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On difficulty modes (Game Maker's Toolkit)


Ohoni.6057

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> @"Astralporing.1957" said:

> > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > > @"Astralporing.1957" said:

> > > > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > > > > @"Astralporing.1957" said:

> > > > > > @"thrag.9740" said:

> > > > > > You and you alone are capable of making the decisions that will make you happy.

> > > > > Indeed. What however about the situation where i'm given _only_ the choices that are guaranteed to not make me happy?

> > > > >

> > > > >

> > > >

> > > > Then you don't pick any. It's a game, it doesn't make sense to play it if it makes you unhappy.

> > > So, if i don't like a specific part of the game and think it is something that impacts my enjoyment of it, instead of arguing for that part to be improved (as i see it), i should shut up and leave the game completely, because some people do not like my ideas.

> > > .

> > > Yep, that would definitely be a good idea.

> > >

> >

> > If it's only about part of the game, then don't play that specific part.

> There's just way too much things locked behind that content for me to be able to simply ignore its existence. So, not playing _is_ one of those "lose/lose" choices.

>

> > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > What's the problem? I don't like chestfarming and I don't do it.

> Neither do i. And not doing it doesn't impact me in any way. Nothing is locked behind it.

>

> > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > I don't like pvp and I don't do it.

> Not very fond of it, and getting the ascension wasn't one of the fun moments for me either. The difference? I could do it solo, and it didn't require going too deep into that mode. I could manage by just casually dipping into it. With the same amount of investment in raids i'd still be dying to VG.

>

> > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > Really, I fail to see the problem.

> Of course you don't. It's not _your_ problem.

>

> > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > Why would you expect everything in such a diverse game to be tailored exactly to your own tastes?

> I don't. I just think that the game that is _really_ trying to accomodate diverse playstyles and players, should realize that not everyone will be interested in a specific content and offer alternate choices for those players. So, alternate reward paths for those that are interested in rewards, story modes for those that are interested in lore, and lower difficulty modes for those that _are_ interested in challenging themselves, but simply aren't as skilled as you are.

>

>

 

Isnt the armor skin the only specific tbing locked behind the raid?

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> @"zealex.9410" said:

> > @"Astralporing.1957" said:

> > > @"zealex.9410" said:

> > > Isnt the armor skin the only specific tbing locked behind the raid?

> > ...no, not even close.

> >

> >

>

> what else?

 

An assortment of weapon skins, xera portal, and minis.

 

Other things like ghostly infusion and dhuums throne are also raid exclusive but tradable on the tp.

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> @"Shikaru.7618" said:

> > @"zealex.9410" said:

> > > @"Astralporing.1957" said:

> > > > @"zealex.9410" said:

> > > > Isnt the armor skin the only specific tbing locked behind the raid?

> > > ...no, not even close.

> > >

> > >

> >

> > what else?

>

> An assortment of weapon skins, xera portal, and minis.

>

> Other things like ghostly infusion and dhuums throne are also raid exclusive but tradable on the tp.

 

Yeah but the armor is the one that takes a whole lot of time to get. The rest u can even farm by wiping at the boss even. Granded some stuff u need to at least kill their respective bosses once.

 

But every part of the game has this sort of stuff. Minis skins every mode has exclusives and u get a free portal with every mesmer. ×)

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> @"Astralporing.1957" said:

> > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > Why would you expect everything in such a diverse game to be tailored exactly to your own tastes?

> I don't. I just think that the game that is _really_ trying to accomodate diverse playstyles and players, should realize that not everyone will be interested in a specific content and offer alternate choices for those players. So, alternate reward paths for those that are interested in rewards, story modes for those that are interested in lore, and lower difficulty modes for those that _are_ interested in challenging themselves, but simply aren't as skilled as you are.

>

>

 

Why should you get the rewards intended for a specific part of the game you're not interested in, though? It doesn't make sense. Don't you realize offering an alternative path would sabotage that part of the game? It will take away motivation, as a consequence players, and leave it in a deserted state much like the dungeons. It's not a coincidence that the exclusive rewards that DO have alternative methods of obtaining them are the exclusive rewards for the content which is abandoned. Namely, the dungeon skins. You may not care, because you're not interested in raiding, but all the raiders do. And this piece of content, it's intended for us, for the players who care and who love playing it. Asking to ruin the fun of all these players just so you can get the shinies is utterly selfish. And catering to such a selfish request would be terrible business decision, as it would end up in losing playerbase.

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> @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > @"Astralporing.1957" said:

> > > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > > Why would you expect everything in such a diverse game to be tailored exactly to your own tastes?

> > I don't. I just think that the game that is _really_ trying to accomodate diverse playstyles and players, should realize that not everyone will be interested in a specific content and offer alternate choices for those players. So, alternate reward paths for those that are interested in rewards, story modes for those that are interested in lore, and lower difficulty modes for those that _are_ interested in challenging themselves, but simply aren't as skilled as you are.

> >

> >

>

> Why should you get the rewards intended for a specific part of the game you're not interested in, though? It doesn't make sense. Don't you realize offering an alternative path would sabotage that part of the game? It will take away motivation, as a consequence players, and leave it in a deserted state much like the dungeons. It's not a coincidence that the exclusive rewards that DO have alternative methods of obtaining them are the exclusive rewards for the content which is abandoned. Namely, the dungeon skins.

Actually, it _is_ a coincidence. Dungeons ending up abandoned had nothing to do with their exclusive skins being available through alternate means. It's very easy to confirm that by checking dates - dungeon reward tracks were introduced in early 2014, so _before_ the dungeon running "golden era". Introducing them didn't impact dungeons negatively at all.

 

It's in fact one of the best examples showing that exclusive rewards are in no way necessary for the content popularity and offering alternate means for them doesn't need to result in the original content getting abandoned. That part of your argument is (and always was) a total bunk. It's only true if the content is so bad and/or such unrewarding that without any exclusives almost noone would be willing to run it. Using exclusives to generate popularity is just admitting that the content has some major problems - generally it's far better to just address those problems directly instead of trying to ducttape the whole lot so it won't break.

 

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> @"Vinceman.4572" said:

> Of course it had an impact. The dungeoneer title became pretty worthless after that change

That never happened. The dungeoneer title was added only after the reward tracks have already been in the game.

 

> @"zealex.9410" said:

> Dungeoms would still have skme traffic if they were the only place u can farm those skins from.

People would farm them and be done with the content. Exclusivity is merely a short-term solution, it doesn't grant longevity to the content.

Also, see my previous point about duct-taping much more serious issues. If exclusives are the only reason people are running the content, you should fix the content, because all the exclusives do at this point is cover the real issues.

The real reason why people aren't running dungeons at the moment is not because there are no exclusives there. It's because there are several _really_ major issues with that content - all of whose originate from the fact that it's the content that _devs_ abandoned.

 

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> > @"zealex.9410" said:

> > Dungeoms would still have skme traffic if they were the only place u can farm those skins from.

> People would farm them and be done with the content. Exclusivity is merely a short-term solution, it doesn't grant longevity to the content.

> Also, see my previous point about duct-taping much more serious issues. If exclusives are the only reason people are running the content, you should fix the content, because all the exclusives do at this point is cover the real issues.

> The real reason why people aren't running dungeons at the moment is not because there are no exclusives there. It's because there are several _really_ major issues with that content - all of whose originate from the fact that it's the content that _devs_ abandoned.

>

You must live in a fairyland if you think that if exclusives are the only reason people are running content that there must be some issue to fix with the content.

 

Content always ages. If people dont run it anymore they might just be done with the content, you know.

 

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> @"Astralporing.1957" said:

> > @"Vinceman.4572" said:

> > Of course it had an impact. The dungeoneer title became pretty worthless after that change

> That never happened. The dungeoneer title was added only after the reward tracks have already been in the game.

 

Doesn't matter anyways. It's still an undeserved title if you earn it via PvP.

 

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> @"Astralporing.1957" said:

> > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > > @"Astralporing.1957" said:

> > > > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > > > Why would you expect everything in such a diverse game to be tailored exactly to your own tastes?

> > > I don't. I just think that the game that is _really_ trying to accomodate diverse playstyles and players, should realize that not everyone will be interested in a specific content and offer alternate choices for those players. So, alternate reward paths for those that are interested in rewards, story modes for those that are interested in lore, and lower difficulty modes for those that _are_ interested in challenging themselves, but simply aren't as skilled as you are.

> > >

> > >

> >

> > Why should you get the rewards intended for a specific part of the game you're not interested in, though? It doesn't make sense. Don't you realize offering an alternative path would sabotage that part of the game? It will take away motivation, as a consequence players, and leave it in a deserted state much like the dungeons. It's not a coincidence that the exclusive rewards that DO have alternative methods of obtaining them are the exclusive rewards for the content which is abandoned. Namely, the dungeon skins.

> Actually, it _is_ a coincidence. Dungeons ending up abandoned had nothing to do with their exclusive skins being available through alternate means. It's very easy to confirm that by checking dates - dungeon reward tracks were introduced in early 2014, so _before_ the dungeon running "golden era". Introducing them didn't impact dungeons negatively at all.

>

> It's in fact one of the best examples showing that exclusive rewards are in no way necessary for the content popularity and offering alternate means for them doesn't need to result in the original content getting abandoned. That part of your argument is (and always was) a total bunk. It's only true if the content is so bad and/or such unrewarding that without any exclusives almost noone would be willing to run it. Using exclusives to generate popularity is just admitting that the content has some major problems - generally it's far better to just address those problems directly instead of trying to ducttape the whole lot so it won't break.

>

 

You realize the dungeon golden era was because of just another kind of exclusivity? They were just most profitable. And I would argue the decision for replacing them with fractals was already taken, since their first release dates back into late 2012.

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> @"Feanor.2358" said:

> You realize the dungeon golden era was because of just another kind of exclusivity? They were just most profitable.

They weren't. At all of that time there were farms with better gold per time played output. They were just profitable _enough_. Besides, gold is hardly exclusive to anything.

 

 

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> @"FrizzFreston.5290" said:

> > @"Ohoni.6057" said:

> > >There is no inherent need for all rewards to be available for everyone.

> >

> > Why not? If you have a player who wants that reward, but does not want to do the specific content associated with it, how do you make that customer happy? Tell him he can't have the reward? That wouldn't make him happy. Tell hm he has to do the content? That wouldn't make him happy. Why do you believe that player should be left unsatisfied with the state of the game?

>

> You simply cant make everyone happy.

 

True, but that's no reason to not do what you *can* do to make as many players happy as you can. If some simple changes would allow many *more* people to be happy, then why not make those changes? "It's impossible to make everyone happy, therefore why bother making anyone happy" is such a self-defeating world view.

 

>Like there will always be parts of life you dont like, there will always be parts of a game you dont like.

 

But the thing to always remember is, games are not real life, and arbitrary rules domn't have to exist when they don't benefit anyone. Don't like gravity? Turn it off. "That's life" never applies to game design, because "life" is whatever you make it.

 

 

> Providing a wide variety of content with some unique rewards and some universal rewards is the only way where players actually can have what they like, be rewarded the way they enjoy but also have to ignore or deal with some parts of the game that are less enjoyable to them.

 

No, you don't need to have the "unique rewards" at all. Maybe some token ones to attract people to those activities, but only if they are buried shallowly so that if a player doesn't enjoy that content, they can move on. Beyond that, some content can offer an *shorter* path toward a reward than the alternatives to, so that players who genuinely don't care about the gameplay can just do the "right" mode for that reward and have a shorter path, but if a player wants the reward and doesn't like the content, there's no reason he shouldn't have alternatives.

 

I'm not saying that they can't have hard raids for the players that have hard raids, I'm just pointing out that there's no benefit to shoving other players into them, or punishing them for not enjoying that type of content.

 

> Yeah its not like the op said that non-raiders should be given raid exclusive rewards....

 

I did, but I **never** said that they should be "free." They would *always* take work to earn, as much work for the easy mode as for the hard mode, just in a different variety of gameplay.

 

>Just imagine a unique reward to every single heart task which would require you to that same heart numerous times to finally get that ultimate heart task related reward. That doesnt work well at all.

 

It would work no less well than requiring players to run raids over and over until they get those ultimate raid rewards. It's just a different type of content. I don't *want* unique rewards attached to heart quests, but I don't want unique rewards attached to raids either.

 

> @"FrizzFreston.5290" said:

> Oh? And what does The Ascension have to do with PvP? What are the thematic ties making Aurora bound to LS3 and Luminescent armor to Silverwastes? Why do you need Shards of Zhaitan to craft Bifrost?

 

**Exactly!** Thank you for saying what everyone was always thinking!

 

> @"mindcircus.1506" said:

> By the logic you present she should have been able to do this collection any way she chose, like kitten around Snowden Drifts or camping the Shadow Behemoth and pressing 1 every minute or so.

> Would her accomplishment meant as much? Would she have felt like she actually did anything, mastered anything or gotten at all better at this game?

 

That should be up to her. If she wants to set a big and complex goal, she should be able to do so. If she wants to take an easier route, she could do that too. There are a lot of things in this game that could be bought using gold, including raid runs, but a lot of people still choose not to do that, to earn the thing they want through some form of questing instead. They don't have to, but they do it anyway, and they feel that sense of accomplishment when they do. It's up to them whether they want to pursue that path, the pros and cons of it both, or whether the more casual path works fine for them instead. Just because you can climb up the cliff face doesn't mean there can't be a winding trail up as well, and doesn't take anything away from those who choose to climb.

 

> @"Astralporing.1957" said:

> I _have_ obtained the set i wanted. I don't feel great for "defeating" the content at all. I don't feel a better player because of it. I don't feel proud of it. I just feel _tired_. Getting the armor just leeched the joy out of me.

 

That's how I felt getting The Ascension.

 

> @"thrag.9740" said:

> Solution: don't play content you don't enjoy.

 

Ok, but then I wouldn't be able to get the skins locked to that content, so that wouldn't make me happy either. "The solution" has to involve *both* "not doing that content" *and* "getting the desired reward," otherwise it's only *half* of a solution.

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> @"zealex.9410" said:

> But every part of the game has this sort of stuff. Minis skins every mode has exclusives and u get a free portal with every mesmer. ×)

 

Every other part of the game has a much lower barrier of entry. That's part of the problem, if there were easy mode raids that offered access to these rewards then we wouldn't be having this discussion.

 

> @"Feanor.2358" said:

> Why should you get the rewards intended for a specific part of the game you're not interested in, though? It doesn't make sense.

 

Because rewards and content have nothing to do with each other. It's completely possible that you enjoy content A *and* enjoy reward A, but it's also possible that you want neither, *or* that you enjoy the content but not the reward attached, or enjoy the reward but not the content. That's why it's best to offer as many combinations as possible, so that players can find *content* they enjoy *and* find rewards that they enjoy, and play the content they enjoy to unlock the rewards that they enjoy, rather than shoving them through content they don't like, or boring them with rewards they don't care about.

 

>Don't you realize offering an alternative path would sabotage that part of the game? It will take away motivation, as a consequence players, and leave it in a deserted state much like the dungeons. It's not a coincidence that the exclusive rewards that DO have alternative methods of obtaining them are the exclusive rewards for the content which is abandoned. Namely, the dungeon skins. You may not care, because you're not interested in raiding, but all the raiders do. And this piece of content, it's intended for us, for the players who care and who love playing it. Asking to ruin the fun of all these players just so you can get the shinies is utterly selfish. And catering to such a selfish request would be terrible business decision, as it would end up in losing playerbase.

 

If players actually enjoy raiding, then they will continue to raid regardless of the exclusive rewards for as long as they actually enjoy raiding. And keep in mind, I take, but also give here, while I want to see raid-exclusive rewards opened up to other options, I would *also* be in favor of adding more options into the raiding pool. allowing players to grind raids to unlock Legendary Precursors, The Ascension, that fractal backpiece, various other currently "locked" rewards. That would mean that playrrs who actually don't much like the currently available options, might find new things to grind for in raids.

 

And if they don't want to raid without unique rewards? That's fine too, that's their choice to make.

 

> @"zealex.9410" said:

> Dungeoms would still have skme traffic if they were the only place u can farm those skins from.

 

Maybe, but if so it would be from people who apparently don't want to be there, so who would benefit from that? Dungeons should not be populated because they are the only place to *get* something, they should be populated because they are the most fun thing in the game for every player inside them. If ANet can't make the mode that fun, then that mode does not deserve to be populated.

 

 

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> @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > @"Ohoni.6057" said:

> > Because rewards and content have nothing to do with each other.

>

> O...kay... I think I'm done here.

Yep, that is the core part you seem to not understand at all - that the connection between content and rewards is for most of them completely arbitrary. Thus, as Ohoni said, the groups of players that enjoy the content, and the ones that enjoy the rewards from that content, are not the same groups. The only situation where it is otherwise is if the content offers rewards that have sense only for the people playing that content. There aren't many rewards like that - in gw2 i can think of only a few. AR infusions (but not the +stat ones) and pots for Fractals. Siege blueprints and tactics for WvW. Can't think of anything else at the moment.

 

And since that is the case, anytime you lock a set of such arbitrarily assigned rewards behind a specific content, you generate discontent. If the entry level for those rewards is relatively low, and the content relatively mainstream, that discontent will be small. The same if the rewards are not so desirable by most players. Raise the bar however, make the rewards something a lot of players might want, and then lock them behind a niche content, and you will see that discontent get significantly stronger. And that discontent will not disappear no matter how strongly you will argue about how it's as it should be, or how it is not a problem. Because it not being a problem for you, or you not understanding why this is a problem for others will not make it go away.

 

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> @"Feanor.2358" said:

> Uh-huh. I don't like to play lottery but I really like the rewards. I should be able to get them by doing something I enjoy, like hiking in the mountains. Plz make this happen, kthxbye.

 

You can.

 

You've always been able to do so.

 

Don't like the lottery? Fine. Make and sell art. Become a doctor. Become a plumber. Work at Walmart. Open a bed and breakfast. Teach people to cook. Do whatever it is your skill and interests allow you to do, and you can make the *exact* same rewards you would get out of the lottery. It might take longer along a different path, or it might take less time, the lottery is a very high risk, high reward version, but there are infinite paths to the same goal. That's all anyone is asking for here.

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> @"Ohoni.6057" said:

> > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > Uh-huh. I don't like to play lottery but I really like the rewards. I should be able to get them by doing something I enjoy, like hiking in the mountains. Plz make this happen, kthxbye.

>

> You can.

>

> You've always been able to do so.

>

> Don't like the lottery? Fine. Make and sell art. Become a doctor. Become a plumber. Work at Walmart. Open a bed and breakfast. Teach people to cook. Do whatever it is your skill and interests allow you to do, and you can make the *exact* same rewards you would get out of the lottery. It might take longer along a different path, or it might take less time, the lottery is a very high risk, high reward version, but there are infinite paths to the same goal. That's all anyone is asking for here.

 

OK, you want me to be punctual. So be it.

I like the snooker World Champion cup, but I'm a pretty bad player. Can I hike in the mountain and have it? Plz, kthxbye.

 

Also allow me to add that the monetary rewards you get for raiding are in the *exact same* currency you get for finishing 3 dailies.

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> @"Feanor.2358" said:

> I like the snooker World Champion cup, but I'm a pretty bad player. Can I hike in the mountain and have it? Plz, kthxbye.

There's no sports trophy whose copy you couldn't obtain if you really wanted it. Granted, those copies would have no prestige attached to them whatsoever, but they _would_ be identical otherwise.

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> @"Astralporing.1957" said:

> > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > I like the snooker World Champion cup, but I'm a pretty bad player. Can I hike in the mountain and have it? Plz, kthxbye.

> There's no sports trophy whose copy you couldn't obtain if you really wanted it. Granted, those copies would have no prestige attached to them whatsoever, but they _would_ be identical otherwise.

 

No it wouldn't. If they were identical, there wouldn't be a difference in prestige. Namely, the trophy would be completely worthless. The differences can be various - from the materials used to the records of the winners to whom trophies were issued. Some could be faked, others could not. Tell you what - come up with an obvious difference which tells the real envoy from a copy and you can have the copy for all I care.

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> @"Ohoni.6057" said:

> > Yeah its not like the op said that non-raiders should be given raid exclusive rewards....

>

> I did, but I **never** said that they should be "free."

 

Yeah your just asking for them to be massively discounted, because on the first page of this thread, I brought up the difference between an easy mode and hard mode experience....

 

> @"Ohoni.6057" said:

> >Ok. So you spend about 1 hour getting the kill on easy mode, and then 50 hours getting it on challenge mote. So if easy mode gives 1 gold, challenge mote would give 100 based on your ratio?

>

> I doubt any fight in the game routinely takes 50 hours to complete. If you're talking first time completion, that's something else entirely. If they want a higher reward for first time completion of hard mode, fine, but we're talking about "on farm" times.

 

Your choosing to ignore how much longer it takes to get a boss on farm. You think its on farm after the first kill? There are plenty of bosses that have essentially no recovery, and so I would consider them never on farm. For example, bad lag on the hands kiter at deimos, essentially making it so that deimos will never truly be a farm boss like gorseval (which no experienced group will ever wipe on).

 

You say things like this:

 

> @"Ohoni.6057" said:

> I'm fine with them erring on the side of caution here. They can make the hard mode twice as rewarding per unit of time as the easy mode if they like, so long as the easy mode does provide some meaningful progression. A year ago or more I was fine with there being significant time gates for earning Legendary armor via an easier mode, but that ship has sailed, since there has already been a two year time-gate in place. At this point easy mode should provide the armor at roughly the same speed as hard mode provided it, although newly added rewards can have added time gates to keep hard-mode players ell ahead of the easy mode players.

 

Where your advocating for rewards to be balanced based on the kill time of a successful pull. What about the time spent on unsuccessful pulls? Oh that just coincidentally massively favors easy mode.

 

In no way are you advocating that hard mode even be rewarded at the same efficiency as easy mode. In fact, everything you have proposed would make easy mode more rewarding per time.

 

So yeah, your right, your not asking for the rewards for free. Your just asking that they be made massively cheaper.

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> @"Ohoni.6057" said:

>

> > @"thrag.9740" said:

> > Solution: don't play content you don't enjoy.

>

> Ok, but then I wouldn't be able to get the skins locked to that content, so that wouldn't make me happy either. "The solution" has to involve *both* "not doing that content" *and* "getting the desired reward," otherwise it's only *half* of a solution.

 

 

-play content you like to make gold

-buy raid kills

-solved

 

 

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