So if you haven't seen and read it already the notes for the upcoming Treasure Hunts (THs) 2.0 have been officially released! (Read them here)
What's Coming
TH 2.0 Types
- Standard Tier
- New Competitive Treasure Discovery Types
- TH Types, Final Thoughts
TH 2.0 Features
TH 2.0 Final Thoughts
TH 2.0 Types
New TH Type: Standard Tier
This is the much request individual TH tier where you won't need to fight anyone else for the treasure just a timer! This gives everyone a chance to try out hunts at their own speed (to some degree, I mean there is still a timer). You get one free hunt a day which is pretty cool, plus you can buy additional hunts (or just additional chances at your one hunt, its not 100% clear). I don't think this will be on average more than 500 UPX (?) speculative in winnings with maybe a 100 UPX "recharge" (if the TH screenshot is accurate)
This will certainly be nice for newer players looking to get a feel for THs and should help everyone make more visitor fees. Note being successful at this (read profitable) will require maximizing your moves and minimizing your visitor fees. Don't worry once released we dive a lot deeper into how to maximize your daily returns on this new feature!
Competitive TH Type: Classic
Nothing new to see here, the standard TH format we all know and "love". Don't worry while this mode may not be getting any changes there are some overall TH features changing that will certainly impact how these and all hunts are won.
Competitive TH Type: Covert
I'll be honest here, I don't get this one. So you can't check your own properties for hints....ok....I'll just click the property next to mine and check that. Yes, when I first read it, the idea sounded cool for people who don't have a ton of their own properties and I'm sure the idea was to give those players a mode where they feel like the playing field is more level. If this mode required you to have done a visit to "activate" your hints, then yes that may be more compelling, but at this time it was confirmed with the dev team that is not the case. Now don't get me wrong, I own plenty of properties that if I jumped to them I wouldn't have a neighbor to "spy" on but I feel like the vast majority of properties would just as easily be able to check a non-owned, minted property. This is a wait and see mode for me, the dev team did say they may make tweaks based on playtesting and other findings so only time will tell.
Competitive TH Type: Stealth
Aka Pro Tier! Ok, maybe not, but this is certainly going to be one of the more controversial new TH modes IMO. Why? Well, this mode caters to players with lots of properties and to teams. This will also likely have the highest prizes since it will be the hardest to accomplish. Obviously, as someone with over 800 properties, this is a very appealing hunt style. I'm curious how the larger community will respond to this. Note I do plan on having teams for this mode so even if you only have a small number of properties you can compete in a meaningful way; be sure to join the Upland Fan Discord Server for all the latest.
TH Types, Final Thoughts
The Dev team is not putting all eggs in one basket here, they created a variety of TH modes to try and please every member of the community. I think it is a respectable strategy and I am here for the journey. I don't think these will stay exactly like they are and will be adjusted over time which makes sense. I'm really excited I can hone my skills (and make some fun tutorials) using the new standard tier and I look forward to really competitive modes like Stealth!
Now all these new modes would only meet the issues of TH 1.0 halfway, there are game mechanics that also needed to be addressed. Which is a perfect segway to TH 2.0 Features!
TH 2.0 Features
Riot Mode
Ummm...yes! I had this song stuck in my head immediately after reading about this feature!
"Who in hear trying to start a riot!?" ME! Let's go!
This TH feature is about rewarding heavy community participation. Once the threshold of hunters is reached; Riot Mode activated! Having a multiplier on top of "riot" level participation is certainly going to increase the level of excitement for these hunts!
Media Breakdown: Riot Mode/TH 2.0 picture
1,000+ Players hunting; this seems like a large number from where we are today and I imagine the Riot threshold will grow over time as the number of hunters increases
It would appear that allow with the number we can see icons of who is hunting. This would certainly be cool to see how you are hunting against.
Standard "Spawn 100 UPX", as mentioned in the Standard Tier discussion it looks like the cost to spawn the treasure, after your daily freebie, will be 100 UPX.
Riot Mode "Fire"....is...well...FIRE! So cool, the art in this game is just so bright and fun.
Did I miss something in this photo? Let me know in the comments.
Cooldown
Arguably one of the biggest issues players have is the amount that a handful of hunters win. I for one love the solution the team came up with, it doesn't prevent hunters from winning THs it just makes it near impossible because after a win they won't see any hints for a preset amount of time. (While a time was not given I would say it needs to be at least 3-6 hours to start with.) Additionally, if the hunts are more active it will reduce this cooldown, which I think is a great feature too!
I'll be honest I think this could create a lot more hunting teams; hear me out. I would look for smaller players who are going to spend most of their daily sends on the Standard hunt, they will still get clues for the competitive ones if they haven't won. With a hunting party, you could have players that get hints go to their own properties (no sends required) and give hints to other players that are using their sends just for competitive hunts. Just a thought :)
Broken Trail
One of the current TH "features" that gets a ton of flack is "pre-jumping" meaning that before a TH begins a player travels to as many of their own properties as possible created a discovery trail that can be used to expedite the treasure find once live. I have tried this a couple of times myself and have never gotten it to work but the number of sub 10-second TH finds by some of the same people indicate this is a very effective and lucrative trick. While not against the T&C, it's clearly been a negative impact on the TH feature and so it is being changed. Your explorer's trail will no longer show or be able to find treasure after you've jumped. Since I don't personally use it, I'm happy to see it go away, and I hope this allows a more competitive and fun landscape.
Segmentation
Ok, admittedly this may not appear to be the sexiest or most interesting feature announced but they also didn't give a lot of details; this could mean a couple of different things. At first, I was thinking, great the dev team is thinking long term; as the player base grows there may need to be instance "shards" for hunting to ensure stability and minimize lag. Now looking at it again this could also lend itself to Tiers of hunters or even Leagues. It would be interesting if treasures spawned for different groups of people at different intervals. I'm not sure how this would play with the other features but it is something I will be looking for more information on in the future.
TH 2.0 Final Thoughts
The development team is clearly listening to the community and making large changes to help make THs a core feature of this platform. I'm very impressed with the breadth of different hunt options coming and can't wait for some of the "nerfs" to balance things out a bit. One big thing to keep in mind is not everything is going to happen at once. This is an agile team which means we get smaller updates more often (which I think is great). I suspect we'll see the Broken Trail and maybe Cooldown come in with the Standard Tier and features like Riot Mode and Segmentation to be later added. A lot of features can be circumvented/abused by players with multiple accounts which is why I'm glad the Alcatraz feature is live to demotivate anyone trying to scam the system.
Overall A+ by the dev team, I can't wait for some of this to start going live! What do you think? Leave a comment here or join the discussion on Discord:
Fan Server:
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Cheers and as always,
ThankMeLater
If you haven't already joined the fun be sure to check out Upland, the virtual property trading game. If you use this link, Upland will award you with a bonus for your first purchase! https://r.upland.me/VX4t
Additional Upland Resources:
ThankMeLater’s Buyer’s Guide (Google Doc)
Upland community database (Built on Airtable, maintained by the community)
Upland Blog (The Upland strategy blog by ThankMeLater
Uplander Blog (The Upland fanfiction following ThankMeLater the Turtle)
Upland Fan Discord Server (Find community chat, TH tips/discussion, and live voice rooms!)
Upland Official Discord Server (This is the place for all official Upland communication and Dev team interactions)
