stuff that may be worked on for update 56

**Rarebit**

I guess I'm mostly making this post because we've been able to include some new, permanent "quest" type content in the last few updates that seems to have gone over well, but I don't see us being able to get a new quest in for update 56, so I just wanted to kind of mention that and get it out of the way.

The reasons are that I'm going to have to do a bunch of other stuff for 56 that will probably eat up most of my "free development" time, by which I mean time that isn't taken up by all the stuff I have to do every six weeks anyway, like critical missions, story development, events, and so forth.

The time-eaters particular to update 56 will be:

- The Halloween update
This falls between updates 55 and 56, and although it will I think pretty much just be the same zombies and Jack-o-Lanterns deal as last year, it'll take me a bit of time anyway just to get the seven new masks put in, and the pumpkins put back in place, and all that sort of thing.

- New archive missions and rewards
Chapter 8 critical missions have to be available in archive form starting in update 56 (chapter 9.1), so I have to put in some time copying those in and making all the keys and tokens and so forth, not to mention coming up with some kind of FX reward symbolic of chapter 8 in some way (hmm...), and, oh, three new org-specific clothing reward items for doing all the Zion/Mach/Merv missions for chapters 5-8. Hm... As long as you don't mind black, I think you'll like what's planned for those.

Also, starting with the next update, level-scaling resistance buffs on all of the event/archive items that have them now (Security T-shirts, the red Merv archive coat, etc etc etc) will be doubled, meaning that they'll give a level 50 character +22 in all four resistances, instead of the current +11.

- New story stuff for chapter 9.1
Hm I guess I shouldn't say much about it. But there is a lot of work to be done in this area on some distinctly different stuff than what we usually do. Some people will be put off by the difference initially, I think, and all I can say is that *this* time it will actually be relevant to the broader story--and the story is becoming much broader, at that. The Matrix we play in is a tiny place, but one of my hopes for the story is to show how the Matrix is/will be the nexus or hub of a larger (story) universe. Well I hope you're all scared now.

Okay, so by the time I'm done with all that stuff, I don't think I'll have quest-making type time before I have to start churning out the 9.1 critical missions. But I am hoping to get in some mostly visual tweaks and changes to things that could use them and that I'm capable of changing (ie that don't require a smart codey person like Dracomet).

So far I've already fixed up weapon muzzle flashes, so they won't be in the middle of your hands, or the middle of your gun's silencer, or spouting shell casings from the tip of the rifle barrel, or that kind of nonsense like they are now.

Other stuff on my list to get to, if possible (please note that I do not anticipate getting ALL of these items done; it's sort of a working wish-list, if you will; the first two at least I *think* have a decent chance of getting done, but who knows):

- go through all special moves and finishers, add or tweak bullet-time where necessary (this is the main one; not very hard, will just take some time to go through them all and get them looking awesome)

- fix 1500+ animations that are using body-type-specific skeletons instead of the appropriate skeleton for the character's body--this is causing some popping, particularly at the shoulders and hips, when transitioning between the affected animations...except for muscular males (body type 2), who are sort of the default skeletal type (easy for me, nightmare for QA)

- fix positioning of dual weapons in hands so they aren't floating off the palm (kinda tricky)

- tone down the hacker FX besides the already-toned-down red ones (this one could be a pain)

- make all ability icons that float off the target's head semi-transparent like eh whichever one ability tree is now (this could be another pain)

- make the trees in Yuki stop disappearing when you look at them sideways (easy)

- fix the horizon fog blending in the constructs so that you don't see a big icky dark square thing out at the horizon when you hyperjump (slightly time-consuming but not too bad)

**Ballak**

I'm glad you posted some of the things we can look forward to towards the new update. The way you put it I'm sure even without a "quest" this is probably going to be better than this previous update. I know you always run the risk of players complaining if the goals arn't met, but I'm not one of those people. The main things I like most out of that list has to be the Muzzle Flashes (<3333333333) and the new Chapter Archive clothing. Black's always good. :p

But I have to ask, Rarebit. You've been dropping hints (or at least interpreted as so) about possibly new weapons like the Grishev R95's. Do you have plans for a project like that even though designing a new weapon texture might impose on your time constraint?

**Rarebit**

I've already done my part of the weapon thing. The rest will take some wizardry from Dracomet, and I'm not sure when he's going to be getting to it. We're not even 100% sure we can pull it off in just a technical sense, but we'll see.

**Paige6**

Thumbs up to all the effort and hard work you'll be putting into this, Rarebit. After reading all of that, I feel like a total slacker thinking about how my next week is going to go at work as a VMware / Windows system engineer. Lots of VBscripting coming up this week, but that sounds like small beans compared to your list. Keep on keepin' on!

**Rarebit**

Oh, and while I was touching up the muzzle flashes I also made the FM-1500's firing sound a little louder and deeper.

**Mercio**

I know this isn't a request thread...but....

Could you or Dracomet, or 9mmfu PLEASE get rid of the invisible wall at Mara nw? It borders the road. It's hard to miss. It really bugs me, and makes pvp difficult over there.

Also... Maybe nudge QA or whoever to test for the other ability sets for the hacker sims. It would be awesome to have different kind of hacker sims. SMILEY

**AnXieTy**

will pics of the new clothing archive rewards be posted before the patch comes out like they were with the ch1-4 clothing rewards? Reason I ask is, I like many other players would like to do the 3 chapters that are currently out so that way the day when the patch hits we'll only have to do 1 chapter to collect the rewards.

**Pylat**

Rarebit wrote:

- go through all special moves and finishers, add or tweak bullet-time where necessary (this is the main one; not very hard, will just take some time to go through them all and get them looking awesome)

OMG <3

HostileIntention

Rarebit wrote:

Oh, and while I was touching up the muzzle flashes I also made the FM-1500's firing sound a little louder and deeper.

Noice!

**Marias**

Also, starting with the next update, level-scaling resistance buffs on all of the event/archive items that have them now (Security T-shirts, the red Merv archive coat, etc etc etc) will be doubled, meaning that they'll give a level 50 character +22 in all four resistances, instead of the current +11.

...good man.

**GypsyJuggler**

Mercio wrote:

Could you or Dracomet, or 9mmfu PLEASE get rid of the invisible wall at Mara nw? It borders the road. It's hard to miss. It really bugs me, and makes pvp difficult over there.

This one would require rebundling Richland and feeding everyone a big update. The rebundler likes to crash.

**Fractor**

Update 56 looks like it is going to be a great update anyway. I'm looking forward to the halloween update and the new archive clothing rewards. I don't think anyone will mind there being no new quest especially when there's already been one in the last update.

**Procurator**

Dev updates.

Thank you Master Bit!

That all sounds groovy. Not sure about the black archive rewards, though. I know the areaK is popular, but if even more people start wearing black I'm not going to look even remotely unique. SMILEY

Rarebit wrote:

Oh, and while I was touching up the muzzle flashes I also made the FM-1500's firing sound a little louder and deeper.

Woohoo!

That's something a bit special.

TheShickle

Rarebit wrote:

- New archive missions and rewards
Chapter 8 critical missions have to be available in archive form starting in update 56 (chapter 9.1), so I have to put in some time copying those in and making all the keys and tokens and so forth, not to mention coming up with some kind of FX reward symbolic of chapter 8 in some way (hmm...), and, oh, three new org-specific clothing reward items for doing all the Zion/Mach/Merv missions for chapters 5-8. Hm... As long as you don't mind black, I think you'll like what's planned for those.

Also, starting with the next update, level-scaling resistance buffs on all of the event/archive items that have them now (Security T-shirts, the red Merv archive coat, etc etc etc) will be doubled, meaning that they'll give a level 50 character +22 in all four resistances, instead of the current +11.

+22 in all rocks.

Will this item also have the +22 resistances?

**Denary**

Rarebit wrote:

Oh, and while I was touching up the muzzle flashes I also made the FM-1500's firing sound a little louder and deeper.

Epic! small aesthetic changes I think are well worth the time spent compared to quests, yes quests are good but MxOs selling point was the combat, building on that is just..... *headexplodes*