Myth Dranor Storyline

[Arkzan]

I started playing recently, a month and a half ago, and I've been enjoying the game so far, i remember playing DDO when I was young, but for a short time, i've recently bought the expansions that are on sale in the market and Myth Dranor,specifically, despite the harsh criticism from players i see here in the foruns, is great, I believe that the criticism are limited to the loot issue (rare loot system). The story so far is great if you pay attention and read the dialog boxes, and this specific mission, "Time Long Past," was great, the monsters designs, the environment, the music, they are also very well made and the developers care and attention are noticeable.

 

[Dandonk]

The story is fine. The looks are good. So if you're doing it once or twice, hey, it's good.

The problem for some of us long time players is that sure, story is good, but after the first few dozen times, you don't actually care anymore. I mean, I'm not sure what I'm actually doing in Walk the Butcher's Path anymore, after doing several hundred times it's just a blank... I kill 80 mobs, but why? Search me, I'm here for the xp.

So after the story and looks wear out, we're looking for (r)xp and loot. And the rare loot mechanics in MD are predatory, while the xp suffers from running too long in the wilderness to get to the quests. Coupled with a crest fetish that makes the quests feel somewhat repetitive, some players like me start souring on it. And at that point, running around for ages in Looooooong times long past is less fun and more, hey, my VIP saga skip is actually useful. Unless you're unlucky enough to want some gear from there, at least.

So while story and stuff is definitely good stuff to have, if SSG wants the content to have longevity for long term players, such issues as loot mechanics and the rest above have to be considered as well.

But hey, glad you liked it, and welcome (back)

 

[justin credible]

I dont understand why times long past gets so much hate, and key to the mythal gets so little.

 

[Arkzan]

I dont understand why times long past gets so much hate, and key to the mythal gets so little.

Didn't know that this quest receives hates, for me was a great experience, the setting and the whole story behind it kept me fully immersed in the lore, I didn't even realize when the quest ended.

 

[HeavyLobster]

Times long past gets hate because it takes forever. There hits a point in the quest where it "feels" like it should be ending, but then you're just going upstairs and continuing to do the same mechanic over and over.

 

[Grim]

And then there are the long-term players like me who liked the music, art and storyline the first time through and still like it on the 100th time through - especially if you are on the TR Train and just need lots of content every life. I can milk out 2 levels running MD by doing quest optionals, wilderness deeds and pots. Plus decent leveling gear drops and a decent weapon for that level (or trade-in 2 for the one you want) it gets you down the TR tracks all in one hub. Also the archer hireling is awesome!
I think most of the hate comes from endgame players who want the most powerful and very rare loots and weapons that are very hard to get and then spend shards on rerolls and still get nada. If you don't do that then MD is "nice"- better than Vecna and Feywild (probably subjective) but certainly is not at the same level as IOD or SM (certainly objectively true).

 

[danzig138]

It's nice to see someone actually talk about the quests in the pack instead of the loot.

 

[GrizzlyOso]

There were plenty more criticisms, feel free to look.

- the wilderness seems awesome but is mostly a bleak empty copy paste / generated wasteland
- dots, dots, dots. Most mobs just dot you and don’t really present a challenge, except :
- levers. Levers, doors, and if not those :
- crests. Castle quest goes literally from find 3 crests to … find 2 crests.
- there’s an all powerful lich that couldn’t be less powerful
- even if you’re not complaining about teleporters, if you’re just running the quests in an arc, it’s all over the place. To run it in an order that is anywhere close to plot sense, it would be crazy
- there’s just random dragons or dracolitches
- as someone mentioned , some quests should end then there’s just … 3 more crests. Or icons. Or whatever.

The loot thing caught in the most but there were plenty of critiques when it came out that still hold up to this day. Loot is just the one thing you can’t overcome or ignore.

 

[Bobbryan2]

I dont understand why times long past gets so much hate, and key to the mythal gets so little.

You can split key to mythal in half.
Time is Linear.

 

[Bobbryan2]

From a story perspective, I think Droic Orgul was a swing and a miss. I was entranced by his entry (the first time... the 2nd time I was already wondering why we needed a 60 second time out).
We get very little back story about him. Unless it's buried in a throw away line, I actually don't even know what he's the Zulkir OF(!). He feels kinda necromancy, but that's mostly just due to being a lich... and Zulkir of Necromancy is taken in a very prominent way.

And then the final fight? He goes down faster than Raiyum before they made red names immune to trip.

 

[Shear-buckler]

The storyline is a mess. You kill characters before they are introduced, place objects before you have collected them and go to places before you know you have to go there.

Well, atleast thats how it plays out as a result of not having teleportation to the quests. There is no silver lining to that mess.

 

[Arkzan]

The storyline is a mess. You kill characters before they are introduced, place objects before you have collected them and go to places before you know you have to go there.

Well, atleast thats how it plays out as a result of not having teleportation to the quests. There is no silver lining to that mess.

Actually, i did the quests in the order the chain npc gave me and everything was in order, not sure what are u talking about.

 

[Solarpower]

And of course the "storyline" topic turned into "no teleporters" and "rare loot".

 

[Arkzan]

And of course the "storyline" topic turned into "no teleporters" and "rare loot".

yeah haha, "teleporters" to the quest entrance, omg, seriously, complaining about this is sad, I'm a player who likes a challenge, I don't mind a walk or two to get to the entrance of the quests, I personally have played Final Fantasy XI and there you do walk a lot haha

 

[Bobbryan2]

Actually, i did the quests in the order the chain npc gave me and everything was in order, not sure what are u talking about.

But no one actually does this, is his point... because they're out of sequential order, and people run through quests in a pattern to minimize time in explorer areas.
Since they didn't include teleporters or quests in sequential order, then no one actually experiences the storyline as it was written.

 

[Arkzan]

But no one actually does this, is his point... because they're out of sequential order, and people run through quests in a pattern to minimize time in explorer areas.
Since they didn't include teleporters or quests in sequential order, then no one actually experiences the storyline as it was written.

But it is the way you supposedly should do if u want to undertand the storyline not just grind the best xp/hr, the sequencial order of the lore from the xpac is the the order the chain npc gives you.

 

[Bobbryan2]

But it is the way you supposedly should do if u want to undertand the storyline not just grind the best xp/hr, the sequencial order of the lore from the xpac is the the order the chain npc gives you.

If they want the story ran in order, in a way to experience the quest the way they wrote it, then they should incentivize people to play that way.
Having them create extravagant connect the dots over the largest explorer area known to mankind is not the way

 

[Mornyngstar]

Just ran Times Long Past on Heroic with MightofOaks lv 33 (he is an alt banking Sagas) and one of the side chest dropped a nice Golden Age weapon for my friend. So many people don't realize there are 4? side chests in there and just skip them. For the time it takes to do the quest I will spend a couple extra minutes for the extra loot.

 

[Bobbryan2]

Just ran Times Long Past on Heroic with MightofOaks lv 33 (he is an alt banking Sagas) and one of the side chest dropped a nice Golden Age weapon for my friend. So many people don't realize there are 4? side chests in there and just skip them. For the time it takes to do the quest I will spend a couple extra minutes for the extra loot.

If they dropped augments, instead of just fallen age weapons, you might get more takers.

 

[Grim]

I will never understand why people need to be incentivized to play the video game that they are playing, said the old fart whose childhood came and gone before the first Super Nintendo was invented. Even a 10-minute hike through MD is better than playing with sticks and rocks...
BTW not one of those quests takes more than 5 minutes to get to. I always get one quest and then run it and recall back before I take the next quest and so on - this way im sure to get plenty of slayer and explorer xp. But to each their own...