Change event rewards
BenTiger
Posts: 603 ✭✭✭✭✭
@hpwulola @HPWUrobert @HPWUblue @HPWUTeam
With the constant discontent with how events have been going lately, it is obvious that something needs to change.
My suggestion is to move the RSB and DADA books out of the event rewards. Reassign them to some other task that is takes effort, but can be repeated, much like Skill Books from challenges.
Since they are only found in events, people feel forced to complete events. Events should be fun, not a mandatory task.
When issues, such as quarantining in a poor spawn area, work, etc. make is so that events cannot be completed, this leads to highly demotivated players. Events have also become too difficult for new players to complete, since the developers have tried to cater to veteran players wanting more of a challenge (a forced grind is NOT a challenge, it is a nuisance).
If someone fails to complete an event, their progress in the game is effectively halted. New players need to be able to work on their combat trees and veteran players need to work on their S.O.S. trees, as well as prepare for the next skill trees, that are "Coming soon". We can't keep halting progress, through events. Also, if you want to promote new players to join the game, they need to have a way to catch up to veteran players. With the current event book system, newer players will never be able to catch up to veteran players, no matter how much time/effort/money they invest in to the game.
The game was originally advertised as if you would be able to complete all the skill trees. With the addition of the S.O.S. skills, this have become a completely unobtainable goal. People are being forced in to one profession. If, down the line you decide to change to a new profession, you can't, due to RSBs being restricted to events. So, if you really enjoy playing as a Professor in Challenges; you are now forced to always have to spend extra energy returning Oddities, since you deal the least amount of damage.
This is how you scare off players, not retain them. Limiting progress through time limited events has led to the decline in players for many other games. HPWU is supposed to promote team play, but we can't have team play, if new players can't even get the books required to advance their skills. We keep losing players, every event. This is very evident by the lack of players found in the Night Bus lately. Players miss out on an event, feel like they are now behind everyone else, and quit; since there is no way to catch up.
Comments
Totally agree, I was about to write a post to the same effect, because I have the feeling that the recent events would have been enjoyed by most players way more if there wouldn't have been any quests whatsoever associated with them...
Thing is, you have to be able to progress in a game at your own pace. Sure, avid players will have the cool stuff (whatever that means for HPWU) earlier, but even very casual ones have to be able to get there eventually. With the recent events that lock items like RSBs and DADAs (and brilliant event foundables for BEs) behind grindy quests that you can complete only with a serious investment in terms of time and resources, a lot of players can't proceed at all.
Other than that the events were fine: A lot of rare traces that you can use to get your registry ahead and collect a lot of SOS stuff for.
Btw, I managed to complete the quests. My wife didn't (well, the last BE she did, but not the WW or the CDs...) but luckily she is not overly bothered by that and rather concentrated on returning the Deatheaters that spawned like crazy. Her complaint is more that two CDs back to back and cramped in between two BEs is too much...
...and advertising the events as "play from home" friendly is just wrong. Luckily, we can get outside. But if you rely solely on TTDs to complete the tasks, yeah, that's not going to happen. And giving out one set of TTD ingredients for free is almost cynical. That was actually a good idea back when the first round of quests in a BE was "Brew 1 TTD", but in the latest round of events you actually needed to brew 2, so?
It is fine if they want to keep the quests, but they should be trivial. Like, daily quest level...
I for one enjoy the challenges and take the community days just an extra chance of getting few DADA's and not some mandatory things. I think this brilliant is really doable, I'm on bonus round now and I haven't really have to work for it, so since there is a week to do it, I think it's perfectly balanced, although I understand that for someone who lives in the middle of nowhere it is as hard as other gameplay. I'm few events short of completing my auror tree, it would be done I think if I hadn't used some green books on my sos tree and my sos score is 15k or something. I have played 3 months this week. So i think you can progress if you want to. As I said, brilliant events are week long. So if someone gives up after a day or two, as many fb groups seem to suggest, then maybe it's on them...
I couldn’t complete any of the challenges lately so I’m happy to be on bonus round now!
I was able to visit some inns to get energy, otherwise it would have been impossible because energy on ground has been pretty invisible and I’ve spent about 400-500 so far.
My problem now is finding ingredients for brewing 😉 so if I can complete the bonus round too remains to be seen.
While I agree with much of what the OP said, this part is factually wrong:
"So, if you really enjoy playing as a Professor in Challenges; you are now forced to always have to spend extra energy returning Oddities, since you deal the least amount of damage."
I was frustrated with how much time and energy it took to return Oddities, like they were, but I realized that I could complete all of the Auror training that seemed relevant to Oddities without spending a single RSB. Maybe a maxxed Auror would be even better, but I'm better at fighting Oddities as a middling Auror than as a max Professor. It's made a huge difference in how tedious and annoying these Oddity events have been. (Swapping professions before and after Fortress battles is a nuisance, but a much smaller one.)
This will only be useful to players who have stockpiled a fair number of scrolls and Red Books, but I suspect that's going to be a lot of players.
@Morganza Actually, I am 100% correct. Even if you get every skill in Auror, without using RSB, you will still be using more energy. You will be able to get 115 Auror skills with not spending any RSB. This will allow you to deal 100 damage per hit. That saves you 1 hit, without incorporating critical attacks into the equation; so yes, you will likely save some energy vs. a Professor.
The part that you are not taking into account is that without spending 30 RSB, you are missing Dancing With Dummies and First Strike. This means that you will be missing out on an increased chance that your first strike will be a critical strike as well as deal more damage. That means... you WILL be spending more energy. So, my comment is FACTUALLY CORRECT.
@BenTiger I'm a Professor who switched to Auror this week without Dancing With Dummies or First Strike and I've saving energy. My crit rate and damage is comparable, but the 100 base damage vs. the 96 is significant to reduce casts over the course of the event. Yes, it would be better with those two RSB skills, but I'm saving even without them because of the disparity of 100 vs. 96 on creatures with health in increments of even 100s.
@Attrition if you read my post, I already stated that you will save some energy. The point is that a fully invested Auror will still be dealing more damage. I know this from experience, as I am in the same household as an Auror and they saved over 100 energy during the event vs. my Professor playing with the Auror skills, minus those two (and all other skills requiring RSB). Those two skills wind up saving Aurors extra energy for most encounters.
I still maintain that my original quote is 100% factual and accurate. I have the experience to support it. So, unless you can prove to me that playing an Auror without those two skills will be able to spend as little energy as a fully skilled Auror, I will continue to state that a Professor will still have to spend more energy on events.
So apparently the equation is:
Full Auror .gt. Middle Auror .gt. Full Professor
@BenTiger Sorry, I understand what you're saying now. Someone who is a Professor spends more energy, even when switching to Auror for some energy reduction. While the difference can be mitigated by switching to Auror, yes, we Professors are ultimately at an energy disadvantage, which is especially a kick in the teeth since we had the highest RSB cost to max.
@Morganza close. You forgot Magizoologist
Full Auror .gt. Middle Auror .gt. Full Magizoologist .gt. Full Professor
If you just look at base damage, Magizoologist is actually stronger than Auror. They critical a lot less than even a 115 skill Auror, though, so they are still below Auror. Their damage is thanks to their skills triggering if they have over 5 focus, which means that they are always triggered while outside of challenges (after a challenge ends, the game mechanics resets their focus to 5).
Please increase monthly rsb count to 60 and dada to at least 40, or give us alternative methods/ways to farm either on great, free and daily quantities.