Don't forget the casual gamer

[Sir Malcolm]

First; EXCELLENT game! This is the most thorough "Beta" I have ever seen. And the "Fun Factor" exceeds any game I have played!!!
2nd. I read a lot of posts that say that Troops; armor; in general: everything in the game is too inexpensive.
While this may be true if you are LvL 40+, for the casual gamer who plays a couple of hours a week, (and still loves this game) Nothing comes cheap. I play about 4 hours a week, if I'm lucky, and my "Hero" is only LvL 7. My troops are either new; dead; or about to be dead!..LOL
Any additional costs would, I think, drive away alot of the newbie players.
It's no good if someone trys the game and finds it too difficult at the lower levels. That won't sell alot of copies.
Again; excellent gameplay, and probably the BEST horseback combat system ever!
Sir Malcolm

 

[Kniggit]

I think it just needs to be balanced out more. some prices are acceptible, and then the next step up is real expensive

Stuff like padded cloth is perfect, i still use it, even though my level 50 charachter doesnt even need armour.

I think pretty soon, when there is more content in the game, people wont make such a fuss becauyse there will be more to spend it on than just weapons and armour. but that wont be for awhile yet

Ian

 

[JohnathanStrange]

First; EXCELLENT game! This is the most thorough "Beta" I have ever seen. And the "Fun Factor" exceeds any game I have played!!!
2nd. I read a lot of posts that say that Troops; armor; in general: everything in the game is too inexpensive.
While this may be true if you are LvL 40+, for the casual gamer who plays a couple of hours a week, (and still loves this game) Nothing comes cheap. I play about 4 hours a week, if I'm lucky, and my "Hero" is only LvL 7. My troops are either new; dead; or about to be dead!..LOL
Any additional costs would, I think, drive away alot of the newbie players.
It's no good if someone trys the game and finds it too difficult at the lower levels. That won't sell alot of copies.
Again; excellent gameplay, and probably the BEST horseback combat system ever!
Sir Malcolm

Don't forget the casual gamer! I agree.

Also, I've noticed frequently a lot of advice given to new or casual players or players with low level heroes is not appropriate - like telling them all they need to be successful is to have a level 45 hero or Sword of War or Black Armor exactly like the one the one the advice-giver has. The new guy thinks he's playing wrong when in reality what he needs to do is to find tactics that work at his level. I've seen posts where new people ask for help against, say sea raiders, only to have someone say they're nothing, just kill them. Ooooookay, thanks guy.

 

[CrushU]

Nice post, Johnathan.

I had fun fighting 11 Swadian Crossbowmen at level 5 with about 11 henchmen. My henchmen killed one while I fired arrows down on em... Then all my henchmen were out of it, and I killed the last 10 with my sword/shield on horseback.

Tips for fighting ground troops on horseback: Never, ever, EVER charge into the middle of a group of them. Your horse will get bogged down, and you'll be trapped and thrown from your horse. Or just killed. You lose your advantage over foot when you lose your horse. Next, I advise using a one-handed weapon with a shield from horseback. Heck, I advise doing that all the time, unless you're doin long distance, such as a bow. A shield can block arrows, a staff cant. Again, don't charge into the middle of a group, but if you find a straggler, charge him to knock down his defense (shield or weapon) and THEN hit him. Works alot better, though difficult to master. Final note on horseback archery... While you can, theoretically, use a bow effectively from horseback, while galloping... It's much better to use your horse merely to get at a good range, then stop and fire at your pursuers. Firing from a stationary horse is LOADS easier than from a galloping one. (Of coures, if your pursuers are on horseback too, you have no choice, short of getting out your other weapon. ... You DID pack a weapon besides a bow, RIGHT?)

 

[Rando]

Maybe there could be a easy, medium, and hard setting that wouldn't so much determine the AI but the quanity/quality of things. Such as in easy mode everything is cheaper, enemy party sizes are smaller, but the high end equipment willn't be available. Then in hard mode basic equipment costs upwards of 5000 denars, enemy parties can consist of 100's of baddies, and this is where you'd get black armors/sword of wars or maybe some never before seen items (hint hint ).

If these modes were used, just don't call them easy, medium, and hard. Something like regular, veteran, champion (keeping in line with the current theme).

 

[Wanderer]

If these modes were used, just don't call them easy, medium, and hard. Something like regular, veteran, champion (keeping in line with the current theme).

Sounds like Diablo Normal, Hell, and Nightmare levels.

Not that I'm adverse to the concept, but it seems... overkill. The reason I finally hated Diablo (and II) was because it was exactly that, replay the game at a higher level for better gear, but the difficulty never really changed much, just what skills I could use... which wouldn't even be a factor here, as all skills would be available at all rankings.

'eh, if you need it, I guess it wouldn't hurt. I currently play the game at max damage max AI with as much battle slider as my system can handle.

 

[Rando]

While the idea behind that was "borrowed" from diablo (actually champions of norrath ) I meant that you could start out on any of those levels. So it wouldn't be replay if it was a new character starting out on "hell", champion, or whatever. It was just a suggestion on how it could help people who don't play the game often while it rewards those who devote 14 hours a day to the game.

 

[Caius]

Well technically the game progresses in difficulty as you do (number of enemies per party) but I've been thinking about this issue and what if the higher the level you were (when you think about it, higher level would be longer played and further the world progressed) what if the war was taking it's toll on trade and prices to buy went up and prices to sell raised for needed things and lowered for unwanted things (somehow I see 24 broken arrows selling for 240 gold as a WTF kind of deal.)