Friday, April 24, 2015

Q&A with Kris from Planet Cyrene 2015

So far I was avoiding PVP in Entropia Univere, but it looks like Planet Cyrene will change that.

Q: Logging out inside of any of the arenas should send a player to the revive terminal upon relog.

A: I will be talking to MA to see if this is possible to do.

Q: "All time" option would be nice in the leaderboards. Currently one can only look one month back.

A: Same with edits to the leaderboards, again, this will take help from MA.

Q: I would like to see that too.

Furthermore, the "arrival safe state" should disappear upon movement. As things stand one can log in and run around for ~10 seconds being "safe" some times (not always reproducible).

A: I'll see about reducing/improving the functions of the Safe Arrival.


Q: Auction Terminal inside the Hub, please. Considering that auction is global now and there a dedicated area for "The Hub" in the auction system already it might be a time savior for PvPers.

A crafting machine at some point would also be not bad to have.

A: With the new Auction System, I can definitely see about adding the additional terminals.

Q: i've never really looked into the hub as im not a PVP'r but i would be interested if maybe there was a non-pvp holodeck like area too, we select a mob wave and pay a appropriate entry fee and then we solo or team the selected mob wave for a reward, and different difficulties like normal play, limited lives or so on

A: I'll be working on something like this as well =)

Q: This may be just a side issue but it is something I ran into.. as you know, things get unequipped.. no biggie, since you pretty much accept that.. thing is.. Occasionally, some things are not returned to Inv.. for whatever reason.. a Relog works a treat for things like this... In help/FAQ.. THAT should be mentioned.. I know.. that is almost a "Is it plugged in?" but, people DO get a bit flustered if they worry that they have lost something.

A: This is a known bug as you have mentioned and we are still working on getting this ironed out with MindArk but this is something that we would like to add in the next PP VU.

Q: Make the Beast Room an arena that does the 1/10th decay thing since a good chunk of the loot from it is the lime green tokens, which are really hub-centric, etc. Sucks that you got to spend 10 times as much decay on the beast than you do in the arenas.

A: This can be done for sure, but it will also turn The Pit into a PvP Arena that will require some sort of entry token. I don't know if everyone would like this kind of trade off but it's something that we can consider for the future.

Q: Allow clothes (other than the lime green coats) to work in the hub and arenas. I'm sick of seeing everyone's underwear... Armor not working here, I understand, but come on and let clothes work. It's also annoying as hell that there's still decay on clothes every time you go up to Cyrene proper... Mindark finally removed the decay on armor but not on clothes yet. Please talk them in to removing that decay on clothes too for unequipping since it's nickel and diming us to death, especially on the L clothes... It's annoying running around in underwear all of the time just so I can visit hub frequently.

A: There are actually a few sets of clothing that can be purchased for use within the Hub areas. You can also buy Hub Armor from the TT as well. That being said there could be an inexpensive set of clothing to use in the Hub as well, we won't rule it out.

Q: Put in a crafting terminal in the hub along with a regular tt and auction terminal somewhere down there. I'm mainly crafting explosives to use in the hub at the moment, and it's annoying to have to go to the surface just to craft...

A: We've already added a crafting terminal for the coming VU, however, it's problematic to add an Auction as you would be on another planet. Although it would be easy to add a regular Trade Terminal there, even though you can't use any of the items inside the Hub.

Q: Up the stats and price on the tt armor, or create new armor types that you get from different missions or something that have better stats.

A: The armor stats are they way they are as they should only have a minimal impact on the PvP. It's more for aesthetic or prowess and not protection.

Q: Up the reward on the proving ground kills from 4 lime green tokens per kill to something more like 100 or something. It's really dumb that you can pick up tokens off the ground that are in stacks of 10 all over the place but an actual kill is only getting you 4. You are causing decay if you kill someone in there, so give a reward that makes it worthwhile.

A: I could definitely see about upping the reward from 4 to 8 or even 12 but I think that 100 is a bit high. Also increasing the reward also means increasing the entry fee from 5 to 10, or 15 sweat.

Also the spawned Tokens are to entice more people into the Proving Grounds, not the small reward, as the Proving Grounds are meant to be an inexpensive training area for players interested in PvP. An area that has long term rewards (the Lime Green Token Rewards).

Q: DON'T MAKE IT LOOTABLE PVP as that will scare off more folks than are in there now.

A: There are currently no plans to make any of the current Hub Arenas lootable PvP.

Q: Fix the white stairs. Avatars fall through them half way up about half of the time and have to hit T to get out, which is very, very, very annoying.

A: I'm hoping to have this fixed for the next Planet Partner VU.

Q: Fix the lag. That's an annoyance.

A: This is something that we are working with MindArk on, we'd like to have resolved as well.

Q: If you can't allow better armor, at least create some hub-only attachments that work with the armor.

A: This is counter to what we are trying to achieve with the Hub, where player skill and profession ranks and items are all equal.

Q: PVP space has mines that act like traps... so maybe there's potential to create traps in hub someday? Kinda hard to think how it'd work, but it could be interesting... Maybe you can work pets in to all of that somehow? Send the pets after the enemy as a scout or as a decoy to make you think you are in a different location?

A: I think that for now we are trying to keep the Proving Grounds a bit simpler. We do really like those kinds of things for sure but I don't know if they are suited for this environment.

Q: Not sure what's up with the radar, but I'm always seeing more dots in there than are really there? Are the arenas stacked on top of one another on the same server as different rooms or something? Just seems weird that there are dots on there when no one else is around.

A: Initially we left the radar on for the Proving Grounds so you could see if there we other players inside but I see what you mean about all the player markers on the radar being stacked up. We'll see what options we have to change this.

Q: Activate the teleporter pad things in the proving ground that warp you from one location to another inside of the arena. They are active in the 25 pec areana, so I know that it's possible. In proving ground there doesn't seem to be any of them working...

A: This will be investigated for the upcoming PP VU.

Q: Add more entry rooms to each arena... 3 or 4 on each... Put revives on each of those rooms. Right now it's kinda annoying that there is only one revive so it's pretty predictable to figure out who is out there at revive and who is in arena if there is only a handful of avatars in the arena.... If there was a revive on different sides of the area, it'd be more similar to the main pvp zones on most planets on Entropia...

A: I do think this could be improved; we'll take a look at it and see what can be done about this in the future.

Q: Make a new proving ground in addition to the one that exists currently. You got Mario vr on cyrene, so do a Zelda type of thing with a proving ground shaped like some of the levels on Zelda game, etc. Perhaps the Beast should be inside of a labyrinth instead of one single room?

A: An interesting idea to bring more of the platforming on Cyrene into the Hub. It's something that we talked about internally before but wanted to focus on making the PvP solid first.

Q: Create more items that you can use the lime green tokens on (like perhaps the armor attachments for hub armor or something). Right now the coats appear to be the only thing you can use em for unless I'm missing something. P.S. What is the difference between the two coats other than one is for use outside of hub and the other is not? I don't see the point of the hub only one if it's for activating the beast if beast is spawning for everyone as is anyways? Besides beast, is there some other use for the coat?

A: I do think that there should be some more cool items to be bought with Lime Green Tokens, I'll take this back to the guys and see what is possible.

As for the difference they both allow for different things: The Hub only coat allows for some special PvP stuff inside the Hub and the Outside the Hub coat allows for a unique storyline mission featuring Ryvox the Cypher. Not to mention the achievement that comes along with owning a coat from the Proving Grounds.


Q: Create a bunch of new arenas for each token level, including the proving ground that works like Eve's playground... I think it'd be interesting having a huge swimming area be a pvp zone. (feel free to call it Maria's playground if you feel so inclined.

A: Definitely not out of the question to have an additional one of those sometime in the future.

Q: Put the PVP Combat Scoreboard terminal in non-hub locations where there's other terminals.

A: I will have to confirm that it will work outside of the Hub area.

Q: So far my only thought is kinda selfish,, Find a way to speed up the token collection rate in the proving grounds... With the decay from entering and exiting the hub <i.e. cloths. mf implant> and the boredome of spending weeks on end down there with no break. Up'ing the collection rate would make it a little easier to bare. 550k is a long long time when you can only play a couple hours a day.

A: We've been trying to nail down the token collection rate ever since it was introduced, we're still watching it each update and making adjustments.

Q: Maybe add a few more arenas that have higher drop rates on the tokens, BUT also require more sweat? You have 25 pec - 5 ped arenas... what about doing the same for the proving grounds... drop em in down those hallways in the main hub area that has the invisible walls, etc. You can keep the low sweat bet you have now, and then do like increments of 50 sweat to enter, 100 sweat to enter, 500 sweat to enter, 1k sweat to enter, and 10k sweat to enter... in each of those increment the sweat drop stacks by multiples of how many sweat was bet to walk in the door. Also, perhaps make a dupe of the sweat arena but instead of using sweat it'll use novas or fragments, or maybe you can just change the way the current one works to eat those in place of sweat for those folks that have huge stacks of those but hate sweating.

A: You mean to say that we should create areas within the current proving grounds that have a higher sweat requirement / reward cache of tokens that also have an increased drop rate or multiple Proving Grounds with varying entrance fees?

I don’t know if we can change the entrance fee from sweat to another item but it might be possible. I will look into it.

Q: Also, to help crafters perhaps change the 1 ped arena to allow one or 2 blueprints to be used in place of one actual ped. This could be useful for bps that are hard to sell on auction... Do similar for hunters/miners...

A: So instead of paying the 1 PED in tokens they should trade in 1 PED worth of a blueprint to enter?

Maybe a blueprint for players to craft the entry tokens out of lesser-used materials?

Q: Do tokens spawn on floor the ped/pec arenas like the lime green ones do in the proving ground? The few times I went in to the 25 pec arena I didn't see anything like that. If they aren't spawning there, please start spawning them there to encourage farmers to go to these arenas instead of just going to the proving ground to farm... that way there's actual avatars to shoot in there instead of no one like it has been the last few times I went in. Make the 'reward' for the floor drops more in the ped areans than in the proving ground... Instead of 10 lime greens, make it 10x25=250 lime green stack drops on the 25 pec arena, and on up the line for each higher priced arena... make it worth our time to pay the entry fee.

A: Lime Green Reward Tokens currently only spawn in the Proving Grounds. I will have to talk to the higher ups here and MindArk about adding them to other Arenas.

Q: Me, I had an idea for a general battle arens.. how about this... have it PvP but, there are also creatures in there that aggro on all players.. make it a kind-of "hot and heavy" battle. One other thing... a holdover from LOTRO.... one of the choices is a kind of "Outlive the enemy" battle, against increasingly higher level foes. In LOTRO it is VERY hairy and very much a prestige thing to have completed it. this is not like the wave events... these foes come directly AT you, and there is no waiting for aggro, they already ARE. Some kind of recognition for an individual or team completing it would ice the cake... ESPECIALLY, if it were a solo.

A: This is very interesting and several other players have echo'd this sort of idea in the past. It's not out of the question for the future.

Q: Side comment, here... Sweat... While it works at Nea's on Caly and Twin Peaks, standing around hawking Sweat is not anyone's favourite thing to do. we need to either open up the vendor stands, or make sweat auctionable.. which I don't see MA doing any time soon. I would REALLY like to see something like a Bazaar.. where players could rent a small stall, kinda thing, and put their non-auctionables out there. A "Stall" could be available for, say a week at a time, to keep the prices down enough to attract "lower level" players. I think this, alone, would serve to attract players here. On other planets, I have seen what looks like a gradual decline in shops that are open in, say, Port Atlantis Mall.. go have a look at their first floor and tell me I am wrong. As I see it, the limit on how long you have a stall for, would prompt players to keep them stocked.. I have browsed in some of the shops... and seen almost no merchandise... which is NOT good.

A: The current Cyrene booths have not been sold yet, they will be sold during the Hard Launch.

Q: got to thinking about hub again more today... In a lot of ways it's similar to Rocktropia's oil rig in the Arctic. Over there there are barrels you can shoot that go boom. Maybe some of those might need to be imported here?

Also, since the proving ground's tokens are lime green, why not introduce lime green wigs to purchase with them?

A: Destructables are quite fun, but might be better suited to another area that isn’t the Proving Grounds. We’ll be doing more with destructables, traps, and similar things in future Arenas and Instances.

I don’t know if we have any wigs in the works but I do think there are some other items that fit this color scheme =)

Q: I don't see the problem with adding an auction to the hub, considering it is already in the dropdown menu on the auction screen that means it has full functionality and is simply missing an npc and nothing else I assume.

A: Of course, adding one is not super difficult but, as I said before:

it's problematic to add an Auction as you would be on another planet.

If it was possible to restrict the items posted to ONLY items that were allowed into the Hub then it could be a possible in the future though for sure.

I agree, Hub-specific Amps would be a good thing.

This is something we thought about as well but the technology isn't there for that yet =)

Q: 1) it seems that TT weapon: [Turrelion Spec Psy-Blade] has wrong "debuff". It is acceleration +10%... it works like this: on hit your victim gets +10% more run speed (stacks with the base acceleration). It seems its bug since all the white-red shortblade version have strong deceleration debuff...

A: Hmm, very strange, I've had a check of the parameters of the weapon, and we'll see about altering this.

Q: 2) in case someone dies - and runs back into the HUB and does not equip anything - the protection bubble lasts for around 30seconds even though the avatar is moving... This alows players to go in and make a grab for lime tokens at at least one spot without engaging any fight. Seems like it does not work as intended. Please make the bubble disappear i.e. after moving inside HUB (so entering gives protection bubble as long you stand still).

A: It is currently setup this way, I'll have a look at the protection bubble and see if anything got changed.

Q: 3) The TT fap in HUB outside the pvp zone uses 50pec per use! I found out this the hard way using out full TT on few heals . Inside it obviously using 5pec. It seems like a bug since you probably would want to heal after death BEFORE entering again to take the revenge (and cant use other faps ther).

A This shouldn't be an issue as once you zone back into the arena your avatar should be healed up to full. As for fap cost inside the arena TunerS is correct:

Back in the day the FAP used to have 0.01PED decay only and token collectors just used the FAP all the time if they were attacked. It was nearly impossible to kill them in 1vs1 fights and the attacker was always the one who lost more due to insane kill costs compared to few PEC of FAP decay. We suggested to make the FAP super uneco so players would use it only when fighting for real. It decays 0.50PED per use in normal decay zones and 0.05PED in 10% areas.

We'll be working on making improvements to streamline getting healed up to full before you get teleported into the arena.

Q: Times have changed and HUB needs another rework. Since the RPG is basically the Nr.1. weapon in any situation, the FAP has become really useless with that kind of decay. After two hours of active fighting in the HUB you can spend around 20-30PED in decay and the FAP would be half of that, that is if the enemy is as good as you or better to force you heal.

A: We're definitely taking a look at the Hub in all aspects

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comment here: