Levels, Trade, Eco and Conflict

[Rabble]

I've played lots of online games over the year and ATiTD isn't keeping up with the joneses. Most games have lowered grind and made high end content approachable. That doesn't mean they've made the content easier, just easier to start. A good example is how WoW eliminated or greatly simplified many requirements needed to enter RAID dungeons. The RAID dungeons are still tough but at least you don't need to complete 20 other dungeons/RAIDS just to start one.

Here are some things I dislike about ATiTD:

(1) Levels. Most other games have made levels easier and easier. ATiTD didn't even have levels to start and as such attracted some players who despised levels. It would be best just to junk levels altogether. But if you must have them, make them all much easier. Thought and art principles? Just let us play or judge 7 thought or art works. Forget about them being passed works as that takes too long. When tests are new, people don't want to wait weeks for tests to pass to finish with a principle they don't like to begin with. And once a test is old, they don't want to travel around Egypt trying to find the passed ones. Leadership tests? Make it just play one round even if you don't gain any votes, any gold dubloons, or build anything in cartouche. After one round of Pirates, I thought it was a cute test but knew I didn't want to do it. But now I'm playing round after round, week after week just to pass the principle. And this clogs up the tests with carebears like me so that those who want to do pirates/cartouche, etc as a real scheming test don't feel they even have the option to do so.

Just because you make levels easy doesn't mean I'm going to get Nav 7 or Mech 7 or pass all the tests that open at level X. It just means I can try them now. More content to try = good.

(2) Trade. All the other games I've played have made trade easier over the years. Even really old, old games like AC have added marketplaces. But we still have old fashioned travel around the world trade. Ugh. ATiTD has a more complex crafting and research system than just about any other game. Leverage that advantage. Let us use something like the conflict shrines (a trade shrine?) to travel to a marketplace island where we can swap items with other players. It won't destroy travel in this game. We still travel for acro, still search for mushrooms, still travel for resources, still meet for events, hookah parties, wine tasting, travel to schools and univers, etc, etc, etc. We'll still travel all over the dang map. But now people, especially part time players, won't have to spend hours running around -- or waiting on chariots -- to trade some important item they need in order to continue on to elements of the game that they love.

(3) Eco. Why can't we test the higher eco levels? Some of us would just plain love that and try hard to learn about mushroom spawns and eco damage done by machines. Do the devs think giving us better eco tests will make the game too easy and flood it with rare mushrooms? Is that why there is this stubborn refusal to even let us know what the top eco levels are? It wouldn't. Even if we had the top eco tests, it doesn't mean we'd automatically have the eco knowledge to manipulate spawns. And the devs could make the tests hard to pull off such as giving them long timers or vague results or requiring high stats, etc.

(4) Conflict. I can't stand most conflict games but some people love them. A few seemed to play ATiTD mostly because of conflict games and they are all pretty much gone now. So why not at least give us 24/7 access to the conflict game islands. Heck, I'd go there to play reflections as it's the one conflict game I enjoy. But don't add it as a school like was hinted it last night.

Finally, why are some old tests gone for good? Older games gradually add more and more quests, dungeons, etc. Sometimes very old quests and dungeons are updated to bring them into the modern era. But it's rare that the quests are retired altogether. And yet every telling we dispose of 7 old tests to make way for 7 new tests. What's with this silly obsession with the number 7? Keep the old tests. The devs already did the work for them. And I guarantee you that every single old test that was retired was loved by some player or other who was unhappy that it's gone. People want more mid-game content to keep them busy. If we weren't tossing out old tests, we'd have 10+ tests per school and just that content that folks want.

[jinx]

I would just like to say this WAS the intelligent persons game with numerous options of how you want to play, something provided for all, but it does appear to have deteriorated into a mish mash of grind and tech which certainly has little appeal to many of us.

"The theory of multiple intelligences was developed in 1983 by Dr. Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University. It suggests that the traditional notion of intelligence, based on I.Q. testing, is far too limited. Instead, Dr. Gardner proposes eight different intelligences to account for a broader range of human potential in children and adults. These intelligences are:

Linguistic intelligence ("word smart"):
Logical-mathematical intelligence ("number/reasoning smart")
Spatial intelligence ("picture smart")
Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence ("body smart")
Musical intelligence ("music smart")
Interpersonal intelligence ("people smart")
Intrapersonal intelligence ("self smart")
Naturalist intelligence ("nature smart")"
This is why I joined the game in the first place (what an extraordinary game) I am sure there are more up to date quotes than this but I would love to see this recognized and implemented personally not to mention the huge attraction for many players.

Please Teppy give some of the other players a good reason to return.
Grind just doesn't do it unless we have something more to grind for.....

[Skalops]

Addressing only the item about Trade: There is a guild out there called The Goods, who will trade anything they have in stock (which is pretty big) for whatever you have, at an exchange rate proportional to the stock levels of the items in question. They are fairly centrally located. It seems to me that it's an ingenious player run solution to the challenge (which you might call a problem, but I think it exists by design). Is the remaining challenge just one of item delivery, or is there something about The Goods that isn't working for some people?

[Rabble]

Addressing only the item about Trade: There is a guild out there called The Goods, who will trade anything they have in stock (which is pretty big) for whatever you have, at an exchange rate proportional to the stock levels of the items in question. They are fairly centrally located. It seems to me that it's an ingenious player run solution to the challenge (which you might call a problem, but I think it exists by design). Is the remaining challenge just one of item delivery, or is there something about The Goods that isn't working for some people?

I'm not sure I understand this point.

The Goods is a fantastic organization and I've traded with them since their first incarnation in T1. But surely you can't be suggesting that we all trade with the Goods and no one else?

If you are and I wanted to trade directly should we go through the Goods as a middle-man? And what of all the items the Goods doesn't carry -- like blacksmithed items? And what if one of us doesn't like their prices or wants to trade in larger volumes?

Besides, I'm mainly saying we need better trade mechanisms. Trading with the Goods or anyone else is far more awkward here then it needs to be. There is no marketplace, auction house, e-mail trades, trade bots or other features that even games older than ATiTD have implemented. And with such a complex economy, trade, for most players, is vital in moving forward.

[Skalops]

No, no, I'm not suggesting that everyone trade through The Goods. I think you answered my question though, the thing about them that isn't working for you is that they don't stock certain things, and it's hard to trade massive quantities of things.