IA- PLEASE INTRODUCE A SAVE MECHANIC

Blackyack · October 20

I like Infinite Archive. I really like the rewards, I like the random sticker book filling from the muni chests. I like the leads, the furniture, I think it's generally fun and rewarding.

HOWEVER-

It takes waaaaay too long to get back to your progression point. I don't want to have to block out 5 hours to be at a challenging spot. I don't mind a couple hours here or there, but having to restart just because you don't have unlimited real world time is VERY DISCOURAGEING.

Please introduce a kiosk in the lobby where you can save your arc etc. and just save the visions that you had. Or tie it to a new quest giver that tracks it. I think it's weird to have an endless thing that you can't go eat a meal during. Like...are we gating this so that only people without real responsabilities can pursue? I gotta put the kids to bed and do other stuff, it really sucks to have to start over because food won't cook itself.

Feels like a sinple improvement that would seriously drive up engagement.

Saidar · October 20

This would be great!! I rarely do IA because it doesn't seem like I can ever make much progress in the time I have to play.

Soarora · October 20

I was excited to solo scorepush IA, but the excitement quickly died due to no save feature. Now I can barely bring myself to play it because I don’t want to play IA for 2+ hours straight. I know it might be hard to save duo runs but I’m sure there’s some way through an item or a quest that saves the progress for a week at a time or something.

Cooperharley · October 20

Agreed - I've never seen a good counter-argument to this. Especially if you consider that the vast majority asking for a save are totally fine with forfeiting a leaderboard spot. I personally don't care about this whatsoever, but i shouldn't have to start all over if I want to go eat dinner with my family real quick, come back, and continue.

SilverBride · October 20

No save is why I'll never go past Arc 4 because I'm just too tired after the couple of hours it takes us to get there. I'd really like to see how far I can survive but I just can't do it with the current setup.

I don't care about the leaderboard. They could make a casual run and a competitive run to choose from, like they have with Tales of Tribute and let the casual save.

We still only have so many threads and our run will end when they are gone, so I don't see what the problem is.

YandereGirlfriend · October 20

Definitely want to add my +1 to this.

o_Primate_o · October 20

Yeah, maybe when you have 10 arc 5s cleared, unlock achievement to start at arc 5 but doesn't count to leaderboards.

SilverBride · October 20

There shouldn't be any stipulations. Just give casual runs a save.

Reginald_leBlem · October 20

This has been widely requested since IA was announced, I don't know if they've ever stated why they didn't implement it.

Aardappelboom · October 20

Yup, has been suggested a few times and I agree. It'd be great to do a couple of rounds when you have the time instead of having to go for a full run in one go.

MidniteOwl1913 · October 20

A save function would be nice, but I don't think it would matter much to me. IA is boring for me. It only reason I would use the save would be to finally get to arc 4, once for the achievement.

Sarannah · October 20

A save function would take away the feel of the IA, which is going in and seeing how far you can go. Instead of a save function, ZOS needs to find a way to make the IA go faster. A way for players to move up through the arcs faster.

Personally I'm thinking about an adjustable IA upgrade which would allow us to spawn all three groups of monsters in a stage at once, up until the arc we set it at(including the marauders!). This would still have players start over every run, but would allow us to move through the *for that player* easier arcs much much faster. For example: The new upgrade "IA overload" allows the player to right click and set any number from 1-99. After setting this number, all arcs up to and including that number now have the monsters in those stages spawn all three groups at once. If a player sets IA overload '5', all arcs up to and including arc 5 will spawn all three groups of monsters in stages instantly.
The advantages of this type of upgrade are: 1: The players themselves can choose up to which arc they find the IA easy. 2: Arcs go by much much faster. 3: Nothing has to be changed or saved in the IA, as nothing except the monster spawnrate is changed. 4: A save function would no longer be needed. 5: This would be fair with fortune droprates in mind, noone would be able to gain massive amounts of fortunes due to re-starting at a very high arc.

AzuraFan · October 20

I'd love a save point. Because of an RSI, I can't do more than an arc and a half at a time. I like the IA, and it's disappointing that I'll never progress past the middle of Arc 2 (on a good day). I hate having to quit when I still have threads left. A save point would let me progress further. Since the IA doesn't have one, I only ever venture into it for an endeavor, and only when I can't make up 3 another way.

Horny_Poney · October 20

Sarannah wrote: »

A save function would take away the feel of the IA, which is going in and seeing how far you can go.

No it wouldn’t. After saving you can come back and still see how far you can go.

Horny_Poney · October 20

Actually it’s quite the opposite: some people can’t see how far they can go without a save function.

SilverBride · October 20

Sarannah wrote: »

A save function would take away the feel of the IA, which is going in and seeing how far you can go.

I know how far I can go before I am exhausted and I end up stopping with full threads. I'd like to see how much more difficult the Arcs get and Tho'at but I just can't mentally do it in one setting.

Sitting that many hours at a time, not getting up or taking breaks which I do when I am just playing other content, is not healthy.

Stafford197 · October 20

PTS feedback overwhelmingly mentioned this too. The entire situation is just embarrassing.

We need one of the following:
1. Let us Save our progress (disables Leaderboard)
OR
2. Let us start our IA run on Arc Level that we have reached before. Weekly Leaderboard Placement is only active if we do a fresh run. Actual Leaderboards lists our farthest Arc

Hapexamendios · October 20

Completely agree. Let us save our progress. I don't really care about the scoreboard so if it is disabled with a save no problem.

Runefang · October 21

I suspect group instance save progress is a technical nightmare for them, as good as it would be. Imagine if a prog group could actually save an instance for future prog nights so you don't have to wade through the trash each time. We'd see more clears of hardmodes for sure.

BetterAtChess · October 21

There's a lot that I like about IA but IMO the 'Infinite' part is a wasted opportunity. It just feels like a set of pretty arenas that get reset to zero once I log off.

Contrast that to other games where procedurally generated content is done well e.g. Path Of Exiles 'Endless Delve': your progress is saved, you get a huge map, and you really get the sense of delving deeper into some long forgotten dungeon.

Sarannah · October 21

The mystery of what you encounter in the IA is part of the archive. Mistakes/threads lost along the way is part of the archive. These are things a player can't experience when starting in later arcs, as you can't mess up with a boss in arc one for example. Any limitation, including a reallife limitation, is part of the feel of the archive. Going in fresh, and seeing how far you can go. Starting fresh runs is important!

Something which would need to be taken into serious consideration with a save function, is the fortune gains. If players would be able to start at later arcs, they would be able to massively gain more fortunes. Maybe whatever arc the player starts at, the fortunes count is as if you are re-starting from arc one. Meaning if you start arc 10, you would get the arc 1 amount of fortune drops in arc 10 if you continued a run, arc 2 fortune amount drops in arc 11, etc. That would be fair, and wouldn't change the amount of fortunes one can gain if starting in later arcs.

Things like visions and verses should also be taken into consideration, how would these be handled?

Also, fresh runs need to be taken into consideration. If players are allowed to save and continue a run, this would effectively mean fewer players would group up for fresh runs in the archive through the groupfinder with another random player.

Instead of a save function, I'd rather ZOS finds a way to make the IA go faster. A way for players to move up through the arcs faster. Possibly through the use of upgrades, such as my idea above.
Other upgrade ideas to make the infintie archive go faster:
-A skip arc upgrade. Example: You buy the skip arc 1 upgrade for 1 million fortunes(has to be very expensive), and are allowed to skip arc 1. By buying the skip arc 1 upgrade, you unlock the skip arc 2 upgrade to be bought for 2 million fortunes. By buying the arc 2 skip upgrade, you unlock the skip arc 3 upgrade to be bought for 3 million fortunes. Etc, etc. This guarantees multiple things: The player has to have experience in the archive to be able to skip arcs. The player can only skip arcs they have bought the upgrades for. The player has a reason to gather massive amounts of fortunes, where the extra fortunes gains from starting in later arcs no longer matters. And the player is able to build up arc skips. (This upgrade should ofcourse exclude players from a leaderboard run.)

-An upgrade to have a 25% chance to get an avatar verse each time you can select a verse in arc 1-3, without having unlocked that avatar fully yet. Should be 500k fortunes. To allow players to get through the arcs faster. A similar upgrade for arc 4-6 for 1 million fortunes, arc 7-9 for 1.5 million fortunes, etc, etc. You can only buy the higher arc avatar verse upgrades if you have all the lower ones. So to buy the arc 4-6 avatar verse upgrade, you have to have bought the arc 1-3 avatar upgrade. And so on.

-As already mentioned in my previous post: An adjustable IA upgrade which would allow us to spawn all three groups of monsters in a stage at once, up until the arc we set it at(including the marauders!). This would still have players start over every run, but would allow us to move through the *for that player* easier arcs much much faster. A fair price for such an upgrade would be 1 million fortunes. For example: The new upgrade "IA overload" allows the player to right click and set any number from 1-99. After setting this number, all arcs up to and including that number now have the monsters in those stages spawn all three groups at once. If a player sets IA overload '5', all arcs up to and including arc 5 will spawn all three groups of monsters in stages instantly. The advantages of this type of upgrade are: 1: The players themselves can choose up to which arc they find the IA easy. 2: Arcs go by much much faster. 3: Nothing has to be changed or saved in the IA, as nothing except the monster spawnrate is changed. 4: A save function would no longer be needed. 5: This would be fair with fortune droprates in mind, noone would be able to gain massive amounts of fortunes due to re-starting at a very high arc.

-After every boss stage, let us select a verse and a vision instead of only a vision. This will help speed up our progress in the archive quite a bit, as we won't have to clear a round without a verse active.

-A fourth vision and fourth verse choice every time we get to select one of either.

-Make repairs from the merchant in the IA free. (small timesaver)

There could be many more ideas for upgrades like this, to make the IA go faster. But I do feel having to start runs over is kind of important. (Note: The costs of all the above upgrades should be high, as they also allow for gaining fortunes much faster. And the upgrades should always have an option to turn them off.)

**Edit 2: All of the above suggestions for upgrades should be applied all at once. Allowing players to move through the lower arcs faster, and have the option to skip arcs when they earn enough fortunes.**

pklemming · October 21

Starting runs over is not fun. It only starts getting a challenge for me around 5 or 6, and I usually just port out at arc 7 or 8 due to tiredness.

It is not fun, it is a dull. I don't die to lack of threads, just lack of time. it was poorly implemented, with no real thought to the player.it is so annoying, I only go there if I need to buy something, or it is a daily/weekly. They turned something that could have been fun in to a complete slog. Once again, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

The introduction of the new fabled and meteor mechanics was also extremely poorly thought out, with fabled bosses just having annoying mechanics, not fun mechanics. I do so love mobs that chain heal....It really makes me think, 'Gee, I am glad this was included, it really adds to the fun of this area'.

The meteor too. A great way of making the infinite archive, very finite. There comes a point, that dps is not sufficient to kill the meteor, effectively putting a hard cap on an endless dungeon. Good job !

Credible_Joe · October 21

Fully support an exit save mechanic at the very least. But cleaning up some of the grouping oversights would be nice as well. The other day a guildmate was asking for help with a world boss. I said I was on my last thread in IA and would help presently; they grouped up with me. But, they managed to get help and kill the boss before I died.

The group disbanded and the kick from instance timer started, even though no one had been in the archive with me. Lost all progress on a lengthy run. It was very frustrating.

A save mechanic would have let me step out and help a guildie. It's also needed for all the reasons listed above. It's a wild investment of energy that doesn't respect the player's time. So even if it's limited to an exit save, it's sorely needed.

Hell, gamify it, even monetize it if you have to. Runes of stasis, campfires, Archival Bookmarks, anything. I'd spend fortunes and gold on those. And I'd be salty about it, but I'd even spend crowns on them as well.

SaintJohnHM · October 21

Yep. I don't like IA because it takes too long to get to the more challenging fights. If I could save or somehow jump in to a later Arc it'd be more fun.

Cooperharley · October 21

SilverBride wrote: »

No save is why I'll never go past Arc 4 because I'm just too tired after the couple of hours it takes us to get there. I'd really like to see how far I can survive but I just can't do it with the current setup.

I don't care about the leaderboard. They could make a casual run and a competitive run to choose from, like they have with Tales of Tribute and let the casual save.

We still only have so many threads and our run will end when they are gone, so I don't see what the problem is.

Totally agree. This is the kind of update we needed in Q3 on TOP of the new marauder and tile sets. That update was extremely sparse across the board imo.

Sarannah · October 21

Another way to make the lower arcs go fast, have not only a vision choice but also a verse choice after a boss stage. So we do not have to kill a round without having a verse active. This will also speed things up.

Instead of wanting a savefunction, what would be appropriate upgrades to get to the higher arcs faster in your opinions? Like all of my suggestions combined would make the earlier arcs fly by extremely fast, yet would not change the essence of the IA and it's runs.

DenverRalphy · October 21

I think there should be Checkpoints unlockable with achievements.

Checkpoint Achievements for every 4 Arcs.
Instead of saves, when starting at any checkpoint the game randomly kits you out with Visions, and you can select whether the kit is biased (but not strictly) towards Offensive/Defensive/Utilitarian.

That would be better than saves, because otherwise everybody could just save with the best selection of Visions. The randomness needs to be maintained.

Ph1p · October 21

DenverRalphy wrote: »

I think there should be Checkpoints unlockable with achievements.
Checkpoint Achievements for every 4 Arcs.

Instead of saves, when starting at any checkpoint the game randomly kits you out with Visions, and you can select whether the kit is biased (but not strictly) towards Offensive/Defensive/Utilitarian.

That would be better than saves, because otherwise everybody could just save with the best selection of Visions. The randomness needs to be maintained.

Wouldn't it be the other way around? If people can skip to a checkpoint and select random visions, they will just reset until they get enough Focused Efforts or whatever. But if people can only save and continue from a previous run, then they are stuck with whatever they got from that run.

DenverRalphy · October 21

Ph1p wrote: »

DenverRalphy wrote: »

I think there should be Checkpoints unlockable with achievements.
Checkpoint Achievements for every 4 Arcs.

Instead of saves, when starting at any checkpoint the game randomly kits you out with Visions, and you can select whether the kit is biased (but not strictly) towards Offensive/Defensive/Utilitarian.

That would be better than saves, because otherwise everybody could just save with the best selection of Visions. The randomness needs to be maintained.

Wouldn't it be the other way around? If people can skip to a checkpoint and select random visions, they will just reset until they get enough Focused Efforts or whatever. But if people can only save and continue from a previous run, then they are stuck with whatever they got from that run.

Just resetting over and over again is much more of a chore than saving a perfect vision load out. Being able to save would be counter intuitive to the random dynamic intended for the archive.

Asking for a full on save is asking for too much, and will never happen. Ya gotta ask for something more reasonable and not get greedy if you want ZoS to listen.

SilverBride · October 21

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Asking for a full on save is asking for too much, and will never happen. Ya gotta ask for something more reasonable and not get greedy if you want ZoS to listen.

It's not greedy to want to enjoy more of a feature we enjoy without pushing ourselves to the brink of exhaustion.

Sarannah · October 21

SilverBride wrote: »

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Asking for a full on save is asking for too much, and will never happen. Ya gotta ask for something more reasonable and not get greedy if you want ZoS to listen.

It's not greedy to want to enjoy more of a feature we enjoy without pushing ourselves to the brink of exhaustion.

Thing is... that's a personal issue, not a game issue. The game is only having a mode available, how much players use it and how far they are willing to push themselves is on them. Personal responsibility is a thing. You can say: "Hey, I gotta go to bed so I am logging off." There is no shame in not pushing yourself to the edge, but instead to enjoy something.

If you feel like you are pushing yourself over the edge of what you want to do, are you really enjoying what you are doing?

Personally I do however many arcs I feel in the mood for.

PS: I do agree with you that ZOS could make the earlier arcs go faster, but they have to do this by gameplay means: Upgrades.