Friday with(out) Means - Aug. 21st, 2009: The Last Ramble

[Eeod]

The helmet reminded me of Sauron (LOTR).

[Troxxor]

Kintaii, thank you for taking the time to give us another awesome wall of text Lol, I get the urge to hug you after reading each one! (dont' ask me why, I'm far too British for that kind of thing normally!) o.0

Anyway, I really like the new armour Imo it's a top notch blend of everything that has come before in AO. The hard plates over a lighter flexible base is a good concept too

It's great to see some real physical shape to it, rather than just another texture wraped over my toon

The head spikes are a bit on the large side, but very cool still... Is the glowiness animated in any way? Personally I think that really makes the Alappaa pads.

[Technogen]

It's the colors ok? Sorry but killer mech look painted pink = Power Rangers, they are pastel heroes after all.

Alternity, log onto your engineer and put on your Engineer helper and tell me what color the light in the center of it is. (to save you time it's a purple/pink) Since we only saw 1 shot of the armor with no info attached to it the armor very well could be the Clan color of the armor.

[Alternity]

Alternity, log onto your engineer and put on your Engineer helper and tell me what color the light in the center of it is. (to save you time it's a purple/pink) Since we only saw 1 shot of the armor with no info attached to it the armor very well could be the Clan color of the armor.

Oh yeah right you want to compare 2 items, where upon you need a magnizfying glass to find pink on the first, all the while the second item threathens to poke your eyes out? please

And while on the topic of engineer t3 I have been vocal both ingame and on the forums, when it comes to the choice of color. As if looking like a gigantus penus errectus was not bad enough, they had to stick pink neon lights in the back item.

[Technogen]

It's actually supposed to pulse purple, but the game's engine cant handle the pulsing correctly.

[Klod8999]

For god's sake, if they gonna start to make that kind of armor, they better look at The Rifts pen & paper RPG books and try to steal something from there.

BTW, when is someone gonna make MMO that is going in the The Rifts universe? Oo

And yes, since FC artists are all in pink and stuff... When we gonna get this?

[Jinday]

Courier Type missions aren't that bad if they're not totally random. I actually like these Ideas, and even a simple lower-level (sided) delivery job to a Dreadloch camp may be fun, too. Some spying mission for Jack-the-Legchopper and such. If these missions point you to interesting and/or fun locations they're more gain than pain. Rubi-Ka is full of such locations.

Have you done your scheol quests lately? They are very in context and take you lots of interesting places; still you'd be hard pressed to find a handful of people that like them because all you're doing is running all day long.

[heruharoth]

bump for:

- pvp missons - killing a certain number of players within a certain lvl range, not just guards. BS, duels, arenas, towers....everything would count.
- aixp missions
- vp and tokens from missions
- sided agencies, not just one of them. (unless you make it so it's possible that by, coincidence, I'm in there getting a daily pvp mission to kill a guy from the other faction...that happens to be inside the agency getting a mission to kill me )
- missions involving mechs
- profession specific missions (example, for docs: they go into an empty dungeon, heal up a wounded soldier/enfo, and then you hear an explosion and mobs spawn all around the dungeon -- the atrox npc can kill them to get you two out of there -- with the doctor's heals )

debump for:

- daily missions that are played exactly like regular missions...only with better rewards.

although, if you make daily missions more fun than regular ones, it would be like "ok, so i can do boring stuff all day in AO, and/or one fun thing per day".

All should be fun. Something like "ok, so i can get regular prizes all day in AO, and/or one BIG reward per day" would be better....but not THAT better if both those options are boring.

I think regular missions need an update for fun, variety. If you're focusing on daily missions, use some of the ideas you're getting now for the dailies, and use them with the regulars in the form of new mission types, and more things happening during a mission instead of mob bashing or blitzing. (I loved the escort part in the Foremans' line of quests, for example )

[Technogen]

Have you done your scheol quests lately? They are very in context and take you lots of interesting places; still you'd be hard pressed to find a handful of people that like them because all you're doing is running all day long.

Mainly because its a few hours long and you do nothing but talk once you get there. If you only had to run some place that's 15 min away then do something like shoot the heck out of some heck then run back to your guy taking 30 total it wouldnt be that bad.

[heavylord]

don't know if this has been asked, but what is the exp return going to be like in the new instance and new missions? it'll be great if it actually opens up a solo option for the people in weird time zones that can't find teams normally

i found this on auno
http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=281838
looks pretty sweet if that's what we get

and that 18 hour lock time instead of a 24 hour is a pretty solid idea

[Saetos]

Are these some drinks sold in the new nightclub?

Delightfully random

[Kintaii]

Are these some drinks sold in the new nightclub?

Delightfully random

Indeed they is. Before I became a game designer, I did graphic design for many years - Logo work, website graphics, that sorta thing. While I may not be able to hook up the awesome textures that Flaptoot, MstrBstrd and Genele are capable of, I can do logo and packaging design fairly well. So after we decided to make the new nightclub I spent some spare time on the weekends working with MstrBstrd on getting a few new drinks out into the game. These are all-new models and textures that the two of us made, just to spruce things up a bit and add some extra bling to the new club. =)

[Saetos]

Indeed they is. Before I became a game designer, I did graphic design for many years - Logo work, website graphics, that sorta thing. While I may not be able to hook up the awesome textures that Flaptoot, MstrBstrd and Genele are capable of, I can do logo and packaging design fairly well. So after we decided to make the new nightclub I spent some spare time on the weekends working with MstrBstrd on getting a few new drinks out into the game. These are all-new models and textures that the two of us made, just to spruce things up a bit and add some extra bling to the new club. =)

Speaking of the new club: is there, or are there any plans for, some sort of PVP content inside? You can't have a nightclub or a bar without some brawls And it helps attract players to the club

[Alternity]

Speaking of the new club: is there, or are there any plans for, some sort of PVP content inside? You can't have a nightclub or a bar without some brawls And it helps attract players to the club

Seriously NO! NO! and NO! Having 30 MdR inside the club going:


JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
LOL GIMP HAHA
JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA JAAAAAAAAAAA
U SUX JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Will kill the club

[Flynicist]

Seriously NO! NO! and NO! Having 30 MdR inside the club going:


JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
LOL GIMP HAHA
JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA JAAAAAAAAAAA
U SUX JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Will kill the club

WE CAMPED OMNIS ALL NIGHT LOL GO CLANS FREEEEDOM.

No weriously, QFT.
Brawls in real life aren't like PvP in AO, you just die and other people laugh at you and tells you how you fail at AO.

[Phuriae]

#1 - The new social armor looks fine. Those who don't like it don't have to wear it ofc. I'm sure you will offer different colors and/or designs though right?

#2 - Yes for shortening daily mish time to 18-20ish hours to make up for the time it takes to do the mish, as well as logging in at different times on different days.

#3 - No for implementing all of these time-restricted missions (i.e. get this item to this npc in xx minutes). I would like to stay focused on strategy and/or skill, not speed of delivery.

#4 - Yes for somehow offering VP rewards for daily mish. Maybe have the option to select XP or VP? Or offer several different mishes to choose from like we do with a standard mission?

#5 - Yes to a museum for fun/rp/educating newbs.

[PhoenixOfAges]

As you yourself pointed out there's other things, even on tv/movie that are called The Grind, if legal issues were to be had over the name would it not have occurred there as well?

Really, let's change the faction names cause Clan is so generic and is taken by everyone and Omni-Tek is a real company. Just so that Funcom doesn't get sued of course.

All it takes is one person or group to eventually decided they want to get rid of the others using a name to avoid confusion. Those that came before they try to buy out and those that came after they may sue. Before there was Sunkist the international business there was a single modest sized store in Toronto Ontartio Canada by the same name. To ensure sole rights to the name in a nice and neat manner they paid the store owners a good sum for the name.

With business names and the like the biggest concern is the use of trademarked names/words. With well marketed things (goods, TV shows, movies, etc...) names of the thing and related are often trademarked. If FC had trademarked "Omni-tech" then they could have sued the business of the same name which as far as I know came along after the release of AO. That's what got them in trouble with the use of the name "Rubi-Ka Rumble." The guy had trademarked any use of the word rumble in a fight related name. It was just used for what turned out to be a one time PvP contest on some little MMORRPG but they still got sued "but good" over it. The recent movies are fairly low budget ones by the standards of today and the MTV show is canceled so hopefully it would be safe if they decide to go with it. Although why take the risk?

Then comparing the change of long used names and the changing of a name of something not even in the game yet is as nonsensical as your idea that enforcing their own forum rules would make for some repressive state. Most to all of us live in societies filled and regulated with many rules and laws which are enforced without it being under some repressive iron fisted rule. Here we're talking about the name of a virtual club which is of very minor importance to the game and has not even been added yet.

Plus just because it was voted to the top doesn't mean they have to use it. I wasn't the first to voice some concern over the name "The Grind" either as you can see some others mentioning the same in the thread the polling was done in. Then AO does not have a large budget as it is not a high FC priority any more. So if Means and company get FC sued for using some name in game as was done by another group earlier FC may decided to hell with it and chuck AO.

[PhoenixOfAges]

The thing I caught is that there's supposed to be working towards a greater reward in this. ...

They are being added for the function of improving XP gains so as to reduce the grind in the game some as far as we know. While I would go along with the pick your reward idea (XP, creds or VP) something else on top of that does not seem to be needed. Adding some added grind function to something that is suppose to reduce the XP grind seems counterproductive.

I had mentioned in the 'Fix Noob Isle' thread ages ago that the questlines needed heavy streamlining, since the first person I talk to off noob isle I didn't know I needed to talk to. ...

From what I remember Means said in the past one of the first things they plan to do after the engine or rebalance (forgot which) is improve newbie island.

... Between that and most new players' inclination to just jump in and play, the need for a more functional version of IPS that actually helps out the new players in their profession by offering simple tips, perhaps a few quests or missions to help a player learn their profession better, and an overview of the strong points and weak points of any given profession until level 50 or 60 would do wonders to help out new players to the game who want to know what exactly is all the hubbub about each prof, what are they good for, and what is their skill focus, since unlike other games, you have to figure out IP expenditure and where to put these precious points. ...

(That was one long sentence.)
The old manual was better for listing the main skills, strengths and weaknesses of each prof. Though you really can't expect things to be too specific as things do change over time and what you put points into is based on what you want to do with the char. Also for the first 100-150 or so lvls you need to be frugal with your IP distribution. Then your options vary quite a bit now depending on what expansions and what not you have and how heavily twinked the char is.

BUT please, please, please bury deeply and forget forever the idea of adding more courier type content. I think the Scheol Scientist/Yuttos questlines are stellar examples for how dreadful this mission type is. Running from A to B to C to D and back to A for half an hour is boring.

The tag/collect/deliver types are fine and can be a nice break from the kill, kill, kill we do a lot of in the game. These are suppose to be some short thirty or so minute long tasks. The Scheol quests can take hours and the problem with them is the NPCs in the most annoying spots to get to are also the ones we're to go see many time over through the course of the quest lines.

Then with the daily missions we are suppose to be able to select which we want to do rather than issued a specific one.

[Worldofalts]

Bump for museum (a big thumbs up)
Bump for 18-20 hour timer on daily mishes instead of 24 hour timer (2 thumbs up)
Bump for 3 daily's, (3 per day, instead of one) (2 thumbs and 2 hairy toes up)
Bump for daily mishes rewarding VP (2 giant, slightly mutanted thumbs up)


also, a big high five to the idea of being able to choose the rewards. (i.e. - choose 2 rewards out of the following list: a) xp/sk, b) vp, c) credits, d) item reward, e) cru, f) a point towards long term goal thingy, g) double fudge chocolate chip cookie)

[Jinday]

Mainly because its a few hours long and you do nothing but talk once you get there. If you only had to run some place that's 15 min away then do something like shoot the heck out of some heck then run back to your guy taking 30 total it wouldnt be that bad.

YESYESYES! That's the crucial part, shoot the heck out of some heck (or any other non mundane task) and not like in scheol use/give item and then listen to it ranting.