Wurner's page

From There Must Be 50 Ways... To Game Reputation

For a future PFOwiki:

"Reputation: much like lactose intolerance, reputation limits how much of a good thing you can have before you face serious quality-of-life-impairing consequences. Other players are likely to shun overindulged characters due to the effects they have on their surroundings, referred to by some as "toxic atmosphere"."

I've posted 645 times but the best I've been able to produce is apparently a fart joke -.-

I hear that a group of people are making changes to the game code, adding and changing features as they see fit and not just now and then, it's on a regular basis! WHY IS NOBODY DOING ANYTHING TO PREVENT THIS??!!? Am I the only one worrying about this?

That's quite an elaborate design for a bird bath.

Is it me more is SENSOU making Lawful Evil look like the good guys in this?

Both groups are accusing the other group of bad behavior. Kind of hard to tell which one, if either, is right and which one, if either, is wrong. Could be a mutual misunderstanding, could be slander, could be valid accusations - I wouldn't know.

I found out about Terraria a week ago, been playing it every spare moment since and now I see pixel sprites and landscapes whenever I close my eyes 0.o

I absolutely wouldn't mind if some more spells and abilities were unavailable at the start. Like if Fireball required intelligence 12 or a certain "[feat] 3" to learn for example.

1 - the start would be less overwhelming for new players if the number of trainable abilities was reduced

2 - it would feel more like PnP where you get more powerful spells and abilities at higher levels, not just greater effect from the spells you already had at lvl. 1.

They came out of the darkness, wrapped in the shadows as others wear coats. As the guardsman's vigilance faded into a yawn and he, but for a short moment, turned his back - that was when the rogues struck! (the metal node)

I haven't tried LiF myself but looking at the forum over at mmorpg.com and the user reviews on Steam, well, to put it mildly it's pretty clear that a lot of people and players are seeing plenty of problems with that game, the qualifications of its developers, the community management and marketing practices.

I'm withholding judgement since I lack personal experience with that game but I think it can be valuable to see that both here and there people see completely different things when looking at the same product.

Points 1-5 (in MMORPG post) can be attributed to work in progress (for now, if they persist two years from now let's talk again).

Crafting: subjective. I like it.
Skills: there will be tooltips soon.
Newbies: again - tooltips are coming. I agree it is confusing/difficult at first but having a lot depend on gear makes gear more valueable which makes crafting more valuable which, to me, is a good thing.

Doing things differently than "most" other games means that players will have to learn the new systems. It doesn't mean that the new way is bad. I think the skill system blends well with the rest of the game.

About GWs having favourites, I haven't seen it. Some people more or less consistently produce ideas that GWs like and are in line with GWs own visions however. I mean, they are more likely to pick up an idea they like than one they don't. Doesn't necessarily have anything to do with who is the source of that idea. Overall I think they are sticking to their own ideas when they strongly feel something should be a certain way. It doesn't seem to me like any particular posters are able to sway them into making decisions they don't actually want to make.

The map has been updated, and we are still taking submission for Map Icons! Only 14 out of 33 Settlements have made submissions!

Give rival settlements the opportunity to provide placeholder icons for the slackers, that should provide some incentive to step up ಠ◡ಠ

At an office near Seattle
the panicked workers prattle:
"The new goblin blog
was devoured by Zog,
don't go on the forums to tattle!"

Personally, I absolutely understand how people might feel drowned out and excluded around here. I am accustomed to forum communities and honestly feel that this one is more open than most, but that isn't going to be the case for everyone.

I like to think of myself as a player who contributes, though I do not typically end up making posts daily. However, it is easy to feel ignored, particularly when nobody bothers to respond to your post(s). I actually joked about this exact thing in a thread somewhere (I don't recall exactly which one) when I had posted once or twice - rather thoughtfully, in my opinion - and later joked that everyone was ignoring me because I wasn't being aggressive enough. (Amusingly, that post did get a response.)

This doesn't hurt my feelings, but it strikes me as a good example of the kind of thing that leads to people feeling shouted down/drown out.

I had several similar experiences, especially from fast moving threads (where it's very understandable some posts don't register). Think I get more attention with this new avatar though XD

This is a unity made mmo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13lkNv0zOVo excuses?

I'd say that PFO looks capable of producing a world and characters that look like that. Now PFO has a world that is HUGE and had to be produced quickly, it also needs to be able to expand when population dictates, rather than when the devs have finished crafting new areas. Makes sense we don't get hand crafted environments such as in that video.

I actually like that video example and think that PFO can reach that level and is on the way to doing so, with the exception that there will never be enough time to handcraft environments to a similar degree. (except maybe Emerald Spire, NPC settlements and such "unique" locations). The wilds can have certain hand-crafted modules that appear in several zones but I don't think procedural generation can produce such a nice result.

All in all, some more time spent on lighting, textures, models, animations etc. and we are pretty much there.

Only commenting the last sentence

Personally, I don't think a durability of '20' is going to cut it, given the frequency of character death.

I think players will learn their limits quite quickly and not engage in fights they can't win - how careful they will be in this assessment can be affected by the number of durability counters, sure, but it can in any case balance itself so that the system doesn't degrade to everyone being naked and weaponless.

I wouldn't have minded starting EE tomorrow as long as I could be guaranteed there'd be no resets. So I wouldn't be able to store up materials in the bank and see "my" settlement - so what? I could find other stuff to do in the meantime, like getting achievements, socializing, gathering and crafting. The other stuff would arrive shortly.

One person's MVP criteria may not be the same as the next person's MVP criteria. Doesn't matter though since GW rules (hehe dual meanings there :D)

I don't see how a settlement without trade facility, bind spot or banking would be attractive. Some things are just absolutely necessary in my view. Or maybe I just have poor imagination. It would make some sense to not count such facilities in the number of slot available if the number only gives the slots where settlements have a choice between several non-mandatory buildings.

What Nihimon said. Feel free to use that for any future TSV-published book on the physics of magic (as long as you credit the shaggy, mushroom-eating, illiterate Kellid Wurner for it. Ha, wouldn't that be fun?)

A caster can pretty much make the lightning go in any direction, yes? That tells me the trick isn't so much generating electrical energy as it is in creating a path that the charge is forced to travel. Otherwise, generating a huge electrical charge in your palm would just lead to your on electrocution, right? (unless you also completely insulate yourself. You still wouldn't be able to control the direction of the bolt though, it would pass straight down into the ground unless you are really close to your target).

This also fits with the RPG trope of lightning bolts flying in a straight line through a target and continuing in the same direction - not into the ground. This path that is generated has lower resistance than metal, thus it is impossible to shield yourself using a faraday suit when assaulted with a magically generated lightning bolt.

It would be very interesting to hear what is missing from the game in the current alpha in order for it to be at the stage where it's ready for EE. If any goblin has the time to provide a simple list I am sure it would be much appreciated.

It would both give an indication of what will be in the game at EE and a countdown checklist to see how development is progressing :D

If you look where Kabal has been before, it's F D R AC Q Q F. Doesn't take a genius to figure out where they're heading:
It all points to R!

Bouncing Around the Map?

Let's say I suddenly somehow come into possession of a large amount of, uh... dough.. but I can't really bake anything from it because it's a little bit dirty (and may or may not look very much similar to a large pile of dough that was just reported missing). Could I hand it in to Tony to have it all cleaned up and baked into perfectly legitimate stacks of... bread.. that I can use with a clean conscience and no hassle from the authorities?

"I need your clothes, your boots and your mammoth mount"

Pretty much how I see it. The fact that people think PvP is being punished in this game tells me they don't understand the game very well. PvP is not being punished. Undeclared PvP is being punished.

I see there being plenty of PvP, even undeclared, in these hexes that we don't need to worry about FFA PvP. If we need to worry about FFA PvP, then they made the resource to common or not valuable enough.

Yes, Andius and his buddies can start farming the hex down south on their unaffiliated alts. TEO/TSV can hop on unaffiliated alts and hit up the crater next to Aragorn just as easy. I'm not seeing an issue with this.

I'm not so sure that "unaffiliated alt"-gathering of the highest tier resources is possible. There will be feats/skills required and equipment. Why would gathering of the highest quality resources not require the highest quality feats?

I just pictured a really high people-stack where the bottom person jumps, followed by the person on top of him and so on and so on, each jump further accelerating the people on top like a multistage space rocket until the person on top jumps with such force that he's sent out into orbit.

I would prefer to give the rep & alignment systems a chance to show what they can do before deciding to have consequence-free areas.

Ideally, for me, the same rules can apply everywhere and the world needn't be segregated into "FFA PvP-zones" and (relatively) safe zones with the population segregation that likely comes with it.

So, what is lost if the list is hidden?

If a game ever FORCES you to choose between friends and chosen play-style there is something fundamentally wrong.

Perhaps you don't consider World of Warcraft a good game but it doesn't allow those playing trolls to play with their friends playing dwarves.

He did mention daggers there though not bows :P

In all seriousness though, I think that the bow debate might not be releivant once we are able to start leveling up our characters some more. The hard part is going to be keeping the bow relevant against mobs since they don't level.

Speaking of which how will the difficulty of mobs increase with the higher character levels? It would be great if we did actually start seeing monsters with role levels as we got higher in our levels. Is it going to be area based so the further from a starter town the more difficult the NPC enemies become?

I think that topic could merit its own thread. I see a problem with gradually having tougher monsters further away from the NPC settlements - it renders large parts of the world uninteresting to you depending on your current power level. I think there should be blobs of tougher and easier mobs scattered all over the place so that everyone can find some enjoyment in every general area. Less segregation of players that way (which is good in my opinion).

"They fight, they bite, they bite and fight and bite, fight fight fight, bite bite bite, The Morbis and Nihimon Show!"

I liked the pilot episode and the second one. Have you planned a full season?

Sounds like they are about to announce their summer vacation leave. ;D

Reavers of Chaos' Reign

...
The members of this division, also known as "RoCRs", never show mercy in combat and they are strictly motivated by the bloodlust to kill.

(emphasis added by me)

So, Rockers eh? That's cool, I also like to listen to heavy metal while I game.

In an RP-friendly settlement I think that a "church" could really find a place to play their part, in interaction with the other parts of the settlement. If "healers" are lacking, as in many other MMORPGs, then the group could have a lot of leverage to get *real* influence in the settlement, not just RP fluff.

If plans succeed, Prophecy could be such a settlement.

This was the last I heard about ground targeting, in September:

We need to get further into systems development to get an accurate idea of how many options we have for AoEs with the tech and game mechanics. We're not ruling out ground targeting at this stage, but neither are we promising it.

Btw, you have the ugliest avatar I have ever seen

Thank you!

I liked it because the ridiculously large mouth with too many teeth reminds me of the Cheshire Cat, Totoro or something that Ralph Steadman might have drawn.

Not sure I'll stick with it though, I think it may give a bad impression of who I am.

If the queen wishes it, it must come to be. All hail!

(just trying to be funny, not trying to make any point or express any opinion on the topic)

Here's the reference.

Wow, you are almost scary good at keeping track of things. That's awesome!

3. Hence a less desirable target if you're up and running compared to those duking it out to become established?!

I wouldn't be too concerned about losing a settlement during EE. Sieges IIRC will come much later than settlement building, possibly very close to Open Enrollment.

Any settlement, once founded, should be safe for quite a while. Unless there is a placeholder mechanism for taking a settlement but I don't see why there should be.

Thank you AvenaOats, I appreciate your answer.

I'm hoping there is more information released before the land rush starts though. It is still very unclear to me just how beneficial it will be to win a settlement plot compared to just claiming one later.

If claiming land and catching up building wise to the land rush settlements is easy and enabled early on during EE, all you really miss out on is first pick of location but since we can't know which locations are best beforehand (even though GW have provided plenty of information on hex types and resources) that might not be much of an advantage.

I mean, knowing who your neighbours are before you settle can be pretty important too :D

"How I learned to stop worrying and love the PvP"

In Age of Conan, I was playing a priest questing alone in some ancient ruins atop a mountain. Then came a quite infamous bear shaman (melee healer, paladin-like), known for mercilessly killing anyone he came across. I knew of him but I'd never met him before in the game. Naturally, he attacked me and as my heart started pounding I first felt really upset that he attacked me for no reason, I felt it was unfair and that he was ruining my gaming experience.

I did not, however, play possum and just take the beating. I gave it everything I had, throwing spells around and kiting like crazy to avoid his attacks. My healthbar went down and up, down and up, really close to emptying completely many times. But I noted that he was really close to going down as well and he had to also desperately try to avoid my attacks by ducking for cover and such.

The battle raged back and forth, all over the ruins. Mobs would aggro us and die in the crossfire. I don't know how long we fought but it felt like forever. Finally we ended up some distance apart from each other and for some reason both of us ceased fire. Then we /bowed and /waved and he ran off. I was out of potions and too shook up to continue my business but really happy that he had jumped me. There are few PvE encounters that I can recall as vividly and with the same pride and happiness as this fight.

In order to keep mounts in demand, I prefer having them killable to having them be hard to get.

Reason is, if they are hard to get, once you have one you are set forever. Your mount is always there for you, you never have to worry about it.

The economy behind it can also be ruined in some ways if the supply turns out higher than what was originally intended. Like, imagine there is a bug/exploit/unbalance appearing that allows everyone to get a mount easily. The devs can patch away the problem by the time of the next update but now the damage is done, everyone has a mount and breeders are no longer in demand.

If there is a turnover of mounts because of death/loss/decay then there can be some stockpiling going on when supply increases but, once the mechanics are adjusted, this surplus will inevitably decrease back to reasonable levels. Thus, the system can be finely tuned and modified in an ongoing way that can make sure the economy and the supply and demand of mounts stays balanced.

Also, it means that in anticipation for a war or after a war horses will likely be in high demand because people will want to make sure they have several backups, providing interesting opportunities for merchants and market fluctuations.

Yeah we need mount turnover to keep newbreds in demand. Mounts need to be killable and there should be a possibility to lose your mount if you are killed in the wilderness or on a battlefield without having your mount stabled.

Having stabled mounts could be a coin sink as well as a coin income for owners of Inn PoI's and settlements.

When the leader logs off, the second in command (or highest ranking person online) could become acting chief, temporarily being granted some of the leader priviliges and providing the settlement with some/most/all of the buff and also becoming a potential target for assassination.

This could either be forced by the system or be up to the settlement to decide for itself.

I can give you an Alpha update, but it's not worth a blog and all the surrounding social activity. The team is working really hard to scope and finish the current milestone. This is an "integration" milestone where a lot of stuff that they have been working on individually now has to connect to the systems other people have been working on too. We have to build some infrastructure which isn't sexy - like a tool to create user accounts, etc. When we get all that interconnection to a stable point and when we have enough of the infrastructure ready to enable people to play we'll be able to predict when Alpha will start, and not before. It is a matter of weeks, not months, but right now I can't tell you which week.

If the polish milestone was "Kielbasa", this 'unsexy but necessary side dish' could perhaps be called "Sauerkraut"?

I'm not going to go digging for quotes but the picture I formed of how assassinations are going to work is that only characters in certain 'positions' within settlements could be targeted.

A settlement can select individuals to be persons of importance, maybe master of the guard, construction master, master of treasury, you get the idea. Those persons provide benefits to the settlements through increasing DI, buffing defense or crafting or whatnot. Only those individuals could be targeted for assassination and the consequence of being assassinated would be greater for the settlement than the individual and could include DI reduction, reduced NPC defense force, stuff like that. Influence and unrest were not invented back then but they seem like good systems to affect through "important persons" and assassinations.

In short, assassinations are meant to hurt a settlement, not an individual and only select settlement officials can be targeted.

I wouldn't be surprised if some of this is wrong and just me jumping to conclusions. It's kind of hard to tell apart what is fact and what is my own imagination when I read about it so long ago.

@Nevy,
If rank 4 in bandit faction makes you a "bandit" and rank 4 in marshal faction makes you a "marshal",
it could be possible for "marshals" to attack "bandits" on sight, no matter if the bandits have a criminal flag or not.

I believe that what Bluddwolf is suggesting is that if S&D and caravans are skills that require faction rank 4 in enemy factions, you don't have to bother with messy flags and special cases since rank 4 in a faction opens up reputation-consequence-free PvP against members of an enemy faction.

Edit: I wouldn't really like to see this system come into effect since I wouldn't want to limit either S&D or caravans to members of particular factions. I do however think that it could "work".

About pre-fleecing:

How about during an accepted S&D, not only does the merchant lose the agreed upon merchandise/coin but there is also destruction of cargo/loss of money?

Like, through careless rummaging through the goods, some containers are broken, items destroyed or coin simply "lost".

This could provide some disincentive to pre-fleecing your caravan.

---

If the probability of being S&D-d is very high then it would still make sense to pre-fleece but it seems unlikely that there will be a bandit behind every bush and there are better ways of securing your caravan than a pre-fleece: guards.

So, a coin/item sink connected to a successful S&D as a way of making pre-fleeces less attractive. What do you think?

With a morph system (thanks for providing the terminology) you are pretty much guaranteed to run into very ugly morph effects if the gear is highly detailed, right? The armour will have to be stretched to fit the character model, the more detailed the character morph options the higher the risk of getting really ugly distortions in armour appearance.

For this reason I might agree with CosmicKirby that a few preset body shapes might be better than a morph system.

Although I must admit that body type options end up pretty far down on my personal feature wish list.

Bandits do not prey on bandits,

It is privateers that ignore this and pointedly target the higher risk. but they are looking for more reward than just "loot" and usually serve a politic/social regime/ideal and so defeating the risk is in some cases the entire point.

I believe privateers (and bounty hunters) will be a big thing stacked against people like UNC, and that is good. But as Bludd said, bandits won't go after bandits usually.

Privateers aren't (weren't) counter-pirates. They were pirates, plundering merchant ships and whatnot. What separated a privateer from a pirate was that the privateer had official permission from a state to plunder.

If the UNC were still in alliance with PAX, they'd be land privateers or something like that :D

Not that it matters much for the overall discussion but I wanted to point this out.

Drakhan Valane wrote:

Ravenlute wrote:

I agree that dying should cause a setback of some kind, maybe a penalty in the rate of skill/xp gain that you accumulate over time causing you to get it slower than normal for a set period. That would hamper character progression in a way that matters to everyone.

In that case there would be ABJECT TERROR at the idea of PvP. You're losing training time that you paid for. Griefers are practically robbing you in real life with that idea.

I said slow it down not stop it altogether. But you're right, with the way players are conditioned these days to push to max level as fast as possible because "that's when you're powerful and when the game really starts", it would cause everyone to pitch a fit.

Which is why we should do it. *evil grin*

Take care so that the best way to "advance" in the game doesn't end up being not playing it.