Monday, September 29, 2008

Tome of Frustration


Don't get me wrong, I love the Tome of Knowledge. It does however have its aspects which drive me nuts. The Tome records a lot of what you do in WAR. It is also pretty easy to navigate. Overall, it is a fine feature.

It is not perfect, in some cases it is down right aggravating. One case of this is the Lairs I mentioned earlier. You get a Tome unlock for discovering it and a nice story. Of course that story is useless in figuring out how to get in the Lair.

The tome also keeps a record of all the types of things you meet, whether they be man or beast. Each type has a list of quests and achievements to go along with it. An example of an achievement would be killing 100 Witch Elves. Those work great and are not really frustrating.

The quests that go with them are a different story. They will have name and some mouse over text. For example, there is one called: A Pinch to grow an Inch and the mouse over text is 'Complete a specific quest.' That is it, that is all you have to go on. It will sometimes tell you a zone, but nothing else.

Another type of quest is to 'kill a champion monster.' That shouldn't be too bad, but sometimes there are multiple Champion monsters for that type of creature in the zone. Did I kill the right one? Is this bugged? I have no clue.

Then there are things in the world that should give a Tome unlock, but don't. These are especially frustrating. For example, I have come across a tome deep in an out of the way cave. A Hero mob patrols the area. This looks like it could be something.... it was not. The tome does not appear to be used in any quest either.

Another time, in yet another cave, I found an 'Unfortunate Dwarf' hidden behind a wall, being eaten by a Champion zombie. This must be something, so i got some folks together and killed the zombie. Nada from the zombie or the Dwarf.

I understand the tome unlocks should not be too easy, but right now they just seem random. There really seems to be no reason to actually try (an actual Quest!) to complete them. Seems much better off to hope that you happen to in your travels.

I have put time into solving these and gotten very little in return. One more line of text added to the mouse over, providing some vague hint would be great! Implementing the objects out in the world that look like hidden tome unlocks so we don't waste out time on them would be great too.

The Tome has so much potential, but it seems like it is not being used yet.

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