Guild Task Difficulty

[faylen]

Sorry if this is in the wrong section. I've never really been good with forums.

I've noticed something while doing guild tasks, and it has been mentioned by others of other guilds as well. A lot of the tasks I get are way too difficult for my current skill levels. At first, I thought perhaps I was rising in guild rank too quickly and the tasks got harder with rank. A few days back a GM told me this was incorrect, which leads me to believe that it's skill based instead. But if that's the case, then I'm curious about a couple of other things.

First, are guild tasks intended to be extremely difficult, to the point that many are failed? I'm talking specifically about combat related tasks here, but it also can apply to herb gathering/cultivating tasks where I've been sent into highly aggressive areas that people IC have warned me to avoid.

Second, are tasks intended to be doable solo, or is the intention that the member will need and get assistance?

I'm asking about intention because I don't want to just jump to, these tasks are too hard! You need to adjust them! If the point is to encourage getting help, or picking and choosing what tasks you take, then it's fine as is, although potentially slightly misleading. But if they are meant to be completable solo, it might be worth reevaluating at what skill levels they're given, or what skills are checked for that.

[Lysse]

With your guild tasks, are your relevant combat skills similar? This includes both offensive skills AND defensive skills.

What tasks specifically are you having the most trouble with? Are you utilising stealth for combat tasks, if at all possible?



It's been a while, but I found that I would sometimes get tasks for areas that seemed a bit too hard for my skill level. I usually would just go and do something else for 10 or 20 minutes, then try again for some tasks.

[faylen]

My dodge is around 95, marksman around 150 and archery around 135 or so. I seem to have a bit harder time training up dodge.

As for which tasks, I'll give a current example. I'm now starting to get tasks on the concord. Even with three people just now, we got hammered very badly. I've managed to take out a couple of them, but if more than one shows up, I'm in huge trouble and if one manages to hit me even once I can be bleeding.

I've also been getting dusklamp tunnel tasks for a while now, and while there are npcs there I can take out, others in that section slaughter me. I've just been failing them, except for once when I got river and a couple others helping.

When I first started getting Terueka town tasks, I couldn't do it on my own, they'd see right through my stealth. Then I discovered that a warhorse is a wonderful thing, and I didn't have so much trouble there. That doesn't work in the dusklamp tunnels, though.

As for cultivation tasks, I've gotten ones in stone canyon since very early on, and even now I can't take on the bears in there. Therefore I end up failing those, too.

This is truly not meant as complaining, only explanation and trying to figure out if this level of difficulty for tasks is truly intended. If it is, I'll just keep picking and choosing as i have been. Two minutes isn't a long wait time, after all.

[Rithiel]

That's a pretty big difference in skills, especially if you throw in an offensive tactic. I don't really want to talk about the mechanics behind tasks, because it could lead to meta-gaming. But I will say that I think they're in a good place (although not perfect, mostly due to a distinct lack of overlapping skill levels in mods at certain levels). This doesn't mean that tasks won't be hard. As Lysse suggested, getting your relevant offensive and defensive skills on par with one another is a good idea (this includes stealth as a defensive skill). Your's are pretty far apart. Also, it sounds like you've just started being assigned Concord tasks, which means you won't get them all the time. They're clearly on the hard side of things, and you might need to get a friend to come and help you out with them.

Regarding cultivate tasks, where you're sent is random, and I like it that way. Even if you get sent to a difficult place, you could hide and wait and be patient to get the job done. Or you could abandon the task and wait 2 minutes. The number of times you get sent to wilderness (completely non-dangerous) more than makes up for it.

Dusklamp is a different story, as we know the skills there still have a bit to high of variance (and this is after fixing it once - can you imagine how it used to be?). Although if everything was easy, where would the fun be?

[Gruff]

To add on to this...when do Templar start to move out of the first area in the graveyard? I have pretty decent combat skills. Nothing in there is a challenge by any means. Don't get me wrong, i love not having to travel all over the map for tasks but I'm working on multiple weapon skills now while I'm getting these tasks because the others are just too easy and I'm on rank 7 or 8 of the guild. I definitely don't want to be in her position...I'm just wondering how long I will be tasked to the minor levels of the graveyard?

[Lysse]

I have a few tips for you, Faylen. They're mostly what Rithiel talked about, but I'll elaborate a bit more.

Firstly, your dodge skill is very much lower than your highest offensive skills. Boosting that up to be roughly equal will help out a LOT. If you're having trouble training dodge, my suggestion is to pay for dodge training, then go and train up a lower weapon skill a bit. As long as you don't pay for it, training up something like Daggers or Staff while you pay for dodge training can help bump that up. Heck, you can even train up brawling while you train dodging.

Secondly, your chosen guild abilities can make a big difference in how effective you are in combat. If you're an Udemi (I'm assuming as much; if not, this can still be applicable to other guilds), then one of the better guild abilities is Chameleon. It's a good boost to your stealth skill, which helps out a lot in areas where Wilderness Stealth doesn't kick in, such as the Conchord. Utilising Aeromancy while dirt kicking is a great way to escape NPCs that are mobbing you as well, since it acts as an AoE dirt kick. Some guild abilities have a cool factor, such as staff to stave, but when you take the 'cool factor' abilities, you sometimes end up giving up a bit of combat effectiveness for it. This means you have to work a little harder to make up for that.

Finally, for cultivate tasks, I don't really have much else to say. Using stealth (especially the Chameleon spell) is a great way to get past the aggressive critters in areas like that.


I will say that the Dusklamp tunnels are a tough area to hunt. However, it's a bit of a Catch-22. For a while, they were nearly impossible to hunt in. Then they were changed up, and the Troglodytes weren't spawning at all which made it astoundingly easily. It's harder now, but manageable. I suggest bringing along a couple of lockblade traps, and setting them then waiting for a mob to wander into your room. It takes a little longer, but it helps out a lot if the Troglodyte is stuck in a trap for a few seconds, giving you time to move into Ranged position and fire off a shot or two.

[faylen]

Thank you both for the feedback. It looks like I have my work cut out for me, and at least I know I'm not crazy when it comes to the dusklamp tunnels.

I have to admit to wincing about the training up stealth as well. I find that particular skill even worse than dodge to grind, but guild abilities do help, absolutely.

Thanks again. I'll see what I can do on my end, and the rest really does make sense. Although I have to wonder, when death becomes more than just a mere inconvenience, if some of those random cultivation tasks might warrant a warning to the characters who might go try to do them completely unaware that they are, quite literally, walking into the lion's den. :P

[Aerotine]

Is it intended for the Utasa guild to give you a COPY task with a door that you're not capable of unlocking? This is really frustrating to me. It's not like I have anyway of knowing if I'll ever crack the lock because there's no numbers, and after a few attempts I'd just be told I don't have a prayer. The main thing I wanted to do with my guy was the lockpicking...and he can't even do the guild tasks he's given?

[Jaster]

Are you sure there's not a PC home or some other door in the same room you're accidentally picking instead?

[Aerotine]

It's possible but when I look at the homes I don't see doors. When I look at the house I'm supposed to be thieving I see some sort of door and usually would type: unlock <adj> door.

So multiple door could have been the issue. At least, I'd totally understand if they were.

[Bryce]

Are you using a crappy lockpick? If they get worn down they don't work as well.

[Aerotine]

I believe it was pristine at the time. Are we able to craft better ones by any chance?

[Rias]

The system assigns a challenge based on your skill, and should never give you a door that's impossible to pick with a lockpick of average quality or higher. If you're still having the problem and you're still on that same task (or another task door that also seems impossible), let me know where the door is and I'll check it to see if it's buggy.

Good advice to be as clear as possible when stating your target, though. Some NPC homes do show up as doors and have fairly frequently been confused with task doors accidentally by people just typing unlock door. It's unlikey the task door got the same adjective as an existing home door, but not impossible.

[xavier]

i've run into this problem myself, er the multiple same door not the unlockable kind, sometimes I'll get a task to open a door on brewery road just outside the mine and i'll go there and it'll be an oak door. this is the same as the door to the pc house there. I'm sure there are other places but this is the only one I've remembered.

[Jaster]

In those instances you might try 'unlock door 2'.