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Thread: Monthly Development Update – 2nd July, 2014

  1. #1

    Funcom employee Monthly Development Update – 2nd July, 2014

    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.

  2. #2
    last

    Something new with 18.7, is nice. But what is timeline for the engine itself?
    Ekarona 220/30 Female Solitus Engineer, long term member of Northern Star and proper "poor" gimp.
    Ekaslave 220/low Female Solitus Trader, FLAT(TM) pricing TS, almost all can do!
    Ekaros almost there/almost there too Male Solitus Martial-Artist.
    Ekadv gimp/gimp Female Opifex Adventurer

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Genele View Post
    [*]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.
    A local cooldown of 4 secs and damage starts to be on-pair with DM.
    Don't you just hate this kind of ppl
    http://redwing.hutman.net/%7Emreed/w...rouscranus.htm

  4. #4
    So the damage won't be changed?

  5. #5
    I am going to quote some stuff found later in this thread, and snip out some of the longer quotes. I am currently not subbed to the game, and I really want to hammer out why I, and maybe some others are not playing. I am not the most experienced and I am a real noob sometimes, but I want to get off my chest how I feel.
    Quote Originally Posted by Genele View Post
    - It will have to come in parts as making all the changes in one go will be too large of a patch.
    I COMPLETELY disagree with this. Balance to me is always priority #1 (or at the very least top 2-3) to this game. The reason why I hate this game is because FOURTEEN professions yet most of them have limited roles in teams and aren't as "fun". You have 1 in 14 as healers (doc), 1 in 14 as tanks (enforcer), 1 in 14 (crat) as primary debuffer/team buffer...the rest of the professionals are medium to lower priority at best.

    If you are to FINALLY balance these professions after FOUR years since re-balancing was mentioned, do it right and do it at once. Provide at LEAST three tanks, three healers, several buffers, several debuffers, and give all professions meaning.

    Quote Originally Posted by Genele View Post
    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.
    The problem is some professions are already broken in their perspective roles, you can only hope to balance some and buff others.

    Quote Originally Posted by Genele View Post
    - Since I am not a community manager...(snip)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 (snip)
    I work a full-time job too Genele. I won't knock on you or hate on you, but you don't work 24/7. Why not spend time on the community when you are home, on your day off? Once a week for like an hour or two. Don't tell me you don't have time for this.


    Quote Originally Posted by Traderjill View Post
    Thanks for the responses, cleared up a couple things but made this issue of communication between your team and the players even more confusing.
    This is exactly how I feel in bold. Clear up, yet only confused. I feel it's like ducks and bread crumbs. We use to think it was a good idea to feed them, but it only made them aggressive and messed with their diets. Same here. You make some players happy by finally communicating, but most of us expect it to go back to nothing as usual. Today is July 3rd, 2014. What is going to change in a year? Two years? Five years? Because nothing has really changed since 2010.

    Quote Originally Posted by Traderjill View Post
    What I'm seeing right now: (snip)
    - Creative Director (Nusquam):
    - Lead Designer/Game Director (Genele)
    - Community Manager (sezmra)
    - Community Manager (Tomium)
    I would guess Genele for content release, Sezmra/Tomium should be doing the rest of the communication with the community . I think the problem is that there isn't much to communicate and inexperience in-game are a factor here.
    Last edited by Ctrlaltwin; Jul 3rd, 2014 at 15:44:34.
    Ctrlaltwin. Man. Legend.

  6. #6
    First page
    Shade lover (trox all the way :P)

  7. #7
    Nice. Keep up the good work. Sooner NPE hits live the better. Then fix it if needed.
    Quote Originally Posted by Michizure View Post
    This'll be fixed for the next patch

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by nanoforcer View Post
    A local cooldown of 4 secs and damage starts to be on-pair with DM.
    Yup would be about right I think
    Caloss2 LVL 220 melee VANGUARD (semi retired).....Llewlyn 220/30/70 meepmeep.....Boooocal 220../30/70 Soldier.......Knack 220/30/70 Keeper.....Hiesenberg 215/xx/xx NT NERFED Neytiri1 220/30/70 Shade Knacker220/30/70Meat shield
    https://www.youtube.com/user/caloss2 for guides/walkthroughs/letsplays and all your other AO needs
    Quote Originally Posted by Mastablasta
    In my special design documents that I feed to the FC devs, who are my willing slaves.

  9. #9
    Hopefully my Trader comes out of this unscathed.

    220s "Wakizaka", "Sneakygank", "Wakimango", "Wakisolja", "Tardersauce", "Bushwaki", "Midgetgank", "Bugfixxx", "Ramsbottom", "Paskadoc"
    200s Chrisd, Malema, Delbaeth
    TL5s Youfail, Bugfixx, Riothamus, Johndee

    Proud President of Haven | TL5 PvP


  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Wakizaka View Post
    Hopefully my Trader comes out of this unscathed.
    I'm hoping the same thing. I'm just not clear what impact the reduced duration (20sec I believe) on the target is going to have in PvM. I really don't want my entire fight to consist of casting drains when I play my traders. We also need a full SL line of mezzes.. not just stuck with RK til TL7. Hope that's part of the rebalance as well.
    Last edited by Traderjill; Jul 2nd, 2014 at 19:28:10.
    You can find me at:
    Battlenet @ Marilata#1680
    Steam @ http://steamcommunity.com/id/marilata

  11. #11

    Funcom employee

    Quote Originally Posted by nanoforcer View Post
    A local cooldown of 4 secs and damage starts to be on-pair with DM.
    6 seconds actually, if you don't try to compare it to 30% (which never should have happened in PVM) but instead the numbers that were intended for PVM. However, after discussing with the professionals it would be unbalanced in pvp against low health professions to give this nano a lower cooldown timer as the hit would cap. This was the compromise between the suggestions from the NT professional and the other professionals. With my initial request of keeping the damage numbers the same as presented in the nano documents.


    Quote Originally Posted by WarKite View Post
    So the damage won't be changed?
    I want to state again that this is not the permanent solution to NT nukes. They will get an overhaul in 18.7 to make Nano technician less of a 1 button profession. Please, think of it as a temporary solution. I wanted to keep the numbers as they will be used in the later changes and getting them changed and then tested properly by QA would have been wasted time if I were to change them again and again.


    Quote Originally Posted by Traderjill View Post
    We also need a full SL line of mezzes..
    I know, this is one of the things that bugged me the most about playing a low level trader, hehe. There is an easier solution though, I can just remove trader RK mezz nanos from "the secret nerf table" (this table is called defensive modification in our tools) and they would start working in SL. No need to make more nanos than we have to. I will take a look at doing this for other mezz nanos too, but I think trader is the profession that needs it first due to the complete lack of SL mezz nanos at lower levels. I will add mezz nano changes to my todo list and see if I can get it out with the first 18.7 patch (if not they will come a bit later).
    Last edited by Genele; Jul 2nd, 2014 at 19:47:47.

  12. #12
    First page?
    Carpdiem 220 Martial Artist - Bellatrix 220 Fixer
    Furymaster 220 Meta Physicist - Manhandle 215 Enforcer

    Proud General of Athen Paladins - Now retired

    Come check us out at www.athenpaladins.org

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Genele View Post
    There is an easier solution though, I can just remove trader RK mezz nanos from "the secret nerf table" (this table is called defensive modification in our tools) and they would start working in SL. No need to make more nanos than we have to.
    Thank you, now the players just need to teach other players how to use their toolset, but that's out of this scope
    Last edited by nanoforcer; Jul 2nd, 2014 at 21:49:25.
    Don't you just hate this kind of ppl
    http://redwing.hutman.net/%7Emreed/w...rouscranus.htm

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Genele View Post
    I know, this is one of the things that bugged me the most about playing a low level trader, hehe. There is an easier solution though, I can just remove trader RK mezz nanos from "the secret nerf table" (this table is called defensive modification in our tools) and they would start working in SL. No need to make more nanos than we have to. I will take a look at doing this for other mezz nanos too, but I think trader is the profession that needs it first due to the complete lack of SL mezz nanos at lower levels. I will add mezz nano changes to my todo list and see if I can get it out with the first 18.7 patch (if not they will come a bit later).
    This is really good to hear! I was playing my 157 trader the other day and the failure rate on her RK mezz was way too high. If we're going to have a shorter duration on our drains then the last thing we need to worry about is having to hit mezz several times in situations requiring crowd control.

    I have a few other 18.7+ related questions:

    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?

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

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

    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.
    Last edited by Traderjill; Jul 2nd, 2014 at 22:27:04.
    You can find me at:
    Battlenet @ Marilata#1680
    Steam @ http://steamcommunity.com/id/marilata

  15. #15
    Can we also remove fixer snares and roots from the defensive modification table? It really sucks not having access -- through regular, intended gameplay progression, not 220s with all garden/sanctuary keys providing nanos for you -- to snares and roots that work on SL mobs until finally you have Elysium sanctuary access and at least specialization 1 unlocked. This was a junk game mechanic from the get go, seemingly designed as a time sink for people who already had level 200 RK characters to engage in when SL came out, and makes no sense whatsoever to apply to new characters.

    Actually, I'd wager that a very large portion of the defensive modification system was tweaked just to make then-level-200 characters have to grind for SL nanos. If true, this tactic took progression from old RK endgame to then-new endgame into account without taking progression from character creation to current endgame into account. Why not, with the system changes coming up, get rid of the deep, dark mystery that is "defensive modification" entirely and just scale encounters appropriately in a simple fashion so that encounters can be tweaked more easily going forward in the first place? Or has this been addressed and I've just not noticed it?

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by furymaster View Post
    First page?
    Yeah you made it! Hours after the OP even. Amazing how that has changed. Though always silly, a "first page" post used to take timing to pull off. Now you can browse by whenever and the traffic being what it is, casually claim your "first page" prize.

  17. #17

  18. #18
    Genele,

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

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Genele View Post
    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.
    Hihi.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Literary View Post
    I gets a prize?
    Yes! But there is problem...

    http://i2.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/...23/1538135.jpg

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