Dear Frontier,
It's been a few years and although I actually did not expect this to happen, here we are again. I regret to say that I am fairly disappointed in how you have handled the various game modes of JWE2. While overall the game is significantly better than it's predecessor (but with a great deal more growing to do before it can be called a true sequel), it is a demonstration of the profound lack of understanding of how to handle game modes in this iteration. I do not mean this out of disrespect, credit where credit is due on the many things done right, but I cannot believe how very VERY poor the handling of the game modes is.
Let me clarify.
Sandbox - The way you have built Sandbox, it is purely for creativity. Largely for those players who just want to paint in a neat park and let their freedom go wild and unrestrained. That is not at all for me, it bores the living daylights out of me to just be able to do everything unrestrained but it is what some, many people want. Fair do's and props to them, this game mode is for them, not me. But... why then, did you repeat the same exact mistakes you made in the first game and make this mode force all players to have to unlock everything by playing the modes they do not actually like? People like BestinSlot and EvolutionSquare hated the old campaigns not necessarily because they were the worst things ever, but because the game FORCED them to play through them to do the things they ACTUALLY wanted. You took the wrong lessons from this and simply made the campaign worse but shorter, yet Chaos Theory mode still takes ages upon ages. So why are you making people who dont want to play certain modes have to play those modes to be able to enjoy the one they actually WANT to play? Are you afraid that theyre not going to engage with your game long enough if you just let them have everything? Thats ridiculous and what you've done in the end is force these people to play things they dont want in order to do what they want, but then hurt other game modes other people wanted to play in order to not frustrate them too much, while in the end not actually doing so because hey look Chaos theory is still a pain even after the short campaign is done.
Challenge - Some people, like BestinSlot, a person who's opinion i respect but do not necessarily agree with, complained about Challenge mode in the first game and the things it forced you to do to unlock cosmetics etc. I, frankly, do not really care for the unlocks or whatever. The thing is, Challenge mode as it stood in JWE was the only game mode I played because it was the ONLY game mode to let me play the game the way I wanted. It was the only game mode to plop you down on an island with NOTHING and say "Ok go, build a park and PLAY THE GAME THE WAY IT'S INTENDED TO". Why would you make all these mechanics about research, fossil hunting, bla bla bla and then have the only game mode that actually gives you any freedom - Sandbox - simply just... not have them... not even as a toggle option at session set-up. This is a game, with its own challenges and hurtles to overcome, you built this entire thing, the point of it is to build a park and overcome the struggles on your way to success. This was the way JPOG was played, for one, it was the meat of the game, and while it eventually came to JWE in the form of the old Challenge, you tacked things on it like unlocks which made people who do not, again WANT to unlock anything, HAVE to play it, and not just play it but beat it's fairly crazy difficulty curve. This made a lot of people hate the mode and rightly so, I never unlocked 95% of things the mode offered because i couldnt be arsed. But for a great many people the unlocks werent the point, the difficulty, the "Challenge" of it if you would, wasnt the point, not the one you intentionally forced in there. The point was simply being allowed to play this game as what it is in it's core - A Park Builder. To be able to launch an island, start with a bit of capital and next to nothing unlocked and work your way to having the best and most awesome park you could make.
We now do not have this. You have somehow managed to frustrate almost everyone as you do not have a dedicated Park Building mode as Challenge used to be, Challenge is now INCREDIBLY limiting in not allowing you to pick an era, having dino restrictions and specific goals, these things were extrenous and unwanted by those of us who actually loved Challenge and someone somewhere missed the point of why we were playing it to begin with. Sandbox STILL forces you to jump through a ton of hoops to unlock everything, forcing players to go through game modes they simply do not enjoy, then complain about them online and get you to ruin something else someone enjoyed when you could have just given them Sandbox with everything unlocked. Noone likes to jump through this many hoops, Frontier, it's tedium, it's just awful.
Solution:
I am not advocating for the "Return" of old Challenge mode, or to change Sandbox to have a progression toggle. While I think the latter would probably work well enough, I have no idea what the architecture underneath is and how much it would take to do so, plus some members of the community seem very adamant in the misunderstanding that an option for other people to play as they want does not mean they cannot play the way they want, and the former, well, Challenge mode in JWE was always born with an element of misunderstanding of the subject matter and it's reputation was tainted to begin with.
Make Sandbox have everything unlocked from the start. Stop pushing players who dont want to play other things into playing them, you're just making them upset.
Create a BRAND NEW mode - Park Builder Mode - This game should have access to ALL maps and ALL content, also not requiring other game modes to unlock it's content, but it should be defined as a singular experience to simply build a park with ALL the challenges involved,but without any extrenous garbage like what challenge has. DO NOT add any unlocks to this mode, DO NOT make map specific challenges, treat it SIMPLY as Sandbox with progression.
I suggest this knowing that this basically IS Sandbox with a progression toggle permanently applied, but:
a) I think the new branding might actually help in cooling a lot of animosity and misunderstanding between fans
b) Sandbox currently asks you to unlock everything through other game modes which would not work for this unless it is fixed
c) I feel in essence this game mode is different enough and will likely end up be the definitive experience for many people so it's nice to have it branded on it's own
d) I do not know the issues with architecture on current sandbox and what it would take to make the changes this mode needs while still keeping Sandbox viable, so it's probably best to make this new mode on it's own.
Frontier.
You have put a lot of effort into improving on JWE with this game, it shows. There are many more things that can be done and improved and I am certain that with the level of support you gave JWE, this one will likely be a masterpiece by the end of your support cycle.
However THIS is fundamental. This is how people play your game and I'm sorry to say you really goofed on this one.
Please fix this. Add a ParkBuilder Mode that is devoid of the stigma and unlock challenges and all the other extrenous nonsense so that a huge portion of your fanbase just... HAS something to play.
I finished the mercyfully short campaign (mercyful because it isnt very good,sorry) and I've been playing Chaos theory, tried other modes, but everything on display simply limits me. Campaign we neednt mention, Chaos Theory is basically the new campaign so it has its objectives and limitations, Sandbox doesnt let me have progression and Challenge puts all this extra nonsense, limits my choice of era, dinos and everything.
I have nothing in which to just BUILD A PARK AND MANAGE IT. And I am honestly shocked that this is the case.
Please, for the good of this game and your entire fanbase, please make this Park Builder mode a thing.
It's been a few years and although I actually did not expect this to happen, here we are again. I regret to say that I am fairly disappointed in how you have handled the various game modes of JWE2. While overall the game is significantly better than it's predecessor (but with a great deal more growing to do before it can be called a true sequel), it is a demonstration of the profound lack of understanding of how to handle game modes in this iteration. I do not mean this out of disrespect, credit where credit is due on the many things done right, but I cannot believe how very VERY poor the handling of the game modes is.
Let me clarify.
Sandbox - The way you have built Sandbox, it is purely for creativity. Largely for those players who just want to paint in a neat park and let their freedom go wild and unrestrained. That is not at all for me, it bores the living daylights out of me to just be able to do everything unrestrained but it is what some, many people want. Fair do's and props to them, this game mode is for them, not me. But... why then, did you repeat the same exact mistakes you made in the first game and make this mode force all players to have to unlock everything by playing the modes they do not actually like? People like BestinSlot and EvolutionSquare hated the old campaigns not necessarily because they were the worst things ever, but because the game FORCED them to play through them to do the things they ACTUALLY wanted. You took the wrong lessons from this and simply made the campaign worse but shorter, yet Chaos Theory mode still takes ages upon ages. So why are you making people who dont want to play certain modes have to play those modes to be able to enjoy the one they actually WANT to play? Are you afraid that theyre not going to engage with your game long enough if you just let them have everything? Thats ridiculous and what you've done in the end is force these people to play things they dont want in order to do what they want, but then hurt other game modes other people wanted to play in order to not frustrate them too much, while in the end not actually doing so because hey look Chaos theory is still a pain even after the short campaign is done.
Challenge - Some people, like BestinSlot, a person who's opinion i respect but do not necessarily agree with, complained about Challenge mode in the first game and the things it forced you to do to unlock cosmetics etc. I, frankly, do not really care for the unlocks or whatever. The thing is, Challenge mode as it stood in JWE was the only game mode I played because it was the ONLY game mode to let me play the game the way I wanted. It was the only game mode to plop you down on an island with NOTHING and say "Ok go, build a park and PLAY THE GAME THE WAY IT'S INTENDED TO". Why would you make all these mechanics about research, fossil hunting, bla bla bla and then have the only game mode that actually gives you any freedom - Sandbox - simply just... not have them... not even as a toggle option at session set-up. This is a game, with its own challenges and hurtles to overcome, you built this entire thing, the point of it is to build a park and overcome the struggles on your way to success. This was the way JPOG was played, for one, it was the meat of the game, and while it eventually came to JWE in the form of the old Challenge, you tacked things on it like unlocks which made people who do not, again WANT to unlock anything, HAVE to play it, and not just play it but beat it's fairly crazy difficulty curve. This made a lot of people hate the mode and rightly so, I never unlocked 95% of things the mode offered because i couldnt be arsed. But for a great many people the unlocks werent the point, the difficulty, the "Challenge" of it if you would, wasnt the point, not the one you intentionally forced in there. The point was simply being allowed to play this game as what it is in it's core - A Park Builder. To be able to launch an island, start with a bit of capital and next to nothing unlocked and work your way to having the best and most awesome park you could make.
We now do not have this. You have somehow managed to frustrate almost everyone as you do not have a dedicated Park Building mode as Challenge used to be, Challenge is now INCREDIBLY limiting in not allowing you to pick an era, having dino restrictions and specific goals, these things were extrenous and unwanted by those of us who actually loved Challenge and someone somewhere missed the point of why we were playing it to begin with. Sandbox STILL forces you to jump through a ton of hoops to unlock everything, forcing players to go through game modes they simply do not enjoy, then complain about them online and get you to ruin something else someone enjoyed when you could have just given them Sandbox with everything unlocked. Noone likes to jump through this many hoops, Frontier, it's tedium, it's just awful.
Solution:
I am not advocating for the "Return" of old Challenge mode, or to change Sandbox to have a progression toggle. While I think the latter would probably work well enough, I have no idea what the architecture underneath is and how much it would take to do so, plus some members of the community seem very adamant in the misunderstanding that an option for other people to play as they want does not mean they cannot play the way they want, and the former, well, Challenge mode in JWE was always born with an element of misunderstanding of the subject matter and it's reputation was tainted to begin with.
Make Sandbox have everything unlocked from the start. Stop pushing players who dont want to play other things into playing them, you're just making them upset.
Create a BRAND NEW mode - Park Builder Mode - This game should have access to ALL maps and ALL content, also not requiring other game modes to unlock it's content, but it should be defined as a singular experience to simply build a park with ALL the challenges involved,but without any extrenous garbage like what challenge has. DO NOT add any unlocks to this mode, DO NOT make map specific challenges, treat it SIMPLY as Sandbox with progression.
I suggest this knowing that this basically IS Sandbox with a progression toggle permanently applied, but:
a) I think the new branding might actually help in cooling a lot of animosity and misunderstanding between fans
b) Sandbox currently asks you to unlock everything through other game modes which would not work for this unless it is fixed
c) I feel in essence this game mode is different enough and will likely end up be the definitive experience for many people so it's nice to have it branded on it's own
d) I do not know the issues with architecture on current sandbox and what it would take to make the changes this mode needs while still keeping Sandbox viable, so it's probably best to make this new mode on it's own.
Frontier.
You have put a lot of effort into improving on JWE with this game, it shows. There are many more things that can be done and improved and I am certain that with the level of support you gave JWE, this one will likely be a masterpiece by the end of your support cycle.
However THIS is fundamental. This is how people play your game and I'm sorry to say you really goofed on this one.
Please fix this. Add a ParkBuilder Mode that is devoid of the stigma and unlock challenges and all the other extrenous nonsense so that a huge portion of your fanbase just... HAS something to play.
I finished the mercyfully short campaign (mercyful because it isnt very good,sorry) and I've been playing Chaos theory, tried other modes, but everything on display simply limits me. Campaign we neednt mention, Chaos Theory is basically the new campaign so it has its objectives and limitations, Sandbox doesnt let me have progression and Challenge puts all this extra nonsense, limits my choice of era, dinos and everything.
I have nothing in which to just BUILD A PARK AND MANAGE IT. And I am honestly shocked that this is the case.
Please, for the good of this game and your entire fanbase, please make this Park Builder mode a thing.
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