Post Episode 1 Content Plans (aka the 2 year plan)

It was killed by politics.

 

:/ Only in the sense that it was first proposed because of politics, also.

 

Combat:
Rework animation state machine to allow for smoother animation transitions
Weapon type vs armor type: Impact/Cutting/Piercing vs Cloth/Leather/Chain/Plate breakdown
Combos with Heat system
Stacking equivalent with Heat system (R45)
Expand combo system to include at least 5 combos for each school and combos of combos
More refinement on the current resistance system
Ammunition types
More Ranged Weapons: Flamethrower, Tesla Gun, Gas Gun, Blunderbuss, Net Gun, etc

this shouldve been first on the list In my opinion! It wouldve made over all combat better for both PVP and PVE, this goes back to what ive said time and time again "How is a mage with cloth going to withstand a smack with a bludgeon, piercing arrow, slash from a bladed weapon etc... without casting some kind of protection spell????? I understand fantasy game but this is beyond that!

 

My biggest concern with this post-episode-1 plan is how will the players progress during episode 2?

@Chris @DarkStarr
Introducing new content, zones, etc is great but by the time most of this content comes online a lot of characters will effectively be "finished" leveling up due to diminishing returns on skills past a certain level (i.e. not worth putting 20 million xp into a skill for an extra 1 point of damage) and with death decay getting to the point where even the average player will be losing 5 million xp per death (due to actually playing for 2 years) and so it would be off putting to try the new content anyway.

Is the plan that between now and then once we finish off the skills we plan on getting to 100 - 120 we just pool the xp to cover exploration expenses? Will the diminishing returns curve of higher skills past level 120 be changed at some point to accommodate episode 2 advancement?

 

@Chris @DarkStarr,

further ideas to your

PLANS FOR BETTER JOURNAL ABILITIES:
what we`ve done so far and what we have to do next. Who(m) what where ...
Making a click on a word/person/location in Journal and receiving further information about a person/place and open the map showing the possible ways to travel somewhere (by foot, by moongate, by sea by ship, by ... caravan? )

PLANS FOR DEATH DECAY ????
May be death decay could depending on manner of death?
Isn't it different to be killed in a fight (against 1 or more enemies) or by falling down in - well, let's say LAVA?
May be death decay also could depending on which location we die?

Why taking death decay xp from our whole xp pool? Why not taking from the actual XP we earned at this day?
Every day a new chance to win or loose, but not what we earned days, weeks, months, years before ...

And at last: I don't know -yet- but if not, could the death decay please start with skill lvl 41?
So we can have a save haven until 40? As I understood, at the moment they will be calculated in decay pool from beginning of 40.
If I am wrong - --> Thank you!
If not, well ... please follow the path of the Avatar and ... show mercy
.................................................................................................................................................................
Thank you at this point for reading our suggestions. I really know it must be hard for you to do that and reading (the same) stuff again and again ...
But you know as we know: this is the prize you have to pay for to be the unique Developers of such a great game

 

Is this supposed to be a bad thing? Do you think they should add a bunch of new things before they are done with the last things they said they wanted to add?

 

Yes it is a bad thing and not holding them accountable is also a bad thing. I see you are an investor in Portlarium so I can see why holding them accountable may negatively effect you, I have 5 figures in pledges in the game and yet I still want some accountability in these things to make this a better game.

 

Who's not holding them accountable? I'm saying they SHOULD be working on the things that they've said. Do what you've said before saying new things; that sounds like accountability to me.

YOU'RE the one saying they should keep making new promises before fulfilling the old ones. That sounds like the opposite of accountability to me.

And you have a seriously screwed up idea of what investing in a company is about: I literally have a vested interest in this being as good a game as possible; if it's not good, I lose money. That's (part of) WHY I am emphasizing holding them accountable to existing statements rather than making new ones. Fulfilling the existing statements will make the game better, and prove that when they make statements we can trust they will follow through on them.

 

Who's asking them to make new promises??? Can you quote anywhere where anyone asked them to make new promises?

I dont think you are holding them accountable to be honest, I read you response as being protectionist of your investment against people who want to express their legitimate concerns. I see this as you trying to shut down opinions that conflict with your investment. I have earned the right with my pledge to express my opinion without you trying to snuff it out.

 

Most of your post I responded to:

Read again. All I said what it's appropriate to fulfill existing promises before making new ones, specifically in response to your complaint there wasn't enough new promises.

 

If that were true, you could at least pull a quote that matched your assertion.

 

I did, you'd have to be blind to miss it. Let me underline it, and put it in bold.

 

oh I get it, you are talking about ep2 content (Im assuming this since I was talking about episode 2 since this thread topic is about the plan for the next 2 years). I dont understand that. So you have an issue with me saying that I dont see a whole lot of new technology and large features being proposed for Episode 2? You argument is that for episode 2, we should not see new things? You have really low expectations then for the next 2 years.

 

I will be pleasantly surprised if Ep 2 comes in the next two years, seeing as it took 4 years to get to where we are, and I don't find the current state of the mainline story to yet be release quality.

To put it in comparison it took 3 years from the release of WoW for Burning Crusade to be released. And that's with the full weight of Blizzard behind it. It's worth noting, when making that comparison, there were things added to WoW between expansions, many of which are things inline with what we see here. Just like wow, I expect some of this (possibly quite a bit) to get added to ep1, post release rather then held for ep2.

 

By the time Ep1 is released, the core engine will be considered some state of "done." At that point, you would be adding some new features (like mounts), but my no means are you starting from scratch. The bulk of the work for successive episodes will likely be content (scenes, quests & art). I think Ep2 will be ready about 18-24 months from Ep1 release.

As far as Burning Crusade is concerned, Blizzard could take their sweet time because WoW was a juggernaut. Look at this chart of subscription numbers:



They were still going up when Burning Crusade was released. Theoretically, they could have held off another year or so until that slope evened out to milk Vanilla a little longer. I don't know how SotA's monthly income will compare, but my guess is that since it is more of a niche game, it may see some spikes with new episodes, but otherwise will remain fairly flat/slowly drop.

 

My expectations are more around 36 -48 mo, at least for the first expansion (I don't expect them to really get into a cadence of chapters until after). I expect to see some of this list between 1 and 2. Part of what I would like to see is the main-line quests in ep2 be less linear. The quests in ep1 really lack significant choices, and I'd like them to take some time, and really work on branching it out well (Honestly, I'd like them to go back and give choices and consequences in ep1 quests, even if they can't make differing paths. I fear even that may be too late).

 

If they were to pick two or three major features to add for each episode (along the lines of boats/sea combat, mounts, siege weapons on the battlefield, mini-games, etc) and give themselves 18 months to finish those then I think they'll be fine. Smaller features could be worked in as time allowed. At the same time, the content folks would be working on creating the new continents (or collection of smaller landmasses), their scenes, their NPCs and the quests using the same idea. Major quests first; side quests as time permits.

At my day job, we have two development teams for each product line. One team works on major releases every 12-24 months and another works on sustaining the current releases. I could see Port doing something similar, with some developers working on next-episode features and content while others work on smaller things that come every month, like side quests in existing areas and quest/reward items.

I personally don't see SotA as sustainable if it takes three or four years in between each episode.

 

I think it's far more likely they'll be able to get into a better 24 mo. cadence after ep 2. While I think ep 2 may take 3 years, ep 3 I think may be about what you estimate.

We'll know in 30 months, anyway.

 

Good point and good two prong development approach. Personally, I'd be very surprised if Ep2 took as long to develop as Ep1 since much of the (painful) learning curve took place in this phase. It should be easier & not harder from here on.

 

provocation like in UO