Hello everyone,



Thanks to all the Closed Beta players for their comments, analysis and help on making the Guardians expansion as good as it can get! We tried to sum-up all their feedback here in a nut-shell:





FEEDBACK



Global Events & Global quests:

- We understood that the feeling about these elements is good in general

- We noted there is still room for improvement for "From Dust to Rust" global quest >> We will have a look at the way the ruins are made available, at the prerequisites of the quest and at the way to contribute.

- About the increase of minor faction aggressiveness with this plague of savagery even >> not sure our system allow such a thing but we will have a look.





Legendary Buildings:

- It seems that global notifications are appreciated, giving a sense of competition to the entire length of the game

- The resources needed are sometime a problem (1st building could force new game until resources are at disposal): >> Might need some changes be it will require further test from our side.

- More info in the tech tree about what a person needs to do/procure/make >> Tech tree info has been updated to give more details.

- It is seen as a good way to team up against the faction who owns it as it is a pretty significant boost

- If you're playing on higher difficulties, the AI is going to have a big advantage on these >> The problem is that changing AI bonuses will impact the rest of the game. Not sure it is what we really want.

- The last legendary building you can get is too expensive, or maybe the wonder building is too cheap >> This is something we still need to look at but it is unlocked in very different ways and therefore difficult to compare in term of price only.





Unique Buildings:

- From what we see so far, this feature is working well

- It changes the way one can unlock the technologies

- It is used to specialized cities as intended

- Bonuses seem balanced between factions

- We might still have to work on the visibility of technologies changed by the DLC though





Guardians:

- Good general feeling

- Several demand for the Guardians to be as heroes when side quests required so: >> We will have a look at the possibility.

- Not a lot of players seem to know you can sometime unlock guardians through quest

- Problem with animations stopping at a corner of the screen more visible

- Army actions are seen as a good addition

- The Dust Guardian's (Skoros) Mind Control seems to be too random >> It has been changed to support more its fellow units.

- Because of the limited range (a few hexes) Atmos's Teleport is of limited value. Why not have this unlimited (within vision)? >> This is also something we still need to look at.

- The Guardians look and feel very powerful but they seem a bit ... underpowered for what they are. >> Guardians powers have been recently increased in various ways.





Legendary Deeds:

- An addition very well received

- It seems to have a great impact on the game flow and dynamic, requiring to change the old strategies

- The AI will have a stronger advantage on higher difficulties making the AI even stronger. But it is for the best, isn’t it?

- Some found the system sometimes a bit unbalanced but nothing disastrous >> Anyway a new balancing has been done to better answer requests and we are still trying to improve.

- Cultists are seen as the most disadvantaged faction even if it gives them very strong late-game buffs >> Something we still need to evaluate.

Just one comment because I'm still playing through the expansion. Please do not increase cost of wonder building. Building it is a grind already that requires massive resource collection/allocation.

The main issue surrounding the Cultist's weakness is their true strength is being overlooked. What I mean by that is their strength is NOT military, science, or economic. Their strength is faith. Take a lesson from the American Vietnam experience. The U.S. was the Goliath in that war in every way but one... faith. The Viet Kong never, never quit they just kept coming. They BELIEVED they would win and they ultimately did. The Cultist should be "unbeatable." By that I mean they should be very, very, very hard to eliminate. For example, when their city is besieged, all the pacified villages should spawn huge numbers of armies that constantly attack besieging force. Just a suggestion...

kwbudburt wrote:
The main issue surrounding the Cultist's weakness is their true strength is being overlooked. What I mean by that is their strength is NOT military, science, or economic. Their strength is faith. Take a lesson from the American Vietnam experience. The U.S. was the Goliath in that war in every way but one... faith. The Viet Kong never, never quit they just kept coming. They BELIEVED they would win and they ultimately did. The Cultist should be "unbeatable." By that I mean they should be very, very, very hard to eliminate. For example, when their city is besieged, all the pacified villages should spawn huge numbers of armies that constantly attack besieging force. Just a suggestion...

Really cool suggestion, I like the way you compare them to the Viet Kongs, good idea.



Nothing to do with the Cultist but...

As a personnal comment, I'd like to say Im really looking for new Legendary Buildings. There are really too few and after many games its getting boring to get the same "Legendary Buidlings." Maybe you could make alot more Legendary Buildings and a system that randomly choose the ones which will be buildable for the game. Its like.. variations for replayability.

Or simply add more of them cuause I found light to have only ONE per Era.



Same for the legendary deeds, they should be randomized, with more content.



Anyway, good job Amplitude, but we still waiting for more

I'm really enjoying the new expansion but I'm going to second the idea to "work on the visibility of technologies changed by the DLC"