Recap From SotaCon

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Brass Knuckles, Oct 11, 2019.

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  1. oplek

    oplek Avatar

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    I guess I'll believe it when I see it. Over the years we've had a lot of... assurances. But the notion of taxidermy is par for the course for being a niche game. They seem to want to have the mechanics of a niche game, and the playerbase of a mainstream game. Instead of spending dev time on something that'd help the game's appeal to the masses... taxidermy.
     
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  2. Gorthyn

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    And the point of Taxidermy in game is what exactly ?

    No mention of a proper guild and guild war system ? No achievement system ? Mounts? Boats ? Treasure Hunting ? Completing all the partially done systems that already litter the game ? Sorting out the quest system ? Better loot ? More varied mobs ? Better character customisation ?

    New ownership same bizarre priorities it seems...
     
  3. oplek

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    I think those were mentioned in the notes actually. But, they've been Jiras forever.
     
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  4. majoria70

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    I would like to hear if core system improvents got discussed. Like implementation of cooking improvents such as getting it's own masterworking to improve lower and upper tier recipes and more use of alcohol in recipes to make brewing more viable.

    What about our missing raid system?

    What about our missing achievement system that tracks and reacts to everything we do?

    What about going forward filling scenes with lore, details, and daily progressive quests that change out for more reasons to re-visit scenes.

    Just to mention a few but merchant types should offer their own types of dailies for all users. We should have these for fishing, crafting, and pvp.

    Unfortunately I could not be there to push for the core missing parts of the game but please say someone else did. I have not heard anyone say if that was discussed. If no one did then we are still going to get gravy on top of not fully cooked potatoes.
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2019
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  5. Gravidy

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    This was brought up by the developers themselves as something that would get attention in 2020.
     
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  6. amarious

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    My guess is, since fishing has been such a big hit, that taxidermy will be for trophies for hunting.
     
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  7. Burzmali

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    Engineering in front of the customer has always been considered one of the least professional and generally horrible ideas in every IT job I've held, but different strokes for different folks I guess.
     
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  8. Gorthyn

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    Yes am sure stuffing animals will really bring in loads of extra players...
     
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  9. Xee

    Xee Bug Hunter

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    I think next time they will have better mics, but over all the information form the QA stuff and what is coming before end of year and what comes next year has me still chomping at the bit.

    -Custom UI
    -NPC scripting
    -Raid party
    -Treasure maps
    -New land
    -2 new skills per skill tree
    -new monster
    -more things to tame
    -new trophies
    -keys for chests and doors
    -rune book (thats right ability to bind location to a scroll to put in a book) not sure if it will be the same as UO but exciting
    -new pot town placements for ep2 coming soon
    -new Ai mechanics for ep2 (they are not sure about bringing into ep1 as it could make some people mad so they most likely will intro in ep2)
    -more pvp stuff

    I am sure there is a lot more, that I missed but these are the ones that stuck out in my head.
     
  10. Sulaene Moon

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    How many of those things were promised in the past? How many more are promised that will ever see the light this year? How many new promises will come out of sotacon 2020?
     
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  11. Chatele

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    EXACTLY...
     
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  12. Astirian

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    I am going to make it my life's work to see if I can get UI windows and the recipe book to stay where I bloody put them. I'm thinking opening the recipe book on the last page you were on would be a great QoL touch too. But my Magnum Opus will be a more immersive NPC dialogue window.

    While I will most definitely be keeping my questing Offline, I can see the exciting applications for others but quality control could be an issue I reckon. I couldn't believe it when Chris mentioned Inkle! I've played both 80 Days and Sorcery! and they're brilliant!! I'll be using the tool for my next game hopefully.

    This is what will keep me playing the Online mode, probably forever!

    I didn't know this was coming! That's great! Now all we're missing is the gate spell. ;)

    Most of all, for me, it's a tighter and more immersive experience with the new Quest and Journal system, very excited to see what they come up with here. :)
     
  13. Astirian

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    Hey did vendor search come up at all?
     
  14. Forum Name

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    I think direction like taxidermy here, and what got implemented over the past year instead of focus on stuff like quest overhaul and system polish (new grind dungeons! half baked dungeon building!) should really tell you all you need to know - the goal is to survive with the current niche player base. There is no real effort to try to get this to appeal to the masses. Hard to say, but that's probably the right call - just like it would take too much money to ship out the KS books, it would cost too much money to actually fix the core game to be able to attract the masses. Why risk the status quo?
     
  15. Xee

    Xee Bug Hunter

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    Actually they brought up most of these but not all were in detail.

    I think that the dungeon system has been planned out, but how to get it to where they want it was more challenging then they expected and or changed along the way based on player feed back.

    If you look past the current half baked and see the long term plan and the goal of the dungeons/player adventures I think end game looks fantastic. I can tell you I know many people that will be investing a lot of time designing complex story plot with quests and rewards.

    Need to look at the much bigger picture on how it all connects and ties together.

    It will get to a point where I believe the player base will continue to grow at a faster rate.
    To achieve that I still think some of the core things need to be in place only then would i think they would do a market push. The first market push failed because the game state was not in good order when it released which gave it a lot of negative reviews. If you look at reviews today they are a lot more positive then those of old. The core systems still need love they know it , we know it. It will happen I am confident in that :)

    I believe in Chris and the others to get us there, time frame is the only concern I see for some.

    UO was not built to what it is today in 5 years :)
     
    Last edited: Oct 15, 2019
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  16. Chatele

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    If this is the case, then they will definitely loose more players ….. definitely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so lame
     
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  17. Spoon

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    So the history of the taxidermy thing goes back a couple of years and has been a player request since at least 2015 but in different forms and got different responses due to that.

    It goes something like this

    1)
    Players got too many Pets with the pledges (...and later on more pets with the bundles) (...and even more pets with the rewards) (...and even more pets with taming....) etc
    2)
    When lot restrictions where implemented, pets became NPCs and NPC placement was limitied, very limited. Leading to a pile-of-pets in bank problem.
    3)
    Players asked devs if one could have multiple pets on their lots
    Devs said it would take too much resources (due to animation and interaction)
    4)
    Players asked devs if one could place pets as "statues" which would not count vs NPC allotment but rather as ordinary deco count.
    5)
    Players repeated different such suggestions (for years) to make their pile of pets useful in any way outside of bank filler.
    6)
    Finally during a recent livestream, might have been this summer, then both of Starr and Richard was on.
    Players again suggested being able to place pets as statues.
    Starr misunderstood the question and said they couldn't due to resources etc.
    Players then nudged Atos who was in game that it wasn't what was requested but that they rather wanted "stuffed pets".
    Atos repeated that in the live talk, then Starr added some joke about a recipe for "stuffing pets". Where it seemed it wouldn't happen.
    That however triggered the morbidly interested Richard - "taxidermy" he stated with a glint in his eye, and that made them actually take it seriously.
    Then that exchange went a bit back and forth and since then the "taxidermy" was a thing, which also added a bunch of other formerly out of scope stuff on top.


    But the basics isn't far fetched or niche or such.
    Players simply want to place multiple pets on their lots. Where if the restriction is no-motion and no-interaction then so be it.

    However note that it might be the case that they have gone overboard with that idea and lost the player intent along the way. We will see.
     
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2019
  18. Xee

    Xee Bug Hunter

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    I do 100% agree on the quality side of player quests.... I can say there will be some amazing and probably some not so great. I think that you will see though that with some POT owners who keep a tight ship that they will want to ensure quality through the controls already in place for POT owners. I expect some of those I know who really have a passion for the game to invest heavy to giving players quality all around. You get that in most games. look at neverwinters the player made quest system was amazing. I think based on what was chimed in on that those that show they are willing to put in the quality and effort will be rewarded. Chris was mentioning that those he fully trusts may get some access to some dev tools which would open up a lot for player events even.

    Look at single spawners for example... it was brought up in the stream about *cough the thing I did, but what was not brought up was even though I had placed the spawners in my pot and yes they did kill people as they were really high level. the feedback from the few that got to encounter it though it was the funnest thing they had seen in a while. liches in a player town wreaking havoc. Expand that and you have tools for events where a DM could create triggered spawns, add in Role playing and scripting, rewards etc. next thing you know those player scenes could have full time DM's running them and changing them on the fly to add new elements for players. The sky is really the limit if you look at the fact the plan is for 5 chapters and we are only just starting ep2 soon. many many years more to develop things further.

    just my thoughts :)
     
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  19. Xee

    Xee Bug Hunter

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    this is not the case.... this is an opinion only. They stated that all the above mentioned would be coming with ep2. it wont all be there at the start and I would rather have them do it right the first time then have a failed attempt which would for sure drive people away :).

    Taxidermy on the other hand is a low fruit as the system already is there they just have to create a base for the model for the display which would not take much time at all. We also have to remember that there is a team and just because on person takes a few hours to bring something in does not mean that there is any less time spent on other things by other people.
     
  20. CatherineRose

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    My whole being is pleased and excited and looking forward to today as well as what will be coming for our game in the future. Thank you@ Chris, Atos, @DarkStarr and @Lord British for making this game one of the best part of my entire life! Thank you @Datendrache for you input and for you giving a little to us of the great things that will be coming.
     
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