PTS Update 18 - [SPOILERS] Feedback Thread for Summerset Main Quest

Lilyanne

I haven't finished the main quest yet but have to post a bit already or else I might forget about this "first feeling of awww". (;

I'm so madly in love. I mean, yeah, I knew it. I pre-ordered directly after the live stream, I feel like I'd be fangirling the whole time and can't wait for the official release and all the new fun. This place is so pretty.
I have to admit that ever since the release of Orsinium no extra content made me feel that way. I appreciate the Morrowind chapter and also the DLC you've added, but always thought that Orisinium can't be beaten. Only my personal opinion, of course.
I guess I was wrong. This place is absolutely amazing. I can't even quest "as fast as I'd like to" because I constantly have to look around and admire the landscapes, the buildings, just everything.

I personally prefer this tutorial over the Morrowind one. It seems to fit perfectly into the storyline and atmosphere, I also like the lengths of it.

JD2013

To those that have completed the MQ:

Would you say it is shorter or longer than the Morrowind MQ?

BigBadVolk

JD2013 wrote: »

To those that have completed the MQ:

Would you say it is shorter or longer than the Morrowind MQ?

Longer a bit

BigBadVolk

thetookybird wrote: »

In The Tower Sentinels quest there is a invisiblity/non-interactable bug.

Upon entering the Sapiarch College Labyrinth my character is invisible, as is the quest NPC that is required to speak with to further the quest. The dialogue option is there to speak to her, but it will not respond when toggled.
I cannot interact with my combat keys, or swap weapons.
Enemies are also invisible, but can attack me. I cannot initiate combat, or attack back.
Reloading ui, leaving the area and re-entering, and fully restarting the game have not worked.

I also tried to send a ticket, but the Submitting Ticket notification window is stuck on "Submitting..."

(To add: Exiting the area, my character does reappear. It is only in the Labyrinth that this issue happens)

Can confirm that

Mix

Wow - the main quest was great. I am a little sad I did it on a new character to test the experience rather than my main because you run into so many familiar faces and I wanted to see the dialogue for recognizing people.

However, it was very smooth with a new character anyways (I am wondering what changes when you do Morrowind and CWC after Summerset though story-wise to make it make sense)

A few specific notes:

During Queen's Decree you enter the temple building and meet Val - the "Abyssal" Pearl on the desk looks just like a regular pearl which made her referring to it as something special a bit odd. The guards are constantly yelling at me to leave, the area isn't trespassing and it seems strange (I didn't hang around one to see if he would attack me outright though if I loitered). In the Undercroft room with all the cages one of the "dead" people highlighted as a neutral NPC to me which was quite strange. Also, I couldn't see the name of the Nord corpse who killed the Skaafin - and I am guessing he is the one I met in Mournhold doing the cultural exchange on my Main - It would be nice to have him a named corpse.

Lost in Translation - encountered a bug - when Mephala and Vile are fighting over the Ritemaster he is at first in mid-air and there are red swirly magicks from the Princes as they play tug-of-war. Then he just randomly dropped to the platform and stood there like nothing was happening while both Princes continued their casting animations and the NPC chat indicated that he was still under duress...

Faulgor

JD2013 wrote: »

To those that have completed the MQ:

Would you say it is shorter or longer than the Morrowind MQ?

Much, much longer.

edwiges

So far I have done the Queen Decree quest. Nice quest, I got very curious to see how this plots enrolls but one thing got me confused for a moment, I'm not sure if it is intended or a bug:
When I was sent to the Coral Forest to confront Aldarch Tilcalar, the NPC name appeared as Earl of Claviculus Vile or something like that. While I understand his link with the daedric prince, for a moment I got confused if that NPC was indeed the Aldarch I was looking for or simply another NPC from the map. I got to the conclusion it was him because of the boss HP bar but I think it would be better just name him properly because in the subtitles he already speaks about his conection with Claviculus Vile as well.

Other thing I would like to report is that in the end of the quest, Ritemaster Iachesis gifted me an equipment level 50, instead of CP160, what I believe it was not intended, due to the scaling of the game.

RDMyers65b14_ESO

I am going to say that was a well done quest. The book though.... made me cry.

CyprusDuMont

Wasn't sure where to put this but typically when I come to the PTS I create a new character for the opportunity to start fresh and play around with the new things. I figured there would be an opening quest that would help newcomers out and everything and I even said I wanted to do it but it popped me right to the point after that by the wayshrine nearby where you meet Razum-Dar.

Oakmontowls_ESO

The main quest line was amazing. My only complaint is the lack of instances and the difficulty. it was pretty lame to get to the end of an area just to see that the boss encounter had been slain before I got there. Ideally every quest related instance would be a solo/group instance where the only people there are you and your group members.
The difficulty was garbage. I could see that there was some really cool mechanics in these fights, like hiding behind Darien's shield to block a "powerful" hit, unfortunately none of the bosses were remotely challenging. Everything died way to easily and dealt way to low of damage. I was actually excited going into the final battle when I saw the 20 million hp bar at the top and I thought it might be an actually challenging battle. Then the battle actually started and the hp bar dropped to 200k and everything literally died to one light attack. These super important battles that have so much build up have consistently been complete jokes in terms of difficulty. Obviously they can't just make the content universally harder without low level people complaining. I propose using the normal/veteran option in the group window to select the difficulty.

DemiurgeMCK

I've only completed one quest in the main story ("The Queen's Decree"), and I'll repeat a seemingly common sentiment here: It's incredibly un-intuitive to figure out where the main storyline starts.

I too took the boat/caravan from my alliance's capital, which dropped me off far away from Razum-dar, and instead to Rellenthil. Traveling to the nearest city, Alinor, didn't help (although it did give me a chance to get an inn room, which is nice). I even completed some side quests with the theater troupe, but that didn't end up pointing me in the right direction. Luckily I thought to visit the big city to the east (Shimmerene) rather than exploring elsewhere, or else I'd never have found that cat!

Gythral

"The Mind Trap"
This should be available to all characters as the start of the story, as that is exactly what it is

but as a tutorial it is lacking almost everything,
& given the concluding speech some weapons choice by the player would be nice

KwarcPL

Aliyavana wrote: »

Spoilers: In the tutorial for the summerset expansion we have (...)

One question... how to start tutorial quest?

moaxx

I posted yesterday on really not "getting the main quest" using a level 50 char and skipping the tutorial. For comparison, I started a new char and did the tutorial. The experience could not have been any different.. The main story line is too rich to lose. I found the tutorial too valuable in giving the "sense" of the new region to allow for a "skip" for the first char to enter the new zone.

Looking for Razum in a town with no indicator is a far cry from the progression offered by the tutorial.

Enodoc

DemiurgeMCK wrote: »

I've only completed one quest in the main story ("The Queen's Decree"), and I'll repeat a seemingly common sentiment here: It's incredibly un-intuitive to figure out where the main storyline starts.

I too took the boat/caravan from my alliance's capital, which dropped me off far away from Razum-dar, and instead to Rellenthil. Traveling to the nearest city, Alinor, didn't help (although it did give me a chance to get an inn room, which is nice). I even completed some side quests with the theater troupe, but that didn't end up pointing me in the right direction. Luckily I thought to visit the big city to the east (Shimmerene) rather than exploring elsewhere, or else I'd never have found that cat!

I've heard this repeated in-game and across the forums too; this definitely needs to be looked at. In Morrowind it worked because if you had the quest, the map marker correctly told you where to go, and if you didn't, there was an NPC relatively near to both the wayshrine and the docks that started the quest for you. In order to address this for Summerset, they need to fix the map marker so that it updates when you arrive in the zone, and add a quest-giver for the Main Quest somewhere very close to Alinor docks.

Sparky617

The Elegant Outfit worn for "The Queen's Decree" hides Vampirizm. Not sure if that's intend or not.

Mannix1958

So I started a new toon and am enjoying this start a lot.

Here is my question:

Has thought been given to allowing those of us with 15 toons already a chance to buy a 16th slot when it goes live?

All 15 of mine are maxed out and I'd prefer not to lose one...on the other hand I'd love starting a new one from scratch that's official and all.

Novacian

After receiving the quest from Calibar I go to Razum-dar & initiate dialogue.

Razum-dar is standing on the road next to a body.

At one point when speaking to him I say something to the effect: who were those strange creatures I saw you fighting with?

However, in the game I never saw Razum-dar fighting any creatures -- just standing on road with a quest arrow, after the fact. Is there a cut-scene or event to be added later?

NOTE: first time on PTS --> I just began and am using an established char right now from ESO.

Sparky617

The portals in Ceporah Tower need to have their interact functionality looked at. The "E" option pops up waaaay before you can actually activate the portal. makes for lots of walk forward, click, walk forward, click again.

gmap516

Footfalls wrote: »

My review, having solely played through the main quest and nothing else so as not to spoil anything later in May.

BIG SPOILER ALERT

The main quest was overall quite good, if I were to describe it single sentence , it would be "base game main quest, but better". The stakes were higher than usual compared to previous main quests as well.

Although I prefer villains to not be Daedra, the MQ worked as it did. I liked the portrayal of the Daedric Princes as backstabbers, very fitting and explains why we don't see alliances between them as much.

I like how Sotha Sil specifically asked Divayth Fyr in CWC to take the Skeleton Key as far away from Nocturnal as he could, which ties back into how the Princes couldn't just break into the Crystal Tower, and needed to do some legwork.

The companions were great, and a major highlight for me. I like how the traitor was actually a nice and reasonable guy with clear motivations and a reasonable viewpoint (not wanting the world to end), goes a long way into showing that not all Daedric cultists are crazed lunatics (which can be seen in their general portrayal e.g. Veya being the most recent). I felt the introduction of Sotha Sil was a little rushed, though I'm happy he had a part to play in the MQ (as opposed to the usual modus operandi of NPCs letting me do all the work). Raz had a few lines and scenes which were gold (though a little less than expected) but Mr. D really stole the spotlight with some very, very good writing.

I also appreciate the portrayal of the Proxy Queen. I was certain she was going to be somehow a pawn or disguised Daedra but no! She's just a competent, slightly xenophobic queen, but firmly on our side.

Also big thumbs up for having the side quests you've completed in Summerset play a part in the main quest finale. That's a very nice touch which I noticed in Morrowind, glad to see that being continued here.

Compared to the Morrowind MQ, which really was hindered by nostalgia (I felt the writers were constrained with what we knew about Morrowind which meant it couldn't be too surprising), the Summerset MQ plot was new and interesting to me, and overall I enjoyed it.

The quest markers were also different than Morrowind MQ (which I suspect was intentional to get players to explore, though if you don't have max horse speed this could be quite slow). At one point Morrowind had you go in a single quest to three different corners of the island to get stuff to put a Macguffin together. In Summerset, every event led logically to another, while taking you to different parts of the island (which I think is a better way to do things).

One minor complaint was that Iachesis and the College of Sapiarchs were kinda pushovers? I'd expected a little more magical might from them considering who they are, but once again it's up to me to save them from their problems. This isn't too bad actually, just a minor nitpick.

My only major problem with the MQ was a visual one. I strongly did not like the way Nocturnal was visually portrayed throughout - I never liked that crown store outfit, it looks like cheap plastic and gave a bad impression. Maybe it would have worked if it had the graphics that she had in Skyrim (which was great), but the ESO Nocturnal costume is not nearly as good as the one in Skyrim. Difficulty wise the final boss fight was slightly more challenging than previous boss fights (as in more than just a faceroll, which was nice), but honestly I wish a giant Nocturnal wasn't just floating there in human form and costume in the background - I don't think she even moves her lips when talking (though I may have been mistaken on that point).

^In comparison, Mephala and Vile had significantly better NPC models, especially Mephala's

For final boss fights, I'd rate this very low just from the visual factor. Orsinium's was great, interesting mechanics, you could feel the strength of the orcs. I loved DB's final boss, the time stop mechanic was visually done well and something completely new and cool but expected from a priest of Akatosh. CWC had a great backdrop for the final boss fight, very beautiful to fight in the centre of the Cogitum Centralis, the shadows being banished by the light effect was great too. But the Summerset MQ final boss environment was... visually not impressive compared to the previous three. The actual final boss NPC has a great design though, looked suitably scary.

I like a lot of this feedback and agree. Nocturnal looks awful. Also the Ceporah Tower looks TINY on the outside, like I could occupy the volume of one of it's spires entirely as just my character model.

Also you mentioned Veya but I didn't see her as clearly part of the MQ.

TPC9000

-

Alakaii

At the beginning of the main quest when we have to "Investigate the monastery" I'm under the impression that we are trespassing but it seems I don't have to sneak around. NPCs are also telling me "you not suppose to be in here" and at the start i saw Raz lure the guard away.

Just wondering if I am missing something here.. since I'm not gaining any bounty.

radiostar

I was happy to see my favorite soldier again:

And saw an Indrik (half elk, half reindeer?)

ThumbtackJake

Length was pretty decent for the MQ. Started a new character, and my /played was 8 hours and 7 minutes after finishing A New Alliance (or whatever the final quest is). That's with listening to all dialogue and maybe an hour worth of AFK time (bathroom, drink, etc.) and the occasional having a look around moment. So maybe 6.5 to 7 hours? It was pretty good overall honestly.

My only complaint is with the quest EXP rewards. Including the tutorial, with no exp boosts, it took me from level 1 to 12. Personally, I'd like to see that increased just a bit to about 15 or 16. That way in the final boss fight, you'd be able to weapon swap and perhaps the difficulty on that could be tweaked up a bit.

Faulgor

Okay. Wow.

First of all, well done. Almost everything I criticized about Morrowind's MQ last year was improved upon.

• It's freaking long.
• The quest stages utilize existing locales much better.
• Some great "cinematic" events.
• More and more interesting characters.

That said, you'll probably need some feedback other than praise to work with, so I'll mention a few hiccups.

• The scene where Raz kills the Canonreeve's son in Rellenthil is a bit abrupt and jerky. The sound effects also didn't seem to be in the right place somehow. This moment needs some more polish I feel.
• Sotha Sil's first appearance is too sudden to be left unadressed, especially when you're a new player and don't know who he is. The same quest stage already had 2 other sudden appearances (The Golden Knight and K'Tora), so this part feels a bit like you're thrown into a blender. I tried to talk to other NPCs where Sotha Sil suddenly came from or where he went, but nobody even mentioned him.
• This one concerns continuity, and I'm not sure how this works if you've already finished Morrowind's questline because I had to play with a template, but Barbas still had Sunna'rah. If this is intentional, well done, if not, this should probably be looked at.
• The Crystal Tower probably needs some effect polish. The spiral stair cases in the air outside were interesting, but I couldn't even tell if that was intentional or a bug. I could also see the Crystal Tower from a window while inside the Crystal Tower, except that it was glowing. Really strange, again not sure if intentional.
• I didn't really understand the conflict in the last quest. Why is the Psijic Order so adamant that the Sapiarchs can't secure the Tower? They had done so successfully in the past. I really wanted to side with them, but the quest wouldn't let me.
• Overall, I wish there were choices in this mainquest again, like in Wrothgar. Yes, there one or two instances of "red text", but they don't seem to influence the course of events. Why was this omitted again?
• This is especially obvious - although only tangentially related to the main quest - in the matter of Summerset's new open border policy. Maybe you thought it would get too close to real world implications, but I wish we could have sided with isolationist positions, at least in dialogue. Even Kinlady Avinisse (?) who wrote the pamphlet against open borders comes around, and in the end Raz gives us the moral of the tale that "change is good". I felt this was at times uncomfortably preachy.
• I'll agree with some others that Nocturnal looks a bit lacking compared to Mephala and Vile, although I didn't see a huge problem with it as she's fine lore-wise.

By the way, I absolutely loved that it's never spelled out directly who Tundilwen, Nocturnal's Earl, really is. I think even some people in this thread haven't figured it out, as it's completely possible to miss the clues.
And that book at the end, which is possible to miss, too. Good grief.

I can't even imagine where you're taking ESO now that the Daedric War arc is over, but if you can keep this quality up, I'm along for the ride.

BigBadVolk

Faulgor wrote: »

Okay. Wow.

First of all, well done. Almost everything I criticized about Morrowind's MQ last year was improved upon.

• It's freaking long.
• The quest stages utilize existing locales much better.
• Some great "cinematic" events.
• More and more interesting characters.

That said, you'll probably need some feedback other than praise to work with, so I'll mention a few hiccups.

• The scene where Raz kills the Canonreeve's son in Rellenthil is a bit abrupt and jerky. The sound effects also didn't seem to be in the right place somehow. This moment needs some more polish I feel.
• Sotha Sil's first appearance is too sudden to be left unadressed, especially when you're a new player and don't know who he is. The same quest stage already had 2 other sudden appearances (The Golden Knight and K'Tora), so this part feels a bit like you're thrown into a blender. I tried to talk to other NPCs where Sotha Sil suddenly came from or where he went, but nobody even mentioned him.
• This one concerns continuity, and I'm not sure how this works if you've already finished Morrowind's questline because I had to play with a template, but Barbas still had Sunna'rah. If this is intentional, well done, if not, this should probably be looked at.
• The Crystal Tower probably needs some effect polish. The spiral stair cases in the air outside were interesting, but I couldn't even tell if that was intentional or a bug. I could also see the Crystal Tower from a window while inside the Crystal Tower, except that it was glowing. Really strange, again not sure if intentional.
• I didn't really understand the conflict in the last quest. Why is the Psijic Order so adamant that the Sapiarchs can't secure the Tower? They had done so successfully in the past. I really wanted to side with them, but the quest wouldn't let me.
• Overall, I wish there were choices in this mainquest again, like in Wrothgar. Yes, there one or two instances of "red text", but they don't seem to influence the course of events. Why was this omitted again?
• This is especially obvious - although only tangentially related to the main quest - in the matter of Summerset's new open border policy. Maybe you thought it would get too close to real world implications, but I wish we could have sided with isolationist positions, at least in dialogue. Even Kinlady Avinisse (?) who wrote the pamphlet against open borders comes around, and in the end Raz gives us the moral of the tale that "change is good". I felt this was at times uncomfortably preachy.
• I'll agree with some others that Nocturnal looks a bit lacking compared to Mephala and Vile, although I didn't see a huge problem with it as she's fine lore-wise.

By the way, I absolutely loved that it's never spelled out directly who Tundilwen, Nocturnal's Earl, really is. I think even some people in this thread haven't figured it out, as it's completely possible to miss the clues.
And that book at the end, which is possible to miss, too. Good grief.

I can't even imagine where you're taking ESO now that the Daedric War arc is over, but if you can keep this quality up, I'm along for the ride.

agreed on Tundilwen, tbh I have a feeling she will reveal her true identity if you done the Morro questline, they just left it at this stage for those new players who do Summerset MQ first and then later they visit Morro, certainly intrested what dialogue will be added when I get there with my main

Ajaxcat

Novacian wrote: »

After receiving the quest from Calibar I go to Razum-dar & initiate dialogue.

Razum-dar is standing on the road next to a body.

At one point when speaking to him I say something to the effect: who were those strange creatures I saw you fighting with?

However, in the game I never saw Razum-dar fighting any creatures -- just standing on road with a quest arrow, after the fact. Is there a cut-scene or event to be added later?

NOTE: first time on PTS --> I just began and am using an established char right now from ESO.

I noticed that too with a brand new toon. You say something like "creatures you were fighting and that geyser" never saw eith the fight or geyser he was just there with dead creatures.

Ajaxcat

Alakaii wrote: »

At the beginning of the main quest when we have to "Investigate the monastery" I'm under the impression that we are trespassing but it seems I don't have to sneak around. NPCs are also telling me "you not suppose to be in here" and at the start i saw Raz lure the guard away.

Just wondering if I am missing something here.. since I'm not gaining any bounty.

I was also confused by this but with the amount of light in the building and a new toon that is argonian I could have never made it past the guards and other people (IMHO).

Ajaxcat

Did anyone else find it odd that during character creation you are naked even if you click novice gear?
I wasn't sure what was going on there. Obviously you start that way in the dream but I would think that character creation would be consistent with how it was before this chapter and allow you to view novice gear. The odd thing is I could view champion gear
I just found that a little odd. I'd probably have opened a /bug but I didn't know how at that time.

MadDogPete

Haven't spent long on the main quest yet. Initial thoughts: While exploring the Monastery with a new character, was regularly detected without consequences - broke the immersion for me a bit. Maybe have the NPC in the upper Monastery stationary so it is more believable a new character could sneak past ?