[Archived 02/2020] News from Beta

[The Unbeliever]

About. Bloody. Time!!
Please, please let this be the death knell of the sheer horror that the endless ranDUMB quests BS really was! It was never fair, and just created far more 'winners vs. losers' than the old sequential + daily quests lines ever did.

Good riddance and may endless quests die a swift death in the cleansing fires of Exterminatus.

 

[Deleted User - 3932582]

...we will, for this event, not use the randomized quests. Instead, we will be using a questline that will be the same for all players, as we have done previously.

Just to highlight the important part.

 

[Deleted User - 3932582]

...and apparently infinite quest line is gone, it is back to fixed.

This looks like a monumental nerf if I've ever seen one.

 

[Jackluyt]

This is what I have so far of the new quest list!
I will be adding more here: https://tinyurl.com/varaehy

1. Produce 1 Beverages - 21 Candies + 1 Valentine Float Evolving Building + 200 Supplies
2. Produce 2 Simple Tools - 22 Candies + 20 Marble
3. Gain 1 Relic - 23 Candies + 20 Steel
4. Solve 2 Encounters or 8 Tournament Encounters - 24 Candies + 20 Planks
5. Spend 10 Knowledge Points - 25 Candies + 1000 Coins
6. Gain 200 Spell Fragments or Scout 1 Province- 26 Candies + 3 Knowledge Points
7. Upgrade 2 Buildings to level 3 or higher - 27 Candies + 1000 Supplies + 3000 Coins
8. Gain a fair amount of Coins - 27 Candies + 750 Supplies
9. Gain a fair amount of Supplies - 28 Candies + 2000 Coins
10. Produce 5 Bread - 29 Candies + 2000 Coins
11. Produce 3 Basket of Groceries - 31 Candies + 4000 Coins
12. Produce 25 Beverages - 32 Candies + 2000 Coins
13. Scout 1 Province or Research 1 Technology or Gain 15 Vision Vapor - 33 Candies + 5000 Coins
14.

 

[T6583]

Are level requirements needed for workshops and factories? While my city is up to date I figured I would ask so I could let me FS know.

 

[Socrates28]

I would assume (yes I know what it means) from the wording that "at level" buildings would not be required so t1s would work at least so far as we have this new list of quests.
That does leave open the possibility that at some point "at level" buildings would be required, perhaps after the 131st quest is completed if not before.

 

[Deleted User - 3932582]

That does leave open the possibility that at some point "at level" buildings would be required, perhaps after the 131st quest is completed if not before.

There is not going to be "after 131st quest". The number of quests is fixed and it seems that the number is 85. After that, that's it, there is nothing more for this event (outside of daily quests).

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Elvengems already has the full list of 85 quests, for those that feel the need to use the Easy Button.

 

[KarlD]

@The Unbeliever That's my thinking as well. They almost have to offer Phoenix artifacts in the Phoenix event. Otherwise, as you said, new players are stuck with a crafted level 1 Phoenix indefinitely. But at the same time, the event can't be *only* Phoenix artifacts for all the players who may already have them evolved. My hope is that the event also includes a yet-to-be-introduced Phoenix pet to go along with the existing ones so people have options.

I don't see why the event can't mostly be about Phoenix artifacts. There are 3 Phoenixes and most people only evolved one to level 10 so they could evolve a different one. If people with Fire Phoenixes evolved one of the others, it's not a game changer compared to people who can only evolve one Phoenix. I probably wouldn't even bother evolving a second Phoenix even if I had the artifacts. Goods production isn't really an issue for me, but many people would enjoy being able to have that boost in goods production at times. It's really okay to have an event that is not all things to all people. I have the artifacts to evolve a Stonehenge, but I never bothered to place it and that's okay. But I think it would be nice to have an event to help latecomers evolve a Fire Phoenix if they so desire. They don't even have to offer 9 Phoenix artifacts. It could be 5 or 6, which is enough to make a Fire Phoenix well worth having and allow newer players to see light at the end of the tunnel as far as fully evolving their Phoenix and not being so far behind others in fighting ability. Keeping newer players happy is probably more valuable than giving older players something new and wonderful.

 

[Deleted User - 4366037]

... But I think it would be nice to have an event to help latecomers evolve a Fire Phoenix if they so desire. ...

This. I am such a latecomer. I often see these evolving buildings show up in the academy, but at level one I find them to be not worth the valuable space on my cities. I am really hopeful that I will eventually have access to these artifacts so that I am not forever at a disadvantage for having joined the game at a later date. I have also seen some suggest similar evolving buildings, which could help newer players but be designed as to not completely stack with existing buildings so that they would not be too powerful for Inno's liking. That would also be most welcome.

My thinking, though, is that introducing universal artifacts would fix just about all of these issues. They could even make it very limited, such as only one per event, but eventually anyone who joined the game at any time would have the option of crafting an evolving a building of their choice.

 

[Yogi Dave]

I often see these evolving buildings show up in the academy, but at level one I find them to be not worth the valuable space on my cities.

I agree it's not worth placing them in your city, however, if you craft them and keep them in inventory, they won't waste a crafting slot in your MA.

There really, really needs to be a way for artifacts to be gotten for the older evolving buildings. It's ridiculous to offer them to be crafted without that. It's almost a slap in the face. Universal artifacts seems like the best way of doing this. Put them in the spire. Put them in the FA. Put them in events. But, please create them and put them somewhere everyone who needs them can get them.

 

[Deleted User - 3932582]

But, please create them and put them somewhere everyone who needs them can get them.

That would be in the shop at 75 pounds per 3-pack

 

[Yogi Dave]

That would be in the shop at 75 pounds per 3-pack

Unfortunately, you are correct. I'd forgotten that ridiculous Black Friday sale item.

 

[Pheryll]

I am partially dismayed that feedback from Beta indicates that a new phoenix will be arriving with a completely new set of artifacts for it. It seems quite possible that we will not get later major events to gather more artifacts for a building offered previously, so the only source for more is the FA. Meanwhile many evolving buildings that players do not want to place are starring each major event, with nothing to do with all the artifacts accumulated. Because of this, I have proposed elsewhere that an artifact exchange be set up (not 1:1) so that there is some meaning to accumulating artifacts even for buildings which one does not prefer.

 

[Deleted User - 3932582]

I am partially dismayed that feedback from Beta indicates that a new phoenix will be arriving with a completely new set of artifacts for it.

I've heard the same, but it doesn't make much sense to me. Why call them the same (Phoenix), but have different artifacts? Should just call the pet something else to avoid confusion.

Of course, applying logic to game decisions has been... only partially successful in the past Case in point - new Dragon Float in the upcoming event.

 

[The Unbeliever]

I've heard the same, but it doesn't make much sense to me. Why call them the same (Phoenix), but have different artifacts? Should just call the pet something else to avoid confusion.

Of course, applying logic to game decisions has been... only partially successful in the past Case in point - new Dragon Float in the upcoming event.

"In an age of darkness, a blind man is your best guide. In an age of insanity, look to the madman to lead the way."

 

[DeletedUser19651]

My players who complained incessantly about the endless quests last time are now complaining that they are more than halfway through the new limited questline after only 8 hours and don't seem to be getting enough artifacts to get a fully upgraded grand prize evolving building.

I don't think there is any winning for Inno here. (I assume between Daily Quests, random drops and the next FA that they will all get fully evolved grand prizes eventually.)

Any chance Inno is going to drop a second bunch of quests later in the event? I haven't been following evolution of this event on Beta this time.

 

[Deleted User - 3932582]

Any chance Inno is going to drop a second bunch of quests later in the event? I haven't been following evolution of this event on Beta this time.

Well, it did happen before so it's possible. But there should be enough points in this event to get to L9 on average as it is, which is similar to how they used to do it. Just because they're halfway in quests doesn't mean they're halfway in points (later quests are more valuable, and you can't fast track daily quests and city collections).

 

[Ashrem]

Inno is a business, and wants people to spend money. Their goal is for the events to be somewhat rewarding but very few non-spenders should get the highest value prize. People who think they can have it all for free will continue to be unhappy.

Beta's experience is uninformative this time. They started with a completely different event design, and there is no way to know what might happen later in the event on live.

 

[The Unbeliever]

Inno is a business, and wants people to spend money. Their goal is for the events to be somewhat rewarding but very few non-spenders should get the highest value prize. People who think they can have it all for free will continue to be unhappy.

This is pure BS...
If you are an Active. Daily. Player, which IMHO would be defined as; waking up between 7-8am, logging in every 3hrs to collect regular production cycles, set the 9hr 'sleepy time' stuff around 10-11pm, rinse, repeat every day.
That means you're averaging about 25-30 incident collections, on top of completing the full quest lines. That's a helluva lot of work, and such dedication while also always choosing only the most GP efficient chests every time, should be rewarded by obtaining ONE (and only one!), Lv.10 building.

Now, start being a bit less active, like say only logging in every 4-5hrs, or even less (which will also mean far fewer incident collections), and/or not not choosing chests with much thought, and/or not quite finishing out the quest line, etc...
Then yeah, no Lv10 for you, unless you throw some diamonds at the event to compensate for less active play and/or poor decisions on picking which chests to open.

Yes INNO exists to make money, but it's also far easier to make said money with a generally happy & engaged player base.
If evolving buildings suddenly mean that to even get 1x Lv10 building you suddenly need to;
- 100% the event while maintaining 'daily job' level activity
- only choose the most GP efficient chests every single time.
- wait an extra month for the next FA, then hope/pray your fellowship can clear all 3 levels for the 2 missing artifacts
You're going to have lots and lots of very disgruntled players, as the level of work required in no way matches up to the end reward...

And let's face it, both the Gingerbread House & this new Love Nest are steaming crap. If they were Phoenix/Bear levels, then sure, it'd be worth grinding one's entire city to a dead stop, jumping through all the hoops & treating the game as a near full-time job for the next 20-something days.
But as it stands, this event is yet another pipping hot bowl of mediocre disappointment.