Commando Archive
Thread: Discussion on our Question/Answer
- We will be getting new specials or our specials will be "altered/adjusted"
- The CB will be a "major" change for our profession....subtle hint?
- Some of us will be able to test and report back on the CB before it officially launches with Publish 10 (we don't have to wait untilpublish 10 toknow specifics regarding the Combat Balance)
- TH may be dropping a hint in the end that some new content coming out, like the DW, could be Commando friendly…Does this mean there might be high level content with low level Heat resists?
Here is the Preface to this weeks 19 questions...it revolves around the Combat Balance...some interesting stuff I think...
One of the big reasons for the prolonged delay is that we want to build a special “sand box” environment to test the changes as they are made and also outside of the existing testing environment. Executing a massive change on live game servers by creating a secondary testing medium enables those changes to be tweaked or even completely altered over and over as needed, based on feedback and experience from the devs and the testers who will be involved in this effort. This differs than our existing test environment in that the way things usually work is the developers work on a code publish and that publish is pushed to Test Center. After that, the publish is pushed from laceName>TestlaceName> laceType>CenterlaceType> to the Live servers. That process is a one way trip and would have to be completed within the time frame of one publish cycle (which is now two weeks with frequent TC updates). With those limitations, it makes the logistics of carefully balancing combat across all the professions much more difficult than it should be because it is actually trying to do two big jobs at once. Instead, we want to create this combat balance sand-box parallel to the existing publish cycle so that the developers can have more of an ability to make a change, then go back and tweak that change as necessary, or even change it altogether. For instance, let’s say everyone likes the idea of changing the brawler special move /warcry from a cone to an area-of-effect to make it better fit the idea of melee combat. Hypothetically we could make that change and then test it in the combat balance sand-box. Then let’s say we make that change and then find out that the new area-of-effect /warcry has a PvP exploit that in theory is a great idea, but in practice becomes a good idea gone bad. In the existing test environment, there is a limit to how much and how fast changes can be made. In contrast, this sand-box test environment that we are creating, will allow the development team the needed space to easily tweak things and test them using different solutions, etc. Basically, instead of testing all the publish items and the combat balance at the same time, we’ll have a server cluster where we test only the combat balance.
In short, doing the combat balance in a different, more appropriate test environment will allow the team to get better results overall. This is the main reason for the delay in the combat balance (time which was needed to allocate and set up the technology) and also the main reason why there isn’t a fountain of specific examples. All the specific examples that everyone is looking for pertains to the combat system as it exists and represents all the questions developers will be asking during the course of development. If I gave you answers now, they would be “best guesses at this time” and would definitely change over the course of developing the new combat system.
The good news is that in JustG’s latest State of the Game letter, he talks about the current plans for these changes to go live in Publish 10 which means that we will begin the actual internal work within the next week or so.
Message Edited by garvin on 04-29-2004 03:48 PM
Thats what i like about you Garvin you the glas is half full kind of guy... lol
Personally I think its a way of saying wait your turn and we will see! and i will add that i think the good question you made needed a better answer.
But thats just what I think...
Colonel Hoot Gibson (Master Commando & Master Tera kasi) Corbantis Rebel
"...................?......................."
I think someone who has a lot of time on their hands, other than me, should go through all the profession he answered and see how many times he used "combat balance" and part of the main answer. 
Other than that I think that we will have to wait and see what the future holds. Some of these things sound good right now, but as we know, nothing is as constant as change. What holds true for today could easily be changed tomorrow or next week or before patch 10. I look forward to see what the future holds in 2 to 3 months for commando, and hope its for the best. Please forgive me for sounding not overly joyed by the answer. It's a wait and see kind of thing for me.
garvin wrote:
With a current influx of new weapons and equipment appearing for various profession, Commandos would like to know what ideas the Devs have for new weapons, fixes to our weapons, or revamps of our current Commando weapons, when we might see them (i.e. publish 10, publish 12, etc) and will they include ranged specials, AP and/or be non-consumable? In other words, beyond the Combat Rebalance, what do Commandos have to look forward too in the way of new Commando related content?
TH: There will definitely be changes to the weapons in all professions and since the Commando is a very combat oriented profession, the CB will definitely be a big change in the Commando experience. What they will be exactly will really start to take shape during the combat balance. There are many ideas for all the specials that will be experimented with throughout this process. Since it is such an important issue, we will be giving access to a special test server where correspondents and veteran testers can help with the feedback. When those activities take place, the community can look for updates and news posts about the ongoing progress as well as respond to upcoming CB In-Development threads. As to the degree of how profound this change will be is something I will be working with the correspondents on.
On the issue of specific Commando content, I would say that there is a drive to develop combat oriented content almost constantly. On the near horizon, there is the Death Watch Bunker and the GCW revamp which I am sure will feel the boot heels of many commandos.
Message Edited by thepunisher286 on 04-29-2004 03:55 PM
I can summarize that in one line....
"I'm not telling you anything, wait until the combat balance."
We asked about possibilities for new weapons and equipment, he told us that our current specials and weapons will be changing... Anyone else see no inkling of an answer anywhere in that paragraph?
man I tell you. Ya so what for suttle hints. This just gives us more bite when they deicde the CB will be 5 months away. I my self am strating to pull up shop and close down my account untill I can see the CB come into a effect. I might just need a month or 2 off to save money so I dont feel so bad. Unless they have a activation fee agian then im going to woop them hehe.
Ya ya suttle hint crap. But dam. Come on. why even bother with this **edit** just to try to appease us hes saying wait for the cb on most of the questions. we should have asked umm are they going to make it so we have zippos like the old army guys. AT least wed get a haha no .
sorry venting i know but dammit I was realy hoping for more info.
garvin wrote:
As I said in an earlier post (when I had a preview of this)...it's not the answer I was hoping for...but the fact that TH told us the reason for the CB delay, that we will actually have a chance to test it, that our specials (and I'm thinking HAR especially) will be "adjusted" and once again he sited Commandos as being majorly impacted....I think we got some useful intel...
Personally, the thing I was most worried about was a major league disappointment when the CB is launched with Publish 10...I figured we may have to wait until then to find out anything...But now knowing that not only will we have info on the CB prior to Publish 10, but that we'll actually get to go in, test it out, and hopefully provide feedback before we have to "just live with it"...this is very good news...
Besides...something TH didn't mention...I've throwna lotof our weapon and weapon alteration ideas at him lately...nothing concrete, but I did get a "I like that idea...let me pass it on to the programmers"...a response I hadn't seen before...so that's promising...doesn't guarentee anything, but is promising (hint...what do you get when you combine a Trap Throwing Droid with the Rocket Launcher)...
I know garvin, and I agree...
My beef is that he didn't answer the question we asked... If we asked him "what are you doing with the har/rocket launchers/grenades"...his answer would have been directly on point.
All we asked him was whether we will be getting new weapons from the adventure areas like all the other classes have been getting...all he had to say was yes or no...
HootGibson wrote:
Thats what i like about you Garvin you the glas is half full kind of guy... lol
