Friday with Means - September 11th, 2009 - Video Q&A, Sceenies and Info-Nuggets

[Means]

id like to ask about the games intended progression.

at the mo when you hit 220 you have ALOT of work to do before you can pvp properly. hours upon hours upon hours of grinding in different instances most abandoned some semi active depending on how recently they were released.

now i just heard another instance is coming for high levels.
will it have the same loot as previous pf's that are dead right now?
if not i can see a continuing trend to push out items and long quests just to....keep us busy so we dont get bored with endgame pvp? or even just endgame?

i would like to know if you guys are considering widening the content instead of going in a linear direction.
why not put loads of items with drop chances on these latest instances in LOX? like items alot of people cant get from APF now.or dustbrigades.

half the problem is when you reach endgame the pvp is either boring and/or restrictive that we either reroll and do it all over again or we are not fast enough to complete our characters before its outdated.leaving you with a situation it seems where you may feel you have to create new content or people will leave the game.

please at some stage have a well thought plan to create a pvp enviornment that perpetuates itself to some extent.i think if you really sort out the pvp at endgame you wont have such a big need to create new items for players..or not as much.
instead you might find yourselves focused in part on roleplaying and mixing that with pvp.
pvp scenarios once a week.

take a look at dekaron EU/2moons this has a pvm dungeon raid (Dead-front) with high xp gains.a different instance for different level ranges.now as you level during the day at the same times each day the call is put out very clearly across the server that it is open soon and people gather in massive numbers to get a team and go in.
after your team and the other 2 or 3 teams make it to the boss room they end up gaining a certain amount of xp but also for the final prize they have to fight each other to the death. last man standing his team wins gold and xp.
just an idea of how the two can go hand in hand.

sorry for the long post. i been away from forums a couple days haha. needed to vent

The new instance will likely not have ANY new loot...and only be a new/alternative way of obtaining loot available in other areas of the game.

The PVM dungeon you describe sounds like fun

[Means]

Hi Means,

I took a 9 month break from AO to try AoC when it came out. I returned to AO (my first mmog love lol) and other than performance issues it's been wonderful. The news that we are being ported into the AoC engine caused much rejoicing because I know what its capable of.

Then I thought "oh noes", there's things I hate about the AoC engine! So are you going to modify for AO players the following two issues?

1. Fall Damage ... taken out of AO eons ago (along with our jumping ability being nerfed lol). It's in the AoC engine though. Will this be disabled in AO?

2. Dual/Triple etc Log-ins ... You cant have two "clients" (or whatever, Im not a programmer lol) of AoC open at the same time on your comp! This is a massive part of the fun of AO is double/triple whatever logging. Again will this be changed to make dual logging available to AO players?

Last unrelated to new engine question...

Since returning I have had a great time with friends, old characters, fun new content, etc. My performance is absolutely terrible tho. I used to be able to push "0" and fly from one end of a zone to the other and come back 5 mins later zoned into the new zone. Now the engine can barely go 20-30 secs with out rubberbanding me AND stopping me from auto-running? Whats up with that? What is cancelling my auto-run?

Thanks

1. Fall damage will not be re-introduced.

2. Dual logging should run as well or better than it does now.

Autorun - This is the first I have heard about this issue...it doesn't happen to me...but I will ask around. To be clear: You get in a yalm and try to fly to the other end of a zone...and it fails?

[Means]

That's my question too.
I can't focus on the contents of the video until I know for sure.

Bracelet. I won't wear it in future videos to avoid confusion.

[Means]

WTB more Tattoos ingame.

Me too...but we have to wait until putting out the new bodies and new default skins.

[Autumnleaf]

Don´t forget to read your PMs ^^

*run away*

[Autohead]

From Game Suggestions: Will we ever see sex change through Org HQ Plastic Surgeon?

How about breed change? <--- Way more unlikely I'm sure.

[Means]

Micheal Bay Anarchy Online?

Nice videos, Anarchy is death death!

Can we get the big picture of what's happening with balancing? Alot of professions are looking at receiving huge nerfs with the pvp system changes and I'm sure I speak for all of them in saying that we'd like acknowledgement of how it will effect our toons at the very least.

I'm hoping to put some of the larger general plans out to the community in a more structured fashion very soon.

[Means]

The heads are amazing. Keep up the good work. Ignore the elf lovers!


Question for Means.

Will we ever get larger backpacks? (Please!)

If so, will we all see those backpacks with stats (from shops) upgraded a little, possibly to include AC's, or different stats in addition to having more slots?

Quite possible we will see more backpacks as back items with stats. I doubt we will add larger packs as players already have an obscene amount of storage space and already have a hard enough time finding their own stuff

[Means]

"Go left." (tm)

I liked that.

It's reassuring to see how concerned and savvy FC's head AO staff are.

What surprised me was to hear how much they wanted to change the startup area and introduce a curve to the learning cliff.

Whatever happened to helpbot? It seems like a 3rd party - if compensated reasonably - could toss together an interactive flash tutorial if FC's staff is too busy.

There is no avoiding the fact that when we get together a good method of accessing tutorial videos we will be depending on the player base to help us produce the best ones.

[Means]

Selecting a terminal and getting a holo vid.. that could be cool.

This is what we are aiming at. I really hope we can get there.

[Means]

I can't get over how friendly that Q&A was.
Were shades barred from the building?

They were concealed and stabbed me later off-camera.

[Means]

Now that you reminded me...

Back in the day Funcom had a referral program where people could put these banners on their pages, websites etc. They earned credit for the referrals.
That system is gone now. Why not bring that program, or something similar back?
At the very least, the AO team might want to consider making those banners/buttons/etc easily accessible and linkable.

Added to my list. Thanks for the reminder.

[Esproc]

Autorun - This is the first I have heard about this issue...it doesn't happen to me...but I will ask around. To be clear: You get in a yalm and try to fly to the other end of a zone...and it fails?

If you lag or etc you stop moving sometimes.
I think this was meant to keep LD persons from auto running into AoC.

Barbarian, meet GA fixer. FIGHT!

[Means]

Warning: Lheann executes "Wall of Text" in your NCU.

Means,
Yet another end game instance? Totally dissapointed by this.

I am just sick of endgame everything (grind grind grind) but sadly I am just as sick of the low level content used for leveling. I mean I was on test when the subway was released and there for TOTW and was in the SL beta. To say the low level content has gotten old is huge understatement. I would think that most of the current player base feels the same way about low level content being boring. I mean when Newbie Island hit it was a big deal as it was new low level content. That is just sad. Had you said a new instance for some where in the 20 to 100 range I would sent you a cake for sure.

In game mail system.... Yummy..... Can I have two please.

I asked in the dragcon thread but will post here as well. Will the Daily Missions give SK rewards for players over 200? Will the reward be equal to a % of your xp needed to level so that X number of these gives you a level or will the values be arbitary and like all missions becomes less and less of a levels XP/SK as you get higher?

Something that did not get touched on that I saw. The AO Website could be a great place to host tools developed by FC or for FC that let players access the things like the item database, or helped figure out how implants need to be built. Yes I know we have third party tools and sites for this now. But FC having on the AO website would sure come off as a little more user friendly to new players. Maybe even some really good guides to starting game play. The games offical website is usually the first place people go to look for help after all.

With all this talk about terminals this and that. Please fix the mission terminal. Clicksaver is so handy and most players use it or mission buddy. Really is about time AO had a new mission interface. I mean really talk about Beta Period concept and design.

Over all it was nice info.

The new instance will not add to the item grind.

Players above 200 will get SK from daily missions.

All good suggestions...thank you.

[Means]

No more 220 endless item grinds please, ffs.

Ok.

[Means]

Okay awesomeness.

I had to laugh hard a few times throughout those videos, especially at the Voyvoy parody ("Anarchy Online is Death, Death!"), and damn "Run to the left!" is just epic.

Heads look good but the eyes still are a bit weird for my feeling, can't quite put my finger on what exactly is wrong with them though. I think they are too.. intense, it's as if they're STARING at you rather than just watching you.

As for QUESTION: When do you estimate the PvP rebalancing to be "done"? I understand it is a neverending spiral of slight adjustments and that perfect balance will most likely never be achieved, I also understand you can't give exact dates/patches or hard guarantees, but is there any news on the ETA for the biggest problems (IE keepers and fixers being underpowered)?

QUESTION: Will the PvP rebalancing be done only for TL7, or are you planning to give lower TLs of Notum Wars some attention as well (and then especially the chunk of overpowered that Traders are, because of their drains)?

The first major rebalancing is due out inside the next month.

The first immediate focus is on high level pvp...but there are some large system changes coming that will affect ALL levels. We'll wait to see how those affect lower levels before making additional changes.

[Deathorglory]

1. Currently the Battlestations offer 2 things, PvP and VPs. If you had to choose just one as the primary function of BS, which would it be ? PvP or a means of getting VPs ?

2. If the answer to 1. is PvP, is there any chance you would consider changing BS mechanics from "whoever gets 500 points first wins" to "whoever has the most points after, say, 20 minutes wins" ? I'm just so tired of having my PvP cut short by people whose sole aim is to capture all 4 points quickly without any fighting and end the round.

[Means]

The Q&A session inspired me to crank out another Great Wall of Text guide for new players, I looked up some of the older ones and realized they're WAY outta date. I should be done in a few days, time permitting, and I'll be working off the assumption that the player is utterly new and has no idea what does what in AO. Would be interested in coordinating with other folks on this, so PM me on this.

Noted the 'Just friggin PM us already' so I'll be sending one out re one of my current pet peeves/projects.

I do have one big question however, and that's in regards to pet profs in general and MPs in specific: What's the timeframe for working on pet kiting issues? MPs are really hurt more than the other profs by the kiteability of pets (I watched Corily on RK1 slog out a fight with an agent that took ages simply because the agent ran around in huge circles while Rihwen tried to keep up and failed) and complete lack of controlling tools aside from our mezzpet that fails in these matters in a hilarious way (under the assumption that Yidira's PM/SI are equal to the nanoskills used to cast, would need DOUBLE the AR to hope to land a nano in modern TL7 pvp at the very least)

Second Question: I noticed not long ago that while some caster/support profs have the capacity to reach similar levels of skills in their bailiwick as the combat profs, there is no reward for the effort (better pets, for a good example) as there would be for the combat profs (SoW/SoC/SSoS/etc). Any chance of looking at this and tweaking it so such effort is rewarded, or at least so that the caster profs aren't stuck at, say, TL5 with a toolset that is static while combat profs are free to twink on bigger and bigger weapons?

The Q&A session was good, and I look forward to more screenies and updates on the planning for the future soon!

Kiting in general (not only for pets) is a serious issue as players now move at a speed that makes it impossible for everyone's client to accurately locate other players. There will have to be a general slow-down for everyone to make this work as it should...but without making some areas too "forever run" and without making overland travel slow and annoying. It is likely runspeed will be reduced to a level that can be managed by the network and that vehicle travel will be increased or at the bare minimum remain the same. The BS will need restructuring to account for this change...we know and look forward to tightening the action up. High speed professions will once again see some benefit to their high runspeed...and melee players will be able to actually see their opponents...I'm looking forward to it. This will of course make things better at the same time for pets that now have no hope of catching anyone.

[Means]

I was very happy with the things that they are going to try and accomplish. I fully agree, that the new player experience should be revamped, infact I think that should be the number 1 priority, along with the engine. If people understand what to do, and THEN are unleashed, they will have a much better time in what they can and can't do yet, and understand what they should be doing. I also agree with that guy that stated that PvP needs a revamp, I fully agree that once you guys are done with fixing up the stuff such as new player experience, the engine, and fix current mechanics, that PvP should get a new twist, so that once you hit 220, there will be more to do than just BS and NW.

Overall, I was really happy with this Q&A, it answered alot of the questions I had myself.

P.S. Means, you can't be one of us, you look like too much of a rockstar :P

I hope to add more different PVP-type areas this year.

Rockstar?...That's a first.

[Means]

With all the work being done on new character heads and meshes, can you guys change the meshes for things labelled as skirts so they display as skirts instead of shorts?

When your character equips a robe...your entire body mesh changes. This means a new body/mesh for every character type.

Eg:
Solitus Male Thin, Medium, Fat
Solitus Female Thin, Medium, Fat
Opifex Male Thin, Medium, Fat
Opifex Female Thin, Medium, Fat
Nanomage Male Thin, Medium, Fat
Nanomage Female Thin, Medium, Fat
Atrox Thin, Medium and Fat

21 new meshes and textures would be required to display the skirt models "correctly". This is a lot of work and heavy use of the artists...+ adding the new code support to add a new body type. This is not a bad idea...but unfortunately it belongs on the "if we get the time" list.