Ultimate Skaljard Feedback v2

[TheManBehindTheMemes]

Continued from viewtopic.php?f=37&t=26020, the first Ultimate Skaljard Feedback.

The content of this thread will revolve around introduced contents such as Castle Dunmarle, reworked dungeons, and changes that was made during after the last Ultimate Feedback.

I shall apologize ahead that this thread is not going to be memefilled, or have bunch of jokes but rather very appropriate reactions, and demand for actions mainly. With that, I'll just state them.

____________________________

Reworked Dungeons

Ramheart Archers have their Attack bonus reduced, which greatly increased the chances of actually completing the dungeon much better, reducing the overall life-threatening stress. But the danger is still there, and sometimes stupid people will be punished. Which is an ideal option. And a great nerf well-deserving.

Founder's Cave got a very good facelift, and made longer. Allowing more monsters to spawn, and better loot to be had. No mob changes were found, and everything is consistent.

The Cultists' hideout is very welcome, but the issue is that they're primarily inaccessible for nearly 60% to 70% of the players in Skal, or flat out incapable due to class picking, and skill choices. The common trend is that only one that can take the writ, and get into the dungeon, are those who have pixie familiar, or is a class with lockpicking capabilities. Spell like Knock will not open the door, and there's complete absence of a lever to open the door from the inside, requiring you to unlock it to get in, and unlock to get out.

Finally, the worst sinner of the scene is a new boss introduced to the Skaljard Granary, the Werecat. The Werecat have very solid AB that most newbies would not be able to block against, and chances of winning against werecat for first time is about 30% to 40% depending on builds. Most wizard classes with Greater Conjuration feat could easily steamroll the werecat, but new players that went for mundane classes would be stomped in by the Werecat without any mercy. The werecat should receive a bit more tuning to be more balanced, and not overly whacking the new players. I get it, Skaljard is considered 'Hardmode' version of Arelith isle for beginners.

There's also the fifth dungeon that was introduced into Skal isle. The Dunmarle Crypt. A piece of content nobody ever bothers doing unless they just want to explore. But it's so out of the way, that nobody ever seriously goes there. The entirety of Dunmarle castle have an issue worth issuing more than this. But the Crypt is very unattended, and unfrequented in most circumstances in this regard.

____________________________

Dunmarle Castle

Dunmarle Castle is the technically "Endzone" of Skal isle. It is located very conveniently close to Minotaur cave, hill giants, and ogre cave. Coming with it's own writ master, peddler in form of bounty turnins, jewelry box emptying, banking, and so goes on.

The actual problem with Dunmarle Castle, is that Almost no one go there. Not anymore after the introduction of the policy where players equal to or over level 16 will be discouraged to stay in Skal, and is instead told to leave the isle, else risk Mark of Destiny.

So What happened? Every shops, every quarters, is up for sale in Dunmarle Castle. Nobody is buying them, nobody is refreshing them. In fact, it's even more depressing when one of shop stall states: To stand empty forever.


Greatly applying the perspective of how much of an impact this policy actually had on Dunmarle Castle as a whole.

Now to make the matter worse, Dunmarle Castle is almost hard to reach solo, or by most cases, basically out of the way. Most players would rather pay the 50 gold to get free teleport back to Skaljard village, than to just go to the castle itself. Sure, the castle offers a free module altar, an easy selling of minotaur axes, and ettin clubs, and immediate bounty turn-ins. But the issue isn't just that. Most players usually disband after first run, and go back to Skaljard village because they've better things to do.

In regard to Dunmarle Castle, there are also present other issues to be noted of. When Dunmarle Castle first released,
The following things included in this screencap are untrue, to my belief;

In Skaljard Village, there is horticulture garden behind the Skaljard Jail. Way before Dunmarle Castle at least to memory.

Also there is only ONE man-at-arms in entirety of Dunmarle Castle. I could not find the second Man-At-Arms. I flipped the entire castle upside-down, and could not locate him at all. To this day, I seek the mysterious missing Man-At-Arms.

Don't even get me started on Rustfire Inn, which does not negates your starvation, thirst, and tiredness lowering, not granting you an additional 10 xp for being in it.

Anyways. The Man-At-Arm! Is he good?



Well, no. The zone between the Crossing, and Dunmarle Castle, the Eastern slope, is home to giants. Lot of the giants would easily bypass the 19 AC, and crush the poor Man-At-Arms in a rapid combat. On top of that, most players would not try to hike the Eastern slopes unless they're with a party, at least level 12+, or have few invisibilities spells. In fact, the Man-At-Arms will almost immediately expire as soon as he step into Eastern slope just because of how strong the Giants really are. Resorting the player- or rather- opting the player not to bother with the Man-At-Arms unless they're able to extract him safety from the Eastern Slope Danger-zone.

My final score of Dunmarle Castle after months of it's release? I would say... 4/10 at best. It is nice spot to go to if you've a consistent party willing to keep grinding Minotaurs. But aside from that, nobody really come here out of specific reasons.

____________________________

Disclosure

With introduction of Policy where level 16+ players are encouraged to leave Skal, or else risk the Mark of Destiny. My feelings on the policy is a bit absurd, if not out there. Skal have rampant issues of griefers occurring nearly every day, requiring constant DM intervention. While new players come in stream, attracted to prospect of Skal being 1. On first option readily available on any surface-capable characters, 2. That they'll be given action adventure right as they come in.

This also attracts unsavory characteristics who goes around on barbaric griefing spree. Often fighting NPCs, randomly killing player characters with no interactions beforehand, and just straight up destruction of fixtures. While it does allowed lowbies to compete with other lowbies instead of being intervened by an Epic Guardsman. It however ended up creating a constant repeating environment where griefers are rampant. Essentially creating Skal Isle to be the First Defense of all new players.

I firmly believe that Skaljard Village should be reworked \completely\. Almost all the way thorough to introduce learning course, and getting handling of how Arelith work. Almost every day, new players arrive in Skal, having no idea of how Arelith or it's mechanics work if they did not refer to the wiki on obsessives basis.

In addition, with the policy being introduced, Dunmarle Castle is truly an untouched piece of content that'll never thoroughly be utilized by the community as no new players would waste their time going to a Castle with no, or little to no player presence whatsoever.

Anyways, what do you guy think? What do you think should be done to improve Skal? What is needed?

[Morgy]

While I much prefer the reduction of lingering epics, who can stifle the independence of new characters in Skal.. I do feel the pressure to end my story there quickly, as I start getting into the 14-16 range and find myself almost always expecting a polite DM prod.

Dunmarle is a great area and looks fantastic, but much like other parts of the island it feels unfinished. I really think a daytime caravan system like on the mainland would be a good step. The crypts could also use a writ and a layer or two more of levels.

All in all I still love Skal. It’s so pick up and play, you can find a party almost immediately and see fresh faces. I’m generally not a fan of guard RP so it has that going for it too, even despite the occasional silliness of village behaviour.

I’ll pretty much always start there because I’m so fond of the place. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I probably have around 2k-2.5k hours played on Skal alone.

[PlatinumDice]

As a new addition to Skal and general Arelith mechanics I agree with what's said here.

I find myself constantly referring to the Wiki on how to use things or what does what.

I find Skaljard set up well. It's small, and most Writs are close and easy to find for new players. The descriptions are perfect.

I find it strange that the local smith doesn't sell Mining Picks, given the towns main resource used to be from the tin mine. Also, the town is surrounded by forests and you also can't buy a Logging Ax.
As a new player I don't want to have to track down a PC Smith to make me a pick or ax.

In addition to this the towns primary resource is currently fish.
There should be a fish vendor in town that sells and buys fish as well as salt.
The closest (and only salt ore I have found) is just north of town.
Fishing communities use salt from the ocean, by the way. So there should be some more salt close to the water.
Speaking of water and fish, I haven't found anyplace to fish. there should be a few of these locations on the coast (off the docks) and in the many, many, rivers and streams.

The werecat was such a shocking kick in the face. I second it be rebalanced or removed.
Thematically, why hasn't the werecat killed all the rats that are apparently the problem? I think the cat should be removed and replaced with something else, like something that doesn't eat rats. A rat king maybe? A swarm of rats?

Speaking of bosses the Xart Queen is pretty OP. With 66 HP and 27 AC and +11 To hit the queen consistently and viciously DESTROYS me. Even more that the zombie she summons is able to do the same. The two together, with the stinking cloud, and the extra minions, is pretty challenging for every party that's gone in there with me so far. I think removing the zombie summon would be enough to balance out that encounter a bit more.

[Skytower]

Returning player and a Skal starter here too. Take my opinions with a pinch of salt as for all the time I've spent on the isle, thinking about it sends me to a nostalgic reverie. I've seen many people say that Skal gives them a feeling of "Us vs Them" and the place being so small and dangerous really does force you to make a close knit of friends which helps propel your connections and RP when entering the rest of Arelith as there's a nice line of character interaction that trickles through the connections you've made.

I pretty much agree completely with the points addressed already.

Dunmarle Castle
I love its addition and what could potentially happen there but it is in desperate need of content. Writ work with an expanded dungeon and an easier passage. I agree that a caravan between Skaljard and the castle would benefit the population there, but for me there's little incentive to visit the place on any character anyway. Maybe if the population increases and the shops and quarters are properly used it might be worth the journey, but right now, the only reason I'd head there is for an event. An automated battle defending against the giants or harbage raiders perhaps would certainly liven the place up, and a unique merchant or benefit of keeping the place occupied and defended would keep characters incentivised keep visiting the place.

Skaljard Village
The layout is simple, perfectly suited for new players. The lawlessness helps drives both comradery and hostility between the different convictions of characters and allows for the exploration of their ideologies. The main thing missing was the Peddler NPC which got added a while back and the new mercenaries.
There's three fishing spots on the isle, but none at the village, so one on the coast, or a fisherman NPC would make sense to me.

Dungeons and Bosses
The Werecat certainly throws new players in at the deep-end, and there's a chance it introduces the lycanthropy mechanic to them adding a wonderful and sudden surprise RP point to the character, but an unfortunate villager turned Wererat feels like a much better fit to me.
The Cultists dungeon entrance locks many characters out from the content within, but it's just a little oversight and a quick fix.
The Xvart Queen has historically always been somewhat rough given the chance of her suiciding. Removing her zombie would help, as could lowering her AB.

Level Policy and Writs
This makes sense to me. While I certainly have my gripes about it, it serves a purpose and isn't something I'm up for debating about. That said... A more delicate method of nudging characters off the isle would be to lower the maximum level ranges for the latter writs. I'm not sure if it's still the case, but I think I recall being able to acquire and fulfil writs at 18 and 19 in the village. Shunting that limit down to 15-17 might help reduce the number of times a DM needs to nudge a player away from the place.

There's a lot of charm in both the village and the players that make up the ever changing community there, and that certainly helps offset many of the shortcomings of the place, but ideally (and I realise quite impossibly) there wouldn't be any shortcomings in the first place.

[Hobojoe]

I'm another one who's all for the reduction in Epic characters and the stifling of RP that their presence can cause. Quite honestly I like that fact that Skal has characters moving out with some regularity, it keeps the place fresh and lends to the fact it's a dying village in the middle of nowhere, any character with good sense and a pinch of talent should be thinking that they need to get out of dodge ASAP.

Castle Dunmarle
I'm in full agreement on Castle Dunmarle however, it's completely under utilized. It's almost impossible to get there at a lower level and it's obscurely placed to the point that plenty of players walk right passed the entrance. On top of that, despite the fact it looks amazing it still lacks for atmosphere, really having no presence on the island, despite it being a fully manned fortress...The same can be said for the Crypt beneath it, it just feels half done.

Possible fixes?
A way to fast travel there, perhaps remove the fast travel from the trappers and relocate it to here, would at least force traffic towards the castle.

Only allows Epic characters property rights within the Castle, giving them a place to set up shop on the isle, which would encourage foot traffic for those looking to buy higher level craft, while also alleviating the shop/housing crisis that low level characters go through in Skaljard.

Have the Castle offer some new unique writs that add extra flavor/lore to the location.

[Wethrinea]

Whenever I make a new character, I always tell myself I should pick the Cordor start for an easier level experience and gold accumulation, and to get quicker into the juicy faction RP. But every time I end up in Skaljard instead. Because it is a brilliant starting place that fits so thematically well with what I want from an FR based RPG: Adventure, camaraderie and character development. You start from almost nothing in a hostile place where -everything- more than a hundred paces from the central campfire is out to get you. Even as you level, that feeling persists. You simply don't take a stroll through the Tundra as you would in cosy Arelith Forest.

And the importance of that central fireplace can not be overstated. It is the arctic, depressed version of the Piazza, where people from all walks of life huddle together to find warmth, companionship and plan new adventures. I wish there were more of this in other, higher level locations too. With that feeling of you vs the world that you get in Skal, bonding with other characters comes much easier and feels more meaningful, even if they are of faiths, classes or alignments that you would not associate with in a Cordor start. And that I think is brilliant.

The policy of booting out level 16+ characters causes some trouble, sure, but the fact that it keeps Skal free of the stifling faction-RP and epic gank-squads on the mainland more than justifies it. My only regret is that it means I have to leave this wonderful place when my characters eventually reach that level. But in leaving, they also keep all those memories with them, to celebrate and drink to whenever they meet other Skal-veterans on the mainland.

To conclude the positives, I want to say that Skal is thematically and mechanically incredibly well crafted as a starting point that outshines anything else on Arelith. It is the perfect place to start and grow your character, and make IC bonds that will last to the characters end.

For what can be improved, here is my list:
- Dunmarle should either be easier to reach, or made this sort of pilgrimage destiny which is the last place you visit before hopping away to the mainland, with some tangible rewards for going there. Perhaps it should get a port where the ship to Guldorand goes from, instead of the village? Also, have the tavern be a normal tavern with rest/hunger/thirst not ticking down.
- The werecat, while frustrating the first time, sets the mood for the place: Don't underestimate Skal dungeons. Bring a friend if you can. Perhaps tone it down a little... but don't remove it entirely.
- Expand on the lore of the village, and the island. If there is IG information on it, it is very obscure and exceedingly difficult to learn, aside from what quest givers tell you.
- The artificier tower. I have played 6+ chars on Skal, and still have no idea what or why this thing is or is there. I have heard that you can bring something to it to gain access, but perhaps make it a bit less obscure so that more people can find out?

In all though, Skal is a wonderful place, and hands down my favourit place to be on Arelith.

[Ninjimmy]

For what can be improved, here is my list:
- Dunmarle should either be easier to reach, or made this sort of pilgrimage destiny which is the last place you visit before hopping away to the mainland, with some tangible rewards for going there. Perhaps it should get a port where the ship to Guldorand goes from, instead of the village? Also, have the tavern be a normal tavern with rest/hunger/thirst not ticking down.

Bolded for relevance, but given New Guld is intended for 14+ and Dunmarle is intended for approx. lvl 14 characters and already has a port with a boat where nothing happens this makes so much sense to me that I'm half convinced this is actually written down somewhere as a plan for the area.

[Xarge VI]

I think castle Dunmrale would benefit from a caravan/fast travel. Maybe something that was done with Jhared's trading post in the ages past where you had to get a caravan charter to use the caravans.

PCs would have to get a charter from Lord Dunmarle to make use of the Lord's supply lines. Once it is purchased from the lord you can fast travel freely between the castle, the trapper's cave and maybe the tundra house. It also makes sense that ships would harbor near a castle's protection.

[Ordo.Lupus]

The lycan in the granary is somewhat misplaced. I like that you can get intro'd to lycanthropy mechanics. However lowbie logics tells us that rat hunting is your go-to. So encountering this foul fella' down there is a bit harsh. Especially since the dire rats can be tough too and you're probably not going there with a party. Not sure I would remove the lycan but I'd give it a wee nerf.

The Xvart queen is tough but it is consistent whether it is Skal or near Brogendenstein. She's a tough fight but forces you to party up instead of trying to solo. Skal is a place for alot of new or low level players so I wouldn't chance her.

I enjoy doing the Gnirpahellir/Tribes. How it changes in layout throughout all three layers. You can find yourself moving through somewhat tight tunnels and close space. Then next thing can be these large open "halls". Or being surrounded by pallisade and archers firing at you while you make your way to safety. Or walking among all these menhir that really add alot of lore/history to the tribes. It's so nicely done and since there are multiple entrances then you can pick multiple routes. However one of the Ogrillon has a god awful soundset akin to someone scratching a board with their nails, when they get hit.

The Troglodytes is a great place. I love how it twists and turns. The phylactery though is something I would wish had a tad less HP. Not sure how much is has but I reckon it's about 300hp. Not easy to deal with while to deal with the immortal boss and his lackeys.

Minotaurs are great. Not just for the loot but especially how the small tunnels really makes it a maze to navigate. I've gotten lost in there by more than one account.

Trappers camp is decent. Nice that you can sell most loot here from Tribes and Minos. But if Dunmarle should play a larger role on Skal then I would move the 50gp transport from the camp and to Dunmarle. They are already pretty close by and if you can get to the trappers camp then you should be capable enough to reach the castle. It's pretty much straight west of there.

Dunmarle castle has potential but as many point out then its mostly unoccupied. Give it a patch of fertile land outside the walls (you've got the space). And move all lvl 10+ writs to there. Some of them are often much closer to Dunmarle than they are to Skaljard.

Maybe let us have a writ for transporting people between Skaljard and Dunmarle. Sort of like a courier writ. Or maybe add in a caravan master (I've seriously wondered how Dunmarle got their supplies to them)

[Skald Haldi]

That were-cat killed my whole party of four when we went out on our first expedition. We picked the easiest writ that had the lowest payout b/c two of us had never played before. If this was pen-and-paper, I would have given up on that DM and never played again.

Seriously, new players to the Arelith server often start on Skal. From what I recall, it is even encouraged by the dialogue in the starting zone. Is this the image we want to give new players on their very first "advertised as easiest" quest?

Please just remove it.

[Party in the forest at midnight]

The were-cat 2 or 3 shot my dire wolf. It was dead before I could react, there were a lot of the other rats in the room I was trying to deal with. Agreeing that it's a bit too much.

[Arienette]

I’m I’m not mistaken, the were cat requires magic weapons to hit.

That’s a bit rough on people fresh off the boat. Unless they happened to find a +1 in the donation barrel as soon as they got there, they are in trouble.

Also think it would be amazing if Dunmarle had a fast travel option of some sort. When I first got there and I saw the docks on the mini map I was SURE there would be a boat there that would at least take me back to Skal but there wasn’t.