| I've been writing some happy articles lately, barely justifying
my "Ranter" status. Well, I have been a bit perturbed of late, and
so now, instead of a happy, funny tale about Tuskers smashing me,
I think now its time for a RANT. |
| Turbine, I love your game. Oh god do I love your game. Luckily,
my lovely blond wife loves your game even more than I do. I have to
pry her off her computer long after I have shut mine down and put
the dogs out and am ready for bed. |
| Someone explained to me the other day why people get so mad when
the Zone is down. It's the fact that the good parts are SOOO GOOOD
that the bad parts seem magnified. You so badly want to get to the
good parts, that the bad parts seem magnified. Larger than life. More
than minor annoyances. Makes sense to me. |
| So, understand that I do love your game. It is the best game ever
made in my opinion. Here's some constructive, and not so constructive
criticism, purely in the hopes that the best game ever made - gets
even better. |
| Chest Timer |
| It was mentioned in the last build notes that camped chests were
a thing of the past. That some chests now had timers on them that
say "You have looted this chest too recently. Go somewhere else you
stupid thief punk. Let someone else have a turn." |
| I mentioned on these very same forums about HOW GREAT this was.
|
| So, I am in the Monounga Pit. It's been nearly a month since I have
been there, but my alliance needed the last key to the SOLL. So me,
my wife, and a friend went and got it. Its right near Stonehold, mise
well see if I can get a spot at the Uber God Chest. |
| I kill a lot of Monoungas to get down to the bottom. In the bottom
is Uber God Chest room. This room is guarded by Liches, Lich Lords,
Skeleton Lords, and a Revenant. I sneak into the room to see one Skel
Lord and one Lich Lord. I kill them. Then I kill the next things that
spawn too. Damn, that chest must be spawning soon, I think. I heard
it spawns every 30 minutes. |
| "Foramon something" (The something means I don't remember his last
name. His first name was Foramon) comes into the room and stands by
the chest. |
| "Ah a chest stealer I can tell," I say out loud. |
| He says nothing, intent on his prize. |
| The lid closes, and Foramon Buttmuncher loots my chest. |
| I knew this was going to happen, but for some reason, I am still
riled. I still am hot under the color. Like the petty loser punk that
he is, he shows me the new kuija green sleeves he got, takes them
off, puts on his matty coat, and goes out. |
| I keep the room cleared for another half an hour, and then, bang.
Foramon Anuslicker comes in and despite my best attempts at clicking,
loots my chest again. |
| My wife and a friend of mine show up work their way down to the
chest room with me, and we keep the room clear. Guess what? Foramon
Donkeysmoker comes in and despite all 3 of us frantically clicking,
somehow, Foramon StinkeyTongue gets the loot. |
| Someone I do not know comes in and says that Foramon Whitethroat
has been doing this for two weeks. |
| Do I need to spell out that the build notes are sadly mistaken?
This needs to be fixed, and it doesn't need to be fixed later, it
needs to be fixed now. I HAVE cleared out that whole room of everything
I listed above, and I died doing it. I recover my body, am fighting
the last resident of the room, and bang, some stupid chest thief comes
in and loots my chest. While I'm fighting the LAST THING!!! |
| Oh my god. Can you imagine my frustration? |
| Turbine, this isn't banking, or horses, or houses or secure trading.
You can fix this. You did say you HAD fixed it. It's not fixed and
its VERY annoying. |
| Which brings me to number two. |
| Monster Loot still sucks |
| If I want Kuija Sleeves, why do I have to kill a REVENANT to get
to a CHEST that has Kuija Sleeves? |
| Why not just put them on the FRIKKIN REVENANT??? |
|
You have addressed this slightly, but I was very disappointed with
your build notes that explained this.
"Monster loot across the board has been increased!!!"
|
| I groaned when I read this. |
| No one ever said monster loot needed to be increased. No one has
ever said that. What we have complained about is the inequality of
loot on monsters. Some lower level monsters have better treasure than
monsters five times there level. This has GOT TO CHANGE. |
| Picture this. 5 17th level guys are walking through the snowy mountains
around Arwic. They are ambushed by an Olthoi Nymph. |
| An OLTHOI Nymph. |
| Three of the 17th level guys die before the party is successful
in bringing down the nymph. It takes stamina potions, their best weapons,
a lot of luck, and a great deal of courage. They loot the Olthoi and
they get, Bread, and wool pants. |
| I don't mean to be rude, but BUY A CLUE. |
| Just because an Olthoi Nymph is the lowest level Olthoi, doesn't
mean it's a low level monster. ITS AN OLTHOI!!! You will never find
ANY Olthoi Nymph treasure that is even equal to a Barker Mosswart.
I understand that not every Olthoi nymph should have good stuff, but
having killed a few Olthoi nymphs in my time, I can tell you - they
do not have anything but EXP. |
| Do you know where the good treasure is? The good armor that you
see paraded around town? |
| Its in Camped chests, or its on Olthoi NOBLES. |
| THAT'S ALL |
| Ever kill a Crimsonback Tusker? How about a Tusker Slave? Tusker
Guard maybe? You know what you get? |
| You get BREAD. Bread and cheese, and maybe some Reedshark Shoes.
|
| Oh my god is this bad for your game. This is just very very bad.
|
| Treasure has been increased, and now it's actually worth it to fight
Tumorocks, but just barely. |
| You can't have three monsters in the game be the source of all loot,
and another three be the source for all xp. Please, please please
fix this as soon as possible. This can't be that hard. Do you know
what happens when you fix this? Places get less camped because other
monsters are better to fight. Dungeons that are not getting explored
get explored. Crowded places get less crowded. Lag decreases in certain
areas. Chest campers don't get to have all the best loot. People stop
bitching about Gold Wasps because now they are worth it to fight.
|
| Speaking of Monsters, lets talk about the Sticky Patch. |
| Sticky Patch |
| I'm a melee guy, so this didn't affect me at all. I could really
care less about something attempting to hit me from behind as I run.
|
| But, it still has to go. |
| For one thing, no one made any hue and cry about how they couldn't
stick to monsters to save their friends. I don't remember seeing any
post on these boards about that. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Not only that, but I don 't stick any better than I ever did? WTF
is up with that? The only thing this patch helps is the monsters.
Not that I am against that, but don't tell me it helps me too, because
I play this game A LOT and it hasn't helped me stick to monsters at
all. |
| For another, mages that have never trained melee defense, now hate
life. For a choice they made long ago, based on what they knew about
the game. |
| And last but certainly not least - it makes the game look dumb.
It makes Asheron's Call look stupid. Try showing one of your friends
your favorite game and then show a Banderling Guard - skating behind
you and then swinging. It looks soooo bad. It looks stupid. It's clunky,
and looks like poor programming. |
| Has anyone ever said anything good about this patch? Just remove
this damn BUG as far as I am concerned, and go back to the way it
was. It annoys me every time I see something skating behind me. |
| Moving right along. |
| Atlan Weapons |
| The next thing I want to address is Atlan Weapons. According to
Lore, the Atlan weapons are supposed to be good against Shadows. Now,
don't get me wrong, I love my Peerless Atlan Axe that I got this weekend.
I do. Thank you for a cool, no drop weapon, and a cool lot of work
quest to get it. (As one of my friends said - " I may be naked, and
I may have 40% vitae, but bitch, I still got this axe, and I am COMING
FOR YOU!!!) |
| Just one small bitch - Its blows against Shadows. |
| That's right. You read that correctly. These Atlan weapons were
made to fight Shadows. Um, why? Do they do double damage against Shadows?
Um, No. Do they have bonuses to hit shadows? Um No. Do they increase
your melee defense against Shadows, um no. So they increase your resistance
to magic against Shadows? Um, No. No No NO NO . |
| They are a great weapon. They are a no drop even on death. They
look pretty cool. But they don't do any more against a shadow than
any other weapon. And that's just bad. That's counter to what the
storyline says, and it reflects badly on you to have this much ill
reasoning in the game. |
| The last thing I want to talk about it Quest items. |
| Quest Items |
| And why do they suck SO BAD. |
| (Except for the Dagger of Tickola. That dungeon is the best dungeon.
Perfectly designed. A work of art. A lot of work to get the Dagger,
and if Gertas Dagger didn't exist, the Dagger of Tickola would be
THE dagger to get in the game. Especially since it's no drop. Whoever
designed the Folthid Cellar - You need a raise - that place is the
best. Nice job. You should do all the dungeons.) |
| You know, that cool little pamphlet that comes in your box? The
one that tells you about some of the heroes of Dereth, and some good
lore and mythology? |
| Here's an example |
| We need to turn Joshie back into NPK, so we go into "Trothyr's Rest."
Fabled hero Trothyr died in these hallowed halls. Wow. Fabled Hero
Trothyr. |
| We kill Gromnies. We kill Liches. We kill a Lich Lord. We come to
a room with like 10 Liches in it. We kill them all. Across this expanse
that you have to jump to, there is a Hammer and a Shield. |
| I jump over, raise them high above my head and shout in triumph
"TROTHYR'S HAMMER AND SHEILD!!!" |
| Then I look at the Stats. So does Joshie. |
| Hammer is like 6-11, speed 40 - that's all Shield is al40 - no spells
at all on it. |
| "Man, no wonder he died in here. This stuff blows" Joshie says.
|
| You know, you can't write about these great heroes and put their
stuff in a damn hard dungeon, and then make their stuff crap. If he
was a great hero, then he might have died in there. That is conceivable.
If he died in there, he sure as hell didn't make it as far as he did
with those weapons, I'll tell you that. If the weapons are not supposed
to be that good, then they belong in a beginner dungeon. They don't
belong in a dungeon with Lich Lords and Liches. |
| How tough is this to understand? |
| Screw secure trading, and horses and houses and all that other stuff.
I just want the world to make sense. |
| Jeez. |
| That's today's rant. |
| Jamie |