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

[Fungalina]

We are a dwindeling population at the moment. Im sure this will change when the new engine finally gets here, I know alot of people are waiting to re-subscribe til it gets here.
In the meantime...

The private bots for rolling items not perfect. We ALL know at least 3 people ingame (not mentioning nicks cuz I want this post to stay up) that eighter have own bots they insist on rolling in that are rigged, or have found ways to rigg/manipulate the normal bots.
I LOVE that u can decide who is to loot in the raidsystem. U can protect ur loot, and be fair about it. But we still need buttons for:
"Dump loot to raidchannel" so all imidiatly can see what the drop is.
This "dump" should also make a clickable list where u can add on what u want to roll for.
Then, finally, a button for rolling the loot. (Should not be able to roll the loot until at least one and a half minute is passed from dumping it to chat.)
Beast - APF generals - Collector - Zods - all of these types of bosses should have these buttons in the little window when u open the body. At least if u have made the raid so that only leader can loot.
Then, as I see it, if u try to manipulate the rolling, u are hacking the game, and FC will prolly not like that... ;P

Reason I think FC should really do this is that not everyone knows who will scam u. And for a rather new player to be scammed over and over again, it makes for a bad gameexperience. Getting ur end game stuff is hard enough - without getting scammed.

[Lastmaniac]

Make LE types nodrop again! Having to get ql240+ types is a joke! Thanks for making things way easier! Lol

[LamargoL]

1) Bring back the initial storyline, the spaceport, the crash etc. Make the missions start here, give the new players as easy a ride in to the game as possible and lead them on to missions on noob isle. Create a new mission line going from noob isle to RK to backyards, shops, the subway is a whole load of missions on it's own! Make it all a cakewalk for them and keep them interested! Once they get in to the main populous and have a better understanding of whats going on they will stick around for more.

2) Anarchy.

[Junttius]

Make LE types nodrop again! Having to get ql240+ types is a joke! Thanks for making things way easier! Lol

Theres now another real reason to do dreadloch bosses

[madman666]

OMG OMG OMG - pure love - thanks Means - you guys changed the ring icons, and they look awesome - cant wait to check out the other changes, this was the first thing i noticed.

[Keldros]

The concept of Global Research was good but it was poorly implemented and with no long range aspect to the idea. Mech designs came and went in weeks, never to be seen again and the whole thing had a finite end to it.

I still like my "sabotage" idea. Basically the idea is to make global research work more like the old PVP titles, where competing factions can spend XP to slow (or even reverse) research by other factions. This means instead of reaching an endpoint, global research becomes a balance between doing as much damage as possible to the opponent and fixing the damage they're doing to your side.

More recently, I've considered that players could spend VP on a private stock of technology. If your side is being sabotaged badly enough you're about to lose a research level on a certain type of mech, for instance, you could spend VP to purchase an item that will allow you to summon a few mechs at your current research level, even if your faction as a whole drops below that level (or loses access to that mech type altogether).

[Keldros]

The private bots for rolling items not perfect. We ALL know at least 3 people ingame (not mentioning nicks cuz I want this post to stay up) that eighter have own bots they insist on rolling in that are rigged, or have found ways to rigg/manipulate the normal bots.

Actually this is a small part of a larger issue: there are a few bits of "need to have" 3rd-party software. Anything that's "need to have" should be included in the game.

Somewhere down the line, Funcom needs to add some functionality to the client, like adding loot rolls to the raid interface, borrowing some of clicksaver's features for a revamped mission terminal, adding a new terminal to the implants shop that duplicates the funtionality of nanonanny, etc.

[Djantro]

About private bots for rolling :

When i lead a raid with strangers, i always tell in raid chat to /tell helpbot !join, so that i can roll in public on it and people see the roll.

Can't that alone fix the issue ? Or are you saying some people manipulate roll, no matter if in public channel or private /tells ?

[Maxisolja]

Somewhere down the line, Funcom needs to add some functionality to the client, like adding loot rolls to the raid interface, borrowing some of clicksaver's features for a revamped mission terminal, adding a new terminal to the implants shop that duplicates the funtionality of nanonanny, etc.

Raid interface should have built in rolling/bidding support which can be turned on/off by the raid leader (flatroll only). Point bots would be used by having it turned off.

Using a nano programming interface on the mission terminal should pull up the missions box with clicksaver functionality (keeps it inline with being in the game)

Going to an actual implant shop (the stand alone ones) should have a implant designer terminal

[PhoenixOfAges]

We are a dwindeling population at the moment. Im sure this will change when the new engine finally gets here, I know alot of people are waiting to re-subscribe til it gets here.
In the meantime...

There are also plenty that apparently figure no matter what FC does they won't come back. Also the longer it takes for the rebalance and so forth to kick in the more of those that have left that will have found a new home somewhere else by that point and not come back.

Then this whole new graphics engine bit I really feel is going to be a let down for a lot of people. The impression I get is that some are just expecting too much from it and once it hits they will be disappointed, perhaps to the point of quitting. Those that left saying they're waiting for it that also are expecting too much will then not come back. It's the rebalance more than the graphics engine included in the new game engine AO is getting that should interest people.

[Reacon]

This'll likely just get overlooked as a short post with no real content :P but I'd like to suggest a single change to the weapons of each class:

Allow choice. I don't want to be stuck with a Perennium as my main weapon for 170+ levels, but it's the only viable non-gimp option. There're so many creative ideas within AO's database. As a few examples for soldiers: a rifle that has a really wicked fire rate, that does smaller damage; the direct opposite of the last one (Super Nova, etc); the all around rifle (full auto, burst, fling). But sadly, none of these quite compare to the economic and damage behemoth that is the Perennium Blaster.

So therefore, we're stuck with one weapon that everyone of the same class has. No matter that there are thousands of other weapons in AO, only one is useful.

[Reacon]

OMG OMG OMG - pure love - thanks Means - you guys changed the ring icons, and they look awesome - cant wait to check out the other changes, this was the first thing i noticed.

Thank Docaholic for that.

[PhoenixOfAges]

Well now that we have seen for certain that you guys did in fact do the truly absurd thing of adding yet more VP to BS by making the VP daily missions BS dependent I think seeking psychiatric help would be a good next step for you guys. On top of that we were told that, oh joy, more PvP missions to get more VP are already planed. Getting VP if you could get in BSs and wanted to PvP was never the problem. The problem for those people was they weren't satisfied with what they could buy with their massive pool of VP. The problem with VP gains was that those not interested in PvP and/or had no access to a functional BS couldn't get at VP very well at all. Which what has been done and is planed to be done will not address even though we were to be able to gain VP perfectly well without ever PvPing.

So at the launch of LE BSs were largely declared dead on arrival and are now in worse shape than ever. Other forms of PvP content are getting rarer as well. PvP in AO being group vs group aimed requires more people than most content in the game. People keep leaving the game, some to many likely never to return resulting in a painfully low population and the reason you had to close one of the game servers. Yet you keep announcing you plan on adding more PvP content. For who?

Who are you trying to make this game for, the loud PvP fanatics on the forum (some of which have stated they quit and don't plan to return) or the ever dwindling population in the game? Get in touch with your actual player body while you still have one before the game goes down in flames. That should be your very first priority (after a group trip to a psychiatrist).

[MassDebater]

Pheonix if you spent as much effort doing LE missions as you spent posting about the VP BS/LE imbalance you would have enough VP to equip the entire server in Penultimate OFAB.

[PhoenixOfAges]

Pheonix if you spent as much effort doing LE missions as you spent posting about the VP BS/LE imbalance you would have enough VP to equip the entire server in Penultimate OFAB.

Oh trust me, I've done more LE missions than I care to have done. Typing that stuff doesn't take me all that long either though.

Besides, since FC has a whoever bitches the most wins rule I have to get in what I can.

[Worldofalts]

Well now that we have seen for certain that you guys did in fact do the truly absurd thing of adding yet more VP to BS by making the VP daily missions BS dependent...

according to the mission text, your side has to win a round for you to complete the mission. /facepalm

i am curious though, weren't we told that vp had been increased for LE missions, or is that going to be in a future update? definitely didn't increase on yesterdays update.

[Tazalanche]

Solo missions that require us to go to a dead battlestation (if we are not 150-174 or 210-220), hope enough people of each faction show up to get it started & then we have to depend on winning too?

The possibilities of that working out to the satisfaction of the mission puller are too low for most to bother.

[Louderer789]

Make LE types nodrop again! Having to get ql240+ types is a joke! Thanks for making things way easier! Lol

I checked GMS for my trader and fixer, 240+ biomats for both armor and weapons for the 2 classes were 10-20m, and considering how few people probably had spare LE biomats lying around in their bank since they were nodrop until a day ago, I bet it won't be too hard to find what you need. And I'm sure it will get cheaper since there is now a reason to loot biomats for professions other than your own.

Buyable > farming crap

They could have done things like biomat trade in or VP buyable, but they chose to go this route and I for one think it is easier.

[spookiepants]

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.

I absolutely agree with this. Forum users are heavily weighted toward just one or two player segment and its not a representation of a potential future player base. Asking such things in the forums is just pandering to the base. Well AO's base is dwindling and doing what those that remain want, isn't going to bring in new people, or get back the thousands that have left. FC needs to survey other sources. Work with some of the MMORPG sites, gaming magazines, or buy some mailing lists, or reach out to ex players.
A lot of the suggestions that I've read so far I really like, a few I totally don't agree with. But hey, Im still a player where dozens of my old online friends are gone. Probably for good. Don't you want to know what THEY are thinking?

[Javafan]

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.

That would be the best way to see what exactly most of the AO community would like. It would also show FC what segments of the community are predominant thus being able to prioritize their work accordingly to see if they can satisfy a larger segment of the population.

Unfortunately, I doubt FC currently has the manpower to process the results of such a poll.