Catching up on the recent discussion above, I'm thinking...
Skipping quests doesn't necessarily lead to imbalance. I defy anyone to look at my city and find imbalance. It is, in fact, singularly well-balanced because I developed my basic, crafted and magical goods in a 3:2:1 ratio (which is loosely the ratio of goods required for upgrades and negotiations). And I have 8 workshops at top level.
I skipped quests all the time - so where's the imbalance created? Katwijk's quote, that skipping "creates massive problems in the game's behavior and balance". Interesting. Where exactly is the game demonstrating problematic behavior or balance? None of the users I know are experiencing these problems. Anyone have an example to share? Yes, some of our fellowships need to adjust goods production on a need/supply basis - but this is certainly no business of the developers. In fact, given their statements, they want us to learn how to manage our communities. So...what behavior problems could they possibly be referring to?
The first clue to answering the question is to look at their proposed solution. They didn't eliminate skipping / declining. They just made it unrewarding / impossible for players to do so for hours on end. So, it's not the skipping (since we've already shown that this doesn't negatively affect play)...it's the players who want to be online playing at will. The focus of the current changes has been directly aimed at eliminating a player's ability to play more than for a few minutes every three hours. This seeming concern for "game behavior and balance" isn't on behalf of gamers, to improve the game experience for us. It's just a way to minimize server activity. I think that's the "balance and behavior" they want to correct - the imbalance of not wanting to give us what they initially offered us.
For those of you who reviewed the top players and had some questions / concerns about their cities....I would agree that some of the top players gravitated to magical goods rather than keeping all three types...but who is responsible for this? Inno. Players got to the top and waited...and waited..and waited. The only methodology for raising scores then was to better utilize the available grid, and produce goods that could be traded to lower level players. At that point, they didn't need workshops - they all had massive numbers of neighbors for coins/supplies. Keep in mind that this was the only valid play strategy for months! Original players loyally remained in the game, waiting for the next stage of development to be offered. Now that the game is moving forward, it's important to note that none of these players are complaining about the need to rebuild workshops or rebalance the city. I repeat: they are NOT complaining about the need to make adjustments for the next stage of the game - even though Inno didn't give them a heads up or any consideration during the lengthy wait time. No, we're complaining that Inno, after creating the above scenario in the first place, further penalized its top players by removing the means for them to make the transition to new play. (i.e. flipping to earn the needed coins/supplies).
Next: the new quests don't discourage skipping...they just encourage it in a different way. The best example of this is the new 24-hour quest. At face value it's a useless quest - since only the most casual player is going to set a L15+ manufactory on a 24-hour run. Clearly, this is either an intentionally useless quest, or it's intended to be used creatively. Many of us are being creative: building large numbers of L1's, setting them for 24-hour productions, then flipping to get the bonuses as they become available. In my opinion, Inno couldn't have imagined any other possible use for such a quest. This quest makes it clear that Inno doesn't really have a problem with skipping...their actions don't match up with their words. (I do hate mentioning that this quest is useful...let's see how fast they delete it now that we like it).
I mean, who really doesn't skip quests? If a residence upgrade is ready to complete - don't you scroll through the declinables to find a matching quest? If you're ready to collect planks, don't you scroll through to find a matching quest?
The next ridiculous statement quoted above is that quests are intended for "guidance and to teach how to develop your economy". OMG, doesn't anyone else here get tired of being taken for idiots? Yes, in the very beginning, declinables can remind us to do certain tasks and not neglect anything which might halt our development. After that, neither the storyline quests nor the declinables provide helpful guidance nor teaching. First point, the Knowledge Tree provides mandatory progression through the game. One can't go very far astray - the tree won't let us. Secondly, probably some of the storyline quests are helpful. But some are straight-out obstructions. I'm sure you can recall mandatory quests that weren't helpful. Like all those culture mammoths which are required, but don't necessarily fit into one's game plan? Yippee - building and immediately deleting are just outstanding development skills. Also, immediately after researching the copper mine, what's the first storyline quest? Tie up your mine with a 48-hour production run! Oh yes, how very educational. And third, apparently it's developmentally helpful to my economy to NOT skip quests? But if I follow the quests in the order they appear, I'll either leave my manufactured goods sitting uncollected while I wait for the declinable quest to come around in hours / days, or I'll just collect them and forego the bonus. Neither of which develops my economy, but oh well, I guess playing stupidly is the end result of Inno's "guidance and teaching".
It's easy to listen to well-spoken words and be soothed...but can anyone give me concrete example of how following the declinable quests in order, without skipping, is helpful in producing the "flourishing city" Inno advertises?
Lastly, as to Katwijk's helpful quotes - I really love these. A "strategy MMO"....hmm, no mention of a "log on and mostly do nothing MMO". In fact, we're supposed to be building, exploring and fighting...all in order to create a flourishing city. Wow. Sounds like a pretty active game - lots of verbs: Building...Exploring...Fighting...Creating.
Inno, please let me get back to my "main task of creating a flourishing city". Yes, you've delivered on the "...colorful lush environment" - now we want TASKS. Deliver on your advertising.
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