Spiral Knights - Death is meaningless to me now! Whatever happened to risk/reward?

Death is meaningless to me now! Whatever happened to risk/reward?

9 replies [Last post]

Tue, 08/20/2013 - 06:26

Dutch-Oven

I guess I should be enjoying the unlimited play that free eles and revives offer, but it just seems so cheap now. My supply of sparks has never dropped below 100 and I've been dying at least twice as much as I used to, and even sometimes on purpose to take advantage of the "free" stun explosion. :D

I can appreciate that newer players don't have the supply of sparks that older players have so for them death is more of an actual concern for them. Anybody who runs T3 clockworks, FSC and other high payout missions consistently will likely have an ever increasing supply and dying wont even illicit a response from them, maybe a "oh look I died", but it's a real non-event now.

Three things I can think of that might change this for me:

1: To be able to vendor sparks for 10 to 15CE. If I we get to choose whether to stockpile sparks or sell for profit we increase the risk of playing harder floors. Kinda lame but would make dying less inconsequential.

2: Create some kind of spark sink such as dropping sparks into a machine in the mission lobby/start point to increase the difficulty of the floor. This could lead towards customisable floors and potential end-game content in the form of floor modifiers or "unique variants". You basically choose whether to play safe or play risky by giving up your sparks for extra loot from mobs.

3: The other thing I'd like to see happen is a fourth, hardcore difficulty setting with no reviving; where death means the end of your run and a swift return to haven. Mobs (but not treasure boxes) would get a loot drop boost. This could even be worked in to idea 2 as a possible floor modifier.

So yeah I'm sure there could be other ways to increase the risk/reward ratio of the current content but as it is right now it's pretty much just press revive until you reach the elevator, job done gg.

Is that a fair estimation of the current rev system? that there is no risk involved? How many people are actually struggling to keep themselves revived?

Tue, 08/20/2013 - 06:53

Odd-Look

Personally, Ive felt the same with quite a bit of these points. Summed up pretty well.
And the hardcore mode seems amazing. I'd love it. It'd be a great challenge.

Tue, 08/20/2013 - 06:53

Arelic

# 3

I especially agree with the last one. The second suggestion sounds like a good one but I would not know how that could be applied as of yet. With my current schedule I have not the time to be creative. My days do not ask for it. As for the first one, I cannot say that I am on the same page as you there. But let me return at a later time.

Tue, 08/20/2013 - 08:50

Feyi-Feyi

+1. Elite was a nice gesture towards veterans, but it could be even more hardcore.

Also: I'd like to be able to sell all rarities. They're just stockpiling atm.

Tue, 08/20/2013 - 09:03

Autofire

You are experiencing a PICNIC ERROR!

Naaa...

Make King Krogmo accept Sparks instead of energy. That fixes the overflow of sparks as well as the unwillingness to bribe him. (Most of the time it was use energy, but...)

Tue, 08/20/2013 - 09:06

Alice-In-Pyroland

Emergency Revives at least

Emergency Revives at least need to be taken out of Elite difficulty. If nothing else, you shouldn't be getting a free revive per floor on what's supposed to be a 'hard' difficultly mode.

Tue, 08/20/2013 - 09:42

Qwao

I'd say shock devilites learning to attack in between spasms (at least against me) is hard enough on Elite.

@OP point 1 Wouldn't that kind of kill the game? I mean you can get energy by selling Sparks of Life that drop fairly regularly, and you are getting the sparks for free, in short; free energy.

I do support vendoring rarities though.

Tue, 08/20/2013 - 09:59

Mickmane

So, where's the change?

Used to be that I thought, oh, lol, I died again, and typed something along that line while a party member waddled over to give me some of their health.
Now I think, oh, lol, I died again, might type something along that line, and hit "Use Spark".

Difference, now, I play alone more often, am having fun playing alone. And I die less, playing Elite.

The other day I did C42 on my own. Used somewhere between 15 and 20 Sparks (in the end I was hitting "Use Spark" more often than doing any fighting I think ;P ). I think that's the only place where I died more often than I used to (in a party), more due to not having the experts with me that normally drag me through tough stuff.

No, I'm not new, I'm just Forever Noob; I suck. (I've been 5* before Missions came to the game.) But I'm having fun, free elevators, wheeee!

Sorry, that still gets me every time I think about it. On the bottom line, I'd like a Slot Machine taking Sparks that lets me pick the type of level I want to play, including depth.
For example:
"Normal Devilish Drudgery, D:24" and after paying 1 Spark I can play that level.
Or
"Concrete Jungle, D:28" and after paying 1 Spark...
Or
"Shock Lichenous Lair, D:15" (for practise).
Or
"Aurora Isles, D:17"
the level layout/variant would be random.

This is still basically the same as I suggested here: The fifth gate!
Oh man, over a year old that thread is now. And I'd still like the basic idea to be possible.

With Spark slot machine, you could even add Arenas, they would cost 10 Sparks. Treasure Vault would, too.

To your idea about vendoring Sparks; how about you could use them for Energy Gates?

Hardcore difficulty with no reviving would only be meaningful if it costs you something to go there, else, why not start over?

Tue, 08/20/2013 - 12:06

Agent-Fungoose

I don't want to play

I don't want to play handicapped; that won't solve the difficulty problem, it'll just make the people that I'm playing with leave the party (as if they don't already do that once their emergency revive has been used up, and they're laying down dead again).

Tue, 08/20/2013 - 12:54

Juances

Sparks should spawn on elite at the same rate as they do on normal. Simple as that.

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Death is meaningless to me now! Whatever happened to risk/reward?