How do you feel about the new Leap of Faith courses?

Well we've had them for a bit and hopefully people have a chance to go at them. This is just a general discussion on them, what you like, what you don't, maybe suggestions for the development team for how to improve it further.

Aesthetically and thematically, the new courses are no doubt superior, for me. I like the colours, the terrain, the little details like the airship thing, and the Nym aesthetic. They are just a lot more interesting to look at than The Fall of Belah'dia. On the other hand, sometimes they went overboard. The little white shiny bits over the clear sky take a little more visual scrutiny for me to identify where I am supposed to land, mitigated by experience. It seems they used these to create bumps, which in turn make jumps easier. All in all aesthetically and thematically superior courses.

Talking about difficulty, for someone like myself, I can finish the new courses in under 3 minutes on a clean run. Though for someone else who might have a hard time jumping, I can't help but feel the new courses are worse. In both course styles, the consequences of failure are volatile. Old ones, you might land on a platform below you, or you might land all the way on the bottom. New one, you might land on a little island with a jump pad to get back up, or you might fall into the void and get sent back to the beginning. Though now there is more horizontal distance to cover, and a loading screen, on each failure. Given the reward is the same as the other courses, I can't help but worry it's more discouraging for a lot of people to goof up. I could be wrong, though.

What I'd like to see changed is perhaps a remix of Wanderer's Palace soundtrack for the music, since this is Nym, and the generic GATE music doesn't feel suitable to the mystical atmosphere. Secondly, maybe some kind of checkpoint system, so if you fall down, you return there rather than at the beginning.

What are your thoughts on the new courses?

Leap of Faith is one of my most favorite things to do. I love the look of the new one. I also like that it covers a lot of horizontal space, as that gives it a different feel than the original.

My complaint is that it is easier than the original. Due to the horizontal movement, a lot of landing areas give you too much landing room. I can almost full sprint through the whole thing, barely taking time to really aim and plan my jumps. On the original, my wife usually required me to come to her PC and finish the course. On the new one, she has completed it herself several times.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Esmoire

New one, you might land on a little island with a jump pad to get back up, or you might fall into the void and get sent back to the beginning. Though now there is more horizontal distance to cover, and a loading screen, on each failure. Given the reward is the same as the other courses, I can't help but worry it's more discouraging for a lot of people to goof up. I could be wrong, though.

---

This is the biggest issue. The course is much longer and the punishment for falling much harsher, all for the same reward. I love the aesthetic but I don't have as much fun actually running it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Brightamethyst

This is the biggest issue. The course is much longer and the punishment for falling much harsher, all for the same reward. I love the aesthetic but I don't have as much fun actually running it.

---

Yeah. This is what I gather from other attendees and the everyday casual player. A lot of it is psychological; two of the GATEs have very abrupt failstates where, if you goof up, you are immediately removed from the activity immediately and are rewarded for your progress. Leap of Faith lets you try as much as you want in 10 minutes. On the other hand, Any Way The Wind Blows and Slice is Right are done at the Event Square plaza making them more accessible, no loading screen besides being transported onto the platform, require less input, and reward much more MGP.

Indeed, there's a lot of reasons why the nature of Leap of Faith, especially for a struggling player who has a hard time reaching the golden cactuar or even just the goal, can be a bit disheartening for people who took a long time to get there to fall down. Not much can be done about The Fall of Belah'dia, though a checkpoint system for The Falling City of Nym could be kind of cool. Maybe just placing people back wherever they grabbed their last silver.

I hate jump puzzles in general but especially in MMOs. For me the new courses are reason enough to skip Leap of Faith altogether every time it comes up. I just can't be arsed to do it.

I struggle with it a bit due to a fear of heights. All that empty air makes me twitchy. I genuinely have to look away if I miss a jump.

I dig the aesthetics of it much more than the first Leap of Faith, and I appreciate the fact that both versions of it are in use rather than the first being discontinued.

They're okay; what I really would like to see are slot machines and/or a roulette table in the Saucer :)

I think they need to remove some of the bushes a little, it can be hard to see some of the cactuars for colourblind people when they are hiding in them