Hello everyone! Please let us know what you thought of the start of Season 2, both the training mission and Mission set 2, in terms of difficulty, immersion and narrative. If you wish to give detailed feedback, puzzle by puzzle, please message me directly to avoid spoilers. Thank you in advance for your feedback!
ATTENTION!! I did not spoil any mission specifically, but it is possible that further discussion might spoil things in here. Please remember to put specific spoilers in tags. I noticed it a bit in Season 1, but I have already noticed it quite a bit in Season 2 missions, that TBW seems to be hiring horrible agents, scientist, examiners, or whatever. I mean, as a teacher I know we drill into people's heads that you need to label your charts. I also know that if you can't take a picture then maybe one should try to draw it or at least give me a description of what it looks like visually and not. Spoiler Furthermore, if you want me to identify a language and you have a book with a full 30 pages of said language, then please as an agent, be smart enough to give me something more than just the 1 word title. Not all titles are even real words and sometimes they are names which are not actually part of a language. So all in all, I think we need to identify and reassess the agents of The Black Watchmen or the agency will be done in by their incompetency.
Feedback: Sometimes the wording is a bit ambiguous in missions. For instance: Spoiler: Mission 10 Spoiler For the audio from mission 10, we were told to identify the 'nature' of the audio. This led to me spending a decent chunk of time attempting to decrypt it. Perhaps 'origin' would have been a better word. In terms of immersion, some of the reports we are getting as clues are less than professional in terms of the level of detail provided. For example: Spoiler: Mission 9 Spoiler The report on the 'sacred object' was far from descriptive, and the fact that it was identified as a location marker led to many people entering 'toas' over and over in frustration. Also, formally requesting more Wheeler voiceovers. I like her.
Nah, it relates to Season 1 as well, and I sort of meant it as a RP joke about the NPCs as well a bit, but perhaps it is feedback, about everything.
Thanks MidDipper (and Aquilas from another thread) for the feedback. We have updated the Mission 9.1 answer to include the above object and the report about the object will include a sketch.
Found a couple of mistakes. Normally not a big deal but while searching for puzzle pieces this can lead you down the wrong path: Spoiler Mission 6: In the text of file DA8HS1 it states in the info of the storm of 23 October 2002, that the time of the maximum dust plume size is: 23 September 2009 Spoiler Mission 9: In the text of file 6C21C6 I found a couple errors. "The description of the cryptid vary greatly, however all report that is was small and humanoid" "that hid under 'Death Rock' and moved based (on?) the lunar cycle"
A thought about immersiveness, expanding on what Aquilas said above. ARGs are a tough format to compose puzzles for. When you write a crossword puzzle, your job is to put obstacles in the solver's path, and everyone knows that, so it's understood that you might write vague or intentionally misleading clues as long as they're fair. That's part of the game between composer and solver. But TBW's premise is that we're working to solve puzzles with the agency. Out of character, of course we know that you all are the same as crossword puzzle composers: you're trying to create a tough but fair challenge. But in character, we shouldn't feel like the agency is being intentionally obtuse or cryptic for no reason. We should feel like the field agents, dispatchers, and other operational personnel are trying to help us, not baffle us. 9.1 was the best example of the problem -- thank you for addressing it! -- but Aquilas is right that the issue is more pervasive, and pulls some of us out of the experience by revealing the ARG for the crossword puzzle that it is. I remember beating my head against a wall after finally solving the Season 1 mission where we placed bugs in the medical facility. The premise of that mission was very cool, full of flavor and intrigue, but why oh why would the agency provide us with a gauge of signal and interference whose parts are completely unlabeled? You've found several really good ways of presenting cryptic and incomplete information without making the challenge feel too artificial. A good Season 2 example was 7.2. Like 9.1, this mission's challenge came from an incomplete account of what something looked like from the person who saw it. But in 7.2 there were good reasons why the account was incomplete: a dust storm obscured the target, the informant was an untrained local sheriff, the target was supernatural and can't be photographed, and the informant is now dead and can't be questioned further. By contrast, in 9.1 there was (and still is) nothing stopping the agent on the scene from asking the tribal leader what the name of the object in question is and reporting back to us -- nothing, that is, except that then we wouldn't have a puzzle. All that said, I'm having a lot of fun so far this season. As much as I liked the beginning of Season 1 before things took a turn for the supernatural, I'm eager to see where the team is going with this season, and the rifts offer so much space to tell a story that can go in unexpected directions. The desert intro videos and the photograph of the mummified hand at the beginning of Mission 5 really set the flavor and the stakes. I thought the missions' difficulty was near-perfect, with a good mix of quick missions and hair-tearing-out missions, though as I said the puzzles weren't always difficult for narratively satisfying reasons. I've only found one puzzle piece so far -- I haven't been looking for them, but one of them jumped out at me -- so I can't speak to how well they're embedded into the puzzles or the narrative, but I love the idea of them. Sorry for the wall of text. Tl;dr: More like this, please, but with the Wizard of Oz doing a better job keeping the curtain shut.
I am a newbie in TBW, anyway, here you find my two cents. I really like how the S2 story unfolds and how one gets involved in it, with the clever use of all internet resources such as google maps and image search. I loved the exploration of the towns and places in the desert with Google maps, and the discovery of interesting places around, and how the story is mixed with actual historical events. I very much like as well having recurring NPCs in the missions. Concerning difficulty of the missions, i think it is ok so far. Only a suggestion, I do not know if this is possible: providing multiple alternative hints to solve the most complex investigations might be useful, as sometimes one person focuses on a certain type of things more than another one (I mean, we all may have different kind of brain and skills). The client map is the only thing that puzzles me atm. I joined some RFHs just to discover that the original caller was offline, and that other Agents like me joined as well to discover that help was not needed. Furthermore, I cannot see if someone is out there doing missions at the same time. I searched the BW forum but found anything related to this. Cheers,
As someone who went through Season 1, I have a few things to say. In terms of story, these first 10 missions definitely have a more interesting plot and overarching connection than last season's. It captivated me sooner with the story, even if the voice acting was still kinda...strange. On the other hand, these missions seem to be a lot HARDER in general. But it doesn't feel like a FAIR difficulty. It seems almost...fake. It relies heavily on inputting JUST the right search terms, and finding just the right webpage or picture. I hope that the rest of the missions are more puzzle-based, trying to find what to make of what's given, rather than being given just information and saying 'Find X'. I know there are some 'minigames' coming, and I'm def looking forwards to those, but the 5-10 missions just aren't as enjoyable with their method of solving as last season's. UPDATE: I just finished the last of these missions, and while 9 went from frustratingly obscure to mysteriously easy to 'Well I just got lucky there', 10 was...actually pretty fun. It was definitely easier, but the subject matter was more interesting, and it was really enjoyable to do that research. With certain puzzles, like 9.1 and 8.2 were on my low-points list, pretty much the whole of Missions 7 and 10 brought that up for me. I should also point out an error in 9.1, in that Spoiler: ANSWER TO 9.1 The answer was in the plural form, Toas, when it should be the singular form, Toa While there were some very fun puzzles, from Mission 5, some of 6, 7, and 10, 8 and 9 left much to be desired, with some seemingly fake difficulty with the kinds of thought process you need to make to get the answer.
I've definitely had some experiences this season like the one GreenStarFanatic describes: I have six search terms, and the first thirty permutations I try don't work, but the thirty-first one does even though I haven't had any kind of "aha" moment. That can be frustrating. At the same time, some of that is on me. Spoiler During Mission 10 I searched for hours for information about the crew of the USS Hancock without finding the name I needed, and also, separately, for a list of missing aviators. I was right on target with the latter idea. I was looking at the right Wikipedia page. But the page listed the missing aircraft rather than their pilots. If I had clicked into each disappearance, or if I had noticed the words "military training flight" next to the right answer, or even if I had just thought "you know, if I were writing this puzzle I would probably get the Bermuda Triangle involved," I could have had the answer in minutes. In other words, some of the answers are hard to Google in a way that encourages us to be better, more creative researchers, and I really like that. At the same time, I hear what GSF is saying, and sometimes I feel that way even after solving. There is a fine line.
On this mission I felt pretty dirty. Spoiler: Mission Solution for 10 Eventually after getting tired of looking at crew logs, and the clues provided, I just said eff it and thought of spooky occurrences with WW2 pilots. This made me remember Flight 19 and that brought me to the solution, rather than any clues about the Hancock or it's crew.
Ironically I liked Mission 10 overall. Spoiler I did not have as many issues as the above. I may have been lucky, but I knew I was looking for a fighter pilot and that he was a trainer as well. Since I knew of the hancock and that if the pilot jacket is there he must be missing. I then searched for missing pilots on the Hancock and that is when I came across Flight 19. I may have...I can't remember now also though about the fact that pilots going missing and though of the Bermuda Triangle...I can't remember now.
Additional feedback for mission 9 Spoiler: new feedback The new hints seem to be a bit too cryptic. I advise adding that the object seems to be made, at least partially, of gypsum. And perhaps take out the bit about it being sacred, as toas may or may not be sacred depending on who you ask.. Also not sure if the singular is 'toa' or 'toas'. OK, in-depth feedback for mission 9... Spoiler: BIG MISSION 9 SPOILERS DO NOT OPEN IF YOU HAVEN'T GOTTEN HERE The current clue is leading people to the old answer, for some reason. I suggest the following changes: - Update the sketch. I know what image you used to generate your sketch from but as it is, it's not very useful. I've created a new sketch if you'd like to use mine, cus I was bored. http://i.imgur.com/5aqjkuQ.png I based it upon an image that I found elsewhere, there are lots of examples in that one. - Update the description. I think that the description could mention some of the following hints: It appears to be made of a carved and painted piece of wood It is decorated with dyed shells It uses gypsum paste or plaster to cover some of the areas where the pieces of wood meet The top portion appears to depict a bird's head(in my case, or a boomerang, or a turtle, or whatever) It does not appear to be sacred to the tribe but does seem to hold some spiritual significance It does not resemble the message-sticks that this Agent has seen in the field in the past It seems as if it could be used to denote direction or location This Agent has not seen a similar object in working with other tribes in this region These descriptors could help players to narrow down the answer. I find that a lot of players are hitting stumbling blocks because they don't have enough keywords to use, or feel that they haven't been given enough information from the get-go and go into the research portion already feeling like it's 'too hard'. By telling them things that, contextually should be obvious(it's not a message stick, it's specific to this tribe, etc), it at least gives them something to hang onto and refer back to as they attempt to work through the puzzle. Hope this can help, you guys are rockin' it. ETA: The above are obviously just suggestions, based upon my observations. For those who aren't in the IRC a lot or just don't realize it, I'm in the IRC pretty often and tend to lend a helping hand to those who are stumped, so I feel as if I have a bit of a different perspective on the puzzles and where the difficulties lie. I am in no way saying anything HAS to be changed, just spewing as many suggestions as possible in the hopes that something that lines up with the creative visions of the devs will crop up.
