Community answers - part 2

[Cz]

(Note to self: Look into finding a better name on the threads. )

Memory leaks
Yes, there are memory leaks, and we work on them continously. We have had several fixes (client and server side) dealing with this already, and more is to come.

If you have big trouble with memory leaks, please report it to techsupport@anarchy-online, with your computer's specifications (a dxdiag report is great) and a thorough description of the problem.

Reload button
I checked our database, and there are plans to implement this. It was not assigned to a patch though, and the coders had not commented on it yet, so I don't really have more specific information at this time.

Nano programs being self-only
Many nano programs can only be used on yourself, or your own profession. This is because we want to differentiate between the professions, so some are better than others using e.g. specific weapons.

One example is the 1h Edged buff for Adventurers. We want Adventurers to excel over other professions with 1h Edged weapons. That is one of their profession benefits.

Now, before you 1h Edged using Enforcers draw your swords, let me remind you there is a buff coming for you too, as you are also supposed to be better than all the other 10 professions. In fact, you are getting buffs for more types of weapons, not only 1h Edged. Giving it to Adventurers first was a matter of having them as a patch focus, and we didn't see a reason for holding their buffs back.

New items being boss MOB loot
The question is of course "why?" And the answer is to encourage social interactions; e.g. teaming and trading. Some ways to get these items are:
- Team up for team missions or outdoor camp bosses
- Hunt camp bosses alone
- Team up with to get a team mission, then complete it by yourself
- Trade with other players
- Ask friends and people in your organisation to help you out

Most of those require at least a little bit of social interaction, and that - I think - is not too much to ask. Yes, many people choose to go solo only, but then they will have to do some trading, or simply pass on some of the items available. Being social should have benefits in a multiplayer game.

Now, I expect a discussion on this, so please state your views calmly, and I will look into setting up an own thread for it if needed.

Camping
Verified the changes to Dodga, Alvin and the Trash King in the "part one" thread. Actually, the changes to Alvin and Dodga went in today. Not sure on when the Trash King changes will come, as that requires some more changes that takes a bigger patch I believe.

Other anti-camping changes will be brought up when we have more news on them.

Designer articles
Brought this up, and we've had some words with designers are others, and hope to have some reading material for you soon (and more often in the future).

Deleting characters to free up names
Planning on it, but still a bit to go. First of all we need to be absolutely certain we won't delete any character we are not supposed to, then we want to give people a little head warning before starting the wiping.

Social additions to AO
We have recieved a lot of great suggestions for this, and continue to collect them. Unfortunately we don't have anything scheduled for specific patches right now, and with the amount of other content being worked on, I really can't give any estimates just yet.

Short patch notice
This was a big issue with 14.4.2, as people lost their chance at the full IP reset. We have talked internally in Community, and with others, and we will try make sure we have all patch information as soon as it is ready, and hand it out to you just as quick.

Giving you an early - and sometimes very uncertain - estimate, and recieving some flames for giving people too high hopes, is preferrable to only handing out a one hour warning.

---

That was it for today. Please read how we want the [url]Community answers[urlhttp://forums.anarchy-online.com/showthread.php?threadid=35698] system to work, and comment on it there.

[cold]

Boss loot

Nice try. But it doesn't work.
Why ? Because everyone who wants to team, already does so. Anyone who wants to be social, already is. You can't force people into doing this, they won't enjoy that.
There is simply no need to encourage teaming or being social. It has enough advantages as it is and is in fact required to level up at a decent pace.

Self-only

Again, nice try.
But it doesn't explain why an engineer can buff other's pistol skill higher than an adventurer can buff himself. It makes no sense. Either make all these weapon buffs self-only, or make them all work on others. It's only fair.

Social additions

Make it #2 priority! (right after pet pathing)


Communication

Something I'd like to see, is a list of things you have planned, like the envisioned section that once was. But, with a few enhancements : let the community select a priority for each of these items.
You might be surprised at what the community finds most important.

[cold]

Originally posted by Cz
- Trade with other players

One more thing - players tend to abuse the fact that a nano is rare and charge a huge sum for it. Check the trading channels, look at the exchange boards. Simple nano's go for many millions.

[Cz]

reality, maybe all people who want to team already do so, but then those who go alone make that choice and forfeit some of the good stuff they could get. If you really want to play the game as a single player game, you will miss out on some parts of it.

Had a chat with the Director of Online Services just now (gee, I want that kind of title too ), and he also put forward the point of adding a little challenge to get these items. We don't want everybody to have all new items in the game 6 hours after a patch.

Putting things in shops make them too available. Putting them in Fixer and Trader shops give a few professions the chance to make some big bucks, and still keep them very available. Adding the items in solo missions is the same as shops, due to certain third party programs I'm sure you know about. Adding them in static dungeons and static missions adds to the camping. So that leaves us with boss MOBs, I believe, as the better solution.

The self nano explanation was a generic one. If you will bring the pistol buffs up with a little more detail I might have a chance at looking into the specific issue.

And letting the players select priority... I doubt it will happen. Many (not all, of course) base their 'votes' on what would be cool and fun and seemingly simple and forget that there is design, code, graphics and testing to be done, and those things affect priority a lot.

Anybody can make a post and poll on priorities. If we do it, people will see it as official and complain when we don't follow it strictly.

---

I'll stop by to collect new issues for our next list later.

[_______________Intra]

I think Boss loot is a good idea in certain instances... it does 'force' social interaction. Which is the main aim of any MMORPG as it means that players become friends and the number of subscriptions retained goes up, as people do not want to leave because they have friends and enjoy the community.

It does make sense...
unfortunately, I disagree with making everythins boss loot for this reason. For instance the fixer and advent nanos...
alot of these are not extra content nanos, but instead are proffessions fixing nanos. Some of which should have been in the game from day one.
Becuase they were not in the game frmo day one they have been subject to not being put in shops and also subject to level requirements.

yes, extra content and bonus nanos should be boss loot.. but please begin to differentiate between these and nanos that should have been around from day one and so should be subject to the same restrictions as release nanos
ie. available in shops (and no level requirements)

fixer SMG buffs = an extension of the suppressor range, a class specific buff which obviously should have been in frmo day one. should be in shops.. should have no level requirements, bringing them in line with other proffessions

fixer additional HoTs and NCU buffs = possible boss loot as they are additional content nanos (still should not have level requirements, but that is a different issue)

please do not put unbalancing restrictions (such as boss loot) on items intended for balance

[______________Kabral]

Quote

New items being boss MOB loot
The question is of course "why?" And the answer is to encourage social interactions; e.g. teaming and trading. Some ways to get these items are:

Endquote:

This is fine, for special items. Items people dont really need but really want. But not for items that People need. Items that are added in to help "fix" a profession.
I play on Test and am a fixer. Of course I was able to purchace the lowest lvl nanos added in to help "fix" the fixer but now, the only way for me to get the higher lvl ones is to do team missions. and then they arent guaranteed. It is true, as I play on test I really have no problems getting items I need as anybody who finds it would be happy to give it to me but I could understand the frustration of people on the live servers who dont like to team up.
I dont think you need to place these items as rewards for solo missions but perhaps there needs to be a chance they they can be found in chests or on mobs in solo missions.
Encouraging social activity is fine, buy your definition of social activity is different than mine, which is different than almost everyone out there.

Saying that a person who doesnt like to team can aquire the item in trade just wont work. I played on live long enough to see how overinflated prices were. Between saving up for a Yalm, that next set of armor or your next set of implants a person may not have the kind of money that people will ask for these items that were meant to help "fix" a profession.

So, when you add in something that is added in for fun, no problem make it boss loot only. But when the item is added in to help "fix" a profession you need to make it very available. Available by several different methods, this will not only allow anyone to aquire an item that they "need" but will also drive the prices for these items down on the Shopping Channel.

[_____________Mr Bean]

Still lingering questions

Considering I'm a network guy and not a coding guy how long does it to have somone sit down and write a few statments and have a reload button

And you still have not addressed why there are so many restrictions on the leet charms

Heck level 30 Crat could easy charm a Soleet
But An Adventurer must be level 150 to do it?

What sense is that?

[Dhurdahl]

Originally posted by reality
But it doesn't explain why an engineer can buff other's pistol skill higher than an adventurer can buff himself. It makes no sense. Either make all these weapon buffs self-only, or make them all work on others. It's only fair.

Well I play an Eng among other classes and there are two buffs that is quite strange at higher levels... they don't fit in really..

Slayerdroid Transference +300 MA?
Extreme Prejudice +120 Pistol/Grenade

I think that a line buffing Grenade/Heavy Weapons would be much more apropitary for Engs.

I use pistols atm but since we have IPRs we can always stop using those if we want to go with something else...
And since a compleate line of nanos is much much better then a single highlevel one, I don't think many would scream if we lost that one while getting a new buff line

[Dhurdahl]

Boss loot or not...

Well, my personal view on this is that it should depend on "rareity"...

aka, for basic easy to get nanos they should either be in shops and/or drop as normal loot.
BUT, rarer and hard to get ones.... then boss loot is just fine. One way might be that there is a chance of them dropping from ql*2 or more normal mobs.
Or as in the case with the Fixer Grid nano... a hard and complex quest to get hold of them.

[__________Blackfists]

Cz. There are a few very big problems with team mission
1) Ninja looter s
2) You can rarely trust that the looter will tell you what they actually got.

You need to add Alpha loot on chests and a team loot message on all looted items

Also, as for your comment on teaming having benefits and buying nanos.

Certain large guilds (you know the ones) have EVERY item in the game.
High level characters have enough cash that they can pay outrageous prices for even low level items thereby inflating the economy.
You have no trade mechanism to facilitate PC 2 PC trading except shouting (sic)

So, yet again, the casual gamee, someone who doesn’t have a time to play 8 hours a day to make millions. Or someone who belongs to a small (*gasp* or even role-playing) guild gets no chance to get the items.

Notice I said a chance. Not a guarnetee… not right away…. A chance

People who play more/ are higher levels/ are in large guilds should be able to get items SOONER.


I’ve already been locked out of enough content in this game

da’Foot

[cold]

Boss loot
I agree that some nano's should be harder to get. By all means, put my
lick wounds, damage shield enhancer and challenger-wannabe nano's on
mobs that are harder to find/kill. But not my weapon buffs (note: I use a
bow myself so I don't actually need them). Those are meant to balance
my profession and therefore should be widely available.

In short, make bonus items hard to get, but not essential items.

A better solution, imho, would be to put these nano's on normal, outdoor
mobs. But I think you should increase outdoor loot anyway, to balance
it with missions


Pistol buffs

The engineer nano Extreme Prejudice buffs the target's pistol skill
by 120 points. The highest Adventurer pistol buff is self-only and
'only' 100 points. Something's out of whack there.

[Darkbane]

Memory leaks
I assume you mean internal memory management problems rather than real memory leaks. I'm sure there are people who will be glad to see these fixed.

Reload button
Never bothered me that much with the professions I have played, but I'm pretty sure soldiers will love you if you implement it

Nano programs being self-only
It would have been better if many lines of nanos had been self only in the first place, with 'mirror' lines castable on others, with lesser effects. Or if the nano system had allowed two sets of effects stats, one set for 'cast on self' and another for 'cast on other'. In fact, that could have been extended still further to split 'cast on other' into 'cast on other player' and 'cast on mob' to enable PvP and PvM to be balanced seperately. Maybe this can still be done down the line, but I suspect its a big change...

New items being boss MOB loot
Some items quite definitely should be, others should have been findable in other ways. Maybe not as solo mission 'pick-up' or 'reward' items (heh!), but maybe as general MOB loot or chest loot. And anything intended as 'profession fixes' should be as available as existing basic profession nanos.

Some loot could be team-mission/boss-camp only for the initial patch and migrate to general loot in the next patch, others should always be team only.

Hopefully we'll see more boss-camps in future patches to spread campers thin enough that they aren't all always camped and enable more ways to find this sort of stuff.

Camping

Camping=bad. We all know this, and there has been much discussion. Related to this is the nature of static dungeons and unique loot from them. I still feel uniques from statics need to be interesting, flashy, but not obviously better than other stuff. The really nice uniques should be quest only, or maybe just rare random drops.

Designer articles
Woot!

Deleting characters to free up names
Yeah, get it right!

Social additions to AO
Pre-furnished appartments with bank and grid access built in would be a good start. And allow maybe 20 items of 'placeable' furniture rather than 10. And fix 'placeables' being placed back-to-front. And fix that multi-headed lamp that casts its light in the wrong place... None of that should be a huge job, and it would immediately make appartments more useful.

Other stuff can come when it does, but I'd guess guild halls are high up many peoples 'social wants' list.

Short patch notice
Indeed. A weeks warning should be given, just say 'We hope patch X.Y will go live on Day nth of Month and will let you know of any changes to this plan.' That would be enough. Give your best estimate, and let us know if it slips...

[Myers]

Originally posted by Cz


[
Camping
Verified the changes to Dodga, Alvin and the Trash King in the "part one" thread. Actually, the changes to Alvin and Dodga went in today. Not sure on when the Trash King changes will come, as that requires some more changes that takes a bigger patch I believe.

Other anti-camping changes will be brought up when we have more news on them.

Thank you

[____________Meligant]

Originally posted by Cz
(Note to self: Look into finding a better name on the threads. )


Nano programs being self-only


New items being boss MOB loot
The question is of course "why?" And the answer is to encourage social interactions; e.g. teaming and trading. Some ways to get these items are:
- Team up for team missions or outdoor camp bosses
- Hunt camp bosses alone
- Team up with to get a team mission, then complete it by yourself
- Trade with other players
- Ask friends and people in your organisation to help you out

Most of those require at least a little bit of social interaction, and that - I think - is not too much to ask. Yes, many people choose to go solo only, but then they will have to do some trading, or simply pass on some of the items available. Being social should have benefits in a multiplayer game.


Camping

Other anti-camping changes will be brought up when we have more news on them.

I. Self only is fine as long as it isn't self only when there are better buffs that are NOT. (exp Pistol buffs and Engineers).

II. Boss Loot and Clicksaver.. read here http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...threadid=35149

It is nice to know that even FC sees single mission terminals as "semi-time consuming stores". Why not address the problem? And i don't mean "Find a way to kill CS."

As for SOCIAL INTERACTION, let me say that is all fine a good but Teaming already has the advantage of allowing you to level 7 times faster then solo missioning. Now you have to get a team to get any of the new items you add? Why not just say, "If you don't team you will never get anything cool and will level so slow you'll wonder why you logged in."

III Camping.
Team missions to kill a boss is in a thin gray line between camping and aggravation. Nothing like taking on an Enforcer Boss with 398724938472 HP and get Nanos for Adv/Fixer who have mostly quite because they were added in the first place. Ironic? I don't call fighting over Smugglers Den spawns for 5 hours for 2 pieces of MK I and 2 MK II between 6 people who all want a set FUN. Do you? If so, warn me now please.

[Killrmeta]

Cz: could you give us some idea whats being done with the pet pathing? This has a been a problem for a LONG time and I'd like to be able to do missions without my pets getting stuck every few seconds.

[___________Solinarus]

Originally posted by Cz
Adding the items in solo missions is the same as shops, due to certain third party programs I'm sure you know about. Adding them in static dungeons and static missions adds to the camping. So that leaves us with boss MOBs, I believe, as the better solution.

So it sounds like we shot ourselves in the foot on this one...
If we didn't have clicksaver they might have put them in single player missions... So maybe I should start using it, since they're taking it into consideration when placing new items in the game anyhow .

[Aristaeus]

Originally posted by Cz


Putting things in shops make them too available. Putting them in Fixer and Trader shops give a few professions the chance to make some big bucks, and still keep them very available. Adding the items in solo missions is the same as shops, due to certain third party programs I'm sure you know about. Adding them in static dungeons and static missions adds to the camping. So that leaves us with boss MOBs, I believe, as the better solution.

Does this mean that the loot drop table on mobs/chests in missions is the exactly the same as the one that is used for mission rewards?

I making a good guess that this is not the case. By now someone would have found a nullity disc as mission reward.
Problem solved.

[Cz]

Mr Bean, the leet charm restrictions on level fall under the level requirement discussion. The fact that you have to be in leet form (you have to, right?) is just part of the fun.

Several people compare the Adventurer and Engineer pistol buffs. Not sure why the Adventurer ones are worse then the Engineer ones, since the latter can be used on everybody. I'll check up on that, though it is really a profession issue, so I'll let the Professionals know when I get an answer.

Meligant, will check that thread more thoroughly tomorrow. Fighting boss MOBs is a lot better than the current camping, as you won't have to fight 10 other teams (or one huge organisation) for the right to kill the boss MOB.

Killrmeta, pet pathing added to our list. We already have it almost at the top of our list of big issues, but placing it on the agenda here too is not a bad idea.

Solinarus, that's your words. I didn't say anything.

Alberon, no, those tables are not the same. I'll bring the 'ordinary' mission loot table - thus avoiding mission reward and target items - into the boss MOB loot discussion with the designers.

---

Ok, heading off to play the game a bit now. I'll be back later or tomorrow.

[___________Firedrake]

Cz:"The question is of course "why?" And the answer is to encourage social interactions; e.g. teaming and trading. Some ways to get these items are:
- Team up for team missions or outdoor camp bosses
- Hunt camp bosses alone
- Team up with to get a team mission, then complete it by yourself
- Trade with other players
- Ask friends and people in your organisation to help you out

Most of those require at least a little bit of social interaction, and that - I think - is not too much to ask. Yes, many people choose to go solo only, but then they will have to do some trading, or simply pass on some of the items available. Being social should have benefits in a multiplayer game. "

I can accept that you wish to force, er, encourage interaction, but as been noted by some others, items like that shouldn't be fixes for classes or other-wise "must have" items. Go ahead and put cool stuff on Boss only, just don't make it stuff one has to have to survive. You yourself have noted that many choose to go solo, don't make them choose between having to group or quitting the game.

I myself almost always solo. I don't have a huge amount of time that I can waste hunting for a decent group and I like being able to quit right when I need to quit. I am more than willing to give up getting some stuff for the convenience of playing the way I like to play. But if I am forced to play a way I dislike to get items I need to survive or fix a problem, then I will start looking for games that will better suit my needs.

Another issue, you mention not being able to put it in single mission due to ClickSaver and it's like. If you could make the mission terminals a bit more _useful_ (i.e. better layout of where, what, what level, etc.) and missions more likely to give rewards one can actually USE then you could probably do away with such progs without half of your player base quitting. I have used CS, but not to find any specific item. I use it because it makes it SO much easier for me to evaluate the missions I get and to find one in an area I want and around the QL I can do without spending all my game time at the terminal.

[MORB]

Cz, any word about the ClickSaver problem ? (or better said, the problem ClickSaver is symptomatic of ;))

(in case you didn't read it, please have a look: http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...threadid=35149)