Keep on the Borderlands is now Live

[NavFamG]

Today's patch added the new adventure pack. Sells in the in game store for 995 points. (There's also an expensive item bundle with a mount, cosmetic armor & weapon and a carry bag.)

I picked it up and logged on with my Cannith alt this afternoon. Quite a few others were there, packed actually which caused Lag inside the keep, but I didn't have any problem's outside in the WIlderness area.

The Wilderness area is big, which I guess is needed for the mounts they added. Anyone can earn a mount by finding tokens through out the area. Haven't seen any drop yet so not real sure where you'd find them.

So far most of the dungeons are all grouped fairly close together vice spread out like on Korthos, the lore makes sense for them to all be together so I guess that works.

Place is a lvl 1 and epic lvl 21 so for heroic you're looking at lvl 1-3 dungeons. Kind of wish it would have been set a shade higher out in the Wilderness area.

The dungeons I've done so far have been short one's.

Overall looks very nice. My only complain is they added Goblins and I think they look just like Star War's Ewoks! Little too rounded and fluffy for me.

[Longhaul]

I really like the new wilderness area, especially for my wilderness only toon. Level 15 so far and have not run a single quest.

I bought the cosmetic pack... everything looks nice. Also have not seen any tokens drop... could just be rare..

Is the Heroic broken for new area?.... Cant get in. I was able to get in with an epic char, but not heroic...

*nvm.... the heroic entrance is on Korthos...

[NavFamG]

Originally posted by Daynox:

Is the Heroic broken for new area?.... Cant get in. I was able to get in with an epic char, but not heroic...

*nvm.... the heroic entrance is on Korthos...

Yea I don't know if that's a bug or intended, but Epic goes via the Hall of Heroes and Heroic is on Korthos with the guy being right after you leave the Grotto.

[bloodyjack_69]

kinda fun though it does not bode well that the first quest in the chain is broken on opening day.

[Equilibrium]

Farmed the feather tokens to get a mount. There is a scarecrow rare just north of the Keep that you can instance farm for tokens. Mount acquired.

[NavFamG]

Originally posted by bloodyjack_69:

kinda fun though it does not bode well that the first quest in the chain is broken on opening day.

I asked over on the official forums too, but is the quest chain the same quests as you get from the individual quest givers or something different?

I did a couple of the dungeons yesterday, but am waiting like everyone else to do the Kobald one, just wondering what comes after it, something new? Or one of the others.

[Longhaul]

and I agree, the goblins kinda look like Ewoks.

[NavFamG]

A Couple Notes for those new to the Borderlands:

- If you're collecting the 3 crests for the Fiendish Alter Rare. Once you collect them go straight to the alter, don't go into a dungeon or the Keep as the crests will drop out of your inventory and you'll have to collect them again.

- Speaking of crests. There's an optional in the Temple of Evil Chaos (Total Chaos quest) that requires 3 items you collect from other quests. You get the one from the Kobald Cave via an optional way of play. If you intend to go for it I'd suggest looking at the wiki for the quest so you do the right steps to get it. If you don't care about the optional's than it's not a problem.

- I don't know if it's just me, but whenever I enter the keep and try to move around it's a gigantic lag fest, even when there's not a lot of players there.

[NavFamG]

Originally posted by NavFamG:

I asked over on the official forums too, but is the quest chain the same quests as you get from the individual quest givers or something different?

Answered my own question. The quest chain guy just gives you the same quests you can take from the individual quest givers. If you do it via him you do get a reward from him too after the other quest giver gives you his. Only problem is the chain guy seems to have the same 3 items over and over, so unless you really want a cheap item to sell, you can probably skip him after the first time.

[NavFamG]

LAG: I've been to the Keep on 3 different servers now. Now I'll admit I don't have the best computer setup, but I can run it on Ultra High and with the exception of the Marketplace, not see any lag.

I think they have SO much detail in the Keep that if you also add in other players, you get problems. Cannith - lot of players and pretty much 1 FPS for me. Kind of killed the mood for player there. Thelanis - a couple of other players and some lag from time to time, but nothing like Cannith. Rate it 'a bit of a pain' and Wayfinder - no other players, no lag, at all.

Once out in the Wilderness had no problems, although I think I had a bad connection today as Thelanis it act a bit herky jerky until I dropped down to High on my graphic's setting.

[Nain]

on wayfinder i have zero issues with lag. but.. well... *sob*

[Longhaul]

Funky... I don't experience any lag whatsoever in the keep

[Nain]

so far, i really enjoyed the quests.

quick and easy, usefull loot, the wilderness is nice, has a bit of lotro vibe to it.
what i dont like is the quick and abrupt ending. the story is simple to a fault, and the first time when i finished temple of chaos, i felt underwhelmed.

but as a quick romp on elite theyre nois :)

[NavFamG]

I know what you mean. Korthos has a good build up and a nice big wrap up quest to finish out the arc. Not so much here.

If anything after you find the Codex and tell the arc giver 'I've found what I was looking for' it really should kick you over to either returning it, thus directing you back to Korthos, or moving you over to a different area and set of quests.

I get the nostalgic feeling from those that played the PnP module, but for someone that never did, while I like the pack, I'd still recommend new players do Korthos vice this one as their intro to the game.

As to Elite. There's a BIG ramp up from Hard to Elite with both the Orc Cave quest and the Temple of Chaos quest, not so much for the others, but I think those 2 will catch most on level characters by surprise.

[Soap]

A little late to the party, but I'm really enjoying it all around. I like all the quests. I like that they are short, and the close quarters is done better imo than it was in older quests. The explorer area is well designed too. I've found a few minor things that aren't ideal, but the only one that bothers me at all is how my fps drops in the quest Treasure Hunt, which seems due to the unbreakable braziers, and no graphical setting seems to affect it. Not an unplayable amount, just a noticeable drop.

I saw the goblins in The Soul Splitter before Borderlands. They don't look like Ewoks to me even after reading this lol. Not sayin' they're perfect. But although they do look a bit too rounded or muscular to me too, I enjoy fighting them all the same.

The abrupt ending wasn't a thing for me either, but I think I understand. The boss is just like eating dinner or hiding or something while you're destroying everything. So, thinking about it, I probably would enjoy a different encounter there. At the moment, I'm not sure what would fit that hasn't been done in DDO already though. Perhaps some interactive dialogue before the fight at least and more difficulty getting into that room put forth by the enemies. Maybe a guard standing there who looks a bit out of place.

I have to say, I never knew I needed horses in DDO. I didn't expect them to be so well implemented. They don't get in the way of NPC's any more than a standing character. I'm glad they made it so they dismount in taverns. Having really bad luck getting a horseshoe, but the quests aren't getting stale to me the way so many others do when farming items.

[NavFamG]

Originally posted by Soap:

I saw the goblins in The Soul Splitter before Borderlands. They don't look like Ewoks to me even after reading this lol.

They don't anymore to me either. For some reason that first day the graphic's just weren't all rendering so no ears and all the features were softened. By the 3rd time in the graphic's all started to come through and totally killed the Ewok vibe.