Developer's Desk: Fall 2010 Discussion

[Amarie Ancalimon]

Please use this thread to discuss the Fall 2010 Developer's Desk

[lightning claw]

While i know you guys are still hard at work and are about to tackle a Huge Project with the loot system (t 1-3 seam to be OK its t 4 T5 T6 are in desperate need of help ) Would it be possible to activate gnome kindel during November? I miss getting ornaments from monsters and getting presents. also would it be possible for a dev in the last week of October to hold 2 or 3 live events as a Halloween Trick ? the treat could depend on what is spawned as to what drops. Perhaps some Essence of blight and such .

[Frith-Rae]

The tech team has been hard at work on designing a method for players to be able to change their appearance post creation and plans to integrate this system into the same system that will be used for the loyalty tokens.

OMG OMG OMG YOU GUYS ARE SOOOOO AWESOME!!! SQUEEE SMISHES ALL AROUND!

*bounces around on her dragon head daffy duck style*

I mean, all of the stuff ont he update list sounds so awesome - but when I read this I wanted to cry!

[Dhalin]

OMG OMG OMG YOU GUYS ARE SOOOOO AWESOME!!! SQUEEE SMISHES ALL AROUND!

*bounces around on her dragon head daffy duck style*

I mean, all of the stuff ont he update list sounds so awesome - but when I read this I wanted to cry!

That _does_ sound cool if we could re-configure our appearance, especially given that the dragon character creation screen has a _lot_ of red lighting which can screw with color perception. What you choose in the creation screen may or may not match what your dragon looks like under normal non-lava area light.

Then there's the matter of what might look cute in a hatchling, could look hideous as an Adult or Ancient. Being able to re-do later in the game would be very nice indeed.

[AguaRush]

i was smiling as i read this then jumping in my seat as i read .. NEW CHARACTER CUSTIMIZATIONS!

YAY!

[meepsa]

I went all types of hyper when I read that, dragon creation revamp WHEEE!
wonder what's gonna be added, I hope more colours

[TheGolden Dragon]

Ooh nice! Dragon changes sure sound exciting! =)

[meepsa]

I went all types of hyper when I read that, dragon creation revamp WHEEE!
wonder what's gonna be added, I hope more colours

and tail spades, the tails as they look now are kinda.....boring

[Aero]

I'm curious about the dragon creation changes. I might even resub if I can change Zevos up a bit.

[algenon]

The team also plans to introduce new items for player plots. One of the frequently requested items is a new vault building, and that’s high on the list of items to complete for the fall. In addition, the team plans to introduce new decorative items for plots, including more seasonally themed items such as “fall� and “spring� versions of the current trees, plants and decorations.

I'm really looking forward to new items being available for plots, but I think making the first ones mainly seasonal is a mistake. I think what people really want is to be able to make their plots either more useful for others, or more individual and actually like a home.

I can see quite a few ideas that would lead to this. Firstly, there are lots of furniture items around the place in NPC buildings that I presume could be made to work on player plots without too much hardship (as they have already been designed). Currently, the houses generally look fine from outside, but then pointless and empty inside. Personally, a nice rocking chair I can put on my Sslik balcony would be nice

Better still would be some more race related items, so people can really go to town making their plot right for their race. Again, this shouldn't be too hard, as many textures are already in place.

Next, I would consider making some items that do the same as some that are already available, but do it in a smaller area but at a much higher build cost. Players who have been around a long time still struggle to store everything, while always looking for reasons to go crafting!

An armoury would be nice - somewhere like a library, but that houses weapons and armour pieces.

Trainers for plots? Maybe a group of related ones in a building?

In relation to plot building, it would be nice if there was a short-term storage bank for putting things while you scrap a plot and build anew, either on the same site or on a new plot. You could charge per day for it.

Some more sizes of path. You see a lot of paths that look a bit rubbish because pieces have had to cross over - a larger selection of sizes should help fix this. same goes for wall parts.

Also, it would be nice to have an option to make your plot a second place to be able to recall. This would be a nice bonus for plot owners, and save a fair bit of needless porting. An alternative idea would be meeting spots - where one person could summon others to the structure they are at, if grouped for example.

And and and and...

[Frith-Rae]

Well there is a thread over in "feedback" about this exact thing Algenon..

But if you check the first page, and in the stickied thread FAQ over in suggestions, you'll find that furniture is right out. Period. No - it actaully won't be done, can't be done, the answers are in the sticky. Doesn't matter that its in NPC houses - not happening. Engine doesn't like it .

But the rest of your suggestions would fit nicely on the Feedback: Plot thread over in the other forum .

[Glaciera]

I was really excited to see that we might be able to re-customize existing characters, as well as adding in new options.

I think you could describe the reaction something like: Giddy as a schoolgirl.

[fermi443]

Love the new updates on the list for release!

I would love to see gender recognition immersion for us dragon players, I'll give you my whole box of Oreo's if you please just let my emotes say Him, and not IT... I feel like the game doesn't love me enough to realize I'm a male dragon. I can't tell you how many times I've mistaken a dragoness for a male, because all I have to go by is "IT".

This game should love it's players more than its NPCs; who have genders (Yes.. even the dragon NPCs), they make me jealous with their "she" and "he" based dialogue. As far as I know the dialogue for Male/Female interaction in the game is all "Calling Card" based... so it would be as easy as labeling the character male/female. No dialogue changes necessary as the game should do it automatically right?

Please consider this <3

Thanks, Dev Team

-Fermi-

[velveeta]

lol like it's not hard enough for a female player playing a male alt to keep gender strait.....

[algenon]

Well there is a thread over in "feedback" about this exact thing Algenon..

But if you check the first page, and in the stickied thread FAQ over in suggestions, you'll find that furniture is right out. Period. No - it actaully won't be done, can't be done, the answers are in the sticky. Doesn't matter that its in NPC houses - not happening. Engine doesn't like it .

But the rest of your suggestions would fit nicely on the Feedback: Plot thread over in the other forum .

Hey Frithy

You should spend more time in-game and less on the forums, old bean! However, in my defence, I posted in the thread I thought it said to in the dev diary email I got. Ho hum. Can you put a link on here to where I should be please? I'm not as young as I used to be, and seem to be lost

[Frith-Rae]

Actually that thread has now been locked as suggestion time is over I Guess - but you got it in here either way .

And yea, I know about the game time vs. forum time - I just have more ability to read and respond in forums than I do to sit down and have a couple hours to play . I can do this at lunchtime at work..I can't play Hz on my netbook (I tried, actually, all it did was crash the netbook lol).

Just been burn out on crafting too , but I hope to force myself to login soon..

And now back to your regularly scheduled forum thread (teehee )

Yea - how about that gold shield linkage discussion?

[AmonGwareth]

Following up on this... Loot revamp is well underway as planning has mostly been completed. We're doing Tier 5 first so that we can patch it to Blight and get feedback from folks.

Just some notes about how loot will be working.

1. Monsters are divided into categories (Animal, Insect, Elemental, Semi-Intelligent, Undead, Aegis-Constructs, Aegis-Animates, Chests).

2. Loot is divided into categories (Formulas, Techs, Tech Comps, Junk Loot, Hoardables, Crystals, etc).

3. Monster categories each have their own types of items they drop. Example: You won't find any Crystals by hunting Animals, Insects or Elementals and you won't find any Technique Components hunting the Withered Aegis.

4. Loot is meant to "make more sense". To get things that make something or are immediately usable (formulas, techs, crystals, etc), hunt smarter monsters. To get things that are used to make things (tech comps, trophies), hunt dumber monsters.

5. Chests will be special and will be worth finding and opening.

[Shian]

Ohhh sounds nice. Slightly curious as to how the current 1/2 of tech comps that are dropped by WA will be handled. Also someone mentioned this in chat, does this mean shattered pieces n' things will be returning to the game? Can't imagine what else a chest would drop.

Looking forward to knowing what to hunt when I need "X"

[lightning claw]

Following up on this... Loot revamp is well underway as planning has mostly been completed. We're doing Tier 5 first so that we can patch it to Blight and get feedback from folks.

Just some notes about how loot will be working.

1. Monsters are divided into categories (Animal, Insect, Elemental, Semi-Intelligent, Undead, Aegis-Constructs, Aegis-Animates, Chests).

2. Loot is divided into categories (Formulas, Techs, Tech Comps, Junk Loot, Hoardables, Crystals, etc).

3. Monster categories each have their own types of items they drop. Example: You won't find any Crystals by hunting Animals, Insects or Elementals and you won't find any Technique Components hunting the Withered Aegis.

4. Loot is meant to "make more sense". To get things that make something or are immediately usable (formulas, techs, crystals, etc), hunt smarter monsters. To get things that are used to make things (tech comps, trophies), hunt dumber monsters.

5. Chests will be special and will be worth finding and opening.

Going to hold off on the yay or nay on this until i see it, It is a delicate issue your approaching hear guys if i am read this right many of the comps we have worked hard for and built a stock pile of might be come obsolete also i see another issue that i will pm you about later amon

[Kesqui]

3. Monster categories each have their own types of items they drop. Example: You won't find any Crystals by hunting Animals, Insects or Elementals and you won't find any Technique Components hunting the Withered Aegis.

Does that mean things like "Greater Skeleton Skulls", "Lesser Zombie Fingers" and so on will disappear and no longer be used by the techniques?