Discussion Thread: Dev Journal 01 - August 24, 2005

**Warwraith**

Ok, for the most part I think all the info here is great. My only concern is the free-fire melee, I'm a duelist and we were told that the reason MA do more damage then us was because they had to be in interlock to do any damage at all. Well, that will not be the case anymore, so can us gun-fu users expect to get a bump up to our damage, equal to that of MA (makes since to me, guns do more damage in real life as well) or be left in the dust?

**SpikeDX**

guns do more damage if ur hit...............

**Warwraith**

SpikeDX wrote:
guns do more damage if ur hit...............

Really? I used to be a karate MA then went guns and I did a lot more dmg as a MA, even after I reset my RSI for focus.

**SpikeDX**

they do a lot of damage in interlock though u just need to be able to hit them part of the reason why a ma can own a gunman because they have more interlock passive abilities like martial arts expertise initiate kung fu focus etc. if mas didnt have all those boosts in interlock gunmans would rule. and also if u get disarmed ur screwed so u have to be able to hit them and kill them fast without being disarmed. wich is almost imbossible.

and to get off topic i dunno what was up with the reset attributs i fixed mine thier way better then they were before but for some reason im weak i can even kill a succubus no more without help. as an ma and my perception is the top attribute.

Message Edited by SpikeDX on 08-25-2005 07:23 PM
Message edited by SpikeDX on 08/25/2005 18:23:03.

Kosila

Looking forward to the changes SMILEY

**Vaico**

The movies were about Martial Arts and Guns.....get rid of Hacker all together. I hate the way it works, looks, everything about it..just ruins the game. Beta was so fun because for awhile everyone was MA or Guns and it was amazingly fun.....now its turned into a bunch of Wizards....

Videopac

Totally agree, Hacker is pointless in the Matrix, what they should do first is get rid of the Blood Nolbes you fight as bosses when u are Level 50 i am not playing this game to be a Vampire Skayer.

Videopac

Bad move my friend resetting to Focus if you wanted to do more damage as a gunman, for some stupid reason ranged damage uses the perception attribute.

Heloc

I think that the reason they aren't just shortening the stun timers is so that you can still use it in PvE, I don't think the NPC's are complaining about being stunned and I don't want to see that aspect of it go away.

**hagel**

it really looks nice, i cant wait till the whole world revamp and spy tree to be changes (although i never used it after the game got live) i know nothing is for certain but when he's talking about to see changes around this fall.......man its gonna be an exciting time SMILEY

greetz,

Hagel

Prisoner

Lost a very long post due to user error SMILEY so here's the very short version, long rewrite to follow.

I approve of the tenor of these changes wholeheartedly. However, be very wary of trying to layer a cookie-cutter role structure onto MxO that works wonderfully in a fantasy setting.

Despite what the odd MxO manual says, a martial artist in the Matrix is not a 'tank.' It took one (1) bullet to kill Trinity; the one that hit. A gunman is not a ranger, a spy is not a rogue (and especially not a 'rouge'!), coders are not EQ Magicians, and hackers are not wizards and clerics.

Consider strongly how your knowledge of game systems can be used to fit the Matrix mythos, not how the Matrix mythos might be bent to fit the mold of existing MMOGs. Only then will you realize the truth; players come to a name-branded game to experience the nature of the movie world, not to play just-another-MMOG with a green tint. (/spoon)

NanoHaxiaI

I'm interested in the changes in combat. Sounds interesting, though it seems like combat could easily be ruined with some of the changes(both mentioned and implied). Though only temporary, the Stun pill already hurts combat. It easily turns Karate into the weakest MA. It also has huge effects effects on MKT vs Hacker, ER vs Hacker, etc. I'm interested in some of the changes, though some sound like they could easily be more nerfs, and not just to Hacker.

prole

Half of this is what malform and I ranted about for days on end about 3 weeks after the game was released.

I'm glad to hear these changes are finally going to be made, I look forward to them.

But honestly this is why a lot of people are no longer playing.

And seriously I don't care how bad interlock is or any of that, I came for the story.

The games been so bugged and had so many issues that the story is all but forgotten.

The server merge blew away what little story we had worked up.

It's good they're fixing these balance issues and that's a good
direction but personally I believe that's the kind of thing that should
have been fixed in beta. If they had spent that time fixing that in
beta and we were all still engrossed in the story like we were in the
first 3 weeks of play I know tons of people that would still be
playing.

Oh and I had to rant on this too (which I can't really do here) If you
do want to see more of what I had to say about this check it out my
post in whine here:

[warning: is not for the faint of heart. or those that can't view the english language in it's entirety]

Whine Here

Guardians of Unreality

Message Edited by prole on 08-26-2005 12:16 PM
Message edited by prole on 08/26/2005 11:16:46.

prole

I have an idea about the speed at which interlock moves.

And on another note multilock could have worked if it had been set up differently.

I don't care how many people I'm locked with, I can be locked with 20
of them if I'm given a list of whom I'm interlocked with in consecutive
order. If I could then set my rolls up how I wanted to ahead of time by
simply hiting one ability or type of attack and then hitting another
and have it go down the ist consecutively and being able to do more
then block to those interlocked with me. That would be the matrix style
fight to me. I don't recall neo just blocking when being attacked by
more then one agent.

Also if interlock would build upon itself in stages due to level then it would also feel a lot more natural to me.

As interlock stands it's slow and clunky. There's a ton of time wasted
doing nothing but waiting for the roll to take place. A lot of this
isn't even animation time as they aren't even that fluid.

Now say if interlock was between level 1 and 15 as it is now, slower,
giving the player more time to choose the ability they want to use and
think what to do next then they would be able to master interlock.

But us 50s that have played more then just the hacker tree (or never played an offensive hacker tree in our life)

have already mastered interlock. We sit there waiting for the roll to
go through so we can make the next one while we probably already have
the next 3-4 planned out too. But then say if it's pvp by the time
we've got 2 rolls off we've already been hacked, stunned, and code
shocked by 3-5 hackers. Not that I'm whining it's their right it's part
of the game. But as I see it interlock is the vast majority of the time
suicide within the pvp realm. Too slow, too little damage, too much can
happen to you from the outside.

This would be why I enjoy duels so much more. Your skill against the
skill of one other player. I'd rather see a team duel in the mean time
then fixed and balanced trees. At least in a team duel I could mass
duel against another team from the same org as me or even a mixed org
team. No one could whine that they were ganked by 12 different hackers.
There's only 12 people total and I'm sure if you want to play without
hackers, or hackers only that would be easy to work out between the
dueling teams.

Back to my original point tho, interlock should build. It should become
faster and more rewarding at higher levels. Speed it up, reduce the
pause, even perhaps double time it or tripple time it for 50s or at
least allow the option to do so in pvp. Give us a few more trees even
if they are unbalanced give us them for a week and ask for our feedback
on it. Give the 50s that are bored something to do and allow them to
help you build a better game through analysis and feedback.

Message Edited by prole on 08-26-2005 01:57 PM
Message edited by prole on 08/26/2005 12:57:04.

Dodge_THIS

Traxada wrote:
Very impressive Archon, glad to see such detailed communication with the player base once again. All the new projects for expansion sound great. Keep up the good work.

Ditto!!! Very good news all around. Thanks Archon!