Developer's Desk: Two-Hundred and Counting Discussion

[Amarie Ancalimon]

Please use this thread to discuss the many topics from the Developer's Desk subtitled "Two-Hundred and Counting"

[Shian]

More interdependency. Cool.

"addressing some of the areas we haven’t touched in a while, such as plots, holiday events, and even The War."
Even better. I like all of these. Good work. Thanks.

[Dhalin]

More interdependency. Cool.

Call me a little pessimistic, but eh. I'll wait and see before I start jumping in joy.

Anyways...

A couple little things caught my eye:

The crafting schools... I think Blacksmiths and Outfitters should get something unique to their school. Yes, they are meant to be some sort of "introductory" school, but to be honest, there's nothing Blacksmith or Outfitter can do that nobody else can, other than be a "jack-of-all-trades" (which doesn't matter once you start leveling other schools).

If done right, a biped could have leveled every school *except* Blacksmith and Outfitter and have exactly the same skillset as a biped who did level Blacksmith and Outfitter... I just think that those two schools should get, well, Something. Not sure what, though.

[Knossos]

Those schools (blacksmith and outfitter) which after finishing all other schools contribute nothing to the biped crafter's skillset are with a reward when completed along with the other 17 - it is called "Grand Master Crafter".

Knossos

[joemarra052075]

I'll re-read more carefully over the weekend and comment, but I wanted to say thank you for shareing your vision.

[Dhalin]

Those schools (blacksmith and outfitter) which after finishing all other schools contribute nothing to the biped crafter's skillset are with a reward when completed along with the other 17 - it is called "Grand Master Crafter".

Knossos

But all that does is just display a couple words underneath your name, if, and only if, you have all 17 leveled.

I'm talking about something actually tangible in-game, something the school Itself gives you.

[Knossos]

Without spending some time in Blacksmith and Outfitter schools a biped crafter would undergo far greater "grind" to have a serious biped crafting capability. Thus these schools are part of the crafting set to render the crafting side of the game to be viable.

Note that the Scholar school had the same lack of addition to the final skills until the scrolls came along. With the advent of the scrolls the Scholar school became a bit less of a factor in it also serving to reduce overall "grind".

Knossos

[Chasing]

Having read through this dev's desk a couple of times and thinking about it I can say that I am quite happy with the vision/aims.

There is one thing that I would suggest.

A 5th Primary Game System

5. Actively grow, support and empower the game community - Now you could say that this links into all the other core game systems, but this one is quite a broad one.

(Please note I am not saying things have not already been done towards this, just that it is important enough to be a separate aim).

For example,

• Further work to steer the game mechanics and players into building a better economy.
• Encourage the playerbase to give specific feedback to issues rather than generalisations.
• Increase the amount of volunteers that test content prior to going live.
• Evolve communication between the development team and the playerbase

[Shadina]

Most of this sounds pretty good. Just two thoughts.

In terms of barriers of entry, some that come to mind are the prices for Journeyman Travel Scrolls as well as the Formulatron and Techatron. These are drastically, dramatically overpriced. The Trons are essentially unusuable, and as a Scholar, I hesitate to buy the Journeyman Travel scrolls at a price 10x higher than other formulas of that rank. It's just not right.

I have to admit, I'm somewhat skeptical about the quest for interdependency. I understand the ideal. Communities are built, at least in part, around interdependency, but I think it is important to remember that people playing these games do like to feel empowered. Many of them may be all too dependent in their real lives, and play these games for the sense of independence and empowerment it gives them. Don't go so far down the interdependence road that you take away everyone's ability to accomplish anything on their own.

[Lillyjo]

speaking about blacksmith and outfitter, they are good schools to start off with, you can make tools weapons, armor both metal and cloth, and anything else you would need to be independant to a point.
Scholar is also good for making your spells that you would need as you progress along the way with your adventure schools.. it gives you a pretty good idea what you would like to specialize in.. when i started i took both schools so i could make after time my armor and my tools and weapons needed then i desided i like tailor at a later date and took that school to 100, then i also took confectionary. at that time there were npc that sold ambrosia, and you could take the quests to make the spirit oils to make the ambrosia. after the merge there was tons of things to build and rebuild then i had a foundation from those schools to become carpenter/fitter/enchanter/weaver/carpenter. and we rebuilt istaria each one helping, some would gather some would portal and others would apply. so the basic schools were ment to be just that, to give you a taste and some skills in the other schools you wished to persue.

I am a master crafter now and i still enjoy it..after all these years..i love the craft system. and only wish i had a way to be opt on the t6 so expert shops would be easier/faster for me to build. but i build them anyway. I like the way the game is heading and i am sure others if they really get to understand all they can do in the game they would love it too.

Lillyjo, chaos server, Master Crafter