2 Player Easy Mode too hard?

[I Panic too much]

Please Note Before You Read: My girlfriend has weak heart muscles and higher amounts of cortisol in her body as well as heart palpitations. in less complicated terms, a heart condition where if her blood pressure rises due to anxiety she could be at risk of losing her life due to heart failure.

Im trying to introduce my girlfriend to WQ:AE as i love wolves and i loved WQ and i wish to find more games that me and her could play together that would allow her, with her heart condition, to play a relatively easy game and.. if she wishes.. somewhat harder difficulties if shes experienced enough or possibly wants something of a challenge within allowable limitations.
I made a server with:
2 players only
Slough Creek
Story Mode
Easy Difficulty

And yet.. when we started to play and searched for a den area to make our own... we ended up not being able to complete the first quest even.. which was to gain 15 hexes of pack territory to start. We'd go to sleep once.. refilling half our energy bars.. and 1 of the 7 hexes we managed to take- shot from 96% to 3%. by the time we ran to it to reclaim it. 2 other hexes north and south went down to the 60s and were dropping at an accelerated rate.

She got so anxious with how fast they were dropping that we had to stop playing.. and this is not a first time..! We tried the same settings just in Amethyst rather than Slough creek. and it was the same exact thing.. we got too anxious and could not upkeep the territory AND take control of other ones. we havent even gotten to a pups quest since we coldnt even get past the first quest of claiming territory but imagine all that ON TOP of feeding pups?

Am I setting the settings wrong? is there an easier way to go about this or is WQ, despite your ability to limit the experience to just 2 players on server settings, meant only for larger groups rather than a pair experience? Im frustrated because after what i feel is a year I thought that it would have been adjusted. but it felt just like it had before. and she no longer wants to play the game which saddens me greatly but if it affects her heart condition we have to.

Please someone tell me if there's anything i can do that could make our experience easier... tips of places that arent so aggressively sought after by neighboring packs or something in the settings.. i really want to enjoy this game i've loved since i was a kid with my gf..

[UrLocalS8nist]

Yes. The easiest way is to hunt first before you start, mark the place where the carcass(es) is, and then DO NOT sleep. This is in a different thread as well, about the marking your territory quest, and all of the advice is to not sleep. This means that the territory doesn't drop much, and the other packs don't claim a lot while you're awake, no matter how many in-game days pass. Try that and then it will be easier.

Also this is only my experience from single-player, and I know that multiplayer is made more difficult so that it is actually challenging. However, my advice remains that you should never sleep in this quest, and try to check scent mode often so that you don't miss the smell of dens. Sometimes you can smell them on the wind before the game alerts you that you are in the vicinity.

[Jade]

What the guy above me says above holds true, especially the bit about not sleeping. But yes, I've also noticed that claiming territory with two people can be pretty hard, even on easy and this is something that I'd like the devs to look into. Maybe just making a really easy difficulty in multiplayer in which you can basically just relax.

[I Panic too much]

Originally posted by ManedWolfEnthusaist27:

What the guy above me says above holds true, especially the bit about not sleeping. But yes, I've also noticed that claiming territory with two people can be pretty hard, even on easy and this is something that I'd like the devs to look into. Maybe just making a really easy difficulty in multiplayer in which you can basically just relax.

I agree to this notion. I've been the one teaching my girlfriend how to play the game as she doesn't really play single player.

But it would be nice to have an incredibly easy mode for relaxing. But I'll see what we can do about just not sleeping.

[I Panic too much]

Originally posted by UrLocalS8nist:

Yes. The easiest way is to hunt first before you start, mark the place where the carcass(es) is, and then DO NOT sleep. This is in a different thread as well, about the marking your territory quest, and all of the advice is to not sleep. This means that the territory doesn't drop much, and the other packs don't claim a lot while you're awake, no matter how many in-game days pass. Try that and then it will be easier.

Also this is only my experience from single-player, and I know that multiplayer is made more difficult so that it is actually challenging. However, my advice remains that you should never sleep in this quest, and try to check scent mode often so that you don't miss the smell of dens. Sometimes you can smell them on the wind before the game alerts you that you are in the vicinity.

I'll see what we can do about us not falling asleep and marking territories.. I'm hoping after the territory establishing quest that it will get easier to keep territories and have to worry about them less.

[*Husky*]

I forward what everyone else has said, sleeping only allows the other wolves to weaken your territory, and you don't even need sleep in the territory quest anyways. And if your girlfriend gets really anxious about territory, I can't recommend playing with pups. Predator attacks among other responsibilities such as making sure you have enough food and still up-keeping can make the game very stressful.

[Bee]

Supporting what the guy above me said, predator attacks will be so much worse than territory, especially if a pup actually ends up dying. I have no clue how easily your gf gets stressed, but from my experience of being a SUPER anxious person (so take this with a grain of salt), there will always be stressful moments no matter how experienced you are. I've played the game for about two years now for perspective. The game does get easier and less stressful, but it will never be stress-free I guess if that makes sense? Even in easy mode the game has it's moments. So I guess it really just depends on how stressed out your gf can get without it becoming dangerous, but if she gets stressed about territory, pups is definitely not a good idea, even with experience.

there are plenty of people, including me, who have suggested easier settings or "chill" settings for multiplayer where territory and predator attacks won't be a thing but it's not seeming too likely...

Best thing I can suggest is pack-life in multiplayer mode. There is no territory or pups to worry about but it can get boring at times.

[Loach]

I am curious: was the game set to accelerated mode, or normal speed?

Accelerated mode is a lot more intense since it condenses the gameplay into about a 2 hr span. Normal mode is slower, and with the right age perks (territorial might) I recall having a lot more chill time of it in terms of Multi-Player (though it has been a while, so I'm unsure how much that's changed).

If you were doing it on accelerated then I recommend trying again on normal speed.

Also RE: not sleeping for territory. IMO it should be absolutely doable without *too* much pushback from the NPC packs to do that quest while keeping up with your wolf's needs (sleep included!) Please consider sending feedback reports about this instead of treating it as something that has to be 'worked around' by ignoring a wolf's sleep needs. Of course, it's player choice to do what one wants, but when that's becoming the most common gametip to do that quest something clearly may be kind of off and could benefit from user opinion to maybe remedy it.

[*Husky*]

Originally posted by Loach:

I am curious: was the game set to accelerated mode, or normal speed?

Accelerated mode is a lot more intense since it condenses the gameplay into about a 2 hr span. Normal mode is slower, and with the right age perks (territorial might) I recall having a lot more chill time of it in terms of Multi-Player (though it has been a while, so I'm unsure how much that's changed).

If you were doing it on accelerated then I recommend trying again on normal speed.

Also RE: not sleeping for territory. IMO it should be absolutely doable without *too* much pushback from the NPC packs to do that quest while keeping up with your wolf's needs (sleep included!) Please consider sending feedback reports about this instead of treating it as something that has to be 'worked around' by ignoring a wolf's sleep needs. Of course, it's player choice to do what one wants, but when that's becoming the most common gametip to do that quest something clearly may be kind of off and could benefit from user opinion to maybe remedy it.

I absolutely agree about the territory and sleeping, the amount of territory you lose in a double sleep is abysmal. The fact that avoiding the game's actual intentions (that being actually taking care of your wolf's needs) is becoming not only a "strategy" but a full on necessary tactic is a problem. Not only that, but when the players are constantly at 0% wakefulness to avoid their territory going on life support, it is near impossible to fight other wolves and in turn not being able to gain territory, which is the exact opposite of what the players have been trying to do with the strategy in the first place. So yeah, as of now territory is an uphill battle from a mechanics standpoint along with being, in my opinion, utterly boring and tedious.

[I Panic too much]

Originally posted by Loach:

I am curious: was the game set to accelerated mode, or normal speed?

Accelerated mode is a lot more intense since it condenses the gameplay into about a 2 hr span. Normal mode is slower, and with the right age perks (territorial might) I recall having a lot more chill time of it in terms of Multi-Player (though it has been a while, so I'm unsure how much that's changed).

If you were doing it on accelerated then I recommend trying again on normal speed.

Also RE: not sleeping for territory. IMO it should be absolutely doable without *too* much pushback from the NPC packs to do that quest while keeping up with your wolf's needs (sleep included!) Please consider sending feedback reports about this instead of treating it as something that has to be 'worked around' by ignoring a wolf's sleep needs. Of course, it's player choice to do what one wants, but when that's becoming the most common gametip to do that quest something clearly may be kind of off and could benefit from user opinion to maybe remedy it.

It was set to normal Speed. I felt like normal speed would mean things happen slower and we'd have mroe time to adjust.

[I Panic too much]

Originally posted by isabellabee09:

Supporting what the guy above me said, predator attacks will be so much worse than territory, especially if a pup actually ends up dying. I have no clue how easily your gf gets stressed, but from my experience of being a SUPER anxious person (so take this with a grain of salt), there will always be stressful moments no matter how experienced you are. I've played the game for about two years now for perspective. The game does get easier and less stressful, but it will never be stress-free I guess if that makes sense? Even in easy mode the game has it's moments. So I guess it really just depends on how stressed out your gf can get without it becoming dangerous, but if she gets stressed about territory, pups is definitely not a good idea, even with experience.

there are plenty of people, including me, who have suggested easier settings or "chill" settings for multiplayer where territory and predator attacks won't be a thing but it's not seeming too likely...

Best thing I can suggest is pack-life in multiplayer mode. There is no territory or pups to worry about but it can get boring at times.

I'll keep this in mind.. she does not take death very well so i could see her wanting to never touch the game again if a pup dies due to territory and needs upkeep. Hence.. I will not be ushering her to playt he game with me anymore with this information in mind. I'll keep a close eye on Wolf Quest's updates and posts in hopes that there may be measures taken in order to support the more niche chill community looking for a relatively laid back experience for a good time together doing something we love.

I had hoped to play through the story with my gf and enjoy the life of wolves from den hunting to territory claiming to growing and caring and protecting pups. However I love her and care more about her needs than a game relating to animals and PVE elements we both like. Thank you for the information :> including the information with those above and below. It means a lot to me knowing that people are offering advice and input for me and my girlfriend. warms my heart up.

With other comments. i agree that it feels incredibly off that to get by in the easiest mode there is with one other player than yourself you must sacrifice a trait that substantially affects your abilities to run, hunt. and fend off incoming packs of wolves from enemy territories. I genuinely hope that this thread might be seen and perhaps mentioned however I do not know how to go about with increasing its attention to a level where it could be considered feedback as I've hardly made threads in my years playing through steam.

[*Husky*]

Originally posted by I Panic too much:

Originally posted by isabellabee09:

Supporting what the guy above me said, predator attacks will be so much worse than territory, especially if a pup actually ends up dying. I have no clue how easily your gf gets stressed, but from my experience of being a SUPER anxious person (so take this with a grain of salt), there will always be stressful moments no matter how experienced you are. I've played the game for about two years now for perspective. The game does get easier and less stressful, but it will never be stress-free I guess if that makes sense? Even in easy mode the game has it's moments. So I guess it really just depends on how stressed out your gf can get without it becoming dangerous, but if she gets stressed about territory, pups is definitely not a good idea, even with experience.

there are plenty of people, including me, who have suggested easier settings or "chill" settings for multiplayer where territory and predator attacks won't be a thing but it's not seeming too likely...

Best thing I can suggest is pack-life in multiplayer mode. There is no territory or pups to worry about but it can get boring at times.

I'll keep this in mind.. she does not take death very well so i could see her wanting to never touch the game again if a pup dies due to territory and needs upkeep. Hence.. I will not be ushering her to playt he game with me anymore with this information in mind. I'll keep a close eye on Wolf Quest's updates and posts in hopes that there may be measures taken in order to support the more niche chill community looking for a relatively laid back experience for a good time together doing something we love.

I had hoped to play through the story with my gf and enjoy the life of wolves from den hunting to territory claiming to growing and caring and protecting pups. However I love her and care more about her needs than a game relating to animals and PVE elements we both like. Thank you for the information :> including the information with those above and below. It means a lot to me knowing that people are offering advice and input for me and my girlfriend. warms my heart up.

With other comments. i agree that it feels incredibly off that to get by in the easiest mode there is with one other player than yourself you must sacrifice a trait that substantially affects your abilities to run, hunt. and fend off incoming packs of wolves from enemy territories. I genuinely hope that this thread might be seen and perhaps mentioned however I do not know how to go about with increasing its attention to a level where it could be considered feedback as I've hardly made threads in my years playing through steam.

You can send feedback outside of Steam, in WolfQuest's in-game feedback system you can access in-game by pressing Esc, Bug Report, then switching it to feedback and changing the priority to whatever you see fit. The WQ team also has a thread of their own where you can leave suggestions.

[loboLoco]

We're always interested in feedback and tuning suggestions. But we really need specific, detailed feedback for this kind of thing. For example, I just started a new MP game with two players. We claimed five hexes (adjacent to a rival pack's territory), and then slept repeatedly, not doing anything in between sleeps.

Initial hex strengths:
68 - 64 - 99 - 65 - 54

After one sleep:
57 - 89 - 86 - 54 - 43

After two sleeps:
47 - 97 - 69 - 43 - 34

After three sleeps
36 - 100 - 58 - 33 - 24

After four sleeps:
27 - 100 - 47 - 24 - 2

After five sleeps:
14 - 97 - 35 - taken over - 3

After six sleeps:
All taken over except the hex we're in.

So hexes usually lost 10-20% of their strength during each sleep (except for the hex that we were occupying). This was on Challenging because I forgot to switch it to Easy, so it would be slower on Easy. Normal time mode.

Now certainly there can be times when a rival pack sweeps into a strong hex and takes it over. but in general, these decay rates feel about right to me, since between each sleep period, we should be strengthening some hexes and claim more. (Note that territory decay is faster during the Establish Territory quest than later when you have pups, because all you have to do during Est. Terr is manage hexes and find dens.)

So...again, we're happy to get feedback, but need details so we can try to understand exactly what is happening.

Regarding a "chill" mode: We've given that a bit of thought, but it needs a lot more thought to see if we can come up with a good design for it, and the Saga is currently the priority.

[I Panic too much]

Originally posted by loboLoco:

We're always interested in feedback and tuning suggestions. But we really need specific, detailed feedback for this kind of thing. For example, I just started a new MP game with two players. We claimed five hexes (adjacent to a rival pack's territory), and then slept repeatedly, not doing anything in between sleeps.

Initial hex strengths:
68 - 64 - 99 - 65 - 54

After one sleep:
57 - 89 - 86 - 54 - 43

After two sleeps:
47 - 97 - 69 - 43 - 34

After three sleeps
36 - 100 - 58 - 33 - 24

After four sleeps:
27 - 100 - 47 - 24 - 2

After five sleeps:
14 - 97 - 35 - taken over - 3

After six sleeps:
All taken over except the hex we're in.

So hexes usually lost 10-20% of their strength during each sleep (except for the hex that we were occupying). This was on Challenging because I forgot to switch it to Easy, so it would be slower on Easy. Normal time mode.

Now certainly there can be times when a rival pack sweeps into a strong hex and takes it over. but in general, these decay rates feel about right to me, since between each sleep period, we should be strengthening some hexes and claim more. (Note that territory decay is faster during the Establish Territory quest than later when you have pups, because all you have to do during Est. Terr is manage hexes and find dens.)

So...again, we're happy to get feedback, but need details so we can try to understand exactly what is happening.

Regarding a "chill" mode: We've given that a bit of thought, but it needs a lot more thought to see if we can come up with a good design for it, and the Saga is currently the priority.

I was the one who set up our server. Our settings set were:

Story
Slough Creek
All friends can join
No chat (since we were in call)
2 max players
Difficulty Easy
Territory configuration : First Meadow
Normal Game speed

We both began to establish almost exactly where we spawned at after finding a den near the creek up against a mountain in an open area. Our territorial disputes were more often with the Crevice Lake (red) and Junction Butte (Teal) pack territories.. I have pictures of the territory we marked out however im unsure if im able to post them with this comment for visual reference.. this save shows the territory we had marked out. A hex just south of the creek adjacent with the teal pack was dropped from the high 90s to 3% and that tile was overtaken by the teal pack on our way there to strengthen it. we managed to reclaim it however i made us very nervous as we were seeing the other tiles at the 60s and didnt want to risk losing anymore tiles. So we split from one another to strengthen them despite the games advice telling us to wait till the tiles go below 45%. By the time we strengthened our tiles I had to leave and we ended the game but it left us with no energy.

At some points I feel a large reason as to why our territories were dropping so fast was because there were at least 2 or 3 herds of elk that i would see next to one another, and one herd of bull elk within the territory and im unsure if its a mechanic but i could see wolves coming into the territory to hunt them as I have found packs in our territory before and sent them back tot heir adjacent territory to the hex.

We were confused as well as. Within the game the Prospect peak(purple) pack was hardly touching our territory as we were more located to the west but when howling they tended to howl so loud we thought they were within our territory or right next to it but never saw them. however that could be a trick of the headphones.

I inquired if my girlfriend would be willing to play with me while I use NVIDIA software to record the game in hopes we catch it again without showing pictures for location description and if we do Im hoping to reach out again and offer the video in hopes of more information if we missed or if we may have just.. got one bug and it will be fixed if we start a new game.

I just want to say thank you for reaching out. it helps a lot knowing your team is actively trying to help us out in seeing what we may be doing wrong within the game

[WolfySaura]

My basic Tips are:
1. - DO NOT SLEEP (Even if you're stamina is low you should focus on Hex claiming quickly)
2. - Hunt earlier when you Wakefulness is higher
3. - This is, optinal, but setting a general area that you want to have your territory in helps
4. - Also optinal, one may focus on the outline and another on the inside of the hexes
5. - Don't focus on den finding, after claiming at least 15 hexes that are strong enough, you can go to the quests tab and click "Reveal 4-1 dens" (Depending on how many you've found so far)
6. - Normal game speed takes around 2-3 hours to complete, if you'd like to do it faster, try accelarated (This will change the pup "Aging" rate)

[WolfySaura]

I typically just try and sort-of "Speedrun" hex claiming and then focus more on having the pups become 15 and then 20lbs