Balance - Status?

[Pomidor]

Its been 6 months, since Means posted some documentation about balance. Is there any progress? I am curius - cause first time in my playtime (its been almsot 8 years now) I fell like leaving this game, cause there is no information about something crucial for me: PVP and waiting for any information is like waiting for miracle...

I still do tests, twinks - research in lowbie PVP and confronting what I have read about changes due balance, I am geting bad picture about Devs got less clue about this Game then any avarge player that does pvp - w/o offense, some things (if will be like its stated in BalanceDocumentation) will ruing lowbie/mid pvp to the great extent - and I am just affraid, it will be nail to the coffin.

So - when we can expect any update on status/progress/plans ect.?

[nanoforcer]

Yeah really, so they changed a few things around like trader nanos, but could we get some more info on the rest of the stuff?
what's being work atm? who's gonna get hit by the nerfbat and what's gonna be left of them ?
(texas chainsaw massacre reference there, although alterted for ao )

Wtb info on stuff, new documents would be really good to look at

[Pomidor]

Well, I am corious, because I belive that most players that left, they didng go cause Enging/Graphics, but Gameplay/Balance issues - like omg not everyone wants to be enf or adv or trader/enf at low lvl - and its been like this forever...

[Dancingrage]

In several Fridays with Means and without, it was said they wanted to get the Collector instance out the door along side the Daily Missions and some other stuff before they got on the rebalancing. I would expect it to be soon since they're on the bugstomping phase of this particular patch now.

[Insane666]

gotta agree with pomidor there, first time in over 5 years i think im really concerned if it wouldnt be already the right time to say **** it, im done,,,
and its not becouse of the annoyment caused by the devs not keeping promised ETA's, but couse of the feeling i wont like this game no more ( at least not as much as i do now ) after the reballance is done
new engine will be awesome to have, new content in many places is crucial for ao's extended lifespan, nut it all wont make a diffrerence at all, if the gameplay gonna be destroyed due too a fck up on the reballance
and again, i got to agree with pomidor, on that i keep gettin the impression that compared to any random pvper the devs got very little idea about this games gameplay issues/mechanics,,

no offence meant towards FC and the devs, its just that im really afraid of the outcome, and obviously i care about this computer game a bit ( too much! )


PS. third time i will be agreeing with tomato, erm pomidor here: i dont want to be forced to become an adve, but you keep trying so hard after all those years ill prolly end up playing one sooner then later

[Autofil]

Its good logic, fixing the stuff that makes people leave the game after doing minor issues first.
I don't get why I keep peeking into theese forums every friday, in hope of something new and exciting will happend, its like the lottery, just getting dissapointed every time.

But I guess, deep down inside I got this hope that Funcom will actually take a deep breath and create something realy awesome again, like AO was 7 years ago.

[Pomidor]

They dont do that - they make game easier, and more Fantasy, so players from other MMORPG can come here anw dwhime for things are complicated or require time to do.

AO used to be a Sci-Fi Game, based on conflict on distant planet Rubi-Ka - now, its not conflict anymore, its just Swords and Spell - no real adventage/disadventage in some field (cept SB maybe) of being Clan or Omni.

Even startup area doesnt reflect the Game. Best Chat line i have ever had in game from my org:

PlayerX: Damn, I made piercing doc for n00b island, It really rocks. I made upgrades, farmed DD rings. Its funny! But then some lvl 19 enfo showed up with 1k Alien kills...
PlayerY: Poor guy - probably he didnt knew how to exit.


Ant then Bright light poped over my head: The N00b island is nothing about the game...

But, thats about PVM. PVP - and balance that is - is not thing that must be implemented in this prescription: proffesion X is good vs A,B,C,D,E ect. and vice versa - it should never happen. I am more then sure, that game needs variety of proffesion, so setup of them will define, is there a blaance or no.

Like, I can't imagine Engi/Crat on BS doing anything - I can't imagine, cause I build them and they did sux like never. But, Engi should be somewhat better vs class with high dmg, rather then nano classes. Soldier vs Enf should be fight at same lvl, but other prof should gain acces toolseet to counter them if needed (or kill, if they got skills/balls to fight).

Lately, I play my 49 NT. Well - i cant tank sh*t there, but as a support class, I do hella good job. Blinds, -nano skills and roots allow me to support my teammates, thus, take shot to gain victory, if we cooperate. And this is balance I see - makeing proff build around their Proffesion, not everyone to be equal. And this is most fun part of AO and should be advanced - useing different proffesions and diff toolset.

[Xtremtech]

At least a year before we see dramatic changes.

You may well be right in reality...

...but going by what FC have announced so far - that the graphics engine should be end of this year and that the balance patch should come before that - their plan is to try to get the balance patch out during this year. They've also said they want to get all those balance changes out in one patch... so that would be seriously major change before the end of the year.

Like I say, it may well be over-ambitious in terms of planning and they may not acheive it, but it seems that it's at least planned that way.

X

[MachSchau]

You may well be right in reality...

...but going by what FC have announced so far - that the graphics engine should be end of this year and that the balance patch should come before that - their plan is to try to get the balance patch out during this year. They've also said they want to get all those balance changes out in one patch... so that would be seriously major change before the end of the year.

Like I say, it may well be over-ambitious in terms of planning and they may not acheive it, but it seems that it's at least planned that way.

X

That is funny because when they made the announcement they were scrapping the ogre engine people still figured it was going to come out at the end of that year (2009) and people laughed and trolled me when I said fat chance.

And if you go by what FC has said you will know soon enough that they dont deliver with the time frame they project. What I have learned is that for minor stuff, take the time limit they give and add 3 months, for medium stuff, add 6 months to a year, for really big stuff (like the engine) 2-3 years and that is without any hiccups like scrapping the project and starting all over.

If you also look at this last patch, it took them 6 months to release it and look at what they brought to the table, a lot of stuff, but nothing remotely ground breaking to the point where they are changing the core of the game and professions.

[Deletion]

What i really hate about hate about the more recent AO Dev, is that they add another tokenboard for any slot all the time.

Just look at the items since LE, anything with 30-75 AAO or AAD and either 30-75 add damage or 25 Nano Resist.

something like this, or it has lots of inits.

Most people kept QQing "WE ARE TEH NERFEST" till they got anything that made them more then decent (MP Shield - all im gonna say is lol, sws with perma tms ftw!)

i miss all the -stats on anyting that could be useful for your profession, and not everyone running around with 3k+ def and 3k+ar and ~20k hp (or more to all as reachable values in average)

Sometimes i get the feeling people at funcom only work there as "Hobby" or second job.
Just cant be that a Team of Devs, that has always been working on Anarchy's Code (A GM asserted that) works 6 month on coding a "new" playfield.

And then again, i dont get why they fix one thing and break another while doing it...

[Xtremtech]

And if you go by what FC has said you will know soon enough that they dont deliver with the time frame they project.

Aye... I did say it may be over-ambitious. I was just giving you the planned timeline based on various announcements they've made.

X

[McKnuckleSamwich]

give em a break guys.

Look: everyone was putting in a lot of time to get the collector instance out the door, plus there was a bunch of stuff going on for conan. Then there were the immediate fixes that needed to go in asap.

I'm sure everyone was working pretty long days recently.

There has been a lot of work done on the rebalance. You can see it in the perk changes. there is more to come.

The Devs DO read the forums, so you can be sure that they are looking at most of the stuff mentioned.

If you're really concerned that the QQ of prof X,Y, or Z is getting out of control, start a balance thread and state your argument clearly and concisely and provide some numbers, and provide why you think the opposing view might not be the best choice, due to the advantage/disadvantage it would provide in ABC situation.

IMO, the rebalance is adressing a LOT of issues. Of course the Dev's will have their hands full of tons of crap they are trying to do. Just be patient, and work with what you've got until more information is available.

[Pomidor]

It will adress many issues. And we all know, that if there is lack of talk about updates, it will produce new issues. Thats why I want to know, what they will/plan to do and when they want to make it...

[blingoutyourdead]

it will be nail to the coffin

[Rissa]

AO is not some new game that needs a simple nudge in the right direction to make it popular again, it's an old game that has probably long since passed all FC's expectations. AO does not figure in the future of FC as a company, so there is little motivation for them to invest anything into it. The game is currently on life support, maintained by a skeleton crew with very few resources at it's disposal. FC has already stated that there will be no AO2, so there is no possibility that it will ever get the total rewrite that it needs to fix it's many, many problems. My advise is to accept the fact that AO is on the decline and has no real chance of ever picking up again. Continue to play and enjoy the game as it is until such times as FC pulls the plug. Hoping for anything more is only going to result in frustration and disappointment. If you can't do that then it is probably time to move on to a different game.

[Sniker]

So - when we can expect any update on status/progress/plans ect.?

much like any dev/coder/etc would have said i will take my time to write just the same


It is done when it's done. i have no idea how many thousands if not millions lines of coding that needs to be changed just to get a small change made. so expect "Soon™" if you ever get an answer from FC =)

[Xtremtech]

FC has already stated that there will be no AO2, so there is no possibility that it will ever get the total rewrite that it needs to fix it's many, many problems.

This really isn't how things are at the moment - or at best it's an unfair representation. There have been several elements of the game that have been re-written from the ground up lately in order to address issues - or changes announced that will involve similar levels of coding or introduce entirely new elements to the game:

parry/riposte is being completely rebuilt,
the AS changes,
the concealment code on test atm has been rebuilt from ground up,
local cool-downs on nanos,
all pets are to be rebuilt from ground up,
both NTs and Agents main toolsets look likely to be almost completely redesigned
strafe running changes,
runspeed curves adjusted from ground up,
reverse knock-back
etc etc etc

FC have shown themselves to be very open to rebuilding many core elements of the game engine as part of the Balance effort and in order to fix issues - where in the past, they have shied away from doing this in most situations.

FC are also clearly addressing the very basic elements of balance in this effort. They're addressing very basic issues that have previously been avoided or thought untouchable because they represented such embedded status quo. Things like:

Heal values
HP values
Nano and Health Delta
Common timers on specials
Debuff/CC Durations
Removal of AAD from NR based perk def checks
etc etc

If they achieve a significant prorportion of the changes that they have in mind, then AO will look considerably different afterwards and fairly large chunks of code will have been written/re-writtten from ground up.

X

[Iamkama]

Well, I am corious, because I belive that most players that left, they didng go cause Enging/Graphics, but Gameplay/Balance issues - like omg not everyone wants to be enf or adv or trader/enf at low lvl - and its been like this forever...

Call me crazy, but I highly doubt most people left because they couldnt use their low lvl twinks...

[Obtena]

Call me crazy, but I highly doubt most people left because they couldnt use their low lvl twinks...

That's not his point at all.