The following are not suggestions for fixes, there are plenty of posts about that already. I will simply be throwing out some ideas I had which could help add variety to the game’s endgame. Specifically, it will be ideas about new systems that will expand and introduce a different way of playing the existing systems (dungeons, monos, merchants, prophecies).
These are not meant to be finalised systems but rather brainstorm-esque chunks of creativity thrown at the devs for them to mould into content for the upcoming cycles.
-Merchants guild
In CoF you get the fun mechanic of prophecies. In MG you get no such thing. Here are some ideas for extra things to do if you are part of MG.
-
Escort missions
Yes, I know, the (well-deserved) knee-jerk reaction when hearing the e-word is a groan of vexation. But I don’t mean to escort some slow-footed NPC across a map. What I am proposing is we are hired by merchants to escort a caravan of goods across a series of maps in a specific timeline.
How does this affect gameplay? It gives the player criteria for selecting maps other than looking for exp tomes and avoiding arenas. No escort gameplay will be present once you are actually in the map. Say the caravan was carrying one-handed swords, maybe they could let you have one of them for your service. Or maybe just pay you with good old gold.
The caravan could also get ambushed in one (or all) of the maps - i.e. a group of mobs appear and try to kick your ass. Perhaps once you thwart their evil plans their boss gets angry, but he only catches you on the final map of the escort mission?
This could also be expanded on - what if you could be the thief attempting to ambush a caravan that’s carrying the one-handed swords you so desperately need? -
Tradeable blessings
Much like the inseparable iconic duo of death and taxes, we have selling your soul and making a profit. What if the soul came with the blessings from timeline boss fights? I think there is nothing more fitting for a ruthless businessman aka a member of the merchants guild.
Proposed limitation: you can only trade your soul for another soul, one cannot survive without at least some kind of soul after all. Or to make things easier some kind of soul currency. (I dunno, I have faith you’ll figure it out.) -
Tradeable tomes
No, not exp tomes. Tomes of stability. Or it doesn’t have to be tomes, it could be vials, boxes, buckets, handfuls, whatever. The point is - make stability tradable. By making stability tradeable you will allow players who want to do mostly boss fights be able to do that by purchasing stability. The players who don’t want to do boss fights can sell their stability. The market will adjust itself to compensate for the ones selling their stability and losing out on boss loot.
You could incorporate this ability to buy/sell stability into one of the rank upgrades. And I think it fits thematically with a guild of merchants.
The players who aren’t doing any bosses don’t even need to miss out on blessings, since they can just buy them if my above suggestion is implemented.
Another bonus of this is that even if I don’t want to sell the stability I can simply farm it in one timeline, then use it in another to quickly do the boss fight, and then go straight back to farming the first timeline.
-Circle of fortune
I haven’t played much of CoF so not many suggestions here. Just one, in fact.
- Stability lenses
If the MG lads will get a way to manipulate stability so should the fellows over in CoF. My suggestion is to sacrifice the loot you get for completing a map to the zodiac constellations (or whatever it is they believe in that isn’t cold hard cash) and double/triple/whatever the stability they would get.
And of course, the opposite should be possible, sacrifice stability for more end-of-the-map goodies.
-Map content
- The maps I most enjoy are ones with a chunky big boy I can bully at the end. I propose a miniboss is added to every single map. Make the miniboss optional, and make him an alternate way to complete the map, parallel to the current ways.
Obviously, this will have to be balanced so it isn’t the most efficient way to run maps for the heavy min-maxers out there. Maybe you have to locate the miniboss on the map by playing a game of hot and cold (doesn’t show up on the map overlay), maybe you have to beat up his underlings first to get him to come out, maybe you have to steal a precious item of his somewhere on the map to piss him off, maybe you have spread some gossip about him liking pineapple on his pizza.
As for loot, I don’t think anything special is required. Perhaps it could be used to drop the soul currency I mentioned above.
-Dungeons
- It is currently a massive slog to get through each dungeon. The unique mechanics are great, but they all feel like the same place over and over and over. I have no sense of progress or direction. Everything looks the same. And I am stuck in a perpetual state of being lost… yes, irl too, but we are talking about the game here.
Revamp the dungeon map paths to accommodate multiple exits. They don’t have to be straight lines, just not the current directionless mess. A happy middle ground.
Each exit will lead to a different floor with a different effect. You already have this in place. But the player should be notified at the beginning of the dungeon which direction will give him which effect.
On that topic, I propose we change the effects from boring old 40% more health and 40% more helmets to stuff that is actually meaningful. Here are a few examples:
- Lower boss strength (and loot) by 33% - for those who don’t like boss fights and just want to do the dungeon or maybe get to the end reward without a tough boss fight. Let’s say we had three floors and we picked the door with this effect each time. The boss is removed completely, along with any loot it might have dropped.
- On the next floor or at the end of the dungeon there will now be an obstacle course with traps and such. I know, some people don’t like such things, but that’s the beauty, you don’t have to pick this door.
It should be rewarding to complete it though, so I think it should have its own pool of loot, or some kind of other boon.
Bonus points if the unique dungeon mechanic is incorporated into the obstacle course. - On the next floor or at the end of the dungeon there will now be a puzzle to solve.
This could share the unique loot pool the obstacle course has or whatever other boon.
Bonus points if the unique dungeon mechanic is incorporated into the puzzle.
- To make the dungeon itself much more interesting you could add various side activities which would boost the end-of-dungeon rewards. This would also make the dungeon itself much more fun to run and no longer be the 10 minutes you spend in purgatory as a punishment every time you die when you step into the coffee Julra spilled on the floor.
Some such activities could be: exploring the dungeon to collect three of some item (maybe one per floor), or locating and killing some special enemy, or having to catch someone’s runaway cat.
The point is to make the dungeon engaging and fun to explore. I think borrowing elements from the roguelite genre would be a great way to improve the dungeon experience.
And most importantly - no backtracking!
That’s pretty much it. I’ll use this final chunk of text to say I’m thoroughly enjoying the game and looking forward to the future. I won’t even be mad if none of my suggestions are implemented, promise.
