Posts made by GamerSeuss

@Dilpickls I gotta refute you there. In Old School RuneScape, RuneScape Classic, and RuneScape 3, a lot of content is locked behind quests. I play OSRS mostly, and entire continental content is only accessable after specific quest chains are completed. Certain weapons are only usable after specific quests are done, and certain spells, including some simple teleports, are only unlocked via specific quests.

RuneScape is very quest dependent as far as games go. I like the fact there is a lot of content you can play without focusing on quests, but there is a gread deal that requires quests to advance at all.

@Selfish trouble here is the whole 'in your opinion' paraphrase.

The Devs specifically are building Fractured to cater to those players who like group play, and also don't want to be compelled into group play. To many people, gaming is a type of disconnect therapy. They want to forget about other people for a bit and go off and do their own thing, but choose MMOs for the massive, dynamic worlds that allow for the occasional desire to group with friends. They don't want it to be mandatory, but they want it as an option on a whim, or even the option to join a group of anonymous strangers for an hour or two without having to switch characters/games.

Lost tales are already tied into the Legends, and there is only going to be a finite amount of KP in the game available, which means there is probably no plan to add in new Lost Tales for Quest purposes, or adding additional ways to acquire the lost tales.

Yes, there is some content that is going to be easier with a group, and the whole end-game thing is still to be revealed, but I find it refreshing to find a game that's not totally quest-driven, and instead does away with them for the most part. (the Quest-driven nature of WoW is what turned me off that game, and it's how they ruined EverQuest in my opinion, which is why I'm thankful for the progressive servers) but again, even I use the 'in my opinion' thing, it's all opinions, the Devs have just already expressed their opinion that Fractured doesn't need quests.

@PeachMcD Indeed, they can definitely use more tutorial quests...but the good thing about tutorial quests is they provide their own reward, ie: knowledge of how to progress in the game.

Needed tutorials include:
Catching Horses
Buying/Claiming land parcels
Changing Material Grades in crafting
Enchanting
Respec'ing Stats
Use of the Talent Grid
Forming Parties and Guilds

@LordGorgeous the actual gameplan as the Devs have stated is for racial segregation. To share the same guild you need to be from the same race. To exist on the same planet for an extended period of time you need to be of the same race, etc...

The only time, really, that groups of mixed races might be found is on the random Asteroid events, and that just means making portals to the asteroids appear on all 3 worlds.

This is not, like most games, really meant to be an interracial party play game.

@PeachMcD

Right now, I believe Prometheus had said that Keyboard options would be stictly keyboard, and mouse options strictly mouse. That they weren't looking to duplicate games like WoW or EverQuest in that regard, and they definitely didn't want keyboard movement options.

I could be wrong on this...I'm sure about the keyboard movement part, as it has been brought up several times and nixed as not fitting the playstyle they want the game to represent.

I don't know that they plan any real quest system.

The only 'quests' we've seen so far are the beginner quests basically meant to get people fast tracked through how the basics work, followed by a quick explore quest with 3 locations on the map to go to. No rewards or anything for them, so merely guides.

@LordGorgeous

Like I said, the Devs already nixed repair mechanics completely as not fitting their vision of the game and how the player based economy would work/thrive. They aren't worried about gold sinks, they have plenty of options for that, they just haven't really implemented it yet, but they want equipment to have a finite lifespan. Best you can do is extend its life with durability enchantments.

They don't want to be like all other open world MMOs, they want to be different. Frankly, one of the worst models they could follow in my opinion is Albion Online in this regard.

So sorry to inform you but they already flat out said there would not be a method for weapon/item repair in the game. All durability is finite on purpose to encourage the player run economy. They don't want players having their favorite sets of equipment load out going and just getting it repaired, and instead want them to rebuild it from scratch or keep extra sets in their banks or chests in their homes for when their current set gets worn out.
That's a hard line the devs have already drawn in the sand. I wish I could remember where it was because I would post links, but the whole repair thing has been suggested on numerous occasions.

[Edit] As for Stengthening kits, there is a chance they may allow something like this to be added to the game, but I wouldn't hold my breath on it. The Devs pretty much want to encourage players to stay out in the wild for a given period of time, then need to come back to resupply and re-equip. This is partly why they moved the full healing ability from campfires.

Although I find the item interesting, it just doesn't seem to fit Fracture's aesthetics in my opinion.

@Vollmond

This exactly...

In areas where Tin mines are common, for instance, items made from Tin will be a lot cheaper, however, if you travel 30 mins or more from that area before attempting to sell your Tin items, you should be able to make a tidy profit by selling at a higher price.

@Gibbx They've actually said this before, it's the same team

Also, as Foundation Rewards don't get given out until full release, there shouldn't be any hurry to correct this at this time.

@Elias13 They are still right in the middle of balancing that out right now. In fact, that is one of the most hotly debated parts of the game so far.

@Farlander If your a member of a city, you'll still be able to use the city's Marketplace to sell a small amount of loaded items, that should be enough for most people. The point here is to NOT automate as much as possible. If you want to be making/selling items, then you gotta put the time in to market them, or subcontract someone else to do it, or join a city and just load your stuff in the city marketplace as your only option.

@OlivePit

Not only does OlivePit have the right of it here in regards to how to handle such excess trading in a Guild/Group effort, it is also in line what the devs seem to want, as one thing they are pretty adamant about is not having any automated systems of set it and forget it going on. Automatic NPC vendors lessens their goal of making players drive the entire economy by having to handle the buying, selling, and moving of goods from place to place themselves. Either you do it yourself, you have a Guildy handle it, or you sell it in a bulk price to another player who then goes on to move it and sell in smaller batches to make a profit.

@Farlander Time will tell

However, you are probably right. Hardcore Gankers will be disappointed by the fact that the Demon World will be so scarcely populated by easy pushover prey. They will try to go to Syndesia, and if the Devs aren't careful with balancing how much PvP is available on Syndesia, how rewarding it is, etc...then they will take over Syndesia and forget totally about the Demonworld.

Good sportsmanlike PvPers will on the other hand appreciate the PvP world for what it is, a place where they can challenge each other and leave the PvEers mostly alone. I really think, for the most part, heavy PvP in Syndesia should be reserved for like a Guild War that is challenged, accepted, and declared.

@grofire

I'll definitely agree with you that PvE players outnumber PvP players by an order of magnitude, just PvP players tend to be more vocal about what they want in their games, drowning out the PvE players in most venues.

Also, yes, PvE vs PvP is a core struggle and very important to be addressed. The thing is, Fractured is addressing it, by giving 3 worlds, the all PvP world, the all PvE world, and the 1 combined world. Now, the crust of the matter comes into play, however, is if some of the major content of the game would require going to a world not of your basic playstyle's liking. Like will it require going to the Demon World or Syndesia to max out your Knowledge Point Totals?

How they handle that will be important. If you can get enough KP only on your homeworld in order to max out Talents, and also get the majority of skill unlocks, then it should work fine. If the skills unlocked only on specific worlds are also those mainly devoted to that world's playstyle, then that would also be okay, but if there are skills on each world that every player will consider valuable, then your going to be pressuring the PvE players to go to the PvP and Syndesia worlds just to round out their skill unlocks. Time will tell.

Testing is focused on Syndesia because Syndesia is the blended world where all things are supposed to be possible. Once you lock down the mechanics on Syndesia, then adapting those parts only used on Tartarus and the Beast World will be quicker and easier. Yes, testing that happened just on the Beast World would appeal to PvE players, as they wouldn't have to deal with the PvP aspect at all, however, it wouldn't be the most efficient use of the developers time overall, unless they switched formats and tried for a more staggered Game Launch, releasing the PvE world first as a fully playable world, and then releasing Tartarus and Syndesia as they are completed as the first 2 planned expansions, but that is a major shift from what we've been expecting, so I doubt they would go there, especially now that Syndesia has been the focal point for so long as the tested world.

@grofire I'll definitely give you that, every company was different, however, the general standard format for testing was:

Alpha - Mechanics, making sure the systems work
Last Alpha before Beta - Start to wrap the Mechanics into the most enjoyable package possible, mesh mechanics together so they interact well
Beta - Test how the interactions are working, how enjoyable the game is, and starting to instill QoL modifications
Last Beta - A final Beta test went up, this was most likely the open semi-public Beta if they had one, where the game is all but finished, and Beta testers were generally told they could keep some of their gains and migrate them directly into Launch.
Then if everything passes muster, Launch the Game.

So, really, the only part of Alpha that really focuses on the Enjoyment factor is the one to two tests just prior to switching into Beta. After all the nuts and bolts are done, they then worry about the bells and whistles.

That being said, I've seen other approaches as well. The so-called playable Alphas, where you try to make it a fully playable game through most of the Alpha and Beta stage, integrating the fixes 'live' like you would do live patches once the game is launched, or DLC content for expansions. This still was mostly sans a lot of cosmetics and QoL elements, but the various 'systems' did interact with each other all through the process, which in one way was good, but in another makes the programmers jobs a lot harder. Its good in that you don't have to go through the extra step of integrating the systems if you always have them integrated throughout most of the process, the bad is, you heavily limit yourself on what you can do, or you stretch out the time it takes to do major upgrades, because your splitting your focus between the system your working on, and the integration of that system.

A lot of companies have different project teams working on the different systems in the early stages, independently, only meeting periodically to appraise each other of their own progress and changes, until they move into the integration step. These independent project teams would run completely separate Alphas, or what was sometimes called Pre-Alphas to test just their raw systems in a vacuum before bringing them together with the whole.

I'm sure there were teams out there doing other methods as well, and I've probably spaced on other methods I've been involved with (or didn't know about as I only came in as a Beta in those) as people are always trying to find a better way of doing things, but in general, most companies still don't worry about building their player base until they are closer to a launch except mayhaps via the hype train, not the Testing phases. This is why it is so nice that Fractured allows actual broadcast of Alpha testing, as usually, companies keep Alpha footage under wraps and carefully selects and cleans up any footage they put in promotional videos.

@grofire I've been actively Beta-testing since the mid-90s, with an occasional invite into an Alpha run thrown in.

@grofire As up until recently, Alpha Testing was done in-house/closed, while Beta-testing might be more open, it is in Alpha that you don't worry about enjoyability as much as you worry about the mechanics working, then in Beta, you worry about it coming together in a pleasing package that retains members. That's the big difference between Alpha and Beta. Alpha is a mostly unfinished, unrefined product with more technical focus, Beta is more the market research area when you worry about customer enjoyment.

Shoot, in a lot of Alphas, they aren't even exactly 'Playable' and are rather just snippets or instances. You're testing the fighting, you have an Arena style Alpha set up. You're testing crafting, you just have people using the various crafting interfaces without necessarily incorporating them in the crafting tables or whatnot they will finally appear in. Fractured is going one better and kind of making their Alpha more playable than most, closer to a completed game, but at the same time, remember, it is an Alpha, everything, literally EVERYTHING can change.

@grofire I answer as a long time Alpha/Beta tester, and a Game Developer, not one of THE developers of Fractured.

I actually teach Game Design as a Merit Badge Counsellor and what I'm talking about are still considered a big part of the industry. Are they outdated, or tried and true? Different people will respond differently, however, Alphatesting is NOT where you gather a huge player base. Alphatesting is where you can start to spark interest, but those Alphatesting have to realize you are testing, not looking at QoL changes and a fully functioning game meant to be fun and to consume hours of your time. It is a good reason that the Alpha phases are generally only about a Month long. By the end of a Month, generally, its time to go and start implementing changes to be tested, and everything changing over and over again and only getting to sample the game in small morsels is why Alphatesting is not everyone's cup of tea.