Quest rewards
I've now played three games under beta 1Z1 and, while there's more to look at and it feels more like a game, I'm finding the game less fun than earlier betas. Here's a first pass at a few things that are killing the fun factor:
1. Monsters are a LOT tougher than in any of the earlier betas and there are a lot more of them. My leader used to be able to at least handle a black widow but now she dies 2 - 3 times before she can kill one and that's simply because the monsters don't seem to heal while the leader can.
2. The idea of the pioneer unit is good but doesn't seem to be any way to determine, short of trying to build on a resource, whether the resource in question is one that at pioneer can build on.
3. In the three games I've played under 1Z1 I've never managed to get any of the housing techs. Randomness in the tech tree is a nice thing but things like this are just annoying.
4. Research is taking MUCH longer in 1Z1.
5. Lack of money. In earlier betas it was possible to build a few cities and build enough city improvements to pay for a modest garrison in each city while still having a few units roaming the map. That's not really feasible in 1Z1.
6. Can't build enough housing. For reasons I don't understand I've been unable to build any huts in my capitol city in two out of three games. This is with the capitol founded in the starting square.
7. Quests are inconsistent in terms of whether they can be completed or not.
8. Quest rewards and found items are inconsistent in terms of whether the bonus stated in the item description is actually applied to the leader that holds or uses the item. An example is a sword that declared a +4 to attack strength in the description but only gave a +2 bonus to the leader's attack strength.
That's it for now. The game definitely crashes less often and I like the direction things are going but the current beta feels more like a "slog" than any of the recent betas.
I am only offering my opinion as contrast. No offense meant. This is from the perspective of a new tester starting at 1Z.
1 - Monsters are not to tough for me. I just make sure I have at least one red shirt with me at all times.
2 - Mousing over a resource will give you a small grey blurb below the resource description that says what tech is required to harvest it.
3 - I have gotten the option of every housing tech up to estates in every game I have played. (Going on about 8 games now)... I can not relate to this.
4 - Research does have a steep cost curve, but so long as I keep expanding and building research, the curve stays relitivaly geometric and managable. Whoas them who do not invest in studies!
5 - Right around Civ level 6 you can get the marketplace... Which is where money begins to flow nicely in this build. I find it refreshing actually; the fact that a starting town begins rather helpless and requires modest attention at first. it compliments the new pooled resource mechanic IMO.
6 - Once again, I always make sure my minimum housing is enough to reach the next city level before building to many non-growth related buildings. This way my cities are always growing. (This took me about 5 games to figure out).
7 - Quests are hard broken for me as well... I am guessing the mod-able XML nature of them is making them a bit tricky compared to card code.
8 - My only gripe on items is the lack of adequate explanation as to how they get moved from unit to unit... Still have not figured that out. (assuming its possible)
Now back to testing I go!
