Developer Journal 03 - Part One (Archon) - 12/07/2005 Discussion Thread

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Zachar1as wrote:

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Archon wrote:

Styles provide increases to many of the basic Attributes that are important to characters in combat. There are eight styles: Self Defense, Viral, Karate, Aikido, Kung Fu, Hand Guns, Rifles, and SMGs.

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What is with sneak attacks? Do you had forget them only in your yournal?

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Yes - I hope we're gonna hear more about Spy/Assassin soon. I'm really worried about that tree - especially how the "1 on 1 Interlock only" will affect it - especially the animations for sneak attacks - cause let's face it - the best thing about a punt is the animation

5Star from me



Im only loading Punt for ppl I dont like, to see them suffer h3h3

Ok interesting... but I have a big question, how are simulacrums going to act to this new combat sistem? and if posible the avarage standard scores of them? also, with all this avarage scores could it become the new unbalanced discipline?

We can speculate about everything, but the best thing would be to see it live.



A question to the devs. how long does it takes till the QA server is
open? I dont want to have an exact time, but if you could say an
estimatet date, it would be realy great

The revisions sound great and I hope they play just as well. Can't wait to test it all out...



"Tune item bonuses to meet
above requirements."

So does this mean buffed clothing and items are getting an overhaul?

As Chuui stated, "The current stat cap on clothing/items is 17". And that will probably change, though I'm not sure how exactly it will change, it will have to. At level 50 you have to consider this:

5 (base) + 17 (clothing) + 8 (earned) = 30

8 (base) + 17 (clothing) + 5 (earned) = 30

Message Edited by Raineo on 12-08-2005 08:03 AM

16.000 animations sounds too much for ranged and melee Interlock moves only.
Are there new animations for hackers?
Maybe a speedattack of an hacker no more looks like a selfdefense punch but more like a small hack?
hm....


dave

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Zachar1as wrote:
We can speculate about everything, but the best thing would be to see it live.

A question to the devs. how long does it takes till the QA server is open? I dont want to have an exact time, but if you could say an estimatet date, it would be realy great

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They have been saying December ever since and thus far haven't said any differently. And I am sure they want this baby out before Xmas - so I'd say expect the QA server any time between today and the next 14 days

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Raineo wrote:

And on another note, as far as level 50 hitting level 10 and level 40 with Area Stun (as an example), the way I see it is: level 10 will come out of stun sooner than level 40. That's how I understand the bulletpoint on "Mitigate state and effect durations based on level deltas"

Stay frosty guys!

Message Edited by Raineo on 12-08-200508:03 AM

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I think what they mean is that in this situation the level 10 will stay stunned longer than the 40 because of his less perfect understanding of the Matrix.  As the level Delta increases, so does the duration of states (dazed, stun, rooted, etc).

Holdout

The Collective

I will be nice to see Atributes do something. It frustrates me to see my base Perception at 46 and only get 3 CT's bonus from it -_-. I really like the idea of faster combat as well, fluid motions as to portray an actual fight, and as stated before, having to win a roll to "roll out" is desperatly needed. This all sounds kick *CENSORED*, now get those QA servers up! lol

Finally it sounds like the combat is heading towards a right direction....I can' wait to test it myself.... WOOT!

hmmmmmmmmmm

as someone posted above said:  sounds like all our buffed clothing will have to be re-worked = old stuff is bye bye. 

i've never paid for a  beta game before, but it at least we're going somewhere

I am stunned, happy, obliviated, and slight aroused (:smileyindifferent:) by this latest journal.



ROLL ON QA!

Can we have some pretty pictures of the new combat system in action, pretty please? =)



Wanna see the new combat UI, wouldn't this be a great tease again? =)



>revolt_

This would be realy cool

Esky: ...
Devs: So, is that good or bad?
Esky: ... *falls over dead*

I think...

Holy crap...

Yes, yes...

Combat...will be fun...again...

Thank you devs, Walrus, SOE, all of you...Thank you...

Ok I have a question, if there can be multiple winners per round, and
I'm guessing rounds will still be 5 seconds?  Does that mean the
animations won't line up? Are we doing to lose our old CC animations
and it'll look more like SWG's melee animations? That would blow.

Yeah I agree. One of the coolest things about (well probably the only cool thing) the current combat system is its animations. While it isn't as Matrix-y as I would want it to be, the current system still is one of the coolest looking I've seen in an RPG (FFXI anybody?)

That two winners per round really caught my attention though. Think about it, two people hitting each other in the same round. Now that is more like the Matrix, or martial arts in general, than anything this current system uses. Just think, two level 50's square off on a street in down town, they run at each other, interlock, and both throw punches which land, sending both players flying backwards (think super burly brawl). Now that would be an amazing fight in and of itself right there.

There's so many new oppurtunities with this revamp, but without the right presentation, all that work will be for naught because it won't look good. I would love to see the environment and its obstacles being used more for or against combat. This current system, you see so many times characters doing some major clipping through doors, walls, and buildings. With this revamp, if you kick somebody through a door, you kick them through a door. Basically more environment-specific fights, with all the animations the Matrix would entail, would be the ultimate experience for me and definitely would revive this game. (Would also love to ki-charged foot sweep somebody through a window in say the Government building but that might be pushing it lol) And yes, by being environment-specific I am talking more than just simply jumping off a wall lol Think about the Lobby scene; fights like that should be happening everyday with this new revamp.

I like the idea of faster combat, as real life combat is both fast and intense, and I think that this is what the devs are doing here. Faster combat equals more realism which equals more fun, and if you set that all within the parameters of the Matrix universe, you have one hell of a good game, as the story is always there thanks to the players. Now, along with the great storyline from all angles, we finally, hopefully, have a combat system that complements the great imagination involved with this universe.

Here's to a successful revamp.

Message Edited by aiolos on 12-08-2005 04:13 PM

 I don't think i have been this excited since I last saw a naked woman,

  Or heard a man saying 'please remove all metal objects'

  EVERY complaint i have heard often shouted seems to have been dealt with - CONTESTED withdrawls especially.

     It is gonna be a whole new game!!!!  w00t!

From what I just read, this is everything I'd hoped for in the combat revision.

So... either the cap on clothing will be reduced, or clothing will not give as many attribute points anymore (uhm, bye-bye Troll's Hide, hello wardrobe variety)... either of which creates conflicting choices and possibly a total buffed clothing rehaul, destruct, re-farm... What not... Heck, I have no idea how they will deal with that aspect, but I know one thing for a fact - it will change somehow. (And though I fear the answer is not nearing in any way, I would still love for Walrus to address this. (doesn't hurt to ask... usually))

This again raises one problem. We just had a reflow of Richland and Westview and as many know, part of that reflow was the old hideout drops getting changed. But here's the problem, instead of decreasing the attribute points (levels to which ever stat) several of the new items actually award more.
Example: Old Perception shades gave six levels to perception (as well as other buffs not important to this problem) but the new Perception shades give nine levels to perception. An increase of three levels. Now, one would have thought that this reflow had been done with the combat revamp in mind... So, where *do* these items and their level buffs stand? Are we going to see all the new items now grandfathered again to the huge annoyance of the community? Or... what?

But they haven't reflow'd Downtown yet and that where the Troll's Hide is, it is the single most likely item to be effected by the changes.

Troll's Hide is, it is the single most likely item to be effected by the changes

I beg to differ. It is one of two items that are most likely to be effected =) But that is beside the point. As they haven't reflowed that district yet, there is no current problem. We already know that the old items (the current version of those drops) will be phased out in the future. The problem here is that they already phased out the old Richland and Westview items, in such a manner that they "vanished" within hours, forcing people to waste hours on end camping those hideouts again. Now only mere weeks later, are the newly obtained items going to die in the same manner? *THAT* is the real problem here.

Think about it, you just wasted 2 weeks trying to get drop X1 only to have it phased out (in a matter of hours of use) a day later via update 38, waste three more weeks getting its replacement X2 only to have that phased out in the same manner in update 40. How are you going to feel while trying to get the third replacment X3? Exceedingly annoyed I expect. Perhaps even to the point where you no longer wish to play the game and cancel (worst case scenario). As such, it sounds like a very poor plan to then phase out X2 given its very short time in the game. Still we can speculate about this concern all day and all night, but we won't get any nearer to an answer unless the devs clear this one up.

This issue of the Attribute cap brings up a similar issue with regards to the archive drops I suppose with the large attribute increases some of these provide.

Jeffers

WRT to clothing again and Chuui's point.



I may be way off base, but can't they just alter stats of an item by
updating our client-side code with new descriptions and then change the
actual effects on our characters server-side in the database?

That would allow them to easily tweak attribute bonuses on clothing without us all having to get new ones all over again.



It does beg the question though, why they didn't just do that the first time around.



Walrus?

I don't think the DEV team is so large that the left hand doesn't know
what the right hand is doing.  I'd place a safe wager that either
the items were redesigned with the new reflow in mind (That attribute
cap of 30 could just mean that's how high it can be levelled, and says
nothing for the +17 that we can add through equipment), or that they
have a plan in the works where the attribute numbers on all items will
change proportionally (like when they changed CT buffs on
clothing).  I doubt they'd make us have to farm for a third time
in a few months.

What I'm saying is, did any of the recently changed items add significantly to attribute points.  A couple of them add a lot to a single attribute, but not to all.  I think if they change those items again they must let us trade them with a collector or something.

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Chuui wrote:

Think about it, you just wasted 2 weeks trying to get drop X1 only to have it phased out (in a matter of hours of use) a day later via update 38, waste three more weeks getting its replacement X2 only to have that phased out in the same manner in update 40. How are you going to feel while trying to get the third replacment X3? Exceedingly annoyed I expect. Perhaps even to the point where you no longer wish to play the game and cancel (worst case scenario). As such, it sounds like a very poor plan to then phase out X2 given its very short time in the game. Still we can speculate about this concern all day and all night, but we won't get any nearer to an answer unless the devs clear this one up.

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Oh, this again.  I really wish people in MMOGs would realize that the *only* thing they're entitled to for their 'work' playing the game is enjoyment.

Nobody is entitled to have whatever item be always the game-defining item it was, or have the class choice (something MxO isn't burdened with) they picked always be 'uber,' or have any other assurance of that sort.

Now, especially since we here have been long warned that dramatic changes are coming, nobody should have any excuse to (female dog) that they 'invested' time or $i in item X or skill tree Y which was 'wasted.'

A 'poor plan' would be to go about collecting items based on their present status knowing full well that things are about to change.

Caveat camper, you might say.

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thenightmare wrote:
I don't think the DEV team is so large that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.  I'd place a safe wager that either the items were redesigned with the new reflow in mind

(That attribute cap of 30 could just mean that's how high it can be levelled, and says nothing for the +17 that we can add through equipment), or that they have a plan in the works where the attribute numbers on all items will change proportionally (like when they changed CT buffs on clothing).

 I doubt they'd make us have to farm for a third time in a few months.

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Can't really tell if you posted before the Other Side of the Looking Glass came out, but it definitely clarifies by saying - quote:

The only way to increase Stats (Focus, Perception, etc.) is by spending points on them when you gain levels. Abilities, items, buffs, etc. do not affect Stat scores.

So that, right there, tells you that there will be NO MORE ATTRIBUTE BUFFS FROM CLOTHING and/or ITEMS. While the clothing rehaul will probably take some time, we may still have items in the game that have attribute point buffs in their description but don't increase those in actuality.

The way it is now, NPCs start using an ability against a target., and even if the target disappears from the view of the NPC during the time it takes for the ability to execute, the ability is still executed on the target. Will this glitch be fixed with CR 2.0?

So if 10 level 10's can get a few hits in on a level 50 - does this mean 10 level 50's can take down a level 255 Agent?

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So if 10 level 10's can get a few hits in on a level 50 - does this mean 10 level 50's can take down a level 255 Agent?

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I'm glad we're only focusing on the really important questions here....

Looking forward to seeing how this revision comes together in the next one