Monthly Development Update - Oct 1st 2012

[Maofex]

Very nice update from devs. Easy understandable and well written.

I do have a question about the 'side change' item ... isn't it already 'easy' to make a side change in-game to/from clan/omni with omni/clan forms, why would we need something from item store to do this? I admit that I am biased toward neutral, but if we can do a side change why wouldn't there be an item store option to change back to neutral in the original offering?

Again, great update.

Kinnik

Well.. basicly there ain't any option to change side at 200+ atm... and that's gonna change...

[JustinSane4]

AO on Steam is almost as good of news as Genele being the creative lead .

One question though: Am I correct in assuming we won't see profession balance addressed until after the NPE, engine and server merge are done? And if so, I assume Funcom disclaims any liability for mental health care required by MPs in response to that scheduling?

[Liwa]

Very nice update from devs. Easy understandable and well written.



Well.. basicly there ain't any option to change side at 200+ atm... and that's gonna change...

Aha, I forgot about post 200 ...

It still might be nice to be able to change back to Neutral also

Kinnik

[Glarawyn]

Impressive. Keep it up and just maybe I'll get around to resurrecting my subscription.

[Phantom]

Some really great info here, and I'm excited to finally be able to change into a Solitus.

The question on my mind is regarding these options for instanced cities...are these options only going to be available to those orgs that receive vouchers, or will new orgs have the opportunity to choose from something other than the default instanced cities as well?

[Dysfunction]

all great news, but no progress until next summer it seems for the things that matter to me. guess once my account runs out ill wait until then

[Genele]

Since I am the one with the responsibility for both systems changes and the new player experience, one will come out after the other.

Since new player experience is more closely related to the new engine than systems changes. (The reason why I say this is that most of the new player experience assets are made for the new engine.) It was obvious that this would have be prioritized first. There will likely be some system related changes going in with the new player experience to avoid making the new player experience out dated once the systems changes are completed.

Rest assured that the systems changes are not cancelled. We have already made many preparations in our development tools to make this happen (like re-importing old items that we previously were unable to change and giving us the possibilities to delete nano programs.) But there are more tool updates that needs to be made for us to effectively implement the systems changes.

I hope this answered your questions.

[3246251196]

Nice update.

It is a shame you guys cannot include a simple patch - text based (even a wall of textual info) at the beginning when some new player from steam tries out the game. even if it was text info on how to start.

i guess the point i am trying to make is - steam, great idea. anything you can do - even if small - to help a new player out on starter island. i might even put a character on noob island who runs a script to help out - not sure what the context of the script would be - but just anything to help.

someone / i should start doing that to rid of the possibility of someone going: too complex - i am out!

[Vurtuoso]

I just want to say I think it's kick ass that Ao will be on steam, and that you guys are building from the bottom up for new players. There is tons of end game already. What its hurting for is new bodies. 2 requests though, upgrade your website and forums to have a sleeker look, and cut out the old fat. Aka New stuff posts from years ago. One of the things I look for in a game is a well kept Site. It's all about first impressions.

[McKnuckleSamwich]

Great update!

[Gatester]

Spikes, tubes, plates, and other neat things on my characters...I would probably pay for a month just to play dress up with those things. How sad is that lol. Hopefully the social armor section would be able to "combine" these parts with our actually worn armors so that people could create some unique effects, but that might be a bit much to expect. Just some armor with definition to it would be favorable.

Hopefully the new player experience is up, tested by the community on a live server, adjusted to be a truely new user friendly experience, and THEN AO is put on Steam.

[Vurtuoso]

Spikes, tubes, plates, and other neat things on my characters...I would probably pay for a month just to play dress up with those things. How sad is that lol. Hopefully the social armor section would be able to "combine" these parts with our actually worn armors so that people could create some unique effects, but that might be a bit much to expect. Just some armor with definition to it would be favorable.

Hopefully the new player experience is up, tested by the community on a live server, adjusted to be a truely new user friendly experience, and THEN AO is put on Steam.

Second life, only with mass genocide!

[AGPEcko]

This is a question that other players have had.

Basically, in 2009 Means promised a free breed change when we change game balance with respect to breeds. As far as I know, we haven't touched breed balance. So no breed-change-related promises from Means have been invalidated.

So the Mongo Rage perk action will remain the same indefinitely, and as soon as possible, I should purchase the breed change, and move my account over to Atrox.

Edit: clearly I havn't read the perk changes (if there are any) document.

[Parisss]

Atrox Online

[AGPEcko]

Atrox Online

I've already got the name reserved.
My token gun and sl pattern piece mule.

auno.org/ao/char.php?dimension=2&name=Atroxonline

[Gorathon]

Nice update; tbh I kinda didn't consider that these would continue.

I am very pleased with the mesh bit; I have become tired of looking at armor and clothing that is painted on. Request: the Nova Dillon (and some others) pants have cargo pockets..if the cargo pockets on my toon's pants could bulge slightly, like he has some bandages crammed in there or something, that'd be great. And vests that hang off the shoulders would be cool, too.

Well done, all.

[fakiiri]

Nice to have the game on steam.

But I think breed/side change will just hurt the game at this point (from pvp'r point of view).

[Otansaanpas]

shade-themed meshes

awesome.

[Misat0]

Thank you for the nice update and it is especially nice to hear that AO will be available on Steam.

Adding attractor points is also a huge step into the right direction.

Just please don't overuse it like a certain 3-letter MMO (and many other following that example) did with their armors over the time.

[Dumonde]

Sounds pretty good.

This update will come this week ? Breed and side changes will come live this week ? Oo