Monthly Development Update – 30th of September 2013

[Ekarona]

In 18.7 it is time to look at a new area. And by making ICC HQ a convenient gathering point, I help new players find experienced players when they exit the new startup area.
ICC HQ will have more stuff than Borealis ever had, and Borealis is only 2 whom-pah jumps away from ICC HQ and 3 from Jobe. You can also enter the grid and exit in ICC HQ next to the Jobe whom-pah. (So it will actually be faster to get to Jobe from Grid than it ever has been.) I'm sure you will survive just fine even though you decide to remain in Borealis.

Will it have:
Basic, Advanced, Superior Shop
Special Shop
Tower Shop

Having those in one zone is what makes Bore so great.

[Yamaeda]

Blue = Omni
Orange = Clan
Teal = Neutral


Edit: we all know that Neutrals are Omni light!

Ok, looked just about the same to me. Wouldn't hurt if neutrals were greener, like ICC guards.

/Y

[Leetlover]

In 18.7 it is time to look at a new area. And by making ICC HQ a convenient gathering point, I help new players find experienced players when they exit the new startup area.

imo you (fc) play way too much on test. Hey, honesty without compromise!

apart from that, thx 4 the update, yay 4 ao-halloween

Will it have:
Basic, Advanced, Superior Shop
Special Shop
Tower Shop

Having those in one zone is what makes Bore so great.

On test they hang in icc and seem oblivious of live-comunity. They also got a box there that says 'no pvp in icc'. ><

[Leetlover]

The new looks of the Whom-pahs may take some time to get used to,

always thought this would look cool 4 transportation: Click 4 teleport and add cool nanoeffect.

http://i40.tinypic.com/2dad4qp.png

[matakishi]

No more whompah towers to home in on when flying from a long way out?
Not even a light ray, reaching to the heavens?

[Malaxia]

Agreed on the tall antenna that was a nice visual aid when flying or running inside a city.

[Starphoenix]

New wompah's looking good!

[trousers]

As probably one of the the oldest representatives of Omni-Trans, these new Whom-Pahs make me sad.

Omni-Tek is losing their characteristically monolithic Whom-Pahs. We derived much our our governing authority from the size of our Whom-Pahs

[Agrestus]

I agree with the previous comments in regards to the antennae - back when I used to get lost in cities like Tir, I looked for landmarks like the tower of the whompah system to find my way back to the transport network.

As for the connection to Jobe from ICC, I see the reasoning in terms of logistically making ICC a new hub for players, but neutrals aren't all ICC affiliated and shouldn't be branded as such in a story perspective.

Some neutrals are indeed ICC affiliated in the form of external companies that are part of the confederation, and those working as peacekeepers or ICC officials. Others are residents of Rubi-Ka that have chosen neutrality for their specific agenda, be it ease of smuggling, farming, mercenary work, trade, or just a wish to stay out of the conflict.

Other than that, from a purely gaming point of view, it's looking good!

[Genele]

I'm sure I could get an antenna added to the the whom-pah tower

[Cratertina]

Aye, just antena is missing.

[McKnuckleSamwich]

very nice update genele!

Can you give us a bit more info on the entvines and enigmas?

For example, the 300 cloaks I expect will require a mob kill of ~QL 300? so does that mean that a 20+ raidforce or a 2-3 man team?

[Datch]

Cool update - can't wait till i get my beta invite. all the new stuff sounds really cool. the new whom-pah tower look good but ii do agree the need a antenna of some sort would make them look even cooler.

[Thwarn]

Its the same instance thats been in game for the last 2 years. the Cloaks drop from a boss that arrives every 10 waves. it doesnt need a raid force, but a good team is needed.

[Gimpynoob]

How about giving more distinctive colors to the wompah's to help distinguish factions? Maybe give different fonts to the different faction's wompah's? Or making to doors have a faction specific symbol on it? And ofc put a faction colored beam pointing at the sky.


Miy's cloaks in a seasonal instance for level 220 teams. Do we really need more "do it with your main" content? The more you feed the ego of a few vets with more and more exclusive "Iwin" twinks the less PvPers and players in general you will have. Honestly, wtf?

[McKnuckleSamwich]

How about giving more distinctive colors to the wompah's to help distinguish factions? Maybe give different fonts to the different faction's wompah's? Or making to doors have a faction specific symbol on it? And ofc put a faction colored beam pointing at the sky.


Miy's cloaks in a seasonal instance for level 220 teams. Do we really need more "do it with your main" content? The more you feed the ego of a few vets with more and more exclusive "Iwin" twinks the less PvPers and players in general you will have. Honestly, wtf?

I couldn't agree more with this, unfortunately, what this means is that you'll need to mobilise your entire org to contend with other orgs.

Bring your engis/crats/shades/MA's and NT's boys, it's a DPS contest.

The appropriate method of getting these in game would have been to have an NPC give a mission to kill a boss in an instanced mission, with a boss who's level depends on the number and level of people in the team (like the ground general for AI raids).

[cybertron]

I couldn't agree more with this, unfortunately, what this means is that you'll need to mobilise your entire org to contend with other orgs.

Bring your engis/crats/shades/MA's and NT's boys, it's a DPS contest.

The appropriate method of getting these in game would have been to have an NPC give a mission to kill a boss in an instanced mission, with a boss who's level depends on the number and level of people in the team (like the ground general for AI raids).

I might have misunderstood this but why would you need to grab your whole org to compete against other orgs? As far as i remember this encounter isn't like desert rider where its a DD battle. It's instanced so you just go in with whomever you want and fight the waves till you die. Last halloween, the only reward was a tshirt i think but with miy cloaks dropping, that could make it worthwhile

[McKnuckleSamwich]

I might have misunderstood this but why would you need to grab your whole org to compete against other orgs? As far as i remember this encounter isn't like desert rider where its a DD battle. It's instanced so you just go in with whomever you want and fight the waves till you die. Last halloween, the only reward was a tshirt i think but with miy cloaks dropping, that could make it worthwhile

sounds like I misunderstood.

I'll be happy enough as long as theres a reasonable chance to acquire the goodies with a bit of work.

I just don't want it to turn into a AI attack in bor where there's 150 people fighting and 1 guy rclicks fastest in the highest DPsing RI and walks off with 15 supple bots

[Khrystanna]

I personally think that making ICC the 'main gathering point' is a good idea, since you will have access to all 3 faction cities, and probably will be the NPE exit zone.
Also it is good to see some progress finally

[fixedsys212m]

Honestly, I don't see why the Whompahs were remade. I can understand making them color-coded. That is a fantastic idea. But why does the entire Whompah have to be remade to resemble a Pulowski Preservation shelter(Fallout 3)? The new design doesn't fit in with the style of an OT-ruled world. Maybe the ICC came in and re-installed a new Whompah system the world over? Anyhow, I think the only thing that needed to be change on them was the color of the background on the label portion: Blue, Orange, or Green. Normally I would be diplomatic and acknowledge the effort gone into creating the new look but considering the limited resources FC has to devote to AO and how bad the new design is I can only give grief.

Secondly, I think the teal and blue of the background color is too similar. Green would be more sound, as someone earlier submitted.

Regarding the changes to Rome, I am wondering if you could make a bridge or platform over the giant pool in Rome Red for players to hang out and chill on, extending from the Whompahs over to the Grid Access terminal. People tend to congregate in front of places like this anyway so I thought it might be a sound suggestion once you guys are done with releasing the new engine and your resources are actually available. With the GA terminal, the normal Whompahs, and now the Jobe Whompah I can see it being a chill spot for OT players to chill, buff each other, show off their gear, or AFK like a boss.

Sad to see Borealis losing it's status as a nexus but the new ICC HQ sounds like it is going to be a pretty good place.