Spiral Knights - Danger Depths!

Danger Depths!

4 Antworten [Letzter Beitrag]

Fr, 03/06/2015 - 12:28

Modicu

Basically, this will sort of be like a Shadow Lair for those who are free-to-play-oriented and not wanting to give money to the game to get the energy to buy a key, or they don't think it'll be worth it to save up their energy to get the key. There are more details to follow, so put on your reading glasses!

What are "danger depths"?

As the name implies, 'danger depths' are a specific set of levels that simulate going through the levels of a particular Clockworks Boss or other boss-like monsters*, but with harder, stronger enemies, greater rewards, and no turning back... These thrilling (or not-so-thrilling!) depths take on the role of giving the player, or players, a challenge that is both notorious, yet very rewarding.

While they may only contain a harder version of a typical boss mission, these floors still possess the potential to give players a fair challenge when they expect one. It's not as difficult as a Shadow Lair is, as the levels will not be altered (or at least, they will not be significantly altered), but instead possess the same structure as they do in the missions, albeit, with harder enemies to boot.

* The Collector, Snarbolax, Royal Jelly, the Roarmulus Twins, and Lord Vanaduke** are bosses that can be fought in these depths. Bosses and mini-bosses fought in the "danger missions" could also play a role here, but with no prestige rewarded at the end. Arkus will be exempt from this due to the... 'events' that take place during the mission he is found in.

** I'm not exactly keen on having him in the list, due to players who are unfamiliar with him potentially having access to an even-harder Firestorm Citadel. However, I'll have the community give an input on that.

What exactly makes these levels so... dangerous?

The initial difficulty of these depths is dependant upon the current tier you are in when they are accessed, as well as having the difficulty chosen from the beginning of the exploration. However, the enemies will also have greater defenses, more vigor, and are just as punishing to the player as they might be to them! This is similar to how enemies are fought in danger rooms in the Clockworks, and while they may be the same enemy and have the same moveset, they are much more formidable and favor the horde rule.

You could be taking on a Tier 2 version of the Gloaming Wildwoods, or a Tier 3 version of the Darkfang Munitions Factory! Doesn't that sound absolutely horrible? I mean... absolutely exciting?!

The boss you fight in these depths is the gate boss, or the main boss line of levels each gate possesses. For instance, if a gate has the Gloaming Wildwoods in Tier 1, then the players can take on a Tier 2 or Tier 3 version of the place at their respective terminals.

The key factor here... is once you go down that elevator, the party is locked:
- There will be no calling for assistance during this time...
- There will be nowhere to hide...
- There will be no escaping your fate*...
- Choose your gear wisely, and band closely together with whom you have!

* You will, as always, be able to return to Haven, the Ready Room, or your guild hall, if you cannot overcome the challenges you pursued to conquer...

Will I be getting good rewards from completing them?

Of course! While these levels may lead to a bad case of tongue-biting and swearing angrily at the router (I hope not!), the payout in crowns, materials, rarer rarities, and even item drops will be drastically increased for those to dance around in once they conquer each floor and defeat the boss!

For instance, if players are doing this in Tier 3, they will have a higher chance of obtaining the elusively-rare Radiant Fire Crystals, as well as other great things, like Sparks of Life or Eternal Orbs of Alchemy!

However, players in Tier 2 will still be granted better rewards that suits the tier itself, as well, instead of what they might typically find. Glowing or Shining Fire Crystals might be found instead of Warm Fire Crystals. Instead of Simple Orbs of Alchemy, they could find Advanced or Elite Orbs more frequently.

Where will I be able to access these "danger depths" at?

These will be able to be accessed from the secondary elevator found in Clockwork Terminals, the one that is apparently... out-of-service? To compensate for the difficulty, these will only be granted access to those with at least Tier 2 Certification, as one will come across the elevator, leading to the dangers to come, starting in a Tier 2 Clockwork Terminal.

Subtowns will not have access to these levels, but players can join a party who is currently at a terminal, and preparing to descend to their doo- I mean... destination!, or continue on down the normal, not-so-risky path.

Fr, 03/06/2015 - 13:41

Ankokuflare

I would love to see this happen. Thanks for giving your time to write in all the details and such.

As for Shadow Lairs, I agree, the cost of the key turns me off, I feel like I'll only use keys if I really want the armors. It's usually a one or two time deal for each player. I'd rather invest my CE for outfits.

Fr, 03/06/2015 - 14:04

Fangel

Hmm.

It seems rather odd to basically just tag "elite ELITE" mode onto the game and call it a day.
Danger missions themselves already play a role into these sort of "danger depths" from what I can see. A hard mission that you can slowly master.

What would be interesting would be if these "danger depths" had swarm leaks, so no matter where you ended up you'd have an occasional fight against the swarm, void enemies and all. Would make these danger depths more dangerous, as even in a shadow lair you can opt to only bring one damage type and do just fine (ie, shadow damage to Ice Queen, piercing to Rabid Snarby, elemental or piercing to Darkfire Vanaduke), however in these depths I hope you bring a normal weapon or at least varied weapons. Your blitz + final flourish won't be making quick work of those void sentinels.

While you're at it, make these fights be entwined with the current battles... And place swarm turrets in the occasional location.
Bottom line is that elite didn't make the game harder. Making enemies become super elite won't make the game harder. Adding the swarm into the basic levels (and shadow lairs are the levels after the swarm fully infects them) makes the levels harder instead of the same thing with more health.

And I also assume each gate only has access to the boss in it? Like, the snarby gate's terminal at tiers 2 and 3 would lead to a snarby danger depth? Would make game interesting so to speak.

Fr, 03/06/2015 - 14:58

Modicu

@Fangel

Introducing a bit of the Swarm into those levels does sound interesting, and it'll give them a nice "Shadow Lair" feel to them. Plus, with the outcome of the last Vanguard mission does hint at the Swarm spreading into other parts of the Clockworks.

However, I think the Swarm leakage should only be present in Tier 3, as that's where one is able to begin a Shadow Lair from the start, but that's just me. The elevator leading to the "danger depths" will also have a hint of the Swarm around it, and the icon on the elevator can use the Swarm-ish color scheme (pink and black), to signify this is a challenge that one can not simply turn back from. The last floor before the main boss floor will begin to show signs of infection from the Swarm, with Void Turrets replacing common turret-like enemies, or some enemies go through a RNG gamble and have a chance of a Void version of whatever they are spawn in place of them. As for the boss floor, I don't know if it'll be a good idea to implement the Swarm Seed into the fight, but I don't see why that couldn't be done, too. It'll amp up the overall difficulty of the boss, and practically force teamwork, as Shadow Lairs typically do; one or two players keep the seed at bay, while others focus on taking care of the boss, alternating their strategies here and there to overcome the odds.

As for the last bit of your reply, yes, the current boss that is present in that gate will be the "danger" one should players wish to go on into those depths. I think randomizing the boss is a bit too... chaotic (fighting a Tier 2 Vanaduke would be interesting...), to be honest, so that'll definitely help it out.

Fr, 03/06/2015 - 16:04

Fangel

Yeah...

The idea isn't that the swarm has infected the levels, so much as it is currently doing so. So we'll be seeing void enemies and standard enemies.

Adding the invincible turrets changes up how we fight things, and having swarm enemies makes sure that the levels match or are less than the same profit as a standard arcade run would give. No unknown passage afterwards obviously.

Having the swarm show up only in tier 3 makes sense lore-wise, however I'd say danger depths don't really supply too much more otherwise. Without the swarm making the levels harder (and not providing us extensive loot gains from monster drops) it makes the game basically just the difficulty level * 2.
Basically, the swarm wouldn't be everywhere, but it would show up. Hence, I'd think the swarm seed wouldn't be in the final battle, however void monsters and turrets will be there to make the fights more interesting.
Turrets would make the fights harder, void monsters would be distracting. The actual bosses wouldn't be much harder though.

It's hard to find a balance that makes the game harder with existing enemies, but without just making enemies tougher and hit harder. Making rooms cluttered seems to work for the most part however, and swarm turrets especially make any cluttered room not a bullet hell, but not a walk in the park.

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Danger Depths!