Blight Update 174 Discussion

[Andurel]

Also many people have more accounts and L 0 characters as plotholders.
This patch force them to level all these chars to L 20.
If they dont they wont be able to buy a new plot, unless its their neighbours plot, with these plotholders.
This means getting them away from the plotstone, if possible and start leveling, then run past the skulks to bristugo and Dalimond.
it reminds me of that desease we had in 2004. All my characters had to do that quest to get cured permanently. The first char was fun, the 2nd not so much anymore and after that I stopped. After a while they fortunately got cured without doing the quest.
Changing an excisting game is something you have to be very carefull with.
I hope that people will not react like I did with that desease and decide to cut down a few accounts

[Dracaena]

I have not done the quests with visits to Dralk and Chiconis being spoken about, but I think it's important for young dragons to know about these places and their parts in our dragon's world.

With the community being so strong here, I don't think it would be very difficult for a low level character to get an escort of high level players in order to complete these two objectives.

This is true during peak play times, but we have too much of an international player population to gear something for peak US play times. The real problem is all the dragon ablity quests that we MUST go to Chiconis for.

I was working a mage quest last night with my biped. I botched the first attempt and the mob despawned. I dropped quest and it didn't matter if I went to Kion or Dalimond to pick the quest up again. Dragons don't get that much leeway.

The dragon cities have always been important hubs for all dragon players even if we don't spend the whole day there. The addition of Gerix to Kion added a layer of difficulty, as it was no longer possible to just visit the dragon cities and speak to the trainers. You had to travel to Kion to get permission to train. Gerix doesn't even tell you about the craft ablity quests, no npc does. The ONLY way new players find those quests is by bumping into the trainers while exploring Chiconis/Dralk or talking to an elder player. Those quests start at craft lv10. I have seen hatchlings that decide to work craft first and are under lv5, yet craft 30 or 40. To have to run to Chiconis for every dragon quest if you are under lv20 is insanity. Not many new players will do it.

Not to mention we have enough trouble already with the stoneworking trainer sitting in the oastic field at Dralk. It hasn't been a week since I heard a hatchling in market channel say it was a good thing they could accept quest when dead. Adding more difficulty to reaching trainers doesn't add more fun, it adds tedium and the game becomes a job. Most aren't looking for a job when they want entertainment.

Though I suppose it depends on where you are trying to go with this. If you are trying to reduce the number of dragon players then you might be on the right track. There will be fewer new dragons that stay.


Dracaena

[Guaran]

I think the attuning of the various pads, along with auto-attuning of others would be a good way to steer new players where they need to go next.

For example. For new dragon hatchlings, Kion, Chiconis, and Dralk could be auto-attuned. Or, the dragon on new trismus can attune them to Kion, Gerix in Kion can attune them to Chiconis and Dralk. In this way the new player is guided around where they need to go, and the quests progress logically as they level. Dragons will somewhat sidestep the tiered areas as far as attunements go, because quests exist in those locations (Dralk is tier 4), and making massive changes to those quests doesn't accomplish much for the work involved, and hatchies should be going to those cities anyway, even if they are below the cities' tier in level. Most other locations would require the hatchy to walk there to be attuned, including bristugo, or fly when an adult, etc. Only exception to this I can think of is Saritova island (hatchies can't fly there, nor can bipeds). Perhaps the guild towns there could be left out of requiring a trip to attune to, or a quest be placed in Bristugo to attune to Saritova (like drakul is quested from Dralk).

For bipeds something similiar can be done. The have to walk to dralk and chiconis to attune (for example). But if its a half-giant, mahagra is auto attuned. Dwarf, Aughundell is auto attuned. Elf, Feledan is auto attuned, etc etc. The rest can be walked to and attuned in the normal way by greeting the gatekeeper. This doesn't necessarily guide the level 15 to 20 somethings in adventure, but at least it maintains a connection to their race, and guarantees at least one initial major city is always available (exception to this would be dryads, who could also be auto attuned to say Feledan, and Satyr's who could be auto attuned to say Kion). And the Kion attunement, obtained while on new trismus, can be a quest for both peds and hatchlings. While in kion one of the quests can be to journey to Bristugo and Dalimond and attune (with directions), and begin taking new quests while there. They can be easily walked to, and it isn't even that far of a walk.

I like the way that abandonded island is currently reached. So even tho it is tier 2, the process remains as is. All players could possibly be attuned to the tier 1 island genevia island by a quest on kion. From there they can walk to the cave leading to abandoned island for attunement as well as all the tier 2 settlements on scorpion island, Three sisters islands, and even Shepderds mountain. Or they could be required to walk down there and attune.. tho this is a long walk. Perhaps a delivery quest from the Bristugo Gatekeeper to the Genevia Gatekeeper which pays 100s. Enough incentive for new players to do it They could attune along the way to Solitaire, Elmnic, Darvus, Slate Hills, and Bridgehold while on the way to Genevia.

The existing trandalar settlements with quests can remain as is. And the remaining that were added later require greeting a gatekeeper to attune.

For any low level toons who happen to be on Sheperds Mountain, you can in fact walk from there all the way to bristugo, and attune. It only has to be done once, and this is only lowbie toons who happen to already be there, which more than likely means experienced player.

"What if I have an Alt lowbie toon I left on Island X, and then they go and make everything require attuning!?!" Well, let's examine the possibilities:

Satyr Islands, Isles of Battle (Arena), Peak of Storms, Balit's Island, Werewolf Island, Labrynth, Rift. You can't bind to any of these, so any toon here can just recall. Lowbie toon couldn't get to the Rift anyway.

Island of Ice, Island of Fire. Can't bind there, plus you can walk to the mainland.

Falathien, Shepherds Mountain, Three Sisters (islands with Tavu, Apia, Sakon), Scorpion Island, Genevia, Trandalar: All have outgoing teleporters, plus you can walk to the mainland. (Yes, even from Trandalar)

Saritova, Drakul. have outgoing teleporters (multiple on each). Perhaps adding the racial cities to the outgoing teleporters (That do not already have them) would be a good idea, to keep a alt from getting permastuck there (if bound to a plot). Assumes the auto-attune to at least one city part of the idea is implemented, or those locations could have an 'available anyway' destination such as Bristugo (implemented similiar to the teleporter players use to initially get to Trandalar from the tower, or to Abandonded island the first time. Those doesn't require attunement)

Aedan & Serenity. no outgoing teleporter, but only dragons can get there in the first place, after doing attunement quests in Kion, etc. It is possible a hatchy could be bound there (and couldn't fly to the mainland). But this possibilty already exists even today, and I have yet to hear of this ever happening. In any case outgoing teleporters to say Dralk and Chiconis at least, might be nice. (Especially considering the high costs paid for the master plots). Perhaps the quest to attune to these locations requires the Dragon to be an adult, I don't know. If so then nothing to worry about for these two islands.

All in all, the "require attuning" could be done, and with only a few small tweaks prevent toons from perma-binding to the few truely remote places (Aedan, Serenity, Saritova. Drakul already has Dralk and Chiconis on one of the outgoing teleporters).

I agree that the level requirement should be dropped, as a concession to those with low level plot holders and mules. Make the trip once, any level should suffice for binding to the biped settlements.

[LOVWYRM]

Thank you Guaran- that was a hard piece of work, I guess.

Though I do not agree in all points, that sounds like a good compromise!
I really appreciate your proposal!

If that was a contract I would sign it.

[AmonGwareth]

ok what happens if you have binded your char on Shephard mountain ? and cannot portal to Bristugo because you are not attuned there?
Bristugo is the only destination you can go to from Bristugo

I am looking at thsi to possibly add some additional destinations, but you did know that you can walk all the way from Shepherd's Mountain to the mainland right? They are connected by bridges. Its a long walk, to be sure, but it is available.

FYI, the attunement quest requirements will be lowered to level 1 for the next patch.

[starlight]

I find this to be a bug i tested out evasive, power and defensive styles on blight and evasive style overwrites combat stance blue and red, this means special attacks loos their damage bonus while player is in evasive style. Evasive style is still broken an i would say needs to be fixed that it does not overwrite the combat stances
my second comment is this attuning matter i personally find it rediculous that older players have to run all over istaria a second time just to attune to normal racial cites and bristugo is rather foolish to me.

[Sigi]

I wouldn't mind attuning - running as an older player all over Istaria again - if the attuning had something more of a quest in it, not just talking to the responsible person.

[AmonGwareth]

wonder what this means exactly -

"Primal Attack spell to treasure tables"

Is this like the flame, ice, energy attack spells?

Yes, exactly like that.

[Great Phoenix]

i dont know if it was already discussed yet, but in certain places in the road in south march where the elm trees are. the road bonuses are not applying where they should be.

sofar the known coords are:

23396, 20121 thru 23552, 19955 along the road in elm tree fields

[Nambroth]

I admit I am completely confused and a bit disappointed. Of all the things that can be worked on in the game, why change so much so that folks must attune to these racial cities?
What about the <level 10 quest for dragons that has them port to Dralk and Chiconis (now requiring a attunement and with a level requirement) to meditate at the shrines? Changing that quest feels cheap, is it's the first one to really introduce the idea of faction to beginning dragons.
Also, as much of a pain as was for my alternate characters, when I first started playing I was grateful for Gerix in sending me to the different trainers to get my level 10 quests as a dragon. I don't know if I would have ever found the trainers otherwise as a new player!

One complaint a few of my friends that played the game (and have since canceled) had was the huge vast expanses of landscape they had to run in Horizons/Istaria just to get somewhere with a city, a mob or even another player. Why are you making this worse? I know a lot of the veteran players enjoy the huge expanses of Istaria. I do too. But at least for low level players, getting places shouldn't take an eon. Unless I am just confused and the game is no longer really seeking new blood.

My last hope is this: I keep seeing folks say "BUT! Did you know you CAN get there from this port?" Which is great for us older players that know where things are, but I sincerely genuinely hope that you are giving quests with explicitly clear instructions on how to get to these places for new folks.

[Guaran]

Well, they need to make players attune, because simply porting ANYWHERE made a lot of the cool and fun stuff they did pointless. My best example of this is Trandalar settlements. When Trandalar was first put in, it had 5 pads, and to get there you went across the ice to the tower (sorcery?) thats north of Mahagra, climbed to the top, and found a teleporter there and could port to valley of repose. Then once there you could begin some attunement quests. That was fun and adventurous.

So then what happens when they added more plots and landing pads a year or 2 later? No attunement needed. So now, players no matter what could just immediately bypass that first trip on foot and port right to Acul... what a rip. Totally bypassing all the work that went into Trandalar for getting there the first time and attuning. Same thing for attuning to Morning Light. Just port to one of the new pads on Falathien, run back across the bridge and attune. So lame. Took all the fun out of exploring the world on foot, running into new unknown dangers. That was something that was really fun about the old Istaria (especially pre-map days).

IMHO this is the right direction to go (almost every pad should require attunement). And typically all a player will need to do to attune to these places is make the trip once on foot. And Hatchies can easily do so. I managed to get deep into eastern deadlands when I was only lvl 20, before there was a map. Proceeded to even attack a lvl 100 Avatar of Pain (with like 10 marrows in tow) even tho I knew I would probably die (which I did pretty much instantly, whirlwind x 10 = dead). If you read my suggestion on the matter, I've proposed that Gerix can have a quest which attunes hatchlings to Chiconis and Dralk, so at the time they need to go there, they can do so quite easily. It's a good idea since its a long run to a new player, for a place they actually do need to go to. Everyplace else they should be required to run it (like Feledan, Mahagra, Harro, etc.).

In fact, all those new pads which got added that I mentioned above, that didn't require any attuning to the remote locations in the world, should be immediately changed to have a gatekeeper and require attunement (without waiting for a tier revamp to reach those areas.) In this I'm talking about settlements. And since Bristugo is the main gateway TO those settlements, and its in the tier 2 area currently being revamped, it makes sense to address these other pads attunement requirements now.

[StalePopcorn]

*nods* Guaran has it right. More attunement I say! *ducks quickly*

The changes are not designed to inconvenience "elder" players, but to create a path for new players. The T2 revamp IMHO is supposed to provide a path. We are currently able to head from the tutorial islands -> training islands -> Lesser Aradoth (T1). These should require no attunement because it is impossible to travel between these locations any other way.

For T2 however, players should have enough experience to be able to make the trip from Lesser Aradoth to Dali/Bristugo with ease. And it only takes 10 minutes or so to leg it. This provides a path for new players to travel and learn about Istaria.

For older players (myself included) - yes it is an extra 10 minutes of time to spend (per attunement even), and yes this has been "taken away" from you... but heck, the scenery is nice, and I made a point of dropping in on a few sand beetles that used to give me grief on the way to say "hi - remember me?"

At worst, it is a minor inconvenience IMHO

[Vahrokh]

I think the attuning is generally a good idea. The lands are tiered, you will not need to go there ( as a new player) until you are of sufficient level anyway.

It should make the world more dangerous and exciting, and exploring more fun. And I know players will be able to make it to chiconis, etc. because I remember getting all the way into the heart of eastern deadlands when i was a 22 hatchling.

select-nearest-enemy.
press repeatedly.
steer clear of anything you target.

Make it to harro as a level 15 hachling? perfectly possible. necessary? nope.

I hope all the pads require attuning in the future, especially the ones in the far flung places like trandalar (acul etc) and falathien's pads.

Besides, walking there on foot gives the world cache time to download.

Do you recall when we dragons would go to Western Deadlands (when there were those elemental skeletons yet) and complete the relevant part of RoP in solo? Old times...

[Guaran]

Yup. And there wasn't even a world map. I navigated by landmarks.

The world felt bigger, more dangerous, and more exciting.

They can recapture some of this for new players by not having practically every destination immediately available.