CEO, Goblinworks
|
If you are interested in recruiting players to PC Settlements you should want more NPC towns, not fewer.
Most newbie players will not go far from their starter town. Once they have a few hours in game and understand just how big the map really is and just how long it takes to go from point to point they'll be less and less inclined to go walkabout just to sightsee.
The more starter towns there are the more distributed the new player cohort is across the map (which is why we moved a starter town near the end of Alpha). The more people there are closer to your PC Settlement the easier it will to be recruit them.
There needs to be a Rotters Hole, so no matter what we do, NPC towns need to be X+1.
But the real reason we have starter towns at all is to do load balancing on the server. The fewer towns we have the more concentrated new players become. Right now we're hitting the edge of server performance at 100 characters in a hex. So far we've had a very smooth, very orderly growth in daily activity but I think there's a potential for a sharp upturn when we get to the end of this month and people can start to play for just $50. If we doubled or tripled our daily new user inflow and we just had 1 or 2 starter towns we could hit that 100 character limit really easily and that would really suck - putting our newest and most fragile accounts into an environment where their experience was not maximized for performance. Yuck.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
On a semi-related note:
The refining/crafting is much more balanced from +0 to +3 then it was in early Alpha.
However there is till an issue making T1 +0 items. It is simply not worthwhile even for a new player. Please consider dropping the material cost of refining +0 items by about 50%. Everything else is fine.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
Please consider dropping the material cost of refining +0 items by about 50%. Everything else is fine.
A moderatesuddenly cheap +0 component combined with a moderate +2 component results in an inexpensive +1 item. Will there need to be other changes to the crafting system to prevent a profusion of T1+1 items?
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
Please consider dropping the material cost of refining +0 items by about 50%. Everything else is fine.Amoderatesuddenly cheap +0 component combined with a moderate +2 component results in an inexpensive +1 item. Will there need to be other changes to the crafting system to prevent a profusion of T1+1 items?
I think they're really asking for cheaper costs for FINISHED goods, not refined materials.
When I was saying the exact same thing, I was called a frustrated troll.
we were before our time. ha.
But yes @ crowdforging things that are already in the pipeline.
Crowdforging is a way for the devs to get feedback, so that everyone will not be mad. I think that a chorus of NO NOT THAT will be more successful than suggestions.
So, people who thought this was going to be a game made by the players are... sorely mistaken. Still I hope some input can be given and listened to. Who knows I may come back in the end if this turns around. I see the direction as not positive.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
Two days ago we got this in a blog:
We have heard you loud and clear: You need us to improve the Auction Houses. That will be one of the first things we work on in Q1. We are going to add a filter to exclude items that have no open auctions, and we are going to extend the time of the actions to 7 days.
The team is also talking about ways to help bootstrap the coin economy. Currently a lot of exchange is happening through barter or through allocations by Settlement leadership. We need to get items circulating in the markets and we need to get the velocity of coin transactions to increase to help send accurate price signals. We are going to implement some short term changes to low-level items and Auctions relatively soon once we have worked our way through our internal analysis of what we can do with the time and resources available.
We have also heard your concerns about monster encounters being placed to close to resurrection Shrines. We are going to alter the process of generating those encounters so they should not threaten newly respawned characters.
We are also thinking about ways to address the holes some of you have discovered in the terrain. They are an artifact of Grome, the tool we use to generate the huge landscape of the Crusader Road. There is an interaction between hills and roads that sometimes causes a point to be displaced from the terrain near road bends in hills, causing a pit. The team is investigating several short term and long term ways to address these pits.
One hopes the refrain of "Oh, there's no crowdforging" will quiet for a while.
(editted to be a little more polite)
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Crowdforging is a way for the devs to get feedback, so that everyone will not be mad. I think that a chorus of NO NOT THAT will be more successful than suggestions.
So, people who thought this was going to be a game made by the players are... sorely mistaken. Still I hope some input can be given and listened to. Who knows I may come back in the end if this turns around. I see the direction as not positive.
Do you hear that, Dazyk? This guy thinks that Crowdforging doesn't have anything to do with suggestions from the Community. Isn't that a gas?
CROWDFORGED: We are experimenting with changing some Orisons to have longer-duration buffs with cooldowns. This build contains a partial implementation of the touch-range Beneficial Orisons that include a Charge to the target (buying the feat gets you both versions for now; we will probably settle on a final single version after some iterations of testing). In EE2, the Charge component does not work. We are investigating why this is the case, which may shed some light on issues with Charge in general. The intention of this design is to make it easier for Clerics to quickly apply healing (and other beneficial effects) to their teammates.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
When we saw the blog, a couple of us Auction House rabble-rousers immediately pledged to stop pestering GW about it until the changes were made.
Sometimes the issue isn't the lack of formal voting mechanisms, but the desire for some feedback before changes are implemented. To me, "We hear you, and we'll fix X," blog posts are an important part of crowdforging. Acknowledgement of an issue that's important to players, coupled with a pledge to fix it, doesn't even need a target date. It reassures us that our voices are being heard.
Goblinworks Executive Founder
|
Crowdforging is a way for the devs to get feedback, so that everyone will not be mad. I think that a chorus of NO NOT THAT will be more successful than suggestions.
So, people who thought this was going to be a game made by the players are... sorely mistaken. Still I hope some input can be given and listened to. Who knows I may come back in the end if this turns around. I see the direction as not positive.
Do you hear that, Dazyk? This guy thinks that Crowdforging doesn't have anything to do with suggestions from the Community. Isn't that a gas?
CROWDFORGED: We are experimenting with changing some Orisons to have longer-duration buffs with cooldowns. This build contains a partial implementation of the touch-range Beneficial Orisons that include a Charge to the target (buying the feat gets you both versions for now; we will probably settle on a final single version after some iterations of testing). In EE2, the Charge component does not work. We are investigating why this is the case, which may shed some light on issues with Charge in general. The intention of this design is to make it easier for Clerics to quickly apply healing (and other beneficial effects) to their teammates.
Not that I want to criticise your game, but that's called beta testing, not crowdforging.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I predict that we'll need all the NPC settlements we have. Those of you predicting few new entrants just don't understand that gamers min-max their wallets even more than they min-max their characters.
3 months for $50 vs. 3 months for $100 is a clear win for all but the most extreme power-gamer. The frequent discussions about Eve-Online's xp system, as well as the devs own words about this game caused many to (properly IMO) discount the value of an extra month's xp over the long haul.
I only came in this early because my mates wanted my help in getting our settlement established.
I predict that many thrifty players have simply chosen to let us pioneers pay an extra $50 to do the heavy lifting and will settle into their gaming guild's settlement with $50 more in their pockets.
Many others haven't even decided on a settlement, and so they have little reason to pay the equivalent of 3.3 months subscription for a single month of play and xp.
That being said, I, too, want to see the NPC settlements whither. I'm just saying, not in February.
|
Goblinworks Executive Founder
|
Not that I want to criticise your game, but that's called beta testing, not crowdforging.You couldn't be splitting smaller hairs here.
If you don't see the difference, fine, but then, I don't see why "crowd forge", would be a highlight in this game.
Seriously, the proximity healing is just a game breaking thing. It's not crodforging to change that, it's just common sense.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Seriously the touch healing is one of the few things that is being pulled from the source material and I for one will be seriously upset if they change it. Learning to play a different way isn't necessarily a bad thing, yes it needs work, but it IS being worked on. The upcoming patch notes attest to that.
|
Goblinworks Executive Founder
|
Touch range healing at low levels might never happen. The Mass Cure is implemented as a Spell already. Until Channel Energy gets in, there's no justification for anything but touch Cure Orisons.
Adding a charge to the effect is just to represent what it is tabletop Clerics often end up doing; rushing over to the target-of-the-moment and casting either a cure spell or Breath Of Life.
Contingent on Charge getting fixed, I expect that solution to be considered great, especially by the people who think that we are insane for having demanded friendly fire and that it is awesome. (The intersection of tabletop enthusiasts and MMO aficionados.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
Seriously the touch healing is one of the few things that is being pulled from the source material and I for one will be seriously upset if they change it. Learning to play a different way isn't necessarily a bad thing, yes it needs work, but it IS being worked on. The upcoming patch notes attest to that.
Charge to Heal Target sounds like a great next step to me (as long as it works). Touch range healing would be much easier if a charge could take you into touch range without having to juggle chasing the target and activating the heal at the same time.
Tabletop Pathfinder does have an important ranged heal that's missing from PFO: Channel Positive Energy. Adding that to PFO would also greatly improve the utility of clerics as healers.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
I predict that we'll need all the NPC settlements we have. Those of you predicting few new entrants just don't understand that gamers min-max their wallets even more than they min-max their characters.
3 months for $50 vs. 3 months for $100 is a clear win for all but the most extreme power-gamer.
Not quite. $50.00 gets you one month. $100.00 gets you 3 months (and, if you time it right, a free month of experience backdating.
I predict a bunch of people rolling in around Friday the 30th, when they can get a month of backdated XP, so effectively 4 months of XP for $100, which makes the price very close to the $50.00 package. And by the same token, a lot of people who already have EE but aren't using it, will also show up that last couple of days of January, to get the free month of XP on their account, even if they only play for a single month, then park it for a while.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I predict that we'll need all the NPC settlements we have. Those of you predicting few new entrants just don't understand that gamers min-max their wallets even more than they min-max their characters.
3 months for $50 vs. 3 months for $100 is a clear win for all but the most extreme power-gamer.
Not quite. $50.00 gets you one month. $100.00 gets you 3 months (and, if you time it right, a free month of experience backdating.
Wow, I totally misremembered that, huh? I guess when I was planning for the cheaper package I must have decided that less money up front made more sense.
Ok, I might as well say it. I was wro wro wro
this is really hard, you know? :-)
I just possibly might have been wrong.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
Wow, I totally misremembered that, huh? I guess when I was planning for the cheaper package I must have decided that less money up front made more sense.3 months for $50 vs. 3 months for $100 is a clear win for all but the most extreme power-gamer.Not quite. $50.00 gets you one month. $100.00 gets you 3 months (and, if you time it right, a free month of experience backdating.
It still does, but not quite as much as it did before the backdating announcement. And I think that a month of backdated XP for the extra $20 might just be the tipping point.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
I thought that the deal with backdated XP was that you're charged time from your months starting at zero-hour, not based on your actual starting time if you start in the first month. So the timing it to get a free month isn't actually a thing. Or am I wrong there?
You are correct.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
I thought that the deal with backdated XP was that you're charged time from your months starting at zero-hour, not based on your actual starting time if you start in the first month. So the timing it to get a free month isn't actually a thing. Or am I wrong there?You are correct.
There are things in print that can be taken either way. Never clarified by a dev here. Not sure if clarified on GW forum.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
I thought that the deal with backdated XP was that you're charged time from your months starting at zero-hour, not based on your actual starting time if you start in the first month. So the timing it to get a free month isn't actually a thing. Or am I wrong there?You are correct.
There are differing opinions, and possibilities. For some, it will be worth the risk. At worst, they're going to get the XP anyway, and missing a month of play might not bother them.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
The way I see it, you are effectively paying for xp/training time, not play time. Backdated xp would therefore also mean backdated subscription usage, and that seems to me the most fair way to do things (both to those who could not join in on day 1 of EE, and to those who could/did).
|
CEO, Goblinworks
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
If you logged in for the first time on the last day of the first month, you'd get backdated XP to the start of Early Enrollment, and your first month of game time would expire 30 days after your first login. So yes, if you time it right, you could get effectively 2 months -1 day of XP for 1 month's game time.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
If you logged in for the first time on the last day of the first month, you'd get backdated XP to the start of Early Enrollment, and your first month of game time would expire 30 days after your first login. So yes, if you time it right, you could get effectively 2 months -1 day of XP for 1 month's game time.
Forgive me for the negative tone, but this sounds to me like punishing the people who logged in day one.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
If you logged in for the first time on the last day of the first month, you'd get backdated XP to the start of Early Enrollment, and your first month of game time would expire 30 days after your first login. So yes, if you time it right, you could get effectively 2 months -1 day of XP for 1 month's game time.
Thanks for that clarification, Ryan.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
If you logged in for the first time on the last day of the first month, you'd get backdated XP to the start of Early Enrollment, and your first month of game time would expire 30 days after your first login. So yes, if you time it right, you could get effectively 2 months -1 day of XP for 1 month's game time.
At the end of the month, I will have had a month gaming, have >300 refined leather goods in the settlement 'bank', collected about 150 recipes from killing starter gobbos, gotten in some pvp...
The person who logs in on day 29 can buy recipes from "old" players, because the gobbos may be gone, gets to do their initial gathering under die-and-drop-husk rules, and generally will be catching up. If Ryan sweetens the pot and the day 29 player manages to get almost two months xp for one month's game time... it's no skin off my nose. I got what I paid for. And more players in game will be a good thing.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
If you logged in for the first time on the last day of the first month, you'd get backdated XP to the start of Early Enrollment, and your first month of game time would expire 30 days after your first login. So yes, if you time it right, you could get effectively 2 months -1 day of XP for 1 month's game time.
I was wondering about that myself. :) Thanks for the heads up. I am probably still going to upgrade today, because I want to start playing my Smelter now and not wait till right before that cut-off date. So "fun" trumps Economics, which is a nice compliment to the game.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
If you logged in for the first time on the last day of the first month, you'd get backdated XP to the start of Early Enrollment, and your first month of game time would expire 30 days after your first login. So yes, if you time it right, you could get effectively 2 months -1 day of XP for 1 month's game time.So forgive me but i'm still not understanding this. if you have 4 months subscription and log in on say jan 29 (day before the backdated expires) i thought it would take up one of those months of your sub even though tho you only played one day. is that correct?
thanks
No. If you log in Jan 29 you will get a month of back XP, but your game time will run to Feb 28 (30 Days from login)
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
As we are waiting for polling-tech, maybe we could do a bit of formalized crowdforging through the forums about two issues that have been brought up a lot:
Chat channels and "No Player" Targeting. These two issues currently seem to detract a lot of the fun, and at least for me, the last issue is a reason to stay away from any PvP and even try my hand at it. Others not so much, but they also complain about it.
As a fervent AH-user, I can live a while longer with the current iteration of the AH, but the above two issues are becoming real detractors imo.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
Tyncale,
This is a document that I made yesterday for people here in the forums to fill out. In about 18 hours we have 17 different priority concerns, from 17 people no less, and over 100 people have voted on the various issues. If you take a look three of the emerging top issues after that time: Chat Systems, Player Targeting, and Shared Banking are the most pressing issues.
As a side note, to those talking about people coming in in Feb, we have several people bringing in friends and family to play, on top of our CotP Brethren wanting to check out the game. I really do believe that we can get past 1,000 actives in settlements by the end of Feb.