Topic

about that Peter out Peat quest...

This quest certainly taxed the socially challenged of us. Finding 4+ people to work with and doing things in the correct order was fun if a little frustrating until the team finally "got" what to do. I even found myself later going back to help another group achieve the quest.

However the "Try again" button on the quest is awkward to set. And then you have to select the peat and dig without getting caught up with the menu for one of the other players.. It would be nice if the peat menu had a "start quest" button right there.

Posted 23 months ago by bluto Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • For those coordination reasons, I avoided doing that quest this test. Maybe I'll be brave enough to try next time.

    I see there's a "Peter Out Peat" group (or some variant thereof), I assume that for coordinating quest activities? I would join it, but I'd have to leave another group to do so (*hint*hint* not enough groups allowed *hint*hint*).
    Posted 23 months ago by Eleanor Rigby Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It worked well when there were 4 additional people to dig while you counted down to click the "try it" button. You don't necessarily have to be the one digging to get the quest fulfilled.
    Posted 23 months ago by blogkitten Subscriber! | Permalink
  • i tried that quest a few times and never succeeded. next time!
    Posted 23 months ago by lucy jane Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I tried it a few times too, without success. Only one person in the groups got the quest done. I think the peat bogs are rather small to co-ordinate all the necessary people. We had trouble in clicking on the bog, we got in each other's way and missed signals etc.

    Will try again if given the chance, maybe some old hands could give some pointers please?
    Posted 23 months ago by Cassandria Subscriber! | Permalink
  • In the two groups I was in, all but one got the quest in the end. There is a knack but it's only by failing once or twice that the group finds the best approach.

    "You don't necessarily have to be the one digging to get the quest fulfilled."

    That's good to know. :)
    Posted 23 months ago by bluto Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "Will try again if given the chance, maybe some old hands could give some pointers please?"

    the first rule of playing glitch is that if you're pointing and clicking objects, you're in for a world of anguish.

    have everyone walk up to the bog and press "enter". there will be a little pop up with the bog and all the people around it. use your arrow keys to select the bog and press "enter" again.

    a little pop up will pop up with a "harvest" link. don't do anything.

    then the person doing the quest activates their quest. a little speech balloon will appear above the bog. when they see the bog speak, all the players just tap "enter", start digging and the quest will complete.

    imagine all the tumblers in a lock coming into alignment at once with a satisfying "click". that's what executing this quest perfectly will feel like.

    then blae me for ruining the game for you and move on to the next bog, repeating the process with someone else starting the quest.
    Posted 23 months ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I did find it challenging to get people coordinated to get this task accomplished. Here are some of the factors:

    1. Knowing the requirements of what actually has to happen to make it work
    a. how do you know the bog is full?
    b. how do you know how many players are needed?
    c. how do you know the necessary sequence of events?

    2. The game mechanics are a bit screwy
    If I clicked on "try it", it was impossible to next get in to help with the digging. The only way I could pull it off was to first click on the bog, so that it was asking me if I wanted to harvest, leave that little menu open, and THEN click "try it". It shouldn't be that complicated.

    I did appreciate the good humor of the people in the group as we were trying to get it all to work, but it took us way longer than it should have for everyone to complete the task. I think it is to hard in an annoying (not fun/challenging) way.
    Posted 23 months ago by clare Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks, striatic for the explanation. Pepole kept telling me to hit enter, but I didn't get where in the sequence. d'oh! I gave up because I have no hand-cursor coordination. Great spirit of cooperation, tho. Everyone was so helpful, cheering me on and looking for bogs when I--again and again and again--failed. Amazing how poorly one can do a simple task.

    Maybe Eleanor Rigby and I can get over it next test.
    Posted 23 months ago by Mac Rapalicious Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Mac, I was with you that first time you tried-I'm sorry, if I'd known you didn't know when to press enter I would've helped more! Good luck getting it in the next test.
    Posted 23 months ago by Aldaris Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I blew off the quest for a while because it seemed too much trouble, but when someone else (Aldaris I think?) called for volunteers, I joined in. It was a little difficult, we had to do it three or four times, but in the end, it turned out to be one of the most fun episodes in the whole game for me. I "met" strangers and we ended up with this hilarious follow-party with a half dozen people trailing along looking for new bogs. I thought it was a blast, and I think the PITA qualities of the quest made it more fun in the end.
    Posted 23 months ago by Helcat Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yeah Helcat, it was me, and it was fun as hell.
    Posted 23 months ago by Aldaris Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Helcat, i totally agree that the PITA nature of the quest lead to elation and a sense of camaraderie upon completion.

    but there are two specific PITA aspects that i think could be removed without detriment to that feeling.

    one is that as clare suggested, the bog itself could have the "start quest" option on it. personally i don't think this is necessary, but it could help and doesn't make the quest any easier .. just makes the interface a little bit easier.

    the second is that i think you should be able to harvest a bog more than once per game day. this would allow people who have completed the quest to go and help out people who haven't without encountering "bog conflicts". it would also prevent people from burning out all the bogs they can work on with their team while they are still trying to figure out how the quest works. the bogs would still "empty" on unsuccessful attempts, so there'd still be consequences to messing up .. but i don't think stopping players in the middle of experimentation adds to the elation of solving the quest.

    what i saw were people assembling a party, using up a couple bogs trying to get coordinated and then hitting the "per day harvest limit" for one of the players in the party for every other full bog. the whole party would then give up with a feeling of extreme disillusionment, not elation or triumph, despite having done a ton of leg work to get everyone together and ready to go.

    all the other PITA aspects i think should be kept. the extremely short time limit, the number of players required, the coordination and experimentation and teaching needed. keep all that .. just drop the per day harvest limit so the assembled group can keep trying until they get it right, instead of being chased off with their tails between their legs.
    Posted 23 months ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • although Jade did come up with a nifty way around the per day limit if you're an experienced bogger trying to help people trying to complete the quest.

    her technique was to train the players on the art of simultaneous harvest by practicing on barnacles, then moving down to the bogs once the group was ready.

    smart cookie.
    Posted 23 months ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks, striatic, should learn to use 'enter' more. I will go and have another try for sure now, if we get the chance next time and are not reset!
    Posted 23 months ago by Cassandria Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The pre-game training of using the barnacles really did seem to make a difference. I think we got it on the first try, after the practice runs (we did three barnacles as a group).
    Posted 23 months ago by Jade Subscriber! | Permalink