Delizin

....and if it were - that would NOT be a good thing!
 
Alright, this is something that's been bothering me for some time from JCs interviews - and yesterday's Easter Egg interview pushed me over the edge to where I really have to say something...
 
First and foremost - lets face the reality that Ready Player One would be a horrible game for most people nor would the events of the book be enjoyable for the majority of the player base.
 
If you're looking at your game and going "Hey look it's just like RPO!" - what I hear is "Look just a handful of no lifers got to have all the fun!". That IS the plot of RPO. A tiny group of players who take the game WAY WAY WAY WAY too seriously get to enjoy the content while the rest may as well not exist.
 
The puzzle fit this perfectly. A tiny group of players with tons of NDA covered information going back to pre-alpha solve a puzzle while the rest of the community doesn't even know it exists. Yup  - very RPO.
 
JC - The takeaway from the puzzle event should not be that "Look it was just like RPO! I did a good job!" - it should be that "The event was a complete failure and did not involve the majority of the community in a meaningful way, and was solved largely due to a bug and alpha knowledge that was not available to the bulk of the community."
 
Please please please for the sake of DU - stop trying to make this game like a fictional book about a fictional game. You need to take a serious look at how other games have done community events and have managed to involve much larger groups of players. Everything from opening the gates of Ahn'Qiraj to the Elite Dangerous Alien events - yes they were flawed in their own ways - but by and large involved more people.
 
 
Finally, this doesn't just cover events. The general game mechanics cannot be based on the mindset "Just like RPO!" - because I repeat - RPO would be a horrible game. In fact, I would go as far as saying if you are looking at any upcoming part of the game like AvA or Territory Warfare or Atmospheric combat and can say "This is just like RPO!" - then it probably needs to be reworked to NOT be like RPO but to be like an actual game that would be fun for more people.
 
Once again - face reality - RPO was a no life simulator where only the no lifers mattered.
 
This means designing things in consideration of players who are not willing to play DU 16 hours a day - and entire teams of such players.
 
Players are not going to want to spend hours waiting for an attack on a territory to man the manual guns because you refuse to consider automatic defenses.
 
Players are not going to want to fly dedicated gunners or escorts for every single hauler just because they may get attacked.
 
Players are not going to want to sit in their ship for hours watching the radar while their orgmates mine out an asteroid.
 
I could go on and on, but the core point is that the game mechanics need to be designed around giving people who do not no life the game a chance to have fun and stand a chance in pvp vs those that do.

Just like the mining tool is able to deposit soil by using the alternative mode (alt+lmb), the flatten tool should have a similar functionality.
 
Anyone who has leveled an entire tile with a significant height difference knows just how time consuming it can be. Right now you need to mine out or flatten all of the high spots, then you need to fill in low spots then go back over them with the flatten tool. All of that is much easier said than done and it has you going over the same area numerous times. 
 
Let the flatten tool deposit soil by holding the alt key while setting the height then if you hover over a tile where there isn't enough voxels to lift up to surface height, it can fill in using soil voxels up to a maximum distance below the selected height. 

Just like the mining tool is able to deposit soil by using the alternative mode (alt+lmb), the flatten tool should have a similar functionality.
 
Anyone who has leveled an entire tile with a significant height difference knows just how time consuming it can be. Right now you need to mine out or flatten all of the high spots, then you need to fill in low spots then go back over them with the flatten tool. All of that is much easier said than done and it has you going over the same area numerous times. 
 
Let the flatten tool deposit soil by holding the alt key while setting the height then if you hover over a tile where there isn't enough voxels to lift up to surface height, it can fill in using soil voxels up to a maximum distance below the selected height. 

Just like the mining tool is able to deposit soil by using the alternative mode (alt+lmb), the flatten tool should have a similar functionality.
 
Anyone who has leveled an entire tile with a significant height difference knows just how time consuming it can be. Right now you need to mine out or flatten all of the high spots, then you need to fill in low spots then go back over them with the flatten tool. All of that is much easier said than done and it has you going over the same area numerous times. 
 
Let the flatten tool deposit soil by holding the alt key while setting the height then if you hover over a tile where there isn't enough voxels to lift up to surface height, it can fill in using soil voxels up to a maximum distance below the selected height. 

Just like the mining tool is able to deposit soil by using the alternative mode (alt+lmb), the flatten tool should have a similar functionality.
 
Anyone who has leveled an entire tile with a significant height difference knows just how time consuming it can be. Right now you need to mine out or flatten all of the high spots, then you need to fill in low spots then go back over them with the flatten tool. All of that is much easier said than done and it has you going over the same area numerous times. 
 
Let the flatten tool deposit soil by holding the alt key while setting the height then if you hover over a tile where there isn't enough voxels to lift up to surface height, it can fill in using soil voxels up to a maximum distance below the selected height. 

Just like the mining tool is able to deposit soil by using the alternative mode (alt+lmb), the flatten tool should have a similar functionality.
 
Anyone who has leveled an entire tile with a significant height difference knows just how time consuming it can be. Right now you need to mine out or flatten all of the high spots, then you need to fill in low spots then go back over them with the flatten tool. All of that is much easier said than done and it has you going over the same area numerous times. 
 
Let the flatten tool deposit soil by holding the alt key while setting the height then if you hover over a tile where there isn't enough voxels to lift up to surface height, it can fill in using soil voxels up to a maximum distance below the selected height. 

To use as markers in tunnels we make while mining. Flares, so they expire and don't end up littering the landscape.  Also with the ability to be dropped on our territory but not being attached to a core.
Different Colours.
Editable duration.
Equip in quick access slot and hit F to drop one.
Craftable early on.