None of this information is final. These are merely ideas, and could change at any time.

So for a while as I've been developing, I've had an issue adding new content: no adequate rewards. This is something that's been relevant since I worked on the railroads. It's pretty much why loot chests are even a thing. I could add so many secrets, but there was nothing to really reward players with for finding said secrets. Zelda tends to reward players with heart-pieces, but since Classic has no heart containers that wasn't an option. I opted instead for loot chests, as it seemed like the best idea to give the player incentive to replay the area rather than "beating" it once and leaving.

The only other rewards that are viable are just cosmetics. But as Classic is developed, and more substantial content is added there needs to be better rewards. However Classic has been a pretty balanced game. It's extremely forgiving for new players as they are not instantly thrown into a world of veteran players with 20 hearts who can kill them in two hits. So how can I reward the player for their efforts while maintaining that balance?

Hera Hearts

Hera's are a staple of PC Classic, and I think were introduced during Tyhm's reign. They were Graal's counterpart to heart pieces. Instead of gathering 4 heart pieces to create a heart, you gathered Hera's. You took these Hera's and turned them in to claim a new heart. At first I think it only took 2 Hera's to gain a heart. But then it took 4. And then 6 I think... Basically the more you obtained, the more it took to gain the next heart.

But that's just history. Rewarding the player with hearts isn't difficult, it's maintaining balance. So I had an idea to split the players health. As players completed quests, they are rewarded Hera's. These Hera's are then converted into Hera Hearts(name pending). These hearts add to your health, but are only applicable outside of PvP.

Basically, as you obtain Hera Hearts, you can sustain more damage from baddies, traps, and all damage dealt that was not from another player. Damage from other players will always deplete your core, or default hearts. So PvP will still remain identical as it is now, however you will be able to sustain more damage from baddies. This means we can introduce hearts that allow players to traverse more dangerous areas, baddies, and basically introduce a sense of progression.

The downside is that players may not feel a true sense of accomplishment. Classic is mostly about the community, not the content. While content can offer players something to do, it is temporary. So Hera Hearts may not reward players in a sense that they can truly relate/use. But I suppose it's a matter of wanting to keep the balance, or give players power.

New Items

Items are easy to make. But content is not. Adding a new item implies a usage of said item. This is the biggest issue currently. Because Classic is a Live world rather than a game that's under development, this is a tricky thing to approach. I can make a whole new dungeon, and add a new item... but what will the player use that item for? There needs to be purpose, and progression. So... said item will also be used to gain access to a new area! That's two very large pieces of content that need to be done and released together. So it went from a dungeon with a new item, to a dungeon and a new area.

But then you get to the new area... and now what? What purpose does this area have? That's when it starts becoming a sort of horrible cycle. As I add new content, I need to add purpose, and purpose means rewards! Luckily, the Hera's will help with this! But you can still see the issue, yes? New content can't be released by itself, but also needs some sort of expansion on the world to make use of it. That's a lot of work.

And more importantly, how will new items work with player interaction? Yes, a boomerang can be used in creative ways to solve puzzles... but obviously it can also be used against other players. That's also an issue! New items need to be balanced so that they offer an edge on other players, but not be completely overpowered.

So the answer to that is : Magic

It won't be traditional magic though... it will actually be more of a cooldown effect. If you've played Link Between Worlds, it's essentially like the Stamina system... if you haven't, think of it as Magic, but one that refills over time. The goal is to limit items that have a PvP impact so they can't be spammed. This seems like the best solution to keep new items from completely overwhelming players in PvP.

So these are my ideas for expanding Classic into a more quest-oriented server. What are your thoughts?  

I like this a lot-- with more development it could work out pretty well I think. It'd also make Classic closer to what I thought it would be when I first downloaded it (more RPG-like).  

I don't think new content needs to be released all at once. I personally see nothing wrong with adding a new, inaccessible area as a little 'tease'. Then release the required item.

I myself think the game needs more challenges or games. Stuff like Archery, or sparring, that doesn't need a big award, gralats for a game would keep it alive longer than if it yielded an item anyway. That sort of thing is a great way to fill content, as an alternative to items. You could even rip and edit a few events to do it.  

Posted by MrSimons

I don't think new content needs to be released all at once. I personally see nothing wrong with adding a new, inaccessible area as a little 'tease'. Then release the required item.

I myself think the game needs more challenges or games. Stuff like Archery, or sparring, that doesn't need a big award, gralats for a game would keep it alive longer than if it yielded an item anyway. That sort of thing is a great way to fill content, as an alternative to items. You could even rip and edit a few events to do it.

Gralats can only go so far, after all we can't flood the game with gralats for a reward for everything -- sadly Graal is a pay2play game. While I do love to offer players free content to enjoy, there does need to be some incentive to buy gralat packs.  

If Classic splits into two servers, then there you go.  

Posted by NeoZX

If Classic splits into two servers, then there you go.

In what way does that help? That sounds more like it'd cause more problems then it'd fix.  

Love the heart shield idea not sure about adding anything that alters pvp drastically tjough but something to do such as a wave based quest or just a quest that is enjoyable and can be repeated for loot would be amazing  

Posted by NeoZX

If Classic splits into two servers, then there you go.

then what  

meh, I think Heras and hearts translated well on the old Graal, but I don't see a real purpose for it in the 2014 state of the game

completing all the quests from the 2000ish era of Classic was seen as neat and an accomplishment because the community was so small and practically every single player who was committed to playing the game could and would do it, so those additional hearts were never any sort of an advantage

here, I think it'd be kind of weird and unnecessary to give players advantages like more hearts, stronger sword, faster shields because that does nothing but empower players who have played longer and put new players at an uncomfortable disadvantage

you'd surely have to limit statistics to be equal for players who queue into spars and PKing below <40 AP would show no advantage (unless you add level 2+ sword/shields) so I don't even see how additional hearts server a purpose for anything other than killing baddies

the current quest model that iClassic follows, the one where you can unlock a mask shop and unlock the looting system, that's pretty cool and more quests like that wouldn't hurt at all  

Let's say traps were put to a pvp area like sards. How would the hearts be applied?  

QUESTS FTW

mario dont got sh1t on us  

Posted by Miscy

Let's say traps were put to a pvp area like sards. How would the hearts be applied?

Seeing as that'd be a huge PvP advantage, obviously not.  

Posted by Thallen

the current quest model that iClassic follows, the one where you can unlock a mask shop and unlock the looting system, that's pretty cool and more quests like that wouldn't hurt at all

I think you made some good points. However,Idk how easy or hard it would be to keep doing similar stuff along those lines. I would at least like to see them continue and finish off the scarf quest by using to unlock a new item or town.

Posted by Miscy

Let's say traps were put to a pvp area like sards. How would the hearts be applied?

good question, I would assume going by Dusty's idea that you would still take the "core" damage like normal from traps that are inside towers which I would think be considered pvp areas.

I really like Dusty's idea's and how he laid it out about adding content and quests. I'm okay with the heart container idea,but I do have some concerns/questions.

1. How will we be able to tell which is our core heart containers and what is ones used fighting baddies?

2.Would there be items to refill your lp's,and would this be effected by the AP system? Or would that be shut off as well?

3. Dusty mentions making it so stuff would effect things like fighting baddies. So how if at all would that effect Holiday quests or events? So would they not do Holiday quests anymore? Would it limit holiday quests so the holiday quest wouldn't involve baddies,or be effected by the new system?

Perhaps it would be easier to have a toggle-able option that made it easy to switch between say "normal' game play mode and a "quest" mode? That might also allow for an autoswitch so when a player enters a PVP type area to auto switch from "quest" mode back into "normal" mode.

4. Would it be possible to make it so there is a system that would auto rotate things around in a dungeon after a certain period of time? That way you would be able to reuse the same dungeons,but it would never be the same. That way you still have the challenge of figuring out where things are and keeps ppl from making and using guides.

(For example: say there is a master key you have to find that opens the door to the boss baddies layer in every dungeon. Would it be possible to make it so the master key and the boss baddie are almost never in the same room or location?)

If you could do that cool down period/time cycle stuff maybe instead of gaining heart pieces,and changing baddies and stuff the Hera's or whatever name you want to use could be come an alternative currency. You would be able to purchase stuff with those only or instead of gralats. I would give smallish amounts of the "Heras" as a reward for completing the dungeons,or quests and they would have the time limit "cool down" periods like the blob boss baddie did,and Pyrat bay quest does. That way they can only be accessed and done every so often. That would help to limit ppl from just repeatedly doing quests over and over.

Perhaps if magic is used they could use this as a way to purchase spells,or to pay to have your magic bar/meter refilled once depleated. Unless you decide to wait for the cool down period to end like suggested.

I could also see them changing it so you would get rewarded with special limited items on special occasions rather than the Hera's. I would also suggest special furniture items as rewards such as statues,or trophies that would have your stats on it for completing certain quests that would be shown when touched.

Another idea would be to change the old memorial building into a "HOF". Which would basically be a collection of some kind of posters,statues,or things that would be a list of the top players to complete specific quests the fastest ,or that got the highest score upon completion of said quest. Which would be a combo of different stats, and/or items obtained in the quest. I know just like in PSonline or xbox live there are trophy *****s a plenty that would want to be on every list possible,and that sort of thing alone would get at least a good hand full of players to do quests repeatedly.  

The Hera hearts on their own probably wouldn't supply a sense of progression even if they were required to complete higher difficulty quest areas. There would be no incentive to get to these more difficult dungeons if the only reward was the opportunity to try a more difficult dungeon. The idea would probable strike with a few players, but the majority wouldn't be inspired by hearts which do nothing outside of PvE. It doesn't affect the group which towers, the group which spars, nor the group who PK. Therefore, to give a sense of reward and progression there would need to be item rewards or some other gift at the end of each dungeon.
So, if there needs to be a reward at the end of each dungeon anyway, it leaves the Hera Hearts idea, while interesting, comepletely redundant and less interesting than alternative options to open paths to dungeons. It's a lot cooler to give a player diving gear and have them dive to find the entrance to the next dungeon than require them to have 4 hearts total to enter. Then, not only does the player get a tool which can be used to enter the dungeon, but it also can be used to find secrets with similar entrances in the main world. Ex: Rat, Scuba Gear.  

Posted by Imprint

The Hera hearts on their own probably wouldn't supply a sense of progression even if they were required to complete higher difficulty quest areas. There would be no incentive to get to these more difficult dungeons if the only reward was the opportunity to try a more difficult dungeon. The idea would probable strike with a few players, but the majority wouldn't be inspired by hearts which do nothing outside of PvE. It doesn't affect the group which towers, the group which spars, nor the group who PK. Therefore, to give a sense of reward and progression there would need to be item rewards or some other gift at the end of each dungeon.
So, if there needs to be a reward at the end of each dungeon anyway, it leaves the Hera Hearts idea, while interesting, comepletely redundant and less interesting than alternative options to open paths to dungeons. It's a lot cooler to give a player diving gear and have them dive to find the entrance to the next dungeon than require them to have 4 hearts total to enter. Then, not only does the player get a tool which can be used to enter the dungeon, but it also can be used to find secrets with similar entrances in the main world. Ex: Rat, Scuba Gear.

I agree with the whole items for progression over hearts it would make balancing a lot easier