Ashgan's page

OMG!! I just spent $150.00 on ArcheAge Alpha, yesterday and Small Holdings are $200!!!! And September 15 is EE!!!

I love this blog and hate it!! If only a day earlier.

as much as I hate to admit it I'm right there with ya bludd...

Guurzak say you cannot sell shiny turd by calling it gold.

Regardless of culture, game mechanics must ensure that it is actually and objectively detrimental to engage in murder sim behaviors. No account of culture will dissuade someone from realizing mechanical benefit if it is there to be realized.

With those mechanics in place, the culture will happen organically.

Pretty much this is what I would say.

To bring some real life perspective most people (who would) do not commit big crimes because no one wants to waste away in prison or loose their life, this being a game I don't really expect perma death or locking up someones character (especialy because they can make a new one either way) so you need other measures that fit for a game to be a check and balance for freedom.

TLDR: to make it short and a bit more on topic, murder sims are mostly possible due to lack of consequences, and I don't think any amount of naysaying will change it (at least not for some I'm sure it would work with some people but there will always be that few)

Greetings visitors of our little space on the forums!

We are shaking off the dust on our Embassy as new and exciting things are being revealed and upcoming as we approach Alpha and EE. I would like to reach out (or re-reach out) to new groups interested in our cause as well as to old connections we have made.

Please come visit us on our boards at http://keepersofthecircle.proboards.com/ . Registration to post is free. Then feel free to create a new post on our Diplomacy Board with your organization and introduce yourselves! If you would like, you may also PM either myself or Nymerias on the Keepers Boards or even here on Paizo.

To those who are still looking for a guild, I would invite you to come stop by our boards and check us out!

*starts sweeping* ... *looks around* ... *tosses sweeper and walks off grumbling* *drives back with snowplow*

None preferably I have that choice even if a cleric (always get rules mixed up between 3rd and pathfinder since more or less they are the same)

as for why I always liked the idea of drawing on good energy to help people and not be aligned to anything.

looks like I checked at a good time will be back in an hour ish take a look see.

The only melee weapons we trained with in the US Army, in Basic Training, were bayonets, pugil sticks (to simulate rifle butts) and that's about it.

not even that anymore and from what I heard they are even phasing out the Pugil sticks...

Gotta agree with Ravenlute about the combat it feels very... whats that stupid game some teens do where you stand there take a punch then you punch till someone gives up. so definately hoping this is definately a case of early development.

On the bright side love the more centralized HUD, size and see through etc stuff can be always applied but having a good HUD from the get go is awesome.

hmm more interesting escalation cycles sounds like it would be fun.

well like I said I might be reading too much into it but the way its phrased seems like gear is specific to a class, duno *shrugs*

hmm I dun think five days counts as a necro hmm maybe a slight restore.... *casts cure moderate wounds on thread*

ok bad jokes aside anyone else concerned about this particular blog mentioning that classes have specific weapons and armor? I mean Pathfinder between multiclassing and the myriad of feats and other classes/sub classes(what was the name prestige class???) but regardless all of them used the same weapons and armor there was no specific this class uses this.
Also if I recall right even if your class did not have the requirement for said gear you could still wield it but with penalties.

I know its not using the same ruleset but forcing certain kinds of gear on a class feels like it goes counter to what pathfinder is.

Anyhow here is the part I'm talking about so you don't have to find it.
"We built the stats for each of the classes by hand, all of which have appropriate appearances for their class. We got wands, staves, shortswords, and greatswords in game, all with associated animations and visual effects. Thus, each class could have a class appropriate weapon to use in addition to wearing class appropriate armor."

I duno maybe I'm reading too much into it...

Thrice cursed job interrupting my clicking *goes into a corner to cry*

here we are agian, waiting patiently and... oh who am I kiddin *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click*

holy necronomicon batman

29 as of Nov 3

I think Germany has a thing against decapitation [maybe] and China I'm fairly sure has a thing against skeletons showing [not that I personally would touch the China market]
EDIT: Mind you what I somewhat remember reading I think Germany its the graphic showing of a decapitation I have no idea of just say a corpses head.

Ryan Dancey wrote:

Xeen wrote:

As a subscriber I will not have access to the whole game?

Dont you think thats being a bit greedy?

No. In fact, I often wonder if we should have subscriptions at all, because of the false impression they give to people like you who think a subscription implies unlimited access. It may do more harm than good.

For what it's worth, I wouldn't have the slightest complaint if my "subscription" was just a recurring purchase of Goblin Points which I would use to buy additional training time and goodies.

I think that was the idea but change the name from subscription as some people this included me have an idea that comes with that.

hmm I think the thing that's messing with me is the whole hybrid thing. I'm used to either the old school sub is everything +/- an expansion. that or entirely F2P with MTX.

I duno guess I'll put my past behind and put some faith that GW will do it right.

The way I see it, GW can use an MTX option. Just be sure to keep developing and working on the actual game and not make more and more content to provide more and more ways for players to be consumers instead of players. I think that's what makes MTX suck the life out of a game.

But Ryan's right, you have to expand the way you allow players to buy stuff that is good for the game, good for the players and good for GW.

for all my Naysaying don't get me wrong, like I mentioned earlier I can live with some cash shop stuff even additional races if you can wrap your head around thinking of it as parts of an expansion. [in other words instead of giving 20-40 for a lot of content up front its in small 5 to 10 chunks for bits of that content]

I remember playing City of Heroes one time I was buffed by Sonic shields, Thermal Shields, Force Fields, Kinetics, and Empathy at the same time on top of my own electric armor. You could't see my toon at ALL because of all the particle effects crapping over everything.

I'd much prefer subtle clues instead of overwhelming effects.

subtle for sure but something there would definitely be nice so you know at a glance, especially since some combat abilities are supposed to make use of some debuffs etc if I recall right.

So I tend to take a lot of the teeth gnashing about cash shops as the result of either utopianism, or ignorance of the truth.

And some of that teeth gnashing is due to bad past experiences, skewed development to cash shop exclusivity, lies from devs that said they would not sell x then x shows up later in shops, etc, etc, long list of things gone wrong.

Since you brought up outside sources, they only did things while not in the norm but things within the boundaries of the game. In game cash shops tend to do the opposite in providing extra services that are not normally in game.
I never touched Farmers because i could earn my own gold level my own characters thanks.

Being wrote:

Some customers think their patronage entitles them to ownership of the store.

We contributed because we wanted the game described. We did not buy a controlling interest in their stock.

I sure wish I could Favorite this post a few more times.

I always try to remember that I'm basically a guest in Lisa's house while I'm here, and that I'll basically be a guest in Ryan's house when I'm playing PFO.

Can you imagine showing up at a Pasture Party and thinking your $15 cover (to help pay for the kegs) entitled you to demand the host deferred to you the same way you were expected to defer to the host? It truly boggles my mind.

I'm not demanding I'm putting up concerns and this thread especially with Ryans posts has me more then a lil worried, but with it all still being up in the air besides goblin balls who knows.

All I know is if I see this going south like I seen a few games do especially because it has a sub on top of micro I'm going to do the time honored tradition of voting with my wallet. I did the kickstarter because I believe in this kind of game but this might be the straw that broke the camels back sort of as we have so little info about it -_- [don' take this as a threat I'm sure there will be other people willing to fill my spot]

and with that I think I'm going to /bow out of this thread as its giving me nothing but misgivings and apprehensions...

Ashgan wrote:

Keovar wrote:

The stamina regen timer need not be it's own bar, it could be a much thinner bar inlaid on the stamina bar itself.

If you look at the video I'm pretty sure that is how it works right now...

To me, it looks like a thinner but separate bar, stuck under the stamina bar. There's actually no reason it need be a bar at all, though. There could be a d6 (with pips, not digits) that flips one face per second, counting up to six or down to one. Die faces are easier to read in one's peripheral vision than a bar or numbers. It only needs to appear when you're in combat, searching a husk, or doing some other activity that has a 6-second timer, and you could alter it's placement, scale, and transparency.

Set a hotkey for putting the UI in 'editable' mode in which you can drag parts around, change colours (or enable colour-blind mode), set transparency, alter scaling, turn on or off a grid overlay which elements would snap to, etc. Use that hotkey again and your UI is locked and won't be accidentally altered during play.

You could even have multiple UI configurations that change dependent upon hotkey-press or automatically via context, so you have a 'normal' UI that brings chat into focus, a 'combat' UI that moves your vitals and skill elements into more comfortable view, a 'crafting' UI that makes your inventory more convenient, etc.

Let the settings be imported and exported via TXT files so people who enjoy tinkering with the UI can share their creations.

Definately would love this amount of customization. Normally I don't have too many problems with HUDS in games, but MMO's tend to always create one that has you looking everywhere but at the game... well that is my experience anyways.

Perhaps we should avoid putting those Pointy Sticks next to Goblin Balls... Might leave the wrong impression...

thats... just... I'ma go and leave you 2 alone now

The stamina regen timer need not be it's own bar, it could be a much thinner bar inlaid on the stamina bar itself.

If you look at the video I'm pretty sure that is how it works right now, regardless I'd rather have a bar on the side that is lateral rather then horizontal maybe even sethrough but that's an extra.

I see seven or eight critically important UI elements that inform immediate choices: PC health, stamina, and regen timer, target health, PC effects, target effects, and possibly the map (for situational awareness). Putting all seven in center-screen would obscure everything else, so they go on the periphery.

With the number of status effects that the combat blogs indicated would be relevant, I expect to need at least a 64x64px icon to rapidly recognize which are active, and enough room for at least six- that takes up a decent chunk of screen real estate, and I do not want that blocked in center screen.

*sighs* I must have mentioned optional at least twice in there -_-

Xeen wrote:

...next thing you know the Devs spend all their time working on the MTX shop and letting the rest of the game slide.

In what game(s) has this happened, please? I've not heard that before.

Champions Online I have not seen a proper update that has had nothing to do with the cash shop in forever...

Ashgan wrote:

"There will be lots of of other things you could, but don't have to purchase." This parts got me worried, that has any number of meanings including pay for items that are more powerfull than anything else you can get normally in game.

Only Ryan has repeatedly said they won't offer anything that's mechanically superior to what can be crafted by players, and he's made it clear that they're not going to make the Cash Shop an alternate for all the stuff you can get from players either.

Ryan Dancey (Kickstarter Community Thread: Subscriptions & Microtransactions) wrote:

Our commitment to the players is that nothing you can purchase with microtransactions will be mechanically superior to the materials created in-game through character activity.

well like I said was not putting words in mouth that statement had many meanings on its own.

I could say I've heard all that before but all I can really do is hope that the want for more money doesn't make them change their minds on that statement.

I'm honestly not opposed to cash shops as long as its extras odd bobs and ends that don't do much of anything in the game.
Also if they want my money on that end I usually refuse to pay for 1 off items as in buy some fireworks that you can use 3 times. [I could potentially see extra stuff in the cash shop instead of expansions just minior additions (by this I mean races and dungeons [although it is my hope that Gobo would at least put in all the default races before trying to cash in on that one]) but it does seem reasonable to put things like that in as long as its reasonably priced and not do expansions I guess.

Lifedragn wrote:

I still have problems with paying for any kind of content so long as I have a subscription.

Consider the potential future where third party companies are producing content.

SOE has a player made content bit where I think players get a small bit of the money but its a win win in my opinion as you have your own players make you content as well as making you extra money, it does get screened in EQ I believe the requirement is it had to fit the lore.

The purpose of a subscription is player convenience. You don't have to manage your MTX cash, or deal with regular interruptions to keep playing. It automatically bills so you don't have to worry about forgetting to pay and having your training pause. Because there's an upside to us (we like regular income) we'll throw some bonus perks in the deal as a way of saying "thanks for your support".

It's not an all-you-can-eat ticket.

Unless the subs are lower then the average I fail to see how this works? Maybe its inflation at work but I remember not having to pay a monthly as well as extra to get access to everything a sub game had to offer... Unless you do have a F2P model now in which case I could just free play and pay for additions.

You get 30 days of training +/-. That's what you get for a subscription. We give you some other things as a gift for being a subscriber. There will be lots of of other things you could, but don't have to purchase.

"There will be lots of of other things you could, but don't have to purchase." This parts got me worried, that has any number of meanings including pay for items that are more powerfull than anything else you can get normally in game.

Walls definately look like a big Hex, I'm curious about some of the structures as well like what purpose if any the warrior statue with the brazier on each side has?

EDIT: I'm assuming you can fit a lot more into the city and that is the reason of the amount of space, I'm also going to assume you don't normally start with a wall so it wouldn't seem that big.

I think the button bars are convenient reminders for my keymapping, though I'd like them to be movable and resizable. If you map keys and remember them, you don't have to look at the buttons at all except to remind yourself which button triggers which event.

*sighs* maybe I didn't explain it clearly I tend to do that, my problem isn't the button bars themselves as I do not have problems memorizing. My issue is with cooldowns and bars that are shoved all around the screen making you look every which way but in the center where your character is.

Edit: at least I'm assuming you were responding to me and not throwing your own input in by mentioning looking at keys( if I'm wrong my apologies)

Watched the newest video and would like to poke out one or two details that I hope gets changed. If you disagree or have some of your own input please add it. Keep in mind that I am hoping that these ideas will be optional for anyone who likes it more traditional.
Finally before anyone states it I'm well aware that its probably a rough HUD that will get updated/redesigned possibly so I'm just throwing this out there now while its still early.

First and the big one is the bottom HUD this is a plague on MMO's as often you get stuck watching the bottom of the screen instead of what is happening and enjoying the game because you have to keep an eye on cooldowns and such. While I do remember reading something about attacks not having cooldowns but longer animations, however with that said there is still the 6 second stamina bar or whatever it was cooldown refresh bar that you will have to constantly look down for.
As for solution put the bar (I guess optionally would be best for anyone who does like it on bottom) next to the character that or create some sort of visual for every time it recharges, either way I would prefer to have my eyes naturally in center of the screen rather then at the bottom half the time.
I remember roughly something about feats going on cooldown this again can be solved by giving an optional icon in center near the character displaying the cooldown timer with the abilities icon.

The second thing is if it can be added is a shutdown of most of the HUD when not used. Personally I hate screen clutter when things are not being used, and usually the only options are turn entire HUD on or off.(which usually has the unfortunate side effect that you loose chat)
One of a few solutions would be add options to fade out completely certain parts of HUD when not in combat. Alternatively adding a button that would partially remove hud but not the entire thing (probably with an options section for which parts it would hide)

Third thing while I'm hoping is in the works I'm putting it down anyways of adding HP bars on top of enemies/friendly heads. While it does add more screen clutter if done right as in only when say the friendly/enemy is damaged again allows you to keep your attention on screen instead of bars and doodads on the sidelines.

But when I play RPGs or MMOs, and the game has been designed so the melee is balanced with personal slug throwers and beam weapons... There's something about futuristic missile weapons with a 15-25m max range. That requires more suspension of disbelief than my gunpowder era mind can handle.

That is a personal pet peeve of mine with MMO in general the only ones who break this are the FPS kinda otherwise fantasy or scifi all weapon and magic range is stupid low for one reason or another -_-

People need to understand that PvP does not equal griefing. You can have open PvP with very little in the way of penalties BUT STILL give very harsh and severe penalties for behaviors like corpse camping.

while I agree to some extent its a bit like politics its the not the middlegrounds people that are the problem but the extremists.

On the PvP side those that think since the game has PvP it should be done wherever whenever. (and believe me from my brief 2 months I think it was in Mortal those people do exist they think that if a game has PvP it should be done with no other reason then to PvP)

On the other hand yes not every instance of getting killed by someone is an act of someone trying to grief you. (although I think stand and deliver might alleviate some of that)

I'm gona ramble a list but believe me when I honestly say that I'm not 100% sure why i prefer one over the other and that preference is only minor as I do enjoy both just more of a 60-40 split in enjoyment =P

I think sword fights are a bit more personal probably due to the close proximity.

Magic is an interesting force that rarely gets explored in Sci-fi (by that I mean things like the Force in Star Wars or psionics etc) even when its semi explained leaves that powerful force feeling that lets the imagination wonder.
Edit: I especially find it fun when a character finds unique ways to bend his power in unexpected ways to do something unique. (I find a lot of examples of this could probably be found in Anime I'd have to do some digging through lists for a good example)

and like someone stated before there is a lot of history to draw on for imagination while future is without explaining a lot of details about the world kind of up in the air.

welp I was considering the ring of light but after reading their doctrin it sounds like a church and worse was when I read about donations this killed any enthusiasm I had when I read
"Neutral Good Role: Maximize freedom of choice while respecting the Non Aggression Principle"

I'm still considering joining but I'm just gona fence sit for now.

Edit: Maybe join Ring of crystal as a cleric or druid but I'm not very inclined on Light as of right now.

Metabaron wrote:

Pathfinder online has a adventurer appeal to me that no other upcoming mmo has. Star Citizens is scifi...

I'm curious: Do you find science fiction undesirable? If so, why?

While I can't answer for Metabaron, I've always had a tendency towards swords and sorcery rather then laser pistol and warpdrive.

Morbis wrote:

But what I don't want to see is a character being able to completely avoid PvP for their entire character life and still be able to progress as quickly as someone who does risk their life and gear. And that is exactly what some people on the other extreme of the spectrum push for.

I am sorry but I think you will be sadly disappointed in this.

Progression is based on training, training is a function of time, not skill, risk or pvp prowess.

Progression is based on gear, the best of which is player created and will most likely be sold everywhere, including safe zones.

The only question will be merit badges and skills and if enough people truly wishes to avoid pvp or minimize it, and I suspect there will be more then enough, there will be people and organizations in game to make that available to them for a cost to allow them to do that.

The profit potential will be too great for there to not be.

I could be wrong but I think I read a while back that the higher tier or better trainers would only be in player settlements meaning in less safe areas of the game world or at least less safe in terms of NPC coverage.

so uhh... when can we start clickin?

do people just join randomly or only during events?

Can't say I blame them, I've been holding off even looking much at the forums or anything more then the blog for fear of getting over excited, and lo I commited the great sin and looked on the boards.

Hi uhm is the Company still recruiting and if so where on the boards do I go to sign up?

KarlBob wrote:

Instant identification of magic items and immediately visible color codes are very meta, but some MMOs have successfully avoided them, to some extent.

As a Wizard who hopes to specialize in Divination, and who tries valiantly to resist despair at the thought of whether or not that will be viable, I am highly in favor of requiring explicit identification of magical items.

Of course, it won't matter in PFO nearly as much as it does in other MMOs because we won't be seeing tons of magic items dropping from mobs...

mobs no, players well that is another matter. While normally you don't fight your own party in pathfinder and looting them being in the same party kinda gives you inside knowledge on what they had on them. But MMO wise the other players are your mobs and you have no idea what kind of magic they are wearing short of the sword being on fire as s/he is swinging it.

hmm I'll take a look at some of those listed by everyone, honestly the thing that got me on pathfinder was the minor nuts and bolts like player contracts to hire other players which in a sense is a quest/mission.

Ashgan wrote:

mate trust me you have no idea what your talking about. If you think the only reason those games suffer on playerbase is because combat you should do your research better.

I trust you, but I ain't the one who brought them up. :)

My point is, I don't believe that the majority of these kind of gamers (not necessary YOU or Andius) will ever be a customer-base stable enough to be relied upon. Since DF is used to disprove my point, I merely say that DF isn't that great of an exemple.

thatsa kinda blanket statement with no real foundation in anythin, sos all I'm gona say is we will have to agree to disagree on that point.

Andius wrote:

I don't find it so obvious. I've seen absolutely nothing to support that there is any correspondence between a preference for tab-targeting and a preference for sandboxes.

In-fact all of the most twitch based MMO's I've played (Darkfall, Mortal, and Xsyon) have been sandbox titles.

I'm not advocating for full on Darkfall style combat in PFO, but I don't see any reason to conclude that people who like faster paced combat that many find more immersive, do not also prefer sandbox worlds with more freedom to create and immerse yourself in your character.

Well those titles are great exemples : I never played Darkfall, but a quick research seems to indicate there was a total of 3000 active characters in NA+EU, including alts, in 2011 :/. And it's the most succesfull of those three.

mate trust me you have no idea what your talking about. If you think the only reason those games suffer on playerbase is because combat you should do your research better.

Edit: as for the better part of this lil convo, I'd say if the programmers would be willing to do a little extra legwork I fail to see why you can't switch up targeting a tad with OPTIONS to fit everyones preferences if only a tad.
Champions Online as much as I hate to bring it up gave you everything from regular tab targeting to crosshair in center of screen and when you clicked your attack it went to the enemy you were pointed at. hell someone threw out darksouls which I'd say wouldn't be so bad for anyone who wants to use a controller for this game.

Double Edit: as for me as long as the game has a key for me to lock screenlook and not have to hold my righmousebutton 24/7 will be all I need.