Nar'shinddah Sugimar

Darcnes's page

Goblin Squad Member. Organized Play Member. 690 posts (711 including aliases). No reviews. 3 lists. No wishlists. 1 Organized Play character. 2 aliases.


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Goblin Squad Member

Caldeathe's comments make me think Dwight from The Office.

Dwight Schrute wrote:
New Player Guide wrote:

Harvesting

Left-click a Resource node to harvest it.
False: Left clicking selects the node, but Right-click is required to harvest.

Having a TL;DR section is excellent. Definitely need to keep content together with well placed page breaks though.

I agree with Cal about being explicit on how some things like walk and run require movement but stealth and jump do not. And while this is hardly the place for it, holding forward while auto-running really needs to cancel auto-run, and if not there ought to be a notice that it doesn't. This will get you killed if you're expecting that rather common behavior and it fails you at the wrong time.

Accessing your Character, it quickly becomes obvious what this actually means, but it certainly evokes thoughts of needing to do more than click 'Enter World' at the character select screen.

On that note, you should probably either let people know that there is a pause before you can enter your account creds during login. Or use a splash screen to hide it until loading is finished, or optimize that bit. Really don't want new players to feel like they are doing something wrong when it just hasn't been fixed yet.

Pictures are needed, not in the TL;DR section though. Make a reference to a more detailed description below.

I agree that explicitly stating that xp refunds are not allowed and that some fore-thought should be exercised before making purchases is necessary. The other major thing here is giving players a clear idea of is going to be required for what. Dredging that info out of a spreadsheet is not user-friendly, and nothing pisses off people more than buying something that seems perfectly reasonable to expect to be in the progression they are after, only to find out they wasted resources on something that's actually completely unrelated/unnecessary.

Under Training Feats > Achievements the second sentence is not well crafted: " To make earn credit for an Achievement ".

For ability scores, it might be worth phrasing it slightly differently, e.g. "Ability scores have no mechanical benefit; they are used as a pre-requisite for feat training and also improved by training feats that are associated with that ability." or something to that effect. The info is there, but it could be more easily processed.

As an aside, is there any particular reason the team chose a wand instead of a foot as the icon to open the feats window? Not everyone carries a wand you know.

In combat, make note of the fact that some feats are slotted on the left, and some on the right. I still don't know what the difference between the two is, besides some arbitrary rule that says "No, you can't easily access these skills, you're stuck reaching to the 6 key for that one." Bad juju right there, I hate arbitrary keybindings, but until keybindings are a thing, be up front about it.

Under combat, P5, "If you suddenly lose all your attack icons, you probably hit “~” by mistake." This should probably bolded and italicized with something like "Protip: " or "Note: " prefixed to it. Same goes for other honorable mentions on things to watch out for.

Under PVP:
"If you attack another player character twice, ".. twice in how long? Log off? Day? Ever?
"If you attack the Thornguard they will become hostile to you and they never forget and never forgive.".. why not allow that second attack? (Assuming they're not in combat already, to avoid exploits.) People will absolutely attack Thornguards and completely by accident. Ask yourself this, did you ever attack the Priest of Discord? A vendor? Do you know someone who did? Let the player be killed as a result of the first attack, but let the second cement the hatred.

I know, that one is less a function of the document than the game, but this is the first I've seen mention of it. Just remember how different EQ would have been if the Priest of Discord remembered everyone who ever hit him.

Under Minimum Viable Product: "You’re seeing a game in a state of development that most players have never experienced." This was true until Destiny was released. You might want to make mention of that. ;)

Life in a Sandbox, give a quick definition of emergent behavior/gameplay. Fewer people have heard that than sandbox. Maybe make the paragraph about emergent play and link it to sandbox instead of convoluting the description. It's a great concept and one people should be familiar with. The whole paragraph currently reads like a senior manager's description of a job posting that people "in the know" are going to have to decode.

Getting into some of how to use the UI, one thing comes to mind. For the love of whatever gods you hold dear, get scroll events working on the UI. That is such a major usability issue and will hurt you when the non-hardcore come knocking.

For Chat, what classifies as Local? What is the "local map"? Players will wonder. I know I do.

The Tutorial, this needs to be mentioned in the TL;DR section.

The Combat UI, might make mention that relatively few feats use Power.

Nice work on the Ranged vs Melee section, that's going to be fairly critical for players to know.

Understanding Attack Actions:
(It's worth noting that I started to rage a little bit here. Then I remembered it's alpha. You guys need some serious UX love. Everywhere. I hope that's a priority once EE happens.)

The information in this section is solid. It's also going to be a bit much for a lot of new players to process. Maybe make a note that they should re-read this section once they've gone out and fought a few things, bought a few feats, etc.. then again, a picture is worth a thousand words, and that could very well solve the confusion that's like to stem from this section.

Great descriptions of what each stat is though, those are very clear.

That's all I've read thus far, going to put it down for a bit.

Edit: Holy crap, this is too long for my usual proof. I think I'll find a beer instead.

Goblin Squad Member

Being wrote:
How are you testing PvP? Don't the qualities of that experience on both sides matter in testing? Don't the methods used for it matter? Have you tailor built the training of your character for it? Don't you think someone should try? Shouldn't we see whether the impact of reputation hits matter at all to the highly trained? Just because you can kill yourself and then have a duel with someone doesn't mean you are testing PvP, at least not as I think of PvP. It is a bit more complex than that.

There does not seem to be quite enough meat to the system yet to tailor a character solely towards PVP. PVE seems to work well enough in its current form, but PVP is just people hitting each other over a rather short duration. It seems like you can build your character to be stronger at certain things, and chain your abilities in the limited ways you are able to at this point.. but there is not a lot in the way of tactics during a 20 second fight, and not much you can do strategically to better your odds beyond focusing on feats relevant to combat.

One thing that severely impacts PVP combat, IMO, is omni-directional attacking. You can essentially run around doing whatever, while hitting your attack keys, as long as your weapon is close enough to hit your target (excepting cone attacks).

Reputation hits are going to impact everyone, whether you are highly trained or not, though less permanently than before yesterday.

Goblin Squad Member

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Nihimon, that totally reminds me of an experience I had that was just like that. ;)

Definitely some fun to be had, I suspect with a working rep recovery system in place we are likely to see a bit more of it too!

Goblin Squad Member

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Being wrote:
I say that isn't fair. The existing smallholder should have prior claim, property rights. It should require more investment to claim a hex on which there is one or more opposing smallholdings than would be required if the smallholdings not there.

Seems like any claim goes out the window if you do not show up to defend said claim.

On the topic of ownership for these goods, it would be a great thing to allow companies/settlements ownership of store-bought in-game items like the smallhold and basecamp. Eligible members could check them out, and if they left the company or settlement they no longer have access to them. (Could make them disappear for cooldown period before reappearing in settlement / company vault.) If the company or settlement is instead disbanded/destroyed, whoever had the item would likely retain ownership at that point, possession and all that.

Point being, a group could donate towards the smallhold, and not feel like a single member can screw them over.

If company/settlement store pseudo-accounts were feasible, that would be kinda nice. Just add money to the joint account and authorized users can spend it.

Goblin Squad Member

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LazarX wrote:
A lot of folks seem to forget that Cryptic has been running Neverwinter Nights into the ground for quite some time now.

Fixed that for you.

Goblin Squad Member

T7V Jazzlvraz wrote:
Black Silver of The Veiled, T7V wrote:
...(and maybe Consoles)...
I just hope nothing's console-only.

With this latest round of consoles being based on x86 architecture, cross-platform titles became far more likely than ever before.

Goblin Squad Member

Charlie has the right of it. This game is about emergent play if it is about anything at all. The notion that players have to do any given thing simply because they logged in is no less restrictive than if they had made yet another theme park.


Sad day, but I am also fairly busy so I completely understand.

I hope to RP with you again someday.

Goblin Squad Member

Normally one would hear about alpha, closed beta and open beta; it would be easy to make the obvious correlations.

I will point out that the downtime and instability one would generally associate with a typical beta test are not likely to be as present. There will almost definitely be some, but the expectation I have gotten is that this is going to be a stripped down product with a bare minimum of features, but a consistently playable product nonetheless.

Goblin Squad Member

Thanks for that link! Will be interesting to see what is revealed this weekend. ;)

Goblin Squad Member

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http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/08/12/could-obsidian-be-developing-a-pathf inder-video-game

Goblin Squad Member

Any updates on this? These maps are fantastic, would love to see the corrected final map. ;)

Goblin Squad Member

I doubt referring to our community rep as a bind pony is going to win you points Papaver. ;)

Goblin Squad Member

I have never really cared for the term Point of Interest, or the acronym PoI (as Tuffon pointed out, Plane of Innovation will always be the first to mind), but I do like the term holding quite a bit. Whereas settlements are a seat of power, it makes sense for their subsidiaries to be known as holdings. It sounds a hell of a lot better than PoI, as well as fitting in with fantasy stylings.

People who read a lot of fantasy are going to quickly pick up on what a holding might be, while a Point of Interest sounds very generic and more likely to be assigned to a particular waterfall, amphitheater or location you can stand on and not be able to see your feet when you look down (assuming this is an unusual occurrence).

Steading is not a bad one, but unless we can prove that it prevents the use of the One Power I think it might be misleading.

Goblin Squad Member

T7V Jazzlvraz wrote:
Darcnes wrote:
...edge gear...
I'm not familiar with the term, and Googling didn't help. Please explain?
Nihimon wrote:
I expect "edge gear" is the gear that provides an edge in combat, etc.

Gear that is at the leading edge of advancement, which would in effect provide an edge in combat, crafting, adventuring or whatever other purpose it might be put towards.

Goblin Squad Member

Shortbows look like they are supposed to have better accuracy, and there is at least one shortbow active feat that allows for 35m shots. Not sure if there is a similarly range extending feat for longbow/crossbow.

The comparison between staff and wand is an apt one though.

Goblin Squad Member

Throw in my opinion with the rest...

To put it simply, as long as edge gear is strictly player made, the game will never be P2W.

If GW continues the trend of offering items with equivalent mechanics that also have strings attached, where their player-made counterparts do not, I believe this will be a successful MTX model.

Nicely done team.

Goblin Squad Member

Was more curious about the nature of a company having an entity attached to a settlement other than where they are sponsored.

Goblin Squad Member

All the same, questions I hope the design answers, if it does not already.

Goblin Squad Member

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Could Audacity, belonging to the settlement Dagedai, purchase a Smallhold and with the permission of Phaeros, attach it to said settlement?

Would this essentially give us bind points at both Dagedai and Phaeros, and access to both settlements' storage?

Would Phaeros have the option of revoking permission, thus destroying our smallhold? Would there instead be a sort of eviction notice?

Goblin Squad Member

Is democratic voting not already something planned for settlements?

I would see it used for some decisions, but not the majority.

I suspect there are going to be a great many oligarchies out there, it would be nice if they could easily poll or directly pass off a decision to the populace.

Goblin Squad Member

I wonder, what placeholder those future settlements will have in the meanwhile?

Goblin Squad Member

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Just want to say, whew. Glad that is settled.

Goblin Squad Member

It was not until this thread that I ever actually thought Goblin Balls was anything other than a trinket made by goblins, as they are wont to do. Yeah it had a funny double meaning, but seriously, by itself it is not vulgar at all. Especially not if the illustration of Goblin Balls is something other than the goblin equivalent of a money shot!

My suggestion is to legitimize the term by drawing something trinkety, leave it at that.

Aside from that we could have players paying for Scrolls of EXperience, or Scrolls of Enabled XP. I hear those are supposed to sell well.

Aside from that, perhaps... Pathfinder Society Idol or EXperience Infusion.

Goblin Squad Member

Is T3, perhaps 15+?

Goblin Squad Member

So.. why would I not then have a friendly assassin with a bounty on my head popping the stacks?

Which begs the question, can you take a bounty on yourself? Can you assassinate yourself?

Goblin Squad Member

What they are looking at using is certainly MVP worthy. It should not be taken as good enough in the long run though.

If money is able to be moved, physically, yet it is not easy to do in large quantities without the same transportation needed to move actual goods, sure people will scatter but the aggressors could preemptively send bandits to waylay those who flee, if the city is convinced such a thing is necessary. Another opportunity for deep gameplay there.

Checks and the resulting escrows should be vulnerable to looting, so as not to make it that simple to move wealth out of harms way.

Anyways, I very much believe that something simple should go in place first, but in the long run money deserves to be as much a market as any other aspect driving the economy. The very fact that people could and would dedicate the entirety of their characters' lives to handling it says a lot to that end. That it could add another dynamic to politics, while not hindering trade just speaks volumes to the value of such a system.

I hope GW does not simply write this off, but I really do not expect to see more than they have stated at the outset.

Goblin Squad Member

@Bringslite If you receive payment for goods with a check from Settlement A, that has zero to do with Settlement B. The wealth is yours, but it resides with and is in the care of the settlement it is drawn from. You have a vested interest in the welfare of this settlement until such a time as you transfer the money physically away, or exchange it for money elsewhere.

@Decius A merchant would likely want to deal in notes from established settlements. If player run banks become a thing, that would be great, but this is only accounting for settlement banks, i.e. the vault, where the exchange from physical to weightless would likely occur anyhow.

As mentioned before, I believe a system that includes these escrows in the looting is the way to go; beyond that, a settlement should also have a way to reimburse the escrow if they are solvent enough to recover. The devaluing of check escrows is one way it could be handled, or they could be off limits completely at the outset like any other contract escrow would be. That is something I would want to see crowdforged or developed by GW.

My main concern is to see coin be a tangible good. If the settlement is responsible for maintaining the value of that coin (in the form of the check escrow), all the better.

Goblin Squad Member

It sounds like that would be a variable answer, depending on the target. Perhaps a commoner might only need 3 stacks and that only takes 3 minutes, perhaps a well armored high-level knight needs 10.

Knowing the cooldown on applying observe, and what the relative damage bonus per stack is, along with diminishing returns, would be fairly important when planning an assassination.

I am curious how the devs intend to address a target being observed by multiple sources.


  • Will the target see 10 separate single stacks of observe and know there are 10 assassins after them?
  • Will they simply see a single stack of 10 observes instead that appears almost instantly?
  • Would a single stack of 10 observes show up in the combat log with each application so the target could later determine how many assassins were after them by gauging frequency?
  • How is damage handled at that point?
  • Is it just the next single strike that gets the benefit of all 10 observe stacks?
  • Is each assassin responsible for executing the damage granted by their own stacks of observe, or could a wizard fireball a target and take advantage of the stacks accumulated.
  • Could a wizard fireball a room of people that had each been marked individually to consume the stacks of observe?
  • Could one of the target's friends attack them at single stack to minimize the possible damage output?
  • Is having 10 assassins apply a single stack of observe going to be as effective as an assassin that is able to apply all ten on their own?

Goblin Squad Member

@Bringslite Aye.

Goblin Squad Member

Provided the settlement with the facilities allows it or they are a member of that settlement, a LG or CG cleric would be able to train general cleric abilities just fine.

Specific abilities that come from alignment specific temples down the road may not be accommodated at that settlement if they do not match the exact alignment, but we do not have a ton of details on how strict these requirements are going to be yet.

Likely the CG cleric would need to find a town that caters to CG cleric training and hope they offer training to outsiders though.

Goblin Squad Member

Hah, that was a major oversight on my part. Thank you Uthreth for providing the info!

Goblin Squad Member

@Bringslite If the system were only physical, I would absolutely agree. Using something akin to cashier's checks the biggest point of abuse I could see is convincing someone to take a check connected to a city that has been sacked or no longer exists. It seems reasonable that in the latter case the item could be marked to minimize attempts at fraud.

DeciusBrutus wrote:
What happens to the people who accepted cashier's checks when the bank that issued them is looted?

Well, it sounds like looters are not likely to be able to take all of a settlement's money, at least not in one go of it. That said, pretty much what you would expect to happen; slips of paper become less valuable. I would think the settlement should owe into those escrows though, should it be able to recover over time.

Tying these checks to settlement wealth in the event of looting would be challenging I suspect, and it would primarily serve the purpose of allowing the the settlement to make good on it being looted instead of leaving its citizens with misgivings.

Caldeathe Baequiannia wrote:
I'd say it's the same concern that Ryan has expressed in pretty much every related message.

I believe there is a rather large difference between a line of credit and a cashier's check. One of them you are asking for money, the other you are providing the money and asking for essentially a proof of ownership through that establishment.

If escrows had to be introduced to accommodate such a system, it would be needlessly complex. As it is, contracts are already going to heavily depend on exactly the kind of system that would be needed. It would be the equivalent of a contract to hand this slip of paper in at this location to receive x amount of money.

The biggest change is, money stays put without deliberate effort. The exchange of wealth still occurs, but the physical funds follow the same rules everything else in the game is subject to. Think about the impact this is likely to have on the social and political landscape. Meanwhile, large-scale trading can be pulled off without hauling around wagons of gold, unless that is the subject of the trade.

Goblin Squad Member

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We are coming into the last stretch of the land rush. Some people have seen a lot of shakeup, some are finally settling down. These final days should prove to be quite interesting!

One of the things many of us have eagerly been awaiting has really started to change landscape of the landrush, that would be companies banding together to secure a location.

I would like to invite any individuals or companies who have not settled on a home yet to consider living with us.

We are Lawful Neutral and we have very few requirements of our inhabitants, all of which are intended to see our city thrive without placing an undue burden on the populace. We are a hub for travel, trading and crafting among the variety of services our denizens will be offering. In short, if you do not know where you want to be already, there is a good chance you could benefit greatly in making your home with us.

If you wish to see a bit more about us, take a look at our settlement thread.

If you simply wish to sign on, take a look here!

Feel free to leave any questions you may have below, or send me a PM if you prefer.

I look forward to seeing some new faces!

Goblin Squad Member

Ryan Dancey wrote:
If coin has weight and mass, the economy becomes crippled. Merchants cannot move enough coins fast enough to the market hubs to engage in production at scale.

Cashier's checks. Using the escrow system, the ownership of money can be transferred without it physically being displaced. I believe there is a lot of value to be had in the resulting ramifications.

Ryan Dancey wrote:

If coin has no weight or mass, the Settlement will divide its wealth among a large number of proxy characters that will be created expressly for this purpose. [...]

Result will be a system (looting Settlements) that rarely actually gets used.


  • Settlements would not be able to vanish their money on a whim.
  • Looting settlements retains a high value.
  • Goblinworks can easily track the location of these funds.
  • Players would still need to move money to the bank by hand after adventuring.
  • Players would be able to access large amounts of wealth without issue.
  • Players and even Settlements and Nations are passively encouraged to proactively spread their wealth to facilitate trade, and possibly to protect their wealth if they are weak.

I would be very interested to hear what negatives you believe a system like this might entail.

Goblin Squad Member

I have to admit, the thought of a weightless and non-substantial currency is disappointing.

Loading up on money should encumber you, and there should definitely be the possibility of getting robbed. Using bank notes to facilitate massive transactions is a great idea, one that should incur a cost, be it flat or fraction; most importantly it should still leave the carrier open to the risk of loss.

However, a number of transactions are likely to occur through the use of contract escrows which could perhaps be used to bypass carrying sums of money that could be put at risk.

If things end up with money being effectively out of the system, it will certainly make for a world of slightly less consequence. That said, unless redemption of contracts is made perhaps needlessly complex, players are likely to find a way around putting themselves at risk.

I believe it is a problem that could be handled gracefully, and I do not believe that weightless and insubstantial currency is the solution, but it does have the merit of essentially rolling with the punches, which may be more important at this point.

Goblin Squad Member

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I believe that whoever is being observed should need to notice it on their own, or even someone nearby with a high enough perception and a clear view of both the stalker and prey.

Letting anyone get a free notice like this tells players they do not need to invest points into being observant.

I say this even as a town leader knowing that I am likely to attract this sort of attention. If I and my cohorts fail to notice A) the potentially disguised assassin, and B) the observation action itself, I really do not feel bad about what comes next.

It is not a clear death sentence even then, but at that point, if you die from assassination, you have failed three times.

Goblin Squad Member

Finally got around to setting up forums. They're functional, but currently a work in progress.

That said, feel free to stop by and say hi!

http://commons.audacity.company/

Goblin Squad Member

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Finally got around to setting up forums. They're functional, but currently a work in progress.

That said, feel free to stop by and say hi!

Goblin Squad Member

Decided to add my thoughts here (possible someone else mentioned already, it is late and I did not read them all):

Should definitely have racial abilities.

Give a flat +x ranks to a given trainable stat, i.e. +2 hp ranks, +2 crafting rank, +2 archery ranks.

Since the ranks are supposed to have diminishing returns anyhow, this will give a larger advantage in earlier ranks, while still offering an edge towards the end of a given progression.

Things like Low-light vision and Darkvision should absolutely be brought in, I really hope when the lights go out, that it is actually hard to see. This was something I appreciated in EQ and look forward to in Shroud of the Avatar. As would I like to see the ability to blind a drow with bright light temporarily.

Will be curious to see what comes of this.

Goblin Squad Member

Darcnes wrote:
Quote:
Towers have a PvP window. When the window is open, the Hex the Tower is in does not inflict Reputation penalties for PvP. While the window is open there is a capture area near the tower, probably outlined by a wall or similar structure. Standing in that area gives your company points towards controlling the tower; the first company to cross a certain threshold gains control of the tower. If you are defending a tower you control, you lower everyone elses points for each person in the control area.

Will multiple companies from the same settlement be competing against each other? It seems like support from the sponsoring settlement could well end up being counter-productive to the settlement's interests as a whole if this is the case.

I would like to see control be established based on cumulative settlement effort, with company control awarded based on the percentage of support a given company put in towards the effort of the settlement as a whole.

Can a company control more than one tower?

Did I miss a goblin post addressing this in the last couple pages?

Goblin Squad Member

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Quote:
Towers have a PvP window. When the window is open, the Hex the Tower is in does not inflict Reputation penalties for PvP. While the window is open there is a capture area near the tower, probably outlined by a wall or similar structure. Standing in that area gives your company points towards controlling the tower; the first company to cross a certain threshold gains control of the tower. If you are defending a tower you control, you lower everyone elses points for each person in the control area.

Will multiple companies from the same settlement be competing against each other? It seems like support from the sponsoring settlement could well end up being counter-productive to the settlement's interests as a whole if this is the case.

I would like to see control be established based on cumulative settlement effort, with company control awarded based on the percentage of support a given company put in towards the effort of the settlement as a whole.

Can a company control more than one tower?

Goblin Squad Member

Do characters actually get kicked out at two steps away? Based on rumbles about character alignments impacting settlement alignment, one has to wonder.

Seems like things have been changing over the last few months, muddying the waters so to speak, and perhaps we no longer have a particularly clear idea of how the settlement / company / character relationship is going to work.

Though it does sound like what has been discussed so far at least is based on fairly recent info.

Goblin Squad Member

Glad to have you Multiple Choice! Welcome aboard. =)

Goblin Squad Member

I would expect bandits to attempt to make use of it as well. Though, unless people act carelessly, I do not see this being an issue in and of itself.

Keovar is correct that the point of this is not influence gain, but rather networking and easy communication with the right people.

Goblin Squad Member

Gotcha, a simple "I want to join" will suffice. This is not so much a place for others to advertise themselves, as a place for others to join if they are interested. It is specifically a company that can be joined in addition to whatever other company one might belong to.

Are you, or others in your company, interested in joining Mercantile to have access to the network being established?

Goblin Squad Member

Guilds are not actually an in-game construct. They recycled the term to mean collection of groups supporting a settlement during the landrush. Once the landrush is over, supposedly we will not see the term guild any longer.

So with that in mind, yes, you can only be part of one guild, since you can only throw your support behind one settlement.

Companies are an in-game construct, and so that is where you will see limit of three, only one of which can be sponsored.

You are correct, we are located in the SW corner of the map, next to Fort Inevitable.

Goblin Squad Member

That is excellent news! I am glad to hear that you are rallying support behind this location.

Really hope you guys succeed!

Goblin Squad Member

Chartered is just a plain company that has come together, sponsored means they have made their home at and are tied to a particular settlement. You are correct in assuming that Audacity will be sponsored by Dagedai.

Goblin Squad Member

Shane, good to hear, we can certainly use as many trade oriented folk as we can get.

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