Mortal Online House of Commons Chat for Thursday, 10 March

Rohn

Just a reminder for those interested, the House of Commons IRC (#straticshoc) chat will be tomorrow.

username509

Tomorrow is now TODAY!  3pm EST.

Slapshot1188

Note this is a change in format. Discussion will be limited to specific pre-determined topics and will only include questions (limited to those topics) if time allows.   Pretty amazing that there is nothing listed regarding the server stability or even the free-trial system...

 

 

Today, 08:48

#1 (permalink)

Maerlyn vbmenu_register("postmenu_1116855", true); Community Manager     Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 2,276

House of Commons chat tonight Tonights House of Commons chat will start at 8pm GMT +1 and will be a bit different than usual. Instead of taking random questions, Henrik and Mats (!!!) will talk about the Cooking System, Alchemy, the hunger system, long term wounds and the new mount system. Depending on the time frame we will take questions at the end about those topics. You don't want to miss this one! __________________ ~ Counselor Program ~ Teh law ~ Moderator Program ~

Neoptolemus

Originally posted by Slapshot1188

Note this is a change in format. Discussion will be limited to specific pre-determined topics and will only include questions (limited to those topics) if time allows.   Pretty amazing that there is nothing listed regarding the server stability or even the free-trial system...

Why would you want to answer difficult questions on issues that have been around for 9 months and your apparent inability to fix it, when instead you could be building magnificent castles in the air?

 

Expect plenty of outrageous claims on how SV will revolutionise gaming as we know it and how their new cooking system will solve world hunger AND cure cancer!

Talonsin

Originally posted by Neoptolemus

Why would you want to answer difficult questions on issues that have been around for 9 months and your apparent inability to fix it, when instead you could be building magnificent castles in the air?

Expect plenty of outrageous claims on how SV will revolutionise gaming as we know it and how their new cooking system will solve world hunger AND cure cancer!

 /Agreed

Rohn

Here is the link to the full text of today's House of Commons chat:

http://www.mortalonline.com/forums/59924-hoc-march-10-a.html#post1117050

No ETA on the next patch, though.

A lot of info on the Long-Term Secondary Attributes and cooking.  A little on the dynamic mounts - they ran out of time.

seabeast

Will they tell us about the lag problem, the server crashs and exploit issues?

Rohn

Regarding the long-term secondary stats, this part probably explains the concept the best:

<@HenrikNystrom>; Starting in nexy patch, we will begin to introduce these "pools" for HP, Mana and Stamina

<@HenrikNystrom>; They are prerequisites for further expansion of the system

<@HenrikNystrom>; This HP stat together with your attributes will determine how much HP you have in your HP pool

<@HenrikNystrom>; There will be quite a lot of HP in your pool

<@HenrikNystrom>; For instance, if you have 100 HP, you might have 1000 HP in your pool

<@HenrikNystrom>; On top of that, you will have let's say 500 additional HP in the pool, so 1500 HP in total

<@HenrikNystrom>; HP = Health Points

<@HenrikNystrom>; Whenever you loose some of your current HP, the same amount will be subtracted from your pool

<@HenrikNystrom>; You will rest and heal, and you current HP will build up to 100 again

<@HenrikNystrom>; However, your HP pool will decrease for every damage you take, no matter if you heal or not

<@HenrikNystrom>; As soon as your HP Pool gets below the "extra" 500 HP, it will start to affect your current HP

<@HenrikNystrom>; So if you loose 50 HP, heal, loose 80 HP, rest, you may be back at 100 HP, but your Pool will have lost 130 HP in total

<@HenrikNystrom>; The 1500 HP Pool is just an example of course, it might be lower or higher

<@HenrikNystrom>; If you die, even more HP will be drawn from your pool

<@HenrikNystrom>; So, when the HP Pool gets below the treshold, in this case 500, it will start to affect your max current HP

<@HenrikNystrom>; This will also, eventually, add the risk of sustaining a Wound when you get hurt

<@HenrikNystrom>; So the more you keep fighting, healing, and getting killed, the lower your max HP gets.

<@HenrikNystrom>; The same system will apply to Stamina and Mana, although the values will of course be rather different

They did say that they'd be evaluating the feedback from these systems to balance them.

SHOE788

So now your character has to eat and sleep. Lose your gear? Gotta start over. Combine that with server crashes and the fact that night time means you can't play the game.

 

Is there going to be any time for people to play the actual game? What's next, your character needing to use the bathroom?

Rohn

Originally posted by SHOE788

So now your character has to eat and sleep. Lose your gear? Gotta start over. Combine that with server crashes and the fact that night time means you can't play the game.

 

Is there going to be any time for people to play the actual game? What's next, your character needing to use the bathroom?

 

Of course, it hasn't been implemented yet, but from the little we do know, it seems a lot of people are blowing this far out of proportion.

Besides, this is intended to be a different type of game from the norm, and systems like eating - which will be more complex than simple food buffs games like WoW have - add more sand to the box, and allow more meaninful new professions like cooking, as described here:

"Let's move on to cooking, Cooking will be a new skill set, and you will be able to eat almost anything. You will be able to make simple dishes with only a few points in cooking, but to be a master chef you will need a lot of skills. What you eat will affect your Stamina, HP and Mana Pools But it will also affect how fat you are. "Fatness" will affect your attributes, such as constitution and dexterity."



It also allows for other systems, like inns, to be viably implemented.

These are some of the systems I've been really looking forward to.

Neoptolemus

The cookery and mount systems sound interesting, and it looks like they finally got the message that a sandbox needs sand.

 

 

That said, given SV's track record in not thinking things through, it will be interesting to see if what actually arrives is anything like what they've promised, or whether this new mount system will cause some fun bugs. I also wonder how well they've actually planned the integration of these systems from both a technical and gameplay perspective. Its highly ambitious and it sound like a very complex system.

Rohn

Originally posted by Neoptolemus

The cookery and mount systems sound interesting, and it looks like they finally got the message that a sandbox needs sand.

 

 

That said, given SV's track record in not thinking things through, it will be interesting to see if what actually arrives is anything like what they've promised, or whether this new mount system will cause some fun bugs. I also wonder how well they've actually planned the integration of these systems from both a technical and gameplay perspective. Its highly ambitious and it sound like a very complex system.

 

From previous posts and HoC chats, I think they got the message pretty much by last November or so, as more people were asking them to concentrate efforts on more social / economic / alternate activities instead of combat and PvP.  Obviously, it takes some time to develop these things.

The mount system - as a precursor to the overall change in creature attributes - does sound pretty complex, but it definitely a system that fits this type of game if they can implement it as envisioned.  From the HoC:

"It looks like we don't have time for mounts, But we can at least give you a hint on what we are working on. The new mounts are where we start the creature-revamping. We start with mounts, the mounts will have attributes, stats, and skills, each mount will be unique, and the system is completely based on genes. Breeding is not very far away, but at least each mount will now spawn as an individual. With individual stats and looks, the old horses are the first to be replaced.



Instead of having certain preset horse-types, there will now be a true horse-family with various horse races, all eventually interbreedable. The horses will react to the environment to a much higher extent, and the reactions will depend on the attributes of the horse, for instance Intelligence or Psyche. The old horses will be replaced by the new horses, if you had a steppe horse, it will be replaced with the new steppe horse, as in the equivalent attributes, color, etc, and it will also be unique. To be more specific, there isn't really a new "Steppe Horse" as in a rigid, fixed set of attributes.



Instead, the horses spawning on the steppe will be just "horses" with attributes, coloring, etc similar to the old Steppe Horses, although each one will be unique with slight variations. Creatures will be able to breed within the same family. That is, races can interbreed. Sometimes, species can interbreed too, but the offspring may be infertile. To breed creatures even further apart in the evolutionary tree, you will need very specific...tools. And it may often not be possible. More importantly, such breeding is forbidden by the Gods.



As soon as breeding is in. The creatures will breed by themselves, but as most of them will be part of the same race they will take time to "evolve". We will go through each creature family and replace its members with "dynamic" members, and that will take time. All families that get replaced will also be dynamic, and trainable (and breedable). But it will take time."



I think that this system, and others like it, are exactly what the game needs to keep improving as a sandbox game.

SHOE788

Originally posted by Rohn

Originally posted by SHOE788

So now your character has to eat and sleep. Lose your gear? Gotta start over. Combine that with server crashes and the fact that night time means you can't play the game.

 

Is there going to be any time for people to play the actual game? What's next, your character needing to use the bathroom?

 

Of course, it hasn't been implemented yet, but from the little we do know, it seems a lot of people are blowing this far out of proportion.

Besides, this is intended to be a different type of game from the norm, and systems like eating - which will be more complex than simple food buffs games like WoW have - add more sand to the box, and allow more meaninful new professions like cooking, as described here:

"Let's move on to cooking, Cooking will be a new skill set, and you will be able to eat almost anything. You will be able to make simple dishes with only a few points in cooking, but to be a master chef you will need a lot of skills. What you eat will affect your Stamina, HP and Mana Pools But it will also affect how fat you are. "Fatness" will affect your attributes, such as constitution and dexterity."



It also allows for other systems, like inns, to be viably implemented.

These are some of the systems I've been really looking forward to.

That's not really the point though.

You shouldn't be forced to eat, you shouldn't be forced to sleep, you shouldn't be forced to do anything in a sandbox game. If you enjoy cooking food and doing social events, then you do them. I don't disagree with a cooking system in that regard. However, adding unnecessary complexity to an already overburdening game is definitely not the direction they need to go.

Rohn

Originally posted by SHOE788

Originally posted by Rohn

Originally posted by SHOE788

So now your character has to eat and sleep. Lose your gear? Gotta start over. Combine that with server crashes and the fact that night time means you can't play the game.

 

Is there going to be any time for people to play the actual game? What's next, your character needing to use the bathroom?

 

Of course, it hasn't been implemented yet, but from the little we do know, it seems a lot of people are blowing this far out of proportion.

Besides, this is intended to be a different type of game from the norm, and systems like eating - which will be more complex than simple food buffs games like WoW have - add more sand to the box, and allow more meaninful new professions like cooking, as described here:

"Let's move on to cooking, Cooking will be a new skill set, and you will be able to eat almost anything. You will be able to make simple dishes with only a few points in cooking, but to be a master chef you will need a lot of skills. What you eat will affect your Stamina, HP and Mana Pools But it will also affect how fat you are. "Fatness" will affect your attributes, such as constitution and dexterity."



It also allows for other systems, like inns, to be viably implemented.

These are some of the systems I've been really looking forward to.

That's not really the point though.

You shouldn't be forced to eat, you shouldn't be forced to sleep, you shouldn't be forced to do anything in a sandbox game. If you enjoy cooking food and doing social events, then you do them. I don't disagree with a cooking system in that regard. However, adding unnecessary complexity to an already overburdening game is definitely not the direction they need to go.

 

Sandbox gameplay does not mean complete freedom from all basic game mechanics, in my opinion.

These systems will help to tie everyone into the game world, and make other styles of play worthwhile.

SHOE788

Originally posted by Rohn

Originally posted by SHOE788

Originally posted by Rohn

Originally posted by SHOE788

So now your character has to eat and sleep. Lose your gear? Gotta start over. Combine that with server crashes and the fact that night time means you can't play the game.

 

Is there going to be any time for people to play the actual game? What's next, your character needing to use the bathroom?

 

Of course, it hasn't been implemented yet, but from the little we do know, it seems a lot of people are blowing this far out of proportion.

Besides, this is intended to be a different type of game from the norm, and systems like eating - which will be more complex than simple food buffs games like WoW have - add more sand to the box, and allow more meaninful new professions like cooking, as described here:

"Let's move on to cooking, Cooking will be a new skill set, and you will be able to eat almost anything. You will be able to make simple dishes with only a few points in cooking, but to be a master chef you will need a lot of skills. What you eat will affect your Stamina, HP and Mana Pools But it will also affect how fat you are. "Fatness" will affect your attributes, such as constitution and dexterity."



It also allows for other systems, like inns, to be viably implemented.

These are some of the systems I've been really looking forward to.

That's not really the point though.

You shouldn't be forced to eat, you shouldn't be forced to sleep, you shouldn't be forced to do anything in a sandbox game. If you enjoy cooking food and doing social events, then you do them. I don't disagree with a cooking system in that regard. However, adding unnecessary complexity to an already overburdening game is definitely not the direction they need to go.

 

Sandbox gameplay does not mean complete freedom from all basic game mechanics, in my opinion.

These systems will help to tie everyone into the game world, and make other styles of play worthwhile.

How will these systems tie people into the world, or make other play styles worthwhile?

When people need to sleep, they will walk away from the computer or log out. Making a reward system on NOT playing the game is counterproductive.

What other playstyle is this making this "worthwhile"? Is your idea that people will flock to being dedicated chefs and doing nothing but cooking? People don't do that for crafting or gathering, why would they do that for cooking?

Rohn

Originally posted by SHOE788

Originally posted by Rohn

Originally posted by SHOE788

Originally posted by Rohn

Originally posted by SHOE788

So now your character has to eat and sleep. Lose your gear? Gotta start over. Combine that with server crashes and the fact that night time means you can't play the game.

 

Is there going to be any time for people to play the actual game? What's next, your character needing to use the bathroom?

 

Of course, it hasn't been implemented yet, but from the little we do know, it seems a lot of people are blowing this far out of proportion.

Besides, this is intended to be a different type of game from the norm, and systems like eating - which will be more complex than simple food buffs games like WoW have - add more sand to the box, and allow more meaninful new professions like cooking, as described here:

"Let's move on to cooking, Cooking will be a new skill set, and you will be able to eat almost anything. You will be able to make simple dishes with only a few points in cooking, but to be a master chef you will need a lot of skills. What you eat will affect your Stamina, HP and Mana Pools But it will also affect how fat you are. "Fatness" will affect your attributes, such as constitution and dexterity."



It also allows for other systems, like inns, to be viably implemented.

These are some of the systems I've been really looking forward to.

That's not really the point though.

You shouldn't be forced to eat, you shouldn't be forced to sleep, you shouldn't be forced to do anything in a sandbox game. If you enjoy cooking food and doing social events, then you do them. I don't disagree with a cooking system in that regard. However, adding unnecessary complexity to an already overburdening game is definitely not the direction they need to go.

 

Sandbox gameplay does not mean complete freedom from all basic game mechanics, in my opinion.

These systems will help to tie everyone into the game world, and make other styles of play worthwhile.

How will these systems tie people into the world, or make other play styles worthwhile?

When people need to sleep, they will walk away from the computer or log out. Making a reward system on NOT playing the game is counterproductive.

What other playstyle is this making this "worthwhile"? Is your idea that people will flock to being dedicated chefs and doing nothing but cooking? People don't do that for crafting or gathering, why would they do that for cooking?

 

Oddly enough, people DO play as dedicated crafters and extractors.  That's the point.  In these types of games, non-combat professions have an importance that's not shared in most other games.  Or, at least, they should.

It may not appeal to everyone, but it does to a niche of MMO players, which is what games like Mortal Online are aiming for.