Ellilea’s Combined List: Quests, Achievements, Challenges, Play Incentives & Other Junk

Hi. So I’ve been posting on the forums lately a little too much ha. I’ve hence decided to consolidate all of my previous (and future) ideas into one topic. I’ve cleaned them up and divided into categories for easier browsing. I don’t know why I’m doing this, but hey, any fun is good fun, right? So let’s go.
#cough#theoffertoworkforgemsstillstandssg#cough#

So far on the list:

  1. Elemental Gauntlets
  2. Quests Diversified
  3. Achievements & Titles
  4. Loyalty Rewards & Incentives
  5. Hype/Fluff Ideas
  6. Quality of Life Changes [one of the posts below]
  7. Active Hero Late Skill Leveling [one of the posts below]
  8. Treasure Hunt [one of the posts below]

I may extend some categories in the future if I won’t be able to help myself lol. Feel free to comment.


1. ELEMENTAL GAUNTLETS

Here’s how I see it – the longer this game will be alive the more it will need some things for people to do. Not everyone is an Angel of Patience and a Lord of Grind. Once the story mode is finished there’s nothing to do in the game aside of waiting for the Challenge Events (good that they exist now), hit a titan for 8 minutes a day and perhaps fill the wanted chests.

How about introducing a concept of Elemental Gauntlets for players to participate in?

How would this look like:

  • Five gauntlets, one for each element
  • Each gauntlet has 5 tiers of difficulty, 10 stages in each
  • You cannot use battle items to beat a gauntlet
  • It doesn’t cost movement points to enter the gauntlet
  • If you die at any point in the gauntlet you have to redo it from the start; yes, all tiers, it’s supposed to be a challenge, exercise in persistence, and something for players to do when they’re out of the regular stuff to do, it’s not meant to be completed fast or in one sitting
  • The rewards for completing the gauntlet are purely cosmetic [a tiered portrait for instance, getting swaggier for each completed tier]; it’s not meant to be something that feels compulsory, but a mix between a time-killer, a training mode, and a challenge
  • Each gauntlet features enemies of the given element only; if someone wants to be stubborn let them build a team made entirely of the opposite color

I think that introducing something like this wouldn’t be a difficult thing to implement, but could allow players to stick around the game for longer and give them another goal. It would also satisfy the requests for training modes or an ability to play for longer times without remotely touching the game’s economy or balance.


2. VARIOUS QUEST POSSIBILITIES FOR MORE DIVERSITY

Dragon’s Might [face dragon bosses]
• 1 axe attack
• 1 dragon banner
• 1 dragon attack

Field of Remedy [battle spiders]
• 5 healing potions
• 5 antidotes
• 2 super antidotes

Mage’s Well [face off against wizards]
• 3 minor mana potions
• 3 mana potions
• 1 super mana potion

Warrior’s Respite [face off against brigands]
• 3 minor health potions
• 3 health potions
• 1 super health potion

Lord’s Outpost [warriors await the battle]
• 2 turtle banners
• 2 bear banners
• 1 dragon banner

Miracle Vault [difficult quest for high-end teams]
• 1 revive scroll
• 1 tornado
• 1 time stop
• 1 miracle scroll

Barbarian’s Hideout [from rabble to mighty rabble]
• 2 arrow attack
• 2 axe attack
• 2 bomb attack
• 1 dragon attack

Trainer’s Outpost [face off waves of 5 enemies each]
• 15k food
• 10 practice swords
• 10 adventurers kits
• 2 silver tokens

Purse of Wonders [easy-reasonable-difficult]
• 1 silver token
• 1 troop token
• 1 golden token

Spring of Life [beat watery enemies to beat more enemies later]
• 1 world energy flask
• 1 raid flask
• 1 alliance flask


ACHIEVEMENTS
Miracle of fun, miracle of longevity. Went into why I think Achievements are so great in the other topic. So straight to the point.

Miscellaneous Achievements

• [Did you expect loot or something?] Shoot down the dragon flying over your hamlet
• [Dinnertime NOW] Shoot down the ducks flying over your hamlet in X seconds (idk how long it takes if someone puts their heart to it)
• [Your Majesty] Make a person wave at you in your hamlet
• [Rainbow Tastes Sweet] Open 1 of each elemental chest
• [Perfect Attendance] Log in every day for a whole year
• [Do You Believe in Magic?] Open all 3 wanted chests in 5 minute timeframe
• [Did You Even have to Click Things?] Have a 15+ combo on a board
• [Not Special at All] Accumulate 1000 Common Herbs
• [It’s Okay, I’ll Wait] Accumulate 10k gems and keep them over 10k for a month

Building Achievements

• [No Surprises Please] Have over 1 million food and 1 million iron in storages
• [Could it be?] Upgrade Stronghold to level 20
• [Long Way Home] Upgrade Training Camp to level 20
• [Free to Play… hahaha] Finish researching the Legendary Training
• [Not. A second. Longer.] Spend 1 gem to finish the completion of a building
• [Come at Me Bro] Fully upgrade your watch tower

Hero Achievements

• [The Bane in our Cards] Roll 10 Banes from the summons
• [For the Little Man] Level up fully 5 one star heroes
• [Not the Sharpest Crayon in the Box] Ascend and level up fully a two star or better hero without getting one skill upgrade aside of the obligatory ascension ones
• [Discount Buffet] Summon 100 heroes through the Daily Summon
• [Now Go Shave Your Beard] Acquire 6 of the final ascension items <rings, tonics, etc>
• [Feeding Time] Have all hero slots filled
• [Barbequeue] Have 300 heroes queued in one of your training camps
• [Deal With It] Acquire Every 3* + hero in the game

Raid Achievements

• [Kill it with Fire] Win a raid using only Red heroes
• [On the Rocks] Win a raid using only Blue heroes
• [Naturally] Win a raid using only Green heroes
• [Shoulda Brought Your Sunglasses] Win a raid using only Yellow heroes
• [Dark Side has them Cookies] Win a raid using only Purple heroes
• [Oh Baby!] Win a raid vs an opponent with 300 or more team power more than you
• [Hey There Kitty] Attack 10 players with 200+ team power less than you
• [Made Out Like a Bandit] Pilfer over 50k ham from a raid
• [Gonna Need More Carts] Pilfer over 50k iron from a raid
• [Last Man Standing] Win a raid with 1 hero remaining
• [Easy Peasy] Win a raid with no hero over 100 hp
• [Next!] Win a raid with not casualties
• [Big Leagues] Defeat an opponent with 2200+ cups
• [The Phone Thrower] Lose to an opponent with 300 team power less than you

Story, Quest & Challenge Mode Achievements

• [Attack of the Clones] Win the boss battle in any province using only 5 copies of the same hero
• [What if there Was a Secret?] Complete every stage of a challenge event on all difficulties
• [Wrap Me In Ice Now] Complete the Fire Quest
• [I Need a Warm Bath] Complete the Frostmarch Quest
• [Rawr] Complete the Nature Quest
• [Ooo! Shiny!] Complete the Holy Quest
• [I Need a Bath] Complete the Morlovia Quest
• [Log? Bah. I Know ‘Em By Heart] Complete 500 Quests
• [Dragon Interrupted] Complete the Story Mode

Alliance Achievements

• [Been There, Done That, And That Too] Kill every type of titan
• [Miiine!!!] Deal the finishing blow on the titan
• [I Landlord] Create an alliance
• [You What, Son?] Attack a titan with 5 heroes of its opposite color
• [There is No Other Cheek] Die in a titan battle in under 5 turns
• [The Neverending Story] Defeat 100 titans
• [King of the Mountain] Take #1 spot in an Alliance you’ve been in for at least 1 month
• [From Zero to Hero] Defeat one titan from 1 to 7 stars
• [And Beyond the Horizon… Mysteries] Defeat a 10* titan


TITLES
Probably the easiest cosmetic reward to make. Bragging rights remain the same.

• The Experienced (finish the story mode)
• The Completionist (finish the story mode AND complete one full challenge mode on all difficulty levels)
• The Hungry (acquire 3 upgrades to the hero slots amounts)
• The Perfectionist (have 10 or more heroes and every present hero must be fully ascended and leveled up)
• The Old (raise Stronghold at level 20)
• The General (have 5 fully upgraded troops)
• The Leader (be a leader of your created alliance)
• The Grinder (complete 1 level one hundred times)
• The Lord of Grind (complete 1 level one thousand times)
• The Impatient (use gems to skip building time on 20 buildings)
• The Mercenary (become a member of 20 alliances)
• The Loyal (stay in one alliance for 3 months)
• The Architect (raise all buildings to level 10)
• The Trainer (produce 100 heroes)
• The Ham Monger (produce an absurd amount of ham)
• The Iron Man (produce an absurd amount of iron)
• The Hamster (fully upgrade all storage buildings)
• The Smith (craft an absurd amount of battle items)
• The Landlord (fully upgrade all houses)
• The Raider (pilfer an absurd amount of resources)
• The Bait Master (fully upgrade your watch tower)
• The Powerful (build a team of over 3000 power)
• The Titan Hunter (kill 100 titans)
• The Vanquisher (defeat a 10* titan)
• The Alchemist (brew 1000 potions)
• The Explorer (acquire 10 compasses)
• The Hero (complete 500 quests)

For the PVP aficionados:

• Greenhorn (achieve 500 trophies)
• Scrappy (achieve 1000 trophies)
• The Bandit (achieve 1500 trophies)
• Warlord (achieve 2000 trophies)
• The Legend (achieve 2500 trophies)

For the dedicated:

• The Flame Binder (have 5 fully ascended 4* or better red heroes)
• The Frost Baron (have 5 fully ascended 4* or better blue heroes)
• The Wild Spirit (have 5 fully ascended 4* or better green heroes)
• The Light Bringer (have 5 fully ascended 4* or better yellow heroes)
• The Cookie Monster [jk], the Shadow Weaver (have 5 fully ascended 4* or better purple heroes)
• The Prepared (have 5 of 3*, 4*, 5* heroes)
• The Free (fully upgrade every building in the game)

For the hardcore:

• Master of Souls (have every 4* & 5* hero in the game [aside of limited availability heroes])
• The Invoker (have all 12 heroes of the month)


LOYALTY REWARDS & INCENTIVES
There are plenty of games around. These could let the players feel they have something to come to this specific one for. And something to make them less likely to forget it and drift away.

For players above level 10 and above:
These guys are just starting out, it wouldn’t hurt to give them a little something to boost their progress.

  • Golden token for logging every day for a month
  • Troop token for logging every day for a month

For players level 20 and above:
These players have been with the game for a while now. They don’t level that often anymore. A small portable boost for a boring evening wouldn’t hurt.

  • Golden token for logging every day for a month
  • Troop token for logging every day for a month
  • World energy flask at the start of the month
  • Raid energy flask at the start of the month

For players above level 30 and above:
These are the most dedicated players who have played the game for quite the while and pretty actively. The rare ascension item could give them a ray of home and make them less likely to become frustrated and quit. One every thirty days will not mess up the game’s balance, but might help the poor folk’s sanity.

  • Golden token for logging every day for a month
  • Troop token for logging every day for a month
  • World energy flask at the start of the month
  • Raid energy flask at the start of the month
  • Alliance energy flask at the start of the month
  • 50 gems at the start of the month
  • 1 rare ascension item at the start of the month

CHALLENGE EVENTS HYPE

Challenge events are great and very needed for the game. What they could benefit from would be some hype building before they come. What about using the message system present in the game to send the players “missives” about the upcoming threat? Short messages, one per day, something to build up some hype, disclose a tiny bit of lore about whatever is coming, and get the players guessing what will come and become excited about what’s coming.


TINY CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS

Maybe this is my experience with RPGs talking, but one thing I really miss in this game is just a tiny description for each character. Like, literally two-three sentences and one sentence describing the skill they have.

It could be done by adding a small icon on the card that upon pressing reveals something like, idk, say…

Vivica is the in-house dragon keeper, she always travels in the company of her dragon Foozie Poozie.

Omniheal: Vivica envelops the entire team in a beam of shiny light healing them and creating a protective shell around them.

It just feels like it could let the players… like their characters more. Or write more fanfiction about them haha :wink: It’s a random suggestion, I know. It just feels like it could be a cute touch.


Visual representation of example cosmetic rewards, Stronghold version:
https://forum.smallgiantgames.com/uploads/short-url/ekv8q1mmC6QzCRHTjeq1ABX6uqn.jpg
https://forum.smallgiantgames.com/uploads/short-url/eJfFRYHsuITBqvDsMyCsv2FVTks.jpg

11 Likes

So I dabbled around the UI that could support the Titles and achievements a little :slight_smile: The font choice is quite random really, pay it no heed.

I’ve moved the experience bar and level upwards so the title and the name could take a more prominent spot and not feel cluttered. Also the level number is a little smaller (similar to the energy number so it shouldn’t be anything illegible) and on the left of the bar - this way it’s easier to see the more or less achieved % of the experience without wondering if the number doesn’t cover a bit of the bar, I think. But that was an afterthought really.

There is also a very gentle frame added on the portrait - for instance for a difficult to achieve achievement of maxing the frost heroes. The hardest achievements could grant a variety of this sort (or any other sort) of frames for additional feeling of swag.

In the Alliance screen I made the bar a little wider as I was thinking where to put in “Elder” or longer translations of it, but then I thought it could be presented by stars for an easy and fun look. One star for member, two for elder, three for co-leader and four for the leader. Do you feel the swag?! Lol.

Anyhow, the titles must be visible to have value, so a title takes a nice and visible spot on the entry.

When it comes to the last place where the titles would carry a lot of value - the chat - I thought it would be fun to see them actually complete the name and not stand out. It would also prevent a clutter that another line of text could bring which, in the case of chat, could be too much. It’s a win/win in my eyes!

The only issue here would be someone picking a name that also is the achievement. Hmm. Perhaps giving the achievement part a different color would still be necessary!


6 Likes

I really like this!

My one question; when a person is granted several different titles, which takes precedence? Does the player have any choice in which title displays?

But of course :slight_smile: As in every game I’ve seen that uses a title system, you can gather the titles and change them at will. That’s the fun! Collect, show off, spice up your profile and chat splendor :slight_smile:

Alas this is just for forum funsies, I guess. I don’t think the devs here consider adding player ideas. Would be cool though, I used to really enjoy the titles in WoW :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Quality of life whatevers. These have likely been said by other people, so by no means do I say they’re just my ideas. But they did come to my mind at some point so I’ll put them down, whatever:

Challenge events:

  1. Let the players display full score charts for the enemies on the leaderboards.
  2. Let us display our Alliance friends scores in the challenge. Some inter-ally competition/advice giving help!
  3. Grant a worthwhile reward for completing the Beginner tier. 1 ascension item won’t break anything and it will reward the weakest players with something to help them progress. The ascension items block is quite an issue here so quickening the trickle just a bit here and there sure won’t hurt in the long run.

Alliance:
I get why trading will not be a thing (too easy to stop paying/too fast to accelerate growth), but there are some small things that could give Alliances more validity and build tighter communities which is quite important for player retention!

  1. Let us view all of our Ally’ teams. We are often asked to give advice and it’s quite hasslesome for people to keep waiting/swapping defense teams etc just to show off the heroes or whatever.
  2. Let us send private messages to members of our alliance (a friend list would go a long way, but that’d be a start).
  3. Let us send gem/token gifts to the members of our alliance (again, also better with a friend list on top of it, but that’d be a start). This would only increase the gem spending if anything. Players won’t give out their bank accounts to on-line strangers, but gifting gems could be a nice way to show appreciation and say, organize in-Ally contests if someone felt like it. Up to people’s creativity. Stronger bonds, more earnings, I really don’t know why it’s not a thing yet.
  4. Let the guild leader pick “Player of the Day” or month or whatever. Why? For fun. Because it’d be easy to do, probably, and would let people have some fun.

Overall:

  1. Streamline hero descriptions. As mentioned in another topic, give us same information about all the heroes. Things missing are:
  • heals moderate amount of damage dealt (what is the %?)
  • deals minor damage to adjacent enemies (what is the %?)
  • gives a chance to miss to enemies (what is the %?)
  1. Let us know what Defense stat means and how it interacts with attack. Preferably add this description as early as the tutorial so people know what the things on the card mean. Attack, Defense, HP, mana regen (tell them that it’s 6-8-10-12-14 tiles). Those are no big mysteries, but players who know what’s up and why they do what are generally enjoying their games more. Unless they don’t care about technicalities in which case they can just ignore such information.

  2. Re-score ascension items for clarity’s sake! Easily obtainable items having the same * level as special loot is super duper extra misleading, guise! :stuck_out_tongue:

  • Scabbards, Chain Shirts, Battle Manuals & Tall Boots should be ***
  • Warm Capes, Trap Tools, Sturdy Shields, Orbs of Magic, Hidden Blades, Fine Gloves & Compasses should be **** (how helpful that items needed to ascend 4* heroes to max would have 4* :thinking:)
  • Damascus Blades, Tomes of Tactics, Mysterious Tonics, Mystic Rings, Royal Tabards, Telescopes, Darts should be ***** (look how magical, these are eaten by 5* heroes and they could have 5*! :scream:)

Cheekiness aside, this would most certainly help newer players, give instant clarity to the older ones, and also maybe perhaps allow for building a touch more benevolent loot tables? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

6 Likes

I’d like to see a plethora of titles for Player of the Day… :grin:

Wow - a lot of thought and effort went in to this.

Good ideas - can’t say I have objections to any of them. Guess there is a bit of devil in the detail, but you certainly get 'em off to a substantial start.

2 Likes

Thanks :slight_smile:
And certainly, this is neither polished nor fully thought through, but it feels a touch futile to perfect something that shall remain nothing but a curiosity on the forums :wink:

2 Likes

Oh I dunno…polishing a Diamond is never a waste…someday someone sees it sparkling and picks it up. :wink:

1 Like

Cute analogy :blush: until you realize…

…say you have an actual diamond. You polish it and just leave it lying around for someone to pick it up cause it’s shiny? Damn son, sell that puppy and buy yourself a house (and a real puppy)! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: Or wear it, if you’re a fancy person, of course.

Yeah, but you don’t just leave it unpolished. That’s a waste. :wink:

1 Like
  • ACTIVE HERO SKILL LEVELING

Time for another idea that came to mind after reading through some random topic.

I find it a little hm, well, “jarring” isn’t the right word, so let’s go with “undesirable” that skills end leveling up at 8/8. I like my full numbers, you know! A satisfying 5, juicy 10, beautiful 50, marvelous 100.

So I was thinking - what if we could acquire two more levels in skills for our heroes, but in a more engaging way? Imagine this:

Your beautiful Hawkmoon is finally 8/8 in her skill, and now all that’s left is wait for the next challenge event so you can whip her out and smack some beginner level monsters around (well, heal the actual smackers, but you get my meaning). Unless it’s red-reflect, then maybe another time. So she lies there, unused, forgotten, and you don’t even actually know how her skill looks like or works. I mean, there’s no reason to use her, right? You’ve got your 4* healers to do the job.

What if you actually needed to USE Hawkmoon to max out her skills? It could be an experience bar, it could be just amount of uses left for level up, doesn’t matter. Two last points (so it didn’t turn into some crazy grind/didn’t require making the skills madly stronger) could only be achieved through letting the hero out into the field.

Titans, raids, daily farm, challenge events - no matter.

Personally, I’d also make it so that fully ascended heroes who didn’t max out their skills could get these skills up in this way to spare people some unnecessary frustration of feeding heroes into them only to see it fail again and again and again. While producing heroes to sacrifice them into the slow push of the XP is grindy too, it’s a visual and tangible progress which doesn’t feel like an empty disappointment when you have to postpone the funner sort of leveling to just gamble more and more heroes away into a finished one without any sense of progress.

Sense of progress is the one thing that can keep players engaged in a game!
And it kind of feels sometimes that there just isn’t any in the forseeable future.

I wouldn’t cry even if the entire skill leveling process was to be done this way, but I can see that it could be too big of a change or too much hassle (though honestly, there isn’t that much to do during the challengeEvent-rareQuest free times in this game).

This way leveling of the heroes could become more engaging and also would give people a reason to play with their teams more.

6 Likes

One thing I can say is that you have a lot of time on your hands.

Quite the contrary. But when you’re so busy you need to unwind every now and then. I like to do it creatively, while drinking my break-tea. Also I type very fast. The previous post took me entire 3 minutes if not less :stuck_out_tongue:

4 Likes

Guys, I was thinking again. Another small idea I’d like to add here as a remedy for frustration and boredom (as are most of my ideas here, really). It would not be a huge thing, or a huge reward, but I’m thinking in terms of combining with other stuff. Variety is the spice of life, eh?

TREASUE HUNT [end game content, becomes available after completing the map! YAY INCENTIVE TO DO THAT WOOT WOOT]

  • Every month, you receive a message.
  • This message points you to a stage on the game-map you have to complete to find another clue.
  • The clue briefly describes the next place you need to go to next (monster types, or related to the boss, or element, or which province, could be anything, just a little fun of guessing/trying for the player).
  • You need to find and complete 10 stages, which may mean you will have to conduct quite a search if you’re not guessing the clues right (or scour the forums for answers compiled by the community lol, no problem if that happens).
  • After completing the 10th stage, you finally find your “treasure” - it’s a genie/leprechaun/sprite/whatever who offers you a reward - an ascension item of your choosing!

And there you have it. You get to avoid frustration of waiting for 6 months for that 1 hidden blade. You have a reason to finish the campaign. You have a reason to do do more than visit 1 location on the map over and over again to farm for things. Spending red flags is exciting again.

12 Likes

I am so glad I found a link to this thread…I really enjoyed reading your ideas and would love to see an implementation of some of them…nicely done!!!

1 Like

Wow! That’s very detailed - you have a lot of good ideas that could add real depth to the game :+1:

1 Like

I see it going to take some time.