Thoughts from a beginner

As I have some time to kill and have been enjoying Nodiatis the last two days I thought I would put down some of my thoughts. It would be nice to think somewhere in this wall of text are some good ideas; I think the seed of a good game is evident in Nodiatis and would love to see what it might grow into.

A little background to myself. I have been playing online games for 10 years starting with mudding where I was a pretty hardcore PvE mudder on RetroMud (staying online 22 hours for a game first kill at least once) for about 5 years until I ran out of new content to explore. When WoW hit I switched to that and raided for 3 years along with spending time playing other browser based games such as Travian, and Fallen Sword.

I can be anything!
Ok so to start up there something like 15 classes, looks good I pick out something sounding fun, an enchanter. In most of these games buffers/debuffers are both key for endgame content and rare so I figure this will make me popular. I load up the game and get on with things following the tutorial.

Problem 1
I picked a spell caster and you don’t give me any spells or hints as to how spells work

Now, I like the premise of spell casting in Nodiatis, its a fun and involving system with some pretty obvious flaws (which we will come to later); but hell on earth if I have any idea how it works. Why is the gem tutorial triggered after I buy a gem? Give the caster a level 0 gem of the appropriate color which does 1 point of damage when they start, and run through the gem tutorial then. Hell give everyone a level 0 gem with a spell, because (again we will touch this later) everyone is a spell caster.

My kingdom for a working inventory
This is basic UI stuff; items should auto stack, there should be a loot all button, when I drag a stack of trophies to a totem they should all be used. I understand why this isn’t a priority; there is a basic conflict in this game between a good experience and the ultimate commodity: rested time (more on THIS in a moment). But fundamentally, fix the freaking UI or people will be turned off.

Screw the caster
The low levels are broken, I leveled to 3 just fine but couldn't get to T2 without help. When I did there I couldn't kill a thing with my wimpy 3 damage spell. After while I went back to T1 bought a grass sword and proceeded to ****ING OWN everything.

Now, designing progression about a single item that most spell casters wont pick up? That’s terrible design, and its obvious with a little hindsight because the Grass sword is miles better than any other weapon in the T1 shop. It also brings another problem to light. Low level magic doesn’t work.

To get to T2 all I needed was Slashing(2) and 990 gold. What I had gone for instead was level 4 in grey and blue magic and a bunch of other stuff which made me useless because the grass sword does 1-11 damage every 1.6 seconds while my runes do 3 damage every 8 seconds and I may wait up to 30s to even draw one.

The maths is all wrong, melee is a ton more dps, and unlimited by mana. On top of that at level 2 I am fighting monster with 10blue spells.

If I want to melee I need to point points into 3 skills: Weapon type, crit and over crit. All my spirit trophies round me out, I can play guardian put all my spirit is psyche magic and be almost as good a spell caster as my enchanter.

If I want to be a caster I need to put points into: Spell colour, Skills to put gems in my gem pouch, Staff, mental conservation, sleight of hand, destruction wizardry, divination, and gem handling.

Staff being in Death magic is such a double kicker; as a melee I spend phys trophies on my melee and spirity on my spells; as a caster I spent spirit on my melee and spirit on my spells! So I have to give up advancing my spells to advance my staff, but as a melee I dont have to give up advancing my weapon skill to advance my spells.

Money money money
Games need money, that’s cool I don’t expect you to do this for free, but who thought up the pricing? Standard is right where it should be but Premium is straight out of lala land: $50 every 3 months is about what Blizzard charge me to play WoW and I get more than 3 hours play a day for one thing.

Acceleration and grinder are slightly better as permanent upgrades but honestly seem pricey, I think you would get a better return if you set the price at $30.

But fundamentally, there is a conflict. Players want a good fast UI which is easy to use, but you have built a game built about rested time. I'm willing to say that half the reason there isn’t a loot-all button or auto stacking is that those seconds really add up and the more time it takes me to play the more money goes in your pocket. Its a pretty nasty conflict of interests.

And finally
Quests, I mean what the hell?
That took all of 2 minutes to think of (kill 10X, loot 10 Y, kill Boss) and that’s all you came up with for 60 levels? The same 3 recycled quests over and over?


If you read this far
I like the game, the casting mechanics are novel and engaging, the skills are pretty thorough (though for all the options every class is the same), and the art is easy on the eye. If I didn’t think the game had any upsides I wouldn’t have wasted time typing this up.

Hopefully some of these comments will be taken in the light they are intended and help improve the game for everyone, but especially for new players.

all this has been brought up so far...

-u can drag upto 10 trophies at once into the altar by hold shift when clicking a stack, the reason u cannot do more is so u cannot abuse trophy lvling
-magic has a weird scale but in the end it balances out with melee, gems in the endgame are 600dmg while weapons are 300-400
-yes the grass sword is the best weapon a new player can buy in t1 but as a mage your stave does alot better for you, if u read the skill descriptions you'll see why staves arent as powerful as melee weapons
-stacking and looting shouldnt really affect rested time consumed how long does it take to grab 3-5trophies while u heal up
-staves use spirit because they are so powerful for casters...
-you dont need to pay a dime to play this game rested time refreshes everyday
-if you dont like the cost of premium i dare say dont purchase it
-consider that if your playing more then 4hrs a day of any one game there are larger problems in your life then the problems this game has
-most of what you consider a problem is very minor in the overall scheme of things in this game perhaps if u played more then a day and a half u could have a more poignant opinion about it.

Grass sword is 4.5/1.6 = 2.81 damage per second.
Skills needed: Slashing (2)

Staff is 6.5/3.5 = .1.8 dps
Staff also gives me draw haste (irrelivant as I can just take recastable gems at this level), mana regen (irrelivant I dont go OOM during combat), and 10.21% more spell damage (taking crit as straight double damage). The spells deal 3 damage/10 seconds ignoring the time it takes to draw the gems. This gives me an extra 10.21%*3/100 = 0.03063 dps per gem drawn. Even if I count the 40% draw speed as 40% dps (it isnt) that only makes the staff a 0.15 dps increase in spell damage, far less than the 1dps I lost in melee damage.

Skills needed:
Staff(3)
Wizardry (1)
Divination(1)
Slight of hand (1)
Destruction (1)

So I need 4 extra skill ranks, and am still worse off than just using a grass sword.

I might be new but I do understand math, and I am afraid in this case you are wrong. At low levels grass sword is pretty much the only viable weapon choice.

Further: Where am I taught about shift-dragging in the tutorial? I did not see that hint in the last 2 days of play.

They might appear minor to you "in the overall scheme of thngs" but this is the part of the game where people will make an initial decision to stay with the game or leave. If the first 3/4 levels are so badly polished it does not give a good impression.

I don't appreciate the "lol get a real life" jibe either.

Your point about spells vs swords is almost irrelevant: anyone of any class can cast spells so the only comparisson which is relevant is the loss in melee dps vs the gain in spell dps when wielding a staff. The fact that a nuke is 600 and a sword is 300 damage does not matter when any class can swing both the sword and the nuke.

Ok it's high time Jeff or SOMEBODY did something about that crappy tutorial that all newbies start out with. I chose an angel on my first try (and am still using the character). When I started, I had to ask on civil to help with how to cast spells because nothing in the tutorial told me how to do this. Of course, after taking some insults by some of the players (who understandably were sick of being asked the same questions over and over again), someone eventually pm me to help.

Problem 1: Why isn't it mentioned ANYWHERE that Damage over Time spells are stackable? Forums are not much help - there are hundreds of threads to read through and besides, a comprehensive tutorial at the start of this game should help with this. Additionally, even the GEMS didn't say anything about stacking. I didn't know it stacked until I hit level 20 and someone told me - prior to this, i was practically dying to anything yellow and above. After that, I could solo reds and even purples - which shows what a BIG difference this makes.

Problem 2: Casting is very difficult because there are many different types of magic and typically at level 10, the caster can only be very good in 2 magic colours, or average in 4. Thus, some tutorial on HOW and WHICH colour magic to select would be very helpful.

Problem 3: Please for goodness sake put something in caster tutorial on HOW to equip gems. This is a VERY common question by all newbies and you would think the developer would do something about this by now.

Problem 4: Please write something in tutorials that a caster using a staff cannot equip anything else - archery, shields etc. I only found this out AFTER i spent gold buying a shield and archery equipment and spending trophies - which is a BAD way to learn that you can't do it (a waste of trophies and gold). No where in the archery skill or shield skill does it say that a staffer cannot use it.

NOTE basically the tutorial SUCKS. The game itself is good, but a newbie starting out has to learn everything the hard way, which is a deterrent. Some people just drop out by level 6 because it's so difficult and help is so hard to come by. Frankly the current tutorial is only good if you chose a melee character.

i already said the sword is better then your stave, personally i dont care if u dont enjoy my quips about not having a life

a stave is a better weapon for a caster because 90% of caster skills are tied to equipping a stave, so yes everyone can cast a gem but not everyone can doublecast gems or cast them as well, quickly, and at such a reduced cost, not to mention starting off with your best/favorite gem. there are plenty of skill u have yet to see since they are only available to be seen or lvled up after lvl 20/40/60. some of these "tips" are from the pro tips that jeff has pop up whenever u log in... i know no one reads them but they are helpful from time to time. it even says that the only things that dont stack are like auras, the gem tutorial happens when u buy your first gem. and the very first tutorial tries to explain how to cast gems with the escape potions (although not very well). i do agree that some things should be mentioned, but there should be 3 tutorials. one if u buy a whip, one if u buy a melee weapon and one if u buy a stave. but i do not agree that u should be hand fed every peice of information.

Style, I do think that a player should have the option to CHOOSE whether he wants to do a complete tutorial or just have a run through. Pro tips are random. I always read them, but I don't remember if I ever got the stacking one..

Again, some information or at least a webpage for intro should be made available so that experienced players can just direct newbies to the page and not have to answer every time a newbie asks the same question.

[Sapreaver]

Someday someone will make a jimcav.com for nodiatis I hope it is soon

Originally Posted by Resurgi

Money money money
Games need money, that’s cool I don’t expect you to do this for free, but who thought up the pricing? Standard is right where it should be but Premium is straight out of lala land

This must be the most expensive game in the history of gaming industry. I have really taken to this game and I so want to buy premium account, but the sky-high price does put me off. And what the heck is with this 3h a day rested time? So for $150/year I only get to play 3 hours per day? What a total rip-off!
Or did I get it all wrong?
Cheers!

[God Stomper]

Of all 3 characters I've made (one is an inconsequential free), I've never been able to make it to T2 without gems (not runes, by the way).
My first character is melee (level 14); my second is caster (level 10). I assure you that my caster is much more powerful at level 10 than my melee fighter was. I will admit that a portion of that is due to skilling the bejeezus out of staves and getting a lvl 17 epic staff at level 8, but the point is still the same. Even without that staff, my caster is pretty pwnage. I will agree that the spirit trophies become an enormous sinkhole, and that is a bit of a dilemma, but I've noticed that, if built correctly, casters are really quite powerful. That's why I built one. Right now, at level 10, I can do twice as much damage per second as my level 14 melee w/ epic weapon, especially since 25% of the time, I START THE BATTLE WITH 3 AURAS IN PLAY!!
So, yes, the first couple of levels are difficult, and the spirit trophies just suck the life out of you, but casters can be one badass class. Also, you can stick all of your combat trophies into petmanship, so you can level petmanship faster than any other melee class, since they have to use theirs for weaponry. My lvl 10 has a lvl 18 pet!

Originally Posted by Eyesore

This must be the most expensive game in the history of gaming industry. I have really taken to this game and I so want to buy premium account, but the sky-high price does put me off. And what the heck is with this 3h a day rested time? So for $150/year I only get to play 3 hours per day? What a total rip-off!
Or did I get it all wrong?
Cheers!

Heroin is a ripoff too when you're not a junkie.
Keep that shared bliss flowin suckahs!

Originally Posted by Ravenskar

Heroin is a ripoff too when you're not a junkie.
Keep that shared bliss flowin suckahs!

and when u are its dirt cheap

i expected such a highly sophisticated answer.

Originally Posted by Eyesore

i expected such a highly sophisticated answer.

You wanted "The best is yet to come" ?

[Valiumandritalin]

Heroin isn't cheap when you're a junkie.

Why ?

Because you can't put a price tag on living.

The great thing about gaming... If you don't like it, don't pay for it, don't play it.

If you like it, pay for it, and play it.

Otherwise quit whining.

Originally Posted by Bentro

The great thing about gaming... If you don't like it, don't pay for it, don't play it.

If you like it, pay for it, and play it.

Otherwise quit whining.

Actually, the original poster didn't whine about it. He made a very constructive comment in an effort to help the people that created this game. His idea that the cost would drive people from getting the premium membership was a valid one. I for one, would never consider paying such a cost. If it were cheaper, I would. Now there's at least one person that has been impacted by their choice of pricing.

Ath here, your friendly neighbourhood archer.

On turtorial: Archers don't get one either. However you need to be pretty dumb to not figure out archery. Otherwise I agree that the turtorial is a bit flawed and should have a "skip" options.

Quests: I am a quest junkie, I love quests, More More More quests will make me happy.

Looting: Looting does NOT drain rested time. However Healing does, so when your rested time goes down in looting screen it's becaus your life is going up, check the rested time bar(s) when you have full health, mana and energey.

Caster: Admitedly hard at start, but I know (if memory serves me right) that Hopilus draws gems once every 3.6 seccond and her DoT's are quite amazing.

Everyone using gems: No, everyone won't use those really nice DoT and other damage gems, becaus they cost EXTREAM ammunt of mana and energy, which is reduced for staff users, not to mention thier in combat regeneration ratios =)

Classes: As it is the game favours Dual Wielders to an extreme I would say, sure Archers has nice DPH, but not so nice DPS. Not to mention Archer Epic bonus is very very crappy, and casters only gets 2 epic staffs (WTH, they should have more)

Money: I work night in avreage every seccond day, I don't have a life to waste my money on (I know, it's sad)

Mobs: Using level 10 Blue Magic... yeah stinks... That Daze gem is really the only thing mobs and bosses has to kill us with.

All in all: He makes a valid point, he puts up real fact, and he states it is all for low levels, he posts what he says is his thoughts, so I think it is sad that some people see it fit to insult him. I agree in a general principle on it all.

Basselope Neophyte Posts: 1

Originally Posted by Basselope

Actually, the original poster didn't whine about it. He made a very constructive comment in an effort to help the people that created this game. His idea that the cost would drive people from getting the premium membership was a valid one. I for one, would never consider paying such a cost. If it were cheaper, I would. Now there's at least one person that has been impacted by their choice of pricing.

Rule #1 Internet Forum Posting

If no one else agrees with you make a new name and agree with yourself.

[Sporky]

i totally agree with original post.

experienced gamer here, played this for 2 days but the prices turn me off. lower them, and fix a couple of the flaws mentioned above and ill gladly pay to play this.

i do like the game and think it has massive potential

i'll keep this game on my favorites list and check up from time to time...till then ill be spending money elsewhere though

a note on weaponry ... 1st pay attention ... 2nd pay real close attention ... if the weapon you buy is a 2h or 2 handed weapon how pray tell are you supposed to equip a shield ... in all the years of my gaming exp (and they are vast) i have never seen in a platform or pc a bow or staff that allowed you to carry a shield if you carfully read the discription of the weapons pane it will tell you 1h or 2h its real simple ... as for the original post it has merit as i too had trouble with the tutorial ( and im an adventurer i went with the exp bonus may reroll later) i will leave you with this thought... the best advice take your time read though everything you find the game will help you if you ... PAY ATTENTION!!!!