Valley of Eodon

[Thoronnar]

Everyone seems to be generally happy about the "Time of legends" expansion, and it seems to have brought some new cool features that enhance the game in a good way and doesn't change it too much, which is always good. However, I do want to point out, I haven't heard much criticism. I was particularly very surprised, and maybe a bit disappointed about the new lands "Valley of Eodon". To make up my point let's review the history of lands in UO.

- Felucca and Trammel: World class, very detailed, work of art, amazing world, arguably one of the most complex worlds ever created for a game, and it still sits high on a throne even after 18 years of being created. There are many dungeons, cities, woods, forts, mines, islands, and even seas to explore. Of course, these are the main lands of the game.
- Ilshenar: Ilshenar was added for PVM, and it is also beautiful and complex. Dungeons, forts, powerful monsters. It servers its PVM purpose in the best way possible. UO impress its gamers with a very original expansion.
- Malas: Beautiful, UO does it again. This time not only we get new dungeons and monsters, but also two beautiful cities such as Umbra and Luna, and space for new houses. Not as big and impressive as Felucca and Trammel, but still original and very well done.
- Tokuno: This was not only an amazing expansion game-wise, but the land itself is superb. It resembles the complexity of Trammel and Felucca on a smaller scale, yet it is still big, and it also has large seas to explore.
- Tel Mur: Again, very pretty an original. I haven't fully explored these lands, but the gargoyle city is very pretty and original, and the map is very diverse and well done. Seems to be on the small side, but it is still original and robust.
- Valley of Uodon: Ok... so this is my personal opinion. It is very small and "choppy". To me it feels like it lacks diversity, and all these different tribes you can't interact with and attack you no matter what, makes it feel a little bit monotonous. I am not criticizing the expansion as a whole, but only the new lands they feel very different than the lands from previous expansions.

So what do you guys think?. I know I am criticizing that the lands are "very small" and this could be a good thing and might have done in purpose, since we don't really need bigger lands, and we prefer quality rather than quantity. However, I feel like Tel Mur was of a very high quality, while Valley of Uodon doesn't really give me the same feel. From my experience with previous expansions, I was expecting a bit more.

 

[Arroth Thaiel]

Keep in mind that for Time of Legends the Valley of Eodon was designed and created by one person. That means he figured out what to make it look like, and then individually placed every single one of those tiles by hand. Then placed all of the vegetation. Then the structures. Then the spawn points.

Then he did it all again to make it work in the Enhanced client.

And then he had to make them work together.

Ouch.

I agree with your general write up about the other lands, but the Valley of Eodon scales appropriately in complexity for only one person doing all of it. Just think about how long people spend building their custom 18x18's. Now imagine doing an entire expansion. With the same tools.

 

[Vor]

Don't agree about Malas. It's a dump. But the other lands are all very nice.

 

[Thoronnar]

Keep in mind that for Time of Legends the Valley of Eodon was designed and created by one person. That means he figured out what to make it look like, and then individually placed every single one of those tiles by hand. Then placed all of the vegetation. Then the structures. Then the spawn points.

Then he did it all again to make it work in the Enhanced client.

And then he had to make them work together.

Ouch.

I agree with your general write up about the other lands, but the Valley of Eodon scales appropriately in complexity for only one person doing all of it. Just think about how long people spend building their custom 18x18's. Now imagine doing an entire expansion. With the same tools.

This is a very good point. I didn't know about this, I am glad you bring this up. I am sure the amount of work being doing by Broadsword is huge. They are not a very big team, and the game is not doing as well as it used to. But maybe they shouldn't have rushed this expansion, or they must realize they have to do some more work on it before bringing new players. We want the best for UO, we want to keep playing the game, and we want the dev. team to make good money. it is a win-win. Voicing out our criticism is constructive, it will help them and us.

 

[MalagAste]

Don't agree about Malas. It's a dump. But the other lands are all very nice.

I agree with that.... Malas was always BARREN too. There is little to nothing in a vast majority of the land and there aren't even wandering healers in 90% of it. A few sparse orc camps and clusters of burned woods where monsters spawn but for the most part it was just a place to coddle those who cried about not having a spot to live... but still is restricted to tiny housing though on a vast majority of shards there is so much room now that anyone who wanted a castle could have one if they could place them in Malas. But alas they can't.

I'll also disagree about Ilshenar ..... while most of it is totally pretty.... it lacks concept and is out of date... also always bothered me that there are no chests to pick there.... except the newer tmaps.... but no spawning chests to pick in dungeons there... There are no stealables in there... vast land of nothing for a thief. And most of the mobs are now out of date and not really challenging or exciting...

The champ spawns would be nice but they don't drop any scrolls so they are rarely done unless you live on shards where you can't really do Fel at all if you don't PvP.

 

[Dot_Warner]

There is more to come in the Valley of Eodon...

 

[Vor]

There is more to come in the Valley of Eodon...

"Soon™"

 

[Uvtha]

Everyone seems to be generally happy about the "Time of legends" expansion, and it seems to have brought some new cool features that enhance the game in a good way and doesn't change it too much, which is always good. However, I do want to point out, I haven't heard much criticism. I was particularly very surprised, and maybe a bit disappointed about the new lands "Valley of Eodon". To make up my point let's review the history of lands in UO.

- Felucca and Trammel: World class, very detailed, work of art, amazing world, arguably one of the most complex worlds ever created for a game, and it still sits high on a throne even after 18 years of being created. There are many dungeons, cities, woods, forts, mines, islands, and even seas to explore. Of course, these are the main lands of the game.
- Ilshenar: Ilshenar was added for PVM, and it is also beautiful and complex. Dungeons, forts, powerful monsters. It servers its PVM purpose in the best way possible. UO impress its gamers with a very original expansion.
- Malas: Beautiful, UO does it again. This time not only we get new dungeons and monsters, but also two beautiful cities such as Umbra and Luna, and space for new houses. Not as big and impressive as Felucca and Trammel, but still original and very well done.
- Tokuno: This was not only an amazing expansion game-wise, but the land itself is superb. It resembles the complexity of Trammel and Felucca on a smaller scale, yet it is still big, and it also has large seas to explore.
- Tel Mur: Again, very pretty an original. I haven't fully explored these lands, but the gargoyle city is very pretty and original, and the map is very diverse and well done. Seems to be on the small side, but it is still original and robust.
- Valley of Uodon: Ok... so this is my personal opinion. It is very small and "choppy". To me it feels like it lacks diversity, and all these different tribes you can't interact with and attack you no matter what, makes it feel a little bit monotonous. I am not criticizing the expansion as a whole, but only the new lands they feel very different than the lands from previous expansions.

So what do you guys think?. I know I am criticizing that the lands are "very small" and this could be a good thing and might have done in purpose, since we don't really need bigger lands, and we prefer quality rather than quantity. However, I feel like Tel Mur was of a very high quality, while Valley of Uodon doesn't really give me the same feel. From my experience with previous expansions, I was expecting a bit more.

Yup. I made a critical post, but deleted it cause I didn't want to argue about it. I think the land design is -OK-, but it severely lacks polish, and there were some very odd choices made like the hill rollercoaster. As for content outside of Shadowguard, there really isn't much, frankly I'm already done with Eodon as it sits now outside of Shadowguard. There is just not any reason to hunt there.

The turtle is fine, but it's just basically another champ spawn, except there are no powerscrolls. Once you get an egg if you want one... that's all you need from the turtle. Mastery books are easier to get elsewhere, PLUS you get PS for your trouble, and replicas and deco... Turtle needs more reason to do it beyond the egg.

The tribes at launch are pretty much nothing. You can't interact with them, their regular loot is poor, and they have no unique loot. I fully expect that eventually the tribes will have quests or loyalty rating or some other unique reason to interact with them, but right now, they are just nothing. I was expecting something right out of the gate.

Dinosaurs are same, but to add to my dissatisfaction of their loot being crap... none are tamable. Seems like a HUGE missed opportunity here. I would really like a pet allosaurus.

I think Shadowguard is pretty awesome, though I haven't really gotten much of a chance to do it, but it is also aesthetically bland.

Like I said in a different post, this seems like Eodon Beta still. The basics with a lot of content and polish missing. I hate to be so critical, but its been YEARS since we have had a major content addition... really had my hopes up, but that's probably my fault.

 

[Uvtha]

Keep in mind that for Time of Legends the Valley of Eodon was designed and created by one person. That means he figured out what to make it look like, and then individually placed every single one of those tiles by hand. Then placed all of the vegetation. Then the structures. Then the spawn points.

Then he did it all again to make it work in the Enhanced client.

And then he had to make them work together.

Ouch.

I agree with your general write up about the other lands, but the Valley of Eodon scales appropriately in complexity for only one person doing all of it. Just think about how long people spend building their custom 18x18's. Now imagine doing an entire expansion. With the same tools.

Basically... I don't fault him for pulling double duty, it's admirable to put in so much work on two facets of development... but that said I don't think world building is a strength, and I don't think we should be happy that they felt forced to put that burden on his shoulders. Making a nice world is hard, it takes an aesthetic eye, and a lot of patience, that is why you hire someone to do it if you want it to look good, rather than good enough.

I can accept (I guess...) that they don't have the resources to add another hand to the project (heck just nab one, or two of the many players with good design sense and experience in making good looking scenes with UO art assets) , but I think it's a tad unreasonable to expect us to be happy about it.

 

[Uvtha]

They are not a very big team, and the game is not doing as well as it used to. But maybe they shouldn't have rushed this expansion, or they must realize they have to do some more work on it before bringing new players.

That was my feeling as well.

 

[sablestorm]

I don't mind waiting for them to smooth things over. At the moment, I'm having a blast with the rest of the shard fighting the Dragon Turtle. It's nice to see that level of activity again and I'd rather see it sooner rather than later. Put your nitpicks aside for the health of the game we've gotten a lot more active since it has been released.

As for the rollercoaster hills comment, is that a criticism of having the valleys and elevations changes or are you critical of the execution of it? The valleys are very true to the original Eodon. I hope they will get to add the missing tribes in the future, maybe using a version of the Troglodyes for the Haakur folk.

 

[Clog|Mordain]

What i hate the most about the new land mass is the land areas where its just green acres. Most notably the north west corner. And around the moongate. I really hope they have plans for these areas

 

[Smoot]

The turtle is fine, but it's just basically another champ spawn, except there are no powerscrolls. Once you get an egg if you want one... that's all you need from the turtle. Mastery books are easier to get elsewhere, PLUS you get PS for your trouble, and replicas and deco... Turtle needs more reason to do it beyond the egg.

no scrolls even on fel side?

 

[Uvtha]

no scrolls even on fel side?

None on siege, which is all fel. It could be different on reg shards, but I doubt it.

 

[Alex"Drake Iron Heart"CS]

Lands need some polishing but has potential if they want to add more stuff into it, I am expecting they will in the future.....
I agree with other posts, the tribes have to be able to interact, also maybe if you choose a Tribe, you lose even more love from another tribe, Similar to what happens in Ilshenar and the tribes there.....
Turtle champ has to be re-checked, the only item there worth getting is the Turtle egg, after that you can hunt in Fel and get more rewards. (I am guessing this was done to quiet the Trammies from complaining against the Fel chars and champ spawns)
Shadowguard although its a great fight, its extremelly laggy, seems no one has taken time to design it there, looks soo bland and in need of more deco or something to spice it up.

But all in all, the expansion is OK, nothing to boast about but nothing to heavily criticize either.

 

[Smoot]

None on siege, which is all fel. It could be different on reg shards, but I doubt it.

the fel side one is accessed by a tunnel entrance down by the ancient wyrm in fel destard. not sure if thats on siege or not, also not sure if it drops scrolls (ive only done one you get to by the road in Eodon)

 

[Merlin]

Shadowguard encounters are excellent. My guild is really enjoying them and has been playing on a frequent basis. I've managed to get a drop on The Roof every time I've done it. It's not as much of a grind when you get the hang of each encounter and develop strategies to do them in different sized groups. I wish the other facets had in-depth stages with a comprehensive final boss the way Shadowguards does. Bravo!

The masteries are pretty good too...some better than others, but overall a positive add-on. I love the new Spellweaving reaper!

Dragon Turtle spawn... on Atlantic, it's just too overrun right now. Its great to see people there ofcourse, but it feels like half the shard is there sometimes and there are so many summons/dragons cast on the final boss that I can hardly pull his bar to get hits in. So hard to give full on judgment of this until it settles down a little. The last few times I did it, the loot was still crap, so hopefully they work on that too. I've gotten a few eggs, but have given them away as I have no intention of raising something.

I think the land around the Shadowguards and Turtle Dragon are done well. The lands beyond it... aren't perfect, but not as bad as everyone is making them out to be either. If we wanted the release to be totally perfect and filled with a lot more stuff to do, we would've had another year for it. Assuming the developers will eventually be doing more work on the rest of these areas, it has potential. As already pointed out, one person designed everything, tile by tile... so let's be patient here. I'm sure there will be more clean up and tweaks along the way.

 

[PurplePotion]

First I want to say that Malas could fade into the cosmos and I wouldn't bat an eye. I'm not really big on Tokuno either. I feel like the city was another Luna-esque attempt that just didn't fully pan out and I've never really had a reason to go into the other areas except to grab a fire beetle or harvest rare Hiyru.

I've been a fan of all of the other lands. As it stands right now, Eodon is a little barren. I'm ok with that, as long as more work is put into it as time goes on. I'm patient and I'll be happy to see what they can pull off. I do agree that eventually there needs to be more of a reason to go, and I can't wait to have a reason to start killing tribesman.

However we do need furniture/polish to the outside waiting area of Shadowguard. I don't care if its a few slapdash chairs and some tables, vases and stuff. I just can't image Minax having an empty reception room! Imagine what her neighbors must think. At least the have fire pits!

 

[Robtsan]

Everyone seems to be generally happy about the "Time of legends" expansion, and it seems to have brought some new cool features that enhance the game in a good way and doesn't change it too much, which is always good. However, I do want to point out, I haven't heard much criticism. I was particularly very surprised, and maybe a bit disappointed about the new lands "Valley of Eodon". To make up my point let's review the history of lands in UO.

- Felucca and Trammel: World class, very detailed, work of art, amazing world, arguably one of the most complex worlds ever created for a game, and it still sits high on a throne even after 18 years of being created. There are many dungeons, cities, woods, forts, mines, islands, and even seas to explore. Of course, these are the main lands of the game.
- Ilshenar: Ilshenar was added for PVM, and it is also beautiful and complex. Dungeons, forts, powerful monsters. It servers its PVM purpose in the best way possible. UO impress its gamers with a very original expansion.
- Malas: Beautiful, UO does it again. This time not only we get new dungeons and monsters, but also two beautiful cities such as Umbra and Luna, and space for new houses. Not as big and impressive as Felucca and Trammel, but still original and very well done.
- Tokuno: This was not only an amazing expansion game-wise, but the land itself is superb. It resembles the complexity of Trammel and Felucca on a smaller scale, yet it is still big, and it also has large seas to explore.
- Tel Mur: Again, very pretty an original. I haven't fully explored these lands, but the gargoyle city is very pretty and original, and the map is very diverse and well done. Seems to be on the small side, but it is still original and robust.
- Valley of Uodon: Ok... so this is my personal opinion. It is very small and "choppy". To me it feels like it lacks diversity, and all these different tribes you can't interact with and attack you no matter what, makes it feel a little bit monotonous. I am not criticizing the expansion as a whole, but only the new lands they feel very different than the lands from previous expansions.

So what do you guys think?. I know I am criticizing that the lands are "very small" and this could be a good thing and might have done in purpose, since we don't really need bigger lands, and we prefer quality rather than quantity. However, I feel like Tel Mur was of a very high quality, while Valley of Uodon doesn't really give me the same feel. From my experience with previous expansions, I was expecting a bit more.

I'm not a whiner, but really, so glad I did not have to pay extra for this expansion.."Dinotopia" at its worst....sophomoric at best. The opening page is so bad, why they did not put more thought and expertise in that design is a mystery. I have read, the design etc. was done by one person. Well, I am sure it takes a tremendous amount of tedious work placing all of the pieces, how ever that does not excuse poor design, concept overall production!...Were the devs in a rush just to push something out there? I am sure that I could not do any better.....that is why I don't try....I don't have the expertise...so...you hire a dev that does...18 years and this is the best you got??? Really??? The whole story line is so absurd and does not even come close to the heart of the game! Just what type of audience are they trying to appeal to, pre teen???? Whats next, a trip to CandyLand?