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Post by luciel on Aug 11, 2008 21:14:25 GMT -5
The updated blueprints were significantly harder but still doable. The unbalanced requirements for blueprint building is a hassle though.
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Post by aardWolf on Aug 11, 2008 21:42:22 GMT -5
I started from scratch, and the level 2 blueprints feel way too hard for their level. I actually missed one the first time because I wasn't paying attention. When I concentrated I got them, but 50 of two resources seems a bit high for level 2...
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Post by theconfuzed1 on Aug 11, 2008 23:02:46 GMT -5
I can't answer this question, because I have no blueprints left.
Any chance that a future update will allow us to go back and challenge our previous times, or at least retry the previous puzzles?
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Post by jm0n3y on Aug 12, 2008 0:42:04 GMT -5
The only thing i find difficult is getting air resources They appear the least when i mine but are needed the most for smithing and spell-learning
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Post by asmeurer on Aug 12, 2008 1:22:57 GMT -5
Mining is too easy (add another element), but some of the blue prints are too hard. Mathematically, it isn't worth it to try a blueprint over and over again paying out resources just to get an additional .1 on them. I think hard blueprints, even harder ones than there are now, would be OK if you only had to pay for them once, and then had infinite trys on them. I also hope you're still open on the blueprint puzzle generator idea of mine.
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Post by itravel on Aug 12, 2008 7:24:17 GMT -5
I know exactly how you feel celticcat! Black nothingness was a big headscratcher for me, but when I finally figured it out (outside of aurora feint due to the massive drain it was on resources) it was a great moment (other than the bug that is now fixed) and I felt really acomplished.
I still would believe that increasing the tool block usage amounts in the smith would greatly help, while also not making it too easy.
However, I don't know what plans are in the works for the tool blocks, so I wouldnt jump to conclusions. I found the last level of furie significantly challenging in 1.0.0.1 but not out of reach like the 1.0.1 update (I believe thats the correct number).
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Post by eliu87 on Aug 12, 2008 11:20:59 GMT -5
I had trouble with many of the blueprints, but I solved all of them by writing it out on paper! As primitive as it sounds, writing it out on paper essentially gives you infinite tries. asmeurer: I agree, mining is too easy, but I'm not sure an additional element would help. Because say you hit the top due to the extra element. Then what? There's no penalty for hitting the ceiling, just forces you to end your mining session. I think the overall speed of the new rows should increase (esp. in the beginning when it was way too slow) and maybe a penalty for hitting the ceiling (like lose 500 crystals).
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Post by asmeurer on Aug 12, 2008 11:36:04 GMT -5
Also maybe if tool upgrades focused on making the tool more powerful than more plentiful. After a certain point (I think I have reached this point), tools appear so abundantly that the game is insanely easy. How about blocks that have negative value. For example, you could have special element-tool blocks that would give you negative elements unless you use them with the correct element. So, if you have a fire element-tool, you would have to match it with two regular fire blocks. Matching it with anything else would take away that block from your count. Naturally, these "tools" would just appear on their own and wouldn't have to be smithed.
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Post by theconfuzed1 on Aug 12, 2008 12:50:50 GMT -5
I am in favor of penalties for doing the wrong things. For example, hitting the "ceiling."
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Post by zuzijo on Aug 12, 2008 13:23:46 GMT -5
[/img] I thought it was just me until I joined the forum! had completed ALL the Tower stuff and am level 7's for most things but with the update I can't complete anything in the Smith. One of the challenges requires me to get 675 items in 3 categories .... thats gotta be impossible!! here's hoping the update will fix the problem!! Am loving this game .... can't believe its free!! Good work guys! (and girls of course!!)
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jemni
Junior Member
The Strategist stops time while his fury eats my dreams
Posts: 61
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Post by jemni on Aug 12, 2008 14:32:04 GMT -5
I agree it's a little TOO challenging. Prior to the change I was pretty happy with the challenge level. I wasn't doing the "cheats" that got you a bizillion crystals and I have a tough time laying out more than 2x combo so I had to work to get some of the higher level blueprints. And I didn't mind that. It was not too frustrating to try maybe 3 times to get all the way to 100%. I knew when I came up short with 89 or 95% that I could have done better with more combos and that's exactly what I tried next time around.
I did ok one where I had to get 40 of each, got maybe 87% and I even forgot to load my tools in for extra help. So that one's maybe doable if a I retry, but the one with 75, I only got halfway there. Ouch.
I guess my criteria is that you shouldn't have to use somebody else's reflexes and brains to get further in the game, but you may need to practice a few times. In most video games I try, it takes me a few attempts to beat the big bosses. And that's what the blueprints equate to for me.
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Post by kamakazitp on Aug 12, 2008 14:34:10 GMT -5
I can't speak for the difficulty of the early blueprints after the patch. I was in the 6 range on most of my masteries when the patch happened. Before the patch, they felt a bit easy, but not by a whole lot. The new ones feel too hard, especially the imbalanced element requirements.
The costs to attempt the blueprint should be balanced (ie not just 400 of fire) because everyone hates having multiple thousand extra of other elements, but none of the one you need and you have to keep going back to mine for that one element you are low on. Also, the requirements to complete the blueprints should be balanced among the elements as well. As many have mentioned, due to the nature of having random element spawns, meeting the requirements of 140 of one element is almost the same as 140 of all the elements. Make them the same across the board, IE level 1 blueprints are 20 of each, the next is 35, then 50, etc etc up to whatever you feel to be a good "challenging but not ridiculous" number for level 8 blueprints, say 125 of each or something. Maybe more.
Also, to increase replay value for people that have completed "the beginning", maybe make it so that you can replay any completed blueprint/essence mastery challenges at no resource cost, if only to see if you can remember how to do the essence masteries or beat a certain blueprint in a faster time.
I wouldnt worry too much about fixing the "mad swiping" technique at this point, there are other things that need to looked at first imo, such as difficulty and resource balancing for blueprint attempts and completion requirements. If someone wants to speed through the game using the easy yet mindless technique just to finish, grats to them. Theres no gold medal here, who cares if they wants to max out there numbers. A lot of these people will then go back and restart and attempt to complete the game normally. I do this often with video games (such as grand theft auto, I use every cheat available on my first go round to experience the story quickly, then restart and do the game slowly and try to get all the side content without using cheats. I have no reason to rush cause I know the story, so I can take my time to complete everything.)
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Post by rougeforever on Aug 12, 2008 14:45:18 GMT -5
I've joined the forum so I could reply to this thread.
I really really enjoyed the game...getting to L7 on everything - and then the upgrade. Now I have NO CHANCE of the L8...and I think myself lucky I got to L7 before the change.
TBH, it's ruined the game for me. It's a shame, but right now I can't get any further.
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Post by eliu87 on Aug 12, 2008 16:08:50 GMT -5
Yeah I've pretty much given up on the Smith until the next feature update...oh well at least I can stock up on essences!
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Post by Avaia Carasel on Aug 12, 2008 17:48:45 GMT -5
I don't really think its proper to call anything that is a result of normal manipulation of the device a "cheat", per se. Perhaps these things are unintended consequences of the accelerometer that need to be addressed, but when one finds a flaw in the game that is inherent in the nature of the device its running on, that's not really the players fault.
Clearly, there is a unintended feature somewhere in the mining code that causes the crystal count to suddenly jump into the thousands, millions, and even billions, in some cases, and this needs to be addressed as soon as possible. The side effect of this is that we now know there is also a bug in the crystal counting code that causes the crystal count to roll over into negative values once it reaches 2^31-1 (max value for a signed 32 bit integer), something which is evidently not happening with the resource counting code. We would never have found this bug without the other bug.
This, in itself, though, is not really a serious problem for game play, at least at the moment, because there's a limited number of things you can use the resources for. What is much more serious is that a complete and utter lack of any sort of rational play turns out to be the most effective technique possible. Something needs to be done about this ASAP, because otherwise, it turns a game which was really fun and challenging (at least for me up until yesterday when I figured out what really happened when you swirled long enough and stumbled upon swiping like a crazy fool).
Now, the fast swiping may be a consequence of the CPU limitations of the device, and it may be solvable with some code optimization such that the timer always gets priority, so to speak. If that isn't the problem, then we have a much more serious issue. If the swirling thing can be fixed as well, such that swirling doesn't give you anymore blocks than one would expect it to, or possibly even outright elimination, or at least drastic reduction, of swirling, then one would really have to have some skill to play the game. But tampering with swirling may disrupt one of the coolest features of the game, namely, the accelerometer functions. I just don't know. Maybe all that needs to happen is the matching code just needs to be modified so that a match only is triggered when the blocks are fully turned. It looks to me like matches are happening even while the blocks are still in a diagonal orientation (at least, as far as I can tell while the phone is spinning!).
I love AF. I've been playing it every day since the day the iPhone 2.0 software was released. Hopefully, these problems can be eliminated so that the game can return to what it is was obviously meant to be.
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