Some Skal Feedback

[Red_Wharf]

I've recently played a weapon master in Skal, and this is the feedback I can give about my experience there:

>> Comparing my weapon master to my previous character, one that started in Cordor, I've noticed a large increase in gold gain. NPCs seem to drop a lot of scrolls, expensive jewelry, and there are hides and iceberries everywhere. In this regard Skal felt much more rewarding.

>> The lore update, despite its shortcomings, works in synergy with what I mentioned above. With more gold, the more scrolls you can purchase from the Dwarf wizard NPC in the Trade Post in Skaljard. With careful and clever scroll use, I was able to solo all dungeons on my own. Early levels are often very painful and annoying, but that scroll vendor helped mitigate it.

>> Skaljard needs a cobbler to sell fancy boots and most importantly, to repair them. The stores are often not that great and they rarely provide consumables to repair equipment, what pretty much makes repairing gear depend on what characters you meet and if they are willing to offer you those services, so just a cobbler, for a start, would be nice.

>> The lack of a Speedy Messenger in Skaljard makes it a little awkward contacting friends and characters who advertise their services.

>> The guard and the wolf who protect Skaljard's western entrance often suffer from pathfinding issues around their watchtower. They often aren't able to navigate back to their spot, that if they don't get stuck in combat with enemies that can spawn on a nearby cliff, which they can't reach because there is no ramp or anything. The Timber Wolf is also missing most of the time. Any ranger or druid with a small Animal Empathy investment can just dominate the Wolf away, and I don't blame them, it's a very strong NPC. The Wolf disappears when you dismiss him, so there's no way to bring it back without a server reset.

>> I never had any issues with blacksmithing, there is plenty of ore in Skal, but the only ore I never found was Mithril. To upgrade from steel armor, you either have to leave Skal or hope that an outsider brings Mithril to the town.

>> Healing kits are more expensive in Skal than they are in other places. Is there some explanation to that?

>> Most bosses do not drop heads. Off the top of my head I only remember two doing it, the Gnoll boss in the Lower River and the Illusionary Projection in the House of the Master.

>> The Huscarl Ghosts in the Kurgan are missing their weapons. Their description mentions them fighting with axe and shield, but they instead fight unarmed and, since they seem to lack glove items and the improved unarmed strike feat, their attacks generate attacks of opportunity from an enemy.

>> The slime writ in the Skaldark is an odd one. It's extremely easy, your only worry is really just a Cave Slime paralyzing you, but a clarity potion or scroll should protect your character from that. Besides from really easy enemies, the dungeon is very short. If you spend ten minutes on it, it's probably because you took every possible wrong turn to find the boss. This writ also pays you a large amount of XP and Gold in comparison to other harder writs.

>> The Skaldark Myconids writ is the only writ that goes up to level 17, and that feels a little strange. Shouldn't the two delivery writs be allowed to be taken by level 17 characters too, in that case? They only go up to level 16. I don't know, it just feels very strange having only a single writ to do at level 17, but to be fair, at that point the player should be considering moving to Arelith anyway.

>> The Minotaur writ only goes as far as level 15. I don't see why it can't go to level 16 too like the Harbarge and House of the Master. The minotaur boss is really strong, if not the strongest NPC in Skal.

>> Skal doesn't have enough writs. The Skaldark update certainly helped with that, but there is always room for more, specially for characters in the level 10 - 16 range.

>> The Lower River area, where the Gnoll writ takes place, is too big. It's not particularly a huge problem, but it can make the writ a bit awkward in regards to the NPC respawn timer. What I would do is moving the boss to a small cave or some other small area connected to the Lower River.

>> The Halfling Banker and Trader NPC in Dunmarle doesn't sell healing kits, and that's a shame. Healing kits would be a very small addition, but a nice one for people going to or returning from the Northern Trails, where most of the high level dungeons in Skal can be found.

>> Still about Dunmarle, I've noticed two things. First, going back and forth between Dunmarle and Skaljard is quite the trek, I would consider adding a portal in the castle, to return to the town. The Laird looks very rich, he could provide that. Second, the Mayor, if you ask him about the island, mentions Skaljard as the only civilized place, he doesn't mention Dunmarle at all. Actually, no NPC in Skaljard mentions the castle. This last one is just nitpicking, to be frank.

>> In the whole server, the Bacchanhagen is my favorite dungeon. The layout and the way the area was built looks really good, and the encounters feel balanced to me. I also found very clever some of the elements used to help tell the story of that place to the player, like the way some of the dead frostbitten revelers were positioned in the feast. I just wish there was a way to know more about the Bacchanhagen besides what the Mayor tells the player in the writ selection menu.

[Itikar]

>> Most bosses do not drop heads. Off the top of my head I only remember two doing it, the Gnoll boss in the Lower River and the Illusionary Projection in the House of the Master.

I noticed that fewer bosses drop heads compared to the Underdark, however, there are also several enemies and mini-bosses that do.

Among those I remember more clearly (I am still level 10):

- Humongous Cockroach
- Werecat
- Pack Leader

But overall, yes, the head-drop npcs can use a check-up.

And I also agree with the awkwardness of not having a speedy messenger, by the way.

[Ninjimmy]

I think the Mithril thing is intentional, like writs capping at 17, to push people to make the pilgrimmage to Surface.

[Scraps]

There's plenty of Mithril in Skaljard.

Ask around in game, you'll get people to point you in the right direction.

[Irongron]

This feedback is definitely helpful. I really like Skal, but compared to the test of the server it was very rushed - we put the whole thing together in a few short weeks prior to the launch of EE.

I can't fix all of the above issues, but will look at some of them.

[AstralUniverse]

I enjoyed reading this feedback. It was very perceptive and it really looks like the OP put the time to take notes for this purpose while playing in Skal and wrote this purely out of experience with consideration to other people's fun.

[Red_Wharf]

There's plenty of Mithril in Skaljard.

Ask around in game, you'll get people to point you in the right direction.

Too late now, maybe next time. I did find a lot of Arjale, though, so there's that.

This feedback is definitely helpful. I really like Skal, but compared to the test of the server it was very rushed - we put the whole thing together in a few short weeks prior to the launch of EE.

I can't fix all of the above issues, but will look at some of them.

Glad to help.


I forgot to add a few things to my first post:

>> In the Minotaur dungeon, a fire object was left for testing purposes by the module builder next to a locked door. The description of said object explains how to find the key for the door next to it. It seems like an oversight.

>> There are a few mentions to 'adventurers bringing captured Minotaurs to the Artificer's Tower in Skaljard for gold'. Is this an actual feature? The Golem in the Tower makes it sound like it is, but I've never had any luck capturing Minotaurs at Near Death, I assume because their size is flagged as Large, and not Medium or Small as are some of the requirements to be lassoed.

>> After leaving Skal, one thing that I thought a lot about was that I probably wouldn't return there on my current character, and I assume that's a thing for most characters who leave the island, after all, there are not many incentives for that besides advertising your faction or bringing goods to sell in the temporary stores and so on.

My point is, having Skal as a locked island is detrimental to new players because it reduces their contact with server veterans and, as result, their contact with the server culture. I think it's because of this that some say that Skal feels like a different server. On my first days in Arelith, I've met some great veteran players, and I'm thankful to them for sharing with me their experience and how our contact shaped my own roleplaying and improved it. Also, it is a waste of the amazing work the development team put on it. I can't compliment enough the design and effort put on Skal. I would appreciate if more people could comment on this, I would really like reading their opinions on it.

I also understand this very subject has been discussed in the past, so I'll add my two cents:

* What I would do with Skal is bringing it closer to the Arelith archipelago. If a huge continent like Maztica was teleported to another world with Wild Magic, a small island like Skal could be dragged a bit to the south through similar means. It also has potential for a sick DM event arc.

* Skal would then be accessible in the same level Sibayad is. Like Captain Faergrin in the Crow's Nest, there could be a Captain Norsegrin or something in New Guldorand or somewhere else who brings passengers to Skal for a small fee at any time of the year.

* The route south of Skaljard is blocked with ice. I don't remember exactly the lore about what's south of the town, but the ice could conveniently melt with Skal's teleportation and reveal a very dangerous region of epic level. This region could house a few epic dungeons, perhaps even some epic writs like the ones introduced with the last Plane of Shadows update.

I understand the suggestions forum is locked, but, in my opinion, it's hard providing feedback without including one or two suggestions to deliver a complete comment about the subject being discussed, so I hope this thread doesn't get locked because of this.

[AstralUniverse]

My point is, having Skal as a locked island is detrimental to new players because it reduces their contact with server veterans and, as result, their contact with the server culture. I think it's because of this that some say that Skal feels like a different server. On my first days in Arelith, I've met some great veteran players, and I'm thankful to them for sharing with me their experience and how our contact shaped my own roleplaying and improved it. Also, it is a waste of the amazing work the development team put on it. I can't compliment enough the design and effort put on Skal. I would appreciate if more people could comment on this, I would really like reading their opinions on it.

That's a part of Skal's charm. Some people like it, some dont. Personally I like it and I'm not the only veteran that likes it. From what I could notice, there's always veteran presence in Skal. We're sort of taking turns lol. Also, if there isnt, then it's not necessarily a bad thing.

On my first character on Skal I met a warlock that tells a joke every time they cast Tasha's Laughter. That's the sort of purism you no longer see in Arelith among veterans and it was refreshing. I'm pretty sure that player wont be doing that for very long after playing here for a while. Or maybe they will, if Skal's playstyle isnt demolished by us veterans too much. I like Skal the way it is, personally. I like that it's remote from Arelith and almost like a different server. I think it offers new players a soft landing in this 15 years old culture that has evolved so much as some aspects of it may seem entirely counter-logical to a new player. It wouldnt be as much of a soft landing if Skal was brushed against the rest of Arelith more frequently than the occasional DM/player event.