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

[maitrader]

Last week someone posted that they wanted to know our plans for the future. This is obviously a good idea. While we are currently very busy getting the Daily Mission/Collector update ready for release (should be Tuesday!) and we are obviously still working on the Engine/Balance update we are in the process of also planning out the content of updates for the rest of the year.

This is where my question for this week comes in.

There have been many, many suggestions made over the last year+ as to what "we all really want"...but now as our planning is now currently trying to solidify these wishes I want to ask again..

"What should we add next?"

Good suggestions (that we are already looking into) include:

Profession bug-fixing.
New open PvP content + new BS maps.
Alien playfields at levels below and above Sector 10.
New start-up experience.
Revamping old encounters + loot to today's standards. ie: Hollow Island
etc etc.

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

What should we make next? Where should we spend our time that it would make the most difference/be the most fun?

We'll be watching here keeping track of common themes that will definitely end up shaping our plan for the year to come.

Have a great weekend!

Greetings

I have been around for quite some time in RK2, and I had some ideas that should be considered as we get closer towards the relaunch of Anarchy Online.

1. Fr00b Item/Instance Mall: I think it would be good for fr00bs to have the opportunity to not have to pay a monthly subscript, but have the option to buy xp potions and items of this sort. Also, kind of like what DDO/Turbine did, I think Funcom would do very well with the option to "buy instances". This could provide further funding to both fr00b and p2p players.

2. Classic Server: Many individuals whom have quit Anarchy Online, did so because they simple didn't like the direction which funcom took in AO. Many truly wished that RK was expanded.. not a whole new game brought in (ie:Shadowlands, AI) ... I think many people would be thrilled to have the opportunity to play the game classically.. without perks (other than Notum war towers), AI researchm or gear from both AI and SL. A classic server would be massively popular and could cater to both paying and non-paying populations, as it offers a challenge, and brings pvp back to the way it was... fun.

3. Factions: Just like what is being done in AoC, and what was done in SL, I think RK factions would be a huge hit within the game... Factions could also be a launching board for an "ever changing world". Rubi-ka has always had a war on its hands... and I think the world should reflect that... outposts, and even major cities (not starting cities like Tir) should be in contention and I think PvPvE should become a reality... who wouldnt want a siege of Dust Brigade (NPC) that look to take Camelot or Omni recapturing Athens while clan takes Omni-1... I think the introduction of new factions and weekly/bi-monthly events would be BRILLIANT!

4. I dont want to pull ALL my cards out of the hat just yet when it comes down to things that would bring Anarchy Online back to the main stage... but I will say, when I send my résumé, hire me!! lol love Funcom, and love this game... Let us make this MMO comeback unlike any comeback ever seen in the market.

-Maitrader

[Mastablasta]

New starter experience would be great. We really need to get some more people siphoned into the game. Having a good start up experience, with neat new-engine effects and smooth events, to give newcomers a smooth introduction into the full game. That would be great.

[Azama]

No one will come to AO until you release the new engi.

Sad but true yes.

[Ayria]

I agree with a large number of people here. The newb experience is a big thing, I 10000% agree on this.

Next in line is fix the "dry spot" every profession has. That spot where a paid player has all their RK nanos and some twit thought it'd be fun to level lock everything else. You know the gap, as a Doctor when you don't get a new heal till 165 despite having your best one since 100, as an Engineer not getting a new Slayer till 201 when you've had yours since 100... the list goes on. It's a dry spot, and a bad one, it's the point when I feel we lose a lot of new people and prospective alts.

The game focuses way, way, to much on 'endgame'. For the first while you have RK content to use, something new every so often. Then you hit this gap between RK and SL nanos/tools and all you get is grind, kill x number of mobs using the same tools, then the next mob then the next.. all with the same tools.

It's boring, and crap, and should be fixed.

[PhoenixOfAges]

No one will come to AO until you release the new engi.

Sad but true yes.

Lots of people play Runescape and there are a fair number paying to play oddly enough apparently. So no, graphics are all there is to a game.

[Kimarzt]

I would love to see a mechanic that makes it harder to hold a tower field over time. While those who own tower bases certainly deserve to do so, it's not very fun to have these towers around that never change hands.

Something along the lines of: towers lose 2% max health every day up to a maximum of 40-50% or something. There probably has to be more to it to account for other things.

It would just mix things up a bit more and get people interested in towers again.

[Wulf-GTI]

Team missions are one that need enchancing. I love them since begining of 2002 and I do them now, just for fun. Yet, best feature in game was Abbondonned by FC years ago. pity..

1-200 fr00b level = 1 month 22 day.

Loot = 250K - 1M credit each mission with only shop food.

How so broken? I know! Paid player no know how do.
Even paid toon. I team fr00b for ding and for research. They much better player.

[Sterva]

I think you should finish what you have started with the balance and graphics patch, and then worry about everything else. If you don't get anything else accomplished within the year, those would be my priorities.

Second to balance and graphics, the low level experience revamp, since that's where you're losing customers.

[bitnykk]

"What should we add next?"

if i was 100% certain that could retain new players on AO, i'd say go first on :
> New start-up experience.
but i think that should go along with new engine & some advertising. so that might go second after next important stuff, imo, PVP rebalance :
> Profession bug-fixing.
& balance, examples among those needed : lowbie traders, high advys, etc ...
> New open PvP content + new BS maps.
wich i'd think would go along with rebalance.

after those, improve the RK/SL PVM for instance :
> Alien playfields at levels below and above Sector 10.
> Revamping old encounters + loot to today's standards. ie: Hollow Island
i'd add to this to bump the XP/SK of some quests & fix oddities also (both needed for 2x Scheol's quests), and have courage to make hecklers afraid of higher levels to kill OST once for all.


shortly : rebalance, new engine, startup, PVM.

[nikkydkhick]

First, good work on what sounds like progress towards the new engine, and the new daily missions.

I am really looking forward to the daily missions. Since you asked for suggestions on future development, here is my two cents.

I have a feeling some of these will upset some end gamers who like things just the way they are but, here goes:

1. Revamp game start for-sure. Whatever, the location, in addition to providing a structured, stepped experience, make sure to include a portion on teaming. There is really no need to team on Shuttleport Island, and even if new players did, they lack significant buffs to make much of a difference. Right off the bat give each profession a buff that will be useful in a team situation for 15-20 levels. Even consider having bots to fill out teams in the starting area, to insure everyone gets to experience the basic concept of the benefits of teaming.

2. Enhance mid game/all game by offering both PVP classes and classed Dungeons where in addition to level cutoffs, there are various gear/implant cutoffs. Twinkers can compete in open twinking classes. As it is now, its pointless to show up at BS with your leveling toon, unless you like getting owned by twinks. Its also rather discouraging for new players to show up at places like TOTW and Foreman's and have no chance at the top Bosses, due to them being domineered by so many twinks. The game is way overpopulated with longtime end gamers amusing themselves with twinks while ruining the game for new players.

3. Open up some social armor that can be skinned by players. It's just plain not appealing to new players to be stuck with the cookie cutter low level armor look. This would add something to the economy in addition to making the world visually richer. You know there is a need for better self expression via outfits, after you have seen a few thonged troxes roaming Bor.

[Crowena]

No, the easy way would be the same elevator as S10 (and 13/28/35) but have a level range check of 151-179 and you have to have the special combined loot item in a HUD slot.

Could also talk to an NPC, show them the item, get a nano running that lets you enter (again, lvl 151-179 check)

NODROP item which would make anyone currently 151 or higher unable to get in?

Or something like the system with IS passes so you could have lower level toons farm them for those who can't get to S10 anymore?

[Tophaloph]

Last week someone posted that they wanted to know our plans for the future. This is obviously a good idea. While we are currently very busy getting the Daily Mission/Collector update ready for release (should be Tuesday!) and we are obviously still working on the Engine/Balance update we are in the process of also planning out the content of updates for the rest of the year.

This is where my question for this week comes in.

There have been many, many suggestions made over the last year+ as to what "we all really want"...but now as our planning is now currently trying to solidify these wishes I want to ask again..

"What should we add next?"

Good suggestions (that we are already looking into) include:

Profession bug-fixing.
New open PvP content + new BS maps.
Alien playfields at levels below and above Sector 10.
New start-up experience.
Revamping old encounters + loot to today's standards. ie: Hollow Island
etc etc.

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

What should we make next? Where should we spend our time that it would make the most difference/be the most fun?

We'll be watching here keeping track of common themes that will definitely end up shaping our plan for the year to come.

Have a great weekend!

Here's what I think:

The leveling process as a whole needs help. Hell, it's on life support now. The startup island is OK but could do with revamping. You get done there around level 10 and get funneled into the Subway. Great. You level there (grinding) until 20 or so. Then you go to ToTW where you can level to 60. Alternatively, 1-60 can be done soloing in Shadowlands.

Then what? Soloing rapidly loses its efficiency at this point, especially if you are a class that doesn't do a lot of damage alone (crats, docs, this Bud's for you!). If you can solo Nasc hecks they will take you to 75 or higher depending on how much you want to grind, but after that, you're basically on your own. Killing various solo mobs in Ely is not great xp, and teams are scant thanks to kiting (which needs a huge nerf, please). Basically, unless you want to grind missions, grind solo mobs, or try to get kited, you're out of luck.

I realize that this is an MMORPG and that teaming is the intent. However, forcing people to need a 6 man group in a game with this low of a population makes it very difficult to progress for new or returning players. Soloing should be as fast, or nearly as fast, as grouping, but grouping should provide better equipment rewards.

Finally, credit gain from leveling needs to be greatly increased. Nobody is asking for the return of ingots. Having said that, new players do not make enough money to buy themselves even basic equipment at market rates. While top-end equipment should not be purchasable for trifling sums, it should be reasonably possible to acquire leveling-quality equipment (think WoW greens - i.e. Carb armor, implants, reasonable weaponry) without introducing a further grind for credits.

I hate to compare AO to WoW, since they are very different in a lot of ways, but WoW has a lot of good ideas that merit emulation. F.ex, in WoW, you can go from 1-80 without grouping one single time (though grouping is beneficial at times for sure). You don't have to grind coin to get decent leveling equipment, but much better equipment is available if you have it and many high end coin sinks exist. The leveling process is far from linear in WoW, but there's never a point where you don't have somewhere to go (a la 100 to 200 without kiting or grouping).

I love AO, and always have - with a 220, a few 210+ and various alts, I've had many many fun times, but at this point, things are stagnant for me trying to start over without any riches.

I hope you find this constructive!

[Effrit]

Having scanned through some of the more thorough posts on what people think need to be done i saw something which Odian102 said.

Unless you know about or get told about totw, Foremans, Crypt of Home or Inner Sanctum, your not going to find them as a new player or know how to get to them.
A reasonably easy fix that i can think of is at every level where new content becomes available.
theres a check against which expansions you have to check whether you have that expansion and a note and mission pop up, telling you about the newly available content, how to get to it and who to talk to if theres quests attached.

E.g.

You leveled up to 30! Congratulations. (Automated message for leveling or whatever)
Info window pops up.
"*A radio message plays into your ear piece.*
Hello there, I'm Investigator "insertnamehere". I have heard reports of your exploits so far and wish to offer you a job opertunity.
I am at "InsertlocationofNPChere" you can get to here by "Insert basic instructions of how toget there from each major faction city, aka Rome, OA, Bore."
I would like you to infiltrate a cult who are based out of The Temple of Three Winds.
Please come and see me if you would like to know more."

You recieved a new mission: Talk to Investigator "insertnamehere"

After talking to the NPC he tells you how to get to TOTW, and gives you a small automated reward upon entering or something.

[madman666]

Having scanned through some of the more thorough posts on what people think need to be done i saw something which Odian102 said.

Unless you know about or get told about totw, Foremans, Crypt of Home or Inner Sanctum, your not going to find them as a new player or know how to get to them.
A reasonably easy fix that i can think of is at every level where new content becomes available.
theres a check against which expansions you have to check whether you have that expansion and a note and mission pop up, telling you about the newly available content, how to get to it and who to talk to if theres quests attached.

E.g.

You leveled up to 30! Congratulations. (Automated message for leveling or whatever)
Info window pops up.
"*A radio message plays into your ear piece.*
Hello there, I'm Investigator "insertnamehere". I have heard reports of your exploits so far and wish to offer you a job opertunity.
I am at "InsertlocationofNPChere" you can get to here by "Insert basic instructions of how toget there from each major faction city, aka Rome, OA, Bore."
I would like you to infiltrate a cult who are based out of The Temple of Three Winds.
Please come and see me if you would like to know more."

You recieved a new mission: Talk to Investigator "insertnamehere"

After talking to the NPC he tells you how to get to TOTW, and gives you a small automated reward upon entering or something.

This.

[Cdogg421]

i want to see new BS maps and game types, its one of the very few things to do after you collect all your gear from the instances and still have fun with.

[Louderer789]

Startup experience? Really? It's fine. Besides you don't want to impress all the new players during the startup experience and then crush their dreams after they leave the island (or whatever you have planned here)

1. Finish all the things promised already before working on other vague plans for the future. AS nerf? Healing nerf? Kiting nerf? New pets? New engine? Parry/riposte? Breed change? Some procs change racatti keeps going on about? A slew of new perk changes? Am I ringing any bells yet? I would rather have that stuff this year and new startup crap next year, than both in 3 years, which seems to be the current development cycle timeline.


1a. new bs maps, plus red v blue instead of standard sides. mixing it up would be good instead of shooting the same bs junkies every day in the same station

2. Easy stuff to make things convenient
- add grid or whompahs to zones like SFH and EFP, its 9 years already
- make aliens give decent normal XP and have aliens encountered in normal play instead of just special instances and cities
- make items buyable without travelling to cities: i think this is especially important with adding of instanced cities with no shops, make it so you dont need to enter the city so they can have shops too
- Boss mobs immune to drains like HI eremites and deranged xan, that crap is just annoying. Why are they immune to trader drains that are essentially a trader's main selfbuff in pvm but not to things like crat debuffs that make so much more difference?
- Uniques. is it that hard to make it for sale in gms? trying to buy uniques with current population is cruel and unusual. Why are things like EAD and alien augmentation base unique anyway, it makes no sense.

3. Server merge (maybe with one time side change option). RK1 is so dead - and RK2ers are starting to reroll on RK1 because apparently RK2 is even deader.

4. The fact that everything decent added in the last few years is nodrop. There is barely anything to look for on GMS these days. AI armor and some twink weapons are all thats left of any real worth. Remember how people used to kill things in inf because the armor was uber and worth money? DB armor is great too, but nodrop has downsides. Add some more weird nanos and rare items that not everyone will have.

[FoosballX]

Lot of good stuff here, and way into everything so odds are this will just get passed by, but whatever.

Considering the start area is going to make or break you this should be number one even over the engin. There are a lot of good looking games out there and some that are far worse looking then AO. In the end it doesn't matter how good your game looks if the beginning experience is hard and confusing to someone new they're not going to want to hang around. It's simple marketing really.

I thought about the whole running to the left thing, and I know when I first started playing I didn't. But then I thought about it. I was in a shuttle that crashed and soon as I got on to the PF there was a NPC talking to me telling me where to go. Now this is how the game opens: You're in a space station, you go through making your toon, then you see the shuttle thing when you pick your name next thing you know there's a loading screen and you're on a beach. And you guys wonder why people go to the left? Can I have some of what you guys are smoking? Really nobody thought at all "hmmm this is going to be confusing as hell to new people"
Really maybe if there was a better start experience that explained how things work, you wouldn't have to worry so much about dumbing down the game cause people would already know what they were doing in the first place.

As far as open PVP content, whatever that means, god no. Please stop catering to the PVP crowd, or if you insist on doing so then at least throw some love to Trade skillers and RPers both are really about the same numbers just PvPers have bigger mouths, go fig.
Some might find this hard to believe but not everyone wants to PvP. The battle stations were a great idea give PvPers a place to do their thing, even if VP is messed up cause clearly you guys are trying to force everyone into pvp. Last thing I would like to see if more good gear being put in game but having to run through some area and worry about getting ganked by some PvPer, really this is not fun. Lets be honest most people do BS not for their love of PvP but just so they can get ofab stuff, cause AO is now "have the best gear or you don't get teamed" game.

With all the love you guys give to PvPers and all the talk about rebalancing here's an idea how about making it more feasible for people to lvl just from tsing. Give out bigger xp rewards, give out aixp for making ai stuff, and start giving SK for players over 200. I mean you guys put in some new stuff where you have to be a tl7 to make, but there's no reward for doing it. Maybe come up with some new cool content and quest for TSers as well. Put it this way PvP is not the only aspect of this game, but lately it seemed to be the main focus from the devs.

I could go on, but I'll stop here.

[Berinda]

Realistically, a new startup experience, rebalancing and the engine should take up most of the year. If those three things can be implemented within months of each other within this year, you'd have a good opportunity for some kind of "relaunch" event with whatever marketing funds are available.

After that, I would suggest new animations. I'm not talking about things like running and firing weapons, but animations for all the perk actions that look like someone is throwing bread to a duck. For things like quick shot, it could be as easy as using the fling shot animation - and I bet recycling weapon attack animations and various nanobot clouds it could be done with no additional animations. All it would cost is time.

[polishbat]

Good ideas here.

Startup Area: I agree with making sure this is a great experience to new players when the engine comes, keeping and holding their interest is key here.

AO is huge, and i didnt have too much of a problem getting groups from 1-90, 100-150, however, its all run of the mill Tiggs, Hecks, etc etc. I just now started exploring regular RK content and thats just because i want to see the old world. There doesnt seem to be alot of people for groups in RK, most everyone just rushes up and if you want serious progression in RK you need friends. All of us are feeling the declining player population across the boards. I'm just now trying to scrape the surface of battlestations, only to find the 150 and 220 is the most active, thats it. I have never participated in notum wars, i occasionally see a soloer attacking our organizations. Which brings me to my next point.

There are countless threads about player population etc etc. Ok so lets say: you launch your engine, hopefully put out some small press release/marketing campaign to lure some new clients in, you make the startup area fantastic, that sucks them in. You've tweaked mid level content and fixed shops to offer anything but the mostly useless items in them. What happens after that? When there isnt enough player population to hold your new found clients to the game? Sure, maybe this isnt your primary concern, but you're a business above all else, and it should be. Players want to see a "full" game so to speak, this correlates with their sense of meaning, game wise. You'll be hard pressed to get new gamers without any friendly ties to AO to stay if its a ghost town. Gamers, especially new comers, want to see towns flurishing, dungeons with players readily avaiable to group with, and now, with our population spread thin across two servers as is, its becoming increasingly sparse. Sure, we who are still here could care less, we have learned the niche, we know how to level from 1-220, we know where the poeple are, im just not sure you'll be able to hold the new players until they have learned it. Right from the starter island, which is populated mostly, the players are sent to Rome with very little activity. Right out of the gate we're showing them a fairly unpopulated area. We can all go back and forth im sure on this issue, some want the population to stay the same, some dont; short of we lovers of AO, tell me one person who wants to play in a desolate game world? And whats more is the sheer size of AO making this problem seem exponentially worse. Maybe some thought should go in to placing the players in a city that is populated after their initial starting area.

I love AO as is, im a fan and have been since release and i really would love nothing more than for new life to fill our cities. With that being said, im not quite sure why the servers havnt merged, or, have atleast been clustered. I dont have to tell you, you guys are experts im sure you already know. As stated earlier, AO is gigantic spanning over two worlds, why not get the biggest bang with your current player population. Merge/cluster us, breathe new life into the all but forgotten areas, let us have more players so that we may have more options when it comes to leveling(tiggs/hecklers are over played), let the battlestations have a new level of activity. I will admit, i lack the understanding as to what it takes to pull this off, perhaps it is too time consuming and expensive. Funcom, i am not sure where you really want to go with AO. Are you hoping for a resurgence? Are you merely hoping to entice the free player population in to paid account status? Maybe you're simply trying to give the current players something better and thats it. Im not sure the end to your current means, however, if you are hoping for new clientele, i think the emptiness of the our world should be addressed in some way. But then again, maybe thats your hope, new engine will just bring new players and they'll stay; im just not sure this will happen.

[mammothtruk]

my number one issue with AO is the SL walkmesh. falling through things, running into invisible walls, me standing 10 feet above the rock I should be standing on, seemly poor area baking in general. I hope that the transition to the new engine hammers the landscape to conform to what you see.

second issue is that our org city CC sits next to what looks like it use to be a hill and when the cities where dropped in all those years ago they didnt go back and smooth out the landscape. So the aliens land on the other side of the half hill and sometimes dont walk towards the CC and have to be charged. Hoping the next patch addresses our city at 1B in the Milky Way.

third is engine engine engine. It looks like the rebalance will address a lot of broken/imbalanced things and Im sure that will be a work in progress as issues are addressed from it so third on my list is the new engine and getting it complete.