Aggro ranges also seem to be problematic from zone to zone as it seems quite different in Gazluk compared to Serbule and there's no real explanation as to why the aggro is different in some zones over others. Everyone's first experience in a zone like Gazluk is simply dying from a swarm of mobs (and not the cold!) because they aren't prepared to fight multiple enemies.
One particularly egregious area where aggro range is just too far is Rahu's Plateau. If you are a player used to shorter ranges and it changes, seemingly for no reason, it doesn't make you feel like you're getting better at the game.
It even seems like sometimes the “calling range” for mobs in combat is different from zone to zone, too. I am not sure why that changes either. The mobs are already difficult, there's no real skill gain that comes from making the player wait for a better time to pull.
Again, I don't want to upset anyone, but this is kind of one of those “how did this ever get out of testing?” issues. I think a very small bit of work here could go a long ways towards giving the players agency so that when they do die to a swarm of mobs, they kind of know why. Increased aggro range has no rewards. It's only punishment.
Lastly, it's really difficult to feel like I am playing a game where my experience is rewarded when things like aggro range change from map to map with no explanation as to why. If it's to make things harder, cool, but at least say something about it or explain it with in-game lore or something.
So, I've avoided saying anything about this for a long time because I realize this is a game that is a work-in-progress and even having any suggestions here might not really help if I'm not positive about them, but there's a few zones where mob density is such a problem it's almost impossible to grind mobs that I actually want to try leveling some skills on.
The most glaringly problematic is Rahu Desert where the combo of three things: water requirements, aggro range, and the Skeleton Dickweeds are so annoying I have to question if this was the original intent for this zone to be so difficult for level 50 or 60 players when level 70 and 80 players can regularly die here just running straight from Rahu to the Povus or Ilmari warps. I think if there were altars, graves, or other points-of-interest or something that mobs “congregated” around, with a few wandering rhinos, it might not be a huge problem, but even the plateau Pask is on is an issue in some respects due to the huge aggro range on mobs in this zone.
The Rahu archers that pull you around in the lower “Rahu mining” section actually are fine gameplay-wise, IMHO, because it's challenging and these are the only mobs in the area, but I'd hate to be doing this content at level 60 without maxed endurance or a tanking skill due to their huge aggro and patrol ranges. I think it could be toned down just slightly while still being a fun and engaging area for mineral mining.
Gazluk is the other zone where this is what I would consider a huge problem. It's just not simple for a level 70 to contend with both the elemental problems of this zone as well as the mob density problems, especially with regards to Orc Camps where the walls and aggro range make playing here unpleasant. One issue is enough to cause many players to forgo grinding in the zone, but the combo of both just makes it not fun. It's possible though that the purpose of Gazluk is to just serve as a repository for the dungeons in this zone as well as the Yellow Crystals, in which case I guess I understand the design decision, but it'd be nice if there were a good way to still fight some of these mobs safely.
The current iteration of Kur is actually worse than the old one in this respect, too. There's not really areas where you can farm safely and no easy “routes” to avoid mobs, so I regularly pull aggro even while on a horse. Kur is easy content for a lvl 80 though, so I consider this less of an issue, but lower level and even mid level players probably really struggle with the mob density here enough that they just farm Kur Tower or Wolf Cave instead of playing on the overworld.
The Fae Realm isn't horrible, but it can be dangerous for a higher level 60ish player leveling here to unlock content for when they are 70. Again, the aggro range increase with no explanation really hurts players.
Povus is actually one of the better zones, but here it's the tree density that is an issue with respect to the mobs. I was a player that took advantage of the 0 tree draw distance bug. I get that the zone wasn't supposed to be exploited in that way, but now that we have forced trees, I will mention that it's very difficult to see if I'm in a safe position to engage now in Povus. (and while we're on this topic, parts of Gazluk are pretty much unplayable now that I'm forced to draw trees).
One zone that is bad but where it's not a major problem is Sun Vale. For some reason this zone has a much more agreeable aggro range compared to these other large zones, and it makes for a much more enjoyable experience. Except for the SE island with the roaming Ranlon, but at least there, there's an excuse. You're supposed to be sort of “invading” their territory, so it makes sense for it to be more difficult and for there to be widely roaming mobs. Sun Vale is an example where mob density can be high and it's not too much of a problem. I wish every zone 40+ was more like Sun Vale.
Again, I don't see how mob density got out of testing without anyone ever mentioning it. It's so bad that I have told friends that leveling overworld ends in Eltibule and Sun Vale and after that they are going to be leveling from 40 to 80+ in dungeons only. I've avoided making a leveling guide on this site because I keep hoping these issues are going to be fixed, but I'm realizing they probably never will be, sadly. :(
More Info could be improved in a few ways for certain items…
Some of the items like Inks, Knives, and Trollbane oil do not tell you what skills or abilities they are used for on the More Info tab. I think there might be a need for another tab where it tells you what special abilities use the item or the first tab should include this as another section.
Additionally, weapons like staves, orbs, cups and etc. that are weapons could also show that they are used for combat abilities.
Lastly, while it is easy to see who Barters *FOR* an item, you can't necessarily tell who will barter *THE ITEM* for something else. It should probably do this as well as tell you who you can sell the item to. Just knowing who you can sell an item to would be a huge benefit, even if you wanted to lock it behind a skill like Retail Management, but I think an argument could be made that it shouldn't even be locked behind Retail Management and should just be a base feature.
The More Info changes put into the game midway through 2024 were great, btw.
I think one of the main reasons why I ignored Crossbow while playing is that it doesn't really provide much of a true advantage over the other sidebar skills. One way to give it an advantage is to have the skill not aggro other mobs if used as a “first attack”. Perhaps for bosses, it could still aggro other mobs, but I think giving it the ability to not aggro or have a seriously reduced aggro range would make it a more viable option, especially for solo players that are focusing on damage dealing skills.
When the entire server gets together to do egg runs and other mass group content, I think having Xbow users doing the pulls would be such a good thing, too.
An automated way to group for the Casino Daily. Consider even making it more WoW-like (I know, not exactly a good example, but their auto-group solution is an example of one thing that did work well) in having it so you can queue for the next group and even just auto-TP to the dungeon once the group is full regardless of what zone you are in. The reason why an Auto-TP and Auto-Group is in WoW and so many other MMOs is because it is convenient and they want to encourage grouping.
Also, grouping with people regardless of what zone they are in probably needs to be a thing. This would just be a quality of life improvement. Or maybe it could be allowed if you have a specific item if it's supposed to be gated like this normally. The more new zones are added into the game, the less likely you are going to be in the exact zone of your friend at the time of grouping. A new item allowing this could also introduce new optional abilities like “Teleport to Group Leader” or whatever. These can even be hard abilities to get. Instead of considering these game breaking, consider them challenges with great rewards.
In any event, I think a LFG or automated grouping system would be relatively easy to code based on a bot I made that essentially did this for defense of certain strategic regions/areas in Darkfall. Being able to use a command and then have the automated system auto-invite doesn't seem too difficult unless it's also doing level checks and things.
So one pretty huge side effect of not letting us use our level 80 gear to level our lower combat skills is that we have to swap out gear. Easier ways to swap out gear/loadouts might be nice to have. Especially if it could be done in dungeons without having to lug extra gear around. Sometimes I want to do *most* of a dungeon with one set of skills and only maybe the bosses with other skills (so I can actually kill them).
What if one of our folders could be set to have the items “swapped” with certain inventory (or even non-inventory) NPCs? Right now I have several loadouts that I can use, and I just keep all the gear I have for all possible Loadouts in one folder. It's not great, but it's really the only viable way to handle my equipment in a speedy manner. One thing that non-Zoned inventory like the Crates and such do is it gives the players more space to use which is nice, but it could be used to hold equipment loadouts instead or essentially let players swap out for gear for Kur or Gazluk and then swap back. This poses some problems for when player inventories are full, but maybe it could check and if inventory problems were to happen it just wouldn't let you swap gear at all. I'm not sure of the details, but I think being able to swap loadouts/equipment (assuming you have the inventory space to do so) at the same time in some sort of fashion into a non-zoned inventory might be a unique way to solve some of the trepidation around gear issues in Kur/Gazluk.
The small box of space is one solution that might work for this for me, but I'm currently using it for buffs/potions; maybe I shouldn't be. Maybe an item like the small box of space should allow for this sort of “non zoned gear swap” or something? Maybe if there was something cheap for live credits like the small box of space (but only for equipment!) that might be another solution?
One of the reasons why an auction system is used in most games is because sometimes you just need a specific item for a specific reason, and having it be available for a somewhat unreasonable price is still perfectly fine if you don't want to or can't reliably hunt it down yourself.
There are fundamental issues with the ability for the player-based economy to thrive in PG right now.
The first and biggest fundamental problem is that some otherwise highly tradeable items don't have a robust economy like mushrooms, woods, skins, and etc because slots for selling would be better used by higher value goods.
The second problem is that some otherwise highly tradeable consumable items also don't have a robust economy because the cost to run a vendor conflicts with the fact that you cannot stack the particular item to be sold very well. Almost all foods and Snacks fall into this category. Gourmand pricing does exist for certain rare foods, but that's about it. I think you might see more players retain the game if they could focus on eating while getting their first combat skills to level 70 instead of nearly every player being required to level Cooking because the economy is such that a player actually must focus on leveling Cooking because they can't just easily or readily buy food from players capable of making it.
Another slightly major issue in my opinion is that creating marketable gear for a player's specific level is somewhat impossible due to the limits on how many items can be sold as well. I do believe the player economy has suffered because of the inability to reliably market and sell min-max gear for every level for common combat combos. From a playtesting standpoint, I'd imagine testing balance changes for different levels may be slightly harder because of this, too.
I think/hope the plans for Statehelm or other future players hubs are kind of leaning towards an auction-like system or an actual consignment system, but perhaps only for players who hit a certain retail management or industry level. Serbule and the Casino could be better positioned as “stores for newbies” while an auction system (even if it requires high level retail trading to use) could be reserved for others.
If we can't have auctions, then at least I'd like see some sorts of commission-based solutions. Maybe a player wants a pair of level 50 purple Max-buffs Rabbit/Priest leather gloves and they are willing to pay 5k councils for them. So a ticket gets generated to fill that request. In order to fulfill the request, I have to pay a small fee, say, like 500 councils (or 10%), to reserve the request for one hour and then fill it by making the gear.
Otherwise it stays up for a while on a board. Or it goes back to the board after I fail to make it.
Project Gorgon is the only MMO that seemingly goes through hoops specifically to make sure the players have difficulties trading with each other. I realize this is probably just because a focus on the programming aspects hasn't been made in this area yet, but maybe it is a well-developed enough game at this point to have a need to focus on this aspect of it now.
I do get that some of the complexities of crafting/selling is probably to make Retail Management a unique and cool skill. And that's great, too. I just hope more is coming, and I do understand why it wouldn't be great to advertise more is coming, too, I just want this to be my advocacy to make sure more is coming because I do care about the game so much and I think the economy is probably the least favorable aspect of the game, while crafting is actually quite awesome in comparison.
The whole idea of renting a player vendor stall, for example, is kind of weird, IMHO. The fact that it gets more expensive over time also is confusing, but I get that there are prime real estate slots for vendors and that there might need to be incentives to have them move out. I also have parents that are antiquers, so I'm well aware of the tendency for veterans to buy something low from someone else and then just resell it with a higher markup just because they have better foot traffic. :D
Sorry if it seems curt to just request an auction economy, but this is the one single thing about this game I simply do not understand. I cannot readily sell staples like Quality Phlog or Cotton directly to players that I know could use them, instead I have to craft a box that costs leather and wood resources and doesn't last more than 90 minutes and half the time I have to guess what a reasonable price is from players that are overcharging (player stalls) or underpaying (work orders). With rare exceptions, many of these go without getting a single sale so I instead use them to give away items instead.
When I go to price items in the stalls, it needs to be high enough that some high level with unlimited resources doesn't just buy it completely out to sell at their stall for an inflated price, but not so high that newbies can't buy it to level their crafting skills.
Also, the downside to selling some goods for reasonable prices is that we have to rent a vendor and use an alt that goes to a Poetry Jam to be able to optimally sell things. Not a huge problem, but new players don't really know to do this.
There are some staple items in game that simply MUST have an auction for there to be a robust player economy. Specifically, I'm thinking Animal Skins, Cotton, and Phlog fall into this category, actually. At the very least add in an auction for these and see if the playerbase thinks it's a bad thing after like, three months. If everyone hates it, I'll admit it was a bad idea, but I think certain staple goods *should* be auctionable and I think players will love it if auctions existed for such staple goods, too.
In short, I think some of the barriers to player trading that exist in PG don't make sense. This game is already played by a bunch of us on the autistic spectrum, so we honestly need more incentives and facilities to directly trade with other players than less, IMHO. :D
I do realize a full-fledged auction system would be difficult to code well, but I do think it's needed.
I would even consider adding money-only dungeons as higher level duo/triple-dailies with lvl 65+ mob/elites from the top 3 dungeons, but automate creating them like the War Caches. These could be very simple and wouldn't require going through a 45 minute-plus dungeon. Short 15 minute excursions with low cash rewards might work, or more rewards, but slightly longer like 30 minutes. They'd be designed for two to three newer high level players or perhaps even soloable by a longtime level 80 max endurance tank player, but take a lot longer to kill. They could even have a spot where it requires two people to pull a lever at the same time to open a door or something to enforce duo play if necessary.
Optional: Tokens from these could then be turned in once per day for either money or time-locked items like Vervadium and Fae Silk. Money isn't enough of a reward depending on the time sink and having to find other people. Another option: allow bartering loot from these dungeons for high level seeds like Red Rose, Muntok Peppercorns, Mint, Honey, Saddle Gems, or higher Animal Fats like Typical and Smooth Fat. They are still time-locked items, this makes these rare items just a little easier to obtain.
I should probably just participate more in the Aurum Rest (spelling?) dailies to see if this already kind of exists with those or something, but I think the lack of great grouping abilities for this sort of thing has impeded participation for the most part. :/
Players should be able to know exactly what mods they are likely to extract when they use the extract ability and put in a gem. One way to fix this might be to make Extracts work like the newer Transmutation table, where you can drag the item and see what can be extracted, you select the one you want and it both tells you and requires the appropriate gem before it will extract.
It's hard enough getting the exact right items with the exact right mods, IMHO.
I'm not sure how difficult this would be to code, but since there's a ton of gems and I've been playing the game for 7 years or more and still don't know, I'm going to assume it's at least Medium difficulty.
Again, unfinished game, so I understand this might still be something that needs worked on.
If a player can't do it, a mob shouldn't be able to. There's some spots in the game where mobs can shoot through walls and such. Also, ranged poison damage, especially for certain mobs, seems to be much higher than it should be. For example, the Orc camp archers in Povus seem to be easier to deal with than the Rahu archers around Pask because of the ability to hit through walls plus the poison/debuff they do.
Poison dmg itself might just be really high, btw. In Rahu sewers if there's more than two slugs, I regularly run the risk of dying even at combat level 85+. Maybe they are supposed to be this hard though and maybe we're supposed to run with Poison Resistance potions most of the time. This combined with high regen is a combat-killer for most players though. I'd like to think my base resistances are already pretty high on certain builds, though. It's kind of embarrassing to die to poison mobs because of the stacks.
I'm putting this under hard to code because I don't know
I'm also still a bit confused on why certain high level crafting ingredients are ridiculously hard to get. Should making high level gear really be random when you are spending resources on ingredients that already have a 24h time frame for how many you can farm? It seems like you either want random and it can be grinded/farmed regularly, or you want consistency and there is a time-limited supply. Instead, some armor crafting gets the worst of both. I have ten Orcish Steel from farming for four hours in Povus, was that enough? How about 10 Fae Felts from farming in Sun Vale for two hours? Maybe having the worst of both makes sense for weapons, but for armor, of which there are several pieces, it seems just a bit harsher than it should be. Perhaps new zones are going to fix the unavailability of certain items though, so I'm prepared to wait. If Augury could somehow get certain rare drops on mobs to be more consistent, this might be something relatively easy to fix, otherwise I'm not sure how to resolve it.
EDIT: Okay, I found out that if I really want to grind for Orcish Steel the best place is Prestonbule, but there wasn't really any in game explanation for that aside from one off-hand remark by the Orc in New Prestonbule. This might be another thing where an in-game Gossip system might shine. Not sure.
The Work Orders system makes leveling a lot easier and more efficient, but there should be questing, rumors, or favors that lead the players to the appropriate Work Order boards for the various crafting skills or should be turned into a system whereby WOs are turned into boards/NPCs in certain areas based on level instead of what appears to be inconvenient assignments.
It's okay that the Leatherworking board is in Amulna, for example, but a process should be in place whereby newbie players are encouraged to travel there (with tips on how-to do so safely) so they can more easily level Leatherworking as a new crafter.
There might need to be a part of the main questline (or an addition of a “crafting questline”) that leads players to the work order boards in some of these regions.
Lastly on Work Orders, the player work order board should be shared across all locations in which it can be accessed. Small quality of life improvement. They will continue to go unused in certain areas otherwise, I can assure you of this. There's just no way a player is going to put up an order on a board that they know is going ignored by most of the playerbase.
Alternatively, maybe only certain work orders can go on certain boards, but IMHO, this might be a step in the wrong direction as it kind of limits the player-based economy.
Other than a hangout with an NPC in Gazluk, what is the intended way to legitimately increase Orcish? I don't get at all why the Orc books are #1, so rare, and #2, give really really horribly low amounts of XP. More common drop rate or a better system is needed or at least a portion of Gazluk (outside?) needs to be soloable and safe from the elements, IMHO. And I do understand that there is an NPC in Gazluk that provides a way to get better at Orcish, but it's not exactly intuitive to know anything about them or to tie an end-game dungeon to a language learning process. Also, I play mostly solo, so it's very hard for someone like me to get to that NPC.
(Update October 2021) My opinion on this hasn't changed even though I now have Orcish at a much higher level. That NPC is required to level Orcish and it's impossible for a solo player to get to. The community dance event was the only way to get that backdoor working.
(Update August 2022) I farmed Orcs for two hours in Povus and only got one item that increased my Orcish level. I did something similar months ago outside Gazluk Keep and got very little or no Orcish text drops. It's like the opposite of Goblinese. :D I am level 50 now, though.
(Update January 2024) My opinion on this one hasn't changed. Orcish was notoriously difficult for a solo player to learn. I think if the drop rate on Orc texts from mobs in Kur and Gazluk was increased it might help, but getting those early levels is extremely difficult. Also, I am very much not recommending it be as easy as Goblinese is to level or that every Orc should drop a text item. I just think it should be easier for solo players.
This is in the hard to code section because I'm assuming we'll need the Orc playable race before we get the zone to make Orcish learning easier.
One of the bigger problems with Cooking is that it (in some respects) requires Gardening, which many players don't want to do. Since Cooking is required for most players since the existing economic systems prevent players from trading food easily due to stacking issues (mentioned above in the economy section), it means that players must also learn or do some Gardening to make the ingredients they need for Cooking. This is kind of a problem.
Also, some of the non-growable foods are very hard to make due to the rarity of specific items/condiments like Almonds, Lemons, Muntok Peppercorns, Juniper Berries, and Fairy Juice. The first two were increased in availability with the introduction of the Rahu Sewers which is good, but there are still some items like Muntoks and Fairy Juice and even maybe others that should create two items instead of one. It's hard to make specific recommendations on this since I don't know for sure which foods should actually be rare. Right now though there are large amount of Muntok recipes that only make one item per one Muntok Peppercorn. Same with Fairy Juice.
(Update October 2021) So, after having played a bit at a higher level, Cactus Juices aren't bad to collect anymore. Lemons are still a pain to find and Muntok Peppercorns are still outrageously rare. Lemons are *almost* in the right spot, IMHO. Now I'm having problems with Juniper Berries and Red Roses (even though the latter doesn't have anything to do with Cooking).
Might still recommend a recipe for making Muntok Peppercorns. Make it a 7 hour quest to each Orcish outpost and require 20 peppercorns each or something, just let me make Muntoks some other way, please. :D
(Update August 2022) Lemons are in a good place now or haven't been as big of an issue as a high level player. I forgot I could just farm Treants and once I started doing that I didn't have Lemon issues anymore. Still pretty hard to get Almonds, Juniper Berries, and Muntok Peppercorns though. Since some of these are also necessary for higher levels of Brewing, I think they might be just a little bit on the “too rare” side, but again, I'm willing to see how the rest of the zones pan out with their loot tables.
(Update March 2023) Still hard to reliably get things like Almonds, Juniper Berries, and Muntok Peppercorns. Fairy Juice is something I've just accepted I'll never have since I'm a solo player. Another suggestion I might have is to make a goat NPC or Goat Milk available in a future Orc town/zone maybe just to increase the availability of this slightly. Or add a goat NPC or two to the Orc Camp in Povus?. Right now its only possible to make this relatively easy if you have a character that can get to the right spot in Rahu Sewers solo.
I'm guessing these will be added in later sections of the game, but I don't know. For now, I'm going to assume this requires more/new game zones and thus that's why some of these things are so rare. New zones are harder to make so I'm putting this here.
So, while thinking about ways to make Kur easier of a transition, I thought also about ways of making Gazluk harder. The first was maybe having regular campfires not work in Gazluk. A second way to make it harder, in fact, MUCH harder, is to add a new debuff for players like myself that use no buffs but simply just run from glowy yellow crystal patch to glowy yellow crystal patch in the game. The way to do this is to introduce a new 1-3min debuff that slows player speed down, either from any form of hypothermia or while in the presence of these crystals. So they still provide warmth, but they also slow you, or hypothermia makes you so cold you slow down.
Then, to counteract that, create a new type of campfire, that, like what I describe above for newbies in Kur, lasts for 15 minutes or more. This campfire requires a Rubywall or glowy yellow crystal, however. It's a special campfire that negates the speed debuff from glowy yellow crystals or even provides a benefit to speed only in Gazluk, but it also lasts significantly longer, so that players will be more inclined to actually play in and level characters in this zone. The reason why I recommend a Rubywall crystal or glowy yellow crystal is that it seems like a good tradeoff for someone who is already at surveying levels that they would be in Gazluk, and it also gives a bit more demand for new players to farm.
I think if the zone logs are checked, it may show that most players basically avoid Gazluk unless they are collecting yellow crystals. I would love to farm mobs here more, but I'd need a good solid way to do that and the only real way is to load up on campfires and deplete tons of wood.
If there was a reliable way to set down a campfire and then keep pumping it full of logs so I could fight more enemies, it might encourage more of this gameplay. Right now the Orcs protect their campfires, so it seems a bit difficult to even get to the point of owning a space or area like that. I'll have to see if it is viable and if the loot justifies the work. (Update in August 2022: I tried taking over a Gazluk Orc Campfire, it didn't work and it's too hard to zone Ranged Mobs in this Orc spot. Needs to be more walls or debris to hide behind or something.) (Update in mid-2024: It's still ridiculously hard to clear one of these Orc Camps as a level 85)
Another thing I was thinking might be good is having the zone get dark, like super dark, or limit the player's visibility in some way. These could also be counteracted by these Rubywall campfires, Priest/Fire spells, etc. This might also be a mechanic that would work better in a new zone, though.
Also, these special campfires should be stackable to a reasonable degree as well. At least 10-20. Not 5 or less. Or, if they are not stackable, let them last much much longer, like 15 min or more.
Lastly, consider having perma campfires in this zone at both the entrances to the zone from Povus and Kur. It's not a huge deal, but it lets players take a second to plan out their actions and such after their deaths. Being on a timer while traversing a zone is complication enough, if players have a spot where they can “breathe” and do some planning, it makes it just slightly more palatable.
EDIT (November 2023):So, I've been playing with a Fire/BC build and I think Fire-based builds can survive just fine in Gazluk with reasonable buffs. Perhaps this was the point. I also don't know for sure, but it could be that animal forms survive easier in the cold or could have buffs in the Survival Instincts line that help them survive longer. It also maybe could be a thing that surviving the cold becomes easier with built-in buffs from Endurance and/or Survival Instincts. This might need extensive playtesting though, to make sure any balancing is done with new players in mind to see how difficult it is at the start.
I don't know if there should be a slime/slug/archer poison resistance skill as well or not, but Iocaine Resistance doesn't seem to make things any better.
There's a problem late game where there isn't a way to sell Amazing and Great Saddles or higher gear to vendors to get their full value as far as I can tell. This might be intentional, I am not sure, but if it's a value thing, I'm not sure why the price of them isn't just decreased so players can't sell them for more than 2k anyway.
Again, assuming that this requires more end-game content or more zones to fix, thus hard to code.
This is an awesome skill and logic game. Continue to add more to it so we don't have to do War Caches 250+ times to get the synergy levels from this skill. Consider maybe something like this one? https://logic.puzzlebaron.com/init.php It could be called “magical safecracking” and use colors, numbers, and symbols maybe.
I really, really like the idea of logic puzzles as mini games or side quests, but I'm just not sure putting this into the War Caches works as well unless there were multiple safes to open. That said, I like that some rare and even really rare items are in these War Caches, so maybe I *should* be doing more of them.
I'm going to assume there's plans for these in new zones or areas maybe, so these might be hard to code.
These are old ideas I had that have mostly been fixed by other game changes or by me understanding a bit more of how the game works. Some of them are also just “I give up” changes that I'm moving here, because they were changed for the better, but not necessarily the way I thought they should be.
Exploration-like quests could be used to get new players to travel or learn more about important things without having to reference a guide or wiki. More players need to know about basic essentials like the More Info skill and the Casino Employee back door sooner, for example. I understand that it is possible the main quest line might get expanded to take the players in this direction, but a good kick in the right way may also supplement that exploration itch in the 20-40 combat skill level range for a new player.
It might help if there is a new skill called “Gossip” that could be used to turn Rumors (I realize there is already Treasure Rumors so the name of this might need changed) into Gossip Gifts (or letters) that, similar to the loading screen tips, talk about integral stuff that helps new players learn about later game mechanics so that they don't need a guide like this one to play or learn about the importance of Favor with specific NPCs. These Gossip Gifts could also be Favor rewards from certain NPCs to other NPCs considering the current rewards they give out mostly suck (and I understand that they have to suck or else it would be a problem). These favor rewards could be letters that maybe only take up space in a “mail bag” or something, too, if inventory usage was a concern.
Some of the Gossips could even require Goblinese or Orcish or even increase skill in such skills and perhaps other random skills similar to how Corpse-Talking works. They could be loot from humanoid NPCs (Skeletons/Mantises in Serbule, Goblins in Serbule Hills, Elves in Eltibule) and have a regular drop rate. I was thinking it'd be funny to tie them into Psychology as well somehow, but we already have Phrenology so maybe Lore would be a better skill for this.
Here's a few examples of Gossips/Hints the game could use (this would be a “short form” approach):
Even fourth wall breaking texts might be okay if necessary, though I'd avoid maybe being this direct about it:
NOTE: It looks like a LOT more hints were added to the loading screens, so thanks for that. I still think maybe an NPC Gossip system might be kind of easy/fun and be super unique for PG to implement. I go into a few options below.
If done correctly, a trading system for Gossip (humanoids would have a chance to drop these, maybe the cultists in Eltibule, or the Mantises in Serbule) could even be implemented, allowing for very small favor increases (like +1-5 or something). These would require a lot of running around as certain players would want only certain gossip. For a new player this could be difficult, but could really introduce a new player to the game and the roles specific NPCs play. Plus, Rita and Blanche would have another purpose in Serbule to introduce new players to NPCs and favor.
Perhaps maybe after a certain amount are turned in, NPCs give free Treasure Rumors to tie it into that skill? I'm just game theorying it out here, but it might make more sense for these to come from NPCs as a reward for finding Gossip than just random mob kills.
Here's an example of this. Blanche is concerned about other happenings after you discover the red crystal and promises to pay you for any intel you might find while traveling. You kill a crazed cultist in Eltibule and discover “Gossip: Kidnapping Plans” that have a detailed description of the cult plotting to kidnap someone who could control the weather. You take the plans to Blanche, she pays some minuscule amount of money (say 100-500 councils) for it and then tells you to “check on” two elves that recently arrived and are squatting at a keep in South Serbule Hills, and gives you back a “Gossip:Kidnapping Warning” or something that you can give to the NPCs, either Trasen or Merriana, for a small boost in Favor as well.
I can go even further, maybe NPC chatter, while seemingly random, actually has a purpose. You can level your “Overhearing” skill (with synergy bonuses from and to other language skills) when NPCs talk in a specific zone, leading to better Gossip rewards or gifts that both gives the player advice as well as turns into something that can be “traded up” to lead to another piece of gossip in another area or with another NPC. Perhaps gossip could lead to quests, too.
While this does require a bit more work to code, player created tips in the game could essentially be turned into NPC-repeated gossip. Players could rate the gossip on a roleplaying scale even, ensuring that the NPCs are only repeating chatter that works and that the players are looting gossip that fits in with the game as a whole. Problem gossip could be reported or reviewed before the NPC starts actually saying it. This actually could get really complex, too, but I'll stop there. Again, maybe all this is more of a 2.0 feature, but I think a robust system like this would add to the uniqueness PG brings to the MMO genre.
Add a vendor that will buy any gear and have a window that explains early on about price or sell limits for vendors. Cleo Conyer has helped, but introducing players to how vending in the game is different, even early on tutorial island, might be warranted.
Come up with some sort of way to let players get Mentalism or maybe Fire Magic on the tutorial island. I think Mentalism makes more sense and it would just be another way players could deal with the dummy. It also gives the impression early on there is more than one way to play the game and gives players a way to get off the island without being forced into thinking they have already sunk too much time into unarmed or sword and thus are required to stick with a melee skill.
I don't know if this is as big of an issue, but I think tanking is needed to solo in the late game, but space is also an issue, too, so Cloth gear is also still necessary. One hour of Povus-grinding basically fills up most player inventories, I can't imagine trying to do it in full metal armor. Also, I think Metal Armor was “buffed” to add a bit more mana on combat refresh, but I'm still hesitant to try it after having been burned so hard when I tried it last time. The solo gear route for end game content still pretty heavily encourages Cloth Chest and Legs for the inventory and then Metal for everything else. I'm not sure why players use anything else.
“More Info” deserves multiple mentions during the early part of the game. Perhaps the first few times the player's inventory fills up. Perhaps the first ten times they see a loading screen. Perhaps also as part of a “gossip” or “rumors” system.
I see this is in the loading screen now. I guess maybe it's alright because I don't hear as many questions in game about how to know what to do with certain items, but it's hard to know how new players learn about these things.
Words of Power should only work in Nearby/Party/Tell tab. This is just a quality of life improvement, but would be good to cut down on people thinking Global or other places are a good place to use them. Make them not work at all in certain tabs and players will be much less likely to spam.
Additionally, it would appear that these are on a cycle as I've randomly had some not work and ones that I once used now work again. I just stopped using them altogether as I've had so many of my words fail to work, presumably because several players just have sheets of the stuff and go down through them to take other player's words of power and now that essentially everyone knows this is happening they are all doing it.
EDIT: Still a problem as of March of 2022. I attempted to use a Human Illusion WOP that I had made about a year ago and never shared with another soul and it didn't work. This needs fixed or at least should be addressed or acknowledged for new players.
Endurance may need to be a bit more defined or slightly easier to level around the mid-game. If I play the game well, I don't get hit, which means I have to actually play the game poorly or level a secondary pair of slow-tanking-based combat skills to properly level Endurance.
I'm removing most of my comments on a different system because I just don't know how to balance the game around this. Maybe a Dodge skill would work if done in tandem with endurance, but it just seems weird that to get tankier you need to get hit more. I guess it's not that weird as an in-real-life interpretation of the skill, but it is kind of weird in a “I want to be a better tank, let me just go AFK farming for a few hours spamming my basic attack and First Aid at some bears in Eltibule.” Maybe there should just be something in the game that explains this so players understand the mid-game is actually just going to be hard for a solo unless you take some time to level Endurance back in the newbie areas like the Ranalon Cave or with bears in Eltibule.
This section was moved because it looks like we are getting a way to use Combat Wisdom to buff the Foretold in Prophecy items.
Recent changes were made to drop the extra treasure mods that made balancing hard. I like the idea of Mastercrafted items, too. What I think could be done as a solution to give players a little bit of a boost to gear without adding treasure mods is making the new legendaries that are crafted “Imbue-able” by taking them out on a certain raiding mission or something to break them in.
Maybe you head out with your yellow gear and it gets a unique but not overpowered mod based on which type of “dungeon boss” you kill while wearing it first. So if the top out on gear levels is 120, say that level 60 and lower gear you have to run one of the four dailies to get this unique treasure mod imbued on it. You can only wear one piece of imbue-able gear at once that is “honed” for imbuing ahead of time using some Artificing skill or maybe even Sigil Scripting or Gadgetry combined with Rubywalls or other Gems. Or maybe this is where Combat Wisdom comes in? Like you can activate the “Master Barrage” (mentioned on the Combat Wisdom wiki page) but only if a certain gear piece has been imbued with it? With 5 pieces of crafted/imbueable gear (or 6 with belts), that would let players “specialize” in just those skills.
Otherwise, an example might be that a Dark Chapel “boss” might make your gear more likely to get Treasure mods affecting X Ability Types/Tags. Ice Cave for Y Ability Types/Tags. Then Winter Nexus for Z types, etc.
A higher level (for 60-120, maybe similar or the next step up from the Aurest Mission) Daily system would imbue gear with one more mod above level 60, making it go from yellow to orange like Legendary to “Mythic” or “Eternal” or something. Maybe non-crafted gear could get two free imbues if not already yellow or something, too.
I'm not saying this is a great solution to the problem of balancing crafted vs. looted gear, but it's one option that might make crafting less necessary but still beneficial for high level gear yet still encourage people to fight mobs to get the “best gear”.
I don't hear about issues with Marna not buying items in chat anymore so this might not be an issue anymore. Now with Cleo Conyer in Serbule Hills, this might not be as big of a deal. I also think maybe something was introduced to explain to new players how Marna's favor works so hopefully there won't be Steam reviews complaining about this anymore.
A players first experience with harsh environments needs to be a little bit easier. Kur is the first zone in the game where the RPG aspect turns into something many MMORPG fans have never seen before. It's a huge shock to them. Over time, it's a net positive immersion-wise to have this environment be this harsh this early, but it takes a while to acclimate to it, I think.
I've removed most of my suggestions here, because again, I just don't know what to do to fix this really aside from some sort of cross-zone quest that gives the player an objective. But I think finding Nightshade is already a planned quest now with the main storyline so this is probably not going to be an issue anymore. I think Kur is still a shock for new players, but maybe it's a good one at this point. It's certainly easier to get to Kur Outpost now than in the last zone.
I think with the main quest line leading into Kur and a likely suggestion as part of that to bring a piece of wood for the fire at the start of the zone, this is going to be more than sufficient.