Friday with Means - April 30th, 2010 - About the Future

I'm with Ebondevil on this one... all excellent ideas.

I'm also a big fan of the idea of overhauling many, many of the weapons and armor that go virtually unused. The first time I rolled a fixer, I used a pair of Sleekmaster Classics. So what if they had a split SMG/RE attack skill... they looked awesome and sounded fantastic. That's the kind of thing I'd like to see again... radically different weapon choices that are just as viable as the current 'standbys'. :)

I think the -000 weapons were a step in the right direction, just implemented rather poorly... *shrug* Just my 2 creds.

Is there going to be a Poll or something as a result of this thread?

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Originally Posted by Mastablasta

I agree, towers should be even BETTER! That way, maybe people would start fighting over them.

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Make pvp accessible to regular players first, and not only the super rich and the obsessive farmers, and maybe then think about this.

As it is, practically every big org has it as part of their basic rules, that defending notum fields is mandatory. So if you dislike pvp (or just don't have billions for competitive gear) you're locked out from joining the big orgs that can get the fun pvm encounters you want done. By making towers attractive/needed for non pvp'ers, you will end up forcing content onto players that do not want it.

Don't get me wrong. I find it great that the towers have value to pvp'ers. I can easily live without them. But making towers and/or contracts more attractive will make orgs more interested in them, and thus more orgs will enforce similar rules, making pvp mandatory for all high level content. I'm sorry, but I don't find that fair with the current pvp "system."

I will try to make it short:

1. i want new hats... we NEEEEED more hats, pirate triangle hats, cowboy hats etc.

2. i want more "Rubika", the cyberpunk setting which was one of the main reasons why i came to ao got lost more and more on the way, bring back the setting which reminds us of Mad Max, Dune, Escape from LA, ah you know what i mean if you want just steal off Neocron, it had the far better atmosphere than AO, but luckily AO has the better gameplay hehe

3. More Vehicles.... this is important, i want to be the driver of a tank with 3 soldiers operating heavy guns and 2 engineers in the machine room who can heal the tank .... or something like this :)

4. I said it somewhere before but i forgot where so have to say it again.. we need more HATS!

5. last but not least, i want a possibility, or more then 1, to spend XP and SK on, when i am 220/30/70...

Many People are 220/30/70 but they have to do new instances, new questlines etc... it is a pity if you do Arid Rift Quest for example with an Ai30 character... all those useless Aixp... i don´t know exactly what to do with this Xp but for example how about new Global Researches, or something like a "shop" where you can spend the XP on Items, sociel items, heal stims, small items that are nice to have but no must have, so everybody who gets XP but doesn´t need them anymore can spend them anyhow....

Oh and some bugfixes, please don´t take yourself 1 or 2 years for bugfixes only.... we need stuff to do also... not only bugfixes.

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Originally Posted by ElBoogy

5. last but not least, i want a possibility, or more then 1, to spend XP and SK on, when i am 220/30/70...

Many People are 220/30/70 but they have to do new instances, new questlines etc... it is a pity if you do Arid Rift Quest for example with an Ai30 character... all those useless Aixp... i don´t know exactly what to do with this Xp but for example how about new Global Researches...

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The concept of Global Research was good but it was poorly implemented and with no long range aspect to the idea. Mech designs came and went in weeks, never to be seen again and the whole thing had a finite end to it.

Global Research should be enabled again but have it apply to side XP. 220's piling SK into Global Research one day will raise their factions' Side XP the next day. Given the scaling Global Research had before based on population, this should also allow Neutrals a good way to jack up their side XP relative to Clans/Omnis and do so without engaging in Tower wars.

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Originally Posted by Dagget

The concept of Global Research was good but it was poorly implemented and with no long range aspect to the idea. Mech designs came and went in weeks, never to be seen again and the whole thing had a finite end to it.

Global Research should be enabled again but have it apply to side XP. 220's piling SK into Global Research one day will raise their factions' Side XP the next day. Given the scaling Global Research had before based on population, this should also allow Neutrals a good way to jack up their side XP relative to Clans/Omnis and do so without engaging in Tower wars.

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Fabulous idea.

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Originally Posted by Dagget

The concept of Global Research was good but it was poorly implemented and with no long range aspect to the idea. Mech designs came and went in weeks, never to be seen again and the whole thing had a finite end to it.

Global Research should be enabled again but have it apply to side XP. 220's piling SK into Global Research one day will raise their factions' Side XP the next day. Given the scaling Global Research had before based on population, this should also allow Neutrals a good way to jack up their side XP relative to Clans/Omnis and do so without engaging in Tower wars.

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HERE HERE!! Love this IDEA!!!

What should we make next? Where should we spend our time that it would make the most difference/be the most fun?

Rolling revamp from the start moving forward

- Do a very well thought out introduction/beginning to the game first of all, it is probably the most influential part of the game.

- Revamp subway, temple of the three winds, and outdoor leveling areas, aswell as revamping all of the old crap RK weapons and shop buyable weapons to make them actually usable.

- Make the bosses team oriented with interesting mechanics.

- Introduce alien raids for low levels and possibly give a reason for a xp/axp capped character to redo content. Low level content should be enjoyable for paid and new players, if paid players are at that level then new players will learn more.

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Originally Posted by Dagget

Global Research should be enabled again but have it apply to side XP. 220's piling SK into Global Research one day will raise their factions' Side XP the next day. Given the scaling Global Research had before based on population, this should also allow Neutrals a good way to jack up their side XP relative to Clans/Omnis and do so without engaging in Tower wars.

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Couldn't this end up like a cycle perhaps? The more 220s a side has, the more side xp increases, so the more 220s, and so on....

{edit: and bump for more hats!}

how about a shop call "This Means Merchandise" that sells vp at a ratio of 1000 creds/1vp, rare phats for rediculous prices and silly social wear.

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Originally Posted by Silq

Couldn't this end up like a cycle perhaps? The more 220s a side has, the more side xp increases, so the more 220s, and so on....

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The scaling they had when Global Research was producing better mechs factored in the size of a factions' population - hence Neuts got their mechs first as a higher % of the grinding population was directing XP/SK towards Global Research. The same would likely happen if Global Research was enabled again and directed towards side XP.

220's will get created at the same rate as they are now, this just adds in an angle in terms of what to do with the 'wasted' XP/SK that now gets produced in the course of normal activities on those chars.

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Originally Posted by ninst

New raid encounter. There is currently only one true raid in AO - Sector 42. It's the only challenging PVM encounter. Everything else can be done with one team.

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Bump. We need a new non-instanced endgame raid encounter, with multiple bosses, dropping lots of loot, ranging from semi-desirable to not-quite-as-good-as-ACDC. Pre-instanced pande was the place where the TL7 PvM community* got to hang out together every day. Due to its complexity, the number of people required, and the small quantity of good loot (just 2 ACDCs), s42 isn't done nearly every day.

*I'll say it now so you don't have to: LOL, PvMers. What a bunch of carebears.

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Originally Posted by Dagget

The scaling they had when Global Research was producing better mechs factored in the size of a factions' population - hence Neuts got their mechs first as a higher % of the grinding population was directing XP/SK towards Global Research. The same would likely happen if Global Research was enabled again and directed towards side XP.

220's will get created at the same rate as they are now, this just adds in an angle in terms of what to do with the 'wasted' XP/SK that now gets produced in the course of normal activities on those chars.

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Would you remove it then from TW?

I'm not overly keen on that. I know I'm probably in a minority, but side xp is an incentive for me at TW, I don't really get much by way of towers as my guild is too small, but I do genuinely feel like I'm helping my faction. It's helps me feel engaged in the game at a deeper level than just pvm grinding, it's s'posed to be a war! The faction wide side xp is unique to AO afaik - in every other game I've tried pvp benefits self or guild only - and it helps builds community, albeit a pvper community. I appreciate a lot of people don't like TW, but it's a bit unfair to propose taking mechanics away from one part of the game that others enjoy to give to another - unless I've misunderstood you. Apologies if I have.

Ive just started a new character on rk1 as rk2 is dying. Ive no money, nor friends, nor anything on rk1. My character is a froob fixer. Ive left NI with around 5.000 credits that came from camping NI dynas for some time, a backpack, range meter etc. On r-k i was able to buy only one ql 10 implant. Im using NI weapons that hit for 1-30 dmg and i have no idea what next should i use as without NCU room for buffs i can use only low ql rollable weapons that do more or less similar dmg than my NI SMGs. Higher ql weapons im unable to wear or even get. There are no good weapons awaiting for me in any known dungeon as im not melee user and the only good ranged weapon is SoM AR that i wont be able to get myself before lvl 60 or 70 and fixers dont use ARs ... With low dmg killing even green mobs takes ages and i just press "q" and alt - tab. My XP bar doesn’t move at all with the amount of dmg I can do. Im lvl 12 or so and at the edge of leaving.

Ive done some startup quests and got:
1. An empty backpack (hmm, ok).
2. A bio comminutor (i dont hunt outside monsters as they dont drop implants and monsters in subway dont drop monster parts so it is useless).
3. A leet doll (what exactly Am i supposed to do with it???).
4. A micropone (good for pvp with lvl 220 engi … oh wait … wtf???).

Every part of quest chain gave me around 150 xp (an amount similar to subway mob of my level), and 150 creds (wow, 1/20 of ql 10 implant cost).

As a “pr0 player” ive rolled concrete cushions that I was unable to sell because trade channels were locked to me.

The worst thing is lack of good weapons. There are simply no good SMGs for low levels. There is something level locked to 41 from foremans that I wont be able to get myself by the time I could use them. There are excellent weapons from SoM that are:
1. Impossible to get.
2. Useless to me (no SMG, am I supposed to be 2hb user on a fixer?).

In those conditions I find it amazing that anyone plays AO at all. I could also mention that there seems to be no game plot at all. You make a character out of your *** and suddenly you appear in a place full of fairy tale creatures. It could just say "Once you took to much LSD and ...".

My suggestions for startup experience:
1. Cut the cost of ql 10-50 implants 10 times.
2. Introduce a quest chain that gives a pack with profession nanos ql 10-20 (just like nano pack from NI terminal) instead of microphone.
3. Introduce a quest that gives profession implant pack of ql 10 or 20.
4. Introduce a quest that gives a set of leveling (ql 10-30 lets say) profession specific (agi/sense for fixers with some evade mods, int/psy for NTs with nano skill and/or nano pool etc.). Just like living cyber armor, but those are more or less useless to people who don’t use int/psy.
5. EVERY profession should have a typical (smg for fixer, shotgun for trader, pistol for doc, crat engi etc.) EASY TO GET, nodrop – unique weapon that drops from SUBWAY. Those could be SoM weapons that are simply IMPOSSIBLE to get by the time you can use them.

We could use lowbie (max lvl 75 – ai tech 2 or 90 – CI) alien playfield but it shouldn’t be soloable and it would be hard to desing with the difference between casual players and twinks (MPs with max ql pets for example, engis with slayers, enfs with dual chirops). Maybe it could be something like s10 with an easy startup and harder further areas but there should be something that motivates people to go deeper because if there isn’t anything like that twinks would just kill steal/alphakill startup areas.

Battlestations/OFAB: horribly broken, they just need a rework from the very beginning. Mixed side, fewer people to start, remote BS access tools, leveling / upgradable ofab items (just like living cyber armor, agents balaclava) … They just don’t work until lvl 150.

There are many broken or absurd things in AO but newbie startup experience is just horrible. It does require FCs attention NOW. IMHO its even more important that New Engine Forever Soon (TM) or whatever.

As for endgame content the greatest problem there i see is ... LFT window. If i have 3 220 toons that need to do XXX and im logged on my 150 farm toon because i couldnt find a tl7 team why cant i LFT for tl7 team? Reworking LFT window alone would make us feel less lonely in times of low population. Just add a "Ill bring my main!!1"option so i could be on LFT with my 220 when loged on some lowbie toon (another button on LFT window where you choose between your alts and you are shown on lft as chosen alt with his teaming range and all tells are directed to the toon you are logged in).

@Ciekafsky

What i did was, asking money from a lvl 220.
Sometimes they give 1 or 2 mil.
So ask to 3 or 4 level 220's and you are ready to buy the stuff.

For expansion players, hit lvl 40 in 2 hours.
Wait till a dual logged player is at start point of SL where the lvl 5 or 6 mobs are.
Then get the soldier +110 dmg buff for every 10 min and kill almost instant what you see in a team.
Expansion players is the easiest way, because 99% of the time you can pocket kill.
It's like playing pacman in GOD mode.
You can eventualy hire your 4 years old little brother or neighbour to level up.
That's the game Anarchy Online and that will be the game Anarchy Online.

Because Funcom is dump people that start fixing new things and forget the things where it starts :)
Like hard mode to reach level 40 and very easy mode to get from level 40 till 150, when you are new to the game having no alts and no friends ingame and starts with 0 credits.


LOL at Funcom, go put more employees to Secret World and AoC and there will be 1 employee left for this game.
Hopefully not Means, because he is only looking to the progress :D

@Wiegersma
Begging should never be the only viable a way to begin playing. My founds will be a bit higher soon as ive farmed a few morphing memories and just need to find someone to upgrade them to ql 200 and sell to shop but its a bit complicated process and still requires outside help that i find to be wrong. New players should be self sufficient and still be decent. Currently they are 100% dependand on higher level help from the moment they get out of NI untill TL7. Its impossible to get any decent equipment at lower levels without ouside help but also impossible to do any quest chain in SL for example (sheol / ado quests - good luck getting syndicate symbiant without dual logging with lvl 220, or any decent weapon from SL dyna or anything ... ). Wrong, wrong, wrong...

For now just UPDATE main page with release notes and downtime info or something, i mean how hard can it be to make a heading and link it with forum post...

Question about the patchnotes:

"- Three simultaneous Artillery Commanders now respond to player intrusion in Sector 42."

Does this mean that west, north and east side all get to kill the AC-boss and thus get loot as well? So 6 ACDC's in total?

Edit: Nevermind, saw the post in 18.3 forum. 1 ACDC per boss so 3 in total it seems.

woot woot, ACDc for everyone?

Problem with RK weapons is somewhat in ballance as FC saw it when they build AO, at start. When you look closely on every FA weapon, it either uses same FA ammount as AR skill, or use combined AR (like SMG/AR). In this particular case, back in old days when Burst was not missable and FA landed for huge dmg vs NPC, those weapons were build to make uber dmg. But now, when recharge of special is losy, when there is no option to Twink into high ql one (during insane FA requirements), low dmg - they are crap. Did few tests on that one:

Best of all for all ranged proffesions is Sleekmaster. Low MR requirements, good DMG, fast shoting makes it easier to wear beter to use. And that would be all of it, along with Electronicum. Other weapons (melee especially) are just bad, bad, bad. There is around 150 weapons that are never used and only 5% of them are any good for fr00bs. Not mention, how much do they costs! Me, as a fr00b soldier (when I was frozen), took 14 hrs of farming subway, to buy pair of new Sleekmasters...

Ofc, none of those weapons are any good in PVP.