Questions of the Week 5/30 through 6/6
Creator Asks:
I can't give a time estimate for this. Crates would be easy to add, but would be no different than bins. One of the things we are working on now is reducing the amount of data loaded at any given time. This will slightly reduce the maximum view distance of detailed terrain and trees. We will check this on the test server and if it's acceptable it will load 1/4 of what is loaded now which will improve loading times and performance.(1) How soon till crates, and building storage are implemented. Loading times, and rendering, as well as server performance would increase if we didn't have 1000 bins per camp wouldn't it?
There are no armor parts that currently use the face mask slot. We have plans to add masks but not for a while.(2) Any plans for non silly hat gas mask? ( gas mask without other things attached, since you guys have a face slot. ) I have been told this is low priority and face mask slot is currently bugged.
(3) From my professional experience, dev teams even indie ones have people with particular talents, or teams which focus on one side of the developments and one on another. Since coding and art are kinda opposite sides of the spectrum, why are we not seeing small amounts of content trickling into patches, such as new buildings, huts, walls, clothing and animals. which may share same or similiar code, ai and such?We have a very small team, but of course we have separate artists and programmers. Our animator is working on combat animations and one of our character artists is taking a break, getting married this month! The rest of the artists have been working exclusively on terrain which will be ready for an expansion on June 15th, but are switching to new tasks this week.Many scavengers have expressed disappointment and frustration over patches which offer no new content, as they are currently bored with the lack of things to do.
Would it not be best to implement maybe a new mob, or couple of new buildings every patch, especially ones where so much server side work is done and no new content is added?
We do have a lot of physical art done that hasn't been added (architecture parts, two handed weapons) because it requires additional code and testing for a proper implentation. We will add more regular content when our the terrain expansion is ready and the combat revisions are made public.
We plan to add some free time to all accounts soon and are going to improve our account back end so that we can do this.(4) Any plans or is it pheasable to reduce the subscription price for prologue players as the game lacks content, and many feel it is hard to justify paying the same price for a slow developing 10% - 20% finished mmo verses another mmo.
The problems that we had were due to our shared server host overloading the machine with too many sites. We've now moved to a dedicated web server so that we no longer haver these issues.(5) This one is a little more blunt but why can't Virtus, do anything about the severe issues with forum and website lag, 404's, loading etc? Doesn't take a genius to admin a website.
NorCalGooey Asks:
This is a tricky situation, however one thing that we have planned that may resolve this is keeping track of recent and frequent targets. Fighting with frequent targets (an enemy alt for example) would reduce skill gain.Three very important questions.
1) How are you going to prevent using alts AND/OR having a tribe member leave tribe to level up combat skills? Shouldn't combat be leveled up through fighting true enemies? I don't know how to prevent this, hopefully you do. I was thinking something along the lines of NPCs for leveling combat only...but then it just becomes "how many monsters can you kill?" for leveling combat. It seems hard to get this one right.
This is a valid concern and I've taken note of it. I don't have an answer for this right now.2) Is HP gain going to remain how it is? Currently filling up the xp bar is the way to gain more HP. This forces everyone who wants to be good at combat to have to train all skills. Why? Because the lower the skill, the more xp you get and therefore the more HP you get. This kills any sort of character specialization if everyone who wants to have more HP has to train all skills equally (why equally? lower skills give more xp. so they would train those first).
Yes, there can be infinite level ups in theory. We will revise HP gain to slow it more as you gain levels.Also, with skill softcaps, skills will decay allowing for in theory, infinite level ups and HP?
Off tribal lands, yes. On tribal lands, likely yes also. Even though it's not so realistic, it's important for driving the game. The problem with restoring hard to access walls should be resolved when you can build stairs and ladders.3) Will stone walls decay? I personally think they shouldn't, unless not claimed by any land...then they should.
Look at this Xsyon video of our tribe really quick if you would. The video should auto jump to 2:28, so you can see what I mean.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SThQR...ailpage#t=148s
How are we suppose to upkeep these walls here (at 2:28)? I can't even access them. Only the top and bottom rows I can access. Not to mention my tribe has close to 1k limestone walls. Or not to mention how unrealistic stone wall decay is.
I think it would be OKAY and actually somewhat necessary for stone walls (and everything) to decay if these areas are not inside a tribe land. This way, abandoned totem areas with completed structures would eventually clear themselves to clean the game world up. This would work well with totem decay. If a totem still had members in it, but all members were unsubscribed to Xsyon, the totem would begin to decay. After the totem decayed, the structures, including stone walls (and maybe even terraforming? this could be hard to code) would decay.
I don't plan on this. Your level is not meant to be a visible stat.Can you add something that shows our level on the UI? It would be nice to know what level I was without having to save all my skill points or write down my level on paper every time it changes.
I will look into this when we finish architecture improvements.Are we going to get any sort of auto zoom in feature for entering buildings? or even when there is solid objects in front of the camera, like a huge wall of dirt? right now the camera just gets stuck on the dirt and you have to manually zoom in
b_ulam Asks:
Yes, to all of this. It's high up on my task list.1.(When) Will our crafting menus have sorting options?
-I would like to be able to sort by name of the set, slot the item fills and recently learned.
-I would also like a scroll bar and/or a scroll button which accelerates the scroll as you hold it.
Currenly it takes me almost 5 mins to get through my leather list.
Yes, very soon, and not just for master quality.2. Will crafted items using rare/masterquality resources have a chance to craft items with additional features (e.g. +2 perception on a coyote-head-hat with ears on top)
Aiden Asks:
We've made some changes already on the test server and are awaiting feedback.#1 for me...is the lag/desync that plagues the server right now (especially but not only during combat) going to be resolved before and/or with the new combat system?
Architecture, this month. Farming, unsure. I hope in July.What kind of timeframe are we looking at for architecture changes and agriculture/farming being implemented?
No current plans for this. We'll see what we can get done this month first.Same question for trade/transport options (carts, pack animals, etc.)
I will bump this up on my task list as many player are asking for it, but I can't give any time estimates as we are working on many other tasks already.Same question for a way to store/transport water.
We have been testing this and it should be ready for next in game Spring, yes.Also, this coming spring (in-game) are trees already set to grow around those standing? (Is this in-game yet or will it be soon?) I ask because people are already working on clearcutting again...
mrwooj Asks:
This is on our bug list and we will get back to it again when we can. The problem is that none of the developers can reproduce this issue and we have tested a lot.- It seems that for such a long time there has been a problem with playing the game in fullscreen mode. If i alt-tab to windows 9 times out of 10 my game will crash. What are you doing about this issue? Playing a game in fullscreen mode is a fundamental aspect of any game.
One of our programmers is working on a tool so that we can visibly track creatures better. There are currently several thousand creatures in the starting area (over 100 per zone at any given time), yet players complain that they can't find them. We're going to investigate this further once we have more time.- I travel several zones trying to find 1 creature to kill. Sometimes i find a few, sometimes i find nothing. My running skill is maxed, so i dont even get any skill ups when i invest large amounts of time in the game TRYING to do something. Don't get me wrong - i like that creatures dont have static spawn points, but i do want to be able to hunt creatures on a regular basis. What are you doing to rectify this issue, or are you happy for me to waste hours of my time attempting to play the game? This makes the game more like a mecano set where all i can do is make things, than an RPG.
I will look into this. There was a reason that panels were set so that they can't overlap with the main command bar, but I will review this when we make interface improvements soon.- The user interface cannot be moved onto the bottom corners of the screen, effectively forcing me to place interface items into my viewing area. This looks very unproffessional and cuts into my viewing area. Are you addressing this?
Architectural parts need to stay horizontal so that they can snap together. You will soon be able to build multiple story walls, and this has given me the idea of adding additional double story wall parts.- Are there any plans to allow architecture structures such as walls to follow the lay of the land instead of always needing to be horizontal? If my totem is placed on sloping land fences are useless currently, as it is easy to jump over the low spots. Go for a drive and look around in real life - walls can follow the lay of the land.
MrDDT Asks:
I have never noticed this and this is the first I've heard about it. Please report this as a bug and we'll look into it.Why does "ALT" pause the game?
I will review feedback this week and if stronger animals are needed we will adjust the current parameters. Animals do age and grow stronger already but we need more feedback to know what needs to be improved and balanced.Whats the plans for stronger animals?
Yes, I plan to make huntable resources more scarce through scavenging.Scavenging seems really good. I get Master and VHQ stuff all the time. Plus with high Scavenging I get Master and VHQ stuff from junk piles (scrap). I dont really see the point in not training it up for just about any crafter. Is there going to be balance at all to this? IE hunting is almost worthless due to the fact you get it all scavenging.
Yes, there will be bandages and salves made from plants.Whats the ideas behind better types of healing? So far Ive heard only healing in tribe buildings, and some plants. Is there going to be other things that can be used during combat? Also maybe like bandages, and some magics? (I know magics is far off, but things like that).
When we (developers and players) are satisfied with the revised combat, we'll add two handed weapons, then bows. So this is coming as soon as possible.Ranged weapons? We all want them, any ETA?
Spawn areas were set as safe zones. I will look into this.Protections for Newbie spawns? Right now a new player spawns and can be killed in seconds, plus they spawn in areas that can be controlled by other players without them even knowing it.
Please submit a suggestion regarding this. What actions need bindings for example?Hotkeys, any word on actions being bound to hot keys more? Also more hotbars? Hot swapping weapons/tools?
Weight limits for bins will be added.Weight limits for some bins? Right now I can carry 5000 brick in a grass basket. Im not sure thats right.
Gandhi Asks:
It will be a soft cap, or rather it is a soft cap, but I need to personally review this. The soft cap was coded over a year ago by a programmer no longer with the team. I will post more details after I've reviewed what is currently working or not working.You wrote, that you will introduce skill decay in june. Will this skill cap be a soft one? If yes, how many skills will be able to max out? And will the cap include all skills (I hope so), or will fighting and crafting skills be divided? What I mean with this last question is, if it will be possible to be a good crafter and a good fighter. I hope this will not be possible, because a sandbox game needs different types of players and not players who are able to do everything (you can see the result of this at Darkfall).
Yes. This is not working correctly. Basket will be found as scavenged recipes and will be gained as 'inspirations' for players who haven't started with basketry.Will there be a possibility for players, who didnt start with basketry as starter skill, to learn how to produce baskets?
Drevar Asks:
I will consider locks as a suggestion, though it wasn't part of the original design. Higher skills will decay less than lower skills.Will we have skill locks similar to UO when skill decay is implemented? I know I will go all emonerdrage if I lose my 100 Woodworking or Toolcrafting to a fickle RNG when I would be happy to give up some useless (to me) basketry points.
Will it be made public how to prevent decay on a skill if locks are not in place at the time it is implemented? (use 40 times to keep it from falling, etc.)
Also want to say thanks for all the recent answers! Keep up the great work!
Currently quality level affects only crafted items. It will affect cooking and medicine.Does QL on edible plants and fish currently have any effect on how much hunger is restored, or will QL only be used once they are needed as a craft material, e.g. in cooking or alchemy/medicine, etc?
demondarkus Asks:
Please submit this as a suggestion. This is not currently planned.Will be a skill bar, that show how many you need to progress to gain 1 skill up, with indicators (example green if increase and red if decrease), because i think without this it will be difficult to know where you progressing or regressing.
VeryWiiTee Asks:
There are currently 20 animals in game. One of our artists is fixing mutant creatures now as they had problems running with our animation sets. We have a few large animals planned for this summer including horses and cows, but they are not made yet.1) I know that there were 20 animals that should have been ready at launch. I know of 3 new models.
The chicken, the manx, the douglas squirrel. Do you have a rough eta on the rest of the animals or have more been released that I haven't seen/discovered?
Will we see more animals that we can fight instead of critters?
The canopys were moved into one of the architecture 'groups' not currently in game. They will be back when I'm done with the architecture revisions.2) In the beta we had canopys. Where they ditched in the prelude for now, will we gain them later or have no-one simply discovered them yet?
It's working now. The tool we're building will help us determine differences between strong and weak animals so that we can adjust the balance to make sure it's noticeable.3) Animals should grow in strenght (age, experience, stats) is this working as intended and should we expect to meet animals soon that requires more than a single person to kill?
Will we be able to tell the difference on a weak animal and a strong animal?
ColonelTEE3 Asks:
There should be already some recipes that use generic ribs. I'll look into this. Most useless parts will eventually have uses such as in cooking. Some are just there for the distant future and may be used in shamanistic rituals for example.Are manx heads and coyote ribs just for show, or is there a plan for what (currently) useless bones / animal parts will be for? As in -- will there be a bonecrafting recipe that uses generic rib cages, or any thing that uses chicken heads and feet?
Yes, there wil be leather packs and wooden bins. I'll see if I can add some of these soon. They're just waiting for recipes to be set up, which is one of my jobs. There's just only so much I can do at one time!Will there ever be any non-basketry related storage units craftable (leather pouches, bone crafted or wooden bins?)
vectrexvo Asks:
The current plan is:1) It seems everyone is so focused with combat, when the combat system is fixed what will be the main focus to improve the game?
1) Finishing the architecture revisions.
2) Balancing and relatively simple changes requested by players.
3) Cooking.
4) Farming.
5) Expansion totems that can be fought over.
Once we are satisfied with combat revisions and other small balance issues we will set up some free time for all players to get inactive players back in game. We will then also start to do press releases with regular content patches throughout the summer. We have been holding back on all publicity until we these combat changes are ready.2) What plans are in the work to get more people interested and wanting to play?
Yes, there is a system in place. This should already affect movement and regeneration rates. It was balanced based on player feedback a while back. It may not be enough now as other things have changed in game.3) One last question, Will there be a system in place to make use of baskets for water, and food. You have no food or water for 3 days, you move super slow or die.. some sort of penalty... let's start doing something.. I'd rather not have to go back to playing wurm.
Thanks for the questions. Most of these question this week are more of feedback to help me determine what we should work on balancing. The feedback helps!