Posts made by Jameow

@Matriarch I'm in Australia, was playing with a ping of about 220-280ms. It was mostly fine, occasionally a lag spike sent things teleporting around, but this was not the usual experience. It was very playable

@prometheus Reading this, I spent most of it going "same". For our game we're currently working on a pitch for a major platform, most of our time is going into a proper trailer. We're very busy. xD

Very exciting!

The main issue here is that your attributes are one of the first things you pick, before you've even played the game. You have absolutely no idea what's going to work for you or what you're going to enjoy, but unlike other aspects of the game, you can't change them and that seems like a bad way to start players out. It also deosn't make a lot of sense. If I started out as a mage, but later started using a warhammer to solve all my problems, I WOULD get stronger and probably faster, so if I made the misatake of starting with 10 str, why would my character never get any better at wielding a warhammer?

There are lots of ways this can be solved, there's been some interesting ideas in this thread. I wouldn't focus too much at this point on how much time it takes to change things or set up a camp, the game isn't even in alpha, any numbers are completely arbitrary at this point and likely to change.

@finland That would work fine too, could just have different types all on Syndesia just as easily

Lizardmen!

Also if we have elves, it'd be pretty cool if they were linked to and influenced by the worlds they are on. So something like "Wild Elves" on Arboreous, maybe they have wood like skin and leaf like hair or something.

"Infernal elves" on Tartaros, maybe with fiery hair and stone or metallic like skin

and on Syndesia perhaps some different types, like something like high elves, and maybe some like "savage" elves? Like barbarian tribes, but elven.

You could probably create a few other varieties as well easily enough, maybe some aquatic ones etc.

I'd like to see some things similar to UO's champion spawns.

Also bosses where they have interesting and dynamic mechanics, with independent terrain obstacles/traps/hazards that make the fight more challenging and less predictable without it all being just about random abilities from the boss.

@Quixa Welcome, fellow UO veteran! xD

In the most recent spotlight learned about stats and that they're done at character creation and that they don't advance past that, except through talents.

Does that mean there won't be any way to change them?

If you can't, I see this as a potential problem mostly because this is the first thing you do before you've played the game or discovered what you enjoy/what works for you. You may find that there is a set of abilities you are really enjoying that mixes a few skill sets, but you hadn't set yourself up properly to use those skills, so you're always at a disadvantage with your favorite skillsets.

For example, you started as an illusionist, focusing on Intelligence and Charisma, but discovered later that adding Assassination to the mix with illusion is a style you really enjoy, but your dexterity and strength are very low because you didn't originally plan on using those abilities.

You COULD make a new character, but that involves learning everything you've learned again, which could take a long time and not be particularly rewarding, because you've already done it an are trying to get back to a point you've already reached before. This could discourage people and lower their enjoyment.

There are several ways I can think of to address this issue:

1)A cash shop respec item to let the player reset their attributes - This seems the easiest way to do it

1. A questline/event line that unlocks a full or partial respec - Also seems viable, but if too easy or quick, could make respecing too easy and common.

2. some sort of lootable or craftable item to allow a full or partial respec (for example, allows you to reset 20 points by subtracting them from some stats and adding them to others)

Perhaps it's not even an issue with talents and equipment, but it sounds like if you get your starting attributes wrong for the abilities you end up using, you may as well start a new character and lose all the time you invested in the one you made first.

@jetah It depends what people are looking for. Some people don't find other players challenging or rewarding to fight, just irritating. Some people feel anxious in those sorts of situations and just don't get anything out of it.

It also depends on the game. Sometimes people are just not equipped for it, and so they're at a disadvantage. Some people don't have a connection that would make them competitive in a serious fight, or they don't have the reaction time. Sometimes PvP just comes down to who has the better gear or is more ontop of the metagame, while other people have no interest in that, so they don't win fights or care enough to want to. For some it just triggers a flight response. Other times it's just that often attacks are opportunistic, rarely a fair fight and so for a lot of people it's just more trouble than it's worth, disrupting their enjoyment, rather than enhancing it.

Personally, I just have to be in the mood for it to enjoy it. I'm rarely in that mood. If attacked, I'll defend myself but otherwise I'm not looking for a fight.

Chains/razorwhips/chain blades etc
Chakrams/boomerangs/glaives
War Fans/tessen

I'm a PvE player, not a lot of interest in PvP in most cases, but also not against it. Will take part occasionally or when necessary, but prefer to avoid it where possible.

I'm pretty hyped for a few reasons:

They seems to be addressing many of the issues that the classic sandbox MMO style has and many with broader, more modern MMOs:

Grinding
Time sinks like grinding can really ruin a game. If people are so focused on just getting through the tedium in order to get to the fun, you'll lose a lot of players before they even get to the fun. Those players are less likely to engage with the community and it can tend to create a very isolating experience. The people that stay and engage are the ones that join active guilds and the like, people that find the fun, but the games often don't really actively encourage this with gameplay.

This game attempts to address all that with their exploration and discovery based progression and viability from the start. It will be interesting to see how well this works and what changes need to be made, but in principle it sounds like a great way to handle it.

Sandbox community balance
MMO Sandboxes have a range of challenges, particularly indie ones. PVP is always a big contentious one. In a world where players can control resources, land, buildings etc, there is always going to be the need for some form of PvP, otherwise it's just first come, first serve, locking later players out of most of the gameplay. This is usually made worse by gearing and levels, where the wealthy powerful people can pretty much stop anyone from ever being able to do anything or get anywhere without making those players stronger.

The opposite is also true. Full open PvP creates other issues, usually starting from the philosophy that "players are the contend and PvP is a valid form of gameplay". This often ends in a bunch of bored, mid to high end players just causing trouble and disruption and discouraging new players by preventing their progression. Many have tried to solve this, some have succeeded in various ways. EVE is often cited as the best example.

Catering to the full spectrum can be quite challenging for a sandbox game, but this seems like a compromise worth trying. It could end up working really well. I play a bit of Black Desert and it tehcnically has open world PvP, but it's set up in such a way that hardly anyone goes around just randomly attacking people because the penalties in place make that not worth doing.

I think the multiple worlds with crossover ability has some very interesting potential for interactions. Not everyone on the co-op world is going to completely hate PvP, so when a bunch of Demons come through to loot and plunder, it's not going to be a total pushover. Depending on how hard it is to get through and what can be done about it, this could lead to some very interesting player run events.

Scope
MMOs are huge and expensive to make, particularly for small indie teams, it's a huge challenge and very ambitious. Many have tried to get around this by making little content and then relying on players to make it interesting. This tends to not go so well, due to things I've said above in the other sections. They tend to gain a loyal following, but not a very large one, which obviously can cause problems for the viability of a MMO.

This game seems like it could be viable for their team size and creates an interesting experience without requiring the crazy amount of feature and content blowout many others need before their game is actually interesting enough to play.
I think the biggest challenge is going to be balancing a lot of these features and resources, because players do interesting and unexpected things and you can't anticipate every strategy and build that players will adopt.

So basically, I think overall the team seems to be focusing on all the right things to make the game viable while also being aware of the resources they have available to them. Definitely one to watch closely!

Hi Everyone!

I'm a rookie Game Designer from Sydney, Australia!

Ultima Online has been one of the greatest influences on my gaming life and my ideas of what makes a good MMO in particular. I love MMOs, but have generally found that everything after UO has felt smaller and less engaging, though plenty of cool things have been done in other games!

I found out about this from LinkRealms, but I'm also following Legends of Aria. This one has definitely grabbed my interest and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes!