Spiral Knights - Remove lost souls/make them less annoying.

Remove lost souls/make them less annoying.

10 replies [Last post]

Thu, 10/04/2012 - 18:07

Chaosengineer

The way they are right now, lost souls, frozen souls, and static souls seem to be designed specifically for the purpose of punishing players who have to stop moving or take a break for any reason (Stopping to type into the chat is probably the biggest) , and not for any constructive purpose such as actually creating a significant increase in difficulty.

The only solutions i can think of that don't involve complete removal of these monsters would be:

1: Create candlestick-keep-like safezones which lost souls cannot spawn within or enter.

2: Make a change to lost soul spawning/behavior so that they will not be as bothersome to a knight that is forced to stand still for any reason. This could possibly be done by making them only spawn outside of the range at which they will begin to target and attack knights, and make them incapable of moving within that range.

Thu, 10/04/2012 - 20:43

Horizonknight

Narf

Not really justified. All of the souls appear for a grand total of three missions, Blades of the Fallen, Heart of Ice, and Ghosts in the Machine.
In Blades of the Fallen, the lost souls create a foreboding atmosphere, the feeling that one day, you too will join their ranks.
In Heart of Ice, you encounter when you're fighting against Arkus. I would believe that standing still would get you killed by everything else first.
I haven't even encountered static souls in Ghosts in the Machine yet, so more information on where they appear is required.
So if you have a problem with the souls, just avoid the missions stated above.

Thu, 10/04/2012 - 20:59

Darkbrady

GiM is made enormously more

GiM is made enormously more annoying (not more difficult) by the amount of lost souls floating around, especially in the earlier sections that are small and require shooting across the ledges. The souls spawn constantly and move fast enough to create significant fury. Some versions of GiM don't have them and certainly aren't easier, but are significantly less frustrating.

Thu, 10/04/2012 - 21:13

Oatmonster

Lick

No.

You really shouldn't need to be standing still. If you want to talk, type out part of your sentence, click on the screen, kill the lost souls, and resume typing. Asking for a place where you can stand in a middle of a mission while not being harmed is like asking Vanaduke to stop mauling you because you need to LOL with your BFFs.

Thu, 10/04/2012 - 21:45

Darkbrady

No, Oat. The difference is

No, Oat.

The difference is that in FSC there are safe zones. Between button rooms there's safe corridors. Before and after Vana there's safe zones. Even in CSKs there's lit up zones.

In GiM from the moment you start till the moment you finish there's constantly spawning souls. You never get enough time to type more than a few words, and communication is a vital part of teamwork in a game like this, especially if you're with a PUG (let's try and not assume that absolutely every player goes in with a well coordinated, experienced guild team that knows exactly what their jobs are)

It's like a graveyard with phantoms. Except that their spawns have no CD. Imagine them spawning every two seconds and coming at you? The same demands would be getting made in GYs, too. In fact, I believe the same demands were made, and the spawn CD was lengthened.
(mind you, I don't agree with that instance, but the fact is that the souls spawn *constantly*, whereas phantoms always did have a CD)

Thu, 10/04/2012 - 21:55

Oatmonster

Lick

Another difference is that GiTM and HoI are fast paced "danger missions" where the game isn't being nice to you and you are expected to know what you're doing, and do it well. That is why I compared it to a Vanaduke fight and not to CSK or a graveyard.

Lost souls in Blades of the Fallen are weak enough, and the mission it's self is short enough for them to not pose any threat.

Thu, 10/04/2012 - 22:09

Derpules

Meh.

Still think a safe room or two wouldn't hurt. Even Dark Souls isn't all monsters all the time. Players should be able to take a breather once in a while.

Fri, 10/05/2012 - 16:32

Chaosengineer

I don't know about you,

I don't know about you, oatmonster, but i do sometimes like to talk to people, you know, have some social interaction. Every single mission and clockwork level in the entire game with the exception of those three give you the opportunity to do so, and prohibiting players from doing so for no good reason is a terrible idea.

"type out part of your sentence, click on the screen, kill the lost souls, and resume typing" is just not good enough for me. We shouldn't have to do this. A game should not be designed specifically for the purpose of inconveniencing and annoying its players. Standing still for three seconds to type out a joke to a friend should not be the deadliest part of any mission, especially not a danger mission.

Fri, 10/05/2012 - 16:40

Darkbrady

Oat, if that was the logic

Oat, if that was the logic then why not have them in all the DMs? Each of the other three DMs have plenty, plenty of safe zones along with every other area in the game. GitM does not have safe zones, tehrefore you can't use the fact that it's a DM as justification for the lack.

Fri, 10/05/2012 - 16:56

Addisond

Yes, they're annoying, and make AFKing impossible. But they make it harder (especially for swordies). I'm able to type what I want pretty fast. However, sometimes I wish to go AFK. And the fact that I always die is annoying. What if they stopped spawning with you targeted when you typed in /sleep, or something to that effect? Eh, seems like to much trouble to have OOO bother, and *might* get abused, though it'd be hard to do so.

Fri, 10/05/2012 - 18:14

#10

Chaosengineer

@Addisond

I really think something needs to be done to make it easier to type in an environment with lost souls, so linking it to the /sleep command would only help part of the problem. (Though i guess you could just fall asleep before typing anything, that would be functional if a little weird.)

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Remove lost souls/make them less annoying.