Spiral Knights - What Grinds Your Gears?

What Grinds Your Gears?

28 replies [Last post]

Wed, 08/10/2016 - 18:42

Oslaw

Hello All! I'm pretty new to the forums maybe someone had already done something like this but oh well.

What Grinds Your Gears?: What are some things in the game that annoy you? Maybe our responses can be compiled to a some sort of "Unwritten Rules of Spiral Knights". Some examples could be knights shield bumping lumbers or other heavy hitters to you, being engulfed by Grievers/Mecha Knights in Battle Arena. Bonus points if you share an experience you had that grinded your gears.

I guess I'll list some things that gets me annoyed:

Unsolicited Pulsar Spamming

Don't get me wrong I'm not all for stop using pulsars they're quite useful but they can be extremely annoying within parties. I try to use them when I'm by myself. I wish I had 1 ce every time I experienced this...

Beggars

I know, I know you maybe saying who doesn't get annoyed when people beg. But I've been in some situation that really puts me on the spot. There was this one time I was in an arcade run and one of the guild masters was with me and asked if we had energy to open a gate. I told him I had 2 ce he asked me to go back to haven and find someone who'd like to give me 1 ce. Literally no one would like to break 100 ce for this, and it turns out he got someone else to open the gate to the danger room and I was too late to join.

Another time there was this knight that befriended me prior to reaching the terminal and once we got there he asked me for 3,000 crowns for a recipe. It wasn't even a Basil only recipe, it was a Glacius I was about to turn down my new "friend" before that happened someone in the party suggested to donate 1,000 crowns each and I didn't want to seem rude so I had to give him.

I guess there is my two cents in this topic and I want to hear yours!

Important Note:

In the Forums' Guidelines it stated:

"DO NOT:

Post personal attacks, or anything intended to insult or belittle another person (this includes both players AND staff members)."

I'm not even sure if it applies over here but I guess it would be smart of you were to avoid using the knights name in your story, and try not to be insulting?
(I had to scratch a whole paragraph of a well detailed experience with two players spamming wildfires in FSC before I realized it might have been abit insulting...)

Wed, 08/10/2016 - 19:17

Poothis

Common Knowledge

The whole no specific knight names thing was kinda common knowledge for the longest time.

My only serious problem is also with beggars. I mean sure, this game is grindy and it takes a little bit of time to gain any sort of decent fortune. But what REALLY irritates me about beggars is that you can play this game as MUCH as you want in one day and therefore you can get those gosh darn crowns yourself. Back in MY day (and many other veteran players) in the Mist Energy Era as I like to call it, you could only play up to 10 floors a day with free Mist Energy before going into your crystal energy pool. But guess what? That elevator fee is GONE, so all you beggars go get your dang crowns yourself.

Wed, 08/10/2016 - 19:40

Oslaw

@Poothis

Fair point of that being common knowledge. I totally agree with you I'd rather take Unlimited levels and even forge system (believe it or not...) than mist energy, and thanks for your input!

Wed, 08/10/2016 - 23:10

Jazzberry-Jam

Here we go

What really grinds my gears are "clone people". You can see them in PVP. They all look the same. Down to accessories. An example is the black cat cowl with a spiked mohawk.

What really grinds my gears is the glass cannon nature of the PVP as well as it's lack of balance.

What really grinds my gears is other players in a party rushing ahead, disrupting everyone else's rhythm. Being in a party automatically means speed-running, even if everyone dies because of it.

Thu, 08/11/2016 - 01:19

Neometal

People rushing through the rank missions, and when they get to 5* they utterly suck, because they rarely understand game mechanics.

People complaining about SK dying.

People complaining about ce prices.

Beggars. Elevators are free, go and kill **** instead of standing around here and being a useless prick!

Thu, 08/11/2016 - 07:40

Corporal-Shade

Hello Darkness, my Old Friend.

Sure...

People AFKing
Goddamnit people I don't have time for your crap I just want to complete the level!

People asking for Revives
Shut up! Despite the fact that I have 40 Sparks, everyone but you has an ER!

Complaints
We've heard it for the millionth time already. "SK is dying", "CE prices are bad". You're not helping.

PvP is Unfriendly to Newcomers
Everyone is too strong. Voltedge is never gonna happen for me.

Thu, 08/11/2016 - 08:02

Veridiandynamics

Seconding

I'll just second everything Neo said.
Perfect post.
Cheers.

Thu, 08/11/2016 - 11:35

Fangel

Gosh there's a few:

Target selection

Most of the time in Spiral Knights, there are a small handful of enemies on the screen at any given time. This allows every player in your party to pick out a target, and slowly work their way down to the last enemy.

Too often however, players just hack and slash at the first enemy they see, completely oblivious to the fact that if someone is fighting a singular mob that shooting at it with high knockback weapons isn't helping. If someone is running towards a mob with a sword, you can prioritize the enemy they ran past with your gun instead of just attacking the same enemy with your blaster, knocking it out of sword range, and then having the second enemy sneak up and slap the sword knight.

Situational awareness

Similar to the previous thing, situational awareness is a huge factor for teamwork. Seeing your teammate on low health and running around all scared like is your cue to drop a heart attack, or get the enemies away from them. However the biggest issue is bombers. Bombers drop bombs, and it seems like every person and their mother knock enemies out of the explosion radius. It's got a big ol' marker, try to hit them into the circle of death.

Begging vs Asking

Begging for crowns in haven? Not getting any. Begging or demanding someone revive you after you've proven you're not too great at a dungeon? Yeah, you're staying down. Send me a random PM saying "fangel you have money right? buy me this thing"? Yeah that's how my ignore list gets started.

If a player simply asks for a revive and isn't pushy about it, it brings me to want to revive them. If you're trying your best and aren't dragging down the team then it's no skin off my teeth. Similarly, asking for crowns or materials for a specific reason and stating why makes me more likely to help out.

Refusal to listen/learn

I've ran into many players who really don't want to listen to advice or learn how to play the game, but just want to get the best gear ever. Now this is a problem, because in order to get that best gear you need to understand game mechanics, not buy every recipe you see the moment you see it because it "looks cool", while not having the crafting requirements or recipes to make the gear prior.

"i'm done with the game so now i hate it"

Most readily on the steam recommendations, I have a sort of disdain for players who have exhausted themselves on the game and therefore tell new players that they shouldn't even try. A lot of the time these players have nostalgia goggles on and don't like one specific change, therefore they focus entirely on that one thing instead of the thousands of hours they invested before that change, and the hundreds or thousands of hours they've continued to invest afterwards.

It's one thing to say "oh yeah, the end-game is really grindy, but if you like the game right now you'll like it later", and then go into details about how hard it is to heat end-game gear, but it's another thing entirely to say the game is dead/dying because you and your two friends left after the forge happened three years ago. Also, saying no-one should play a game or support it because of a single instance that may be valid (ie, unique promo weapons) is just unhelpful.

Thu, 08/11/2016 - 12:42

Sir-Shadow-Striker

*coughs*

The fact that no matter how hard I try, no matter what new games I play... I can't help but keep tabs on SK's comings and goings. Heck, I might even download it on my new computer in the morning, see if I still have all my shiny blades and armours.

Aside from announcing my return to the game (and forums), I have to say that what drove me insane was heating 5 star gear, but everyone's already taken that argument and burned it to dust, so I'll complain about PvP instead.

Full of Pulsar spamming (I may be guilty of this when in a foul mood), glass cannoneering and on occasion, rather unsavoury individuals of foul tongue and bad mannerisms, Tier 3 PvP was rather hit and miss. At times, you felt on top of the world, your entire team kitted out in their Sunday finest, guns ablaze, swords glinting in the lights of the arena, and than you had the other times, when someone aims their sights on you and you alone, a majority of players completely out damage you due to Black Kat/Chaos loadouts, and you feel rather meek amidst the unbalanced chaos. Tier 2 was possibly the most balanced it got, as Black Kat wasn't a thing, at least until they made a 3* version of it. Whilst I sit here early in the morn, complaining about it, I'm eager to hop back into this game at the first moment I can. Really, I guess it's just PvP like any other game, but SK always seemed to have a bit of an elitist complex with it's PvP. I don't think I could ever explain why I think this, I just do.

I also entirely, absolutely one-hundred and seventy-five percent agree with Fangel on everything his comment here. Beggars are annoying, but those who ask and ask politely at least deserve a hearing out.

Though I get the feeling no one remembers me, I must say it's good to be back. :)

Thu, 08/11/2016 - 14:40

Poothis

To add

PvP in SK isn't that emphasized on and isn't what SK was advertised to be all about (well no advertising really). It's more about the jolly cooperation of PvE although as Fangel has already pointed out can be quite a pain if you don't know how the other people play.

Another thing that typically irritates me is when I help out lower ranked knights with missions and they bring out, for example, a nightblade in a level full of undeads and fiends even though they have something like a calibur or tempered calibur. Like PLEASE, your nightblade does DECREASED damage against these specific monsters and at tier 2 or below a normal damage weapon isn't THAT bad. It's sort of what Fangel said about players not knowing about mechanics and think of only what is "the strongest". One weapons is NOT THE STRONGEST OUT OF EVERYTHING, it's freaking situational. Please new players understand this and use your extra orbs to craft a more diverse damage type weapons.

Thu, 08/11/2016 - 17:16

#10

Dats-Mah-Boi

I would usually make a

I would usually make a snarkey reply and say something like "people who make these threads", but this is actually a nice thread. Good stuff Poothis.

Lets see..what grinds my gears....
1) Hypoocrites
2) AT in lockdown
3) Spammers in LD

Thu, 08/11/2016 - 18:13

#11

Midnight-Dj

Clueless Optimists

They spring up every now and then, claiming that they have the silver bullet for all of SK's short comings. Keep insisting that their version of the game is superior despite not knowing jack all about game development, why would anyone change their game because someone typing on the internet told them so? Hope is always the first step on the road to disappointment.

Data slaves

These people pop up on the arsenal sub forum, drowning people in paragraphs after paragraphs of data insisting why the gear they chose is the best. But seriously, you could have simplified everything down, and why bother over analyzing such a simple game (it is not like an extra bar of defense every did anything in a offense>>>defense game)? Crunch and fluff should never be mixed up.

I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUTE

People just standing around in Haven, do nothing but talking trash at each other while wearing cosmetic that do NOTHING to the gameplay, not that gameplay mean anything to these people if all they do is merching and hang out. I thought you have IMVU for that kind of meaningless online interaction. Just like the AT whiners, if you hate SK's imbalanced PvP, then go to MOBA games where the devs fix imbalance every months. If you want to chat with people, then go to a social/RP game.

Fri, 08/12/2016 - 00:46

#12

Jazzberry-Jam

@Midnight-Dj

Midnight, i feel your last point is not that great. While whiners are annoying, there's nothing wrong with people sitting in haven, doing nothing but chatting, socializing. Same for wearing cosmetics, there's nothing wrong with that either. Spiral Knights is an MMO-RPG, meaning it is already enough of a social/RP game.

There are many kinds of people/kinds of players in a game and not all of them play the game for the same reasons. Nor do they play solely for the core aspect the game has to offer.

For a better explanation, here's a video from extra credits talking about Bartle's Taxonomy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxpW2ltDNow

Fri, 08/12/2016 - 00:59

#13

Poothis

Guilds man

To build on Jazzberry's idea. The entire point of guilds is the social aspect of the game.

Fri, 08/12/2016 - 09:34

#14

Umbra-Lunatis

A list.

Floor Spikes
I don't need them removed or anything. I'm just really bad at avoiding them. That's cost me a couple lives in missions where everything has gone smoothly.

Opening the inventory, lagging, and walking into shadowfire
I strongly believe that the inventory menu should buffer while it's open, not all at once.

Lost Soul spawn mechanics
Specifically the ones that explode. I've gotten many a Soul stuck to my face while moving forward. Also the fact that they occasionally spawn right in front of your gun/sword just as you're about to use a charge.

Mini Monster hitboxes
Due to the game's camera angle. I can't autotarget Minis with a charged Slug for some reason.
Maybe I'm just bad, but it feels like there's something off about it.

The fact that the Crimson Order supposedly has members that have the capacity to churn out breathtaking engines of war and yet all we've seen from that is a pair of giant gun puppies that actively shoot at eachother
nuff said

Depth Perception
"Dude, the elevator is, like, just over this 3-foot-high wall"
"Nah man, we can't do that. Take the long way instead".

The fact that Wings are entirely useless
The things flap for a reason. I'd like a /fly for aesthetic purposes.

Clockwork depths feeling less like death traps and more like long hallways
I haven't felt very devoured while entering the iron embrace lately. More environmental springtraps or ambushes would be nice.

Hera hinting that Knights don't have feet and then taking off without clarification
I will not let you get away with this until I know the truth

Cloak line collars
When wearing a Crescent Helm, they clip through it.

Blast Jellies' boring attack style
They're a lot less fun without the initial death explosion.

And finally,
Tortodrones and their lack of appearance
I understand that in order to make the Event exciting that Tortodrones have to stay within its bounds.
But that's stupid.
I want to be able to fight them in the Arcade. A corrupt form would be perfect, so long as it didn't drop the event-exclusive Shells. Would weigh on my conscience a lot less, too, since the whole Event is about protecting them from the Fiends.
You have the most interesting enemy Cradle has to offer and you stick it behind a paywall. You even made a new model for it, so that's got to mean there's at least a little bit of love left for them.
Please, at least give us that back.

Fri, 08/12/2016 - 11:02

#15

Fangel

i had a thought

For a while I've been thinking "why not have a boss level with a tortomega". That can keep tortodrones themselves as an event monster/boss, and then have the tortomega be a regular boss.

... And it just occurred to me how cool it would be to have a friendly tortodrone aid you in that level. Having one of those beasts fighting alongside you would be amazing!

Fri, 08/12/2016 - 12:43

#16

Umbra-Lunatis

@Fangel

That's actually a really cool idea. Though... I'm not sure how the actual difficulty of the level would pan out given that the stony sentinel is also one of the most powerful enemies on cradle in addition to the most unique.

Maybe design it as a "Killing Floor" for enemies...like Fiends. One where they'd just sorta fall over left and right due to the massive power of the tortoise.

Fri, 08/12/2016 - 16:24

#17

Fangel

would work

If we have friendly tortodrones then the actual level difficulty can go sky high.

Imagine this: the tortomega itself cannot be hurt by knights unless it is stunned by a tortodrone first. If it's a fiend boss level, then have respawning devilites show up and you can kill them while you wait for your tortodrone(s) smack it. After that, then you can dish out a beating to the beast until it wakes up.

Alternatively a killing floor would work just as well, with tortodrones being a support gimmick (but a really cool one at that) while the players fight off the tortomega.

Fri, 08/12/2016 - 16:37

#18

Solotron

Wanna know what grinds my gears?

No you don't! My gears are to be grind-ed in private and nothing more!

Fri, 08/12/2016 - 16:44

#19

Umbra-Lunatis

@Fangel

That would be an interesting mechanic, almost like a timer Battlepod-wise but far more engaging.

@Solotron
You uh, might want to re-word some of that

Fri, 08/12/2016 - 17:18

#20

Solotron

Nahhh

I'll let it stayyyyy c:

Fri, 08/12/2016 - 17:29

#21

Umbra-Lunatis

Well, make sure you oil up them gears every now and then

Fri, 08/19/2016 - 07:53

#22

Putkisen-Seta

Hmm.

I kinda wanna see a mission where you're sent to observe the migration. You watch them from a cliff, fighting wolvers and other filler until you run into a baby tortodrone. Much weaker than its kin and cuter. You could attack and kill it but there'd be no reward, just a kind of "the baby tortodrone falls to the ground and mournfully whimpers as it succumbs to its wounds. You bastard." kinda thing. You escort it to the end past fiend ambushes and in the worst fight yet, the mom bursts in and goes full rage mode, slaughtering everything, assuming you did your job. If the baby survives, you get the keyshell fragment needed to access the loot elevator and see where the things are going. A nesting ground maybe? I kinda wanna see the line leaping into an abyss in the background to give it that sense of mystery before you get to go there. Since the end is a different level, Kora could get some lines. Maybe we'd see other NPCs down there too. A bit of story. The current event is so plain and shoddily balanced and boring, it grinds my gears to pieces. It's mostly the "L2P" thing coming from people who think facerolling content with sparks and health trinkets is acceptable in a game built on dodging, really.

Fri, 08/19/2016 - 13:49

#23

Petater

:^)

Players instead of employees promising updates in the indefinite future every month for the past couple years.

Fri, 08/19/2016 - 14:56

#24

Delecated

Not really a peeve, but the dwindling population of "The Arcade" Off-Topic forum is becoming something that concerns me.

Fri, 08/19/2016 - 15:58

#25

The-Judge-Xz

When people complain about Polaris spam. You should be allowed to do what you want. Plus, it's very easily beatable.

Fri, 08/19/2016 - 16:13

#26

Chef-Iceshine

Finally someone says somthing...

Probably the shock infinite spaming from the Ghost in the machine and the other status efects that spawn continously are somthing that annoy me so much... you won't belive how annoying can be to play , have lag , go ACCIDENTALLY on a trap and get fire *FSC* or shock *GITM* or.... freeze! *HoI*

Also add there the annoying friends (just as example) that message you RIGHT in the middle of the battle... and yea.... you told them DND but why not speak with you?

This are my oppinions!

Sat, 08/20/2016 - 04:08

#27

Leekcoco

When someone has a bunch of perfectly good, and more efficient weapons equiped in the run and they STILL exclusively spam their Polaris.

Sat, 08/20/2016 - 04:26

#28

Jazzberry-Jam

@The-Judge-Xz

Even if you are allowed to do what you want, that doesn't mean making bad things will be seen as anything other than doing bad things. As well as being free to do what you want doesn't absolve you of the consequences of such actions. You can't expect to rob a bank and walk away with no one saying anything just because "it is a free country, i can do what i want". Spamming polaris is regarded by the community as a cheap move, thus it will be seen as such. But the freedom to use it is still yours.

Another thing about this polaris. Yeah, it's pretty easy to dodge. Maybe not by all, but a good portion of the players.

But there are other things to consider too. You are not the only one on your team. There's at least 3 others. So the opposite team has to maneuver 3 players plus a polaris spam. That already is not that easy anymore.

Another thing to consider: The exploding animation for polaris is huge. Blinding and distracts the attention.

Last but not least, quite a good number of people can lag from such a spam.

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What Grinds Your Gears?