Friday with Means - July 15th, 2011 - New Stuff

[quieter456]

Engine?
Rebalance?
New starter experience?
Fixing a gazilion bugs?
Fixing gameplay to make the game playable by all and not just by "The Champs" while everybody else farms pearls, patterns and basic armor sets "ad nauseam"?

There is plenty to complain about. This team is doing exactly the same mistakes of previous devs. New end game content to keep vets busy while neglecting to captivate new playerbase.


And Im firster then you, so shuddup!

Those things are true, but as a FwM that contains actual content, this week's post is like top ten already. Plus, something actually hit test live.

[Siyra]

I like how you're adding the Gauntlet into Pande, as sort of something that could have been there all along and isn't like a Collector repeat of "We found a portal to an otherwise invisble place."

[Siahanor]

How about fixing the current AI solo dailies so they can actually be soloed every time. Tired of picking solo daily mission only to get roflstomped by overpowered Ensigns double teaming me. Stop designing missions/quests as if the only people who play are uber power twinkers.

[Dreamcypher]

Engine?
Rebalance?
New starter experience?
Fixing a gazilion bugs?
Fixing gameplay to make the game playable by all and not just by "The Champs" while everybody else farms pearls, patterns and basic armor sets "ad nauseam"?

There is plenty to complain about. This team is doing exactly the same mistakes of previous devs. New end game content to keep vets busy while neglecting to captivate new playerbase.


And Im firster then you, so shuddup!

Engine: A pile of poop with pretty glitter sprinkled over it is still a pile of poop at the end of the day.

Rebalance: The most important thing to rebalance is the way HP works in PVP. It makes less sense than Alice in wonderland. Less HP = more survivability? Herpy-derpy-perpy-derp?!

New starter experience: If by starter, you refer to levels 125-200, then yes. Nah, I know what you mean, and I agree. It needs adjusting, designed into easing the player into the game. Not dropping them naked on a beach (even though the thought is appealing).

I'd like to see more content in the post 125-130 range. There's nothing to do but missions and dailies, and all the dungeons available are all pointless for various reasons, and are in desperate need of an overhaul.

Fixing a gazilion bugs: What I'd like to see is funcom fixing their philosophy of what is regarded as a bug. When completely retarded things like exiting a mission and being glued to the floor in a yalm (a FLYING VEHICLE, not a GROUND VEHICLE) is "intended", according to ARK, then my hope for any bug being fixed is kinda zero tbh.

Fixing gameplay: This might not happen, since the rebalance is geared toward paying players, so "by all" might not ever happen. We'll see what happens though.

And yes, there *is* plenty to complain about. I could QQ for hours about this game, but I still love it. I disagree though: Under Means (and Sil, too) I think AO has improved. And they've already revamped the newcommers island once, and while it got better in some sense, it's not fully good yet. As for lowbie *content*... There's tons and tons of it, and you blaze through it pretty damn quickly... Just like high level content. Mid level needs a lot of work, though. I recently brought a friend in and mentored him - we played until about 130, and then he quit, because all there was to do was borgs (which give too little xp at that level), level 200+ missions (repetative broken shore visits), and no more dungeons worth doing.

[Warhead]

Looks really nice even with the old engine.

Yes, nicely recycled visuals, as usual!

[Warhead]

My point exactly. Content that requires faction wide raidbots to complete is a worthless content.

Only true these days. There were times when certain content was difficult enough to require such raidbots and those werent the days when borealis or newland looked like ghost towns most of the time.

It boils down to two things:

I want more players
I want better content and more of it

Pipedreams.

[Cyberleet]

New starter experience: If by starter, you refer to levels 125-200, then yes. Nah, I know what you mean, and I agree. It needs adjusting, designed into easing the player into the game. Not dropping them naked on a beach (even though the thought is appealing).

Ya, plus they took away the doctor who explain your death-ressurection and scan-system.

Players should really get their repetoir as they level imo, as they did, it's fun

They could always relaunch missions and reuse stuff.

Like dreadloch-bosses adjusted to low levels as bosses in missions, it's a lot of great atmosphere in the soundfiles that players never experience due to new trends, like 'omni-tek is your friend' with industrial background-noise. Mobs with pvp-nanos, blowing up stuff with cap/os-system in pvm as team-quests, the room with number 9 is pretty, the profession-abilites are great (but not so avaible for normal players in AO atm) ....it's a lot.


They could easliy do a lot if they had the passion and bothered really get into the player-perspective from a gamer in 2011 and to be more competent in player-prediction. AO is that good actually imo

[Hanavald]

Only true these days. There were times when certain content was difficult enough to require such raidbots and those werent the days when borealis or newland looked like ghost towns most of the time.

We're not talking about the old days though. The biggest and best change they did in PvM during last couple of years was removing the need to complete content with mega-raids. All the single team instances, instancing APF and Pande, it all catered the game towards casual players.

I don't know what in god's name possessed them to suddenly turn 180 degrees around and come up with open playfield that will once again force everyone into months of mind numbing point grid on raidbots .

Not to mention even faction wide raidbots already struggle with getting enough numbers, in some time zones its impossible to organise sec 42 raids , also open playfield. Are they only developing the game for people in Euro prime time now?

I'm all for new content, but this just seems like working against their own design of what this game is supposed to be.

[lainbr]

Not to mention even faction wide raidbots already struggle with getting enough numbers, in some time zones its impossible to organise sec 42 raids , also open playfield. Are they only developing the game for people in Euro prime time now?

Find 3 active orgs. Make a Coop. /profit

Bout new content: Do you really want more of new supereasy carebear content where the chance of wipe is low with a team of 6? /shrug

[Warhead]

We're not talking about the old days though. The biggest and best change they did in PvM during last couple of years was removing the need to complete content with mega-raids. All the single team instances, instancing APF and Pande, it all catered the game towards casual players.

I used to think like you until I realized how wrong I was.

Crappy one-team-cookie-cutter-profession-layout content isnt fun. Its a load of. I'd take some those megaraid pointfarm days over what we have now any day simply because what you mistake as something the game was meant to be was simply born out of a necessity due to the dwindling playerbase.

Best of both worlds, thats the key. Instead of keep on going into the wrong direction.

In other words: some instanced content and some open content is what we need, right after MORE players.

It looks like they realized that.

[Cyberleet]

I think less spreading of players/content and diferent loot-mechanics is the keyword.

So professions don't get ousted out of team and repetoir.

[Hanavald]

Find 3 active orgs. Make a Coop. /profit

Yeah right. {removed} If faction wide raidbot cant get enough numbers, its fair to assume, its impossible.

Crappy one-team-cookie-cutter-profession-layout content isnt fun.

Sure it is fun. Nobody's forcing you away from trying the wildest profession combinations. If its an open instance, you can do what you want. You seem to suffer from the same short-memory-problem as the rest of people whining for open playfields do.


Targeting content towards dwindling playerbase, by making new open playfield that is only possible to complete within certain time zones? I think not. That is just a recipe for failure.

[Mastablasta]

New content Psyched!

Yeah right. {removed} If faction wide raidbot cant get enough numbers, its fair to assume, its impossible.



Sure it is fun. Nobody's forcing you away from trying the wildest profession combinations. If its an open instance, you can do what you want. You seem to suffer from the same short-memory-problem as the rest of people whining for open playfields do.


Targeting content towards dwindling playerbase, by making new open playfield that is only possible to complete within certain time zones? I think not. That is just a recipe for failure.

We've been doing sector 42 with org coop for a long time. Just because there's noone wanting to do it with bot doesn't mean there's noone wants to do anything.

[Dagget]

New Slayerdroid skins (ex: new DB Slayerdroid) would be a great addition to the paid shop, and maybe 1 or 2 added to the vet shop too. Heck, a new skin or 2 for every stage of the engi bot would be popular additions that would be worth the time invested by the Artists. Same for Crat Corporate Guardians and MP Demons. This has been suggested before but is as good a time to plug it again.

Regarding the new Pande competitive instance - better make sure that one team can only win if the competitor teams progress a substantial way thru the instance, otherwise gonna be rigged for 6-person run every time.

List of new Daily missions on the Sassy leet on Testlive:

Killing the Competition (1-220) pvp
The Hunt (150-174)
Blood Plasma (1-24)
Jewelry (50-74)
Poacher's Paradise (75-99)
Scavanger: Avalon (75-99)
Tarasque (175-199) pvp
Black Market Bioware (175-199)
Syndicate Messenger/Interception (175-199)
Scavenger: Perpetual Wastelands (200-220)
Zix Infestation (75-99) alien
Kyr'Ozch Mine Field (100-149) alien
Seedy Growth (150-199) alien
Distress Call (150-199) alien
Citizen Ambush (200-220) alien
Destroy Alien Pods (200-220) alien
Unicorn Mainframe (150-220)
Guard Duty (100-149) pvp
Elysium Catacombs (120-149) sl
Scheol Catacombs (150-179) sl
Adonis Catacombs (180-199) sl
Penumbra Catacombs (200-214) sl
Inferno Catacombs (215-220) sl
Alappaa (200-214) sl
The Night Heart (215-220) sl
The Zodiacs (215-220) sl
The Beast (215-220) sl
Albtraum (215-220) sl
Lord of The Void (215-220) sl
Famous Last Words (125-149)
Insurance Hack (1-220) not patched yet
Training in ICC (1-24) alien
Reclaim the Lands (1-220) pvp

Pande missions work on both instanced and non-instanced Pande

.

[Dagget]

Yeah right. {removed} If faction wide raidbot cant get enough numbers, its fair to assume, its impossible.

S42 gets run on RK2 in both a factionwide raidbot regularly, as well as a few Alliances run their own successfully.

Now if they really wanted to make things interesting, they could follow the Eve Online model for missions/raids where, if you die in the mish, you would lose your $$$ armor and gear with a portion of it lootable by anyone who finds your body before you get back to it.

.

[omegahealer]

but AO aint EVE...

[battlebug123]

ao was my first mmo. When I tried the second one I thought- hey, THAT should be a raid? 12ppl thats it? A raid should be like 100 ppl.
Later I found out that limited raids are actually the standard- and I absolutely never enjoyed a raid like an open one in AO

[Khlin]

S42 gets run on RK2 in both a factionwide raidbot regularly, as well as a few Alliances run their own successfully.

Now if they really wanted to make things interesting, they could follow the Eve Online model for missions/raids where, if you die in the mish, you would lose your $$$ armor and gear with a portion of it lootable by anyone who finds your body before you get back to it.

.

That would work only if they rethink at least half the game. Actually, loosing a regular Battleship with T2 fit (T1 rigs though) in a level 4 mission (let's say AE) is not that much cash, it only means you loose income for the next 3 missions at best. Loosing said ships means:

- you get the ship's insurance (if you didn't insure, I hope the pilot got podded as well cause, hey, it's Darwin) that covers ~70/75% of the ship's cost
- 30-60mins of flying around to buy the new ship and modules unless you have spares already and a pve carebare always has spares
- 10mins fitting the ship back and nabbing a smoke
- flying back and making the cash back withing the next 4 missions (if you salvage you can get also a nice profit despite the loss)

Even if we're talking about a newb that lost his only ship for TL4 missions, he can do 2 days of level 3 missions and get back in action.

Actually, making money in EVE is easy enough. If played rather laid back, by the time you actually get the skills to fly T2 Battleships for absolutely destroying level 4 missions and getting where the real money is made, you'll have enough ISK to buy the dream setup a few times over.

[lainbr]

Yeah right. {removed} If faction wide raidbot cant get enough numbers, its fair to assume, its impossible.

zergbot mindset != org mindset. In zergbots you are not sure if everybody will do everything to make raid sucesfull, while in org you assume everybody will do it. So naturally zergbots need more ppl to raid than an org.

Rk1 have at least one 3org coop that raid s42 weekly. We have some wipes, sure, but most of then are sucesfull.

[Siahanor]

but AO aint EVE...

Funny, since AO was exactly like that inthe beginning before EVE even existed.