Earning Epic and Iconic Hearts of Wood

[blackdae]

Thanks! Awesome news! Maybe too awesome!

[RedOrm]

Sounds like an excellent plan. Well done.

Greetz,
Red Orm

[Impaqt]

I still strongly dislike the fact that our end reward lists are overcrowded with stuff we "need"

Nice Item?

Renown?

Seeds/Comms?

I guess its better, but still not ideal.

[eris2323]

We've been looking for ways to improve the experience of earning Epic and Iconic Hearts of Wood. After several rounds of iteration with the Player's Council, this is the direction we're moving towards. (This would come some time after Update 22.)

While your character is at level cap, completing epic quests adds 2 Heart Seeds into the End Reward list for that quest. This only applies to quests where Commendations of Valor already show up, including Epic Quests, on Normal, Hard, or Elite, that aren't ransacked.

Some notes and explanations:

• Reminder that you can turn 100 Bind-to-Character Commendations of Valor into 1 Bind-to-Account Heart Seed, and can turn in 42 Heart Seeds into either an Epic Heart of Wood or Iconic True Heart of Wood.
• You'll continue to see Commendations of Valor in End Reward lists upon reaching level cap. This doesn't replace Commendations, but adds an additional End Reward choice.
• This intentionally doesn’t affect Thunderforged Crafting or other existing or future uses of Commendations of Valor, only Reincarnation.
• This doesn’t touch the current amounts players earn in any way. The players currently earninga full heart (or more) while they level up can keep doing that.

We considered more complicated ideas, but we're not sure it’s necessary for the goal we’re trying to achieve, and this is an otherwise simple solution. For example, we could reward Elite over Normal, or reward high level quests over low level quests. But that's already true for Commendations of Valor, and this is intended as an extra aid for players who have hit the level cap and are in a rush to Reincarnate, yet haven't earned enough Commendations of Valor along the way.

We're also aware some players might decide to only farm for Reincarnation at cap, and take other rewards while leveling up. If this partially devalues Commendations of Valor so other end-reward options feel like more viable choices, that's perhaps not inherently bad.

As we realize Hearts of Wood are important to many of our players, we'd like to hear your feedback.

I'm so bored with farming these stupid comms, I (ALSO) suggest you change the requirements to 3500 comms needed, which is more reasonable...

Frankly your idea is also pretty good, but really only makes me want to quit (again) until you finally, someday implement it.

A quicker fix would be just to change comms required to 3500 NOW.

So bored; wanna quit... yet again...

[DagazUlf]

You know what would be easier?

LOWERING THE REQUIRED NUMBERS OF COMMENDATIONS OF VALOR TO GET AN EPIC HEART.


You don't need any complicated idea. Actually, you keep going for the complicated ones. First you put CoVs in Epic boxes. Now this. JUST LOWER THE NUMBER ALREADY.

I've eTRed 9 times now. You know how many times I've had enough comms to turn in for a heart? 3 of those 9 times. Just end this blatant money-grab already and lower the stupid number.

[Captain_Wizbang]

Their solution is much better because it addresses the problem EN and EH players face with lower com drops.

UMMM, as mentioned by a few already, just lowering the requirement now seems much easier. But I think we all agree that EN & EH drops are too low.

"I know it's just a flat tire, but this new ecm will make it better"

[Silken-Akira]

for a casual player like myself I can only applaud this.

[B0ltdrag0n]

4 Alts at cap

Impossible Demands, Graveyard, Rusty Blades, Death Undone + one other short quest. Total time of less than 1.5 hours.

5 quests x 4 toons = 20 = 40 heart seeds. in 6 hours. Doesn't seem so hard really.

[Ytteri]

It's about time something like this was implemented. Is it completely unrealistic to ask for this to be added to u22?

[unbongwah]

I still strongly dislike the fact that our end reward lists are overcrowded with stuff we "need"

Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I prefer it when we're offered multiple attractive end-reward options. It means I actually have to think a little about what I want, rather than always double-clicking on the only "right" choice.

[Mithis]

I like this idea.

Do not tie the number rewarded to difficulty in away. Two per run regardless of difficulty is perfect.

[Wizza]

Their solution is much better because it addresses the problem EN and EH players face with lower com drops.

So much wrong. If you can't get 2600-2800 CoVs (which would be my number) from 20 to 28 then I've no idea what you are doing. I'd much rather get my CoVs while eTRing (WHICH WAS THEIR PREMISE WHEN THEY ADDED eTR) rather than sitting at cap farming short quests for 6 hours.

[Fedora1]

I like this idea.

Do not tie the number rewarded to difficulty in away. Two per run regardless of difficulty is perfect.

Exactly.

If I ran all EN it already took me longer to get to cap than someone who ran all EH or EE. Once at cap run 21 quests and let me ER.

[Derana]

Awesomesauce I can finally pick up favor again o/

[axel15810]

WeFor example, we could reward Elite over Normal, or reward high level quests over low level quests. But that's already true for Commendations of Valor, and this is intended as an extra aid for players who have hit the level cap and are in a rush to Reincarnate, yet haven't earned enough Commendations of Valor along the way.

I've been a long proponent of making earning hearts something to be done at cap. So I do like the change, but have a few concerns. Notably about the above comments.

You need to reward players for running higher difficulties. You need to give more seeds for higher difficulties, this is very important. If you don't, it just turns this process into a boring, unchallenging experience. We need options, more options are always good. Multiple ways to accomplish a goal keeps players interested. With your proposal you are effectively encouraging capped characters to run epic normal, which is much too easy for capped characters. It will make this process a chore instead of a continuation of enjoying the content at the level of challenge that is intended for capped characters.

I'd recommend 0-1 seed for epic normal, 1d2 seeds for epic hard, and 1d2 +1 seeds for epic elite.

And while you're right, favoring higher difficulties is already true for commendations of valor, that point is not relevant since heart seeds wil now completely override commendations of valor in the end reward list for capped characters. Essentially there may as well not be commendations of valor in the end reward list for capped characters since they will always be a much less appealing option than selecting the heart seeds. Heck you could make each epic elite quest for capped characters give out 199 commendations of valor each, but it still wouldn't matter if you're alternatively offering 2 heart seeds per quest which is the same as 200 commendations of valor for purposes of obtaining hearts of wood.

[LeoLionxxx]

It's about time something like this was implemented. Is it completely unrealistic to ask for this to be added to u22?

Not with it coming out tomorrow, but lets all keep our fingers crossed for a patch soon after!


2 per every quest does seem a little high though. I would suggest 1 for normal, 1D2 for hard, and 2 for Elites. This would make elites still more appealing, but not too much so.

[silinteresting]

We've been looking for ways to improve the experience of earning Epic and Iconic Hearts of Wood. After several rounds of iteration with the Player's Council, this is the direction we're moving towards. (This would come some time after Update 22.)

While your character is at level cap, completing epic quests adds 2 Heart Seeds into the End Reward list for that quest. This only applies to quests where Commendations of Valor already show up, including Epic Quests, on Normal, Hard, or Elite, that aren't ransacked.

Some notes and explanations:

• Reminder that you can turn 100 Bind-to-Character Commendations of Valor into 1 Bind-to-Account Heart Seed, and can turn in 42 Heart Seeds into either an Epic Heart of Wood or Iconic True Heart of Wood.
• You'll continue to see Commendations of Valor in End Reward lists upon reaching level cap. This doesn't replace Commendations, but adds an additional End Reward choice.
• This intentionally doesn’t affect Thunderforged Crafting or other existing or future uses of Commendations of Valor, only Reincarnation.
• This doesn’t touch the current amounts players earn in any way. The players currently earninga full heart (or more) while they level up can keep doing that.

We considered more complicated ideas, but we're not sure it’s necessary for the goal we’re trying to achieve, and this is an otherwise simple solution. For example, we could reward Elite over Normal, or reward high level quests over low level quests. But that's already true for Commendations of Valor, and this is intended as an extra aid for players who have hit the level cap and are in a rush to Reincarnate, yet haven't earned enough Commendations of Valor along the way.

We're also aware some players might decide to only farm for Reincarnation at cap, and take other rewards while leveling up. If this partially devalues Commendations of Valor so other end-reward options feel like more viable choices, that's perhaps not inherently bad.

As we realize Hearts of Wood are important to many of our players, we'd like to hear your feedback.

wow, i had to read this 3 times to make sure what i was reading was correct.
with update 22 tomoz and epic necro coming and changes to paladin and everything else
may i say thankyou,wow

your friend sil

[Seikojin]

I like this idea for all the reasons Varg has stated....lets people take other rewards and helps casual players achieve a goal at the same pace as the not casual players.

I do however have some questions:

1. Will we see this before level cap hits 30?
2. Any reason why this couldn't have been added to U22? Personally I would think that tweaking the end reward lists might be fairly straight forward.

Thanks!

Most likely, since there are three updates before the end of the year (I believe) and a long time in the world of the internet is a day. So I think it will be in before cap increase.
I think timetables are the reason for later than U22. Also hidden loot bugs like how abbots loot was bad for those months after table changes were made (to somewhere not related to the abbot iirc). Either way, bugs.

If it was 2 seeds per run, at cap, you would see an etr heart every day from etr farmers. They would grind out the hearts, then spend the rest of the time etring, capping during timer, and repeating. For the casual players, this would be 8 seeds per day, so less than the time it would take to get a tr heart with the same level of casualness.
I think 1 seed per run would be more in line with TR heart pace. High speed players would get the heart every few days, and casual players would need a bit more time, but not months. It would be just a little longer than getting a tr heart.

My mindset of what to grind comes from the low hanging quests for even the gimpiest of toons. So you have von 3, 4, spies, and devils assault. You can easy handle wiz king and probably a few more, but taking the least to make an extreme example of laziness helps make my point.

With the 2 per, each day would yield 8 seeds, and up to 2 tokens for tring at the same time. 6 game days, can = etr and 12 tokens for heroic tring. I think etr should be at least as slow as heroic tring.

With 1 per run, each day would yield 4 seeds and up to 2 tokens for htr. 11 game days = 44 seeds and 22 tokens. More equality.

[Fedora1]

So much wrong. If you can't get 2600-2800 CoVs (which would be my number) from 20 to 28 then I've no idea what you are doing.

How many COVs would one get running everything on EN? With occasional EH? Not only does it take a lot longer to get to cap, but you got less covs once you get there.

Rewards for running everything EH or EE are getting more covs and getting to cap faster. Once anyone reaches cap I think running 21 quests to get a heart is fair. Very similar to the L20 TR system.

[niehues]

Very nice.. i like it..

u can get to cap without worry too much about your play stile.. do and enjoy a some end game and TR or ETR in not much time in case u feel u dont wanna be stuck on lv28