Update 38 Discussion Thread

Message Edited by Fickey on 11-18-2005 09:21 PM

Message Edited by Fickey on 11-18-2005 09:26 PM

• Escort NPC in "For a Few Discs More" is now higher-level so it doesn't get pwned all the time.
• Escort NPC in "Window Dressing" is now higher-level so it doesn't get pasted by attackers immediately.
• Escort NPC in "Sending a Message" is now higher-level instead of being a complete noob.
• Escort NPC in "A Second Try" is now higher-level so it doesn't get completely ganked.
• Escort NPC in "A Safe Place" is now higher-level instead of being a useless collection of bits.
• Escort NPC in "Model Citizen" is now higher-level so you don't have to completely babysit it throughout the mission.
• Escort NPC in "Just a Few Questions" is now higher-level because it felt left out after all the rest got leveled
• Your jump no longer exceeds the limits of the Matrix.

Message Edited by Databite on 11-18-2005 06:26 PM

Answers to a few questions:

New players will begin in Uriah Industrial so the content can increase in difficulty as players head south and east. Tabor Park is a bit too central, so it makes increasing the surrounding levels  more complicated. Other than that, it's the consensus the designers came to.

The new-player Contacts aren't forced on new players--they can ignore them if they like. However, the portions I've played through are really handy for a new player; including things like adding Waypoints, using a Simulacra, and learning about collecting gang icons for trade. Oh, and one of the Collectors gives new players a better gun to use than ye olde Redpill Special. (Nothing new, just much better.)

The Halloween masks were originally supposed to be tradable, but were accidentally set incorrectly. We'll be fixing that issue in December, so you'll have to wait a bit longer to email them to an alternate character, but you will be able to do so if you choose.

Message Edited by Rsync on 11-22-2005 07:57 PM

Message Edited by Rsync on 11-22-2005 07:57 PM

Message Edited by Rsync on 11-22-2005 09:09 PM

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Rsync wrote:
The ability to create distribution lists would be very powerful, but being able to email an entire faction would rock.

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But it could be abused.  "Forward this to 30 people and you will be
rich" or "AOL gives 1$ to this poor kid for every forwarded mail so
please forward as much as you can" spam mails in mxo. LoL. Why do
people love forwarding crap so much...Well it looks like i'm out of the subject.



But i agree that right-click Mail option and multiple mailing must be added.

Message Edited by NEO1O1 on 11-23-2005 12:17 AM

IMPORTANT!!!

There seems to be some sort of decay bug, causing your clothes to loose stability points rapidly. It happens mostly when switching load outs, particularly when unloading abilities. I haven't narrowed it down to which abilities, and I don't have enough clothes to waste trying.

Message Edited by davemusic on 11-22-2005 10:22 PM

Message Edited by sugaree on 11-23-2005 02:41 PM

Ok that explains the reason for decay. But 5 points in an hour!!! They might as well just removed the items from my inventory!

So what's going to happen when International and Downtown get the 'Reflow' treatment? Are those Items going tp decay too?

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ibewarped wrote:
Negative on using newbies who don't know what they are doing. The rest of you are just going to have to learn how  item farmers get the best drops everytime. :smileymad: Its just another way for people who know what they are doing to make money on stupid people with too much info.

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Yeah it's a disaster.  Like mxoAmis said, why not delete the old items from our inventory.  But if they do that they have to fix the boss drop rules that punish us veterans (no one in our faction is lower than 49 as far as I know).  One or the other.  Leaving the boss drop rules in place is unfair.

They best not reflow Int'l and DT.  What's the frikken point?  I can see for n00bs the geographical flow of Slums and Barrens.  Oh and by the way the Crowbars are higher level than the Bathory Boys so that throws the whole geographical flow argument out the window (for that matter why did they bother reflowing the Barrens in the 1st place?  It just doesn't make any sense).  I get the Slums thing but that's it...(and kudos for the devs for making the new Uriah entry a nice easy way to get a new gamer started.  Good job guys.  The Industrial pants and shirt look hawt on female toons too ).

Int'l and DT should remain a pastiche of different neighborhoods with different skill levels.  If you need hand-holding in Int'l and DT (and for that matter, Barrens), by that time you're lame and should stick to the Sims or something less challenging.  Or you shoulda took the blue pill...lol.

Oh and while I'm on my rant the whole concept of item decay in the first place doesn't make any sense.  In the whole trilogy you don't see Morpheus' purple vest decay, or Trinity's catsuit decay.  And what about Exiles or Agents or Bluepills?  Why do their clothes last foever?  Item decay is counter-intuitive and if I remember correctly someone once said somewhere that SOE was considering scrapping the decay thing altogether.

Bottom line this decay thing and its resultant problems is taking away from the immersion of the game, thereby taking away from the enjoyment of the game.

Why oh why did you take the hardlines away?

                                                       -nnn

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Vesuveus wrote:

It seems to me that item decay forces you to eventually go back and get the items again. That gives 50's something to do other than create alternate characters and mess with everyone else, aside from PvP.

So I can see item decay, even though I don't particularly like it.

As for the rapid decay of recent items: It gives us a chance to still use the items while working toward getting another one. I think that's why they didn't just delete them. It like a "grace period".

Otherwise, the patch has worked fine other than some minor (in my opinion, anyway) bugs with server stability which seems to be fixed now.

Thank heaven for bit stacking!!

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The bit stacking is nice, but the stability issue is a problem for the reasons I presented upthread.  It's the inconsistancy that's the problem.   Why should I have to recamp everything, especially now that because of boss drop rules I will always get the lowest value item?  Think about it.  No more Steady or Solid Sneakers.  No more Defiled or Fighter's Gloves.  No more Ravenstail or Ravensfeather.  No more Black or Deep Shadow jacket.  No more Perception or Watcher's Shades.  This is fundamentally unfair.  I'm not going to level up alt toons solely for the purpose of recamping everything and emailing them to my main toon.  The game is supposed to be fun, not a chore of hoops you have to jump through just to get where you once were in the first place.

We have to be hard on SOE if they are going to do anything.  Some of us were hard on Monolith during beta but our persistance paid off and many issues were resolved.   Not only do we need to get out of the ghetto of the SOE MMORPG family, but they need to realize that their customers are paying good money for a service, and we have every right to demand that the service we is up to par.  Otherwise the game is going to die off, plain and simple.  I don't want it to.  That's why I'm harping on this issue, becose I love this game and I want it to succeed, and I don't want to see it continue to disaffect good paying customers to the point that they cancel their subscriptions.

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[CoZ]LostProphet wrote:

People whinge far too much without looking at the bigger picture sometimes. Yes, we pay for the game. In all honesty, if these changes stop you enjoying it, then stop playing it.
However if they are an annoyance which can be overcome, and you want the game to succeed in the long term, suck it up.

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Message Edited by Villemar on 11-25-2005 02:28 AM

Message Edited by Villemar on 11-25-2005 07:30 AM

Message Edited by ArtherEld on 11-26-2005 09:13 AM

Message Edited by ArtherEld on 11-26-2005 09:13 AM

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ArtherEld wrote:

I understand, that complaint was more of an off-the-cuff rant, and that discussion is probably better suited for another more philosophical thread.  My apologies if it has distracted anyone from the real problem with Update 38.

Alright then let's talk about your other complaint that IS about u38.  The Bathory Boys are lower level than Crowbars.  Wrong, Bathory Boys are level 25-30.  Crowbars - 25-30.

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