So, I haven't been playing Alpha a whole lot these past couple weeks - sorry to disappoint my Twitch.tv followers! I also have not been participating on the forums nearly as much - neither these, nor the brand new ones on goblinworks.com.
But in all seriousness, here's the quick story about what happened:
Spoiler:
- On Tuesday, July 15th, mommafox was having some contractions again, more than recent ones, associated with lower back pain this time. Not good to have when 32wk+6day.
- We called her doctor, who advised going to the hospital to check things out. We did, and she was 2cm dilated. They put her on Magnesium to delay labor, and started the steroids for fetal lung development. Because we don't have a NICU in our area, they flew her to Phoenix immediately, anticipating delivery soon. We're glad they did.
- Labor indeed stopped, and they stopped the magnesium after the recommended 72hrs of steriods. As of Friday night, we were just playing a waiting game. We weren't sure if it would be days or weeks before things would progress. I got to participate in the escalation party that night. Woo!
- Mommafox had some small cramps those few days, but nothing that seemed similar to the contractions she'd been having for the past 10 weeks.
- On Saturday, July 19th (33wks, 3 days), mommafox had some small cramps start at 4:30pm, so the nurse put her on the monitors to watch. This time, they did indeed barely show up as contractions, so at 4:45pm, the nurse came back, explaining that they called the delivery doctor to come, and... suddenly her water broke at 4:45pm. Full-blown labor contractions started immediately.
- No time for wheelchair, they pushed her whole hospital bed down the halls to L&D ward. Barely enough time to start an I.V., for the doctor to barely get there, and Mary Lynn <last name redacted> was born at 5:11pm without cesarean. 4lbs 4oz and 17in. A respectable size for a preemie!
- By 5:45pm, mommafox was literally back on her feet again (after stitches and all that crazy stuff - very respectable for a first-time mommy!), and I was down in the NICU with my new daughter.
- Okay, here's a real picture of her.
The NICU here is great. Babyfox is doing well. Lungs were fully developed, so no issues there (except the typical 48hr mark problems associated with "I never had to breathe air before, why do I need to do so now? I'm gonna take a 20-second break because I'm tired." thing - which is resolved using caffeine). She just got off the I.V. yesterday, and her only issues right now are holding down her food completely. She's even been holding her own temperature, so no assistance required there anymore either. It's amazing how far she's come in the last 6 days of her life.
We'll probably be here another couple weeks, still, because she's gestationally only 34wks 2days at this point. They need to be 100% sure that she can hold her own, without any assistance or electronic monitoring, when they send her home with us.
So, long story short, I'm about 3hours from home right now, and away from my gaming rig and the ability to live-stream Alpha. I'll be away for the next couple weeks, likely.
And in regards to that other thread that had all the Congratulations posts: thank you! The kind words were certainly appreciated.
Okay, admit it, you probably clicked this thread thinking, "oh great, another thread about all the problems one of the Alphas found in the game this last weekend."
Nope.
I wanted to ask some questions to the Devs - particularly the QA team, if they are even have a presence on these forums. I want to know what it is that you guys see when we submit a bug report. I submitted a lot of bug reports and they were very long-winded. Hell, I even submitted a bug report about the bug report interface not being able to scroll down (no scroll bar or anything! Really!). I want to know if I can be less winded.
Here's some questions to prompt you:
Spoiler:
- Do you know the account the report is coming from, or just the character name? (Or is it, for some strange reason, completely anonymous??)
- Do you get a screenshot from our client? If so, is it from our perspective/POV? And if-so-if-so, does it include our UI/HUD?
- Do you receive our character's world position?
- Do you see any of the character's current stats at the time the report is submitted?
- Are there any other details that are included that I didn't think of?
That's all for now. Please respond such that I might annoy you less during the next testing period. Thanks. ^_^
Caveat: okay, so I'm a bit rusty on the fatigue mechanics as outlined in the blogs/forums/whathaveyou. My only knowledge of fatigue is based on Alpha playtesting.
It is my understanding that sprinting causes fatigue, which effectively limits your maximum percentage of available stamina. For example, if your fatigue reaches 80%, that means that you will only rapidly regenerate stamina (after using it) up to 20% of your capacity. As your fatigue dissipates, your max stamina (and if not using your stamina also), and your stamina also increases slowly with it.
This seems to work extremely well, except that it's not currently possible to see how much fatigue you have - and therefore you can't see how much stamina you can possibly have during combat, etc.
I propose a fatigue indicator of some sort, and I think it can be implemented on the same HUD that we are using for stamina/power/HP, but backwards. Here's what the existing HUD looks like (we're all familiar with it by now). Note that the top bar is present because I am targeting myself.
Normal HUD
And, if we were to show the fatigue on this HUD, I propose that it would enter in the left side of the black/void area of the stamina bar, and push against the blue when your stamina has reached it's current capacity. If you have used some of your available stamina, that area should remain black/void.
Modified HUD
(Of course, the teal color is terrible, but I wanted to make it obvious what I'm talking about.)
Devs, what do you think about this sort of thing? Should players be able to see their own fatigue level? Is it possible to add this value to the HUD anywhere - even as maybe a little tiny arrow, or a line on the stamina bar?
I spent some time this morning on Twitch.tv narrating how I was 'leveling up' my character from Rogue 2 to Rogue 4. It's a good 11 minutes or so (includes some brief combat), but it's a good explanation on how to advance your feats and roles in the Alpha of Pathfinder Online.
Please tell me that when you release the Alpha client(s) to Alpha members that you will release it as some sort of torrent download - whether through a downloader/patcher client program (home-grown or otherwise), or just through "normal" torrent avenues (if you don't care who gets their hands on it - doubtful considering no NDA)?
In my opinion, this could:
1) drastically reduce the amount of outbound traffic you suffer,
2) reduce overall download time for Alpha members as a whole,
3) practically ensure that the client gets to all Alphas, even if the original download is taken down for a short bit (e.g. technical issues), and
4) potentially drastically reduce download time for some Alpha members.
At worst:
a) you will have as much outbound traffic as you would have if every Alpha downloaded it statically from you once each, and
b) some clients may not have access to torrents due to heightened security policies restricting their internet connections (a static download link could still be provided).
Just a thought, but I would really like to hear that the Goblinworks team has at least put some thought into this - especially considering that we Alpha members will be downloading the whole client at least a few times throughout the Alpha.
*casts Summon Nihimon II*: "Has this been addressed elsewhere on the forum?"
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Listed below are some of the more pertinent details about Deathwatch:
Website:deathwatchcompany.com Origin of Name:Pathfinder Spell "Deathwatch" Alignment: True Neutral - to cater to the largest group of playstyles within our founding group.
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"Nothing can happen more beautiful than death." ~Walt Whitman
Near the top, under the section headed, "Reputation," I would like to bring out the following two quotes:
Quote:
Reputation only affects your interactions with other players; it has no bearing on your interactions with NPCs, quests, escalation cycles, or other PvE content.
and
Quote:
Reputation has no direct effect on combat, crafting, or skills, but does limit availability of training, facilities, and social interactions.
(emphasis mine)
Okay, that's great.
But what about all this stuff in the section headed, "Settlements, Reputation, and Alignment," ??:
Quote:
Having a Reputation below -2500 means you cannot safely enter most NPC or starter settlements.
(emphasis mine)
But you just said.... wait, what?
And there's a little bit more regarding NPCs, too, albeit speaking of NPCs in player settlements (still NPCs in my book??):
Quote:
Player settlements can set a minimum Reputation to enter safely; if your Reputation is below this value the guards will attack you and none of the NPCs will talk to you.
(emphasis mine)
So, I'm confused. It would clearly seem to me that reputation clearly does impact your interactions with NPCs... But you said it wouldn't.... Gyah, my head!
Question to the Devs:Will we be able to drop inventory items, including consumables, weapons, armor, etc. on the ground, such that these could be picked up by other players?
Background: One aspect I liked about Ultima Online was the garbage all over the ground in certain populated areas (e.g. West Britain Bank). When one player decided he/she did not want something, it was easy enough to drop it on the ground. Another player (usually new players) could pick up the item and use it if they needed it. If it was something that was truly trash, many players would simply use the nearby trash cans, which would delete the items from the game after a timer expires. If I remember correctly, upon server restarts the garbage on the ground was deleted from the game.
... I'm an ADULT! ...
Pros:
"One man's trash is another's treasure."
Somewhat immersive/realistic. Look at all the trash you see in the busy parts of a big city, for example. Generally speaking, where there are lots of people, there is lots of garbage. Maybe that's just an American thing, though. ;)
Cons:
If left unchecked, garbage can become overwhelming and obstructive.
Some players might argue that this might take away from the aesthetics of the game.
Depending wholly on game mechanics for transparency and collision, larger things dropped on the ground could cause functional problems for players (i.e. can't access something because there's trash piled in the way).
Possible latency/lag/storage issues. This depends greatly on the programming of both the client and the server. With today's storage capabilities, I don't see storage an issue. However, if the server and the client both have to track a lot of items lying around, it could potentially cause some issues.
I'm curious to see what the PFO community has to say on this subject, but I'm also really curious to see what the Devs would prefer. Obviously it's too soon to know what the capabilities of the system & software are (and whether implementing this would have negative effects on these), but I really would like to know if the Devs have any interest in implementing this in PFO. As usual with my threads: if this has been answered elsewhere on the messageboards, please simply point me in the correct direction with a link (thanks).
My apologies for bringing up the subject of spellcasting again (seems there's been a couple threads), but I wanted to focus on one, specific part of spellcasting, and I am seeking an official answer from Goblinworks on this particular part.
As laid out in Pathfinder, casting most arcane spells requires a material component or a focus of some sort.
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/magic.html:
Material (M): A material component consists of one or more physical substances or objects that are annihilated by the spell energies in the casting process. Unless a cost is given for a material component, the cost is negligible. Don't bother to keep track of material components with negligible cost. Assume you have all you need as long as you have your spell component pouch.
Focus (F): A focus component is a prop of some sort. Unlike a material component, a focus is not consumed when the spell is cast and can be reused. As with material components, the cost for a focus is negligible unless a price is given. Assume that focus components of negligible cost are in your spell component pouch.
Spell Component Pouch: A spellcaster with a spell component pouch is assumed to have all the material components and focuses needed for spellcasting, except for those components that have a specific cost, divine focuses, and focuses that wouldn't fit in a pouch.
In many older MMOs (e.g. Ultima Online), spellcasting required reagents. Most players found this to be rather annoying, while some thought that this should always be a requirement. Two quick points to consider:
Goblinworks has generally stated that their goal is to take the Pathfinder ruleset and adapt them as needed to an MMO environment (taking into consideration real-time combat/events, etc.).
Any game developer should know that there is a difficult balance between "realistic" and "fun".
Considering Pathfinder has already summarized these reagents/components into a spell component pouch, it's obvious they had play-ability and "fun" in mind when designing the tabletop experience. I would suggest that Goblinworks takes this idea and runs with it. I believe that Wizards should be required to have both a Spellbook and a Spell Component Pouch in order to cast spells. However, I do not believe that a wizard should be completely screwed if she finds herself in a "post-death situation". Either these two items should be stupidly-easy to get (available for free or close-to-free at any NPC for example), or players should be allowed to spend a Thread of Pharasma or two to keep each of these two items with them after dying. Personally, if I were playing a Wizard of any sort, I would prefer the latter. Anything otherwise, and I would not find this class "fun" to play.
Lastly, it seems that some community members feel that making spellcasting "easy" is simply overpowered. They feel that limitations of reagents is necessary to maintain balance between classes. I disagree entirely. I believe it would be simple enough to adjust other mechanics of the game, such as spell damage or weapon damage, to balance the game.
In closing, I must re-iterate the point of this thread. I am seeking a response from Goblinworks on this matter, and what their ideals are for the material components of spells, and how they plan to deal with this. If Goblinworks has already discussed this somewhere, I would ask that a member of the community would point me to this.
Summary: A cohesive group of adventuring friends, most being very familiar with the powers of Necromancy.
Alignment: Likely to be True Neutral, however ultimately TBD.
Accepted Roles: While some of our core members may heavily lean towards arcane characters practicing Necromancy whenever available, we will need a variety of adventurers, builders, and crafters. The skills from every type of player character will hold value in this group, especially in the beginning months.
Purpose: We are primarily a close group of friends that have been through many adventures - both at the tabletop and in several previous MMOs - and we're officially gathering as the chartered company, Deathwatch, mostly to benefit from game mechanics in Pathfinder Online. However we'd like to extend an invitation to just about anyone who wishes to join us.
Location/Time: The majority of the core members are based in Arizona (GMT -7, no DST), with a few that have moved elsewhere in recent years. Due to varied work schedules and other factors, we will not begin with a defined time-of-day that we will all be playing. However, it's more likely you'll see us on during the evenings and nights, and of course playing more heavily during weekends.
Website/Voice: None currently, but we may develop a website and use some sort of Teamspeak, Ventrilo, or other voice chat system as needed.
Core Members: In no particular order (with character names subject to differ), here are our core group members:
Snow
Murael
Karthe
Aou
Pyro
Tealcataz
Hotsoup
Meniduull
Natahka
possibly more, unconfirmed core members
Other Notes: We do not aim to be a shining beacon upon a hill, nor do we wish to be the next army that swarms the battlefield in sheer numbers. We'd prefer to be left to our own devices, practicing our necrotic abilities in relative peace. We plan to stand back and watch as the major world forces battle over territory, disputes, or trivial things like stolen sandwiches. Our level of trust diminishes exponentially with each step away from the core members of this group - in other words, not much trust will be placed in the hands of those we do not personally know.
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Goblin Squad Member
