SPOILER The 2.0.3 Update so far

Yesterday, the Beta dropped for 2.0.3 - the Lootrun update.
My first instinct was 'FINALLY, SOMETHING IS BEING DONE ABOUT LOOTRUNNING!', and it only got better from there.
A main storyline is being added (presumably building up to Fruma in the 2.1 update), Lost Sanctuary is finally getting the rework it needs, balances, new ID's, new quests and more!

Now, full disclosure, the beta is really, really buggy at the moment, so I've not been able to test every feature, therefore I thought I would just comment on what I think could do with an improvement/change at first glance.

1. Not a fan of the new GUI, it looks like something from an old Sonic the Hedgehog game. Too pixel-y, too vibrant and just not inkeeping with the Wynncraft theme at all.

2. The quest book is now the 'content book'. Obviously, quests are listed in it as well as mini quests, but now so are: boss altars, discoveries, secret discoveries, caves, dungeons and raids.

I don't mind discoveries being in the book, and to a lesser extent, boss altars are fine (although maybe don't give their distance so they have some secrecy still), but I dislike that SECRET discoveries are given away by this new book. There are also FAR too many caves in the world and they are absolutely not important enough to warrant having their own spot in the content book. I quite like that outside a cave, it has a little HUD message, but it has no place in the content book in my opinion.
I also don't think that dungeons or raids need to be in the content book. There's only 4 raids atm and if you can do them, then you absolutely know it (they're each behind a quest), same deal with dungeons. Maybe this is all just because it seems different and I'll get used to it, but I don't think the quest book needed updating.

Anyway, that's just my opinions on the 2.0.3 beta thus far, I hope everyone is enjoying it too :D

 

I definitely agree with what you said about sds and caves, they shouldn't be accessible in your content book from the start (i think its ok to say how many there are and how many you've explored), as it takes away the feeling of exploration and going "i found this!" and it's instead "i did what the book told me to do".

 

They should make it so that secret discoveries and maybe even caves as well get put into your content book when you discover them.

 

I at least like the standard discoveries being in the book, since it's frustrating to have missing entries because you never went to "desert east upper" or whatever and having no way to check without going through every discovery you *do* have to find the missing one.

 

Actually, having all caves listed is great because it incentives you to find them and go to places you normally wouldn't. Why go to half moon island at level? Because you are told to. Not a perfect system but it is really good in many ways

 

This might just be a personal taste, but I find it much cooler to spot an interesting island on the map or seaskipper GUI and then to travel there on my own.

I have nothing against Wynn adding these to the quest book if that's the direction they want to take, but I do feel sad about how true exploration for the sake of it seems to be a declining part of the server's experience.

 

I'm kind of on the fence when it comes to the Content Book. On one hand, yeah, the fact that there's a pre-digested list of caves is pretty handholdy, it makes them feel less unique, and there's little room for creative interpretation when the Book tells you directly the lore behind them (speaking of: how does the player even come to know all that lore?). On the other hand, you can just choose to filter out the caves and only look at the quests. It's not in your face like the Skyrim compass that tells you Dwemer city right ahead, you have to make an effort to look up what caves are nearby. It also only shows long loot caves: houses, towers, tiny islands, caves that aren't very long or don't have loot chests in them aren't included (at least, currently). And the fact that these locations are listed now doesn't mean there are less of them: it just feels like there are more of them when they aren't listed because you don't know how many are left.

 

I think it could be cool if a new gamemode was added that disabled the content book for you (or atleast when you started it was completely blank), that way it gives people the choice of what they want to do. Without having the content book playing the game could feel more immersive since you explore where you want, when you want and you could find something cool.

 

for secret discoverys and boss alters it would be better if a rough hint was given in the book and not just coords they should also only be given when appropriate like sea skipper should tell you about rumours and find stuff on bounty boards in citys for them idk seems better than the player just knowing where everything is and lore based on it as mentioned above

 

I like the idea of showing how many caves/discoveries in an area you’ve completed as a number (e.g., 18/27) with no hints towards where the remaining ones are, as long as there’s a way to help you with the last couple. Maybe by making a list of all of the missing things available when you click on a certain item in a gui when you’ve already completed 80% of them?

 

Regarding secret discoveries, they can't actually be tracked and no hint is really given, it just says if you're "close" to one in the content book. However, the radius is quite large so it'll still very much be a challenge for newer players (for example, being in Detlas shows the "Boulder Breaker" discovery as being "near")! As for the rest, I think it's cool that everything is easily accessible and caves became an important activity as they reward the player when completed for the first time. The filters are there to go back to tracking only quests as well.

I do agree though that a bit of wonder is lost through that system, but it promotes a nice gameplay loop instead. Playing through early game and going through caves and quests does feel pretty nice! I don't think it's perfect at all, but it's easy to get used to and feels good to use.

 

It just feels like there is a reason to do these caves now. Some are literally full mini dungeons (like the ice boulder puzzle cave or the termite cave). They deserved more than a cave icon on the map

 

No, because then if you want to find a cave to explore you haven't seen yet you can't set a beacon to go there

 

That's the point of this thread - that idea seems too hand-holding. Just explore the world and find out things as you go - maybe an NPC could give/sell you unexplored cave locations or something, but starting out with a content book full of hundreds of caves too explore takes the mystery away from finding them yourself and can seem overwhelming with so much content to do