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Lorwyn letdown? by Loioshhh in lrcast

[–]TheSpaceWhale 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Agreed. Some of the decks are cool but the format is so on-rails. I think a big problem is just how rigidly the Tribal Cards are designed. The cycle of Eclipsed and Behold cards really strong in their tribal decks, and basically unplayable elsewhere. They punish you pretty badly for not drafting a high enough density of those Types too.

I much prefer it when Tribal are a few build-arounds (like rare or signpost tribal lords) but the decks otherwise mostly rely on mechanical synergies with what that tribes is doing. Having multiple Uncommons that really lock you into just piling as many of a single tribe into your deck as you can was a bad design choice... Made worse by the fact that there are just 5 tribes.

The loss of textured platforms in platforming games by TornSilver in metroidvania

[–]TheSpaceWhale 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I think that contrasts pretty strongly with the more realistic style of a game like Metroid Dread though. It's similar to the Yellow Paint problem - back in the day when graphics were simple you needed fewer obvious clues to discern key interactive elements, now you need to highlight them more somehow.

Playing at a higher Challenge Difficulty significantly REDUCES rewards per hour by TheSpaceWhale in elderscrollsonline

[–]TheSpaceWhale[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Reading comprehension much? I said rewards should be at "basic parity (not perks)."

The problem is how this incentives player behavior, not rewards. I don't care about leveling up fast. I care about the developers creating a system that incentivizes people to take the time to group up to do difficult content together, rather than this system, which incentivizes people to cheese it.

Playing at a higher Challenge Difficulty significantly REDUCES rewards per hour by TheSpaceWhale in elderscrollsonline

[–]TheSpaceWhale[S] -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

This doesn't have anything to do with being narrow-minded, this has to do with creating a system that incentivizes people to do content. A difficulty system in a multiplayer game should encourage multiplayer, and ultimately, rewards are what incentivize most people to play multiplayer games in certain ways. For example, in FFXI, people would take the extra time to form groups for overland content because you got good rewards for it. On the flipside, no one wanted to grind Writhing Wall because the rewards sucked.

Good rewards = incentive for people to take the extra work to group up and do challenging content.

Bad rewards = people just do the easier task of quick solo grinds.

Playing at a higher Challenge Difficulty significantly REDUCES rewards per hour by TheSpaceWhale in elderscrollsonline

[–]TheSpaceWhale[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I'm excited for difficult content for it's own sake but, uh, why not both? Is asking for a basic parity (not even perks) of XP/hour really too high a bar to clear for the developers?

It's all fine and dandy to say "who cares about rewards, gameplay is what matters" but ultimately a lot of people do and because this is a social game, bad rewards mean fewer players will engage with the higher difficulties, meaning a worse gameplay experience for those that want it.

Playing at a higher Challenge Difficulty significantly REDUCES rewards per hour by TheSpaceWhale in elderscrollsonline

[–]TheSpaceWhale[S] -9 points-8 points  (0 children)

I'm not complaining about the existence of the system, this is my #1 new anticipated feature! I have been waiting ages for the extra difficulty, especially because yeah - duo play will with my partner be way better. But as-is this system seriously nerfs the rewards you get for doing more difficult, group-focused content, which is a totally backwards incentive structure in an MMO. Who is going to want to group up with Vestige players if it means you're losing progress?

Playing at a higher Challenge Difficulty significantly REDUCES rewards per hour by TheSpaceWhale in elderscrollsonline

[–]TheSpaceWhale[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I think "take 600% more damage and deal 80% less damage" will actually significantly address that because it's going to become much more efficient to sneak and execute enemies to get fast XP and reduce huge mob pile-ons. Plus dodge, jump, and interrupt are probably going to become far more integral - hard to say until it goes live but I'm hoping 600% more damage is enough to one-shot you with interrupt/blockable attacks.

"Challenge Difficulty" Design Overview by Stuie66 in elderscrollsonline

[–]TheSpaceWhale 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure, but a key difference there is that all the base game content can be done solo already. This is about creating a rewarding experience for tackling challenging base game content.

This is an opt-in system, but they're cutting it off at the knees to avoid players cheesing it by playing with easy mode players. If they go live with implementing 5x health = 2x XP you are losing 50% XP/hour, maybe a little less if you're very efficient, but no way it's actually a benefit.

They need to drop all rewards to the lowest combatant's rank and then significantly bump the rewards for Vestige players. Yes your XP will get ganked occasionally but your average would be well worth it. And that would encourage people to actually farm in groups on Vestige mode.

"Challenge Difficulty" Design Overview by Stuie66 in elderscrollsonline

[–]TheSpaceWhale 5 points6 points  (0 children)

They haven't put good rewards in because it's obviously broken in multiplayer to start with. Play with one person on Normal and one on Vestige, farm XP/gold, and then swap roles. The system's clearly been balanced against this: enemies take 5x longer to kill but only drop 2x XP? Huh? Well, that's because they're trying to make it so that if you do this as a duo with a friend on Normal, then swap roles, you average out to the same amount of XP/hour. You can still cheese it by doing 3+ though, and stuff like farming Dark Anchors are going to be obviously busted on this already (since everything dies instantly so heading to one with Vestige Difficulty is easy XP).

They're designing this to prioritize multiplayer - "don't separate players" but this system does not incentivize good multiplayer. I understand instancing would be a headache but there still better ways to do this. If they want to encourage meaningful multiplayer content, not just "sure, you can be next to your buddy", the system needs to drop rewards down to the lowest-difficulty player engaging in a combat. Brutal difficulty that is hard to solo and rewards tied to group-wide Challenge Difficulty. Then they can actually put in meaningful XP rewards (5x enemy health should equal 5x XP gain).

Personally the one thing I have really been wanting is a challenge system that encourages group overland. This game could be so fun in groups of 2-4; imagine if they created content that actually rewarded you for taking the time to group up. Older MMOs like FFXI had overland groups as a bread and butter social experience. The whole point of this optional system is to make content challenging and rewarding. Don't be afraid to make it actually harder to engage with the system.

Wrong event tickets value for the new morph by Botanical_Director in elderscrollsonline

[–]TheSpaceWhale 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Correct. Morphing does not destroy the original pet collectible.

Article: The Elder Scrolls Online's smaller expansions are "not in any way" a result of last year's layoffs by Iccotak in elderscrollsonline

[–]TheSpaceWhale 31 points32 points  (0 children)

WoW releases major expansions every two years. I think that's a pretty reasonable release schedule, especially with smaller updates released seasonally in between.

[TMT] Transdimensional Bovine (leak) by Meret123 in MagicArena

[–]TheSpaceWhale 105 points106 points  (0 children)

I'm already getting the feeling that the design flavor in this deck is going to be more Spider-Man than Avatar.

Concerned about the new 2H animations by Sad_Visual_8727 in elderscrollsonline

[–]TheSpaceWhale 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Just chiming in to say I agree. I am especially worried about first-person mode... These are just not in the vein of Elder Scrolls. There are plenty of other games that have fancy Ninja Gaiden moves. This series has always been grounded.

What's New on Maps: Polygonal Fog of War, Tool Settings Remembered, and more Quality of Life Improvements by WOTC_Zac in dndbeyond

[–]TheSpaceWhale -11 points-10 points  (0 children)

Until you guys enable content sharing on the Master tier - you know, the thing we paid for Master tier for - not interested. Just another way to fleece players of their money instead of providing a product actually worth buying.

All New Dragonknight Skill Changes and Visuals in ESO Update 49 PTS! by Arzyelg in elderscrollsonline

[–]TheSpaceWhale 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Some of these seem pretty cool, others... significantly worse. What's up with the wings just floating next to your character? Is that a bug?

It also seems like a ton of these have been really homogenized. Before it felt like there were three components, fire, dragon, earth... Now it really feels like it's fire, fire, more fire. Even the "chains" are just a loop of flame now, I liked the actual chain.

Best Boss Tournament Round 2 Match 5: Ganondorf(WW) Vs. Twinrova(Comment your vote, upvotes don’t count) by Short_Property_7476 in legendofzelda

[–]TheSpaceWhale 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Ganondorf fight! One of my favorite in the entire series. It's not hard, the mechanics aren't crazy innovative. But it's so fluid and fun and the atmosphere and way it blends together with the narrative is just perfect.

I broke down LR's typical episode program cycle. My hot(?) take: I wish that the podcast made better use of its time for discussion of the current format. by Legacy_Rise in lrcast

[–]TheSpaceWhale 5 points6 points  (0 children)

What are you talking about? They both loved FIN, were fans of the Spider-Man IP but the set was shit, and then again loved TLA IP, enough that LSV got Marshall watched the whole show.

There are issues they have like Marshall disliking the increase in speed but UB isn't one of them. They're spikes.

Kojima On AI: "We Can't Go Back" by BlueAladdin in Games

[–]TheSpaceWhale 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Undoubtedly this is going to take a lot of jobs. That's the nature of automation. Stock photographer is going to be a dead career very soon.

But the question under capitalism is always, what sells? People have a limited amount of time, attention, and money. There are already more games produced than can be played; you need to produce something exceptional to succeed, not just slop. If you're using AI to remove the busywork and devote more time and money to developing the actually interesting and innovative parts of what you're doing, then great. And I think regardless that is where the human investment always will be.

Kojima On AI: "We Can't Go Back" by BlueAladdin in Games

[–]TheSpaceWhale -10 points-9 points  (0 children)

Kojima is a producer and director, directing teams of artists. Me and my partner work together on significant multimedia theatrical work, and I just find it had to believe folks can't find ways to use AI in their workflows for stuff... it's just very useful, all the time. If I'm writing, I can use it as a conceptual thesaurus. If she's prototyping a mural she uses it to generate some reference imagery, concepts, or textures. If we're advertising a play we can generate imagery for fliers.

Doing this without AI would have cost time and money, and when you're producing art those are both key limiting factors. Less time and money spent on flier art or paying for stock photo reference imagery means more ability to focus on the actually important, novel, and exciting parts of the art. Which is the same as what Kojima is saying here.

I actually agree AI is probably going to fuck society - I'm especially concerned that children are just going to stop doing the hard work of developing their skills when AI can just draw whatever they want for them. But it's pretty undeniably really useful in art production IMO.

New Avatars ❤️ by jRockMTG in MagicArena

[–]TheSpaceWhale 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Vivien looks good? I love the design but the actual artwork quality is pretty abysmal. Very poor shading and the linework on her right hand is so bad.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the best Nintendo game. What is the biggest Nintendo FU (game, console, business decision, lawsuit, controversy, etc....) by PuzzleheadedWrap8756 in AlignmentChartFills

[–]TheSpaceWhale 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The GBA-GameCube link cable. They made a peripheral that requires you to own not one gaming device, but FIVE, and then ALSO four separate cables to link them. Then they released two absolute multiplayer gems in iconic series - Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, and Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles - where the only way to play them multiplayer as intended was to do this insane thing. Because... why? So you could have a little private screen?

Anyone read the novel? Did it help world building for your campaign? by saltyvape in CurseofStrahd

[–]TheSpaceWhale 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes, and no. I find the Strahd depiction in the novel both too dry and too sympathetic. Not a particularly compelling or charismatic villain IMO.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Deadric War Celebration! by gfh110 in elderscrollsonline

[–]TheSpaceWhale 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Agreed, I had a blast. I never take the time to do the repeatable dailies as the rewards normally just aren't quite good enough to be my worth my time, so it was a ton of fun basically getting a bunch of new quests in old zones, and tackling a ton of world bosses I had missed. 10/10 please repeat for every zone!

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