Development Cycle Archive

Thread: Weekly Roundtable Discussion (Week Ending 3-1-04)

hothype
Tue Feb 17, 2004 12:10 pm
#53
Well know if it was nerfed if someone hits number 32 and dosnt unlock.



Synir'
Fear Baby Wookiee
Kade_Deveron
Tue Feb 17, 2004 12:11 pm
#54

Thunderheart,


I'm really concerned that player cities are kill the GCW. They do this by providing services that make the need for factional bases obsolete, and factional bases have been a center piece of the conflict between Imperial and Rebel forces, at least on our server.


I've included my post on the subject from the GCW forums. What, if anything can be done to address this issue?


"I once led the Imperial Guard, arguably the largest Imperial PA on Naritus (changed leadership due to RL issues interfering with gameplay). Our city, Haven, housed not 1 but 2 full faction complexes. The first complex was comprised of five forward outposts, 1 tactical center, and 1 detachment HQ. The second complex was comprized of four tactical centers and two detachment HQs. In addition to being a heavy PvP guild and taking down countless enemy bases, we have never lost a base to enemy action.


I give this as a background, so that you understand my perspective on the issue of bases. We recently relocated our city, and in the process destroyed all 13 faction bases, with no plans on rebuilding them. Why?


Well, its not because they cant be defended or they are too expensive or bugged. The bottom line is that faction bases offer no tangible rewards that make them worthwhile. WIth a player city, we can get everything a base offers, minus the recruiter, and we can access all of these resources without having to bother with defending anything.


You see, when we had all 13 bases, the only really good thing about them was bragging rights. The downside, however, was a pain. Continual rebel raids, most of which occured in the wee hours of the morning. Getting called back to defend the base when on hunts. Getting called back to the base to defend them trading. etc. It was a complete hassle defending the bases when there are othere things we wanted to be doing.


So we moved, and we arent putting newbases up. The reality is that we are better off for it, because now our resources are freed to attack. In this past weekend alone we drop 9 enemy bases in a 24 hour period.


What am I getting to? Bases need some SERIOUS attention. Yes, the bugs arent a good thing, but frankly the time needs to be put into making them worthwhile again, because player cities have KILLED them. The really sad thing is that, prior to player cities, those bases were at the heart of the GCW, which means the GCW as a whole is hurting.


What can be done to make things right?


Well, ideally I would love to see faction bases serve as the foundation for territorial control. However, thats a BIG development investment, so here are some less involved things that can be done to make the galaxy a better place for the GCW.


1. Remove faction mission terminals from player cities. They kill one of the main reasons to get faction bases AND create an element of the GCW that is non-attackable. Invulnerable resources in the GCW are a bad thing. This is a simple change, but absolutely critical. IF faction terminals were to be allowed in cities at some point, they should always be vulnerable to destruction.


2. Create scalable benefits for faction bases that increase with larger bases. Possible benefits include:

a. Increasing ranges of covert detection. A forward outpost might have 32m covert detection, a field base 64m, a tactical center 96m, etc...

b. Increasing bonuses on faction missions (0%/3%/6%/9%) Thus having the largest faction base gives you a fairly hefty bonus to FP and cash on faction missions

c. The ability to declare within x range of the bases (again 32/64/96/128m) using a /declare command

d. Increases in either defensive bonuses with increasing range. Thus an Forward Outpost may offer +10 ranged at 32m and melee defense whereas a detachment HQ might offer +40 at up to 128m. This would apply to all members of the defending faction.


3. Dissallow the entrance of non-factioned players into faction bases.


Other fun, but potentially more difficult items:


1. Increase the chance of imperial/rebel crackdowns within x range of faction bases. For example if you have a rebel detachment hq, it doubles the chance of a "rebel crackdown" (the equivilent of the imp shuttle spawns) within 400m of the base.

2. Placement of faction crafting stations within faction bases to create factional items and/or experimentation bonuses on these crafting stations. The larger the base the better the bonus.

3. Placement prevent - prevents enemy faction members from placing housing withing x range of the base, creating a form of territorial control.

4. Implementation of the infamous strategic bases, complete with shuttle and cloning services.


My point is that there are LOTS of ways to make faction bases interesting and an intergal part of the GCW, but this area really needs some development time. "




-----------------------------
Khade Deveron

Lodacai
Tue Feb 17, 2004 12:11 pm
#55




Thunderheart wrote:




Rorenikibi wrote:

Just a note on some CH bugs, they follow literally on top of me. I cannot even move a meter out of the way and they will move right on top of me.


I had to tame a giant veermok to have a mid level tanking pet tall enoughthat doesn't come to rest with my head stuck in its rear...


Also still having problems with pets staying on the attack.





On the Pet sitting on top of you thing, we'll have that worked out soon. On the pet tanking issue, what was the pet and did its personality change? Some pets are "cowards"...







Cronuss wrote:

In light of the talk about smugglers lately with the crackdown issues, I would like to bring something up.


I think it would be a great addition to the profession if some unarmed skills were added to the dirty fighting line.


Unarmed skill is required to attain novice smuggler, but never used thereafter.


We could add in some cheap shots or something.. nothing too powerful, but stuff to add viability, RP, and fun!




Cronuss - - why do you not use unarmed? I'll see if anything can be done though.








Nerj wrote:

1) What happened to the species discussion?


2) When are the 10 questions asked of the profession to be answered?


3) When are we going to hear more about the combat balance?



1) Its






... Monty Python's Flying Circus!


Lodacai

Free_Beer
Tue Feb 17, 2004 12:12 pm
#56


Last night I participated in my first base destruction. I had quite a bit of fun but I wanted to offer a couple if suggestions.



  1. Players that override a terminal should receive a faction point reward when the base is destroyed. The size of the rewards should be a value relative to the size of the base.

  2. Have the base actually explode rather than just disappear.

  3. Have everyone within 64 meters of the base take damage from the explosion. It would add an element of risk to the last few moments of the countdown.




Gandolfini Frell, Deacon of Free Beer, Church of Alvis
Pwn it and ye shall be free - Proverbs 23:6
I'll give ya a hint... I'm not bambi - Garva
Grexor
Tue Feb 17, 2004 12:14 pm
#57
FS Change requires tangible information to be released, not necessarily about the new quests, but specifically about those currently in progress with the new system:

Questions you can easily answer:


  • Will people working on the current system be allowed to unlock using the current system *AFTER* Publish 7 if they so choose? YES or NO

  • Will those people who have exceeded the design specs regarding average number of hours/professions to unlock FSS have their FSS automatically opened (re: those unfortunate bastards that have done 20+ professions)? YES or NO

  • Will those who have completed Holo 1-4 be given a quest to reveal the silent holo? YES or NO

  • Will those people who have completed X number of professions beyond the 4th Holo be told their silent profession immediately (no quest required, possible add on to current Holocron functionality)? YES or NO


Personally I would like to see these questions answered.
Scorus
Tue Feb 17, 2004 12:15 pm
#58
Dang it, they nerfed Thunderheart mid-sentence...



Scorus
Saphkosh
Tue Feb 17, 2004 12:19 pm
#59

Until a short while ago, the command /wayp johndoe would give me a waypoint at johndoe's current position. That was extremely useful to find people in a crowd or in the wild. That feature was quietly (I think?) removed these days, and I can guess why -- it was all too easy to use it to pinpoint the position of an enemy or BH victim.


I still miss finding friends, though, it was a great feature. So my suggestion is: if I ran the command above, it would only work if I am on johndoe's friend list. That way, people who know each other can meet easily (without sending numerical coords).


There are other alternatives, of course, such as:



  • /locate johndoe -- a window pops up for johndoe, "Saphkosh is trying to locate you. Accept? (Yes / No)". If "yes", I get a waypoint to his position.

  • /sendcoord johndoe -- "Saphkosh is sending you his coordinates. Accept? (Yes / No)". If "yes", he gets a waypoint to my position.

Another thing I'd like to see is a way to spot a friend as a different-colored blip on the radar (like it happens with groups). Would also help a lot with the problem above.


Cheers,


Saphkosh.
Thunderheart
Tue Feb 17, 2004 12:19 pm
#60





Rorenikibi wrote:

Just a note on some CH bugs, they follow literally on top of me. I cannot even move a meter out of the way and they will move right on top of me.


I had to tame a giant veermok to have a mid level tanking pet tall enoughthat doesn't come to rest with my head stuck in its rear...


Also still having problems with pets staying on the attack.





On the Pet sitting on top of you thing, we'll have that worked out soon. On the pet tanking issue, what was the pet and did its personality change? Some pets are "cowards"...







Cronuss wrote:

In light of the talk about smugglers lately with the crackdown issues, I would like to bring something up.


I think it would be a great addition to the profession if some unarmed skills were added to the dirty fighting line.


Unarmed skill is required to attain novice smuggler, but never used thereafter.


We could add in some cheap shots or something.. nothing too powerful, but stuff to add viability, RP, and fun!




Cronuss - - why do you not use unarmed? I'll see if anything can be done though.








Nerj wrote:

1) What happened to the species discussion?


2) When are the 10 questions asked of the profession to be answered?


3) When are we going to hear more about the combat balance?



1) Its still happening on the Core Systems boards as far as I know. I have Kstarfires list and I'll get it addressed as soon as Im able.


2) Slowly and surely. Im hoping to get 2 or 3 out this week.


3) As soon as Im able, I will provide details as soon as I can, though I have made a couple of posts on the subject...






Meplorium wrote:

There is a very nasty factory bug where the factory's output hopper gets 'full' any where from 40-80 items. When this happens it shuts down the factory. This may be caused by ghost items that game thinks are in the output hopper but were removed or some how experimentation on factory storage size that doesn't works some how got turned on with the lastest patch. This is a very distruptive bug and is difficult to work around. You can remove crates from the output hopper and place them in the input hopper. However when you are making servers subcomponents you run into storage problems. This is becoming a game stopper for crafter and needs to be hot fixed.


Another issue is Dantoonie and Lok. These are advanced worlds that many people populated with cities. However the servers were never set up to handle that level of population. Now they are very laggy and unplayable at peak times. This is a game stopper. Althought the nightly crash problem was fixed, the horrid lag is still there. What is currently being done about the lag and when will it be done?


Thanks





Sure


There is amanufacturing schematic problem we are working on. Its associated with old schematics and should have some sort of fix for it soon. Exactly what the item was is pretty important. Some schematics were altered (like the architect/DE change) and others are old FWG5 schematics that no longer exist, etc. Like I said, knowing what the item was will help me know what level of attention its getting.


Improving lag is something we are always working on. A bunch of us noticed it this weekend and the programmers are working on a series of changes to improve that. You should see some improved performance in the next couple of weeks.







Ragnaat wrote:
A few items to note, spanning a few forums and a few threads In Live that I think are worth directing your attention to:

1. please look at possibly broken new chef foods (smugglers delight among them) see chef forum and smuggler forum.

2. please address buff window bugs including the death bugs and certain items not appearing (powerboost, pre-patch fishak)

3. please address the smuggler correspondent opening (i'd give it to Kav if he's up for it, but Smuggler_Caylin should be in consideration as well)

4. There are a few items folks are reporting as invalid when pulled from crates (pre-nerf fwg5s). Was this intentional on the Devs part, or a bug that crept in?

5. And on a much more upbeat note, as a wookie I just have to say a HUGE thanks to the team for Synthsteak!



1. There is a lot of confusion on the chef issues. There is a crate issue and a container issue thats known and in progress. Other than that, we are good to go. I logged over 35+ game hours thiss weekend on three different servers and everyone loved the chef stuff


2. Buff window issues are in progress


3. Im addressing all of the corerspondent openings today and tomorrow.


4. See above.


5. Cool. Im a fan of the Blue Milk myself and some of my pikeman friends say they really liked Citros Snow Cake...







Zox wrote:

Any chance of getting an official statement on whether or not the FSCS qualifications have been changed? Although it was stated that no changes would likely be made until publish 7, there are many many rumors and accusations of stealth nerfing be made on several threads throughout the forums.




It has NOT been changed, though there is an important piece of the puzzle that isn't realized by most players...


I may be able to post on that, but I dont know yet. I've lodged a request and thats the best I can do.







RotorofCorRng wrote:

Are the professions "10 Questions" thingie a forgone idea?


How about Top 5 issues?


10 questions are not foregone. Things have been crazy, thats all. I usually do the 10 questions on the weekend and this weekend, I played non-stop


Top 5 - LOTS. I deal with these issues every day. The difference is that I work with the team on these changes and it takes a long time to develop. I'll be doing a quarterly report and update on Top 5s.


Although, check the patch notes. I've started labelling the patch items that are correspondent driven







Sharlathea wrote:


Don't get me wrong, I'm not intending this as a "nerf commando" deal. I just think that the way experience rewards are calculated are a bit off. I also think is way to easy to get commando exp, and that maybe if it weren't so easy, fewer people would be willing to make the committment.


Thats a sharp observation. Its also why the DoTs were changed too. Commandos are still getting some pretty good XP, but the change is on the damage from the flamethrower and not the DoT. As far as XP, its related to how much damage is done. Some of those high level commands with sliced flamethrowers can do a LOT of damage and thats where the difference comes into play.


As far as committment? Its tough to make a judgement call on the boards witha snapshot like that. There are so many things that effect XP.






speardancer wrote:
Vehicle bugs on live.

1) all vehicles are now coming with 1500 HAM. Bug or Stealth nerf?

2) coloring kits not 'sticking' for some people.



The HAM things will be fixed ASAP. It got whacked with the publish.


The color sticking thing is pretty rare, though its being looked at.





EV500 wrote:
I know this is a long shot, but is anything going to be done about ranger traps? Will they ever have an effect on CH pets or other players?




N'Rass, DeltaXi65 and I have talked about. I know its a player desire, but its a rticky design issue. Anytime one player has the ability to effect other players




Phramrex wrote:
I tried the Borvo quest back when it was bugged. Well I went and tried it again after this latest patch and found out that I still can't do the quest. I thought that the quest was reset for thoughs of us who did it during the time it was broken. TH can you confirm that this was fixed or are dev's still having problems with this issue. Thanks!



I played it this weekend and got my Polished Krayt Skull with no problems The quest was a blast!






Scorus wrote:
Dang it, they nerfed Thunderheart mid-sentence...



heh nerfed myself...





Kurt "Thunderheart" Stangl
Community Relations Manager
hothype
Tue Feb 17, 2004 12:21 pm
#61




Scorus wrote:
Dang it, they nerfed Thunderheart mid-sentence...




He was going to release some real information so SOE had a hitman come kill him. Hes sitting at the computer right now with an arrow in his back.



Synir'
Fear Baby Wookiee
Gebetob
Tue Feb 17, 2004 12:23 pm
#62

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT



WE GOT A RESPONSE



Sorry for the overdone enthusasism but omg I have been waiting for this. I hope its just we have 5/5 instead of 5/6



Thank you for anwsering ThunderHeart I really appreciate it and I am sure others do as well.







Timinator---->PvP'er & Loot Whore Extraordinaire >
Ragnos------>Jedi Sentinal
Gebetob----->12 Point Master Weaponsmith
Top quality weapons & other goodies located at -217 -5502 Corellia, 780m from the Coronet Starport.
Aristarchus52
Tue Feb 17, 2004 12:25 pm
#63
It is impossible to pull pre-nerf FWG5s, scatter and launcher pistols out of crates. I assume this was an intentional stealth nerf. I am curious as to why you did this, as it is a small inconvenience for some of us. I for one was in the foolish habit of assuming that rules don't change without good reason, and notice to players. If you are too busy to indulge my curiosity on this issue I will understand. Completely.
hothype
Tue Feb 17, 2004 12:25 pm
#64




hothype wrote:




Scorus wrote:
Dang it, they nerfed Thunderheart mid-sentence...




He was going to release some real information so SOE had a hitman come kill him. Hes sitting at the computer right now with an arrow in his back.




Hey i cant edit my message. pooy



Synir'
Fear Baby Wookiee
StarchMonkey
Tue Feb 17, 2004 12:28 pm
#65

1) Any sort of formal update on Armorsmith issues? Have we ever had a Top 5 response? Missing stats from segments/layers, GDK scale drops, shifting stats on PSG, Tantel, RIS.


2) Can we expect new mounts or vehicles anytime relatively soon?


3) Will the Aqualish Cave badge be fixed so I (and others) can get our Master Explorer badge?




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Joryn Sunnrae
Master Swordsman
Master Medic
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