Friday with Means - July 17th, 2009 - Questions?

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Originally Posted by shamenOTC

Question. when are you looking to change AS? atm I'm holding off doing an IP reset(to add the EC3 as my pvp wep.), at the same time I'll be putting in the rest of my alpha symbs, any info would be great thanks

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I would be surprised if AS was changed before the end of September.

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Originally Posted by Xenotric

Means: Whats the meaning of life, the universe and everything?

Means: Boxers or briefs?

Means: How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Means: Can I have a cookie?

Means: When will the fixer balance discussion start in the fixer forums?

Means: I really think this unmoderated question format was perhaps not the best idea, do you?

Means: What does the sound of the colour blue taste like?

Means: Fed up with my questions yet?

Means: Why are you looking at me like that while reaching for the nerfbat?

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42. Boxers. Norris. No. Did it stop? Probably not...but if I really thought about this I would probably never do it at all...this is better than nothing. Ask Ingrid..I have no idea AND drugs are bad http://www.livescience.com/health/05...nesthesia.html . Kinda. My back hurts from pulling fence posts out of the ground yesterday...normally I can wield the bat without pain.

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Originally Posted by Mekh

My question will be:
Can you comment the below, which pretty much covers my concerns as well.
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Don't worry, neutrals will be phased out eventually. No plans on developing them into a side. Putting in application forms (only usable by neutrals) to kill off even more of the population, and assimilating them into either clan or omni. It would be one thing to put app's in for all sides, but to only allow neutrals kind of ticks me off a bit. It's a pretty clear message to me.

It would really be Anarchy Online with 3 sides battling it out agaisnt one another. Each side being equal in how much time you want to develope your character, sadly thats not the case. But as it is, it's just one side (Omni) on RK1. No offense to Omni's at all. Lots of great people there, but I just wonder what FC will do when 80%+ wind up being Omni.

Where will the conflict be? Any opposition will just get steam rolled. Why not call it Omni Online. You want a dynamic game, develope all 3 equally. That would be Anarchy. Neutrals were never meant to be a power in the conflict, thats fine too. But the game evovles and changes. What will you do FunCom when neutrals do switch to Omni?

Clans having enough of it, and just give up due to the imbalance. How will you balance the game then? What kind of changes will you then have to make for battlestations to run. This could of been a good way to introduce another power in the conflict (albiet a divided one, due to how neutrals like to play, but thats besides the point).

I just see this as a missed opportunity, that can oneday come to bite you back in the ass.

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I won't be pushing to develop Neutral as an equal strength faction. Giving Clan the opportunity to become Omni would also not help. If there are actual balance issues they can be addressed...I think we have shown we are willing to look into old issues. Failure to "win" Neutrals over to the clan side was a very damaging blow to the Clan side...but was definitely a part of what makes AO a MMORPG. One person can make a huge difference...I can't code in better leadership for the Clan faction.

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Originally Posted by PhoenixOfAges

Question: Back in the March 27th FWM you said you wanted to add more ways to gain VP. Any progress there?

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We tried out the idea of VP dropping from individual kills on the BS for this years birthday. I think this went very well and will likely be added to the BS (as a regular thing) in the near future. BS win/loose scaling also needs some adjustment.

More PVP experiences and quests for VP should be coming in the near future...we just need more time.

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Originally Posted by Deaconfrost

1. When will you let us transfer characters between accts? That would be another account I would buy on the spot to move one of my 220's to, which equals more $ in Funcoms pocket. Gief plx.

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We'll think about it.

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Originally Posted by Deaconfrost

2. When will you streamline the errrr ... "Gaute Mechanics" of the RK experience? Some aspects of the past need to be modernized maybe. While totally new content is great I really think there is a world of optimization in the "oldschool" mechanics that would help tremendously. For example... Token guns! Everyone hates to do it cos it is slow and boring as hell. Streamline that quest! Why cant we just hand in a backpack of guns and get 2 tokes boom, instead of having to wade thru... "Gaute Mechanics". Those are defined as any incredibly tedious process that serves no purpose other than to waste time and inhibit any rational beings enjoyment of what they are being made to do. ;)

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I don't think Gaute made it envisioning people doing this 2500 times. I do think we can probably do something to make it easier. Ideally we should also add some other ways of obtaining tokens.

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Originally Posted by Deaconfrost

3. You say xp constructs are a sympttom of lvling being too slow... why did you made Pande raids not give sk then? I'd be much further ahead on all that research if I was already getting xp while I grinded pande. Like I said new daily mish for uber xp sounds great, but how about making the old stuff work "smarter" not harder :P

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Raid is for getting items and achieving larger goals...not for completing quests and getting XP/SK. I think Hecklers was an excellent example of "getting everything" in the same place and we don't want to do that again.

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Originally Posted by Deaconfrost

4. We need another SL like expansion with ZONES. SL ruled cos it was a whole new world. When AI came out it didnt have a whole new world, neither did LE. While Arid is nice from what I've poked around in it is still just a bigger version of the AI/LE approach to zones. Gief us a new world... past the Pande portal plx. Oh and fill in RK missing zones as well, gief each RK zone a Raid Dungeon of some kind, filled with massive rp detail of course :p

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SL was essentially a relaunch of the entire game...it was huge. We won't be releasing anything on that scale anytime soon as you would be waiting 3+ years to get it. More Dungeons would be great. We are working on one now conceptually for the next unannounced booster.

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Originally Posted by Deaconfrost

5. Speaking of past pande... we need more raids. But like epic raids... the ones I know the AoC engine can handle. I want places that drip atmosphere and gief us more to do, fun cool looking places to explore and get phatz.

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Sounds fun.

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Originally Posted by Deaconfrost

6. Different looking mobs and bosses! It was nice to see the different icons for the LE mish drops, now keep going plx. More individual icons/meshes for boss... I dun wan TSS/TNH/SS/TPS to all look the same, just taller! Gief sexy new boss models plx.

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Thank you for the suggestion.

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Originally Posted by Deaconfrost

7. Update more lewt! The upgraded items with the xan and db stuff are awesome. More of this plx on more old stuff.

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Thank you for the suggestion.

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Originally Posted by Deaconfrost

8. Gief evades back plx and gief MA just...one...decent...heal... that we can actually cast! Im not asking for BoL but ffs FC gief us a 6sec 2.7k abouts heal! plx :)

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Thank you for the suggestion.

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Originally Posted by Deaconfrost

9. Make Dread Quest repeatable daily! Me no pvp! But me want VP! ;)

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Thank you for the suggestion.

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Originally Posted by Deaconfrost

10. Make the interface less "dry". Its like reading a textbook! Gief me a cool display of me, my stats, etc with a little pizzazz plx.

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We will not be updating the GUI anytime soon. You guys hate it every time we do.

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Originally Posted by Deaconfrost

11. I'm sure I'll think of more!

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Originally Posted by Niles

Q: What is in the mysterious chests in CoH?

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Cool stuff.

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Originally Posted by Liamboru

I am not going to say how much I might pay for the right to do this, but let me just say that my wife would be pissed, if she knew how much it was (AO>college tuition for kids).

Means: Any chance of this?

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We'll think about it. Please send me your children's college tuition so I can send my children to college!

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Originally Posted by Zevita

Question:
Sil mentioned once I belive that you concidered making it easyer for us to relog, so we dont have to type in the password every time we change toon and maybe faster. Any plans for this in the future?

One idea that struck me for this is to just use the room where we choose proffession during character creation. Have the toons that are rolled stand there looking as they look ingame atm, press to select(you then zoom in on it like when creating character) and press again to enter game. Hopefully it would be fast to leave one toon and enter the character chamber, so relogs would be quick. And when leaving game it would be ususal logout time.

Hope this made sense.

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While it is a good idea it is a pretty big job as I understand it. Macrosun's plate is pretty full right not...so I wouldn't count on seeing that one any time soon.

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Originally Posted by Mahdi007

At this point is it realistic to give a (approximate) ETA for the graphics engine? Or.. at least a screenie?

Would it be possible to clarify on the new 24 hour missions you hinted on the 18.1 forums?

WTB 18.2 preview.. I'm addicted to change

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24/Daily missions will likely be coming after the Nightclub and the new 150-200 playfield. Probably September.

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Originally Posted by IpwnThee

Means: Can you believe its not butter?

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I can't believe it. You should also wear clothes as it makes you look all "shiny" and unlikely to be sat beside on the buss.

Stop sending me photos.

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Originally Posted by Myreyliib

Technically speaking, my two week vacation started 4 hours ago, yet I'm still there (leaving when I post this).

I've made a list of assignments, which would be really nice to get of my desk before I return. Currently it's tallying 17 points.

My question is: Should I

A) only work on the stuff I can do at home.
B) ignore it.
C) suffer the humiliation of appearing at work in my vacation.

How do you handle the latter? Is it easier to set a bad example, when you're the boss?
(Yes, going to work in your vacation is a bad thing)

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I come to work on my vacation. I also fail by working remotely from home. This is setting a bad example...there is just so much to do that won't be done magically while I am away from my work. Running a universe is about as much work as it sounds like it would be.

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Originally Posted by dockside

can i have your stuff?

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Bah..repeat!

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Originally Posted by Lheann

1. What chance is there in FC going through the old RK weapons and fixing their stats and reqs vice adding new stuff? A good deal of the old school items really need minimal adjustments. Min damage being the most obvious followed by speed and then the multi-reqs affecting overall AR.

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A good deal is putting it very mildly. Most of the old items are "vendor trash". Updating these would be an enormous effort for very very little gain..given that for new players to "roll" these in missions would require clicksaver or enormous patience. I'm more inclined to provide missions with new decent lower-level weapons are rewards to help smooth out the nasty weapon aquisition problem at lower levels.

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Originally Posted by Lheann

2. Can you explain how FC plans to handle a potential large influx of players given that many quest requiring kills currently have exact numbers of the mob needing to be killed and then mobs are on a stupid long timer for respawn. The dynamics of these quest indicate they could not handle a server population increase of 2 times let alone more.

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Decreasing quest monster spawn time has been going on for some time...as soon as we identify quest monsters on long timers we decrease them as soon as we can. Let us know what quests have this issue and we will get to changing it. That being said, I remember when we had significantly higher numbers and I also remember still having fun.

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Originally Posted by Lheann

3. Hecklers. When SL was designed and brought live it had two very bad design flaws in view. Ingots which did get nerfed but only after crushing the economy and the second being Hecklers themselves. With all the quest and statics and missions FC has added over the last few years to get players off the heckler grind nothing really is working. What options are you considering to address this failed design? I can not beleive that heckler bashing was ever the intended path for leveling.

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There will always be a "1% faster" leveling path, and as long as it exists players will follow it...even if it is mind numbingly boring. While I can't pretend I haven't done hecklers I did have some fun when I did. We will do what we have been doing the whole time...keep adding alternatives to current leveling process and players will choose their own path rather than us forcing them on it. That being said I think this is more an expression of displeasure of the speed of leveling than a real question. I would also like to mention that any in-game activity that has been done for 1000000's of hours over a period of 6 years can't really be described as a design "failure".

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Originally Posted by Lheann

4. Level locking the SL zones or some other such action to revitalize the zones and keep them from being skipped over. What is currently being discussed towards this end?

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No level locking...ever. If anything we need to incentivise players to actually do the content in those zones. If the content isn't being done then it must not be worth it...reward adjustment is likely the route we will take. Quest-Style content is poorly rewarded in AO in terms of XP...I hope to change this.

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Originally Posted by Lheann

5. Access to paid content. One of the biggest issues with the game has been access to paid content and was really brought to the front with LE. Nice content was added but short of PVP on the battle stations or team only mission a good deal of it was not accessiable. While AO has not had this turn into a legal other MMO's have and as such access to paid content has been at least in limited forms available for the solo casual player. Has FC considered anything to address the issue or is it not an issue in FC's view?

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It isn't an issue at all. All the content in LE represents an "opportunity" for an experience...purchasing the expansion does not forgo the achievement of actually completing it. Any legal issue surrounding our content would be laughable and certainly would be treated as such by the legal establishment. Just out of morbid curiousity...what content do you believe was not "Legally" accessible (with effort) in Lost Eden?

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Originally Posted by Lheann

6. Mech's are both a nice and horrible addition. With the coming again of the classic Mech warrior series the mech combat is starting to look childish. The Q fling burst fa watch and repeat when special cycle is lame. Is FC looking at ways of making mech combat more invovling?

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No we are not looking at making mech combat more involving. Mech Warrior is a completely different game...they do what they do well. I also think that the Pre-Order mech from LE is one of the best looking mech models I have ever seen. We are looking at adding some new "kinds" of vehicles at some point...but it isn't a burning issue.

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Originally Posted by Lheann

7. Global Research. I guess FC did not think it would be completed so quickly. Is there a plan to add new global research either as new lines are higher levels of the existing lines?

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If we add new vehicles there will likely be new global research to obtain them. I'm actually relieved that the global research was completed as quickly as it was...anything else would have been very very boring.

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Originally Posted by Lheann

8. My Sector 66 idea? When if ever will I get feed back from you on it?

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If that was the design you were nice enough to send me (twice at my request) concerning the low level alien sector it was a good one. If we haven't done something similar recently it is because we have been working on other content/fixes. I'm sure you can understand how busy we get. Excuse me now while I look at your 9th question. :P

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Originally Posted by Lheann

9. Would it be in the realm of possiblity for FC to have three FC sponsored orgs with dedicated instanced AI cities that new players to AO can join?

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Nope. The players have organizations, not the company. More access to aliens? Yes! Great idea. Why don't you start a newbie org and have a city? I'll give you the credits I farmed from selling XP-Stims!

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Originally Posted by Lheann

10. Auno and AOU and few other web sites have great tools for AO. But frankly compared to other MMO's AO is lacking in FC developed/supported tools. If you are not awre WoW just released an iPhone app for players to access their toons and layout setups they want to look at. The same functions are available for at their Armoury web site. Do you think it is time for FC to have an Items Database front end and supported/approved tools?

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I'd love to have an Armory for AO. I am also certain players would complain if others could look up their setups. I'm gratefull for the amazing sites our fans have built over time for you guys. We have a coder/designer who has been wanting to do this kind of thing..who knows when we might get a chance to start it. For now those other sites seem to work well...perhaps we'll have her finish her first playfield first..it looks great!

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Originally Posted by Lheann

11. The AO web site is a failure on so many levels. A current Game Suggestion I submitted about the version linked for download is a clear inidcator of minor things that make entry to AO easier for new players. Is there any real effort to address the web site and bring it up to date? Dead links to fan sites and news links that are years out of date are a few of the problems. If I did not play the game I could beleive it was a dead game.

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Yes.

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Originally Posted by Lheann

12. Ads for the game. Start with the AO website. I was on the LoX page and it had an ad for Lost Eden. The ads may be part of some ad system but that clearly was confusing for a new player. Outside of the AO website I have not seen an ad for the game other than AOU. What is the plans for getting ads out for AO?

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With the next booster and new engine we will be investing in advertising. Before that we are satisfied with the large numbers of free players who try the game every day. Our immediate focus will be more along the lines of keeping new players rather than getting more to try it. Hundreds of thousands of players try AO every year...if that many stayed we would be laughing...exposure to new customers is not the current problem...retention of new players is.

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Originally Posted by Lheann

13. AAD and Display of it and your Defense Rating(s). For years now the concept of AAD has been discussed and much player testing on how it works has been done. Some of us have even been part of AAD testing on the test server with FC devs. While a full understanding of how it works will never come i am sure, a definite list of skills it modifies would be nice. Since some many skills are checked for various attacks knowing if AAD is helping you or not would be nice. Is it possible for AAD to have some explantion provided by FC?

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A little mystery is ok. I won't be giving those secrets away.

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Originally Posted by Lheann

14. How are the new toons the dev startred doing and is that experiement driving the changes to the low play you are looking at making?

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They outleveled me quickly. I'm not finding the time I need to play..being busy with other things...like your 14th question.

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Originally Posted by Lheann

15. What is your definitions of Low Level , Mid Level, High Level play ranges? Example: I see Low level as 1 to 90. Mid Level 91 to 190. High level 191+.

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I would generally agree with your ranges..but I would add "End-Game" at 215+.

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Originally Posted by vadagget

Chloroform the kids if they are not asleep yet....

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Wife caught me... - over 9000 wife faction + 3 days delay!

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Originally Posted by Vlain

[i][color=yellow]
And since you'll probably continue to ignore the Risan issue like you always do, maybe you can at least answer these

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Stopped reading there..sorry.

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Originally Posted by Sterva

question:

Do you agree that these are the main issues that need to be addressed for a pvp balance patch(series) or if you disagree, and why/what is your general priority?

These are the things that I see as most critical to any pvp balancing effort, on the rational that these are the things that I think people find the most frustrating and unenjoyable about pvp:

1) 'i win button' style pvp, also coyly referred to as 'nemesis professions'. It makes pvp less fun for anyone to know that they stand no chance vs. a certain profession, or that a certain profession will almost always kill them easily.

2) 'luck of the dice' mechanics, things that are based heavily on chance that can really tip the balance of any given pvp fight aren't fun because fun pvp is when a user is in complete control of their toolset, not when they are attacking and crossing their fingers that <whatever> will magically happen for them. (Think stun procs as the best example of this)

3) offenses and (and maybe defenses) for which twinking and preparing well has no perceptible effect. (specials that have no real def. checks, nanos that have no real def checks, etc...) These are like 'i win' buttons, except that instead of purely and instantly determining a fight, they are frustrating to anyone who has spent time preparing a toon for pvp, because despite all of your preparation, those attacks/defenses have no counters.

I've tried to keep these fairly profession unspecific!

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1. I don't mind the nemesis series...I would prefer that they were more "equal" from one profession to another. There will always be professions that are more difficult for some professions...I think this is ok as long as that profession has weaknesses to other professions. When strong classes lack a weakness we run into problems like we have now.

2. Pure luck offense like the Stun Procs is crap. Even the PVP crats hated it. What we replaced them with doesn't seem right either though...more work is needed on that one.

3. I'm not sure I agree on this one...it might be great to have done a great deal of preparation and be largely immune to the tools of others...but it can't be much fun for the person fighting you who finds all his tools useless because of something you did 6 months ago. Some things simply need to land...you can't prepare your way out of them completely Given the chance I would love to rework the perk system so it becomes "decreased" rather than "On or Off"...unperkable/unhittable is god-mode and boring for everyone else but the over-geared person. Seeing your toolset actually function in a diminished way has to be more fun than to see everything you do resisted all the time.

You can let me know what you think about a perk system rework when I reopen this thread...only a few thousand questions left...Damn you all and your thirst for information!!!

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Originally Posted by Sterva

Question:

In pvp, same sided players _always_ get the bonus of aura/aoe effect nanos. For some players (like crats, or doctors for example), this is a huge disadvantage in duels or ganks of same sided players.

Is there any chance that we could get a simple nano that turns off the area effect of all aoe nanos temporarily, so that when we duel or gank a same sided person, they don't get the bonus of our auras/perks?

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BAh...you again??

Maybe. Not exactly a small job unfortunately.

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Originally Posted by Doctorhyde

Question:

Can I has XP stims?

;)

(wb from the vacation)

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I just logged on your character and stole your pants. Take that!

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Originally Posted by SultryVoltron

Why did you remove the Birthday Gifts from Battlestation instead of just changing the icon?

You could alternatively answer, Why does the VP grind have to suck so bad?

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The birthday was over. It was a great test run of this kind of thing. We'll put it back in as soon as we get the chance. Adjustments are also necessary for the amount the losing side receives at some point.

Alternatively:

D0000d? B4k 1n s00n!

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Originally Posted by ArienSky

•Will there be more bows relying on (the good old) Physical init?
or will all new bows rely on Ranged init?


Physical init: Inamorata Shere Bow, Bow of Belith, Great Bow of Premonition,

Ranged init: Kyr'Ozch Crossbow - Type 3, Ofab Tiger Mk 6, Chaos of the Xan


•Any chance that the "Profession == Martial Artist" and "Profession == Meta-Physicist" that some bows have could be changed to "Visual profession"?

•Why have the planet map not been updated since the Dove one?

•You mentioned new players coming. isn't that unwise, during the profession balancing?

Kind Regards
-Ariensky

PS. now Bow of Belith is mentioned..
•any breed-locked weapons coming up?


PPS.
•What would happen to a developer, if (s)he behind your back put a nickel statue of you, dressed as an astronaut pointing to the stars, ingame?

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Bows - No idea...you might want to ask Metaing on TestLive about that one. I've never thought about it.

New Players - We'll take them whenever we can. If they see we are working on issues and in dialog with the community I don't think they will take it as a "bad" thing.

Map - We'll need to update them at some point soon. ICC needs a grid exit. I'm probably forgetting some completely logical story reason for why there isn't an ICC grid exit..Aythem will likely kill me for putting one in when she is away on vacation.

Breed locked weapons - Might be fun...but not immediate plans for that. Secret Information - Belith is my brother-in-law!

Statue thing - A statue of me in-game is the only thing that would be cheesier than Atroxes in thongs...I vote no.