Jameow's page

Hi everyone!
It's been a while, but today I logged into the alpha for the first time.

What I'd like to say first and foremost is that I'm actually pretty happy with what I've seen so far. I have absolutely no idea what most of the abilities I've picked up do, but that's fine, the NPCs standing completely still until they attack something is both unnerving and amusing, but that's alphas for you.

But most importantly, I logged in, I started doing things, mostly just to see what I could do, where I could go, what was around, that sort of thing, and unlike a lot of games that claim to be a bit sandboxy, I didn't feel like I HAD to go out and do anything in particular, but could just try things. I cam across a few quests... a few brigand camps with markers and descriptions over them on the map that explained the scenario, and I really love that feature. To go out into the world and just DO stuff without it having to be a particular thing if you want to get anywhere.

If this is the way the game is going to continue developing, then, for me at least, it's a winner!

My first idea is inspired by the UO Champion Spawns. I'll call it for this "Hornet's Nest"

The idea is that some dungeon place spawns, such as a temple or altar or something, and instead of just killing everything and reducing it, by attacking it, it pushes it into activity.

So here's an example: A lizardman temple (because I like lizardmen)spawns deep in a forest, and they are performing a ritual to summon a god/demon/spirit/whatever it is this group is summoning.There are a few guards around the base of the temple, nothing much, they're just lookouts to make sure the ceremony isn't interrupted.

So along comes our band of heroes to investigate this temple they found. They kill the guards. And more come pouring out of the temple. The more they kill, the more and stronger their foes are, so it gets tougher and tougher, until eventually they have to fight the priest (a boss monster) or, if they've successfully completed the ritual, whatever was summoned.

Big epic fight, fun all round. But here's the catch:
If the heroes fail, there's now a very angry lizard cult, and the high priest will take his temple guards and followers and go on a rampage attacking everything in site for interrupting his ritual and hoping that will keep people away the next time. Or if they finish the ritual uninterrupted, there's now a big creature loose in the world.

So in short the idea is this: A dungeon type environment that increases in spawn rate and difficulty the more it is attacked ( probably a tier system) and eventually the big boss is spawned at the end to fight, big rewards for looting the temple and defeating the villain.

Second idea:
In dungeons, have a chance to spawn rare magical crafting apparatuses such as magical forges and looms that can create special rare magical items with unique and powerful abilities. They can't be moved, so you'd need to find it and use it before the dungeon despawns and get as much out of it as you can before it loses its power from use, despawns, or someone else captures it from you. Could have different types that give different types of bonuses and means sometimes you'll want to bring your crafters on an adventure (and if they're a specialised crafter without too much in the way of combat it gives you something to defend)

So, from what we've seen, the halflings, half orc and half elves are all missing out on being in by the time we start playing- but we know they will be in. So what I would like to see is a "placeholder status" for these races where you still choose it as a race on creation, it just shares the models and skins of another race until their race is added. Perhaps then the attributes could be accounted for on creation, maybe even any racial abilities.

Halflings could get dwarf or gnome models
half orcs human models
half elves get elf models.

That way it also means that straight away we get to see the effects on any racial abilities that might be disproportional and don't get the "racial flavor of the month" you see in many games. Then instead of giving everyone a race change, just have to give an appearance change to those who picked a race that wasn't implemented.

If the Kickstarter Makes it (here's hoping) I'm seeing there's still plenty of tiers that have loads of slots still available.

So here's an idea/wish, possibly to add to the goblin store for those that supported: Extra addons for the unclaimed slots in things, perhaps at a reduced price (as you're not giving away ALL the things, just thing being purchased)

So for example: Say there's 30 "geography buff" levels left after the KS ($400 pledge level), perhaps sell the Geography buff bit (the place named after an ancestor alone, none of the others things that come with this tier) for say $250-300 in the store, with 30 available.

So that backers who didn't necessarily have the money, or were already backing at another level, can purchase one later, boosting the funding a bit (allowing a little more to get done in development in the process).

Just for the things deemed appropriate... not all tiers and not all items.

And for if in 6 months time, someone decided that they really wanted the monument addon and didn't get it, they still can for the same price.

So pretty much not asking for anything that wasn't part of the projected maximum contributions anticipated by the KS. I know there are people who want multiples of the unique tier items, but don't necessarily have thousands of dollars to dish out in one go.

And there's still a long time to go before even alpha, let alone release.

This may not seem very important to many people, and maybe it's not, but given the dynamic nature of spawns in this game, I'm assuming animals are equally dynamic in where they spawn.

I'd like to take that concept to a little more depth.
I'd like to see relationships between animals built into the spawns. For example: foxes may be drawn towards settlements as they're scavengers, so around towns as well as npc spawns like orcs, I'd like to see an increase in fox spawns in those hexes, but not a drastic one, because they don't like people, so perhaps more would he found in the surrounding, less populated hexes. Rabbits and the like are hunted by foxes too, so rabbit spawns would drop and spread out to less heavily preyed upon hexes.

Wolves would do a similar thing with rabbits, birds, deer etc, driving them from hexes through predation when there's lots of them, driving them away from civilized hexes.
I don't know if your plant spawn will be dynamic too, but if it is they could also influence what animals are found in the hex.

But you get the general idea, a sort of dynamic animal spawn where the pedator/prey/plantlife and settlements all influence the rate and distribution of animal spawn.

Want deer? Head out into the deeper forests. Want pigeons and foxes? Go closer to towns. Are deer getting to scare? Kill off some wolves. That's the broad brushstrokes anyway.

Given the nature of Pathfinder, with the game give us roleplayers the tools to make the most of the world? Mostly that just means the ability to emote and enough customisation of our characters and surroundings to immerse ourselves?

is it part of the vision to support roleplayers?

I ask because I've been looking around, and there seems to be very little catering to this playstyle these days

I think it would be nice if people could create campsites out in the wilderness, somewhere you can rest and recouperate alone or with a group. plan strategies, divvy up loot and do some basic crafting, or just sit around the fire telling stories.

The idea is something that gets set up in an open area, creating a small "zone" that is the campsite. They'd be something you could pack up (and only have one of active at a time)or others could destroy it if they don't like that you've put it there, or while attacking you they might.

Here's the twist: different abilities give you different things to add to the campsite, cooking implements and cauldrons for crafting food and potions, bigger tents for soldiering (campaign tents and the like), tables with maps (cartography?), a small carpentry or fletching table, makeshif anvil by the fire (do some basic crafting or repair work, but not the full selection you'd get at a real forge), pallisades, or, for magic users, magical barriers, or druids, turn it into a grove, surrounded by trees that will attack foes on command. Useful for everything from a lone druid out in the forest, or a whole army waiting for a siege or reinforcements (which would be lots of smaller camps) even, perhaps, ritual or magic circles for magic users that enhance their magical abilities while standing on them (defensive/offensive bonuses if your camp is attacked) The zone being the extent to which you can place items in it (eg, you can't use it to spawn a line of tables creating a wall from one town to the next). There would of course also be various logs, boulders and stools for sitting on (or someone might just bring their own chair if they're that fussy)

Anyone could use your camp that was in it, so if they kill you, they could still use your fletching table to make new arrows (until you pack up the camp, which will have to be able to be done remotely in case you can't find your way back), but only members of the group can add items, and only a certain number each, more powerful ones requiring more people in the camp to construct. (so having a bunch of smaller, coordinated groups to make more camps won't make them very effective, a druid grove without a druid won't do much, and a magic circle without the creator around won't help much, you still have pallisades, but you'd need resources to construct those, and they'll still burn just as easily.)

exact mechanics and resources to make and set them up? entirely up for debate.

I think it would just be something that adds a bit of flavour and a bit of strategy. Been at a resource for a while? your group might set up a camp next to it, now if you get attacked by a group coming to take it from you, you've prepared a more defensible position.

I realise racial attributes is part of the pathfinder structure, but in games where pvp is a significant component, it can cause issues, you end up with a "best" race for certain pvp layouts (eg all pvp mages end up being elves, all the barbarians dwarves"

Are the racial characteristics going to have this kind of effect on PFO or are they going to be less... Directed to advantages in combat areas?

I ask mostly put of a concern for diversity in characters, and choosing the "wrong" race.

Thanks to Nihimon for finding all the current info on combat (which is Here

I think a few things are still a bit unclear about how it works, so I have some questions!

1) So we get these points every 6 seconds, does that mean combat is turn based? sort of NWN style?

2) How does targetting work? Is it like WoW/CoH etc where you tab to a target and your abilities will all be aimed at them, or will it be more like NWN/UO where you select an ability and then you select a target for it? (I don't think it's that because it doesn't sound like it would work with the point system)
Or is it more like RaiderZ/TERA where you essentially point at your target and your abilities will home in on it? (So even if they move, you've still targetted them)
Or like Star Trek Online where you have a hybrid system of tab targets or aim and shoot as is your personal preference?

Or some unique other combination?

3) What about surrounding trgets, collateral damage etc? Is there any? If I have one goblin targetted and fire an arrow an ogre jumps in front of the golbin, will it ignore the Ogre, pass right through it and only damage the goblin, or will it hit the ogre because the ogre got in the way?

If I swing a blade in a wide arc and I have three goblins in front of me, will it hit all of them in the arc, or will it only hit the one I have selected?

4) When it comes to siege weapons and the like, does this mean buildings will be selectable to target, or are they a "find your range and try to aim at it" weapon? Or can you target PARTS of a building? If my army targets a single point in a wall with several catepaults, will it bring down the entire wall or just the section? What happens to any troops on it? or near it?

5) When it comes to gaining new abilities, does each level unlock all abilities at the level like a tier, or is it more like NWN where you select one or two abilities from a selection each level? Will all Level 20 swordsmen have all the same abilities at that level, or will there be different options?

6) With this in game daily use of some abilities, what are we talking here? something like 3 uses a day, or more like 15. Am I only going to get 2 fireballs in a 4 hour rl period (plus 2 more from a refresh)? That sounds to me like all magical classes would all have to be well trained in weapon use, because magic is only a backup, but that's just my impression.

7) I believe there's going to be mounted combat, is this just going to be "your abilities from a horse" like UO, or more like "the horse is a weapon, you will have to use your mounted combat abilities while on a horse" or a mixture? (your weapon abilities will be replaced with mounted ones, your other abilities such as spells and special abilities will work if they have the "mounted" attribute.

I know a lot of this probably isn't set in stone yet, but what's the vision here?

Is there going to be a dueling system in game?
I know that there's no reason two people couldn't spar if they chose to anyway, but thinking about it, if two people just want to practice their combat skills (which could be quite important, given the environment) it would be nice if they could do so without having to go through the process of dying/taking alignment hits for a practice fight.

So I was thinking something like when you duel, if your hp hits 0 it just flags as "*name* yields" and they get 1hp back, so then they can heal up and you don't get those situations where people randomly invite you to duel and kill you because you accidentally accepted or flag you as a murderer/put a bounty on you when then invited you to spar with them in the first place.

I don't know if one already exists, but I think it would be a good idea to have a wiki for details about the game so that people can search through it for things they want to know rather than trawling through threads and blogs for a line they're sure they read in one somewhere. So that you can see the current details on death, looting, skills/abilities, weapons, monsters, mechanics and systems under appropriate headings. I think it's a clear way to present information in a way people can process and find what they want to find out.

Obviously it would all be subject to change, like these things are anyway.

Just a suggestion.

I played UO for years, and one of the things that struck me about it is how easy it was to have a unique looking character despite the very limited graphical tech used, it seems to be something lacking in more modern games- despite sometimes offering some great sliders for appearance in some games, everyone ends up looking the same due to few hues and even less variety in models for clothing and armor pieces- and that's WITH a costume slot, those without you're essentially condemned to wear what fits your stats.

I often find I am inspired to play a character first by an image in my head of how they look, then work out their abilities and personality after,only to find the option I need isn't there! Sometimes it's just a lack of colour choices or hairstyle or build, but to me appearance options are important. It annoys me trying to create a wiry swordsman with long pale brown hair and light brown eyes to find I have to have the build of the Incredible Hulk, have blonde hair and green eyes as the only options, and that my light blade option is the size of pony.

I think vanguard: saga of heroes and Star Wars galaxies did a great job with customization of body, and TERA has a clever system where long hair gets tied up or back if it conflicts with collars or other clipping issues (but lacks greatly in other customization)

But an idea did just occur to me for clothing options.
What if we open up texture and model options for cosmetic items is opened up to player submission? There would have to be a degree of moderating to ensure we don't get inappropriate or anachronistic content, but it could be an option- TERA allows guild logos to be uploaded, second life allows pretty much everything to be player made, but that's a little different. This may deserve it's own post for discussion, but I'll throw it in anyway here!

Apologies if this makes little sense, I wrote it on the way home and my mind probably wandered greatly.

Hey guys, I was just wandering what people think is the most enjoyable combat system for them? For me it's the TERA/RaiderZ style swinging and loose aiming with no real targeting, relying on dodging and timing, without going as far as needing the accuracy of a first person shooter's accuracy. For me it opens up the most dynamic and interesting system (allowing for vulnerable spots, weak points and use of shields as an actual shield). But what about you guys? What makes a combat system fun and interesting?