Feedback for Delta 158 Storm Disciple Quests

[StalePopcorn]

Hi folks,

There's been a couple of posts skirting this topic, but if there are any stormies out there that have tried the quests, could they provide feedback here please? Looking for:

1. Problems (if any) with the quests
2. Comments on quest story line (makes sense? confused? likes/dislikes?)
3. Comments on quest steps (too hard? too easy?)

Thanks!

Stale.

[Kephren]

So, I got my STMD copied over to blight and went through the quests. Overall they were very good! It was great to have some STMD quests to do! Here are some comments:

• I think its great that the line of quests is connected, yet each is its own story as well. Large story arc with minor sub-plots is the way to go!
• Be careful to not make this quest too similar to the medallion of the disciples which already involves a quest for each "element" (each of the other disciples).
• When Aelia the druid talks to you, she says something like "The Druidic Order guards this land... We must protect it." And of the Treants she says: "They love their forests more than life itself", but then in the same breath, she asks you to go _kill_ a bunch of them. This struck me as a very un-druid-like thing to do. Maybe it should be reworded slightly to something like: "Sometimes the treants' numbers get out of control and because they defend their forests to vigorously, the Druids must, on occasion, reduce their numbers to maintain balance. Such a time is upon us now, so this is a perfect opportunity for you to learn our ways and observe the treants and their connection to nature." The rest about the saplings being unblemished is good. The parts after about "sadness in your eyes" would still fit well into this change.
• I liked the ice quest text, but felt that quest was a bit short. It's more advanced than the other two, but was just as quick as the first one. Maybe, since Essiel talks about studying in the ice, he should ask you to retrace his steps and meditate at several places around mahagra? This would "prepare" you to withstand the cold and brave the trip to fight Icefang.
• The quests fit well with my image of Storm Disciples and their ways. The relationship to the druids and Essiel's description of his training also fit well into the lore!
• One other thing I would mention is that I think it would be cool to ad another sort of reward to these quests. Not anything valuable (i.e. no stat bonuses or anything). As I did these quests I felt I was advancing in my martial arts abilities and "following the path". In the real world, martial arts trainers award belts as a student progresses. Maybe as a quest reward we could get "Sash of The Way of Stone", "Sash of The Way of Nature" and "Sash of The Way of Ice". These could be plain, ceremonial, coloured belts or even "merit badges" just as token symbols of the advancement of our training.
• Here are a few nit-picky typos:
  
  • young Initiate vs Young Initiate vs young initiate. These different capitalizations are used. They should all be the same.
    
  • "To rush headlong into battle, as others do, is fool-hardly" Drop the "L" and "-", I believe its "foolhardy".
    
  • "This, then, is Rashgalaveck_chaos's task - Find creatures of Stone..." No need for capital F on find.
    
  • "You were sent here by Essiel, as many have before you". Should be "You were sent here by Essiel, as many have been before you."
    
  • "Essiel sees Rashgalaveck_chaos. This one has learned of the Way of Wood?" Maybe my Sslik grammar is rusty, but I think "this one" always refers to the speaker doesn't it? Should this be "that one" to refer to the player?

Overall great quests - can't wait for the next ones! Also, thanks for the work put into them!

PS: My face does NOT look like a lumpy pumpkin, thank you very much! (inside quest joke)
PPS: I don't suppose this quest will fix the infinite looping of the STMD lightling claws sound will it? ;P

[StalePopcorn]

Very minor text change perhaps:

"But Essiel disgresses ..." (mispelt)

to

"But Essiel confuses ..." or similar

Sorry, I'm being a bit picky...

[AmonGwareth]

When Aelia the druid talks to you, she says something like "The Druidic Order guards this land... We must protect it." And of the Treants she says: "They love their forests more than life itself", but then in the same breath, she asks you to go _kill_ a bunch of them. This struck me as a very un-druid-like thing to do. Maybe it should be reworded slightly to something like: "Sometimes the treants' numbers get out of control and because they defend their forests to vigorously, the Druids must, on occasion, reduce their numbers to maintain balance. Such a time is upon us now, so this is a perfect opportunity for you to learn our ways and observe the treants and their connection to nature." The rest about the saplings being unblemished is good. The parts after about "sadness in your eyes" would still fit well into this change

Except that in this case she WANTS you to experience the pain associated with killing something of nature. Kind of a "you cannot truly understand a thing until you become that thing" moment.

[LaughingOtter]

• "Essiel sees Rashgalaveck_chaos. This one has learned of the Way of Wood?" Maybe my Sslik grammar is rusty, but I think "this one" always refers to the speaker doesn't it? Should this be "that one" to refer to the player?

"This one" always refers to the speaker, correct. "That one" refers to a third person, usually the subject of a discussion. "The one" can refer to either a third party or to the person being spoken to, depending on context.

I think "Essiel sees Rashgalaveck_chaos. Has the one learned of the Way of Wood?" would be the most correct.

[StalePopcorn]

So, I got my STMD copied over to blight and went through the quests. Overall they were very good! It was great to have some STMD quests to do! Here are some comments:

• I think its great that the line of quests is connected, yet each is its own story as well. Large story arc with minor sub-plots is the way to go!
  

• I must admit, I prefer writing these sorts of quests that have a central story. They are more fun to write, and make it worthwhile to complete IMHO. And in some ways, it is actually easier to write. The tasks link in naturally with the story line because there are about 700+ NPCs to make use of lol
  
  

• Be careful to not make this quest too similar to the medallion of the disciples which already involves a quest for each "element" (each of the other disciples).

[Kephren]

Ok, I've been trying to do the lvl 80 quest that was in the 159 Delta, but I can't find this Taurelios guy! I've been searching for hours (literally) Could anyone offer a hint? There is an awful lot of "coast" to search "nw of morning light".

[StalePopcorn]

Did you find him Kephren?

[Kephren]

Ok, I finally found him and finished the quest. Here are some thoughts on this one:

• The directions to find Taurelios in the quest log are misleading. His son says, in the dialogue that he can be found "north of morning light on the coast", but the quest log says "northwest of morning light". He's NOT to the northwest and I would suggest that "north of morning light, on the coast" be changed to "far north of morning light, on the coast". He was WAY farther north than I had understood and not really near morning light at all. The keywords are "far north" and "coast" neither of which were in the quest log. Regardless of the wording, the quest log and dialogue should have the same info.
  
• Otherwise I liked the quest. It fit well with the others and upped the difficulty by an appropriate amount. The mobs were good choices and fit well with the difficulty and theme of the quest.
  
• The side quest of proving your worth to the son was a good way to add steps/difficulty to the quest in a realistic way without looking like your just adding steps .
  
• I just noticed that there IS actually a reward for this quest, and the ice path quest. I think those are good rewards!
  
• I like how Essiel has actual "lessons" to teach about how your fighting can be improved by observing each element. Hearing about storms starting and putting out fires is much more interesting than just "learn about fire" then "you learned about fire".

Thanks again for the new quests!

BTW, my lightling claws still buzz...and buzz...and buzz non stop

[StalePopcorn]

Thanks Keph - appreciate the feedback Amon may adjust the text, I'll leave that up to his decision.

May I ask what level your STMD is? Just wondering if you are able to continue testing if there happens to be any *ahem* higher level quests (nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more...)

Of course, you will have to repeat all these quests if/when they get added to the live servers!

(and I wish you knew who said your quote - that is hilarious! )

[Kephren]

My STMD is lvl 100 so throw me anything you've got!

People tell me that quote is from Dilbert and/or Monty python of all places! Some versions use ketchup instead, but I like chocolate better. It's similar to a quote from Lord of The Rings about wizards: "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger."

[StalePopcorn]

Everything tastes good dipped in Chocolate