Topic

Rook = meh

Glad people liked the Rook-thing. See thread here for reactions and awesome posting of spoiler vid. I didn't, tho. It was very very boring.

My POV:  You sit and wait and wait and wait and wait for the rook to do his thing. Meanwhile people are coming from all corners to clean up what the rook will do. People know the routine, revive revive revive. My response, so what so what so what.  To me, waiting for the rook routine is like watching paint dry. And then the clean up is like mining. I went to bed.

Just another perspective on the rook. It was cool that something happened. Hard not to like the introduction of a new feature. But, for me, very meh game-wise.

Super happy to see folks trying to cook up some strategy around the rook. But for me it's the mechanics that are dull. Beautiful art, neat screen breaking, but same-ole gameplay.

What am I missing? What could make the rook-thing more interesting? I was trying to do something to protect--but seemed all we could do was wait. b-o-r-i-n-g 

Posted 18 months ago by Mac Rapalicious Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • I noted the exact same things. It's been 9 months since the first Rook attack... I was kind of expecting much more major changes. Also, The Rook needs a backstory implemented into the game when there's a Rook attack. Glum pudding saw a player asking ‘what’s up with the birds’ during one of the attacks. :/

    If the Rook is supposed to be an ominous background feature that builds up over time in neglected areas, what’s the need for sudden, full throttled attacks anyway?

    ETA: Yes, there is backstory, but those who haven't read the wiki article or blog post won't know about it. 
    Posted 18 months ago by Hburger Subscriber! | Permalink
  • There is a back story (I think told to me by a rock somewhere), but it's not a common one. It does need better amplification.
    Posted 18 months ago by Fokian Fool Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Pepper Rose mysteriously said that there was ALOT more to come with the Rook, like this is only the tip of the iceberg, and what we've seen so far is nothing. So, I'm sure that alot more is being worked on, which is certainly needed. In its current state the Rook is super-duper awesome the first time or two (or three or so), but will quickly get old.
    Posted 18 months ago by Shepherdmoon Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Ah. Well, I wasn't around for any of the other attacks, so I found it interesting to witness one.

    But yes, it that is all there is, it would grow old quick.

    It would be nice if the Rook made more tiny, hidden appearances. Appear in a tree and fly away the moment you come near. Appear in your home when you open your cupord. Etc, etc..
    Posted 18 months ago by Lord Bacon-o Subscriber! | Permalink
  • yeah .. sometimes it feels like the game is incapable of any other gameplay than "click the thing, watch the progress bar".

    i mean, there is gameplay other than that, and contexts that complicate the mechanic but .. yeah .. i know the feeling.

    it gets to feel unimaginative after a while.

    despite that, i actually like the rook and how it plays out with the rapid response and reviving. it is more that other things need to change or that future additions need to be more novel in order to keep the rook stuff fresh.
    Posted 18 months ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I do feel the same way about the potential for staleness.   I stopped reviving things when it became clear that rookswort is bugged and I would just die of mood loss.  I also kinda was curious to see what would happen if nothing got revived.  In fact, I almost welcomed it as a way to be able to repopulate trees.

    However, I also know that this is beta.  The first rook, all those months ago, was buggy as hell.  I looked upon all of these rook attacks as testing to see how many more bugs remain and have to say I was very impressed at the lack of lag this time around in all the rook attacks that I witnessed this test.  I still am impressed by the graphics, although agree after after so many of these, they'll get stale (as anything would).  I like the community revival efforts.

    But I hope that more is to come.

    Things I'd like to see:
    - The rookswort bug fixed.
    - Bring back the hugs thing.  In the alpha test, hugs played some sort of role that I didn't see here, as evidenced in this screenshot
    - More backstory integration or quests related to rooks - in fact, the whole break the egg thing has me pretty intrigued.... might we find eggs in the game that we need to break cooperatively? 
    - Is the rook still going to primarily be attacking neglected areas?  I'm wondering how this will pan out, since neglected areas are neglected for a reason... no one goes there.  Will anyone really care that pigs and trees are dying in Chakra Phool when they already do now of neglect?  Seriously, with half the streets there void of trees and pigs, the rook won't have much impact out there.  Maybe it needs to be changed to that rook attacks really popular areas, flattening them or (gasp) screwing with projects. Flattening community gardens.  Making off with gnomes.

    But really, for a re-appearance, I think the rook did 1000x better than the first go around.  It's cool and I hope for moar.
    Posted 18 months ago by zeeberk Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @zeeberk: I saw a lot of attacks in Groddle Meadow, Alakol, and a few other decently populated places so I wouldn't say that all the attacks have centered on already neglected places. We even saw a double attack on *I think* Groddle Forrest and Alakol at the same time. I like your idea of the cooperative Rook egg breaking or rooking up gardens/projects. In any case, more variety needs to be seen.

    On a whole, I really enjoyed the Rook attacks. Working together on the fly to revive the animals and trees seemed like a nice community building exercise and I'm excited to see what else the Rooks have in store for us. I do agree that in it's current state it can get boring but this is why we're beta testing. As a tester we run into walls and do silly (or not so silly) things over and over to make the game better in the long run. Once the developers get the kinks worked out of one stage of Rook attacks I'm sure we'll see the next.
    Posted 18 months ago by Kippsi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I do agree that the warning that the rook is coming is WAY too long. I felt that way, and I wasn't even on the street when the warning started. And it was the only rook attack I've ever witnessed.
    I trust there will still be tweaks, additions, and changes, and I look forward to seeing what this becomes.
    Posted 18 months ago by Zany Serendipity Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like the long Rook warnings personally, as it gives players time to go to the region the attack is taking place. Those who want to actively participate in the Rook attacks don't want to miss the action because not enough warning was given.

    I would suggest that the frequency of the screen darkening and the actual screen warnings start out really slow and speed up as the event draws near. Maybe just have the piggies, chickens and trees become a little skittish to give us a clue (maybe even work it into the Animal Kinship and Light Green Thumb skills) and the more noticeable warnings come in as the attacks are very close.
    Posted 18 months ago by Kippsi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Kippsi: the Glitch blog (official) is where we learned that the rook hits neglected areas, so I'm addressing what the future might hold.  The recent attacks in all the very populated areas this test might have just been to work out the bugs and to make sure a lot of folks were there. ;-)
    Posted 18 months ago by zeeberk Subscriber! | Permalink
  • zeeberk: Ahh I see, my mistake! Seems I need to get around a little more, hehe. 
    Posted 18 months ago by Kippsi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I hope that silly german letter screen from a silent movie goes away soon. I think an attack warning should be more subtle and potentially missed. like maybe a single black feather given to a player from an animal or tree upon petting/squeezing/watering etc would be the sole warning that an attack was coming at some point that glitch day on that street

    I also wish we could fight the rook directly with orb radiation.

    Orb shards. That's why jujus steal orbs, to break them and then give the shards to rooks. Rooks could be damaged by orbs but strengthened by orb shards, and jujus give orb shards to rooks to placate them. They also frequently mistake ssooniv's for orbs, so taking one into the memory lands can help safeguard your orb.
    Posted 18 months ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Where is the Official Glitch blog? Link?
    Posted 18 months ago by Fokian Fool Subscriber! | Permalink
  • also need to add that I don't think rooks should only attack empty areas, which is why I suggested the single black feather warning. I like the communication and organization implicit in a player informing the community at large abt getting a feather, especially how to let new players know what to do, or convincing more shy and lurkish players to report a feather.
    Posted 18 months ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Blog

    I would like a bit of both, sometimes they slowly infiltrate and at others they just create chaos. Some more backstory would be awesome, maybe the trees could mention the rook at least because all I know about the Rook comes from 1 quest and what the Devs had told us. Can a shrine ask us to help fight off their enemies? Why do they hate imagination so much? Why Rook form? Why do the Giants not fight them off? Are they simply overpowered? 
    Posted 18 months ago by Ani Laurel Subscriber! | Permalink
  • RAK's - random act of kindness dispensers could be tweaked to also become a useful tool to support revivers and/or fend off rook attacks.

    Right now getting one is a random occurrence but maybe a rare situation would enable some glitches to generate them at will, like maybe it could be a perk of getting the Make a Crab Happy badge, the getting of which is also currently such a mystery as to make it seem totally random and somewhat rare.
    Posted 18 months ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh, I've been getting way too many Random Act items through gardening or tree petting.  Nice to know they have some use
    Posted 18 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Wow I completely agree with the OP! I thought the Rook attack was cool the first time, the second, third & fourth time I just left that area cause I couldnt be bothered with reviving. They definitely need to do something to make it so much less predictable.. and almost less often. Got really stale really quick.
    Posted 18 months ago by Taylor Swift Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yes, this was just a preview, mainly to test performance of the effects now that so much has changed in the renderer, etc., but also to let you know that it is coming :)

    A long-arc mechanic for attack prevention, attack repulsion and Rook effects is coming, along with clearer backstory integration.
    Posted 18 months ago by stoot barfield Subscriber! | Permalink
  • i like the single feather thing.
    Posted 18 months ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • This might be useful to devs: Effects wise, check out what the blur animation did to my client at 0:15 on my video, taken during the last Rook attack of the test. The exact same thing happened on the first ever attack (notice, same point at animation), at 0:01 on this video. 
    Posted 18 months ago by Hburger Subscriber! | Permalink
  • hehe if the rook kidnaps the glitch in the zone with the most friends and takes them back to the rook nest and the friends have to quest to get the friend back then the meh's will turn to Oh Nooooo!'s
    Posted 18 months ago by Artilect Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think the "feather warning" has merit. Maybe more than one... because a brand new player may have no idea what it means.... maybe some random feathers scattered around the target zones... And a MUCH shorter lead up time. And I have to say that I loved the graphics... the rook circling... even that tiny one in the background. Great stuff!
    Posted 18 months ago by Pirate Apples Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Another cool warning could be a nightmare vision in place of the New Day message, for a number of players that are randomly selected.

    I think nightmare visions could also be a means to alerting players about neglected areas, especially if the player was subjected to chronically low mood until some action was taken. Of course that might be a bit too Noah-ish for some folks.
    Posted 18 months ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I kinda figured the rooks this test were sort of a prelude to more to come. Even so, I dearly loved the teamwork involved in whole-area revival. Great fun!

    Love the feather idea and love Aniloverl's idea about the rook kidnapping someone just because it would definitely be interesting to have to rescue someone. However, that could be pretty annoying for the one abducted if they were in the middle of something. You could maybe have an option to set when you play: "allow/disallow" random rook kidnapping:) You still would have no idea if or when it'd happen to you per se, but that way you could sort of be volunteering in a sense. And if you were deeply involved in some street project or something, you'd just toggle it off till a time more suited to your needs. I can definitely say that unless I'm actively greeting or trying to run about Baqala/Choru, I would toggle it to "allow." Would be superfun to know you *might* be a target and then provide a side quest to your buddies. But those who would hate it would never have to be involved.
    Posted 18 months ago by RM Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I love the idea of being rook-napped! I would be game for that any time...but of course I would worry which of my buddies would be willing-or available-to rescue me. And if I was a more solitary or shy player, I might not even have a set of rescue buddies.

    Although I guess that suggests the possibility of merc Glitches.
    But it is really fun to imagine being trapped in a rook lair...
    Posted 18 months ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Nanookie: Could be a group: The Mercenary Rooknap Rescuers LOL
    Posted 18 months ago by RM Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm suddenly having flashes to an introductory credits sequence for a television show - you know the kind - everyone has a "role" or specialty (e.g. Leverage, or from the old-school, Charlie's Angels or The A-Team).

    Rooknap Rescuers (whoosh).

    Introducing...
    The Free Spirit Nanookie leaps by

    The Nudist Rascalmom twirls past

    The Poker of Small Shiny Objects of No Intrinsic Value jasbo stares vacantly into the middle distance...

    IT'S SO CRAZY, IT JUST MIGHT WORK.
    Posted 18 months ago by jasbo Subscriber! | Permalink
  •  Hey Now..Wiki updated today, July 4th......
    "Rook attacks now concentrate on an entire region, and will KILL trees, animals, Herbs, and other plants. Victims can be saved by 2 Players Reviving them. Victims remain damaged either until they die, or are revived, even after the Rook leaves"

    oh my..there's trouble up ahead...yikes....
    Posted 18 months ago by SavannaBlueRose Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @jasbo: Stop, stop!!! My sides!!! :D
    Posted 18 months ago by RM Subscriber! | Permalink
  • RM, I make laugh because I love.
    Posted 18 months ago by jasbo Subscriber! | Permalink
  • RM the kidnapping idea was Artilect's not mine, names are similar at a glance I guess. Glad you like the wiki article (I wrote that at least).

    The kidnapping idea would be cool but better if there was a quest or you could at least watch the Rook flighting around their Nest of Evil or something like that. If you made it most friends though it turns into a popularity contest on who can get the most friends and if not it is likely that the same people will be kidnapped repeatedly.
    Posted 18 months ago by Ani Laurel Subscriber! | Permalink
  • oops, sorry, yes the names look similar, so love the idea, Artilect :)
    Posted 18 months ago by RM Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'd like rooks to be the Glitchy version of spiderwebs (though some webs, in RL, spawn like crazy. Just look at our family car). For small things, perhaps just one of those mini-rooks flying above it, but for whole areas, I'd like a large, fullscale attack. And maybe interaction with the avis. Not just our screens. Perhaps, it gives us a minor mood drain per scratch, until someone figures out a way to beat the Rook. Also, love the feather idea. And the 'glimspe of the future' idea. I'm thinking, if people meditate, or do a specific something during a specific period of time, there will be several flashes over several seconds (maybe 10?) showing a nightmare image of a rook scratching the screen, and have a background of somewhere (Example, meditate at 5:30pm, and the minute the calming music starts, there will be one of them foghorn blasts, and the nightmare visions, appearing as a buff/debuff labeled 'glimpse of the future', and showing a rook pecking the screen, with Groddle Heights in the background).
    Posted 18 months ago by KitkatCat Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I missed the Rook Attacks myself, but what happens when the players no longer care enough to scramble and fix things? Does it all just sit dead until players replant? Seems like the answer to avoiding an attack is to log out when you see it coming and have a meal, go for a walk, watch TV... then log back in later.
    Posted 18 months ago by Sweet Pea Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Sweet Pea, you are so right...currently trees and animals are incredibly plentiful and easy to generate. I think most of the excitement during these rook attacks came the from novelty of something new to try, test, assess, etc.

    But I think during beta, tree and animal cycles have been greatly sped up--once the game goes live, trees will/may take much longer to grow and maybe animals will take longer to bring to maturity, and then losing them will have a bigger consequence in terms of lost resources.  And hopefully saving them will have more urgency.
    Posted 18 months ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Mister Cake always assumed that the rooks were just noisy birds from the Giant's world that were so annoying that they made it hard for the Giants to think about funny things.
    Posted 18 months ago by Mister Cake Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Nanookie

    Where is the information that tree and animal cycles have been sped up during testing?   In order to test something, wouldn't the devs keep things the way they are going to be when we go live?
    Posted 18 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Windborn: I just remember reading that in some forum post, wish I could tell you which one!  I might be incorrect actually, in that the sped up cycle was just regarding that current testing period and not part of a larger plan.  But really, doesn't it make sense that things would need to grow slower?  Right now everything is so disposable.

    @Mister Cake:  Elmo...is that you?  :D
    Posted 18 months ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • yep, I also remember this post! it was a while back now, and I utterly fail in forum searches here for the most part, unless I have lots of time and determination, but I do remember this comment, and it was in the context of testing in general, not a particular test. who knows what the plans are these days for post-launch growth rates, but this was definitely a thing.
    Posted 18 months ago by katlazam Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It's a bird. I hate birds.
    Posted 18 months ago by Cerulean Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yah, if my bird-phobic niece Ashley were playing, she would be seriously freaked out by a rook attack, especially when they crawl across the screen seemingly outside the UI.
    Posted 18 months ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It's when they stop pecking at the screen and look up at you that freaks me out (but in a cool way, not an AAAAGH!  KILL IT WITH FIRE! way).
    Posted 18 months ago by jasbo Subscriber! | Permalink