Messages

1

Scene Editing / Current state of NA maps

« on: January 26, 2011, 11:33:51 pm »

After playing through a nearly full rotation on the NA 100 server i've noticed a growing trend of these huge indoor or closed quarters multi level maps that seem to be built as anti cav.  That's fine that the NA map makers hate cav but don't force people who built a cav class to be absolutely useless.  The map's are not just poorly designed in that aspect but poorly designed as a whole.  People with lower computer spec systems have complained about lag.  The multi tier levels lead to fragmenting and necessarily long rounds.  The indoor tunnels lead to funneling and team attacks.  The maps are poorly laid out and are frankly not fun to play.

A map like that two town river map or whatever its called with the high stoen bridge one one and and the low wood on the other is perfect.  It has an open field for cav fights, ruins for small melee skirmishes, plenty of places for an archer to pick people off and an overall good balance.  These maps currently on the NA server are just awful and we have to look only at the dwindling playing numbers to see that.

ScotTFO's server is great because of the map selection on it but for some reason it is scarcely populated and that's a shame.  The pipe that server runs off of is much better than the others. 

/rage

2

General Discussion / Re: Archers buffed too much

« on: January 12, 2011, 02:39:39 am »

This QQ still going on? I played an unshielded pikeman even before the nerf patch and wearing all mail outfit. I never thought archers were too strong even back then. I cursed them to hell when they got a lucky shot in and hated their guts but that was just the moment. Overall they weren't a problem. If you think otherwise l2p.

+1 This guy gets it.  Unfortunately the vast majority take that "in the moment" and use that aforementioned moment to alt tab and QQ on the forums while they wait for respawn. "ZOMG I GOTS KILLED BY A BOW NERFNERFNERFNERF."

3

General Discussion / Re: Archers buffed too much

« on: January 12, 2011, 01:41:30 am »

Just join the server. Look who is topping the charts now. And it's a support class - the class that is very useful even when not making a lot of kills.

Pride crusher...other random polearm or 2h users, the occasional thrower/2h hybrid.  Archers rarely topped the charts before, and they still rarely do now.  Even before the big patch was released the game was predominantly melee.  The rare exceptions were then high generation archers who mastered archery (kesh and others).  After the current big patch and subsequent patches archers still rarely top kill charts.  The added damage to our arrows isn't a huge buff because it still comes coupled with our slow animations, the overall WPF nerf, and the PD penalty (to my knowledge hasn't been removed). 

From my own experience this buff is only a major help to those dedicated 6 PD archers who were made absolutely and completely useless by the big patch.  Removing an entire class from the gameplay was bad.  4 PD archers like my main HA, at least in my personal experience, really don't see much of an improvement except for the most lightly armored people.  I do also have a dedicated foot archer and yes i do feel like I can actually do something now, but not to the point where i feel like a god on the battle field.  I still have no maneuverability to get away from flankers or anyone who breaks through our line because I sacrificed that all for more WPF. 

If anything I could see archers getting another buff in some way, but not another nerf.  This balance is fine and it will keep away a large amount of QQ. 

As always player skill will always prevail over all.  Just because your build is perfect doesn't mean you have the mindset for every class.

4

General Discussion / Re: anyone else hates archery?

« on: January 09, 2011, 07:27:33 am »

Archers still do alot of damage, i hate them because they kill me so easily. You see, everyone has a weakness and everyone has a strenght, sometimes you cant find them, but you have them.

First off, no we dont.  3 arrows to the heart of a cloth armored peasant is not my idea of a lot of damage.

Second if we kill you too easily you are either A: not moving properly and ending up a nice stationary target for 3-5 shots to the chest, B: Not wearing a helmet and getting domed every time while standing still, or C: It's not really an arrow killing you but a crossbow bolt and you are confusing the symbols in the kill-chart

and Third, if you actually read the posts written by intelligent people who put some actual thought, statistics, and game mechanics behind our argument you may understand why exactly we were over-nerfed. 

5

General Discussion / Re: Twohanded is so unrealistic

« on: January 08, 2011, 11:42:09 pm »

dunno mate, 2handers can still move pretty fast IRL (in real life)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln94E9AGYTc

Those are ultra light fencing  swords built for fast moving competition, not for battle.  And even if they weren't, don't confuse real life with video game balance (except for maybe things which rely upon the laws of physics).

6

General Discussion / Re: anyone else hates archery?

« on: January 08, 2011, 11:35:51 pm »

Archers seriously gotta stop their rage.

It still takes only 2 TWO hits from a lvl 28-30 archer to knock me out. In stead of 1, which was the case with the very top tier archers pre-patch.

 

Just because you are no sniper-gods anymore you cry. Well I'm no Ninja-god with 10 athletics anymore either, and I accept that. Everyone got a nerf.

Was archery a bit much pre-patch? Maybe a little.  But we're currently overnerfed.  You have the fact that they slowed our animations and shot speed significantly, on top of that our damage is now cut instead of pierce.  To top it all off we still have the penalty from PD (No other class receives a penalty to their skill by training in the required skill to be able to use the weapons) which is made worse by the fact that the WPF costs are so incredibly high that we can't afford to do anything BUT Weapon master and PD just to get any WPF to be slightly effective.  Add this to the fact that I am a horse archer and need to keep putting points into riding and HA and you have a seriously unbalanced nerf.  This isn't the run of the mill bitching, this is a serious problem, it feels like we're shooting spit balls at people. 

Archery wasnt OP, what was OP was 10+ gen characters with crazy amounts of WPF bonus points shooting longbows and one-shotting people to the chest wearing mail.  With the WPF bonus gone these overboard nerfs are way too rediculous.  As i stated in a previous post, the bows have been taken from our hands.  Even with this nerf I still have FUN (the main idea here) playing my HA and wouldn't have it any other way.  I just wish that when i shoot 25 arrows and land 15+ hits that I have more to show for it than a 0-1 record. 

7

Suggestions Corner / Re: Upkeep consequence : remove items

« on: January 08, 2011, 12:32:54 pm »

During your leveling process build up a bank account.  Buy your stuff, don't immediately use it, play your classes strengths and be smart about it to get your kills and have fun, even as a peasant.  This eliminates the grind because even as a peasant you can get kills.

At around lvl 22 using this tactic with my medium cav lancer I am able to use a full set of the armor I want to, my courser, long great lance, a war spear, and a shield, twice.  I fluctuate around the same amount of bank roll i have since I began using it.  Sometimes I lose more, sometimes i gain way past the amount. 

Just because using math you "bleed" money overtime doesn't always translate to going bankrupt in game.  The upkeep system was built to MAKE the heaviest armors and most expensive gear in the game become a money pit, it was the whole point.  Medium to heavy is still quite usable in a permanent fashion, and with a bankroll built up over an hour or two of heavy play it works out just fine.  Even if your math shows that you will be losing money over time rather than gaining it, so what?  Who ever said that you should ALWAYS be moving up in money once you reach the top tier armors and other items?  There are several people in servers who are actually complaining because they have all this gold now and nothing to use it on.  Well, use it on top tier items and have some fun!

FUN people, that is the bottom line.  PLAY THE GAME TO HAVE FUN.  Stab people, maul, maim, make them your bitch.  Have some lulz doing it and enjoy your playtime rather than grind until your eyes bleed.  If reaching that next level, grinding your heart out to gain every little bit of an advantage over your enemy, and sleeping for only 2 hours a night while surviving on hot pockets and top ramen is your cup of tea, well, then you're playing the wrong game.  Might I suggest World of Warcraft or some other generic boring grindy MMO.

8

Game Balance Discussion / Re: The Great Long Lance (LoC) has to go.

« on: January 08, 2011, 12:09:54 pm »

As a horse lancer using this it is incredibly situational which is why i carry other weapons as well.  It tends to be a bit unwieldy and the hit-boxes on it seem a bit off to me, but that might be a lag issue to do with the speeds I go with my courser (Sometimes i see the tip go through someone).  The cooldown timer is ridiculously long and other cav easily dodge it.  It is a weapon build almost specifically for anti-archery which currently is a problem because of the archers damage nerf.  But if an aware archer stands his ground and can count a hit on either the rider, or the horses head while the horse is at full gallop trying to one shot the archer, the speed bonus seems to make that a 1 shot kill, at least in my experience (and if the archer is at least in his 20's for levels). 

I am unsure if this  speed bonus mechanic actually works in this fashion, this is just my personal experience with being one shot, or having my horse one shot from under me by an aware archer.  This also assumes that due to upkeep these horses are the unarmored variety and the riders are in medium mail with a mid tier helm and the archer lands a decent shot.

I was actually thinking about downgrading down from the long to the regular great lance because of these hit-box issues and how unwieldy and slow the mechanics of it seem to be.  I think the length is both a strength as well as a weakness and it takes a lot of practice to get good with the weapon, but i don't feel that it is so imbalanced that it needs to be removed.  I would be willing to accept an increase in price however.

Before calling for a nerf because you died x amount of times from one type of weapon, make an alt and try it out for yourself, that's what I do and it makes you gain a real appreciation for how other people can get really good with their class setup.

9

General Discussion / Question about WPF

« on: January 08, 2011, 07:54:10 am »

I noticed that the WPF calculator site is down, or at least not working for me.  And since we have no full patch-notes of all the changes i was curious as to how the calculations on damage and accuracy for bows have changed, mostly in regards to archery.  Since archery has been overnerfed, I was curious as to how the PD penalty now affects actual WPF, and without a new WPF calculator (or patch notes),  I wouldn't want to sink a character into longbows if the new WPF system makes them even harder to use than before.

Also, as I do not know who exactly is affiliated with the past WPF calculator, if you are reading this, are you working on a new one for the current patch or waiting for everything to be ironed out. 

10

General Discussion / Re: Constructive Feedback/Bugs

« on: January 06, 2011, 07:02:18 am »

There are alot of different ways in which upkeep can be changed, hard to pin down a specific way.  I think we should make a replica crpg mod for the future and add it to the dev servers (cRPG2 or something) for future patches, kind of like a PTR in Blizzard games.  We should then have a group of around 40-80 people part of a test team.  Just a thought.

11

General Discussion / Re: Constructive Feedback/Bugs

« on: January 06, 2011, 01:53:01 am »

Good thread, and overall I agree with you.

I got some additional points. With the current workings of autobalance and multiplier something ain't good:

a) Either one team pawns the other wins for four rounds, then balance then the other wins for four rounds. One team gets a lot of multiplying then loose it. SOmehow.. that just seems not good.

b) Either team equals and then you have no effect of multiplier

problem. You still need a reward for winning, but maybe multiplier should be less, both winning and loosing team pay upkeep only winning team less chance to destroy items.

Summary and my suggestion:
Both teams pay upkeep. Winning team less. Less effect of multiplier.

I don't think that both teams paying upkeep would be a good idea.  Another thing i thought about (mainly since i don't really know just how difficult this code really is) is not to have upkeep every round loss, but at map loss.  I do agree that the auto-balance still needs some polish as well.

12

General Discussion / Re: Constructive Feedback/Bugs

« on: January 05, 2011, 07:46:03 pm »

I would also like to add, separate from my main post, that people please do not confuse game balance with real life.  As an example i add this youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yorHswhzrU (real stuff starts at around 1:40) which depicts an archer who shows how an archer could indeed fire quite quickly (even more so than the older animations allowed).  This by no means is an attempt to prove that the game should allow this, only to point out that we cannot call for balance to reflect real life because the two should always be separated.  We must remember this is a video game.

13

General Discussion / Constructive Feedback/Bugs

« on: January 05, 2011, 07:36:14 pm »

I am posting these in general discussion rather than bugs because there's more feedback involved.  Most of the bugs I have found have also already been brought to the attention of the devs.

Starting out, keep this thread constructive, well thought out and flame free, I welcome discussion, debate, and compromises but frown upon straight flaming.  I enjoy the game even after the patch, let that be said first.  The issues with the patch that I've found come from personal opinion and by no means intended to spark the idea that they are game breaking changes. That being said lets begin.

Archery
I do not mind a "nerf" to archers but i feel as if the bows have been taken our of the players hands a bit in the patch.  I feel that the animations are just fine, they don't feel too slow at all (and this comming from a horse archer).  They look cool, they feel realistic in a sense, and I enjoy them just fine.  However, coupled with the damage decrease i feel it is a bit much.  I've played a good 5-7 hours with a critical mind (not just for fun, being quite aware of what I, and the people around me, were doing).  The damage decrease is a bit much for a game, that by looking only at the kills per round, was already dominated by melee and crossbows.  This is now opinion that I believe if you are to slash the damage dealing power, the older animations should be used.  If you keep the animations, increase the damage back up a bit. 

Xbows
The idea that these were nerfed that hard at all is insane.  They still one shot me on a consistent basis and i doubt everyone that does so has the sniper xbow with 150 WPF.  They are just fine, don't need to be rebuffed, and i honestly never felt the reason for a nerf to begin with.  High damage coupled with the shot speed of a snail balances itself.

Team Horse Bumps
A great idea in theory but I have found the application of such has fallen short.  As a cav player myself I have found little difficulty in steering away from bumping my teammates.  I keep myself aware of their locations and weave in an out as necessary (aided by the fact i have a high maneuverability with the sarranid horse).  The same cannot be said for a lot of my teammate cav players with itchy forward movement fingers.  Since cav can spawn in the middle of infantry, many people wind up leaving spawn at around half health.  FF horse bumping isn't a huge issue, nor game breaking, but we need to raise awareness to careless cav players before bans begin to be thrown out excessively. 

Upkeep
Now for what i believe, is a bug.  The upkeep system seems to work out just fine in theory but after doing some testing and really paying attention to numbers, I don't think it is working as intended.  I am lucky enough to have nice round numbers to work with on my expensive items such as the 20k sarranid horse.  The horse costs around 4k to repair which brings upkeep costs at around a 20% value, just fine if you ask me.  With the new xp and gold system I think this will work just fine, my issues now come to how the system is functioning currently.  It seems to me that items break far too frequently.  I don't know if this was intended but paying attention to the upkeep of my items I've noticed that they tend to break on the upwards of 65-80% of the time.  This is a change that will not only hurt the rich folk in plated armor, but the newer player such as myself.  They will wind up stuck in the same dilemmas that the well geared players have even in medium gear.  Again, i don't know how the system was intended but to me it seems like an excessive and possibly not working as intended. 

Another aspect of the system that may be bugged is that: upkeep seems to disallow actual monetary gains on losing rounds making the upkeep seem worse than it needs to be.  From my testing it seems that if something is repaired, any money that is gained does not offset the upkeep value.  I don't know if there is a coding issue that you cannot lose and gain gold at the same time or not, or if the system is just not working properly at the moment but there is definitely something there that isn't quite right.  I think this is something should should be looked into asap, or explained that it is working as intended at least. 

Misc. bugs
If I apply my horse to my spawn inventory on the site, it shows up in game just fine.  If I do not do so, it does not show up in game for use and thus, unavailable.  It is an heirloomed sarranid horse (heavy sarranid, 4 riding req. which i meet).  Not sure if this is related to the issue many are having with the availability of their other heirloomed items.

There is also an issue it seems with the in-game stat allocator (default "c" button).  It seems to always reflect my attribute stat values as well as WPF values from the website correctly.   The problems seem to fall upon skill point values.  I have personally found that sometimes my skill points from the character i retired show up.  I am a HA with points only in riding, HA, and Weapon Mastery, yet my retired values from Power strike, Iron Flesh, and athletics sometimes are shown in the in-game screen along with my true skill points.

Sometimes throwing animations can hang halfway through and get stuck and you need to begin it all over again to release the weapon, as a non-thrower I don't know if this is a new issue or was always an issue.  Just my experience with throwing my free rocks while naked yesterday.

I will add more to this list as I find more bugs or more issues that I feel should be discussed (keyword here).  I think to properly discover bugs or issues with the game we need semi-comprehensive patch notes so that we can pin point things that are or aren't working as intended, otherwise there will just be more for the devs to discover on their own or sift through the QQ posts.

I cannot stress this enough:  I am in no way shape or form whining.  I like the patch, for the most part I like the changes.  Without change things become stale and I like where cRPG is going and will continue to enjoy the game for months to come.  Thank you for reading the entirety of this post and I hope we can begin an intelligent and constructive thread.

And thank you chadz and the rest of the dev team.