Development Cycle Archive

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Akkori wrote:

Since "higher-level" NPC's were not meant to be solo'd, and I assume you are not doing that, just step back and let a teammate take on tanking the High-level NPC while you go to your OTHER teammate and get healed up. Then you can go back and relieve your replacement....

Its called tactics, and I am glad to see that there will finally be need of them in this game. Maybe we might even see some Squad Leaders appear again. As dumb as the /con system is, it is still telling that these NPC's /con as red....meaning they *should* almost always mean death would visit you quickly IF you try and solo them.

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I would agree with you if it were the same for EVERYONE, but it's not. Some combat professions can keep on soloing with little or no problems while others (the ones who already had problems soloing) have found it extremely difficult to cope with the changes.

These blanket changes do not help anything. "The rich just get richer" as they say.

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StoneRook1 wrote:

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JustG wrote:

Folks,

Thanks so much for the feedback, please keep it coming.

Thunderheart is in San Diego doing some transitional stuff as he takes on the role of Community Manager, so I am filling in for him today.

The AI will not have a weapon switch delay. They do not use the same combat queue as Player Characters do. We could eventually code this in, but it will take approximately a week of dev/ QA time, and I am certain more than a few of you would find a way to, er, take advantage of this situation, so we would have to spend more time balancing it against exploits etc.

This may be something that we revisit in the future, but we would rather spend whatever spare dev time we have now in getting powerful quick fixes out to you before JTL ships. Case in point, this is our second publish this week, and we will have inoculations and area cures on Test Center by tomorrow.

No other loot drop rates have been touched outside of the Loot Kits.

We are furiously trying to track down the Wookiee Armor crash, and have been working in close concert with some of you (THANKS) to nail it down. We are making traction, but have not solved it yet.

Again, we are as concerned over the CB delay as you are. Over the next few weeks, we are going to be trying very hard to get as many short-term fixes/ augmentations in as possible. We are bringing your correspondents down to Austin for a Summit Meeting next month to discuss the broader picture in full detail.

Thanks for the feedback and your patience,

- g

Message Edited by JustG on 07-29-2004 06:26 PM

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wait a minute.

We suffer a three second delay - while the NPC's just waltz through it..

seems to me you gave them a way to exploit over the players - you know - the ones that actually pay money to play this game.

dont get me wrong - i love the changes - but if you give one set of rules for combat to one side - and the other is not restricted - that is unbalanced.

I know - wait for the combat revamp -- standard answer.

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JustG wrote:

Again, we are as concerned over the CB delay as you are. Over the next few weeks, we are going to be trying very hard to get as many short-term fixes/ augmentations in as possible. We are bringing your correspondents down to Austin for a Summit Meeting next month to discuss the broader picture in full detail.

Thanks for the feedback and your patience,

- g

Message Edited by JustG on 07-29-2004 06:26 PM

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Rifleman are without a Correspondent. Have been for over eight weeks now.

Pros:
Nightsisters are finally scary again.. 4.5 months after they were broken.. Thank you!!

Cons:
Dark Jedi Knights and Masters are now stupidly hard. They are, without question, the most ferocious creature in the game now. Was hit by a lightsaber for 2145 points of damage (armor does not apply, thank you) as I passed NEAR one today. Had sword out, so that's after +47 two hand toughness. Please, please, please, revisit these. If nothing else, make sure their loot tables give reward commensurate with risk.

Hear the community. We've been saying that the Nightsister Armor Bicep R has not dropped since publish 6. We've been asking for it back. Please, please, please, can we have it back now? These are more expensive than tusken masks were at their most expensive point. Tuskens now drop masks again. Why do Nightsisters still not drop their only wearable?

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JustG wrote:

Folks,

...

Again, we are as concerned over the CB delay as you are. Over the next few weeks, we are going to be trying very hard to get as many short-term fixes/ augmentations in as possible. We are bringing your correspondents down to Austin for a Summit Meeting next month to discuss the broader picture in full detail.

Thanks for the feedback and your patience,

- g

Message Edited by JustG on 07-29-2004 06:26 PM

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JediNewb wrote:

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MukeLandrunner wrote:

man, all i have to say is i haven't got crap for loot of any kind off of anything.. i got one stone after killing tons of npc's since i logged on this morning, something must have unintentionally been broken during the publish. and as for the npcs using combat moves.. i think that maybe it should have been delayed until the combat revamp because i just get owned in ranged combat with most npcs now it seems like.

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Exactly my thoughts.

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Must disagree here. Looted 3 time what I normally loot in a night in loot kits. However credits seems to have dipped a little (on loots).

Any ideas, on which profs may get a little pre-CR lovin

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Hear the community. We've been saying that the Nightsister Armor Bicep R has not dropped since publish 6. We've been asking for it back. Please, please, please, can we have it back now? These are more expensive than tusken masks were at their most expensive point. Tuskens now drop masks again. Why do Nightsisters still not drop their only wearable?

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AGREED Please!!

Increased Loot Kit Drop Rates: Seems to be working good. I've actually been able to loot some of these now. One suggestion I would make is to tweak the loot generator to reward more loot for higher difficulty NPCs. Way back, a group spent an hour working on a Dark Jedi and when he finally died it dropped LOTS of loot....not a handful of credits and a CDEF pistol, but several crystals and assorted items at the same time. It gave some incentive to grouping up to go after the harder things as well as giving more than one item to be divided up among the group.

Jedi Bounty TEFs: No idea here really as I'm not a Jedi or a BH. I would like to see the TEF for using force skills and such come back though where anyone could attack, not just a TEF for BH or factioned people. Since the Empire has declared that Jedi are outlawed and hunted seems like there should be an opportunity for a kind of "citizen's arrest" so to speak.

Spawn time for Squill Cave: Have not tested this yet...although I had never been there before so nothing to compare to.

Mark of Courage: Have not done this quest yet.

NPCs equip/change weapons during combat: Yes, this seems to be working just fine.

NPCs using special abilities: Also seems to be working fine. Would like to see some kind of HAM cost for them, though, even if it is smaller than what PCs have to compensate.

Someone had stated that there had been no mention of the necklace fix in the update/patch notes. I don't know if there was anything listed here on the forums, but if you check the LaunchPad notes for Publish 9.2 it says "Fixed a bug that prevented necklaces from displaying correctly in the inventory." BTW.....THANKS FOR THIS!!!

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Dubolom wrote:

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Sabbthiel wrote:

I am really happy to hear that high lvl NPCs will be require hunting parties again... but um.. can i expect to be "blasted" of my bike by maulers on Naboo?

I, and my poor pet, were cut to ribbons upon leaving my home by master mauler, who was skirting our city.

I mean, Night sisters and what not nice... but should we all now travel buffed and in composite?

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watch your radar, and use your head. like we all did before vehicles came along, remember?

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Some people don't remember (or weren't here), but I certainly remember the days before mounts and vehicles and before buffs were a common thing. Going out of my house 1k from Theed was always a gamble between the wild beasts (plains hunters, rogue famba, tusk cats) and the NPC's (maulers, trade fed). Back then mauler spawns with Lords and Masters were pretty common anytime you saw a mauler, and even a basic mauler was nothing to laugh at when they were throwing out 300 damage specials... Yeah, life got a lot more interesting, you can't just zoom through every cluster of red on your way to your favorite farming spot without paying the price when an NPC throws out a special that knocks you off your bike.