There was some new stuff this release that could be obtained in-game - well dungeon entrance, shrines of attunement. I spent a lot of time collecting the ingredients in order to craft some of the shrines and it was difficult but fun. Why was it fun? Because it gave me purpose. The Catnip staff should be thinking seriously, every release, about what they can do to give players purpose. Simply adding a new scene with super difficult enemies doesn't cut it. That's not giving anyone a reason to go there or even bootup the game. A nice quest with some fun story and a reward at the end would go a long way toward reeling in players. A reward doesn't have to ultimately increase a player's power either; it could be a cool looking decoration or a unique title or a piece of indestructible gear that gives a good looking eternal pattern when salvaged or even just a recipe. More items like the dread artifacts would also be fun to collect and use. There are probably many other things that could give players purpose that I'm not thinking of here.
The main point here I think was the fact that we knew WHERE we had to go, you want an Aether Orb, go to Spindleskog, you want Suutak Blusters? Hunt down Air elementals. This wasn't just mindless grinding, you knew what you were hunting, and had a clear goal. I think a big pass on all artifacts to render them all this way, and all future drops. Remove the "Global random drop table", and make them mob/scene specific will help immensely in terms of fixing loot and making the game more fun.
I think I've played more in the last two weeks than the previous three months combined. Somebody was on to something, here.
Yeah I normally just do my routine then head off. I actually headed off to run around various scenes I hadn’t been to for a long time. That was actually fun.
Too bad this kind of release can't be done too often, because it would lead to inevitable power creep.
Not sure why you say this! There is a lot that can be done with whats already in game to make it feel like this even with existent recipes and mats! Just need to keep revamp a bit what already existing in game! For example component from staff of anarchy could drop on specific mobs of specific scene : this will make people and all scene matters in game outside quest.
Thats why I wish they would just switch to a 2 or even 3 month content delivery. This would basically improve the game and the games overall perception greatly. Just my own opinion.
Yeah I think a crafting overhaul would be appretiated, but just making crafted gear be on par with artifacts (I'm looking at you Bandit Gear) would start a chain effect of power creep. The game is clearly not designed over power creep, so they must be cautious with new stronger items of any sort. My two cents on crafting is we need rare components that can match good artifacts, but be rare and valuable, the sort of thrilling loot to get, yielding unique looking gear that's really kept to a minimum quantity in the game.