Your Voice - May

[crude4gone]

I have brought this up many times since the release of Shadowlands and now that we got fresh blood at FC working on AO, I figure I could try my luck and ask again.

Question: The biggest issue I have with Shadowlands, by far, is the high armor on mobs. This forces people to use weapons with high min-damage. This means reducing the pool of weapons the player finds useful by like 90%. And since variety is one of AO's strong selling points, are there any plans to reduce armor on mobs in SL so that people can branch out a bit in their character-setups? Not only would lower armor on mobs in SL reduce cookie-cutter setups, but it would make it easier to hunt mobs that aren't hecklers for XP.

This is something else I would also like answered.

The really stupid part about the high AC is that alot of the weapons that drop in SL are worthless from the start, because they also have a low min dmg. A perfect example is this pocket cannon that just dropped for me while farming some dynas. Dmg: 1-725...

[Tukzor]

Why did you take away the right of froobs to be org president? (even orgs without a city)

Never got an answer on this from devs (GM's said they didn't know, just that it was a decision by the devs ...).
Player answer was "to prevent some sploit", but everyone refused to say what the sploit was.

[TheCatlady]

This is something else I would also like answered.

The really stupid part about the high AC is that alot of the weapons that drop in SL are worthless from the start, because they also have a low min dmg. A perfect example is this pocket cannon that just dropped for me while farming some dynas. Dmg: 1-725...

This goes for quite a few RK-Weapons also, anyone remember the Manex Catastrophe? Before SL, it was one of THE guns to go with as a Fixer...
There is also a Weapon Smith standing around somewhere who sells various kinds of blades that probably no one uses anymore, would be nice to get that diversity back a little.
And on that note: why, oh why isn't there a SWORD for endgame Keepers?? I dread the thought of having to use that massive Axe, would LOVE an alternative that looks somewhere between the Excalibur and the one you get as reward for the Pen Quest... ^^

[Elithas]

What is your reasoning behind maintaining the research caps, especially at higher levels of research? It seems to me that my options for levelling in TL6/7 are bad enough, and if I don't have research done by then, I am punished at 220 by a huge amount of wasted xp as I have to do even more inf/dailies. Can the cap be removed only at 220 perhaps?

[Snakebite]

Is there any thought to reinstating ARKs ability to handle the first line in Petitions?
Since ARKs were removed from the Petition system, reply times have increased at least tenfold. ARKs had the important job of weeding out the Petitions that didn't require a paid employees intervention and gathering information on those that did so that the GMs work time was minimised.
There are many of us out there still that would happily help the community in this function and also many ex ARKs that would come back to help I imagine.

[Jasper2002]

I have an idea for additional content/raid zone.

Do you take these kind of suggestions?

If so what format do you prefer for submission?

[Deaconfrost]

I also have an idea for additional content / new raid zones.

MAKE SOME.

1. Will you ever look at old content and reduce the carpal tunnel inducing clicks needed to "Get Stuffz Done"?

Like lets say I perk reset and I have 40 points to spend. Do I REALLY have to click all 10 perks in the line? Why can't I just click Perk 10 and get the line filled automatically?

Or lets say I just killed Omega in Pen Quest. Woo Hoo Im gonna get Pen Key right? Wrong. Cos first you have to do 35 (THIRTY FIVE) clicks to combine stuff before you get Key. lol 35.

Or lets say I IPRed. lololol at holding down all those lines to refill them with IP. Why cant I click "max" and have it filled?

{edited by Anarrina: This question has been answered by multiple people.}

2. Why cant you make Unique Skins for Unique Bosses? It's a little bit of a letdown that every boss in Pande from TSS up to Beast has the exact same look.

Same with mobs , why cant they have "ranks" and different uniform details for some variety?

3. Ever going to fix the piecemeal quest system? After the merge my quests were wiped. I had NO idea which quests I had done, was in the middle of, what step I was on , etc. Quest log plx?

4. Ever going to fix shop so details aren't a bunch of spam? Let me sort by sales / deposits / etc SEPERATELY, not the wall of spam listing every single thing done in the damn bank. And STILL no commas in deposit for credz?

5. Once new engine is released (*grins*) what is your timetable for "refreshing" the zones to not just run in the new engine but have the graphics in each particular zone brought up to modern standards? Like Inferno. Any chance of some realistic lava? lol <3

Like this feature. Thanks y'all.

[Gunfytr]

With rebalance, the game play will change drastically for some, meaning, IP resets. Would it be possible to allow a toon with Alpha Symbiants, to NOT have to remove the Alpha Symbiants to do an IP reset.

[Gatester]

I like how people ask these really random or minor questions expecting them to be chosen over something more relevant to the game as a whole or something the majority of the population would like to know. I also like how people are posting questions that would be incredibly difficult for FC to answer, and expect them to be among the 5 "easier PR response" questions that are actually going to be chosen


Let's give these a shot:

1) Players have proposed allowing minor access for froobs to parts of paid content in order to encourage players to subscribe. Is this idea something that can be done in addition to Steam and the NPE planned in the future and what is the likelihood of this occuring?

2) As time progresses and work on the engine update takes longer to complete, is FC considering the gap of graphics of the ever improving visuals of the current and future markets? AO may improve visually, but does FC expect AO to compete with other games on a visual level or perhaps to simply match or surpass certain competitors?

3) Players and companies selling credits are likely the primary reason the game's economy is in its current state of inflation. If AO sees an influx of new players, they will likely have difficulty affording items for a substantial period of time and could find this to be a reason to stop playing. Are there any plans to deal with the seemingly high amount of credits being distributed from these sources or to make credits a less necessary resource for players to develop their characters in AO?

4) The rebalancing efforts have been planned for many years now, and little has been seen in the way of proposed changes when considering the whole of AO. The current plan is for the entire rebalancing process to be introduced at once, but this seems less viable as time goes on. The more setbacks with staff and developers over time can lengthen this process indefinately, and replacing the staff only decreases the chances of having developers who are familiar with the complexities AO itself. Would it be possible to introduce smaller or specific changes over a period of time instead, working on individual tools or professions at a time, and allow balancing to rely more on player feedback, rather than a massive overhaul at some far off future date?

[Le-Quack]

will keepers get some justice? ( before balance and after, i think there should be some extra effort into that profession )

and when will balance come?

and TOTW.. increase the size of the best playfield ever created in ao.

[Leetlover]

And on that note: why, oh why isn't there a SWORD for endgame Keepers?? I dread the thought of having to use that massive Axe, would LOVE an alternative that looks somewhere between the Excalibur and the one you get as reward for the Pen Quest... ^^

Something similar to Icicle Sword I think you might want.

[Canibaal]

Are you looking towards revamping Notum War mechanics? Current 24hrs cycle is only beneficial for the side holding the base in the timezone they have majority defenders online. This leaves 3/4th of the day dull and players in other timezones cant participate in any tower action.

[Anarrina]

Again, please. Leave the discussion, and answering questions by others out of the thread. If you REALLY feel the need to answer something (its a simple knowledge question) then start another thread in a different forum or send them a PM. The idea is to have this relatively uncluttered so the Morteia doesn't have to wade through 20 pages of discussion to figure out where the questions are. Thanks.

[Agentcora]

*pokes her head out of the fourth wall*

Will the development of the game also include development/continuation of the story in the future? There has been no story development in quite some time, not including the small scale things that happen with ARK Events.

Story wise this game is deep and brilliant, it's a shame to see it left inactive.

[crimson]

when are MP's gonna get some much needed love?

[Tiralee]

Are there any plans to update the content of the website? I say "content" specifically because I'm not talking about revamping it, or giving it a new look, or upgrading it in any way. I'm just talking about adding current content. The last Development update, on the home page, is from May of last year. The most recent update other than Dev Updates is from August of last year. Just adding current content, even to the same old website, would at least make AO look like it's still alive.

[Hardcore]

1. Are you guys ever going to create NEW mobs (as in not copy/pasting a old mob and then change the colour)? I feel you guys has been on the lazyside of this matter for quite a lot of instances/dungeons/whatever.

Bring us some epic-scary-looking-monster that will scare the shiet out of us!

2. Is there any plans on giving mp's some temporary boost (or some of the rebalance stuff), I'd love to see the kickass looking Scourge killing stuff for me!

3. As other people has asked previously, why do I, as an European have to pay more for this game than others? I feel discriminated, and honestly, the current subscription fee doesn't justify what the game delivers in terms of updates and such.

Thanks for this initiative!

[Endymion]

Have you ever thought about leveraging your community to help solve development problems with the new engine and NPE?

[MachSchau]

The original Ogre engine was announced sometime in 2007 (or was it 2006?) and then scrapped in early/first quarter 2009 for the Dreamworld engine. Putting specifics and technicalities aside, if the Ogre engine came out in say 2009 then, lets say hypothetically, AO would have an up to date engine that was on par, graphically, with the MMOs being released at the time.

With the Dreamworld engine being applied to the game in 2009 and not being fully realized until 2013 or maybe 2014, new games and MMOs that have been released since 2009 are far more graphically superior and have much more customization than what AO will probably receive when it is released. Also, it was stated that at this point in the development of the engine that the main priority was releasing it without all the knobs, buttons and whistles but that, over time, updates regarding the engine will be released to make it complete.

So, with what we have seen with the engine it doesn't make AO look like a game that was released between 2009-2013. It does bring the game more up to date than when it was released, however, it does not make it a graphically outstanding game.

So with all that said, here are my questions. (1) With AO receiving a new engine, will there be updates over time to bring the game to look more graphically superior, something along the lines of AoC or TSW? To elaborate further, I am not asking if it will look like AoC or TSW within 1 year, but much farther down the line.

(2) If updates to the engine can be released with patching, will this make it so a complete overhaul wont be necessary?

(3) Will AO need a complete overhaul of the engine (in the future) to make it on par with the games of the future?

(4) When will there be a overhaul on AOs code? We know it is dark, ancient, spaghetti and troublesome. Will it ever be re-done so it can introduce new modern features without having to use voodoo to make it work?

[Pinknpinker]

As an enforcer I have perks and nanos where In a fight I have to have myself selected/deselected before I can use them. Example "Greater Fortify". Its obvious I am wanting to use it on myself so why do i have to select myself before I can cast it on myself. I realize I can target someone else with it but dont understand why default is other than myself.

Another example is using the Perk "Crave". Its obvious I want to use it on a mob, why do I have to deselect myself before I can use it on a mob?

Just a few of the questions that keep me awake at night. Please help