Doom Discussion

[Drathy]

No, not that Doom.

"Doom" is a newly proposed stat/element in Wayward that may replace "Talent".

Talent currently doesn't make sense anymore, since it's grows based on arbitrary rules - it doesn't represent a true score of your abilities, so once "Doom" is in, talent will make more sense, a linear score of how good you did before death/on win. Talent and Doom would be separate things.

Doom is set to replace what Talent currently means. It's a number that ties into the lore (to be written/revealed) and actually makes sense to why it effects the world's creatures and your survival difficulty.

The overall plan with Doom is to allow it to grow like Talent does now, but also allow things that reduce it. It can be thought of like karma. The island knows if you have been bad or good (like Santa). Killing poor innocent rabbits = heavy Doom increase. Watering plants = Doom decrease - that kind of idea. This will allow even more dynamic play and allow players to shape how they want to play and the difficulty they want, but also add even yet another strategic element to balance.

Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? Ideas?

[Dohi64]

I'm all up for saving rabbits, but this way santa can only be a vegetarian. seeing as he's a good guy and goes the non-combat (or less combat) route, killing more dangerous creatures would be very difficult for him, but if he wants meat, he'll be doomed.

[Drathy]

Originally posted by Dohi64:

I'm all up for saving rabbits, but this way santa can only be a vegetarian. seeing as he's a good guy and goes the non-combat (or less combat) route, killing more dangerous creatures would be very difficult for him, but if he wants meat, he'll be doomed.

The rabbit thing was just an example of the concept, it might sounds more extreme than what I was thinking. Currently you get a lot of talent from killing a rabbit, I was just suggesting you might get a little more from scared creatures, and a little less from hostile creatures (Giant Rats, Spiders). It would ideally balance itself out nicely.

[Caerold]

Hmm. I like it. Looking forward to the lore in future patches.

[Firelion]

Lore, amish lore? *wink* *wink*

[Drathy]

Some alternate names for "Doom": Ruin, Chaos, Doom, Bane, Havoc, Ruination, Malediction, Condemnation.

[Caerold]

I like Emnity. There's also Animus or Malignity, if follow my train of thought.

Yes, the game really DOES hate you. ^_^

[nullzero]

Like the idea of it... a DOOM counter. Some other words into the basket: Dread, Death's toll, Fate.

it would also work with a mod like reincarnation. The Grimm Ripper could appear and based on your doom count the reincarnation would be more or less hard. Hence for a casual builder non violent player he would reappear somewhat near and without monsters nearby his body, while for the experienced 'doomed' player, he would respawn far and getting the stuff back would be quite an effort.

EDIT: Spellcheck

[Gozzon]

I guess slaying monsters should decrease "Doom" then.

Bane, Havoc, Ruin sound good, maybe Malignity. Doom sounds a bit too specific effect. Personally feel name should be short.

Maybe each island would have its own counter so you could find islands with high counter to begin with and maybe some islands could hold more treasures but would have minimum "Doom" so they always stay dangerous.
Maybe there could be some treasure which would lower "Doom" of the island a lot so that instead of using steel to "tame" not so friendly islands you could sacrifice this treasure instead

[Zazyman]

Hmm, so killing aggressive monsters shouldn't really affect doom, as they have been sent to restore "karma". How much of an affect would woodcutting have? Setting trees on fire? Might be a bit "green" thing what I'm suggesting.
Would this feature be modable? so that I could have like and "eco doom" setting? :p

[nullzero]

As for Eco Doom... KeeperRL had a spirit tree (Ent) spawn if you cut too many trees (a probability on each tree cut after a certain threshold). It wouldn't follow you around out of the forest but would wander near the remaining trees protecting and scaring you away.

[Caerold]

Regarding tree cutting spawning monsters, Pretty sure Don't Starve does this too.

[nullzero]

Also for spilled blood, it could attract bigger predators. Either that or leaving bodies in the open. One could also do it to lure some of them into a given place.

[Felkami]

I like this idea. I'm a slow and casual player who enjoys controlling the difficulty spike of the game, so having a mechanism where difficulty can be manipulated via in world actions adds a very interesting twist to the concept. It sounds like fun being put in a situation where I have to decide between greater risk of death vs raising the doom counter.

As for a name, I like the idea of calling it Enmity or Rancor--The thought of the world itself hating me is amusing.

As an added amusement, instead of giving it as a number, give it as a color shade while in game and only reveal the actual score when you die. This way there's even more ambiguity and a bit more temptation to take risky actions.