Remove Atlantean essence.
Hey there, haven’t done that simple a suggestion in a long time, but here we are. As always, try to read the suggestion to the end, and keep your feedback constructive. Regarding rating, keep in mind that 5 stars is perfect, and 1 star is worthless. Thanks in advance
Context:
Let’s first talk about insanity. Insanity in and of itself is a neat game design concept. Before the dark sea update, it was decently rare, mainly found in Akursius keep, and the dark sea, although it was not meant to be survivable in the latter. Insanity was both impressive and unsettling, a good way to express that you had no business being where you had just set foot. From the dark sea update onwards, insanity was still mainly found naturally in the dark sea, but was now layered, which was a great expansion on the original idea. A more prominent way to induce insanity was also introduced, that being the atlantean modifier.
For those unaware, the atlantean modifier, when applied to a piece of your equipment, will cycle through all gear stats and boost the first one it does not have. This boost is a major one, with for example a 14 power increase.
All gear found within the dark sea will carry the atlantean modifier. Moreover, Atlanteans, when killed, have a 4% chance to drop atlantean essence, a resource that can apply the modifier to every, yes EVERY equipment, including boss drops, and sunken gear.
What if we keep it:
I will try in this section to make an exhaustive list of the pros and cons of the atlantean modifier in the current state of the game. If you see that I missed anything, make sure to let me know so I can edit it. Keep in mind that this is from a game design stance, the point “Yes it’s beneficial to the game because it gives me more power on my build” is irrelevant to the conversation.
Pros:
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More customisation for builds (*)
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Encourages Dark Sea expeditions, as atlantean essence is both one of the most sought after resources, and one of the most expensive ones, currently sitting at around 60,000 drachmae
Cons:
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(*) Makes boss drops and sunken gear much stronger than they should be, and renders most modified gear basically useless for optimal builds
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Makes most players play with constant insanity, which both makes encountering natural insanity much less interesting, as well as, I’m pretty sure, participates in hindering the players’ experience, feeding negative feelings towards the game. I’d like to remain on that for a bit, people have been using I1 for a while now, I2 is a little more recent, but now there’s even some people running I3, which is outrageous. (Don’t bring the point that they’re constantly consuming warding potion, that makes it worse)
And would you look at that, that brings me to my last point. For that, I’ll need to go on a bit of a tangent.
Why do people run atlantean modifier ? Simply because they can. As I said, it provides a stat boost, which sits at 3 EP per 10 levels, so that’s 42 EP per modifier at the current level cap. Let’s say you want to enter a tournament, and you’re gonna be fighting people with optimal gear, with, for instance, double insanity. If you don’t run any insanity, you’re gonna get simply stat checked. Sure, if you’re better than your opponent you can easily work around that, but, at equal level, you’re simply gonna have 84 less EP to spare than your opponent. That said, I can safely say that atlantean essence
- Is unhealthy for build making
What if we get rid of it:
Exact same concept as the part just before this one, simply taking the opposite stance.
Pros:
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Insanity goes back to its original impressiveness
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Modified gear becomes much more interesting for build making, as its EP doesn’t seem all that negligeable anymore
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Optimal builds, and as such, PvP, becomes much more accessible to players, and enjoyable altogether
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Items in the dark sea would be the only ones to carry the atlantean modifier giving them a much more special feel.
Cons:
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Will hinder some people’s money making methods
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Doomposters will complain
If it does get removed, I believe it should get the same treatment as the WoM boss drops, and be switched out of players’ inventories for some sort of item that can be exchanged for something along the lines of 20,000 drachmae.
Thank you for your attention, remain respectful, and I’m eager to read your feedback.
