Author Topic: So many traps.....  (Read 2694 times)

Offline Misery

  • Arcen Volunteer
  • Core Member Mark V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,109
So many traps.....
« on: May 24, 2012, 07:06:08 am »
Ok, so, I just did one of these new Outposts....

First off, these are muuuuuuuch better than the previous versions.  Much more fun and different from any other game area.  It also feels like an actual TOWER now.  Very nice.

However, 2 screenshots here:



and




Yeah.   Blade traps.  SO MANY BLADE TRAPS.

The first screen is from the entrance obviously.   The second is just about halfway up.



.....is the game SUPPOSED to fill these with flying doom blades?   I mean, seriously, the ENTIRE TOWER was just packed with them.  There was no section that didn't look like that.

Now, this isnt really a complaint, actually..... even with all of those blades, the microbosses (OF COURSE lightning espers mostly, because they were the one thing Ball Lightning doesnt help with), and those accursed wisps, I still made it to the boss room with more than half health.    It was actually probably the most awesome platforming section I've seen in the game.    Dodging all the traps was fun, and I came prepared with a tier-4 shield just in case (which was absolutely invaluable here).    So it WAS totally doable.....

.....but I wondered if it was actually supposed to do that or not (I've only been in this one Outpost so far on this continent, after the patch).   I'm used to dodging crazy amounts of crap in other games, but I can easily see others getting quite stuck here.   Or was this just luck, with an infestation?  Hard to tell.


Though, on that note, I really wouldnt mind seeing more areas like this that are there ON PURPOSE.   And I dont mean areas that you need to deal with for progression..... one thing the game is missing, to me, is optional "side quest" sort of stuff.   Beyond the "do missions, get items/scrolls" bit, obviously those are all optional.   But I'm thinking of other stuff..... like how alot of RPGs or whatever will have optional uber-bosses that are crazy powerful, but you dont HAVE to do them (and if you do, they take ALOT of work to bring down), and you mostly get bragging rights for doing so.   Something like that, having some sort of optional really nasty dungeon on each continent..... definitely would like that.


I forgot what else I was gonna say.  Joy!

Offline LintMan

  • Full Member Mark III
  • ***
  • Posts: 227
Re: So many traps.....
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2012, 12:09:11 pm »
I just got an outpost tower filled with blade traps like this also, including 1-wide spots where the blades just spin in place and you have to pass right through.  (Teleport was unavailable for me).  But I'm far far less appreciative of their challenge.  I'm quickly coming to really hate these things.   But then, if there was a "I don't even wanna be the next door neighbor of the cousin of the guy" platform difficulty setting, I'd be using that.

I'm starting to think that maybe the presence of these traps should be tied into the platform dificulty setting.

Offline Yurka_Maku

  • Newbie Mark III
  • *
  • Posts: 40
  • Tiny Patchy
Re: So many traps.....
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2012, 12:20:56 pm »
Imagine that, with Spike traps that leap, thats what I'm dealing with on my end.

Offline TechSY730

  • Core Member Mark V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,570
Re: So many traps.....
« Reply #3 on: May 24, 2012, 12:22:52 pm »
It seems that in addition to scaling number with the size of the room, it also needs to ensure that no part of the room gets an unreasonable density of traps, especially around important stuff like switches and doors.

That and the ratio of trap/room size could use some reduction across the board, on all difficulties.


Any progress on making the moving blade traps advertise their intended path better?

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Re: So many traps.....
« Reply #4 on: May 24, 2012, 12:30:10 pm »
Coming up:

* New infestations of spike and blade traps will now include 50% fewer of these traps.  Existing infestations will be unaffected.

It seems that in addition to scaling number with the size of the room, it also needs to ensure that no part of the room gets an unreasonable density of traps, especially around important stuff like switches and doors.

I think that would be detrimental to having these be interesting.

Any progress on making the moving blade traps advertise their intended path better?

No plans at the moment to ever do that.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline timesend

  • Newbie Mark II
  • *
  • Posts: 20
Re: So many traps.....
« Reply #5 on: May 25, 2012, 02:52:05 pm »
Just wondering upon traps and door, the only traps which really seem impossible to deal with are ones which sit on door, for long periods of time, normally I am forced to take some damage while spamming e to get in, was wondering if they could be made to move away from doors quicker.

Offline Coppermantis

  • Hero Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,212
  • Avenger? I hardly know 'er!
Re: So many traps.....
« Reply #6 on: May 25, 2012, 07:05:57 pm »

Any progress on making the moving blade traps advertise their intended path better?

No plans at the moment to ever do that.


Personally, I think there should be a visible track that they follow if only because it would look prettier and better demonstrate what these traps are to new players.
I can already tell this is going to be a roller coaster ride of disappointment.

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Re: So many traps.....
« Reply #7 on: May 25, 2012, 07:30:53 pm »

Any progress on making the moving blade traps advertise their intended path better?

No plans at the moment to ever do that.


Personally, I think there should be a visible track that they follow if only because it would look prettier and better demonstrate what these traps are to new players.

And the dev time required to do that (several hours at best; possibly a day or so) is worth more than what other things are on the list?  Remember, no feature is "free."  We don't charge you guys for any of the updates, but if you want one feature you're forgoing other features.  This seems so uninteresting to me compared to many of the incredibly-more-interesting things that are already suggested, let alone things that haven't even come up yet.  Given the historical rate of awesome ideas from players and such with this game and AI War, the odds of ever reaching a point where this was the most-interesting-thing for a sufficiently large number of people is vanishingly small.

That's just how I do the math when I'm considering new features: I know already that I can't ever hope to remotely implement everything that is suggested, so I just keep pulling off the top as more and more piles on.

Which is actually really great -- that way a ton of interesting, high-quality stuff gets added instead of having to choose from a lot of mediocre stuff.  When it's just a few devs sitting around in isolation, we start scraping the bottom of the barrel a lot faster than when there are a few hundred highly intelligent brains thinking about the same problem over time.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline Coppermantis

  • Hero Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,212
  • Avenger? I hardly know 'er!
Re: So many traps.....
« Reply #8 on: May 25, 2012, 07:43:46 pm »
Of course it's something that should in no way be put in front of more important things. I'm just saying that it's something I'd like to see eventually  :) .
I can already tell this is going to be a roller coaster ride of disappointment.

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Re: So many traps.....
« Reply #9 on: May 25, 2012, 08:21:18 pm »
Yeah, if we ran out of things to do -- I'm just trying to be clear about how I think these things go.  The rate of awesome ideas waaaaay outstrips our ability to do them.  So "might be nice as a minor thing someday" ideas tend to just really mean "yeah, never going to happen" and I don't like being misleading about it. :)
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!