To preface, I am not a high level player. I didn’t come up with these ideas to fix problems, and some of these could potentailly make the game unplayable. I just think they’re cool ideas.
Sandstorms
My first idea is a new mechanic for Brimstone Sands. The devs stated they wanted to introduce more open-world events, so I have one. The event would be a Sandstorm. 30 minutes before the sandstorm spawns, players would recieve a overhead popup that the event will spawn, and would see a large circle on the map showing where the Sandstorm would take place. Players would spend the 30 minutes preparing and travelling to the sandstorm’s spawn. The graphics of the Sandstorm would be like a giant tornado. It would have a slightly larger radius than a corrupted monolith.
Once inside the Sandstorm, players will have much lowered visibility and fight off waves of mobs that spawn in the sand. After a couple of waves, a procedurally generated tower will spawn in the centre, containing more enemies and high quality rewards at the top.
This mechanic is definitely a lot to ask for, and might take longer than autumn to develop, but I think it has a lot of potential. Another problem is if 100 players tackle the same sandstorm, it might be a bit too easy. I don’t have many fixes in mind for this, but one could be scaling the quality of rewards with the amount of people who participated, of only giving rewards to people who dealt the most damage, or having players opt in before the timer ends and having a fixed player cap. I personally don’t have an ideal solution in mind, but I’m sure one could be reached.
The Time Gauntlet
My second idea is for a new weapon. The Time Gauntlet. The entire thing would be made of gold, with a long fine gold chain protruding from the palm of the glove. At the end of the chain would be a crystal ball with a stopwatch or sand timer inside.
Now what would be this weapon’s purpose? I think it would be a sort of physical shield that blocks all projectiles. One talent tree revolves around abilities pertaining to medium range AOE, such as chip damage and short stuns. While another talent tree gives offensive and defensive options, such as a temporary bubble shield, and a wall that moves foward slowly.
This weapon would probably be entirely useless to solo players, but could be a huge shake up in PVP and expeditions. This was an idea I had before the roadmap, and I thought it would tie in well into the theme of Brimstone Sands, but now the greatsword has been confirmed for that patch the concept falls a bit flat.
The Mid Level
My next point. The mid level progression seriously needs a rework. There was a reason most people quit around level 30-40.
Having gone past the threshold when most people quit, I can seriously see why people did. The only level 30 territory worth staying in is Weaver’s Fen, and the combination of the fact you have to walk everywhere, to the fact that the territory is covered in water makes going though the area a huge pain. This is meant to be where the game picks up, but it is where it unfortunately slows down.
My proposal is to do a complete rework of the levels in all the territories. Make it so the each territory has a level gap, and no territories have identical level gaps. That way when you max out in one territory, you can move to the next and so on. Not only will it make it so no territory overstays its welcome, but it will encourage exploration and make sure every territory is used up.
As much as I appreciate all the endgame content, we both want new players to come back. If people come back, see all the new content is at level 60, and realize they have to keep doing what they did at release to get to it, they will give up again.
When people come back, they will want to get into the new content right away. So mid level players just need more options other than trudging through Weaver’s Fen.
Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. If you want to discuss how my ideas would ruin the game, feel free. AGS is watching.