A New Approach

Jim78UK wrote:

Rarebit old chap, this post is directed personally to you. I hope you read it. A reply to it would make me ecstatic, but I guess you get a lot of messages. Okay, it’s been a good few days since the changes were implemented and I’ve put in a good few gaming hours with the new system. Here are my observations…

1/ I was happy about the new FX timers, as I collect them from the archives and was chuffed to learn my devices would be drastically extended. I did however foresee this change making the perps people had fought tooth and nail for, virtually worthless. Having tried them out though, I think Rarebit, that you may have pitched it just about right. Five minutes isn’t too long to class as spam and a 30 second recharge time is placed just well enough to prevent spamming from any but the most determined. I think I’m going to be happy to eat my own words on this particular subject.

2/ (a)The new critical mission system is something I… not exactly loathe… but dislike intensely. Playing a game like this is all about suspension of disbelief, perhaps more so than usual, considering this is the Matrix we’re talking about. Why would all three org reps hang out within twenty feet of each other? Why would it be necessary to do the same mission about six or seven times in order to gain some items? I understand people sitting on their arses in Richland was a problem, but many mission have had specific locations (usually Westview I think, although there would’ve been nothing to stop it being in Downtown) and I think it would’ve been relatively easy to force people to move around the city as desired without taking the crit delivery away from the three regular controllers. I also understand that people simply not being bothered to do crit missions was a difficulty, so you had to have some sort of incentive system to make them do it. The reaction earlier in this thread to the mention of IS regen boosters (most people said they couldn’t be bothered to use them) was an obvious clue that the current situation wasn’t working, but I find the new solution very annoying, as getting said reward requires repeated completion of the same mission in the plot (not to mention that rewards are not level specific, they’re fixed and thus out of my reach for the near future – I presume this is meant to be an incentive to reach level 50?). At least with the arcs you could jump around as desired. Which leads me to…

For the bold bit: Interaction with others... org specific items, do trades etc. Makes it easier for everyone to know where they are aswell. Oh and on Vector, it just makes it so dam temptin

I hate grinding but i'v managed to get my boots and gonna get some other stuff aswell. I like the way how its fairly soloable (apart from the lvl 100.) Oh yeah, merv item is 12 of the 2nd rarest bit, zions is the most common!!!

Only problem i can see, not now but future terms, theres gonna be alot of collectors dotted around (we have enough already lol) Gonna get confusing.

Cinematics, when i heard it wasn't going to be ingame stuff, i didn't even check it out tbh.

Archive rewards, dammit, gonna need to grind mishs on my main now. When i relised the timers was bad i didn't see the point grinding for other rewards. Only have the bluehead lamp on my main lol

Fatmop wrote:

Synapse777 wrote:

Hm, I was wondering if these org quests could and will involve new interior looking areas? I mean it would be nice to see new rooms and such, recolored floors, walls, new posters, just a general change to the missionareas from the generic areas would be real nice, even visiting Le Vrai? Dare one hope? And also maybe keep some of the missions in the same building? Instead of all the running from one location to another, why not go up one floor and clean out then take the elevator to the next floor? Would give the missions a whole new feel of attacking an org controlled installation. Hope these ideas aren't too outlandish

Well, they're not, except the "new rooms" one oddly enough.  Adding new rooms would require a repackaging of the entire district because there are a set number of building designs.  If you change a design, you have to make everyone re-download the entire map.

That sucks, thanks for shooting down teh pipedream Fatmop!

The_Bruceter wrote:

bit: Interaction with others... org specific items, do trades etc. Makes it easier for everyone to know where they are aswell. Oh and on Vector, it just makes it so dam temptin

Zion and the Mechs are at overt war and the Merv is constantly sniping from the sidelines. How realistic is it there's be en "embassy" space within the Matrix in those conditions? Especially within a restricted zone populated with the strongest gangs outside of the constructs! As for the last point, wouldn't matter where they were, if you could contact them by phone, as we used to.

Vector:  I will never make a serious character on that server, because a) It's even more sparsely populated than Recursion, and b) ganking is bad enough when it's restricted.

Realistic

Its an mmo, interaction. RP can get a bit of a push to the side can it not? Doesn't have to explain every weird and wonderful thing. I personally prefer the collectors together.

p.s. Vector is more populated than Reccy (well over the past 2 weeks we've bn on medium and reccy hasn't.) and ganking isn't restricted if you've done the node

I'v already pvpd a few times downtown due to this new update  

Jim, I know your post was directed at the dev. However, I see where a few assumptions have been made that have led to your feeling the way you do about certain features of the game and the new content. I thought I c would chime in with my take on things and see if it doesn't make you feel a teensy bit better about our current situation.

Jim78UK wrote:

2/ (a)The new critical mission system is something I… not exactly loathe… but dislike intensely. Playing a game like this is all about suspension of disbelief, perhaps more so than usual, considering this is the Matrix we’re talking about. Why would all three org reps hang out within twenty feet of each other? Why would it be necessary to do the same mission about six or seven times in order to gain some items? I understand people sitting on their arses in Richland was a problem, but many mission have had specific locations (usually Westview I think, although there would’ve been nothing to stop it being in Downtown) and I think it would’ve been relatively easy to force people to move around the city as desired without taking the crit delivery away from the three regular controllers. I also understand that people simply not being bothered to do crit missions was a difficulty, so you had to have some sort of incentive system to make them do it. The reaction earlier in this thread to the mention of IS regen boosters (most people said they couldn’t be bothered to use them) was an obvious clue that the current situation wasn’t working, but I find the new solution very annoying, as getting said reward requires repeated completion of the same mission in the plot (not to mention that rewards are not level specific, they’re fixed and thus out of my reach for the near future – I presume this is meant to be an incentive to reach level 50?). At least with the arcs you could jump around as desired. Which leads me to…

 The critical mission system coupled with nightly live events got to the point where it was just too much for one man to do. Design, writing, planning and implementation for three org missions per week, for five weeks in row, has got to be a *censored* of a timesink. It had to be changed, not as a tradeoff for other perceived features, but as something that simply could no longer be maintained.

Also, it has long (like, since Beta) been a bone of contention with the dedicated player base that virtually none of the missions provided any real end-content (i.e. stuff that gave level 50's something to do) and none of them ever occured in Downtown (which is the richest neighborhood in terms of visual stimulation).

Jim78UK wrote:

(b)Why on earth is the archiving system being discarded? Without it, it will be impossible to do off-org crit missions unless you’re one of those people with enough time on their hands to have generated three level 50 characters. Also, the idea of having crit missions existing for all time as current ones is a ruiner of the aforementioned “suspension of disbelief” because we now have a timeline that defies any knowledge of quantum physics. That means we can’t have any plot specific environmental effects, such as when the General kidnapped Sati and the Matrix weather went all to buggery.

The Archived mission system is part of the weekly crit mission system; again something just too time-consuming to be maintained. Also, another old gripe of the players was the fact that it was too easy for orgs to "spy" on the other orgs (e.g. run other orgs missions using alts). This new system will reduce the availability of the story events to just the handful of folks who have level 50 alts in all three orgs.

It's funny that you should use the Sati Kidnapping arc as your example for this. I recall that many players were upset about this due to the fact that it put Sati in such a prominent place of Matrix control. After all, she's a child, and an Exile at that... But I get your argument: the storyline no longer actually affects the environment of the game world. Of course, when running Archived missions of the Sati kidnapping arc, the sky isn't actually red anymore, either.

Jim78UK wrote:

3/ The much vaunted cinematics return...  I am the first to admit that I have zero talent as an artist and almost zero when it comes to art appreciation, so people may consider my views on this less relevant than those of others. However, here are my views for what they're worth...

These are what we gave up the other stuff for?!?!?! I find them hard to look at, and I often find myself not even having a clue which characters are which, or even who the heck they are, because it looks like a detailess black and white splodge on my screen. Given that there's no voiceovers to help distinguish between people either, it makes it doubly hard. An absoloute pile of the festering "proverbial" in other words. I could quite happily live without these if we got some of the old features back. I know you can do better than this Rarebit.

The return of the 'cinematics' was not the goal of the decision to change the story delivery. As I've stated, that delivery system just took too much time and effort to keep it up. When the cinematics went away, players were FURIOUS. I mean people were actually unsubbing because of it. They were SCREAMING to bring them back, in any form. This new version of that style of story delivery is simply an added feature that Rarebit has the time to do, now that he doesn't have the rigors of writing 15 missions every six weeks while maintaining a schedule of nightly live events that generally lasted between two - five hours, per night. Not to mention all the other dev requirements, such as fixing bugs, creating new content, delivery patches on time, keeping up with the community, etc, etc. Rarebit litterally put in 20 hour workdays for 3 years. He deserves a break. I, for one, would rather see him relax, than quit.

Also, it was his first attempt. A little latitude may be in order?

Finally, before it's said, let me just head it off at the pass. The Matrix Online will not be getting any additional devs, unless Rarebit or 9mmfu leaves, which, even then, I doubt SOE would hire a replacement. This game just doesn't have enough subs to maintain it at its former level.

Synapse777 wrote:

Fatmop wrote:

Synapse777 wrote:

Hm, I was wondering if these org quests could and will involve new interior looking areas? I mean it would be nice to see new rooms and such, recolored floors, walls, new posters, just a general change to the missionareas from the generic areas would be real nice, even visiting Le Vrai? Dare one hope? And also maybe keep some of the missions in the same building? Instead of all the running from one location to another, why not go up one floor and clean out then take the elevator to the next floor? Would give the missions a whole new feel of attacking an org controlled installation. Hope these ideas aren't too outlandish

Well, they're not, except the "new rooms" one oddly enough.  Adding new rooms would require a repackaging of the entire district because there are a set number of building designs.  If you change a design, you have to make everyone re-download the entire map.

That sucks, thanks for shooting down teh pipedream Fatmop!

My apologies.  I was just letting you know - this type of thing has been brought up before, and I think once by me, with the same answer more or less.  Without more devs, I wouldn't expect to see this change.  But maybe it will?

Fatmop wrote:

Synapse777 wrote:

Fatmop wrote:

Synapse777 wrote:

Hm, I was wondering if these org quests could and will involve new interior looking areas? I mean it would be nice to see new rooms and such, recolored floors, walls, new posters, just a general change to the missionareas from the generic areas would be real nice, even visiting Le Vrai? Dare one hope? And also maybe keep some of the missions in the same building? Instead of all the running from one location to another, why not go up one floor and clean out then take the elevator to the next floor? Would give the missions a whole new feel of attacking an org controlled installation. Hope these ideas aren't too outlandish

Well, they're not, except the "new rooms" one oddly enough.  Adding new rooms would require a repackaging of the entire district because there are a set number of building designs.  If you change a design, you have to make everyone re-download the entire map.

That sucks, thanks for shooting down teh pipedream Fatmop!

My apologies.  I was just letting you know - this type of thing has been brought up before, and I think once by me, with the same answer more or less.  Without more devs, I wouldn't expect to see this change.  But maybe it will?

Lol, but the idea with missions in same buildings or at least NEARBY buildings could be feasible. Example from the zion 11.3.1 mish wich made me think the same:

Operator: Hol####--

### still there, Hyperviolent? Man, I just caught an override pulse like you wouldn't believe. There is a major codestorm going on, and it's pretty **** close to you.

I go outside, waypoint 600~ meters away.

Tyndall: We picked it up too, operative. It's very close to you.

I lol'd.

I agree that wouldn't be bad.  And I said that the only one I know for sure is implausible is the district rebundling.  I don't know much about the mission system itself or what parameters it uses to define where your mission will be - but judging by the fact that a mission never has two objectives in the same building, it must be creating a list of 'nearby' or 'same-level' buildings, then cutting/pasting from that list - would make sense.  I'm sure it's a bit more complex than that, but I'd say it's probably within the realm of possibility to add a couple lines of code here and there to change the function from a cut/paste to a read/paste so that same-building missions are possible.

On second thought, it'd be more than a few lines of code - you might need a new variable indicating which floor/room space you just came out of to prevent you from leaving then turning around into the same area.  THAT would cause hella problems.

The_Bruceter wrote:

Realistic

Its an mmo, interaction. RP can get a bit of a push to the side can it not? Doesn't have to explain every weird and wonderful thing. I personally prefer the collectors together.

p.s. Vector is more populated than Reccy (well over the past 2 weeks we've bn on medium and reccy hasn't.) and ganking isn't restricted if you've done the node

I'v already pvpd a few times downtown due to this new update  

1/ I guess that's personal choice.

2/ Personally, I've never once seen Vector on anything but low. I've seen Recursion on medium a hell of a lot less than I've seen it on Syntax (Syntax is medium 80% of the time I see it, Recursion has been on medium maybe four or five times in the time I've been playing, which is about five months), but I've still seen it that way occasionally.

Jim78UK wrote:

we now have a timeline that defies any knowledge of quantum physics.

You think that's quantum physics you're experiencing?

Shi,

Thanks for replying. The POV of someone who's been around since Beta (I assume you have?) is very welcome. For the sake of ease in replying to your comments I've inserted a few numbers here and there to make bullet-points of them.

ShiXinFeng wrote:

1/ Jim, I know your post was directed at the dev. However, I see where a few assumptions have been made that have led to your feeling the way you do about certain features of the game and the new content. I thought I would chime in with my take on things and see if it doesn't make you feel a teensy bit better about our current situation.

2/ The critical mission system coupled with nightly live events got to the point where it was just too much for one man to do. Design, writing, planning and implementation for three org missions per week, for five weeks in row, has got to be a *censored* of a timesink. It had to be changed, not as a tradeoff for other perceived features, but as something that simply could no longer be maintained.

Also, it has long (like, since Beta) been a bone of contention with the dedicated player base that virtually none of the missions provided any real end-content (i.e. stuff that gave level 50's something to do) and none of them ever occured in Downtown (which is the richest neighborhood in terms of visual stimulation).

3/ The Archived mission system is part of the weekly crit mission system; again something just too time-consuming to be maintained. Also, another old gripe of the players was the fact that it was too easy for orgs to "spy" on the other orgs (e.g. run other orgs missions using alts). This new system will reduce the availability of the story events to just the handful of folks who have level 50 alts in all three orgs.

4/ It's funny that you should use the Sati Kidnapping arc as your example for this. I recall that many players were upset about this due to the fact that it put Sati in such a prominent place of Matrix control. After all, she's a child, and an Exile at that... But I get your argument: the storyline no longer actually affects the environment of the game world. Of course, when running Archived missions of the Sati kidnapping arc, the sky isn't actually red anymore, either.

5/ The return of the 'cinematics' was not the goal of the decision to change the story delivery. As I've stated, that delivery system just took too much time and effort to keep it up. When the cinematics went away, players were FURIOUS. I mean people were actually unsubbing because of it. They were SCREAMING to bring them back, in any form. This new version of that style of story delivery is simply an added feature that Rarebit has the time to do, now that he doesn't have the rigors of writing 15 missions every six weeks while maintaining a schedule of nightly live events that generally lasted between two - five hours, per night. Not to mention all the other dev requirements, such as fixing bugs, creating new content, delivery patches on time, keeping up with the community, etc, etc. Rarebit litterally put in 20 hour workdays for 3 years. He deserves a break. I, for one, would rather see him relax, than quit.

Also, it was his first attempt. A little latitude may be in order?

6/ Finally, before it's said, let me just head it off at the pass. The Matrix Online will not be getting any additional devs, unless Rarebit or 9mmfu leaves, which, even then, I doubt SOE would hire a replacement. This game just doesn't have enough subs to maintain it at its former level.

1/ As I said above, I'm very glad you chose to do so.

2/ Nightly live events seemed excessive to me from the POV of a noob. Because of the exigencies of my r/l I only ever got to attend one and even then it was just a slug-fest with dozens of NPC exiles somewhere in Downtown. I got a bunch of enhanced clothes to decompile from it, but that was about it. I don't remember there being anything perp-able to fight. Although I would see them being made as rare as hen's teeth a bad thing, having less frequent (as opposed to one every few weeks) that had meaning and something worth doing I would view as a good thing.

3/ I was surprised to hear it was unpopular. My opinion was based soley on my own feelings and those of people I've spoken to in-game.

4/ The Sati example was chosen, not because I thought the red sky was a good thing or that Sati's status and importance was plausible from a storyline point of view, but just as an example. I couldn't think of anything else that made the universe we were playing in seem so vibrant, responsive to our actions and input, and alive.

5/ The cinematics are something I see as a tool for communicating storyline events. Not a crucial tool, but a more important one nowadays, definitely. If they're going to be used, then I think I should at least be able to tell who is who. I accept that Rarebit puts in a shedload of hours and I don't for one second think anything that's wrong is due to lack of effort or time. I hope I've made it clear in my posts that although there are some things I'm not happy about, I'm not a total flame-baiter who's here only to scream and gibber like a club-footed inbred at a televangelist show.

6/ Don't get me wrong on this one, I'm under no illusions as to how SOE views MxO. I think, frankly, that if they weren't legally and contractually obliged to continue running it, they'd have canned it at the first opportunity. I don't think they give a tup'penny bugger about the game to be honest and should Rarebit decide to take the gap, I think probably the only content we'll have will be the standard missions and the archives.

Rarebit wrote:

Jim78UK wrote:

we now have a timeline that defies any knowledge of quantum physics.

You think that's quantum physics you're experiencing?

It's certainly not air I'm breathing. I suspect it's laughing gas.

Rarebit wrote:

Jim78UK wrote:

we now have a timeline that defies any knowledge of quantum physics.

You think that's quantum physics you're experiencing?

Lol! Well thats a question, does Quantum Physics play any role in a virtual environment? Lets also consider that MxO is a game, a fairly old one at that with little in the way of flexibility and there are certain elements that you just have to allow because of it.

Jim78UK wrote:

Vector:  I will never make a serious character on that server, because a) It's even more sparsely populated than Recursion, and b) ganking is bad enough when it's restricted.

Just wanted to point out that Vector is a fantastic server.  I started my main there, and whats good about being red as a lowbie is it makes you more aware of your surroundings, there's a hightened sense of danger which adds a nice element to the enviornment.  I took a break in 2007 when Vector's population took a dive and I stopped seeing anyone on my buddy list.  Quite a few of us migrated to Recursion that year.  It was fun, but late that year/early this year the Vector population came back up so I came back to Vector for good, along with all of my fellow Vector-emigre mates.  I hardly ever see anyone on Reccy anymore, and I only would hop on to do crits, and those are gone now so theres not much of a reason to stay.  I really think the Rec population is quite low.  If I had to choose a nonhostile server I'd choose Syntax since its the most populated server by far.

BTW I'll have my full review of these changes after I finish the new quest...just got the 11.3.3 ticket so I'll wait until that's done before I make a rush to judgement.

Vinia wrote:

Rarebit wrote:

Jim78UK wrote:

we now have a timeline that defies any knowledge of quantum physics.

You think that's quantum physics you're experiencing?

Lol! Well thats a question, does Quantum Physics play any role in a virtual environment? Lets also consider that MxO is a game, a fairly old one at that with little in the way of flexibility and there are certain elements that you just have to allow because of it.

Short answer: Only if the Matrix's programmers accounted for it.  Long answer: Yes anyway.

Yes anyway because the programmers themselves are influenced by it, as are the participants.  Even if the simulation includes no programming to describe quantum events, there will necessarily be things like atomic decay and cosmic rays and the vast array of virtual particle fields causing things to get all whack and not necessarily do what they're supposed to.  I recently read somewhere that for every 512 MB of RAM a computer has, it will experience one error per month on average due to a cosmic ray striking the chip.

Villemar_MxO wrote:

Just wanted to point out that Vector is a fantastic server.  I started my main there, and whats good about being red as a lowbie is it makes you more aware of your surroundings, there's a hightened sense of danger which adds a nice element to the enviornment.  I took a break in 2007 when Vector's population took a dive and I stopped seeing anyone on my buddy list.  Quite a few of us migrated to Recursion that year.  It was fun, but late that year/early this year the Vector population came back up so I came back to Vector for good, along with all of my fellow Vector-emigre mates.  I hardly ever see anyone on Reccy anymore, and I only would hop on to do crits, and those are gone now so theres not much of a reason to stay.  I really think the Rec population is quite low.  If I had to choose a nonhostile server I'd choose Syntax since its the most populated server by far.

Maybe I'm just insecure then.

Fatmop wrote:

Short answer: Only if the Matrix's programmers accounted for it.  Long answer: Yes anyway.

Yes anyway because the programmers themselves are influenced by it, as are the participants.  Even if the simulation includes no programming to describe quantum events, there will necessarily be things like atomic decay and cosmic rays and the vast array of virtual particle fields causing things to get all whack and not necessarily do what they're supposed to.  I recently read somewhere that for every 512 MB of RAM a computer has, it will experience one error per month on average due to a cosmic ray striking the chip.

Guys, I think we're getting into that a little deeper than I meant to start with. I meant it with regard to the passage of time and the reaction of the enviroment to events.

Jim78UK wrote:

Villemar_MxO wrote:

Just wanted to point out that Vector is a fantastic server.  I started my main there, and whats good about being red as a lowbie is it makes you more aware of your surroundings, there's a hightened sense of danger which adds a nice element to the enviornment.  I took a break in 2007 when Vector's population took a dive and I stopped seeing anyone on my buddy list.  Quite a few of us migrated to Recursion that year.  It was fun, but late that year/early this year the Vector population came back up so I came back to Vector for good, along with all of my fellow Vector-emigre mates.  I hardly ever see anyone on Reccy anymore, and I only would hop on to do crits, and those are gone now so theres not much of a reason to stay.  I really think the Rec population is quite low.  If I had to choose a nonhostile server I'd choose Syntax since its the most populated server by far.

Maybe I'm just insecure then.

When i bought the game, i just knew hostile was the way to go. While lvln its fun tryin to evade lvl 50's or even finding a mission team to fight against. Now i'v been playing there for 3 years, 2 as 50, and its so dam fun. Yeah our population does fluctuate at times but at the most times theres normally a fair bunch online. Yes there are twits that love trying to wind you up but which server doesn't  

Jim78UK wrote:

Fatmop wrote:

Short answer: Only if the Matrix's programmers accounted for it.  Long answer: Yes anyway.

Yes anyway because the programmers themselves are influenced by it, as are the participants.  Even if the simulation includes no programming to describe quantum events, there will necessarily be things like atomic decay and cosmic rays and the vast array of virtual particle fields causing things to get all whack and not necessarily do what they're supposed to.  I recently read somewhere that for every 512 MB of RAM a computer has, it will experience one error per month on average due to a cosmic ray striking the chip.

Guys, I think we're getting into that a little deeper than I meant to start with. I meant it with regard to the passage of time and the reaction of the enviroment to events.

I answered a question that was asked, not by you, in a forum that people use to discuss things that interest them.

Rarebit wrote:

Jim78UK wrote:

we now have a timeline that defies any knowledge of quantum physics.

You think that's quantum physics you're experiencing?

Heh, Rare. I know what Captain Rieder and his SSR troops are up to and it scares me!

Has anyone else noticed a massive loss in population and activity since this patch came out? Last night, for the first time ever for me, at 0000 gmt, there were less than 25 people found when I did a /who. I've noticed there only being a maximum of about 10 people in my friends list online at a time. Considering i'm a stalker and like to know when pretty much everyone on syntax is logged on, thats pretty bad.

Indeed, Wrath of the Lich King has been released

I know it's only been ten days since the new approach was implemented but I'm for one feeling the less exciting part about this game now as there's nothing to keep me interested. I was expecting at least 1 event pr. week on any given server. Have yet to see one. If this keeps up I won't be resubbing by the end of december. It will be the definitive nail in my coffin in this game. As posted before the dynamics are pretty much gone and I am on Vector where rp is also pretty much gone (yesterday I tried to do an event with a bluepill and two guys (50's) came and went "oh, I think I have to go" as I couldn't give out a cq. I cried about what this game has turned into, and went to CoV. Lol.

Synapse777 wrote:

I was expecting at least 1 event pr. week on any given server. Have yet to see one.

I think this can be an affordable solution for rarebit and his team, i know there are a lot of works that keep busy him, but he can't delete the main reason that make this game a longlasting game.

In those 10 days i play the new stuff, i apreciate the cinematics back, the problem is that to enjoy this new stuff it takes about 2-3 days, and then?? what we left to do after that ? awaiting a discussion meeting 1 per org per month? And what should we talk about in this meeting if there is nothing to do than what we can run in the first 2 days after the update???

Please someone do something, after all we do not ask to go back to the everydays event, we just ask a single event per week on one server turning each week  server by server, i don't think we ask something impossible, Am i wrong???

Tesma wrote:

Indeed, Wrath of the Lich King has been released

Also the new James Bond movie. Plus, it could also be people having Real Life stuff coming up due to the holidays approaching, etc. I've been working on a NaNoWriMo novel, so I haven't been jacking in much myself.

Fatmop wrote:

Jim78UK wrote:

Fatmop wrote:

Short answer: Only if the Matrix's programmers accounted for it.  Long answer: Yes anyway.

Yes anyway because the programmers themselves are influenced by it, as are the participants.  Even if the simulation includes no programming to describe quantum events, there will necessarily be things like atomic decay and cosmic rays and the vast array of virtual particle fields causing things to get all whack and not necessarily do what they're supposed to.  I recently read somewhere that for every 512 MB of RAM a computer has, it will experience one error per month on average due to a cosmic ray striking the chip.

Guys, I think we're getting into that a little deeper than I meant to start with. I meant it with regard to the passage of time and the reaction of the enviroment to events.

I answered a question that was asked, not by you, in a forum that people use to discuss things that interest them.

I said "guyS". Plural. Mostly because it was originally Vinia, not you, that went a bit more Einstein than my original statement about quantum physics than I had intended. Yes, Vinia is a girl, so perhaps I shouldn't have said guys. I should perhaps instead have said "one guy and one girl". Alternatively, perhaps I should have gone out and gotten blind drunk.

Rarebit, is there any chance we could have published figures, posted by you in this thread, that show the average daily logons for the three months prior to the change and the one month following it?

I have to disagree with most of the complaints over the last few pages.I think one thing people fail to realize is that there is a very appealing casual friendly aspect to mxo.What's 15 dollars that you would spend on yourself going to a two hour movie,when that gets you at least 5 times that times worth of content spread out over a given month?

I've said it before but I think the team has realized that too much effort was being put into content being designed for a very vocal minority of players that do not represent the subscription base as a whole.

WoKeN wrote:

I have to disagree with most of the complaints over the last few pages.I think one thing people fail to realize is that there is a very appealing casual friendly aspect to mxo.What's 15 dollars that you would spend on yourself going to a two hour movie,when that gets you at least 5 times that times worth of content spread out over a given month?

I've said it before but I think the team has realized that too much effort was being put into content being designed for a very vocal minority of players that do not represent the subscription base as a whole.

Hear, hear. I'm frankly delighted by the changes, and I just wish we could all agree to disagree on it. Frankly, the complaining is just getting dragged out and it's making me depressed.

MatrixRefugee wrote:

Hear, hear. I'm frankly delighted by the changes, and I just wish we could all agree to disagree on it. Frankly, the complaining is just getting dragged out and it's making me depressed.

Can't say I disagree with you there. Although people have every right to voice their opinions, some people seem to be stating the same thing over and over again in what looks to be a futile effort to change other people's opinions that go against their own. I'm waiting to see exactly how many of those people who have said they were unsubbing are still going to be here in a month.

It's been what? 2 weeks since the new direction went live, it's the first time Rare has done it this way with no doubt a lot of changes to his scheduling. With still another 4 weeks to go in which a LE can happen, as they haven't been taken off the cards, it just seems like a large portion of people are far too eager to jump ship or seriously think about it.

Credit to those willing to wait to see what actually transpires when Rare gets into a routine, other then that it seems to me that many people were just waiting for something, anything to happen so that they can leave for something else and this change gave them just the excuse they wanted.

MatrixRefugee wrote:

Frankly, the complaining is just getting dragged out and it's making me depressed.

If anything, this is a great thing. Now Rarebit has a tree trunk load of, um... +'s and -'s to apply to his notes.

"Okay, they like this, they don't like that, they'll probably get used to this eventually," etc, etc.

ZippyTheSquirrel wrote:

MatrixRefugee wrote:

Frankly, the complaining is just getting dragged out and it's making me depressed.

If anything, this is a great thing. Now Rarebit has a tree trunk load of, um... +'s and -'s to apply to his notes.

"Okay, they like this, they don't like that, they'll probably get used to this eventually," etc, etc.

Actually her statement still has merit, while you have a good point, those +'s and -'s can be taken from the first few pages and the first pages since the actual update went live, the rest are reiteration of same points, like a broken record.

Contrary to what some believe repeating a comment for a positive or a negative aspect over and over by the same voices does not make it more pertinent then the first time its stated.

Vinia wrote:

MatrixRefugee wrote:

Hear, hear. I'm frankly delighted by the changes, and I just wish we could all agree to disagree on it. Frankly, the complaining is just getting dragged out and it's making me depressed.

Can't say I disagree with you there. Although people have every right to voice their opinions, some people seem to be stating the same thing over and over again in what looks to be a futile effort to change other people's opinions that go against their own. I'm waiting to see exactly how many of those people who have said they were unsubbing are still going to be here in a month.

Oh, definately: I have no issue with someone saying "I'm not thrilled with the new changes because :: Insert well-phrasedr reasons for the dislike :: " (there's things I don't like either, but I've decided to just deal with them till it gets adjusted), it's when they keep saying it over and over and over and over again and getting more vitriolic with each reiteration, that it starts to leave you with an icky feeling.

Sieges, you don't have to partake in these discussions. Just chalk it up to "people complaining," and move on.

Everyone else, you don't have to complain that she's complaining that you're complaining. Skip the posts and move on.

Jeezuz, you'd think it would be so simple. Instead you're all running out of steam on this "New Approach" topic and have decidely gone off the rails.

/forceontopic

I thought I would like this new direction. The cinematic was awesome. But that's about it. Nothing much else is interesting or I've already done the alternative to it (such as in the case of the gang boss RSI thingies, in which last year I took the time to study each male gang member's clothing and compiled my own and stuffed it all in a library for future use, save truly unique gangs like ASP). I would wait until there's at least two more of these little "story quests," to make it all more fluid to play through, but I'm not gonna be tossing money down to wait.

/cutlosses

Now, if there were something else to do in this game these days, other than say, lurk DN1 and perpetuate petty disagreements rather than enjoy the content we've lived with for years now, this wouldn't be an issue.

Exactly what a friend of mine told me that doesn't play MXO (but did manage to grind to level 49 in month to try it out.) If people are so much on the forums and talk so much there, it's because there's no reason for them to be ingame. .. clever guy

There is alot to do ingame now... so many items to get ect.

2 years ago there was 2 'quests' (area k, PB.) Now we have so much more. Only time i'm on the forums is when i'm stuck in at work or server restarts.

Everyone keeps going 'boo hoo no LE's', if i remember correctly, its not that theres gonna be none, just not daily. Dam stop cryin and bitchin, its a game that you should play for fun.

Now something i would like to see is a bit of pvp content...

Oh yeah, fix Ki Burst aswell

Synapse777 wrote:

Now, if there were something else to do in this game these days, other than say, lurk DN1 and perpetuate petty disagreements rather than enjoy the content we've lived with for years now, this wouldn't be an issue.

Exactly what a friend of mine told me that doesn't play MXO (but did manage to grind to level 49 in month to try it out.) If people are so much on the forums and talk so much there, it's because there's no reason for them to be ingame. .. clever guy

The_Bruceter wrote:

Only time i'm on the forums is when i'm stuck in at work or server restarts.

Now as much as I don't share his passion for PvP, Bruce's post is just about spot on plus in regards to being on the forums, the quote from him needs to be emphasised. Not everyone can actually get into the game all day, but access to the internet is a lot easier to come by at work.

Yes we're not getting daily LE's and yes we've not had any LE's so far but there's a few weeks left to have them, not to mention the Org meetings which, despite them probably being a spam fest and nothing much else etc.. are actually events that will be happening live, like them or not.

As I said previously, I will give Rarebit the benefit of working out a new schedule in this update and the usual personal business over the Christmas period, but if in the latter half of the next update I don't see any LE's happening, then I'll start to think about questioning it. Personally, I think thats a reasonable time scale.

Locking this thread now as the civil, friendly, constructive discussion stopped a few pages ago.