1.4.42 Release Notes

[Adrian (Developer)]

Hey all and a Happy New Year. We just released 1.4.42 on Google Play, soon to be released on all other platforms.
It contains several bug-fixes and user experience improvements.

• Fixed a bug causing the auto-attack to stop after using another ability.
• Fixed a bug causing Multishot and Frost Beam to miss their targets in Drakenmore Citadel.
• Fixed a bug causing quest friendly NPCs to be despawned in certain levels after starting those levels too many times.
• Garm buff areas are now properly working in story mode.
• Improved experience when interacting with barrels/bushes.
• Shortened level-up animation.
• Fixed a bug in which users could remain stuck in the tutorial crafting quest.
• Leaderboards are now disabled between seasons.

[Tin Man]

I will avoid this release until I am forced to update. Resetting the leader boards? Required. Disabling them entirely? Hurts the players.

[Anjaeka]

Adrian (Developer) , can you please explain the reasoning behind disabling the leaderboards? I appreciate all of the bug fixes, but the decision to remove a key feature of the game between seasons has me utterly perplexed.

[Fish knife]

I agree with Tin Man and Anjaeka, disabling the leaderboards is a terrible idea! Adrian, please reconsider.

[LodWig]

I agree with Fish knife on agreeing with Tin Man and Anjaeka.

(Which is not surprising, after all, we are one and the same.)

[Tin Man]

Is this a reunion thread? MarkHark and lmcelhiney both commenting on the same thread. Boy, you really rate LodWig.

[MarkHark]

Tin Man, you shouldn't be surprised that both lmcelhiney and I have commented on the same thread, after all we are one and the same, just like one very good movie I once watched called - SPOILER AHEAD ---->>>>>>............................................ ............................................ Identity.

[MarkHark]

Don't spoiler brackets work inside comments?
[SPOILER]123[/SPOILER]

[szin]

• Leaderboards are now disabled between seasons.

Definitely no user experience improvement here.

[Ozymandius]

Will the game continue to track your heroes progress through the trials? It is helpful to have the record of a heroes last trial time and experience, especially with so many different types of gear set ups...

[Tin Man]

Will the game continue to track your heroes progress through the trials? It is helpful to have the record of a heroes last trial time and experience, especially with so many different types of gear set ups...

Whether or not the game tracks it is unknown and only a developer can answer that question.

The only information that us players can see is what trials are unlocked and what trial was played last. Clearing time? Damage done? Equipment used? All the information that we are accustomed to seeing is something that is lost to the player unless you personally record all the information you want to keep before you "finish" the trial.

Have they given any thought of all about how this impacts players?

How to play the game information provided by the developers is scant at best. As I recall, the developers have stated that they want the players to explore and figure out the game and intentionally keep the documentation light. The vast, vast majority of information available to the players comes from other players. Even basic information like the number of trials that unlock for a given completion time or a table of what total crafting experience is necessary to achieve crafting Mastery Level 50. Yes, people like Travis and Liana are there to help and do answer questions. The community is player driven however. There is nothing wrong with that.

The leader boards. Oh, the leader boards. Looking at the leader boards is how I learned to play the game. Without them? I would have thought I was rocking it by struggling with Trial Level 80. I mean, I was doing my best. I had all my set gear at level 70. I had jewelry I thought was top notch. All my abilities were maxed out. Hitting that wall at Trial Level 80 with Elban, I could have easily and logically assume that I had pretty much just reach the end of the game. I mean, look at the time and energy I invested in a free adventure. Nothing lasts forever. The new Champion Levels took what seemed like forever compared to the frequency at even around Champion Level 100. This was back in the day when the one and only time I visited the Forum was for the Secret Code.

But guess what?

I never made that assumption because I was in awe of the players that had conquered into the 100s. They has Champion Levels that were 100s more than mine. Surely they had not been playing for the years that would be required at my current pace. Something was amiss. I started to look. I beat Trial Level 80 shortly thereafter. So, I, like others recently, had my "I will never beat Elban!" experience.

Why did I not assume that I had reached the game's functional end and move along? Well, the leader board told me that I was missing something and that there was so much more that I could do. Without being able to see that others had obliterated my wall, I would likely have moved along. Sure, I am assuming that the leader boards being removed outside of events will mean that they will only be gone for a short time. Maybe one week of down time. Two weeks? Three weeks? Four weeks? We are likely looking at a period of at least four weeks between Season 2 and Season 3. That is basically one month. One month can easily be a players entire commitment to a game if they see no reason to stay, think hitting the end game way.

My understanding is that only a small percentage of Eternium players are active in the Forum or Discord and I am guessing that, like me, those active players are less likely to include the newest players other than them grabbing the Secret Code, which no longer requires actually visiting the Forum. What happens to those new players that have put in their time during a period of no leader boards and think they are doing stellar and have hit an end game wall? They will likely leave. How are they to know that they are still newbies unless they visit the Forum, Discord or, could this possibly be the best way, looking at the current leader board and seeing that there is so much more to the game then they are currently seeing. The leader boards help get players to ask how and why which in turn creates interest and involvement.

Beating a dead horse?

One of the fastest ways to teach someone something about the game is to tell them to look at the leader board. This is a default learning tool for those that do not even need to told to do so. You are telling us that this very valuable teaching tool will only be available during events, when the players are kinda busy, and outside of events, when things calm down, we lose a valuable tool to teach new players thereby increasing the amount of time we must take to others?

I do not know about others but I already spend more time than I should trying to help others. There is not any more in my tank to give more when losing a powerful teaching tool like the leader boards. Does this mean that Eternium will be more forthcoming with documentation since they will be removing this valuable resource? Yes, I know this change is only for outside of events.

Let us talk about my Season 2 experience. I spent almost the whole entirety of Season 2 chasing down rabbit holes to revise the data for trial unlocks, damage to beat and experience given per trial when all existing data was rendered obsolete due to the difficulty change. I did not even try to play any of the season until basically the last day. I was too busy mining data at Trial Level 20 and below as well as trolling the leader boards whatever data I could glean. Why? Because the players were begging for the information and I love my rabbit holes. So, now you are saying that doing these kind of activities will only really be able to be down during events? Sure, there is some gathering that can be down outside of events but the process is much easier with the boards.

Taking away the boards during non-event times? Publish basic data about the game like, hmm maybe it would be handy to know, how many trials unlock for a completion time? The minimum about of damage required to beat a trial? The minimum about of experience awarded by a trail?

The only issue that was being complained about with the leader board after Season 2 was that there was not a reset issued and the values shown are now unrealistic. I mean, there is no way I can beat my last ranking with my hero.

I do not remember a single complaint about the leader boards after Season 1 ended, though my memory ain't what it used to be.

Was anyone complaining about having a Regular (Non-event) Board, Season Board and A New Beginning board? I would love to hear the logic behind removing the board outside of events. An event board did not even exist when I started playing.

Is this move solely so that you will not have to deal with complaints about cheating outside of events?

Give us something here. I have yet to see anyone that has said, "Perfect, I am so glad that you are removing the leader board outside of events."

Your players are your customers. Maybe listen to your customers a bit on this one?

Time to return my soap box to the laundry room.

[Shanina]

What if the period between seasons were like 1 day? Then who needs leaderboards in between? ???
jokes apart I’m very new but today I just cleared TL 100 and immediately went to check the leaderboard position (pitiful). I think a ranking system is one of the fundamentals and if you can’t check it and keep track of your advancement on a constant basis it could be detrimental to the game.

[Tin Man]

Then have the Regular Leader Board show for that one day.

There is something that you need to keep in mind about your ranking. Before Season 2 your character that cleared TL 100 could have cleared TL 120 or TL 130. So, for comparison sake? Look at the heroes in the TL 120 or TL 130 range to see how you rank. You will notice that most of the players in the Top 100 do not have any gear over level 75. That is because those heroes got that ranking prior to level 77 gear and the increase in difficulty.

Right now? Clearing TL 100 is respectable for a veteran player, let alone a self-proclaimed very new player. Not knowing all your details? I would still say that you are far from pitiful if you cleared TL 100.

Welcome and enjoy the game.

Just remember the most important rule of the game. You are not allowed to out rank anyone that give you advice or is nice to you.

[Wolf86PL]

Give Adrian some time. Im sure one day he will answer.

[Tin Man]

Will the game continue to track your heroes progress through the trials? It is helpful to have the record of a heroes last trial time and experience, especially with so many different types of gear set ups...

So, I ran some trials with a hero on my device that has been running the v1.4.42 beta and unlocked up to TL 39. After saving the game, I switched to my device running v1.4.38. Guess what? The leader board on the v1.4.38 device showed the TL 39 unlock and the TL 25 clearing time. So, the game still tracks the information. The players just are not able to see the information.

This intermission has been brought to you courtesy of"

Wabbit Holes R Us

P.S. Do not forget to support your local, incompetent hunters! Watching them starve is unnerving.

[Blp88blue]

They also reduced the amount of time we get to see items in our stream once we enter the completed zone in maps or trials

[Anjaeka]

They also reduced the amount of time we get to see items in our stream once we enter the completed zone in maps or trials

You lost me. What items and what stream are you referring to?

[Fish knife]

The loot flying towards you once you've completed a trial or story level.

[Anjaeka]

Faster loot? Woo-hoo! We’ve been asking for that FOREVER!

[Shilien]

No LB? Really? For all the weeks between the Seasons? For the game about competition based on grind&luck results and where you learn by analyzing LB? Make Seasons regular first or give the LB back. Since craft system was added I remember no worthwhile changes. Constant feeling of bewilderment.

[Chosen]

[*]Leaderboards are now disabled between seasons.[/LIST]

All changes are welcome, thank you for your continued effort!

The disabled leaderboards would make sense if there is a short and predetermined period between seasons (7-10 days, for example).

The combination of disabled leaderboards + uncertainty about when the next ANB/Season will begin, is a very dangerous territory.
Do you think dailies are enough to keep people interested when there are no elements of competition?