I'm happy to announce the following very special lecture:
Sat 18th, 2PM EST on PFU mumble.
Lecturer: Cheatle, guide writer extraordinaire with encyclopeadic knowledge.
Theme: Golarion lore.
Why attend: The Pathfinder setting is among the greatest things about PFO. But many players who have come from other MMOs don't recognize names like River Kingdoms, Ustalav, Mosswater, Broken Men, Emerald Spire, Adabar, Gorum, Desna or even Pharasma.
Getting the overview of the backstory and how our map connects to the rest of the Pathfinder world will open your eyes to the depth of the setting and help you spot the little easter eggs.
We are working on a regular PFU talks/event schedule. Below is the current skeleton, pending some confirmations.
I am very happy to announce both TEO and Golgotha as regular contributers (in addition to Aeonian league who have pulled much of the weight until now).
We are however always looking for more people to contribute.
Current skeleton. *Not final* Default times are 9 PM EST, but changes depending on individual lecturer. Some classes will be EU-friendly times.
MON: PvP. Instructors from Golgatha/EoX (!)
TUE: Economy and crafting. Profs Thannon, myself and others
WED: Dev chats/game design. Keepside chats etc hosted by Dean Hoffman
THU: Game mechanics. Prof.Duffy's series on builds and combat tactics
FRI: Q &A. 'New player hotline' staffed by PFU, but also a good time for veterans to hang out in mumble and discuss latest patch/blog/test server news and speculation.
SAT: Game mechanics(?) Instructors from TEO/EBA.
SUN: Adventuring. Escalations and exploration with PFU staff.
My current main goal is not so much to teach uber skills, but that "no player should quit in frustration", whether due to steep learning curve or not being able to find the right group to play with. That said, some of our regular and guest teachers are pretty uber.
Comments, requests and offers welcome. I will post on GW/New player help when things are (more) final.
You should all be aware of Pathfinder University by now(*)
So far we've managed to overdeliver on the promise of one event every day, but keeping that up requires some effort.
In short: we need some help from the community. 1-2 nights per week we have slots open for one-shot guest lecturers.
(Big thanks to Pino, Cheatle and Midnight for being our first three).
WHY BE A GUEST LECTURER (lots of good reasons)
1) You will promote yourself and your company, both with the actual attendees and with everyone checking the forums. You get to impress new potential recruits. You might get labeled "plays well in game communities". To very loosely quote Ryan: it's players like you doing stuff like that which makes this game great.
2) It is extremely "meaningful interaction". Helping other players enjoy the game more makes you feel all good inside (and helps your ego grow in some cases). And preparing a lecture usually has you realize things you weren't concious of before, so you learn some yourself too.
WHAT SHOULD YOU TEACH (plx somebody choose pvp)
1) Well, anything that is not obvious to everyone else (and there's tons of stuff not obvious to newcomers). Anything you think new players should know. Stuff you know better than most players. Stuff you are passionate about.
2) We got PvE, game mechanics and economy well covered by our regular lecturers, but are short on actual PvP expertise - which is a critical part of the game.
How to volunteer
Post right here, send me or Hoffmann a PM on these forums, or contact us in-game (golarion mumble is a good place to look). If you also PM a email adress, we can get the ball rolling fast. Feel free to suggest a topic/title, or we'll work with you.
-thanks for your time
(*) if you don't knwo PFU, come to my Introductory class friday 9PM GMT!
I never thought i'd conjure up Madonna but the lyrics wanted it. Is it time for someone to start compiling the PFO songbook?
Foxglove returns from her scavenging trip with no goods but a few new holes in her armor. She offers to sing to cover her bar tab. The tavernkeeper looks unconvinced.
I made it through the wilderness
Encumbered, but made it through
Didn't know how slow I was
Until I found you
I was beat
by your feat
I'd been had, I was sad and blue
And you made me lose
Yeah, you made me lose
My shiny and new
Hoo, PvP virgin
Ganked for the very first time
PvP virgin
When my husks lie
in a straight line
Gonna give you all my loot, boy
My gear is fading fast
Been saving it all for you
'Cause I’m content that can last
But that’s fine
Cause you're mine
I'll be yours
'Till the end of time
'Cause you made me feel
Yeah, you made me feel
I've nowhere to hide
Like a virgin, hey
Ganked for the very first time
PvP virgin
With five husks in a straight line
Like a virgin, ooh ooh
Like a virgin
Feel the rush inside
When you chase me,
And my health drops,
And you love me
Oh oh, ooh whoa
Oh oh oh whoa
Whoa oh ho, ho
Ooh baby
Yeah
Can you make my loot drop
For the very first time?
looking in the GW "sample crafting and refining" guide, i see a lot of seemingly basic recipes that require (IMO) disproportionally high refining ranks to make.
example1: footpad's leathers. This appears to be the "starter rogue armor" given at leatherworker rank 2 , but requires a weaver rank 7 padding. For comparison the starter fighter armor (hide and steel banded) only requires rank 3 components. Reaching weaver level 7 is a significant xp cost, and players at these levels have likely outgrown rank 2 armors...
example2: introductory trophy charm. This appears to be the "starter fighter feature item" given at jeweler rank 1, but requires smelter rank 6 silver bars.
Question: are item ranks for refining equal to the minimum skill level for making them, or can you make them at lower skill (given the recipe) just using correspondingly longer time?
Dear GW,
You promised me something like "xp over time means no grind, only meaningful stuff".
But the currently available info about Categories and Achievements has me worried.
It is a simple matter of scaling, really, but still... (if lvl 20 is supposed to be 2 years away, then the number 6250 means 'several per day')
1) Craft achievements.
So far, the only thing we know(?) we get craft achievements for is crafting stuff. Fine. But if lvl12 achievements require you to craft 6250 items (that seems to be the pattern) of said type and you need a total of 400 craft achievements to reach lvl20 skills (and 250 for the gathering/refining skills), then even if we can craft 40 different types of materials, it still seems we must craft thousands and thousands of items (and hours!!) just to qualify for increasing our skill. And many of these will be in crafts we don't even care about - low-lvl stuff made just for the 'cheap' achievements.
2) other achievements.
Essentially the same. Requiring players to play around with different possible weapon/spell combination is good. Requiring them to kill thousands of mobs with weapons/combos they don't like just so they can reach the next level with the those they do like... sounds awfully grindy.
What is the crucial piece of info I'm missing here?
-Is it that i can get 75% of the achievement with 1% of the work, so that the grind doesn't start until the endgame, and the powercurve there is so flat I shouldn't worry if don't like it?
-Is it that there will be so many more crafting/mob/weapon/spell/escalation categories added that I'll never need a lvl 10+ achievement to make it to 400?
-something else?
hi,
since the blog post covers several topics, I moved this aside.
Can we get some clarifications on the stealth mechanics, please?
As I understand it:
-You will be equally invisible to allies.
-Being spotted does not break stealth.
-Being targeted (but not attacked) does not break stealth.
-Stealth can be entered any time not engaged in combat, even in plain sight of foes. (The blog says "run away and enter stealth mode". Though hiding in plain sight is unlikely to fool anyone).
-"unaware" in the description simply means 'not targeting you'.
-I further assume "maximum stealth" and "maximum perception" are comparable scales so that specialized characters of same power level will have roughly 50% distance.
stealth section of the blog:
One way to get Sneak Attack is to keep targets unaware of you, and the Stealth skill can help with this. Whenever you're in Stealth stance (your typical crouched, sneaky walk), the distance at which other players can see and target you is based on a comparison of your Stealth total and their Perception total. This ratio scales from 90% of the normal distances (for minimum Stealth vs. maximum Perception) to 10% of the normal distances (for maximum Stealth vs. minimum Perception), with equally matched characters resulting in a 50% reduction of sighting and targeting distances.
We expect these distances to be moderated by the server: the system doesn't even inform your client that there's someone around until you can see them, and attacks won't work if the server knows they're too far away for you to target. This means that the system should be resistant to client hacking. On the client side, we do expect to apply a translucency effect to a stealthed character when they're between their visible and targetable ranges, so if you're paying attention you might see the Rogue before flipping through targets happens to select him but it won't be an automatic thing.
Stealth breaks when you begin attacking, and then individuals further away might understand why your target was suddenly freaking out. But by that point, you've likely gotten off a few solid hits and can run away and enter stealth mode again, should you so desire
If a settlement formally commits to a faction (or more), it seems obvious that could unlock faction-specific buildings. That's not the topic.
Topic is: what when say a LN settlement has so many LE or NN members who are members of the Norgober (NE) church that it becomes a significant part of the population? Should a Norgober-specific building (ie assasin trainer) then be unlocked? Should that building be built and governed by the settlement (ie like all other settlement buildings), or by a council of the highest ranked faction members?
Idea up for tearing apart:
-High ranked faction members (say lvl 4+ or 5+) can set up a 'faction council' within a settlement that enables building faction buildings, sabotaging enemy faction buildings etc. Some options might be good for the settlement, others maybe good for the faction at the expense of everyone else.
-The availability and/or cost of options could be affected by number or percentage of faction members in the settlement, and by other factions present. However I feel a solitary high-ranking priest should have the power to build a shrine on his own if he can finance it.
-I think settlement leadership should have the power to tear down faction buildings (but not without pissing off the faction). Enemy factions should also have the power to eventually destroy the building.
-This system could even be linked to the settlement rep/rank system. For example maintaining rank 6+ privileges in a church could require you to manage a temple building in a settlement.
Ideally "settlement faction councils" would allow many more players to take part in the settlement politics game, as faction councils would have some (minor) influence on development of the settlement. It would allow churches and other factions to compete for influence without conquering settlements and making them theocracies. Golarion lore has factions for druids, adventurers, paladins, assassins, monks, merchants, bandits, lumberjacks, necromancers and more.
The 'settlement' screenshot in the blog set thoughts in motion.
Core question:
Will settlements be constructed strategy-game style?
I mean like bases in C&C/starcraft/etc, placing one building at a time and having to consider logistics and defensibility. (Actually the best example would be SimCity Societies since that has 'development indices').
Background:
-settlements grow one building at a time
-some buildings may raise development indices (DI), other will require certain DI. The order or building therefore matters
-wares must be hauled between buildings (mine->smelter->smith->market), markets and storages should be easy to access, but buildings can also be attacked and destroyed. Travel paths and location of buildings matters.
-space may be limited, at least space inside palisade/wall.
IF we can design our own bases, then layout is a big part of the strategy. A single gate to make it defensible, or multiple gates shorten the travel routes? Compact build for effectiveness or open build to make it harder for assassins (and save space for future additions)?
I'd also love to see buildings placed on the map directly relate to develop indices.
Taking this separately from the Spells blog thread:
Stephen in the Spells blog thread wrote:
Yes, only equipped gear can be threaded, not things in general inventory.
Quote:
Wondrous Item slots are gear slots that you use for items that don't otherwise have a body location. There might ultimately be a big array of things to go in there, but initially it will at least include Bags of Holding and Spellbooks. You only get two, so effectively equipping a Spellbook means you're not increasing your encumbrance with a Bag of Holding or doing something else cool.
- so, a Bag of Holding in a Wondrous slot is equipped gear and therefore threadable?
- does threading the bag protect everything inside it? Does the amount of threads needed depend on the contents or only on the capacity of the bag?
(I assume and hope the bags of holding are implemented as actual containers and not as an item that simply increases your carrying capacity)
For a dedicated crafter, trader, courier/smuggler etc. the stuff kept in the bag(s) is likely more precious than the weapons and armor worn.
(and lore-wise, it isn't so far fetched that stuff hidden in extra-dimensional spaces stays out of reach for looters...)
I have already pledged (day1) and upped my pledge for all the addons I want. But I find that the time spend on these forums and following the KS is actually quite good entertainment - good enough that I check the forums before making coffee in the morning. And I think I'm not the only one.
Regular PFO forum users, I challenge you:
I promise to put in another 10$ a day for the last 3 days, just because I want this to go through.
(that said, if it goes through I'm sure I will take another look at the addons I didn't choose first time)
Since new people join all the time (welcome! good to see you), I see increasing need for a (sticky) thread with "just the info".
The best example I have is
this thread from Paradox forums.
Note the strict (minimalist) format: the idea is to get an "instant" overview before joining discussions with a lot of wrong assumptions.
Yes, it will be a lot of work. And I'm not sure the forum setup is suited wrt editing old posts, so worst case it has to be kept as a separate document linked to.
Any takers? I know Nihimon started something a few weeks ago to welcome newcomers, which could serve as a starting point.
This thread is only intended to toss a snowball, hoping someone will pick it up and start rolling.
Have you considered options (buldings, laws) for NPC law enforcement in player settlements?
If NPC settlements can be patrolled by AIs responding to certain crimes, there's no technical reasons why player settlements couldn't have the same in their settlements.
Done correctly, AI law enforcers could help avoid "shoot all non-blue" tactics and give just enough safe havens for casuals/pve-types - especially in off-peak hours. It could also create tangible differences between settlements of different alignments. I predict that most of us would prefer to work on the economy game trying to keep the law enforcement running rather than patrolling our own hex over and over.
* it should obviously require relevant buildings and upkeep, ideally influenced by settlement alignment and government type. Upkeep should be high.
* it must not conflict with player law enforcement (ie designated player watchmen should have the licence to kill without being ganked by their own AI)
* AI police should be limited to enforcing laws, not defend against siege. (AI defense levy could be another branch though)
wishlist:
* settlement government should have the ability to define laws, ie. how the AI police reacts to certain actions (one settlement could have AI attack you for starting a fight, another could allow duels to death but mark you as criminal for looting the corpse).
far future wishlist:
* diplomacy/espionage/bribery mechanisms to subvert the AI enforcers and levies in rival kingdoms!!
Goblin Squad Member
