Discussion Thread: Dev Journal 02 - October 12, 2005

**Walrus** · 10/02/2008 20:47:40

This thread is for discussing the Dev Journal posted on October 12, 2005 located on Data Node One.

**Rogue**

Interesting... very interesting. I'm glad to see that those damned
hacker effects are going to be toned down, as well as, maybe the
flaming fists of fury. The way Pandora was designed was nice too. I'm
still scheptical about the "Combat Revision", though.

**FAOrien**

Very Interesting news. Thanks for the Update Walrus and dev team.

Baku_

Interesting and insightful. SMILEY

Can't wait for the new changes ahead!

**Elbulus**

Woo something to look forward to, Thnx for the update team and dont leave us in the dark for so long nect time :smileywink:

**Spadz**

Thanks Walrus for that heads up and thanks to Arch for writing it for us.

I didn't notice the update for the spy tree in there. Official commentary? Time frame?

Zelon

I wonder if this mail system is for us to contact other players or somthing else. If this is an In-game mail system then it should defenitly should be like the Drop points from the Enter the Matrix and Animatrix.

**Fugitiv3**

Yay for another attribute respec!

OH WAIT, i haven't used this one yet! NOOOOO

lol jk. love the update!

**ZaneZavin**

Changing caps, interesting. Will the attributes be changed or will they still do the same things they do now?

**Anamodiel**

Dear Dev Team,

First of all, I'd like to thank you for this information provided. It
is great to see what the Dev Team is doing - more stuff like this (even
a paragraph or two a week) would be great. It let's us (the players)
know that stuff really IS being worked on, and that we are being
listened to. I gleefully shouted with joy when I saw the " Dev Journal
02 - Lead Designer" on the homepage. My nearly deaf dog jumped after I
shouted. ALL updates excite me because I KNOW the game is going to get
better, especially because of these letters.

After having read the letter, though, I was a little dissapointed as to
not hearing as much about the Combat Revision. Hearing about Pandora's
Box is great and all, but that feature came out well over a month
ago... I'm glad it was a success, and it was great content, don't get
me wrong, but it's passed, and I care more about the Combat
Revisions/Hackers/Rebuilding of the Districts. Don't get me wrong, I
loved reading about Pandora's Box and participating in it.

I am SO glad you touched on Hackers... even if they aren't removed from
the game, it makes me a LOT happier to know that the effects are going
to be toned down/trashed. While you're at it, can you get rid of all
the effects in the MA side, too? I'd like all of them removed, thanks.
SMILEY

Can I get a big w00t w00t?

Archon wrote:
The team is a making a concerted effort to address issues that the
community feels are important, so we ask that you be patient as we work
on the issues. I will elaborate on the changes we are making to the
combat system in my next journal. Thanks!

Glad you guys are listening to the community, and I can't WAIT for the next journal.

Thanks for all you guys do, this game seems to be getting better and better, even if it is little by little. SMILEY

Kevrocks

I am not removing Hackers from the game. That said I am not opposed to balancing their abilities and toning their effects down.

This doesn't sound too promising, especially after the other nerfs that have been performed, here's a better idea restore the rest of the abilities to what they were and that should balance things out:smileyhappy:

Just being a hacker doesn't mean you can deal it out to the other classes like candy. 1 on 1 a M/A has as good a chance as hacker to win, Its how you apply your skills. I say this because as a Karate character i often took out higher level hackers, and as a hacker I've had it handed to me also :smileysad:

There you go agree / disagree, whatever the point remains that Nerfing is has and will most likely continue to be bad.

Balancing(Snicker,Snicker):smileytongue:

Regression_Laplace

"When we release the combat system update we will be granting an
attribute respec to everyone and providing complete information about
the effects of increasing your stats."

Ok. What if I haven't used my first respec (RSI hack)? Do I get a second one to play with?

**Packet**

Evening slaves of the Architect... ((or devs for us mere mortals))

SOE Mail SMILEY now we are talking... i like the sound of that. I totally hope you guys have play ETM and know to make the access to these mailboxes a physical drop box, hell making us post our mail with an agent on our back would be grand... lets get the suspense back into mxo.

Congrats by the way although being a primarially solo player i have not even made to panadoras box 1 yet (only lvl 35). However everyone in my faction is hitting the boxes like they were laced with Merv's cake SMILEY I hope in a couple of levels to try it out but nice to see there is something i will soon be able to do other than level and rerunning hideouts.

The melee free fire is a difficult one to answer, I have questioned the interlock mechanisms frequently especially when stunning someone for example and they can still attack.

I must say there is a realism to the issue described (2 gunmen and a MA VS 1 opponent), in a fight there is a good chance that in 10 seconds of hand to hand the gunman would unleash a few slugs into the body of the opponent. Can you not keep that realism, and perhaps use what you have already with the matrix... bulltime! surely a successful hit with a MA move would allow the opppoent a chance to dodge the bullets using the bullet time they are in? just an idea.

Hackers: I am like many hackers a little fed up of the frequent arguements over this need for balancing. If you have ever been unlucky enough to see me in interlock you would see the obvious need to balance MA and do you see me making hundreds of threads about it. i can take about 3 hits from a similarly lvl'd MA then i am dead so sorry but those abs are well needed. Hackers pay the price of being useless in combat and should not be downgraded. I could expect lengthing some timers but would not all the other restrictive abs soon come under fire such as hinder shot and btw Archon don;t even joke about removing hackers from the game, my subscription would be cancelled before you finished the patch!

I have a tree that needs some work Data Miner (levelled to 35) which seems almost useless of late, and yes i have tried lots of places. Encryption / decryption (leveled prior to the reading the notes) In short i am trying to remind you afore mentioned slaves to the architect that not all of us wish to use MA and really are here for the story of the matrix. Without hackers where would us red pills be today... in a pod thats where.

spot the coder SMILEY

Message Edited by PacketBurner on 10-13-2005 02:18 AM
Message edited by Packet on 10/12/2005 17:18:00.

**Shinryu**

I'm still worried about the combat revamp... but I do like the fact that they seem to be approaching it from a stance of "how can we make interlock better." Interlock is a huge aspect of the game, and it needs to be in there. Thankfully it sounds like they agree with that.

I'm also very interested in the re-spec. Not that I care about re organizing my stats again per se, but I am interested in seeing why it's so needed. Last time it was just a bonus/luxury item, but this time it sounds like they may be changing the way stats are used in such a way that <<gasp>> stats will actually make a big difference. Maybe the days of every player dumping points into the same abilities are soon to be over... maybe every character will no longer be extremely good at every tree and ability the second they first load it...

No mention of the marketplace or revamping crafting though... SMILEY

One thing I'd like to know about is the small stuff, or the non-gameplay related stuff. When are we going to get the district revamps? Can we at least hope for a Christmas redecoration or something seasonal.? Sure it's important to get all of the gameplay details ironed out, and it's possibly even more important to squash all of the bugs in the game (some of which have been around for A LONG time), but the small stuff is important too.

**POwedMxOplayer**

I think it would be helpful for the player community to know:

1. How many people are on the Dev team? 4 or 40. It would help us to scale our expectations.

2. Who is doing the testing? Is this what became of the QA Server?

3. What has become of the original Dev crew? How many came to SOE? Can we have a reunion party?

4. Will we ever have another Dev Fight Challenge? Could be a good selling point for the new combat system SMILEY