winter magic and events in general

[DeletedUser17492]

Dear Developers!

I think you should really think about how to generate random quests. In the last event, most often than not I kept getting the same quest to do over and over. This really takes the fun out of playing elvenar and take part in events. I understand that you had this "great" idea of randomizing quests to prevent people from preparing for the next one while doing the previous one (I am not entirely sure what's wrong with that, but OK). However, straight up randomizing actually leads to repetition more than one expects.

You must have gotten wind of this, as for the current event (winter magic, 2019) it was announced that quests will not repeat. BS! The way this was solved is that now there is a really short quest, like "post x number of trades", inserted between the same elaborate, time consuming quests. For the last couple of days every other quest I got has been producing an ever growing number of basic goods, with having to post trades or giving neighbourly help between two.

This is a fake solution, we're having the same problem as before. So, here are two ways you can make this better:

1) In every group of tasks, go through all of them exactly once. Once a task is posted, take it out of circulation for the next 30-40 tasks. If you are worried that then one can guess near the end of that group of 30ish quests what hasn't been done yet, then just through in an extra 10, but not use all of them.

2) A slightly more complicated version would still allow for repetition, but only in a limited way. Start out with a group of quests with equal probability of being chosen next. If one is chosen, then throw it back in among the possibilities, but with half the probability as before. Repeat. This way if a quest is chosen twice, then to be chosen a third time has 25% of the chance of choosing a quest that has not appeared yet. This would prevent long streaks even with another quest thrown in between repetitions.

Cheers!
Frier

 

[Ashrem]

I like all of this except the part about throwing in an extra 10 and not using them all. It retains some of the same danger, where two people get significantly different experiences, depending on which ten never get used.

I think a better tactic would be to assign each task an anticipated-average-completion-time, and add it to the city's accumulator when the task is completed and the new one is selected. Then it could test and if you are at a waypoint (number of quests completed), and your accumulator is longer than average, it could assign short-completion tasks to bring every-one close to an average. i.e., if you are on task 30-40 and your timer is at more than 100 hours, pick a shorter task. If you are at task #40-50, and your accumulator is less than 150, pick a longer task.

 

[DeletedUser17492]

OK, I'm totally fine not adding an extra 10 quests, I just included that against the obvious reply that this way when you are near the completion of a group of quests you could guess what's left. The second version does not need this.
With your suggestion, they could complain about that implementing it might take a lot of work (but I could be wrong on this). I think my suggestion is easy to implement. In any case, the current system is pretty bad.

 

[DeletedUser17492]

ps: but I do like your suggestion. It is crazy that you get the same reward for doing something that take 2 minutes and something that takes 2 days.

 

[Ashrem]

"Pretty bad" is being kind,,,,

 

[DeletedUser20219]

I too am having the same time-consuming quests pop up more frequently and feel the system needs to be readdressed.
I also don't like the new gift box method for getting prizes for the winter magic event. Each box costs 50 ribbons to open regardless of what prize one can get. Getting the daily prize also seems less likely since that is only one of the 15 boxes one can open. Finally spending hammers to finish the gingerbread house only gets a player 1-3 points along the grand prize track. So looking solely at grand prizes my 50 ribbons will at best get me 3 points along the grand prize track.
I prefer the chests from previous events which allows the player to select how many of their earned items from quests (Ribbons in the current event) to spend. I liked having multiple price tiers (18 - 185) which gave me a greater flexibility with my quest earnings and let me pick what types of prizes I could potentially get. Another benefit with the chests was that there was a chance to get the daily prize with each chest. Finally opening chests advance you along the grand prize reward tracker 1 - 5 spaces which made the more expensive chest worth the extra cost.
I hope the gift box prize method is a one-off for this holiday themed event and isn't the direction the developers are moving for future events.
Thanks!

 

[Beatleguise]

Some of the quest take a really long time, especially as a new player. Two days, and then you roll and get a minus 2 hour construction bonus? That makes spending 500 diamonds for an extra 2 rolls very not worth it. Way to expensive for extras. By my calculation, I wont get even 1/2 way through all the evolves of the house and that is optimistic. As an example,, Collect 1200 goods? Very hard as a new player. All I have done for two days is collect money and supplies and wait. The Fun factor dies quickly when just waiting....

 

[fitress]

Just throwing my 2¢ in. I keep getting the Train Units quest. Each time, it takes 2 days. I think I'm on my fourth time. What makes it even worse, is that I don't fight!!! I have something in excess of 70,000 Cerberus' just from doing these quests. They should come up with a way to sell, trade, or honorably discharge unused soldiers.
I liked some of the changes to some of the other options, but this one just keeps shutting me down. Like Beatleguise said, "The Fun factor dies quickly....

 

[DeletedUser17492]

This is what I hear from everyone. I used to think that this was just bad design, but now I start to believe that it is intentional. Pretty much everyone is reporting getting the same long term quests over an over. I am told to produce the same thing over and over in increasing quantities. And the wording changes, so they could claim that it is not the same quest. What I need to do is the same even if it is listed as a different quest.

If any designer/developer reads this: You guys are taking the fun out of this! I suppose the goal behind this scheme is to make us buy diamonds for real money. I get that this is a business, but you could try to be a little more subtle! Shame on you.

 

[DeLynn Skye]

I just wanted to find a thread where I could complain that once again, despite a claim that this "was changed" and would not happen again, I'm now on my 5th back to back of some form of a measure of supplies--most in different text formats, but still, just X amount of supplies. Given that it is in direct contrast to what was promised, it ticked me off. Thanks for listening ;-)

 

[Nectar of the Gods]

I HATE random quests!

In case it hasn't been said as clearly as I just did, I wanted to get that out there. There was nothing wrong with the previous system of having set quests. So a person plans? So what? It hurts no one. And it allows those of us who have a life to go live it. The game is supposed to be fun. Not work. It has increasingly become work and I'm not getting paid for it. Not cool.

Bring back some sanity into Elvenar. Stop making the game a second job.

 

[Beatleguise]

I keep getting the buy 10 Knowledge Points quest. Ive only been playing a week, so this quest makes the Winter Special nearly impossible for me, I have been getting the random spawn ribbons, but they only get me one spin like every other day it seams like. And the gather 1200 goods quest pops up a lot, which again takes me a really long time when I can only produce 48 every 3 hours....

 

[Nectar of the Gods]

Dear Inno Developers,

I would like to speak for a moment to Beatleguise's post. I genuinely feel for this player. It is really hard to do the produce x number of goods in the first few chapters. And repeated "buy 10 knowledge points" quests become impossible after a very short period. A new person doesn't have the set up in their city to handle that type of quest. They don't have the instants to get more gold or supplies to buy the knowledge points. These things should be taken into consideration for players in the first three chapters. I have a city in the third chapter and I'm struggling even though I am an experienced player and know how to work through some of these quests. A new person playing doesn't have a chance. A person doesn't have the space, population, and culture to build the buildings needed to make the amount of goods the quests require for "produce x amount of ..." either. Reducing requirements for people in the first three chapters or changing what quests they get would help a great deal, imo. Those chapters are hard enough without making quests impossible or mostly impossible to do.

If it is too hard to build a city and play the event then people leave. Surely retention is a goal? I know the disappointment of not being able to get anywhere in an event because I was new. I hope you will seriously consider taking a look at how to make events fair for the new members of Elvenar. They deserve to win prizes, too.

And on a side note regarding the "buy 10 knowledge points" quest, I have a suggestion. If you are going to continue to have this quest, perhaps once a year you could zero out everyone's knowledge point cost. Make it a Christmas present. Give everyone a fresh slate because most of the cost for buying a knowledge point comes from what you require me to buy. I can't afford to buy any during my normal play.

Thank you for your consideration.

 

[VictoriousPamela]

Every other quest that I have is research one tech or get 15 vision vapors. A. My game is fairly deadlocked because Elemental chores take forever so I can't complete much tech, and B. I'm tired of being forced to craft recipes for things that I don't want and won't use. Can you PLEASE either find a solution to your "rotation" or give up the events altogether??? I'm really losing interest and I'm the AM for my FS!

 

[DeletedUser17492]

Well, it looks like pretty much everyone is having the same problem. The way the quests have evolved through the last few events makes no sense and takes all the fun out of it. What I used to enjoy in events was that I could plane ahead. Producing one thing that I am told (and as everyone reports it tends to be the same thing over and over) is not fun. For me the fun is to figure out how I can do the subsequent quests in the most efficient way. As Nectar of the Gods said it: What's wrong with that?

And this new way of getting rewards is the other totally annoying change. When it was opening chests, or other objects, we had a small chance of winning the daily prize on **every single** try. Now if you get it, then you might have to go another 15 hits before you even have the chance and meanwhile you get "prizes" like a single enchantment. Seriously??

 

[DeletedUser17492]

ps: As I said before, I think the developers' goal is to make us buy diamonds, but what they will achieve is that many people will leave the game. (Developers, are you reading this?)

 

[DeletedUser24841]

Ive gotten the 1200 goods quest 3 times with trade in between once, get 3 enscorcelled enchantments, power of provision, combining catalyst, magic production also between and needed clarification waited for support after accidently killing a combining catalyst that had 7 hours til finished by checking the required relics needed (mobile app user finger tip touched dash byebye 12 hours wasted plus the time waiting for support response they responded to my email i dont use on phone instead of ingame. Just found this out today by trying to join forum about email verification used friends computor to access email and wah lah supports response good thing i got the 3 items by neighborly help chests or i would have still been waiting.

 

[Ashrem]

ps: As I said before, I think the developers' goal is to make us buy diamonds, but what they will achieve is that many people will leave the game. (Developers, are you reading this?)

No, the developers aren't reading this. And they don't care about what we think it will achieve. Inno has won business awards for the quality of their in-game metrics. They know whether people are playing or quitting, and they know exactly how much the average player is spending. The volunteer Forum moderators will pass on anything they think is constructive. Inno will never pay any attention to players telling them that "what they will achieve is that many people will leave the game." The only way to tell them people are leaving the game is to leave the game.

 

[DeletedUser17492]

No, the developers aren't reading this. And they don't care about what we think it will achieve. Inno has won business awards for the quality of their in-game metrics. They know whether people are playing or quitting, and they know exactly how much the average player is spending. The volunteer Forum moderators will pass on anything they think is constructive. Inno will never pay any attention to players telling them that "what they will achieve is that many people will leave the game." The only way to tell them people are leaving the game is to leave the game.

That's sad, but very likely entirely true. Not that I expected otherwise...

 

[DeletedUser24837]

ps: As I said before, I think the developers' goal is to make us buy diamonds, but what they will achieve is that many people will leave the game. (Developers, are you reading this?)

It's endless, buy diamonds, buy diamonds, buy more diamonds. You can play without paying, but it's a slower game, for sure. I find it annoying, and eventually I suspect I'll get bored with the whole process and leave.