I have a question --what has been the reaction from other servers? We all know North American servers are considered second class citizens. Perhaps they are so developed on the German servers that this is mere blip on the radar to them.
Lol what do you think? If no adventures (so far) can be done without a veteran general what do you think the reaction is on any server? It means once you clear your island the game it's over until you purchase 2.5k gems for a vet. Is there any server in the world that will be happy about this? And the most important question: what, wait let me said it better - WTF are the devs thinking?
I think they are going to have to rebalance the lower advs. Big time. Recruits/bows being 3rd strike is....painful to noobs.
More of the same "new" content with a different bow? I will give more of the "same" towards my gem accumulation.
From test server about the iron/steel chain:
"It takes 5 minutes for a geologist to find a copper deposit, 2-1/2 minutes for a jolly geo. It takes 1 hour to find an iron deposit, 1/2 hour with a jolly. That's 12 times longer!
There are 6 copper deposits on island. There are 16 iron deposits on island. All mines for each mineral have to be built to properly support the smelters & swordsmiths.
Most people can find, build & upgrade all their copper mines while drinking their morning coffee, in less time than it takes to even find 1 iron deposit.
This is the root of the "unbalanced problem". Please fix this before you do anything else."
Thanks Ozzy for this excellent post on test forums. It addresses all the dev reasons to implement such drastic changes.
"Firstly, I would like to thank you for taking the time to post here. However, you'll have to forgive me for being blunt, but it is painfully obvious that you just don't understand what is keeping those players that are choosing to stay engaged.
I am currently playing on Northisle as a level 50 player, most of the players on my friend list are level 50 and I am in a guild that is composed almost entirely of players of level 45 and over. From that perspective, what I see that is keeping the vast majority of higher level players that keep playing regularly, particularly level 50s, engaged with the game is doing adventures. The more you reduce the frequency with which they can do adventures, the less engaged they will become. The less engaged they are the less time they will spend logged in and playing. And, from a business perspective, players spending less time playing a game are less inclined to spend money on it. This is not rocket science to figure out. So why on earth would you wish to reduce adventuring capability?
So.. let me take the above points in order:
* Increase the value of late game units (especially soldiers)
If you want to increase the value of soldiers, then you simply need to make their use more viable. Recruits are not the most effective unit in the game, like you say. They are cannon fodder used to keep the effective units alive. The reasons why this is the case is because they are cheap and quick to make and rely on a resource (copper) that is quick and easy to produce, especially if Endless Copper Mines have been procured. Militia are used in this role only when Recruits will not suffice and Soldiers are not generally used because they take a great deal of time to produce and, in my opinion most importantly, because enemy units that attack weakest targets first will go for Cannoneers before they hit Soldiers.
* Increase overall unit losses to make weapon productions necessary
If you want to make weapon productions necessary, then only one simple step is required. Remove weapons from loot and replace them with raw materials required to make them. I can pretty much guarantee that, had you done this a year or two ago, then the vast majority of players who never bothered to build high-end weapon buildings such as the crossbowsmith and cannon forge would have done so long ago, and that the players that do have them (such as myself) would be running them a lot more frequently than they do at present.
* Increase weapon value
I must confess that I am not at all sure what you mean by this. Would you care to elaborate further?
* Increasing the difficulty to play multiple adventures in a short time...
See my above point about keeping high level players engaged with the game. Further to that point, I would suggest that could be better done by providing new content such as more challenging adventures that require the use of the higher tier troops you talk about in the first point I quoted. Perhaps these adventures could be purchased with beans? That would give new meaning to doing the 'Tailor' adventures rather than the role they now play for most players that have bought everything they wish to purchase using beans and stalks.
In short, tearing up the rules of weapon economy and forcing players, many of whom already have one foot out of the door, to redesign their whole islands just to be able to effectively adventure again at a reduced rate compared to what they are capable of doing now is a sure fire way of alienating a significant chunk of your customer base. It is my opinion that the game is already too established for such radical changes to production chains, as you are proposing with what has been introduced on this server. Your customers have invested a great deal of money developing their islands with such items as Endless Copper Mines, Epic Yards, Improved Silos, etc., some of which they may find they no longer have need and/or space for when it comes to redesigning their economies and will, no doubt, feel a little cheated out of the investment they made to get them.... that is, of course, assuming they bother to redesign and don't just give up in disgust.
I urge you to carefully consider the ramifications of going live with any deep-rooted changes and, should you choose to go ahead with this 're-balance' in whatever form it may take, that you figure out a way to ease existing players into it, rather than 'dumping' it on them in one go, else they end up logging in one day to find their island's economy spiraling out of control."
It is becoming clear to more and more players that the devs of this game have no idea about what keeps players playing, what appears to most of the player base as valuable or attractive, how much time players are comfortable spending on "chores" parts of the game.
Imagine the "new" TSO when everyday you have to find 16 iron mines, build them and upgrade them to lev 3 or higher, buff your whole iron/steel chain (not only weapon smiths but also smelters) just so you can effectively complete 1 RB...Fun right? Lost respect for the devs. I make a rule of not wasting my time on clueless people.
It is your game, your bread and butter, your job. If you don't know things like that... perhaps you shouldn't be designing games.
http://forum.tsotesting.com/threads/...nfidence/page2
Very intelligent and eloquent post. The changes now boil down to 2 important factors:
1. How badly the new combat system will affect new players. Not only their ability to do adventures to progress in game but also their economy. It is incredibly hard for players under 30 to make Iron/steel chain and produce weapons. At lev 1-2 those chains take days to make the amounts of weapons needed to complete a low level adventure (with proposed changes). And once the adventure is completed (granted they would be able - so far no tester could finish the lower adventures with tavern generals) the resources it will give as reward in no way compensate the expenses put into doing it. Which means in order to gain xp players would have to operate greatly in the red. There are some fragile margins to which a player can adapt or simply decide that the whole progression is just not worth the effort.
2. What is the point for players lev 50 of even playing the game? With the ratio of reward vs cost to do adventures going much deeper into cost, with extension of time needed to get resources, create weapons and finally waste them by doing adventure for a marginal loot...Will the ratio be even worth it to players lev 50? How long does it take to find 16 iron deposits, build the mines, upgrade them and buff the whole iron/steel chain? According to the proposed changes this will have to be done on a daily basis in order to do epic adventures. Not to mention the terrible choke point of making xbows, canons and Damasc swords - there is no way to do them efficiently with current cycles. Are all the "chore" parts of the game worth doing (from a lev 50 perspective) in order to do an adventure every 1-3 days?
The proposed combat changes have such great consequences to the economy, play style and effective play time they will change the entire game FUNDAMENTALLY. The question is, how many players will continue to play this game after the change. Judging by the number of concerns on test forums, the picture looks pretty grim...