Massively Podcast with Mark Jacobs

ThomasN7 · February 2013

Some more tidbits in this podcast. If you just wanted to craft in RVR you can have a character specifially tailored for that. You don't even need to fight if you don't want to. I like this idea. It will also be a player driven and player owned economy. Enjoy!

Source: http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/02/19/massively-speaking-episode-237-mark-jacobs-interview/

replicant · February 2013

Yup, listening to it now. About 1/2 way through it.

Hokibukisa · February 2013

I'd love to hear the plan for player structures during off-hours, when the australians come in at 3:00am and burn down your entire frontier. This should be good.

Here let me save you some time: frontiers will be taken over during off hours. The End. The sooner you embrace this the better. And you'll take some time off from the game, and whatever you built is guaranteed to be burned to the ground.

And as for large guilds and alliance bullying, this isn't something that can be controlled. If a megaguild wants to provide protection for a small guild is entirely up to them. Small guilds will want protection, will want to join alliances. They want something that the megaguild has, the megaguild has leverage and can make some demands.

skyexile · February 2013

Originally posted by Hokibukisa
I'd love to hear the plan for player structures during off-hours, when the australians come in at 3:00am and burn down your entire frontier. This should be good.Here let me save you some time: frontiers will be taken over during off hours. The End. The sooner you embrace this the better. And you'll take some time off from the game, and whatever you built is guaranteed to be burned to the ground. And as for large guilds and alliance bullying, this isn't something that can be controlled. If a megaguild wants to provide protection for a small guild is entirely up to them. Small guilds will want protection, will want to join alliances. They want something that the megaguild has, the megaguild has leverage and can make some demands.

Australians will only come out when there is nobody to fight.

Satarious · February 2013

Nice. I like the fact that he talked a little on the small vs. zerg subject that's been tossed around quite a bit on this board. He envisions a smaller group taking on a massive zerg with guerrilla-like tactics to slow them down while reinforcements arrive. I hope he's not afraid of coming up with some innovative approaches here instead of relying on the old, flawed system of massive, long duration cc.

Hokibukisa · February 2013

Originally posted by Satarious
Nice. I like the fact that he talked a little on the small vs. zerg subject that's been tossed around quite a bit on this board. He envisions a smaller group taking on a massive zerg with guerrilla-like tactics to slow them down while reinforcements arrive. I hope he's not afraid of coming up with some innovative approaches here instead of relying on the old, flawed system of massive, long duration cc.

I guess I'm coming from a perspective of an organized high RR group, but when your tanks have det 5 and your healers have purge on a 5 minute cooldown, daoc CC is much less of a concern than in all other MMOs. Say you're facing a zerg and some random bard/healer/sorc aoe mezzes you, one healer purges and starts clearing mezz from the non-tanks, and if you do it right, your non-det tanks have been mezzed for less than 5 seconds, your det tanks have been mezzed for 7 seconds, and everyone now has a 60 seconds of mezz immunity. You cannot be mezzed again for what is basically an eternity.

Compare this to wow where every single person in that zerg will have at least 2 forms of CC and they can keep your whole group stun-locked until death.

Satarious · February 2013

Originally posted by Hokibukisa
Originally posted by Satarious
Nice. I like the fact that he talked a little on the small vs. zerg subject that's been tossed around quite a bit on this board. He envisions a smaller group taking on a massive zerg with guerrilla-like tactics to slow them down while reinforcements arrive. I hope he's not afraid of coming up with some innovative approaches here instead of relying on the old, flawed system of massive, long duration cc.

I guess I'm coming from a perspective of an organized high RR group, but when your tanks have det 5 and your healers have purge on a 5 minute cooldown, daoc CC is much less of a concern than in all other MMOs. Say you're facing a zerg and some random bard/healer/sorc aoe mezzes you, one healer purges and starts clearing mezz from the non-tanks, and if you do it right, your non-det tanks have been mezzed for less than 5 seconds, your det tanks have been mezzed for 7 seconds, and everyone now has a 60 seconds of mezz immunity. You cannot be mezzed again for what is basically an eternity.

Compare this to wow where every single person in that zerg will have at least 2 forms of CC and they can keep your whole group stun-locked until death.

The interviewer actually asked him a question about this dead-on. Mark said that this issue (long duration cc vs. not) is one of his biggest concerns and that he's planning to put a lot of thought and experimentation into it. I like that he's willing to think up new solutions to the zerg vs. small group problem instead of just copy and pasting the old daoc way. The biggest problem I have with long duration cc is that it really does alter the pvp playstyle in the game (of which I'm not a big fan of). It turns into a cookie cutter: Mezz, assist kill down the healers, assist kill down the mages, assist kill down the tanks. BOOOOORING. I hope he comes up with a system that allows for more mixing it up and less "one by one statue killing" that you get with long duration cc.

tokesh · February 2013

MJ is expecting 30k players but is asking for 2million on Kickstarter? Seems pretty optimistic.

skyexile · February 2013

Originally posted by tokesh
MJ is expecting 30k players but is asking for 2million on Kickstarter? Seems pretty optimistic.

30,000 x $60 = 1.8m, look at some other kcikerstart projects, its not that far-fetched.

Hokibukisa · February 2013

I don't know much about kickstarters. Do they refund if the project does not reach their goals and is thus not started?

I'm going to invest a good bit either way, but I'd be willing to invest a lot more, probably 5 times as much if I were assured that if the project never starts that it'll be refunded.

Also is it viewed more as an investment, loan, or donation? If its simply, I invest a grand for example, is it just you get the game and a thank you for the other $950, or a get the game and eventually paid back the $950. (pretty generous loan interest rate of 0%)

Why is funding all-or-nothing?

All-or-nothing funding is a core part of Kickstarter and it has a number of advantages:

It's less risk for everyone. If you need $5,000, it's tough having $1,000 and a bunch of people expecting you to complete a $5,000 project.

Why do people back projects?

A lot of backers are rallying around their friends' projects. Some are supporting people they've long admired. Many are just inspired by a new idea. Others are inspired by a project's rewards — a copy of what's being made, a limited edition, or a custom experience related to the project.

Do backers get ownership or equity in the projects they fund?

No. Project creators keep 100% ownership of their work. Kickstarter cannot be used to offer financial returns or equity, or to solicit loans.

Heh, well I supposed I could just read kickstarter page. Ok so we're only going to be allowed to pledge so much, its not for loans or investment, but at least theres no risk.

Father_Jack · February 2013

Originally posted by Hokibukisa
I don't know much about kickstarters. Do they refund if the project does not reach their goals and is thus not started?

I'm going to invest a good bit either way, but I'd be willing to invest a lot more, probably 5 times as much if I were assured that if the project never starts that it'll be refunded.

Also is it viewed more as an investment, loan, or donation? If its simply, I invest a grand for example, is it just you get the game and a thank you for the other $950, or a get the game and eventually paid back the $950. (pretty generous loan interest rate of 0%)

If it doesn't reach it's target goal you get all your money back. If it reaches it's goal thenthe money you pledged goes tot he company and they use it to develope the game. Though there is still no guarantee they will deliver. I don't kow the percentage of KS that don't deliver but I think it's rather small.

The person submitting the kickstarter, makes differnt donation tiers. So for like a book, if you donate $10 you get an e-book, $25 paperback, $50 hardback, $200 hardback and original art from the book etc. Then they have stretch goals if the excede what they ask for there are bonuses that kick in. But you can decide which level fits best into what you want to give and what you want to get back.

You should just check out the site and explore some of the KS to see how the pledges work.

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meddyck · February 2013

Originally posted by skyexile

Originally posted by tokesh
MJ is expecting 30k players but is asking for 2million on Kickstarter? Seems pretty optimistic.

30,000 x $60 = 1.8m, look at some other kcikerstart projects, its not that far-fetched.

That assumes that everybody who would buy the finished game and play it will also or instead donate to the kickstarter. That's a wildly optimistic assumption imo. This game is going to need a number of people to donate large sums to meet its goal.

kryllen · February 2013

Originally posted by meddyck
Originally posted by skyexile

Originally posted by tokesh
MJ is expecting 30k players but is asking for 2million on Kickstarter? Seems pretty optimistic.

30,000 x $60 = 1.8m, look at some other kcikerstart projects, its not that far-fetched.

That assumes that everybody who would buy the finished game and play it will also or instead donate to the kickstarter. That's a wildly optimistic assumption imo. This game is going to need a number of people to donate large sums to meet its goal.

I agree - they will need people donating 5 bucks just as much as 5,000 - the spectrum of supports is what Kickstarter is there for.

Stiler · February 2013

The mention of being able to burn your own town (if your guild owns it) seems awesome.

However I REALLY REALLY hope there's a way to do this as an ambush.

Imagine nfor example, you have info (from scouts, etc) that a big enemy force is coming to attack your city, a huuuuuge one that far outnumbers you.

Now think if you could set up a trap for them. If you could say, place a bunch of gunpowder barrels (or some type of explosive devices) around your entire town within it's walls. Everyone in the town has left minus the few that are staying there to make sure the ambush goes through. They have the entire city trapped with explosives and ready to blow.

The people arrive to siege it and see the gate open, they think everyone has left/isn't there so they go in to ranksack the city/take it over, once a large portion of them go in side the people light the fuse and watch the city explode as they take out the people inside the walls.

This would be AMAZING. However at the same time, you are making a sacrifice, you are killing those people and ensuring they can't "capture" the town, but you also are losing allllll your work and money invested into the town, so it's something you'd have to balance if it's worth to do or not.

tlear · February 2013

Originally posted by Stiler
The mention of being able to burn your own town (if your guild owns it) seems awesome.

However I REALLY REALLY hope there's a way to do this as an ambush.

Imagine nfor example, you have info (from scouts, etc) that a big enemy force is coming to attack your city, a huuuuuge one that far outnumbers you.

Now think if you could set up a trap for them. If you could say, place a bunch of gunpowder barrels (or some type of explosive devices) around your entire town within it's walls. Everyone in the town has left minus the few that are staying there to make sure the ambush goes through. They have the entire city trapped with explosives and ready to blow.

The people arrive to siege it and see the gate open, they think everyone has left/isn't there so they go in to ranksack the city/take it over, once a large portion of them go in side the people light the fuse and watch the city explode as they take out the people inside the walls.

This would be AMAZING. However at the same time, you are making a sacrifice, you are killing those people and ensuring they can't "capture" the town, but you also are losing allllll your work and money invested into the town, so it's something you'd have to balance if it's worth to do or not.

The lol factor of that would be pretty epic, not sure it is worth the effort to implement though

Stiler · February 2013

Originally posted by tlear
Originally posted by Stiler
The mention of being able to burn your own town (if your guild owns it) seems awesome.

However I REALLY REALLY hope there's a way to do this as an ambush.

Imagine nfor example, you have info (from scouts, etc) that a big enemy force is coming to attack your city, a huuuuuge one that far outnumbers you.

Now think if you could set up a trap for them. If you could say, place a bunch of gunpowder barrels (or some type of explosive devices) around your entire town within it's walls. Everyone in the town has left minus the few that are staying there to make sure the ambush goes through. They have the entire city trapped with explosives and ready to blow.

The people arrive to siege it and see the gate open, they think everyone has left/isn't there so they go in to ranksack the city/take it over, once a large portion of them go in side the people light the fuse and watch the city explode as they take out the people inside the walls.

This would be AMAZING. However at the same time, you are making a sacrifice, you are killing those people and ensuring they can't "capture" the town, but you also are losing allllll your work and money invested into the town, so it's something you'd have to balance if it's worth to do or not.

The lol factor of that would be pretty epic, not sure it is worth the effort to implement though

The podcast they bring up burning your own town and MArk says, "Why not?" As long as the guild/owner of the town does it (and not just some random one person who might own a house there). It has to be a group thing so as not to allolw for griefers to randomly destroy peoples towns/property.

It's just the ability not only to burn your house down, but to set up explosives and allow it to kill the enemies as well that I added, which imo would be awesome to do. At the same time that's a LOT of money you'd b elosing and time invested, so it's a tos sup to do or not for people.

Galadourn · February 2013

nice interview, elaborating a bit more on certain game aspects.

meddyck · February 2013

It's hard for me to imagine how building in the frontier would ever be worth it. You would have whole guilds that would make burning enemy houses every day their sole purpose in RvR. Unless the frontier housing basically was inside a fortress that was as heavily defended as a relic temple in DAOC, it would be pointless to build there.

Galadourn · February 2013

when MJ says "housing" he'snot referring to player houses only; he means all sorts of constrcuts like keeps, bridges, mines, etc.Some of those would be required to be built in the frontier.

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Massively Podcast with Mark Jacobs