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Thread: Friday with(out) Means - May 7th, 2010: hbaaaaalllhggrrrrrraaaagghhhhh

  1. #1

    Funcom employee Friday with(out) Means - May 7th, 2010: hbaaaaalllhggrrrrrraaaagghhhhh

    So this has been a fun week. And by 'fun' I mean 'holy crap I'm glad it's the weekend'.

    Means is feeling a little under the weather today, so about... oh... 45 minutes before this was posted he asked me to fill in and write something up. So let's see what we can cover, shall we?

    Feedback on the latest update has certainly been enthusiastic to say the least. At the end of it, with the update we released on Weds., I think the Collector has just about hit the spot we were initially looking for in terms of risk vs. reward. The instance isn't designed to be a one-stop-shop for everyone to get everything they need from the game - Far from it. Instead it was designed as a difficult encounter requiring a unique, new train of thought from the players involved - It's not about tank 'n spank, it's about coordinating efforts and discovering tactics that fall outside the scope and realm of previous character roles. Is there a chance for phat lewt? Oh yeah, definitely - Gotta have something to get you guys up there. But getting the loot should be a bonus - An additional reward to the sense of satisfaction gained in actually managing to complete the encounter. Plus, hey, awesome new social armour for folks to grab; all good stuff all around.

    Right now we're looking to create a small update for early next week (hopefully either Monday or Tuesday) that'll clear up a couple of small issues from the Daily Missions quests, as well as tweaking the wall spikes from the Collector instance - After this you'll only get hit by one spike at a time, giving you a small grace period before you can get hit again. This should hopefully prevent any 'instakill' occurrences in the instance where someone gets slammed across several of the spikes at a time. Additionally, the rest of the "QL1" item issues from the Collector should be resolved - Thanks to everyone who's posted for the help and vital feedback in getting stuff like this tracked down.

    We'll also be 'opening' the playfields which contain the new city plots for our DNW-transferred players, filling in a long-closed gap in the AO map between Mort and Avalon. True to the oldskool game, these playfields will be named Three Craters (East and West) and will contain a large number of city plots (Edit: I should note: Just city plots, no gameplay content). Most of these have already been taken by the DNW players, but there may still be some plots still available when the areas open, so if you've been looking for a non-instanced city you might have a chance at snagging one in the very near future.

    I also wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who posted in last week's FwM thread regarding desires from the playerbase. Everyone on the dev team has been very interested in reading over the feedback and we're all glad to see that the concerns you guys are raising mostly mirror our own: Attention paid to the startup experience, ensuring the rebalancing process goes smoothly, getting good press and attention paid to the incoming engine launch. It's good to know that our long-term plans meet the long-term expectations of the players, and really helps solidify our goals for the coming year. Lots of good stuff on the horizon, I promise. =D

    Meanwhile, back in the office, we've got both of our artists working hard on the high-rez character models we're looking to include with the incoming graphics engine update - MstrBstrd's currently working on the Opifex Female model, while Flaptoot's taking care of the Atrox. I'm not entirely sure how it's going, but Flaptoot keeps muttering something about cabbages under his breath while looking like he's about to bludgeon something, so I figure it's in my own best interests to just stay away from his desk at the moment. Hopefully we'll have some shinies to show before long, though.

    Speaking of shinies we've got two cool things to show off this week - First off, two new heads to show, this time of the Nanomage Male and Solitus Male varieties. Usual disclaimers on these - Screengrab from the Max viewport, work-in-progress, transparency doesn't display in the hair properly, ect. ect. Even with said disclaimers, though, I gotta admit that I really like these; lots of details on the faces, really cool structure, and just pretty awesome in general.

    In addition to that we've also got screenshots of an incoming armour upgrade for the various ICC guards stationed around Rubi-Ka. You guys have noticed several updated armour textures sliding into the game over the last patch or so, the majority of which has been the work of Genele, who in addition to being a damn good designer also knows her way around Photoshop something fierce. The ICC armour she's made looks absolutely awesome and should also be hitting the game with the small update early next week - For you storyline guys out there, there's a bit of significance to this as well... but as to exactly what? We'll get you more info on that later.

    And that's that. Sorry if it's a little shorter than usual today - It's been a long, long, looooooooooooong week and my rant juices are pretty depleted at the moment. But, hey, shinies! And stuff.

    Enjoy your weekend, guys. Catch you later!
    Brad L. McAtee / Kintaii
    Former Senior AO Designer & Jack of All Trades
    (2007 - 2012)
    ~~ Twitter :: Facebook :: Norse Noir ~~

  2. #2
    1st of all , thank you for this patch. Really.

    I would like to suggest that you guys somehow, increase the rewards for regular players to go on Test, and streamline the whole process of moving a character there (include a profile copier in the duplicator?). Things like a automatic buff dispenser with Touch of Marius (30 seconds version) wouldnt be crazy... I really think Test Dimension should reflect the current playerbase better.... so like i said in IRC, make it so all characters in Test expire after 2 weeks.

    And after this last one, I would suggest to change welcome message in Test Dimension to "Welcome, please exploit" .. if we only tought of testing /stuck there before it went live.... *sigh*

    Keep up the good work, i'm really glad i decided to come back to AO. \o/
    Last edited by Gatess; May 7th, 2010 at 16:04:23.

  3. #3
    Not first

    Edit: The ICC armour really does look nifty, cant wait to see it added
    Last edited by Neuromotor; May 7th, 2010 at 15:46:10.

  4. #4
    second

    EDIT: eh third :S

    I like the ICC armor.. ALOT
    Last edited by Kazador; May 7th, 2010 at 15:48:24.

  5. #5
    [Preserved for post that are not "1st, etc".]

    Quote Originally Posted by Kintaii View Post
    But getting the loot should be a bonus - An additional reward to the sense of satisfaction gained in actually managing to complete the encounter.
    Hiiiihhiiiiiiiihiiiiiiii!!!

    Kintaii think, "Player like difficult. Player like think. Player like story. Player like puzzle. Player are good person."

    Player think,
    "More toys!"
    "Want more toys!"
    "My toy better then you toy!"
    "You got same toy? Whaa!"
    "Kintaii, why you give them my toys?"
    [So can play]
    "That no fair!"
    "I AM more special!"

    Are be continue...

    Quote Originally Posted by Kintaii View Post
    Attention paid to the startup experience, ensuring the rebalancing process goes smoothly, getting good press and attention paid to the incoming engine launch.

    It's good to know that our long-term plans meet the long-term expectations of the players, and really helps solidify our goals for the coming year. Lots of good stuff on the horizon, I promise. =D
    Put with gold, put on front page. Put on office door. Put in launcher.
    This are mission. No whine, no detour. *Looks like danger warn.*

    Are be continue... #2

    Quote Originally Posted by Autohead View Post
    This game has a story?!
    Yes.
    Prophet Without Honour.
    Tir Accord
    Basic Story

    Game also have RP player that are endanger.

    Are be continue... #3

    fwm-may7-nanomale.jpg (122.6 KB, 0 views)
    [Careful eye. More oval and less almond nut.]
    fwm-may7-gothsolimale.jpg (109.9 KB, 0 views)
    [Are okay]
    fwm-may7-ICC1.jpg (336.5 KB, 0 views)
    fwm-may7-ICC2.jpg

    [Unite Nation and Star Trek?]

    Are be continue... #4

    Quote Originally Posted by Dancingrage View Post
    seriously re-examine droprates and such on things to make it so that the new player doesn't feel as though it'll be nigh-impossible to compete with the older veterans in any real sense while giving the veterans something to continue to strive for that's damn near impossible to get.

    Any thoughts on this? .
    Item for use - no so difficult. (Everyone.)
    "Uber" social items - many more difficult for get. (Veteran & crazy people.)

    Are be continue... #5

    <Put positive and motive words for developers>

    Bye bye, have good weekend.
    Last edited by Wulf-GTI; May 10th, 2010 at 17:43:12.
    Please, give change form. Want main be neutral. Red vs Blue are boring now.
    220 veteran player, no more complain for level alt. Do something and stop whine! (Take cry people friend with you.)
    Means: the new client to run FASTER on old hardware _________________ Faction champions.

  6. #6

  7. #7

  8. #8
    first page
    Lheann
    President of When I Grow Up

    Lhisa - MA - RK1
    MaxKillz - Enf - RK1
    Namaru - Enf - RK1

    "If you find yourself loosing a fight, your tatics suck."

  9. #9
    Shinies <3

    Thanks for the updates.
    President of Pantheon

    Shaylon 220/30/70 Opi Fixer
    Shaysknight 220/30/70 Opi Keeper
    Shevayne 220/22/70 NM Crat
    Shays 173/21 Opi MA
    Triageshay 150 Soli Doc

  10. #10
    New ICC armour looks awesome..


    the social armour in the collector though, for the amount of work involved, just makes me not want to do it again, I've done it a dozen times (since the fixing) and really, its easy once you know how, doesnt involve much thought at all, doesnt require 'tactics' per se, tank tanks, doc docs, mezzer mezzes adds, only difference is the kicker, which is fun I will admit, the rest of it, no different to anything else, timeconsuming, boring, and I'm going to do something else with my time, sorry, no offence, just the way I see it. Risk vs Reward, right now, all risk, junk reward, I open the bronze box, get another piece of pointless social armour that I dont like, feels like I been kicked in the nuts.

    Amonette 220 Soldier Nyrec 220 Agent Mekon 220 Crat Mekamara 220 Engineer
    ────────────────────────────────────────────
    Dark Front (Because the sun shines outta my....)

  11. #11
    fwm-may7-gothsolimale.jpg

    Best head yet. And I'm not usually a fan of the goth look.

    fwm-may7-ICC2.jpg

    Epic side-boob. Plus, is that a D-shark?

  12. #12
    The icc suits look nice, gj!
    The key to happiness is self-delusion. Don't think of yourself as an organic pain collector racing toward oblivion. - Scott Adams

    Programmer n. - An ingenious device that turns caffeine into code

    Jesus paid for our sins - now let's get our money's worth

  13. #13
    That ICC armor looks very nice.
    <Means> I always laugh when I have to type "/get sex" when debugging

    [Social] Eponyx: I don't drink, yeah it is true. Can you please get that pink moose of the platform. And park the polkadot elephant to reclaim.

    Uaintseenme: This is why i love Test sever so Much.
    I can wake up in the morning and think to my self, "Im going to break AO today" and should i managed to do it, I'll get rewarded for it.

  14. #14

    Exclamation

    No word on the concerns of many individuals who feel cheated out of their Collector phats because of the behavior of several exploiters on patch day (whom were rewarded with their actions and never reprimanded)?

    No word on the wildly differing final difficulty level of the Collector encounter herself, where it's either horribly hard due to sync issues or systematic, boring, and easy; both times with Hellspinners and TOTW loot and Notum Focuses as "rewards" for putting us through a 60-90 minute gauntlet?

    No word on how Bureaucrats are still the #1 profession to search for when doing not only Collector, but nealy any instance, due to their powerful auras, DD potential, superior CC, and stackable init debuffs? I'll agree it's not as ridiculous as when they had a pair of stun procs, but it's still rather jarring.

    Reeeeeeally would have been nice to get Means' word on this too. Hope to high Heaven you won't be the only Dev to chime in on this issue; quite frankly I'm disappointed at how rather chipper the FC dev team seems to be in the wake of these issues.
    [[ RYUAHN | 220/21 Opifex Trader
    == Proud Member of Core ==
    [[ ALASTROPHE | 220/15 Solitus Martial-Artist

    Quote Originally Posted by Raggy View Post
    There is literally nothing wrong with {Shutdown Skills} in it's current incarnation. What should be being looked at is the reason why it's needed so much. E.g, the incredible amount of Alpha being thrown around and the fickleness of Evade profs.
    Quote Originally Posted by Cratertina View Post
    I walk in to BS... could not perk people... with 3704 AR and 300 AAD drain... NT facerolled me, shade instagibbed me, after a few minutes I just decided not gonna bother.

  15. #15
    slowpoke
    Niles73 220/30/70/s/p/(-and (preLE/Alba/DB)Guide) - Trox way => can't make life? Take life!
    Phoeniles 200/30/60 - reborn ranged opi adv!
    Nilose 220/30/68 /s - plays for team alt gear farm
    Nilbit 220/30/70 /s - parked gimptast
    Nilo 220/27/68 /solo pvm/pvp - parked DD

    Duke Nukem Forever is out.. now what?

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Wulf-GTI View Post
    [Preserved for post that are not "1st, etc".]



    Hiiiihhiiiiiiiihiiiiiiii!!!

    Kintaii think, "Player like difficult. Player like think. Player like story. Player like puzzle. Player are good person."

    Player think,
    "More toys!"
    "Want more toys!"
    "My toy better then you toy!"
    "You got same toy? Whaa!"
    "Kintaii, why you give them my toys?"
    [So can play]
    "That no fair!"
    "I AM more special!"

    Are be continue...
    Nicely put ... sadly.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Kintaii View Post
    I think the Collector has just about hit the spot we were initially looking for in terms of risk vs. reward. The instance isn't designed to be a one-stop-shop for everyone to get everything they need from the game - Far from it. Instead it was designed as a difficult encounter requiring a unique, new train of thought from the players involved - It's not about tank 'n spank, it's about coordinating efforts and discovering tactics that fall outside the scope and realm of previous character roles. Is there a chance for phat lewt? Oh yeah, definitely - Gotta have something to get you guys up there. But getting the loot should be a bonus - An additional reward to the sense of satisfaction gained in actually managing to complete the encounter.
    Well that's the problem with mmo encounters. The first time you do it for the fun of figuring out how to beat it. Hell maybe even the 5th time. But the 20th time it's all for the loot...

    Can't really say if the effort vs. reward is good enough to do it as it is now tho since I've only gotten a couple of rounds in since it was changed. We shall see

    Edit: The new ICC armor does indeed look awesome
    Last edited by Phargus; May 7th, 2010 at 16:01:45.


  18. #18
    The ICC Guards look Bad Ass.

    Does that mean ICC Armor is getting updated as well?
    Last edited by Trousers; May 7th, 2010 at 15:58:54.
    TOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOT
    OTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTO|||||||||||||||
    TOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOT|||||||||||
    OTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTO|||||||||||||||||||||Serve Omni-Tek
    TOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOT||||||||||||||||||||Join the ROTFLMAO
    OTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTO||||||||
    TOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOT|||||||||||||||||||||||||
    OTOTOTOTOTOTO TOTOTOTOTOTO||||||||||||||||
    TOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOT
    OTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTO|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

  19. #19
    I really like this patch so far as well,
    lovely work, both in the collector and new models etc.

    *drools while waiting for new storyline info*

  20. #20
    ICC armor... one word... badass.

    Keep up the good work
    The Fine Arts:
    Mime | Surgery | Zen
    The Traitor


    Xirayne: I couldn't care less about who is clueless or what the exact definition "real" pvp is in ao, I want "fun" pvp!

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