Saryx's page

nice!

I have the deluxe subscription and received two shipments of the 5 variants of the Pathfinder comics #1 and #2 (separately). I'm somewhat disappointed they weren't bagged or boarded, and all were loose in a normal mailer. One of the orders arrived ok, but they were still dinged up on the corners from moving around during handling.

However, the other shipment of comics was crushed on one corner and the entire folder was bent in half. All the comics are damaged. Order # 2255204.

Two questions: can something be done about the damaged shipment? And, I'd like to keep the subscription, but I'm seriously considering cancelling because of the way these are being shipped without any protection. Can you send some feedback to your shipping department and have these sent with better protection? I buy and sell comics all the time online, and there are many ways this can be done with minimal extra cost.

All that aside, I am enjoying the comics!
Thank you

Very nice images. I like how the characters have the pathfinder 'feel' to them..good job!

How customizable will our character's look be? Given the limited players on the server, this may not be out of line to ask that our characters look different from the others. I'm sure there will be similarities, but I yearn for the day that my character is recognizable and unique from the start.

The opportunity to support a project at these early stages is something I've never been able to do - it's very exciting and I'm one to say good luck and hope our support makes PFO a success!

I don't think you're going to get a hard timeline from the team, but check out their first blog entry. Read into what you think 'when we say "coming soon," we mean "real soon" means, but if you wait a year you might miss out on more than just feedback and development.

DVD's and BluRay cost money and are useless when I can download it anytime - not a perk at all when it adds to the cost of the collector's edition. Also, the game version on a hard disk will quickly become obsolete because of all the updates you'd have to download anyway.

I like the signed adventure guide, but I'm not too keen on the cloth map or art book, considering the time and effort put into planning and producing them (I'd like the devs to concentrate on the game). Also, I've had them both from other CE's, looked at them once, and never touched them again. The ingame fluff like a mount or title is ok, but I'd like to see something to link back to the tabletop or other pathfinder items...such as a code for a free module download, or big percentage off a hard item, or a PF novel. Game miniatures are a good idea too.

How about a 48 hour head start for collector's edition purchasers? Not in the game, but only to the character select screen. That would give them a chance to create characters and lock in names they want. However, I'd limit the number of characters they could create. IE, if you have 8 character slots, collector edition owners could log in early and create 2 (or 3?) characters ahead of those who don't buy it. Personally, I hope there's no early ingame head start for anyone other then beta testing stages. It's only 4500 players, and I'm sure it'll be much easier to roll out all players at once than the number of SWTOR had to deal with.

Very much anticipating:

Specializing my character
Specializing equipment and gear
Exploration of the game world - with danger!
Interaction with different players and NPCs (factions, reactions, unique quests, etc)
Creating my own niche in the world, be it a small home or market stand to sell my wares..all in a sandbox world

Crafting somewhat, but the method isn't a big deal just as long as it doesn't get overly simplified like WoW. I'm more excited about the challenge of making rare items

@Nihimon - you're right.

Also, the HeroEngine that is in Star Wars was so heavily modded by Bioware that it is now incompatible with the HeroEngine code distributed to new users. The current version of HeroEngine and the Star Wars code are now on divergent development tracks.

(Just a side note: I keep hearing people talk about frustrations they have with Star Wars graphics, followed by "I had to turn off x, y or z feature" in order to get acceptable frame rates. For the most part that's a graphic card problem not a software problem - or rather, that's a game that's designed for a more recent graphic card than yours. Since Moore's Law applies, remember that in general that technology gets twice as fast or half as expensive every 18 months, so even a few years' time will render your card obsolete for high-end graphic features. Most dev teams consider the ability to turn off features that are too hard for your card to be an acceptable tradeoff.)

Interesting! It's good to hear that the game world can be very different regardless of game engine.

I hope someone else has already said this, but just in case not, I hope Mac is a supported option at release. Apple is now the largest corporation in the world, and Apple use is increasing at a rapid rate each year, and Windows OS is losing ground each year.

Apple is the 35th largest corporation in the world for 2011, according to Forbes (but they're much higher in market capitalization)

Although I'm not against supporting apple for gaming, data and prediction don't appear to support your conclusions about Mac OS use increasing at a rapid rate each year. New worldwide sales of Mac OS for 2011 desktop/laptop were 4.5% of all PC's and only predicted to go up just over another half percent by 2015: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems ...while their US market share of new shipments went from 10.7% for Q2 to 10.92% for Q4, according to Gartner (about 0.2% increase).

And looking at Nov/Dec using impressions to calculate market share, apple inched down bit late last year

why not begin maybe with only the core races?

as far i can see in this game RP is going to be crucial, and so is the setting of commerce, searching materials and rivality between villages.

we have already warves,humans, half elves, helves, half orcs, gnomes and halflings. We don't need other rarer races...

and i'm hoping for villages made only by one race and some antipathy between dwarves and elves, Dwarves and half orcs, dwarves and halflings and so on. Poor dwarves... :D

when the "population cap" of the game rises, maybe other races can be added, but for now is better implement racial variations as seen on the "advanced player guide"

Ehi, dwarves with +2 racial against spells and dwarves with SR 5+DV should be rivals, too.

This makes a lot of sense and may be best to start out with the basic rivals and see how the gameplay works...expand to more races and customization as feedback comes in and the game plays out.

My opinions are known...but were I part of the design team I would compromise by requiring fast travel to be PC made and driven. Want fast travel carriages? Sure, but some PC has first to train the ability to drive one, then needs to craft one...then they can run their business in person...including the driving of the carriage with all the passengers/cargo in the back.

And faster travel by no means equals instant or even quick...just faster (and the PCs do not necessarily have to be at their keyboard...would be like traveling in EVE except the AI is another player who is driving.)

I agree with your first paragraph, but I would make the increase in speed well worth the time and effort to create the vehicle. I would also limit instant travel between major city hubs, and it would have restrictions such as weight and frequency of use. Smaller cities and other locations could have a mechanism in place, but not instant. The only thing I would avoid is the early EQ mode of travel where your character would board a boat and would take almost an hour to get to the next stop, and this was the fastest mode of travel at the time.

Just recently I discussed how excited I was to try Pathfinder Online with my gaming group. Two rather salient points came up. 1)When the server population expands, new players will be in competition with powerful, established players and player-run organizations for resources and land. 2)When the game itself expands, these powerful entities will be perfectly placed to quickly dominate the new content. Both of these concerns are heightened by the apparent fact that there will not be large'theme park' areas safe from pvp in which to skill up or level or whatever it's going to be called. So, two things. Soloers, a large portion of potential players, (including me) will be hedged out. New players will be compelled to join an already established corporation to survive, which is the main complaint I've always heard about EVE online. To put it succintly, my buddy said, "Sounds to me that the Power Gamers will eat that one up from the start. I'd rather just buy the next Adventure Path and run that." Comments/suggestions/mechanics to avoid? Or is this game limited to players with a certain playstyle?

With the slow pace of level/xp gain and the sheer size of the world, this should be difficult for groups of players to monopolize the game with only a month between waves of new players. Just a thought: the devs could open up new areas of the world a good distance away from the previous month's set of players. It would take a lot of pre-planning, but the goal would be to minimize the level of disparity between players and guilds within the first 3-6 months only. After you approach a year server time, it may be too much of a challenge for the devs. Hopefully the "power gamers" will have so much else to do at their level by then that they won't have any incentive to meddle with the new players (as a whole - they're always be those that like to grief).

I agree with this post, my loyalty is with Paizo and Pathfinder. I hope you don't alienate the crowd that made the name Pathfinder what it is today.

I don't think any game developer can please everyone...and to be fair, I'm not sure "the crowd" that originally supported Pathfinder are necessarily all against a sandbox world with PVP, corpse runs, and (partial) corpse looting. No matter which direction they take, I'm grateful for the frank discussions and quick responses to our feedback. For those that play now, the world is brutal and if your GM is true to the spirit of the game, it's quite dangerous and can be difficult. I find it very satisfying when we find an item or xp is 'won', and I strive to learn from my mistakes.

I would hope the MMO follows the same..a degree of difficulty over the average MMO with a sense of danger. I want to think twice about running into a stretch of woods I know nothing about or getting close to a campfire seen in the distance. That's what makes a world like Golarion exciting, in my opinion. If I want to head out with 40 quests in my log running all over Azeroth with little fear of dying to get a set of gear everyone else knows exactly where and how to get, well, I'll go play that game. For now, PF Online sounds promising.

I'm really intrigued by the exclusion of items/armor that will be a part of things that are left with your husk. Keeping worn items and weapons but dropping inventory items seems like a nice way to keep the risk vs. rewards of exploring an area. As a long time player from the original Everquest, I've missed games that have death penalties that sting.

I can imagine fighting through an area or dungeon and getting "that one item" you've wanted, or just a great item you hadn't planned on. Now to get out...you have to plan on continuing the fight further in and risking death - or do you consider porting out or fighting your way back out? How about equipping it and placing something else in your pack in exchange? Players will really have to plan ahead when they go out adventuring.

I'd like to know how the "random selection" of what's looted by another player works. Is there a percentage or some other system such as a strict number? IE, 20% can be looted, 30%, or 3 items, etc? How about changing the percentage/number of what's dropped by comparing how far the looting player is higher or lower in level? - for example, if I die in a level 2 dungeon as a level 2 player, I'd like to hope there's a diminishing rewards system in place to keep a level 12 player from camping the area waiting for players to die and looting their husk. Or having that level 12 player loot "just because" to grief you and have your husk destroyed. However, another level 2 player would be able to loot the husk at the full random percentage.

My thoughts for now..

I'm for Deepnettle for its sense of mystery and deviousness. A name for an area like this shouldn't be obvious or a bright beacon that warns travelers. I'm very excited for the promise this game has, but worried that it may take away from my tabletop time! Ah well, I'll make time.

The established (excellent) stories, intrigue, etc should make for a fantastic game. And thank you for the biweekly updates! I am SO glad the vision of the team includes a long road to level 20 (2.5 years). A game like Pathfinder should be about engrossing yourself in the world, the story, and the adventure...not a rush through content.