Tanthallas

Join Date 08/2010

Some thoughts on noteable locations/quests and items

Hello,

First I would like to say that I am hugely impressed with Stardocks dedication to this game. I am not a fanboy as I have never played a Stardock game - I have also never seen such extensive patching and dedication to a game during the first weeks of its release (aside from MMO's, which one would expect continued dedication to as they wish to maintain subscriptions/add new ones). I am also quite impressed with the community and the level of interaction; something rare has happened in that it seems Stardock places alot of weight on the community and actually listens to their ideas. I only purchased this game during a random walk down a video game isle in a department store because it reminded me of Lords of Magic, and, for all of its flaws atm, I am glad that I did - it is not only similar to it but it has huge potential.

---- Notable Locations and Quests; World Theme and 'spawning' locations ----

I find the researching of notable locations/quests before their global appearance, or more specifically the ability of players to influence the global environment, to be one of the more creative innovations of Elemental. For strategic games in general, I believe, progress is made when a new idea is able to successfully incorporate more elements into the sphere of competition. The issues I have, then, are not so much with this general concept (individual decisions being determinant of the global environment - which I find fascinating), but with the technical details of its implementation and functioning. In particular:

1) I do not believe that a tech determined level cap on dungeons is desirable;

2) I do not believe that the best way to incorporate the overall concept is for the world to become littered with new notable locations/quests as the Adventure tree is further advanced;

3) I do not believe that the current distribution of revealed quests/locations is at all sound for a strategic game (i.e., notable locations/quests are neither scarce nor unique);

4) I do not believe that the current state of items recieved through loot/quests is anywhere near where it could and should be. Actually, there are no items received from straight 'loot', which I find unacceptable;

5) I do not believe that the current mass of discoverable items is anywhere near sufficient;

Overall, the notable location/quest and loot issues are tied closely together which is why I thought to make a joint discussion of them. I was planning on further commenting constructively, however for a lack of time I will just post this now and (hopefully) get responses from people who agree/disagree.

Keep up the good work Stardock. Thanks.

elemental

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davidvoss@gmail.com

Join Date 04/2003

+14

I'm confused by #3 and #5 because they seem contradictory. Or am I confusing locations with discoverable items?

Do you think there should be more or less quests?

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Quoting Gravedancer,

reply 1

I'm confused by #3 and #5 because they seem contradictory. Or am I confusing locations with discoverable items?

Do you think there should be more or less quests?

I think one is talking about quantity, and another about variety. There is a rather tiny number of different quests.

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#3 is referring to there being too many notable locations/quests of the SAME type (no diversity through games just a cut and paste job to each game) AND to the rule for determining their DISTRIBUTION throughout the map being seemingly made for ages 5-10 years old (Every game I play i do the exact same quests; the exact same notable locations; get the exact same loot - I feel no need to compete for them). These may be extended to an argument about the QUALITY of the items available in the game - if the places where you get items in the first place lack depth and variety, it is a small step to seeing that the items attained through them also do.

# 5 is referring strictly to the QUANTITY of discoverable items in the game. Aside from their lack of depth and differentiation, which can be derived from point three, there simply is not enough in general. There are literally only a select few items that can be attained from notable locations and quests.

Sorry for the confusion. It may be that quantity and quality of items are both issues at the moment in Elemental, or atleast I see them as issues, and thus seem to merge in a conversation like this.

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I love having notable and quest locations scattered all over my lands, and it's fun to send my sov to go to those places while I wait for mana to regenerate. Without the quests and notables, I'd have nothing to do while I wait. But there should be better loot and the dragon egg quest should work all the time (I haven't been able to get it to work and read several posts of others who couldn't either.) Loot after battles (not just gildar) would be a great addition. Especially when you kill a sov from another faction--you should get his gear!

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there should be much much harder quests and much better armor. think legendary weapons and such that can tip the balance of a war with the great power they grant your sovereign. relics of the old titans, made of metals that no longer exist, etc.

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Difficulty of dungeons - and actual dungeons - both in terms of scarcity and quality would have to be implemented first and not just given to us like candy.

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