November 2018: Rabite Forest
Area of the Month for November 2018 is the Rabite Forest!
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Player: You!(Class/Level)
Review Date(s):
Descriptions: X/10
How does the area's room descriptions(descs) work for you? Do they give you a good idea of the area? Do things that stand out in the desc and NEED explanation GET that, either from flavor text(extra-descs) or NPCs in the room or anything?
What about mobiles(mobs) and their descriptions? Can you get a decent mental image of who or what this NPC/monster is? Do they respond when you talk or interact with them?
Some areas have interact-able objects like fountains. Do they stack up well also?
Balance: X/10 (OR N/A)
(NOTE: combat will be most accurately gauged when your character is in the area's suggested level range.)
If this area has combat, how does it feel? Does anything jump as horribly overpowered and impossible to deal with? What about the flipside, anything far too easy to beat?
Are purchased or rewarded items at the appropriate strength levels? Is the effort required to obtain rewarded items reflected in their usefulness (or uniqueness and fancifulness)
Attractions: X/10
Why would you suggest someone come to this area? Is it just a good place to grind experience(lots of mobs)? Does the area provide a chunk of good gold and loot?
What about the quests? Does this area's quests feel properly done, or is there some part of it that you feel needs work?
For towns, are the shops good? Any other non-combative attraction for the area?
Connections: X/10
How easily and well does this area connect to its nearby areas? Does it make sense thematically to be connected to the areas it is?
Personal
Any comments you'd like to make that you don't feel apply to the other sections can go here!
AOTM Rabbite:
Player: Kaze (Nec/100) -Token'd!
Warrior 1-10, Priest 40 (Not counting my remorted character)
Review Date(s): 11/15/2018 (or so)
Descriptions: 9/10
For the most part, I could picture the scenes accurately from the descriptions. This area is pretty nice for descriptions.
Balance: 8/10 (OR N/A)
(NOTE: combat will be most accurately gauged when your character is in the area's suggested level range.)
If this area has combat, how does it feel? Does anything jump as horribly overpowered and impossible to deal with? What about the flipside, anything far too easy to beat?
For the truly early levels, is actually a bit rough for the exp rewards.
Are purchased or rewarded items at the appropriate strength levels? Is the effort required to obtain rewarded items reflected in their usefulness (or uniqueness and fancifulness)
The items are a smidge rich for the level, but the fights are, as mentioned, a touch difficult for their level, also.
Attractions: 7/10
Why would you suggest someone come to this area? Early quests and eq. rewards are a good start. Also, it connects to various places of note.
Is it just a good place to grind experience(lots of mobs)?
Not a very good one, in fact.
Does the area provide a chunk of good gold and loot?
Loot, yes. Gold, not really. For early game gear, the quests and such provide pretty good gear.
What about the quests? Does this area's quests feel properly done, or is there some part of it that you feel needs work?
The quests are very short, but give a good example of what such things should be. Good rewards to effort ratio. I'm including exploration secrets and rewards as "quests", here.
For towns, are the shops good? Any other non-combative attraction for the area?
The secret rooms with goodies in them and diverse requirements for navigation set a high bar for nifty exploration.
Connections: 7/10
What's present is solid.
The entrance from the road works peachy and makes sense. The northerly route, as well. Waterfall Cave and such link in reasonable ways. The Booster tower thing is a pain to use, but fits.
I consider it overly limited, however. More alternatives to get to the same spot should exist. Going NW directly towards the pond from the entry point, for example, perhaps with a climb, should get you behind Booster tower, too.
Suggested addtions:
Clamber path more directly to Booster's back door from the current Truce entryway.
Path to an overlook atop Gigan Canyon. Path down to the canyon should require float, climb, or even the dragon claw. I rather like a climb with a chance of falling, unless floating to get down and Float or Dragonclaw to ascend.
A southwesterly route should run from the crossroad to Rocket City. (directly inside or next to it)
More drop offs from the branches to the ground (with reasonable consequences like falling damage that's mitigated by Float) would be fun. These could be hidden routes.
More hidden nooks and shortcuts are almost always welcome.
Personal
Color of the Summer Sky does tend to pop to mind when I go through there.
Aurea, lvl 1 Geomancer, lvl 6 by end of Review. - Token'd! Descriptions. 9/10 Cutesy, lovable and wonderfully described, Rabite Forest is a joy to explore, providing a genuine woodland feel. However, while the area-descs are good, the extra-descs, while present, could use a bit more attention. A few seemingly obvious extra-descs, failed to deliver an Extra-desc. Still, desc-wise, 8 out 10 The mobs meanwhile, continue to adorable-ness, desc-work perfectly fitting, responsive and even instructive in an auto-attack upon talking to them. 9 out 10 Interactible objects that are there, nicely detailed, amusing descwork, and fitting to their locations, 9 out of 10
Balance. 8/10 It's a Starter Area, so things are low, makes sense etc. Most of the mobs bear this out fine, a few however stand out. The Bound Wolves, at lvl-3, make no secret of them being the apex predator in the area. They're a very substantial leap up in difficulty, but they're wolves in an area over-run by cuddly rabites and snapping flowers; You can reasonably see it coming. The Mini-Bosses that are there, perfectly balanced for the area, just a smidge on the tough side, like a boss should be etc.
Attractions. 7/10 Again, a Starter-Area, so mostly there for the exp, which it Delivers. There's good loot from one of the mini-bosses, and the Starter-Quest Reward's are very caster-friendly That said, the Mobs themselves, dont offer much in the way of Loot, only one of the regular mobs really offering a wearable. Could use some attention maybe to up the Score.
Connections 9/10 It's a forest, with lots of exits for its small size, and good connections. Gateway to a goodly portion of Guardia in the NorthWest-ern expansion, decent short-cut if you're heading North North-Easternly aswell.
Personal Note. Rabite Forest is fun, it's not without it's flaws, in that it could be more crowded; Never enough Rabites for a Rabite Forest! But its a nice little quiet corner to start in. As a Geomancer, it's also nice it's actually Forest, once I had a spell to cast, not having to prime the site with Overgrowth helped to keep casting. And once you return after 5 spins at life, the bonus battle that unlocks is a nice, if startling Surprise. The first such, it's nice that other bosses are starting to continue the trend that 'lil' mini-boss started.