Played multiplayer for the first time; some thoughts

[udm]

I finally convinced my friend to buy Din's Curse (curse you and your power of influence, Soldak!). Well we had fun, but as always, I do have some suggestions and thoughts I'd like to share.

Firstly, I think the game will benefit from being able to choose how fast you want events to be in the world. We only had one town that had town attacks; the rest we could take our own sweet time to trade and talk about random stuff. I would have liked it to be a bit more masochistic. On the previous town we played, we had to escort this NPC, but there didn't seem to be any rush since we'd been whistling merrily for about 10 minutes and the NPC still wasn't dead. There was also no rush to kill the boss, since there were 2 of us and we were just plowing our way through any uprisings that the boss sent in our way. There should be an option to choose how masochistic we want the game world to be; also, as a related sidenote to this point, to be given the option to choose how "hazardous" we want the game world to be too i.e. a multiplier that increases the number and frequency of hazards with respect to the values and modifiers set by the created world -- this multiplier also increases XP gains. So, if you have a world with the modifier Magma, you will find yourself stepping on Magma everywhere if you choose a higher multiplier.

Secondly, I was using a Defender/Sorceror, and my friend was using a Defender/Fire Mage. Playing alongside with a fire character, it was then that I realized just how powerful and versatile fire is. It is the most interactive of all the elementals - actually I think it is the only interactive elemental. Poison, lightning, ice etc don't really interact with the environment. It'd be cool to see lightning coursing through water and electrocuting enemies, and ice melting into water, or Poison corroding through doors. I have to emphasize: I really love fire's interaction with the world. It's so unpredictable. How cool would it be in multiplayer if you have different elements interacting with each other (Ice Mage casting frost nova and creating water puddles on the floor -> Sorceror zapping the water and electrocuting enemies)

Speaking of the above point, will it be possible to have a "free aim" button in the next patch? Oil patches on the floor are somewhat annoying and useless if you can only ignite them with flaming oil. It'll be nice if you can actually fire a fireball into the oil patch or leaking gas without a flaming oil

And while we're at it, a random suggestion for the expansion : I like the idea of dynamic objection interaction in this game, for example being able to set doors on fire to burn a room full of monsters. What about having a "Traps Vendor" who sells items of various elements, for example "Oil Capsule" for spreading oil all over the floor? This might not be a remarkable addition in singleplayer, but in multiplayer, it should be fun for taking down bosses who are 10 levels higher.

Also, I found a bug: we got a "deliver message" quest, and we failed the quest because the quest target person has left the area, or so the game said. Yet, we found the person waiting patiently for us in the dungeon, with a green exclamation mark on the head. We couldn't turn in the quest, of course, since we'd already "declined" the failed quest.

Lastly, Perspective Mode is ACE!

[timbobaskins35]

Great feedback - you might appreciate my comment from this thread: http://www.soldak.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2524

Originally Posted by timbobaskins35

I'd also like to see the ability to control the world attributes. Either toggle certain items on or off or change the number. I think the current limit is 4, but I modded it to be 8, but they don't go past 6. Either way, I love having certain ones always on, so that would be nice make more dynamic/crazier worlds.

Plus there are tons of more ideas there as well.

[DeathKnight1728]

Udm, you said you use a defender/sorcerer. Do you ever go into melee or do you just use the defensive side of the defender for the armor and shields while your magic fries people?

I am wondering because i have a defender/thief and the defender is prally my favorite class now. I might try something along the lines of what your doing when im done with this guy cuz ive yet to make a good magic class.

[udm]

I use melee when I run out of mana, but the ultimate goal is to have Defender to absorb damage, while Sorceror concentrates on blasting away. I pumped most of my stat points into Intelligence, Dex and Vitality.

I just got off a multiplayer game with my friend again. This time it was a more hectic experience. The boss would send assassins into town every 10 minutes. We still didn't feel a real sense of urgency though, as we could still happily do the optional quests. It was fun having a fire mage along for the ride, as he was responsible for 4 of the 7 major cave ins, and because it was his first time playing, he burned himself alive more than once lol. I only wish the Sorceror could have been as dynamic

[DeathKnight1728]

Yeah, see thats what i like about the defender as well. Sure the gladiator can take more hits, but the defender can make all those hits never happen. Im not sure what im going to do with my next major char, but its gonna have to be something durable if im mixing a mage class and a fighting class. Maybe i could go with a firemage/trickster. Being kind of like a saboteur.

[udm]

I tried that combo. Let's just say that at higher levels, you'll be laughing at the pathetic sentries and demons who try to take you on.

[udm]

Anyway my friend and I just cleared a very difficult town. Several bosses, and many rivaling factions, made this one last for 3 hours. We had a lot of fun with this though. I was a Sorceror/Defender, while my friend was a Fire Mage/Defender. We both invested points into the tornado spells. Suffice to say, we were basically spamming tornados and running away from cave-ins like crazy. It was a load of fun because the tornados were very powerful, but they also caused a lot of lulz-worthy deaths due to cave-ins.

Other notable things that caught my attention more in MP than in SP:

- falling down trapdoors could use some graphical feedback, instead of just teleporting. While this isn't that noticeable in SP, it seems more prominent in MP. Perhaps implement an animation of the other player to show that he is falling down; only the other players see it, but the player who fell down will not see his animation.

- make it easier to heal your team mates. In DoP, you could do this by pressing F1 or F2. It's difficult to drag the icon around here to highlight your team mates if they're running about. Maybe you can heal them by clicking on the food/potion and then pressing F1-F8, where F[x] denotes the x-th teammate you're healing.

- oh yeah, cave-ins still rule

[DeathKnight1728]

Udm said- falling down trapdoors could use some graphical feedback, instead of just teleporting. While this isn't that noticeable in SP, it seems more prominent in MP. Perhaps implement an animation of the other player to show that he is falling down; only the other players see it, but the player who fell down will not see his animation.

I agree that it definitely adds a lot of uniqueness to the already unique game. I've never had this happen to me when i was on multiplayer though. The cool thing about it is that it really makes you feel like the lost adventurer just trying to get out. What usually can happen to me if i dont get out, is i run out of potions, which sucks

[udm]

Yeah. The randomness of it adds to the tension and intensity. I fell through the trapdoor and landed in a huge battle between dark elves and hellhounds. It was something right out of a novel, as my friend rushed downstairs to save me, only to find himself unable to leave due to being trapped in a corner by a huge mass of warring monsters; I had to fight my way out to save him instead. We both survived.

Epic.

-edit- I also have to add that one thing that made mage classes more fun was that spells were generally fast and furious. The Sorceror's tornado spell is a perfect example of this. The Sorceror's other spells are pants compared to the effects of the tornado - it has excellent graphical and audio feedback; then, when you combine the Sorceror and Fire Mage's tornado together, the resulting effects - along with the oft massive cave-ins - are simply gorgeous to behold. Not gorgeous in the 2847847-polygons sense, but just hearing the sound of tornado tearing up monsters, and watching the place rumble, makes for a genuinely fun experience, especially with the dangerous anticipation of potential cave-ins. Maybe this is something to take note of for future implementations in the expansion.

[udm]

One potential problem (at least, I think it is one) I realized after having played quite a bit of multiplayer is that the dynamic quest system becomes quite routine. When playing singleplayer, I was less inclined to notice this, but on multiplayer it becomes more prominent. I only speak for myself here, but we tended to clear the quests in dungeon level 1 before moving down to level 2 and then down to the lower levels. It becomes less disorganized that way.

While shit does happen e.g. boss sends assassin to town, the solution quickly becomes apparent - kill the boss first, then return to the errands that we work on with each descending level of the dungeon. I believe the term "choices & consequences" gets thrown around a lot in gaming forums, but in Din's, the design decision right now seems to be "consequences", and a bit of luck.

For my buddy and I, the routine becomes one of having to work our way in sequential order, and in the event that unexpected events happen, we'll simply just decline the quest and move on (if the quest has failed) or put it on our immediate list (if the quest urgently requires attention). Otherwise, it is simply a matter of just going through the motion again. Can things be made more interesting by giving the user the option to either do (A) or (B)? One idea I have in mind is to state how much time we're given for the quest before it expires (Short, Medium, Long) and the likely consequences of the quest (a list of likely consequences, so the player can decide upon the severity of foregoing the quest).

And of course, to be able to play the game in a more masochistic way. So far we haven't had an issue with the towns, even with waves of incoming attacks. If the game's intention is to force the player to hurry up, then by Jove it better stop giving me time to go shopping and taking my own sweet time with checking out the loot we collected.