Game Mechanics Raid Instructions Revamp

...you got a better name? Also this was supposed to be posted back in September but PZ Hospital Incident made me forget about it sorry

Also I did not proofread this let me know if I make a mistake anywhere pls

Anyways presenting:

Raid Instructions Revamp


​

Raid Instructions?
Serving as one of the more difficult challenges in Wynncraft, raids would naturally be more complex in mechanics than your average dungeon or boss fight. Raid rooms usually require the player to perform several steps in order to reach a goal, have multiple people execute multiple tasks at the same time, have party members spread out for their own assigned roles, or even escort or be escorted by a raid item holder!

Okay, what about them?
With the variety and complexity of different challenges held in raids, it would of course take some time for players to understand them. Now, for many of you who have done the four currently available raids several times over, this post might seem strange, irrelevant even, to you. After all, the mechanics of the rooms are easy to understand, aren't they?

Well, you have to remember, you didn't start off knowing everything about the raids, either. Players who are new to the raid would sometimes struggle trying to understand what to do in the spur of the moment, causing them to get lost easily. What happens as a result of this? You have seen it all before - people wandering around aimlessly until they figure out their tasks minutes later, players unknowingly picking up the raid item only to not understand its use, causing the entire raid to fail from sheer ignorance, party members taking ages to get anywhere when the entire team is depending on them - all the issues!

But... aren't there already instructions?

​

Indeed, there are. You see them floating next to the spawn point of every room. But they all face a problem, a fatal flaw that I am sure many of you here won't be able to deny yourself -

nobody reads them!​

How many of you even remember the instructions whenever you enter the room? Do you even acknowledge their existence, or are you distracted by everything else behind it, the place where you focus your sights on?

And even if players do read them (which, granted, some do), that's not the end of it! In fact, multiple issues are immediately apparent the second a new raider attempts to read the lines:

• The instructions are too long - it's hard to take in all of the information in a matter of seconds!
• There's no visuals, it's all just text - what is a "Soul Shrub" and where do I find it? How does an "Interdimensional Isoptera" look like?!
• Mobs have begun spawning - the challenge has already begun!
• Your party members are already starting to move on - you need to catch up!

The Raid Instructions that we have right now are in the absolute worst place in the worst form - they exist as a giant wall of text, right in the front of the room that begins their challenge seconds after players step foot in them. Do you see how inconvenient this is?! With how badly placed they are, it's almost as if comprehending the wall of instructions is part of the actual challenge!

​

What we need is a set of instructions that splits the steps and tasks into simple to understand chunks, one that's short and easy to digest, one that visually describes point of interests to the player, and of course (and arguably the most needed), one that isolates all other elements of the challenge, allowing party members to take their time to study and comprehend what they are supposed to do! Something like...

...like...

...

...well, not whatever's above me, obviously. Did you see the sheer amount of words up there? It's like the intro to an online recipe!

Anyways, I propose to you... this. Take a good look!

​

Okay, what is this?
The new and improved Raid Instructions, of course!
...again, you got a better name?

This brand new model solves all the prior issues of the current display. Let me explain the different aspects of this, by first...

1. ...splitting it up into parts!
The instructions of the raid are now separated by individual actions the player is required to complete to progress through and finish the raid. I have noticed that many of the raid challenges are the same tasks with different variations, so I have separated them into nine "actions"!

​

As you can see, they appear above the Raid Instructions in the form of icons, and players who see them at first glance will be able to get a good idea of what the room is about even before reading the full instructions! The actions are self-explanatory on their own, even paired with all the text below them, but just in case, I'll quickly list them down:

• Hold!: Hold down a platform or a region of space.
• Kill!: Kill one or more mobs.
• Gather!: Gather tokens or other items of interest, usually to a collection point.
• Parkour!: Parkour is needed to be completed to progress.
• Puzzle!: A task the player needs to complete, the challenge may vary.
• Spread!: Players are required to split up.
• Carry!: A player is required to hold an item of interest or assign themselves a singular role, usually to escort or be escorted by other party members.
• Defend!: Players defend a point of interest, usually from being reached or destroyed by outside forces.
• Search!: Players search for an object or mob of interest somewhere in the raid room.

2. Sentence by sentence, line by line...
The raid instructions are now shorter and easier to comprehend - individual mechanics and points in each challenge are split up into singular lines for the player to go through step by step.

​

Certain actions and objects of interest are also color coded - just as a bonus to help certain players understand the objective faster. With the semi-repetitive nature of the instructions (an example being shown above), this helps keep the goal in the players' minds as they enter the raid room.

3. ...I can see them now!

​

Visuals are an integral part of this new model - the mini displays of the objects of interest helps the viewer easily understand what they're supposed to focus on and quickly identify them once they're in the room. That weird hermit crab thing steals the important blue stuff? Got it!

4. All the time in the world...
The issue of time has been solved! Raid instructions have their own dedicated room now, appearing before every raid challenge (and after every buff room!)

​

The environment could admittedly use a little more work asides from a black empty void, perhaps something similar to buff rooms that match the theme of the raid. But, in a way, the featureless walls helps prevent distractions and directs the player's attention on the words themselves!



...what do you mean I'm the only person who is incapable of getting past reading a single sentence for five minutes straight and not being able to comprehend too long of a sentence while other things are going on around me is not a common issue amongst human beings?

Uh...

Oh dear



Anyways!!! The exit to the actual challenge is at the back of the room, behind the spot where all the players will spawn. Recurring players can simply just walk backwards and wait at the exit while those who need a look at the objective can head forward to observe. Let's just hope people are patient and understanding enough to wait for you... nah, of course they will, Wynncraft isn't that toxic... I hope.

Ok so
In conclusion, these set of new raid instructions, in a scenario where they are added in the game, can hopefully be of great help towards both newer raiders confused at the challenges' complexity, and more experienced players who don't wish to be burdened by sheer ignorance. While this isn't as prominent of a problem than I've personally observed, I have still seen quite a bit of reports of such issues springing up in places. I hope that this somewhat... QoL (I guess???) change can improve the raiding experience of players by just a tiny amount!

Speaking of which, in case you couldn't tell by the first image, I made instructions for all the raid rooms. Yes, each and every one of them are shown below! Have a look!

Spoiler: Nest of the Grootslangs

Spoiler: Orphion's Nexus of Light

Spoiler: The Canyon Colossus

Spoiler: The Nameless Anomaly

(Yes I am aware that the bulbs use more than one texture I got lazy)

 

YES LETS GOOO +193874

 

awesome sauce

 

This idea is objectively good and the fact that you went out of your way to show that your system works in every situation shows that there is no reason to not implement this. Raid instructions are absolute horseshit, great work coming up with a good and realistic solution to that problem!

 

My issue with this is pacing. Raids are supposed to be this intense combat challenge and yet you would be stopped mid fight to get instructions.

That said, this idea could definitely work while preserving the fast pace raids have.

How? Add a Timer.
As soon as you exit the buff room, a big message flashes across your screen
Prepare for the challenge.

Then you are let loose to scrutinize the above displays before getting warped into the challenge room.

 

I really don’t see the point of that since players already can stay as long as they want to in the buffs room. Rushing players before they can adequately understand the directions is the whole problem the OP is trying to solve.

 

To add to this, I feel like if anything in raids was breaking the pace, it's trying to understand how the rooms work while getting attacked from every direction and feeling pressure from my teammates who have probably already played and understand the room. The pacing right now is way too fast, slowing things down a little so everyone is on the same page is a benefit of this idea, not a detriment.

 

Hey there, thanks for the suggestion!

However, I would say that that structure falls back to the initial problem of having limited time to read everything. Having a countdown will only give unneeded mild panic or sense of urgency, something I don’t want players to have when they’re trying to study a set of instructions. A big flashing text in the center of the screen doesn’t help in terms of focus, either.

Also, assuming the countdown is the only way to progress to the next room (which, if the exit is still there in your suggestion, I apologize), then players who don’t need to view the instructions will have to wait for the timer to reach 0 before progressing.

That being said, I did try to make the room as skippable as possible by spawning players right in front of the exit, so all everyone needs to sacrifice per instructions room is about 2 to 3 seconds of walking backwards before being teleported to the challenge immediately after. Assuming that no player in the party needs to view the instructions, the entire instructions room process shouldn’t last too long at all.

 

i think these instructions generally use too many colors in them, but this is a good idea! we'll see about implementing something along these lines for raids

 

They're something minor to help people link two different "sections" in a single instruction

Mostly why the instructions are so repetitive as well, with some of them repeating the same line
It sort of helps connect the different actions in a single raid room instead of having them purely separate

Like how Bulb Catchers are mentioned in the Blue Bulb section and the same Bulb Catcher is shown two sections later
The Pink coloring to it helps (even a tiny bit, if subconsciously) in reminding the player that said enemy was present in an earlier section

Also, glad to hear it!

 

I think putting it in the buff room would be better, so returning raiders can do the raids as before but new players can look at the instructions too.

 

Doesn’t everyone still need to stand at the exit to leave the buff room?

 

I had this idea independent. It would definitely avoid the issue of breaking the flow that raids currently have, especially because most of the buff rooms are way bigger than they need to be already.

 

From my understanding, based on how raids currently work that isn't possible since the next room isn't chosen until you're teleported to it. That would be a great place for it and would allow players to choose buffs based on the upcoming room but I just don't think it can be done unfortunately.

 

It just doesn't feel right having a single room dedicated to two points of interest though

 

Oh btw actually fun fact, the exit to the instructions room was originally supposed to be a platform players stand on and it visually fills up with color like a progress bar the more players stand on it, tping everyone once all of them press down





Then I remembered that the buff room exit door existed, a door that looks thematically better, functions much faster and less needlessly extravagant than a goddamn weight pad

It’ll probably just be the same gate as the buff room depending on the raid now idk

 

This is a very high quality thread. Good job.

 

Thanks!

 

Let’s definitely not let this die.

 

me in my first time doing a raid standing awkwardly reading the instructions while the rest of the party is dying:

anyways yes very nice post, I'm glad a ct is considering it