Once upon a time...Some pink perspectives on some game aspects
Get your coffee, or popcorn ready and here we go:
There was once an adventure “The Island of the Pirates” - commonly known to TSO players by the abbreviation “IOTP”. For a long time this adventure was a fantastic way for lower level players to get some granite. The granite loot in IOTP had a decent chance of dropping and it was a very sweet chunk of it for the low difficulty and a low price of few hundreds troops needed to clear it. As a matter of fact even higher level players often did IOTP purely for that reason.
Back in those days adventures were still dropping weapons in loot (bronze and iron swords, bows and horses for IOTP level) which was pretty sweet. Yes, boys and girls back in the day, you could actually gain canons, crossbows and D swords as loot from epic adventures. To obtain IOTP you had to send your explorers on adventure searches. But even if they brought nothing else but map fragments it was OK. Why? Because you could still buy IOTP in the game shop for those map fragments. Now, back in the day, we were not able to produce map fragments. Still, if you were sending your explorers regularly on adventure searches you had enough map fragments to buy IOTP from the shop frequently.
The introduction of more powerful generals (Master of Martial Arts, and Major General) consequently made clearing adventures easier – with clever blocking even less troops were needed to gain same amount of loot. Today, simply by loading my MMA general with recruits only and sending him trashing all camps in IOTP with brute force it cost about roughly the same in troop losses as back then, doing blocks with Tavern and Veteran generals.
Changes were needed - or were they? I liked easy going, relaxing tempo of the game play and easy mode adventures. (I am looking at you Tailors with hours of walking, tens and tens of camps to clear and loading and transporting 10k+ troops and 20+ generals to the adventures). A major overhaul was introduced on the test server. “New Combat Balance” made enemy troops much stronger and equipped with this “cool” ability of SPLASH DAMAGE. Weapons were removed from loot and replaced with “appropriate” amount of raw materials needed to produce them. The loot itself was also “toned down” (“nerfed” - a popular online game term – decreasing either or both amount and a chance of certain loot dropping).
Testers rushed to test server to try the changes out. Soon pages and pages of questions, calculations, observations and results of countless tries were filling the test forums to the brim. Complaints about the lack of weapons in loot and crappy loot itself were popping up like mushrooms after a rain. Information about the changes spilled from test forums into life game forums starting up discussions and confusions. Players were arguing in trade and guild chats over those “ridiculous” adjustments.
The two core issues of the heated discussion were: the removal of weapons from loot and the beefing up of enemy troops. Most adventures became very hard to clear (even with advanced generals – MMA and Major) and very few were worth the losses. There were few instances (at the beginning faze of the change) that some adventures were not even possible to clear using only tavern generals. Using their new Splash damage ability enemy troops were able to wipe waves after waves of attackers mounting up losses of, not only Recruits, but also more expensive units.
This tidal wave of the storm was getting bigger and stronger. Players were pointing out to the developers the shortcomings and consequences of proposed changes. The founder of the Creators Guild in open letter to the developers posted on forums addressed the core issues of the change. Many others were asking what was the reason for making the game so hard to play, reflecting their guildies disappointments in future direction and prospects of the game. Many testers openly told on forums if the changes go life they are done playing. The so called “New Combat Balance” changes were vocally criticized from many perspectives. We, players, were quite surprised by all of this, we had no idea the combat in the game was NOT balanced. Why fixing something that is not broken? - were common comments seen on forums during the “Great Debate”.
Sentiments plummeted not only on forums but in game as well. Developers came out on forums (rather, were forced to, by players massive negative feedback) with a handful of explanations. Obviously the reception was quite cold. Players pointed out to the developers obvious contradictions in their explanation of the changes. The idea of shifting toward using more expensive troops and tailoring the adventures for a push to use more “costly” weapons and units didn't really have the appeal to many either. The major reason was simple: a considerable slow down in the rate of doing adventures for all players. The speed was choked by the necessity of making expert weapons in slow production chains. Weapons without which, clearing those adventures was not possible the old way – by using Recruits as cannon fodder for majority of camps. Because of the new mechanics you couldn't even make a dent on some enemy camps on test server until you wasted some pricey troops.
Almost nobody liked to “pay more” (cost of doing adventures went pretty high) to “get less” - nerfed version of the loot without weapons in it. Furthermore, players quickly presented the developers with enough data to prove another issue. This “push into iron and steel production” (Militia and Soldiers were supposed to be the “new” cannon fodders) can't be supported efficiently by the few iron deposits on our islands (this happened before the introduction of expansion islands). The game itself would feel like a “full time job” in which you would have to constantly rebuild iron mines, maintain them (upgrade and buff them) just so you can “do an adventure or two per week”!
Changes started rolling into test server. Enemy troops were lowered in strength and HP, some bosses were toned down. The developers rush into saving their face (and the time put into developing the changes) only to see those efforts backfired terribly. Renowned testers, players who developed guides of the game and adventures walk-troughs were embarrassed, pointing out to the devs the lack of understanding of their own design! What difference lowering the enemy hp or damage does it make, if at the end of the attack the enemy still wipes your troops using splash damage?
As if those embarrassing moments and decisions were not enough, further changes were introduced. Yes, you could guess – even more embarrassing to the developer team. Many knowledgeable players openly called out the ignorance of the proposed “fixes”. When reason is under assault, insults start to bloom everywhere. A few well respected in TSO community players hinted that from the looks of the changes this whole thing seems like “some clueless interns doing the actual game coding” (yes, I did have fun while re-posting this to life forum, but that was a tiny bit of fun in the ocean of frustration during that experience). Generally, the atmosphere in the game went quite low. Almost nobody was looking toward the future, guide makers and well known testers were posting openly their disappointments in the developers and in the direction the game was going. The metrics kept showing the same answer – the game was about to get really hard, slow and tedious.
After a couple of months of those dark times, the big announcement finally brought the light back into the game. The proposed, revised and toned down changes to enemy troops were only applied to Fairy Tale adventures (yes, the FT adventures used to be easier to clear). Yet, the removal of the weapons and loot adjustment (read: ”nerfs”) were here to stay. Light in the tunnel for sure, but more of a grim, dim light than of a sunny day. In one day, prices of advanced and especially expert weapons shot through the roof. Resources like salt and titanium skyrocketed in price overnight because the only way to gain them was through small drops in loot and suddenly everybody needed a tons of those to make weapons.
Most of the expert troops (Cannoneers, Crossbowmen and Elite Soldiers) were rarely lost. Except for failed block here and there or as a result of sending the wrong troops to the wrong camp after having one too many beers/glasses of wine during Friday session – I am looking at you my “happy hour” guildies. You were able to accumulate a nice amount of those valuable weapons over time, purely by sheer number of adventures most 50ies were doing. Frankly, I believe after the removal of those weapons from loot, it was the players stockpiles that saved the game from coming into a stall for a month or two, while we were waiting to build and upgrade the slow and expensive expert weapons production chains to fill up raising demands. Those of us who endure that time still remember prices of canons, crossbows, salt and titanium. If you think those prices are high today... eh:)
Adjustment in loot simply made most adventures (except very few) just not worth doing. Granted, even before the loot nerf, plenty of adventures were not so appealing anyway, simple logic after the changes made players to put them on the “away shelf” forever. Looking today at the players activity through trade channel you can rarely see some adventures being ever done. Rounding up the numbers, about 80% of all adventures are NOT worth doing, either for loot, or XP or both. Once you do them for the achievements (if you are into collecting those) you never touch them again. Well, unless you are into the practice of masochism...or you just like wasting your troops because you like the adventure...
The other “improvement” to loot table was an “adjustment” (read: nerf) to chances of getting some buildings in loot. Loot drops of Dark and White Castles, Witch Towers and Bone Churches, were nerfed to hell. Don't even want to talk about the Frozen Manor issue here. That deserves a long post on its own...The chance of getting a follow up adventures in loot (Return the the Bandit Nest or More Secluded Experiment-as an example) were also nerfed to the ground. Until today those unjust nerfs were never either addressed or even explained by the developers and are often a subject of players numerous complaints. Do those nerfs serve a purpose or (in the flaming words of the Great Debate) you guys just don't know how this happened and can't figure out how to fix it (end of sarcasm here).
Production of some weapons were speed up, and also the amount of resources needed to make them were changed. Ever checked the load of hardwood you need to make a long bow? Well it used to be much less needed. After all the hassle and arguments on forums during the “Great Debate” changes went life. We simply had no other choice but adjust to the changes in order to continue playing the “improved” game :)
I have to say, I still remember those grim times, the low level of sentiment about the game and “screw it” attitude reflected in many posts on forums during that time (including my own). I think some major changes definitely happened at the developers office. My speculation is the loud and widespread “Great Debate” over the proposed changes got some attention not only from players and developers (Blue Byte) but also from the publisher Ubisoft Entertainment. Why? I am not a coder nor a game designer but I know a few. And they told me this: “You can mess around with coding or players for a while, but when the publisher starts to ask questions you better get your s*** in order fast, or you are out of the job”
After all that embarrassments and outcries we started getting some real goodies. “PVP” - the long asked and waited for feature of the game landed with a splash. Well, more like a sound of deflating balloon to be precise... (I am looking at you developers making videos to convince us how great the "PVP" feature is) To many players it was just another disappointment – not the feature of the game itself, but the implementation of it and its shortcomings. Whether you like the “PVP” or not (quotes because, by many online gaming standards this feature is not an actual PVP), the game got a whole new feature itself. New and faster production buildings, the expansion islands with the solution to shortages of building space and expert resources (granite, salt and titanium) were very well received across the board by the player base. New set of Ali Baba adventures and new 75 level cap are now life and “kicking”.
I hope my short digression about the recent history of the game was not to boring, and it is time to get back to the beginning of the story – IOTP adventure. Even after the loot adjustment (read - nerf) IOTP was still a decent source for lower level players to get some granite. Which is the most sought out resource throughout the game purely because of the ridiculous amount needed for all the upgrades.
Somewhere in between the tides and storms of all changes, a new feature was added to the game – players able to produce map fragments using island resources. Around the same time (if memory serves me right) a guild vote was cleverly introduced and most of the players actually voted to put IOTP in guild shop. I can only assume nobody actually checked the price in guild coins (!) needed to purchase it, while casting a vote. The biggest surprise (and a complaint) was the fact of IOTP disappearing from map fragment shop altogether during the same time it showed up in a guild shop. Today, you can only get IOTP from adventure searches (rare) or paying quite a hefty price in guild coins.
The same thing happened to Surprised Attack adventure which is the most efficient way to level (40k xp from a relatively small losses) once you have both Damascene swords and Crossbows. SA is the most efficient way to get xp in the game (period) until you have access to Ali Baba adventures chain. I did few of them myself during the 50-54 level grind. Back in the day, you could buy SA for map fragments and I had some left overs from my 46-50 grind fest.
And here we are, again, with a new guild vote results, getting the famous Roaring Bull adventure in (yes you guessed it right!) the guild shop. I hope you checked the price (guild coins) you are going to pay for it before you voted yes. And I certainly hope the beloved RB (Roaring Bull) will also be available at the same time for map fragments. Why? Because even at level 60 I and many others still often go back and do both DK (Dark Knights) and RB adventures from time to time. Leveling pass 56 (yes, I am looking at you 9 million XP needed from 60 to get to 61!) is simply an awful grind sanely achieved by clearing only Ali Baba adventures. Even Fairy Tales come short on the XP stick compared to the amount needed to level. Ali Baba is gated by slow speed of the new barracks and FT adventures can become quite tedious with those long general walks, tens and tens of camps to clear and thousands of troops needed to clear them.
There was one time a precedence in this “put it into guild shop and be done with it” procedure. I was surprised to see Valiant Little Tailor (VLT) to actually be still present in map fragments shop after it was put in guild shop by the “sheep voting” (yes I am looking at you TSO player who voted RB into guild shop without even checking the price you are going to pay for it in guild coins). I prepared myself before (like handful of my guildies) by buying about 50 VLT's from map fragments shop before it went to guild shop. Clearing VLT's is still the only practical way to level between 50-54 (SA already in guild shop) and the only source of getting other FT adventures (Cleaver, Heroic, Betrayed and Son of Tailor) to further progress on xp grind. Perhaps this is why VLT was “spared” the fate of IOTP and SA. I hope RB will be “spared” too. It is decently popular among players, the loot is still pretty good, losses are relatively low, and even after the nerf, Witch Towers still drop from time to time. I actually got 3 of them from over 500+ RB runs/loot spots.
So if it is any consideration, developers please let RB stay in map fragment shop when the next guild shop gets changed. I think most players would appreciate the gesture. Thank you.
P.S. You can still read about the “New Combat Balance” discussions if you dig test forum pages from over a year ago, I assure you lots of articles there are still well worth reading, even today. You will see many famous TSO players, spread sheet makers and guide writers making brilliant arguments about the game. Hats off to their hard work, dedication and knowledge of the game.
And to developers: it was not my intention to embarrass you in anyway by this post. Clearly you did this to yourselves :) Just because you flop once in a while it doesn't mean you can't get things right. Finding me still posting my concerns in those forums, still biting with sarcasm and still playing - is a testament to all that you have done right, and well. Thank you :)
Sarcastic to the bone as always – Pinkleet.
