Kosten07's page

I would love to see some dual monitor support along with the ability to customize our interface.

Being able to set up all chat options in one monitor and being able to focus on playing the game on another would be epic.

How about this?

Give players a surrender option, and the bandits can "loot" the player as if he was dead however the player moves on with the knowledge he was just robbed but the bandit thankfully left him alive.

Maybe unflag the player that surrendered from PvP for five minutes to give him time to flee?

You can have flavors of bandits who will butcher anyone they come across or have the ones who allow their prey the chance to surrender without bloodshed.

Or even if the bandit is forced to bleed their prey with some hard lumps the victim can "surrender".

I can see this opening a lot of role playing opportunities.

A bounty could be placed for the thief but it can't be renewed forever because he isn't a murderer.

Just thinking outside the box. This would probably make everything more complicated than it needs to be.

I just found out that I know several RL folks signed up here.

I was planning on joining the KotCR however if you are still accepting memberships I'm pledging my sword and spells to your cause.

Apologies to my fellow knights but I must withdraw my application here.

I have several RL friends wrangling me over to another guild. I have no doubt though that we will still be allies when its time to battle evil!

Signed up, looks good Dak.

If PFO is going to work as a true sandbox then the devs will have to keep flying type abilities in mind from the very start of design.

Spells fly, overland flight, wind walk, etc. Potions, magic items, supernatural abilities from certain classes (Sorcerers).

Dragons, Griffons, Beholders, etc.

These are all hugely important to a proper dnd Pathfinder world.

Flying goes hand in hand with any fantasy setting like peanut butter and jelly.

If I am part of a large settlement and we have taken the time and resources to invest in a group of heroes who use flight as a tactic then good for us and the enemy better have a plan to deal with us. Sandbox.

Will flight be used for griefing? Absolutely however even without flight those same people will still be griefing. Don't punish everyone because your worried about a few people and limit flight.

When we come across a dragon rampaging through a hex, I want to see it flying around and sowing destruction, not waddling around the landside!

I'd like to see a flight discussion, both the cons and pros, spells and supernatural abilities, and the skill "Flight" that's completely separate from this one since everyone is seems to be focusing on the first half of his post, the dragon part.

There was an earlier post I think a few weeks or even months ago but I don't recall any official responses.

I'm hoping Form of the Dragon is added in at some time.

As for flight being in the game its a legitamite tactic for spellcasters and I hope its discussed fully before being written off.

I was just talking about this to a friend, I'd really like to be able to make an informed opinion on what exactly I'm getting with my extra money I'm spending on add-ons.

I'd grab the Inner Sea World Guide Campaign Setting, it has an amazing timeline that pretty much explains most of the important events in PFO.

Since it's already been confirmed to follow as close to canon as possible this is the book you want!

http://paizo.com/products/btpy8ief?Pathfinder-Campaign-Setting-The-Inner-Se a-World-Guide

Tarondor,

Can we get a guild website up soon?

The sooner we can start organizing within and with our allied guilds would mean a cleaner start!

My best moments in gaming were from EQ.

1) Ironically enough, I was also a brand new dwarf named Dugan who had no idea how a cleric learned spells. Along came a dwarf named Gottvader who explained it to me and then we went fishing and talked all the while spilling our beer.

2) Eventually I settled on my main being an Ogre warrior named Loyal. I was farming Evil Eyes for stalks that I needed for my epic. I got a tell asking if I could help with a corpse retrieval at the bottom of Runnyeye. This eventually became a two hour ordeal in which I died multiple times however we were finally successful. I even went back a level but I didn't mind, the triumph of success was all the much sweeter.

These are just two examples of many many many such in Everquest. What a frustrating, hard, dangerous, rewarding, fun, and amazing game that was only made possible by the community.

Wow Andius, that hadn't occurred to me, that really would be awesome.

Has it been discussed whether PFO will follow along with canon Pathfinder releases? Or will PFO chart its own course outside of Pathfinder?

I'm hoping it will follow canon because I love reading into Pathfinder's rich history and narrative. It would be fantastic to see it in the game as well.

I'm imagining something in the future when PFO is released having "events" that co-inside with adventure paths or new books covering different parts of Golarion.

This of course would probably a lot more work for the devs to keep up but since they are so closely tied together perhaps its doable.

Lawful Good

Paladin/Sorcerer/Silver Dragon Disciple of Aspu signing on and voted.

I've got my coupon from my Paizo Christmas card. Too bad I can't use to pledge more!

I too would like to see another 200 dollar range solo backer reward, I think a lot of people could justify going over the 100 dollar amount but aren't really interested in owning multiple copies of the game.

Ryan,

Pathfinder always has a huge presence at GenCon and I was wondering if your planning on having any type of formal presence there for Goblinworks/PFOnline.

Thanks!

Also I saw that KitNyx mentioned the Leadership feat, at higher levels that would be an interesting way to add followers. Not necessarily for combat, but imagine owning a black smith and your character happens to be really good at making armor. Your follower will stay online and sell your crafted items while your offline sleeping, working, etc.

That's just the tip of the iceberg with followers. That I would like to see implemented, it would be pretty amazing to see your town/mansion/castle populated with your own NPCs going about their business of running the day to day operations while your off adventuring.

This is an interesting idea however I doubt its going to be implemented if they are able to have everything on one server.

I personally don't want a bunch of cohorts running around, but thats my play style.

That being said if I have an animal companion or perhaps Summon Monster (insert number) then it makes sense because thats the class I've chosen to focus on.

Maybe instead of asking for cohorts you can ask for classes with summoning/animal companions to actually have worthwhile minions.

And, if they get around to adding the Summoner class I think that might be right up your alley.

I really like the approach you guys are taking with this game Ryan.
One of the reason's why Pathfinders rule set was far superior to 3.5's was one of the things your hitting on here.

In 3.5 the core classes really didn't have much oomph at level 20. This forced most players to multiclass out into another class.
Pathfinder came along and changed it so that if you were dedicated to your core class at level 20 you were rewarded with some amazing abilities.
That being said, you can still multiclass in Pathfinder, and if you dedicate yourself to prestige class, you can gain some pretty amazing prestige class abilities.

With all of that being said, I have a question that I haven't seen asked or answered yet.

Ryan, will there be prestige classes, and if so will they have a capstone ability?

@ Zesty

I've never really played NWN or NWN2 online. I played on Brell and was gone before it merged with another server.

Bringing it all back to Pathfinder MMO, I think game developers have to balance what they want to do and how it will generate them money.

In the end it really all does come back to making money, as that investors want a return on their money. The guys making the game also want to make the best game they can.

With all the MMOs competing with a small but growing market ( I think I read somewhere that the gaming entertainment industry has or will soon pass movies, TV, and music combined in profits ), a game has to be able to appeal to a broad range of folks.

Then again there is the story of EVE which took the usual playbook for MMOs and threw it out.

I really like Ryan's post explaining how they plan on breaking the mold with PFO.

It's really too early to make snap judgment calls like some others have posted about whats going to happen. So far I'm extremely impressed with the constant communication we're receiving about the game.

So, would having true darkness be awesome? In my gaming experience I'd say hell yeah. If PFO doesn't I still think we're going to be blown away by other aspects of them game that we might not even have seen coming.

@ Zesty

I know what you miss Zesty. I miss it too.

There has never been another game like EQ that created such an awesome gaming community.

The game WAS difficult. In the beginning if you had mana you had to stare at your spellbook until you got your mana back. Everything took much longer, leveling, traveling, meaningful boat rides. It was a slower paced MMO that did not cater to instant gratification.

I played a warrior all the way from beta through PoP. I know the meaning of pain, I absolutely had to find a group because soloing was impossible.

Your core point isn't just about the darkness of EQ, it's really a core fond desire to recapture the community of EQ.

Because everything was slower and more difficult you were forced to interact with other players. Long boat rides would cause you to chat with fellow players. Waiting on mana or health to regen would mean stopping in a safe area where there would be others waiting and you'd end up chatting there. If you had loot to sell, you went to Eastern Commons and actually sold it (no AH folks). All of this social interaction created the greatest gaming community I have ever seen.

People cared about their characters because it took real time to devote to the game. You also cared for your fellow gamers with him you've bled and sweated with to where you were at.

God forbid if on a raid someone ninja looted, in EQ they'd be forced to change servers because of the strong community.

Though EQ was beloved, it was extremely time consuming, frustrating, and often times painful.

Along came WoW. Like many others, I started playing WoW and realized, whoa I could play and have fun without all the downtime in this huge open world. I didn't have to rely on others, I can solo and play when I want to play. I didn't have to spend an entire night banging my head on the keyboard because I couldn't find a group. I could just log on for thirty minutes and get something done.

Years later I'm playing WoW and thinking to myself, why are so many people such douchebags. Mind you I play on a PvE server but I leveled on PvP server. We have instant queing for dungeons. Now there is instant queing for Raids. The only reason I even see certain people in my guild, let alone talk to them, is when its raid night and everyone is fighting for a spot to go. I find myself angry when I lose that roll on a piece of loot that is slightly better than what I have already. Suddenly I realize, I'm a douchbag too. What went wrong? I find myself missing my EQ days...

Partly because I'm an experienced MMOer AND partly because I'm getting old, I realize that I lost something when I went to the easier, prettier, instant gratification of WoW. This was that the reason I play MMO's and not single player games, because I enjoyed playing with others.

The built in system of forced socialization created by the extremely difficult world of EQ created a strong cummunity.

WoW's community, in general, sucks.

So, as a game developer, what's the answer?

Create a challenging, difficult world that has REAL darkness, long corpse runs and a penalty for dying?

or

Create a game that's easily solo-able, more friendly to the casual gamer?

I don't have an answer, maybe someone here who is smarter than me can come up with one.

My friend, I doubt we will ever see another gaming community like EQ. Even though I miss the community immensely, whenever I reinstall and go back to play EQ, I find myself back on WoW soon enough because those days, and most of the people there, are gone.

P.S. - Wow what a downer of post, let me leave you with one of my fondest and funniest memories of EQ. While on the boat between Butcherblock and Freeport, in the Ocean of Tears, two of my RL friends decided to dual on the boat. One of my friends was an enchanter, and he dire charmed the other. He then typed /pet get lost and what ensued was something that is still brought up in our weekly get gaming get together. My friend that was charmed shot off at super speed and proceeded to run off the boat and quickly out of eye site. He then ran past all known landmasses at super speed until he eventually hit the zone wall which forced him down at an angle, he then super speedily ran into the water and down down down down, eventually drowning. He then spent the next few hours trying to recover his corpse and eventually a GM arrived to help. The GM was flabbergasted that he managed to die in such a spot and then several other GMs showed up, including several high ranking GMs. Eventually there was a server wide message congratulating my RL friend on the most bone headed corpse retrieval they had ever seen.

@ Elth

I completely agree that DDO could have been so much better if it hadn't relied on so much instancing. I also think this is one of the reason STO failed miserably. If STO had been done via the EVE way I think everyone would be playing it (not PvP but game mechanics).

@ everyone else:

With everyone talking about DDO, I'm suprised no one mentioned that DDO wasn't that popular because they decided to use Eberron as their play world. I liked Eberron but really, the Forgotten Realms would have been a smarter choice.

That being said I'm still excited for Pathfinder even though the River Kingdoms doesn't excite me all that much. Hopefully if the game takes off they can actually add more kingdoms. Mwangi Expanse or the Worldwound anyone?

Dear Ryan,

First off let me say how excited I am for this game to not only come out, but to succeed.

I've been playing Pathfinder since it's release and to me its the true successor to TSR's D&D. I've also been playing MMOs since EQ vanilla.

I'm currently one of the WoW players that leave to try other MMOs and then "snap" back when I get bored with the new flavor of the month MMO.

I'd like to give you my two cents on what I would like to see in this Pathfinder MMO:

1) In my opinion, one of the greatest things about WoW is that the world is non instanced (not including BC, WotLK, Cat, and dungeon/raids etc.) Being able to travel through an open world and explore without constantly having to watch a loading screen really adds to the immersion and enjoyability of an MMO. I would hope to see Pathfinder with the same type of open world phasing and to stay away from instancing everything.

2) One server for all players. Is it possible? I don't know, but since your doing a sandbox game and you have the involvement of someone from CCP and their stunning success and innovative refining of technology and coding, what an amazing game it would be if everyone was on the same server!

3) True player driven content. One thing about theme-park MMOs that keep the end game players from getting bored is the constant need to get better loot. I think in a sandbox game true player driven content would give hardcore gamers (and casual players) something to do other than worry about needing that new epic sword. There are plenty of examples that I can think of: creating player housing that eventually could grow into towns; a true crafting system that would allow players to customize their looks, weapons, armor. These are just a few but I am sure plenty of others could come up with some ideas.

4) Lastly, and most importantly, consequences. In theme park MMOs once you've done a quest, or fought off a random event of some monsters attacking your town, a lot of players become apathetic because of the been there, done that attitude, so they don't bother getting involved. What if though those players watch as those monsters destroy their town and its gone? This might seem a little harsh but currently in MMOs there seems to be too much of a trend to hand hold players. I'm not suggesting that the pendulum needs to swing completely the other way, but it would be nice to see some balance.

Anyways, this is just my two cents as a long time gamer who has been role playing and mmoing for a long time. And again I can't wait for Pathfinder the MMO!

I'll post on ask james jackobs he will respond with a good answer.

I think you meant to post on a different topic. :)

I've been keeping close tabs on the Gunslinger class because I want this to succeed. I love the idea of the Gunslinger.

So far I don't like the current implementation of the gunslinger class. Its kind of all over and there are already numerous feats that exist in game that cover archers, crossbows, etc. I really don't want a version of the gunslinger to come out that includes mechanics that already exist in other classes/feats. We should be using whats already out there, because most of them can easily be converted to the Gunslinger concept.

Fighter variants already include archers and crossbows, firearms should be added into that mix.

A Ranger gunslinger already have numerous fighting styles, firearms should be added there as well.

The point I'd like to draw attention to is that everyone has a vision of a Gunslinger. Instead of confining it to a single class wouldn't it be smarter to let us as players/GM's tailor it to our tastes.

Some folks will want to play a fighter who might be a weapon master who focuses in firearms. Others might want to be a dual wielding slinger of lead like a ranger.

Personally I want to play a gunslinger that doesn't wear armor, who spins and dodges and does amazing feats of skill as if Jon Woo was directing my character. I can see this character as a monk, maybe even a Zen Gunslinger.

Some want to have Grit, and use Grit like abilities. It seems easier to incorporate these abilities into a Prestige class. It would allow you as game designers to focus on what exactly you want in your Gunslinger class and allow the players themselves to decide on how they get to it, via a fighter, ranger, even monk etc.

This avoids tedious things I see in the current Gunslinger class that has both evasion and uncanny dodge given at level 15.

It also allows for the current feats to easily be updated to include firearms so we don't end up with the confusion of multiple feats that do the same thing.

It seems that most of the crossbow specific feats could easily be updated to include firearms.

I'm a long time lurker on the forums but I care enough on the subject of gunslingers that I just had to throw out my 2 cents worth.