Friday with Means - November 7th, 2008

[Mastablasta]

As far as i am concerned, no stuns should be removable. I'm hoping to see it fixed somewhere in the future.

Fine with me, really, if stuns lasted no more than 2 seconds.

[NoGoal]

Any chance of a Fear Aura?

And a fear resist one?

[trousers]

And a fear resist one?

You can't resist an Omega, they're the bane of Humanity :-p

[wormx]

Sorry for your loss and thank you for the update.

Bump. Take care of the wife Means, AO can wait for a while.

...That's hardly true. Out of 3 proffesions that have Fear as it is of 17.10, are melee. Care to enlighten me how exactly can melee user kill someone that is aimlessly running away? By throwing rocks?...

Never been ASed by a melee prof? I know I have, plenty of times.
Plus I can imagine there are alot of nasty perks to fire off as you fear someone... Backstab heaven...anyone?


This might be a fun change to PvP but as usual, I'm very sceptical
Oh and I hope you make the BS "emergency" exit something you have to click to use instead of walking into it

[trousers]

I thought Melee Professions could attack while moving, unlike ranged professions.

Wouldn't Run Speed and /follow solve the range problem?

[Herkulease]

Sorry to hear that Means. Thanks for the update. 8)

Regarding the main post. When a player fears another, does it terminate the targets attack bar? I would suggest not because if that were the case, I (for example) could fear somebody, stop my attack, and use the uber veteran heal kit. Then restart my attack before they are able to use items ect.

Good to hear that it won't be spamable(on the same target, or period?), and that you might in turn adjust the crat stun duration. I look forward to it being on test. 8)

[Darkbane]

Couldn't agree more..that is why 8 seconds is an absolute maximum under any and ALL circumstances. Losing control of your char for longer than that is absurd...and hopefully won't exist anymore in the near future.

Does that include reducing the duration of other CC type nanos and, where necessary, their counter nanos/items? At least when used in PvP?

Though AO's CC durations always struck me as unreasonably long at higher levels regardless of PvP/PvE (27 minute snares? 6 minute roots? 8 minute calms?), but changing these now for PvE would be a rather large and significant adjustment to make and probably not really needed as there are other ways these can be designed round (pulsing or randomised CC breaker buff on MOBs for instance).

[Avari]

Couldn't agree more..that is why 8 seconds is an absolute maximum under any and ALL circumstances. Losing control of your char for longer than that is absurd...and hopefully won't exist anymore in the near future.

I'm afraid to hope this statement also includes the proc stuns? One of them is 12 or 14 seconds iirc?

Please also consider the implication of using a stun and then a fear or the other way around after each other. The way you describe fear sounds an awful lot like a stun to me, and favors perk heavy professions. In a BS environment you're not left alone for those 8 seconds you run away. I'm open for the change, but I'm scared of it too. I'm scared of what it'll do to the support professions that rely so heavily on their casting ability. How will roots work in conjunction with fears? I can imagine a crat rooting me and then fearing me to receive a stun like result.

Last thing - will we see profession specific tools oriented against these new CC tools?

[Vlain]

Fear and Knockback are going to become a part of regular AO pvp. You are not going to be staring helplessly at your character for long periods of time. Crats will be a class that has a fear toolset, and as such it is likely that the stun durations will be adjusted at the same time.

That sounds a bit more balanced if I'm interpreting this correctly, because as of right now 'wait in that queue' is a 10 sec stun, and social services is a 15 sec stun (as I'm sure you're aware), which is a crazy long time to be stunned imo. But if you were to reduce each of those stuns to no longer than 8 sec when fears are added I believe the combined result wouldn't be nearly as overpowering as I've been envisioning.

Well, thank you for the clarification Means and good luck with these changes. I appreciate you taking the time to provide direct feedback/interaction with the player community. You were always good about that as a designer, and it's nice to see you keeping up the tradition in the big chair (Sil was always good about that too ).

P.S. My condolences to you and your family during this time of loss.

[WaterBamsen]

Thank's again Mr Means! Hey where is the cake by the way *blinks looking around* you know he say's it Means cake but I don't see my slice [Sorry as a Pastry Chef] I had to make this joke.

As an almost eight yearp layer of AO I'm loving the update means thanks again! & Sorry for your loss.

[LordArthur]

Looking at the old fears, its never gonna kill you since it breaks on attack. Just like it should and hopefully will when the final new ones get here aswell.

I believe it should be used to get rid of "adds", which makes it very powerfull, but will never kill anyone

[Stillian]

Condolences to yourself and your wife, Means.

As for the fear mechanic, we seem to be seeing the whole 'Whine before testing,' phenomenon, funnily enough by quite a few people who claim to be objective and reasonable about these things. Since you have absolutely no idea what Means and his team plans or even have introduced, yet, it seems rather silly to be predicting it's the end of the world.

On that note, I'm going to go buy a shotgun today. I heard someone MIGHT have seen a wolf in Aberdeen and I'm afraid it's going to travel South about 100 miles and kill me.

Bye!

[SSK]

Items will be coming in new versions of 18.0 that will break Fear/Stun/Root and immediately return full character control. In upcoming versions Fear will not be "spamable" by a single user on a single target.

stun durations will be adjusted at the same time.

Just highlighting to reduce tears in this thread

Will comment more when I'll be back home tomorrow

[Rktim]

<3 Means

Btw i got some ideas about character ran Casinos, space dogfights and new BS layouts but we can take that after the new booster and gfx-engine ^^

[Mekh]

...snip...
I'm scared of what it'll do to the support professions that rely so heavily on their casting ability. How will roots work in conjunction with fears? I can imagine a crat rooting me and then fearing me to receive a stun like result.
...snip...

That's my biggest concern also...

[Demoder]

The "Feared" state:
When feared you will flee in terror...running away from your target like a maniac. You will be unable to cast nanos or attack. You will be able to use items/perks.

Does this include healing and damage perks?

In my opinion, you should not be allowed to use damage perks when in a fear state... since you are not allowed to attack.

[Mekh]

Does this include healing and damage perks?

In my opinion, you should not be allowed to use damage perks when in a fear state... since you are not allowed to attack.

I think it's to be expected that someone wielding a big mean weapon or two would find themselves using it if they are being scared s...less by someone wanting to harm them.

While fear may largely hinder logical analytical reasoning in such a stressed situation, it is by no means a given that fear hinders people protecting themselves either offensively or defensively, it usually "just" lowers the efficiency of said defense/offense, which these fears seem to do also as normal attacks/nano's can't be used.

[Blackdog]

Ohh, your in sweden? Pass by gothenburg plx so i can hump your leg for abit

[MachSchau]

Are fears and knockbacks going to be a PvP only thing or will we see them introduced for PvM?

[trousers]

Are fears and knockbacks going to be a PvP only thing or will we see them introduced for PvM?

I hope it's PvE too. I want my Soldier to walk around a corner, get caught off guard by a Trader Mob, Get shot in the chest with a shotgun, fly backward into a room of Cyborgs and get pwned.

There's just something novel about dying like that.