View Issue Details
| ID | Project | Category | Date Submitted | Last Update | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0007831 | Valley 1 | Gameplay Idea | May 14, 2012 12:19 pm | May 14, 2012 2:34 pm | |
| Reporter | Bluddy | Assigned To | |||
| Severity | minor | ||||
| Status | closed | Resolution | no change required | ||
| Product Version | 1.018 | ||||
| Summary | 0007831: Planning vs Reacting | ||||
| Description | This is something I've been thinking about. There's a continuum of planning vs reacting to a game's randomness. On the one hand, a game can give you some random things and you have to base your decisions on what it gave you. This is really great for mixing things up and keeping things interesting in the long run. For example, Diablo will give you different random weapons and that changes your playing style a little. Then there's the planning element -- you want to accomplish certain things over time, and a good game will give you a way to think about that plan. Using Diablo 2 as an example, you can plot out your skill tree path and know that you'll be able to take that path: random things will not disturb your ability to do so. Right now, I think there's a little bit of a collision between these 2 gameplay modes in AVWW, and this causes part of the feeling of 'grind'. The game is very strong on the 'planning' part: it gives you the encyclopedia so you know what to get next and where to get it. This works really well as far as 'targeted exploration' is concerned: you go in, get what you need, and get out, unless you get distracted, which is also fine. This part works really well. But at the same time, the game wants you to react to random things. This is essential, because otherwise, the game won't be able to hold your attention for very long. One of these random things is the map missions, which appear randomly and have random rewards. But here's where things don't work that well. Map missions clash against the concept of planning. I've planned for what I want to get, but now it's not available, so I have to wait around or find a way to switch missions. My plan runs counter to what the game wants me to react to at this moment. This causes frustration because I now have to slog through secret missions, finding what I want for my plan. The problem, as I see it, is map missions. Secret missions are fine, because they generate based on where I am. So if I want to find ingredient X, I know I should go to area X, and the secret missions will generate stuff that's pretty similar to what I want. There may not be enough of them right now to really provide me with what I want, but it's close. The map missions, however, are an unnecessary element in the game. I think the best source of randomness in the game (on a macro level) is from the available tiles themselves. This is a source of randomness that doesn't clash with the player's plan -- it informs that plan. The player can see right away whether the tiles that his plan requires are available. If they're covered by wind, he can plan how to deal with that. If they don't exist on the continent, he knows he can't have certain spells. Contrast this to waiting for the main missions he wants to show up on the map, then giving up and doing every secret mission he finds in the hope he'll eventually get what he wants; or going to an area hoping to unlock 'reach depth 10' and finding only caves of depth 9 -- these things break the player's plan, but they don't tell him that his plan is broken right away. A missing main mission is an ongoing frustration, while not having the cave depth the player needs is a frustration that will only reveal itself after a lot of investment by the player. The question is then how to improve the secret missions so that they're more enjoyable and clash less with the player's plan. My thinking is that after arriving at the right place, the player should be given what he wants pretty easily -- he shouldn't have to search too hard unless the specific mission reward can only spawn in deep caves or something like that. I suggest that guardian scrolls and spells use the same ingredients. This sets up the tension between improving the settlement and improving the spells at the crafting level rather than at the mission level. To be more flexible, perhaps guardian scrolls could use several alternative ingredients, so you don't suddenly wind up without any way to create a wind shelter (except the store). If you only have secret missions (ie no more map missions -- go to wherever you want to find stuff, to find that stuff) and the missions all reward ingredients, which can be used to craft all the other things, I think player frustration and much of the feeling of 'grind' will dissipate to a large degree. | ||||
| Tags | No tags attached. | ||||
| Internal Weight | New | ||||
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But, players already complain about not being able to find secret missions because they are too scarce. And, if we make them less scarce, I think it devalues them. If we need to talk about changing how map missions generate rewards, that might be doable, but, I don't think getting rid of them is the answer. |
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one of the issues i've had with secret missions is that they seem to very often have rewards that give temporary buffs to glyph bearers. I recently went through several areas and about 20 secret missions and 1 of them had material rewards, and it only gave me 2 items. Now i don't mind it not giving me tons of stuff, but if i want to work on getting crafting materials to get my spells up to spec without upping the continent tier, I have to spend hours combing through secret missions to find the very few that give materials rewards. Perhaps the chance that rewards be materials should be increased. another thought, perhaps have certain materials that are key to each element of spells be very rare in secret missions but easily obtainable in main missions, players could get their sub mats through the secret missions, and the primary mats through the main missions. As it stands now players get all of their mission only obtainable rewards through the main missions, and almost never from secret missions, at least thats what i've experienced. |
| Date Modified | Username | Field | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 14, 2012 12:19 pm | Bluddy | New Issue | |
| May 14, 2012 2:07 pm | tigersfan | Note Added: 0024226 | |
| May 14, 2012 2:07 pm | tigersfan | Internal Weight | => New |
| May 14, 2012 2:07 pm | tigersfan | Status | new => closed |
| May 14, 2012 2:07 pm | tigersfan | Resolution | open => no change required |
| May 14, 2012 2:34 pm | quinton | Note Added: 0024228 | |
| May 14, 2012 2:36 pm | quinton | Note Edited: 0024228 | |
| Apr 14, 2014 9:30 am | Chris_McElligottPark | Category | Suggestion - Gameplay => Gameplay Idea |
