Friday with Means - November 11th, 2011 - 111111 - Open questions

[Quefixer]

Current ETA on new engine? Plans for testing? Maybe a video?

[JustinSane4]

What advice would you give a new or newly returning player wanting to narrow the equipment gap separating them from players who got theirs when S10 and/or ingots reduced the time investment to purchase viable endgame gear?

What is the highest design priority for AO right now - rebalance, S10 changes, new player experience, non-repeatable content with decent cash rewards for leveling players, or something else?

[MajorOutage]

and if so, why shade isnt as high in damage dealing as crat who also provides best crowd control and debuffs?

Uh, but shades do have higher DD potential than crats.

What advice would you give a new or newly returning player wanting to narrow the equipment gap separating them from players who got theirs when S10 and/or ingots reduced the time investment to purchase viable endgame gear?

You say that like every current player has done one or the other. I've done neither, and I turned out alright.

[Otansaanpas]

Uh, but shades do have higher DD potential than crats.

no they dont. and i didnt ask you. :/

[hokutonoken]

froob content is bacically new content that also is froob friendly.

free nascence for froob ^_= since froob can use composite 1hrs nano.

how about ideas of froob able to access the market easier? gms..etc?

we've social items for every slot...how about some cool shoulder social item or atleast low level shoulder item slot that will show ..beside the Omni/clan pads or the nomad(aniversry only drop_ pads). was interesting to see the claw shoulder pads for holloween...how about some lowbie pads that will show up soically as well????

[heilt-do]

Are there gonna be new Special Attacks for the Heavy Weapons/ Grenade ? Seems that fling shot just doesn't cut it, but adding burst/FA/AS would be too much.

[Traderjill]

1. As a veteran player (long term paying customer across multiple accounts) I was rather frustrated with the rubi'ka hardcore pack that was offered. I think it was a good offer, don't get me wrong, but as someone with 3 subscriptions under year long terms I felt really slighted. AO seems to have a long history of throwing rewards at people that have not been loyal in order to get them to return or subscribe whereas not providing comparable rewards to those of us that have been consistant in supporting this game over its lifetime (me personally for over 7 years). I've spoken to customer service and basically been told 'too bad' but Id like to know your perspective on why existing customers, especially those that have existing year long subscriptions under no promotions, can not be given the same types of virtual perks as new people or folks that have been away and decided to resub with the new offer.

2. Recently I have noticed quite a few ninja changes with extremely slow (if any) responses from the dev team when the forum community has actively complained. Some examples would be the length of time it took to respond to the S10 change, the changes to the heal kits, the PvP flag changes and the ninja change on the ancient novictum refiner (and I've noticed at least one other item in my bank that's just showed up as nodrop and previously was tradeable). Are there any plans to have more consistent communication with us on changes?

3. One of the devs clearly stated, in another thread, that the changes to how sit down nano/hp rechargers work were really in preparation for the rebalance.. and that eventually the old school heal items would work the same way (not useable when pets or team are in combat). Since the rebalance is not out, and doesn't appear to be remotely close to being released, why were the old heal items removed from the shop terminals?

4. From time to time I have the unfortunate experience of having to petition because a quest bugs out. Whenever this happens, I always get a GM that seems to know little about how the quest works and that gives me a response that is careless at best and downright rude in some cases. When this has happened, I send an e-mail to customer support. In one case I had to contact you directly for resolution (which I greatly appreciate). I, however, do not want to waste the time of the Game Director on routine quest bug issues. What type of resolution path should I, as a player, take when I have encountered a GM that was imcompetent and did not resolve my issue. As it stands now, I petition, get no resolution and am basically left feeling slighted. You can't discuss petitions on the forums or share GM conversations here so really as a customer I feel trapped. As it stands now, my org's Inferno Key Quest bugged (somehow my 220 doc, barely being played OD'd an entire quest team that included an endgame 220 soldier and other TL7's that were all actively playing). I'm out a pocketboss crystal and though I farmed another.. I'm afraid to try again seeing as it bugged the first time. There must be some other way to get assistance when a GM doesn't perform their duties properly.. what is it?

[Triadninja]

Heres a question not really pertaining to the rebalancing, do you plan on releasing the rebalance patch with the engine patch, or before then?

[profiteer]

How are you going to fix sync in the game as a MA im having a real tough time catching up to some professions like agents ect.

[CoachB]

1: Is anything to come from the suggestion of making the GMS/Org Shops froob usable?

2: Is there some sort of a rough ETA on the nano changes?

3: Will there ever be another weapon akin to the Solar Powered Engineer Pistol, preferably one that can be used to a degree by any subscription tier until a point?

4: To go with the above, any plans on something along the lines of a line of, for lack of a better term, Solar Powered Engineer equipment?

5: Because some sort of non AO related question is almost a requirement: What are your feelings on chocolate covered mints?

[Gridpain]

Question : What about the new flag mechanism ?

done on purpose ?
not completly on purpose ?

clicky if you dont know what I m talking about

[Hanavald]

Are you planning to play Diablo 3?

[MajorOutage]

no they dont. and i didnt ask you. :/

I'm pretty sure they do. It's just as much about how you play as it is about equip.

I do agree that crat's damage is unfairly high, though, considering their rather wide toolset. And this is coming from someone who has one.

[TharBeDragons]

Is Shadowlands only subscription no longer available?

[Utopian]

1. As a veteran player (long term paying customer across multiple accounts) I was rather frustrated with the rubi'ka hardcore pack that was offered. I think it was a good offer, don't get me wrong, but as someone with 3 subscriptions under year long terms I felt really slighted. AO seems to have a long history of throwing rewards at people that have not been loyal in order to get them to return or subscribe whereas not providing comparable rewards to those of us that have been consistant in supporting this game over its lifetime (me personally for over 7 years). I've spoken to customer service and basically been told 'too bad' but Id like to know your perspective on why existing customers, especially those that have existing year long subscriptions under no promotions, can not be given the same types of virtual perks as new people or folks that have been away and decided to resub with the new offer.

2. Recently I have noticed quite a few ninja changes with extremely slow (if any) responses from the dev team when the forum community has actively complained. Some examples would be the length of time it took to respond to the S10 change, the changes to the heal kits, the PvP flag changes and the ninja change on the ancient novictum refiner (and I've noticed at least one other item in my bank that's just showed up as nodrop and previously was tradeable). Are there any plans to have more consistent communication with us on changes?

3. One of the devs clearly stated, in another thread, that the changes to how sit down nano/hp rechargers work were really in preparation for the rebalance.. and that eventually the old school heal items would work the same way (not useable when pets or team are in combat). Since the rebalance is not out, and doesn't appear to be remotely close to being released, why were the old heal items removed from the shop terminals?

4. From time to time I have the unfortunate experience of having to petition because a quest bugs out. Whenever this happens, I always get a GM that seems to know little about how the quest works and that gives me a response that is careless at best and downright rude in some cases. When this has happened, I send an e-mail to customer support. In one case I had to contact you directly for resolution (which I greatly appreciate). I, however, do not want to waste the time of the Game Director on routine quest bug issues. What type of resolution path should I, as a player, take when I have encountered a GM that was imcompetent and did not resolve my issue. As it stands now, I petition, get no resolution and am basically left feeling slighted. You can't discuss petitions on the forums or share GM conversations here so really as a customer I feel trapped. As it stands now, my org's Inferno Key Quest bugged (somehow my 220 doc, barely being played OD'd an entire quest team that included an endgame 220 soldier and other TL7's that were all actively playing). I'm out a pocketboss crystal and though I farmed another.. I'm afraid to try again seeing as it bugged the first time. There must be some other way to get assistance when a GM doesn't perform their duties properly.. what is it?

Bump

#1 - I feel exactly the same way - have 4 full paid accounts for years and wonder why we dont seem to get the benefits of loyalty in same fashion.
#2 - A communication page - not FWM (i.e not a discussion thread), just notes of all changes/additions/deletions/etc AND a "found issue type" page where issues are listed by FC folks (so we dont keep thinking its a new issue) - with reasons/updates as addressed by FC
#3 - Goes with #2 for me - Straight forward information requested, please!
#4 - one of my biggest pet peeves - have had the unfortunate times with GMs that were not only rude - but pretty much any other term you can use. I copy the discussion and send to FC. Only once got a response and the response was almost as bad as the original comments. The "working as intended" has to go away - especially when its an obvious bug. We file petitions for bugs/quirks/etc - i can deal with those - but we have no recourse for GM/ARK failures. The e-mail we then get to summarize the experience is more than laughable as it gives no ability to truely respond. So we head to the forums...and you know how that goes.

[Docaholic]

What are the chances of some new 'classes' being put into AO? Like Mercenary (possibly Neutral only my thinking on this is neutrals have free access everywhere and a mercenary for hire needs to be mobile and unrestricted.) with concentration on Attack/evades/conceal. Battlefield Medic (possibly Clan Only this class is drawn from the ICC shuttleport, the clan side pad mission is to help a field medic. It seems a natural extension) concentrating on Healing/Ac's/Evades. and Scientist (posibly Omni Only, omni seem to have a natural tendency towards 'science' with their labs and outposts all over.)

Just a few ideas, cheers!

[MajorOutage]

What are the plans to make the DB3 fire boss passable in a reasonable amount of time?

May I suggest removing the COWARDS! call for the dot thingie? Or do it like DB1 where you gotta click them all in a certain order to get an immunity or something?

[Tikra]

Simple question:
Engine ETA?
Screw rebalance for now. We need fresh blood and new folks aint attracted by oldie gfx. (personally i say gameplay > gfx. But im old...)

[Artona]

mean nanos???
where is the new graphics
is 11.2011
I feel ripped ...... all empty words

Erm, yea

[Rantopha]

What advice would you give a new or newly returning player wanting to narrow the equipment gap separating them from players who got theirs when S10 and/or ingots reduced the time investment to purchase viable endgame gear?

I have an Idea for newly returning player, which have just few Credits: go BS, get bashed all the time, but don't get frustrated dying 1.000.000 times.

So go get a quite good Ofab Armor and Weapon, which allows you to farm some "phaties" which can be sold to buy a set of AI Armor or whatever you like. A ofab-equiped character is also able to take part in nearly any team- or raid-based Encounter.

I know, what i speak about, as i farmed ~180k VP on a decent equiped Keeper, before there was a BS-daily.