Friday with Means - March 20th, 2009

[Hacre]

You know, Not everyone right now has the money to pay for a game. The money might be needed for more important things. I recently had to stop paying for the game. Most the people who play this game are froobs, anyhow. Another thing people Don't realize is, most players play BECAUSE the game is free.

Whether this is accurate or not, it doesn't mean that subscriber money should be used to develop content for freeloaders.

If you don't pay, don't -expect- or -demand- access to new content.

[Falkvinge]

You know, Not everyone right now has the money to pay for a game. The money might be needed for more important things. I recently had to stop paying for the game. Most the people who play this game are froobs, anyhow. Another thing people Don't realize is, most players play BECAUSE the game is free.

I've seen lots of people in hover chairs and see lots of >200 players..
Maybe the froobs just hide, but I believe that the number of non bank only froob- and paid accounts are somewhat even.
But then again, I could be wrong and it just looks even to me.

[styles999]

Who is degrading anyone if we say that froobs already have enough content and if they want some more they can subscribe.
Everything new that comes out there is someone asking "will froobs get that too?". Its getting really old. If they are so keen on getting new stuff they can simply you know.... start paying for the game.

oh no, i know your frustration, i didnt mean it in that sense(i was ranting alil sry ) my main concern is/was the negitive attitude that is somehow projected upon someone that is "truely" new...

if I was new to a game, and seen someone that pays for the game complaining, degrading other ppl(yes it happens alot, whether or not they are messing around on an alt i wouldnt know)...I as the new player would look at that and say, hmmm, maybe ill go try game such and such instead, noone seems willing to answer/help (and when i say help, i dont mean give the new person 1bill creds...they are trying to figure out "how" the hell the game works, and the ones i run across that ask for creds, i log a lowbie, ask them to follow me, and let them loot the mission (try to get one easy assessable)which is part of why i dont have a 220 yet :P along with me working on 8-10 diff toons

lucky tho, ao's playerbase IS more mature than any other game ive played, i kinda feel means and dev crew understand what i mean

[PhoenixOfAges]

The new Opi head looks fantastic compared to the first version. A new night club and apartment is interesting and I do like that sort of thing but other matters would be of more interest really.

Questions:

1. Are there any plans to change other things from LE like missions, BSs, incomplete OFAB armour sets, APTs and regarding VP gain methods?
2. What is considered the current role of VP? Is it just a currency that as we were told got a large increase at BSs as an incentive to go or do you consider it some kind of PvP reward?
3. Is there any chance of modifying the names of items like Arul Saba Bracers or the upgraded Reanimator cloaks to make their specific type clearer? (ex. "Fire - Arul Saba Bracer - 5/5 - Right" and "Cloak of the Reanimated Jester - 5/5")
4. Back when the log-in window was changed to requiring us to enter our password each time Sil said something they'd like to do is allow us to change chars without logging completely out. That is when we log out a char we would go to a screen where we can pick another char from the account or log out of the account. Is anything like that being looked at?
5. Are live server character transfers being looked at being done any more?
6. In a survey a ways back there was a question about if we'd like to see an account wide bank added. Is something like that or a mailing system where we can send items and creds to others being considered?
7. When will the 17.10 forum be removed/locked?

[PhoenixOfAges]

Second: VP at levels where BS doesn't run.

Outside of two level ranges, BS simply doesn't run. Alien missions are laughable VP. Is anything being done to resolve this? Perhaps if you got VP for being in the queue for BS (and take away the option to decline an invite, if you are in the queue, you ARE going, don't want to go? leave the queue). This will encourage people to sign up, as right now, there is no reason to, as you will never get to BS. Now that people have a reason to sign up, there might actually be BS occasionally.

While I do agree there should be adjustments to VP gains across the lvl range they don't need to link those improved gains to BSs. People into PvP that go to BSs already complain about VP farmers and there have been those asking for things like 0 VP BSs. Then two years after BS VP got bumped as an incentive for people to go most BSs are still dead so VP clearly is a bad lure and would attract the wrong people.

Other things that have been suggested time and again could do far more to improve things for BSs than more VP. Being awarded VP for sitting in a queue of a BS that may never run just makes no sense either. VP gains should be done actively like through improved mission mechanics and other types of missions that have VP rewards (the sided camps we get Dread weapons from has a VP reward mission).

Q2: When will Aimed Shot be PvM re-usable in a friendly manner? (Concealment Vs. Perception check perhaps)

A flip side of that is to make PvP AS more like PvM AS. Many people already complain bitterly about AS in PvP and have for years.

According to the EULA, iirc, you technically have to be 18 to play AO, so underage gambling shouldn't be a problem.

There is also a note in the EULA saying that at the discretion of their parent/guardian underage individuals can play too.

[Rktim]

Questions:
1. What happened to the cyberpunk in AO? It seems it went out the door with AI and LE where AO visually more turned tworwads good looking and realistic SiFI, yes, it looks good but its like booring... Grey armor n stuff, not cool...

2. Will there be Catgirls in the night club in space?

3. Can we have the "blue layer" effect on the GUI removed so we can select our own colours without AO messing them up when we re-skin the GUI?

4. Will anything be changed in the GUI for the graphics update?

[IHaveHugeNick]

Question: do you have any plans to review and adjust the IP templates for each profession?

Some things about skill templates are horribly wrong, for example highest special attack Bureaucrat can raise, is Sneak attack, we can raise it around 320 points higher then any of the ranged weapon specials, which is flat out ridicolous when you realise we don't even use melee weapons, and in general only weapon we ever had support for is Pistol.

Why Engineers and Traders aren't able to raise respectively Grenade and Shotgun higher then everyone else can, if those are profession specific weapons no one else is really using? All other profession specific weapon lines i can think of, can be raised higher when used by intended profession.

Why the differencies in treatment templates? I can understand Doctors having more treatment, Fixers and Adventurers , i really don't. In particular i don't understand why melee profession have bad treatment templates given that its already harder for them to twink things due to symbiants lacking certain abilities.

The tradeskill templates: i imagine the tradeskill system ingame wasn't designed for one person to do all combines, , maybe it was supposed to be a way to induldge social interactions, which is why Crats have more this skill, Traders have more that skill, Fixers have more that, Engineer have more that, NTs have more that, MPs have more that, but the game is running for long enough to say without any doubt it doesn't work like that.

Players expect to go to one person and be done with all combines, but it puts a lot of load on IP of those who do it, it would be good if our IP templates reflected that tendency (and i mean all professions involved here).

That's just from top of my head, I'm sure there are more examples another people could bring.

[Hacre]

Question: do you have any plans to review and adjust the IP templates for each profession?

Some things about skill templates are horribly wrong, for example highest special attack Bureaucrat can raise, is Sneak attack, we can raise it around 320 points higher then any of the ranged weapon specials, which is flat out ridicolous when you realise we don't even use melee weapons, and in general only weapon we ever had support for is Pistol.

Why Engineers and Traders aren't able to raise respectively Grenade and Shotgun higher then everyone else can, if those are profession specific weapons no one else is really using? All other profession specific weapon lines i can think of, can be raised higher when used by intended profession.

Why the differencies in treatment templates? I can understand Doctors having more treatment, Fixers and Adventurers , i really don't. In particular i don't understand why melee profession have bad treatment templates given that its already harder for them to twink things due to symbiants lacking certain abilities.

The tradeskill templates: i imagine the tradeskill system ingame wasn't designed for one person to do all combines, , maybe it was supposed to be a way to induldge social interactions, which is why Crats have more this skill, Traders have more that skill, Fixers have more that, Engineer have more that, NTs have more that, MPs have more that, but the game is running for long enough to say without any doubt it doesn't work like that.

Players expect to go to one person and be done with all combines, but it puts a lot of load on IP of those who do it, it would be good if our IP templates reflected that tendency (and i mean all professions involved here).

That's just from top of my head, I'm sure there are more examples another people could bring.

Brawl for Keepers springs to mind, being dark blue. Crat nano skills also seem a bit odd. I believe there's a thread in Game Suggestions about some skills Agents aren't too happy about.

[harkness]

I'm sorry I missed that next week was going to be Q&A, but I figured better late than never. Last time Means answered a bunch of questions put together in a moderator page (which lets people post questions and vote on which questions they want answered).

You can see the results of that by clicking on http://moderator.appspot.com/#15/e=16202&t=15fab I manually added the responses from Means, so if there are any errors, they're my fault.

I've figured out how to make this into a series of questions, so I've added a new post in case people want to post their questions there for next week. And I promise as soon as this week's FWM is out, I'll update and add a new topic so people can start posting questions for when Means next decides to go to the Q&A bag.

The place to post questions for this week is http://moderator.appspot.com/#15/e=16202&t=325d5 (which I have pre-populated with my favorite question, VP and battlestations!)

[Vlain]

Why do procs have nano recharge?

Why doesn't Form of Risan stack with Reduce Inertia any more? Do you not consider MA's an evade class any more?

[Hacre]

Why do procs have nano recharge?

Why doesn't Form of Risan stack with Reduce Inertia any more? Do you not consider MA's an evade class any more?

Good questions both.

[harkness]

okie, to make up on my being late posting a moderator list for those who would have used it, I've posted all the questions before this into the moderator anonymously, meaning there's now a ton of questions there. Go vote!

[rakhabit]

The new opi head looks great now, definitely the right direction.

[Suicidal]

According to the EULA, iirc, you technically have to be 18 to play AO, so underage gambling shouldn't be a problem.

Gambling is limited to 21+ in some places

[Dictan]

two handed blunt fixes

[aleah]

<snip> When designing the LOX booster it was intended that these new areas would provide an alternative means of gaining significant amounts of SK/AXP for the purpose of leveling... a break from the normally most efficient (but perhaps repetitive) methods of leveling in a effort to increase "fun and variety" during leveling. Something we intend to do more work on in the future. <snip>

I've latched on to the idea that you are working on more "alternative leveling options".
Who can I send a fruit-basket to, in the hopes of getting this bumped up in priority?

[Hacre]

Hmm I must have missed it when Means wrote that.

Most general leveling teams would get butt stomped in LoX. Also even the deep red mobs give less SK per kill than their equivalent level Inf mish mobs, even when you take into account the faster kill.

That's not to say I think the mobs need to be nerfed or anything changed, apart from those infernal Regen Towers. Just saying it didn't quite work out as an alternative leveling spot, unless of course talking about AXP.

[Berinda]

Hmm I must have missed it when Means wrote that.

Most general leveling teams would get butt stomped in LoX. Also even the deep red mobs give less SK per kill than their equivalent level Inf mish mobs, even when you take into account the faster kill.

That's not to say I think the mobs need to be nerfed or anything changed, apart from those infernal Regen Towers. Just saying it didn't quite work out as an alternative leveling spot, unless of course talking about AXP.

Just like inf mishes, the SK from the mobs is not the draw - the SK from the mish rewards is.

[Sama]

This:

Well, as you asked for it this time, I won't feel too sorry :
There were of recent several discussions about Neutrals, their issues, issues others had with them and most of all about the dangerous power gap that was widening between neutrals and sideds.
For the records, the power issue rose with the recent release of Xan token boards, who basically ate the few original mods from Smuggled boards, becoming OPed in the process (at least in my eyes), in particular since the Off/Def boards in themselves can hardly be considered upgrades to Smuggled boards.
Depending on the prof and breed, the gap between an endgame neut toon and an endgame sided toon is now comparable to 2 or even 3 more pieces of AI armor in favor of the sideds ofc, and it's not even taking into account the Run Speed issue or the High ql Towers issue. That's a bit too much and you were kind enough to acknowledge it and to assure us the issue wouldn't be "swept under the rug".

So, the question : is there anything coming sooner or later to tackle this issue? And if yes, will it be included into a wider review of Neutral place in the big picture?

Hail Means and Macrosun!

And This:

Here's my question.

Neutral balance, when?

also if balance is brought into account would you ever consider an option for sided players to become neutral again? I know of many players that stopped being neutral do to neck items. Would they ever be allowed to become neutral again once balance is brought? Why can you jump from omni to clan or visa versa, but never go neut?

[Falkvinge]

also if balance is brought into account would you ever consider an option for sided players to become neutral again? I know of many players that stopped being neutral do to neck items. Would they ever be allowed to become neutral again once balance is brought? Why can you jump from omni to clan or visa versa, but never go neut?

Play an agent with neutral undercover kit if you want to be neutral again..