Too hard to be enjoyable anymore

[john.h.cox]

I'm not sure how many of you will agree with me but I find that the latest update has made the game just too difficult to be good to play any longer. The third level of the desert mine is not just not passable in my opinion as if you're not caught by the many obstacles in your path the time passes too quickly and you lose that way. I now need five advanced engines to complete three different missions and haven't got the chance of geting any by the looks of it. WHY is it necessary Mr Developer to make it so impossible, is it really essential to spoil the game in this way? Without doubt this is one of the best games I have ever come across but unfortunately I think it's come to an end for me unless you can make these advanced engines available by some other method. Please try and help as I really don't want it to end!

[Lobster Lord]

Doing Malis Quest rewards you with something stronger than the nova sword :)

[john.h.cox]

I really don't want to take away the enjoyment some people get from battling their way through and I appreciate that many will think that that the encounters are quite simple. However to myself and several others this activity doesn't enhance the game at all. I am of the older generation though I am still quite experienced at gaming although fighting games have never really been my thing. This is a great crafting game that is being spoilt by a much too difficult combat system that hopefully the developers will rectify soon, please do if you read this.

[Davadin]

Are you using all of the boons at your disposal? I'm mostly thinking of drinks...

[john.h.cox]

It's not really relevant as to what bonuses or enhancements I am using as it's the whole aspect of combat that personally I feel has gone too far. You should have an alternative rather than having to rush through caverns, jump over and negotiate acid areas the same time as having to fight off numerous aliens. I am of a high enough level to win these battles in theory but I just don't want to have to keep wasting my time doing it. Cheers.

[Doc Savage]

I have to say: Having better clothes and stuff in your house makes a huge difference.
At least early on.

That said...

I had 200 stamina and 400 health when I beat the Rat King. Now I have 420 stamina and over 1,000 health. With that, the boss in the 1st mine level over yonder bridge nigh wiped the floor with me. That spinning BS at the end was just brutal. I had what I though was a ton of health items and used the "I" key to go into inventory mode judiciously. I had to use it *all* and barely got out of there with 100 health to spare. I went from empty to full so many times I lost count.

This isn't what I signed up for personally.

I am leary now of pressing forward as I know that "bosses" will only get worse (better?) and I have a real fear of being stuck in a mission/mine/hazardous thingy unable to progress because of it.

I don't play this game for the boss battles. Heck, I don't play this game for *any* battles, defenseless critters included. Not all of us have the wonton desire to kill things, even if out of necessity.

It really would be nice to have alternative means to purchase supplies that you otherwise have to kill for. Not just the boses and levels, but the other items too.

At the very least, not being able and/or not wanting to give a fecal matter about a boss battle shouldn't stand in the way of progressing through the game. IMHO, that's just a recipe for negatives and unhappy players that will only get worse as higher levels with tougher bosses get added.

Just my 2 cents. 1/2 cent after taxes. YMMV. Not applicable in all states or territories.

Cheers..!

[john.h.cox]

@Doc Savage. I hope that the dev's are reading these boards and take some of notice of those of us who are being put off by their insistence in making things so difficult. I'm pleased that I am not alone with my opinion and just hope they can provide us with an alternative to this insane battling. Thanks

[cynergy]

I'm in total agreement here. I'm level 50, have lots of points, but can't stand timed dungeons and having to jump. I suck at jumping. I use antidote in the Ancient Ruins to get through those places with poison, as I can't jump worth diddly. As stated, things this hard are just ruining the game.

PLEASE!! GIVE US AN ALTERNATIVE WAY TO GET THE ADVANCED ENGINES.

I'm begging here. :)

[Caradog]

Really disappointing to hear this. I quit after the Rat King boss fight, wasn't the only reason but felt it not just tediously difficult (most people suggest the only really method of taking him down is to face tank him whether an update made that impossible or something I dont know) but also just annoying that it was yet this other style of combat/dungeon, the combat isn't built for "challenge" and lacks the depth for it. The game has some serious identity issues and just hoped if I come back to it in a few months/a year it'd be a better experience and more enjoyable for it, plus with so much of the game feeling so thin I wanted to wait til it gets padded out like new early game events and dialogue which I wouldnt have to reset a 500hour game for.

Tbh think they could take ques from Slime ranchers extended beta and should focus on the micro of the game, flesh out early relationships lock the hearts and even remove some characters til they can reintroduce them as more rounded ones, with more dialogue so the heart raising (which is far to slow) isn't quite so repetitive. Focus on smaller areas rather then sparse content across the breadth of the world and really work on defining its identity before having 82 styles of combat/dungeoneering, none of which are very engaging, clothing you can craft in the demo but not the game giving the many drops less value and so many health recovery tools which all seems ineffective. On the upside then if the early parts of the game where more or less feature complete when early access players play you would get the sensation of missing so much and needing to reset progress to experience it in the future (again like slime rancher, major updates didn't change much to the game already there, story wise you might have had an extra letter or 2 on early days...which would appear in your box anyway).

[kat 2 cool 4 u]

Coming to the party late... my daughter loves the game, she is 7. Unless a fight is absurdly in her favor, she will lose.

However, she isn’t afraid to grind:
Farming
Mining
Social
Crafting

So I would have to agree with the others.

Running dungeons should be a short cut to supplies, not a requirement for those supplies.

You should be able to obtain all needed items thru alternative routes.. maybe have a mastery store for each skill tree..

There is 100 hard stop on her progression at this point

[Caprontos]

Originally posted by Doc Savage:

I have to agree to a point on the imposed artificial difficulty. I don't find timers and OP baddies to be challenging or fun in any way. I know some people find them to be a good time and repsect the fact they want this in the game.

This leads us all back to that exciting topic of OPTIONS. The one thing that allows any player to have fun with the game without taking away from another's good time.

Options is the easiest answer to diffculty problems and to make the game excessable to the widest possible audiance and for these kinds of games.. You don't really want the stress. I don't know if the dungeon is nessecarily to hard but it does remove the chill of the rest of the game everytime your froced to do it.

I'd change dungeon timers as a failing thing and make it so if you complete it in the time limit you get an extra item at the end (like instead of getting one engine you get two) + 1 item per floor completed on time.. So take as long as you need but if you do it fast then you get more out of the trip.

They could also add some puzzle floors to dungeons so its not just all combat.. Be it things like Block puzzles or more creative puzzles that if you bring certain items you can use it to unlock extra bits of the floor (for extra loots or maybe other buffs and things for the dungeon). Like having power stones to open gates, or levers or wheels to make something work. That kinda thing. Adding puzzley spaces that require specific types of things would give a reason to craft a lot of the random things that are one time throw away bits. THe items needed for these rooms should be sensable for the dungeon they are in and consistant so you can plan for it.


As for time scale option I'd be all for that.. Have defult setting like now then up to double speed or down to half speed days (for people who want no time). Like wise the diffculty option could be 50% weaker or stronger enemies. That way if you want less hassle have less hassle.. want more hassle have more hassle. Everyone wins. People who like it harder can have it like now or even harder, and people who don't enjoy it so much can also have it.


I don't think combat should be removed or sidelined out of the game with an NPC nessecairly though but if its mad sufficently easy it'll still serve the purpose of mixing up the content, with out being overly stressful when thats not what you were playing the rest of the game for.

[Muse]

I'm lvl 53, and yeah its gotten more challenging with the new update but I love that, it means you have to use tactics. I can run two of the new highest dungeon in the desert without needing any health food, only some stamina if there are too many enemies.
Its all about learning how to fight the different monsters, like the flame guys, even with 2k health one of them can almost take me out if I just stand in their fire and fight them, but if you hit them, run off while they do their fire thing and then finish them off while they reload its 0 damage. And being atleast the required level for the dungeon should also help :)

[Zipangu]

The games is not fun anymore, It's like doing chores, difficult chores just to advance. Boring.

[zipzoomzaria]

I did the new ruin at level 30 and got past it easily with food and the bandages it dropped, if you spend time playing between updates stacking up resources you will be able to easily complete things, I’m finding myself get through the new update normally and very happily.

[GlitterGek]

I'm level 18 on a new character because my old one was bugged. I got past the sparring to get into the hazardous ruins fine on my first character at this level but now, after the update, I can't win a sparring match with any of the three civil corp members to save myself.
I can't progress and I'm tired of it.
Snailbob in the island mine took me out two times and he didn't before the update. Is this supposed to be a hardcore exploration crafting, mining game or what?
Why are all devs in games in the hardcore gamer mindset ? It destroyed Wildstar. ( the gaming world has changed more players are casual than hardcore these days and don't have the time to run the same boss 15 times to get their loot to progress). Insisting everything be hardcore mode ruined Wildstars chances of ever becoming the massive hit it should have been before they went ftp, I hope this game doesn't go the same way. Planet Explorer wasn't this combat intensive if I can remember rightly, just a crappy vehicle crafting system.

It's fine for those blessed with good agility, hand eye co-ordination, and reaction speed to battle difficult monsters but what about the rest of us? Our kids? If they don't do something about the difficulty I'll have to recommend Portal Knights instead for a decent all round crafting fighting game. I don't mind fighting a boss for loot but if it's solo how about an easy setting before you enter the ruins or a normal because the level right now is what I would call hard and unappealing and frustrating especially when it stops you progressing in the game. If I wanted to be doing hard and frustrating dungeons I'd go play an MMO.

Besides I think the combat is awful. If attacked by multiple targets my character won't draw his sword until he's taken several hits. I can't press forward and roll at the same time he just slashes the air and gets snotted by the bad guy lol. He's slow to run away or dodge and he sure doesn't roll far enough from the enemy. Some of the enemy still do a lot of damage while he's waiting to move after a roll because he's still too close. Could be me, could be the game, could be lag, but all I know is I find the combat sluggish and it doesn't help my survivability at all as an average to below average player who wants to play this game and have fun.

[Davadin]

There are some interesting points made in this thread about how to balance things, allow for a variety of player levels or ages, etc.

But I also feel like there's just some whining. "I don't want to learn to fight, equip myself better, bring items, or level up. I just want to progress, progress, progress." Then when the game is too easy A) half the people quit because there's no challenge, B) The other half quit because they've completed all of the content because none of it was hard and none of it required "doing chores" and so it passed in a breeze. People would then whine "why don't the devs make more content?" not realizing how much time it can take to program in new content, especially when you pass through it in no time at all.

Ultimately a game like this does attract a lot of different player types, and I think it's good to have conversation about needs, wants, hopes. But gosh, reading some of this is just kinda making me sad. There's truly people who don't want any sort of challenge or thinking at all it feels like.