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Darklords

Exploration: Part 1 - Public Testing Round 2!

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I don't like this idea that seems to come up of "treasure should be worth x silver".  Yes the reward should make it worth doing, but partly the search is the reward if the search is enjoyable and partly the worth of the reward is the distinctiveness.  Fillers are fine - to be expected even.  But wanting some kind of minimum assignable currency value seems to say "I will only do this if I am paid to" which tells me that enjoyability is hardly even in consideration.

 

I would also prefer that this not be associated with archaeology at all.  That is a whole other mechanism, with a skill attached, and I think it is good that these are actually NOT skill based.  The only needed skill is fight skill - which is the only skill that die-hard explorers build in their ramblings.  If this is about "exploration" then that is fitting.  Also, considering that distance was removed from examine on the map/clue, archaeology is just a timer-delayed skill-based tool-using form of examine (and was already tedious).

 

Edited by TheTrickster
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59 minutes ago, Stanlee said:

You: "I want no junk, here are the worst junk items"

 

I wrote this post at the beginning when the loot was just junk filled chests not worth the time spent at all. Ever since they added something of value within the junk I don't care as can simply leave what's not needed.

 

Also, I agree that distance examine was too much, you shouldn't be able to go to the spot from a starter town just by spamming examine. However, once you are in the "hot" zone it should give you some guidance as you end up digging hundred tiles or more if your not lucky.. Also, making treasure maps out of map dumps that are not easily accessible within the game itself to locate clues is wrong too imo. No new players will even know what the map dump is, also myself I could not find test server map dump easily and when you get a treasure map next to nothing with no clues, just a vague in-game map circle that was slightly out anyways in my case and spend hours digging with no clues in the wrong place - its pure frustration as a gamer, not a fun.

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51 minutes ago, Skatyna said:

No new players will even know what the map dump is

Sounds like a great mechanic to introduce map dumps lol. 

 

also devs have said that there's stuff coming that will improve it, so I guess that will make it easier

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6 hours ago, Archaed said:

 

also devs have said that there's stuff coming that will improve it, so I guess that will make it easier

One hopes, but they removed distance on examine with the aim of improvement, but the heavy lifting was not taken up by the other mechanisms, so hope is tentative at best.

 

I am hoping the next update (improving the circle accuracy) will help, because I gritted my teeth to try again and got what is below.  I can no longer tell if that is grey for rock or just greyishI have no idea where that is within the circle

 

NWpWZgm.png

 

UPDATED HINT CIRCLE!  🤣😭

 

UrFCS4A.png

 

Even with archaeology I cannot find this.  There just isn't enough differentiation on that map for me to interpret it.

 

Since the remove of distance-on-examine I have located TWO chests from dozens of caskets.  Both were right beside easily identifiable roads.  Everything else, I have hit a dead end with one of the clues because "clue" is really not the right word for these.  "Taunt"  perhaps?    If this is substantially what it will be like in live, I will probably not do any at all.  The chance of ALL the clues being resolvable is too slim to put up with the dreadful experience.  

 

I wanted to like this.  I tried to like this.  I hate it with a growing passion.

 

 

 

Edited by TheTrickster

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2 hours ago, Skatyna said:

Also, I agree that distance examine was too much, you shouldn't be able to go to the spot from a starter town just by spamming examine

True, but that should be because you can do it from the rest of the mechanics, and currently that is a crap shoot.

 

The complaints were "the clues are so terrible we have to spam examine to find the spot"  and the response was "we have removed your ability to use examine in this way".  If feels like this is almost intended to be rng on whether you get a useful map at all.

 

Edited by TheTrickster

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The gray on gray maps are the worst IMHO.  They typically don't provide any context clues or any other terrain that is identifiable.  

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Alright, I am finally on the test server testing the latest updates. First clue I got was this one at 31ql:

unknown.png

I don't even have dyslexia and I can barely read that font. Also, what the heck is "A Libila's Game" ? I'm not even going to bother trying to find this one if the only thing it'll tell me is I should dig blindly across nine map grids and hope for a sleep powder or an upkeep token. This is WAY worse than the original version of exploration already.

 

Anyway, on to my second map, at 55ql...

unknown.png

unknown.png

 

Well, the good news is, this one is significantly less frustrating off the bat. I think I'll actually see if I can find it. The colors are a little bit easier to discern, though I'd have a hell of a time recognizing the mountain splotch as being mountains without the circle telling me so. 

 

Here is my third map, at 3ql:

unknown.png

 

This is basically the same as #1. What the hell is "A Libila's Game" and why is it considered "an easy clue" for me to go search 9 map grids with absolutely nothing else to go by? This is the kind of thing I'd expect from a 99ql clue with a guaranteed supreme bone. That still wouldn't be worth the time and effort, but I'd at least understand why it's functionally impossible for me to go find it.

 

#4, a 25ql map:

unknown.png

unknown.png

 

The colors are still confusing. The mountains honestly look like they should be water to my admittedly terrible color vision, while the mountains on the actual maps look like mountains. Without the circle I'd be searching coastlines far away from where I actually need to be, so it's good that we have them. I really don't know what to make of the varying shades of splotchy color markings except that I should expect some kind of variation in the terrain. I'll give #4 a shot, as well.

 

#5: A 1ql map:

unknown.png

unknown.png

This is the first map that actually kind-of makes sense to me. The water is obviously water and I guess I can expect to find some buildings in the area maybe. That combined with the circle means I might actually stand a chance of finding this chest. Good thing it's got the worst possible rewards in the new system and could still have  two more steps after this first one.

 

 

I'm about to go try to find some of these and will make another post with my results. But my initial thoughts are that this is a terrible change and we need some form of the hot/cold examine clues to come back for this system to be even remotely enjoyable. It will still be highly frustrating, but at least it won't feel like gambling hours of our lives away.

 

I'd be fine with it being tied to the dig for treasure action, I'd be fine with it being restricted to within a certain radius of the correct spot, I'd even be fine with it being tied to the tracking skill (I kind of like that idea, even). I would not be fine with it just being permanently gone - it makes 2/5ths of the clues I found impossible.

Edited by Aleck
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Was there a patch or something?

Logged in just now and have this. Challenging clue, 4 out of 5 steps complete.

7AYSejQ.png

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One thing I may have missed is reading is, What happens if you switch servers. Will there be a way to determine which server they are from? 

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@AleckI think there is a Libilia collossus at about i20.  Don't know if that has something to do with 2 of your clues.

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2 hours ago, gorgian said:

One thing I may have missed is reading is, What happens if you switch servers. Will there be a way to determine which server they are from? 

if not what about this: will clues cross servers? should they(if so i think difficultchallenging or better)? 

would be interesting to see if it implements. and some of them higher difficulty maps might go for lots of silvers on the market if the items are good enough

Edited by Tomatoes
wrong word, replaced.

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1 hour ago, Gumbert said:

Was there a patch or something?

Logged in just now and have this. Challenging clue, 4 out of 5 steps complete.

7AYSejQ.png

Thanks for reporting think we figured out why that is happening on some text clues will get a fix out for it soon.

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1 hour ago, Tomatoes said:

if not what about this: will clues cross servers? should they(if so i think difficultchallenging or better)? 

would be interesting to see if it implements. and some of them higher difficulty maps might go for lots of silvers on the market if the items are good enough

um, you know, if there are top tier items in the higher difficulty searches, and they end up being CROSS server, i wonder how that would effect things.....

Edited by Tomatoes

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4 hours ago, Aleck said:

Alright, I am finally on the test server testing the latest updates. First clue I got was this one at 31ql:

unknown.png

I don't even have dyslexia and I can barely read that font. Also, what the heck is "A Libila's Game" ? I'm not even going to bother trying to find this one if the only thing it'll tell me is I should dig blindly across nine map grids and hope for a sleep powder or an upkeep token. This is WAY worse than the original version of exploration already.

 

Anyway, on to my second map, at 55ql...

unknown.png

unknown.png

 

Well, the good news is, this one is significantly less frustrating off the bat. I think I'll actually see if I can find it. The colors are a little bit easier to discern, though I'd have a hell of a time recognizing the mountain splotch as being mountains without the circle telling me so. 

 

Here is my third map, at 3ql:

unknown.png

 

This is basically the same as #1. What the hell is "A Libila's Game" and why is it considered "an easy clue" for me to go search 9 map grids with absolutely nothing else to go by? This is the kind of thing I'd expect from a 99ql clue with a guaranteed supreme bone. That still wouldn't be worth the time and effort, but I'd at least understand why it's functionally impossible for me to go find it.

 

#4, a 25ql map:

unknown.png

unknown.png

 

The colors are still confusing. The mountains honestly look like they should be water to my admittedly terrible color vision, while the mountains on the actual maps look like mountains. Without the circle I'd be searching coastlines far away from where I actually need to be, so it's good that we have them. I really don't know what to make of the varying shades of splotchy color markings except that I should expect some kind of variation in the terrain. I'll give #4 a shot, as well.

 

#5: A 1ql map:

unknown.png

unknown.png

This is the first map that actually kind-of makes sense to me. The water is obviously water and I guess I can expect to find some buildings in the area maybe. That combined with the circle means I might actually stand a chance of finding this chest. Good thing it's got the worst possible rewards in the new system and could still have  two more steps after this first one.

 

 

I'm about to go try to find some of these and will make another post with my results. But my initial thoughts are that this is a terrible change and we need some form of the hot/cold examine clues to come back for this system to be even remotely enjoyable. It will still be highly frustrating, but at least it won't feel like gambling hours of our lives away.

 

I'd be fine with it being tied to the dig for treasure action, I'd be fine with it being restricted to within a certain radius of the correct spot, I'd even be fine with it being tied to the tracking skill (I kind of like that idea, even). I would not be fine with it just being permanently gone - it makes 2/5ths of the clues I found impossible.

I feel that deed/tower clues will be lots easier come live, people will know a little more knowledge about the areas. 

 

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1 hour ago, Archaed said:

Maps don't work cross server 

 

Are you still staff and pretending not to be? or are you not staff and getting leaks? you seem to know a lot for someone who isnt staff and its impossible to know if your answers should be ignored or what? If you arent staff and arent getting leaks then how could your answers be right? its getting rather annoying.

Edited by SmeJack
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1 minute ago, SmeJack said:

 

Are you still staff and pretending not to be? or are you not staff and getting leaks? you seem to know a lot for someone who isnt staff and its impossible to know if your answers should be ignored or what?

No I asked obvious questions while testing it and got answers. 

 

I actually just tried ###### on test 

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So you had a chat with devs on test server? Ive been on quite a bit and seen lots of people chatting but no devs

 

If you say they generate when opened then why wouldnt you be able to open it on any server and have it generate? why would it be server locked if it hasnt been opened and generated.

Edited by SmeJack

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They've been on and doing them as well, at the launch it was very populated, there's also been other staff to ask questions as well. 

 

Additionally, there's the portal on oracle to baphomet, taking that has the maps not cross. 

 

I'm actually really excited for this (and I'm a priest on live) so I've been mostly on test doing hunts because they're fun. 

5 hours ago, SmeJack said:

If you say they generate when opened then why wouldnt you be able to open it on any server and have it generate? why would it be server locked if it hasnt been opened and generated.

 

The map generates, not the location. If I get a chest, it'll know where the clue is, I can turn the entire region in to sand then open the casket, the map will show as sand. 

 

Edited by Archaed
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Regarding opening someone else's chest.

 

[21:55:27] A chest inscribed with various runes. Only the gods would know why it appeared here. This is a supreme example of the item, with fine details and slick design. It has a lock of very good quality, which is unlocked. It is made from birchwood. It can not be improved. Ql: 75.0, Dam: 0.0.

 

Can't open it.  Maybe because it is supreme.  I don't know.

 

 

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I also think once this goes live to "your" particular server, it will become easier.  Anyone that spends a lot of time exploring the wilderness on their home server has an idea of where guard towers and abandoned deeds may be located, along with the landscape layout.  For me anything involving arch will be a challenge, but taking some general notes will cut down search times greatly.  I think and hope this will become more fun exploring your home turf, rather than on a random test map.  

 

If someone sells/trades a map that has been started and maybe has 1 or 2 steps complete, but are unable to complete the final steps, will the treasure be available to the person buying the map or will the chest remain locked for the original map owner that started the search?  

 

 

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Just an idea that randomly popped into my mind - it would be awesome if the archeology reports would not completely vanish when digging up the chest but getting in some way disabled for further treasure digging but could be still used to look up decayed ded locations. It woul by WAY better than to keep an excel sheet of long gone deed names and respective map coords....

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Does this count as sunken treasure?  😁

 

(Yes I am still trying - I am very stubborn)

 

 

iG5DpPG.png

 

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Oh, yeah, I figured out that that is where it is.  I just like that the X is actually in the water (even if just barely).  Best clue I have had!.

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