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Castle Reinhold by Mort
As the first new area in a goodly bit, WaterDeep had some serious expectations to live up to. To start with, Nexus (the last "new" area), is a hell of an act to follow; also we all know that there are several new item types that are becoming more popular - Purify, Ointments, and the like. The Descriptions and such in the Nexus are beautiful; they layout is perfect. We expected the same from WaterDeep; we were disappointed.
Though the area was started by Shades, he's no longer in the imm list, so we can assume (safely) that he didn't complete the area. There are 2 distinct styles at work in WaterDeep - Shade's highly detailed, almost over detailed writing, and someone else's club-fingered attempt at imitating it. Only one shop has any items - a pathetic wand of lightning. The other shops aren't shops at all, even the (usually) trivial Food Vendor. After this bitter disappointment, there were only a few items remaining.
One of these was a typo'd "elven dagger" that had 91 average damage. Another is a pathetic "Herbert's Wrath". There were some gems though - a 40-ish level purify flagged weapon, a shocking mace, and an ointment. Other then that, the mobs were well EQ'd in nearly full sets of armor, most of which wasn't half bad; rings were included (something that is sorely lacking ovr all), and some other bits and peices. Weapons, over all, were excellent, and almost all armor boosted some aspect.
Had whomever finished this area put more time in, filling the shops, breathing some life into it, it would have been an excellent 20-40 EQ and leveling area. Unfortunatly, they didn't; the over all feeling is one of being rushed and hurried. There's even a pill of haste here; something notable enough to warrent a trip.
So, go check it out - if only to see some of the pitfalls that happen when people rush things, and some of the promise this place once held.