Thoughts on blight anchors upon returning from a break

[Joolara]

I've been gone for a few months, and have returned just a couple of days ago.

There have been lots of little improvements that have pleased me(like the fact that trees, paths and walls are easier to build), but the one thing that has kept me playing for hours since I first logged back in is the lack of anchors!

The reason for this is simple - anchors made it much harder to relax back and chat while I crafted, and it is chatting while crafting that I find one of the most fun elements of the game. I get the satisfaction of crafting and feeling like I am progressing, but the chat distracts me from the grind of what I am doing. Not to mention that I really like alot of the people in the game, and I like chatting with them - in character or out of character.

Now the blight anchors could possible be used to break up the crafting process and make it more interesting, but they become repetative and a grind in themselves. So I end up grinding, but not being able to chat without constant interruptions, as they are dangerous and if I don't pay attention I could die andend up with so many death points that I can't craft.

I enjoy fighting as much as the next person, but I enjoy chatting and crafting too. I really didn't like the anchors in the craft areas, but I am liking it now they are gone. I hear many, many people are saying the same thing.

[Jaraiden]

Blight anchors in resource areas are a valid tactic, just like killing peasants in Age of Kings or peons in World of Warcraft. I don't remember many blight anchors in crafting areas, but would only need to gather from one of many resource areas and get out if a Blight anchor appears (and craft elsewhere).

Maybe I am misunderstanding . . . were Blight anchors at many crafting shops you relied upon, all at the same time? (you said crafting, right? Not gathering from X, Y, or Z then crafting at A, B, or C).

Anyway, where should Blight anchors appear? Strategic frontier towns would be a great idea. Chokepoints between towns also (except portals defeat that strategy). Bristugo would be excellent. Although AE made a precedence that they don't destroy structures (Avatar of Pain's romps in ML and Harro) . . . but ironically some construction is destroyed and not others (fountains and walls in non-NPC towns . . . . odd,:: shrugs :: ).

At some point, the WA will - or should - make their presence known. After all is not their goal to battle and take over the lands of the living? So far, they are just hanging out in static, defined, areas. The Avatar of Pain is gone, still (right?) and the roaming spawns from Blight anchors are gone for now.

Blight anchors should be coming back. With a vengeance. Tiers II, III, IV, V, and VI. Perhaps I also. Granted there may be a balance between what they should be doing per Istarian lore and purpose of the game and player fun. And, per normal flow of gameplay, this will allow the spectrum of players to enjoy the Blight anchors, well until a certain amount of time passes and a high level character wipes out low level tiered Blight anchors and their spawns.

Yes, it is fun to chat while crafting. WA monsters interrupt that, but shouldn't they? If you don't like it, find another resource area and crafting plan or swap schools or log in an alternate character. Change to another crafting activity where you can have fun and chat.

[imported_Ssilmath]

There is only one problem with your way of thinking, Jaraiden...There is only one mithril spawn, only one Ironsilk spawn, only one marble spawn...for the Tier V resources, there is only one place to get it, unless you go to Saritova Island, and that is a pain, not very feasable...

There needs to be a balance...broken spawn times, invisible anchors, bugged mobs and extremely difficult to clean blighted resources are the primary reason that many of us were frustrated and blight anchors were removed, even if temporarily...

Are blight anchors a good idea...Yes
Are they currently working...No
Are they potentially a lot of fun...Yes
Are they game breaking...Right now, yes

Fix the anchors, then bring them back...

[Kulamata]

I agree completely Joolara; the anchors, as an occasional diversion were fine, but they became more frequent, and more virulent;many crafters, even strong adventurers, just got disgusted. It got so that one of the strongest players in the game would log in, check the yew, log out. And the invisible anchors just capped it all.

Dunno how Saritova fared, but the material there is not that easily transported. And with morale as low as it was at the lowest, many just didn't give a ********.

Everyone should have a reasonable choice as what to do when they come in game. With materials like mith so concentrated, one anchor (especially with the later ones with very heavy spawns) could mess up the field completely; and one anchor could mess up both yew and marble. And with three or four anchors deployed simultaneously it got pretty bad.

There might be some point to going and doing something else IF adventuring parties were having a merry time whacking the things, but for far too long it was very hard to get a party together (Agaaaiinnn???) so the anchors just sat there messing things up for the crafters, and providing no entertainment for anyone, to say the least.

[evilkarl]

There are 2 spawns for t5 resources just because the second spawn on saritova is not XP/Cash handed to you on a silver platter does not make it any less of a valid resource field.

I agree with Kumu that the respawn time was the bigest issue with the anchors..well that was until they became invisible and started spawning super groups.

We are meant to be at war and fighting for our way of life yet for some reason if we want to fight the WA we have to go after them we have to venture into their regions they will not attack us. The anchors were a good part of the story they gave the feeling the WA was an active opponent now there is nothing.

Attacking the supply lines has been a tactic commonly used through history so attack craft fields makes sense.

I hope they fix the issues with the anchors and reintroduce them.

[Jaraiden]

There is only one problem with your way of thinking, Jaraiden...There is only one mithril spawn, only one Ironsilk spawn, only one marble spawn...for the Tier V resources, there is only one place to get it, unless you go to Saritova Island, and that is a pain, not very feasable...

Last I remembered from what the trainers said, and should still apply in the post-merge lands, is that the higher the tier, the harder it is to obtain - fewer spots, more remote, likely to be guarded by monsters.

Maybe I've been "spoiled" by the granite SE of Harro or the Obsidian and Cobalt SSE of ML of the pre-merge lands. Seems with player built crafting shops near most of the resources that a sort of "convenience" expectation has set in, sadly even at tier IV and V. VI next? And yes I do like the Obsidian near the Dralk crafting cave.

However, yes. The Blight anchors and their problems (and AI and purpose in grand scheme) must be resolved first.

[imported_Ssilmath]

I don't mind the resources themselves being difficult, though the porting lag issue makes Saritova kind of prohibitive for those who drop from 20 to 5 FPS after three ports (It's why I don't port often)...I don't care that the mithril is defended by reasonably difficult mobs...What I do care about is that there is a single feasable place to get Tier V resources, and when a broken anchor has taken over, it puts a 95-100% freeze on crafting there...with fixed anhcors, by all means, let them come...If there were multiple places to get the resource that didn't involve heavy porting, make the anchors more proliferant...

But don't give us one place to get something, then make it impossible for us to get it...that is my problem with the anchors...

[Phillip]

anchors are not rewarding for the effort neccessary. basically like the rest of HZ on the matter. and no, getting moredrops for crafting isn't the answer, Manga.

nothing like getting a group to go kill anchor after anchor after anchor and get nada but DPs. yeah i know, it's a community thing. yay. so after a few DPs i finally have some time for me and be running to hunt elsewhere and voila!

another anchor appears. by the Mithril. again. invisible this time.

[Death-knell]

I don't think the anchors were well thought out. Each one needed a solid group to take care of it and there are just not that many powerful players on all the time. Add to that the crazy spawn rate and you had the perfect recipe for ultimate frustration.

I liked the idea, but like a lot of TGs plan executions it was way too flawed. I'm waiting to see what they consider "fixed"

[Peaches]

The problem with anchors as I saw it:

Far Far to frequent to be enjoyable as a game experience.

And too buggy, for example, when the anchors decide to become invisible.

[Royal]

in the last weeks before the Anchors removed they were not killable (as said above) and ruined the game for many crafters. No body cared about the anchors and adventurers became to lazy to make parties and kill them.

If the anchors will be back, plz make them a bigger challenge, let the blight and mobs spread over a smaller area and make it more profitable.. (cannt find word for it) to kill them.
- high money drop (since big parties are needed to fight them)
- higher change on looting techs
- 'only way to obtain tierVI'

but be carefull to not ruin the gaming pleasure of crafter becouse of lazy (none roleplaying) adventurers

[Phillip]

you can be a rolepalying adventurer and hate that whole anchor crap. we spend much of our time killing them to help the crafters, and get crafting loot. woopidoo.

it isn't about being lazy, it's about having fun. anchors are no fun.

[Death-knell]

but be carefull to not ruin the gaming pleasure of crafter becouse of lazy (none roleplaying) adventurers

Thats almost funny. Adventurers get tired of acquiring DPs for no reason and you as a crafter are unable/unwilling to help in the cleansing ofthat particular resourcefield and the adventurers lazy? Me thinks thou needst to think on this some more!

[Joolara]

Yes, it is fun to chat while crafting. WA monsters interrupt that, but shouldn't they? If you don't like it, find another resource area and crafting plan or swap schools or log in an alternate character. Change to another crafting activity where you can have fun and chat.

I guess my point was that I did find an alternative - not playing at all.

I do like the idea of a dynamic war with the WA, but I guess being on the losing side for too long just isn't fun for me.

[BKBanzai]

Keep anchors gone, horrible things, annoying, bugged to hell and back...

Last one on Chaos was @ ironsilk, was invisible to me, my friend saw it, submerged underwater. He attacked it, it spawned mobs by the dozens, killed us both (I still never saw it). We came back (not in crafting gear, prepared to kick ******)...got our asses handed to us on a platter and crazy blight mobs running back and forth over our corpses (I think they were laughing too :< )

Anyway, it was a mover, and headed out toward Lerena, hit the mountains on the southern tip of Lerena (was heading out to sea), spawning mobs that would appear in ironsilk the whole while. Finally, a troup of rating 150+ advents went and took it out. A bit extreme, to say the very least.

OH...and there is NO backup spawn site for ironsilk :<<

[Thalak]

Yes, these were are problems with the anchors, when they first appeared they indeed had some kind of purpose, but then it just seemed to change to...yet another anchor AGAIN. They were reduced to a harassing factor, then the bugs, then the hate. Just seems like there is never a happy medium with content additions. They start off strong thenlose all steam and become pointless. Again the players were fighting the game, and not playing the game.

If anchors are to have a little enhancement, sans bug fixes, I would think they would try brute forcefirst, then start looking forweaker areas to encroch on, try to stay and have to be removed....not this anchor here, anchor there, anchor everywhere. They should have a methodto thierplacement,some kind of tactic, not some random placement generator.

Got to have reason to this, got to have purpose, it has to make sense somehow. Giving them more special attacks, unrealistic hp's, lagging spawns of endless mobs...thats all a smoke screenthat will end in the same result, disgust.

[Kwinn]

I must sypathize with crafters on this topic. The anchors were too frequent and too buggy. Toward the end of their last 'invasion' they were practically impossible to take down. I couldn't imagine the frustration the crafters must have felt over this. As a non-crafter all I did was farm the anchor mobs until a group came along to snuff it. Then I would either help or get out of their way.

That being said, I would like to see the anchors come back. But only under certain conditions.

If they are gonna infest the resource fields, then there need to be additional resource fields at least as productive as those being infested for the crafters to go to. These fields should never see an anchor or at worst, very, very rarely.

If the anchors wont be infesting resources, then they need to appear where they will do the most good(from the WA perspective). These areas would be strategic chokepoints...bridges, road junctions, main thoroughfares, Bristugo, New Rachival and Mahagra.

Fix the bugs with the anchors.

Include vexators among the anchor mobs, Aegrors too.

Do something with the loot tables for the anchors and spectres. Frankly, I would like to see a cpla epic spell quests using anchor shards and/or spectre essense.


Kwinn

[Dobro]

I was thinking about Anchors a while back, and I'min agreement with most of you. What stoped me from going out and eradicating anchors is a risk vs. reward problem. There is a high risk in dieing when fighting anchors and it's minions. The reward was somewhat lacking. It just wasn't worth the time or expense to go kill a 50K Hp monster for 5K points and little loot. The minions drop some nice stuff, but geting swarmed by 15+ mobs was just too much.

I think if they made anchors and its minionstreasure troves of Techs and Forms, they would be the most hunted and sought after things on Istaria since gold was discovered in California. This would solve several problems (probably create a few more) for adventurers and craftsmen.

[refuse]

I think if they made anchors and its minionstreasure troves of Techs and Forms, they would be the most hunted and sought after things on Istaria since gold was discovered in California. This would solve several problems (probably create a few more) for adventurers and craftsmen.

Even if each of those mobs dropped a blighted artifact that would be cool too.
More blighted weapons, of different levels would be a good start.

I have 2 that I am saving for 91st level with 0 negative effects!

(hmm +Lots O'power, +Lots O'focus in an earring!)

[Bowen_shadow]

If anchors do return, their spawn should be almost non-existant. (like 1 every 3 or 4 months) Making the game realistic as far as the storyline is an entirely different matter than game dev's just flat out making things way too difficult or obnoxious.