Topic

Staff Topic

Gameplay Updates - Oct. 5 to Oct. 7, 2011

This came a little lates so we could catch the crayzay number of things we've added today. Without further ado, I give ye your updates:

Brand-spanking new stuff: 

The friends online section on the right side of your Home page got a makeover and now comes with those nice new avatar head shots, along with your friend's names and current locations. 

There is now an Updates feed you can access from the game client. Just open up the channel where it's listed below Global Chat, and you can write status updates and reply to your friends' (click the back arrow to return to the full feed after replying). PS: These are synced with the feed on your Home page. 

We've now got a quest to teach new players how to get a hold of the tools associated with various intro-level skills (you won't be offered it retroactively). It's called 'Tooling Around', and should help people get acquainted with the whole Glitch shopping scene.  

The return of something beloved: 

The Game of Crown teleporters are back in Groddle. They are as eye-pleasing as you remember them, and anyone keen on pressing that red button once more should check out the following locations: Estevan Hummock, Yeoman's Bluff, Upper Valley Heights, Adanac, Uplands Verge, and Elysian Slope.  

Things to make you smile:  

•  Trees and other Music Block bestowing characters will spread the tunes around a bit more generously.  
•  Smaller donations to the Giants (but not too small) now have a reasonable chance of being rewarded with a Gameshow Ticket.  

Small change changes: 

•  The 'Mike Tyson Grill' has been renamed the 'Famous Pugilist Grill'. Meta, huh?  
•  Spinach will no longer 'activate' in the Game of Crowns to make sure everyone starts on an equal footing. 
•  Broccoli 'activation' now has a daily cap (and for anyone who's interested in this kind of thing, is actually a part of the cabbage family.) 

And now for the biggerer changes: 

Hell levels will now accommodate 21 players at a time, so all those AFKers don't lag on your enjoyment of hellish parties and everyone can get a little more space to think about what they've done. The 22nd will be sent to a brand new circle of damnation, and so on and so on for all eternity.  

Emblems can be 'spent' to speed up skill learning. This will only work if you've already spent the first emblem of that particular Giant to unlock the associated skills, and if you've not already maxed out your speed boost with favor.  

We can now set variable times on respawners to introduce a little intrigue and chaos into the spawn-hunting business. Feel free to do some fieldwork to check out the new phenomena.  

There are economic trade winds afoot that have caused vendors to stop selling Seasoned Beans and Eggs, along with some top-shelf cocktails and meals. As our budding craftsmen are finally filling out their skill trees post-reset, you can rely on these fellow Glitchen to replace the shortage and give the Auctions a little more gravitas.


That's all for now, see ya again next Tuesday!

Posted 14 months ago by Blanky Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • Some changes I like, some I don't. Some have never affected me (did my July - August downtime mean I missed the game thingies?).

    BUT...

    Thanks for laying all out there. Very useful to see it all in one post. I wonder about the Game Show tickets. I've been tossing mine on the floor. Since the launch, the "prizes" have been a waste of time for all the clicking I need to do. Are those now giving worthwhile prizes? Getting a bean or 5 - 100 currants is just not incentive to spin.
    Posted 14 months ago by Jarhaven Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The removal of items from NPC's is the best update me thinks. Hopefully it isn't the last of shortening the NPC's stocks.
    Posted 14 months ago by Draron Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I get music blocks from gameshow spins quite often.  Worth it to me :)
    Posted 14 months ago by Kookaburra Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm excited about the market changes, it makes worthy to learn botany and animal husbandry, thanks!
    Posted 14 months ago by Natalia Subscriber! | Permalink
  • No one likes a show-off, Kookaburra. ;P </envy>
    Posted 14 months ago by Jarhaven Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'll probably come to love the emblem change, but I liked having to make the choice over favor OR emblem & raising the favor limit. Now I get both? (am I really complaining about this... ha!)
    Posted 14 months ago by Vera Strange Subscriber! | Permalink
  • More little fun things! Yes! :)
    Posted 14 months ago by Ximenez Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yay, Botany is useful now. Thank you ♥
    Posted 14 months ago by Toksyuryel Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yay!! Thanks for this!! Didn't notice many of the changes!!
    Posted 14 months ago by jjbob Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Can't wait to see everything.  Sounds like fun!  
    Thank you.
    Posted 14 months ago by Poppy of Detwoit Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Imbri, an emblem is only worth 1k favor toward learning, no matter how much it cost.  So there's still some tradeoff there.
    Posted 14 months ago by Fnibbit Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm so far away from Botany because I focused on Animal Kinship and Gardening! How will I ever season my beans?! At least I can season eggs. :D And now maybe instead of mining I should just be crafting Earthshakers?
    Posted 14 months ago by Jhennauchan Subscriber! | Permalink
  • So, does Levitation still work in Game of Crowns (hey I think it should... gotta be a reason for every skill... kicking ass in Game of Crowns seems like a good reason for Levitation's existence).
    Posted 14 months ago by Blitz Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I have a question about spending emblems, when you collect emblems from a certain giant it increases the favor (ex: one Pot emblem = 1100), does spending the emblem to speed learn times decrease the extra favor accrued from receiving the emblem?
    Posted 14 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Sounds good. :)
    Posted 14 months ago by Vustom Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The most useful thing in this post was the fact that Brocolli is a member of the cabbage family, as I am allergic to cabbage. Thanks, Glitch!
    Posted 14 months ago by Vordus Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Glad to see the eggs back...I might play the game of Crowns again now...

    Sad to see Helga losing her business base.  I only went to her for earthshakers when I didn't feel like making them and people were scalping them in the auctions...now, I pretty much have no reason to visit her.  Thank goodness I just got the hot sauce recipe, so I can make them myself now. 

    A bit concerned about the seasoned beans and eggs - but not sure how I completely feel about this.  Especially the piggy eggs (and seasoned beans since botany is harder to get since you now need an emblem spent to get there now).  Suspect we'll see a lot less piggies in the world since folks will likely capture them...but hey, they keep dying in the pens until you get RHK anyway...so, not much point in raising piggies if you can't log on and hand feed them daily anyway (since they aren't eating food left on the ground for them and in houses with pens they can't get to the trees).  I suspect initially people will be scalping them like some of the keys...but hopefully the economy will right itself to the retail value...unfortunately it often seems to be righting itself too far and often the items are so underpriced (as in the herb market) that it's not worth it to sell in the auction at times (so then everyone loses out).

    But thanks for the changes and updates...keeps the game interesting...
    Posted 14 months ago by b3achy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm with b3achy.  Thanks for the changes and updates and everything will balance out.  Now what to do with this blue/white key I discovered...still haven't discovered where to us to it...it's out there somewhere.
    Posted 14 months ago by AlmostSilver Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Any chance of changing up the friends system slightly more, by lettering us filter some into a 'top friends' category (or perhaps, rather, everyone else into an 'associates' category' to filter which friends it shows first when everyone is online at once, etc? I have some people i'm closer to and more urgently need to know if they're online. Thanks for consideration! 
    Posted 14 months ago by xLIFEx Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It'd also be nice for just filtering out all those people that randomly add you so they can get the badges for having lots of people in their friend list.
    Posted 14 months ago by Toksyuryel Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Jarhaven - I've spun and won cubimals a couple times...
    Posted 14 months ago by gimmegames Subscriber! | Permalink
  • So glad I can spend the extra emblems. :)
    Posted 14 months ago by Sierra Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks for the great update! I am so pleased with the progress of the game so far...
    Posted 14 months ago by Branfowl Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Not mentioned, but I love that you can mouse over an item in the vendor shop and it tells you how many you have of that item in your inventory. Very helpful!
    Posted 14 months ago by nhex Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Are there any plans to ever spread the GofC eggs out a little?
    Posted 14 months ago by Djabriil Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I was thinking, the only reason I avoided Botany is that it gives you a quest to plant 3 kinds of beans. (We're not going to get this quest twice again are we?) I've never been able to plant any beans in the random patches around Ur and I'm very partial to my trees in my yard. 
    Posted 14 months ago by Jarhaven Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think higher end tools need to be removed from the NPC vendors too so people who can craft them actually have reason to do so. And even with tinkering 5 and engineering there are some high end tools that can't be crafted which is very disappointing.
    Posted 14 months ago by gamecharacter Subscriber! | Permalink
  • a rather recent change that seems as-yet unannounced:  the price of foods from the Meal Vendor has increased by 20% (to 120% the value of the food).  Kind of makes sense, it seemed kind of weird you could just straight up buy food cheaply like that;  hopefully it will also stimulate the player-driven economy on the AH.
    Posted 14 months ago by Traffold Johnston Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks for the un-nerfings!  I'm off to play GoC til my hands cramp up.  Yay!
    Posted 14 months ago by glum pudding Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Ugh, can you please get rid of the confirmation popup for spending favor on speed learning?  The ability to spend emblems is enough, and the popup is very annoying for those of us who donate and spend a lot.
    Posted 14 months ago by larky lion Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I am sad about the seasoned beans and eggs not being sold, but OK with the rest.  

    @Larky Lion-- I like confirmation popups for spending, especially if it prevents me from making a mistake.  If they decide to turn it off, I hope it is made an optional thing.
    Posted 14 months ago by RainCat Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Uh, Larky, not to be a terrible contradictory person, I'd much rather those stayed. I'm enough of a fumblefingers that I at least have accidentally triggered Spend when I didn't want to more then once.
    Posted 14 months ago by Caesura Subscriber! | Permalink
  • RainCat -- I like your idea. The popup warnings could be opt-out. Smart.
    Posted 14 months ago by emdot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • How about a choice settings on the different pop ups one gets...Those pop ups from the rock that tell you something like..you get this award for watering so much and so for that dont seem to have any prize, money, etc associated with it...They are distracting to me when they pop up and im sure slow the game down for people with slower connections. But not just those..It seems now every 4rth pig I meat or chicken I squeeze I get this rainbow affect...It is annoying and id like to turn it off..Especially since I have to wait till its over before I can go meat the next pig and a pain when its a large group of pigs all together...There are a lot of pop ups I wish I could disable...Some of the black boxes on the upper left have info I dont care about..I could probably play the game very well and happyly turning off almost all the pop ups except a few...It should be an option for players...Maybe after say level 5 or 6? I know I was sick of many of those pop ups by that level. They where cute and funny and well put together when you start and the info is helpful but once you get to a certain level its just distracting from what you consider to be essential info...Put it on advance settings maybe? Give more control to the player on what info he gets? On the plus side for the game..Its less info the game has to send out to the player so more bandwith available and less slow ups when playing during busy times.. I want to make sure you understand that they are really well thought out and informative but after awhile it can get monotonous or boring and Ijust click through them as fast as possible.
    Posted 14 months ago by Me, Myself and I Subscriber! | Permalink
  • So, we can no longer buy Earthshakers or Flaming Humbabas at the liquor vendors? What is up with that? Why have vendors at all? Seems greed has/is setting in as the only place to buy them is at minning vendors and at auction. That really blows!!!
    Posted 14 months ago by celticlady Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Well, previously auctions were mostly pointless. Now there will be some incentive to not only craft, but sell them at auction rather than just dumping them for favor. 

    Of course, there will need to be some extra money sinks added at some point to justify all that entrepreneurship!
    Posted 14 months ago by Macha Parfait Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Tella Hella was the first place I saw the Yellow Egg.  Sadly, it did not return there.  Sadly because I get a little sad every time I pass through and see that little green ticket machine instead.  Don't get me wrong, I love the ticket machines but they are so bland compared to the GoC eggs.  Maybe they could be painted Yellow?  Or Red?
    Posted 14 months ago by Brib Annie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yay! I finally learned botany!  AND how to make an Earthshaker.

    Flaming Humbabas are a total pain, so expect premium prices for this handcrafted luxury.  To a non-shaker they are just another drink, but to the folks who make them they are
    blending
    transforming
    saucieing
    and I can't remember what else because I glaze over.
    Posted 14 months ago by Ida Keen Subscriber! | Permalink
  • hmmm, I really won't bother making awesome stews anymore. actually, that's a lie.  I will still, for me to eat
    Posted 14 months ago by shhexy corin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The emblem change means I may in fact finally do "this favor goes to 1511". It was such a painful waste before... Much less painful now!
    Posted 14 months ago by Capablanca Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Why won't you cook awesome stew anymore? Maybe I missed it somewhere in this thread...
    Posted 14 months ago by magic panda Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Blanky, I can't imagine how busy you are with updates, but are we still going to be getting the twice weekly stickied forum threads and blog posts? They have been very helpful to summarize the things I didn't catch in the stream. Thanks for all your hard work. I continue to be amazed at all the new features and content that is being released!
    Posted 14 months ago by Dr007 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • hey... that was a good question, Dr007... ;)
    Posted 14 months ago by katlazam Subscriber! | Permalink