ellow Genesis Enthusiasts,
One of my main challenges right now is to do a good job communicating with
everyone not only what is happening, but also why. I think we did a fairly
good job with these recent changes with the "what" but did less well with
the "why."
So ... this post will include first specifics, and then big picture
talk on why we are messing with the core gameplay so rigorously.
SPECIFICS:
With this upcoming Armageddon (in a few hours from now) we will again be
changing some key issues relating to combat:
1. Bandages will be removed. (they were a stop-gap response to a very
clear gameplay crisis that resulted from the last changes to
armour.)
2. The ability of armour to absorb damage has been increased. However,
it is still much different from where it was originally. With
armour originally, if you had sufficient armour coverage, you
were able to (literally) suffer zero damage in combat against
large numbers of foes. What this meant is that there was
effectively no difference between awesome armour and never
being hit. Now, what will happen is that a hit always results
in damage which is *REDUCED* by the quality of your armour.
Damage will rarely be zero. If you get hit, you take damage.
Thus, taking on a large amount of much smaller npcs can still
be dangerous, but less so than it was after the first change.
3. The way damage is dealt has now been changed. For so many years,
as has been widely known by most players, dexterity and the
quality of your weapon (as well as your skill with that weapon)
have been the only factors which really mattered to people.
Thus, the saying "Dex is King" was established as a way to
help people know what counts. It was, sadly, true. And therefore
you would have perfectly respectable dwarves getting their
massively tough buttocks handed to them by an upstart hobbit.
Most unfitting! And yet, it has been the reality in Genesis
for as long as most can remember. But no longer! Combat has
now been changed so that strength plays a key factor into how
much damage you will do in combat with your excellent weapon.
Dwarves, rejoice! Hobbits, do not despair. Your high dexterity
will always play a rewarding part in combat, but it is no
longer King. BUT BE WARNED! What this means is that incredibly
strong npcs (Yeti, anyone?) will now hit you VASTLY HARDER. This
will also be true for incredibly strong players (Niedar, this
means you.) So ... you have all been warned. :-)
4. We will again need all of your patience and feedback. This is our
second attempt at a major revision to improve things. You can rest
assured that we will be very much involved immediately in making
sure that the system is not broken, and that gameplay can proceed
in a manageable way for you.
5. Be careful! With all these changes, Death has been pouring
martinis all around, and hasn't stopped grinning (not that he
could [thanks, Mr. Pratchett]).
BIG PICTURE:
Q: Hey, this is the way its been for 10+ years. I have a routine that I
am comfortable with, and I don't come here to think. I like to be able
to sink into my rhtyhm and grind. Why are you messing with things?
A: I know, and I am really hating that too. The worst part about all these
changes is the fact that it is *EXTREMELY DISRUPTIVE* to gameplay. But,
the fact of the matter is that for quite some time now, we have been
building on a lousy and treacherous foundation. The core underpinnings
of combat, and the balance of armours, weapons, items, and (yes) guilds
have all come to rely on a very faulty design. As a result, there has
been no consistent and reliable method to work toward balance across
vast amounts of content provided by hundreds of different minds. And so,
to begin to work toward this balance that most people feel is specific
to the issues of this vs. that guild, we need to start at the foundation
level and work up from there - normal combat and the various issues
that govern it (armour, damage dealing, healing, crowd control, etc)
must be addressed and fixed first and foremost.
Q: Hmmm ... okay, fine. So ... we are going to have a lot of disruption.
I suppose I can live with that if it is going to actually lead to real
balance. But what will that balance look like? Whats the deal with that?
A: Right! So here is the plan:
1. Establish solid core gameplay with respect to normal combat.
A. Armour effects
B. Damage effects
C. Healing effects
D. Crowd control effects (blocking, etc.)
2. Create centralized methods for dealing with how any guild special
deals damage.
3. Recode every single occupational and layman guild in the game at
the same time, opening the new versions on the same day when all
are ready.
A. Some guilds will be only slightly modified to bring into
play the new damage models.
B. Some guilds will be radically changed.
C. Guilds will be balanced against one another to strive for
global balance, each guild playing a distinct role as
either a generalist (basic combat) or specialist (great
at one thing, terrible at another) model.
Q: You've got to be kidding? You plan to recode every guild in the game?
A: Nah ... we'll leave the race and craft guilds alone.
Q: Um ... this seems impossible.
A: It isn't! Its been in the works for some time, and we are now finally
starting to feel that it is not only possible, but absolutely necessary.
Q: But how long would that take?
A: There is a good question. I dare not set any sort of date, but suffice
it to say we have excellent people who are fast, smart, and ready
to make this happen.
Q: This is crazy. YOU'RE CRAZY!!!
A: MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Q: Okay, fine, maybe you aren't. Maybe this will be very much what we have
all been begging for for years and years.
A: Well, if not, we can always revert back.
Q: What does that mean?
A: That means this is all a big experiment to try to make the game what
we all feel it should be. If the experiment fails, we can always take it
right back to where it was before any changes were made.
Q: OH! That is good to know.
A: Isn't it?
Q: How are you going to know?
A: Well, we'll need tons of player feedback.
Q: You mean, if I hate it, I should mail you and complain?
A: Absolutely! If you don't we think everything is working. Of course, it
never hurts to send us Valentines when things *are* to your liking,
either. ;-)
Q: Dream on. Anyway, I feel much better now.
A: So do I. Lets go have coffee.
G.
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