A New Approach - MXO Forum Archive

#36300508128 10/09/2008 12:56:22 A New Approach

I'm going to try to keep this brief. I will have much more to say about the topics touched on here once this initial foray has been digested and thoroughly chewed over.

Starting with subchapter 11.3, the content that you will receive in our regular six-week updates will be changing.

For most of this year, updates have consisted of three main items: 1) weekly critical missions, 2) a replayable "quest," and 3) daily live events.

This is going to change to: 1) a new cinematic, 2) quests with missions, activities, and rewards for each organization, based on the latest advancement of the story seen in the cinematic, and 3) an organization-wide meeting announced well in advance so that as many members as possible will be able to attend.

Other, related changes will be taking place as well:

- No more colored "EPN" or "CYPH" faction tags will be offered. Existing factions with those tags will keep them.

- Archive reward items, such as the War Sword and Seraphic Vision, will have their timer extended to five minutes, and can be reactivated thirty seconds afterwards.

- Completing a subchapter's worth of a single organization's archived critical missions (except for the very short subchapter 1.1) will reward an IS Booster item.

- Neighborhood street gang bosses will have a 10% chance of dropping a reusable "RSI Capture" tool that will allow the player to assume that NPC's appearance indefinitely.

- Organization "liaison officer" positions, played by LESIG members, will no longer exist. Some LESIG members will probably choose to keep their established characters, while others may recycle them for use in other events and activities.

- We'll be throwing a game-wide party in a low-level-friendly area on one server each update period, announced well in advance.

#36300508131 10/09/2008 12:57:23 Re:A New Approach

Reasons

This change has both advantages and drawbacks as compared with the type of content we've been developing up to this point, but we believe that for the majority of current and potential players, this will be a step in the right direction.

Those of you reading this, who follow the forums closely, also tend to be those who have most assiduously followed the daily events and weekly missions, and are perhaps the most strongly affected by these changes. While I cannot hope to replace perfectly the types of content you've seen in the past, I'll at least try to describe briefly the two main reasons why I believe this change is both necessary, and the right thing to do for the overall health of the game.

1) Long-term development

While investigating ways to develop the game over the past year--missions, events, quests, and so forth--our development efforts have spread far and wide. Now we need to refocus our development into a concentrated direction that continues the story of the Matrix while also delivering new challenges and adventures in the Matrix Online over the long term.

2) Extending the reach of the story

The story of the Matrix, as told through weekly missions and daily events, has become very detailed, and very complex. This has had an appeal for the story's most hardcore fans--those willing and able to put forth the considerable imagination and effort required to track the separate threads of the story across each week, each day, each organization, and each server, and weave them all into the overall narrative being told--but has been largely lost on more casual players, or those players dedicated to the pursuit of the latest and greatest gear.

For what appears to be the majority of players--those who don't read over each mission, or each event--the story, as it has grown more intricate, has grown harder and harder to follow. Although all missions and events are archived, catching up on them is a significant challenge, and this difficulty has increased since the discontinuation of cinematics earlier this year. Cinematics have the power to bring any player--new, casual, hardcore--up to speed on the story instantly, and to bring it home in a very direct and compelling fashion. Furthermore, they allow the story to go places that missions and events--bound by game mechanics--cannot.

This is why I believe that we need to devote time to bringing cinematics back, to combining organization storylines with gameplay that is challenging, varied, and rewarding in very definite, material ways for your characters, and to scheduling large-scale meetings where as many of our players as possible will be able to come together with their organization leaders to discuss policy and tactics. The heart of the ongoing game, from a development perspective, is the story that we have dedicated ourselves to carrying on, and we need to make it as meaningful and rewarding as we can.

#36300508132 10/09/2008 12:57:46 Re:A New Approach

A few details:

- Cinematics will be hand-drawn, silent, subtitled .gif animations. They will play in the standard cinematic browser window in the Loading Area, but will load and begin playing back more quickly, and will not have the compatibility issues of the old WMV cinematics. They will be drawn and animated by me, and I think I will be able to make them longer and more dynamic than the old cinematics, although I expect the first one or two to be a little rough as I work out my production method.

- The main-story quests will, similar to the Pandora's Box quest arcs, include mission phases, exploration phases, and collection phases. They will tend to take place in a specific neighborhood somewhere in the city, will require a minimum level of 30, and will feature new rewards for level 30, 40, and 50 players, sometimes specific to each organization, although you will also be able to trade the reward items if you wish. Level 100 Agent attacks on Zionites will be disabled in the target neighborhood for the duration of the subchapter, and afterwards will occur there at a decreased frequency. The quests will remain in the game permanently, so that you can always go back and revisit quests from previous subchapters simply by travelling to the right spot in the city, which will most likely be pointed out at the end of each subchapter's cinematic.

- Organization-wide meetings will take place on a single server per organization. Which server hosts which organization's meeting will rotate every update. Meeting time and location will be clearly and publicly announced well in advance. The format will be--as closely as is possible--a roundtable discussion of the concerns and topics most relevant to the organization, in which the story's official organization representatives--Niobe, the Merovingian, Agent Gray, and so on--will need the input of their operatives. The intended model is something akin to the meeting of Zion captains held at the beginning of The Matrix Reloaded. This type of openness and flexibility was simply not possible under the old scheme of pre-planned, pre-scripted, daily and weekly events and missions.

- The small-scale live events that we've been doing on a daily basis will still occur from time to time--in general, when specifically required by the main story.

- The Cypherite and E Pluribus Neo organizations are returning to their original, "underground" status; their characters will still exist in the story, but we will not attempt to support them as player organizations with live quests or meetings; we have attempted to do so up to this point, but our development capabilities and existing game mechanics have never been able to do them justice. Their "parent" organizations (Machines for Cypherites, and Zion for EPN) will give these operatives full access to information, as if they were members of the parent organization. Players will not be restricted from forming new factions with "CYPH," "EPN," or similar, plain-color notation in their names, but the continued existence of the old gold or blue tags will lie solely in the hands of those factions who possess them at the start of subchapter 11.3.

I will have, as I said, much more to say in relation to these changes, and I hope to be able to describe and discuss them with you at length once they've been widely read and assimilated. Please remember that, although we don't require you to agree with everything that is posted by us or your fellow players in these discussions, we do require that any discussion you conduct is done in a civil fashion.

Okay, over to you.

#36300508138 10/09/2008 13:04:20 Re:A New Approach

Let me be the first to say were all very dissapointed in you Rarebit. It's a shame your stripping the game down like this.

What's refocus your development efforts mean exactly? How hard is it to organize three people to develop a last generation mmo? Another question is will we have a chance to ever interact with these characters for sub orgs or do we have absolutely no content to look forward to anymore?

It seems to me like you basicly just told 2 out of the 5 organizations their not going to be offered even minimal support as subscribers. Why exactly did you make this change?

#36300508140 10/09/2008 13:06:27 Re:A New Approach

Sounds good to me.

A question though. Are live events being reduced to ONLY org wide meetings or can we expect to see the occasional exile in need of help or meeting between two characters once every blue moon?

#36300508145 10/09/2008 13:11:07 Re:A New Approach

What's the storyline related plan to get CYPHs involved with mech stuff? I am afraid that this is going to be tough to gain their trust and work together like nothing ever happened.

#36300508146 10/09/2008 13:12:20 Re:A New Approach

Rarebit,

Will we be getting Chapter 11.3 with the Halloween Update on October 23rd, or will we receive it the week after on October 30th?

#36300508147 10/09/2008 13:13:19 Re:Re:A New Approach

Mathalos wrote:

Rarebit,

Will we be getting Chapter 11.3 with the Halloween Update on October 23rd, or will we receive it the week after on October 30th?

Halloween update is scheduled for Oct 23rd.

#36300508148 10/09/2008 13:13:21 Re:A New Approach

Also why the decision to just drop the EPN and CYPH orgs? With this new method of telling the story via quest is it still to time consuming to give EPN and Cyph there own?

And can those who have stuck with the EPN and CYPH orgs expect anything ever in terms of the story and playing a part within it? Or are we left with our leaders being underground and just "pretending" to be apart of them like we were before the orgs were revealed fully?

#36300508149 10/09/2008 13:14:13 Re:A New Approach

Looks cool, Can't wait to see your cinimatics. And to see what these Org specific reward mission type-a-things are. Sorry to see Lesig go away, but hopefully we will still have event where we meet with Pace, Gray, Niobe, Ghost, Twins, ect ect and do some task for them to help the story along. Just viewing the story while the main characters do everything is so dull and everday game way. MxO was great because of the player interaction,

Can't wait to see everything.

#36300508150 10/09/2008 13:15:24 Re:A New Approach

Although I am sad that the daily events will be changed, I am excited with what is planned. I am also glad that many liaisons will be gone.

#36300508151 10/09/2008 13:15:58 Re:A New Approach

I see this as an extremely positive forward step, and indicative of how the MxO team truly cares about the Matrix universe and how they bust their collective behinds to produce a game symbolic of this devotion.

It'll be a shame to see the LO's go, and the EPN/CYPH status is a little troubling. Overall, however, I fully, fully support this change. It may just make me interested in the story again (no offence intended - I'm a picky bastahd).

This may have materialised via convenience and/or various constraints, but my initial reaction is that the forward momentum we have is preserved.

#36300508153 10/09/2008 13:16:16 Re:Re:Re:A New Approach

Virrago wrote:

Mathalos wrote:
Rarebit,

Will we be getting Chapter 11.3 with the Halloween Update on October 23rd, or will we receive it the week after on October 30th?
Halloween update is scheduled for Oct 23rd.

I meant when will Chapter 11.3 be coming out, along with the Halloween Update or the week after in a seperate update?

#36300508155 10/09/2008 13:19:34 Re:Re:A New Approach

SampleNow wrote:

I am also glad that many liaisons will be gone.

Amen at least theres that to look forward to. It was getting pathetic that you had to pay tribute to fellow subscribers just to get full service in a SOE mmo.

#36300508156 10/09/2008 13:19:55 Re:A New Approach

With the RSI Capture tool, will we be able to turn off the disguise, or is it a permanent change that will still be on you the next time you log on?

#36300508158 10/09/2008 13:21 Re:Re:A New Approach

Mathalos wrote:

With the RSI Capture tool, will we be able to turn off the disguise, or is it a permanent change that will still be on you the next time you log on?

Yeah the wording was a bit iffy. It sounded like it would work like a dev mask, ones that rara and Brewko put on us every now and then. Might be fun to use every now and then.

#36300508172 10/09/2008 13:34 Re:A New Approach

WOOT!!!
This looks really great, except the part where CYPH/EPN won't get LE support anymore...

#36300508199 10/09/2008 14:03 Re:A New Approach

I'm in two minds about all this.

I'm hoping the changes will make the game alot better. Hopefully the less frequent events will allow better events that I really enjoy. The fact the meetings will take place on different servers means I'm going to have to make more characters than the sole EPN I have on Recursion.

Liasions? The only one I liked left a while back anyway. And given what has happened in the last few days, perhaps its only a good thing.

In terms of EPN and CYPH tags? I'm not too bothered. Current EPN seems very much following Zion anyway. Not that I like it, but the storyline is such. I'll keep my tag if I can for RP purposes.

My only issue is the hope part of it all. I think all parts of this need to succeed for the whole change to be for the better. One issue and the whole thing could fall apart beneath us.

At least while things transition (so to speak) Mines of Moria will be unlocked (18th Nov). So at least I won't be without a viable MMO.

#36300508201 10/09/2008 14:03 Re:A New Approach

I am... how do you say...

ZOMGWTFBBQ AWESOMESAUCE!!!!111!!1oneone!1

Sorry... >_>

Anywho, I am glad to see we are returning to the classic LE style way back when Monolith still was around. It will be on a smaller scale I assume (less lag, YAY!). As for the Ceinmatics... Good to see them make a return. I just hope this doesn't mean you'll be slacking off with the Sentinel. The RSI Cature also has me very interested... Farming the Legion gang anyone? ^_^ And the return of Pandora Box-like mission arcs is very exciting. I think I can speak for everyone, when I say that it is a very welcome addition.

Liaisons will be missed of course... but hopefully most stick around. I always did enjoy some of them.

Finally... the EPN/CYPH change. To me, this is the only drawback. It almost seems like a slap in the face to all those who were under it. Does this mean that everything The Kid or Cryptos did is going to be erased? I dearly hope not. I still remember that day... all those years ago, when The Machines got on top of Jacob's Ladder, and met up with Phrack and the newly formed Pluribus Neo faction... good times... gooooooood times.

Anywho... my 2 $info.

#36300508202 10/09/2008 14:03:32 Re:Re:A New Approach

jl10899 wrote:

just the whole idea of new content and change is awesome.

#36300508203 10/09/2008 14:05:25 Re:A New Approach

I disappear for like half an hour and the whole format of the game is going to change. That was a bit of a shock. Thinking about it, I've been expecting something like this for a while, I wasn't expecting a sweeping change as it's going to be I was thinking of more subtle, gentle changes such as the splinter orgs getting absorbed back into the parent orgs 'underground'. Not sure why coloured tags can't be kept apart from the fact that they were requested by liaisons....

Ah, yes.. the liaisons...

It's a shame about the liaisons, everytime I spoke to them I knew it was always IC roleplay, and I'm going to miss that because speaking IC with someone that you regularly speak to OoC isn't as immersive.

The changes are going to be interesting, and I'm definately going to stick around for them but I won't be surprised to see people leave over them. Preplanned events and pandora's style quests (which will hopefully be soloable, harder than current weekly missions but not necessarily involving a team of players) sound great as a good many people who would like to, can't attend normal weekday events.

I can see a lot of thought has been put into making the changes and the effects it may have, as it can't have been a decision that was made lightly.

So as many people like to say...

Hmm...interesting...

#36300508209 10/09/2008 14:11:08 Re:A New Approach

Dear Rarebit, and respectivly other mxo members,

I know alot of you 'die hards' probably don't agree with this, but as a hardcore Matrix fan, but lazy mmo player, I think this is actually a very progressive move for this 'dead' mmo. I'll be honest, for some reason I cant just up and leave this game, I have a friend that purposly got himself banned so he couldn't come back to the game, however, everytime I play it, I get bored from long grinds, missions and what not, the headgear grind is one of the most rediculous things I've ever had to do in this game. I feel younger players and some of those not really popular with the bigger more powerful factions, or LET/LESIG kind of get left out of the loop, especially the lowbies that choose to remain factionless and just want to have fun and see where the story line goes, but with the way things have been for the past couple of years, and as rarebit stated, has been extremly difficult, and in a situation like mine, where I have to deploy due to the call of duty for months, I really really get out of the story, and its very hard to catch up on without researching...and is just more time than I want to take.

The timer adjustment on the archive items is definately a plus, I love that, the main thing that pissed me off about the warsword and ninja headband was that it was so short and took so long to reactivate, became kind of a demotivation factor, so I love that thats being changed. Also, I dislike standard crits, its just reading with running around, that kind of stuff pisses me off and makes my ADD kick in, so by making it similar to the arcs and what not adds a litte more motivation into it, and can also help keep people in the loop a little better. And great about the well in advanced announcement and bringing back org wide suprise items, I love my glimmer of the source, merovingians boon, zion requsition hardware, stuff like that is just fun to have, I dont know if it still does anything effective, but I still use it!

Dont listen to the negative nancies rarebit, just take what is keeping this game down now, and lets try to make it feel how it was back in the good ol' days. I'd say you're right in this being a step in the right direction.

Love you,

Arandul.

#36300508213 10/09/2008 14:14:19 Re:A New Approach

omg, yes at last! This is awesome, and MxO does really need a change like this. For most new players and current ones.

However I am sad to see a few of the liaisons go. Like Banshea, Vogt, SIMLO, ect. They're all fun, but lets hope they

still stick around for us who <3 them. : D

But however, I can see the archive items getting a little annoying have a long timer like that. Everyone will be running around like they got set on fire with a sword jabbed on their back. >.> But still very nice. I still do hope Veil will be around, or somehow fits in with the Machines themself, maybe as a Machine operative? Because it'd be a shame to see such a character just vanish, or not be around so much.

But however, even though this new RSI gang tool mask thingy is all the so coolness. It'd make it hard to see if folk are stacking their clothes. ect. But still, a very nice idea indeed.

#36300508217 10/09/2008 14:16:24 Re:A New Approach

Ahhhh?!?!?! I Hope this will make the game better, But i am affraid of change Lol. SMILEY

Jordp92

#36300508219 10/09/2008 14:17:33 Re:A New Approach

Oh, also, five minute archive items will make me farm missions for them... If only the Unlimit and Seraphic eyes didn't show up as my eyebrows. >_>

.

#36300508220 10/09/2008 14:17:38 Re:A New Approach

I can see why Rare decided to use Cryptos, Veil and Shimada as masks. Wonder if one of the last ones will be Popper?

#36300508221 10/09/2008 14:17:45 Re:Re:A New Approach

VSLL wrote:

I am... how do you say...

ZOMGWTFBBQ AWESOMESAUCE!!!!111!!1oneone!1

Sorry... >_>

Anywho, I am glad to see we are returning to the classic LE style way back when Monolith still was around. It will be on a smaller scale I assume (less lag, YAY!). As for the Ceinmatics... Good to see them make a return. I just hope this doesn't mean you'll be slacking off with the Sentinel. The RSI Cature also has me very interested... Farming the Legion gang anyone? ^_^ And the return of Pandora Box-like mission arcs is very exciting. I think I can speak for everyone, when I say that it is a very welcome addition.

Liaisons will be missed of course... but hopefully most stick around. I always did enjoy some of them.

Finally... the EPN/CYPH change. To me, this is the only drawback. It almost seems like a slap in the face to all those who were under it. Does this mean that everything The Kid or Cryptos did is going to be erased? I dearly hope not. I still remember that day... all those years ago, when The Machines got on top of Jacob's Ladder, and met up with Phrack and the newly formed Pluribus Neo faction... good times... gooooooood times.

Anywho... my 2 $info.

Bolding mine of course. Heh, I got an idea for Morraeon's connection with the Demon Army, since, RP-wise, I'd envisioned them seeing her as a dark goddess of sorts. Plus, I had a wierd idea involving Sieges's brother being infected with code from a Legion gang member. And I'm still working out the wheels-within-wheels storyline started with "A Scream in the Night" and the gang hoodlums that assaulted Sieges...

The last time we had a organization quest was, I think, during the "Piece of Blue Sky" event madness. Loved that mini-quest and I'm glad to see we're gonna have cool stuff like that again! I love quest-based content any way, so this really, really, really has me jumping up and down happy!

#36300508222 10/09/2008 14:18:24 Re:Re:A New Approach

Vinia wrote:

I can see why Rare decided to use Cryptos, Veil and Shimada as masks. Wonder if one of the last ones will be Popper?

Considering you can create a character/use RSI pills to look exactly like the Kid, I don't even know if that'd be necessary.

.

#36300508223 10/09/2008 14:18:33 Re:A New Approach

Ahh! That was the other thing I was going to type. I think most of all as well, like most MMO's do is they have a PvP-item System. I think it's about time we have "some sort" of PvP item system, only one of the main reasons. It'll give folk a reason to PvP, and gain CQ's in one way or another. Or doesn't have to be items. Just something! =P

#36300508227 10/09/2008 14:23:01 Re:A New Approach

wow...Really not looking forward to this.

#36300508228 10/09/2008 14:23:24 Re:A New Approach

Overall this sounds like a good thing. I have no opinion really until I see how this affects Vogt.

The Patch v. 1.2 | The Guide

#36300508229 10/09/2008 14:24:13 Re:A New Approach

The quests and org rewards sound promising.

The change to events does not sound promising at all, and, to be brutally honest, neither do low-rent cinematics.

I can understand the frustration with events getting dull, but I think there's a reason behind it. And that's that the storyline is either too irrelevant, or too slow.

Here's a breakdown of what could better be done to resolve that:

A) No more filler events. We don't need Rose running around trying on dresses. No more Effectuator parties. They don't contribute to the storyline and whenever I show up to an event only to get something like this, I am extremely disappointed

B) Resolve storyline questions more quickly. We didn't know a damnn thing about Halborn for well over 2 subchapters. We didn't even know his name. We still don't even know what if anything happened to Morpheus. WE STILL DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE DEAL IS WITH SARAH EDMONTONS. Questions need to be resolved before more are introduced. This is why everyone is getting lost with the storyline.

C) Along with A and B, move things along more quickly. Build critical missions in such a way so that there don't need to be filler events in the off week between them when the new patch is being pushed out. Keep continuing the story, don't just let it hang in limbo. We all get pissed off when our turn for an event finally comes around and all we get to do is go to a club with Niobe.

D) Unscript events, at least to a degree. Half the time you're at an event, you can tell the character is just waiting for someone to say the right thing. Those who were involved in the Lock battle felt like we changed the storyline. It was awesome. You want a winning format? That's it.

E) Can inactive liaisons, not good ones, and not all of them. People love talking to their liaisons, and it's almost certain that liaisons are around more than storyline characters, so that's the best link between story and character that players can get. If the good ones choose to retire (i.e. can't handle the time demand), let them keep their characters. Don't force them to delete like what happened to Reposco. Kerevola's still around and makes for interesting situations.

F) You want to get players interested? Follow player events and show up at more of them as dev-controlled characters or assist with items/temporary spawn tools. ESPECIALLY RP events which sorely need assistance. I'm talking code bombs, overrides, CPDs - send Pace to investigate a player-organized Zion operation. Organize a system by which players can PM Rarebit to ask for a timeslot or something. If only this could be done, things could be great.

To be honest, just having meetings is bad (not to mention putting them ONE time per ONE server per ONE month - some of us have a full array of characters already and won't be able to make "NeotenyVH" or "NeotenyVS" to attend these meetings if they're on the other server. It's disclusionary). Meetings are boring. Meetings truly are the worst type of event. And if we're being honest, there was much less quest-style content in the Monolith days, but there was a GREAT deal of player activity. Why?

The events. If you would devote LESS time to quests and MORE time to events (say, perhaps, one dev-assisted player event and one main story event per day) things would probably pick up.

Now, as someone who recently put a month into grinding a Cypherite to level 50 and someone with a level 20 EPN who should, at some point, get up to 50 as well, I'm extremely disappointed at the sort of "discontinuing" of those orgs. It just reeks of laziness, or an unwillingness to put the time in to make those organizations their own beings. Again this goes largely with story writing, so I know it could be done. It's just not being done.

The RSI Capture thing is sort of meh. I mean, it's nifty, but do we really need it?

And as a simple afterword, I'm not entirely impressed with the archive reward thing. As essentially it means that the one perpetual item I have is now (yipee!) obsolete.

I am very, very disappointed, and this new direction only encourages me to end my subscription to the Matrix Online. And many people I have spoken with who have played previously have seen no incentive to resubscribe in this new plan.

#36300508234 10/09/2008 14:27:39 Re:Re:A New Approach

Bayamos wrote:

Overall this sounds like a good thing. I have no opinion really until I see how this affects Vogt.

This is what Im wondering, as well. Vogt, SIMLO, Tranta, BloodlustV, Harkee, are, imo, the best liaisons on Syntax. I wonder what they'll decide to do.

#36300508235 10/09/2008 14:28:04 Re:Re:A New Approach

Neoteny wrote:

I am very, very disappointed, and this new direction only encourages me to end my subscription to the Matrix Online.

Yeah, That and a few other things lately.

#36300508236 10/09/2008 14:30 Re:A New Approach

Change is not always good, but it is what we need.

Archived image unavailable: TheSorrows_Halloween.gif

#36300508269 10/09/2008 15:11 Re:Re:Re:A New Approach

Neoteny wrote:

Phluff wrote:
Losing the Cyph and EPN presence is a small disappointment to me compared to everything else that's changing (but it is still a disappointment). They never were their own complete org anyway, but they were very interesting in their own right.
From Ebola, with my concurrence:
To people who don't play the Splinter Orgs, of course its not a big deal. But people who have put years of RP and work into their orgs it is. While we aren't "techinically" going away, the players will still be around (hopefully) to continue the RP. The lack of presence from the LE characters will surely hamper our activity. But the splinter orgs have always been on the short end of the stick, we made our choice to join them. Those that stick it out will just show their true dedication to their org.

I think this is what I agree most with Neoteny. I see this as a rather low blow to EPN and Cyph... but those that truely love their org will continue to work in their name. I may not get along with them all the time, but those people are truely dedicated to their leaders, much more than others I say.

So to all EPN and Cyph, /salute

Don't let this news keep you from doing what you do best: Being a thorn in the other org's sides. SMILEY

Keep fighting for Neo/Cypher!

#36300508291 10/09/2008 15:41 Re:Re:A New Approach

nubious81 wrote:

I like this Rare please keep Vogt he is a excelent officer and the hvct battles are a great thing and helps as we have with past story lines it takes the story line to a diffrent twist Cinematics a awlways a great welcome back i have to say even with doing the critical missions since chapter 10 im still felling out of the loop of whats going on the meeting and party idea every month sounds awsome to poeple always love partys overall with the otther stuff i think this will be a great aproach to the game.

Just because Vogt wont be a liason doesn't mean the character can't stay, he just wont be a LO anymore, I wouldn't see any reason why the hvct battles wouldn't still exist since they were never realy a part of Lesig other then the whole Locke thing.

#36300508292 10/09/2008 15:45 Re:A New Approach

I'm gonna wait a few months to see how it actually goes. Nothing goes as planned in Mxo. SMILEY

#36300508299 10/09/2008 15:51 Re:A New Approach

I like it. It was time for a change and I'm glad it is coming. And yay for cinematics!

#36300508302 10/09/2008 15:53 Re:A New Approach

Looks good on the paper. Changes are always welcome, especially if it's something new and unexpected.

Looking forward to it.

#36300508323 10/09/2008 16:14 Re:Re:A New Approach

TheSorrows wrote:

Change is not always good, but it is what we need.

Exactly. I think in the end the negatives(splinter orgs being cast off) will be heavily outweighed by the positives(a larger interest in the storyline and not the same repetitive events daily while only reaching a small group of players). I guess it's up to how Rarebit does these new quests. I've always felt forced into doing critical missions, now maybe I'll want to do them. There is only so many times "Meet with Agent Pace" can stay interesting. The new model for org wide meetings sounds great.. but it's hard to imagine Rarebit being able to manage such a large group of players.

- The small-scale live events that we've been doing on a daily basis will still occur from time to time--in general, when specifically required by the main story.

I'm hoping that includes throwing a bone(a operation or meeting with Veil or The Kid for example) here and there to the players who keep the splinter orgs alive. Established liaisons in those splinter orgs do have the option of keeping their RSI's, whose to say they can't setup meetings themselves?

#36300508340 10/09/2008 16:34 Re:Re:Re:A New Approach

privaronT wrote:

10011 wrote:
Well, I suppose I took "live quests" to mean the new mission system and "meetings" to mean the once a month meetings. So no monthly meetings or quests for the splinter orgs. That's really the extent of the facts that Rarebit has provided. He hasn't explicitly stated that there will not be Live Events involving Kid, Cryptos, Shimada, or Veil; therefore I will assume that they will continue to play a part in the story (along with their exploratory fleet and counter-overrides). I assume this because of their current involvement in the storyline, and because Rarebit said "their characters will still exist in the story".
I don't really see the need for overreacting on assumptions that aren't supported by the facts.
You know man Im just going off previous experience Rarebit hardly supports these organizations now he never even bothered to write detailed backstories after Chadwick left the project.

All Im going to say is I dont enjoy these changes and i hope Im proven to be totally wrong.

Never supported them? If he never supported them he would have killed them off after the truce the way it was in the orriginal plan.

#36300508357 10/09/2008 16:53 Re:A New Approach

I can't say it's a surprise or even un-welcomed. I've read what Rarebit has said and the loss hopefully isn't as much as we gain. I've always felt the 'live' events were always out out most peoples timezone or abilities to get online and experience them. So if they are return/moved to more 'static' methods where people can try and experience them in their own time and place it will benefit more people that it 'hurts'

The return of cinematics is a good addition and yes it will help those in and out of game still experience the on going story. Hopefully condensed into a digestible format.

Not sure of the nature of the 'failing' of LESIG. As it did seem to add more 'live' content support for the over stretched resources of the MxO support team. But like with most events, I'm sure most casual players never really saw their direct benefit either.

As long as it's not a total death call of MxO, I hope this is a positive step forward!

The Matrix Online @ rumbaar.net - Contribute to your community resource!

You know Morpheus was killed at my Sewage Plant? Read all about it ... Who Killed Sewage Crew? - 1st July, 2005 The Sentinel

#36300508372 10/09/2008 17:34 Re:Re:A New Approach

ZippyTheSquirrel wrote:

Ugh.

Rarebit. Every time, every time I didn't think it could go any further, and you pull it off.

No more weekly crits? Returned cinematics? Story related quests available at any time with awards? NPC masks from gang members?

... semi-permanent FX items?

....... no more (official) liaisons??

A party each Update?!

....Dude... I hate you so much. Every single time I seriously think about ditching this game for good, you reel me back in. Forget you! I'm gonna go play SNES E.T. or some random EA game, 'cause clearly you care about us far too much to put us under this kind of treatment.

*storms off*

lawl, it didn't make sense till the last pharagraph.

#36300508392 10/09/2008 18:16 Re:A New Approach

The meeting schedules will be promoted for Europe ?

Faction Francophone sur Syntax

#36300508417 10/09/2008 19:02 Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:A New Approach

Neoteny wrote:

sugaree wrote:
Yasamuu wrote:
sugaree wrote:
I have great respect for the liaisons, who have done so much to try and add to the community. At the same time, there have been too many mean-spirited chumps trying to ruin things for anyone.
I agree. A big advantage of this change will be the erradication of leaking liaisons.

Amen. I'm so sick of the little sheep running around bleating with glee every time they find a lesig list. It's like watching my kids at the park, and seeing little ones trying to embarass each other with telling other people's secrets. Isn't there a time for them to grow up?
I know, right? I'm so sick of priveleged people giving out event schedules to individuals they're in cahoots with. It's like my cousin Johnny cheating on his SATs. Isn't it time he was punished or something?

Scheduals are nothing when theres a lesig leak to a faction where one of their members is in lesig for that org and they are told what the end goal and where to go and who to find for events.

#36300508439 10/09/2008 19:31 Re:A New Approach

Now that these changes are taking place, I can't wait to see the reaction of old members, and possible new ones...

But, Rarebit, I was wondering if there will be the type of events done a long time ago when there was LET, Like when random people would get tells by a person of their org, like me it was Ghost a loong time ago, about 'training simulation' aka missions... It was just a little something and people chosen would feel real important for that day or two SMILEY

I think any newbie leveling now would love to have someone like Agent Pace, Ghost, Ookami /t them, you wanna help with a training simulation?...

I do like the gang member drop to look like the gang... I want to know if Valkyrja leader will have this option too?

#36300508445 10/09/2008 19:44 Re:A New Approach

Rarebit wrote:

This is going to change to: 1) a new cinematic, 2) quests with missions, activities, and rewards for each organization, based on the latest advancement of the story seen in the cinematic, and 3) an organization-wide meeting announced well in advance so that as many members as possible will be able to attend.

Love it. I'd rather have permanent content than Live Events that only a select few can reach. One of the biggest flaws in the game has been the mission system, which has always been a poor substitute for a true quest system. This is probably as far as they can go to rectify it, and I'm for one not upset to see the old-style missions go.

Not thrilled about the Cyph / EPN orgs being dropped, though. This system seems *ideal* for finally giving them some quest love.

Bring it, Rarebit. Quests FTW.

#36300508449 10/09/2008 19:56:32 Re:A New Approach

First of all, it makes no sense to me to have people with instant, completely polarized opinions immediatey - both for and against. Why are people cheering this blindly, ie. "OMG this is the best thing to happen to MxO ever!!!"; the flip side being, "OMG u just killed this game, I'm unsubscring immediately!!!!!11"

Like most things in life this looks like a mixed bag, some things will work and some things won't. Plus, we don't know the specifics on how these things will manifest themselves so there's no way to judge.

I agree that things have gotten off course for the past few months. And this is from an RP/storyline perspective.

First of all it did concern me that while two new constructs were great, esp. Datamine; Sati's Playground and the ninja and sleeper boxes make absolutely no sense to me RP wise, not only that but its nothing more than a dull, time-consuming grind (mind you I've done them all, and they are better than the horrible Corruptor quests). I felt that you heard our desires to return the focus back to Mega City with the implementation of the Valk quests; that ws a big improvement. But, new quests with the end result of getting the latest and greatest hot gear, I felt, was starting come at the expense of the ongoing storyline.

Which is a problem for many people these days. I think the problem with the storyline itself is that the Oligarch plot arc has been going on longer than any other story arc. Weve been dealing with these guys since Chapter 9 with no end in sight. Its like a long, complex, lazy game. But you know what? I'm fine with that....provided the end of this story arc ends with a rewarding bang. Its like reading a very long but good novel; its okay to have a long slow patch in the middle provided theres a big payoff in the end. If you put the time in to read the massive novel you do have this sense of accomplishment. Scrapping a linear storyline...concerns me.

The problem was adding so much gear to farm all at once distracted away frrom the storyline which by coincidence had become much slower and more complex. I just don't want to see the baby thrown out with the bathwater. I always put my time in with the crits, all three orgs, meticulously, and really don't want to see critical missions scrapped.

Rarebit wrote:

2) Extending the reach of the story

The story of the Matrix, as told through weekly missions and daily events, has become very detailed, and very complex. This has had an appeal for the story's most hardcore fans--those willing and able to put forth the considerable imagination and effort required to track the separate threads of the story across each week, each day, each organization, and each server, and weave them all into the overall narrative being told--but has been largely lost on more casual players, or those players dedicated to the pursuit of the latest and greatest gear.

I have no problem with severely scaling back or even scrapping live events; I have a big problem with scrapping critical missions. That is the ONLY THING that keeps me anchored in MxO as a constantly evolving story. This MMO is unique in its story-based content. Without that, what are we? There have been story arcs I've liked and some I've dreaded; but at least they are certain. And with all due respect I'm not sure the "pursuit of the latest and greatest gear" is something that is reflective of a big trend of want players really want and need lots more of...I think there is an element of "Keeping up with the Joneses" going on here, especially on a hostile server like mine. And, the compulsion for collectors; those of us who still have Neo's Insight, have every mask, etc.

Rarebit wrote:

- The main-story quests will, similar to the Pandora's Box quest arcs, include mission phases, exploration phases, and collection phases. They will tend to take place in a specific neighborhood somewhere in the city, will require a minimum level of 30, and will feature new rewards for level 30, 40, and 50 players, sometimes specific to each organization, although you will also be able to trade the reward items if you wish. Level 100 Agent attacks on Zionites will be disabled in the target neighborhood for the duration of the subchapter, and afterwards will occur there at a decreased frequency. The quests will remain in the game permanently, so that you can always go back and revisit quests from previous subchapters simply by travelling to the right spot in the city, which will most likely be pointed out at the end of each subchapter's cinematic.

I don't understand how permanent quests and and ongoing evolving storylines are compatible.

And why would you restrict story-related content to only those who are levels 30 and up? I have a zion and a mech solely for doing those org's crits. They are both in their mid 20's. Does this mean only standard missions are available until then? Those standard missions that have been basically unchanged since beta in 2004?

I dunno where this is heading. But I will try to be optimistic! Anything that immerses us in Mega City more is great. I just don't want to be made to feel that all my efforts to immerse myself in the storyline will get the short end of the stick.

#36300508454 10/09/2008 20:09:26 Re:Re:A New Approach

NeoExcidious wrote:

Let's be polite, shall we Tranque? Or was that the underwaged Nelson? lol

Tranque hasn't posted in this thread, I think you confused him with Zippy.

Also, someone posted that the org mission quests wouldn't be availible until someone was higher-levelled. If they're anything like that one mission quest arc we had during the "Piece of Blue Sky", it's basically no different from a regular mission, ie. you get it from your org controller and you can scale it like a regular mission. There's just special items and collectors involved....