General My thoughts on the 2.0.3 update

tl;dr: Pretty neat, needed some more time in the oven for bugs, but otherwise pretty good.

Lootrunning
The main meats and potatoes of the update - Lootrunning has been revamped entirely for the better. It's now no longer just following a path of blue arrows to hopelessly find a purple box and ranting at players for stealing 'their' chests, but instead waves of challenges that are very compelling.

Client-sided loot chests are now a thing so now people no longer rant about people 'stealing' them.

Scaling mobs also helps bring difficulty to a lootrun to keep it compelling and more challenging. And as a result of this, boons have made a return from battle for the bonfire, making you stronger, and curses have also came with the cost of making mobs stronger, though you can get more rewards for it. The beacons themselves are also a really neat feature, and some of the new mobs introduced are really neat (guys please help find the gilded eyefolk).

I really only have 2 suggestions for this:
1. Buff yellow beacons to what red beacons were minus the no time added thing. Right now there's barely any incentive to go to a yellow beacon. From what I've played, the difference a yellow beacon makes is barely recognizable. While we're at it, make it apply to T3 and T4 chests found in caves, unless it already does that, further proving my point that yellow beacons barely make a difference.

2. Add the name of each challenge below the beacon. Sure, some beacons are too good to pass up on the spot, but for some more balanced beacons, depending on where a beacon is, that could be the deciding factor in what to go for. At the very least, add the type of challenge it is.

Content Book
This... is something I'm a bit more mixed on. It does help completionists, and it can incentivize more people to go find caves scattered across the world. However, there are 2 notable problems I have with this, besides the fact it's like the ability tree and it pseudo-wipes your inventory (you know what I'm talking about):

1. It is far too overwhelming. I don't think a new player needs to be bombarded with everything to do in Wynncraft with this book. From level ones there's like 2.5 rows of content.

2. It also kinda kills exploration. As I mentioned in WithTheFish's thread about exploration, when you find a cool cave, it's no longer "wow, I found this all on my own!", it's now "alr. i did what the book told me to do."

So a suggestion for this essentially kills 2 birds with one stone here - add 2 separate modes for the Content Book, Discovery & Completion. The Discovery mode will make your content book appear blank and will filled with content as you go, and would be what your content book is automatically set to on a new playthrough. Meanwhile, Completion is the current content book stuff. Tasim could tell you, 'o hey btw if you wanna see everything there is to do, click that little button in the bottom right of your content book to see it all, tho it can be overwhelming'. Both modes can be interchanged wherever you are, and as my flawless tasim dialogue mentions: a button in the bottom right of the content book will let you swap between them.

Timelost Sanctum
Trapped in an era long past...​

(i'm sorry i couldnt resist it has a title dammit)
Timelost Sanctum is by far one of the best dungeons in the game. What makes it good?

• You can complete it's challenges in any order.
• Great theming and also has a lot of uniqueness with time.
• Replaces one of the worst dungeons in the game (lost sanctuary)
• Stunning builds
• Has a neat boss

There is nothing I can suggest that would make this dungeon better. The quest for it will come out soon (tm) in a hotfix, and corrupted timelost sanctum will also come out soon (tm) at a later date. I'm honestly super excited for ctls as now there's no more early-game restrictions and you can go all-out with what the dungeon has. This is definitely in my top 3 of dungeons, alongside CUR and EO.

Quests
No quest in 2.0.3 is worse than the original, it's either as good or even better. I can't make any more blanket statements for all of them, so I'll just go over the quests that got touch ups (and yes, this is pretty much a ctrl c + ctrl v of my beta subforum post)

King's Recruit
This was actually a minorly tweaked quest, it just wasn't mentioned in the patch notes. What changed here is that Aledar now sprints to the Wynn-Fruma gate, which is pretty irrelevant rn, but more importantly, the ending section changed so it's no longer an escape section. It's now a pursuit to free a captured soldier. You fight 3 waves of mobs, which is alr ig, and the ending miniboss is decently challenging and engaging. Also Tasim appears at the end of the Ragni castle to give advice, which is honestly pretty neat. Overall:

7/10

Poisoning the Pest
Here the battle with the Corrupted Pests are removed in exchange for a battle with the Corrupt Farmer directly. I still think the Corrupted Pests should be there, but it's not that big of a deal. The Corrupt Farmer fight is alright.

6/10

Infested Plants/Spider Questline Pt. 1
Now Ope is a scammer/lazy person who wants the Saccharum. Tasim is also involved here as a bit of a deuteragonist, and there is also a new miniboss at the end of the cave. The miniboss is just a mob with more HP, but it's nice to now have a proper storyline with the spiders in Nivla culminating in Infested Pit.

6.5/10

Mushroom Man/Spider Questline Pt. 2
Yahya is now no longer in Detlas and instead in Alekin. It starts off with Tasim noticing Yahya's not doing well, and Yahya's favorite mushroom patch is ruined. A slay section then happens with you having to kill some spiders before they then take away Yahya, you go back to Alekin to tell the mayor, and head to Detlas where you find Aledar and the Courageous Aegis (pretty neat knowing that he's no longer an NPC who's purpose is to die in a cutscene). From here, the questline kinda branches out into 3 different paths, though you aren't really restricted to one. If I had to suggest something that could be added (and I did, though it was shot down, which i kinda expected), Yahya gives you and Tasim some mushroom stew which makes you black out and then Yahya's pissed because he no longer has a safe way of getting mushrooms. That part was kinda funny, but I'm ok if they don't add it. Otherwise

6.5/10

Tunnel Trouble/Spider Questline Pt. 3.1
Now the janky sneaking section is removed in exchange for another miniboss. This is Bylvis' Guard Golem, and the line that has Drale wishing he was a cow is removed (though still there if you try to get on the raft at the end). The miniboss just has multihit and that's pretty much it. Also this is something that Aledar/Aegis recommends (i forgot who) you do to prepare for Arachnids' Ascent, so this is technically a part of the spider questline.

6.5/10

Taking the Tower/Spider Questline Pt. 3.2
This quest serves as an introduction to powders and caves. You first powder a weapon, and then you go to Van who is no longer homeless, followed by raiding the Raging Tower (new Van's Tower), and then you go back to Van. Not great, not terrible,

6.3/10

Elemental Exercise/Spider Questline Pt. 3.3
"THE MAD LADS DID IT GAMERS, [elemental exercise] IS GOOD NOW!" - Shots, my wynncraft magnum opus, i think it was released in 2020

Anyways that quote perfectly describes the new elemental exercise. The old one was flawed for being, get this, bad. The new one is actually pretty neat. It serves as a good introduction to elements, followed by a fight with Tasim, who plays like a regular warrior, and then you defeat a boss at the north gate of Detlas. The boss honestly seems pretty challenging and compelling at the recommended level. And one of the best parts - the Courageous Aegis makes his return. A minor suggestion I have for this would be a post-quest world event where Aledar is taught thing and then you fight with him at that level, which was actually suggested by Tasim after the fight with him. Honestly I'd say the main reason why I now like this quest a lot (and is definitely my favorite reworked one so far) is because of the sheer redemption arc it had. Pretty worthy of a

7.5/10 imo

Supply and Delivery/Spider Questline Pt. 3.4, spin-off of it
This serves as an introduction to the Trade Market. Ope returns and he has to get a supply crate for Alekin village, you buy it, Ope is too lazy to bring it over, so you do it, and then the mayor gives you stuff. This also unlocks fast travel. Not great, not terrible.

But wait a minute, is this a part that's not in my original beta post?! That's right, this quest has a variation if you're on an Ironman class. This time, you go to Tasim and he buys the stuff for you. Nothing more than that changes, but it bumps it up by 0.5 points for including that consideration.

6/10

Arachnids' Ascent/Spider Questline Pt. 4
This is pretty similar to the original with the base gameplay still there, it's just now better. It starts off with Admiral Aegis talking to you, Aledar and Tasim, and then you go to Private Cob, you walk down the path to Enduyn with the mobs still there, and you go into Mt. Wynn. The way you get the lava is changed to now include a miniboss, and Aledar or Tasim will be with you up to Mt. Wynn, and you burn down the web. However, the main thing that makes this quest better would be what happens after. The first dungeon run is tied into the quest with Aledar and Tasim accompanying you, and you free Yahya as well (i unironically want a corrupted yahya miniboss in cip if that's going to be changed a bit). And after you defeat Arakadicus, you go back to the Detlas Barracks to celebrate with Aledar and Tasim (which is bugged atm).

Overall, the improvements definitely make this an unironic and nice

6.9/10

(not great enough to give it a 7, but definitely on top of the 6. i didnt intentionally give it that rating bc haha funny meme ok)

Grave Digger
All that changes is that you don't have to go back to Detlas. That's pretty much it.

5.5/10

Tempo Town Trouble
You can now start the quest at Tempo Town instead of in Nemract and now there's fast travel as a reward.

6/10

Creeper Infiltration
You can now start the quest in Tempo Town instead of in the Pigman Ravines.

5.5/10

Recover the Past/Spider Questline Epilogue
Fruma leaks baby, let's fucking go. The memories are now changed with the fruma soldiers no longer being, as lex describes it, cartoonishly evil. Edwin's wynn house died, but caid is still here. I actually kinda wished the other stuff wasn't already gotten, as i think fetch quests that take place only in a small village are pretty fine imo. Caid's memory shows that he was stealing stuff from the kai shi, and edwin runs away. When you get to Reynauld you also find Tasim, and the bridge defense section got much better with a more elaborate boss fight with the Corrupted Summoner. Reynauld's memory was him working with Caid and then getting fired. Tasim's memory comes right after, and I definitely think there should have at least been an intermission with edwin, edwins memory is shown with him and caid getting sent to the prison, which kinda builds up to tasim's memory, given that it comes right out of the blue. Speaking of which, this starts off in a town with Aledar running from the kai shi before Tasim uses magic to revive him (which gives me heavy light magic vibes). Aledar calls Tasim cursed and then they both get sent to prison, with tasim later being sent to room 101. The "There is no war in the Fruman Walls" line was removed (though still referenced in post-quest dialogue), and is instead a memory reset, telling Tasim that Fruma was never a major part of his life, and that being enlisted in the Wynnic army due to special talents was his directive. A subtle horror undertone really highlights this scene for me, and then an escape sequence begins, which although it is easy it does have some stakes. The ending dialogue with Tasim is absolutely beautiful btw, massive props to whoever wrote it.

Now, onto my main criticisms and compliments summarized:
- Really like the new memories
- Great improvement to the bridge section
- Add back getting the stuff needed for the shrinking potion instead of just a bloom of doom (apparently the reason why this was removed is that it wasn't clear enough for new players where to go. I'd say in that case add some NPCs that point out some stuff around Elkurn.)
- Add edwin back as an intermission between reynauld's and tasim's memory and also to serve as a buildup to tasim. (idc if it's lame, it's something that happens)

Overall, this is a great rework that unfortunately has some blemishes, although they can easily be overlooked. This quest has its highs shine a lot more than the lows though, which I think is pretty deserving of a

7.3/10

Pit of the Dead, The Dark Descent, Deja Vu, and the Mercenary aren't released yet.

Housing Changes
Microphone's alright.

Bookshelf is a really great QoL addition. I originally thought having extra slots locked behind ranks makes it p2w, but then I realized that people with ranks also have more class slots.

Other stuff
Ingredient nodes are honestly a really great idea and helps add some variety to professions. I now kinda have some more incentives to gather profs now, so there's that.

Nemract-Tempo Town fast travel is pretty neat.

Alekin Village is stunningly beautiful and really makes use of its environment. Huge improvement over Nivla Village (there's now a couple of rocks there and a few lotuses which look beautiful).

The new music is an absolute banger, Texilated joining Wynn's music team is honestly one of the best decisions made for choosing new CT members.

Swapping the positions of sharpshooter and trapper on the archer ability tree is honestly a really great thing to do, as now boltslinger doesn't an archetype that directly conflicts with it in the middle. I still kinda think the positions of Light Bender and Riftwalker should swap, bc Light Bender and Arcanist are also opposite archetypes, but eh. Arcanist having access to Riftwalker would make it pretty op.

/ignore works for shouts lets fucking go.

Shaman was deleted lets fucking go?

closing stuff
One of the best updates for Wynncraft by far, really impressed with everything the ct put their backs in for this update.

(also guys please help solve the void altar thingamajig and find the gilded eyefolk)

 

Ok I'm actually also gonna kinda bump this with some stuff to say:

I love that hidden content was added in this update. Some things are just a slight chance of happening (Lost Eye instead of Chiropterror and Gilded Eyefolk), but there was also a new (and if I had to guess at the moment, elaborate, though nowhere near the level of ???) mystery of the Void Altar.