October 20th, 2013 - Looking Forward

[patersmith]

I just read this..
Arctic MUD is a MUD, a text-based multiplayer online role-playing game, set in the world of the popular Dragonlance fantasy series.[1] Arctic opened in March 1992. The player creates and develops an in-game persona, advancing their character to higher levels through adventuring, defeating monsters and completing quests.

I don't remember it this way, because by 1992 I finished University and I remember playing Sept-Dec before I finished school.

[Attai]

XP: The change was meant to be a slight buffer so that players wouldn't race to level 30 in 2 hours and then ask themselves "Now what?". We do not want the xp treadmill to be too harsh that people stop halfway, but we do want to ensure that some level of resistance is there to provide enough exercise.

To me the game doesnt even start until lvl 30.  To be honest I do not like the lower level zones and I do not like to solo.  I was one of those that stopped half way this wipe because I stopped caring and didnt want to spend the time to finish leveling.

If you have to make it harder to get to 30 then make it old xp table to 28 and 28-30 be same as now.  This allows people to get to 28 and be somewhat useful in a group.

I'm excited that you're bringing the ranger class back, hopefully its not too different than what it was before.  I did not like the scout class at all.

[DCPTY1986]

wipe for the sake of wiping, bring back the old rangers, tweak them throughout the wipe however you feel is best, lower xp tables from 1-25, make it harder from 25-30.  Make it so White Robes aren't completely worthless, maybe something similar to how they were when they were first put in. For example the extra added prism specs were good, but the 600 dam shards of arcana weren't!

[xellos]

How about you set a time for everyone to join 1 of those anon voice servers, and listen to the players voiced opinion.  I don't think that anything we actually post on the forums gets a real thought, it just gets tossed in the sandbox.  Maybe if you heard what the players are saying in real time voice chat, you might get a better understanding of their views.  That and I'm sure Hoss sounds girly, just need confirmation.

[snax]

XP: The change was meant to be a slight buffer so that players wouldn't race to level 30 in 2 hours and then ask themselves "Now what?". We do not want the xp treadmill to be too harsh that people stop halfway, but we do want to ensure that some level of resistance is there to provide enough exercise.

Wipe: We cannot introduce much mid-wipe, most the changes require a full wipe to be implemented. I was purposefully vague with dates as we just aren't close enough to a point that Aristox and I are comfortable with to start staging a wipe.

Going to throw in my 8 cents that are left before I bounce my check (background image:insanity)

How about weighting levels 1-8 to suck, and 14-17 to suck and 29-30 instead of 22+ increasingly stupidly sucking

Rationale:  keep them down early and force new players to learn, slow down the first hour of wipe rush, give a hiccup during critical buffing levels during the mid stage (a 15th lightning bolt is comparable to a 21 l bolt, same for bash and hp/profiency isn't a huge rush)

Spreading the hate over a  few instances would make levelling much less miserable late in character development.

[btown]

Wipe now we are bored,  fix xp tables.  make big changes in 2 years

[Zozen]

Hoss: thanks for the update, looks intriguing.

XP: I like the current xp. With ranking at any level it makes sense it should take "normal people" a while to get to L30. It also makes zoning more interesting. Skills are appropriately skilled, etc.

pwipe: give people at least 2 weeks notice

Sean

[Basher]

Wipe it.

Also, as Sean said, give good notice so that people can plan the rush madness at wipe. I know I came back after years off after receiving a mailer that excited a fair few others.

PS. the xp tables --- unfortunately after decades of playing the pbase has now figured out the game to get to level 30 and any attempt to forcefully slow this down is going to be a grind because it is an artificial hurdle that just sucks time from the players and gives no added gameplay value. Time, that most players don't really have to give to the game anymore.

Let the game progress and naturally flow into the arena of eq dominated game. A lot of high level zones, need legend or a lot of eq gathering to get done anyway....that rounding up of eq for the end game is a more rewarding in the rush than mindless xping in the low-mid area for players who have been there and done that before and have little interest in spending more time at the low end of the game. It's just the result a more expert pbase contrasted to the 90s.

[Hoss]

XP tables: we will be looking at real data to make the decisions on this, we cannot come up with much that works based on the anecdotal reports we receive here. Very likely everyone is forgetting that there was a significant buff to xp gains that went in mid wipe to really help the solo player out. I don't want to go back to the old days when there were 120 people online and only 4 of them had reached level 30 and I do not want it to be so easy that it becomes a meaningless exercise. The xp gains will be less painful and easier for us to adjust as a system. Our real goal here is to improve the core mechanics so that you don't even notice the xp component.

[Hoss]

How about you set a time for everyone to join 1 of those anon voice servers, and listen to the players voiced opinion.  I don't think that anything we actually post on the forums gets a real thought, it just gets tossed in the sandbox.  Maybe if you heard what the players are saying in real time voice chat, you might get a better understanding of their views.  That and I'm sure Hoss sounds girly, just need confirmation.

So, yeah...no way is this ever going to happen. If you cannot put together a cohesive thought in a forum post I don't really think it will get received better in some voice chat. Arctic is a text based MUD and Skype is for suckers. You might get to catch Sanjuro on chatroulette, but you do that at your own risk.

[DCPTY1986]

So are all of these doing more with less ideas part of the LUBE project? Or has LUBE been thrown in the garbage?

[Chisul]

Thank you.

That said, I hate to be the one dissenting voice...but I will be sad to see scouts evaporate. I've legend a mtn each wipe, had a legend ocean, and tried...unsuccessfully to solo a sky scout to legend. The instinct mechanic is a blast, fence and riposte make for so much fun and allowed for some variation to the weapon skill choices, and roar is probably my favorite single skill/effect in the game. Alas, all things must come to an end.

I am very excited to see the changes happen!

1. Pwipe now just because would be fun.

2. I'm totally indifferent on exp table changes.

3. Rangers will be neat to have back again, I just hope they are not a restoration of the "old" bashing Druids with bow skill/extra shot. The damage output was nice, but I thought the class lacked flavor and personality.

4. Zone revamps based on the the books will be awesome!

Matt

[corey]

But....my king's shield..........MY king's shield

Do a two month wipe and everyone will applaud you for it. No one enjoys these long wipes.

Two month wipe, test the exp tables to see if they're where you want them to be. Test whatever else you need to test. Get Xak ready (I'm just going to assume that's the zone being redone) and wipe again on Dec 20.

[Hoss]

So are all of these doing more with less ideas part of the LUBE project? Or has LUBE been thrown in the garbage?

They are part of the overall Lube experience.

[Bryton]

I want a wipe now, and I will random 1 person every day until it happens.