The Curiosity System and What Went Wrong

[Tycko]

I think you hit the nail on the head. As it stands now there are two phases of a daily game session.

When I played in W7 I was definitely hardcore spending anywhere from 5-8 hours per day playing. But as time went on and my playtime went down I noticed the following trend which makes the previous posts comment ring bells.

As a casual player who can spend 1-2 hours per day playing, If I want to be competitive with LP I miss half of the game experience. I have to spend that 1-2 hours producing/searching for curious to keep me on track for LP with others. Then I log off and the next day rinse and repeat. If I need to build a house, wall and hunt I have no time for that. So it seems like there is two phases of the play session. The first and most important is LP curio collection/study. The second is the productive what do I want to do in my sandbox. I think if you could find a solution that merges these two phases it would be a huge step in the right direction! I actually keep checking this game from time to time in hope for the gameplay breakthroughs that will take this game to the commercial market.(Polished Sandbox MMO)

[Kaios]

As a casual player who can spend 1-2 hours per day playing, If I want to be competitive with LP I miss half of the game experience. I have to spend that 1-2 hours producing/searching for curious to keep me on track for LP with others. Then I log off and the next day rinse and repeat. If I need to build a house, wall and hunt I have no time for that.

That's a fair point. You could spend less time looking for curiosities even if you didn't want to be somewhat competitive and still I feel that just an hour or something would not be enough to cover you for the rest of the time until you log in again, especially if you are a newb. So yes, in that regard I agree that this is one of the issues with the current system.

[DrakenRahl]

I think you hit the nail on the head. As it stands now there are two phases of a daily game session.

When I played in W7 I was definitely hardcore spending anywhere from 5-8 hours per day playing. But as time went on and my playtime went down I noticed the following trend which makes the previous posts comment ring bells.

As a casual player who can spend 1-2 hours per day playing, If I want to be competitive with LP I miss half of the game experience. I have to spend that 1-2 hours producing/searching for curious to keep me on track for LP with others. Then I log off and the next day rinse and repeat. If I need to build a house, wall and hunt I have no time for that. So it seems like there is two phases of the play session. The first and most important is LP curio collection/study. The second is the productive what do I want to do in my sandbox. I think if you could find a solution that merges these two phases it would be a huge step in the right direction! I actually keep checking this game from time to time in hope for the gameplay breakthroughs that will take this game to the commercial market.(Polished Sandbox MMO)

WAIT wut?
You want to be stay competitive with other players and only play 1-2 hours per day..? Please tell me how the hell that works in either system against a guy that plays 10 hours a day? cause I thinky you smokin sometin.

[dagrimreefah]

I think you hit the nail on the head. As it stands now there are two phases of a daily game session.

When I played in W7 I was definitely hardcore spending anywhere from 5-8 hours per day playing. But as time went on and my playtime went down I noticed the following trend which makes the previous posts comment ring bells.

As a casual player who can spend 1-2 hours per day playing, If I want to be competitive with LP I miss half of the game experience. I have to spend that 1-2 hours producing/searching for curious to keep me on track for LP with others. Then I log off and the next day rinse and repeat. If I need to build a house, wall and hunt I have no time for that. So it seems like there is two phases of the play session. The first and most important is LP curio collection/study. The second is the productive what do I want to do in my sandbox. I think if you could find a solution that merges these two phases it would be a huge step in the right direction! I actually keep checking this game from time to time in hope for the gameplay breakthroughs that will take this game to the commercial market.(Polished Sandbox MMO)

The solution to that problem is called the quality system. If you want to compete with the top players, trust me just foraging wont do shit for you. It almost sounds as if you forgot about the role that food plays in this game. It also sounds as if you didn't know that you can CRAFT curios.

Also, gaining LP is BY FAR NOT the most important aspect of the game. Again, food? I'd say the most important aspect of this game whenever it comes to "getting ahead" is quality. And you can only raise quality (of your infrastructure, which are the most important qualities of all) by exploring/crafting/building a crafter/planning/etc. From the sounds of it you're still stuck in 'newbie stage' and have no idea the true scope of this game.

[DrakenRahl]

Shhhhhh don't tell them criste sake. damn what is wrong with you. Let them marvel at our Q235 hammer and anvil and think we cheated. Of course with 1-2 hrs per day play time......would only take them about 15 months to get for them selves.

who could be bothered to grow trees that don't give LP when you cut them.
or raise crop Q when you don't get LP for harvesting.
or build herb tables if you don't get LP for building it.
or making cheese that doesn't give LP for any of the dozen steps involved
or feeding animals that you don't get LP for butchering and grinding sausage.

none of this gives LP so it must all be worthless

[Kaios]

You guys are right but if you look at the point he was trying to make without including the competitive aspect, I have to agree that for casuals with that little of amount of time to play they are in fact faced with the issue of "Do I spend this time improving my character, or improving my industry?" To be honest though, if that's all the time you have in your day for this game I would recommend finding a game that doesn't require as much investment.

[dagrimreefah]

You guys are right but if you look at the point he was trying to make without including the competitive aspect, I have to agree that for casuals with that little of amount of time to play they are in fact faced with the issue of "Do I spend this time improving my character, or improving my industry?" To be honest though, if that's all the time you have in your day for this game I would recommend finding a game that doesn't require as much investment.

You solve that problem by foraging, then trading. Let us not forget about the power trading gives to a casual nab. Build the infra little by little, until you hve the sufficient infra to casually play and still produce top quality shit. Its how I did it in the beginning half of world 6, and I did alright (minus some initial no-lifing whilst I built my wall)

[Cajoes]

If I am correct in assuming the core issue is neither one of balance, nor gameplay, but simply is the lack of instant and immideate gratification upon completing a task, no matter how banal. May I perhance be so bold as to put forth a viable alternative.

With that, I withdraw from the thread, and bid world 4 a well deserved [edit]good riddance[/edit]. Digging dirt for 4 hours to get enough LP for a claim was not fun. (The murder-boars did make things exciting though)

[YoukaiMori]

You guys are right but if you look at the point he was trying to make without including the competitive aspect, I have to agree that for casuals with that little of amount of time to play they are in fact faced with the issue of "Do I spend this time improving my character, or improving my industry?" To be honest though, if that's all the time you have in your day for this game I would recommend finding a game that doesn't require as much investment.

Paraphrase:
"If you can't dedicate time to gathering curios first and foremost, you should probably not play the game at all."

Heaven forbid people want to use their time to play the game for its gameplay without having to first spend one or two hours per day strictly on the gathering of curiosities, or else feel like they "wasted" their play time.

I'll say it again, everybody plays the game with the intent to advance, everybody. Unless you have gone days or weeks without studying something, you can't claim you are playing the game "For the exploration" or "for the building". So don't even say "Well if all he wants to do is X then he can do X without gathering curios".

Edit:

It is completely asinine to keep saying all people did was "Dig dirt for hours" or "deforest and make buckets", the amount of people who did that was an incredibly small percentage of players who took the suggestions from the forum and wiki when asked how to gain LP quickly. I can't believe I have to even refute that point seriously. Is this Poe's law at work?

[GrapefruitV]

It can't be true. He's just trolling.