Dominionofgod
Thinker of Ideas
needed two post to fit it all and i post just in time for a page break ><
So reposting part 1
My FA thoughts.
I honestly liked this new version a lot more then the old version. Not to say it doesn't need improvements, but over all it was a lot more simple and a lot more stress free for me.
I run two cities in my fs. And i plan ahead and use all my room for badges in both cities. Im also the one that has to come up with the FA plan for my FS each time. I run the event as well as keep track of every single badge reported and every badge spent and who is doing it. So forth and so forth, you get the idea. Point being that i see what each player is doing every fa. It can some times take hours for me when i first get on to collect and reset both my cities and update my spreed sheets and finish everything else. - So when i say that this new FA format had a lot less stress involved for me.. i mean it lol.
I can respect the different lines of thought behind the new fa format as well. It was an interesting mix of trying to listen to player feedback and being able to incorporate specific badges that required players to experience all the different aspects of the game (since some ppl ignore certain parts.) We had badges that leaned towards ws, factory, tourney, spire, MA, crafting.. a wide field to make players experience different things and see what the game has to offer. Its also a good way to spread out the badge requirements instead of making nearly all of them ws/factory badges.
It also had a nice attribute of being an on going production badge. Instead of workshop or factory badges where its 'who is making what and how many specifically', the new badges were ones that are ongoing. Everyone can be making them all the time (generally speaking). Which also meant less badge reporting needed to be done. - And one of my favorite effects of this was the fact that even the players that generally don't do Fa's or do very little at best, would still be making badges even if they wernt trying to. Which put them in the position of do they willfully withhold using badges from there own fs, or go use them even if they don't care about the fa or there fs. I noticed a few players that normally don't participate much suddenly had a higher number of badges used then they ever do before. And they were nearly all non ws/factory badges. Its kind of a cleaver way of 'almost force participation' without actually forcing them. And yet, still a bit stronger then just an incentive. So i find that very amusing, and helpful.
As for the badges themselves...
I was glad the treants and bakers were taken out. I kinda wished carpenters was added to that list too, but oh well. We had to many ws badges. Seeing them reduced from so many different kinds was nice. Similar can be said for factory badges tho there were less of those to begin with. I think id rather have seen the statues removed tho. They have always been a pain. The main goal has always been to try and have all the statues you'll need finished before the fa starts/as it starts. The time on it is just to long to want to make during an FA.
Witch hat/enchantment badges of old; it was a good way of combining all three of those. Not bad once you get used to it. And the fact that we dont have to stop (especially during tourney) to go grab the 100 goods to finish the badge is probably the biggest upside of that change.
New badges:
Ghost, solve 3 tourney or spire encounters: I was honestly ready to be annoyed at this badge. Even went so far as to assume the annoyance. I figured it would be programmed similar to the event quests where it is one or the other. 3 tourney encounters OR 3 spire encounters. I was very surprised that we were allowed to mix and match to get this badge. And very grateful. I think that fact is what made this badge decent. If it had been one OR the other then this would have been very irritating and probably upset a lot of ppl. So good attention to detail on that one. Some times its the small details that make all the difference.
Staff, collect combat catalyst spell: This one was an iffy one and could be very situational. You can get them in the spire as a random chest reward. But you also could go a whole floor and not get any (hence random). Also, if you did get a catalyst chest, it was usually spell x3 all at once. Which meant we would only get one badge out of that and not three. - Which left the other choice of making them in the Magic Academy. But if you do that, you cant make the spells for the witches hat at the same time. So we have to make that choice. - Part of me likes the idea of making to make strategic choices in this manner, but part of me understands why some don't like it. And speaking of that.. i also understand why younger players are annoyed at the the magic academy badges all together when they only have a low level MA. The enchantments take so much longer which will effect FA play. Yet at the same time, i also feel its a temporary thing if they continue playing. Because you can get small amounts of diamonds in the spire each week. (And i think inno added a few to completing early chapters now? I could be wrong on that.) But either way. with some persistence, the younger players can earn enough diamonds over time without having to spend money and be able to upgrade there MA. Which again, long term/planning ahead strategy. It was a founding principle of this game. So i can see both sides on this. Tho the players have the ability to make it a non issue through smart game play which i find very interesting. Not something i see to often.
Marbles, gain 8 relics: A simple enough badge for those that play tourney. Your decision to reduce it from gain 10 to gain 8 was a smart one. With tourney provinces after #9 giving 4 relics per tourney, 8/10 makes a big difference. Its actually a 50% increase of provinces needed (if your going in numerical order). Which would mean a lot less badges being made. So good call on that one.
Residue, gain 10 vision vapor: One of the big two badges that most players had an issue with in this system. The fact that you reduced it from 15 VV to 10 VV and ppl still had such a big issue with it says a lot. - We only have one MA so we can only be making 1 at a time at most. And with random crafting options, we might get lucky and one craft equals one badge. Or we might get a run of recipes that only give 2-3 vapor and need an eternity to get one badge. - When you can look at a fresh line of recipes that are all 2-3 and realize that it might be more efficient to just wait the 6~ hour for a new batch rather then try to make all those small ones... that's an issue. Luckily, i personally did not run into that issue. All of mine were either one recipe or two recipes to get my badge. But im guessing not everyone was that lucky. --- All of that being said, i like the badge idea. I think the amount needed of this badge needs to be adjusted to reflect the fact that ppl can not make these as fast as the other badges.
Tiara, use 3 enchantments: I saved this until after the residue in order to pair it with
Bracelet, Produce xx amount of t1 goods: Because Bracelet is the second of the two big badges that players had an issue with.
In order to make bracelets, many players had to run the good enchantment badge on there t1 factories around the clock. That necessity gave them a handful of tiaras by default. So tiaras wernt rly any issue due to that fact. But bracelets were one of the two badges i heard the most about. And i also can see why this would be the more complicated badge to address.
I do like the removal of two of the old factory badges and the implementation of a flat out 'produce x amount of goods' badge. I think the two main factors would be, 1. where to draw the line on the amount needed. And 2, how many badges should be required on the map. As for the players, how many of these badges they could make will vary greatly depending on there play style. Those that lean towards catering in the tourneys probably have higher level t1 factories for there chapter. Thus making the badge a little bit easier to obtain when compared to those that go military four tourney. I myself go military for tourney. Since the game is about population/culture balance and how we cant have max everything (without special diamond buildings or expansions) the pop/cult gets used towards military and thus something else needs to be cut back to make up for it. For me, that's my factories. I just have unlocked the first advanced scouts of woodelves, chapter 9. My max steel factory level was 19 at the end of chapter 8, and will be 23, when i unlock that in woodelves. But both numbers are kind of irrelevant as a military player, my t1 factories are on lvl 16 and i don't see that changing any time soon due to pop/cult demands. - Point being, ppl in that situation will have harder times making a bracelet badge due to lower production of goods. For me personally, wiht the goods enchantment running, starting the day with collecting a 9h over night and running 3h all day, i can only obtain about 1 bracelet a day.
So reposting part 1
My FA thoughts.
I honestly liked this new version a lot more then the old version. Not to say it doesn't need improvements, but over all it was a lot more simple and a lot more stress free for me.
I run two cities in my fs. And i plan ahead and use all my room for badges in both cities. Im also the one that has to come up with the FA plan for my FS each time. I run the event as well as keep track of every single badge reported and every badge spent and who is doing it. So forth and so forth, you get the idea. Point being that i see what each player is doing every fa. It can some times take hours for me when i first get on to collect and reset both my cities and update my spreed sheets and finish everything else. - So when i say that this new FA format had a lot less stress involved for me.. i mean it lol.
I can respect the different lines of thought behind the new fa format as well. It was an interesting mix of trying to listen to player feedback and being able to incorporate specific badges that required players to experience all the different aspects of the game (since some ppl ignore certain parts.) We had badges that leaned towards ws, factory, tourney, spire, MA, crafting.. a wide field to make players experience different things and see what the game has to offer. Its also a good way to spread out the badge requirements instead of making nearly all of them ws/factory badges.
It also had a nice attribute of being an on going production badge. Instead of workshop or factory badges where its 'who is making what and how many specifically', the new badges were ones that are ongoing. Everyone can be making them all the time (generally speaking). Which also meant less badge reporting needed to be done. - And one of my favorite effects of this was the fact that even the players that generally don't do Fa's or do very little at best, would still be making badges even if they wernt trying to. Which put them in the position of do they willfully withhold using badges from there own fs, or go use them even if they don't care about the fa or there fs. I noticed a few players that normally don't participate much suddenly had a higher number of badges used then they ever do before. And they were nearly all non ws/factory badges. Its kind of a cleaver way of 'almost force participation' without actually forcing them. And yet, still a bit stronger then just an incentive. So i find that very amusing, and helpful.
As for the badges themselves...
I was glad the treants and bakers were taken out. I kinda wished carpenters was added to that list too, but oh well. We had to many ws badges. Seeing them reduced from so many different kinds was nice. Similar can be said for factory badges tho there were less of those to begin with. I think id rather have seen the statues removed tho. They have always been a pain. The main goal has always been to try and have all the statues you'll need finished before the fa starts/as it starts. The time on it is just to long to want to make during an FA.
Witch hat/enchantment badges of old; it was a good way of combining all three of those. Not bad once you get used to it. And the fact that we dont have to stop (especially during tourney) to go grab the 100 goods to finish the badge is probably the biggest upside of that change.
New badges:
Ghost, solve 3 tourney or spire encounters: I was honestly ready to be annoyed at this badge. Even went so far as to assume the annoyance. I figured it would be programmed similar to the event quests where it is one or the other. 3 tourney encounters OR 3 spire encounters. I was very surprised that we were allowed to mix and match to get this badge. And very grateful. I think that fact is what made this badge decent. If it had been one OR the other then this would have been very irritating and probably upset a lot of ppl. So good attention to detail on that one. Some times its the small details that make all the difference.
Staff, collect combat catalyst spell: This one was an iffy one and could be very situational. You can get them in the spire as a random chest reward. But you also could go a whole floor and not get any (hence random). Also, if you did get a catalyst chest, it was usually spell x3 all at once. Which meant we would only get one badge out of that and not three. - Which left the other choice of making them in the Magic Academy. But if you do that, you cant make the spells for the witches hat at the same time. So we have to make that choice. - Part of me likes the idea of making to make strategic choices in this manner, but part of me understands why some don't like it. And speaking of that.. i also understand why younger players are annoyed at the the magic academy badges all together when they only have a low level MA. The enchantments take so much longer which will effect FA play. Yet at the same time, i also feel its a temporary thing if they continue playing. Because you can get small amounts of diamonds in the spire each week. (And i think inno added a few to completing early chapters now? I could be wrong on that.) But either way. with some persistence, the younger players can earn enough diamonds over time without having to spend money and be able to upgrade there MA. Which again, long term/planning ahead strategy. It was a founding principle of this game. So i can see both sides on this. Tho the players have the ability to make it a non issue through smart game play which i find very interesting. Not something i see to often.
Marbles, gain 8 relics: A simple enough badge for those that play tourney. Your decision to reduce it from gain 10 to gain 8 was a smart one. With tourney provinces after #9 giving 4 relics per tourney, 8/10 makes a big difference. Its actually a 50% increase of provinces needed (if your going in numerical order). Which would mean a lot less badges being made. So good call on that one.
Residue, gain 10 vision vapor: One of the big two badges that most players had an issue with in this system. The fact that you reduced it from 15 VV to 10 VV and ppl still had such a big issue with it says a lot. - We only have one MA so we can only be making 1 at a time at most. And with random crafting options, we might get lucky and one craft equals one badge. Or we might get a run of recipes that only give 2-3 vapor and need an eternity to get one badge. - When you can look at a fresh line of recipes that are all 2-3 and realize that it might be more efficient to just wait the 6~ hour for a new batch rather then try to make all those small ones... that's an issue. Luckily, i personally did not run into that issue. All of mine were either one recipe or two recipes to get my badge. But im guessing not everyone was that lucky. --- All of that being said, i like the badge idea. I think the amount needed of this badge needs to be adjusted to reflect the fact that ppl can not make these as fast as the other badges.
Tiara, use 3 enchantments: I saved this until after the residue in order to pair it with
Bracelet, Produce xx amount of t1 goods: Because Bracelet is the second of the two big badges that players had an issue with.
In order to make bracelets, many players had to run the good enchantment badge on there t1 factories around the clock. That necessity gave them a handful of tiaras by default. So tiaras wernt rly any issue due to that fact. But bracelets were one of the two badges i heard the most about. And i also can see why this would be the more complicated badge to address.
I do like the removal of two of the old factory badges and the implementation of a flat out 'produce x amount of goods' badge. I think the two main factors would be, 1. where to draw the line on the amount needed. And 2, how many badges should be required on the map. As for the players, how many of these badges they could make will vary greatly depending on there play style. Those that lean towards catering in the tourneys probably have higher level t1 factories for there chapter. Thus making the badge a little bit easier to obtain when compared to those that go military four tourney. I myself go military for tourney. Since the game is about population/culture balance and how we cant have max everything (without special diamond buildings or expansions) the pop/cult gets used towards military and thus something else needs to be cut back to make up for it. For me, that's my factories. I just have unlocked the first advanced scouts of woodelves, chapter 9. My max steel factory level was 19 at the end of chapter 8, and will be 23, when i unlock that in woodelves. But both numbers are kind of irrelevant as a military player, my t1 factories are on lvl 16 and i don't see that changing any time soon due to pop/cult demands. - Point being, ppl in that situation will have harder times making a bracelet badge due to lower production of goods. For me personally, wiht the goods enchantment running, starting the day with collecting a 9h over night and running 3h all day, i can only obtain about 1 bracelet a day.