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Location Bugs, Confusions, and Balances


Mikka

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  • Godina Park: Merrick's Statue (on the grounds) is both a passive location and a ability, gifting +2 War and Leadership at location. It should probably only be passive, unless the description for it is wrong.
     
  • Professor Leith's Expertise is extremely confusing. For myself, it's listed under the Grand Forge, the Grand Forge: Personal Workstation, and then also at Professor Leith's Back Office. I'm not sure how exactly to use it or what it's doing.
     
  • Academagia: Block Puzzle is a passive effect that grants +1 Puzzles and 'if rolled successfully', +5 Merit and +2 glory. It seems that every time I use it as a place to train/make friends/goof off, though, I get the +1 Puzzles (not bad), and the +5 merit (never seen any glory, though)! If I might make a humble suggestion, considering that Compete takes an actual action and only gains +3 merit, I think the place might be best split in to a passive and an ability: just going to the Block Puzzle may up your Puzzle, but you have to actually 'attempt the Block Puzzle' or some sorts to get the Merit and possible Glory.
     
  • Ballos: Traders Guild offers much less information then most: 'knowing more of Economy then they did before but only for a few days'. How much Economy and for how many days would be extremely helpful.

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Mikka;

 

Thanks!

 

In order:

 

1) This is confusing only because the Description is more correct than most. The passive benefits for preparing at a Location are actually Abilities, so when the Description describes what that passive benefit is, it is actually describing the Location's Ability. :)

 

2) This Ability represents the help you might get from the Professor at these Locations, and grants a passive bonus of +1 to several Skills.

 

3) I agree: this Ability should not be passive. We'll correct this in Content Patch 1.

 

4) The Description here needs to be corrected (CP1). The answer is +1 Economy, and it is while you are there only (it is passive.)

 

Thank you again!

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1) This is confusing only because the Description is more correct than most. The passive benefits for preparing at a Location are actually Abilities, so when the Description describes what that passive benefit is, it is actually describing the Location's Ability. smile.gif

 

I think I'm not explaining myself well. What you mean is if I choose Godina Park: Merrick's Statue as my location while I'm doing something else (study, train, etc), I gain +2 passive Leadership/War at the location, right? That's the 'ability' Godina Park: Merrick's Statue has. But I can also choose to as a selectable Ability to go to Godina's Park: Merrick's Statue (which makes being at Godina Park: Merrick's Statue the only thing I do). As the bonuses the statue gives are only at location, I'm not certain if that's intended: it seems like it would be a waste of a turn.

 

The same is true with the Ballos: Traders Guild: while it may be meant to be only a passive location, I can also choose to visit it as a Ability (although it seems I always fail at doing so!).

 

 

A few others:

  • Academagia: Ballroom Main Stage is a place I can use as a passive location, and a Ability I can select. It offers '3 point Bonus to the Action of Performing with a Lyre if only for a couple of days'. Which grants me that bonus, the passive location or the granted ability (or both?), and how long is a couple of days?
     
  • Imperial Palace: Mercantile Society Main Office is another vague one: 'a small increase to Administration Skill that will follow for a couple of days', and it's usable both as an Ability and as a passive location.
     
  • Hall of the Pages is a passive that gives a 'slight' boost to Knots skill at location- is that +1 Knots?
     
  • There's a few more locations that are usable as passive locations but also Ability locations, and as they share the same name it's hard to be sure what's what. As an example... I know from experience that I can select Sabinu's Grotto as an Ability and it works as intended: I get my +1 Confidence and the other bonuses. If I choose it as a place to study, I don't know, History, I don't get these bonuses. As they're both labeled simply 'Sabinu's Grotto', though, it's easy to get confused on whether I should be Ability-ing it or using it as a location. As I mentioned in the other topic, if it was named 'Explore Sabinu's Grotto' or the like, it would be a lot easier to figure out what was what.
     
  • The same name for Location and Ability is also true with Invigorens Arbor, Pucunia's Knoll, Oncestrain Musicians' Annex, the Mercenary Guild Hall, The Roses of Coventia, the The Incantors' Workshop, and the locations mentioned above (Merrick's Statue, Ballos Traders, Ballroom, Mercantile Society...).
     
  • On the other side, there are some passives that aren't named the same thing as the location they're at. I mentioned Society at the Garden Galley and Preparation at the Great Gates before. There's also Wander the Shore of Ten Swans Lake for The Drowned Palace of Usin.
     
  • Telling time... Asastis Falls gives me an advantage for two days, the Grove of Rocks an advantage for eighteen turns, and Thogrin Sitenkal's Study an advantage for twenty-two actions. This is a bit confusing, particularly as there's nowhere that defines 'turns' and 'actions'
     
  • The Athletic Fields simply mention 'a decrease to Stress': knowing if it is a -1 or -2 decrease would be nice.
     
  • The Printing Press at the Mineta Times, and the Workstations at the Great Forge and Brisbane the Gemologist's Shop... are they used specifically for crafting? Or are they sort of 'location bonuses' in the same way Professor Leith's Expertise is? Or are they actually 'passive locations' named something different? I assume the 'Great Weaponsmith' is a Prof Leith-like passive location bonus. Somewhat on the same subject, what about the Burst of Inspiration at Ardica Lake? How does one activate/see that?

 

Side issue: Merit Prize III, V, VII, VIII and X stick around as Abilities that one can activate after they've been activated (and one has persumedly gotten the reward). It would nice if they would go gray like the other books.

 

And is Glory a hidden stat? One of the Merit Prizes (and the Block Puzzle) claim to give Glory, but I can't find it anywhere.

 

 

Thanks so much to you and all who have made the game, and thanks particularly for the response and level of communication: it's awesome! I'm eagerly waiting for hopefully tomorrow's patch!

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Mikka;

 

It looks like the main problem here is going to be making Passive Locations more recognizable than Active (you have to use an Ability to Visit them.) Almost all of the ones you mentioned are not in fact Passive, but Active, and give bonuses when you use them. In general the solution here is going to be to give more information about these, so you can easily recognize them. We will try to do this in Content Patch 1 (or maybe one of the Code Patches), but it may be in #2.

 

I went back into the game and I see I was wrong- these two Abilities are in fact 'visit' abilities, and have a Duration of ~5 Days for Ballos and ~6 Days for Godina. Their Descriptions need work. :wub:

 

For the other Locations:

 

Academagia: Ballroom Main Stage. This is not a Passive Ability, and lasts 2 Days.

Imperial Palace: Mercantile Society Main Office. This is not a Passive Ability, and gives +2 Administration.

Hall of the Pages: Correct, +1.

The Athletic Fields: -1 Stress.

 

As with Professor Leith, the Abilities you mention give various Passive-like bonuses.

 

Ardica Lake: That is a Passive Ability; simply set your Preparation Location and the bonuses will apply.

 

Merit Abilities: We'll review these in CP1, I think.

 

Glory is indeed a hidden stat. It's also the reason why some players are so successful at impossible Rolls. ;)

 

In regards to Passive Locations not named after their main Location, we agree. In the future, we will try to do this: Passive Abilities will be named after the Location, Active Abilities will not.

 

In regards to telling time: that needs to be standardized, I agree. For Grove of Rocks and Thogrin Sitenka's Study, you can divide those numbers by 6 to determine the number of Days. In this case 3 and ~7.

 

These will be reviewed in CP1 or CP2, towards the end of September or October, respectively.

 

Thank you again for the comments, and please keep them coming. :)

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Glory is indeed a hidden stat. It's also the reason why some players are so successful at impossible Rolls. :)

 

 

Ah-ha! Ha! That makes so much sense, and I'd not figured out a reason for the pattern I was seeing. Once you're covered in glory, enough so you stop failing... yeah, you just can't fail (most of the time) so you just get more and more glorious....

 

How glorious! A very brief feedback loop, before one drops into 'their proper place'. Kinda like how worlds form and then quickly become hot/cold/forever alive :wub: I likes!

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Unfortunately, I have no power at my home tonight, so I can't find the exact details on this particular location but, but hopefully I can give enough info that you can research it. (As for how I'm posting, having family across town where there *is* power is quite handy at times.)

 

One of the locations that I unlocked through advancing my Arithmetics skills is the Arithmetics professor's office. However, I don't seem to have the ability to take the advanced lessions with the professor, which is a listed active skill for that location. There was a mention about a skill roll, but I would believe that would just check if you gain the benefit of the ability, not to see if you are able to use the ability.

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Err, I've got two unlocked math professor 'places'.

 

One is 'Arithmetic Classroom', that one appears to be a pure 'visit the location while doing something else' place, and mentions nothing about being tutored there - Valenta really doesn't want you there with a discovery of 8.

 

The other is 'Thogrin Sitenkal's Study', in Mineta city. "Lining the walls are books on numbers, books on numbers adding onto numbers, books on numbers subtracting from numbers, and books on what it means to be a number!"

 

It offers the ability of 'Throgrin Sitenkal's Study', which shows up on the ability list, and offers "your arithmetic, Properties of Arithmetic, and Geometry Skills will Increase by 6 for 22 Actions." And has the handy-dandy low Discovery of 1 - he likes you :wub:

 

My maths are high but not maxed, dunno if this is what you're trying to find or some other stuff entirely.

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The Four Phases Bookstore

 

It has the following abilities associated with it:

 

Intaglio: increases Ink Compounds and Forms by 3 and Illustration by 2

 

Four Phases Bookstore: Gain 25 pims and 1 step in Random Astrology Subskill

 

Carlitae's Flowers

 

It has the following abilities associated with it:

 

Carlitae's Flowers: Earn anywhere from 10 to 150 Pims

 

Illumination Cubicle

 

It has the following ability associated with it:

 

Liming (lot of effects)

 

Path of Fire

 

It has the following ability associated with it:

 

Path of Fire: Pay 5 pims and get skill step Courage, Endurance and Willpower.

 

Professor Violante de Canapiedra's Desk

 

It has the following ability associated with it:

 

Professor Violante de Canapiedra's Desk: +1 Rhetoric subskill

 

The Broken Window

 

It has the following ability associated with it:

 

Speaking into the Broken Window: Diction, Voice and a random subskill by 1 step.

 

 

All these abilities are not in my abilities list. I can understand if some of them don't show up because they have prerequisite that hasn't been met, but it would be nice if there was some way to tell what the prerequisite is.

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Rabge;

 

If they do not appear in your list, they are almost guaranteed to be passive Abilities. We will try to squeeze in a feature in Patch 2 (out today) which will color these grey, which will make it clear.

 

If they are passive Abilities, you will need to set your Action's Locations to these in order to gain their benefit (they become your preparation Location).

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Legate,

 

Thanks for the answer, but at least 4 of the abilities in my list cost or makes you money.

 

I tested it but when setting training at the Four Phases Bookstore, Illumination Cubicle, the Path of Fire and Carlitae's but I didn't get or lost money.

 

Perhaps they are set as passive, but they should actually be active instead?

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Oh, wow, coloring them gray would be awesome! Make it a lot easier to see what's what.

 

 

There's a few other not-too specific abilities that I would love to see clarified, if you have a chance?

 

 

Imperial Palace: Mercantile Society Main Office- how many days does it offer the +2 Admin bonus, or is it +2 Step permanent?

 

Asastis Falls - does it take away a random Subskill, or a random Gossip subskill?

 

Admiratio: Vegetable Market... there's that and Admiratio: Vegetable Market-B. First gives +1 Step Mimicry, second +1 Step random Language (I think). You only get the choice to choose the first as a location... does it randomly assign you one or the other? Do you get both +1 Step Mimicry and +1 Step Language when going to it as a location? If not, how does one access the Vegetable Market-B?

 

There's a few areas that give plus a Skill for Actions and Abilities (Pucina's Knoll +3 all Acting Abilities and Actions for three days, for example). I just want to clarify: is it a way of saying that you get the +3 to any Ability or Action you try, but it won't work on say, exams or Adventures or events?

 

Similar to that, another one I asked about is Academagia: Ballroom Main Stage: +3 to performing with a Lyre for two days. What counts as performing? (...or is there some 'Perform' Action I haven't gotten yet? XD)

 

 

 

As for the Arithmetic, nightguard, were you talking about Professor Valenta's Back Office, which has a passive bonus that gives a few free steps and the action of Advanced Arithmetic Study? I think you can discover the office early, but she only tutors pupils with 6+ Arithmetic or something.

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Mikka;

 

For your questions:

 

Imperial Palace: Mercantile Society Main Office is 2 Days.

 

Stand and be Pressed: Decreases a random Gossip Sub-Skill

 

Admiratio: Vegetable Market: Both apply, actually. I am not sure why they are divided into two- we'll consolidate in CP1.

 

In regards to your question about the Abilities and Actions- you are right. It will work on any Acting related Abilities and Actions, but would not apply to an Adventure or Random Event. In the case of the Ballroom Main Stage, that actually provides a bonus to the Action: Perform Music: Lyre. That needs to be made more explicit.

 

Thanks!

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I've played around with Path of Fire.

 

Just visitiing it does cost me my 5 pims. It's silent though. Visiting it without the 5 Pims is possible, I assume that you cannot trigger the roll if you go without money though.

 

You can verify you lose the money, if you had it to start with, by checking your inventory tab before and after you go. Bye bye pims succeed or fail at the upcoming roll. Theoretically, since the description says that the stones stay hot for hours or until walked over once, maybe if you went when broke you might be lucky enough to come upon a challenge someone else walked away from. Arguably if you fail the roll, you don't step on the stones, leaving them primed for someone else?

 

My character's Finesse and strength of character are pretty low, and the target number's not shown, but that's one of the things I've usually failed at (still silently) when I've tried, even with the can't fail bug. Least, I've never seen a silent gain to the skills it's supposed to help if you succeed.

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I've been playing some hours on this game :) , and I've run into some little troubles.

 

Beside those already mentioned, here are a few more :

 

  • Typo : "Merit Prize XIIII" should be "Merit Prize XIV" :)
  • Some "Merit Prize" do not appear (XVIII, XX, but there are some more) :(
  • Some places revealed by explore and that are related to an action, don't appear in "choose action" or "use ability"

 

And just a question : what is the use of books one's has heard of ?

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Monrdhil;

 

In regards to the Roman Numerals- that was actually on purposes, so it would sort a bit nicer. You are right, it is incorrect. :)

 

When you write that some Merits do not appear- can you explain this further? Do you mean, under Abilities?

 

Lastly, many Locations are passive-only Abilities, meaning that they only take affect if you change an Action's Location to that Location in the Confirmation Window. In Patch 2, these will appear in grey, so it will be a little easier to know.

 

I assume by 'books' you mean the Lores that you collect? They have no in-game function apart from being details about the game world and setting up a few things for Year 2. :)

 

Thanks!

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Impet,

 

You are correct.

 

I have been trying to get this to work also and the Pit of Fire does seem working. It is indeed silent and doesn't show up in the results of the day.

 

I also did some testing with the Cubicle and it does give me money and skill steps in subskills of Calligraphy. so that seems to be working as well.

 

Still haven't found a way to make money at Carlitae's Flowers or the Four Phases Bookstore though.

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Carlitae's Flowers begins at Difficulty 6, so you may need to boost your Skill there.

 

The Four Phases should award you Money simply for showing up, though- if you do not see any being added, let me know and I will review it further.

 

I think that over time the confusion about Passive Locations will go, but it might not be until Content Patch 2 in October that we can make it crystal clear.

 

Thanks!

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Thanks

 

Most skills have a dominant attribute that's the same as that of all the subskills.

School Survival has different dominant attributes for the different subskills.

That is supposed to be that way? And is it the only Skill with different dominances for the subskills?

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When you write that some Merits do not appear- can you explain this further? Do you mean, under Abilities?

...

I assume by 'books' you mean the Lores that you collect? They have no in-game function apart from being details about the game world and setting up a few things for Year 2. :)

 

For Merits, yes. New example : Merit XXXIII

 

By 'books', I refer to some events "you have learned about" which references seems to indicate a book.

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