[DragonHold Prologue] SPOILER ALERT - Your impressions?

Dusk_Coven

Sorry ZOS but are your Prologues getting worse with every DLC?
- longest grappling hook tutorial ever
- first temple -- I could have just stood on Sai's shoulders and gotten up to that raised platform then pulled him up. Or he could probably have just climbed it.
- Dragonguard temples are under WHERE?
- Dragon leaves a weapon out in the open. A weapon that can 2-shot him. Really? I mean, the dragon could at least have started stirring up the kwama and kept them riled up until we laid hands on the horn. Or showed up to try to grab it before we did. Or something.

- Collectibles (quest items) on Dragonguard corpses in the dragon lair -- did they miss implementing something?
- At the Alik'r temple, when you decline fast travel out, Sai Sahan will say something about paying respects. Did they miss implementing something? I went back to the braziers/statues and used /pray on the off chance something is supposed to happen, but nothing did. Anyone get anything different?
- Thank the Divines the dragon lair was a solo instance. We need more of those. Like on every delve maybe.

mague

Awesome locations.
Funny story in two letters (if i didnt miss one) about the Kwama mine and the Khajiit-Do
Nice to see Valley of Blades not burning with a rather blue sky. It did rain for me but still bright and blueish.
Riddles are back. Simple but still riddle.
Dragon fight was not hard, but not all are 810 in 5-5-2 and he did really a Fus-Ro-Dah

The more interesting part is that the horn was given freely... Dragons are strange. Fighting and talking is the same and one gave a horn for free... i hope for an answer to that.

albesca

Dusk_Coven wrote: »

- Dragon leaves a weapon out in the open. A weapon that can 2-shot him. Really? I mean, the dragon could at least have started stirring up the kwama and kept them riled up until we laid hands on the horn. Or showed up to try to grab it before we did. Or something.

I thought it was gonna be a trap of some sort (like the horn was a fake one and we'd be ambushed by a horde of kwamas) but yeah, maybe the dragon was too full of himself to think that it could get killed.

- Collectibles (quest items) on Dragonguard corpses in the dragon lair -- did they miss implementing something?

This and also all of the books found in the wrong bookshelves in the archives, they're marked as quest items but I couldn't find them in my inventory in the relative tab

- Thank the Divines the dragon lair was a solo instance. We need more of those. Like on every delve maybe.

mague wrote: »

Dragon fight was not hard, but not all are 810 in 5-5-2 and he did really a Fus-Ro-Dah

I did the prologue with a 26 level petless magsorc (I have three CP characters, but right now I'm focusing on levelling her) and boy did I struggle to beat it; after a couple of attempt that saw my elf obliterated by the dragon shout I used food to rise my magicka and still it took me half an hour of trial and error to find and apply the right strategy: in the end I had to swap a couple of skills, use potions and both dodge and run to get out of the red in time to avoid being one shotted. I have to admit that this has been one of the most intense fight I experienced in game and my heart was pumping fast when I finally killed it

Dusk_Coven

albesca wrote: »

Dusk_Coven wrote: »

- Collectibles (quest items) on Dragonguard corpses in the dragon lair -- did they miss implementing something?

This and also all of the books found in the wrong bookshelves in the archives, they're marked as quest items but I couldn't find them in my inventory in the relative tab

What I noticed with the books was, if you collected all 4 not-the-quest books from the shelves, one of two things could happen:
- in the Alik'r temple, the four books were removed and replaced by a different quest item, which also subsequently disappeared without apparently doing anything
- in the obstacle course temple, the books simply disappeared from quest inventory

Either way, I think something got left out. I was expecting some kind of mention later, like when you did the Murkmire first quest and managed to grab all the treasure from the locked chests and still escape the gas.

redgreensunset

mague wrote: »

Awesome locations.
Funny story in two letters (if i didnt miss one) about the Kwama mine and the Khajiit-Do
Nice to see Valley of Blades not burning with a rather blue sky. It did rain for me but still bright and blueish.
Riddles are back. Simple but still riddle.
Dragon fight was not hard, but not all are 810 in 5-5-2 and he did really a Fus-Ro-Dah

The more interesting part is that the horn was given freely... Dragons are strange. Fighting and talking is the same and one gave a horn for free... i hope for an answer to that.

I think we will be getting an answer to that.

My sole complain was the dragon's voice. After the deep voiced dragons pf Anequina, this one sounded a bit like a castrato singer in his shouts.
But on the whole a nice prologue, if a bit heavy handed with the gapple bow thing. It has certainly made me look forward tp Dragonhold proper, which is its main purpose..

JamieAubrey

I enjoyed the quest but I did get stuck on the Crowsbow tut but what bugged me is How is Sai alive in my world if I sacrificed him ?

Has ZOS explained this Lore ?

Dusk_Coven

albesca wrote: »

I did the prologue with a 26 level petless magsorc (I have three CP characters, but right now I'm focusing on levelling her) and boy did I struggle to beat it; after a couple of attempt that saw my elf obliterated by the dragon shout I used food to rise my magicka and still it took me half an hour of trial and error to find and apply the right strategy: in the end I had to swap a couple of skills, use potions and both dodge and run to get out of the red in time to avoid being one shotted. I have to admit that this has been one of the most intense fight I experienced in game and my heart was pumping fast when I finally killed it

Hmm It wasn't so intense for me at all. I've been thinking back on what I was doing that was so different.
I figured ZOS would let a toon literally fresh off the boat from Khenarthi's Roost be able to complete it (because Hinzuur is right there at the end of the ramp from the boat to Khenarthi's Roost), so I took my crafter nightblade level 20? Had only 2 skills in combat -- Soul Trap and Strife.
I kept circling tightly and heavy attacking with my staves while Sai stood still.
The dragon spun in place to try to match me. I don't remember taking any big hits. Of his powers there was a fire that crept on the ground and one time only a conal that tracked me. FusRoDah didn't track me so it was no problem to get out easily.
Most of the time with the dragon my health didn't drop below 90%? So there may be a problem with the dragon not being able to handle someone on the flank that keeps moving. Might not be able to get a normal attack on them properly. Or Sai really was tanking sitting right under the dragon even though I was drawing all the dragon's powers.

Aliyavana

JamieAubrey wrote: »

I enjoyed the quest but I did get stuck on the Crowsbow tut but what bugged me is How is Sai alive in my world if I sacrificed him ?

Has ZOS explained this Lore ?

divine intervention is a likely scenario. it sounds like lyris will also return if you sacrificed her for the skyrim chapter next or the following year

albesca

Dusk_Coven wrote: »

Hmm It wasn't so intense for me at all. I've been thinking back on what I was doing that was so different.
I figured ZOS would let a toon literally fresh off the boat from Khenarthi's Roost be able to complete it (because Hinzuur is right there at the end of the ramp from the boat to Khenarthi's Roost), so I took my crafter nightblade level 20? Had only 2 skills in combat -- Soul Trap and Strife.
I kept circling tightly and heavy attacking with my staves while Sai stood still.
The dragon spun in place to try to match me. I don't remember taking any big hits. Of his powers there was a fire that crept on the ground and one time only a conal that tracked me. FusRoDah didn't track me so it was no problem to get out easily.
Most of the time with the dragon my health didn't drop below 90%? So there may be a problem with the dragon not being able to handle someone on the flank that keeps moving. Might not be able to get a normal attack on them properly. Or Sai really was tanking sitting right under the dragon even though I was drawing all the dragon's powers.

In my attempts Sai tanked (though it would be more accurate to say that he just stood in place getting hit by the dragon) about half the time during the first dragon phase and never during the second; when he tanked I could just attack it from the sides, otherwise I did circle it around as you did but the area of the fight gave little room, so outrunning the Fus Ro Dah wasn't easy at all; maybe it's my sorceress that's too slow.

I don't know how I would have fared with my first toon, I don't think that anything in Khenarthi's Roost would have prepared me to this fight's mechanics

TheRealPotoroo

How did you lot get past Hoonding's Watch? I'm trapped in 'Explore Wind Scour Temple'. I've done everything at Hoonding's Watch, Farvad won't talk to me anymore, the portals just loop and if I use Peri or Pom'el to go back to The Valley of the Blades it won't recognise that I've finished that bit.

Dusk_Coven

TheRealPotoroo wrote: »

How did you lot get past Hoonding's Watch? I'm trapped in 'Explore Wind Scour Temple'. I've done everything at Hoonding's Watch, Farvad won't talk to me anymore, the portals just loop and if I use Peri or Pom'el to go back to The Valley of the Blades it won't recognise that I've finished that bit.

Who's Farvad? IIRC once you start the temples you only talk to Sai to move along from one temple to the next. He fast-travels you out of a temple once you find the required quest book.

albesca

TheRealPotoroo wrote: »

How did you lot get past Hoonding's Watch? I'm trapped in 'Explore Wind Scour Temple'. I've done everything at Hoonding's Watch, Farvad won't talk to me anymore, the portals just loop and if I use Peri or Pom'el to go back to The Valley of the Blades it won't recognise that I've finished that bit.

That's the first temple you visit, isn't it? I think that you have to talk to Sai Sahan after browsing all the bookshelves in the archive to teleport to... Eastmarch? I breezed through the quests and I'm at work (ahem) and can't check right now, but I don't recall any specific activity to do once you reach the dragonguard archive.
This evening I'll try the prologue again on another character to check

albesca

Dusk_Coven wrote: »

TheRealPotoroo wrote: »

How did you lot get past Hoonding's Watch? I'm trapped in 'Explore Wind Scour Temple'. I've done everything at Hoonding's Watch, Farvad won't talk to me anymore, the portals just loop and if I use Peri or Pom'el to go back to The Valley of the Blades it won't recognise that I've finished that bit.

Who's Farvad? IIRC once you start the temples you only talk to Sai to move along from one temple to the next. He fast-travels you out of a temple once you find the required quest book.

Oh wait, @TheRealPotoroo did you talk to the guy just outside of the temple? He has nothing to do with the quest, I think he's there to start the point of interest quest for the zone (or whatever they're called)

TheRealPotoroo

albesca wrote: »

Dusk_Coven wrote: »

TheRealPotoroo wrote: »

How did you lot get past Hoonding's Watch? I'm trapped in 'Explore Wind Scour Temple'. I've done everything at Hoonding's Watch, Farvad won't talk to me anymore, the portals just loop and if I use Peri or Pom'el to go back to The Valley of the Blades it won't recognise that I've finished that bit.

Who's Farvad? IIRC once you start the temples you only talk to Sai to move along from one temple to the next. He fast-travels you out of a temple once you find the required quest book.

Oh wait, @TheRealPotoroo did you talk to the guy just outside of the temple? He has nothing to do with the quest, I think he's there to start the point of interest quest for the zone (or whatever they're called)

That's Throne Keeper Farvad, priest of Tu-whacca.

Sooo, I'm just supposed to find a book?

albesca

TheRealPotoroo wrote: »

Sooo, I'm just supposed to find a book?

Pretty much that's it, yes, and then you talk to Sai to teleport to the next stage

Korah_Eaglecry

This quest was the epitome of video game logic.

-The grapple bow is completely useless beyond the ridiculous hook points.
- Hook points of course just happen to be in the right places even when dialogue implies there were other methods of moving around in the temples.
- Of course all of the pertinent information about the horn is spread out across all of Tamriel.
- All of the temples are supposedly secret locations but are easily located by the Vestige.
- The final location of the information of course has a convenient map to the location of the thief's lair just lying around.
- The thief just happens to be one of the big bads of the larger story arch.
- The location of the lair is in Elsweyr for no explainable reason.
- The horn is left out in the open for it to be used against the thief rather than stowed away out of reach.
- The dragon is easily defeated with the horn and completely negates the need for anyone to ever get up close and personal with the dragons. But for some reason instead of just blowing on it til the dragon dies. We only blow on it enough to soften up the dragon.
- The horn is so powerful yet practically unknown to even dragonguard members of old. If this mcguffin is this powerful why was it not brought along on every hunt and a well known weapon to the organization that owned it? Every dragonguard should be trained on its use if its that damn powerful and effective.

Personally I think the quest was lazily written and hopefully the actual content of Southern Elsweyr will be better.