Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 28, 2024, 11:35:46 AM

Login with username, password and session length

Search:     Advanced search
we're back, baby
*
Home Help Search Login Register
f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  The Gaming Graveyard  |  MMOG Discussion  |  Browser-Based Titles  |  Topic: Nodiatis 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Pages: [1] Go Down Print
Author Topic: Nodiatis  (Read 14147 times)
WindupAtheist
Army of One
Posts: 7028

Badicalthon


on: January 22, 2009, 03:59:33 AM

www.nodiatis.com

Yes it's by THAT Glitchless and THAT Jeff.

I keep one of those pay-as-you-go credit cards around for buying shit online. That way if I ever get keylogged by filthy Chinese hackers or something, they won't get more than like twenty bucks out of me. This card had five bucks sitting on it, change left over from the last time I paid up my UO account a few months ago.

What I'm trying to say is that I just paid five real American dollars for a month of Dawn: The Browser Edition. Fuck it, it's got lots of crunchy stats and a neat magic system, and something about the grind has tickled my inner Korean. One more level in Blunt Weapons and I can equip a polehammer. Then those level 4 snakes in the next area will feel my wrath, and with the double XP I get as a customer it's on to GLORY!

 why so serious?

"You're just a dick who quotes himself in his sig."  --  Schild
"Yeah, it's pretty awesome."  --  Me
Wasted
Terracotta Army
Posts: 848


Reply #1 on: January 22, 2009, 05:53:00 AM

So I've started a character with the sole purpose of finding ways to grief people.

The game sucks, it's distilled grind to an art form though, I guess there is that.  Race war kingdoms was count the mouse clicks to each level, this game is a bit better but I still feel a lot of similarities.  The skills don't seem that complicated once you play it a little, other than picking what broad tree you want you pretty much level all of them.  And skills for item stacking and backpack space wtf? I haven't looked at the crafting yet.  I'm sure it sucks too.

So have you found any good ways to grief people yet?  I haven't looked into the pvp yet, hopefully there are lots of opportunities for unbalanced ganking and tears and people quitting.
WindupAtheist
Army of One
Posts: 7028

Badicalthon


Reply #2 on: January 22, 2009, 06:58:32 AM

You can PK someone, if you don't mind being flagged permanently for permadeath.  awesome, for real

It's pretty shit, really. I don't know why I like it.

Maybe because it just does a few things that are... different? Your level is increased through fighting, but your skills are at least as important and are increased by 'trophies' you take and turn in from your kills. The trophies can be sold on the auction house, but they decay every 24 hours. So you can basically SELL xp, but you can't hoard it. Skills aren't even capped by level, the trophies just get a certain percentage less effective the more the skill in question is over your level.

Oh, and I found out what causes the "shared bliss" effect that gives everyone free gold. It's whenever someone spends real money. When I chipped in my five dollars, everyone got five gold. Which makes the frequency with which the game is handing me larger amounts of free gold rather shocking.

Or maybe not. There's a $15 upgrade required to equip epic items, from what I hear. When you get an epic but don't have the upgrade, it sits in your inventory and you can do NOTHING but destroy it or buy the upgrade. Otherwise it just sits there taking up an inventory slot and taunting you. That's fucking devious.
« Last Edit: January 22, 2009, 07:57:49 AM by WindupAtheist »

"You're just a dick who quotes himself in his sig."  --  Schild
"Yeah, it's pretty awesome."  --  Me
Lantyssa
Terracotta Army
Posts: 20848


Reply #3 on: January 22, 2009, 09:04:24 AM

1) You paid money for this?  Thanks, that's worth a giggle.

2) I'm at least amused enough by it to sit in town, collect free money, and level up a few skills with passive gains.  That's probably worth a giggle for someone else.

3) I have no idea how the buddy system works.  I'm 'Kylantha' if you want to have my icon showing in your window.  I don't do much, just sit in town, but you can have a buddy.

4) Is shared bliss a 1:1?  Someone gave us a 125 one last night.  shocked

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
WindupAtheist
Army of One
Posts: 7028

Badicalthon


Reply #4 on: January 22, 2009, 09:37:43 AM

Eh, it was five bucks that was otherwise going to sit on my "internet bullshit" card until at least the end of March. It's something I mostly play while tabbing back and forth between it and some dull from-home work I'm doing, and so the grind doesn't feel so bad to me. If I'm next to town farming stuff I can auto attack to death, I can progress while paying five or ten seconds of attention every two or three minutes. I pay attention when I'm buying stuff, messing with my stats, or fighting something threatening.

And yeah, shared bliss is a one-to-one dollars/gold conversion. So someone blew $125 on this game in one transaction last night. If anyone gave a fuck, they could keep a newbie character logged in 24/7 and have an exact count of the game's revenue down to the dollar except for the fact that there's an option to disable shared bliss.

"You're just a dick who quotes himself in his sig."  --  Schild
"Yeah, it's pretty awesome."  --  Me
Murgos
Terracotta Army
Posts: 7474


Reply #5 on: January 22, 2009, 10:08:06 AM

There's a $15 upgrade required to equip epic items.

ACK!

"You have all recieved youre last warning. I am in the process of currently tracking all of youre ips and pinging your home adressess. you should not have commencemed a war with me" - Aaron Rayburn
schild
Administrator
Posts: 60345


WWW
Reply #6 on: January 22, 2009, 10:16:39 AM

There's a $15 upgrade required to equip epic items.

ACK!
I think it's brilliant.
Murgos
Terracotta Army
Posts: 7474


Reply #7 on: January 22, 2009, 10:25:30 AM

Oh, no doubt.  If WoW suddenly decided that they wanted 100 bucks per character to equip epics I'd imagine that even after cancellations they'd be up a cool billion on the year.

edit: Also, I need to get into the ripping people off for access to digital bits business.

"You have all recieved youre last warning. I am in the process of currently tracking all of youre ips and pinging your home adressess. you should not have commencemed a war with me" - Aaron Rayburn
Lantyssa
Terracotta Army
Posts: 20848


Reply #8 on: January 22, 2009, 11:43:04 AM

Geezus.  It's a good business model then.  I've got $1300 worth of shared bliss over the last two days.

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
WindupAtheist
Army of One
Posts: 7028

Badicalthon


Reply #9 on: January 22, 2009, 12:46:33 PM

A quick rundown of the RMT options, and just look how fucking cynically genius they are!

Standard account status: 1 extra hour of rested XP per day, double all XP, 5 extra inventory slots, 1 extra gem (spell) and rune (trinket) slot. You get 16 weeks for $19.95.

Premium account status: 2 extra hours of rested XP per day, triple all XP, 10 extra inventory slots, 2 extra gem and rune slots. You get 16 weeks for $49.95.

"Grinder" upgrade: Permanently changes the loot and XP you get when not rested from 1/6th to the WoW-standard 1/2. Permanent and costs $54.95.

Acceleration upgrade: Doubles the XP you get while rested, while causing you to consume rested XP at double the rate. Also doubles your rate of travel by decreasing uninitiated monster encounters. Togglable, permanent, costs $54.95.

Time cards: This is what I got. Can be redeemed for your choice of 1 month standard access, 10 days premium access, or 6 hours of rested XP. Can also be sold in-game on the auction house for big money. Costs $5.

"Haw haw!" you scoff. "Who would pay $50 for stuff in some grindy browser game?!"

Beats me, but I've been watching the money fly into old GLJeff's pocket for 2 days now. I particularly enjoy the fact that you don't pay to make epics drop, you pay to be able to do anything but destroy them once they're already sitting in your pack staring at you. Now that's devious.
« Last Edit: January 22, 2009, 12:51:35 PM by WindupAtheist »

"You're just a dick who quotes himself in his sig."  --  Schild
"Yeah, it's pretty awesome."  --  Me
Mrbloodworth
Terracotta Army
Posts: 15148


Reply #10 on: January 22, 2009, 01:52:01 PM

Equipping epics...so, like dungeon runners used to be? Before non-subscriber epics.

Today's How-To: Scrambling a Thread to the Point of Incoherence in Only One Post with MrBloodworth . - schild
www.mrbloodworthproductions.com  www.amuletsbymerlin.com
WindupAtheist
Army of One
Posts: 7028

Badicalthon


Reply #11 on: January 22, 2009, 02:31:24 PM

No. Each epic requires a different combination of Ultima-style "virtues" in order to equip. A given weapon might take Valor, while a certain helmet takes Honor and Compassion both. As I understand it, these virtues can only be purchased for dollars, and must be purchased individually. You have to purchase these virtues separately, even if you've already blown two hundred bucks or whatever on premium status and assorted bonuses.

It's basically an endgame tax on top of anything else one might pay.

"You're just a dick who quotes himself in his sig."  --  Schild
"Yeah, it's pretty awesome."  --  Me
Murgos
Terracotta Army
Posts: 7474


Reply #12 on: January 22, 2009, 02:40:30 PM

I'm going to make a flash applet with a dude and a sword and every time you click a button it costs you money.  Yes, even to quit.

"You have all recieved youre last warning. I am in the process of currently tracking all of youre ips and pinging your home adressess. you should not have commencemed a war with me" - Aaron Rayburn
Wasted
Terracotta Army
Posts: 848


Reply #13 on: January 22, 2009, 03:55:31 PM

Every time I see shared bliss I feel physically ill.  I think I'm allergic to this game.
WindupAtheist
Army of One
Posts: 7028

Badicalthon


Reply #14 on: January 22, 2009, 04:24:28 PM

It's like the nightmare version of MMO monetization. Institute horrifying grind, then charge ungodly sums of money to reduce said grind, knowing a certain demographic of poopsock Skinner box addicts won't be able to resist emptying their wallets at you.

"You're just a dick who quotes himself in his sig."  --  Schild
"Yeah, it's pretty awesome."  --  Me
Lantyssa
Terracotta Army
Posts: 20848


Reply #15 on: January 22, 2009, 10:22:12 PM

It is Progress Quest with an option to pay cash to click the button more effectively.  I am truly amazed.

I'm also thinking I need to finish up my MegaTen database and add a little PayPal/Google Checkout button on it.  The amount of money people are willing to toss on worthless items baffles me.

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
WindupAtheist
Army of One
Posts: 7028

Badicalthon


Reply #16 on: January 22, 2009, 11:09:53 PM

Nah, there's a game there. I see people talking about minigames related to fishing and foraging and some of those types of skills, there's a high-level PK who's been running around really bold for the last few days flirting with permadeath, I see people asking for groups to kill bosses, and so forth. It's clunky and grindy as hell, and it's business model is a calculating rape factory for poopsocks, but it's not ProgressQuest.

OMG I just got 250 gold worth of shared bliss. Someone just dropped $250 on this game at a stroke.
« Last Edit: January 23, 2009, 12:38:20 AM by WindupAtheist »

"You're just a dick who quotes himself in his sig."  --  Schild
"Yeah, it's pretty awesome."  --  Me
Lantyssa
Terracotta Army
Posts: 20848


Reply #17 on: January 23, 2009, 09:56:42 AM

Have you tried the fishing minigame?  Boss fights are just like 'fighting' a mob a few levels higher.  Sure there is a little more thought required than pushing a single button, but it really isn't that much different.  The interaction is extremely limited.

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
WindupAtheist
Army of One
Posts: 7028

Badicalthon


Reply #18 on: January 23, 2009, 02:49:47 PM

Typically when I go into combat with something threatening enough, I'll throw my "flee" up on the bar when it's drawn in case I need it, and to keep it from coming up again. I'll throw my recastable nuke up there as soon as it's drawn, and begin firing it everytime it comes off it's 10 second cooldown. As soon as my aura spell gets drawn, I'll put it up on the bar where it increases the max damage of my nuke just by being there. I have two DOT spells, a long-duration poison one and a short-duration fire one. As soon as each is drawn I'll toss it up and cast it right away.

Neither DOT stays up on the bar when cast, both go back down to be drawn again, but since they're my only two spells that don't stay on the bar permanently it doesn't matter. I can throw them back up there as soon as they're drawn, ready to be reapplied when they wear off, because there's nothing else TO draw. Plus if I need to flee and my initial "casting" of it fails, I can leave each DOT on the bar, and now "flee" is the only thing that can be drawn.

The tradeoff for being able to do very focused damage like this is that I don't have much utility. I don't have a heal, I don't have a taunt, I don't have multiple auras or any of the spells that swap mana for energy, or give mana to other people, or any of that. Because I don't group, and I don't feel like sitting through wasted draws of spells I don't need, or wasting hotbar space trying to get them out of the way.

Combat so far as a level 5 seems at least as thoughtful as walking around burning down normal/elite mobs in any other game. And hey, I didn't get handed this spell selection based on class, I thought of it myself. But really, to be more accurate, it seems thoughtful about 1% of the time because the other 99% of the time I'm just turning on autoattack and tabbing out until it's time to come back and loot. It's such a grind that the mechanics don't matter, any system is lame when applied to the same level 4 snake five hundred times in a row. You nailed it the first time you commented on this game. Some interesting ideas, and a whole lot of crap.

But hey, if it were too engaging I couldn't "play" it while working without much effect on my productivity.  awesome, for real

"You're just a dick who quotes himself in his sig."  --  Schild
"Yeah, it's pretty awesome."  --  Me
dusematic
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2250

Diablo 3's Number One Fan


Reply #19 on: February 01, 2009, 11:23:35 PM

Just logged on to try it.  Kind of clunky as you said but I can see how it could scratch that grindy itch.
WindupAtheist
Army of One
Posts: 7028

Badicalthon


Reply #20 on: February 02, 2009, 12:25:43 AM

For some reason getting my skill up to where I could equip my first pet left me with my grind itch thoroughly scratched, and I've barely logged in ever since. I hop on to select a new skill for passive gains and kill a few things, but that's about it. Lantyssa used to log into the game and then leave her character sitting AFK in the first town all day to soak up passive skills and free gold, but even that seems to have quit being worth it.

I do like the fact that they have a designated anything-goes chat channel. The community might be a bunch of idiot teenagers, but at least I can tell them to shut the fuck up and rot in hell.

"You're just a dick who quotes himself in his sig."  --  Schild
"Yeah, it's pretty awesome."  --  Me
Lantyssa
Terracotta Army
Posts: 20848


Reply #21 on: February 02, 2009, 12:11:46 PM

Since the first pet I found required 14 skill (wtf?), and my bar essentially stopped moving at level 10 over the course of a week, I gave up.  I might pop in the adjust passive skills, but yeah.  It has some interesting ideas (for real games to steal), and I learned how fools and their money are soon parted, but there isn't really a game there to play.

Oh, for those curious I had my character logged in for about 16 hours a day for a week.  Through Shared Bliss I know people spent at least $5000.

My recommendation to anyone looking for money is to design a chat room with a silly little interactive number tweaker attached.  Also practice your laugh while driving to the bank to avoid any traffic accidents.  You'll probably be able to hire a chauffeur soon enough though, so you'll only have to worry about not laughing so hard as to distract your driver.

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
WindupAtheist
Army of One
Posts: 7028

Badicalthon


Reply #22 on: February 02, 2009, 02:17:17 PM

I got a pet sewer rat I could use at 10 skill. It dropped off some boss, and they sell them in (I think) the third town. Still, the pet system is pretty boring. Supposedly they can do stuff like heal you and cast spells at higher levels, but my rat is just like having a second weapon equipped on its own timer.

"You're just a dick who quotes himself in his sig."  --  Schild
"Yeah, it's pretty awesome."  --  Me
Pages: [1] Go Up Print 
f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  The Gaming Graveyard  |  MMOG Discussion  |  Browser-Based Titles  |  Topic: Nodiatis  
Jump to:  

Powered by SMF 1.1.10 | SMF © 2006-2009, Simple Machines LLC