Better Arenas
Sun, 06/24/2012 - 13:05
Create engaging arenas that challenge players, avoiding monotony and spam of enemies through the use of pacing and randomization. Also a graphical suggestion.
If anybody could consider the Arena by any other nature, it would be the money making aspect. Arenas pack tons of enemies and give gracious rewards. However, the design feels lazy and flawed. It follows closely with the risk v. reward system, i.e. that the next portion of the arena will be more difficult, but for a great reward. There's nothing wrong with the meta-design of the arena system as viewed by me, but the implementation leaves a lot to be desired. I understand that it's supposed to be gladiatorial style, where the player is supposed to be challenged and finishing the the arena is supposed to give a feeling of elation. However:
- Fights are monotonous. Each wave can be predicted. Roguelike mechanics address this, and by far this game is a perfect candidate.
- The waves are spammy and the area is too small. Fighting 12 robots (I think that's the correct count) plus a few menders, fairies, etc. all packed into a small space isn't challenging, it's hard. Hardness is usually a sign of poor implementation, challenge is achieved from careful thought. Spam v. Waves or "Do we want to spawn all enemies now" vs. "Let's make them run the gauntlet"
- The areas can violate Miller's Law. No person can keep up with everything happening at one time, and that's not a challenge. To keep with the second point, more waves vs. more enemies [at once].
My friends (around 3 or 4 regulars) and I are regular players. We all have elevator passes and do stratum runs nearly every day. The game's a blast. However, late stratum arenas are almost the coup de grâce of our runs. Entering one is nearly equivalent to a death sentence, not because it's too challenging, but because it punishes those that don't have certain builds that tend to be useful in arenas (gunslingers and the lot).
We've come up with a few ideas that would help out:
- Have the last room spawn more waves as opposed to more enemies at a given time.
- Engage the player through more random-like enemy spawning. We understand fire-themed arenas will spawn fire-themed enemies, however Wolvers/etc.->Lumbers->Polyps/Gun Puppies->Robots on the last room is mundane.
- This is a graphical suggestion. The front gate that leads into each of the three rooms, can that be made more transparent while in the room? As a legally-but-not-fully-blind guy who suffers from vision that can make it difficult to discern objects, the gate can blend in with the enemies/objects and become a big trap.
So, I guess, feel free to rip apart my idea and tell me how it doesn't work. ;)
Sun, 06/24/2012 - 18:44
#2
~
More but smaller waves will just make the arenas a joke. We need to make monsters themselves more aggresive first or at least put up some traps/drones to keep the challange.
The current method of swarming players on a small space may not be perfect, but it's something that at least tries to stop players.
Big spaces/small group of enemies are too easy.
Sun, 06/24/2012 - 20:27
#3
i can understand, the gate
i can understand, the gate grieves alot of people, especially when small monsters sit under it, making semi transparent when your knight approaches it would be handy
each wave can be predicted? well yes as can the amount and general makeup of enemies in all levels, some randomness is nice but it helps to maintain the theme and status of the level if done properly, which sometimes it isnt in arenas i know, beast arenas especially
too many enemies in a small space? only the final wave of the third arena do i ever find this, having occasionally been bottled in adn surrounded by the dozen mechaknights with no hope of escape except death, though i generally feel that this is mostly my own fault but it does feel like a few to many crammed into a small space, less basic enemies and more difficult enemies/traps (gremlin bombardiers/trojans/alpha wolvers) would certainly be a remedy for that
i tend to find most arenas pretty easy as a gunner, just run in circles shooting into the center, works for almost every part of the stage, but i would rather see more arenas appear in the clockworks similar to the gremlin/slime arena which appears early in the missions (barbed wire everywhere, the arenas aren't perfect squares) i forget which mission but it was fun because it was different - though not much of a challenge but hey it was an early mission
adding drones/extra traps would certainly help improve the challenge, but i think changing the way the arena missions work from a static basic level to a three part component level (i.e. have multiple arenas that can be randomly joined together similar to the way clockworks levels are built using discrete sections) that are not all square un-trapped arenas; having a donut shaped one, or a squiggly shape with barbed wire everywhere or having missiles blasting from different areas with a toggle switch to raise walls to block certain missiles (i love Iron claw Munitions Factory levels, they're so entertaining), square ones with drones and status traps in the corners or something And having each section with its own predefined set of semi randomized waves(just like each arena currently), some might spawn very few tough enemies or a mixture of turret and mobs
more obstacles/hazards and less enemies is a short term fix, having multiple arena levels would be so much nicer(it would be nice to have a grassy floating island arena or a ruined city arena), having the randomized component based arena levels would be even better (better yet if its implemented right the arena sections could potentially appear individually in other levels of the clockworks) though it is of course the most work
In later stages of arenas, it seems that the best strategy is just to circle around the edge and outrun enemies while charging your weapon of choice, because everything else will get you killed. I very much agree with suggestion 1, and suggestion 2 and 3 are also valid.