Now I've only just come up with it but I thought it was a pretty cool idea.
So, consider this:
Each stratum is representative of a Chakra.
The Seventh Stratum (The Core) also being the Seventh Chakra (Pure Consciousness).
I haven't really thought about it too much, so I'm not sure exactly where they could go with it.
But I did have a few ideas:
- The Core is just the opening to another gate that contains another Seven Strata within, but each Stratum contains a very difficult boss
- The pre-existing Strata could be added on to, to accomodate additional bosses, while not adding extra Tiers
- Each Cycle could change which Chakra Gate is opened at the entrance to the Core, but you must complete them in order from 1-6 to get access to the real Core
Now for idea one:
The core leads to Sanctuary, which is effectively a 'White Haven'.
So once you reach the Core, you're in Sanctuary and there is a Single Gate which cycles daily, changing the levels within.
On order to reach the Seventh Chakra and ultimately, access the power source of Cradle, you must complete the whole thing in one go.
Each Stratum's boss could be a Titan of some description.
To make it super hard, take away CE revs.
Maybe replace it with some kind of consumable item.
For idea number two:
Heh, I said number two.
Anyway, for this one, Strata 1, 3 and 5 would need a boss. Perhaps also adding an additional level to each Stratum.
While this might change the pace of the current Tiers a little bit, I think it could make for an interesting change.
Just exclude the boss Strata that appear inside 1, 3 and 5 from becoming Missions so people have to run the Clockworks in order to fight them and there you have it.
Kill two birds with one stone.
Get people in the Clockworks and out of KoA.
For number three:
This is a more long term goal styled approach.
Effectively people would need to run through Stratum 6, 6 times (minimum) to get to the Core, then run the level inside in order to unlock access to the Seventh Chakra. This would take people a fairly long time to complete considering the rate at which the gates Cycle. It could also be affected by mineral input. Say, you run it on an RGB scale, Pure Red is one chakra, Pure Blue is one, Pure Green is one, Then you have Yellow (Red+Green), Purple (Red+Blue) and Cyan (blue+green). This of course, ignores the corresponding Yellow and Purple Minerals. But I don't think adding an extra 'Light Blue' Mineral would be all that difficult.
On reflection, maybe that particular Mineral is actually what the Strangers mine for Crystal Energy.
Hm.
The old Mineral Descriptions say Red is fire, Blue is shock and Green is ice. So I guess yellow is stun and purple is curse. Light blue could be sleep? It doesn't seem appropriate for the colours, though.
I'd probably have it as:
Red: Fire
Blue: Ice
Green: Poison
Purple: Curse
Yellow: Stun
Cyan: Shock
With sleep being the Seventh Chakra, since apparently whatever is in there is dreaming.
The sixth Stratum could have five other bosses that signify which Core Gate is open (one for each status).
I'm overthinking this though.
I'll end this thread on my rambling note.
Before I ruin it by trying to work in stuff like Shadow Keys.
Comment away.
Mistyping my own damn titles.
I blame you.
Might influence what I write. Just a heads up.
Noomber wun, making a boss for each stratum. By having to go through the entire thirty floors to access...Sanctuary? Are we in a Shadow Lair? Something about a boss? Am I blind or is there nothing there? Bosses usually need attacks, mechanics, patterns to follow; this feels like a knife in the back.
Namber turr, I think you are saying to remove boss missions and add a boss to all the odd stratum in the whole gate. The first part could be done by making the boss in the Arcade the assignment, but for completion credit to be rewarded they would have to at least start on the first of the three boss floors. Want to do the boss mission? Arcade. Punk. The second part is "just make a boss" again. A boss what? Strawberry? A giant murderous strawberry? What are we supposed to do with this? Tape a knife to the giant strawberry? Look out, it has a knife, but no hands! How terrifying! No hands!
Nimber thr...this is getting silly. Six full runs on the same gate? At about two or three hours per full run (using an elevator pass), twelve to eighteen hours for whatever this is? Only people with hoards of energy or money to spare would get this. Why would we want more pay to win? Knowing Three Rings they would probably do it to make a few quick bucks before even more people quit, but this is heavily focused on premium players. Would this be worth the price, catering to premium players more than they already are? The chakra-stratum-thing makes no sense to me. Do floors and get rewards? Rewards for what? Doing what you were going to do anyway? What does sleep have to do with this when enemies no longer inflict it on our knights? What is going on here? Was I injected with heroine in my sleep and woke up hallucinating this whole thread?
This game needs more skill based content, not more bosses to farm from to inflate the market even more. Especially not if the bosses are knife wielding fruits.