Nagas and other "lost" pretenders

[Mortifer]

Originally posted by johan osterman:
There is work on modding tools going on...

YAY!

[ October 06, 2003, 10:04: Message edited by: Mortifer ]

[Pocus]

Originally posted by johan osterman:
a)There is obviously a problem for some players, other wise you wouldn't complain. In our experience it seems to be less of a problem than it appears to you.

This is my main point. I dont want my comments to be perceived as bitter remarks. I know well that you have heard in the past, many time, the numerous complaints of players.

I know well the issues you are reporting, and take account of them. That IW is a small team, mostly doing the work on hobby time for example. I wont discuss the 'problem' any further, because baring a massive poll on this topic, poll which could reasonably be launched only after some weeks or even months of playing dominions II, baring this, you would not be convinced, and me neither, that the problem is widespread, or is reduced to a hard core community of fanatic players.

The forum is a place of discussion, I felt appropriate to rise (again) the issue, because it is one for some players. I'm not speaking alone, and I dont feel either that I have the right to have anything from IW, except perhaps some explainations that you just gave me. SO everything is ok. I will play eargerly doms II, and will surely either recognize that the 'issues' some of us were having have dispareared, or, on the other hand, are still there. Then I will bring again the 'problem' on this forum.

[st.patrik]

So it seems that Dom II (at least as played by beta-testers) doesn't have such a reliance on scripting mages as Dom I - presumably because in Dom II mages aren't as foolish with their spell-casting options as Dom I mages.

My question is this: a prominent way to destroy armies in Dom I was to cast a ward spell, followed by the appropriate battlefield damage spell, e.g. Thunder Ward, followed by Wrathful Skies etc. Is this as important a part of winning battles in Dom II as it was in Dom I? I can see one reason why it wouldn't be - wards do not give total protection against their element anymore.

I guess a related question would be whether the AI would ever do the above combination - ward then battlefield damage spell. If not, and if such combos are still a viable way to do lots of damage to your opponent, then it would seem that scripting is still a really important part of the game.

The way Dom I is, if you want your mages to do anything really useful you've got to script. It seems like with Dom II IW are moving away from script-intensive battles and more toward getting the mages with the right abilities and research level out into the battlefield and letting them do their thing. In fact it seems like scripting might be a liability at times, and it's maybe better to let the mage decide what's best.

Since I'm kinda lazy I don't mind the trend , but on the other hand I think scripting is a key part of tactical combat in Dom I [perhaps the most key part]. I wonder if a well-scripted mage would beat one on autopilot, or vice versa - I guess that's what all this rambling is about

p.s. We all have ideas about what we'd like Dom II to look like - I myself have suggested several, and had several shot down by IW. But you can't really fault IW for taking their game in the direction they want. I think it's great that they have a presence in this forum, and actually interact with our suggestions & comments - but I don't think at all that they have a responsibility to do so - more like they're doing us a favour. That said, I do hope they implement some of the suggestions that have been made.

[johan osterman]

I am not sure this have been obvious enough, or perhaps you do not think it is enough of an improvement on scripting etc. There is in the latest Version of the beta the ability save a script or a set of orders and copy it to another commander. You can have up to ten scripts in memory simultaneously by pressing [ctrl]+[number] to copy and [number] to paste.

[Pocus]

Originally posted by johan osterman:
I am not sure this have been obvious enough, or perhaps you do not think it is enough of an improvement on scripting etc. There is in the latest Version of the beta the ability save a script or a set of orders and copy it to another commander. You can have up to ten scripts in memory simultaneously by pressing [ctrl]+[number] to copy and [number] to paste.

I read that, I think the suggestion was from Daynarr. I was unsure if this would be implemented for true, or was just a feature in testing. If this is validated & found in the final release, then is it great news.

thanks for your time.

[Truper]

Originally posted by MStavros:
IW should take a lesson from Timegate [Kohan developers], they are an awesome company.
They are always communicating via their message board with the fans, and they are always listening to them. That is the key to make a successful game. If you say things like: 'We like it this way, this won't be changed.', you will loose more fans for sure.
Think about it, before posting that sentence in any form. [/QB]

Are you aware that Illwinter released no fewer than 15 patches to Dominions 1, and that the vast majority of them were for the purpose of implementing improvements suggested by the player community? Implying that Illwinter is unresponsive is absurd.

[st.patrik]

Originally posted by MStavros:
That is the key to make a successful game. If you say things like: 'We like it this way, this won't be changed.', you will loose more fans for sure.
Think about it, before posting that sentence in any form.

It all depends on how you define 'successful' - a lot of fans' suggestions aren't very good; if you as a company incorporate all (or even most) of them you may be popular because you listen to what players want, but chances are your game will suck. I think IW (rightly IMO) are more interested in making a well-balanced game than having every player suggestion included. And again, I say this as someone who has made plenty of suggestions, so I'm not against making suggestions.

[ October 06, 2003, 15:28: Message edited by: st.patrik ]