Dev Journal #17: New vs. Remaster

[p]While this game is a remastering of the Elemental games (War of Magic + Fallen Enchantress + Sorcerer King) we are also keen to make sure there is new content for players to enjoy.[/p][p]With Beta 1 we did add a lot of new quests, units and items. But those kinds of things can be tricksy for an experienced player to know if they are new or just things that they didn’t see before.[/p][p]The improved tooltips, UI, hot keys, etc. are probably not that noticeable to someone looking for something new in the first 5 minutes of play.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]So what would be something you, a player of either previous Elemental games OR other games in the genre, would like to see in the first 10 minutes of play?[/p][p] [/p][p][/p][p]I have some ideas.[/p][p]We don’t want anything on the first turn, but we do want to do more with Dynasties. So at various Fame Levels, we could bring up a Dynasty tree where you could pick traits that could affect your entire civilization. We had started this back in the original Elemental and the only bit of that left is the blood from your particular faction.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The idea is that you could pick up various traits for your entire dynasty. Some might just be a stat buff for yourself. Others might increase intelligence or bravery that would be useful for quests or in diplomacy. Fame would then only be used for this rather than giving you free champions (a dynasty choice might give you a champion but you wouldn’t just get a free champion because your fame hit some number).[/p][p]So what say you? You like this or is there a consensus on something else people would like to see in the first 15 minutes of gameplay?[/p]