Fusionstrike
10-31-2012, 03:34 PM
I ran into at least one confirmed bug in Dragon's nest and some other things that could use some improvement.
1. BUG - If any of the three dragon bosses resets, the level cannot be completed. To reproduce, kill the first (and second if you like) dragon. Cause the next dragon to reset by running out of the battle area, wiping party, etc. The dragon will reset and upon entering boss area the first dragon will be there again. Kill that dragon and notice that the second does not appear.
2. DEFICIENCY - Dragon boss "range to reset" too short. The dragons seem to have too short of a distance they can go before resetting (that is, running back to where they started, getting full health and going back to first dragon all over again). This is especially noticeable with the third dragon, which has a start point near the entrance to the boss area even though the battle usually takes place near the back of the room. It's pretty normal for the "center" of the battle to be near the back of the room since that's where the first dragon starts. Also, it's strategically good for the party to try to move the fight there away from the lava pools. However, the dragons can often start doing their "back away" circle dance and move out of range, resetting and leading to bug 1.
3. DEFICIENCY - Mob "range to reset" too short. This is a general issue with the normal mobs all throughout Blacksmoke, but it seems to happen a lot in dragon's nest. The mobs can only go a relatively short distance before resetting back to where they started with full health. Because of the way the level is laid out, it's easy for them to "skid" insanely long distances down the pathways out of range to reset to full health all over again. It's very annoying, and other campaigns don't have as short a range for their mobs. It would make a lot of sense to make their range longer (consistent with other campaigns), especially given the level design's propensity to have mobs move long distances.
4. DEFICIENCY - Too many mob kills required to spawn boss. Dragon's nest requires every last mob be killed to spawn the boss. As far as I know, this is the only map in all of PL that requires the place be completely clear of trash mobs to fight the boss. This is an an overly stringent requirement, especially given that mobs can reset and end up far away without the party always realizing it (see item 3), requiring lots of time-wasting backtracking. I don't see the reasoning behind forcing every mob to be dead rather than allow some slack (e.g. can miss 3 or 4) like every other map in PL.
1. BUG - If any of the three dragon bosses resets, the level cannot be completed. To reproduce, kill the first (and second if you like) dragon. Cause the next dragon to reset by running out of the battle area, wiping party, etc. The dragon will reset and upon entering boss area the first dragon will be there again. Kill that dragon and notice that the second does not appear.
2. DEFICIENCY - Dragon boss "range to reset" too short. The dragons seem to have too short of a distance they can go before resetting (that is, running back to where they started, getting full health and going back to first dragon all over again). This is especially noticeable with the third dragon, which has a start point near the entrance to the boss area even though the battle usually takes place near the back of the room. It's pretty normal for the "center" of the battle to be near the back of the room since that's where the first dragon starts. Also, it's strategically good for the party to try to move the fight there away from the lava pools. However, the dragons can often start doing their "back away" circle dance and move out of range, resetting and leading to bug 1.
3. DEFICIENCY - Mob "range to reset" too short. This is a general issue with the normal mobs all throughout Blacksmoke, but it seems to happen a lot in dragon's nest. The mobs can only go a relatively short distance before resetting back to where they started with full health. Because of the way the level is laid out, it's easy for them to "skid" insanely long distances down the pathways out of range to reset to full health all over again. It's very annoying, and other campaigns don't have as short a range for their mobs. It would make a lot of sense to make their range longer (consistent with other campaigns), especially given the level design's propensity to have mobs move long distances.
4. DEFICIENCY - Too many mob kills required to spawn boss. Dragon's nest requires every last mob be killed to spawn the boss. As far as I know, this is the only map in all of PL that requires the place be completely clear of trash mobs to fight the boss. This is an an overly stringent requirement, especially given that mobs can reset and end up far away without the party always realizing it (see item 3), requiring lots of time-wasting backtracking. I don't see the reasoning behind forcing every mob to be dead rather than allow some slack (e.g. can miss 3 or 4) like every other map in PL.