Monthly Development Update - August 2014

[Le-Quack]

i liked McKnuckleSamwich post here.
this michi seem to be well fit with ingame knowledge wich hopefully will make a more balanced game wich i am for

[Nusquam]

This may seem like I am being a jerk (I come across like that quite often) but the reason Anarchy Online has a high dev turn over is because...it is a 13 year old game with 13yr old development tools.
It's not a mystery that people like to work with newer tools and engines. It's also not a mystery that people like to try new things every so often.
New game development is project based and you see a lot of staff inflation and deflation on new projects. There is always excitement about what can and is being created.
Live game development (such as AO) is a more stable and more steady job - but you have to be able to work within limitations. Sometimes really odd limitations set in place a long time ago.

My point is this - I don't think there needs to be a conspiracy around why some people leave the company. Often they just want to try something else. A 13yr old game that everyone in the industry has heard of is a good thing to have on your resume, but it isn't somewhere people want to be forever.

The entire structure of the Live Team is to counter this to a certain extent - people get to work with games from different time periods which provides a certain perspective as well as a decent number of titles for the resume.

And yes, I'm sure people will counter with "you should only hire AO players or people who love the game" - yes we try. The overlap of good designer/coder and AO player interested in moving isn't that big. But we try!

[Dumonde]

The thing that makes AO complex isn't the gameplay, as it should. Actually it's rather dull. AO's complexity is mostly superficial, illusional. The game world is huge but mostly deserted, it is saturated with outdated quests, encounters and thousands of unnecessary items that serve absolutely no purpose, not even as shop food. PvM is very straight forward. Most mobs you encounter have no abilities whatsoever, they just whack at you and there's nothing forcing you to pay attention to make it interesting through the entire leveling process. It's either that or powerleveling. Endgame content is only "difficult" on first go, for some, most of us with rpg and mmorpg experience already know not to stand in the fire combined with the very basic "attack whatever does most taunt+damage" AI makes everything really easy.
WoW on the other hand actually has complex pvm, there's no such thing as spamming assist while watching the tv like people do in AO.

Another thing that makes AO seemingly complex is the limited engine and game mechanics that are still, 13 years after release, a complete mystery. Nobody knows how attacks vs evades work, nanos vs nano resist etc. People just slap on as much as possible to make the luck factor work in their favor. While on the subject, AO has the biggest luck factor of all MMOs I have played reducing the overall complexity. Overpowered LE procs make it worse. Deflect, if it goes live in it's current state, will make it even more worse. But these issues are bigger in pvp than pvm and pvp in this game is a sad story overall. NW's horrible concept (which is why there was always more forum drama over NW than actual ingame NW), city pvp with it's horrible concept of gank and run to a safe zone and battlestations, the only real pvp zone that offers no incentive to join whatsoever. By incentive I mean incentive for pvpers and not leveling dailies, stomping undergeared/lowbies might be fun for some but it's not what a real pvper wants or expects.

Regarding WoW and blizzard well... funcom could learn a lot from them. I'm not saying they should copy the game, but it should give them an idea of what a proper fun and balanced mmo is like. Debuffs that completely disable mobs or players for very long periods don't exist there. For example roots last up to 9 seconds, not 10 fricken minutes.

The only things keeping people in this game is nostalgia, friends and in some cases blind hope that things will somehow radically take a turn for the better.

qft my dear orgmate, qft.
And yes, it is so sad indeed.

I think it is more then just only nostalgy. It is the games unique state, not having "frost" and "fire" "spells", unique breeds and professions, the armors style, and very much more. Tbh, the game is not up-to-date since ages, in every single point.

But we love AO because AO is what it is: AO.

[walterodim]

The thing that makes AO complex isn't the gameplay, as it should...

There are some genuinely fun PVM encounters. Albtraum on a Crat, Anansi's L/R-hand on a Crat, and multi-boxing DB2 come to mind. Add multi-boxing to anything and it at least becomes hectic. Playing a single character tends to be really boring though, if you're just there for the fighting experience itself. Most of the fun comes from 'meta' / 'power' gaming: grinding inf missions is lame but it becomes more fun when you try to maximize your exp/hour. Stacking as many mobs as you can, gambling on where the button is, having your lockpick ready at all times, competing with your friends. Farming inf dynas is lame but it becomes more fun when you try to figure out the most efficient route possible. And then there's the real reason to enjoy PVM; the knowledge that you'll be in a position to twink again when you get a few more levels. For some of us, most of the game is spent next to a Surgery Clinic.

[Pafpuf]

I'm happy for you and your really low expectations and/or easily amused character. I however don't find pressing the pet attack macro and debuffing a mob so it takes a swing once every 10 seconds fun nor challenging whatsoever.

Multiboxing certain instances and stacking mobs is just abusing game mechanics and 3rd party programs. To you it's fun, to me it most certainly is not. I'm not gonna pay for 6 accounts to make an easy game challenging for myself soloing raid content that became old and boring almost a decade ago. The last time I leveled a character I didn't twink anything until level 215, never really had to and nobody ever told me that I'm gimp. Twinking every few levels is a horrible waste of time.

[Le-Quack]

they made Zelda for nintendo in old style version some years ago no?
as faar i know it was a big succes.

players dont often care about haveing amazing effects etc, its all about the game and its unique toolset.

[Traderjill]

Michi, a couple simple questions:

* Updates: Would you mind clarifying if you're planning to do 'end of the month' updates or 'beginning of the month' updates? You lost me a bit on the mention of a September update. I'm not clear if that means we're getting another update this week (for September) or if you're doing one at the end of the month. Not really a big deal, overall, just wondering when I should be checking back for more information.

* 18.7 Testing: Since you're going to be reviewing the 18.7 rebalance changes, is it safe to say at this point that there isn't much need for additional feedback on the existing state of 18.7 (as it pertains to profession rebalance)? For instance, I have tried (without any luck) to get some endgame raids going so I could provide some feedback on how the changes may/may not impact those encounters. Is that still needed or do you advise us to hold tight on testing rebalance changes until the next 18.7.x hits TestLive? I don't mind helping but I like time spent on test servers to be at maximum productivity so rather not spend time testing things that you guys already know are going to be changed in the next update.

[walterodim]

That's not what soloing Albtraum or L/R Hands is like, that's what most other encounters are like. And there we're already in agreement; it (in and of itself) is not fun. As for your other points, no, you're wrong. For me, it's not just an abuse of game mechanics... it's also fun. When you say 'The only things keeping people in this game is nostalgia [...],' you're wrong. As I just noted, other things (providing fun) are keeping me in the game than the things you listed (I'm a counterexample).

[Traderjill]

This may seem like I am being a jerk (I come across like that quite often)

Your post didn't make you come off as a jerk. The few things I have read from you seemed sensible. Personally I'd like to see more.

Anyway...

Not sure if you're going to answer this but AO has a bit of a community management problem. Hopefully Michi being around will fix that (I have high hopes from his history) but Genele specifically stated that her role (and I'm assuming his now) put communication with players at the bottom of the priority list. The result has been that we hardly heard anything from Genele, we pretty much never heard from you at all and the current community managers don't have an indepth understanding of the game (not well enough, I would imagine, to even get a lot of the things we discuss on the forums). I would pose this question to Michi but since Genele stated it wasn't part of her job.. I guess you're the man to ask. Any plans on changing the way the community is managed in order to create more of a partnership and less of a hostile environment?

Also, is the subscription model currently being used on AO being reconsidered at all?

[Cratertina]

they made Zelda for nintendo in old style version some years ago no?
as faar i know it was a big succes.

players dont often care about haveing amazing effects etc, its all about the game and its unique toolset.

This!

State of the art brand new spanking effect games give me usually 20-30 hours gameplay.

In comparison take my crat...

Cratertina has played 112 days 14 hours 0 minutes 36 seconds

So AO has bang for the buck value.

It's not mainstream, but that does not mean it cannot be a success in it's own stream.

[Michizure]

Michi, a couple simple questions:

* Updates: Would you mind clarifying if you're planning to do 'end of the month' updates or 'beginning of the month' updates? You lost me a bit on the mention of a September update. I'm not clear if that means we're getting another update this week (for September) or if you're doing one at the end of the month. Not really a big deal, overall, just wondering when I should be checking back for more information.

The update letters will come at the end of months and recap what has taken place weeks prior. So, when I was referring to my September update, I was talking about what I intend to write during the later part of the week of the 22nd, talking about everything that has happened between letters.

* 18.7 Testing: Since you're going to be reviewing the 18.7 rebalance changes, is it safe to say at this point that there isn't much need for additional feedback on the existing state of 18.7 (as it pertains to profession rebalance)? For instance, I have tried (without any luck) to get some endgame raids going so I could provide some feedback on how the changes may/may not impact those encounters. Is that still needed or do you advise us to hold tight on testing rebalance changes until the next 18.7.x hits TestLive? I don't mind helping but I like time spent on test servers to be at maximum productivity so rather not spend time testing things that you guys already know are going to be changed in the next update.

I'll appreciate any and all feedback that's provided. While we will be in 18.6 for a little while longer, once focus has been brought back to 18.7, all suggestions/criticisms/feedback will be considered. I'm also waiting for some more Professional feedback before I continue sketching ideas for the rebalance rebalance; there is still time to get some ideas in.

[Pafpuf]

While you're here are there any planned changes to shadowbreeds ? Most of them are okay and deserving of the very long lock out but omni opifex one is like Mongo Rage with half the buff (+800 aao) and 200 times longer recharge.

[Anonimofied]

Nintendo and Blizzards tends to make successful games due to their special way of developing games.
Once they are done with materialized ideas into a game, they scrap the whole game and rebuild their game again from the ground up.

As for Funcom and AO new engine, i dont have fate in it. Because the way they porting old junks into the new engine, meaning old bugs will be ported as well, which creates even new issues.
I tried to explain why it would be easier, less time consuming build a new AO from ground up, than upgrading existing 10 year old AO into new engine back in 2009. But back then i mostly got flamed by the community saying new AO will spilt the community into 2.
However, Michi is going to have a tough life for -zure

I wish you and the team best of luck, because you guys are going to need it!

[Michizure]

While you're here are there any planned changes to shadowbreeds ? Most of them are okay and deserving of the very long lock out but omni opifex one is like Mongo Rage with half the buff (+800 aao) and 200 times longer recharge.

Shadowbreeds are something I plan to review as well, but currently don't have specific plans of if/how I intend to change any/all of them. They've always been a somewhat oddball set of abilities.

[Pafpuf]

Cool, if you're taking suggestions via PM I can work something (balanced) out.

[lordcabro]

BS should be random. Not a sided thing, prob that way would be active on all lvl ranges. Besides will be fun to fight org mates.

[Traderjill]

Professional feedback before I continue sketching ideas for the rebalance rebalance; there is still time to get some ideas in.

Thank you for your response. You're probably aware but quite a few of the professionals are MIA or not actively playing the game.

I have one last (I think) question about profession rebalance. I was looking through profession documents for hmm.. think it was Traders, the other night and I couldn't find any mention of perks or LE procs. Are those being reviewed at a later date or are you at interested in feedback regarding all 3?

[Scottik]

Shadowbreeds are something I plan to review as well, but currently don't have specific plans of if/how I intend to change any/all of them. They've always been a somewhat oddball set of abilities.

What about removing them from the game completely? Honestly it would fix some issues that created a lot of drama over the years. At the same they they are not gameplay critical by any means.

[Sidana]

Hai Michi/all, I made a topic for small scale suggestions, please post yours there and hopefully will be visited by some FC employees for comment.

http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho....php?p=6192502

[Anarrina]

There is a very good reason why we strongly discourage speculative posts like this, especially for reasons like this:

Reason: missed a couple people and took merit's objective analysis of departures into consideration.

If you use blatantly incorrect factual statements in these posts, it simply starts random rumors that people continue to repeat as incorrect 'facts' and its just a merry-go-round of speculative problems.

I'll point out a couple very, very blatant ones here:

Mean's built a bunch of stuff that clearly indicated a perk/nano rebalance
Means leaves.
Kintai rolls up, finishes the documentation of means' vision (props to kintai for attempting to finish someone else's vision)
Kintai leaves.

Kintaii was never the game director at any point.

Genele arrives, looks at the heap of crap left by means, half finished by kintaii, coffee spills by lindelu, and neglected/dust covered from ilya and is like: I'm gunna do rebalance Genele style. So she goes on a rampage that basically invalidates 95% of the work that means/kintai did with regards to the rebalance, and lindelu is just like dunno who that is so w/e. But, Genele at least has moved everything from some nebulous cloud of abstract ideas into testlive (huge props, in retrospect, but... didn't get it to live so thumbs down too at same time).
Genele leaves.

Genele wrote the rebalance documents to begin with, they have always been her project. So what you're praising Means and Kintaii for having started and then reviling Genele for "ruining" or "misdirecting" was entirely her work from start to finish.

I'm guessing you see some of the problem here....

This is a lot of building castles in the air with poorly understood foundations, and too much of it will be considered slander and harassment. So, generally to everyone.... stop posting speculations as facts. Thanks.