Give us your feedback on the January Letter to the Players!

[Ibn]

Use this space to let us know what you think of the (delayed) January Letter to the Players.

Read it here. (http://ac.turbinegames.com/index.php?page_id=336)

[PsycoOrca]

First!

Wonder if anyone else but me will reroll a char on DT to play in the dungoens.

unless its gona be like lvl 1-80. :rolleyes:

[edwar368]

The withered creatures sound interesting, but am i reading it right in that by "completely invulnerable to non-projectile magic" these will still be open to normal war magic? The reason I ask this is surely this will still be an area that will be domintaed by mages, as their war spells hit for far more damage than any melee. Was the reason for these creatures, to give Melees somewhere to hunt other than Monkeys and Olthoi?

[KPD157]

I like the Withered Creatures concept though I thought maybe you guys would come up with a way to have an areas monsters just be Life Magic Imune :)

I will be looking forward to testing out my Non Life Macer on them to see how such a monster fares against a character without magic :)

OH PS great Migration btw love how easy it was :)

[Ibn]

The withered creatures sound interesting, but am i reading it right in that by "completely invulnerable to non-projectile magic" these will still be open to normal war magic? The reason I ask this is surely this will still be an area that will be domintaed by mages, as their war spells hit for far more damage than any melee. Was the reason for these creatures, to give Melees somewhere to hunt other than Monkeys and Olthoi?

They will still be vulnerable to war magic, yes. The purpose of this area was not to create a "melee only" zone or the like, it was to create an area for characters who don't have the ability to debuff their targets effectively.

[Tjene]

Any news on the expansion? Like a date?

- Tjene

[Arch Magi]

First off, let me say ... *YAWN*

Second, I'm giving 3 to 1 odds that the area where the "Withered Creatures" will be will turn into a "Pre-Sing Caul" and that by Feb or March, there will be a nerf as an exploit is found.

On the plus side, it doesn't look like Decal will be down long.

[Edit]

After 1 re-reading it 3 more times (there wasn't much there, so it didn't take long), I do like this ... Hookable Portals.

[Vlad Morbius]

One question, "have lower stats than typical VoD and Caul creatures." Does this mean the experience will be much lower then the VoD and Caul creatures, and is the loot going to be comperable to those creatures. One comment, this is just the beginning to the fix correct?

[Ibn]

Any news on the expansion? Like a date?

- Tjene

No public release date at this time, no.

[Ibn]

One question, "have lower stats than typical VoD and Caul creatures." Does this mean the experience will be much lower then the VoD and Caul creatures, and is the loot going to be comperable to those creatures. One comment, this is just the beginning to the fix correct?

No, the experience and loot should be comparable to VoD and Caul... otherwise, what's the point, right?

As I wrote in the Letter, this isn't the perfect solution. We're still looking at other things.

[HeXt]

Are they planning on releasing a chart for us to look at with the stats of the new weaponry?



And yeah, about the new hunting ground, I'm worried that this will turn into a macro-playground if this isn't implimented right.


Can you guys post a map of where this area will be ahead of time soon? :D

[Lokania]

The only problem I see with this IBN, is that the creatures better be weak enough to melee otherwise mages will just take it over, just like every other spot. Although I'm hoping the xp will be at minimum around 15mil an hour, otherwise it'll be pointless.

[baybear57]

I'm a little bit confused about a phrase in the paragraph about the Western Power Forge rewards: "Like Urleg's award, this is one-time only." My sub-126 character completed the quest on Patch Day in December and has received her 20% XP reward. Her 30-day timer on picking up another essence will expire before the January patch. Does this mean that she's ineligible for another percentage reward? What will happen if she tries to give another essence to Urleg on Sunday?

[KPD157]

I hear that they will be more than Life Resistant and all that is great but could they also cast Level VII Dispells as well so that those who are buffed with Life and Creature will be at even more odds with them?

I mean the No Life , No Creature Guy would not be running around with buffs anyway if they were really true to their type of character template. If you havn't could I suggest that all of the Monsters in the Withered Class be able to dispell all magics on you minus maybe item buffs and that they have low magic attack ability meaning that a high Magic D character could resist them :)

Just some extra thoughts though I beleive you guys will mix it up just fine on your own hehehehe :) Good Work so far looking forward to the Update :)

[Someguy1]

Good to hear about the new melee friendly outdoor hunting area. For the past year or so I've been confined to 80+ olthoi hives in order to make decent xp; it will be nice to have a viable alternative. Hopefully I'll be able to make comparable xp in the new area as I would in the Brood Hive.

I think AC's xp hunting suffers from a lack of people more than anything. I think AC has quite a few places that a fellowship could get 20 million xp or more an hour but really there's only the Brood Hive, the Caul, and the VoD. They're the most convenient hunting locations that bring in respectable xp. Now if those locations were always filled to the brim with people then others would find other areas to hunt that are the next best place. Unfortunately there is not enough people on at any given time to cause that to happen. So really we have just three. This new area may be good enough to perhaps grab a few of the usual denizens from the current 3 favorites. However, if the xp doesn't match up regularly and its too inconvenient I figure people will just stick with the places they already know and love.

[Crimson-Ghost]

I'm hoping they don't ruin this area with junk creatures like they do with VoD. The fact that his place is supposed to be the fix for melees, I'm hoping there isn't going to be any worthless xp killing creatures like the undead or knaths in VoD. That type of inconsistant xp is absolutely irritating beyond belief, it is one of the things that keeps me from leveling my characters in VoD now, knowing that if we get crap spawns (I have terrible luck and more often than not get purely undead/tumerocks) I'll make less xp than I would hunting solo in Phyntos Menace.

Aside from that fact I hope Turbine has the foresight to make sure that melee/archer characters should be able to kill these monsters faster than mages, otherwise this area is just gonna be another Caul with a bunch of 80+ wand monkeys with rends running around 1 shotting everything.

Hopefully this won't be all for naught, because after promising this fix I'm just hoping for your sake (I can see the backlash this would cause if mages DID rule it) that it will do the trick.

[edwar368]

As Dragula said.....

I see that you perhaps dont want to create a melee specific area, but surely your objective must have been to create an area for a different type of char to hunt than currently hunts in VOD and Caul. The fact is, it seems from the descriptions that the types of players that hunt VOD and Caul will be even more uber here as they dont havr to vuln anything, just 'one shot, war' them. So why would those players bother to hunt VOD or Caul any more when they can come to the new area and get the same xp and loot, but a lot quicker?

[Crimson-Ghost]

As an archer, I can say I'd still rather hunt this spot, chances are you'll only need a few bows, as it is I carry 3 (1 rend, 1 AR, 1 CS). I doubt you'll need a rediculous amount of bows, in fact i'm thinking either CS or Rend will be best.

[SlashBroker]

I'm an archer and I only carry 2 bows in VOD. An AR and a CS.

This new spot sounds interesting. If it works out I will unspec life and spec melee d again.

I have this bad feeling though it is going to be a small area that is covered with mages with rend wands.

Like Caul crater, Mage only fellows.

I really hope it doesnt turn out that way.

[Jet-eye-nite]

I am melee and this is a real joke , I for one didn't want a gimme like you dropped on the CB of DT . withered creatures, pfft ! I was really hoping for some real melee challenges ,but it plays out you have never really understood the mind of a melee player so it stands to reason you wouldn't be able to satisify their desires of play style anyway :rolleyes:

[Vlad Morbius]

Slashbroker,
For those of us who've waited a very long time for even this little bite at the apple, this is our greatest fear. My hope is that they had enough forethought to make the creatures more resistant to magic as well. Not quite as impervious as a Crystal golem, but enough to deter this very thing from happening :D

[silvurhawke]

"Not quite as impervious as a Crystal golem"

I hope shooting a war bolt at them is similar to shooting and arrow or swinging a weapon at a Virindi Profatrix :) Or at least a Copper gromnie or Armored Skeleton. Mages could really use a taste of that! They may be less inclined to flame our pleas to see life on the other side of the tracks.

[Northstar]

They will still be vulnerable to war magic, yes. The purpose of this area was not to create a "melee only" zone or the like, it was to create an area for characters who don't have the ability to debuff their targets effectively.

Hmmm.. while I do applaud your efforts to create an area for templates like mine [high level spec bow/melee D/magic D archer and spec melee D/war mage and my fav spec staff/meleeD tank] , I'm of the mind that we really need some areas that mages can't play.

I know it's an issue we've had since beta, but honestly after playing for over 5 years, I can honestly say that there isn't any decent high level solo area to play in Dereth currently for archers and more specifically melees.

Ibn, think about it... with a few exceptions for certain quests that require one or more of certain templates [i.e. forced grouping which is ok since it is a quest after all] to get through, mages have always had their way in Dereth as a preferred template... bar none.

While I understand that mages are the hardest temp to play [assuming you don't macro or use plugins to play for you] and cost the most credits to spec for war, even my mage with spec melee D can solo Devs and go to town with ring spells...it's definitely a playstyle I like at times...but it's also quite unfair if you look at DoT numbers solo.

So to get to my point, if you now institute an area where all critters are pre-imped... my mage [with whatever rend wand needed] can wade into the middle of a mob and throw x number of ring spells and rinse and repeat? I seriously doubt any other temp that doesn't have the benefit of area of effect attacks would ever be able to keep up.

People can say that Hollows, Hive dungeons, and Crystal Lords are mages banes...but even these my mage can dispatch by either tactics or switching to UA for a short period of time. We've come to a crossroads where mages don't need nerfing, they just need to have a few isolated pockets where they can't play as masters over all.

So my vote would be..institute the areas you speak of...just make them impervious to war magic as well as my mage already has more than enough places to hunt solo, thank you very much.

In closing, objections aside I think you guys are doing a great job as always and please keep up the great work!

North

[otama]

sounds fun, my biggest concern is that the area needs to be large enough to handle the demand

also still curious about whether or not you plan on letting me see my hooked floatee from the ground

[Metonic]

I have aquestion.. With the January patch, is it gonna do the same as the Jan 04 patch? cause its listed under 2004 events :)

It says

2004 Events.
-January

2004 Events
- December
- November
- October
- September
so on..

Minor error on the monthly events page, lol thats alright itsstill early in the year to make htose mistakes :)

[Warlockdba]

Im gettting a bit confused.
First towns are too crowded. So the mansions and other living areas are spread out. Then you complain towns are two empty.
First fellowship exp is not equal. So you fix that so people will like to fellow more, after all its supposed to be a group game. But people can *gasp* fellow up and hunt without haveing to be in the same land block. So you set it up so that people can not make exp unless they can almost see each other.

People are advancing too fast, so you "fix" the exp pass up. Great job, you kill off the groups. Some of us with multi accounts got shafted when you took away our ability to advance more then 2 charcters through exp passup.

Now that you have "fixed" away most of the group reasons to hunt you offer an area for people not in a fellow to hunt. All this time you have been telling us to fellow up, to allegiance up, to come together as a group. NOW your telling us that , well getting together as a group is not practical. And offering us a place to hunt solo.

So which is it, are we advancing too fast, or not fast enough? Are we supposed to fellow up and hunt as a group? or will solo play be the way to go?
I personally have played solo about 95%, and the 5% i do get to fellow up and hunt with a group makes it worth the effort to get together.

I thank you for offering an area that mages will not be able to help others in, it makes it so much easier to come together.

Now maybe you can make it so we do not crash entering or exiting portals or when we recall. Maybe you could , oh i do not know, make it so the servers do not just kick us out randomly? I stoped useing the insertion system that came with the disk because i did not like haveing to relog onto the page everytime the server hickuped. NOW with your new billing, im haveing to relog onto the page not only when the server hickups, but when i change charcters as the server just does not seem to understand that all i want to do is change characters and boots me out.


But hey , a stable server, thats chicken feed, lets make it so that we can solo again. After all we just spent the last 6 months makeing it harder to hunt alone.

Next month we can make an area that life mages can hunt. Now that they are not needed to fellow up, they can be left out of the fellows. Left to advance on there own. We have redused the range they can cast harmful spells. We have redused the effectivness of the close range spells by makeing monsters more resistant. And now we have made it a slower process to advance by makeing it so people can hunt without them. Yes we are promoting teamwork and communities here.


Now for people to tear into what i have said, and to tell me im wrong. Take apart what ever sentance you want. Me i just want a stable server. I know pipe dreams. I guess ill go back and wait for the worlds to come up. Major bug they say. Most likely someone found a way to make money using a skill.

[Neue Regel]

"A small area in the Direlands has been repopulated with creatures that are completely invulnerable to non-projectile magic"

I dont like this statement, a small area. For how many people that are going to flock here, dont you think it should have been a rather LARGE area?

Does small mean the size of VoD? Or does it mean 1/10 of VoD?

[Vlad Morbius]

"I thank you for offering an area that mages will not be able to help others in, it makes it so much easier to come together."

How about I start with that. Clearly you've not read much on the subject, and haven't felt the sting of a stagnating 5 year time investment. My only comment to you is......don't belittle what you obviously don't understand. :cool:

[Pharo_HG]

In the January event, the number of portal devices that can be hooked on mansions will be increased to 7. We are looking at the possibility of removing the limit altogether in February, although these will still be mansion-only items, although this may not be feasible due to technical restrictions.

does this mean that mansions will have *new floor hook spaces* to also hook portals outside on the mansion lawn as floor hooks are already limited and spread out in number????

[Nexus-HG]

6 + 2 = 7 ????

2 BM Portals + 6 Statues Devices = 8 total, or so I thought.

Am I understanding correctly that regardless of that there will only be 7 hookable portal items in January?

I guess it's a "darned if you do, darned if you don't" thing, but if you knew the limitations were 7 total portals, then how did you guys let that slip by the Development Drawing Board when you did the Device Portals by making 6 instead of 5?

While I am glad that I read you hope to remove that cap for the Feb. event, I was disturbed by the wording used.


"We are looking at the possibility of removing the limit altogether in February, although these will still be mansion-only items, although this may not be feasible due to technical restrictions.


If the game has many limitations or "technical restrictions" such as this, what incentive is there to continue to play a flawed product.

Granted, I like AC, and had I have no plans (atm) to go looking for another game. I have liked the many years I have played.

I am not a programer.

I am not a Decal Plugin writer.

I am a consumer.

A consumer that is seemingly one of the procrastinators out there that is in denial; trying not to move on to a newer (maybe not better, but newer) product out there.

Many things in game that have gone on for years (exploits that QA SHOULD have found, jumpspin, fastcasting, spelling errors, your housing "backcoding" etc.) leave me and many others pondering why we should continue since the game seems so limited in scope due to the existing hardware in place?

And again, I openly admit, I am NOT a programer. But surely at least SOME of these issues should have been looked at some point?

I have read and applaud the folks that made WoW for what they have done to nip in the bud anything that might kill the game off early.

Many of the things they have done, I feel, is actually because of lessons learned from our game here.

If ebay sales, UCM, and some exploits were stopped early on, I think many would agree that the game might not have had such a large migration elsewhere.

However, in addition to the harmful effects of exploits past, we now have to read about limitations in code and game design?

Every DT post about fastcast points not to Speeder XP, but to "animation breaks" and other server side issues relating to the gaming engine.

Are these limitations the reason for the frequent "major bug" maintances we have as of late?

I heard that even in the expansion that no new engine was feasible/possible due to design of the coding implemented. Instead its just graphical upgrades.

I do hope to stay around today, and god (and code) willing, many years to come in the world of Dereth.

But one has to wonder how many more holes are left to plug, and how many will go unplugged, before Turbine's dyke bursts to flood us out?

[MaddyFF]

Hmmm.. while I do applaud your efforts to create an area for templates like mine [high level spec bow/melee D/magic D archer and spec melee D/war mage and my fav spec staff/meleeD tank] , I'm of the mind that we really need some areas that mages can't play.


That would be the wrong direction to go in my opinion. Can make it where a mage isn't as effective (hollow swarm multilators, Mmmmmm), but areas shouldn't shouldn't be designed to non anything template. Monsters yes, not entire hunting areas.

It is possible for a melee/archer to hunt in the areas seen as "mage only" now, they just aren't very effective. Could do the same with this area. Yes War magic works, but not as well as someone designed to handle strong melee attacks from a monster.

[MaddyFF]

If the game has many limitations or "technical restrictions" such as this, what incentive is there to continue to play a flawed product.

You need to get a better understanding of the technical restrictions. Look at AC when it started and what the engine was capable of doing. That is what they have to work with. So if you want something new like housing or portal devices they need to think of a way to get it to work in the tech that was not designed to do this. So it may not always be possible to do something.

Think of it as a manufacturer that built a stove. Many thnigs you can do with a stove but if you ask me to make it so it can also keep my food cold till I want to cook it then there are probably technical reasons why that can't be done. Or if Ithey do slab a refrigeration unit onto the stove you may find you have issues like your ice cream melting when you turn on the oven.

That is how software works. You can't just go and add stuff and expect it to work because it is only programming. You have to look at what it was designed to do and what it is capbale of, then go from there. So you may hit limitations.

I have read and applaud the folks that made WoW for what they have done to nip in the bud anything that might kill the game off early.

Think so huh? ;) Plus wait for them to start adding new content every month or for the players to say "Can you add this?" and Blizzard responds, "nope, tech isn't capable of it."

[Nexus-HG]

While I agree with your kind analogy, a stove is still a stove is still a stove.

This aint about ice cream on a stove, or hot/cold, positive/negative or anything that complicated with our equipment. This is just sheer thought to the mechanics of nature and planning here.

Since I guess we are gonna use "stove analogies".... :)

Let me see if i translate this out right...

If you KNOW you only have THIS much space on a stove top, you have to plan EXACTLY how many burners you are gonna put onto the stovetop BEFORE you make the burners. Will it be 2? 4? How many is feasible and is there room for it on your stovetop.

Now since AC has 3 sizes of hous.... err stoves... The manufacturers decided that only the Largest size should have these magificent burners installed, because well, these large stoves were intended to hous... err feed the most people in the serv... err kitchen.

Now the manufacturers should have known that he could only put on 3 burners at one time. They also know they have to make room for OTHER ITEMS on the stovetop like the mossie st... err exhaust fan, and other items with "limits" (even though we are now renaming burners as other items now too :) )

Welp, they came up with so many goodies for 50 stoves on our 7-8 kitchens (I just play in the HG kitchen so I dont keep up with the other households :) ) that they ran over budget a bit.

But its ok because they are interchangable!!!

Yes yes, you can hook whatever you want and mix and match. Yes that is swell indeed (as many have pointed out this past month or so). However, this was NOT what was expected when we completed the que..err when to the appliance sale. It was expected that the items would be ready to go on the stove.

NOT the case.

When you would purchase a RL stove, you would expect to know what limitations there are for your stove before you buy. If you know something wont be a good deal, you wont buy it.

(... *edit* have to interject AC stuff for a sec... How can it be mansion love if it is NOT possible for all of the "love" items to be used at the SAME TIME? That sort of stuff might not be a big deal I guess, since only 50 accounts on each server are affected but still COME ON, this defies logic here... )

If you are given all of these items to use with your stove, but later find that the limitations and "technical issues" regarding said stove make its use less than desirable, would you not return your stove to the manufactuer?

Oh yes thats right, it was designed that way by the manufacturer? So if it aint thier fault, is it mine for being an unimformed consumer?

In RL maybe, however the consumers of AC are NEVER given all the facts and never know of the "limitations of coding/gameplay/billing/etc until the hotfix.

It would seem laughable to make OR EVEN THINK OF DESIGNING up to 8 burners and promise even more additional and new/improved burners in the future if you can only support 3 burners on ya stovetop (even if you can squeeze another 4 in for us by Febuary).

How could something like this go by like that. Mans... err Stove Love has been in the planning for OVER ONE #@$@#$@ YEAR!!! Surely the 3 (7 in Jan) burner limitation just, oh i dunno, came up a few times in the stove design meetings?

All things being equal, it sounds like the "salesman" for the stove product should be given a lecture for not knowing a bit more about his product he is selling to us consumers...

From one RL salesman to another, I know that if i pass off a perverbial "lemon" to someone (and even if I am able to fix the consumer's problem with the product afterward) then that consumer loses all faith in the product, the company I represent, and me personally, due to the bad experience.

And unfortunately, there are newer kitchens being filled with other manufacturers products now for that reason...


*edit again*
And while you might be right to some degree about Blizzard, at least they DID something about the issues from the start. I seem to remember ebay, UCM, emulator servers, and 3rd party apps being a non issue for months... till it was too late (i.e HG's population of 231 players 48 of which being trade bots in MP, as well as 7 portal bots, 3 bots at crag, and the 3 macros i ran into at phentos menace on my newb toon, and the countless villas/mansions with guild buffbots.

I seem to remember a few other games where those same lessons could have been learned from *cough* UO *cough* and weren't.

Further, you are talking about questions for the WoW team to say "cant add that - no tech for it" to. In this instance, the items were ALREADY ADDED, in a hasty "cart-before-horse" fashion, which I gues is my only real gripe about AC in general.

I love the game, but I dispise the constant "after the fact" hotfixes that results in FREQUENT nerfs.

[Nexus-HG]

The way mansions have been "nerfed" so often (villa recall, the first BM portal before the "fix") then promised love, only to have limitations places on them again (or placed on them even BEFORE the love is given...).

It would almost seem that if mansions get any more "love" they will get smothered to death.

They don't need love.

They now need affirmative action and reparations... :(

[silvurhawke]

"It is possible for a melee/archer to hunt in the areas seen as "mage only" now"

I'd be very happy with these new creatures if mages were as effective as my melee is against VoD/Caul creatures and my melee was effective as my mage is against Caul/VoD creatures.

But my guess is war renders will rule the new area.

Unless? Unless rends are useless meaning you need AR or CS and unless they have very high magic defense. I assume non-projectile magic includes the futility spell. And unless the new creatures are very dangerous swarming creatures that hit extremely hard if you don't have the right defenses specialized.

[Jak Of All]

I have yet to understand why monsters need to be weakened in a game. Why do players want less of a challenge in a game? Some people are such cry babies that they need things easier and easier for them? People choose to make a non life template character because it made them have more skill points to choose skills to make their characters more powerful. Now they find that choosing a non life template makes them reliant on buff bots, that they can't quest longer than a buff cycle without have a portable buff bot along with them. To solve these problems they were given rending weapons. The mage hate has given us, Hollows, hollow weapons, devastators, annihilators, range reduction in drains, mutilator and warrior dungeons you name it it was created in response to complaints about mages. I don't see anyone hunting the mutilator, warrior or hollow dungeons. VOD and Sing Caul were created as group hunting areas so why should people expect to hunt there solo? Why is it hard to put together mage and melee mixed groups? I don't find it hard, I hunt in mixed groups all the time. Mage and melee only groups are just unworkable. Turbine should be creating mixed group hunting areas with mixed critters not crippled hunting areas. Its just astounding to me that melees and missile templates would like to go hunting "withered monsters" lets called them by their true name CRIPPLED monsters. This is funny to me that melees who choose a template to make them stronger now have to resort to hunting crips. I think that the next thing that will be asked for is a quest in this "special area" that will give them a title token "Crip Hunter" Turbine should hurry and design plans for this dungeon. (I think it will be good if its designed as a joke dungeon, here is an opportunity for Turbine to show us how funny they are! (and I am not talking about drudge dancing at ACPL))

[Vlad Morbius]

You don't know Jak about this game and it's dynamics! Go read some of the 45 page thread discussing this topic, then come back and tell me what you think pfffffffffffffft! :cool:

[baybear57]

Are the imbues on melee weapons going to be considered "non-projectile magic," since the rends are, in effect, vulnerability spells added to the weapon? If so, will we have to have a special set of weapons for hunting in the no-life-magic area?

And does this solve the mystery of the glowing banderling on the banner at http://ac.turbinegames.com/index.php?page_id=335? Will that blue glow identify the withered creatures?

[Wasarcher]

Ummm one wonders if these withered critters would be needed if you hadn't nerfed Archers so badly.Takes two weeks to fire an arrow and one misses more than one hits!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Bow skill of 405 and thinking of changing to dagger outa frustration. :mad:

[Jak Of All]

You don't know Jak about this game and it's dynamics! Go read some of the 45 page thread discussing this topic, then come back and tell me what you think pfffffffffffffft! :cool:

I am assumin this is directed at me, I must have touched a nerve here on Vlad. Gee a 45 page thread, guess some people just spend their lives complaining and not playing. Why don't you read a good book Vlad? I recommend Parallel Worlds then come back here and think.

[Wasarcher]

When I made my Archer I wrongfully assumed that using fire, frost, lightning, acid, AP, frogcrotch, blunt, broad arrows were what was needed....now one has to carry fire, frost,acid, lightning,piercing,bludgeon rending bows too......ouch my back cant take the strain.

[Wasarcher]

Imagine doing that with the heavy xbows! (RR,AR,CS) ... it's just too much, imo.

Phew, glad I didn't make a xbow toon, would need a trailer to carry them in NOW there's an IDEA, Turbine....I forgot to mention AR CS CB weapons too.

[Arch Magi]

"6 + 2 = 7 ????

2 BM Portals + 6 Statues Devices = 8 total, or so I thought. "

Yup Nexus, I knew about this last month. That is why I took a poll on vnboards asking which portal WON'T be hooked on our Mansion. It is completely retarded.

I also made a suggestion to Turbine where they come out with a "Mansion only portal" that can be hooked. This portal will portal you to a "dungeon". In that "dungeon", there are alcoves with a bunch of other portals. Basically, a portal to a new form of "subway".

Make the "dungeon" nice looking. Vaulted ceilings, sort of like the Sanctuary or something. I'd put all the current statues and portals (all 8 of them) in there ... maybe also portals to the other subways (if Turbine is feeling "nice") and/or portals to the 3 Capital cities.

This can be done in 1 patch, not dragging it out for months like they have. The "technology is there", it is just 1 dungeon with portals that already exists in it (who cares if it becomes a TRUELY RANDOM drop and not just the cycle of the 3 per statue), and it allows for future expansion. Also, it could be a new "meeting place" for people and such. Best of all, this cuts down on portals and lag ALOT.

It would mean that of the 50 Mansions per server, there would be exactly 1 hooked portal as opposed to 50x7 or 50x8. That HAS to make a difference. Even if only 1/2 of the Mansions out there take advantage of this. Not to mention it would free up countless buff bot ties (if a portal to subway was added in there) and would allow for future expansion of additional portals just be adding additional statues/portals in that one dungeon.

[Mal the Mad]

heh, glad i started w/ that 100str cook, now xbower hehe, still overburdened as is , heh i guess ill have to re adjust inventory, gah, more what do i sell today stuff grrr. hehe

[Jessica]

I understand exactly where you are coming from and, actually, we are thinking past today. One of the reasons the current expack is such an engineering bear is that we're doing code work to prepare for the future. In the past, the resources have never been there to really dig in and optimize tools and code. That is part of what we're doing now, especially with the UI system (which is so scary to work with presently that engineers tend to turn white when asked to do so). We're already laying down plans for new and revamped tools and performance optimization work after the launch.

In a perfect world, yes, this work would have been done long ago. Now that we have possession, we're bringing in the people and resources to make it happen. Even after the expack launch, we plan to expand the team to add a tools and performance group so we can continue the work. It won't happen over night, but we're getting there.



Only thing I can think of is that they are putting in even more of these portals this month, and the qty of 7 was unrelated.

I personally can't imagine any tech reason why there is a limit, can anyone else?

After 5 years of development (post release) this system should be advanced and capable of lots of things not suffering from entropy as it is. :(

There is no reason why this product, with as many dev years under it's belt is not capable of blowing EVERYTHING else off the market.

Oh, but wait, the real drive at Turbine is not a single game, it's to advance new tech in a new engine (because it's easier) but as of yet has proven to be zero new income.... Bad biz choices being made, IMO. They under valued their current assets of AC to go chasing another dream. Guess some of that was due to MS owning the product, but I don't accept that as an excuse ... need to think past today people.

[MaddyFF]

In a perfect world, yes, this work would have been done long ago. Now that we have possession, we're bringing in the people and resources to make it happen. Even after the expack launch, we plan to expand the team to add a tools and performance group so we can continue the work. It won't happen over night, but we're getting there.

Cool :) Going to be nice to see what you all can do.

[Vlad Morbius]

I am assumin this is directed at me, I must have touched a nerve here on Vlad. Gee a 45 page thread, guess some people just spend their lives complaining and not playing. Why don't you read a good book Vlad? I recommend Parallel Worlds then come back here and think.

Thank you, i read quite a bit and mostly technical material :D I'm just not a large fan of the uninformed and as a monarch I play quite a bit. My posting here about an issue I strongly feel negatively effected this game (your game)is nothing to be ashamed of thanks. I can also guarantee those in this plight are grateful for this upcoming change which I must say did come as a result of many of us sticking to our guns. :cool:

[Wasarcher]

[QUOTE=Arch Magi]"6 + 2 = 7 ????

2 BM Portals + 6 Statues Devices = 8 total, or so I thought. "

Yup Nexus, I knew about this last month. That is why I took a poll on vnboards asking which portal WON'T be hooked on our Mansion. It is completely retarded.

I also made a suggestion to Turbine where they come out with a "Mansion only portal" that can be hooked. This portal will portal you to a "dungeon". In that "dungeon", there are alcoves with a bunch of other portals. Basically, a portal to a new form of "subway".


Dont you think this is just a way to try to make mansions Viable again? Mansions aren't the great assets they used to be...besides being WAY over the top in purchase price/maintenance costs they are rank controlled(Rk 6). Mansions were in trouble as soon as 'THEY' allowed one to run an Alliance through Villas. Who would want the burden of running an alliance and having to maintain costs on a Monolith to Mans vanity. Even more so now the XP pass-up has disappeared. There aren't sufficient numbers of ppl actually still playing this game to warrant having mansions at all, so it's mostly down to 'owners' to find the rent.

[Ghorak]

As Dragula said.....

I see that you perhaps dont want to create a melee specific area, but surely your objective must have been to create an area for a different type of char to hunt than currently hunts in VOD and Caul. The fact is, it seems from the descriptions that the types of players that hunt VOD and Caul will be even more uber here as they dont havr to vuln anything, just 'one shot, war' them. So why would those players bother to hunt VOD or Caul any more when they can come to the new area and get the same xp and loot, but a lot quicker?


My thoughts exactly. Now mages don't even have to vuln, allowing them to kill faster than they ever did in the Caul or VoD. Given this fact, no one (including mages) will hunt caul or VoD anymore, so why didn't you save the work and just make the VoD caul monsters "pre-debuffed".

Actually, I don't like this idea at all, I thought the solution would have been more along the lines of just making a variety of monsters with super high Magic D. This kinda bums me out...


.

[Bruiserk]

Even after the expack launch, we plan to expand the team to add a tools and performance group so we can continue the work. It won't happen over night, but we're getting there.

Out of all of the LttP's over the last 10 months, and other postings, this is actually the one single piece of news that has left me in a good mood. Everything else would make me happy until the details of the changes were made known, which would then depress me because of they way they were implemented (XP passup, VoD, Cauln, Treasure system rebalance, the new higher wield bows).

[Alok]

"A small area in the Direlands has been repopulated "

So basically, non-lifers now get to use 1/10th of 1/1000th of the landscape to level effectively.

*twirls finger in the air*

How about you make that crap immune to *all* magic, and then we'll discuss how viable it is.

[Jak Of All]

Thank you, i read quite a bit and mostly technical material :D I'm just not a large fan of the uninformed and as a monarch I play quite a bit. My posting here about an issue I strongly feel negatively effected this game (your game)is nothing to be ashamed of thanks. I can also guarantee those in this plight are grateful for this upcoming change which I must say did come as a result of many of us sticking to our guns. :cool:


Thats great Vlad, good for you that you can read. I really don't care that you are not a fan of the uninformed which again I assume you are referring to me, I really don't care to sit here reading these boards I basically respond with my opinion of a situation as I see it. I don't see how this has negatively affected the game at all. I am assuming that you one of those melees that choose not to train life magic. That is a choice you made to play in a game that you enjoy. I see no reason why the choices you made in a game we both play would lead you respond to other people's posts in a really stupid manner. I don't know what server you play on and really don't care to know. It's rude people like you that make others avoid people in game they just don't care to meet another loud mouthed idiot. I didn't post my opinion on this board to begin personal attacks but I respond to rude attacks. How does that quote under your posts go? Maybe you should follow it sometime.

[silvurhawke]

"Why do players want less of a challenge in a game?"

I don't think you understand. I don't think you understand AC at all. I don't think you have ever played a melee or an archer. We don't want less challenge. We want less futility and a chance. I love a good challenge. But to have a challenge first you have to have a chance. There is a difference between challenge and futility.

Go beat on a Virindi Profatrix with a sword for a while. You can even imperil and vuln it first if you like. Then take a mage and blow it away with 2 level 6 rending bolts.

The answer to what we seek is somewhere in between those.

[Gordian]

I have yet to understand why monsters need to be weakened in a game. Why do players want less of a challenge in a game? Some people are such cry babies that they need things easier and easier for them? People choose to make a non life template character because it made them have more skill points to choose skills to make their characters more powerful.

1) I'm not looking for easier. I hope the creatures are dangerous, as in, hard to survive. What I am looking for is not having my 145 Axer take on average 5 minutes to bring down things in VoD that my 105 mage can do in 45 seconds. Some of them like the tumeroks with shields are completely invulnerable to my melee. My melees do a reasonable job of surviving.. they just can't kill anything and that is a flaw in the game.

2) You have a really warped view as to why people don't have spec life. I know I don't have it my melees for the express reason that they are melees. I don't want to be a mage with a weapon. The fact that mages and mages w/ a weapon (hybrids) are so powerful was in fact the flaw. Blaming people for wanting to have a real melee or archer is stupid and pointless.

[Zinh The Noble]

I have been playing DT for 4 years. The day I read about an xp lever I couldn't believe it. I thought it was a joke, how could a dev team come up with such a stupid idea? Are you really going to put a mechanism in the game where all you do is go talk to someone and you get xp? Is that the best you guys can come up with? I think you should all be fired and get some real people in there because this is a hidious attempt to fix something.

The best idea I have heard so far is the log out timer and the timer when attacking monsters. You want to put an end to UCM and make things worth raiding...do that. It will be the best thing you can do for DT besides taking down housing barriers.

When I first came to DT...I actually had the fear that people talk about. You had to ls somewhere and you needed towns. Now you just recall to the villa/mansion and get buffed by a buffbot....wow that's taking a chance!!! Housing is great but jesus bring back the fear in this game and DT will flourish. You have one of the greatest PVP systems on the market because it's skill based....don't ruin this game anymore. Make some real changes to fix things. I just gave you some good ideas now get to work, because if I was in charge several of you would have been packing your bags months ago.

[Jak Of All]

2) You have a really warped view as to why people don't have spec life. I know I don't have it my melees for the express reason that they are melees. I don't want to be a mage with a weapon. The fact that mages and mages w/ a weapon (hybrids) are so powerful was in fact the flaw. Blaming people for wanting to have a real melee or archer is stupid and pointless.

I don't have spec life. Who said anything about spec life? I am not a mage with a weapon. I am not blaming anyone for wanting anything in the game. Why are you making the developers change the game so it only benefits your type of character? They made hollows I don't run around whining that Hollows should be nerfed. They put it in the game, play the game and cool it with the begging for only you changes.

[Jak Of All]

"Why do players want less of a challenge in a game?"

I don't think you understand. I don't think you understand AC at all. I don't think you have ever played a melee or an archer. We don't want less challenge. We want less futility and a chance. I love a good challenge. But to have a challenge first you have to have a chance. There is a difference between challenge and futility.

Go beat on a Virindi Profatrix with a sword for a while. You can even imperil and vuln it first if you like. Then take a mage and blow it away with 2 level 6 rending bolts.

The answer to what we seek is somewhere in between those.

This game was made with different character templates so that they would be different advantages and disadvantages for each character. You want a perfect character that can kill any creature this is not the game for you. I suggest that Tic Tac Toe might be more your speed. In fact, certain quests and creatures were designed so that several different character types would have to work together to defeat them. But in your world mixed fellows is an unknown concept. You have mage hate or melee hate in your world. Why don't you do the reverse and go into a hollow dungeon with a mage without melee defense and do an experiment with hollows. Since it is sorta obvious that a Virindi Profatrix is hard for a melee to kill (not impossible) you should be telling your mage friends (but maybe you have no friends in the confined hate world you play in) to kill it for you.

[Alok]

I don't have spec life. Who said anything about spec life? I am not a mage with a weapon. I am not blaming anyone for wanting anything in the game. Why are you making the developers change the game so it only benefits your type of character? They made hollows I don't run around whining that Hollows should be nerfed. They put it in the game, play the game and cool it with the begging for only you changes.

Great way to compare apples to oranges there, bud.

Mages can wear the heaviest armor in the game. So can melees and archers.

Mages can two-shot most hollows at the high end of the game, without vulning or imperiling. Melees and archers can't.

Of course you had nothing to beetch about, other than not being able to run around in a robe anymore. OH NOES!!! YOU MEAN NOW I HAVE TO WEAR SOMETHING WITH EVEN BETTER ARMOR PROTECTION!? MY GOD, YOU'VE COMPLETELY SCREWED ME OVER! :rolleyes:

[Jak Of All]

Great way to compare apples to oranges there, bud.

Mages can wear the heaviest armor in the game. So can melees and archers.

Mages can two-shot most hollows at the high end of the game, without vulning or imperiling. Melees and archers can't.

Of course you had nothing to beetch about, other than not being able to run around in a robe anymore. OH NOES!!! YOU MEAN NOW I HAVE TO WEAR SOMETHING WITH EVEN BETTER ARMOR PROTECTION!? MY GOD, YOU'VE COMPLETELY SCREWED ME OVER! :rolleyes:

Hmm, I guess you have never played a mage from level 1 where strength is not their high point and they couldn't wear the heaviest armor like the melees and archers. Guess you didn't spend miserable years scrounging for cash to buy components. I think you have never been in a Dungeon where more than 1 hollow attack you at a time maybe in your server hollows only attack one at a time, wait maybe hollows can't even touch a melee or archer who has melee defense. Different characters different advantages and disadvantages. Roll your eyes at something else.

[Lokania]

Jak, I think one reason it was suggested you go read the post that addressed this issue was so you could see how blatently needed this change is; and, so we would not have to go through another 40 pages to explain yet again all the viable reasons the dynamic proves to be broken. As I have stated many times, I play both a mage and sword and I know there is a problem. No one could play both of these and not see this. No one.

If you do not have time to read (research) this issue, then don't be surprised when your views are received with less than enthusiasm. It is not a matter of name calling when someone asks politely for you to please read the information available on the subject.

I am very anxiously awaiting this January patch. I hope many of our old friends who left due to this issue will once again hear and heed the Call.

Kudos to Ibn and the team for listening to a large part of this community and starting to fill in the chasm that currently exists between classes.

[Jak Of All]

Jak, I think one reason it was suggested you go read the post that addressed this issue was so you could see how blatently needed this change is; and, so we would not have to go through another 40 pages to explain yet again all the viable reasons the dynamic proves to be broken. As I have stated many times, I play both a mage and sword and I know there is a problem. No one could play both of these and not see this. No one.

If you do not have time to read (research) this issue, then don't be surprised when your views are received with less than enthusiasm. It is not a matter of name calling when someone asks politely for you to please read the information available on the subject.

I am very anxiously awaiting this January patch. I hope many of our old friends who left due to this issue will once again hear and heed the Call.

Kudos to Ibn and the team for listening to a large part of this community and starting to fill in the chasm that currently exists between classes.

Ah finally a poster who responds in a decent manner. Really, I only made one post stating a simple opinion and I was not aware of any previous thread discussing the problem. If someone had said in an informative manner that such a thread existed I would have happily gone in search of it and read it. However, due to the response I got from my good buddy Vlad I really have no interest now in reading that thread. And if you think that his response was polite I think you need to reread it a bit. Oh, and I play a mage, sword, dagger and an Xbower.

[Nexus-HG]

I agree with alot of what you all are saying, positive and negative.

Now what I wonder is which gets your goat more here.



A. The fact that there are so many game flaws that are still around (while they are still fixing them, I give Devs credit for that).

B. The fixes in hindsight of the problems they made due to unforseen circumstances or from poor planning.

C. The fact that they would (or that so many of you would suggest/agree the devs should) release what can only be described as KNOWINGLY FLAWED content into the game.

D. The fact that they would do C., with plans to NERF the content or dumb it down months down the road, to add an even BIGGER letdown to the playerbase?


For me personally, it is a bit of A. and C. And a whole heck of a lot of B. and D.

[Lokania]

I have yet to understand why monsters need to be weakened in a game. Why do players want less of a challenge in a game? Some people are such cry babies that they need things easier and easier for them? People choose to make a non life template character because it made them have more skill points to choose skills to make their characters more powerful. Now they find that choosing a non life template makes them reliant on buff bots, that they can't quest longer than a buff cycle without have a portable buff bot along with them. To solve these problems they were given rending weapons. The mage hate has given us, Hollows, hollow weapons, devastators, annihilators, range reduction in drains, mutilator and warrior dungeons you name it it was created in response to complaints about mages. I don't see anyone hunting the mutilator, warrior or hollow dungeons. VOD and Sing Caul were created as group hunting areas so why should people expect to hunt there solo? Why is it hard to put together mage and melee mixed groups? I don't find it hard, I hunt in mixed groups all the time. Mage and melee only groups are just unworkable. Turbine should be creating mixed group hunting areas with mixed critters not crippled hunting areas. Its just astounding to me that melees and missile templates would like to go hunting "withered monsters" lets called them by their true name CRIPPLED monsters. This is funny to me that melees who choose a template to make them stronger now have to resort to hunting crips. I think that the next thing that will be asked for is a quest in this "special area" that will give them a title token "Crip Hunter" Turbine should hurry and design plans for this dungeon. (I think it will be good if its designed as a joke dungeon, here is an opportunity for Turbine to show us how funny they are! (and I am not talking about drudge dancing at ACPL))

I am happy I responded in a decent manner :-) However, I can understand others saw your opinion and took offense to it. Your first and original post was demeaning and belittling to those of us (Vlad and Silvurhawke among many others) who have fought long and hard to put forth intelligent reasons to bring this to the attention of the devs .

We spent months calculating damage over time, experimenting with different weapons, different monsters, different armor, everything we could to be more effective. So to see you come along talking about Crip Hunters was flame bait if I ever saw it. Yes, it is your opinion and everyone is entitled to theirs. But don't be surprised if your opinion angers people who believe strongly in something, work hard for their cause and then see someone call them Crip Hunters. How could you possibly be surprised at the response?

By the way, I do have life magic on my sword so I know that is not the be all end all to this discussion. Life magic is not the answer and thank goodness the devs/team have seen this.

[Vlad Morbius]

[QUOTE=Lokania]I am happy I responded in a decent manner :-) However, I can understand others saw your opinion and took offense to it. Your first and original post was demeaning and belittling to those of us (Vlad and Silvurhawke among many others) who have fought long and hard to put forth intelligent reasons to bring this to the attention of the devs .

We spent months calculating damage over time, experimenting with different weapons, different monsters, different armor, everything we could to be more effective. So to see you come along talking about Crip Hunters was flame bait if I ever saw it. Yes, it is your opinion and everyone is entitled to theirs. But don't be surprised if your opinion angers people who believe strongly in something, work hard for their cause and then see someone call them Crip Hunters. How could you possibly be surprised at the response?

Indeed m'lady :)

[silvurhawke]

"Ah finally a poster who responds in a decent manner."

Yes! As opposed to calling people crybabies wanting things easier and easier :) I play a mage and I play an archer and I play a melee. I started playing AC on day one and I know AC inside and out. And you my friend don't have a clue in this conversation. You should really read that thread for an education. Or better yet play something other than a mage once and how life is on the other side of the tracks.

[Jak Of All]

"Ah finally a poster who responds in a decent manner."

Yes! As opposed to calling people crybabies wanting things easier and easier :) I play a mage and I play an archer and I play a melee. I started playing AC on day one and I know AC inside and out. And you my friend don't have a clue in this conversation. You should really read that thread for an education. Or better yet play something other than a mage once and how life is on the other side of the tracks.


Well I dunno and I don't claim to know AC inside and out and I am surprised to see that someone claims to know AC inside and out please explain to me and others the details of the bug that dropped the Server yesterday I really would like to know the true reason for it. Maybe you should have the developers post at the bottom of their letter to the players the following: and make sure to read on the forum the 45 page thread addressing one of the issues in this letter before you post an opinion about the letter to the players. Also I posted that way because I am really tired of people who try to force the developers to correct problems for only one side of the player pool when they have much better things to do such as better story content each month, or a better expansion pack.

[Wasarcher]

"Ah finally a poster who responds in a decent manner."

Yes! As opposed to calling people crybabies wanting things easier and easier :) I play a mage and I play an archer and I play a melee. I started playing AC on day one and I know AC inside and out. And you my friend don't have a clue in this conversation. You should really read that thread for an education. Or better yet play something other than a mage once and how life is on the other side of the tracks.


At last, someone else who thinks a little like me........Once there was harmony and fairness in the Land of Dereth...when Lo, the Devs wanted anarchy and nastiness to abound so they decided to let golems attack Towns and made the Golems easy to kill and these golems dropped Nuggets. Everyone flocked to kill these onerous beasties, spurred on by thoughts of great wealth of ingots and xp but alas a few(lots actually) were unhappy...melees moaned about Archers hanging from rooftops 'stealing' their kills, Archers moaned about the mages, everyone moaned about anyone....lots of posts onto VN boards, lots of crying over who is stealing what.....Outcome is.... 'He who *****es loudest gets to be heard'......those big nasty Archers were too powerful for their own good so had to be nerfed (and still are).........Now it seems Mages are gonna go the same way.......Oh Dear.....seems we've been there, done that, got the T shirt and worn it out....in short Nothing New.

[silvurhawke]

"I am really tired of people who try to force the developers to correct problems for only one side of the player pool when they have much better things to do such as better story content each month, or a better expansion pack"

There is no bigger issue for myself and I'm sure several others. It's a game breaker! The game is broken and needs fixing. They are finally starting to fix it.

I play a mage. Many of the things you call mage hate don't even register to anyone who plays a mage and knows the game. But since you apparently haven't experienced AC from the melee/archer side you can't possibly understand. One side of the player pool? There is only one side to the player pool currently those of us in the other end are drowning!

[Jak Of All]

....We spent months calculating damage over time, experimenting with different weapons, different monsters, different armor, everything we could to be more effective. ...

Well now you have what you asked for, and I hope you like it. Hopefully, we won't see the same group of peope who wanted this back on this board asking for a change to "withered creatures" because of this and that reason that the Developers messed up and didn't understand the points that were made in the 45 page thread that Jak of All didn't bother to read.

[Jak Of All]

...
But since you apparently haven't experienced AC from the melee/archer side you can't possibly understand. ...

Maybe you didn't read in my previous post that I play a mage, sword, dagger and Xbower. But that's ok I won't even attempt to read your 45 pages of posts.

[silvurhawke]

"Hopefully, we won't see the same group of peope who wanted this back on this board asking for a change to "withered creatures" "

I'm sure you will. The devs have stated this is step one and not a final solution. So things will inevitably be tweaked and tinkered with as this new dynamic is explored and expanded. They will want our feedback. And even if they don't I'm pretty sure they will get it anyway :)

But I have both the faith and the feeling that the devs really want to get this right and that they eventually will but I think it's niave to expect the first draft will be perfect meaning changes (from player feedback) will be neccessary.

[silvurhawke]

"I play a mage, sword, dagger and Xbower"

Do your dagger and xbow do well soloing the VoD or Caul? Has your Xbower done the new Cellar quest for the new Xbow? Do you ever fight Shadow Phanthoms or Virindi Profatrixes with the physical guys? Just wondering?

[Jak Of All]

"I play a mage, sword, dagger and Xbower"

Do your dagger and xbow do well soloing the VoD or Caul? Has your Xbower done the new Cellar quest for the new Xbow? Do you ever fight Shadow Phanthoms or Virindi Profatrixes with the physical guys? Just wondering?

I see that you really haven't read my posts or maybe you read them and misunderstood my points. I don't believe that all of AC is designed for solo players. It is a great game that you can play solo but the most fun you can have is in a mixed fellow. I primarily play a mage, why? Because my friends don't like playing mages. They think mages have too many problems and the massive amount of slow spellcasting is just not what they like to do. In a mixed fellow of 9 or less (usually theres only 4 or 5 of us) we can kill every creature in Dereth do every quest except the one designed for 4 fellows or the ones that need a lag fest of 50 people to kill a critter. Critters that are easily be killed by war magic I kill, critters that can kill me fast they protect me against, critters that will can be vulned and weakened so that they can kill it I vuln and weaken. Everyone plays whatever character template they like to play. They need xp to make a certain level or put in that one more point of melee defense we go hunting Sing Caul which is now beautifully empty of the XP fellow hordes. If we know you we will add you to our fellow, if we don't know you we might add you anyway but if you are rude in or out of fellow you can just forget about it we won't add you ever again. I believe that we have made more Queen Slayers of newbies that any other group in LC. A mixed fellow wants bigger and harder creatures not "withered ones." We in a fellow want a bigger and harder challenge. Where are the Annihilator dungeons? Make one with a spawn rate like the good old days of BSD so many years ago. I am sure the new servers can hande it.

[silvurhawke]

"It is a great game that you can play solo but the most fun you can have is in a mixed fellow."

Once you get to 100 your solo days are over as a melee/archer but mages flourish. This IS the point! You may like big fellows but I may not. Mages can solo high level content and melee/archers HAVE to fellow or spec life. This is wrong, this is broken, and thank God this is finally being fixed!

[Jak Of All]

"It is a great game that you can play solo but the most fun you can have is in a mixed fellow."

Once you get to 100 your solo days are over as a melee/archer but mages flourish. This IS the point! You may like big fellows but I may not. Mages can solo high level content and melee/archers HAVE to fellow or spec life. This is wrong, this is broken, and thank God this is finally being fixed!

I don't think that this will fix the problem, you have basically told them that you want weakened creatures. I don't think 4 - 5 people is a big fellow. I think the problem is really that you want a solo game like something from a playstation. AC is not a solo game when it all comes down to the bottom. The expansion pack will give you more skillpoints to add life magic. I see no reason to despise hybrid characters. If you really don't like life magic then play your melee character without life protections just like he/she is supposed to be played solo. A buff bot to buff you is not solo play.

[Ryori]

An importan question was asked earlier about what non-life magic actually means. If rending works or does not, that has an impact in both cases for how the content will work.

I think the non-life area is just a sucker hoping to distract us from the broken leg. For my melees it makes things worse in a way. I do have life spec on some so they still can't debuff in VoD and they don't need those 20 credits in the new place. My shield users still have a mel def skill they barely need.

If they had any plan presented on possible solutions (i.e. some other skill besides life that supports offense) then I wouldn't say this sucker is a bad thing. To me it is just a distraction...

The problem is the skill set combos, not the critters.

[MaddyFF]

If you really don't like life magic then play your melee character without life protections just like he/she is supposed to be played solo. A buff bot to buff you is not solo play.

But using arcane to equip life items is okay, or having life trained and starting with a low focus/self for protects is also okay. This is different the issue many of us are pointing: The requirement to have Life magic at a high enough skill to vul/imperil creatures.

Having an entire part of the game play (the high end) pretty much requiring that you have one specific skill at a high enough level, or someone in your group to do this, is not right. What if you needed 400 base melee d to be effective in Caulcano? Or 350 base missile d? Do you think that lots of people would be happy if the best spot in the game for high end XP and majors meant you needed to have 350 base missile d would be happy?

[Vlad Morbius]

But using arcane to equip life items is okay, or having life trained and starting with a low focus/self for protects is also okay. This is different the issue many of us are pointing: The requirement to have Life magic at a high enough skill to vul/imperil creatures.

Having an entire part of the game play (the high end) pretty much requiring that you have one specific skill at a high enough level, or someone in your group to do this, is not right. What if you needed 400 base melee d to be effective in Caulcano? Or 350 base missile d? Do you think that lots of people would be happy if the best spot in the game for high end XP and majors meant you needed to have 350 base missile d would be happy?

Very well said!!!!!!!!!! Huzzah!!!!!! Take note all, this about sums it up in a nutshell. Reverse the roles, turn the tables and see how much crying you'll really get! If the roles had been reversed, this would NEVER have gone on this long!! Now we are not saying 2 wrongs make a right, but giving us this small help while it's finally being fixed is a well deserved, long overdue start!

[Lokania]

But using arcane to equip life items is okay, or having life trained and starting with a low focus/self for protects is also okay. This is different the issue many of us are pointing: The requirement to have Life magic at a high enough skill to vul/imperil creatures.

Having an entire part of the game play (the high end) pretty much requiring that you have one specific skill at a high enough level, or someone in your group to do this, is not right. What if you needed 400 base melee d to be effective in Caulcano? Or 350 base missile d? Do you think that lots of people would be happy if the best spot in the game for high end XP and majors meant you needed to have 350 base missile d would be happy?

Very well said, Maddy :)

[silvurhawke]

"The expansion pack will give you more skillpoints to add life magic"

I have a CLaW mage and a life spec Bow so I have plenty of life magic on 2 of my guys. I don't care for the playstyle. I like melee and tank archery better. But I'm done with you. All the points have been made and either you understand it or you don't. And FYI I don't use buffbots.

[Jak Of All]

Having an entire part of the game play (the high end) pretty much requiring that you have one specific skill at a high enough level, or someone in your group to do this, is not right. What if you needed 400 base melee d to be effective in Caulcano? Or 350 base missile d? Do you think that lots of people would be happy if the best spot in the game for high end XP and majors meant you needed to have 350 base missile d would be happy?

There is a key difference here, if there was a 350 base missile d requirement someone else cannot have it for you. You have to have it. Whereas with the need to imp or vuln someone else can do it for you. I am not arguing about life or no life or melee d or no melee d these are differences in characters. I am arguing that the forced creation of a special hunting zone does not solve your problems. Why not just wall off this special zone so that anyone with life trained or spec cannot enter it? I am sure that soon someone will argue that this spot is being overhunted, camped etc., the plain usual complaints that we keep hearing over and over again. There are places in this game I wont take my mage to or there are things he can't use or wear, so what? This is based on character template differences. Seems to me that all you really want is a double imbued weapon. Armor rend and some other damage rending also on that weapon. Hey that eliminates the need to imp or vuln. Is high XP all you really want or majors? Heck in 5 years of hunting I have found only 1 useful major.

[Kala Bon]

It is great to see so many people post in this thread !

Just to clarify my viewpoint, I have always been a melee person ( for over 5-1/2 yrs now, including beta times ) and I am just now using the temples to try to make a mage out of a failed imbue/tinker mule.
My viewpoint is: Good job on the new area and thank you for trying to help us melee people.
Will keep you apprised as to it's effectiveness. Keep up the good work and will get in touch next month for further review.

Back to the people in the thread !

There are some people like me that like (love) this game; Appreciate all the work that keeps the game alive; And still get great pleasure every month and gape in awe at the majesty that is this game !

There are other AC FANatics that have more intricate knowledge of the game and how the mechanics affect game play and know the intricate calculations of DoT and weaponry yet their posts still convey to me that they indeed not only love the game, but live it to an even greater degree that I can imagine !

There are more people that have initmate knowledge of magedom and all things magic, and their love of the game shows also.

There people in this thread that love and appreciate the melee aspect of the game too ! ( can ya tell ) and they can not hide it, they love it and want it to flourish !

Then there are people like Jessica that not only loves the game but has the crazy task of trying to please a whole group of players and at the same time not let the craziness of the the developers that work around her wear off on her !
Yay Jess, thank you for posting and bless you girl! You are one of the people that do rock my world, and I want to thank you.

The other people that posted in this thread, the people that have some kind of job to tear AC down do not really deserve to be mentioned, but I wanted to say watch out for them, look for the pattern in their threads, you can see them, and ignore them.

AC is a rocking game, and it will continue to be so in the future ! As long as people like Jessica care about the game as much as everyone does that loves it, then all is well friends !

Good Hunting

Kala Bon

[JJC]

> I am arguing that the forced creation of a special hunting zone does not solve your problems.

Nobody believes that it does, not even Turbine. The problem is that they have gone down the route of using nothing but the easy fixes to cover up the problem rather than fix it. To the best of my memory the fix here wasn't one proposed by any of the people you are debating with.

JJC

[Frank The Knife]

> I am arguing that the forced creation of a special hunting zone does not solve your problems.

Nobody believes that it does, not even Turbine. The problem is that they have gone down the route of using nothing but the easy fixes to cover up the problem rather than fix it. To the best of my memory the fix here wasn't one proposed by any of the people you are debating with.

JJC


AKA Band-Aid

[Heideggar]

With this whole life vs no life (offensive at least) issue:

It's always been my thinking that it takes more time and effort to vuln a creature than not to, and thus getting that bonus to damage against that target for doing so.

This new area will have creatures that are "pre-imperiled", not as much health from what I heard, and will give the same rewards as other hunting areas of equal level.

It's easier to press 'Delete' than to vuln up a creature and then press delete. Doing the same damage, or rather, killing at the same speed, seems off to me. Granted, this is based on fighting the same creature. I don't know if these new creatures will provide the same difficulty as hunting areas of similar level (VoD, Caul, Hidden Caverns, etc.).

As long as the challenge is there I don't see a big problem with this. I'm curious to find out if the creatures will be able to cast life/creature debuffs on people, but not allow people to cast on them. A mix of elemental hollows, phantom, regular damage, maybe chain casting wars that aren't connected to a vuln (multiple 170+ hits is annoying).

When VoD first came out I ran there with my tank archer/melee Xanthar (LvL 117). I'm like... I can't ID it, but it's an undead, I'll use fire! hmmm, its life isn't going down... lol. I was always welcome in fellowships, so it wasn't a big deal not to have offensive life magic. My latest creation, my no-melee D melee, kills slower on some things, but quicker on others, than a mage in the same areas (caulcano, VoD, etc.). It's a PvP type of template with pretty nice equipment.

The thing is, there aren't any real high end areas that provide a difficult, yet fun, environment for non-offensive life characters.

I hope this whole thing works out.

Redo'ing VoD's creature balancing and getting the multi-weapon + shield buffs seems to me a big thing for many people.

[MaddyFF]

There is a key difference here, if there was a 350 base missile d requirement someone else cannot have it for you.

That is a slight difference, still the point is that high end hunting is seemed to be tied to one specific skill of a high enough level. That is plain wrong IMO.

Part of the issue is Turbine/MS wouldn't touch life magic in regards to how vul's/imperils work and rebalance monsters based on that. That created the situation we are in now. To make things challenging they had to take the high life magic crowd into consideration. What makes it challenging for those people makes it near impossible for others.

But until Life magic gets addressed, if it ever does, we'll probably end up with segmented hunting areas at the high end.

[Vlad Morbius]

Well even as a stop gap fix until the real dynamic is fixed has allready brought 2 of my lost friends back to the game for next month. I see that as a good sign no matter which way you look at it. The game needs players to keep going, so if it this temporary band-aid is enough to bring a few, then i'd imagine when the whole issue is resolved, more will return. :D

[scguy]

so is the number of portal/spellcasting devices going to be increased at villas/cottages? well obviously not portal devices since they can't be hooked... I mean the limit is currently 3? at a cottage so hooking font of joji, head of homulculus, and wall niffis is it. Plus anyone who got the bm1 portal on before the fix would be down to 2 others.

Also any plans on making the portal devices hookable but not useable at other housing? I'm sure some people would use them as decorations.

[Lorax_TLOC]

If you want to increase the attractiveness of towns, get rid of Allegiance Mansions. :eek: A bigger waste of pixels there isn't in this game. :p

[Wasarcher]

If you want to increase the attractiveness of towns, get rid of Allegiance Mansions. :eek: A bigger waste of pixels there isn't in this game. :p

Why do the Developers shoot themselves in the foot all the time? Rithwic was a much used town at one time, People used to visit there to use the mage's shop in Martines til the developers decided to raise the prices there. Their reason for doing so, IF you want convenience you have to pay for it....That the regard TURBINE has for their customers.

[stargrove]

Having prevulned/pre-imp'ed creatures is not my idea on how to fix the lifemagic issue. In fact I disagree with the implementation as it sets the stage for other issues - instead of fixing the one that exists.

In my mind I believe it is the ability to spec more than 1 skill.. ie.. melee, life magic and war magic. Which is also the reason why BM mages are so powerfull. Thus the issue with life-magic.

I also think that adding portals to mansions is great!! how about giving the villas the ability to hook portals, but keep it to 2 or 3.

Last item is the number of players continues to go down. Other than the expansion pack, has Turbine looks at what AC needs to get those players back?

[Northstar]

That would be the wrong direction to go in my opinion. Can make it where a mage isn't as effective (hollow swarm multilators, Mmmmmm), but areas shouldn't shouldn't be designed to non anything template. Monsters yes, not entire hunting areas.

It is possible for a melee/archer to hunt in the areas seen as "mage only" now, they just aren't very effective. Could do the same with this area. Yes War magic works, but not as well as someone designed to handle strong melee attacks from a monster.

I guess I was not as clear as I should have been, I meant to say the critters should at least have magic defense high enough to make my mage work just as hard as my melee or bow to get the kill solo.

As yourself and others have posted, it's a balance issue once you're over level 100 and currently we all [well most :rolleyes: ] know it's broken.

My only real concern would be for my spec war/melee D mage to waltz in there with some rending wands and just lay waste to the place... 2 minutes after that I would have to leave as all the Caul fellows migrate to the new macro spot ;)

North

[silkakc]

Hello,
First of all, I love the game :)
The new melee hunting ground is an excellent idea!
But the new weapons with the 5% max bonus really annoy me -I'm sorry to say.
I hunt in the Matron Hive as a GBMage. A normal hit would be about 400 damage and my War is almost maxed. It takes 2 hits to kill in there. With a new maximum bonus bludge wand- I will hit for 440 damage- it will still take 2 spells to kill everything in there! Even a crit of 500 will only be 525 w/the new weapon and it will still take 2 hits!!
I've figured that even in Vod- if a creature has 5000 health- it might reduce my spells from 12 to 11 landed spells. But alas, I don't hunt Vod because of lag deaths on dial up :(

I can't imagine me stopping using my 7 rendered and 1 CS wand and making 14 new casting devices ( 7 rendereds and the 7 critical strikes with the elemental bonuses) for the minimal increase in damage, I'm sorry to say. And I have a TON of opal invested already- I can't imagine getting more than a 130 bags of opal collected to get the new ones up to par.

I hear you folks have mentioned twinking the damage even higher in the future and that makes me happy- love the idea of higher damage against critters:)

Thanks alot,
Issianna of HG
Level 155 Grief Battle Mage
Member of the Legends of Cragstone clan

[cliser]

Social Centers Buy Caps

As we continue our work to make Holtburg, Shoushi and Yaraq into more inviting towns for characters of all levels, we are increasing the buy caps on the vendors in these towns. All vendors in these three towns will buy items up to 1,000,000 pyreals in value starting in February.


How is this supposed to be good or exciting ?

You're saying that (as an entisement to use the new Social Centres) I now have the option to sell stuff that I would need a completely empty main pack in order to receive the cash ?

Have you any idea how hard it is to have an empty main pack ?

Since the introduction of Salvaging (and to a degree, foci) the chance of me having 48 free space in my main pack is pretty low and the chance of me having an empty full pack is zero.

If you want me to go to those towns then make it worth my time and change the vendor buy rates to 100%, at least then I'd be tempted.

Even now, all that has changed is I keep a stock of Holt gems so that I can jump there and use the portals. You certainly wont see me hanging around as theres no point. They arent Social Centres they are open-air hubs.

[Madgic]

Hiya me again,

Looks like as always im too late to get read but hay here goes.

When Not many Mages use life Imps anymore with the introduction of Rends and when alot of mages like mine have Melee D raised massive, Why would the inroduction of The withered Chitters make any difference? All it means is that Mages will be able to kill them even faster then melees again because melees cant even Imp them now.

I know you say they are pre imped but really this is not gonna help Melees at all, as I have been saying for Years just make war magic non hollow and everything evens out. if you fire proof a blanket and fire a frame thrower at it, the fire will not get through but if you fire a flaming arrow at it, you can be sure that sucker is gonna rip the Blanket to shreads.

While your player base is so low surely you could introduce this and at long last even the game out for good.

[Vaugn]

Although I like the idea of a new area to hunt, I really think you need to stop using stop gaps and fix the issue of mage vs melee. I love my melee but frankly its frustrating as heck playing him with mages around. I have a very simple idea on how to even the odds and it goes along with your pre imp'd idea. Make melee weapons only have the ability to be double imbued with Weapon imbues and Magic Item imbues. For example a Fire rending Armor rending UA or Cold rending Critical strike bow. Now if this tests out as too powerful make a new imbue with the equal of a level 6 Imperil ability. Since this doesnt help mages it might be the perfect solution.

[AC_player]

1) There is no mention of fixing run speed so somebody with 200 is twice as fast as somebody with 100. We need it linear not curved.

2) There is no mention of putting back the XP chains.

3) There is no mention of allowing UCMing on DT.

4) There is no mention of removing the admins on DT.

5) There is no mention of porting this game to run on Linux.

6) There is no mention of fixing LAG.

7) There is no mention of removing housing on DT.

Until the above are done I have no plans on returning to this game. I vote with my pocket book and you'll notice most of us on DT have done the same as I have. That's why you only have 300 or so people max logged on instead of the close to 2K that we used to have on busy nights.

People can get pissy and say DT doesn't count. And we don't anylonger. We've all pretty much left. At this point you might as well just remove the server. All we DT'rs do is complain and leave because you only change things for the worse instead of fixing those 7 items.

[Gaetano]

Hi All Again,

Maddy,
I just re-read one of your earlier post about creating a area that mages could not hunt. That would be impossible. Why? Because 99% of all players are mages. This whole mage vs. melee thing is out right silly. The average melee has Creature Magic, Item Magic, and Life Magic. Some will specialize one of these others will not, but the bottom line is that with three schools of magic, you are a mage. The only difference is the choice by which we deal out damage; War, Sword, Spear, UA, Axe, Dagger, Staff, Bow, or X-bow.

If Turbine is going to fix some of these standing problems, they are going to have to draw a line in the sand. Differences must be made. A mage SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO USE HIGH LEVEL ARMOR. WE LOOK LIKE WALKING TANKS WITH STICKS, nor SHOULD MELEE WARRIOR BE ABLE TO CAST HIGH LEVEL SPELLS AS A MAGE DOES. Fix this and you will see a change in play style and social joining.

As a Mage (War/MagD Spec.) I really enjoy wearing the ancient armor. I can solo VoD (without the use of life magic) and do fairly well. But honestly, there are better places, with better loot in which to hunt.

As an Archer (Bow/MagD/MelD Spec.) I can't fight VoD, nor Caul. Bow drop is aweful. The new bows are horrible. But...I can wear 400+ AL armor and fight wonderfully in the Dire Lands. When I switch into Dagger mode, I am nearly untouchable in the Dires due to the Nefane Shield and my Melee Defense.

Now take from my mage the ability to use 400+ AL armor and force me back into a robe or Aurioch Armor, and things get a little troubling. I have to face mobs differently and with caution. Not newer mobs with outragous health, but the same old banderlings that hit fast and hard. Take from my archer the ability to cast level 7 buffs on myself and others; lowering them to 5s and watch the dynamic of the game change once again. No more UCMing, no more mindless hunting high level critters with ease. I have to go back to shoot and scoot, trapping and using the terrain to my advantage.

For the Devs, this means they can STOP with the stupid creature creations. 10,000 health on a monster is comical. Thats not what we need. Creating more and more junk is not what we need either. Use whats in game already. Make our skills grow in their scope of praticle use.

This months patch, was all in all a bad way to start the new year. The new weapons failed. I know I have waisted good salvage on imbuing 5-7 different types. Only the Casters should a improvement and its not worth a 310 wield requirement. The bows (including x-bow) were singularly inept in function or necessity. Good eye candy though...actually all the graphic updates were the best part of these weapons/casters.

The dungeon quest were good. Spawns are thick, and creatures dangerous. I don't think anyone will be soloing them...but I could be wrong, time will tell. The Totem quest especially is one I don't see anyone alone.

Please Turbine, take a stand. Fix this rift and save our game.