Game Development: Theatrum Chemicum

[dreadlus]

The alchemy changes are so freaking annoying... nothing ***** happens! The way it currently works, even if you spend a week dedicated to alchemy processes, you'll get nowhere. Just the amount of time it takes see any changes, most of them for the worse, and the high chances of fail/blown items/blown tools just makes this too costly silver and time wise for anyone reasonable to give a damn about.

Also, don't come with excuses on how the alchemy system is not done yet. If the next additions will be really effective purity wise, what the hell is the point of the current tools??? They are nowhere near noob items, specially the recent ones, given the amount of glass needed.

I was really looking foward to alchemy tables and retorts, alembics, etc.. I envisioned having storages full of natural specimens of flora and fauna, water samples etc, each with their alchemical properties, and stuff could be combined towards boosting certain properties of other items... The system we got is a total fail attempt at alchemy, put in items -> wait -> check results -> repeat -> YAWN -.-' Please make it a more active process, take knowledge through testing and failing/succeeding and make it the major factor for alchemy results (a random factor could also help, cuz we know once the "recipes" were worked out they'd find their way out to the public eye aka wiki). Make the player matter more in that process than just crafting the tools and filling them up.

I dont even feel this game deserves the time investment anymore. I'll stay tuned for new updates and log in on occasion to chat with the few ppl that still are somewhat active in my community, nothing else seems worthwhile doing..

[Scilly_guy]

Personally I didn't think there was a problem with the proficiencies, I thought the skills that you "need" were easy enough to get and then you had to work to get the ones that made life easier and more enjoyable. What was fun for me was striving to get the skills and then once I got them all it felt like I had lost part of the fun. I wanted the devs to add more higher end game skills. Now that they have effectively made it twice as easy to get skills, well, even more than twice as easy, 3 times, maybe more. They have also reinforced that training an army of alts IS the way to go, I don't know how many more hints they need to give me before I start doing that here as I did in HnH. No wonder they don't do anything about the "Alt Problem", its because they like it.

[dreadlus]

I guess their reasoning was "Well, we're adding all this crazy time-consuming grind mechanics that will turn ppl off... best if we take something that no one complains about and make it increadibly easy so everyone's happy about the rest!!!" -.-

I never saw anyone complaining about the proficiencies... Takes its time, but its part of building a character. You specialize first and then you can start taking other skills once you got the most important ones and you have the insps to spare. Now its certainly easier to raise most every prof, and it'll certainly be one less time sink, still the problem wasnt proficiencies...

The game is taking a turn in a really UGLY direction. They're taking away the active grind (old farming, even if broken, required ppl to actually be active and work towards raising the purities) and turning it into a passive time grind. Trees = lots of time to finish, alchemy = put stuff in and wait for the results, rinse and repeat. If the point of these updates was turning the players into a bunch of afk mongers checking stuff every few hours (days for trees), then the point was achieved.

Another problem I see with these updates is the way they've been implemented. Purity is a massive game defining mechanic that needed an overhaul for it to work as the devs intended, I get that. I dont get why those changes come shattered across a span of several weeks tho. When an important mechanic like this gets touched, when the way stuff used to play out gets taken away for a new mechanic to come in, it better be implemented in a more fleshed out way, so we get tools to actually do anything about the changes. They ended the old max purity crops, and added a half assed alchemy mechanic that didnt allow doing anything meaningful purity wise. What were ppl supposed to do for the next week? Sit at their comps waiting for the next update?? -.-'

Problem is these changes should have all come at the same time, not make an update that breaks the gamplay and then say "the next one will make it all better". I would even be okay if they didn't do weekly updates, or maybe just do a weekly report of what they've worked on, when they think it will be ready for testing and what's next on their list. All this in the best interest of the game, simply because if they keep adding incomplete stuff they'll just break the game even more :/

/rant off

[forge]

^^ You are just realizing that while these devs can code.. they have no idea about player retention and what makes a game fun. I thought everyone around here figured this out a year ago when they REFUSED to change the camera that everyone hated.

[dageir]

Its a sandbox, its what you make of it. You dont have to join the purity grind race.

[Shizen]

Its a sandbox, its what you make of it. You dont have to join the purity grind race.

... Life is a sand box too. You don't have to keep breathing.

[lachlaan]

Its a sandbox, its what you make of it. You dont have to join the purity grind race.

... Life is a sand box too. You don't have to keep breathing.

Both very true statements. I think what he means is, you don't have to be a hardcore player, or at least expect the game to be nerfed until whatever amount of effort you feel like putting in gets you everything ingame.

[dageir]

Its a sandbox, its what you make of it. You dont have to join the purity grind race.

... Life is a sand box too. You don't have to keep breathing.

So your life is meaningless if you cant compete on all areas of life to the max? What a very tiresome and tragic life that would be.

[staxjax]

^^ You are just realizing that while these devs can code.. they have no idea about player retention and what makes a game fun. I thought everyone around here figured this out a year ago when they REFUSED to change the camera that everyone hated.

But loftar did change the camera?

[Yourgrandmother]

I logged in Salem today.

Serious stuff went down. All troubles are gone, game is great updates are great. Even the moderators are great.

Can't stop being in a good mood

http://youtu.be/If82O1e0bow