SOLVED Imperial store

[Fraxure022]

I disagree with that claim. If it wasn't for external sites like WoWHead, WoW would be practically unplayable as an end-game raider. WoW gives you no information about which gear is best-in-slot and too often little information about where to go to have the best chance of getting each of those pieces.

Having said that, I still support your suggestion.

It's always better when the game gives you more intuitive information. It would be a nice addition if the team could add dialogs to vendors or quest givers, or even just add new NPC's who are guides or advisors of some sort, who will tell you were to get the type of gear you're looking for.

Maybe add an "Oracle" NPC so people can "Consult the Oracle at Delphi" (or some other NPC that fits in with this concept) who will tell them where to quest for the category of gear they want.

I'm just spitballing here... I'm thinking maybe the Oracle has a simple dialog:

Hello great adventurer/hero/general, what are you seeking on your path to greatness?
1) Classic Legendary gear
2) Celeste exclusive legendaries
3) Other category
4) Other category

Player inputs a response, gets an appropriate answer.

This way people don't have to take notes or refer back to a forum post to remember which quests drop which types of gear, and this question won't come back up on the forums (or if it does then the answer is "Go talk to the Oracle at Delphi").

The Dungeon Journal combined with the Collections tab in WoW makes it easy to see where to go to get most end-game gear. I will grant that there is still plenty of murkiness outside of instanced content, but I haven’t needed WoWhead for general gearing information since Pandaria.

EDIT: I would like to add to your suggestion a bit. People don’t really have memorized what is Celeste specific gear or not. Some sort of gear reference in game that told you, in addition to what you’re describing, would be nice.

 

[Pipinghot]

The Oracle is a great idea. Of course, the real Oracle never gave a straight answer, though.

So... maybe instead of the notoriously capricious Oracle it would be better for players to visit the Library of Alexandria with it's rich repository of the ancient worlds' knowledge, I'm sure the Chief Librarian would give dependable answers.

Darn it, I really should type slower and pause before I click "Post".

After thinking about this more, something even better than the Library at Alexandria would be a building that becomes available in every home city when that specific culture reaches level 40. This way players don't have to "travel" to Alexandria to find the information (which would involve the loading screen as they transition to a new location).

The information that is available at the building would be the same for every culture, that way there is only a single background script that is used at all locations rather than custom scripts for each culture, but the building itself would be based on the architecture of each culture.

If you want to take the easiest route it could be as simple as a temple dedicated to the god/ess of knowledge/wisdom for that culture, of if you don't want to keep re-using god/esses that are already being used elsewhere in the game it could be a place of learning and knowledge that is dedicated to someone appropriate for each culture (I'm betting that you already have a building that could be used for this in each culture). Personally I prefer this latter route, especially when there is someone associated with the alphabet/writing of each culture.


* God/esses of knowledge/wisdom (shamlessly copied from wikipedia), if you want to use a temple as the building
Celtic - Ogma
Greek - Athena, Cecrops, Coeus, Metis
Egyptian - Neith, Isis, Thoth, Sia, Seshat
Persian - Anahita, Ahura Mazda, Chista
Norse - Odin, Frigg, Saga, Snotra, Vor
Babylonian/Sumerian - Enki, Nabu, Nibada
Roman - Egeria, Fabulinius, Minerva, Providentia


* Divine/semi-divine creators of Writing/Alphabet/Speech, if you want to use a house of learning & knowledge as the building

In each case they could be called the "Library of <character>" or the "House of <character>", like the "Library of Cecrops" of the "House of Cecrops".

Some of these characters are also associated with making predictions, for example Carmenta was also a (minor) goddess of prophecy, and Enheduanna was the high priestess of the most important temple in Sumer, which fits in with the idea that legendary gear is not guaranteed to drop, you're undertaking a quest based on the wisdom stored at the house of learning and you hope to be rewarded upon success.

Celtic - Ogma
Credited with inventing the Ogham alphabet. He's divine, but that doesn't mean it has to be a temple in the standard sense, it could still be house of learning in his honor.

Greek - Cecrops
Legendary Athenian king who invented the Greek alphabet.

Egyptian - Seshat
Scribe of the gods, credited with the invention of writing and the alphabet.

Persian - Darius I
He claimed credit for the invention of Old Persian Cuneiform in an inscription on a cliff at Behistun in south-west Iran.

Norse - Mimisbrunnr
In Norse mythology Odin didn't invent the runic system, but he discovered is by making sacrificing himself. But since he's already head of the Norse pantheon I'm thinking that the Norse "library" would be dedicated to a lesser source of knowledge/wisdom. It could be as generic as the "Library of the Runemasters", or a little more obscure like visiting the "Mímisbrunnr", the Well of Mimir, who was a counselor of the gods, or maybe even the House/Temple of the Norns, the Norse version of the fates). Personally I like the Mímisbrunnr best, but your mileage may vary.

Babylonian - Enheduanna.
Techically she was Akkadian, the world’s first author known by name and was (possibly) the daughter of Sargon of Akkad (Sargon the Great). Whether Enheduanna was, in fact, a blood relative of Sargon’s or the title was figurative is not known. She is also credited with creating the paradigms of poetry, psalms, and prayers used throughout the ancient world which led to the development of the genres recognized in the present day.

Roman - Carmenta
According to the legendary origin given by Hyginus it was Carmenta, a Cimmerian Sibyl, who altered fifteen letters of the Greek alphabet to become the Latin alphabet and which her son Evander introduced into Latium.

 

[Andy P XIII]

Fun idea. Much better than Alexandria, since we can't exactly have Alexandria in the game, at least not for a while.

 

[Pipinghot]

but I haven’t needed WoWhead for general gearing information since Pandaria.

I agree, that's true for general gear. But in this thread we're not discussing general gear, we're discussing best-in-slot gear for end-game play. And for end-game best-in-slot gear both games are on an equal footing, you need to consult external resources if you want to be certain of getting it right.

 

[Aaron]

Aaron, maybe I am misunderstanding your suggestion, but if we allowed a civ to equip multiple units with just one leg item (so for instance the Greeks need only one copy of a Master Assassin’s Gauntlet in order for every single unit that has that gear slot to equip it at once), that would totally change the entire gear system, as well as dramatically reduce the playing time necessary to max out a civ). I don’t think we’d ever want to make that kind of dramatic change to the game.

I meant like if you equip berserkers with master assassin's gauntlet, then you cannot equip spearmen with the same item. You have to go with Ramses, or some other legendary. A wall of architect could either go on TC or market, but not both. It's probably impossible to implement in the game as-is, since it would piss off a lot of people, but one can dream.

 

[Andy P XIII]

Ah, yeah, that would be difficult to implement, and if you thought the blowback was bad when we stopped stocking Empire Store Legendaries, I cannot imagine the riots if we in one stroke of the pen rendered obsolete dozens or hundreds of items people have spent millions on over the last 2+ years.

 

[Fraxure022]

I agree, that's true for general gear. But in this thread we're not discussing general gear, we're discussing best-in-slot gear for end-game play. And for end-game best-in-slot gear both games are on an equal footing, you need to consult external resources if you want to be certain of getting it right.

The discussion isn’t really about BiS gear, it’s about how the Empire Store made it easier to gear in general and how it permitted targeting certain gear slots. I’m not really concerned about it being difficult to get BiS gear, or even being able to tell what is BiS. I just want to know where I need to farm if I’m targeting any specific piece, if the Empire Store is not an option, and I feel that that information should be provided in game.

 

[Couldn'tCareLess]

While I don’t agree with every point made, I can see the logic behind your decision. I think that ultimately this harms newer players trying to establish themselves more than it harms the inactive EP farmers, but I’d love to be wrong.

I have, however, underlined something you mentioned that is very problematic in my mind. Where I need to go to obtain specific gear needs to be communicated more clearly and in game. If I want to farm for the Assassin’s Guantlets, or Arrows of Darkness, or whatever, I shouldn’t need to hop onto the forums to find out which quests can drop them.

If, for example, I want to obtain a specific sword in WoW, I can readily find the information as to where I should hunt for that sword in game, with a few exceptions. The onus is still on me to put in the work and earn it, but I have a clear path to do that. This is not the case in AoE. You mention that if I want Celeste gear I should farm Celeste quests, and if I want classic gear I should farm those, but that statement leaves a lot of gray area. Can Classic stuff drop in Celeste quests at all, or vice versa? Can Realms of the Worlds gear drop in the new Nile Legendaries?

This is my biggest frustration with the whole thing. The EP legendaries made it possible to target specific gear slots, provided you were patient enough to wait weekend to weekend, in a way that the current game makes very obtuse.

As always, I love the game, and intend no hostility in my post. Thanks for reading it.

100% Agreed. Why don't you add the quest where x item might drop on Celest Item Search?
Still, the items and gear that drops per each quest needs to be revised. There is no point in doing legendaries when the drop rates of Green/Blue stuff is too dam high! Understand that players that do 5 legendaries and can't get even a piece of legendary gear will be very frustrated and when they see that it's almost all blue or green that frustration will increase until it reaches the moon. Those who can coup with it will continue playing, other will leave their game time and go sleep or do other things IRL (or play another game) for that moment.

I understand that loot must not be granted, but we do need a few things to improve the game looting system without breaking it:
- Have acess to information - Where does x item has the higher probability to drop (Crete? Athens quests? Wel of Hur?) we don't need % like Wowhead;
- If you want to drop greens/blues do it on the daily quests more often (as they already occur), and on legendary with 10 chests at least give us 1 random legendary (it's a 10% chance) even if is crap;
- Fixing the loot tables will help to diminish part of the problem we are having with the EP Store, to solve the other part, change the EP cost of the chests to a more affordable number (425/750) so that new players can use it more often;
- Sometimes i think we talk a lot, but we keep forgetting that newplayers are complaining because they CARE, and having someone that is new to the game caring about our beloved game is amazing, they are sharing their first impressions and things that we no longer see because we are used to the game itself.
- A way to compare two items and see where one benifits from the other without having to remove a piece of gear from the slot (Yes, WoW Shift ability pops up on my mind straight away);

I know i might be unfair to ask so much to the Devs that are doing an sensational work, but is my obligation as a fan and a player to care about it!

Regards,

 

[Jeinx]

The discussion isn’t really about BiS gear, it’s about how the Empire Store made it easier to gear in general and how it permitted targeting certain gear slots. I’m not really concerned about it being difficult to get BiS gear, or even being able to tell what is BiS. I just want to know where I need to farm if I’m targeting any specific piece, if the Empire Store is not an option, and I feel that that information should be provided in game.

Any quest that Celeste added to the game is going to give you the best chances to get gear that Celeste added to the game.
Any Quest that was in the game before Celeste is going to give you the best chances to get gear that was in the game before celeste.
However, any gear has the chance of dropping anywhere
Hope that makes you feel less like you need a degree in gearology to figure out

 

[gerarddepardieu1]

Of course it breaks the market. Everyone is waiting for the reset.

But this has a significant impact on new players. They want the best equipment (Hi the Master Assassin's Gauntlet). And now they won't be able to get them anymore by the imperial store. This can be discouraging for them and they won't want to get more involved in the game.

Knowing that former players were able to equip all their units with Master Assassin's Gauntlet's Gauntlet's...

 

[fabsroman]

My guess is that something like the Master Assassin Bow drops just as often as the Walls of the Architect, Athenian Training Manual, and Master Assassin Gauntlets. Thing is, each civ needs a lot more walls, manuals, and gauntlets than it needs bows. I don't need much of any gear, other than legendary manuals, walls, and gauntlets. I have 10k in EP and was doing high value EP quests to obtain these items when they finally made it into the rotation. I am back playing because of the Halloween event, but I will not be grinding for EP anymore after the Halloween event since there is barely any use for the EP anymore. I like the events because I know what is at the end of the rainbow in return for my grinding. Grinding on a hope and a prayer that a yellow manual, gauntlet, or wall will drop isn't quite as much fun. There is my 2 cents.