TEO Apyx's page

Day 1 Destiny's Twin account for sale - has 2 characters with more than 1.4 million experience each available to spend...and a 3rd character with a good name that could easily become iconic to the game.

Please send reasonable offers to z33phus@gmail.com

It may seem that we're getting a bit too fussy about nomenclature and semantics, but I can understand where Ryan is coming from.

I work on a day to day basis with a user community far smaller than PFO. We lose a tremendous amount of time because of confusing communication. One person refers to a dog, the next refers to a cat...do they both mean pets in general, or are they really talking about two slightly different things???

If we all insist on referring to the same thing in different ways, we force the developers to spend precious cycles just trying to interpret what the point of a concern really is.

Keep in mind this is Alpha software, so at this point we are not really "players", but rather "play-testers". The game has not reached a state yet where it is there primarily for our enjoyment.

So it should come as no surprise that the developers tweak here and fiddle there with systems already in place while continuing development on major systems that have not yet been introduced.

Ultimately, I get the sense the developers are working towards a well-balanced combat system that makes gameplay enjoyable for all styles. How can anyone be surprised that there are and will continue to be adjustments as we move towards that goal?

And if one doesn't like a tweak, its fine to be vocal about it. But let's keep it objective and constructive. Seems there's a lot of emotional editorializing lately, getting in the way of the constructive community voice.

I am in the US...with a decent but not exactly fast DSL connection in the mountains of North Carolina. I still have intermittent issues getting in.

I told them to call the ISP.

Firewall isn't an issue. That's one of the things my wife checked.

And what Calis is talking about is exactly what I've been saying.

All of the computers in his (and my friend's) house have to have similar IPs....which would be different than those of a friend that lives close to them.

Hey...wait....wasn't there a DOS command to release an IP? Crap...Gonna have to look into that. Back in the day, there was a way to release your IP and get assigned a new one. I wonder if that'd do it.

just saw this note...yes, the command is ipconfig/renew

One other thing I did in the course of resolving this problem at my house was an IPCONFIG renew. Open a command prompt and type in "ipconfig/renew" (without the double quotes)

After this, you might try shutting everything down again, and restarting in this order:

1. modem/router (wait until it has fully reconnected to the internet)
2. any machines

Maybe this will help, maybe not...I'm pretty much at the extent of my technical skills here too...

TEO Apyx wrote:

It appears my DSL modem/wireless router had a bug in its craw from yesterday. I restarted it and everything is working fine now. I got into goblinworks.com no problem and was able to get into Alpha.

We are on desktops wired to modem. We reset the modem, but still no love.

When I restarted, I shut down all machines connected to my router, shut down the router, started it back up and waited until it had an internet signal and then restarted my machines. Maybe that sequence had something to do with my success.

It appears my DSL modem/wireless router had a bug in its craw from yesterday. I restarted it and everything is working fine now. I got into goblinworks.com no problem and was able to get into Alpha.

Strange...and over my head from a technical standpoint. I have no idea how goblinworks website and Alpha could be fine for some and dead in the water for others...but I'm still dead in the water. Can't get to goblinworks.com (error message "Page can't be displayed") and can't get into Alpha (error "Could not connect to goblinworks.alpha.com").

Normally I'd think the problem must be at my end, but I have no issues getting to any other website.

This math means someone solo'ing with little or no supporting knowledge skill would essentially get the base drop change - in this case 60 percent

(60%/1) * (95% + 5%) * (1)

60% * 100% * 100%

I'm sure this can't be right. Any chance we could get an example of the math (or even a comment on the logic) for a low level character who isn't in a party?

Still unable to get in. "Could not connect to alpha.goblinworks.com"

Cannot get to either Alpha 8 or Goblinworks website.

Unable to get to Goblinworks.com and unable to get past the Alpha 8 login screen - error message "Could not connect to alpha.goblinworks.com"

I was in the game for several hours this morning, but have been having this problem for about the last 4 hours, starting around 4PM ET.

My internet is fine...no problems with any other website. I have restarted my machine and renewed my IP address several times.

I have cleared my browser cache and deleted temp internet files, cookies and history.

I am running the patcher as administrator.

Also, please note in the patcher dialog, while the file comparison is running, I get a "page cannot be displayed" browser error in the dialog as well as a new browser window popping up with the same message.

RELEASE THE HOUNDS!!!!!!!

It's ALIVE!!!!!!

OK, no more posting from the South Pole

TEO Apyx wrote:

Software releases are a messy business. Packages are as unique as snowflakes and there will always be twists and turns that throw the unexpected into the mix. ESPECIALLY when you have this fantastic environment of non-stop open design discussion, back and forth between devs and user community.

So what would you rather have? An open and active dialog with the developers about what may be possible and what we'd like to see, including prioritization, coupled with some messy releases...OR...a non-communicative group of "my way or the highway" developers completely walled off from us?

GW...ya'll are doing great.

I am very happy that we are getting races and more map. I think it's cool that they listen and I am willing to wait. However, I do agree that delays are generally not positive.

It may be normal that there are issues from time to time, but then it's about how you handle the issues. I felt last night that a client wasn't coming out, so I let it go. If people waited here for it, stayed up late and all, that kind of sucks.

I do think they are doing the best they can, but it is generally better to say, very early, "It's not gonna happen right now, we need more time." Than to postpone it and then finally say oops sorry.

I understand what you're saying and I agree. I am very eager for the release too, and would be much happier right now actually playing rather than waiting.

But I have no problems with how this has played out. I believe GW deserves more than a little leeway in rolling things out. Weigh the benefits their design/development approach brings to us, their user community, against the added uncertainties, headaches and churn such an approach puts onto their shoulders. We're getting the better end of the bargain.

I know this from personal experience. I'm an application architect for IBM and have been using iterative software design/development (as opposed to waterfall delivery) on my projects for years. It never ceases to amaze me how much pressure it places on the development team and how often this is under-appreciated by the user community.

Software releases are a messy business. Packages are as unique as snowflakes and there will always be twists and turns that throw the unexpected into the mix. ESPECIALLY when you have this fantastic environment of non-stop open design discussion, back and forth between devs and user community.

So what would you rather have? An open and active dialog with the developers about what may be possible and what we'd like to see, including prioritization, coupled with some messy releases...OR...a non-communicative group of "my way or the highway" developers completely walled off from us?

GW...ya'll are doing great.

just to be sure...water DOES eventually boil, right?

I would caution players to think of the first couple of weeks of play as a time to experiment and see how systems interconnect. Throwing away a character after a couple of days of experimentation will not be uncommon.

So it'll kinda be like dating...

I'm a kid! I just have a few more birthdays under my belt than most!

My 2CP -

XP/performance bonuses for eating/drinking - nay
XP/performance penalties for NOT eating/drinking (for an extended time) - yea
speedier and/or (limited) remote recovery of power by eating/drinking - yea
integration into existing gathering/refining skillset - yea
creation of additional skills/feats to support a cooking system - nay

So...I'm trying to get a bit more granular sense of what will happen when. My intent is to plan so that I can start the download of the new client as soon as possible, as it will take at least several hours for me to download on my less-than-optimal DSL internet connection way out here in the middle of nowhere.

So, if Alpha is being opened up at 3PM Fri, does that mean the executable will be made available for download at that time, or is there a possibility it can be downloaded earlier than that?

gnomes...the other white meat

Tease!

<click!>

I think the crucial point that many responses here are touching on is that TT and MMO are fundamentally different creatures, and it is not possible to duplicate the TT experience in an MMO.

I have been playing in the PFO Alpha environment and while it is true and fair to say it differs from TT Pathfinder in some significant ways, I have found it to be exciting and worthwhile in its own right. And it definitely retains enough of the flavor of "Pathfinder" to be worthy of the name.

Everyone has different priorities, and a love for high-end graphics is certainly a reasonable position. For my part, though, I couldn't care less about the graphics and would have no problem with them pretty close to the bottom of the development priority list.

Ideascale is a nice idea (no pun intended). I think with a little refining and a tie directly to the GW username/account, it'll be invaluable. Couple thoughts while still early in the game.

1. It is unfortunate there's no way to filter based on whether you've cast a vote on the idea or not.
2. With the idea count rapidly expanding, I think we're going to see the ideas with more votes early on continuing to get more and more votes while newer stuff will tend to remain buried in the back because many people won't take the time to scroll through pages and pages of ideas to cast votes on all of them. One possible way to mitigate this is to set the default "order by" to Newest instead of most votes (I know you can change the order by, but most people won't bother to do that).
3. It would be nice to have a 3rd vote option in addition to "yes" and "no" to indicate "no preference"...again, to make it easier to keep up with new ideas coming in.

I have not read through this entire thread, so I'll limit my comments to the OP.

I don't care for PvP so I have historically stayed away from games where I was subject to it without my consent.

Even with my predilection against PvP, I'm not sure it would be fair to provide any sort of blanket open season on anyone with a pattern of behavior that leads to low rep. In PFO, such behavior might be reasonable e.g. caravan raiders and such.

With that said, I can definitely understand where you're coming from. I don't want a world where jerks can stand in front of my house and...well...be jerks, and me not able to do anything about it without lowering myself to their level.

I can't help but wonder...will someone with a low rep be KOS to NPC settlement guards? Can a serial murderer walk around Thornkeep with impunity? What about the NPC patrols on major roadways?

And sort of thinking in that same vein...has the possibility of a player territory-oriented mechanic been raised? I would think it not too hard to program some sort of slider for player settlements to set their "tolerance" level with. I think it is reasonable for a "good" settlement to be able to set tolerance level at their discretion so that any individual whose rep is below that level would be legally KOS to anyone in the territory. But this slider should only apply within hexes controlled by that settlement.

Constructive criticism welcome, gankers will be ignored :)

TEO Apyx wrote:

Perhaps the key is to refrain from saying "That's not cool" at all. Simply say nothing at all. A lack of positive reinforcement can be just as powerful as any sort of negative reinforcement.

On the field, ignoring someone usually has the same practical affect as approving. The person "knows" they're right because it's been reinforced so many times before, we just become the jerks for not doing our part of the script, but they still know they're right.

That's why I'm focusing on coming up with our own customs and habits that work in the game and become second nature and get passed on. If nothing else they crowd out the old things. Even better, doing the new customs would be mutually exclusive to the old ways.

I agree. I'm not talking about "on the field"...but rather more of an institutionalized approach, as you suggest in your second paragraph. So I think we're saying the same thing. It's a group behavior dynamic that can swing things the way we'd like them to swing. Shall we call it passive discouragement?

The leadership of any group in game, whether fundamentally "good" or "evil", can find many perfectly legitimate reasons to discourage ganking by encouraging other behaviors. This won't stop independent gankers who just do it for kicks, but it will discourage lots of group members.

And that is how cultures change.

I don't expect a complete elimination of griefing/ganking/whatever. In my opinion, that isn't reasonable or even desirable. Quite the opposite, this game is supposed to be a little dangerous, and such people add to that kind of spice. The goal, as I see it at least, is to keep down to a level where it is an unfortunate cost of doing "game business" (is that an oxymoron?), and not letting it take over the game. A little cayenne makes the gumbo...too much and toss it in the trash...

It would be a shame if we didn't try to find ways this side of game mechanics to influence game culture. How often are we going to get that kind of opportunity? It is part of what I'm here for and as I see it part of what's going to make this game fun.

Proxima Sin of Brighthaven wrote:

Instead of saying that general idea and leaving it there, let's think of something specific that starts getting that ball rolling.

The big problem I've found when contemplating how this would play out is that, the instant it changes from being a general principle to a specific application, there's a huge breakdown. Once you identify Jack, and start trying to tell him "that's not cool", the whole dynamic changes.

Perhaps the key is to refrain from saying "That's not cool" at all. Simply say nothing at all. A lack of positive reinforcement can be just as powerful as any sort of negative reinforcement.

Having something broad and widely-visible like an influence leader board, or company influence leader board or even a series of leader boards for influence, settlement size (insert size does matter joke here>, trade profits, whatever...and NOT having a kill leader board...would be a good step in the right direction.

Proxima, I like the way you think! Nobody knows what's going to happen years down the road, hell we haven't even started Alpha yet. But in the coming weeks and months - during the time frame we can at least see somewhat clearly into - I am looking forward to standing elbow to elbow with you working towards this.

There are no guarantees, nothing is for sure, but it is a noble goal and certainly in the near term the deck is stacked towards that goal because the folks holding the keys to the game mechanics are champions of the ideal.

The only path that certainly leads to complete failure is to not try at all.

In shorts - words won't do much. It is now in our hands to act and forge the game into an appealing product. Mechanics are only half of the value equation.

I agree. This is a SANDBOX world. That means it will become what we make of it. I find myself chuckling as I write this because I believe it is quite fair to say it will be a battle of Good vs. Evil - and isn't that at the very core of Pathfinder? Good for you GW, for capturing such a fundamental concept of Pathfinder so well in your game design.