Today is a great day, as we've opened up the immortal games in Aquila for our Wizards to enjoy! We've had a lot of fun creating them, and we hope you have just as much fun battling the Immortals and reaping the rewards!
Have you had a chance to test your might in Aquila? If so, what is your favorite thing about it?
Have a wonderful weekend, Wizards!
Standard disclaimer applies: We do not guarantee to use each and every idea submitted, and questions we pose may or may not be pertaining to things we are currently working on, or will ever undertake. Sometimes, there are just technical limitations that make changing things difficult to impossible, and though we possess all manner of magic wands here, there are technological beasts out there that are beyond our grasp. Sometimes, we may not feel it is within the spirit and vision of the spiral to add or change something. Also, we realize that some of these topics may have been addressed before in other threads - sometimes it's good to pick up a discussion again. Chances are I have read your threads and would like to hear more!
“If the Mind is like a candle, the Heart is like the sun.”
Professor Falmea
Possibly the gods. Yes, the gods. I love how you made them all into ... birds... and sneaked some info on the gods in there. My favorite goddess is Athena, and one of my favorite animals are snowy owls. Thanks for combining 2 of my favortie things, with a bit of cat or something in there.
So Far in Aquila I did Mt. Olympus, ITS AWESOME!!! :D. I love the drops like the weapons, hats, robes, boots. The crafting vendors are good in stock as well.
So far the gear drops are great and I feel like the new dungeon areas would be great values whether rented for a trial or bought for farming.
But back on August 13, 2012 in the thread asking what new worlds we thought were out there I said:
I Love! this idea.[a Greek inspired world] The world would be a major game addition - like Celestia with a large number of areas or Cities to begin with but, like Grizzelheim and Triton it would be easy to do add on content. If you Google Theoi Greek Mythology you will get to a site with amazing information about Greek history, culture, legends and myths, gods and goddesses, the Titans and Heroes, the mythical creatures and a great deal more. It would be a great place to start - making sure that the Greek Spiral World was the deepest, richest, most detailed and nuanced - most interesting world in the Spiral.
So I really hope this is just a taste of a whole new world in the Spiral.
The graphics and new animation are very well done. The world theme is also very nicely done, combining historical mythology with the underlying game concept.
It is almost a shame that with all the work that must have gone into creating what is essentially an entire new world's worth of new content, the actual play is reduced to three instance dungeons no larger than the typical end of world gauntlet.
I love the design of Aquila. It's so well done and so refreshing. Plus it's a complete detachment of what was done in Pirate101, which I like. And in such a small space, you guys fit in so many pieces. For example, the two headed Dragon in the Garden of Hesperides is Ladon who's suppose to gaurd Hera's golden apples, or the nymphs all around who are tending to the garden. I like the pun on Apollo's name. Everytime I see Apollo (Apol-lo), I now wanna say Apollo (Apoyo). Lol, it's funny.
Then there's the new pets and gear. I have to say, these are very well done and I like how the Golden Ram references the story of Jason and the Argonauts or the Golden Ram story. The Enchanted Armament is definitely an interesting twist pets this time. I like the Greek inspiration of the sets and the power behind them leaves some interesting match-ups to arise.
Among the new pets, weapons, funny puns, and smooth graphics, I love the music the most. Mount Olympus and Garden of Hesparides musics were very welcoming. Atlantea's music was more wispical and explorational like Celestia. I liked that one a lot. Tartarus was more dark, but fit the mood. But the first battle music with Apollo was my favorite. The climax of the theme has me jamming to it every time, I just love it. I like how you guys mixed it up with two different battle musics this time. Will we see more of this?
I just finished the second secret boss - Sand Squid Tentacle - as hard as it was and considering the web says the pet Harpy is dropped there - I thought the drops would be better than the other battles. But, they were by far, less impressive - or useful. My sister got even less than I did. I have my chat box open here and can see the list:
580 gold
172 gold
Cycle of Life (tc)
Amber Dust
Amber Dust
Fried Ice Cream (snack)
Reliquary (tc)
Amber
Diamond
and 47770 + 189 experience
the xp is good - but I have questions about the rest.
Is it a glitch? Is it that we didn't kill all in one shot? Is it that it was our first time? Is it really not a boss worth farming? Were we just cosmically unlucky and this is the weirdest report ever?
I love Aquila - but if this is correct I'd sure like to know cause I won't waste my time.
Reliquary tc? sign me up lol, I've been farming for that and galvanic for a month of Sundays.
Like:
--The architecture, the layout of the Mount Olympus main hall with its concentric rings and open atrium. If you get lost, you can look over the balcony and see where you're supposed to go.
--Haven't had a chance to hear the music because I must turn my sound off after a certain point or the game stutters. (ATI driver :( )
--Story is put together pretty nicely so you feel like you're taking part in a realistic Greek myth.
--Lots of easter eggs: dazed and confused, other song lyrics here and there
--New content elsewhere in the game, e.g. Loremaster, minions
Neutral:
--The dropped item quality is somewhat uneven. There is a risk of power creep with some of the items. (+10% global damage wand with a full power starting pip at lvl 30? Seriously.) Other items seem a little underpowered compared to existing dropped items and/or are comparable to other areas in MS/AV.
--No new trainable or craftable Hellenic themed spells. No new gardening seeds or plants. No new craftable AQ housing items (maybe I'm missing something here).
Even at test I was impressed already with AQ's entry to W101. I still wish it was a world than a zone.
I knew it will become a central hub for all types of players, This is what I liked about it. Unlike the commons where people park, chat and goof around, here you will feel the urgency for a chance to an excellent drop with the company of others. Its a place not only to show off your new found items, but indirectly presents an opportunity to lit up your friends list again.
The higher frequency of reagent drops like the illusive amber, agave nectar, merle's whiskers, agave leaves, turquoise and even TC rares is encouraging. Now crafting is a bit less intimidating. The idea of having items as part of the recipe is a whole new ballgame though.
I noticed the presence of Haephestus C.at Olympus. Can we make him the ultimate maker of unique gears by granting any item "random" stats or cards in exchange for a quest, rare reagents, gold, or even combination of sorts? He is the the greek god of fire and metallurgy anyway. Only an immortal like him can forge such rarity for us.
Gear wise, after traveling through AQ thrice, each school had a fair share of drops. Wands are impressive but being school specific and mostly lacking block (except Ice) restricts their uses.The cheats of the secret bosses are well thought out and rage-quit prone sometimes. But the incentive from beating them and dungeons are fairly rewarding. Even now, new popular athames, rings, etc. are being farmed for.
Granted that it is an impressive zone so far, I always have the fear of new installations being altered or simply put being nerfed. I do hope KI will not bend again so easily to complaints like the one that resulted to the lobotomy of Morganthe in Avalon and the surprise rezoning at MB. So I have but one request from KI, please keep it untouched and preserved for other future players to enjoy as it was originally meant to be.
In test we did the first 2 dungeons. Live we have only done the first instance on level 45 wizards we have.
I found them to be quite the time investment and set up at a higher level of fighting then the worlds we were currently working in, cheats and stuns at this level are unexpected and harder to deal with at lvl 30 or so. For those of us who prefer stress free game play, I would recommend being level 50 or so if you plan to solo the first dungeon.
I don't think we will bother with the area much as it seems mainly focused toward players who like to farm and we really don't appreciate repeating things that much.
What is starting to confuse me about the game is that people are asking for more challenge but also ranting about not being able to get better gear? It would seem to me that you can't have both. In order to make the challenge how can you equip better gear? If our wizard has the upper hand in each battle it would make the game too easy for them. I would like the game better that way but it would seem I am a minority in this thought.
Truly I am just a lowly first arc player at heart, all the new content past that just seems to get away from the reason why I started playing the game in the first place. As play skill advances it leaves a lot of us very casual players in the dust. I think KI is looking for a different type of gamer now then when it originally started the game.
Off topic: Of course paige is happy about furniture :P
On topic: Probably the boss drops for Tartarus and Cronus - Cronus is amazing. Tartarus you either get horrible drops or great drops. I've done it 8 times now, only twice was I happy with the rewards. Seems better than waterworks though!
This addition is great! It's not too hard, but not too easy either. It really is a ton of fun with a great theme and some really inspired art! And I just found out that the squid boss drops amber? I think I'm one happy customer. Thank you, KI!
You really need to address the whole issue of how one enters dungeons.
I mostly solo this game so I need to find three other wizards to do the content I'm interested in doing. I just spent twenty minutes realm hopping to find a group to fight the Squid. Either the realms were empty or they were crowded with half the wizards trying to do the dungeon and half trying to fight the squid. Every time wizards entered the sigil, one or more wizards would back off the sigil before the countdown ended. This silly dance of nothingness would just go on endlessly. Nobody was actually entering the dungeons as a group.
I've been fortunate to at least try each dungeon and secret boss at least once, but this last twenty minute exercise in futile realm hopping was disappointing to say the least.
You need a central area to join a dungeon, and click "join" just like you do in an arena match. You pick whether you are doing the dungeon or the secret boss and then when you have been matched up with three other wizards, you are teleported to your own private sigil, where you don't have to fight off twenty other wizards. If you have a team, you could form a group, and the matching system would find the necessary number of wizards to fill out the group.
Sorry this isn't a post about my favorite things in Aquila, but I have very much enjoyed the content when I have been lucky enough to find a group to do them with. Finding a group to do the dungeon with is the weak link here, not the content.
Thanks for the feedback folks! A few items I can comment on:
Cunning Finnigan Sharp - Apollo (a-poy-o) made me laugh as well a lot through this whole update as well! ::grin::
Helenie Nightseer - The sand squid (and all the bosses, actually) have a % chance at dropping the good stuff (and there's lots of good stuff), but sometimes you don't get a good roll of the dice. Sorry you were unlucky, keep trying!
The rest of the comments of what you liked (and what we could do better next time) will be shared with all the other professors. New Feedback Friday coming up shortly!
“If the Mind is like a candle, the Heart is like the sun.”
Professor Falmea