Cannith Crystal Makeover - THANK YOU

[Brakkart]

To whichever Dev was watching my stream recently where I went on a bit of rant about how Korthos isn't a very good starter area and how the Cannith Crystal quest in particular made no sense whatsoever, thank you for doing a stealthy makeover of the quest. I love the new look where the crystal is now plugged into devices that would produce the heat thats keeping the village from freezing.

I still think that the Keep on the Borderlands (with some additions) would make for a far better quality starter area for the game, but this small graphical change greatly improves this quest.

 

[RayRay Ramone]

How does this improve the quest? It doesn't change the mechanics or make the crystal less prone to getting one-shotted by some guy in a robe. I'd rather the devs spend their time fixing things than adding cosmetic patches that do nothing for gameplay.

 

[Honkuimushi]

Pretty much all of the quests got a really nice visual upgrade, except for Misery's Peak. The lighting especially. It doesn't change how it plays, but it's a big improvement in atmosphere, and in cases like this, visual storytelling. The increase in shadows does sometimes make it a little harder to see things, but overall, it's a nice improvement.

I last went through Korthos just before the 32 bit servers were taken down, when I did some favor farming on the old servers, then started a character on Cormyr to make sure I didn't lose any rewards there. Then I made a character today just to try the event. That's not that long ago, and I don't remember a Korthos visual overhaul being in any of the patch notes, so I was a bit surprised.

 

[Mornyngstar]

How does this improve the quest? It doesn't change the mechanics or make the crystal less prone to getting one-shotted by some guy in a robe. I'd rather the devs spend their time fixing things than adding cosmetic patches that do nothing for gameplay.

By that logic then all new quests should only feature wire frame work there by cutting down on the time spent on the art. . . . .

 

[vryxnr]

Gameplay and mechanics are not the only factors in what makes a quest good. While graphics are not everything, they do play a part. How many complaints were given to bland looking rooms or long uninteresting hallways? A lot. Presentation does matter some. Narrative is also an integral part in what makes DDO quests unique and good. Having that narrative be internally consistent with the game world is a good thing, and shows that the devs do care about the game itself. This is a good thing.

 

[Brakkart]

Well from my point of view of loving the lore and such it explains how a cannith crystal (which is basically a magic battery) somehow manages to heat a whole village to prevent it from freezing, despite it having previously been sat in a corner of a dark damp cellar, not plugged into anything. If it were actually generating the heat needed to do what it was meant to be doing, the cellar would be roasting hot and you'd take fire dmg just being in there, let alone standing anywhere near it. I value consistency in storytelling and everywhere else Cannith Crystals are shown to be batteries, not generators, not furnaces, batteries, which need to be plugged into a device to power it to do something.

It might not improve gameplay for you but it does for me and not all the Devs are tasked with gameplay, some do the art and they excel at that.

 

[Spook]

I still think that the Keep on the Borderlands (with some additions) would make for a far better quality starter area for the game, but this small graphical change greatly improves this quest.

Sorry but hard disagree. Keep on the Borderlands is orders of magnitude harder than Korthos and is a terrible starter area for brand new players. Goodish starter area for veterans though who dont even notice the difficulty spike.

edit watch the Josh Strife Hayes video on DDO to see why Korthos works as a starter area (introducing mechanics through emergent gameplay) things that we vets have long since forgotten are important and that KoTB assumes we already know.

 

[azrael4h]

By that logic then all new quests should only feature wire frame work there by cutting down on the time spent on the art. . . . .

It worked for the first five Wizardry games...

 

[Mnemor]

I prefer Korthos as a starter area. The story is much stronger than Borderlands', and the quests are a good introduction to the game; I like them more than those in Borderlands.

The worst thing about Korthos is its graphics, and I would definitely ask the developers to give them a graphical polish, as it's important for new players to have a good first impression.

The other awful thing about Korthos is the separation between the Snowy and Sunny areas. Remove Sunny and leave only Snowy, allowing people to leave and return to the area if they want. Snowy always seems so deserted, and the story doesn't make sense on the Sunny side.

I like the new crystal, yeah.

 

[Aelastiar]

Very nice looking addition.

 

[Solarpower]

Frankly, this change makes little sense. Korthos is a forgotten village on a small island in the middle of nowhere. How could they have preserved such technology ? It made perfect sense that they would have retained the crystal, an artifact of bygone times, but it was just a standalone thing, without the machines the islanders couldn't build themselves.

 

[Yhelm]

My friends and I were all shocked to see this yesterday. It's a small change, but it was all we could talk about for the rest of the night. It's amazing how a fresh coat of paint can help make things feel new again. Love this, and would love to see more of it.

 

[Mornyngstar]

It could also be that the change was made for training purposes if someone has started working there.

 

[Stein]

How does this improve the quest? It doesn't change the mechanics or make the crystal less prone to getting one-shotted by some guy in a robe. I'd rather the devs spend their time fixing things than adding cosmetic patches that do nothing for gameplay.

Not how game development works and bluntly, this is an example of why devs are reticent to listen to end-users. The people who do cosmetic stuff like this are not the same people doing design work even at a company as small as SSG. This is a parallel workflow thing, them doing this did not 'eat into' potential manhours of design overhauls/etc

 

[Sophie The Cat Burglar]

It would be kinda fun to expand Korthos.

The villagers realize their heating situation is precarious. The adventurers are sent to acquire more Cannith Crystals so that if the one is destroyed, the village will have spares. The crystals are located in a sealed off portion of the Cannith Manufactory. More crystals are located on a very large cargo ship that ran aground on a reef near the village. (Redemption could also be modified so that you take the Cannith Crystals and return them to Korthos village, rather than destroying them.)

The villagers need to hire mercenaries but do not have any money. A human servant of the Devourer changes sides and reveals the sahuagin have a secret treasure vault on Korthos. The adventurers are sent to raid it.

The sahuagin are getting into Korthos via a previously unknown underwater tunnel. The adventurers are sent to enter the tunnel, set demolition charges, and destory it. The tunnels is being expanded into a sahuagin military base from which to administer Korthos island from below!

Through magical scrying, Lars Heyton discoveres the sahuagin town facing off against Korthos village. A large ship is filled with explosives. The adventurers sail the ship to the site of the city, set the fuse, sink the ship, and row for their lives! Upon hitting bottom, the ship explodes, wiping out most of the sahuagin settlement. The advantures return to the badly damaged sahuagin city to kill the last of the sahuagin and perhaps find their hidden treasure.

I am sure all of you can think of more fun, low level, side advantures to liven up the place for veterans.

 

[Geezer]

I do like the new crystal. I cant believe that they actually took the time to do the makeover. Also, I rarely do heroic Borderlands when I tr. I always do Korthos.

 

[Jellytelly]

I like/prefer Korthos as a starting area. Also gives people a headstart on Coin Lord favor for more bags. As for Borderlands, I prefer to run that in Epics. And new players get to see a dragon very early on!

 

[Villefere]

I like to see small cosmetic updates like this. Please more of this.

 

[Fhrek]

I still think that the Keep on the Borderlands (with some additions) would make for a far better quality starter area for the game

I disagree it is a better starter area than Korthos (which is a free2play area), for a fresh player Korthos has a good learning curve by introducing the player for the world using mechanics we will use all around the game. But, agree that for veterans players doing reincarnations or creating alts, KotB (is a paid adventure pack, so isn't a fresh starter point without having the pack, sure we have codes avaliable for the time being, but for how long we don't know) is a better place to re-start the journey to 20/30.

The other awful thing about Korthos is the separation between the Snowy and Sunny areas. Remove Sunny and leave only Snowy, allowing people to leave and return to the area if they want. Snowy always seems so deserted, and the story doesn't make sense on the Sunny side.

Already talked about that in other thread, the division on Snowy and Sunny sides are environmental storytelling, the lore being told by visual cues and players actions. It is enviromental storytelling... the Korthos snowy side is the state of the world while the White Dragon is being controlled at Misery's Peak, is a form to tell the story. When the dragon is freed, it stops causing the snowstorm and moves back to its nest in the Aussircaex's Valley... making Korthos sunny again. Is just not visual, is a storytelling device. For those that CHOOSE to skip Korthos, Snowy side has no meaning and Sunny side looks "misplaced" or "doens't make sense"... of course not, you choose to open a book and start on page 20 without read the first chapter.

 

[Lotoc]

How does this improve the quest? It doesn't change the mechanics or make the crystal less prone to getting one-shotted by some guy in a robe. I'd rather the devs spend their time fixing things than adding cosmetic patches that do nothing for gameplay.

they also raised the crystals durability significantly, it now takes about 15 hits to break on elite from the previous 4 or 5