Letter from the Game Director – March 2008

[Shareida]

pwn

*nods* nothing to add.

[Jenshiye]

Valid.

First time I have seen something like this and I feel well done.

[Chrys]

Going around starting joke threads in the suggestion forum to mock those that start ones asking for better PvM VP is pretty childish and there were at least four of you that did just that. We don't need any more of that nonsense and making the rewards should they decide to give some general use ones will just make that situation worse.

No idea which kind of de****able people would do such things like that.

You like PvP, I don't. You play mainly to do what you get enjoyment out of which is to PvP so why are you so bothered by the idea that your efforts in PvP would only improve your performance in PvP?

ZOMG y I has n3d go pande 4 twanking phatz. Plz giev loot surgery clinic mkay.

HALP DCHAST IS PVP ITEMZ PLZ REMOVE ADD DAM 4 MAEK NOT UBAR 4 PVM

Whinewhinewhine.

[Xootch]

We are very pleased to see the positive reaction to the new PVP systems we introduced in 17.8. It is always a little bit of an anxious time when you overhaul a major part of the game and we have been delighted to see players enjoying the new dueling system as well as taking part in more group based PVP. It has always been our aim to encourage people to explore group tactics and learnt to work together in mass PVP scenarios and I’m very happy to observe that already people are starting to put together new strategies and tactics for taking each other on.

ehhhh...what?

[Apexsilverevo]

You think so?
Ok, then lets try simulate this:
We got only FC channels.
How is a RL picked? (there will be ALOT of problems evolving around this)
How will(if at all) the points from previous bots be transferred?
What about current banlists?
What about ffa'ers?
How would we enforce the raidrules if smbdy does not listen?
There are thousands of things that we dont yet see that might complicate the situation that raidbotted areas are in atm.
Imo, if something's working pretty well, it should be left as it is.

1. RL is picked in the same fashion is always was.

2. Why should anyone stop using the bots? From what it sounds like, the raid interface will only eliminate the need for a DT, where-as the RL can set himself/herself as Master Looter (Sound familier?) Loot can still be distributed based off of points. On top of that, it would make it easier for EVERYONE to get XP/AXP/SK from raids since its all shared like a team.

3. See #2

4. See #2

5. See #2

Now, what would really turn things upside down, is if they allowed instanced raiding, then the bots would be made useless but make Org's usefull again. It would allow the RL to kick someone from the raid (which warps them out). It would allow people the option to raid with those they are comforatable with etc etc.

Just some food for thought....

Dsmtrader01

[Tryqz]

If AO, with the new engine, does not function flawlessly in regards to dual-logging, you're going to have a serious problem on your hands. The worst thing about AO right now is having to tone down all your settings, no matter how good your gaming rig, in order to dual log. Because both clients want to use 99% of the processor, and will bicker amongst themselves bouncing from 55/44 to 44/55.

Water is great and all, but I'm going to go bananas if my dual logging (which is already crap beyond belief) is made even worse with a new engine.

This is why I have four computers, sitting side by side, on my desk at home, all hooked into my server.

[Smasherr]

I don't see how pvp rank items won't mess up bs completly, since rank farming is almost contradictory to what bs gameplay should be. Might as well turn that pf into one big room for pewpewhaxhax. And one would've thought they've introduced the new pvp ranks precisely to discourage rank farming, with all that hunting some guy's title that was going on. The simple and erm, smart, solution would've been to comute the old ranks to duels only, since that's what they were supposed to be about, but ofcourse... weren't. The fact that now we have the lamest pvp rank system won't get solved by introducing incentives for it, but combined with bs experience, it'll just make it worse. Concentrate on VPs.

[shadowbasher]

Um...for all the "i no wanz pevepe i r liek dai no wai hax" people, may i ask what the major basis of this game is about?

No, its not clan VS beast
No, its not omni Vs beast
No, its not neutrals VS ... ok there just included with omni

Its Clan VS Omni. The WHOLE basis of this game is about 2 factions "Killing" eachother for control. So if you just wanna farm pvm and pve encounters, go right ahead, no ones going to stop you. But that doesnt mean people who do more than that cant possibly have better items than you, not like the game itself already isnt Hello Kitty Island Adventures when it comes to pvm anyway. A single well played team can do any pvm encounter in game, and you cant argue that its not true,

[Quilluck]

A single well played team can do any pvm encounter in game, and you cant argue that its not true,

The answer is 42 :P (sorry, just had to ^_^ )

[Helamorious]

Definatly looking forward to the 18.0 patch, a new engine would certainly help bost performance on modern pc's as well as give us the eye-candy we are used to seeing from more recent games.

Are their any plans on a new GUI system with the new engine to allow more customisation for the components of the gui, not just placement? It was mentioned in the MP professional forums quite some time ago that the pet window was being looked at, but i havnt seen any word on that one since. I would like to see a much more adaptive gui system including being able to seperate some of the set ingame channels, like the system channel which has alot of information.

[Racheloblade]

Sounds good Sil, I'm looking forward to all of this



It may take some time but once people figure out that a raid interface makes multi team raiding so much easier to coordinate and pull off then I bet you'll start seeing more smaller groups contest the bots. I see this as a huge boost to orgs and co-op raiding. People will realize that you don't need a zerg to raid pande and apf and that doing so with friends and orgmates will be more challenging, fun and rewarding. Initially, some people will dismiss it (especially those with a lot of time invested in their points) but things will change. Once that ball starts rolling, it will only gain momentum. Pointsbots will start losing loot and that will drive people away from them in a hurry.

Think about it, we could end up seeing multiple raidgroups actually contesting raid content instead of just grinding through it in a zerg until they have enough points for their turn to loot. It's going to be a lot of fun I think.

There is a solution to this, make the zones into instances.
I'm not saying its going to be free of charge for FC to do this, they will have to recode the servers to handle the zone as an instance that will require you to be in a raid group.
But it is doable and it would work, fairly well i might add.

I know it will make items that are "rare", less "rare" but to be honest, only the elitist pricks care about that, and AO isn't just for them its for us all,
yes, even you fr00bs.

And now to something completely different.

New Character creation Screen

[Klodovik]

My pet used to fetch me some letters 'n' stuff. Haven't seen my pet for weeks now.

Sil, halp plx!

[PingBong]

My pet used to fetch me some letters 'n' stuff. Haven't seen my pet for weeks now.

Sil, halp plx!

for what its worth.. he tasted like poo

[shadowbasher]

The answer is 42 :P (sorry, just had to ^_^ )

Im under the assumption 42 no longer exists on RK1, due to lack of Rlers or...somethin....yeah...nope its not there. My point still stands ^_^

[Keldros]

I don't see how pvp rank items won't mess up bs completly, since rank farming is almost contradictory to what bs gameplay should be. Might as well turn that pf into one big room for pewpewhaxhax. And one would've thought they've introduced the new pvp ranks precisely to discourage rank farming, with all that hunting some guy's title that was going on. The simple and erm, smart, solution would've been to comute the old ranks to duels only, since that's what they were supposed to be about, but ofcourse... weren't. The fact that now we have the lamest pvp rank system won't get solved by introducing incentives for it, but combined with bs experience, it'll just make it worse. Concentrate on VPs.

A fix for that is to place a cap on PVP points, and require people to spend VP to raise the cap. That way spawncamping and liftfarming are useless unless you actually win BS from time to time.

[Klodovik]

for what its worth.. he tasted like poo

j00 damned monkey eater.