Increasing the team with 3 people puts AO in a bad standing how? :p Maybe if all you read is made-up whines about this and that, things look totally bleak. I guess that's what people do most.
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You didn't miss it, I will talk more about it in the next monthly update. The new player experience was my pet project up until now, and the other designers are picking up where I left off. They will get some time to have their own input in the design before we start the implementation.
They're kind of fanboys (no offense you two). But they're right in what they saying. The dev team is bigger at the moment than for a long time. And also they were looking for new people to join them in Montreal for a long time and seem to have found someone (last time I checked http://www.funcom.com/jobs/montreal there was an offer for AO that seems gone now... seems like a substitute for Means/Lindelu in the team is found?). As I posted on another thread in these forums about a week ago, the 2011Q3 financial report from FunCom states AO as cash flow positive and alive.
FAPFAPFAPFAPFAPFAP YEAHHHHHHHHHH!!! Rock 'n roll. I'm feeling euphoric even though i shouldn't get my hopes way over my head!
You guys keep on doing y0 thang and i keep on doing my thang, playing your product!
Recruiting developers is a good sign, though isnt a indicative of the real plans for AO since they can be transferred to another FC project anytime. Besides AO devs do work on other projects.
Now I like to know the standing of Lindelu on PvP, as a Game Director is important or just a side thing? Most PvPers want to know how friendly towards PvP the new Game Director is.
Masta, dont turn this in to another "I know more than you" thread.
I understand Vhab interest on AO success, since I share it.
Lets keep focused on the questions to see if Lindelu feels like answering them.
Thank you.
Comon...
Inverted smiley face?
I gotta think to understand that...
petition to regular smiley face!
:)
that's how it's done
I'm not sure what you mean by "game status," but let me assure you that there is nothing to worry about regarding Funcom's commitment to the AO project. Quite the contrary - we have been growing the team, after all. And we are still hiring coders. To be perfectly honest, we wouldn't be increasing our investment in the game if there was some dire scenario looming over the horizon. AO has a long and bright future ahead because quite frankly it has game features and design decisions that weren't just revolutionary 10 years ago, but are still revolutionary today. The trick of course is to modernize the areas where the age is showing, and the engine is a good example of that.
I'll also add that PvP and the PvP community is a heavy consideration when decisions are made. For example, it's something that comes up a lot during internal discussions about the profession changes. Unfortunately it so happens there's a lot on the team's plate right now, and we're not going to have time for any specific or dedicated PvP improvements until the queue has been flushed a bit. But the things that Lindelu mentioned will benefit everyone, and we have to tackle these big issues before we start addressing specific concerns of any single segment of the AO community. Prioritizing this stuff is never easy believe me, because we'll all gamers and our gamer heart sings when we get to design something new and shiny. But the fact is if we try and do everything, we'll end up with nothing.
He brings up a good argument though.
AO devs very rarely work on other projects. That would only happen in really unusual circumstances.
Generally the time it takes for a dev to adjust to working on a different project makes it quite inefficient to bounce devs between projects.
AO devs are working on AO fulltime.
Regarding the server merge, if such a thing happens it better include an increase to 16 characters per account, I'm full on RK1 and I'm almost full on RK2, I already had to delete a ton of characters when DNW closed down.
I pay for 2 accounts on a regular basis and I would NOT like it to be forced to open up another 2 just to be able to play the characters I have invested time and effort into.
One suggestion on the new player experience: Perhaps something that introduces the concept of twinking? To me, AO's big advantage over othe MMOs is the character system - it's just got a lot more depth than some. SWTOR for instance just seems pretty boring with "right click, item goes on". Letting new players know what makes AO unique early on might be helpful?
Gotta be careful with that too. In todays market, the 'casual player' wants simplicity. By showing prospective new players the horrors of twinking and screaming for buffs in OOC for an hour just to get that damned gun on, might turn them away instead of inviting them in.
Thank you Ilaliya, that answers my questions. Pretty sure that is helpful for others, Having confidence that AO is strong and sound makes it up for our invested time on it.
Vhab was just trying to stay on subject. I dislike when threads are turned in to a player DDs and word brawls.
The change to allow players to level on testlive is a very smart change, and was the main reason I hated testing myself because many of the playfields were simply frustrating for the characters I had.
I do hope it will allow players to reach AI 30 and LE 70 as well.
Further suggestions would be to somehow remove nodrop flags or allow nodrop items to be traded on test server, so that players who actually have all items across their toons could create a finished character on test live. The alternative would be allowing players to summon/create any item they choose but that seems like a LOT more work to me.
A "Super massive all your profession nanos rolled in one package" nano would also help a lot, and probably easy access to specializations. Unless players only wish to test NR8 shades the nanos will be very important.
220 is no where near the end, and even being 220 30 70 is far from what can be considered finished when many characters need a large amount of nodrop raid items. Without proper gear acquisition creating a level 220 30 70 character would still take months to complete, if not even longer on test server.
All I got.
Am I the only one who's really not keen on another server merge? :(
Oh wow, some progress did happen. Guess everything is gonna be fine! Shut up you stupid trolls.
Perhaps along with the server merge to help accommodate all the orgs that will want towers SL towers could be completed?