Letter from the Game Director: 14 January 2008

[Mavritanic]

Originally Posted by _Eridonis Virtuoso is commonly used for Musicians....not fighters :P

no, not only in music. virtuoso - who excels technically in some area of human knowledge, although its use is more commonly applied in the context of the fine arts. Fight in AO = art

[Palahere]

Originally Posted by Doctorhyde I was thinking about this over lunch and I also agree that a time-based degradation would be a welcome addition.

Lunch was that awful? ;(


<3 hyde

[Stillian]

Originally Posted by IHaveHugeNick If i can suggest something when it comes to solo titles, i'd split it for sides, omni would could have corporation themed titles, and clan guerilla themed (highest would be Ahmed The Terrorist)

Silence! I keel you!

[Ober]

Originally Posted by Mastablasta And Quetzatcoatl/Destroyer of Worlds does? I figured that as we hit the higher titles we'd need something a bit more drastic, and I couldn't really come up with something other than that to put there, and since there was already a slew of low titles in use, putting in more low-lvl names seemed a bad idea. But they're just suggestions after all

Hehe, was just referring to the fact that there's an Org on RK2 named Nemesis, thus I suggested Quetzalcoatl for fun and pokes

And imo, Nemesis is someone's nemesis, not everyones (unless you add another word or two and make it so ofc.).

Good names tho

Sadly Destroyer of worlds could only apply to docs anyway :x

In other news; virtuoso would probably fit with shades.

And ofc, top rank should be: Zerg smasher.
Or we could go with starcraft unit types (yeah yeah, copyright).
Starting with Zerglings or w/e and end up with those Protoss thingiemeflips.

PS:
Something is wrong, we're actually discussing mainly the names FC puts on things, rather than the things themselves. Liek wtf? They did something right "for once"?

[Omigawd]

Still some clarifications to be done!

[Hacre]

Originally Posted by Ober Something is wrong, we're actually discussing mainly the names FC puts on things, rather than the things themselves. Liek wtf? They did something right "for once"?

Certainly so far so good.

Actually, given that FC -have- shown from time to time they do have a sense of humour with in game items...

I think one of the first lowbie PVP titles should absolutely be Zergling or Zerglet

[Adacta]

Sound all very sweet and stuff ... but ...
don´t make me have a title that sounds like a cheap korean car.

I don´t like all the popular (pseudo-)asian stuff anyway, and I think that
scifi-games like AO all way better off without titles like "hachidan" ..
Make it something that fits the scenario, and maybe even the prof.
I´d settle for military ranks until I can think of prof-specific titles to suggest

[psyxor]

The guy who was supposed to work on the titles slacked a bit it seems so they put those out as a quick fix. I am almost certain they will be changing them.

[Eseb]

It would be nice to come up with some new duel titles too. I don't like the idea of just re-using the old ones.

[Palahere]

Since we are starting with the starcraft thing...

Put all title levels for profession names(dock worker/godfather and the likes) with a starcraft name in the end ;p

Advy: Zealot? ;p
Agent: Ghost/Hydralisk
Crat: Overmind or Cerebrate!
Doc: Medic
Enfo: Ultralisk
Engi: SCV(ha ha!You're an engineer!)
Fixer: Overlord!(since they can grid)
Keeper: Dark Templar/Archon(there is one to be found in AoC!)
Shade: Dark templar maybe,we can have the keeper changed to Archon ;p
MA: Zergling!
NT: Defiler
MP: Carrier
Solider: Goliath
Trader: Larva.

I ran out of ideas for a fixer ;/

[Cratapapy]

I can't understand something :

The score for each kill will be based on a calculation between your level and your targets levels. The bigger the difference the more or less points you will receive for killing that player depending on whether you are higher or lower than them in level.

It doesn't matter the rank of the player killed ? only level ?

[Darkbane]

Only problem with legend is I think ARK have that one already

[Vlain]

Originally Posted by ajukusoja Each proffesion with its OWN solo tree!!! now someone only have to figure em out

this was my first thought too - HUGE bump for each prof getting their own solo title tree

[Mastablasta]

Originally Posted by Darkbane Only problem with legend is I think ARK have that one already

And the problem with them having that is that noone knows them

[Traquemort]

Originally Posted by Omigawd Previously planted laser tagging devices should logically be disabled once the engi tower is up... it only makes sense.

That would make sense indeed, and the tower shouldn't act as an engineer's pet, it should act as a static mob with a timer after which it depops, so that the debuff lands no matter the level, but it couldn't be attacked except by pvp range. Could make the tower cast a buffing aura too so it can have some uses in BS and duels.
Preventing people lower/higher than the zone's level range from placing laser tags would be great too.

Profession based titles would be great too, those japanese-looking titles are horrible and don't relate to AO.



And giving something that could help engis to perform better in pvp in addition to forcing us to cast some more things in order to protect/buff/warp/tradeskill others would be great, even if it's hopeless.

[Balneator]

There needs to be some way of losing a title imo, or otherwise as arrien said it's just a grind, personally i don't like title decay over time, i'd like to log off and my character to stay as it is whether i log back on the next day, next month, or next decade, this only leaves one solution really, a loss of points on death. Otherwise the pvp titles only become a measure of how long you've been pvping on, and have no indication of how good you actually are at pvp.

At first this would seem that it is infact the same title system we have now, however with the newer system unless i have misread the title of your opponent does not matter.

So basically, old system with the new team/duel and the oppurtunity to lose and gain points from a player of any title is the way to go imo. Otherwise make hecks give pvp points so it can be a proper grind at least.

[Vlain]

I'm a little bummed that there isn't a punishment for death. Taking someone's title, or losing your own was one of the things that made pvp in AO so exciting. After pvp looting was removed this was the only tangible reward (on an individual level). I understand the thought behind the decision to not punish death, but I'll be sorry to see that incentive go.

This means that everyone who wants the highest titles can eventually get them regardless of whether they are the best pvp'ers or not. I realize people could farm titles before, but there was still a pecking order - even if someone farmed their title, they were still in danger of losing that title as long as they remain active in pvp - in other words, a farmed title won't last long on the BS unless you have the skills to defend it. Sadly, that will no longer be the case in the new system.

Otherwise, I find the other changes quite welcome.

[psyxor]

Originally Posted by Balneator this only leaves one solution really, a loss of points on death.

Title decay over played time solves this. Whats the point of being grandmaster if you dont pvp at least x times for x amount of game time anyway?

[Toboexxx]

Originally Posted by Xaun I still prefer profession based as I suggested but if it will be a flat list this is the best so far imho. PS: Please make titles degrade over time...

Agree i would like see a Judge Dredd Title worked in there somwhere.

Nice List Mastablasta Bamp

[Balneator]

Originally Posted by psyxor Title decay over played time solves this. Whats the point of being grandmaster if you dont pvp at least x times for x amount of game time anyway?

like I said I don't think title decay is a good solution, just because someone can't play every single day doesn't make them unworthy of a pvp title.