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Lannister

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Posts posted by Lannister

    Posted

    Everyone,

    The following is a cut of the patch notes that you will see when the January Content update goes live - likely tonight if all goes well. I have little more information that what is in the notes below.

    You will note that, as mentioned previously, most of the patch content is focused on bug fixes.

    We can use this thread to discuss the changes. Please understand that some of them are vague on purpose - you need to get out there and explore, search, and acquire.

    Content Updates

    • Moved decorative asteroid out of Swooping Eagle warp path.
    • Increased Dahin level 3 field size/density.
    • Fixed most debris filled asteroids. Please report remaining on forums.
    • Added diridium crystal field to Mars Beta to follow Diridium Detours mission.
    • Added crystal field to IO for Developing Mivrei Drones.
    • Turned off all xmas missions.
    • Removed all Christmas NPCs.
    • Developed Sha'ha'dem Training starting talk tree.
    • Added short no reward mission to give Shin-Tzu Li your Aspirant's Insignia after JE training.
    • Added more asteroid decorations to Ganymede asteroid belt nav.
    • Rearranged wreckage of ganymede highport stuff.
    • Completed HU 100-135 Token missions for all Progen classes.
    • Fishbowl raid no longer started by killing a mob.
    • Added Red Dragons to Inverness.
    • Centuriata Nota, Collegia Nota and Sabine Nota in the lounge of Arx Magister have fuller descriptions and more information as to how to do these Token Missions. All races can read this information, but only the specified class can do the mission(s) as designated by their Progen Class faction.
    • Token Missions can only be obtained between hull levels 50 and the final hull upgrade.
    • Each Token mission will eventually unlock restricted higher level content, if a Progen has not done a particular Token mission they will be excluded from this higher level content. This provides variety.
    • Token Missions with only 2 stages are skeleton missions with full reward as if it was a full 7 stage mission. These missions will be fleshed out in future, but if a Progen selects them now they will still unlock the future restricted content dependent on these missions. Typically, these skeleton Token missions are at the Hull Upgrade 75 level.
    • Token Missions are not required to be done for any Hull Upgrade. All Progen Hull upgrades are independant to token missions, tokens are simply obtained when some hull levels are obtained.
    • There are 14 Token Missions per Progen Class but each class will only receive 6 Tokens from the hull upgrades when the Token Missions can be done. For further information please talk to the NPC in the Lounge of Arx Magister.
    • All Token missions reward from the same reward scheme whether they be level 50 or 100. Each will give 2 rewards from the following selection: 20K Combat Experience, 20K Explore Experience, 20K Trade Experience, 15K credits, 250 Faction { not Jenquai or Terran }, Blueprint x1, or Item x1 (non-manufacturable).
    • Master Promotion Mission renamed to "A Guide to... (promotion mission)". If not acquired when leaving Progen starting station, re-target the station.
    • Increased available harvestables in Zweihander space.
    • Increased spawns of Belter Laborer in Margesi for Terran Scout Hacking mission.
    • ECS Dauntless: Added Panic Impact & Plasma ammo.
    • Added level 105 jobs to Earth Station.
    • Added level 50 jobs to Inverness Down
    • Increased ore availability somewhat in Equatorial Earth.
    • Santa has forwarded all the scout's christmas presents to Administrator Luzzini owing to needing to see to things at the North Pole. He'll see you next year if you're good!
    • Asteroid Belt Alpha has had its ore adjusted sector wide.

    Portal

    • Now on live database.
    • Change password function.
    • Item database now reads new loot tables.
    • All new downloads section on portal.
    • New signature generation method.
    • Query optimizations to speed database up.
    • Upvote 2

    Posted

    Before you click on the poll please let me provide some context:

    We have already agreed that end game items (i.e. Splitter/Caster, Hellbore, Skull Shields, etc) are to readily available in game. Much of this is due to the ease with which the mobs who drop them can be taken down.

    The overall desire is to make these items rare - a shining goal to be a challenge that not everyone can do.

    The spawn times as they are, I believe, are way to low. In live the controller was days not hours. To have controller loot meant something - now you can find it floating near his spawn most of the time. Cast out like junk.

    There are some changes coming which will make Controller and GoBB more like raids and less like shooting fish in a barrel. While this will help spawn times needs to be adjusted to make the items much more rare than they are today.

    This is your chance to chime in.

    And yes, I know that one answer doesn't fit all here - there will be some variability between then. But in general what are our expectations here.

    Thanks again for participating.

    Posted

    All,

    Most of the items that Magoo has mentioned have already been mentioned and are being worked on. I am happy to distill any new points and follow-up on them to the devs.

    The challenge issue around the strength of mobs and ability to easily dispatch end game content is being actively worked on. Things are going to get significantly harder. Some with not see this as a good change,some will. But the net effect will be more raid content and and end to the days of anyone soloing end game content.

    There are a considerably amount of things in the works. Have patience and I will keep trying to keep you informed as and when I can.

  7. Posted

    All,

    I am happy to push for changes to faction - and I understand the pain of the faction grind, but it needs to be a challange. A single mission, even a CF style mission, would not IMHO be enough.

    Perhaps more RD faction mini missions to lessen the load as someone else suggested would be an option, but like the existing missions they would probably need to be limited in both when youc an take them (i.e. a minimum faction) and their reward (i.e. 500pt cap).

    Lets also not forget Der Todd and the rumors of a Chavez factioned sector off the gate in Paramis.

    Or am I incorrect/off target in thinking that faction needs to be a reail pain and that, at best, we will be replcing one sort of grind for another?

  8. Posted

    I'm pretty sure it was 75% to 125% or I got a raw deal on a few items and I need to take it up with EA's customer service. :)

    I think something similar to the distribution model that CDev mentioned was what they did in Live. Sub 100% did happen occasional, but not as often as they are now. We did two runs of the FB yesterday netting the normal loot and very few items were above 100%. We looted two of each smiter (wrath and fury) and all were below 100%.

    If the game was up I would send you a picture of my 75% Caster. ;) Talk about elation followed by disappointment...

  13. Posted

    The avatar database was NOT touched, it was purely passwords that were affected.

    If this account was created to today, please PM me your username, e-mail address and character names, i will make sure they are linked to the right account.

    Slayer,

    I can confirm that something has happened as part of the restore. In addition to numerous messages/posts in game on lost levels or lost items my JE was effected. My JE had logged in and refined some ores and pass them to my TT. When I logged him in again a bit ago he still had the ores (and so did my TT). So it seems that toons which were logged in this morning but logged off before your restore took place. Toons which stayed logged on during the process were not impacted.

    Lannister

    Posted

    Anything which drops at variable quality - which is pretty much everything, will now only drop up to 125% quality. That ship has sailed and was a decision made by the devs due to the effect on many items which where not designed with those quality levels in mind. That is a done deal.

    What we are looking at here is what to do with non-manufacture items in game that are over 125% - with particular interest being on end game items such as Caster/Spitter/Hellbore/Wrath/etc; though they will not be the only ones impacted.

    Remember that this is a pre-alpha stress test. We cannot get to fixated on the way things are and need to keep our eyes on the end point of production quality game.

    • Upvote 1

    Posted

    Wow lol.

    Can we have such changes noticed and discussed in advance if a discussion is seriously intended? Patch now and this posted 4 hrs ago and has 14 views, nice advanced notice...

    Really? Look at the changes again.

    Terran Scout: This was a notification that one of the more persistent comments I have been getting from players I talked to is being worked.

    Bug Fixes: Notice on bug fixes should not be expected.

    Drop Item Quality: Another bug fix - the original patch notes support that drops to 180% where not what was desired.

    Random Spawn Times: This is the only substantive change and is also the most comment requested change I have heard to date. Many of you requested it, and here it is. It went into production considerably faster than and had thought, but most will agree it is a good change.

    Please try and remember that you now have more feedback into and viability into the development process that ever before. Where I can I will give you pre-warning of changes. That will, however, continue to be hit and miss.

    Posted

    All,

    As you will see from my last post there is a patch going in, likely tonight, which will cap MOB drop quality at 125%.

    Many of us (myself included) have non-manufacturer items over 125% and, in many cases, worked very hard to get them. So what should be done with these items? Here is our chance to potentially influence a potentially unpopular decision before it is made.

    Feel free to chime in and explain why you voted as you did.

    • Upvote 1

    Posted

    Hello All,

    I just had my second meeting with the Dev's and have some specific items coming up that I wanted to give you a preview of. All good news in my opinion.

    First I want to remind everyone that we have a group of developers, GMs, and Beta Testers that are doing this in there free time. They are doing some very nice things, as you can see by how far we have come, but we should remember they have real life jobs and need some time to play. Most of us are online considerably more than they are.

    So here are some of the things that have been discussed:

    • Terran Scout: TS skills are being worked on and the new skills should go some way in addressing some of the shortcomings of the class. Many of you have mentioned that the TS is much more fragile that other classes with lvl8 shields. This should address this.
    • Mob's and Drop fixes: The painstaking task of going through mob by mob is being undertaken to verify and correct AI, drops, and other related items. This is a slow and ongoing process but some of the output will be visible soon.
    • Bug Fixes: The current focus in on back-end work. Major content updates like December will not be the norm going forward. Patch updates will focus around tuning and bug fixing primarily. There are so many back end or support items (such as not-working or incorrectly working skills)which take priority in improving game play. But do not worry - content Devs are still working hard and there are some exciting things in the works.
    • Drop Item Quality: Mob drops with item quality up to 180% is an error and is going to be fixed soon. The correct window of 75% - 125% will implemented. What to do with non-manu items which are over 125% has not yet been decided. I will start a poll on this so we can weigh in.
    • Random Spawn Times:I am sure we are all aware that many (most) of the boss mobs have been excessively camped - especially with the new higher quality item drops. To discourage camping the spawn time of boss mobs is being randomized. The mob may appear earlier - or latter than the target time.

    There is a patch going in tonight - since testing is going on in the Dev server I am not sure what will be in the patch, but some of what I mentioned above will be in there.

    I hope this is useful and interesting.

    Your Advocate,

    Lannister

    Posted

    Not umber - über i.e. one of the many bosses that Lannister refers too and of their kind of ilk i.e. (66), mob raid leader or boss. May be Lann shouldn't post when too drunk to run the spell checker - posting was riddle with spelling errors (not that I worry much about it).

    :PP

    My degree is in Pure Mathematics, not English or any derivation there-of. My spelling is horrendous (yeah, I checked that one) - hopefully it won't get in the way too much.;))

    Posted

    Excellent feedback guys. A couple of comments to keep us going.

    HOWEVER having said that, there needs to be a class of content that can be solo'ed once one has very top-end gear and excellent tactics.

    They should be similar to the named mobs in the game now, but a bit tougher and harder to reach. Something that gives folks something fun and worthwhile to do, while not requiring a full group/raid. They should be balanced so that any Warrior class (PW/JD/TE) can solo, but be difficult for them to do so. They also need to balanced (and dynamically scaling) so bringing in more group members doesn't turn it into a cakewalk either.

    Obviously the rewards from these encounters must not be as good as full raid content, but should be good enough that they're highly desirable.

    I agree, and think that is a good point. There is a large portion of the user bases that is not big on the group activities. They prefer lone outings, outside of the guilds and groups. Some of the lower TenGu bosses are probably good examples of this - though not as they are set up now.

    An issue to settle before this content should be solo-able that may be ought to be settled is the quality range buff that got added recently to items i.e. 95-150 (or 95-180 as it actually seems to be in reality). This has lead into over-farming of items from the content that was mentioned as every player goes in pursuit of higher-quality items.

    I will circle back around on this point as it has come up before. While i think the idea of over 100% quality items on a drop is a good one I do agree that it has lead to allot of high lvl toons re-engaging some of these bosses. My feel has been that if the bosses are truely end-game group content that it will, at least, make them earn the new upgrades.

    The trade XP from the ammo loot in the fish bowl is over the top, I agree. Even cutting it in half would still be a bit over the top.

    The kicker here is, as long as every raid/boss is on a known timed spawn without any variation it allows for them to be easily camped.

    This has come up several times and was already discussed with the Dev team. Timed re-spawns make camping too easy and allow a group or guild to effectively "own" the spawn as they know when the mob will re-spawn. Variable spawn windows have been discussed.

    Thank you all again for the feedback, please keep it coming.

    Posted

    Most of us have seen it, many of us have done it. All of us should have heard the story of a the lone JD taking out Kewi Station (The RD base), or the lone Terran taking out The Ghost Of Blackbeard even with the nastier Minions. The Controller can be soloed by pretty much any class at any time. Even the new and improved Fish Bowl can be done with two or 3 toons and some patients.

    This has sparked a fair bit of conversation online. This is not what the Dev teams intended, but how do we want it? The remarkable application of skills and tactics can allow us to do some great things - but genius passes into production as the tricks are shared. Is that what we want?

    How that is done is another conversation - no one likes to be Nurfed. But lets first try and settle on where we want it to be. But keep in mind there are implications to what we say and discuss here.

    Don't just vote - thats a cop out. Tell us why you think what you think as well.

    Posted

    Happy New Year to everyone who I have not seen online the last couple of weeks.

    I realize I have gotten a somewhat slower start on this than I would have hoped. With work and the crash just getting a post here has been hard. But please rest assured I am on the job.

    First I want thank all the people who have been feeding me information online, and thank you for putting up with my tells and requests. My first tact has always been to reach out to the long time players where I can and talk to them. I know I did not get to all of you, but it is something I will try and keep up. If you see me online please do not hesitate to reach out to me as well.

    I have received a lot of good feedback and did have an opportunity a couple weeks ago to give that feedback to Dave and Team during one of the bi-weekly Dev meetings.

    First it quickly became apparent that everyone has specific items they would like to see fixed. Some of these items are large and some small and many with a low degree of resonance to others in our user community and, in many cases, even conflicting. So what I have been looking for, assembling, and trying to communicate has been common threads or themes. That has been the focus of my conversation so far online.

    Much of the best information comes from watching guild chats (yes, I now have toons in multiple guilds) and in General (or in general after it gets kicked out of another area). These candid, impromptu conversations are the best. I know some of you have expressed a concern that I am not being vocal enough in some of these conversations – but I am a conduit and need to be careful I do not shape these great discussions.

    So here is my cunning plan going forward:

    1. I will continue to reach out to regular players and gather feedback from them.

    2. I will continue to look forward to your contact – here on forum or in game, with items you would like me to take on.

    3. I will be posting a series of polls online to spark conversation. Many of them may start general, or intentionally leading, in order to spark conversation which can then be distilled down.

    4. I will continue to join the Dev Meetings as often as they will have me and feedback what I can. (more to follow on this).

    More posts and polls to follow.

    So what else? What am I missing?

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