Monthly Development Update – 2nd July, 2014

[McKnuckleSamwich]

first page!

no? maybe?

[Genele]

1. I'm really confused on the whole profession rebalance process. We received a lot of documents, years ago. I know I've seen mention of changes to MP nanos, Traders, Enforcers, NTs (only recently as it related to this DM stuff), Keeper, MA and I think Crat. Is 18.7 going to be the patch where the rebalance documents are fully implemented or is it just a first wave of changes with more to come in subsequent updates? If it is just a first wave, are you guys implementing changes in such a way that certain classes don't feel 'broken' in the interim

- It will have to come in parts as making all the changes in one go will be too large of a patch. (Once 18.7 is finally out, following patches will be a lot smaller and come more frequently.)
I expect some imbalance between each patch, but I will make sure we address larger issues in a timely manner and we will of course be discussing these changes as we go. I also doubt any profession will feel completely broken during the changes as a lot of convenience will be added with every change. I think different than before is a better way of describing it.

2. Is there still a plan to put AO on Steam along with the new engine?

- Yes, that was the decision upper management made last time we brought it up in a meeting.

3. What happened with the You choose project of updated inferno missions?

- The inferno missions are currently in a dataset and will be merged and patched to testlive with 18.7.0.15 (second 18.7 TL patch). (Initially I planned to get them out before 18.7 but I decided against it as I didn't want to delay this patch any further. New inferno missions would need proper testing and this takes a lot of time. While 18.7 is being tested, this would also allow time to test these missions. A second reason why I decided to wait until 18.7 was that I encountered an issue with some of the spells I wanted to use in this area that already had been fixed in 18.7. (To those of you who want to tell me I'm nub right now: A spell is the part of a nano program that is performed on use/death etc.))

4. Let me preface this question by saying, it isn't meant to keep beating a dead horse but an honest concern. We have a new community manager that came on board and yet it seems that his role is only to work on events. The other community manager seems nice but she hasn't really done anything in the way of what I consider to be community management. I went over to the Lego Minifigures Online forums and she was all over the place responding to concerns and saying she would pass input on to the devs. Why don't we have someone performing that role for Anarchy Online? Additionally, the professionals program seems to be a success for some classes and a failure for others and we've been told, for a couple years now, that something is in the works to fix it.. but nothing has happened. Bekrowe and Anarinna are working triple time moderating the forums of all of the angry complaints/rants/concerns. What, if anything, do you all plan to do to try to bridge the communication gap between you/your staff and the players both in terms of profession and general game concerns?.

In the 10 years I've played AO I've never joined funcom's IRC channel but sounds like you and maybe some members of the staff are there chatting. Would you consider putting aside an hour a week talking (text or voice) to a player representative about 'hot topics' and allowing them to help relay responses to those topics to other players on the forums? I'd actually volunteer to do such a thing but given that I might not be your top pick atm, there are a lot of other people that I see around with pretty level heads that might be able to pull something like that off. Just an idea for you to think about.

- Since I am not a community manager, I don't really have an answer to most of these questions. From my end all I can say is that I do try to communicate with players as much as time allows me to. However, unlike previous game directors, my main role on the Anarchy Online project is being a designer. I actually spend most of my time making content and any time I decide to spend on community is time I don't spend on development (hence why I often write on the forums in my spare time).

Yes I have chatted on the IRC, but for the most part I have attended there as any other random person. I'm there to have some random fun and socialize with the players, perhaps get some news about things that needs to be fixed or get some general feedback. I'm not there to announce changes or to answer serious questions. I'm simply there because I enjoy talking to some of the people who are there in an unprofessional and fun way.
After 18.7 has gone live, I will consider doing a Q&A though, but until then I need to focus on getting all this stuff finished. Though I would rather do a Q&A through the community managers than in a chat room because I suck at typing and often get misunderstood.

Can we also remove fixer snares and roots from the defensive modification table?

- Yes, roots and snares are also on the "remove from the defensive modification table list", but they will have a lower priority than the mezz nanos. We will get there eventually though.

The forth coming MA stance, is this something available from level 1 or something available only to endgame MA's?

- It will be a very low requirement Lost Eden nano. Intended use from low level, yes but twinking it on at level 1 might be a bit tough...

[Esssch]

I expect some imbalance between each patch, but I will make sure we address larger issues in a timely manner and we will of course be discussing these changes as we go. I also doubt any profession will feel completely broken during the changes as a lot of convenience will be added with every change. I think different than before is a better way of describing it.

Dear Genele,

It's a little bit too late to worry about professions feeling broken or imbalanced, don't you think?

Love,
MPs

[vitriolic-v]

- Yes, that was the decision upper management made last time we brought it up in a meeting.

How much would you be willing to describe, for the curious, what the management structure is like over there?

- Yes, roots and snares are also on the "remove from the defensive modification table list", but they will have a lower priority than the mezz nanos. We will get there eventually though.

This is awesome and a comfort to hear. Thanks for responding. More of this kind of communication would be a great comfort in the context of many other issues, too. The aforementioned Steam thing, for instance. If I may ask, and please don't take this as an accusation, when *was* this upper management decision the last time you brought it up in a meeting made? Because there have been a few places, threads I'm subscribed to, I believe, where people have been asking, and it feels as if they have been asking into the void, whether AO was still on track for/intended to eventually reach Steam, and nobody participating in the threads could seem to find a quote from Funcom on that topic since last we had heard about some DX7 + Steam Overlay incompatibility problem that was gumming up the works. You've given us a response to the question here today, and that's great, but why is the AO staff apparently structured and delegating tasks in such a way that, as far as I can tell, we're only getting some confirmation once *THE* lead designer has time to post about it? Good job doing it yourself since nobody else did, very "the buck stops here," but I feel that some more effective delegation of tasks around your office may be in order, as far as I can tell from the outside anyway. Once upon a time, we had various AO staff members reminding us frequently that the new engine was still coming. We got a little jaded with it, but it was still better than us not knowing whether the AO staff had forgotten that they promised a new engine. I feel like we should be getting "hi, we're still on track for X, Y, and Z soon" updates from Tomium or Sezmra or someone other than you. I'm sure you've got much more important things to do, you know?

As Jill mentioned, it seems like the Lego game is getting this kind of love from community relations staff, and hearing that, while feeling like AO isn't getting that sort of attention, makes me rather sad, especially considering that, in my opinion, the Lego game is going to be almost a flash in a pan fad, short lived, while AO has survived for so long, is unique among all games, has a great story, complex and interesting game mechanics, and a lot of investment from players and staff alike. This allocation of time makes little sense to me, because everyone knows that gamers are fickle about new games, and all the hype in the world is ineffective past launch week.

Your updates are welcome and I thank you for them, but I think your community people need to be in a position to better support you in maintaining communication.

[Dumonde]

In my opinion, Genele atleast cares for things ingame and here (in the forum). He is taking time to answer explicitly to all of our (your) questions and tbh, I personally did not see this... effort since years from a GD.

Sure, the way of how the solution for ex-DM came through was not a bright idea - but, we are all only humans and do our decisions. Just like Genele. He atleast got the balls to say something like "sorry" and admit that he made a mistake and puts effort in solving this.

It is absolutely not intended to be a.s.s.-kissing, but I honor his actions and energy to improve things for the game and the community. I dont care if others got a different point of view, but:

Thank you Genele. Keep up your good work.


Greetings,
Dumonde

[Slynn]

Hello again!

As you all might have noticed, Anarchy Online has turned 13 years and we are celebrating with the Desert Nomads event and all new Membership offers with unique items.

We managed to patch the servers before the big day, however some of you have complained that I swung my nerf bat a bit too hard this patch, and I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused for the many Nano-Technicians out there. I have tried to work out a better temporary solution to the Garuk's Improved Viral Assault with the professionals to ensure that NTs don’t suffer such a significant loss of DPS. For people who have requested the details about this change, I have prepared these notes:

• The attack time will be changed to 1.25 seconds (the cap will be removed).
• The recharge time will be 1 second.
• A local cooldown of 9 seconds will be added.
• The nano target must have nanoline 8 running.
• The Matter Creation main criteria will be changed to 2000+.

These changes will be patched in with 18.6.14 as soon as we have sorted out some other changes that will come in with this patch.
I hope most players will find this solution acceptable until the Nano-Technician nuke changes arrives with the 18.7 patch series.


The 18.7 Patch series
Pending the last 18.6 patch (which will hopefully be 18.6.14), we are planning to get 18.7 to Testlive as soon as possible. This patch will contain the NPE and other changes I have presented in various newsletters the past year. However, the new client will remain on the closed beta server. We are really excited to finally be able to get this branch tested on the old client and hopefully nothing major comes up so we can get it patched to the live dimension. It has taken a long time, but I hope the end result will be worth it.

As for the latest 18.7 upcoming patches, we will get 18.7.0.14 patched to the beta server next week. After that we will branch out 18.8 and patching this to the beta server as we will ship 18.7 to Testlive shortly after.

Highlights in the 18.7.0.14 patch

• Updated whom-pah towers that has an antenna.
• Special attacks will get a timer on the quick bar.
• Traders will get their AAD and AAO drains updated so that they can be used from lower levels and also on NPCs. The Critical Increase drain that was removed from the skill drain line has now been moved to one of these two lines. The debuff part will not stack with the skill drains, but the buff part will stack on the trader, giving the trader one AAD+critical decrease buff and one AAO+Critical Increase buff in addition to the two skill drains. This should hopefully improve trader survivability.
• Martial artists will finally get the zazen stance and all their healing nanos have been updated this patch.

That's it for this month. Enjoy the desert nomads while they are still here.

Hello Gen, Question, in the middle of those, isnt there a way to get something done regarding other improvements such as dupplicating Inferno Missions to all the other gardens, and to create an harder one in Pande entrance area?
Or minor adjustments to NW current state?
Those are just random ideas coming in mind. Im sure it wont take long to make them, was just wondering.
Too much time without any scenario improvements or relevant improvements imo.
Are you guys thinking about releasing an expansion soon? Whats your thoughts about all this?

[doctorgore]

Until I actually see patch notes that make agents,keepers,mp and fixer playable and wanted in a team I won't believe anything that gets written in these sham updates. What is the timetable? Agents get fixed around 2090 and mps around 2017? Give me a reason to want to play this game....

[Freqflyerdnt]

I don't think there would be any concrete plans for expansions/boosters in the foreseeable future.

Might be something like IF playerbase = playerbase + x by some or other time frame after New Engine and Steam release THEN think about it.
But for now I think someone wants to watch the bottom line as and when the engine hits.

[pontusen]

Nice update with lots of information that actually matters. I think this is the first monthly update I have read and didn't get frustrated at anything.
GJ Genele et al.

dupplicating Inferno Missions to all the other gardens, and to create an harder one in Pande entrance area?

There are already pen and ado(?) missions just like infernos. It has been 2 years or so since I last saw a "pen mish" on lft tho.

[wyldebeast]

Best update in a long time in my books. Keep up the good work.

Hello Gen, Question, in the middle of those, isnt there a way to get something done regarding other improvements such as dupplicating Inferno Missions to all the other gardens, and to create an harder one in Pande entrance area?

SL mishes exist from ado garden and up. Most people stay away from ado mishes, though, since all the mish locations are underwater. I've done a fair bit of them, and zoning through clan garden to Lament Lagoon and 2 of the most frequent locations are less than 2 min away. Pen mishes used to be THE way to level up until 210, pulling them in Blue Mist, literally 5 steps from the garden exit. That leaves Scheol, Ely and Nasc, but I honestly don't think they're needed here, as there are plenty outdoor and static dungeon leveling spots available in these zones as well as good RK alternatives.

[Slynn]

The possibility of having Missions from Nascence to Adonis with proper rewards and some extra drops (armor or weapons) would be positive; In my point of view not only promotes people and teams interaction but also an alternative to kite teams. Like it or not, it's not everyday we can get a spot to level up.
Promoting team level outside Rk in levels from 20 up to 160 would be a plus; Say you reach level 20. From that level you have to move to cripplers, and those new players who wont be able to solo, they would have a chance to gain some levels from teaming up in those areas, without beeing killed over and over.
Having a special hard mission to be pulled in pande garden would be another good adiction to have.
In resume and imo It's something FC can easily duplicate from the existing ones.

[Reids]

[*] Traders will get their AAD and AAO drains updated so that they can be used from lower levels

Because low level traders really need improving.

[Esssch]

Because low level traders really need improving.

With the pretty large nerfs with reduced duration drains and reduced drain amounts? Yes.

[Slynn]

With the pretty large nerfs with reduced duration drains and reduced drain amounts? Yes.

Not really, no. TL3 and under doesnt need more improvements at all =p

[Neista]

Good update, good communication. The only shame is the debacle with the last patch could have been almost entirely avoided if it had come with a similar level of communication.

I'm not taunting or mocking you Genele, just asking that you continue in this Vein...

[Traderjill]

- Since I am not a community manager, I don't really have an answer to most of these questions. From my end all I can say is that I do try to communicate with players as much as time allows me to. However, unlike previous game directors, my main role on the Anarchy Online project is being a designer. I actually spend most of my time making content and any time I decide to spend on community is time I don't spend on development (hence why I often write on the forums in my spare time).

Yes I have chatted on the IRC, but for the most part I have attended there as any other random person. I'm there to have some random fun and socialize with the players, perhaps get some news about things that needs to be fixed or get some general feedback. I'm not there to announce changes or to answer serious questions. I'm simply there because I enjoy talking to some of the people who are there in an unprofessional and fun way.
After 18.7 has gone live, I will consider doing a Q&A though, but until then I need to focus on getting all this stuff finished. Though I would rather do a Q&A through the community managers than in a chat room because I suck at typing and often get misunderstood.

Thanks for the responses, cleared up a couple things but made this issue of communication between your team and the players even more confusing.

What I'm seeing right now:

- Creative Director (Nusquam): Has posted on the forums twice in 6 months, both were monthly updates where he didn't bother to respond to any concerns or really do anything else that might indicate he cares about AO at all.

- Lead Designer/Game Director (Genele): Tends to respond to concerns in the past 2 or 3 monthly updates but no timely response to hot topics outside of that thread. Has responded to most hot topics but always after the situation has reached a boiling point that might have been prevented by timely and clear communication from the dev team. Doesn't seem to be tasked with this as part of her existing duties or priorities

- Community Manager (sezmra): Has done 1 failed live stream with the new community manager, hosted a burger recipe contest and now hosting a backstory contest. Seems to have little to no knowledge of the game based on the stream and has not responded to any player concerns and doesn't appear to be tasked with serving as any sort of liaison between funcom and the players.

- Community Manager (Tomium): New guy on the block but seems to only be tasked with running roleplay style events and contests. Also seems to have little to no knowledge of the game based on the stream.

Genele, I appreciate you coming to answer our questions BUT that should be part of someone's job. If its not part of your job then I'm curious to know who, if anyone, has this as part of their roles and responsibility list. As I see it now, basically no one is taking responsibility for real community management at the moment. Is there a Funcom employee that would be worth contacting that actually cares AND can do something to fix the existing broken customer relations? (I PM'd sezmra with the link to this thread in case she cares to chime in.)

[Borsky]

Has responded to most hot topics but always after the situation has reached a boiling point that might have been prevented by timely and clear communication from the dev team. Doesn't seem to be tasked with this as part of her existing duties or priorities

Exactly. Too little too late, Genele. Only after half of the game quit over your horrible ideas, and only after you've got new information and backtracking of changes to provide in the form of the NEXT MONTHS update, do you show your head and start making more hollow promises to us all. How about trying this BEFORE the game is empty?

So basically no one is responsible for community management at the moment? Is there a Funcom employee that would be worth contacting that actually cares AND can do something to fix the existing broken customer relations?

I've often wondered this too, and wondered if there was an actual FUNCOM (not AO team, i'm talking corporate head honcho CSR/HR/PR/whateverR you want to call it. If so, I'd like to let THEM know, and let the investors and stockholders of FC know, just how horribly its customers are being treated by this dev team.




As someone said in another thread, should be pretty hesitant to give these guys pats on the back and say good job....just because they announced they're going to fix something they broke, and that they're going to do more random nerfs to random professions that aren't OP by any means...oh.......SOON!!! no firm release date!

..wow...yeah, great job Genele.

[Bluecheeze2]

In my opinion, Genele atleast cares for things ingame and here (in the forum). He is taking time to answer explicitly to all of our (your) questions and tbh, I personally did not see this... effort since years from a GD.

Thank you Genele. Keep up your good work.


Greetings,
Dumonde

Agreed. I also greatly appreciate you taking the time to answer questions.

Are there any steps being taken to fix the BattleStation activity? I'm not sure if you have statistics on how many times it has run since the patch that removed 3 BS Daily's, but I'm almost certain I can count it on 2 hands

[Bluecheeze2]

As someone said in another thread, should be pretty hesitant to give these guys pats on the back and say good job....just because they announced ...

True, but when's the last time we got a response from anyone in FC? Baby steps!

[vitriolic-v]

Welp, now that people have brought out the pitchforks and torches, I guess I can give up on Genele answering my post. You guyyyyys.