Bug or Design: Exp Penalty in New World?

[LordGek]

Hey Gang,

I just got my ass handed to me and began anew in a new world with my 10th level warrior and 3 cohorts only to start off with some 12,000+ exp penalty to work off! While it actually might be a clever mechanic to have past debts carry over with you, I'm assuming this is not intentional especially since there would be no short cut in working it off since all of the Soulstones are lost from the last world.

On an unrelated note, any plans to eventually add in some sort of iron man mode? Not that I'm even very good at the game yet, when I die I often like to to start over fresh.

If nothing else could you maybe add a couple options to the end game "Create New World" button? How about "Main Menu" and "Quit (to Desktop)" buttons added to the current "Create New World" button so I can leave the game immediately or at least switch to another character when this character dies?

[Shadow]

Um, I'm not sure I would call it a bug or an intended feature. It is working as I programmed it, but I haven't actually thought about this particular situation.

I have been thinking about adding in an iron man/hard core mode in the first expansion. It would be interesting to say the least since there are so many ways to die in this game and raids would become very interesting. It would also open up other feasible strategies like assassinating other covenants recruits.

[Thrugg]

Just something to consider - XP debt works ok as a death penalty as long as you only die once or twice at a time. When fighting against some of the insanely deadly uniques/bosses, I've easily died 10+ times, at which point there is no penalty at all. Once I've "mopped the floor" with my zerg rush, it only takes 4-5 (I think) soulstones to cancel out all of the xp debt.

The odd thing is that when I first see a tough boss, I think "ok, slow 'n steady, dont die, dont die!". If I end up getting insta-squashed, any thoughts of self preservation go out the window as I rush back into battle to wear 'em down and collect my loot. The end result is that I feel no penalty when fighting bosses, meh?

-Thrugg
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ESSENTIAL VAAAPP

[LordGek]

Originally Posted by Shadow

Um, I'm not sure I would call it a bug or an intended feature. It is working as I programmed it, but I haven't actually thought about this particular situation.

I have been thinking about adding in an iron man/hard core mode in the first expansion. It would be interesting to say the least since there are so many ways to die in this game and raids would become very interesting. It would also open up other feasible strategies like assassinating other covenants recruits.

Well, hmm, maybe not a STRAIGHT Iron Man (one death its over) but Iron Stone (once the Soulstone is destroyed that character is over in this and any other worlds). Also, if playing Iron Stone there can be no generating New Worlds with this character UNLESS they've beaten the last one (i.e. no quitting out to Main Menu when things are looking dire and simply generating New World for the current character).

[Shadow]

Originally Posted by Thrugg

Just something to consider - XP debt works ok as a death penalty as long as you only die once or twice at a time. When fighting against some of the insanely deadly uniques/bosses, I've easily died 10+ times, at which point there is no penalty at all. Once I've "mopped the floor" with my zerg rush, it only takes 4-5 (I think) soulstones to cancel out all of the xp debt.

Do you mean the xp debt maxes out and there is no further penalty or picking up 10 soulstones removes all of your xp debt?

Originally Posted by LordGek

Well, hmm, maybe not a STRAIGHT Iron Man (one death its over) but Iron Stone (once the Soulstone is destroyed that character is over in this and any other worlds). Also, if playing Iron Stone there can be no generating New Worlds with this character UNLESS they've beaten the last one (i.e. no quitting out to Main Menu when things are looking dire and simply generating New World for the current character).

That would be a cool hardcore type mode also.

[Thrugg]

Originally Posted by Shadow

Do you mean the xp debt maxes out and there is no further penalty or picking up 10 soulstones removes all of your xp debt?

The XP debt maxxes out, and each soulstone removes something like 20-25% of the debt. So if you only die a few times (3?), the resulting debt-reduction of the soulstones may not clear it all out. If you die ~5 times or more, you dont get any more debt, and the extra soulstones are not necessary to clear all of your debt.

The other side effect is that if you die a hajillion times, you effectively build a "stash" of soulstones that you can go back to for future debt reduction in the same game. When I had the 8-9x soulstone drops per death going on, I probably had 30+ soulstones in one spot near a gate. Later on if I died, I could just go back and grab an extra soulstone or two to clear off any debt I might have.

A potential (harsh) solution is to only allow one soulstone in the world at once. This would make my zerg rush through a portal much more painful as I'd have 30k worth of debt at the end, with no mountain of soulstones to recoup it all.

A less harsh method might be to keep the current drops of soulstones, but only allow debt to be cleared down to some portion that must then be worked off. For example - rack up max debt, grab a bunch of soulstones, but only allow debt to be reduced to..half a death worth?

Anyhow, I've blathered on enough.

-Thrugg
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Lovely Wendie99

[Shadow]

Ah, ok I see. I'll have to think of a good solution to that. You really shouldn't get a soulstone if you don't get any penalty but that would probably be confusing if sometimes a soulstone appeared and other times it doesn't.

[Thrugg]

Originally Posted by Shadow

Ah, ok I see. I'll have to think of a good solution to that. You really shouldn't get a soulstone if you don't get any penalty but that would probably be confusing if sometimes a soulstone appeared and other times it doesn't.

Hmm, depending on how you keep track of soulstones, if you die but incur no additional debt (already maxxed), you could toss the oldest soulstone, and place a new one at the new place of death.

That way you'd keep down the proliferation, but make sure that the player could always expect to see them at the most recent site of death.

-Thrugg
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[AnalogKid]

Originally Posted by Shadow

That would be a cool hardcore type mode also.

That's what I think of when I think of a "hardcore" mode, too (Ironstone, that is).

I LOVE the idea of being able to permanently eliminate covenants' followers, though (and lose your own). I wonder if this could be worked into even normal games as a way to divide and conquer in "war" mode, instead of just rushing with everyone during a raid?

As it is, I have never been just at war with anyone. I go straight from normal to raiding, since I don't see any reason to just be at war...