ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

I've suggested this in other threads but figure I'll give it it's own so it gets more attention

A lot of players have mentioned how hard the rift has become since the zero gravity was added. Also the fact that once you're in it you're in it for good makes the place a bit of a death trap (you can't Eidolon out either someone told me, though I don't play adventurer so haven't experienced this for myself).

Anyway, my suggestion is to give the player a dialogue pop up.

"Are you sure you want to enter the Rift? There's no telling when or where you'll end up or if you'll be able to make it back."

Yes / No

And that's it Give players a bit of a hint that this could be a one way trip. Especially for new players I think getting murdered in the Rift has been a big turn off. But if they're murdered with fair warning their feelings on it may not be so harsh

Although it's up to you, you could also just add an exit to, at least, the first area. (I can see why there can't be exits in the alternative universes, but the first area seems like it could let you back out safely.) I think that that tends to be the hardest part for many people anyway, since it's swarming with enemies that teleport around unexpectedly and has an odd construction that sometimes won't let you set up a defensive position. I recall playing a Berserker who had no problems with anything up to that point who got completely slaughtered when he entered the Rift... on all of his Adventurer lives.

In general, once I'm past the first area the rift isn't nearly so tough, since the areas after that tend to not let them swarm you anywhere near as effectively.

Another approach I suppose would be to lower the number of enemies that generate on that first level of the Rift. The line of sight passing, clear walls, and now Zero G combined with the nastiness of the time elementals makes the zone pretty beastly. Cutting the number of enemies to three quarters what it is now would help a lot and let the zone keep all its other neat surprises.

Still say a warning sign would be nice

I'd be happy if the enemy density were just reduced a little. Same for the chrono-Daikara area too (just lost my attempt at the Marauder unlock in there :( ).

Being able to escape with the Eidolon should really be an option. All it would need to do is lock out the Rift permanently. Same should go for the last level of Kryl'Feijan; things can get really nasty if you have trouble taking down the cultists.

Edit: Epoch, too. That's a really tough encounter, and it sucks to lose all your lives there.

Definetely agreeing with changing the first level a bit - I was actually the one who complained in chat about this It's just that the first level combines a hostile layout and lots of enemies who can teleport, stun, and heavily damage you... the Chrono-Daikara level is dangerous, also, but at least there you can hide/be safe for a bit because it has a standard layout.

Reducing the NPCs to three quarters sound good, would likely make that level more in line with the others.