lyvani
08-09-2004, 04:10 AM
New Maximum Level
The maximum level is being raised to 275!!
Yay. I am lvl 110-something. If I REALLY push it, I might make 126 before the expansion. Only problem is, to do that, I would have to kill more mobs than I'd like and I would prolly get brurned out in the process. Killing endless mobs is not fun.
Augmentation Gems
After reaching 126 you can opt to get Augmentation Gems. No word on whether these are crafted, looted, quested, etc.
However once you have one you can activate it by spending xp and it will give various affects, some mentioned:
- drop less items on death
- another pack space
This is kind of interesting. Only problem is that since you have to spend XP on it, you would still have to kill endless hoards of mobs. And that's still no fun.
New PC Race
I could care less. Guess it's nice if you want to reroll, or if your are new to the game. If I want one, I would have to kill endless mobs to get the new char to my level. Not fun.
Graphics Update
The graphics update will move from 16-bit to 32-bit texture buffers and move from DirectX 7 to DirectX 9.
If I cared about graphics, I wouldn't play AC.
New Critters
We get new critters practically every month. What's new?
No Elder Game Land Control
Due to the lukewarm reaction to the land control aspect initially announced, it was shelved.
It will be developed after the expansion pack as a downloaded 'booster' that will be automatically given to everyone with the expansion pack. Slated to be done Fall 2005.
So... Nothing to do but slaughter endless mobs and doing a few quests (maybe 2 a month?) until Fall 2005? No thanks.
I think the "lukewarm" reaction was because ppl didn't know how you would implement it and doubted that you would be able to make it fun, challanging, balanced and worthwhile.
Rare Drops
Interesting. But I guess the "common" rares will be useless and the "good" rares will be impossible to find.
What disturbs me the most is that the only things I find interesting is not expansion-pack material, but should be added in monthly patches. And the things we really could use, like diversified gameplay (something other than killing endless mobs) and meaningful eldergame is left out.
What this game needs (IMO) is more quests. Quests that do things different. Quests that does not include the slaughtering of endless mobs. Some quests that I really like is the Garlean quest and Elysas favour. Those are nice.
It also needs to reward something else than endless slaughtering of mobs. This could tie in with the Augmentation gems.
What if instead of spending XP on them, you spend some sort of "credit". These credits could be gained in several ways.
1. Turning in questitems to a npc. This would encourage ppl to do more quests, and doing quests would have a meaning even if the usual reward was useless.
2. Killing different kinds of mobs. Each time you kill a new kind of mob you would get a credit. This would move ppl out of dungeons and make them explore more.
3. Explorer-credits. When I was new to the game, I used to travel to the different landmarks marked on the map, just to see what's there. How aobut shrines placed at various places on the landscape, or at the bottom of dungeons, which grants credits when used? Instead of ppl running past dungeons with the comment "xp sucks in there", they would think "cool, a dungeon I havn't been in, let's explore it".
I posted more ideas about quests in this thread:
http://forums.ac.turbinegames.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11681
The maximum level is being raised to 275!!
Yay. I am lvl 110-something. If I REALLY push it, I might make 126 before the expansion. Only problem is, to do that, I would have to kill more mobs than I'd like and I would prolly get brurned out in the process. Killing endless mobs is not fun.
Augmentation Gems
After reaching 126 you can opt to get Augmentation Gems. No word on whether these are crafted, looted, quested, etc.
However once you have one you can activate it by spending xp and it will give various affects, some mentioned:
- drop less items on death
- another pack space
This is kind of interesting. Only problem is that since you have to spend XP on it, you would still have to kill endless hoards of mobs. And that's still no fun.
New PC Race
I could care less. Guess it's nice if you want to reroll, or if your are new to the game. If I want one, I would have to kill endless mobs to get the new char to my level. Not fun.
Graphics Update
The graphics update will move from 16-bit to 32-bit texture buffers and move from DirectX 7 to DirectX 9.
If I cared about graphics, I wouldn't play AC.
New Critters
We get new critters practically every month. What's new?
No Elder Game Land Control
Due to the lukewarm reaction to the land control aspect initially announced, it was shelved.
It will be developed after the expansion pack as a downloaded 'booster' that will be automatically given to everyone with the expansion pack. Slated to be done Fall 2005.
So... Nothing to do but slaughter endless mobs and doing a few quests (maybe 2 a month?) until Fall 2005? No thanks.
I think the "lukewarm" reaction was because ppl didn't know how you would implement it and doubted that you would be able to make it fun, challanging, balanced and worthwhile.
Rare Drops
Interesting. But I guess the "common" rares will be useless and the "good" rares will be impossible to find.
What disturbs me the most is that the only things I find interesting is not expansion-pack material, but should be added in monthly patches. And the things we really could use, like diversified gameplay (something other than killing endless mobs) and meaningful eldergame is left out.
What this game needs (IMO) is more quests. Quests that do things different. Quests that does not include the slaughtering of endless mobs. Some quests that I really like is the Garlean quest and Elysas favour. Those are nice.
It also needs to reward something else than endless slaughtering of mobs. This could tie in with the Augmentation gems.
What if instead of spending XP on them, you spend some sort of "credit". These credits could be gained in several ways.
1. Turning in questitems to a npc. This would encourage ppl to do more quests, and doing quests would have a meaning even if the usual reward was useless.
2. Killing different kinds of mobs. Each time you kill a new kind of mob you would get a credit. This would move ppl out of dungeons and make them explore more.
3. Explorer-credits. When I was new to the game, I used to travel to the different landmarks marked on the map, just to see what's there. How aobut shrines placed at various places on the landscape, or at the bottom of dungeons, which grants credits when used? Instead of ppl running past dungeons with the comment "xp sucks in there", they would think "cool, a dungeon I havn't been in, let's explore it".
I posted more ideas about quests in this thread:
http://forums.ac.turbinegames.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11681