Test 03-26-2014

[wushin]

Currently on the test server needing testing:
- All Magic spells
- HitchhikersTowel (undyed version) should take you back to the soulmenhir once an hour.
- Dyed HitchhikersTowls currently do nothing (undecided on what they do yet)
- Death: Dying should spawn you closer to where you died and not the soul menhir
- Travel: The Ship at the docks is Free but slow and limited.
- Travel: Diryn has created an order of mages to enable fast travel (at a price) around TMW
- Sprite 1.5
-- Complete rework of existing content added so much here.
- Npcs as Dolls
-- Notice a the Npcs are for the most part using a standard base unless unqiue.

[Ginaria]

Hello Wushin and Dev team :)

thanks for inviting for testing, but my first question was:
Why these changes are required or will be introduced?

Me and probably many other players would be interested, if you or dev team can explain the reasons & ideas behind changes? Whats better now? Why old traveling system will be replaced...?

[wushin]

Certainly.
The changes are still in Beta. Much needs to be tested on them as it drastically changes development and game play.

Knocking off the easy ones first:
Magic:
- Magic is a rewrite of the backend to a cleaner format, plus we can read any script variable now, prior we were limited to Permanents/Const only.
- This allows us to have limited use spells and to remove spells on logout or only allow spell during such and such quest.

Sprite 1.5:
- Updated Art of sprites
- Base player sprite is 3 channel dye
- Facilitates; Races & new actions.
- New Actions default attack_dagger_stab, attack_sword_stab, attack_bow, attack_spear, attack_chop attack_2hand, cast
- This means new weapons are possible

NPC as a Doll:
- NPCs are now mostly dressed in equipment.
- Anything most NPCs wear can becomes equipment
- Adds a huge number of new items to build out the current NPCs
- Gains us NPC variants == (the # of pieces of gear exponentially)

Travel & Death:
The main point to a MMORPG is social. Without a community a MMORPG is just an RPG.
In order to increase interactions among players I modified Death & Travel.

Status Quo of Travel & Death:
Death currently is used as a Free method of travel, I do it, you do it, we all do it.
Death is often seen as useful "feature" in this manner and also seen as a huge annoyance to leveling players.
Travel currently costs Zeny.
Either the Docks or Diryn. The Wizards House is the only place thats free, other than Death.
Starting players and veteran players without Zeny/GP cannot travel, Thus restricts them to continent.

Proposed Travel & Death Fixes on Test:
Death has become a neutral proposition as maps have local respawn points.
The map respawns points get further distance from the area as the level of the map increases.
example: Dying in the City of Hurnscald, brings you back to the city.
example: Dying in the GY respawns you back by Rossy
The ships and docks have been added to allow travel but still cost the player something, Time.
As the ship is not that fast, but it's free and goes to a limited area.
There are 2 ships on test:
- Routes: Hurnscald, Tulimshar, Nivalis
- Routes: Tulimshar, Candor
The travelers are meant for the veteran players to save time moving about the world fast, but for a cost.
Since Death is no longer a Means of Travel, these become Toll Roads both ways.
The Towel has been changed to return you to your Soul Menhir, but usable once an Hour.
The cooldown forces people into Fast/Slow travel, as Death is no longer Travel.
The Towel will be given to the player from the start of the game (Undyed) (Dyed versions to be added back with same port locations and conditions, but with cooldown)

All of this creates whats called a Hub & Spoke framework.
Major Hubs are tied together and free to travel among; Hurnscald, Tulimshar or Nivalis
The Major hubs send you done a spoke via a choke point to group you; Waiting at the docks for ship, sitting on ship waiting for port (Think taking the Tram)
From the Major Hubs the are Minor hubs (currently covered by The Travelers) which repeat the same process and send you into further spokes.

[veryape]

So, as my role as GM i get some feedback from players that might not have a forum account or for some reason do not want to write here.

The main feedback I got for the changes can be broke down to:

* wtfbbq, towels for going to soul menhirs i dont have a towel.
* wtfbbq, are everyone going to get free towels now? I want a refund on my towel!!!

* this is change, i don't like change.
* Quite a few people seem to be annoyed with not getting back to the soul menhir when dying because quests were designed with this in mind, will this break the balance that was intended for some quests?
* How do i get to candor?!
* If people gets spawned all around the world will this not kill the social hub that hurnscald has turned into?

Some people thinks that the best idea would be to add a manamarket for Tulishmar so that we have the same kind of service there as in hurnscald, and also have a water pump at the first square.. add someone that sells potions etc, thinking that it would probably make more high level chars stay around there.

And for the magic, why does it show the bow animation when attacking with ranged spells.

[wushin]

Also note, Candor and GY inn need respawns.
Candor is planned to have a city above it.
I won't budge on towel. Everyone gets an undyed one.

The quest to be able to dye it can stay in as well as the ability to dye it.

All Items are subject to reality checks. Seriously just explain to the new player how much a towel cost. Look him dead and the eyes and say it.

You can brag, I had it in Beta and say my account is older. Economy and World needs to shift.

[Chay]

on another note since mrwho brought it up, i put the blackjack update of tux9th back to test server to get that back up and running ( )

old test thread: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16255

[wushin]

Pushed some Cosmetic fixes.
Fixed collisions on boat and wooden pump is back in hurnscald.

Also to help testing the Soul Menhir just hands out towels on test like candy.
Candor & GY Inn now have respawns.

[SriNitayanda]

All Items are subject to reality checks. Seriously just explain to the new player how much a towel cost. Look him dead and the eyes and say it. You can brag, I had it in Beta and say my account is older. Economy and World needs to shift.

Now look to the same noob in the eye and tell him that the item he worked so hard to get is useless now. i didn't have a single towel since i joined the game in oct 2012 till the end of may 2013. did it push me down in comparison to older players? i don't think so, what towels mostly did just made my life easier after i explored every inch of tmw and did all the quests and made it easier for me to aim for some end game quests like grinding money in order to get rares.

Making it useless rare is a bad idea imo, still 5 ignots and 21 pinkie antenna + doing it only once a year is quite an effort. i think it should at least have some stupid use like spawning you in random places with shorter delay than the useful towel everyone is going to get (something that can be useful for bored players who explored every inch of tmw). maybe with higher chance to spawn you in the area it used to spawn you before the change.

There is always going to be a gap between old players and new players, thats why new players don't start at level 99. and the easier life of older players just helps them seek goals that new players can't reach and keep them in the game. when i was noobier useless status items like rares didn't interest me at all, now one of the things that keeps me active in the game is getting them.

The goals of new players and older players are different, messing up with the economy of one side doesn't neccesarily improves the economy of the other.

* P.S you know i love you and appreciate you create more fun for me for free, its just my opinion.

Edit 2: also although i talked about it in irc but maybe its better if it is posted here, i think that getting to candor just from the boat can really screw up candor run's, people need to get supply before getting to candor getting supplies + running for the boat might screw up them getting on time. i think spawning option from every travling npc would be a better option.

[Crazyk8e]

Haven't been to test server yet but agree with most except towel. People really enjoy this quest and the reward and resulting mini quest to dye their towel(s). I don't think majority of players would agree with this idea,especially older ones who worked to get their towel(s). The story is great as well. I do hope you give players some say in the decision making process regarding changes to the game, and if not prepare yourself for a lot of complaints.

[Chicka-Maria]

IMO the towels should be left alone as they are. It's an annual quest so its not like players can't obtain these towels. Removing the chance to travel with them makes them kinda lame to be honest.

regards,
chicka

[o11c]

wushin, I suggest that under the new moderation rules, any posts saying "things should stay the same because it was rare when I got it" be deleted ...

[Chay]

towel.gif (37.12 KiB) Viewed 4276 times

Well (even though in a less drastic fashion) i do agree with o11c there. obviously the fate of the dyed towels is not yet decided, please play with the travel system on testing server and make suggestions instead of hindering actual game development because "you have a stamp collection". I am certain there is a variety of features that are worth the 200k (which is very roughly the gp-grindslimes-level90ish value of a towel) it actually costs. (sadly the quest has been disassembled and noone ever tries solving the questions in that quest by himself anyway, so the quest itself is not hard). time to make the dyed towels fashion equipment and having one equipped allow (--insert good idea related to travel system--)

[Nard]

Well (even though in a less drastic fashion) i do agree with o11c there. [...](--insert good idea related to travel system--)

same here: the purpose of a test topic is to:

• report if the proposed modifications work as they are intended to and detect the possible bugs.
• warn developers about possible consequences they can have missed (positive and negative).
• suggest improvements while keeping in mind the developers intentions as tester sees them.

Meanwhile the changes that are proposed here are so important, and have so many possible consequences on the game play, that a looser moderation discussion would be beneficial to everyone.

On this specific topic: I don't think that death/respawn points should be just discussed as a transportation mean, even though it is used like this under certain circumstances: The topic is too much related with death penalty, which is still an unsolved problem at the moment. It is right to say that quests, but also maps (gy, yeti caves) were designed within this context.
Towels usable once an hour: the main effect is that they are useless when you really need them (orange and pink). For the rest (occasional transportation ie red, yellow, white and pink towels) I almost never use(d) them more than once an hour. Maybe a dyeingcost adjustment would be enough to fit the goal of the mod?

[Chicka-Maria]

wushin, I suggest that under the new moderation rules, any posts saying "things should stay the same because it was rare when I got it" be deleted ...

The hitchhiker towels aren't rares they're from the annual quest, you would know that if you played the game.

https://wiki.themanaworld.org/index.php ... Hitchhiker


And I'm saying it should stay the same because this is actually something people enjoy using in game and its useful at the same time. Nobodys going to want to play a game where they have to spend 20 minutes walking to a destination each time they die or want to go somewhere.


regards,

[o11c]

Once a year still counts as rare, which you would know if you watched newcomers play the game.