Challenge Ideas, Test Realm Maintenance, Harvest Hannah in the Spiral, and Crowns Are On Sale

Teleporters in Zafaria, one of the additions of the last update that I missed.

A lot of people have said that Zafaria is too simple. As a result, Kingsisle bumped up the health on enemies, improved their statistics such as critical rating, and made a few other minor changes. I recently read one of the Friendly Necromancer's posts, and he mentioned this:

I hope that in the future that KI will look at increasing challenge in a more creative way. "Creative" though usually means "more time consuming." To quote myself:


"And that's another question. How should KingsIsle make the fights more difficult if they do? I don't think it's as simple as adding 1,000 health to every mob. I think most of us would rather see a more interesting mechanic rather than just stacking health on the things we fight. Strange resists? Beserk on first round? More healing mobs? More but limited battle circle sizes? More difficult puzzles? What is it that could make this more interesting to the battle weary legendary wizards?"


I have a sneaking suspicion that we're entirely too late in the game for many "interesting changes." You know?

I agree here, creative techniques are needed, maybe not in Zafaria, but in future worlds. I've come up with several ideas built into different categories. Some are generalized, and some would have a specific purpose.

Battles

Intense Combat Situations - Streets, instances, or zones where it is impossible to avoid battles because there is no walking room. You'll have to complete a battle and run as far as you can before engaging in the next until you reach your desired location. This will test not only a wizard's power to complete battles quickly, but to do so repeatedly. Speed increasing items will come in handy here. This type of system used in a maze format would be incredibly effective for a final instance or sorts, and there could be variations, too. Varying schools on these creatures would increase difficulty.

Combat in Waves - This works like a Tower Defense game. Enemies come in waves, starting out simple, and getting harder. Everything here takes place in a single battle, which means no room for potion drinking or leaving to gather health. Each waves of enemies comes after completion of the last right into the battle.

Minimized Combat - Battle situations where you must kill multiple enemies, but can have only one opponent in a battle.

Limited Friends - Four enemies are allowed to enter one battle, and only one wizard may enter. Henchmen are permitted.

Enemies

Mirrored Health - Enemies have two to four times the health of the opposing wizards combined.

Shape-shifting Opponents - Enemies whose school changes randomly each round.

Duplication - Probably used only once. A single person is duplicated about 12 times in a large room. Getting too close to any of them will engage you in battle. You must defeat the real one in order to move past the room. If the real enemy is in the center, you may have to fight battles before him or her. The real enemy would be randomized with each reset of the instance or area.

Guess Who - A room full of NPCs that would probably be used only once. Morganthe has possessed one, and you have to figure out which one. Talk to any of them at your own risk, and they'll give you hints about who is the enemy. Talking to the enemy will pull everyone into a battle. The enemy would be randomized each time through.

Cheating Bosses - Simply add more of these. They're quite simple once you figure out their cheats. Almost every boss should have one of some sort, no matter how small.

The "Rerun Tower" - All previous bosses you've defeated return in a new form with increased health and added cheats.

Morganthe's Pet - In the final instance, before Morganthe herself, we could have to defeat her main spider pet, which she enchants to grow incredibly large. Its eight legs are on eight separate parts of a mountain, each area blocked by a gate. You can go into combat with the leg, which cannot attack or cast spells, it simply has around 50,000 health. It will be guarded by three minions, who will devote their shields and healing to the leg, in addition to attacking the wizards. After the leg is defeated, the spider will swing it in agony, destroying the gate leading to the next area with the next leg.

Pass It On - Enemies who are constantly switching between activity and innactivity. For example, there might be four headless horsemen with one pumpkin head. Each horseman has 10,000 health, and is only active when he is holding the pumpkin head, which is passed around the group randomly. If you try to attack a horseman who goes inactive, you spell will do nothing, and your pips will disappear.

Puzzles

Tile Puzzles - Puzzles on the ground that require wizards to move in a specific way, direction, or other method. It could simply be a five by five box with random tiles lit up. Stepping on an unlit tile lights it, and stepping on a lit tile turns it off. It might be necessary to light all tiles.

Door Puzzles - A maze of rooms, each with a possible battle, puzzle, or wisps, that is randomized with each entrance. Each door requires a puzzle to be solved or a Wizard101 trivia question to be answered.

Instances


Jotun-Style - Create a main instance with a seemingly impossible last few battles with options to do smaller instances to reduce the enemies in the main one, which is really the only one needed for the main quest.

Three of Five - Create five puzzle and boss filled instances, all made to fit a different style, and require that any three of the five be completed.

Story Instances - An instance where you make decisions on paths to take, places to go, and enemies to fight that affect your rewards and difficulty level which tie into a story. Wrong paths could require an instance restart.

Gauntlets - Add more of these, where it is impossible to teleport in. Some instances can even be formed in this style.

Timed Instances - Instances which must be completed in a certain amount of time, or you'll be forced to restart.

Monster Encounters - Add monster encounters to instances, where you may be attacked and dealt something like 3000 damage, which will make preparation and gear planning essential. Perhaps some monsters don't like particular kinds of wands or pets.

Just thought I'd toss those out their, just in case anyone was looking for ideas.

In about five minutes, the Test Realm is going down for maintenence. Are they fixing bugs or changing spells? Expect that latest updates here at Swordroll's Blog!

Harvest Hannah is now in the Spiral, with a few new items for the holidays, including a full Pilgrim Outfit, and some interesting hats and wands. See her in the Shopping District by the fountain!

Crowns are also on sale - 60,00 crowns for $60! Get 'em while you can; this sale won't last long!

If you'll also notice, the blog's content now has rounded corners to match the theme! Tell me what you think!

Thanks for reading, and see you in the Spiral!