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

[Saetos]

"Light years" is correct usage there

"Couple of months" isn't as catchy

[haavarst]

Good to see


WARP TO FUTURE: Exited to see the turnout of latest end game encounter and your changes to keeper profession Nice to see some info on this! I just love parry and having Riposte back and working finally!

Edit: btw sent you a pm some weeks ago, ignoring it?

[Regidoc]

By using light prior to years, it's giving it a sci-fi feeling. True, the use may not be completely accurate for the actual definition of what a light year is, but it's the fact that it sounds cool that gives it appeal No need to be the definition police and be anal about it

[Ayria]

one is for real time and other is for respawn timers

/win

[nikkydkhick]

I just watched all of the videos, and have to say I have a much better feeling for the 'revitailization' of AO, than I did before. There really wasn't any new information per-se, but the bigger picture of how many of the issues are connected was helpful. It was interesting to hear that about 300 people try Shuttleport Island every day.

Had I been there my question would have been, will the petition system take advantage of the new email function?

The reason I ask it that the current petition system is a real pain. If something bad happens close to the time when you need to log off, there is no way you can stick around and wait 45 minutes to an hour for an ARK to talk to you. It's beyond me why it takes this long in the first place, but it would be much better if you could file a petition via in game email, and then have a reasonable chance of getting some feedback or an appointment to actually meet with an ARK at a convenient time.

[Notcrattey]

Absolutely not. Hydro Vehicle + essence + growth bracers + Borealis = startled noobies. As long as you only bust it out once a month, this never gets old.

In all honesty, it would be neat to see vehicle ground and water get some use, at least at lower levels for newer players due to their relatively lower cost.

[Worldofalts]

thanks for giving us the nice head sfuncom, looks great. yeah opi mugs do look a little squarshed.

[ninor]

Thanks for uploading the vids. Nice Q&A session there.

Since you have some time "off" right now and you want to work on the starting experience, why not try a few small things first instead of trying to do all and everything later on? I love Noob- Island and wouldn't really change too much. But here are some suggestion you should be able to accomplish with less than a weekend....

1. By default have some of the windows open, especially the mission Window. Not all because it might be too confusing. But map, inventory, missions and wear.
2. By default have a mission to contact "Brandon Thorn"
3. Either have by default the name tags on or make Brandon bigger, wave with a colorful umbrella or something else. (Have a sign to the left pointing directly to Brandon Thorn)
4. But a few more NPCs (bots of Thorn) on the island that answer questions on all basic stuff. Put them near all mission guys. This will take the most time, but not much brains. Ask the testers / community to provide it maybe?

Even though you want to wait with the marketing push, it wouldn't hurt to experiment with the early leave rate before that.

PS.: Make the game fun again.... Just hearing that music on noob island still puts a happy grin on my face....

[kenbutsu]

It's nice to see the Q&A at the dragoncon, Means..
and the opifex heads look great imo

[sultryvoltron]

For the <insert a giant number here>th time... "light years" is a measurement of distance not time ! Shred that banner already...

If a light year is the distance traveled by an object moving at the speed of light in one earth year, then Anarchy Online is literally years ahead of elves. Boy time flies when you have pointy ears.

[Redbar]

By using light prior to years, it's giving it a sci-fi feeling. True, the use may not be completely accurate for the actual definition of what a light year is, but it's the fact that it sounds cool that gives it appeal No need to be the definition police and be anal about it

Q: Did you wait a long time?
A: Nah, just a few miles per hour.

Nonsensical statements are nonsensical even if they should sound cool.


HOWEVER, while the "futuristic" aspect of AO might cause people to assume that "light years beyond elves" was supposed to signify time, I'd like to point out that "beyond" can be used with distance as well as time. "Miles beyond" and "years beyond" are both regular usage. Thus, "Light years beyond elves" is appropriate in the sense that elf lore is usually Earth centric, and we're certainly far off from Earth. Given the usual interstellar distances, and assuming there are no elf populated planets in the actual Rubi-Ka system, the nearest elf populated system is very likely light years off.

"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Middle Earth anymore".

[spookiepants]

I I was watching the video and you mentioned about someone going around holding the hand of the new arrivals. As I understand, Greeters were there for any new arrivals to lend them a hand and answer any questions they may have had (without offering spoilers). Has there been a shortage in those (I know they're volunteers like any ARK) or is there plans to try and boost those?

I remember when I first played AO, in the backyard area, there was a greeter who answered my questions. I know the ARK page says this is the first role of a new ARK, yet I havn't seen anybody do this since I first played. So maybe they're not spending much time on that part. To me, that seems like it would be kinda fun- so I don't know why.
I also remember an org had reps that would walk around and assist. They were offering assistance and handing out care packages (backpacks with helpful starter items). Not so much of that now either. :-/

[Aethyrguard]

For those who were unable to attend DragonCon this year, we hosted a Q&A session in the Sheraton. ShadowGod was nice enough to film it for us (in 5 parts).

Below is more of the Opifex Female heads and the VERY FIRST new solitus female head redo.

Questions questions!!! Its good to be back!

Ok firstly, judging from the comments made in video 2 I am glad I spent the time to write that longgg winded post regarding retooling the newbie experience I feel good that it was not in vein. Secondly, kudos to the events team and the discussion regarding getting the storyline going again. It has been some years since there was any real progression. I would suggest before starting new storylines to officially bring some of the lose ends from the past (Phillip Ross for one) to a close. The worst feeling of any storyline is lack of closure. It makes the entire thing feel it was for not. I am happy to see the way things were addressed and the topics that were stressed by the entire team.

As for the solitus head, it looks like it is coming a long nicely but could still use a bit more refinement on the shape.. for some reason the original has a particular allure to it that seems missing in the newer version unlike most of the opi heads except the pigtailed opi. Both the solitus head and the pigtailed opi seem to have lost some of the charm of the original even tho it now looks higher quality.

Thanks for uploading the vids. Nice Q&A session there.

Since you have some time "off" right now and you want to work on the starting experience, why not try a few small things first instead of trying to do all and everything later on? I love Noob- Island and wouldn't really change too much.

You will burn in hell for this statement. Noobie island is terribad. I can't even quantify how horrible of a starting it is for a fantasy game let alone a sci-fi game. It had it's time but that time has passed. I can't get anyone to stay past it really that I have introduced to the game. They want cyberpunk, not pretty beaches and cute little leets and snakes.

[kehaan]

Hey

I just saw the videos.

To make the game more helpfull for new players, where you are going to make the start area better and such. It would be more helpfull and a better idea to add a new planetmap like CSP map or AoRK integratet in the game instead that you need to download it from another place.

A friend tryed the game, and got very easy lost in it, becouse of the very old and bad planetmap. So i had to help him to install a new one. But some new players might not know that. So it would help a lot to integratet a better and a planetmap with a lot more details

From Kehaan.

[Aethyrguard]

now that i think of it... these new head pics should be made available as new avatars on the forums as they become available.

/bump

[Niles]

I liked the videos. Lots of good info.

I really liked the reference to a certain incident on RK2 with GMs stripping someones toon.

[heruharoth]

In all honesty, it would be neat to see vehicle ground and water get some use, at least at lower levels for newer players due to their relatively lower cost.

Races!

[Moonleg]

It's "light years" because elves are medieval, and this is the future.

You see, medieval times are also known as the Dark Ages, so Light Years means we've moved many years past those times.

Anyway, a bug you may or may not know, but which ANY starting player WILL experience. It's really easy to reproduce, too.

Make a brand new char. Go play around a bit, talk to Brandon, do the first few quests. Get nanos, upload them, arrange your hotbar. Arrange your sidebar to how you like it.

Now, do /camp, then log back in, and tell me what's happened to your sidebar, hotbar etc.

Yeah. Fix please.

[Colawren]

98th!

I wonder if means has a secret toon he plays?

[Eyefinity]

How about adding support for G15 \ G19 Logitech keyboards?
So we can use the LCD display to show stuffs like health\nano\exp\attack'casting time\ etc?

That would be great