Spiral Knights - New content available for testing! [closed 6/18]

New content available for testing! [closed 6/18]

50 replies [Last post]

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 17:46

Crazyoddbaa

Developer

Greetings testers!

The Preview server is available with new content and features that we would like to get your feedback on. Please read the following instructions carefully before testing.

Danger Mission: The Legion of Almire

Our first danger mission can be found under Prestige Missions. We are looking for feedback on difficulty (too hard/easy?), the new monsters (were they fun/interesting to fight), and any other thoughts or suggestions to improve the experience. These missions are for experienced players, and should be appropriately difficult - please be as specific as possible when comparing difficulty to other experiences and dungeons you have played in the game. You will have access to tier-appropriate gear for the purposes of this test.

Please note that this mission is still a work in progress - monsters and especially rewards are NOT final. Current loot in the level is NOT indicative of the final payout.

Looking for Group

Included in this preview release is an experimental new feature: Looking for Group.

When in Haven or the ready room, you'll see the button at the top of the screen. Pressing it will search for parties you can join. Even if there are none at first, you will be notified about any newly created or updated parties that have room for you.

Try it out! Let us know what you think.

This feature is still a work in progress, some known issues are:
- Only matches missions in a narrow band
- doesn't do tier checking for arcade gates
- the cost to join the party is not necessarily accurate
- your spot is not reserved, the party might be full after pressing Join
- it only matches people against parties, it does not yet match two people looking for parties with each other

Please leave us your feedback in the Testing Feedback forums: http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/forum/62

The Preview Server will be opening Friday evening (6/15) and will run until Monday morning (6/18).

Thanks for participating!
-The Spiral Knights Team

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 20:27

Rangerwillx

Awesome!
Thanks a lot guys, nice to know that we're be going to get content soon!
I knew we were going to get content sooner or later, but at least now I know it's closer to 'sooner'.

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 20:30

Wulfeknight

Cool! To confirm, does this

Cool!

To confirm, does this mean we need to unlock the starting prestige missions before we can test it? I am looking now but can't access prestige.

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 20:35

Pilotx

Looks great! Can't wait to

Looks great! Can't wait to test!
Thanks OOO!

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 20:40

Canozo

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS I can test :D

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 20:46

Traevelliath

Looking for group...
Does this mean we get a homicidal necromancer as a sarcastic yet entertaining ally?

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 20:49

Pilotx

Anybody else having trouble

Anybody else having trouble with the patcher timer going up constantly? Its gone up from 3:50 to 10:00

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 20:58

Obsidious

Me too

Yeah, my upload is stuck at 80% and the counter is just rising. I was wondering if that's simply a reaction to not have paid within a certain period.

EDIT: And meter went up to 81%. Maybe it's because of the sudden rush of folks?

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 20:59

Trying

worked fine for me

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 21:02

Glacies

I seem to be stuck at 80%

I seem to be stuck at 80% too. Whenever I get in-game I demand we all get in a party or something.

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 21:19

#10

Hpland

The cow goes WAZOOOO

I was waiting for the last hour and a half for the download, and I only now realize I haven't bought ce within the last 30 day.

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 21:24

#11

Wulfeknight

Just finished, that was a lot

Just finished, that was a lot of fun!

FYI, it looks like the client tends to crash once you complete the mission.

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 21:25

#12

Meathole

o.O

LFG is a welcomed addition!

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 22:11

#13

Spectrumized

ZOMGOSH! ;_; Game, why wont

ZOMGOSH!
;_; Game, why wont you patch faster?!?!

Sat, 06/16/2012 - 00:53

#14

The-Fal

Fixed ~≈~

Fixed it. :o

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 22:19

#15

Pilotx

Ehhh.. I can't find the

Ehhh.. I can't find the mission under prestige. :\

~+++++++~WARNING! The above post may contain irony, sarcasm, or humor, read at your own risk!~+++++++~

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 22:24

#16

Spectrumized

I r impatient :)

;_; Oh, load bar, why did you troll me? About a minute to get to 97%, but now it is saying 30 minutes remaining.

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 22:50

#17

Krissychu

Maybe a glitch?

In Tier 2 Almirian Depth 9.. I cross the bridge after the first wave of monsters, where the big chains are and the screen shakes a little, is that normal? Only happens during that point.

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 23:27

#18

Meathole

o.O

Needs to be harder?

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 23:29

#19

Lostillusion

Tier 3 mission thoughts.

New zombies were a nice surprise. I'm glad the first one didn't run at me, to be honest. Slag's new ability made those rooms more interesting to fight in.
I do like the design of the fallen ones, but they could use a bit of a buff. Don't think I got hit by one of those the entire mission.

I liked the level designs. You guys did a great job adding new tricks to the graveyards, like the hidden spawners. The set pieces were amazing, although I think the maze could be less destructible.

Overall, the difficulty was a bit below the Shadow Lairs, but a good bit higher than the normal Clockworks. Could use a bit of a boost in that regard, but still a fun mission.

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 23:48

#20

Dinosrwar

Payout

The new mission was extremely fun! I only played once so I'll have to play some more to get my thoughts together, but I think what's important in the end for the new danger mission is the correct balancing of payout. One of the reasons I have been getting tired of SK in T3 is that the only real option for profit is grinding King of Ashes over and over again (11k per run including tokens). So while the mission is really fun, I hope there is a good balancing of how much crowns it pays, so it will become a viable place to do runs.

How does everyone feel about the payout so far? I think my run was 3.5k crowns. I think this would be a nice number -- not too high to make the economy unbalanced, but also worthwhile so I can have something to run besides KoA every day. Something around this range would make me happy to keep running.

I make this reply because I love OCH, and running it is a great time, but I rarely run OCH because the payout is just so terrible at 50 mist for 4.2k crowns at T3. I hope the new danger missions don't make the same mistake.

Sat, 06/16/2012 - 00:50

#21

The-Fal

~≈~

Love the aesthetics of the level design and enemies. The overall difficulty of the mission was decent, although buffing the exploding skeletons would be a good improvement. For example; buffing their attack when they explode, strengthening their usual 4 energy balls to 5, shooting in a pentagonal design.

Sat, 06/16/2012 - 00:54

#22

Pilotx

Umm.. the mission is not

Umm.. the mission is not under prestige missions for me..?

Sat, 06/16/2012 - 01:19

#23

Yonatan-Vx

1 Small question

Hey. I'm patching it right now. But 1 small question; do i need to create a new knight for this test?

Sat, 06/16/2012 - 01:25

#24

Tocadisco

crap, i cant test xD i don

crap, i cant test xD
i don have a credit card anymore D:
but, i will waitin for official release
haha

Sat, 06/16/2012 - 01:37

#25

Pilotx

Anybody know why the mission

Anybody know why the mission isn't there?

Sat, 06/16/2012 - 06:43

#26

Korakc

I must try this now! Will be

I must try this now!

Will be back in a bit after I finish doing it

Sat, 06/16/2012 - 07:07

#27

Timonxd

new mission

I feel that its gonna be nice xD

Sat, 06/16/2012 - 07:06

#28

Timonxd

steam

Hey, I play spiral knights with steam
but the way you said don't work =s
plz can you explain it better for steam next time?

Sat, 06/16/2012 - 07:59

#29

Nurdell

steam preview client

@Timonxd:
You must launch steam, wait for it to log on, then in browser (firefox, IE, you know) input this url:
steam://install/99920
then push enter. It will take you to steam window with downloading. You must purchase more than 10$ to be able to play on the server in the last 30 days, of course.

Sat, 06/16/2012 - 10:03

#30

Shadownightx

Feedback

The new mobs were quite a surprise! Glad to see something new for a change.

Since its a graveyard, I was expecting godlike red mobs (sorry don't know their name) to howl after me from time to time, but guess I was wrong. xD

At first I got a shock when killing a fallen one, when it died it had the same sound effect as a player dying. So naturally I thought I had died! ><

Yea I agree with Lostillusion that the difficulty level is somewhat below Shadow Lair but above the normal clockworks, in fact at T3 I think it would be almost as difficult as Vana, or slightly harder.

I don't like the length of the mission, only 2 fighting depths but such a long path to clear. On the average, it is definitely longer than normal missions or prestige missions. Also, it is not a mission I can solo without dying, I would need to look for a party to avoid spending hefty CE on revives.

So I guess the Danger Missions is not something that I would want to slorg through everyday, if they are going to be placed under Prestige Missions. It would make a good Expansion though. Unless I'm much mistaken here...

And yes I agree that for a mission at this difficulty, the payout needs to be relatively good. I received about 2.5k for 2 long levels, which is kinda little in my opinion. Or maybe I am too greedy hahaha.

Sat, 06/16/2012 - 10:36

#31

Geekfox

@Pilotx

You have to talk to Kora in Rank 3-1 mission to unlock Prestige missions.

Sat, 06/16/2012 - 12:16

#32

Firebellie

first look on the new content

Brillaint work developers... you have re-enthused my like for this game ;D x x
(it was fadeing rapidly before this update...esspecialy when vanaduke was made...easier !! in the last update,
i needed something a bit tricker in t3 to play with :D)

Sat, 06/16/2012 - 13:37

#33

Crazyoddbaa

Developer

Thanks everyone, keep it up!

Thanks for the feedback so far everyone, keep it up! Lots of good info and things to look into in the testing feedback forums so far.

@Shadownightx - "So I guess the Danger Missions is not something that I would want to slorg through everyday, if they are going to be placed under Prestige Missions. It would make a good Expansion though. Unless I'm much mistaken here..."

Danger Missions will be varying in length. We're definitely shooting for challenging, but we also don't want things to get tedious!

Sat, 06/16/2012 - 16:51

#34

Kiana-Kaluun

Help

Can someone help me.. i have recently have purchase more than $10 within 30 days... and i dont know how do get the test servers. i have purchase my CE via steam..please help me on getting the servers

Sat, 06/16/2012 - 18:58

#35

Mccblock

Assistance Please?

I'm stuck just like Arbitergomez i have purchased over more then the money needed and I don't know how to get to the test server can someone kindly help me?

Sat, 06/16/2012 - 21:22

#36

The-Fal

~≈~

http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/24087
There's some info there on how to install it with Steam.

Sat, 06/16/2012 - 22:23

#37

Greemole

~~~

why can't i play the mission???

Sun, 06/17/2012 - 04:24

#38

Tribe-Satori

x.x

Ahh. D: Why wasn't I on friday! Dx If I had known about this I'dve been playing this all weekend. But, I didn't have a single clue this was going on till today. v~v Now I only get 1 day to play this. That's a shame. Dang Fairy Tale. <.< Why are you such a good anime.. Anyway, my thing is doing that patch. So, like, can I use my already made knight? Or what? Do I need a new one? D:

Sun, 06/17/2012 - 07:49

#39

Rangerwillx

I very much enjoyed the new mission. I'd say the difficulty is just about right.
However, the payout needs to be improved if you want this mission to be farmable. At least 4.5K or so.
And the Almirian knights need a health boost; I could OHKO it with a voltedge charge.
I'm not meaning the Slag Guards, or the suicide slags, I mean the things that you have to attack to get it active.
Anyway, OOO, keep it up!

@Tribe, you can use your old one.

Sun, 06/17/2012 - 10:33

#40

Blobofepicness

feedback

I enjoyed the new mission a lot. The difficulty was enough to handle, yet not overwhelming.
The un-volcanic slag guards (idk wat they are) added spice to the waves of monsters along with all the constant totems.
The suicide zombies were a very good idea as it would annoy the party a little and keep them on guard.
There were no bugs and the vision changes and small cutscenes were amazing.
Although this mission was fun to play and very cool, I agree with Rangerwillx about the payout.

Great job on this OOO!

Sun, 06/17/2012 - 13:46

#41

Divine-Slayer

Feedback

I overall enjoyed playing in the testing server for the first time. I've been playing spiral knights for about one year and there have been a lot of changes all of which have been great just wanted to say keep it up OOO! and i hope that we reach one billion users :)

One more thing how do i get an icon like the rest of u guys???? (any help will be apreciated)

Sun, 06/17/2012 - 22:11

#42

Spectrumized

@Divine-Slayer

Get a forum avatar in the "Forum Preferences" page at the top of the website to the left of the search bar. From there, go to edit and choose an icon.

Sun, 06/17/2012 - 23:10

#43

Apopea

Awesome but it needs a bit work

I believe that if it had a boss at the end it would be better... All the other were perfect!!!

Mon, 06/18/2012 - 06:42

#44

Maharito

I got the prestige award twice??

I did the mission 4 times in all--once with a partner (T2), once starting with a partner but ending solo, once solo, and once with my girlfriend (these all T3). The first and last attempts, the ones with partners at the end, rewarded me prestige once upon entering the treasure vault and once upon normal completion of the mission. On the other two attempts, I only got it for completing the mission.

...

On a separate note, I didn't take issue with the difficulty except that the possessed knights seemed a bit too easy to kill. Otherwise, they are quite hazardous when swarming and their quick attack is hard to prepare for (not as bad as the T3 Gremlin Thwacker 360-strike, though). For their size, I thought the Zombie Guardians would be a little harder to take down as well. On first play, I found the Zom-Bombs to be the greatest headache by far, but bringing a Shadow-defense set the next time made a huge difference. Do I sense a return to valuing defensive armor? :D

The final battle siderooms are a clever strategic twist--have an easy place to corral the Guardians at the expense of having to deal with more armors (you'll deal with them anyway if you have bombers). However, my girlfriend--who has never played with the Shivermist Buster before--found she was able to neutralize most of the threats with little difficulty. I noticed Zom-Bomb explosions would disrupt ice because they also damage monsters a little...I think the chaos and difficulty would be increased if they randomly blew up upon being frozen.

Considering the potential payoff from doing this quest, any extra difficulty is welcome. I played L1 and L2 Shadow Lairs for comparison and found those still beat this mission by a country mile. Do what you will! Thanks for the fun times!!

Mon, 06/18/2012 - 10:46

#45

Babyice

Thank for allowing access to your server

thanks for allowing me once again to vist your server was very surprising with all the new monsters such as the trojans having Dread Skelly shiled oonly in a brown colour but whislt doing with a friend we found it slightly challenging but very fun to watch and play thank you and see you again at the next server :D

Mon, 06/18/2012 - 11:04

#46

Crazyoddbaa

Developer

Thanks for your participation!

As stated earlier, we'll be closing down the Preview Server this morning. We'll be reading through all your feedback shortly, so thanks to everyone for participating!

Mon, 06/18/2012 - 11:31

#47

Pauling

I know this is kind of off

I know this is kind of off topic... but while you're adding buttons to the interface, it would be great if you could also add an auction house button to the ready room. Loading the crowded section of Haven lags me badly.

That said, a few more things to note about the Find Party button (which is, in general, a fantastic idea). By running in tier 3, I was able to attract button users. Here are a few observations:
1. People using the new interface joined me within a few steps of the elevator. I did run very quickly for the elevators... but it might be good to double-check that people won't join parties too late to gain any rewards. (I don't know if the arcade's join party feature is time or distance based)

2. At one point, we opened a shadow lair, then split the party while still in the terminal (one person used the Go Solo button). Our leaver reported that the shadow lair gate was also unlocked in his terminal. If true, this could be abused by allowing more than 4 people to benefit from a single shadow key.

3. Once the notification window is closed, the Find Party button remains engaged, and reopens when new parties are found. In a busy clockworks environment, the constant reopening of the window could become.... annoying.

Tue, 06/19/2012 - 12:26

#48

Divine-Slayer

the test server

I got one question is it true that the test server comes on only once every month???

(i was spying on some players chatting about it soo say what you want i got my reasons)

Tue, 06/19/2012 - 12:43

#49

Crazyoddbaa

Developer

It varies

There is no normal schedule for the test server, it varies depending on if we feel we need additional testing or player feedback on upcoming features/content. Depending on what is in the works, sometimes we need more, sometimes less.

Fri, 06/22/2012 - 19:44

#50

Ninjatrooper

Yehaa!!!

yeah aritergomez is right, i did too, and it wont let me!!! :-(

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New content available for testing! [closed 6/18]