U34 Preview 1 Feedback: Mossward Starter Instance!

[Cordovan]

Let us know about your experience and anything you run into in this thread!

[Faudyen]

Can the before the shadow button be moved from the naming screen or added to the main screen. I’ll be honest that I totally missed it first character creation, and once the character was created, there was no way to go back and check that box.

The tutorial worked fine as a player I did find it a little odd that you start with weapons and really the first quest is to get weapons from the blacksmith and then you were just replacing weapons that you already have. It would’ve made more sense to me if you didn’t start with any weapons and then you were giving them as a gift from the blacksmith I also found it odd that there is an invisible wall to the left of the counter of the blacksmith because there’s as a player you almost want to follow the blacksmith as he runs behind the counter to get the gift and then you’re met with an invisible wall it just it just felt odd.

Thank you

[Adagia]

I have a level 2 hobbit loremaster, using the "Keeper of Animals" spec, stuck on the quest "Prologue. Chapter 2: Skills of an Adventurer". The objective says to "Use Wizard's Fire, Eagle-friend, or Test of Will while fighting the Training Dummy". I have the training dummy targeted and have used Eagle-friend several times now, both in and out of combat, but can't advance the quest. (Yes, I have dismissed my pet before each try).

I also changed my spec to "Master of Nature's Fury" and used the Wizard's Fire skill, but no update for that either. Same for "The Ancient Master" spec and "Test of Will". I tried logging off and on again, also no advancement to the quest.

[Theozor]

I agree about it not being at all intuitive how to select the new starting instance when creating a new character. The font is small and its placement doesn't exactly stick out.

The starter instance itself was fine. The prologue quests after that annoyed me instantly because my character was stuck with yet another bratty child. Blecch! There'd better not be any dirty dishes to wash...

[Feuerhaar]

I like the new starter instance. It seems to have more explanations about important stuff in middle earth than the old ones (showing you a rezz circle for example).

I noticed however, that the instance intrduction you get when first loading into the instance is not really fitting. It says:
"Speak, then, of how you came to this place of safety: Rivendell, the Last Homely House East of the Sea. But speak swiftly, before the shadows deepen. From where did your road lead?"
We are however not in Rivendell.

Also, could the first quest objective for "Prologue, Chapter 2: Skills of an adventurer" for minstrels get changed to "use either minor ballad or minor ballad - dissonance", so that there is no need to switch out of dissonance into melody or resonance stance for this.

[Istienriel]

Is it really a good idea to have Geralt named as a quest character? Isn't this infringing on another IP?

[Lillipia]

I started a Hobbit Champ and it did take some time to find the new instance on the character creation screen, like others have stated here. Bigger fonts and clearer identification (new starter area or classic starter areas (something like that)

I also noticed that the skill identification and complete on the training dummy; you had to go a specific spec (blue for champs) to complete the quest. Maybe add a little more text there to explain the differences or that you can change it and save another trait spec line.

Also, the quest to get a riding trait (a little confusing for those who have already have an account wide riding trait) as Part 1 does not appear, pnly part 2 appears so we can get the steed.

It is also really easy to find yourself in an area above your level while exploring in this area .

I do like how it is easy and streamlined to just go through the Prologue in the area and I am enjoying the scenery which is beautiful.

[Joedangod]

Played for about half an hour in the new region but mostly just found the experience frustrating. Tested with an RK, not using any legacy account items like xp earrings or the like.

General notes:

• Geralt seems a poor choice of name for the first guy you talk to in a LotR game.
• Little odd that Meneldir doesn't help in the fight. He doesn't need to do damage but...y'know, swinging his sword in the direction of the goblin would go a long way for immersion.
• Dread effects are a bit much in the fight with the Uruk, I can understand introducing dread but halving the players morale feels a bit off-putting for a newbie.
• Milestone is set to racial origin point by default, should be changed to Mossward.
• Received festival quest/map at level 2, using this would take me to the party tree in the Shire with no obvious way back. Likely need to disable festival quests for lowbies.
• Quests open up in Mossward a bit too early, I'm at level 2 and receiving level 5 sidequests sending me out beyond the walls of the city whilst the main storyline still has me running around inside the walls. (Chapter 2 seems to be a decent gate to open these quests up)
• Tegwyn tutorial feels a bit heavy-handed with the trip to the rez circle, mostly because the rez circle is kinda far away and not exactly sign-posted well for a new player who has no idea what such a thing is.
• Training dummy section is good, only tested with RK but seems like a reasonable skill introduction (albeit it comes after actual combat).
• Quests are a bit scattered. Picking up all the quests in town gives you a bunch of stuff (including the main story) sending you out of the eastern gate, and a bunch of stuff sending you north. Doesn't feel particularly cohesive. One of the quests sending you north is on a timer so you're kinda incentivised to ignore the main story path early on. Also found myself finishing the wolves quest alongside the main quest only to come back and be asked to return to the wolves area to collect Kingsfoil there, not sure why this was chained like that.
• The blacksmith LP quest inside the house is somewhat easily missed, I'm not sure why the blacksmith is the one giving you a horse either, seems like this'd be a better fit for a stablehand in town?
• "A Warg amongst Wolves" seems a bit overtuned for the level, the warg in question was resisting half the abilities I threw at it. I'm not opposed to a higher difficulty mob being here but having a 50/50 chance of your buttons just not do anything to it is more frustrating than challenging. Probably fine on a melee class, likely just poorly scaled resistance rating.

Mostly just want to emphasise that the main issue I'm seeing here is quest structure. Too many quests open up at the same time and they each send you in a random direction with varying levels. It's an intro zone, it should be a little bit hand-holdy to begin with and open up a bit more later on. Whilst you're palling around with Tegwyn you should get the quests that stay within the walls of Mossward, when you pick up the quest to collect Kingsfoil you should get the quests for the wolves/warg/scouting the hilltop to the east. When you return from that you should get the quests nudging you to the north, and so on. Open it up slowly rather than all at once.

[DancesInTrees]

I agree about it not being at all intuitive how to select the new starting instance when creating a new character. The font is small and its placement doesn't exactly stick out...

Exactly!

After 2 attempts of creating new characters and failing to find it, I transferred an alt so I could check I did have access to the new area (I haven't bought it, but you usually do have access on BR regadless). I did, so I then begged for help in /wd - and got three replies in seconds (thanks guys <3 ). Then I found it. I definitely hadn't expected it to be part of character creation, but something you would chose on first logging a character in.

[WhitewolfUK]

Hello, it's been a long while since I've posted but after taking a brief look last night, here are some of my thoguhts for now.
I did this as a 'fresh / new player' as a Human Rune Keeper.

• The tutorial choice window is not very user friendly. It also does not close once you have selected your chosen option requiring a manual close. It could be shrunk down. How does this work if you do not have the expansion bought for the new starter instance?
• The starting Voice Over mentions Rivendell but I'm not particualry sure why? Why not highlight you are an adventurer who stumbled upon the town instead?
• The first tutorial mentions pressing 'W' which is great but if that is all you do you don't end up being near the first NPC to talk too. I know benefit of the doubt and all that but maybe including adding 'A' and 'D' here as well instead of later.
• The glow highlighting where you need to go is good but it can be hard to see at times. Needs to be a bit more highlighted.
• The town alarm bell is very loud, going even louder than voice over and music and I have Sound Effects turned down.
• The combat tutorial..doesn't really work for Rune Keeper. It mentions to right click an enemy to attack it but seeing as Rune Keeper is a ranged class, you just stand there and get the 'Too Far Way' message. Maybe mentioning to move to the enemy and then right click will be better? I also feel this is where the hotbar should be mentioned and how to use it. If not, change the flow so you are taught inside after you get your weapon equipped instead.
• I managed to defeat the Uruk boss but it was a very close match. The dread taking away half the HP and then not recovering did leave me a bit on edge though.
• After leaving the instance and going into the world, you are thrown about with all sorts of quests everywhere. This needs to be more structured and have it flow better with mechanics being slowly introduced.
• All these sidequests are Level 5 and you leave the intro just barely halfway through Level 1 with the next quest from Meneldir being Level 2! Bump leaving as Level 2 and it would be a good time to introduce trait points.
• Melendir does not have the 'Epic' quest icon above his head rendering the main story stuff moot and just as another generic quest instead of being the main focus.

Some other general thoughts.

• Area looks fantastic.
• Music sounds good too.
• I like that the tutorials are going into some depth on how to do things but they could be improved.
• The pacing is quick and fast so you are into the fightning quickly.
• It's a good foundation but I'm a little confused as this is a 'paid' starter area you can only access after having bought the expansion so who are these tutorials really for? Do they need to go into more detail for brand new players or leave information out for those that know what to do.

I know a lot of it seems to be negative but as I said, it's a good foundation and much better than the original start regions teaching you things.

[andys90]

I only had time for a very quick play through of the tutorial instance so far, but there were 2 major things that stood out to me.

The milestone skill received at the end is still set to the old default location (Celondim in my case) rather than Mossward.

Tegwyn's voice. It doesn't sound like a child. At all. I don't really know what to suggest here other than to say the current voice is really unsuitable.

[Thalian39]

Agreed on the voice of Tegwyn - it sounds very much like the npc before it...

There already have been suggestions to make the "Before..." intro more visible.

I would go one step FURTHER and say, make it the DEFAULT introduction. It is far better than the old one is it not? Easier and a far better experience for new players.

Thalian of Gladden

[wersxtwe]

I like the instance itself and the new starter area. It really does feel like a new experience to me, giving me all the nostalgia of when I first played through the man/hobbit and dwarf/elf starter areas. Excellent work on those.

I've heard complaints, however, that some haven't found it intuitive, the way that getting to the new instance works. Some have created a new character, expecting a way in game to start the new instance? As a seasoned player, it seemed fine to me, but it's not going to just be seasoned players playing the new instance to begin with. So something should probably change there, maybe it needs to be made more obvious somehow.

[Archambaud]

I too made a new hobbit Lore-master and couldn't progress past the quest Prologue, Chapter 2: Skills of an Adventurer. I tried all 3 trait trees with no success.

[Hastran]

Agreed on the voice of Tegwyn - it sounds very much like the npc before it...

There already have been suggestions to make the "Before..." intro more visible.

I would go one step FURTHER and say, make it the DEFAULT introduction. It is far better than the old one is it not? Easier and a far better experience for new players.

Thalian of Gladden

Before the Shadow is not a "free zone" as I understand it, so making it the "Default" intro doesn't seem like a good idea.

[Thalian39]

Before the Shadow is not a "free zone" as I understand it, so making it the "Default" intro doesn't seem like a good idea.

Oh right, I forgot. That's a shame.

[Valather89]

I do understand the purpose of the voiceover right at the start talking about Rivendell (basically the entire "Before the shadow" experience is supposed to be a a flashback where the characters are explaining their story to an Elf at Rivendell "in the present day"). Judging from several responses on this thread, however, I'm not sure it's working correctly as a narrative device and it might be better off being tweaked a little. It can be a little confusing, indeed.

I guess it could be written so that your character actually starts in some (instanced) room at Rivendell where you can find that same Elf, who asks you about your journey. When you interact with him to answer his question, you get sent to Mossward as a flashback. Just a suggestion.
---

As for the rest of the problems some users have pointed out, I mostly agree with the overabundance of quest rings right at the beginning. It's overwhelming for a new player, which this area is supposed to be intended for (while somehow not being free, which is still a little baffling, but whatever, I guess it'll be made free in one year or two). Make some of those quests require a higher level or the completion of a main prologue quest so that they're unlocked more slowly.

I also agree with Tegwyn's not sounding like a little kid's voice at all.

I understand the purpose of the Uruk-hai's Dread effect to teach the players about the mechanic, but perhaps the debuff you get in that fight should receive a small nerf.

[Fatty]

When you start in Mossward, unless you change it manually, the Milestone skill, when granted, still puts you in Archet.. Maybe something to add to the tutorial

[Haudroch]

Beorning characters are unable to advance the Prologue: Chapter 2 quest in any of the specs. None of the specified skills work on the target dummy.

[WhitewolfUK]

Here with some more thoughts after carrying on a little bit again tonight.

• The Milestone skill has the old Human Start set to 'Archet' instead of Mossward.
• Why is the Riding Unlock Quest with the Blacksmith Inside the building? Surely at the Stable Master would be much better?
• The zone range for Mossward seems to be rather huge when it comes to map after pressing 'M'. I was way out of the town using the North Gate before the zone map changed to Swanfleet.
• Is it possible to have some sort of notification down in the Alerts to let you know you have a trait point to use seeing as you get them from levelling up now.
• I was not expecting a Level 9 Warg from the quest 'A Warg Among the Wolves'. I was level 5 when I killed it and that was just barely.
• After accepting 'Prologue. Chapter 3. On the Old Road South. The entire map section of Mossward was covered in the overlay to suggest you can find things in the town. You can't, only outside of it.
• I cannot find a vocation trainer within the town even though the facilties are all there.
• I had a bug where Tegwyn would repeat his voice lines after completing the training dummy tutorial after you enter and leave one of the nearby buildings.
• I had a trait point tutorial on the left of the screen pop up at Level 7 even though I've been earning them since Level 2.
• I do not think having a big list of travel destinations is useful either when you talk to the Stable-Master for the quest for a tutorial quest. It should only contain the destination that the quest requires to start with. Or at the very least, only have those in Swanfleet.

[Efala]

I only had the chance for two hours of playtime, and I don't have anything critically important to share.

I suspect these issues to be fixed, but I'll mention them in case I'm wrong:

• As has been said repeatedly, the UI for choosing a starter area is very crude. It's not obvious to the player, and doesn't look polished.
• Some of the quest NPCs in Mossward, particulary for non-epic quests, are lacking commentary although they display the blue commentary ring.

And here's everything else I can think to say:

• Unpopular opinion that won't have any weight: I have mixed feelings about a new intro altogether, simply because it conflicts with the old soul of the game. For many years the content was built around two starter areas, and then introductions of the Beornings, High Elves & Stout-axes were forcibly inserted & inevitably very awkward. The same is happening again but at a larger scale; this is a whole region, not just an instance, and although I can't fairly judge because I didn't finish the intro, I have no idea how this could even roughly unite with the main questline, i.e. Vol 1. My larger concern is how confusing this would be to new players, but this content is exclusive to the expansion pack -- until the devs decide to release it for free. And it is indeed prepared for new players with the deeply tutorial-oriented mechanics. So when that time comes, I feel this will be the biggest divider yet between newbs and veteran players.
  It seems to me that Lotro is trying to overcome a hobble placed during its creation: there were only two starter areas, and a unique intro for each ancestry would have been more desirable.
• As has been mentioned, Geralt might be a copyrighted name, and even if not, it's still heavily associated with the Witcher series. See this page. However, there is a Welsh name spelled Gerallt; possibly this was the inspiration to the Witcher author and he just dropped the second L.
• I agree with others that Meneldir's lack of participation in the fight felt very mechanic-y, and just added to my new apprehension over Rangers that was planted by Update 32. Being a rabid Dunedain fangirl for over a decade, I should be ecstatic over the new content that's rolling out this year, but the storylines in February's update broke the old lore in multiple ways and has nearly ruined this game for me. The least I can say now is, I hope you haven't pulled another Lagordal stunt with Meneldir or any other new Ranger.

[ZepherZaner]

I think everything was fine except for the milestone skill given at the end of the new intro is always default set to Archet starter zone as it's port area when it should be the new area starter zone

[Faythefulle]

I very much enjoyed running thru the Swanfleet/Cardolan areas. The scenery is very lovely! I enjoyed finding a new RK animation when the runes are replaced into the rune bag after battle. The stories I could follow were engaging. I am looking forward to finding out what most of them have to do with our old quest tracks and their intersections. Other than mentions of the Black Riders, you have carefully guarded the Lore. Hmmm... Looking forward to those discoveries!

I was a might confused over the Rivendell reference at the very beginning. I was also puzzled at why I would be sent to level 5 quests when I was not even to level 3. The quest arc stories were good, but some paring down of the available quests by level would be very helpful. There was not a single mention in the dialogues concerning trait points or how to allot them. A newbie will have no idea those are even a thing.

I would much prefer to have the intro to crafting at the beginning rather than at a location far away. I couldn't find decent gear for many levels without crafting and finally gave up and just went to the E&G at level 10 because battles were very rough with the poor gear. Actually, the original starting areas give much better gear sooner than we got here. That could be an issue. I had a very difficult time finding out where to go next after the end of the piece of Epic intro we were allowed to play. I am hoping that it will provide vectors to the next level area quests as we play. I ended up using mithril to go to each stable to try & figure out what level that location offered for quests. Again, gear was often a problem.

I loved seeing the different entrances to the Shire, Bree, and the Lone Lands. These made sense and helped round some questions out...although often the levels did not match those gateways. I would have expected the levels to be closer together at the Shire & Bree particularly. It looks like the new starter area takes us all the way past Breeland on into the Lone Lands or North Downs. Well done as an alternative way to level!

[Efala]

I was happy to be back in beta, but my playthrough came to an untimely end with a game-breaking bug: in "Prologue: Chapter 6: Worrisome Tidings", the first objective NPCs did not load! I arrived back in Mossward and saw the message "A crowd of townspeople gathers in the town square" (btw kudos for the correct grammar), but there was no crowd, and no Cadogan. Cadogan's icon appears on the radar, though.

Some other small glitches I encountered:

• The smoke from an orc camp visible at 61.7S 27.5W is inanimate.
• The quest "Prologue: Chapter 4: A Hardy People" does not have an overlay message after completing either of the "find a helpful villager" objectives. To be clear, there is a message after finding the villager, but not after speaking to him & her.
• In the instance "Prologue: Chapter 5: Mark of the White Hand", the last overlay message "the uruk breathes his last" (not verbatim) does not print in the chatbox.

[Scenario]

I was happy to be back in beta, but my playthrough came to an untimely end with a game-breaking bug: in "Prologue: Chapter 6: Worrisome Tidings", the first objective NPCs did not load! I arrived back in Mossward and saw the message "A crowd of townspeople gathers in the town square" (btw kudos for the correct grammar), but there was no crowd, and no Cadogan. Cadogan's icon appears on the radar, though.

In order to prevent the Before The Shadow main storyline from being spoiled prior to the launch, those quests are disabled on Bullroarer.