Took another stab at the game, combat stuff is still holding it back.

Thank you Aetrion and hopefully this was in answer to my request. I do like a lot of the concept of changeouts to the glyph system that you pose. I have never liked the buffs or consumables being mixed in with the rotation of glyphs.
I also believe that if the glyph system is here to stay, that ideas like you pose above are truly what can help it the most, and of course I am not dissing the glyph system, I just believe it needs help in the form of alternate ideas to make it
more fun and interesting to use, notI hate it and won't do it ideas like some have said or insinuated

 

Maybe I need to start another thread for the ideas, since once it's ten posts in hardly anyone is going to see it. Thanks for actually reading this stuff.

 

While I don't agree with all of that, you quite amusingly point out some weaknesses and soft spots in the architecture of the game so far. This is a great rant about topics and issues that are still being formed in the ethers.

I try not to debate certain things that are "known issues" or "set in stone", but from what I gather from the executive decisions so far is this satisfaction spectrum i whipped up:



In short, I think the goal to provide something for everyone will work out well, except for the power gamers out there. Min maxers, people that will be playing for 8 hours a day will likely continue to break the game well after release. That is just the new reality we live in given the many immersion breakers out there such as ; TS, stat data base websites, recipe websites, macroing, and the like.

This is why we see overwhelming popularity with games such as Starcraft (dated reference?) and League of Legends as far as PvP goes. Those are highly instanced, class based, environs with very rigid rulesets that never change. They require no grind or crafting.

Luckily, we have a great team of developers featuring many industry vets, and a game community of very knowledgeable, intellectual, and passionate members to guide their hand in the creation of the game.

 

Interesting ideas Aetrion. I appreciate the amount of effort you put into your posts. The problem of having to look too much at the UI is real and something should be done about it. Your proposed system sounds interesting but it would be a major overhaul from the current system, so such a radical change seems unlikely. I think that kind of combat system would be fun to try out! A few comments about your theoretical combat system:
1 & 2 (Hotbar): This could possibly work but I feel like they want to keep the randomness of the hotbar slots for various reasons (like avoiding automation). The amount of slots might also become an issue but probably not.
3. (Different abilities consume glyphs in different ways): I like this for the most part but the random automatic activation might not work for certain buffs / spells. I guess you could always put those on the hotbar.
4. (The element of choice): This could be interesting but I would have to see it in action to comment further. Removing auto attacks is a big change as well.
5. (Buff glyphs): Your example of a 30% fire damage increase (and other similar buffs) would work nicely within that system. Other kind of buffs might not.

 

Nope he's spot on ! denial...

 

I got to agree on the combat/Glyphs system. It's ridiculous bad! I want to like this game so much as ultima online veteran but just can stand this "feature".
While ranting it's a shame what this game became after the kickstarter. Everything can still be bought until today and the online cash store should
become an example for economy courses how to milk a cow empty before it's even alive.
If it wouldn't have been Richard's name I wouldn't have backed this project - maybe Crowfall does better but that UO successor still needs to be done.

 

Why there's still people thinking that this game is a successor of UO?

 

Because they hint at things like "interconnectedness" and "immersion" and "open PvP" and tout around Lord British to get more funds. They just leave out the "interconnectedness through generic, instance-based friends lists" and "immersion through typing in to talk to an NPC as opposed to clicking an exclamation point" and "open PvP in 2-3 areas". They played on nostalgia and hope and promises that "things will be different", and what we've seen so far hasn't really impressed a ton of people. Sure people are still hopeful it'll be a good game, they want it to be a good game, but there are issues with the core mechanics.

It's why you see all these threads popping up, and will see more the closer we get to launch (which isn't that far off, in the grand scheme of things). It's one thing to take solace in "pre-alpha", but it's another thing to think that this game is supposed to be "feature complete" in about 6 months. That ain't far off, if that's true.

The game didn't get super positive feedback when it was claimed it would be a mobile app, just a lot of curiosity. But even after making it a full-fledged PC, if they had been clearer, I highly doubt they would've have scratched $4 million much less $6m.

 

Sorry, Themo Lock, but your responses read like "I didn't really pay attention, or like, understand what you said, but I like, disagree..." So I'm gonna respond off the cuff after having actually read every word of both his post and your response.

10% cost reduction on warriors too. And on archers. And on carpenters, because frankly 10% cost reduction is freaking awesome. If you are going to use abilities, especially but not exclusively if you are going to use them as fast as you can while fighting for your life, 10% cost redux is so awesome. The fact that you didn't buy it right away, or didn't buy carry capacity till 90, is irrelevant to his point. Which is that in an uncapped system, everyone will pick up these perks AT SOME JUNCTURE, just like... wait for it... you did.

Sorry, but if you spent eleven grand on this game and you aren't a millionaire, I think THAT is offensive. Those who have vast sums of cash can do what they wish with them, but the prices paid for digital housing in this game, as well as various noble title packages, made me nauseous. There isn't anything that can be called "offensive" in him calling out the wasteful extravagance of spending what COULD have saved the lives of two hundred starving children on making the word "Baron" appear above your digital avatar's imaginary head. People cannot even claim that these expenditures have made the game possible, because POST kickstarter sales have improved SotA's funding to what, three million now? Four? Not by selling baronies and dukedoms, but by selling a whole heck of a lot of sixty dollar packages.

You might indeed have found that the IN GAME decision to spec a certain way IN GAME was influenced heavily by the presence of fizzle chance. I do believe he was referring to the OUT OF GAME comparison to other systems that balance magick differently, eg. not with random failure chances. I think he's got an EXCELLENT point that BOOTS cause fizzle chance. How exactly do boots cause fizzle? I've never seen a spell-caster use their feet. My character does not appear to be dancing fire bolts and death touches into existence. That said, @Aetrion, I have a shield and full leather on my character, and 0% fizzle on my spells while standing still. A partial melee, partial armor, partial magick mixture is possible with the current implementation. Not done ideally IMO, but done none the less.

Yeah, what economy? I ignore ALL player trade events, hock the goods I make to the vendor, and since I too can make ANYTHING that is being sold on the AH, I don't pay the outrageous prices that profit hungry players would like to charge, I make it wholesale. Right now we have no real incentive to trade with EACH OTHER, and durability loss, ammo, reagents, etc are not in any way encouraging me to do so. They are NOT vital to the economy, I've played games with thriving economies that did not have them, or all of them, and I don't think you even addressed his point with this response. Saying that he's wrong is a far cry from demonstrating that he's wrong.

As for your accusation that you know the system better because you spend more time testing it, you are probably right. You are also bringing up a completely irrelevant point. The current process is not geared towards getting Themo Lock to understand the system. It's geared towards making a game that lots of people will want to play. Starting with the people who helped fund the game, which number, last I checked, included Aetrion. If players like him are leaving, that's a BAD SIGN, and the fact that you aren't leaving isn't a sufficient mitigating factor.

 

I actually read everything on here, my point is that so many of you want to make changes to systems that you have not tested beyond a brief taste. Not sure where you found an auction house or why you haven't noticed the player to player trading already going on, but perhaps you should read some of Chris's comments on the economy (since you are such a stickler for paying attention) and stop comparing a pre-alpha test to completed games. Your other content up there just seems like you are in a mood for a random argument but i am not. Perhaps later, too many wonderful and exciting things going on right now.

 

Apparently you don't include "comprehension" in your definition of reading. I do. Merely moving your eyes over the text and then saying whatever comes to mind isn't thoughtful response.

I did in fact find an auction house, I'm a bit surprised you didn't, maybe I'm not the only one who needs to get a more in depth experience of the game before claiming to be an expert.

Players trading amongst themselves is GREAT, but my comment on the economy stands. You stated that gold sinks, item decay, and pricy ammo stacks like arrows and spell reagents were "VITAL to the health of the economy", I'm calling BS. Right now I'm successfully ignoring all of the economy that isn't conducted by NPC vendors, and those features are doing nothing to encourage me otherwise. There might well be, in fact in this type of game probably already ARE, groups of players who will put on a performance of some type if someone approaches them, asks politely, and pays a reasonable fee. That doesn't mean that in game performance troups are vital to the economy. Just an optional part of it.

 

Why is there some misconceptions that this game was kickstarted as a mobile app?

 

There is no auction house in the game. You are still completely ignoring the fact that systems are not even fully implemented and you are embarrassing yourself.

 

This game still doesn't have the capacity to have a real player economy because there is nothing in it that allows you to buy cheap and sell high outside of just buying things and marking them up. You're simply selling your time spent grinding to someone else. If your entire economy is purely based on people paying money to avoid the boring parts of the game all that means is that you intentionally put boring parts in your game and then called it an economy.

 

Also, vital to important two important gameplay elements: preparation & tactics. Preparing for an adventure, and planning your battles. These were always elements to the single-player Ultima games, which had reagents and arrows, and where reagents and arrows weren't limited -- they could be bought from NPC merchants in unlimited quantities. Reagents also had a lore element to them, and were hard to find in the wild.

If the complaint is that it doesn't feel like there's enough purpose to these things, then its the devs job to make it feel purposeful, not take it out.

There's nothing about it being an MMO that changes the equation.

 

This will change when regional prices get out in place, they aren't there yet.

 

How would regional prices be implemented and how would they change anything in a game where you can travel pretty quickly and don't have the option of moving bulk inventory even if there was a real demand for it?

 

At the moment you can to places fast...but they already stated they are removing zoning as well as they haven't implimented most of the map. As for transporting goods, we have to wait and see how they handle that....mules maybe?

 

I don't FEEL embarrassed, and since I bought something off that auction house, and it's still on my character, I'm inclined to say you are wrong. About a great many things, hyuk hyuk hyuk.

 

*pats head* most people see pink elephants. What you used was a shop Malak or a public vendor but not an auction house. One of the key features of an auction house is that auctions take place in them.