[Alpha 0.1.8] Test Updates / Discussion

[Axcell 4]

Well its been a while since i posted anything around here, its definitely been a long summer...

 

But i finally found some time and started knocking some things out, i can (hopefully) finish 0.1 before the end of this month.

 

Major Updates:

- Gliding & Glider Pads (Only statically placed pads for this update)

- Dynamic Item Stats (Only weapons for this update)

- Mail System

- Marketplace

- Reworked HUD (Redesigned and repositioned Health/Shield bars and Minimap)

- Linked forum login/authentication with the game servers

 

Minor Fixes:

- Added context menu for inventory items (Equip / Send As Mail / List on Market / Scrap)

- Items will now bind upon equipping.

- Fixed many bugs in the Ability Display HUD

- Fixed a couple bugs with EXP display

- Fixed EXP gained from missions and enemies

 

Still in the TODO list:

- Add a few proper missions

- Add Points of Interest icons to World Map

- Finish patrolling AI

- Finish world encounters / mini missions

- Add crafting blueprint vendors

- Fix Orion void rift ability

- Fix Phantom awakening ability

- Fix Sentinel transcendence revive time boost

 

 

That's it so far, any feedback or recommendations are appreciated!

[Tragedy 3]

- Items will now bind upon equipping.

 

You ing what?

 

Why don't you try adding some actual item scarcity instead of artificially creating it through ty binding -- get this through your ing skull: NOBODY LIKES BOUND ITEMS.

 

ADD LOLIS NOW YOU PIECE OF

 

also FIRST!

[Axcell 4]

 

You ***** what?  

 

Why don't you try adding some actual item scarcity instead of artificially creating it through ***** binding -- get this through your ***** skull: NOBODY LIKES BOUND ITEMS.

 

ADD LOLIS NOW YOU PIECE OF *****  

 

also FIRST!

 

Not sure if im into the selling an item after using it deal.

 

 

Also,

New Major Update:

- Forum profanity filters updated.

 

[Tragedy 3]

Not sure if im into the selling an item after using it deal.

I can see it being a problem if the game is loot spam - I suppose it depends how you want to disperse items into the game.

 

What kind of items will players be trading anyways?

Uniquely crafted items that are one of a kind? It really doesn't make sense to bind those due to natural scarcity.

 

Does the game have a WoW styled system of a set of equipment for every level up to max?

If that is the case, binding items for anything other than max level makes low level economy non-existant and difficult to gear up while leveling. Not being able to share equipment, and losing money when you equip gear is a pretty lame feeling also. I'm not saying equipment-binding is terrible, but it might be a good idea to wait and see how things play out before adding it to the game.

 

Also,

New Major Update:

- Forum profanity filters updated.

I can hurt you in other ways!!

[Dracomon 0]

Hmmm ._.

[Axcell 4]

...

 

I haven't really fully committed on something yet regarding the gear sets.

There will be no actual equipment "sets" for leveling, leveling gear will mostly come from NPC drops and vendors.

 

Now regarding the trading part,

 

- Credits: Haven't decided if they will be tradable or not yet, the economy is a very complex part which i haven't put much thought on yet and this will have a huge impact on it.

 

- Character Equipment: (Weapons, Shields, Armors, Abilities, etc) Will be tradable (if they are not bought from vendors).

 

- Crafting Materials: This is a hard one, and requires a lot of thought before committing on something, i was thinking of making material trading a guild only thing. Or at least the basic resources, and allow trading of complex/hybrid resources.

 

- Crafting Blueprints: Will not be tradable, they will be obtained from vendors, missions/raids, achievements and NPC drops.

[Tragedy 3]

Tragedy is the smartest and also very pretty

 

Yeah, I guess it's still pretty early - I'll wait until the game is a bit more polished before I start heckling you on the itemization systems in game. Until I know exactly how crafting, leveling and grinding play out in the real game - I can't possibly give reasonable criticism on your systems.

 

BTW, are you looking for suggestions on anything - or are you set for ideas in your game? I can see Draco is itching to start posting every thought that runs across his mind.

[Dax 1]

Regarding binding, perhaps only allow it for max level/tier gear, and when bound that item gets a slight boost in stats. This encourages bound items at the endgame while freeing up earlier, weaker gear to flow through the economy. 

[Axcell 4]

This has been a hot topic for so long lol. Ive put a shit ton thought into it.

The biggest issue is that with item binding most of the times you are not willing to use/try an really good item you just got (ie. a weapon) because you might end up not liking it and it puts you in a difficult situation because all that profit potential from the marketplace goes to waste.

My current thoughts on the matter is to make all items above a rarity threshold have a try out period, maybe a couple of equipped hours or 24h in total before the item becomes bound the next time you equip it.

Also i was thinking about blocking low level/rarity gear (just gear, and only the kind of gear that never really gets sold) from the marketplace to prevent flooding.

[Tragedy 3]

15 hours ago, Dax said:

Regarding binding, perhaps only allow it for max level/tier gear, and when bound that item gets a slight boost in stats. This encourages bound items at the endgame while freeing up earlier, weaker gear to flow through the economy. 

I don't like the idea of item binding without a good reason, but I don't hate this solution either.

 

6 hours ago, Axcell said:

The biggest issue is that with item binding most of the times you are not willing to use/try an really good item you just got (ie. a weapon) because you might end up not liking it and it puts you in a difficult situation because all that profit potential from the marketplace goes to waste.

My current thoughts on the matter is to make all items above a rarity threshold have a try out period, maybe a couple of equipped hours or 24h in total before the item becomes bound the next time you equip it.

I think the problem with item binding is that once you're done with an item it's completely worthless. Every time you get a small upgrade the only thing you can do with your old item is throw it in the trash. It just doesn't feel good, and binding items doesn't really solve anything in the long run. Equipping an item only for it to be bound to your character is throwing away money and allowing players less capital to make large trades in the future - this goes against everything item binding is trying to solve: improving the longevity of the economy.

But again, we go back to: none of us know enough about your itemization system, or even how currency/items are obtained to offer actual criticism.

 

6 hours ago, Axcell said:

Also i was thinking about blocking low level/rarity gear (just gear, and only the kind of gear that never really gets sold) from the marketplace to prevent flooding.

If low level gear is so useless that nobody bothers trading it, why even have it? Usually the reason nobody trades low level equipment is because the economy is dead, not because low level players don't want to buy better gear to* ease the grind.  

However, as stated above - we simply do not know enough about the game to make these types of decisions currently.

 

TL;DR: If we have no other choice than to remove low level items from the market and force item binding on players, so be it. However, as it stands we don't even know if any of this will be necessary - we're just assuming it will be, and I don't think that's a good design philosophy.

[Dax 1]

3 hours ago, Axcell said:

This has been a hot topic for so long lol. Ive put a shit ton thought into it.

The biggest issue is that with item binding most of the times you are not willing to use/try an really good item you just got (ie. a weapon) because you might end up not liking it and it puts you in a difficult situation because all that profit potential from the marketplace goes to waste.

My current thoughts on the matter is to make all items above a rarity threshold have a try out period, maybe a couple of equipped hours or 24h in total before the item becomes bound the next time you equip it.

Also i was thinking about blocking low level/rarity gear (just gear, and only the kind of gear that never really gets sold) from the marketplace to prevent flooding.

If you make it so that the binding is an optional process that you can only do to the highest tier gear, perhaps even costing currency or a small amount of resources. This way, you can try out and use the item as much as you like, without accidentally causing it to bind to you, but you also wont have the benefits associated with the binding. That would remove the requirement for you (and the user) to track arbitrary conditions and usage time, while giving a benefit in return to offset the inability to trade that item any longer.

If you think about what binding means, aside from the non-trading aspect, it means making the thing yours. Making it work better for you specifically. It would need to be meaningful enough that it's desirable at the endgame, but not so much that it's absolutely required.

Benefits could be as simple as a flat % buff to stats, or if you have durability, maybe it degrades slower. But whatever practical benefits binding gear provides, I think that requiring the gear to be bound before allowing cosmetic customization options like skins/paint-jobs seems like a good fit. That before customizing something to you, it's required to be bound to you.

 

 

[Axcell 4]

EDIT:

Moving itemization discussion to its own thread.