The person who emailed him the question is probably someone who made a CE thread in the past. :D
He doesn't have much experience with the game... but he's pre-judging, he still agrees it's free to play. He thinks that not progressing much in the first two hours (on mist) is bad. He might look at the game at some point because he feels that the energy system is innovative.
Starts at around 11 minutes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7NGMQPCYcc&feature=player_detailpage#t=667s
I thought he had a good idea when he said that OOO should also include the option for a subscription. It might be trickier to implement that system but to me it seems like it would offer a nice alternative to buying energy every so often or scraping the cr together to buy it in game.
When I first played Spiral Knights, I felt that the Energy System is a big limitation as it limits you from progressing after the 1st 100 Mist Energy is spent.
However, after reading up some guides on how to become self-sustaining, it became clear to me that it's not such a big limitation at all.
In fact, it actually make the game funner to play, as you have to be careful in things that you do in game, and plan out what you are going to do to get the best benefits out of your precious Energy.
The only point that affects self-sustaining is the price of Crystal Energy. If it goes up as high as 6.5K or 7K Crowns per CE, it'll be really hard to be self-sustaining.
I'll wait until he actually plays the game.
"WTF is Spiral Knights?" Do it TB! :D
I can't wait to find out what TB thinks of Spiral Knights. :D
When I first played Spiral Knights, I felt that the Energy System is a big limitation as it {...}
And this is the biggest problem with the energy system. The problem with energy isn't the mechanics, it is the lack of understanding by new players. Energy is a very different system than most games, and spiral knights does far too little to educate new players about it. You don't have to buy energy with RL money, it isn't a pay-wall, RL money will just let you advance much faster.
If you are a new player, just testing out the game, buying a new sword instead of CE can lead to a lot of frustration since you have a new sword, but can't play with it. New players also don't realize that proto gear is good enough to get you through a lot of T2, you don't *need* a new sword right away.
The first new players learn about needing more energy is typically when they try to go down an elevator and they have a matter of seconds to somehow get more or they are cut off. There needs to be much earlier warnings that new players are going to need energy than hitting the wall at an elevator.
OOO's puzzle pirates game has many more introductory missions, tips and dialogs for new players. I keep expecting to see more pop up for spiral knights, but so far, they have just streamlined the crash site.
The mist tanks they give to new players typically extends it to I think 400 mist total, which is around 7 hours of game time. That is unless they go on a crafting binge (which is what a lot of people do initially to replace the proto gear). And with the T2 unlock mission being assigned pretty early in the game doesn't help.
An expanded tutorial would be helpful, but US players expect to have their hands held for the first few levels. That poses a problem since the game doesn't support forced interactions, waypoints, and several other functions that are core in MMORPGs that people are accustom to. However, what could go a long way is to have initial interactions with town services and vendors ask the player if they want instructions, then opens the wiki on the relevant article. Directional signs in town, using simple icons to represent the service, would also make navigating a lot easier as well.
The first thing that came to mind when I saw "Totalbiscuit", is the Yogscast.
I love the Yogscast.
I look forward to seeing TotalBiscuit rack his brain trying to figure out puzzles that even the younger members of our player-base manage to figure out.
Don't get me wrong, I love Totalbiscuit. Subscription to his videos and everything. I'm just saying... man's got a history of not being able to figure out what he's supposed to do.
"Who the @#$% is TotalBiscuit?!" is what first comes to mind...
im sorry i got lost.............WTF is this evn really about?!
"And this is the biggest problem with the energy system. The problem with energy isn't the mechanics, it is the lack of understanding by new players. Energy is a very different system than most games, and spiral knights does far too little to educate new players about it. You don't have to buy energy with RL money, it isn't a pay-wall, RL money will just let you advance much faster.
If you are a new player, just testing out the game, buying a new sword instead of CE can lead to a lot of frustration since you have a new sword, but can't play with it. New players also don't realize that proto gear is good enough to get you through a lot of T2, you don't *need* a new sword right away."
Well said. I think a lot of new players (and even people who've already played this game for a while) don't really understand that Mist regenerates over time and you can play this game about 2 hours a day with just mist, and more than that if you use the money you've made to buy CE and then play some more (but with heavy diminishing returns as far as profit goes).
I understand that this is extremely frustrating to players who have a lot of free time on their hands and/or just want to rush everything to the endgame without feeling like they have to pay money, because these are pretty tight constraints. But for players like me, who can't (or shouldn't) play too much, these constraints work perfectly. I seem to be the only person who thinks this, though.
Nah, you're not the only one. I'm in college, so this system actually works well for me. I can play for a bit, then stop and work on my homework/projects. It's quite nice in my opinion.
"I understand that this is extremely frustrating to players who have a lot of free time on their hands and/or just want to rush everything to the endgame without feeling like they have to pay money, because these are pretty tight constraints. But for players like me, who can't (or shouldn't) play too much, these constraints work perfectly. I seem to be the only person who thinks this, though."
Nah, your just part of the relatively silent part of the player base that has better things to do with their time than whine on a forum. :0 (And mostly has a fair amount of disposable income as well.)
People ACTUALLY think that you have to spend real-life money to buy energy? They don't know that they can click the Trade or Market tab to buy energy with their In-Game currency?
My only reaction is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0Wiz1elwHU
Comment above me, aka #15:
Yes, you can buy energy with the in-game currency. But where does that energy come from? The game doesn't have a limitless supply of it - SOMEONE spent real money to buy that Crystal Energy. That undermines the whole F2P thing. Spending energy to go down isn't a problem, yes, but what about crafting? Most recipes require more than 100 enegry, which is all you can of Mist at one time. So technically, Tier 3 is the "Paying members only" section. Which means you can't get to the end game content without somehow having real life money being spent(whether buying energy with your own money, trading crowns, or actually buying the pre-made gears).
To counter my own arguement yes, there is no need to get beyond Tier 1 & 2. But then what's the point of the game, Snarbolax forever?
I'm F2P and im at my endgame and i even have 2 Alt characters to experiment with different play styles like guns and bombs that is why i have different characters to play with guns and bombs. The gunslinger is near the endgame and the bomber is just starting. So it is possible to reach endgame without spending any money what so ever i didn't spend any money.
The funny thing about this is I am a steam Player
Steam name xChief_IZZ_SiKx
IGN = chief-izz-sik
Probably because the term "Cash shop" is still a dirty word in the mind of consumers. And the whole "Free to Play" term is loosely defined to begin with. All it takes to get that label is to not charge for client software, not require a subscription, but can have any other arbitrary restrictions the designers wish... especially if it restricts gameplay.
maybe F2P can buy CE with crowns, but think the only true way to get CE is buying it with real money... so YAY to P2P
I'll wait until he actually plays the game.