventurer could want, but that's pretty much all it has. The city doesn't feel like it has any life to it.

Katz

04-25-2010, 12:47 PM

I would suggest you add one more counter in the tradeskill area and put a banker and broker there. Leave the others where they are for non-crafters. It would be handy for crafters plus make the town a little more "populated" by npcs. Also, I love, love, love the harvesting box as a reward in the beginning zone. What a great idea. Someone needs a pat on the back for thinking that one up.

Erithe

04-25-2010, 01:49 PM

one of the things I've noticed that sets EQ2 apart from other MMO's is the size and heft of the architecture in the game. Generally speaking, it feels heavy and attached to the ground. Halas, from what I've seen so far, doesn't really feel that way. I love the glacier and the Frostfang sea areas, those were really beautiful. But Halas has no view of the sea and feels very shut in at the top, and doesn't seem to use it's space very well. The houses are very small when you enter them. I'm thinking the village in the Thundering Steppes, not "New Halas". It's also a wee bit confusing to navigate b/c everything looks somewhat the same when one is trying to find the exit or the caverns to the housing or tradeskill areas.I was a little disappointed, not in the architecture, but in the height and breadth of the buildings. None of them have presence. The Halasians are very tall and large people, but the buildings are small in comparison. From the descriptions in the previews online, I thought there would be levels to Halas with shining ice architecture, and large buildings made from wood and Velium. The city itself is very bland, despite some beautiful texture and architectural design. It's just not ... visually arranged correctly, I think. There are a lot of small stone huts and then small'ish long houses. And they're scattered very far apart in a large, walled in space that feels, frankly, claustrophobic, despite how everything's scattered. It doesn't feel cozy (which would be good!) and it doesnt' feel impressive (also good), it feels haphazard. If the long houses were bigger and the stone huts were clustered together in more discernable groupings, that would help (and be more convenient). Everything seems to be facing the shrine to Erollisi, which is beautiful, but also seems discordant b/c it's the central object. It's not the same style as anything else, and it looks ... off.Edit: I realize I sound a bit harsh. But I think that there are some very wonderful artists working on this game, and I know that this current iteration of the city isn't really reflecting their talents.

Gungo

04-25-2010, 04:55 PM

<cite>Erithe wrote:</cite><blockquote>one of the things I've noticed that sets EQ2 apart from other MMO's is the size and heft of the architecture in the game. Generally speaking, it feels heavy and attached to the ground. Halas, from what I've seen so far, doesn't really feel that way. I love the glacier and the Frostfang sea areas, those were really beautiful. But Halas has no view of the sea and feels very shut in at the top, and doesn't seem to use it's space very well. The houses are very small when you enter them. I'm thinking the village in the Thundering Steppes, not "New Halas". It's also a wee bit confusing to navigate b/c everything looks somewhat the same when one is trying to find the exit or the caverns to the housing or tradeskill areas.I was a little disappointed, not in the architecture, but in the height and breadth of the buildings. None of them have presence. The Halasians are very tall and large people, but the buildings are small in comparison. From the descriptions in the previews online, I thought there would be levels to Halas with shining ice architecture, and large buildings made from wood and Velium. The city itself is very bland, despite some beautiful texture and architectural design. It's just not ... visually arranged correctly, I think. There are a lot of small stone huts and then small'ish long houses. And they're scattered very far apart in a large, walled in space that feels, frankly, claustrophobic, despite how everything's scattered. It doesn't feel cozy (which would be good!) and it doesnt' feel impressive (also good), it feels haphazard. If the long houses were bigger and the stone huts were clustered together in more discernable groupings, that would help (and be more convenient). Everything seems to be facing the shrine to Erollisi, which is beautiful, but also seems discordant b/c it's the central object. It's not the same style as anything else, and it looks ... off.Edit: I realize I sound a bit harsh. But I think that there are some very wonderful artists working on this game, and I know that this current iteration of the city isn't really reflecting their talents.</blockquote>I agree the building need to be larger and honestly i was looking forward to more artful designed building built into and from the ice.

Nayawk

04-25-2010, 06:12 PM

<cite>Erithe wrote:</cite><blockquote> But Halas has no view of the sea and feels very shut in at the top, and doesn't seem to use it's space very well. The houses are very small when you enter them. I'm thinking the village in the Thundering Steppes, not "New Halas". It's also a wee bit confusing to navigate b/c everything looks somewhat the same when one is trying to find the exit or the caverns to the housing or tradeskill areas.I was a little disappointed, not in the architecture, but in the height and breadth of the buildings. None of them have presence. The Halasians are very tall and large people, but the buildings are small in comparison. From the descriptions in the previews online, I thought there would be levels to Halas with shining ice architecture, and large buildings made from wood and Velium. The city itself is very bland, despite some beautiful texture and architectural design. </blockquote>I agree with some points but for me the placement of Halas is fine.. its freezing, with howling winds, the idea of it being in a very steep protected valley makes perfect sense to me. As does the long low houses, its freezing you don't waste heat.Which brings me to a few visual problems for me. The game makes a point of telling you how cold it is, the armour quests reward you with leather and fur and nearly all the NPCs are bundled up. There's a quest telling us that frogloks are specifically suffering the worst. But you get up to Halas, and A. no one has any doors, which I can ignore but it looks weird, but B. the frogloks live in the stone huts with no fire rather than the wood houses with huge fireplaces.I think the over all theme and art is amazing, but it lacks any internal sense. The player housing being in the cave, thats fine, again you want shelter and a cave is perfect.Love the long halls there just needs to be more of them. Who gets to be in the hall and who is in a hut also seems random, all the class trainers get there own long hall or tent with a nice fire apart from the mages who are in a tiny hut freezing to death. You have the chromomages, again clustered in a tiny hut, random human merchants etc.Have the huts for the Coldian but the majority of the settlement, who aren't a magically cold resistant race, should be in the halls next to a nice warm fire.

KerowynnKaotic

04-25-2010, 06:46 PM

Been running around Halas for several hours, looking in vain for red shinnies, and I can't help but wonder ..Where did they get all this wood for all the houses, esp in the housing/crafting area, and the general decorations. Did a forest wash up on the shores of this floating ice cube that has no trees??! Also .. where are the Kilts we were promised and what .. no snowbunnies? I was looking forward to a snowbunny plushie. 'real' ones, not ones made into hats. And, in the Housing/Crafting area .. why is there piles of snow pushed up all over the place? It's in a crystal cave! With a very narrow opening and tunnel leading to it. There's no way that much snow had blown in unless no one bothered with sweeping it up for decades. The little rock houses in Halas proper are very small and uncomfortable to be in with more than 1 person or even with just yourself if there is more than 1 npc in it. It would be better, I think, to move around some of the NPCs to be outside of the various buildings instead of them all clustered into a building. Maybe more npcs walking between buildings, too. With the exception of the 1st couple of weeks Halas will be like any other city in the world and be rather empty looking since most people prefer Guild Halls.That's not to say I don't just adore the wooden houses and combination .. it's very pretty! A+ to the Art team on it. ----Could do with less Food quests though and some house items/visual armor rewards instead. I'm anticipating some really good stuff in the City Faire but we need more than something that comes around 1x a year to acquire cultural items. Though that goes for all the Cities really, not just Halas.

Nayawk

04-25-2010, 07:41 PM

<cite>Kaisha@Permafrost wrote:</cite><blockquote>Where did they get all this wood for all the houses, esp in the housing/crafting area, and the general decorations. Did a forest wash up on the shores of this floating ice cube that has no trees??! And, in the Housing/Crafting area .. why is there piles of snow pushed up all over the place? It's in a crystal cave! With a very narrow opening and tunnel leading to it. There's no way that much snow had blown in unless no one bothered with sweeping it up for decades. </blockquote>I'm justifying the wooden house through deforestation of the island and cannibalising whatever ships they used to get here. Thats my story and I'm sticking to it anyway, anything as long as we get more long halls and less stone huts <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />I agree about the snow in the housing area, and that thought did cross my mind while wandering about.

Anthise

04-25-2010, 09:35 PM

Wow I have to say I love the interiors and exteriors of the long houses and the player homes exterior design in New Halas. The wood and artwork is just gorgeous! I cannot wait till we get to see the housing interiors. What I am not so enamored with is the starkness of the city. I agree with the the other poster who said the city barely looks lived in. I wish there were more long houses, and less of the stone/ice ones. They just have so much more character. Or grow the stone and ice ones and give them some sort of solid walls, maybe colorful rugs lining the walls? All those gaps in the ices/stone homes, who make the interiors freezing! No froglok would live there....Brrrrr. Where DID the trees for those homes come from? I think more longhouses and more NPC's wandering will give the city a more lived in look. Maybe a few snowhoe hares, and some sort of birds as well. Long grass or shoots popping up thorough the snow. What struck me was the city looks like it is in the caldera of an old volcano. Those pictures from Iceland were the fodder of my thoughts here. Volcano living under ice... I thought as I was running about, wouldn't it be cool to see the glow of heat and melted patches of ice here and there? Perhaps the pool around Erollosi's shrine a thermal pool. Couldn''t there be enough heat to support a few stands of evergreens/firs or even tundra type ground cover? Where are the ice sculptures, banners, hanging blankets and skins, and other points of brightness to contrast with the snow and ice. Even bare trees, with their branches draped in blankets or banners would be neat. I also noticed the dock had no dockmaster. I waited for a bit, but could not tell if a ship might come, or not. Kudos to the art for the buildings.... I really again LOVE those wood and stone houses! Absolutely gorgeous! Gallie/Galya

Erithe

04-25-2010, 09:50 PM

As I said before, the texture work is beautiful. I love the wood and carvings and all of that. I just feel that the city lacks presence. When I create something, a piece of artwork or an in-game house, I take into account perspective and color and placement. I think, in the city of Halas, what we're seeing is a problem with perspective and placement.While the long houses are really beautiful, they're not very big. They're quite tall, but the floor space is only big enough for a few tables and carpets. And the small stone houses are ... very small. The buildings pretty much all face the center. There do not seem to be any nooks or small, visual spaces. None of the long-houses or halls fills the scene, and they all seem to be quite far apart from one another. Houses in Viking Villages were built very close together to conserve heat and cut down on the wind. I'd almost add hills to the scene, with some houses higher up than others, just to force the viewer's eye to follow them along (or add neat roof architecture like the wooden churches of Norway, if only to give visual interest). If new players are going to see this area as their starting city, I think it would be worth it to knock their socks off. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" />I understand that this was not the biggest city in Norrath, but the lore around Coldain dwarves and the previews put on EQ2players made me think that we'd have something that looked like Barbarian Halas collided with Ice Keep Thurgadin stylistically. Dwarves love to build stuff. It's a part of being an fantasy dwarf.The closest place in game to an actual viking village is Hate's Envy in Darklight Wood. And it has a nice feel to it, with the houses near to one another and the NPC's lending it atmosphere. If that was bigger, with houses next to one another and streets and the feel of a town, I think it would be better in New Halas. It would feel more like a town and a place where people actually lived.

Gladiolus

04-25-2010, 10:44 PM

Where the griffon arrives outside the town, it's rather offputting to see wall-to-wall PvP merchants. As for New Halas itself, it doesn't give me the feeling of a city at all, but rather a settlement that might become a city. No doors in such a cold place is as illogical as wooden houses having fireplaces and stone houses not having them. Where did they get all the wood for the houses anyway? Perhaps some from wrecked ships but that doesn't explain all those whole logs. The roofs that flatten out at the bottom also look out of place. How can the snow fall off those?<cite>Sigrdrifa@Lucan DLere wrote:</cite> <blockquote>The drop rate of rares seems very high doing the Tutorial: Learning to Harvest. The ratio is 1:25 rare:common.</blockquote>That's the same as I had, also 7 rares from the tutorial. It seems to be to be about the same as on the Isle of Refuge.<cite>Xalmat wrote:</cite> <blockquote>That's about the rate that I get rares on my level 90 character as well.</blockquote>I certainly don't get one kaborite or diamond for every 125 common harvests, more like one for every 1250, nor do I get one silicate loam for every 125 common loams.There are quests that are bugged, as mentioned by others. Flame On doesn't update if you fight the mobs where they ambush you and Foiling the Flank requires the ability to see through Stealth. After completing Totem Annihilation you still get messages about blue runes but can't see the bone piles needed for the next quest, Calling Them Back. There are no weapons to interact with for Roughing up the Reinforcements. Other than those bugs, the quests are great. There are proper logical questlines. They're linear so as to present a proper sequence but not in the frustrating way of Odus, so you get two or three quests at a time, and can do them on the same trip. The rewards and loot in general are terrible but presumably work is still being done on that. The one major problem with the quests is that there aren't nearly enough of them. With all experience bonuses and no percentage going to achievement experience, I didn't even reach 20 before running out of quests. If I'd played the normal way without the weekend bonus and maxed characters, and with the slider moved up to get some achievement experience, I wouldn't have got past 15 before the quests ran out. There should be quests for at least another five levels.

Xalmat

04-25-2010, 10:55 PM

<cite>Gladiolus wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Xalmat wrote:</cite> <blockquote>That's about the rate that I get rares on my level 90 character as well.</blockquote>I certainly don't get one kaborite or diamond for every 125 common harvests, more like one for every 1250, nor do I get one silicate loam for every 125 common loams.</blockquote>I was referring to the rate that I get rares for Tier 1 harvests, not tier 9.

Seidhkona

04-26-2010, 12:15 AM

<cite>Kaisha@Permafrost wrote:</cite><blockquote>Been running around Halas for several hours, looking in vain for red shinnies, and I can't help but wonder ..Where did they get all this wood for all the houses, esp in the housing/crafting area, and the general decorations. Did a forest wash up on the shores of this floating ice cube that has no trees??!</blockquote>Consider that Iceland had trees when the Vikings got there. It doesn't today. Well, they keep trying reforestation, but it's VERY slow.

789mkii

04-26-2010, 09:54 AM

/agreeSnowcovered tree in Halas and white rabbit and fox and bright flower in cave are pleasing motif from now on.Even if an iceberg, realize what newcomer expect in mmo. Best regards.

Kamimura

04-26-2010, 04:37 PM

<cite>Galya@Lucan DLere wrote:</cite><blockquote>Volcano living under ice... I thought as I was running about, wouldn't it be cool to see the glow of heat and melted patches of ice here and there? Perhaps the pool around Erollosi's shrine a thermal pool. Couldn''t there be enough heat to support a few stands of evergreens/firs or even tundra type ground cover? </blockquote>New Halas was built on a floating glacier with no bottom, it's a hunk of Velious that was cut off from the mainland during the cataclysms and has been drifting sense, so I don't think it would make much sense for there to be a volcano under it... <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" />Velious did have trees, though. Bare, frozen trees, but trees. Perhaps the trees were all removed to make the homes. Or, since there are many pilgrims coming in, perhaps wood was imported to make enough structures for people to live in, or the ships being taken apart (with some being wrecked by orcs)... I dunno, but however they're getting the wood, I wish they'd get some more and build more of the wooden structures. And also doors...

Elinea

04-26-2010, 05:44 PM

Alrighty, started a barbarian beserker and was able to choose New Halas as my starting city with no problem. I do some quests, get a few levels and make my way to the town center where the housing is. I get the quest "First Time Buyer" which allows me to buy my room. I am now the proud owner of a cute little room in Valor Homesteads, Frostfang Sea.But the quest would not update for me. I went and purchased the room and entered it, as the quest says I should. Upon closer inspection, the quest says it is located in Gorowyn. So I look at my faction, and lo and behold, I am an evil resident of Gorowyn?! Yet I am able to talk to all of the NPC's and get quests and buy/sell. Definitely needs some fixing!- BerthaTest ServerEdit: I decide to talk to the citizenship quest giver since the feather was over his head. He offered me the quest to switch my citizenship from New Halas (of which I am allegedly not a residence of) to Qeynos or Kelethin. I am going to attempt the quest to change to Qeynos and then back to New Halas to see if that lets me finish the housing quest.

Cyliena

04-26-2010, 06:18 PM

All of the houses cost the starter inn room price.

Zabjade

04-26-2010, 11:52 PM

These are my observations on housing in Halas so far. Aside from all the housing costing the same (It makes it hard when you want to set up all of your Broker slots) and not being able to tell which type is which. I have found one issue, I moved Zethrah my Iksar Monk to New Halas (While she fears not the insults hurled at her in Qeynos, they do become annoying after a time) For some reason when I was unpacking my moving Crate, I could NOT set and item down from my inventory (gave me a Max Item/Pet Message) yet I could move and item directly from the Moving Crate to the house. It makes it a little difficult to set the items stuck in my invetory down.I do not recal having this issue with my newbie Dwarf Mystic in his starter house.

Cyliena

04-26-2010, 11:57 PM

<cite>Zabjade wrote:</cite><blockquote>These are my observations on housing in Halas so far. Aside from all the housing costing the same (It makes it hard when you want to set up all of your Broker slots) and not being able to tell which type is which. I have found one issue, I moved Zethrah my Iksar Monk to New Halas (While she fears not the insults hurled at her in Qeynos, they do become annoying after a time) For some reason when I was unpacking my moving Crate, I could NOT set and item down from my inventory (gave me a Max Item/Pet Message) yet I could move and item directly from the Moving Crate to the house. It makes it a little difficult to set the items stuck in my invetory down.I do not recal having this issue with my newbie Dwarf Mystic in his starter house.</blockquote>If you had 200 or more items in your crate, that would be why. All the houses currently think that they only have 200 item limit due to the pricing issue. Items in the moving crate do count against your limit, so you may be hitting the limit in that fashion.

Nark

04-27-2010, 02:19 AM

It seems that the guards in New Halas are KOS to evil toons. I was wandering around on my lvl 18 SK and all of a sudden I was being attacked by two guards. I thaught that New Halas was intended to be good/neutral. They were only level 25 guards, but they were unexpected. Is this intended to be this way, or is this a bug?

MoiraesFate

04-27-2010, 02:14 PM

Strange glitch... every time you see any of the nodes, they aren't visible from all angles, just from some. The only reason I know they're there is because I have the names of items turned on. I find them by moving my mouse over the name, and then moving it down slightly until the hand appears.

Kamimura

04-27-2010, 09:37 PM

I've given feedback about the city itself, but now that houses are up a word on those... I love them! <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" /> The style of the homes is amazing. Items are easy to place on the built in shelves, and I love the little space under the stairs.I do wish the main floor of the 6 and 4 rooms had a few of those little wall alcoves though (to either side of the door, for example), or that the two room home had any! <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" /> They're just so neat. Either way, I'm sure that several of my caracters will be moving to New Halas just for the homes.

Kamimura

04-27-2010, 11:29 PM

Found a strange bug. I wasn't sure which thread to put this in, but... For fun, I stuck on my water breathing spell, and tried to swim under the glacier than New Halas is on (just to see how deep it was/if I could). Started at the dock area and followed the wall down, and got down pretty far when I "fell." I thought that I would just fall under the world and find myself back up on lands somewhere, but... uhh. I fell a bit, and found myself standing on "ground" - but there was no actual ground (well there was, I could see it below me down a lot more). I could look way up and clearly see all the islands and such. There was no way out of there that I could find (so it was good that Domino was on and could summon me out, since my call doesn't work). Probably not a good thing, since I'm sure I'm not the only one who'll be tempted to try and find the bottom. (Or if a mystic accidently leaves their water walking spell on and takes a swim!)

Paddyo

04-28-2010, 01:32 PM

The griffon ride into BBM problem seems to be that once you zone into Butcherblock, rather than hitting the flight path to the dock you hit the boat path out instead. You fly for a bit, hit the zone wall and feathers go flying everywhere.This needs to be fixed, ASAP, since this is the only travel method OUT of Halas at the moment.And PETA is liable to show up if you keep needlessly blowing up griffons.

Rocc

04-28-2010, 07:34 PM

City Merchant Bugged-I'm a fae that betrayed a few years ago to Qeynos. Yet all I see is Kelethin stuff (titles and Kelethin faction gear). Hey..... itnt that racial profiling!!!???Edit - The city merchant gear all says "Must be a guild member and requires Kelethin citizenshop".

Barx

04-30-2010, 10:31 AM

Am I the only one seeing green snow in Halas (and along the path up to it)? Like, neon green. I hope this is a bug and not intended, because it looks really, really bad. Like someone tried to make Halas into a green apple snowcone.This is in shader 1.0, btw. Edited to add: The snow looks ok in shader 3.0. Here's a screenshot of the 'green' snow:<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3503/4565643323_741f0d4809_b.jpg" width="1024" height="536" />

Eridu

04-30-2010, 11:29 AM

A recommendation/request for a New Halas element:Could you perhaps put in some teleport functionality within parts of the city, especially say between the housing and transportation/dock areas? That's not just quite, it's an outright phenomenal hike hehePerhaps instead of pads you could put up blue british police call boxes ... no ... really!

Nuhus

04-30-2010, 01:22 PM

Housing is cool looking, really nice to be able to see stuff out the windows (though its not live stuff). The rest is pretty much as dull as all the other starting areas.

Barx

04-30-2010, 03:34 PM

One or two more comments on housing... is it just me or do none of the available choices come with 6 vendor/vault slots by default?Also, the zone names should reflect the actual number of rooms or, even better, not have a number in it at all. (IE "New Halas Five Room Housing" has 6 rooms, but could just be called "Large New Halas Lodge" or something like that).

Alenna

04-30-2010, 03:59 PM

First time Buyer quest still not updating that is 2 toons one on test copy and one on test that do not have a way to set the recall for New halas nor have the house items they are supposed to. when is the fix going to get in I have /bugged it again.

Wulfgeist

05-04-2010, 01:26 PM

I moved my pair of test toons to New Halas. Like others have stated the first time buyer didn't update when I got a house. (no biggie for me since I have those items already from actually being a first time buyer). I love the housing and will probably move some of my chars here just because after what 6 years? I'm sick to death of Qeynos housing.My big question is in regards to status items. My toons are unguilded but shouldn't I get personal status at least from selling these items to the proper merchant? If so, is there only one in New Halas and where is it? I was selling at the scout hut and noticed nothing special for my documents from there.NM the last, I found her.

Haohmaru

05-04-2010, 05:57 PM

<cite>Barx@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote>Am I the only one seeing green snow in Halas (and along the path up to it)? Like, neon green. I hope this is a bug and not intended, because it looks really, really bad. Like someone tried to make Halas into a green apple snowcone.This is in shader 1.0, btw. Edited to add: The snow looks ok in shader 3.0. Here's a screenshot of the 'green' snow:</blockquote>Interesting. I can't think of any reason you'd see it like that - it's certainly not intended. This is the first report of such greenery I've heard of.If you would, after the next test update (not sure when it is), see if it still looks green. If it does, I've another idea or two to try (may require manually deleting a few paks to see if it's an asset error).

Nark

05-04-2010, 07:02 PM

<cite>Barx@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote>Am I the only one seeing green snow in Halas (and along the path up to it)? Like, neon green. I hope this is a bug and not intended, because it looks really, really bad. Like someone tried to make Halas into a green apple snowcone.This is in shader 1.0, btw. Edited to add: The snow looks ok in shader 3.0. Here's a screenshot of the 'green' snow:<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3503/4565643323_741f0d4809_b.jpg" width="1024" height="536" /></blockquote>No need to worry. It is just Global Warming.

Barx

05-04-2010, 07:38 PM

<cite>Haohmaru wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Barx@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote>Am I the only one seeing green snow in Halas (and along the path up to it)? Like, neon green. I hope this is a bug and not intended, because it looks really, really bad. Like someone tried to make Halas into a green apple snowcone.This is in shader 1.0, btw. Edited to add: The snow looks ok in shader 3.0. Here's a screenshot of the 'green' snow:</blockquote>Interesting. I can't think of any reason you'd see it like that - it's certainly not intended. This is the first report of such greenery I've heard of.If you would, after the next test update (not sure when it is), see if it still looks green. If it does, I've another idea or two to try (may require manually deleting a few paks to see if it's an asset error).</blockquote>Logged in last weekend and switched back to shader 1.0 and the snow was white again. Not sure why it was green that first time, but seems ok now =)

Cyliena

05-04-2010, 07:44 PM

I'd just like to say thanks for adding a few more buildings to the city. While it isn't much, it definitely looks more like a real city now. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" />My only other suggestion would be to have a few more citizens walking around to add to the atmosphere, and prehaps raise the height of the doorways for the stone buildings so they look more barbarian-sized.

Lantana

05-04-2010, 08:14 PM

The npc for the "free" starter housing in New Halas did not give the housing items and they were not within the house.There don't seem to be enough different types of harvesting nodes for the harvesting quest in Pilgrims Landing. I was the only toon on island and still took me too much looking to try to find nodes for all the items.

Armawk

05-04-2010, 11:20 PM

The additional buildings.. would I be right that you have only added one new wooden building and two new stone huts?

Nayawk

05-05-2010, 04:50 AM

The added buildings are a good start but I really think the village could do with just one more wooden hall for the mages to replace their shabby hut.Also I'm loving the tree stumps. It gives a real sense of the village having been built, of being a work in progress and helps it sit in its enviroment.

Purr

05-05-2010, 08:06 PM

Could we please have at least the illusion of doors (wooden, icy/stone, heavy fur curtains) added to the buildings? If you want to leave them stand open, fine, but buildings without doors in that climate are... not welcoming looking. *shudders*Thanks for reading.Purr~

Lantana

05-07-2010, 01:16 PM

Am I the only one who cannot locate a scout guild ? I've run around the rather disorganized muddle of buildings numerous times and find the fighters and the mages and the priests but no scouts. If there is one where did you hide it ?It would help to have more recognizable signage or color indications on the outside of the buildings - nothing is indicating what is inside and they are sort of plopped down helter skelter. I agree with others who have said it doesn't give the appearance of a city at all.The housing is wonderful in design and will be fun to work with decorating. I also like the layout of the tradeskill area.Don't think I'll rush to move any toons to New Halas though because the travel to and from the docks and to other zones is almost non existent. Took my level 12 toon out to get to NQ to a guild hall and he got dropped by the only ride out ( the griffon ) far out in the BB sea. Naturally died at that level trying to swim to shore. If I'd been a noob I would have given up right there I think. Hope you rethink the travel options and teleporters before this goes live.

GrunEQ

05-07-2010, 03:16 PM

Scoped out the new buildings, etc. and found them too cramped with NPCs seeming to be stuffed inside. If you have more then one player inside you will have a hard time interacting with NPCs. What's with the tiny doors? Buildings definately need to be roomier, and located in more logical areas. Everything seems to be hapazardly placed. The dock definatley needs a bell.

Gungo

05-07-2010, 03:35 PM

Awesome changes so far to make New Halas feel more like a city. I love the wandering npcs the dwarf w the keg that rocks side to side as he moves. (ore coldstein)I love the addition of trees. Maybe a few more actual evergreens about the island would be great. The few recommendations i do have is I hope the arcanitorium becomes one of the bigger huts. It is still extremely small and close quartered. Its fine for a personal dweling w 1-2 npcs like hopsons personal abode but not for an adventure house were large races such as barbarians have to enter. I really think glacierbanes vault the library of the spear of the spell weavers can use a new housing model as well. A 2 floor velium mage tower would be awesome. The cheap and easy way is to remove the tower from the starter isle and retexture it. The current model is cramped and doesnt offer me the feel of a library at all. Add some bookcases (and flair) to the mages study area as well. When you guys get a chance and want to add a new quest to this city pay a little homage to beowulf and add a Grendel themed beowulf type quest to this zone. It is the perfect setting for this type of quest. <div></div>