Can the monster spawns on this room be moved further back, so they don't engage until you walk forward a fair bit? They are the main reason IMO that people are put off doing a quest I love.
As it is, the monsters are within aggro range of the first PC to load. Meaning if you load a bit slower as a non tanky PC, you can end up behind enemy lines or surrounded, being one-round deleted by monsters that ignore Blur. Which happened to me today.
If the monsters spawned further ahead, it would still be a nasty open-room fight, but you could make sure everyone was actually loaded into the area before triggering the fight. As it is, everyone metagames it's a hard fight/uses invis or Death Ward because otherwise you get wrecked by purely OC game engine limitations. Bodaks are a fair challenge if you see them coming, and a mean joke if they teleport onto your head.
And if you're lagging and your PC loads a few rounds ahead of you actually being able to control them... you're screwed.
just learn the metaknowledge and pre-invis before going down as a caster
I used to feel bad about the pre-stair invisibility but if you think about it, an adventurer would probably expect things to get worse the deeper you go, so stairs would seem like a logical place to reapply your defenses.
Though probably if you made the quest today you wouldn't do it like this unless it's a "you jump into the hole" situation.
I like it as it is. Feels very 28 days later.
I've never done this or had anyone with me feel the need to do this (that I can recall, it's chaotic), I think this is in your head. There's more than one way to crack a nut.
IC, it is an open door you can look through and see 'my word, what a lot of undead!'.
OC, it is a transition. Meaning this is a forced case of 'move onto a transition that is being camped'. A situation that EfU normally avoids as it's annoying in a deeply RP-breaking way.
Vlaid, I've seen people do it most times I've played this. I've had to several times on my last PC invis or panic-heal people who appeared in a really bad location, delayed by loading. Everyone is pretty normal 'danger-quest RP and fighting" until the Stairs of Death, then suddenly they all get Paranoia Brainworms and chug Wisdom etc. So what does the quest lose by moving all the undead far back enough that they don't instantly charge? And letting people go 'holy crap I see bodaks ahead' and have a bit of RP? Rather than sighing and deciding that even if all your buffs are up it is Suddenly Time For More Because I Have a Feeling.
Yes, you could send someone to scout, or so some other stuff. But again, that's just a figleaf around 'this is the Big Fight and we know it OC, but will never have time to react to it IC'. Vs the rest of the quest which is great as you get to react to what you see, choose to open a door when the tanks are at the front, etc.
Even Pit of Sacrifice doesn't bottle you up this quick, and it both has some chokepoints and is clearly A One Way Danger Ride.
Yeah, I agree it's not a huge deal because everyone knows to work around it, and if you don't you can just get on the paranoia train. But it is kinda rubbish, and feels like moving just one spawn trigger or something would easily solve it.
I didn't say moving them back is a bad idea, but I think the idea that it is mandatory to drink invis pre-emptively or die is a little overblown (considering I've never done it??)
Quote from: Vlaid on September 02, 2025, 10:18:11 PMI didn't say moving them back is a bad idea, but I think the idea that it is mandatory to drink invis pre-emptively or die is a little overblown (considering I've never done it??)
It's not really overblown, this transition is notorious.
I just think it's a bunch of effort for an ancient quest that was added in just because it was easy to add in and players like it, for anyone to spend time and effort changing it now 30 yrs later.
Just drink invis, or ensure to go absolute last if you're caster.
That'd done the trick.
I mean, do you get rushed? Yes. I find it exciting and challenging personally. Most quests are very straight forward so why shy away from a challenge. Most casters are invisible anyways 80% of the time. I wont spoil the quest but I find the response by the NPCs fairly accurate for the location.
I have died here before so I know the frustration.