ObsidianOwl

I actually do know that the O.R.C bugs are weak to sour (I found out about that tip after having made this forum post a while ago); I still don't think that makes sour as useful than any of the other candies. It's for one event only, some Spiny Water Fleas, and then the Director (As well as some other bugs, but they are also weak to other types of candies/salt). It feels like a rushed element of the 1.0 release.

The way I kind of imagine this is your using Brittle Whetstones for Tier I weapons only for it's full path, then Sturdy Whetstones/Mighty Globs for Tier II weapons for it's full path, and then Supreme Whetstones/Mighty Jewels for Tier III weapons for it's full path. That's why I also gave two new crafting recipes into funneling making higher tier rocks with lower tier rocks, as I know that there's way too much Brittle than Sturdy, and way more Sturdy than Supreme. I do think generally though the rocks do need to respawn in some way or another, I think most people want that back and honestly it does make the game feel way more grindy (Not in a good way). I also made a new crafting recipe for the rocks and modified one already in the game. If we are talking about the bug made rocks (the one I modified), then the reason I added the ant parts was to give an extra step into making rocks and give the ant parts some more use. Lets say that rocks were able to respawn again, I would think having both craftable rocks and respawnable rocks would be way too much, however I do like having multiple options for attaining upgrades. That's way I added an extra step to the bug rock crafting recipes with this new rework in mind. I placed the craftable Brittle Whetstones(Bug parts) at the Hedge because you would be mostly using Tier I rocks with Tier I weapons, then I placed the craftable Sturdy Whetstones(Bug parts) at the Black Ant Lab because you would be mostly using Tier II rocks with Tier II weapons at that point in game, and then I placed the craftable Supreme Whetstones(Bug parts) at the Termite Hill because you would be transitioning into using Tier III weapons at that point in the game (Also would make the Termite Hill more alluring to go to). Obviously, this might not be the most balanced idea, without some modifications of course, but I do think that it is well thought out at least. I also think the way that this was formatted wasn't the best (I wrote this on a google doc and it copied over weirdly). I hope I may clarified a little bit more on what I was trying to get across.

A Rework to the Tools/Weapon Upgrading System… I’ll start out saying immediately that the rocks of Quartzite and Marble need to respawn, period. It would help this game flow better in player progression and honestly it’s adding unnecessary gating to a pointless extent considering: 1. You can’t even upgrade tools to the full extent after essentially beating the last boss in the game (meaning that you aren’t able to interact with the full extent of upgrades with tier I, tier II tools, and even tier III tools (kind of…)). 2. The upgrades are pretty much a bonus to be put on weapons, so to me it seems kinda weird for it to be gated from players/creates a very bad flow with the progression of the game (makes players either horde rocks that they get or spend it unnecessarily on weapons they won’t be using for the majority of the game). 3. I believe the reason for making the craftable recipes for the rocks was to make it less grindy but in the long run I think it actually kind of accomplishes the opposite effect… Grinding in survival games is going to happen one way or another I believe. The thing that separates a good grind from a bad grind is… a lot actually, as it depends on many different variables within a game. However I think a general rule of thumb would be that if there are many different types of mechanics working together, it makes the grind more entertaining and less noticeable. The fact they limited only Larvae, Wolf Spiders, and Black Ox Beetles to the upgrading process is alright but combining the fact that they are the only way to get more of the upgrade rocks is really lackluster. This in comparison to if the rocks were to respawn well… The rocks are placed everywhere around the yard and they are always placed in areas with lots of different types of bugs to fight, more than any of the bugs needed to create the upgraded rocks. The upgraded rocks are also placed in challenging areas so it’s definitely more exciting than fighting the same enemy over and over again within a select few areas. This is overall why they need to respawn. Even if the time to respawn is lengthy, I think it’s way better for the progression and flow of the game. I think the respawn time should be somewhere between 2-3 days (more so 3). With all this said though I would still keep in the craftable bug rock recipes as it would provide a second option to getting more rocks. With that though I would add an extra step to the bug crafting recipes… Brittle Whetstone - 1x Sap, 1x Larvae Spike, 2x Red Ant Parts Sturdy Whetstone - 1x Sap, 1x Larvae Spike, 2x Black Ant Parts Supreme Whetstone - 1x Sap, 1x Larvae Spike, 2x Fire Ant Parts This is only talking about tools and weapon upgrades, however I believe that certain topics in here could translate over to upgrading armor sets. With that said this is how I would rework the upgrading system for tools/weapons… Tier I Tools Tier I Upgrading phase: (All Brittle Whetstones) Lvl 1. - 1x Lvl 2. - 2x Lvl 3. - 3x Lvl 4. - 4x Lvl 5. - 5x Tier II Upgrading phase: (Respawnable) Tier I Candy Rocks/Shards - Can be broken with a Tier I Hammer (Gives two candy shards). These should be placed in the beginning part of the yard. (Craftable) Flavored Whetstones - Tier I Candy Upgrades: 1x Candy of choice, 1x Brittle Whetstone Lvl 6. - 6x F.W. - 6x Lvl 7. - 7x or F.W. - 7x Lvl 8. - 8x F.W. - 8x Tier III Upgrading phase: Lvl 9. - 9x or F.W. - 9x Lvl 10./Last Upgrade - 10x or F.W. - 10x Tier II Tools Tier I Upgrading phase: (All Mighty Globs) Lvl 1. - 1x Lvl 2. - 2x Lvl 3. - 3x Lvl 4. - 4x Lvl 5. - 5x Tier II Upgrading phase: Flavored Globs - Would stay the same… Lvl 6. - 6x F.G. - 6x Lvl 7. - 7x or F.G. - 7x Lvl 8. - 8x F.G. - 8x Tier III Upgrading phase: Lvl 9. - 9x or F.G. - 9x Lvl 10./Last Upgrade - 10x or F.G. - 10x Tier III Tools Tier I Upgrading phase: (All Mighty Jewels) Lvl 1. - 1x Lvl 2. - 2x Lvl 3. - 3x Lvl 4. - 4x Lvl 5. - 5x Tier II Upgrading phase: Flavored Jewels - Would stay the same… Lvl 6. - 6x F.J. - 6x Lvl 7. - 7x or F.J. - 7x Lvl 8. - 8x F.J. - 8x Tier III Upgrading phase: Lvl 9. - 9x or F.J. - 9x Lvl 10./Last Upgrade - 10x or F.J. - 10x Important Stuff Using lower tier rocks to craft higher tier rocks - (Craftable) 1x Sturdy Whetstone <- 2x or 3x Brittle Whetstones (depending on if 2 isn’t enough). (Craftable) 1x Supreme Whetstone <- 2x or 3x Sturdy Whetstones (depending on if 2 isn’t enough). This is to funnel lesser rocks into making higher tier rocks for higher tier weapons (still makes lesser rocks useful even after the last two tiers are over with). The higher tier rocks still drop lower tiers of rocks so the overall collection of ratios of rocks should be… B.W. - 1/1, ST.W. - ⅔, SU.W. - ⅓ Craftable Rocks recipes relocations (Current bug recipes for creating rocks) - This is for the recipes you create with bug parts, relocating where you get them progression wise through the labs/chips… Brittle Whetstone - Unlockable after the Hedge Lab Chip Sturdy Whetstone - Unlockable after the Black Ant Lab Chip Supreme Whetstone - Unlockable after the Termite Hill Chip Overall, I think that this would be better for the game and... I am very tired of talking now, so I’m going to stop.

Playing the 1.0 release of Grounded and seeing the changes towards upgrades for weapons and overall progression has been a bumpy ride to say the least. I love Grounded but to say that this 1.0 release doesn't feel rushed in certain areas is silly. The elemental candies that can be put on weapons are kind of useless in way. Obviously, I know that bugs have weaknesses to certain types of candies, its just that limiting down a type of weapon to be effective on certain types of enemies is very problematic. "In what ways?" you might ask, well... 1. Sour is useless, as only... ARC.R Assistant Manager Director Schmector Moth Scarab Spiny Water Flea TAYZ.T Are weak against it, and the ARC.R, TAYZ.T and Assistant Manger are enemies that are both weak to Sour And Salty and also you would never be a able use sour on the Assistant Manger or the other types of robots as you would had to have completed the Black Ant Lab completely in order to get the tier II crafting recipes for the globs and then also complete the Haze Lab in order to get the oven to cook said globs and then you would need to get the tier three hammer from Black Ox Beetles and then venture to the harder part of the upper yard, dodge all the new enemy types AND THEN break the sour wormholes in order create a sour damage weapon to use on a few of the robots and Assistant Manger (I'm going be honest, I don't think this was thought through well...). The other enemies, except for the Spiny Water Fleas and Director Schmector, are also weak to other types of candies. Sooooo... Sour is pretty much, useless... 2. Certain candy types ARE going to be better than others. On the wiki it shows that most enemies that you would be consistently fighting are enemies that are weak to Spicy and Fresh. 3. No point in limiting a weapon to be strong against certain types of enemies when you could just upgrade the base damage to be higher with mighty globs and it be effective towards everything you fight. Sooo... How would we fix this? Well... I have an idea. For this idea to work, I think that maybe getting rid of said elemental weakness would be required, so lets just dive in to how this works... Essentially, Each elemental effect would be applied to a weapon... When hitting with your weapon it will have a RNG chance of applying a elemental effect on the enemy, depending on what element you chose to put on your weapon. This RNG chance would happen more often the more you upgrade your weapon down the route you chose. There would be a visual indication effect that appears on the weapon when attacking to show that you have applied the effect. Whenever you get this elemental effect on your weapon fighting enemies, each one always applies a very minor chip damage effect (DOT/Damage Over Time). All candies do the same amount of chip damage and it doesn't stack chip damage if you mange to get a lucky second chance of getting effects on your weapons. The way each element would be different from one another is that they all give a different type of buff to the player that is very short lived but would most likely happen a lot of the time when fighting enemies. The different ways that these effects functions would be as follows... Fresh - Visual: Would apply a white, cool blue breeze effect that moves about in the wind in a short burst (Maybe some sparkles to freshen up the look) Effect: A burst of Freshness that appears over the enemy dealing a good chunk of damage Buff: Lookin' Fresh - Would speed up the players attack speed in a very short burst Salty - Visual: Would apply a popping rocks like effect, that covers the enemies body with little popping salt rocks Effect: A little fireworks' display of salt rocks exploding dealing a sporadic amount of damage Buff: Salty Abs - Would give the players chunky defense in very short burst Spicy - Visual: Would apply a red, radiating flame effect that bursts out in the wind in a short burst (Like flames) Effect: A burst of red flame dust that kind of explodes over the enemy dealing a good chunk of damage Buff: Spicy Rage - Would decrease stamina usage in a short burst Sour - Visual: Would apply a mini sour explosion effect, colored green and sparkly in short bursts Effect: A sour busting explosion that deals a good chunk of damage Buff: Sour Veins - enemies that attack you receive the damage they give to you (would last for a while until an enemy attacks you) This is my idea for reworking the way elemental effects on weapons would work. Although there may be things to tweak or rethink, overall I think this would be better than the way it's implemented now as these are all generally useful and don't overshadow one another. Each elemental effect is useful and unique in it's own way which I think would promote player creativity and experimentation. I don't know if having weaknesses in the game, if this were to get implemented, would make it better or worse. I do think that the weaknesses of bugs, for elemental weaknesses specifically, should be reconsidered. As for Mighty Globs, or standard upgrading, I think that should just stay as is, as I feel you are trading the elemental effects for more chunky damage overall. I also don't want this new way of functioning to be too overpowered so testing and trying out would be required.