In today's update we added a secondary quest location - the town of Zodchiy. This town is not a full-fledged quest location like Opposition Hideout, Keepers' Village, etc., but rather a place which will greatly help players who pursue Wealth Victory.
Why? Because of the Great Architects. In order to build the Wonder of the World, you will need multiple Architect Guidelines at various stages of construction. However, the Great Architects are random, and currently it is difficult to have enough of them in your towns. Therefore, we added the town of Zodchiy - which has multiple architects in it - which is the main purpose of this town.
All you need to do in order to unlock the town of Zodchiy is to help at least one Great Architect complete the structure. While giving your reward, he or she will unlock the town for you. Players who have already helped architects will gain access to this town when helping the next one.
What are we up to right now?
Aside from the regular stuff that needs to be done prior to the Alpha 6 launch (Industrial Age, etc.), our current focus is to make the game's learning curve smoother, especially for new players. Here are some of the important things that will be done:
- More convenient interface. I know this has been discussed a zillion times, but now it is actually time to make another attempt at smoothing it out. It will be done in an incremental manner during multiple updates.
- Smoother, less intrusive tutorial and hints. I have some pretty neat ideas about how to make the tutorial less intrusive, without losing its helpfulness for newbies. After the interface has been improved we will work on the tutorial and advisors (those will be actually helpful - eventually).
- Eliminate the "slow patch" which was described by players - Not much to do at certain point in the game. To do so, I have plans for two "long" quests - one for Bulat and one for Zweistein. Bulat's quest will motivate the player to build a solid defense with numerous towers, while Zweistein's quest will guide the player to settlement of the second town. Players who started numerous heroes may help in this process by participating in this thread: Share your build order for second town.
- Conditionally prolong the protection for beginner players. I have started an appropriate thread with ideas behind this and the feedback was positive. We are going to implement it so the new players will not leave so early - before having a chance to "dig the game" due to excessive attacks in the beginning.
