Guides for new players and old alike - Share your ideas! :: Orcs Must Die! Unchained General Discussion

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sashimi_ak

3 Jul, 2017 @ 10:20am

Guides for new players and old alike - Share your ideas!

Hello everybody!
We’ve been hearing a lot from you guys about how it would be awesome if there were more resources for new players to look at and learn things about the game. We were wondering if you could share with us, what type of information and tips would be particularly important or helpful for new players to have in addition to the in-game tutorials we currently have. What specific or larger topic would you like to see covered in guides? It doesn’t necessarily have to be geared towards newbies, it can be all around helpful information for more seasoned players too. Keep in mind that we are specifically talking about guides in video- or text form, so things that could be shared e. g. on forums so that every player can find and access them easily and also comment and give feedback on them.

To summarize:
- What kind of topics would you like to see covered in guides?
- What type of guide do you prefer? (videos or written, short and concise or elaborate and in as much detail as possible, etc.)

If you have any additional comments or feedback, feel free to share these below also!

Thank you for your input, we’re looking forward to hearing your ideas!

What's been suggested so far:

Guide Suggestions:

-> Sabotage (showing how to use basic functions such as chat and alerts but also information on important or impactful mechanics like bomb aura, etc.)
-> Killboxes (showing how to set up killboxes and use barricades to their fullest, etc.)
-> Combos (explain what combos are and what their benefits are and show how to achieve them)
-> Damage types (explain the difference between the different types of damage and their pros and cons)
-> Guardians (In-depth guide of the guardians, their strengths and weaknesses and what to think about when you chose which guardian to place)
-> Enemies / Enemy Groups (explain different types of enemies' weaknesses and strengths, bosses & mercaneries)
-> What makes OMD!U different from other tower defense games and basic mechanics (Rift mechanics, Unchained status and Weaver Updates)
-> How to use the minimap (+visual and audio cues)
-> Progression (Different difficulty levels, which game modes are good for newbies etc., upgrading traps, leveling up and what it does)
-> Heroes in-depth (what they do, strengths and weaknesses)
-> How to go about forming a strategy and set up your load out for a map
-> In-depth trap guide (different general types of traps and their pros and cons)
-> Playing in a team and what to keep in mind (what's different to solo play, guilds, communication and allowing others to sell your traps)

Related Suggestions:
-> Create new Trap and Parts videos to showcase what they do and make them accessible via Youtube
-> Advertise the guides (especially the ones covering the basics) in-game and across the various methods players experience OMD!U and learn about news (social media, forums, etc.)

Last edited by sashimi_ak; 5 Jul, 2017 @ 11:33am

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Showing 1-12 of 12 comments

Felipe

3 Jul, 2017 @ 11:27am

I think you should share how trap stats are calculated with upgrades and parts. This should be updated in-game already, but I'm talking about stats like Cost, Damage, Re-fire rate, Cooldown, DPS, etc. So you can compare and decide what's best for you.

sashimi_ak

3 Jul, 2017 @ 11:35am

Originally posted by Felipe:
I think you should share how trap stats are calculated with upgrades and parts. This should be updated in-game already, but I'm talking about stats like Cost, Damage, Re-fire rate, Cooldown, DPS, etc. So you can compare and decide what's best for you.

The devs are working on dynamic descriptions right now but it's rather complicated. Here's a quote from the producer on a very similar question in the AMA on reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/OrcsMustDie/comments/6k80jp/im_matt_dewald_producer_at_robot_entertainment/)

Hey Havle, that is something that we've been working on internally for both PC and PS4. Unfortunately it's not as easy as just exporting data as there's a lot of math being done in different places to determine stats on traps and gear and sometimes the underlying calculation is the opposite of what we would want to be shown to players. For instance, cooldown/recharge isn't done as a percentage of total trap time, it's an algorithm with different pieces of data.
Long story short, we'd love to have this and have already started work on it, but each step forward points out other edge cases that need to be figured out before more work can be done. Thanks for the question!

Yobbobear

3 Jul, 2017 @ 7:47pm

I would prefer the prologue to be more meaningful, and the advanced tutorial to be either reworked, or removed and incorporated into the prologue.

sashimi_ak

4 Jul, 2017 @ 9:28am

Thank you for all your input guys, I have updated the first post with all the ideas that have been suggested both on the forums and here so far.

Regarding the bugs & issues you have pointed out, I have passed those along.

While I think we should have guides, I agree that they're bugs that shoulda been fixed by now.

Guides are something the players have been requesting a lot and it's something we (e. g. the Community Managers) can do that will help players and won't take time away from the developers who are working hard to fix bugs and other issues.

drharvey12 has Orcs Must Die! Unchained

4 Jul, 2017 @ 11:45am

I would like to see some sort of explanation as to whether certain traps work better against certain enemies. What sort of resistances do enemies have, ie: are fire elementals weak to ice traps but highly resistant to fire traps????

Would a dragon lance be better than a ceiling ballistae because some things are weak to arcane or have strong anti-physical defences???

I don't really feel as though this aspect, assuming it exists at all, is properly explained. I just use physical and fire traps for everything and the arcane / ice don't seem to ever get a look in - mostly because I don't understand where they are strong. They generally seem weaker and more expensive than the phys / fire alternatives.

Edit: Looks as though this has been mentioned and you have picked up on it. Anyway, I'll leave my post just to confirm that this is something I feel needs to get some attention soon!

Last edited by drharvey12; 4 Jul, 2017 @ 11:49am

sashimi_ak

4 Jul, 2017 @ 11:54am

I have updated the list with a tutorial about enemies and their weaknesses. We do have certain "general" types of enemies (like order minions, trolls, etc.) so I think an explanation of those groups' weaknesses and strengths would be really helpful. Thank you for the idea :)

The_Technomancer has Orcs Must Die! Unchained

4 Jul, 2017 @ 11:58am

Originally posted by drharvey12:
What sort of resistances do enemies have,

This in specific would be great to know. The shield the order units have really annoys me since they have like 20 health left yet still take 4-5 hits to kill one. I'd like to know more about enemies in general actually like merc health, explosion damage, and even what wave the important ones will be coming on.

EDIT: Posted this before seeing sashimi's reply.

Last edited by The_Technomancer; 4 Jul, 2017 @ 11:58am

Rabob

4 Jul, 2017 @ 4:25pm

Originally posted by sashimi_ak:
I have updated the list with a tutorial about enemies and their weaknesses. We do have certain "general" types of enemies (like order minions, trolls, etc.) so I think an explanation of those groups' weaknesses and strengths would be really helpful. Thank you for the idea :)

Can't you make a guide that you can read in the client workshop?

Like
"ice orcs"
"PICTURE OF ICE ORC"
"strong versus ice damage/weak against fire"
"has a shield that reduces damage taken for 2 seconds"
"appears in the baths apprentice and throne room rift lord"
"traps that work well against them: brimstone, firecracker, etc"

You could make it as a list where you can select certain criteria to filter the minions:
- Checkboxes for Apprentice, War Mage, Master, Rift Lord
- Checkboxes for each specific survival map. (so you can see all the types that spawn in a map)
- Checkboxes for type like Troll, Giant, large minion, boss, elemental etc.

Furthermore, you could put some general info in the loading screens like "using the same fire trap in a row does not work", "being rude gets you banned", etc.

I could probably even make a prototype in excel of the list, but I don't get paid for this. So you'll have to do with this suggestion

Last edited by Rabob; 4 Jul, 2017 @ 4:32pm

Felipe

5 Jul, 2017 @ 3:01am

Originally posted by KickedByNoobs:
The descriptions in this game are too vague.

This, so much.

sashimi_ak

5 Jul, 2017 @ 11:38am

Originally posted by Rabob:
Can't you make a guide that you can read in the client workshop?

Like
"ice orcs"
"PICTURE OF ICE ORC"
"strong versus ice damage/weak against fire"
"has a shield that reduces damage taken for 2 seconds"
"appears in the baths apprentice and throne room rift lord"
"traps that work well against them: brimstone, firecracker, etc"

You could make it as a list where you can select certain criteria to filter the minions:
- Checkboxes for Apprentice, War Mage, Master, Rift Lord
- Checkboxes for each specific survival map. (so you can see all the types that spawn in a map)
- Checkboxes for type like Troll, Giant, large minion, boss, elemental etc.

Furthermore, you could put some general info in the loading screens like "using the same fire trap in a row does not work", "being rude gets you banned", etc.

I could probably even make a prototype in excel of the list, but I don't get paid for this. So you'll have to do with this suggestion :evilidk:

Thank you, this is an awesome idea and I've passed it along to the team as a seperate suggestion as it's something only the devs can do.

#10

Snipah Shot has Orcs Must Die! Unchained

6 Jul, 2017 @ 5:09am

Something I feel I must suggest and that is to fix the videos in the game. The ones showing how traps work (maybe even allow video quality to be reduced).

My internet bandwidth is 100 Mb/s and it still lags to the point that I simply much rather close it and not watch them.
I also suggest Nananea re-records them with important information, like that vtar slow doesn't stack with tar and other vtar. That Brimstone doesn't stack with Brimstone and as such shouldn't be placed one after another (Same about Fire Cracker).

I think these videos (once working properly) should have some information other than showing what the traps do.
I think it would cover a lot of the needed "guides".

Here is an example how a video looks for me when I first load it:
https://youtu.be/zGmS-sq4XcA

If I close it and then reopen then it might work properly until the point I closed it. If I wait for the video to complete then the end still lags in the next tries.

Last edited by Snipah Shot; 6 Jul, 2017 @ 5:17am

#11

Felipe

6 Jul, 2017 @ 8:45am

Originally posted by Snipah Shot:
Something I feel I must suggest and that is to fix the videos in the game. The ones showing how traps work (maybe even allow video quality to be reduced).

My internet bandwidth is 100 Mb/s and it still lags to the point that I simply much rather close it and not watch them.
I also suggest Nananea re-records them with important information, like that vtar slow doesn't stack with tar and other vtar. That Brimstone doesn't stack with Brimstone and as such shouldn't be placed one after another (Same about Fire Cracker).

I think these videos (once working properly) should have some information other than showing what the traps do.
I think it would cover a lot of the needed "guides".

Here is an example how a video looks for me when I first load it:
https://youtu.be/zGmS-sq4XcA

If I close it and then reopen then it might work properly until the point I closed it. If I wait for the video to complete then the end still lags in the next tries.

This, have the exact same issue when I check videos of traps or skins. Internet is fine and game doesn't lag at all, it's just the videos and everyone I've asked about said the same.

Please fix this already, I don't mind downloading them as part of the client, so they finally load right away and work perfectly. Hey, you can even add them as YouTube videos and embed the player