Shadowguard changes
I brought this up on another discussion website and it was suggested that I post here. Why have changes been made to the Fountain and Belfry? You now have to use all 4 drains or you won't get credit for the Fountain. When soloing the Fountain, the spawn is so horribly low that this change has made it impossible to finish the room unless you're fortunate enough to have all 4 drains close to the spigots. In the Belfry, I have tried my cu sidhe and frost dragon. Neither of them can stay on the tower with the Greater Dragon. I know our pets have always been pushed off but now, our characters are being pushed off too even though the GD is focused on our pets. Are these changes permanent? Were they done in error? If they are permanent, I think that was a big mistake and Shadowguard will go the way of Doom. So sad to see. Any feedback would be appreciated.
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As for the belfry...pets have always been pushed off the platform, as far as players being pushed off now? While I hope that's not intended, because it is a pain in the rear lol, it's really not that bad, killing the drakes is fairly easy and that's how the room was intended to work in the first place, so technically being able to get your flying pets up there without having to kill drakes is a bug, I know it's just using game mechanics and sure it makes it a lot easier to NOT have to kill the drakes but now I feel with these changes it's working the way it's always supposed to...since Shadowguard is Kyronix's baby maybe he can chime in
I mentioned in on one of my bug posts an issue with the belfry just as an example, however rather than address the issue as a whole, just the example with the belfry has been addressed in an obscure way that was not my proposed solution. So I’m washing my hands of this one.
https://forum.uo.com/discussion/227/16-bugs-to-be-fixed-for-publish-100-please#latest
Years? (I honestly don't know)
Why these changes and why now?
And yes, this will just be another version of Doom. Why instead of killing encounters and slapping hasty, dumb, non-player-friendly fixes on these things don't you guys at Broadsword take some time and really think these encounters out?
I honestly question your actual game design chops. Sometimes you hit the nail on the head, and sometimes you just flail about wildly with these things.
Nobody has actiallly sad so. But I’m getting the overall feel that some people are maybe opposed to the changes. Can someone explain why?
Let us talk about the belfry. The challenge is and always has been to ring the bell, kill the drakes, get feather, attack dragon until pushed off, rinse and repeat. What does it matter that you the pet owner get pushed off also?? What does it change for you please?
How exactly were you killing the boss before? Are you seriously trying to tell me, that instead of playing the game as intended, you were getting on the platform and when your pet got pushed off, you logged out and back in or something to get your pet back up onto the platform by abusing auto pet log out?
Pappy always said, "Even the blind hog finds an acorn occasionally"
Being pushed off is not a big deal....BUT having your pet get stuck when it's pushed off and then having it glitch out IS a big deal....seems to be just with non-flying pets...so far as our testing as confirmed.
So, you’ll see this change to the belfry has probably come from what I mentioned in this thread:
https://forum.uo.com/discussion/227/16-bugs-to-be-fixed-for-publish-100-please#latest
And basically for years I’ve been campaigning on this issue about auto pet logout being abused and for years Kyronix has defaulted to “not a bug” response (which per chance happens to be the response that requires the least amount of work to do)
the only reason I mentioned the belfry in my bug post was because I was aware that Kyronix designed shadowguard (and it is a very good encounter, credit where credit is due). I mentioned specifically the belfry as Kyronix would have more of an understanding of how the game is supposed to work (since he designed it) and so rather than accept that auto pet log out is not quite “working as intended” he just changes this one specific example so as to not be affected by auto pet logout...
What about all of the others? Such as summoning pets to ilshenar? maybe when you log out in ilshenar with a pet he will change it so yoi get nudged all the way back to the moongate....
Then you dont do spawns. Pets wonder all over the place and go 2 screens away in whatever direction. If pets would follow commands then maybe. Come to LS Ill show you how horrible the pet AI is. Or grab any pet and dont mount it and run a couple of laps around Luna your pet will get stuck in seconds. Run through Shame with a pet in tow.
I do not post here to abolish the scriptures, but to fulfill them.
The reason pretty much everyone is opposed to these changes because they take an already incredibly grindy system and make it more so. Grind is not fun. Grind makes people not want to log in. There should be less of it, not more.
The Belfry is already a tremendously boring encounter. It doesn't need to be more so. (Tedium disguised as complexity doesn't make anything less boring)
On the fountain, the difference in spawn between one person trying to do it and two is way more than double. If the spawn for one was increased just a bit (25%?) it would make it more possible for someone who can't find a partner when needed. Less RNG and more even percentages on the drops would help too. Far too often you end up with a bag full of 'wrong' corners and desperately hoping for the one you need to fall before the timer runs out.
It's stupid comments like these that get these pancaked ideas put into the game.