From the Grab Bag for this week.
http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=706
Q. Why are Black Orcs not larger than Choppas?
A. Black Orcs and Choppas are intended to be the same size, just like every other race/career combo in WAR. That being said, while full-on Berserk Choppas are larger for game-play purposes, this is only to call them out as a very dangerous target that needs to be dealt with ASAP!
Lokax is offically a sad Orc now *grumbles and sulks*
Friday, 20 March 2009
Digesting the Dev Chat (Om nom nom nom)
I went into the dev chat expecting it to be unspectacular, you can't goto a chat expecting a million and one answers for a million and one questions, not to mention sneak peaks and previews. It's not going to happen. I've been following dev chats since the good ol' days (tm) of the Stratics House of Commons chats for Ultima Online and I knew what to expect.
Instead of reviewing each question I'll look at the ones that contain substance and something to get into.
[19:25:53] <@warhammeronline> Thahitia asked: I know you might not talk about classes, but are there any plans to give range dps some kinda cc, so melee will not instant kill range dps if they get close.
[19:25:53] <@warhammeronline> Nate_Mythic answers: More CC on ranged careers is always "dangerous" because of kiting concerns. In general, we try to balance CC at higher levels (i.e. realm as a whole). That being said, CC is one of those aspects of player combat which we're always monitoring for balance issues.
Wait, someone want's MORE crowd control in the game? Bugger that! Kiting and chain roots, snares etc must be abolished, well you shouldn't be forced to spend the majority of a fight with some form of crowd control to prevent player actions. Take a look at your class. In a 2 minute 1v1 fight, would you be able to keep crowd control on an opponent for more than 50% of the battle? If so then crowd control is over the top.
[19:28:50] <@warhammeronline> [EC]Steve asked: Why does Divine Assault and Rend Soul not get affected by a healing debuff what so ever
[19:28:50] <@warhammeronline> Agershowitz_Myt answers: Divine Assault and Rend Soul are lifetaps as such the amount of healing generated by them are proporitionate to the damage dealt. This means you can reduce their healing by reducing offense, Str/WS debuffs, Damage Debuffs, Taunt Etc are all effective ways of reducing damage and in turn also reducing the effectiveness of these heals
I had to look up what those were, but they do seem like very sick abilities for melee healers, especially in skirmishes and just general survival. 350% of your damage? That's pretty nuts, even with debuffs and taunts that's till grabbing a huge, huge increase. No wonder it seems that WP's and DoK's (I assume) are incredibly difficult to kill even with multiple people attacking them. Must stress though, it SEEMs that way though...
[19:31:15] <@warhammeronline> Beves asked: Faultfinder the ability that allows you do to 10% more damage to keep doors is pretty useless, are you going to improve it?
[19:31:15] <@warhammeronline> Agershowitz_Myt answers: Faultfinder as well as many of the other RvR seige specific abilities will be getting updated around the same time that the RvR team releases many of their oRvR improvments in future patches
Updated eh? Hmm, nerfed or buffed... I really don't like the idea of buffing damage done to doors. They're big huge iron gates or solid oak, not pieces of soggy cardboard. They already go down quick enough with a concentrated assault. They should bump up the door hitpoints, but put the focus on siege weapons doing more damage to the doors, rams should do the most but the ballistas and catapults should be able to damage doors as well, makes them actually semi useful and gives the defenders a reason to try to sally out to take down the siege weapons rather than tipping oil, waiting for the inevitables *Tip-splosh.....*
[19:33:38] <@warhammeronline> TfG|FiFa asked: hello, is it true that every 2h and dual wielded weapons have a 10% less chance of getting blocked/parried by the opponent? thx
[19:33:38] <@warhammeronline> Agershowitz_Myt answers: Greatweapons (2HD) are harder to block, Dual Weild (2x 1HD) get a parry bonus on incoming attacks
I never knew that. Does explain why Witch Hunters parry a bucket load of my attacks and I can't block for shit against Swordmasters and White Lions....
[19:34:15] <@warhammeronline> Zeiden asked: Do you plan on implementing new ways of capturing a keep such as for example Choppa throwing catapults or breaking the walls instead of only the door or maybe moving Siege weapons?
[19:34:15] <@warhammeronline> Josh_Mythic answers: Maybe. :)
If anything it will be the third option, can't see the walls being breakable sadly, nor being able to launch Orcs (as cool as it would be). Just not really practical to design I guess. Need more effort on looking at siege weaponry though (still need to write down my ideas for it)
[19:36:41] <@warhammeronline> Mendoras asked: PvE in Tomb Kings: you stated out that it will be a little above LV. Will we see more challanging and intelligent PvE Encounters? In ToA (DAoC) we had some tactical encounters like ML9 Phoenix ... thats somtheing I miss in WAR. Or are there plans for Warband Encounter or large Open World Encounters like tge Dragons in DAoC?
[19:36:41] <@warhammeronline> Destin_Mythic answers: Thanks, I implemented the Phoenix encounter! The Land of the Dead (our Tomb Kings dungeon) does indeed offer some incredible encounters like you describe. In fact, the team working on this dungeon is the same team that built The Lost Vale, so you can expect The Land of the Dead to represent the next level of gameplay.
For those who don't know what ML9 Phoenix is, check out the video, it's not the best to look at, or work out what's going on, but it was a fun fight. Well I'm actually looking forward to the PvE element of Tomb Kings as well, as odd as it may be, it's also the PvE content which will help this game, despite it being RvR focussed. If you can lure the PvE'rs in, get them hooked to the RvR. Oh to have things such as the Glacier Giant going through the zones... (link1) (link2) (link3)
[19:38:54] <@warhammeronline> Helird asked: I would like to know what reasons you had to implement the current Wards system when it is obviously not the best. It is based entirely on luck and can be completely frustrating when items drop for classes not even present in the instance (I have been doing Lost Vale for 6 months now and only received 3 drops on my Zealot)
[19:38:54] <@warhammeronline> Agershowitz_Myt answers: We are actively working on ways of improving the ward system so that it is less tied to loot and more through in game acheivments (beating content)
Attunement style would do me fine!
[19:45:38] <@warhammeronline> [F]Sauce asked: Hey, having seen that its not as simple as one might hope to achieve massive scale rvr, with server stability and class balance being some of the issues, do you plan on steering RvR to smaller skirmish fights or persisting with 'zerg vs zerg'?
[19:45:38] <@warhammeronline> JeffS_Mythic answers: We have a team of engineers constantly tweaking and optimizing our server and client code. We plan to cater to both smaller skirmishes (via scenarios and objective captures) while introducing new tactics for several warbands to work with to encourage them to spread around to capture zones. We'll be applying these ideas to the cities as well as we improve them.
Ah nice, I'm starting to appreciate small scale battles so much more now. Even running solo recently, but WHY does 95% of the enemy (and I am not being sarcastic) start running away the minute they are close to death. Just fight it out for Gorks sake, be an orc! But anyway, lets hope they can reduce the mass zergs this game is becoming.
[19:51:10] <@warhammeronline> Fed|Rhissa asked: AoE abilities currently seem to be a bit stronger than most players want them to be. Reading US boards it seems though only ground target AoEs (RoF, PoS) and associated tactics are going to be revamped. My personal experience is that also instant cast AoEs are to strong, yet they seem to be out of discussion. Are there any plans to change instant cast PB AoE spells along with GT AoE spells?
[19:51:10] <@warhammeronline> Agershowitz_Myt answers: AoE damage is a concern for us and we will continue to work on balance adjustments, our first focus is fixing GTAOE in a way that eases up the current choke point issues without over nerfing the careers that use them. After which we will continue to watch AoE damage in general
You know, i don't think people really mind about the actual damage AoE does, it's more the fact you can place the target where the camera can see a spot, but not where the character can. Just fix it. Seriously. 'You. Cannot. See. There.'
[19:51:13] <@warhammeronline> kynoko asked: are we ever going to see arenas in WAR ?
[19:51:13] <@warhammeronline> Josh_Mythic answers: Definitely possible.
Gork no... No arenas in the WoW style. If you want to add in 6v6 style fights (which I'm all for), then add a zone, that 6v6 teams can queue for, upon entering a fight it places you and your opponents in an instance themed on the zone (maybe an out lying farm, a village or inside a city under siege). Small bands fighting over control and resources of a town, grants tokens to spend on special items which can only be used in the zone. Have a map which shows the victory points for the individual instances and which side 'controls' more of the region. Must expand on that idea...
[19:52:15] <@warhammeronline> Wiggletphyre asked: Are you going to implement the city's of the other 4 races in the near future?
[19:52:15] <@warhammeronline> Destin_Mythic answers: Not in the near future, no. For now we are focused on bug fixing, improving RvR, improving performance and stability, and testing / refining the Call to Arms live expansion.
Argh! You dirty, dirty apes! Give us greenskins our 'omes back. I don't want to be sharing it with the pink humies that smell bad... Bah.. guess my little hope goes out the window and into the drops now *grumbles*
[20:01:02] <@warhammeronline> kynoko asked: even if 200 people go to a frortress, and u have 20 tanks healing the door. how u suggest to smack the doors down ? it's impossible for us.
[20:01:02] <@warhammeronline> Agershowitz_Myt answers: There is a hotfix due soon to help fix this issue it will only allow the door to be healed a certain number of times over a set duration by the Tank's Realm ability
Fanbloodytastic.. You can remove the ability for mass tanks to heal doors, but you can't remove the ability for mass AoE on a single spot, mass group healing, or mass shooting through the fecken walls. Oh bugger off, what are tanks supposed to add to a keep or fort now? We stand in the way and get the crap blown out of us. Last Fort fight I was in, I could have gone afk for all I done standing there just making myself an obstacle. Ah, but don't worry. They're looking to upgrade the keep abilites such as fault finding... But rest assured, they're nerfing the tank one.. Gee, thanks.
Well, that's all I'm going over for now, there was a lot more to it and a few things I haven't touched on, but they are mainly things I don't have a strong opinion on, well not enough to warrant spamming you with even more walls of text crits. So anything from the dev chat that you guys found good.. bad... or just.. meh?
Instead of reviewing each question I'll look at the ones that contain substance and something to get into.
[19:25:53] <@warhammeronline> Thahitia asked: I know you might not talk about classes, but are there any plans to give range dps some kinda cc, so melee will not instant kill range dps if they get close.
[19:25:53] <@warhammeronline> Nate_Mythic answers: More CC on ranged careers is always "dangerous" because of kiting concerns. In general, we try to balance CC at higher levels (i.e. realm as a whole). That being said, CC is one of those aspects of player combat which we're always monitoring for balance issues.
Wait, someone want's MORE crowd control in the game? Bugger that! Kiting and chain roots, snares etc must be abolished, well you shouldn't be forced to spend the majority of a fight with some form of crowd control to prevent player actions. Take a look at your class. In a 2 minute 1v1 fight, would you be able to keep crowd control on an opponent for more than 50% of the battle? If so then crowd control is over the top.
[19:28:50] <@warhammeronline> [EC]Steve asked: Why does Divine Assault and Rend Soul not get affected by a healing debuff what so ever
[19:28:50] <@warhammeronline> Agershowitz_Myt answers: Divine Assault and Rend Soul are lifetaps as such the amount of healing generated by them are proporitionate to the damage dealt. This means you can reduce their healing by reducing offense, Str/WS debuffs, Damage Debuffs, Taunt Etc are all effective ways of reducing damage and in turn also reducing the effectiveness of these heals
I had to look up what those were, but they do seem like very sick abilities for melee healers, especially in skirmishes and just general survival. 350% of your damage? That's pretty nuts, even with debuffs and taunts that's till grabbing a huge, huge increase. No wonder it seems that WP's and DoK's (I assume) are incredibly difficult to kill even with multiple people attacking them. Must stress though, it SEEMs that way though...
[19:31:15] <@warhammeronline> Beves asked: Faultfinder the ability that allows you do to 10% more damage to keep doors is pretty useless, are you going to improve it?
[19:31:15] <@warhammeronline> Agershowitz_Myt answers: Faultfinder as well as many of the other RvR seige specific abilities will be getting updated around the same time that the RvR team releases many of their oRvR improvments in future patches
Updated eh? Hmm, nerfed or buffed... I really don't like the idea of buffing damage done to doors. They're big huge iron gates or solid oak, not pieces of soggy cardboard. They already go down quick enough with a concentrated assault. They should bump up the door hitpoints, but put the focus on siege weapons doing more damage to the doors, rams should do the most but the ballistas and catapults should be able to damage doors as well, makes them actually semi useful and gives the defenders a reason to try to sally out to take down the siege weapons rather than tipping oil, waiting for the inevitables *Tip-splosh.....*
[19:33:38] <@warhammeronline> TfG|FiFa asked: hello, is it true that every 2h and dual wielded weapons have a 10% less chance of getting blocked/parried by the opponent? thx
[19:33:38] <@warhammeronline> Agershowitz_Myt answers: Greatweapons (2HD) are harder to block, Dual Weild (2x 1HD) get a parry bonus on incoming attacks
I never knew that. Does explain why Witch Hunters parry a bucket load of my attacks and I can't block for shit against Swordmasters and White Lions....
[19:34:15] <@warhammeronline> Zeiden asked: Do you plan on implementing new ways of capturing a keep such as for example Choppa throwing catapults or breaking the walls instead of only the door or maybe moving Siege weapons?
[19:34:15] <@warhammeronline> Josh_Mythic answers: Maybe. :)
If anything it will be the third option, can't see the walls being breakable sadly, nor being able to launch Orcs (as cool as it would be). Just not really practical to design I guess. Need more effort on looking at siege weaponry though (still need to write down my ideas for it)
[19:36:41] <@warhammeronline> Mendoras asked: PvE in Tomb Kings: you stated out that it will be a little above LV. Will we see more challanging and intelligent PvE Encounters? In ToA (DAoC) we had some tactical encounters like ML9 Phoenix ... thats somtheing I miss in WAR. Or are there plans for Warband Encounter or large Open World Encounters like tge Dragons in DAoC?
[19:36:41] <@warhammeronline> Destin_Mythic answers: Thanks, I implemented the Phoenix encounter! The Land of the Dead (our Tomb Kings dungeon) does indeed offer some incredible encounters like you describe. In fact, the team working on this dungeon is the same team that built The Lost Vale, so you can expect The Land of the Dead to represent the next level of gameplay.
For those who don't know what ML9 Phoenix is, check out the video, it's not the best to look at, or work out what's going on, but it was a fun fight. Well I'm actually looking forward to the PvE element of Tomb Kings as well, as odd as it may be, it's also the PvE content which will help this game, despite it being RvR focussed. If you can lure the PvE'rs in, get them hooked to the RvR. Oh to have things such as the Glacier Giant going through the zones... (link1) (link2) (link3)
[19:38:54] <@warhammeronline> Helird asked: I would like to know what reasons you had to implement the current Wards system when it is obviously not the best. It is based entirely on luck and can be completely frustrating when items drop for classes not even present in the instance (I have been doing Lost Vale for 6 months now and only received 3 drops on my Zealot)
[19:38:54] <@warhammeronline> Agershowitz_Myt answers: We are actively working on ways of improving the ward system so that it is less tied to loot and more through in game acheivments (beating content)
Attunement style would do me fine!
[19:45:38] <@warhammeronline> [F]Sauce asked: Hey, having seen that its not as simple as one might hope to achieve massive scale rvr, with server stability and class balance being some of the issues, do you plan on steering RvR to smaller skirmish fights or persisting with 'zerg vs zerg'?
[19:45:38] <@warhammeronline> JeffS_Mythic answers: We have a team of engineers constantly tweaking and optimizing our server and client code. We plan to cater to both smaller skirmishes (via scenarios and objective captures) while introducing new tactics for several warbands to work with to encourage them to spread around to capture zones. We'll be applying these ideas to the cities as well as we improve them.
Ah nice, I'm starting to appreciate small scale battles so much more now. Even running solo recently, but WHY does 95% of the enemy (and I am not being sarcastic) start running away the minute they are close to death. Just fight it out for Gorks sake, be an orc! But anyway, lets hope they can reduce the mass zergs this game is becoming.
[19:51:10] <@warhammeronline> Fed|Rhissa asked: AoE abilities currently seem to be a bit stronger than most players want them to be. Reading US boards it seems though only ground target AoEs (RoF, PoS) and associated tactics are going to be revamped. My personal experience is that also instant cast AoEs are to strong, yet they seem to be out of discussion. Are there any plans to change instant cast PB AoE spells along with GT AoE spells?
[19:51:10] <@warhammeronline> Agershowitz_Myt answers: AoE damage is a concern for us and we will continue to work on balance adjustments, our first focus is fixing GTAOE in a way that eases up the current choke point issues without over nerfing the careers that use them. After which we will continue to watch AoE damage in general
You know, i don't think people really mind about the actual damage AoE does, it's more the fact you can place the target where the camera can see a spot, but not where the character can. Just fix it. Seriously. 'You. Cannot. See. There.'
[19:51:13] <@warhammeronline> kynoko asked: are we ever going to see arenas in WAR ?
[19:51:13] <@warhammeronline> Josh_Mythic answers: Definitely possible.
Gork no... No arenas in the WoW style. If you want to add in 6v6 style fights (which I'm all for), then add a zone, that 6v6 teams can queue for, upon entering a fight it places you and your opponents in an instance themed on the zone (maybe an out lying farm, a village or inside a city under siege). Small bands fighting over control and resources of a town, grants tokens to spend on special items which can only be used in the zone. Have a map which shows the victory points for the individual instances and which side 'controls' more of the region. Must expand on that idea...
[19:52:15] <@warhammeronline> Wiggletphyre asked: Are you going to implement the city's of the other 4 races in the near future?
[19:52:15] <@warhammeronline> Destin_Mythic answers: Not in the near future, no. For now we are focused on bug fixing, improving RvR, improving performance and stability, and testing / refining the Call to Arms live expansion.
Argh! You dirty, dirty apes! Give us greenskins our 'omes back. I don't want to be sharing it with the pink humies that smell bad... Bah.. guess my little hope goes out the window and into the drops now *grumbles*
[20:01:02] <@warhammeronline> kynoko asked: even if 200 people go to a frortress, and u have 20 tanks healing the door. how u suggest to smack the doors down ? it's impossible for us.
[20:01:02] <@warhammeronline> Agershowitz_Myt answers: There is a hotfix due soon to help fix this issue it will only allow the door to be healed a certain number of times over a set duration by the Tank's Realm ability
Fanbloodytastic.. You can remove the ability for mass tanks to heal doors, but you can't remove the ability for mass AoE on a single spot, mass group healing, or mass shooting through the fecken walls. Oh bugger off, what are tanks supposed to add to a keep or fort now? We stand in the way and get the crap blown out of us. Last Fort fight I was in, I could have gone afk for all I done standing there just making myself an obstacle. Ah, but don't worry. They're looking to upgrade the keep abilites such as fault finding... But rest assured, they're nerfing the tank one.. Gee, thanks.
Well, that's all I'm going over for now, there was a lot more to it and a few things I haven't touched on, but they are mainly things I don't have a strong opinion on, well not enough to warrant spamming you with even more walls of text crits. So anything from the dev chat that you guys found good.. bad... or just.. meh?
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