Monthly Development Update - April 2015 (Shock and Awe!)

[Mastablasta]

Well if that was to happen I would love the Nova Flow revisited and made into a nice weapon with Burst and Full Auto. Really was great weapon back in the release days and since it caps at 200 it is not like we are asking for new endgame weapons. Just some love for a RK old time favorite.

Just saying there are some visually cool weapons from the old days both in weapon appearance and weapon bullet effects.

Oh bump for Nova Flow... the old energy/assaultrifle weapons really could do with an update. The flavour is strong in those, as opposed to just regular old assault rifle weapons. I miss when the Nophex Plasma Destroyer II was top dog.

[Nuadha]

Quantum wings

Thank you michi. I have hardly bothered with this since jetpack has been introduced since it took three times the equip time of the jetpack and offered no speed boost compared to the 150 offered by the pack. I was pleasantly surprised the other day when I cast it to find out it is now insta cast and even more pleased and suprised to find out yesterday it offers a better speed increase than jetpack. I noe feel the uniqueness is redeemed once again. Such a small change but so pleasing. Thank you ��

I second this. I had almost exact reaction. Thank you!

[Pomidor]

Michi, if you are on spree of changes, perhaps FC could bring new map for BS for lvls 31-100, because at current state they are way to big. Besides, new map layout/desing could get there fresh blood.

Overall, 18.7 is big and nice supprise for me and NPS is just AWESOME and beyond!

Ah, one thing bugs me:

Rarity: Unknown (95% of items have this tag).

[Rahela]

I really like the changes! Am having a blast in AO (again) for the first time in years. I only wish these changes could have happened seven or eight years ago, when they might have turned the game around (maybe they still can? Who knows?) Kudos to Michi. I wish I could +vote you a raise for all of the hard work you've put into the game lately!

[lunarsolace]

I really like the changes! Am having a blast in AO (again) for the first time in years. I only wish these changes could have happened seven or eight years ago, when they might have turned the game around (maybe they still can? Who knows?) Kudos to Michi. I wish I could +vote you a raise for all of the hard work you've put into the game lately!

A purely hypothetical point: Game gets refined to a per****acious level (is fun as shat -> not there yet; however, definitely going in the right direction) + new engine that adds a modern look to the game (I did say hypothetical) + gets thrown on steam = back on top as best sci fi mmo.

As much as I would love to 'get the band back together.' For most of the veterans in this game, our time has passed, it will be the new players that carry this game, assuming Big Michigan finishes the job. ( I have every faith that he will - there's a first) I hope FC sees this game as their best shot at market share. It should always have been considered their flagship. (them old ceo's definitely deserve a nutpunch)

I perceive that all the new changes are to attract those potential new players to this game and build it back up to the numbers that haven't been seen since 2001-03.

ps, rehire Cube if all he's doing atm is remaking music vids.

[lunarsolace]

Oh bump for Nova Flow... the old energy/assaultrifle weapons really could do with an update. The flavour is strong in those, as opposed to just regular old assault rifle weapons. I miss when the Nophex Plasma Destroyer II was top dog.

those old energy rifles had to be one of the best 'oh sh1t' moments I had in '01. The thought of modernizing them and making them viable is like a dog humping a sofa.

[jandraelune]

All the old RK gear should have a look at. Though some are more potent then SL and AI counterparts...namely the Fixer guns

Novaflow is still the goto AR for any non-soldier Froob that wants to use ARs at later lvls. If they don't have friends with SL that can get them weapons to convert that don't have SL tag but are nodrop tag But being a vending machine bought AR...early lvls and really starting lvls, those like other gear are the best gear for those lvls before getting let alone finding out about others harder to obtain gear for Froobs. Yeah the 000 weapons are better in most repecs and equal AI weapons and are better then nearly all RK weapons for SL...but the cost to obtain =.= out of many a peoples price range.

Add in NumPad functionality...LONG time due for this =.=

-----Below relates to new characters and start up players.

An extra 1000 income to mission completions til lvl30...nice but not enough when your looking at spending millions. In recent years many apone many of the old ways of obtaining fast large amounts of money has been cleaned out by the devs =.=. This clean up act to kill off ' Gold farmers/sellers ' but mostly killed off the new players from being able to afford basic start up equipment...as in the full 3 pages worth of gear plus nanos. And to think on this more...only to lvl 30 for completed mission reward, each mission in this lvl range will lvl a player an avg of 4-5 times, so this 1000 per mission will turn into a total of what 5-8k on avg ?

I would like to see new player income greatly increased to match start up costs, compare income vs QL 50ish gear, thats the QL range a lvl 25 Froob can equip if they are someone they know knows how. Nanos, 50k each, imps, 30k each, weapons 15k each, armor 30k each stack of healing kits 35k. But as for the base missions them self in that range...hardly 10k =.= Then the cost vs income of the next 30-60 lvls is even worse. Needing millions but still hardly making 100's of K =.=

Forget a Yalm at over 4mil unless you win the credit lotto until your over lvl 150...worse then buying a Yalm now is even finding one in a shop let alone finding one in the lowest QL range. Since the Phasefront shop got added in, it's like FC pulled all the Yalms from the shops >< Where you could see a list of 5 vehicles on avg in the vendor with at least 1 of each type...now you only see 2-3 with no guarantee of seeing one type your looking for.

Quick return from TToW for Omni's...for years there have been player cities with Bar-Whompas close enough for low lvls to run to and be back in town in minutes with little threat of mobs and no need of knowing your way around or looking at a map. With this option gone...and WITH OUT resorting to ' Death Taxi ' ( this should NOT even be suggested as a means of travel or even THOUGHT of ), the only option of Omni's is either have a higher lvl Fixer/Doctor/Trader give them a grid ride or run their happy self ...all...the...long...way to New Land =.=

Well, looking at the stock in the ICC vendors...the exclusiveness of the ' Fixer Shop ' is gone. I see a reason for this...the shop got removed. Well at least the Traders got to keep their shop and exclusiveness. Burst Req needs adjusting on ammo now since the nano req's B&E. Also the Cluster ammo needs a higher proc in the RNG or both need to spawn at once. Fixers can buff B&E so high that the Burst req of the ammo is out of reach.

[Rahela]

I would like to see new player income greatly increased to match start up costs, compare income vs QL 50ish gear, thats the QL range a lvl 25 Froob can equip if they are someone they know knows how. Nanos, 50k each, imps, 30k each, weapons 15k each, armor 30k each stack of healing kits 35k. But as for the base missions them self in that range...hardly 10k =.= Then the cost vs income of the next 30-60 lvls is even worse. Needing millions but still hardly making 100's of K =.=

This is, IMO, one of AO's worst remaining problems as far as new players are concerned. Income needs to be increased significantly in order for new players to stay far enough ahead of the power curve in order to not give up in frustration when they start out-leveling their gear (normally because they are leveling faster than the income stream can keep up with the demand).

[Esssch]

This is, IMO, one of AO's worst remaining problems as far as new players are concerned. Income needs to be increased significantly in order for new players to stay far enough ahead of the power curve in order to not give up in frustration when they start out-leveling their gear (normally because they are leveling faster than the income stream can keep up with the demand).

The only real expenses at low levels these days are implants/nanos, maybe stim kits and weapons, but those are pretty big maybes. Newcomers armor now levels all the way to 220 and is roughly equivalent to carb, a lot of the better weapons at those levels are gained through gameplay (for paid players, Illegal Ofab can drop in subway and is also super cheap, for free players ToTW and SoM weapons - a few weapon types need to have some extra weapons added in at this range for free players, though, so I'll give you that). Healing kits can be picked up in subway, ToTW, missions, Foremans, etc. They drop over a wide range of areas.

Not that I don't agree, the income of low levels should be raised in a way that's not worth abusing for vets, but it's better to be realistic in your arguments so people will actually pay attention to your point rather than your examples.

[Bluecheeze2]

The only real expenses at low levels these days are implants/nanos, maybe stim kits and weapons, but those are pretty big maybes. Newcomers armor now levels all the way to 220 and is roughly equivalent to carb, a lot of the better weapons at those levels are gained through gameplay (for paid players, Illegal Ofab can drop in subway and is also super cheap, for free players ToTW and SoM weapons - a few weapon types need to have some extra weapons added in at this range for free players, though, so I'll give you that). Healing kits can be picked up in subway, ToTW, missions, Foremans, etc. They drop over a wide range of areas.

Perhaps offer quests that provide them with an implant and a nano of their choosing from their specific vendor and a fair amount of credits. This quest could be level-specific based on their desired nano and implant QL.

[Tthreesl]

I hope this is the place to inquire... but, I was wondering of there would be any chance for a couple things. 1) The Neutral Faction: Is there any way that it could be looked into that the Neutral Faction be considered a truly Third Faction. Many on us old timers that always stood by the quote "Neut4Life" feel that the Neutral Faction is not the "fence sitters" that many call us, but are a faction all our own. Making us our own Faction would hopefully include our own neutral areas like Borealis, and Newland City (maybe a couple areas), and perhaps a benefit to remaining neutral.

2) I was hoping that it would not be too much to ask that the juggernaut statue be placed back in Borealis near the Newland whompah. I know that it seems small and insignificant to many people, but it was the home and meeting place for the org "Third Faction" (or 3F) for many years. 3F started back in 2004 and remained for many years, and although we are not quite the org we once were, for those of us who still remain this would be a landmark to our heritage.

I apologize if I posted this to the wrong forum, as I am new to forums. But this seemed to be the closest forum to the topic I wanted to post about and I would want to be directing this to the development team.

Thank you for your time.

[Raggy]

2) I was hoping that it would not be too much to ask that the juggernaut statue be placed back in Borealis near the Newland whompah. I know that it seems small and insignificant to many people, but it was the home and meeting place for the org "Third Faction" (or 3F) for many years. 3F started back in 2004 and remained for many years, and although we are not quite the org we once were, for those of us who still remain this would be a landmark to our heritage.

It wasn't a statue, per-se. It was techincally an inactive Juggernaught that would have been activated by Omni-tek if needed.

[lainbr]

2) I was hoping that it would not be too much to ask that the juggernaut statue be placed back in Borealis near the Newland whompah. I know that it seems small and insignificant to many people, but it was the home and meeting place for the org "Third Faction" (or 3F) for many years. 3F started back in 2004 and remained for many years, and although we are not quite the org we once were, for those of us who still remain this would be a landmark to our heritage.

It wasn't a statue, per-se. It was techincally an inactive Juggernaught that would have been activated by Omni-tek if needed.

It was also added only later after 2007 (I cant remember the exactly year) when Omni-Tek got the control of Borealis. After several protests (RPwise), the Unicorn guards were removed but the Juggernaught remained to mark Borealis as an Omni controlled city. Since Neutrals reclaimed control of it some patchs ago, they obviously removed this Omni threat

[Liamboru]

This is, IMO, one of AO's worst remaining problems as far as new players are concerned. Income needs to be increased significantly in order for new players to stay far enough ahead of the power curve in order to not give up in frustration when they start out-leveling their gear (normally because they are leveling faster than the income stream can keep up with the demand).

How much do you think that they would need? I recently came back to game (full disclosure, I have two paid accounts, one froob account...and a stash that is large enough to sustain me). I rolled a paid soldier (go figure, I try everything on a soldier the first time) and a froob MA just to play around.

I also rolled a paid MA, because I wanted to test something. I leveled the paid MA to 18 on Arete. Granted, I spent a week or so (see above, I have other toons to play, so take that in to account when judging this response) in the NPE. The reason I did that was so that I could leave with 5x basic armor boots, 4x basic armor gloves, 1x basic armor chest component and 10ish of the large and small bio meshes. I sold the basic parts for (in my case) 5,000,001 each. Would that, in your opinion, be enough, to get started? It was a lot more than I ever had until I was far in to the game...back in 2004-2005.

Maybe the idea is that we need to make knowledge of this source of income more readily avaialble (other than for the gold farmers...which may be all this post does). Or maybe even this is too hard for the really new players. I am not sure.

[Cratertina]

Raise credit drops in totw, subwayby 10x. Maybe even foremans.
After 100 only real credit gain should be through player interaction.

[Cratertina]

There is an idea, give basic armor quests to Arete, tell people they can sell iz for milions after they get out... Thatd be perfect. Most veterans wouldnt bother.

We could aswell start random "Chuck money at newbies program... Boomshacka here is 5m nob, go make it last to lvl 50.

[Liamboru]

There is an idea, give basic armor quests to Arete...

Already done.

tell people they can sell iz for milions after they get out...

So far, assuming they were actual newbies, that is what I did with both of the players I talked with. I suggested that they stash a few on Arete, directed them to Ao-universe to read up on how to get it on the mainland and suggested that it seems to be a stead source of income, if you are willing to trade some time to get it. I warned them that it was not exciting, but until FC comes up with some better ideas (such as you suggested above), it was all they really had atm.

Most veterans wouldnt bother.

I am more surprised that they have not seemed to yet than I am at FC for putting basic armor in a starter area, making it stupidly quick and simple to get...and on a mob that is on a competing quest line. Maybe the fact that it is a "random" piece that mostly seems to be boots and gloves is keeping them away. I guess if the price of basic armor starts to deflate, then we will know what happened.

[Literary]

I noted the potential economic impact of the biomesh quests when testing & hinted about it in the Arete Quest List. Seems to me that end result will make combined armor more readily available which will drive prices down from obscene to merely insane.

[Esssch]

I noted the potential economic impact of the biomesh quests when testing & hinted about it in the Arete Quest List. Seems to me that end result will make combined armor more readily available which will drive prices down from obscene to merely insane.

You're making a false assumption that basic armor is even remotely the bottleneck. Prices might be reduced 5m per piece, or 35m per set, but that doesn't mean much when they're 600m/piece or 4.2B/set. I'm sure going down to 4.165B/set will make a noticeable difference.

[Cratertina]

Hehe, when you only consider ql300 css, cc. What about mid tier armors, say CO, CS, or lowbie armors, 150ish bots are so cheap its almost not worth selling them.

Idealy newbies get access to lewt that veterans love to buy. Basic armor is one such item and hardly i can imagine better.

... No still cant.

Even if set goes from 35m to 5m, that is stil good credits when all you have is a lvl10 char.

But naturally only newbies would not know it.

So newbes are still in trouble.