First of all, do you mind if I ask what you were playing, character wise?
I think a lot of this can boil down to three things.
1, learning curve.
2, single player module with no substantial changes
3, your skill
To expand slightly on those...
The module is set up to have a learning curve -- meaning fights get more complex and difficult as you go on. Most players in NWN are not used to the idea of game mechanics and thus the first fights must be simpler to ease them into it. Most players are not used to needing to move out of things quickly and react to what enemies are doing -- fights on PWs or in campaigns usually boil down to standing there auto attacking a mob until it dies and sometimes hitting a healing potion, for example.
I also avoided making major changes -- again, so it was something that someone could jump into without needing to learn a new ruleset. This means I have to balance for a Sorcerer's defenses as well as a Dwarven Defender's. I have to take into account a Scythe wielding WM's offense as well as a Dex Monk's. And I can't assume a reasonably balanced party because...it's single player. Which severely limits my options in many ways.
I'd also guess you're a very skilled player who is used to demanding environments and actual game mechanics. I remember showing some friends the third boss (giant spider) who weren't very used to NWN and mainly played FPSes. They kept dying to the first web attack since the idea of "Get out of the bad stuff on the ground" was not second nature to them like it is to us. In general, I doubt you'd find anything in Siege of the Heavens truly difficult (at least until the second half which I'm working on, though the last two bosses in the first half -- fourth and fifth -- are trickier than the first three) -- but if I made the first few bosses difficult to you, people not as experienced, knowledgable, and skilled as you would be hitting a massive brick wall. And I've actually had to help a lot of people get past the first few bosses -- the third boss in particular was a roadblock for a lot of people (which is why I nerfed it a bit -- was too difficult for its place in the module).
Aelis Eine wrote...
In short, you have to mess up really really badly to die. Part of it was the unlimited healing, which is by design to cater to the lowest common denominator. However, part of it is also that there was very little to convey the feeling of "this mob needs to go down NOW!", especially when fighting the trash.
I think this involves all three things I mentioned, but in particular #2. I can't require a mob die really, really fast when the PC could be a Scythe WM or Dex Monk. One has five times the offense of the other (not an exaggeration).
Aelis Eine wrote...
Another gripe I have is the use of unavoidable damage. Doggies' Flame Barrage, for example, needs to be facetanked with no way of interrupting, defending or even running from it - I even tried running across the woods and it ignored line of sight. The first hit of Selenoth's acid spit is also unavoidable. Sure, there's unlimited healing, but it just feels like a very brute force approach, so I can't say I'm a big fan of that.
It was absolutely brute force -- trying to teach basic mechanics to people who are used to simply autoattacking. Running away from stuff or line of sighting stuff or dealing with more complex stuff comes later (ironically the fourth and fifth bosses feature those respectively) and it'll ramp up even more in the second half. People have to have the chance to learn how to walk before they can run.
Aelis Eine wrote...
A third issue is that there's very little use of terrain, obstacles etc. For an organized army from hell, their troops seem pretty haphazardly scattered around in groups of three.
True, true. Tends to happen a lot in games. I figured it was relatively handwaved by the major attack waves in the center area and the idea that you just defeated their main organized force -- meaning what was left were some scattered forces in the region. But this is certainly something I'd be glad to hear ideas on how to improve.
Aelis Eine wrote...
There were also some minor issues - I think boss attacks really need some kind of non text-based telegraphing. A few times I missed the message, like the last phase of Selenoth where I had no idea it had entered a frenzy and I was wondering why I was taking damage out of nowhere. I think my IGMS flooded out the text box when that happened. I got through by mashing heals, but it would have been nice to get more feedback that the boss is mad - maybe make it glow red in frenzy and do a Howl VFX on every pulse?
I (foolishly) assumed people would do the text/combat log split so that couldn't happen. Any particular problems besides Selenoth? I will also say technically Selenoth DOES do a visual pulse every time she deals damage but it might not be obvious enough. Glow red would definitely be fine, I'll look into the Howl VFXes (currently using a Pulse VFX).
Aelis Eine wrote...
The Blink Strikers would also not blink and stay at their spot when I IGMSed them during the telegraph, although that's a very minor issue.
That's mainly to the game engine screaming in protest at Blink Strike, I think. Maybe I could fix some of the bugginess now but it works in most cases and when it fails it fails in favor of the player as far as I can tell. I'd have to take a look at the code but that alone took up like 25% of the time spent coding all of the boss/trash abilities.
Aelis Eine wrote...
In all though, this isn't a module for me but I can certainly see that it's well-made, and a good showcase of what can be done without haks, and an interesting way of bringing the mainstream MMO experience to NWN.
Much appreciated -- sent you an email as well which you might find interesting.
