Beta Feedback, Suggestions, and a Proposal for a Lunar Rift Cycle Rework

[LitulLola]

29 minutes ago, Antynomity said:

The issue is that every new bit of content is tied to combat, and the ones that aren't directly tied to combat once they are activated like hail they are designed in such a poor way that is simply there to destroy stuff for the sake of destroying stuff.

 

What the heck is the point of a world if everything outside your base that isn't protected from it is left as a wasteland that is not worth looking at? The game has a specific art style and mechanics such as that completely ruin the look and feel of the world if they are let out of control, which is easy because there's almost 0 counterplay to hail, and the counterplay there is, is limited to coasts thanks to giant trees.

I think the problem is that the idea of hail and it's imagined destruction is completely different from it's actual impact. If you really want to see what it's like I suggest watching a few megabasers stream on twitch. I've watched several over the last week just to make sure I wasn't missing anything and didn't see anything near the destruction or harm to bases and mobs ppl have been suggesting.

My comment was more in support of the lunar trio fight (cause I think it be fun and looks awesome) to close any rift that you don't want impacting an area. Because right now the rifts are absolutely no threat as they stand now. It's just another thing you can ignore. It seems like anything you can't ignore or counter with one item is considered "bad" by a large number of players on the forum. I think sandbox gameplay and endgame content are two different things and I don't think you can really have both (at the same time) I'm not sure how that would look

[MrMNWorm]

Alrighty, let's start off by saying that there are so many ideas in here that there is absolutely zero chance of this happening so there is no reason to worry about any of it. It would require an entire content update to make a reality... and that just doesn't happen from player posts. This is more for fun and a good writing exercise for me.

That said, ADM I did forget about Guardian Pig Tiki Torches and given that I have a beautiful base built around a Terrarium Bush Set with Tiki Torches those should also be added to the list of "rift spawning avoid-ables". Thank you for mentioning that!

-Begin Secondary Pitch Presentation-

To start, let's examine some of the current concerns people are expressing over the Lunar Rift Cycle.

THE ISSUES

1. Hail - seems players are worried about their penned-in and free-range pets being killed by hp loss over time from hail exposure. Some of these critters are harder to replace than others, so that's a valid concern. Another issue is that if the Hail drops resources, it will litter and lag their worlds with materials. I absolutely agree with this one and would vote NO to the Hail materials sticking around... it will take forever for Moleworms to eat them all IF there are even Moleworms nearby.

2. Brightshades - this seems to be about how many there are in a world and having to constantly clean them up. These things can quickly become an issue if you're playing a long term world... and their drops are becoming the new Hounds Teeth in terms of storage clutter.

3. Toggling - some seem to have an issue about toggling the content, whether it's being able to toggle it on right away or toggling it off altogether. Both sides of the issue seem to have a stigma to them. I'm not going to list all of those stigmas, I just am stating that people are saying toggling content, for whatever reason, is a concern.

And then my personal issue with the Lunar Rift Cycle is that, for an Uncompromising Wilderness Game... the Lunar Rifts have been compromised... and offer no method of mitigation other than waiting. Or simply put, I don't feel the Lunar Rifts or their Cycle are very fun... and we, the players, did that through excessive complaints that were uninformed due to a lack of proper exposure to the Lunar Rift Cycle. Now, with hindsight and experience playing with the Lunar Rift Cycle, I would like to offer a hypothetical/fun solution.

THREE NEW OPTIONS/SOLUTIONS

In the order that they have occurred in this post, the new options I would like to propose to enhance the enjoyment of the Lunar Rift Cycle are: FIGHT - SACRIFICE - SOLVE.

FIGHT - entails a new boss fight including a Trio of Gestalts. Stepping onto the central tile where the Rift spawns starts the fight, killing all 3 closes the Rift.
SACRIFICE - entails sacrificing Glommer near the Rift. A player would have to be within a 3x3 or 5x5 tile space of the central tile where the Rift spawns before killing Glommer to close the Rift.
SOLVE - entails using Atkvins idea of a Reverse Tower Defense game or puzzle. I say puzzle because it would require knowledge of the game to get the Rift to close this way. The Rift gives off light and Shadow Hands steal light. If a player were insane enough and there were no other fires, the Shadow Hands will spawn and try to close the Rift by reaching the central tile. The Grazers are able to stop the Hands, but players can stop the Grazers. If a Shadow Hand reaches the Rift, it closes.

These all sound very fun in their own way. Whether you like to fight your way through a problem, or think your way through a problem, or are a lazy, sadistic, heartless monster who would actually consider killing a cute, defenseless, little creature like Glommer... you would now have several interesting options of mitigating the Rift Cycle's content and duration.

Now lets order those options from easiest to hardest and elaborate on them a little further.

EASY - Sacrifice Glommer near the Rift. I think the developers over at Massive Monster would really like this one... they're big into games having fun sacrifices. And just imagine the decision a player will have to make IF they chose this option. Kill poor, innocent Glommer to save their base and animals (if it even spawns there)... or let destruction and mass death slowly ensue. Sure, there will be some sadists out there who will enjoy slaying Glommer but some players will agonize over doing this... and whether the player is a cruel savage or a peaceful animal lover... they will probably laugh a little when Glommer dies because that death animation is so funny. And that's what makes this fun... it's the quick easy path to closing the Rift but there's an emotional cost as well. That's good gaming if you ask me. (sidenote: how does Glommer enter the Constant during the Full Moons... perhaps some sort of Lunar Portal similar to the Rifts? Makes sense that killing such a creature would close the Rifts.)

MEDIUM - Solve the Shadow Hand Puzzle aka a Reverse Tower Defense Mini-Game. I call it a puzzle because it will require some knowledge and skill of the game to pull off. If you know that Shadow Hands come after light, know that the Rift gives off light, and know that the Brightshade Gear will protect you in the dark (and you can also see the Grazers in the dark)... you might try this IF players knew that closing the Rifts was a possibility. And now imagine this... imagine you ask a player what the purpose of the Grazers currently is... most will say something to the effect of "to annoy the player"... and that is true because the Grazers are not a danger/threat, they are more of an annoyance. But IF they could stop Shadow Hands from attacking the Rift... NOW they're sentries or guards PROTECTING the Rift (as SpookyXy would say... that just makes sense). If there were 3 of them right off the bat when the Rift spawns... they could transform into the Gestalt Trio if a player unwittingly steps onto the center tile (which kinda makes sense). That is a much more interesting and fun purpose for the Grazers, imo. So now, if you don't want to kill Glommer but have good knowledge of the game AND a little fighting skill... a player could choose the Medium Difficulty Option.

HARD - Fight the Gestalt Trio bosses. Start it by stepping on the central tile, watch the Grazers become Gestalts Chess Pieces, kill all 3, and you close the Rift... each one drops a little Pure Brilliance in the process. This is pretty straight forward since a player will naturally get close to the Rift to see what it is... but if they get too close... they will realize this is a dangerous force of natural they are dealing with. And who doesn't like a new boss fight that would give a little balance to the two Shadow Aligned trio boss fights we already have...?

And there we have it... 3 new, wonderfully fun ways for the players to mitigate/control the Rifts, FIGHT - SACRIFICE - SOLVE. If a player is unwilling or unable to FIGHT or SOLVE the probelm, then they better be ready to SACRIFICE. Right now players have 3 other options for dealing with the Lunar Rifts: ENJOY - AVOID - COMPLAIN. If a player chooses to ENJOY them as-is, it's more like endure... they just endure the Rifts, Brightshades, and Hail with little to no way of stopping it... sure, Hail has the Umbralla. But some are choosing to AVOID the Lunar Rift Cycle by toggling it off... which, again, has some stigmas about it. And if a player chooses to neither Enjoy or Avoid the RIfts, they will ultimately choose to COMPLAIN... and that is not fun for anyone, players or developers alike.

If we added FIGHT - SACRIFICE - SOLVE to the ENJOY option, my belief is that fewer players will choose the AVOID option... and little to no one will opt for COMPLAIN. Or if someone is going to complain once there are the fight, sacrifice, and solve options... then that person just likes to complain and there is nothing we can do to change that.

Here is what else might happen with these additions.

THE RESULTS

- Anyone concerned about their pets dying can close the Rift before the Hail even begins and still get some materials for their Brightshade Gear.
- Anyone who is tried of so many Brightshade Plants can significantly reduce the number of them.
- Anyone who has more than enough Pure Brilliance and Husks can slow the flow of the material accumulation. Seriously, Hounds Tooths use to be a problem but the Howlitzer fixed that... and now PB and Husks have taken their place... but there's two of them not one. I have so many of both that the Repair Kits are also becoming a storage problem because they are so cheap and effective.

Here's what I like to think a player will experience if the cycle were reworked.

EXAMPLE: a Rift opens NEAR a player's base, they have lots of penned animals there, decorative plants everywhere, in about 10 Days the Rift's expansion will definitely be destroying all of their hard work on the base, and in 13 Days the Hail might be killing their pets... what do they do?
- Maybe they choose to FIGHT the Gestalt Trio to close it... there is plenty of time to prep and execute... but they're not the best fighter.
- Maybe they were in the middle of some farming, so SACRIFICING Glommer would be quick and easy... but they love animals... aaand killing Glommer is so cruel aka a tough choice to make (but also kinda funny).
- Maybe they just eat some Leafy Meat, go insane real quick, and let the Shadow Hands SOLVE the PUZZLE... dang it, all out of Leafy Meat.

Their thought process begins:

Hmmm... it's Day 709... I could kill Glommer real quick and get them back on Day 711... which then means the next Rift won't open until Day 729 (because there is a 20-day respawn timer, just like the bosses have)... which is the middle of Winter... that would make doing the Lunar Mutant Zombie Deerclops boss fight pretty easy... could def spawn a Varg in there during the 20-day Rift cool-down too. Yeah... yeah that sounds like a good plan. Kill Glommer, close the Rift on Day 709, get him back on Day 711. Find a Varg, leave it somewhere safe, get the Rift back on Day 729 in Winter. Kill Deeclops and her Lunar Zombie Spawn, kill the Varg and it's Lunar Zombie Spawn, and then try to remember where I left the Bearger and do the same to her. Rift will be open from Day 729-749... don't really want to deal the Hail + Lunar Frog Storm during Spring... might have to close it early again. This is my 4th Lunar Rift and I farmed tons of the materials, so I'm good to close the Rifts early a few times. But either way I should be able to get all that done during this Winter. Now where's Glommer? Bzzt Bzzt... Oh there he is... Bzzt Bzzt... I'm sorry Glommer... but we have to do this to protect the base and the other animals... I'll see you in two days buddy... Bzzt Bzzt... please forgive me.

-END EXAMPLE-

OPPOSITION

There are some ideas floating around on how to "fix" the Hail issue, namely Canopies or Giant Land Trees... and here are some thoughts on those.

1. It's a little tricky for the devs to give us canopies... because how big should they be? Or rather, how big is your gekko pen... 2x2 tiles... 3x4 tiles... 6x9 tiles... or 4x20 tiles? Basically there is no standard size so how are the devs going to make something that is one size fits all. I remember one person saying that they have an entire biome where they leave Koalafants (I've done that before)... and that's going to require a pretty big canopy. If a canopy is one size, I think it will be an eye sore... if it's adjustable in size, how do we calculate the materials needed? And... we already have "canopies" in the form of the Umbralla Shield. So I'm not too sure about this option.

2. Giant Land Trees... okay... those do sound kinda cool... but the Giant Trees we already have are a little sketchy with how they function... so I'm not super sold on that idea. I do know that options that will completely close the Rifts will 100% stop the Hail from coming to kill off pets. So I prefer a 100% effective and functional method at this time.

3. Finally... do we consider looking at canopies, of whatever size or shape, fun? Is growing Giant Trees that might not work 100% of the time fun? Or... are boss fights fun... are solving puzzles/mini-games fun... and is killing Glommer to watch their death animation fun...? I know what my choice is for the "most fun" options.

Now, the devs will be getting back from their extended vacation soon and have an ACTUAL beta to focus on with ACTUAL content they will be releasing... and all this is probably just going to be a distraction.

Before I go... got one more little thing from Wagstaff and his new Brightcite Tech Collection... it's a sword made from Thulecite, Pure Brilliance, and MoonGlass. When you're not attacking with it, it looks like the one on the left and when you are attacking it lights up like the one on the right. He's calling a "Bright Saber" but I thought that sounded really dumb... it should have a cool, catchy, iconic name like Glowy Thumper Stick or something...

-End Secondary Pitch Presentation-

Thank you all for your time and input, hope you have a wonderful day!

-Sincerely,
MrWorm

[Cassielu]

I think any idea of shutting down a threat rather than defeating it tends to be a pretty uninteresting idea, it's just make everything into "just turn it off" situation.

A viable way to prevent Brightshade and lunar hail will better.