Friday with Means - April 30th, 2010 - About the Future

[Boltgun]

New startup experience by far. When new players will start staying we can consider the game less dead.

2nd is revamping old encounter, with a preference for the 100-175 range, both RK and SL (but RK first, many paid starts froob now).

[unback]

[*]Less new SL/fantasy content, more sci-fi/alien/faction content. (If I wish to play a fantasy MMORPG, I'll go play AoC/WoW/Aion/LotRO/DDO/WhateverIsPopularThisWeek/etc...)

I agree on the Sci-Fi sentiment many people here display, leave all that fantasy crap behind.


Anarchy Online is unique, use that fact to it's full potential!

'nuff said.

[Nosgoth]

3. More content that involves the use of Mechs. Nice toys but hugely under utilised IMO. How about altering the Mechs so we have Omni and Clan versions. Make them easer to tell apart. Maybe give special abilities to them depending on their side.

This. Make the Clan-Mechs look more like from the junkyard, omni mechs more like brand new and neut mechs something inbetween. Also, the Clanmechs should do a bit less damage and have a bit lower hitpoints than omni ones, but let them have a good healdelta (junk repair) while the omni mechs have a very low or no heal delta at all, the neuts in between again. Just make sure the differences don't determine the outcome.

Changing noob island, new low player content and rebalancing should come before the new engine. I think, reactivating the backyards would be nice. As a new players (nearly 8 years ago) I was very impressed by the neutral backyards, the best noob-playzone ingame I think, even if it's just for lvl 1-5.

Oh, and do something about lowbie weapons. I don't speak about perenniums and such, I speak about all the low level shop crap and the -000 weapons also. Most of the low level weapons don't do enough damage, the -000 are a bit better, but still not too good and much to expensive for lowbies. I don't think it's too good that a decent equipped froob lvl 20 needs more time for killing a level 20 mob than a 220 for a level 220 mob.

[recklessjr101]

'nuff said.

I rarely post in these forums but I logged in just to say I completely agree. More Sci-Fi less fantasy.

[Neosh1]

About alien expirience, add more random attacks to RK/org cities. Its fun when something unexpected happens.

[Midgar]

I have a few Ideas Being a player since beta I love this game with the rest of them.

First of all we must have the /org kick command fixed. General's in my org are not allowed to kick anyone anymore. This broke a few months ago! Can we get Tower wars going on in SL with the release of the Gfx Engine? A Ressurect nano for the NT would make them a team usable class again WTb Custom made org banners! also wtb alien incarnator to lay in org cities!. If you wanted a player shop solution for instanced cities, give players with instanced cities the ability to buy a shop and place it on certain remote locations throughout rubi-ka by itself. Since only a few battle stations run "somewhat" Reguarly, there needs to be an higher VP incentive for lower Lv battlestation to get all of the running fairly often. I wish so much the other battlestations would run in other lv's then 150 and 210. One last thing for now.... Gief QL 400 SHop Buildings! Large orgs need more shops for their players! they fill up so fast!

[Windguaerd]

Ah, here we go.

First, Annoying small things everyone knows about yet have not been fixed. Why? because if it annoys vets, you bet it annoys new players.

Second, new player experience. Newbie island ***ed things up, really. There is no immersion to get into the game, quests don't really teach you about skills, or about expansions (which you WANT people to purchase and become paid customers). My suggestion here is not something you are going to like, because it will take time away from the engine if you decide to take my advice.

Change the entire character creation scenario in which people have a LOT more information about each profession than a short paragraph, I would think professionals should be consulted maybe even asked to write a better description.

Note: Add alien spaceships who are supposedly around Rubi-Ka, we're under siege yet there isn't a single mothership around the planet visually, this is part of the IMMERSION issue.

Instead of someone being sent down in a shuttle to RK, have them move to a "virtual environment" within the Morning Star Space Station (which btw the text reads "Morning Star Transfer Station" which don't make sense.

The virtual setting should be hosted by a single entity, maybe a robot or android to walked each player through. There should be an option to skip the entire tutorial (and each stage as well) with a CLEAR WARNING and a confirmation YES/NO box so that new players don't accidentally skip.

The newbie experience should be in stages, after each stage a window asking if the person understood the explanation should pop up with a YES/NO option, if NO is selected then the stage is repeated. If YES, he moves on to the next stage.

1. Movement & Communications - The host shows how to move around, include running, jumping, swimming and use of emotes. Also use of the /follow command. I suggest the use of a solitus avatar as a visual demonstration of each move/emote (make him appear as a hologram by making him see-through, I'm sure that is fairly easy to do). Also about chat windows and it's configuration. Approximate time to learn: 5-7mins.

2. Skills & Implants - The host explains about skills overall, including skill resets and a CLEAR warning regarding the ONE time use all-skills-reset. Explain Implants and mention Symbiants. The best way to display this visually would be through a wide screen in a room with NUMBERS showing how IP works. Approximate time to learn: 5-7mins.

3. Combat - Introduction to different styles of combat, even if the person rolled an MA he should also see how weapons and ammo work as well as distance and nanoformulas in general. Included in this should be the LINE OF SIGHT rule, maybe the host can describe it as "taking cover against enemy attacks". Maybe also warn that if you remain out of sight too long the target loses interest and regains hp at a VERY FAST pace. Also use of the /assist command. Again, a visual display is best as with the movement stage. Approximate time to learn: 5-7mins.

4. Expansions - This is tricky, but can be done without breaking canon by using "holograms". The host explains about the ongoing war between the clans and Omni-Tek commonly called "Notum Wars" (make a note this expansion is included in a free account), also about "Shadowlands" and the redeemed/unredeemed conflict, the siege on Rubi-ka by the "Alien Invasion" and how it lead to the "Lost Eden" which the battlestations created when they arrived and how the rubikan veterans (high levels) discovered the "Legacy of the Xan". Approximate time to learn: 5-7mins.

5. Missions & Questing - The host explains about solo and team missions, how the compass works, world map mission mark on Rubi-Ka and the Shadowlands. Also how to recognize a quest giver (blue named). Only issue here is that some blue named are NOT quest givers rather than information sources I believe, also ARK Events Team use blue names during RP events which may confuse new players. The best solution is to have ARK's Event Team avatars with a different color name and recolor the info NPC's to something else, maybe orange? Approximate time to learn: 5-7mins.

6. Transportation - The host informs the player about Whompahs & The Grid, how to recognize them and where they are usually located. Showing how a whompah and grid access LOOK is important here, don't display it as a hologram but rather a working simulation where they can enter a whompah in one side of a room and exit out into another whompah in another room, and a grid access with only one exit (the same as the one the player used), maybe examples of other grid exits. Approximate time to learn: 2-3mins.

7. Factions - The host gives a summarized history of RK and about the 3 factions. Here is where the immersion comes into play besides the gameplay. Have 3 "holograms" argue with each other stating why the player should join their faction and in the end the hosts states some ramble about ICC (which he will have to explain what ICC is) and a rule that all new arrivals must start as neutrals and that at THIS TIME they can decide to either remain neutral or join one of the two larger factions. Approximate time to learn: 5-7mins.

8. Mentoring - Well the mentor program SHOULD be ready by the time the new player experience is finished. The host explains to the new player that he can seek a mentor and how to go about it. A smiling hologram showing a friendly person willing to spend time with the new arrival should be shown. Also mention ARK and the /petition command. Approximate time to learn: 2-3mins.

9. Wrap up - The host THANKS the new arrival for coming to Rubi-Ka and wishes him the best of luck and to have patience, stating that the world he is about to join has a deep learning curve (Yes, you ACTUALLY have to tell someone you are not a cookie cutter MMO). Approximate time to learn: 2-3mins.

Approximate time to learn all: 36-51mins. At the end of each stage (except last) the host should give the new player a new level, meaning they would all start at lvl 8 when they enter the mainland (even when the tutorial is skipped).

Newbie Island was a good idea, just not well implemented, I have NEVER seen an ARK there to answer questions, by the time a new player hits the mainland the THINKS (erroneously of course) he knows the game enough to go out and play it fully. It is then when they see a CRAPLOAD of things which were NOT in the newbie island or mentioned

Third, LE missions need to be modified to actually give more axp, or a new instance t cover the gap of axp gain by low levels and another one in the gap of 151-179 (not an instance, maybe missions).

Fourth, change the encounter timers, so more people can do them, or even better instance with timers like hollow island, mercs, biodome.

Fifth, grid exit to "The Grind", cause it's empty and you spent a lot of good effort into it, should become the social gathering for socializing in the game, period.

Sixth.... I have a lot more to say, but I think this is enough to keep the entire dev team occupied.

Edited to add Implants/Symbiants

[Ahndracorvid]

Advertise the game as "something different"; an alternative in a market full of "mainstream" MMOs that lack depth and character. You'll be surprised at how many people out there have been looking for such an alternative to games like WoW. Most of them are surprised when they find AO and come to like it that they've never heard of it before.

The game is a real hidden gem, in every sense of the phrase. Especially considering the release of the new engine in future, I think it's about time we yelled a bit louder about how awesome it is .

[Stigman]

*stamps feet*

Geif me (erm and everyone else ofc :P) more stuff to make.

..also we need stuff we can ts to almost completion from existing vendors that give mini ability buffage, like the personal brain / scent sensor blah blah. Scenario, j00 is a lowbie and has empty util / hud slots....hmm what to fill them with, oooohhhh nothing

Lowbie ts'ers have nothing functional / useful to ts at low lvls, they do have stuff i know, just not enough to feel useful...when I'm asked to ts some ql35 carb I wonder where all the lower / mid-range ts'er are ....geif us some <3

Stig

PS. Don't forget to make personal furnaces stack..j00 did say you guys are gonna look at it :P

PSS. /prostrate <--- almost forgot :P

[Worldofalts]

Advertise the game as "something different"; an alternative in a market full of "mainstream" MMOs that lack depth and character. You'll be surprised at how many people out there have been looking for such an alternative to games like WoW. Most of them are surprised when they find AO and come to like it that they've never heard of it before.

The game is a real hidden gem, in every sense of the phrase. Especially considering the release of the new engine in future, I think it's about time we yelled a bit louder about how awesome it is .

agreed. the hook that got me into this game was a friend that told me about ao and how complex and detailed the game was. that got me interested.

and newbie isle: my very first memories of ao are the arrival hall and the crash sequence, talking to the nurse, swimming over to the island etc... these memories are forever ingrained in my head, and always create a feeling of nostalgia about ao for me. i feel bad for anyone who started ao after they removed the opening sequence, as it created a mood that i just don't feel with the current downsized startup.

[Grim-One]

8. A month's notice before major events (and a week's notice before minor events would be nice) with the notice being in the launcher, on the website AND in the forums, not just in the forums the day before the event.

Bump for this since I always seem to miss most of the RP events, most that have occurred over the past few years actually.

[Edta]

1. Startup experience

2. PVP can use some fixing on a lot of fronts!


About revamping old content: I don't see what's wrong with it. It's not content intended for TL7's indeed, but not everything should be for TL7 . I can understand it's not fun to do a boring long raid to get certain items, but adding for example Fly Specs to The Collector loot-table might be a solution to that... Anyway, old content staying froob friendly is the important thing here.

PS. Don't forget to make personal furnaces stack..j00 did say you guys are gonna look at it :P

Hmm, only if you can TS with them without using up the whole stack though... It's really not practical if they are stacked... (Like ring templates, buying them 1 by 1 seems the best option and that's way less practical then the current state of the furnaces!).

[Herkulease]

Give us an exceptional map, that comes WITH the game. Keep it updated.

Give noobs a easy way to teleport around (at their leisure) till level 175. Something that gives a list of places they can go, quickly, and easily. Even allowing for fixer grid access every few hours. Something like a Beacon Warp, that will stop them from /giving up when the game seems too big. Maybe even add random feature, with quite a few "random" spots. That drop them off in Camelot, and other strange or unique places they may or may not have seen.

On use, spawns list of options. Tir, OA, Bor, Grid, Fixer Grid, ToTW, Jobe... Ect. As the player levels, the list of warps adjusts to accuratly reflect their level. Ely, IS, Primus Camp, Mantis Den ect. Let them explore the game, and enjoy it. By the time the player is lvl 200, make the warp a "husk" of what it used to be. Allowing for transport to the basic cities every hour or so.

Add 1 character slot to accounts that have a level 220. Reward for your dedicated players. If they were gonna get a second account, they would anyways for obvious reasons. This will help keep your dedicated players from getting bored, while minimizing the /mass of new toons.

Don't make us run to buy stuff from GMS, the year is,... 30,000,000 or such. 8p

Most important, fix the LITTLE things. The ANNOYING things. Things that make people wish they were playing a different game.

AO is a nice game, if you fix the stupid stuff, that makes sense, and add a new engine. AO might even be a great game.

/waits for the day patiently.

[sjefstab]

enough energy wasted on "plans for future" just get current works done.

[cube]

** PLEASE put fall damage back in!!! Those days were so much more "explorative"

[madman666]

1. New Engine

2. Keep up the good work, on things like faces, armors, meshes etc. we all like to see what work has been done each week, and grow tired of excuses - would love to see patches even if it is just to update a story, fix some grammar, change an icon etc - changes are what keeps the game going, variety is the ****e of life.

3. Startup experience needs to be clean and addictive, give users a taste of why they should get the ai expansion, or why they should get SL expansion - i.e. a 1 of run of an LE mission, SL Mission accessible to all on noob island - it gives users a taste

4. APFs available to a wider chunk of lvl ranges 25-50, 51-80, 81-115, 116-150 and the rest

5. Revamp the icon set for items, take a look at what the one guy was doing for rings etc, add some new polish on things

6. More BS maps including King of the Hill (single node time limit based, score based on who holds most time and dies the least), CTF, etc. (include new maps here, use the nightclub map, will to fight arena etc.

7. updates on static mobs, and instances like merc raids, 9/18hr spawns.

8. spruce up old loot tables with chance drops of sought after weapons and gear, like being able to get CDRs from Notum Soldier was done for those who dont know etc.

9. cross server raiding - allow people from rk1 and rk2 to participate in giant raids of S42 - bring that raid draw back to the game, that people have found ways around by using only one team.

10. Tons of new costumes (with ability to tweak coloring of costumes, using something similar to GW, to address huge combinations of individuality)

11. An item vendor system that allows you to purchase items right there at that location.

12. an item vendor that allows you to buy nodrop or rare items that are reserved for raid rewards for insane prices - pulling in the wild amounts of credits like 1billion creds for a Burden of Competence, or 1 billion for the Maars Red belt, and 500m for the xan belt upgrade device - so that people arent affected by not being able to get teams for the items they need - but pulling in the vast amounts of creds that are out there.

[Biancha]

Give noobs a easy way to teleport around (at their leisure) till level 175. Something that gives a list of places they can go, quickly, and easily.

noooooooo rubika is a huge planet of pioneers, ruffians, and angry mutants. having to (occasionally) experience that while travelling to scary remote places is a small part of what defines life on rubika - everyone i know has nostalgic memories of getting nearly killed in some faraway place by mobs 50 levels higher than them, and noobies should have the chance to have that fun as well ^^

in my opinion grid + whoompa + making friends with fixers makes for enough easy travel options.

[Lheann]

Start up experience by far is the biggest on my list. At release I remember playing for 3 days in the back yard killing stuff with my oh so sucky startup weapon. I was a blast. A new starter area is not the answer... a return to the tried and true areas that made the game what it is will be better. Of course you need to revamp them and have aliens and such in them with better weapons and armor for people to use. But leaving the back yard and going into Tir that first time was so immersive that I was hooked.

9 years and abd people still ask for shops to be fixed so they are useful. This means fixing the junk item issue. I know Kintaii sad it was hard to fix that stuff. Some time hard is what it takes.

Means you know i am an advicate for a new apf below s10. Sector66 idea still sitting there and i think it is a good option. so yes to ew apf below s10 after starter experience is fixed.

[Alternity]

1 Random team from the RI Make it fun, spread out the DD/heals make each team have a function..

Well making it random sort of negates the point of a KT war, it was a place for the best of the best to meet.
And what if your team don't have heals, get warped into boss? I see the point of random events being fun, but I don't think they should make or break a boss encounter, at least not of this type.


Viz

[PhoenixOfAges]

So here is a great chance for us to get a good view on what is important to our community as a whole.

First off if you want to know what the community on a whole wants/thinks you need to ask the community on a whole. The forums in AO and any other game only have a fairly small number of people (including those that quit with no intentions of returning) and no matter if you tell people in the log in to look at the forums now and then, many won't. So how about making a poll in the launcher or something of that nature so you can really see more of what the community on a whole want. Also if you can you could try to make use of those interactive billboards I don't ever remember interacting with.


For things to do (in no real order of importance).

• Make it so hecks don't attack chars they are grey to.
• More at least initially solo content like Dark Ruins, particularly in the lvl 100-210 range, although some should be repeatable as solo to some extent. This may help ease the mad rush to lvl X and get people to stop to learn their prof more. Some could be AI related.
• Add and/or adjust old items so they get better or QL bump some how or another rather than just adding new items so we toss older items. Current examples would be the Kevlar Wool Balaclava (agent sock) and Engineer Pistol. Some items that could really benefit from this would be all the OFAB weapons and armour (ex: spend VP to increase their QL, more if they're upgraded with clumps).
• Be nice to see more things we think of as "junk" items get some upgrade like the Beast weapons got with the Xan weapon upgrade. The old sided SL weapons would be good ones to get this as many really look good but are mostly junk. Along the same lines adjusting the -000 "upgraded" RK weapons so they are more useful would be a good idea, could add something like that for old RK armour too. So new zones/content to get upgrades for old loot rather than modifying the stats of old loot or adding new loot.
• Change how we get those sought after items in raid zones/encounters. We make teams as small as possible as the more in the group the lower our chances are of getting the items we want. Due to that we just want those ideal teams, people sit on LFT for ages with no luck and may eventually quit AO in frustration. If instead of getting the end item which has a low drop rate we gathered many common components and collected official raid points used to buy things including special buffs we wouldn't feel the need to make those tiny ideal teams yet would still need to do the zone/encounter many times. I went into more detail here.
• Make raid zones less static. That is add random elements like the special attacks of mobs, where mobs show up, their behaviour and even the layout of the zone. This would make doing them again and again as we do need to more enjoyable. Again I went into more detail here.
• Adjust some old quests like the Scheol and Ado ones so they could be done without a high lvl holding your hand and not a painful marathon either.
• Improve newbie island such as letting shades and keepers finally start there too (must be lots of notum there anyhow since the aliens are so interested in it). Also add a mission where you get a key, follow a waypoint and go in somewhere to do something. Ammo on the island would be good and getting into the alien ship for those with AI would be great.
  
  It may be a good idea to add a second newbie zone after the current one. This is to add more of a middle ground between newbie island and what it's like everywhere else without trying to cram it into one small zone. Maybe say the whom-pahs got smashed up by the aliens so they need to transfer us to a second zone near-by before they can move us to the mainland. Then of course the NPCs there have favours to ask too, not as many though.
• Try to deal with at least some of those annoying small things everyone knows about yet have not been fixed.

Regarding PvP content:
While listening to all the chatter on the forums over the years you'd think there was a legion of PvP crazed players playing AO, there isn't. Face it, there isn't. Most BSs are stone cold dead, the others can have problems getting going, heck, ever since the launch of LE BSs have had big activity problems. Tower wars are getting rarer with less people when they do happen plus mostly all offense with few to no defenders except maybe at TL7. Tara isn't seeing nearly the numbers it used to with it not being too uncommon for one of the two sides to just not show up. Then it seems as though two types of PvP content in the same lvl range can't run at the same time as there's just not enough looking to participate.

So adding more PvP content when what we have now is having real problems even getting going is just going to make matters worse. Instead it would be a far, far better idea to adjust the PvP content we have now rather than to add more. So that new PvP zone you first mentioned over a year ago and again not long ago, shelf it. Take it back off the shelf should the PvP content in game get pretty active so the PvP community can support more PvP content. Although adding more before then is just going to make things worse, not better.