nefandir wrote:First of all: really enjoyed the dev diary, it allows much better insight into the development of RoR than posts on the forum alone (26 minutes of a well thought out and structured monolog), and the roadmap does induce a certain sense of euphoria.
Now to address a few things mentioned in the dev diary:
T4 sounds amazing and if it does come next month that's amazing, but I think everyone understands that the development team has lives to live as well, so my personal opinion: take the time you need.
You mentioned RR100, Doomflayer and Warpforged will never enter RoR, if I recall correctly. Although initially taken aback a bit, I support this move as I actually never really got past rr88 and I thought the rr80 endgame already was very entertaining in WAR (with sovereign being the best set out there!). My question: does this also mean the Doomflayer and Warpforged Sets will never be implemented for some other purpose (visual for example)?
You haven't really said anything about Land of the Dead. I dreaded and loved this area at the same time, but in the end I think I would enjoy seeing it in game. Any plans for LoTD out there?
We definitely could bring those sets back as alternate appearances. We might also bring them back as "sidegrades" to Sovereign or something, we have lots of ideas but no real plans there. What we will not be doing is bringing back the power gap those sets and RR100 introduced.
LotD is a bit of a mess. It will very likely see the light of day sometime in the future, but either after a significant rework of many of its items, or without them. Everyone has a different idea of what would be okay and what wouldn't.
First of all, I would like to thank the Devs for continuing to work on this project. WAR would be unavailable to all of us, if it wasn't for you - Thank you!
Also, I really enjoy the new format: It's very refreshing to actually hear a voice instead of just reading text, like any other post on this forum. It reminds you that there's an actual living person on the other side, lol. I hope this new format continues, and encourages people to be more understanding and respectful, not only towards the Devs, but also towards other players - We are not at war with each other outside of the game, despite our disagreements. We all love this game, and that is why we play it.
Also, KV hype!
I would like to address some of the things mentioned in the Dev Diary. Sorry for all the text, but it sounded like you wanted to hear some feedback, so here goes
5:30 - Each level of power (Sets) as a separate thing:
Spoiler:
I'm a bit concerned about this. On live, the moment you hit R40 (Or possibly even before that) the entire game was a kind of race for everyone to get to a high RR fast, so you would get better gear than the opposing faction. That allowed you to defeat them, even if outnumbered. I believe it was a very important part of the competitive ORvR scene, because it rewarded activity, effort and commitment. And it also sparks rivalry (the good kind) between guilds of opposing factions.
If you do it with only 10 new RRs and 1 new set each patch, what you'll end up with, is that everyone is gonna be bored with the current content, because there's nothing to do on your main, and once the new patch is released, most organized guilds will be fully geared within 14 days, at most. Which will then again make them be bored of the current content, etc.
On top of that, people who don't play very much, compared to the very dedicated players, are gonna have no problem keeping up in gear level. This isn't a bad thing necessarily, but it takes away the reward of getting the gear - Every one can get maxed, every patch, before new and better gear gets released, no problem. It defeats the purpose of trying. Every average Joe can do it. It basically becomes like the "welfare epics" that the second expansion of WoW, Wrath of the Lich King, got infamous for.
Now, I know that the alternative is waiting (a lot) longer for new content and patches, but I can only speak for myself, when I say I'd really prefer that, over what it sounds like you have planned at the moment.
6:04 - Endgame BiS gear:
Spoiler:
I've already addressed the issue of the power-creep in earlier threads, but I rather have that, instead of underwhelming endgame gear, any day of the week.
I want to see more of the game come into play. Right now, people mostly just stand in the capitals, play in SCs, or the ORvR-lakes. Rest of the world is mostly empty, for the most parts. It's a damn shame, and I think it's worth to actually make it more attractive to do more, in the game-world, than is being done at the moment.
As I see it, "sub par gear" should be like "stepping stones", for getting into Tier 4 RvR, after getting to R40. For example, Ruin, which you get from T4 PQs is, as you said, underwhelming. However, with a buff and/or rework to this set, it could become more desirable. Hell, maybe even make it a R36 - 40 set, instead of R34 - 36. The only reason that it's sub par is because of it's stats. So I think it's really about making it desirable without making it "a must". It shouldn't require too much work to get these "sub par sets", since you are in fact taking time off RvR, where you could be working towards a higher RR, instead.
Also, I believe that possibly adding a one-time reward for completing a PQ could be a good way of luring people a bit out of the SCs and RvR-lake, while leveling. Something like a pretty big one-time exp-gain once you complete the last stage of a PQ for the first time. Again, important to find the balance where it's worth the trip to the PQ and time to leave RvR, but not necessary for leveling or gearing up. You could maybe even tie the PQs in with RvR somehow. Maybe do so PQs actually reward Renown, or something similar?
Most people I know, don't bother with PvE because they don't find it fun. That can't really be "fixed", so I think the most straight forward way to make it more active is to increase the rewards.
Also, talking about "stepping stone-gear" you might want to introduce "sub par gear" on level with like Conqueror or maybe even Invader, when Sovereign is widely available, to avoid situations where new players felt like they didn't stand a chance against Doomflayer gear etc.
Besides all this, the influence rewards you get from doing PQs is overall very "meh". If you changed them as you did with the RvR sets, where you make the items fit two different roles. That could surely make them more desirable. Many of them have weird itemization. Also, sometimes the level of the item seems to be too low. The time it takes to get to the Stage 3-rewards, makes you too high level, so the reward again, seems pretty "meh" in comparison to the alternatives at the level you get them. You could possible increase the level of all said items by 1 or 2 levels to fix that?
15:17 - SCs seperated by number of tactic slots:
Spoiler:
This is pretty straight forward for me: No. I fear the brackets would be too thinly spread, and queue times would be horrible as a result. As you said, I don't think the tactics makes that big of a difference.
The only suggestion I must emphasize is however, that I think max level (R40, or R35 now) should always be seperate from the rest. Simply because there is a big power difference between a fully maxed out endgame char, and a leveling char in greens. And it's gonna get even worse in T4, than it is now. Also, there should be plenty to max level chars to keep the queues going.
20:00 - Vendor labeling:
Spoiler:
I've always kind of missed this, but never really gave it much thought. I would love if you could separate their names though. It's pretty much just a quality of life change, and shouldn't be important, but it would be nice, anyway.
You could maybe separate them up in Tiers, or even just call them "<Rank 1 - 13>" or something like that.
On top of this, I also have three questions for the next Dev Diary, which I hope you will address:
- How will the Devs handle RvR-balance in Tier 4? Will it be decided by the most outspoken players? By the average player's opinion? By the Devs? Or do we have some kind of "expects" hidden somewhere?
- Do you think X-Realming actually happens? And if yes, what would be your best suggestion to discourage it? (Since preventing it, is impossible).
- Will we ever be able to support you guys financially? The community is growing fast, and the server don't seem to handle it too well on big RvR-nights. I want to support! :3
Sorry for the long post. Looking forward to the next Dev Diary
Last edited by Razid1987 on Mon Mar 21, 2016 12:08 am, edited 11 times in total.
Thanks for all your work and especially the dev diary telling what stuff is happening nad what is in the pipe. Allways nice to hear it spoken.
Question:
My Question would be also about RvR balance. Aza has mentioned that the Devs are thinking of some kind of Career Representatives and a Forum section where there is some kind of special rules for posting and constructive criticism. So the Question is how and when this will start its working?
My Eningeer needs some design love.
Last edited by Glorian on Sun Mar 20, 2016 11:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Thanks for the Dev diary, Genisaurus. Dunno why you have such trouble giving an estimate on T4. We don't need promises, estimates are fine. Within the next month is good enough for me. Thanks.
Is this a shitpost? Let me know through personal message.
Euan wrote:Lol, I didn't mean to sound demanding. Just trying to say it's ok to give estimates, don't be afraid. Aza pls T_T
The reason why everybody, including AAA devs are reluctant to give estimates, is that codes is really complex. It's really hard to grasp just how much more has to be done. And players are often very demanding when devs give estimates, calling them out when overstepping deadlines.
