Friday with Means - May 14th, 2010 - Multipatch

[MajorOutage]

For the first time he managed to get the new client to run FASTER on old hardware than the old one. This is spectacularly good news. We had currently been planning on a "dual" client that would include everything for BOTH clients...if things continue to improve we might be able to do away with the old one entirely.

I find it odd that wasn't a goal in the first place. The current/old engine is very CPU-centric, which can make slightly dated PCs struggle despite having more than adequate graphics cards.


As for the strafe running...that gave me flashbacks of when they nerfed bunnyhopping in Counter-Strike. Good times.

[Obtena]

I wonder what "old hardware" means, exactly, given that AO came out almost a decade ago, it could mean anything.

Any compueter is old after 3 months you buy it

I would guess old is over 2-3 years. Probably the kind of computer that the original AO game would have specified as 'minimum' requirements ... which is now a wristwatch?

[Firestorm518]

A couple of things

I started playing this game on a computer with nvidia 5600 GT and a 128 vid card barely 256 ram. My money is somewhere between that and an 8 series card power range.

As for the why wasnt it a goal in the first place question

Sometimes its not viable at least initally. EVE online during its major graphics overhaul had done simular things because of the stresses it put on the comptuers. Streamlining and various things happened as they developed it that allowed them to do away with the old client entirely not the least of which was the advent of 8 series cards and that particular generation of graphics. Dual clienting provided a good basis for Funcom to keep everyone able to play especially those on older pc's. Now a guy like me who's got 280 GTS with a gig of vidram is going to want more but not everyone has money to burn like that.

[Lheann]

Hmm started playing AO on a Pentium 2 Celeron 350MHZ 16GB HDD with 384MB of ram and a TNT2 64 video card running windows 95. Not sure if thatis what they mean by old or not. But that was the machine I loaded release day AO onto.

[Moonbolt]

'Coming Months'?

So what are Fixers supposed to do in PvP, when our Evades run out, for the next few months?

die like every other profession in this game.

ohh and i dont remember the exact year but dfidnt AO get a GFX update in 2004 or something?
wich should be the "standard" wich the game should be run smoothly at.

[Essessceeaych]

The engine sounds really good.

Any chance that you will officially recognise (you not Kintaii) that many of us want the new player experience fixed?

Right in the middle

Unless you don't think you can feel safe with Kintaii speaking for Means while he's sick?

[Zeephonz]

It means they played it on a Sega Megadrive :P

Damn it, i will need to upgrade

[JenShay]

Right in the middle

Unless you don't think you can feel safe with Kintaii speaking for Means while he's sick?

Any chance that you {Means} will officially recognise (you{Means}, not Kintaii) that many of us want the new player experience fixed?

Right in the middle.

The other thing is, *officially* and I think the expression is, "Getting it from the horse's mouth."

P.S.

---------- -----

[Ebondevil]

Right in the middle.

The other thing is, *officially* and I think the expression is, "Getting it from the horse's mouth."

P.S.

---------- -----

Try this then:

For those who were unable to attend DragonCon this year, we hosted a Q&A session in the Sheraton. ShadowGod was nice enough to film it for us (in 5 parts).
Part Two

[Poundtown]

The engine sounds really good.

Any chance that you will officially recognise (you not Kintaii) that many of us want the new player experience fixed?

Would it not be prudent to do that before releasing the new engine and doing all the advertising?

Oh and hope you don't get any new scars from our interrogations ... or blinded by our attempts to get your attention (or each others. -.- *Glares at the "1st tards"*) :P
Have a good weekend and rest well Means.
P.S. I think you should lurk in the IRC channel like Kintaii does. Would get you interrogated in a less overwhelming fashion and people might just start chatting with you more socially too.

No, only the people with little game experience, have maybe one character over level 100, and know nothing about this game want the new player experience fixed. The majority of us veteran players who only spend a total of 1 hour in there a year could care less about it.

I want the rebalance and new engine. I could care less about fr00b island as well as 99% of the veteran playerbase. RPers ftl.

[Mekh]

I want the rebalance and new engine. I could care less about fr00b island as well as 99% of the veteran playerbase. RPers ftl.

So... You could care less about there being no players left in a very short time as old-timers move on to other things?

Running around all by yourself, but with purty graphics ftw!...

[Ophiuchus]

No, only the people with little game experience, have maybe one character over level 100, and know nothing about this game want the new player experience fixed. The majority of us veteran players who only spend a total of 1 hour in there a year could care less about it.

I want the rebalance and new engine. I could care less about fr00b island as well as 99% of the veteran playerbase. RPers ftl.

What do RPers have to do with the new player experience?

New blood is absolutely crucial to keep the game alive. Old players quit allt he time for various reasons and they are replaced by new ones. If the new players are put off by the terrible startup experience, they won't stick around. We won't have the replacements.

So go ahead, be short sighted and think of only what you want. Attitudes like that are exactly the reason the game's population keeps on falling.

[SSK]

I don't understand what you people find so horrible about noob island. Week ago I started froob char just to check what's so bad in current AO start area and I find it very interesting. Last time I started new char it was in 2003 and I started in BY. Compared to BY with 1 guard NPC and bunch of minor wildlife mobs, island has lots of quests, NPCs, few "boss" mobs, so there's lots to do and get basic knowledge. I don't say it's perfect, nothing is, but imo it's pretty decent.

[Blondenurse]

I really hope you one day choose to fix the cursor problems we've had for the last few years, Means You know the one, where you hold mouse2 down to look around, its as if the cursor follows a poorly constructed grid around and makes the sensitivity twitch.. Also annoying in flights


Other than that, huge <3 and have fun drinking

[Effrit]

I don't understand what you people find so horrible about noob island. Week ago I started froob char just to check what's so bad in current AO start area and I find it very interesting. Last time I started new char it was in 2003 and I started in BY. Compared to BY with 1 guard NPC and bunch of minor wildlife mobs, island has lots of quests, NPCs, few "boss" mobs, so there's lots to do and get basic knowledge. I don't say it's perfect, nothing is, but imo it's pretty decent.

Yes it is a major set up from the old Backyards.

The problem many find is that, it doesnt explain alot about other aspects of the game, nor provide overly well in terms of equipment for a new player.
it does not teach new players a whole lot about;

The storyline.
Implants including design and creation.
Tradeskills and the requirements, and which proffessions are best at them.
Nano program progression (there is some, as in you can get better nano's from the same line, but it doesnt tell you that, one is better.)
Twinking or rather using gear to get on better gear.
The equipment provided is not wholey great in either stats or appearance. They are unable to see what else is available.
They are not told that 99% of the stuff in shop terminals is absolute rubbish, especially the weapons and armour.
It is not explained really how to get better armour/weapons. via tradeskills or going into dungeons and killing something for it.
Progression through different dungeons and area's is not especially well linked.
Mission terminal and how to use it and what each of the sliders mean is not explained.

Unless someone who has played before tells you, your not going to find out most of this, and it should not take an experienced player to tell someone this, they should know it from the start up experience.
I have had experienced gamers that i know try Anarchy Online and say the learning curve is much like that of Eve Online, its a cliff of razor sharp rocks.

[PhoenixOfAges]

'Coming Months'?

So what are Fixers supposed to do in PvP, when our Evades run out, for the next few months?

Back when they were still busily discussing the upcoming re-balance changes we were told that they plan to adjust run speed. What was said was something along the lines that certain profs that specialize in it more (fixers in particular I guess) would be better off than others. This is as opposed to now where everyone basically can hit the top allowed run speed.

I thought maybe that strafe change had something to do with that. Although it could also just have been another glitch like the other ones.

[Neuromotor]

Back when they were still busily discussing the upcoming re-balance changes we were told that they plan to adjust run speed. What was said was something along the lines that certain profs that specialize in it more (fixers in particular I guess) would be better off than others. This is as opposed to now where everyone basically can hit the top allowed run speed.

I thought maybe that strafe change had something to do with that. Although it could also just have been another glitch like the other ones.

Quite unlikely, as this change have the exact opposite effect and leaves fixers worse off than before

On a different note.. Mul-ti-patch!

[Poundtown]

I seriously love how everyone thinks a change to fr00b island is going to solve the player base problem. This is a hard game. I play this game because it requires more thought then WoW. If you want all the WoWtards running around in this game it is going to require more than a new start up experience but a major change to the way the game is designed.

This is a difficult game, FC should provide better tutorials on their website or give ingame tutorials. Show new players how to gain access to the AO community. Advertise the forums, get people to ask questions. Inform people about our database websites (auno, ao mainframe, aouniverse...)

People get turned off by the difficulty of the game, not fr00b island.

{Venachar: Braap braap elsewhere. This is not Brixton, don't hang around talking about people disrespecting you.}

[omegahealer]

well then, i'll debate with you then

a new starters experience is needed because players are just thrown onto RK with no clue what's what really and have limited cred gaining (you gotta be told that concrete cushions are worth money or have looked up some info...which new players these day really dont do). This has nothing to do with WoW-ification of the game...(played WoW, too easy...)but doesn't mean we should scare people away...just make the wall hit later on, when people are deeper into the game, instead of at the very beginning

I agree new eyecandy will bring in new players....but they will prolly leave once off newb island because the game just aint new player friendly.

Also when argueing, don't bring in join date elitism, because it will invalidate your points automaticly

(off the record, ewww PS3 gfx...computer still shows way more superior images if you have a decent setup...)

[Traderjill]

Not to get into an argument but...

The term "New Player Experience" is not the same as "Startup Experience". I'm not going to go into explaining any further unless i have to.. just think about it.. sure you'll figure it out for yourself.