Chapter 246 - 169: Outskirts of the Divine Hall (3)
This made him feel smug.
’Trying to poke me? Not a chance!’
But just as he was feeling pleased with himself, he failed to notice the bridge ahead had broken off, with a viscous, foul-smelling swamp below.
This caused him to feel the ground disappear beneath him mid-roll.
’Holy shit!’
Brother Mangzi’s heart skipped a beat. The next second, his body fell into the swamp with a SPLASH, instantly covered in muck and rendered immobile.
"Ptooey!"
After a great struggle to regain control of his body and push his head out of the muck, Brother Mangzi’s lip twitched the moment he looked up.
Because the figure on the balcony had once again thrown a Long Spear formed from Warfire, this one fully charged.
SWOOSH—
The high-speed Long Spear didn’t just slice through the air; it also shattered the last line of defense in Brother Mangzi’s mind.
"Fuck me..."
BANG!
The Long Spear carried out its righteous duty, crudely cutting off the uncivilized remark.
The viscous swamp sloshed violently. Where Brother Mangzi had been, only a small, lonely clump of Wax Ash now drifted...
...
"Fucking hell, you animal... you ANIMAL!!!"
"What a bullshit stage. I’m gonna puke."
"I’m not playing anymore. I’m really quitting this time. No matter how good this game is, it’s not worth this torture."
"Forget it. I’d rather go challenge Tasolomo. At least then I’ll know when I’m going to die."
"..."
One after another, the beleaguered players wiped their tears in the world channel, letting out anguished roars.
To be honest, after entering Spirit Candle, most players hadn’t found the various dungeons to be particularly "hellish."
They were all immersed in the ultra-realistic experience and the stunningly beautiful scenery.
The only real difficulty probably lay in the monsters and bosses within each dungeon, which were clearly challenging.
But that wasn’t a major issue and wasn’t enough to make the players feel frustrated or depressed.
But it wasn’t until they recently entered the damned "Gael’s Depression" that they suddenly realized a serious problem.
This goddamn Spirit Candle had actually lured them in just to slaughter them!
The traps in Gael’s Depression were one after another, with no end in sight.
Especially in the area of the Divine Hall.
Most players were stuck in the underground section, while a small number had found the front entrance.
And the traps and pitfalls in these places... were infuriatingly numerous!
A trap every three steps, a pitfall every two.
’Is this a game for humans to play?’
This made the players see red, and they began to let loose with full force on the world channel and forums.
Some players even quit the game outright or temporarily stopped exploring.
You couldn’t really blame the players for this.
They came to play a game, not to eat shit.
It was one thing for the Divine Hall to be full of traps, but the rewards were also scarce. It was truly enough to make anyone’s mentality explode.
As a game, it was indeed a bit unjustifiable.
But watching these players rant endlessly, Luo Ge felt frustrated too.
’He didn’t design this map. It’s a Divine Hall Ruins; of course it’s going to be more realistic. How could it be like a game where there’s treasure behind every trap? The builders of this Divine Hall weren’t brain-dead.’
But he had no way to clarify this. He could only suffer in silence, take the blame, and play dead.
However, he wasn’t completely without a counter-strategy.
If the map didn’t give out rewards, he would.
Besides faking an announcement from a "shitty developer" to apologize to the players...
Luo Ge began placing rewards near some of the subsequent Milestone Spirit Candles.
He set up Weapons, equipment, and various consumables to boost player motivation. Of course, this came at a considerable cost.
But Luo Ge didn’t care about that. He had plenty of Wax Oil now and didn’t need to upgrade, so there was no harm in giving some benefits back to the players.
Newbies didn’t matter as much, but every Prison Player who quit was a loss for him.
Only when this group of players was highly motivated and well-equipped would his own gains be greater.
He was certainly clear on this point.
After this series of actions, the players’ motivation did indeed increase significantly.
Some players’ attitudes changed on the spot, and they became all smiles.
"The shitty developer finally shows his face! You dare post your address?"
"Dev, you can have your mom back. For now."
"Now this is more like it. We gamers can handle eating stuffed intestines, but you can’t just feed us straight-up shit, right?"
"Good, you actually listen to feedback. Looks like the people running this game aren’t from the ’Legends of the Three Kingdoms’ team, at least."
"Ahem, I might have been a bit loud before. I take back what I said. This stage design is pretty good, little bro!"
"Truly an exquisite design, a brilliant and unparalleled concept."
Seeing this, Luo Ge couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
’There was a gap between games and reality, after all. Making players maintain their perception of it as a "game" in every map was truly no easy task...’