Densor's page

Any system that allows you to tell friend from foe shouldn't be free.

My proposal is a tabard that can be crafted specifically for identifying players. From a tech standpoint, you'd probably want the crafter to be able to specify a primary code that can be used for identification purposes, as well as a color and maybe symbol for aesthetics. The tabard would provide a hashed version of the code for passing to other players, so they can configure the wearer to be friendly.

Ideally, the hashed code would be available for viewing when looting a husk, but the tabard itself would be unavailable for looting. This would allow enemies to steal the code for identifying foes.

Finally, tabards carried in the inventory could be looted from husks and worn to impersonate friendlies, and potentially the original code could be sold to enemies by traitors, or the tabards could be supplied, etc.

As far as bluff and/or disguise go, the hashed code could always be some number of characters long like 32, because that's a great number. Depending on distance, only a part of the code is transmitted to viewers, like 4 characters when they just appear on the minimap. As they get closer, the number of characters known by the viewer increases until the full code is known at 10 yards or something. Perception could change the distances (I'd like it if perception affected the range the minimap could see, but I'd bet there are technical limitations on that).

By doing this, bluff and/or disguise could allow you to create a tabard with a specific hashed code, but your skill (plus a random number) affects how many of the characters from that hashed code are actually correct. This way, at far distances, you could pass for someone wearing an friendly tabard, but the closer you get, the more likely someone sees through your disguise.

On second thought, T1 +0 tabards could have as few as 8 characters for the hashed code, and additional +'s and tier levels would add to that number. Probably make it so that 4 characters are visible at maximum range and then the last two are visible at minimum range, with the remaining characters spread out over the distance between. More characters means faster recognition of enemies as they approach under disguise.

By my counts, you have 110% of the entry fee being paid out.

66% to 1st, 23% to 2nd, 10% to 3rd, 10% to organizers.

If the current method is kept, I would recommend adding in an acceleration factor for resource generation. In the event that a hex is minimally harvested between resource ticks, the later ticks should add more resources. Whenever significant harvesting occurs, this bonus gets reset, similar to the method of gaining reputation outlined in the most recent blog post. Combine this with lower resource caps.

This would reward settlements that can exert control over their harvesting and would provide more interesting methods of resource denial.

I feel like Destiny's Twin should be renamed to Destiny's Hero given the description of how it will work. It might stop someone from thinking of setting a crafting support character as the Destiny Twin character rather than their primary character and then being angry when they have to slightly gimp their primary character to create a refiner.

Regarding rep changes, I think the rep scale needs to be non-linear if it is going to be useful. 7500 rep should be reserved for people who almost never engage in dishonorable killing, maybe something like more than 60 hours of gameplay since the last dishonorable kill, longer if their rep was lower than 7500 to start.

On the other hand, someone should be able to hover around 0 rep while making a kill every couple hours without a problem. Someone who is more likely to kill you than pass you by should probably have a -2500 or lower rep.

Thornguard reputation limits should probably be raised 0 or even 2500. I do agree that a player who finds enjoyment from the PvP aspect should be able to kill somewhat regularly without completely tanking their reputation and being forced out of towns, but it should be very difficult for a player to return to high levels of reputation after engaging in dishonorable PvP. If PC settlements have Thornguards, they should be able to change the limit to suit their settlement. Possibly add in a new faction of guard that has reversed limits.

The formula would need to be something more along the lines of:
x reputation is added per hour.
y% of reputation is subtracted per hour.
x > y * 7500, but likely not by too much, as this will determine how hard it is to get to 7500.
The magnitude of x and y will determine how "hard" it is to stay at -7500.

Foreword
I've only played the game as a solo player and only since the stress test began.

State of the Game
The game looks like it is in a good spot for continued development. Movement, combat, NPC interaction, economy/crafting, progression, persistence, and chat are all in. I believe those systems are the foundation of every other system in the game, so having them all in is a good sign.

The game is like ground beef right now. By itself, it is edible and can sustain you, but without some flavoring, you might not want to eat it for too many days in a row. However, it is much better than having an infinite supply of taco seasoning and no beef.

Major Problems
Most of the huge flaws I've seen relate to making sure player's never spend their time pointlessly. Rollbacks invalidate a player's spent time. Teleports and unfortunate reputation hits can leave players wasting time trying to get back to the fun part of the game. That said, it's good we are doing this during Alpha and not during EE.

The other big problem I've noticed is a lack of tooltips and feedback. Even tooltips that say "Not Yet Implemented" or "Not Yet Documented" are preferable to nothing. Lack of obvious stunned/knockdown visual effects or notifications can make players feel combat is unresponsive. Additionally, not having a combat or loot log can be frustrating.

Suggestions
1) Dual wielding is somewhat odd right now, especially in the case of shields. It does make sense that some abilities can't be used while wielding a weapon in your offhand, but it doesn't make sense that I can't use most of the abilities of the offhand and the mainhand. Splitting it between the basic and advanced abilities seems wrong.

I'd suggest adding two-hand abilities to many of the one-hand weapons (or modifying some of the existing abilities), which can only be used if your offhand is free. Then make all the other abilities able to be used as long as you have one of those weapons in a hand.

2) Players should be able to turn unwanted equipment into salvage that can be used in crafting. It doesn't make sense that a steel greatsword +0 can't be used when making a steel ingot, but some goblin weapon scraps can. Why can't I just turn the steel greatsword into weapon scraps by banging it against the ground a few times?

3) It seems to me that right now a player can't go from stopped to walking without passing through hustling, which provokes. That's backwards, and prevents some basic maneuvering in combat.

4) Flanking could be implemented as a bonus/penalty based on the number of people in melee range that have a character targeted while in combat.

5) Add some NPC's that will provide a character with starting equipment. Players can easily get those items by making a new character and trading the starting equipment to a friend, so there's little reason to not make that possible. Additionally, PC settlements should be able to upgrade that NPC to provide better equipment for members of the settlement. Although maybe company storage will provide that.

It would suck to lose your starting weapon due to accidentally attacking another player or guard and not being able to fight. It may not be a likely problem, but for the one player that gets into that position, it will be a huge problem. Although, if salvaging usable equipment is implemented, this equipment will need to be unsalvageable.

Conclusion
I didn't really say anything positive about the game, but that's not because there aren't good things. I just can't think cohesive thoughts about what is good about the game. Much easier to focus on how I would fix a problem I see than to remember a not-problem that I didn't see.

I suppose I can say that combat is good, crafting is good, monster difficulty seems decent, the keyword mechanics are neat, and the community seems mostly positive.

I look forward to when we get some more seasoning.

Is there a reason that reputation penalties can't be turned off for actions against party members? It seems that's the major issue here. Accidentally targeting and hurting/killing party members might be frustrating, but it isn't unrealistic.

As a long term solution, could a system be implemented where hostile actions against party members get reported to the offended party member in a log and can be chosen to be ignored or passed on to authorities? I feel like the actions taken by the players shouldn't be limited and it should be up to the players to not go on a berserk rampage and accidentally kill the cleric. Tab targeting is useful for selecting a target, but making it too smart removes choices (good and bad) from the players.

You might also consider making it so reputation losses in parties are limited to only dropping the player to +2500 rep. This gives other players a possible signal that a player is poor at managing their target in parties.