Posts made by d3Sync

@Gothix said in Power Gap Struggles:

Just one thing to note, about doing stuff in groups.

One player building his home alone will definitely take 10 times longer than 10 players in group building one home. But you must consider that if 10 players will want to build 10 houses (1 for each of them) it will take exact same amount of time, for all of them to get a house finished, as it took a single player to finish his own.

Yes if group volonteers to help one friend, that friend will finish quick, but group gets nothign out of that. And they still need to do stuff for themselves.

So thinking that groups will do stuff quicker is a flawed logic. For one player yes, but for all of them no.

This is same as looting. Lets say one player needs 10 boar hooves. and he kills one boar in 1 minute.
He will need 10 minutes to collect.
Group of 10 people collecting for one player will take one minute, to collect 10 hooves for 1 player (each kills one boar in same time), BUT it will also take 10 minutes for all of them to get 10 hooves for themself.

Playing as group will indeed have some benefit in being better protected from PvP, but that's to be expected, and playing in community will also have benefit of being able to access more profession services from friends. But a solo player can also get all those services in a city. He will need to pay for them ? Sure but he can also sell his services to others so that's covered.

Group doing stuff for each other free? Sure, but they don't get any profit on that then, so its also covered.

In the end, playing as group only benefits you for PvP protection. And easyer profession acces (if you strategically distribute who will do what), but no extra profit there.

I actually disagree with this. You thought it was flawed logic, but it wasn't.

You aren't considering outside factors. In your housing idea, the outside factor could be workbenches. Your group now has access
to a workbench, 10x faster, than a solo player does. And solo players can't even make most of those in their own house if not
part of a city. So while it will take a similar amount of time to build 10 houses, the access to higher level content is reached much
more quickly.

Your looting idea is very similar. You aren't considering downtime between fights. 10 players can kill 10 mobs significantly more
quickly. They also have a lot more carrying capacity, and over a longer period of time, they will be able to eliminate the 10
trips to the bank that you had to make because you were only one person.

This is neither here, nor there really. I don't mind doing things slower. But I do mind if I can do them at all. My biggest complaint
would be that the developers are currently locking the progression of a character behind group content. Traditional MMO's
don't really do that. They may lock gear behind that content. It would be like in WoW, if they said that you can't reach max
level without killing a world boss. It's just a concern of mine. That's all.

@grofire said in Playing Solo Possible?:

@Esoba yes, i agree, I'm not agents cities, people should have cities that they can commune, but right now, its way too forced, there is no place for solo play at all...
and they keep changing it, so all be around the cities, like the campfire change, now you can't go out for long time, and do different stuff, you must go back to the tavern or house.

I don't mind the campfire issue. There are two safe zones until you get a house. Once you have a house, you can use that for your skills. My guess, is that the majority of player cities will allow you to use their hearth too.

I ran into an issue trying to build my house though. I built it outside of a nearby city. There were roughly a dozen unclaimed stone nodes in relatively close proximity to me. I had enough to build half of my foundation. The problem was, I went a little too close to the neighboring city, and it would not let me harvest stone there. Because it was owned. It really doesn't even make sense. The other stone near me was likely part of a city area as well, but it wasn't owned. Had it been owned, I may have only had access to a couple nodes in my area. It seems like there aren't quite enough 'free' nodes around the map. And if there are more, they are surrounded by things that want to kill you. Fighting alone is much harder. And it's too confusing to know if it's free or not before you get there and try to use it. There are so many cities, and it seems like the majority of nodes in the world are under their jurisdiction. It's really a frustration to the lone wolf type of player. It will take me a while to get my house up, I'm sure of it. That's fine. But now I see that being a harvesting merchant is impossible unless you give in and join a city. And I'm betting some higher tier nodes will be locked down by guilds. I'm not even someone who wants to be a harvester. But I can see it being a big problem.

I might not know enough about this to really comment. But it's what I experienced. I think if the city nodes were actual mines, quarries, farms, etc, and the majority of nodes in the world were stone, with a small percentage respawning as random higher level nodes, that would work.

I have a suggestion. Make the character that you want to make.

You want to make a tank? Give them abilities that increases their survivability.
You want to be a healer? Outfit your healer with spells that benefit a group.
You want to be a mage? I think you get the point.

I understand the holy trinity idea. But it's outdated. We are smarter now.
Give me options. Balance the abilities and spells appropriately.

It's far more interesting when you can expand your character outside of the
typical restrictions.

I was going to post this as a response in the alpha discussion, but it grew a bit larger and more generalized than I anticipated. This seems more appropriate.

After a few days of playing and trying to consider the developers plans. I am also leaning into making solo play less restrictive. IIRC, the developers have said that they are designing their game to reduce the level gap between players. They have a few mechanics that appear to be running contrary to their stated goals.

Players are forced into cities in order to harvest materials. So I thought this wasn't a problem. But it actually destroys the solo harvester/crafting profession entirely. As you are forced into playing with other players. I feel that the length of time it takes one person to harvest and craft enough materials to be useful should be a severe enough restriction alone. If you are playing with a group, you are going to get things done far more quickly anyways. I do recognize that I don't know enough about the city mechanics to get into too much detail. But from limited experience trying to build my house, it might take me several days to finish building it. Hell, it might take a week, as there is only so much stone around and I've only finished half of my initial foundation. That's not even considering the work benches that I will need and things like gathering and refining. I don't mind it being time consuming and difficult. But it being impossible, not even being able to harvest. Well, that doesn't even make sense. Perhaps adding randomized harvesting nodes (Not just stone), in non-city areas would help solo crafters. Maybe adding MORE nodes in areas where it makes sense. Another idea is actually adding a location for said node. So outside of all of the random harvesting nodes in the world, the city node is actually a consolidated location nearby the city. IE, a mine, quarry, farm. It could include more nodes, in a much smaller area. That would make it clearly and visibly different from the 'free' nodes out in the world. And solo players could stick to their 'free nodes', that sometimes repawn as higher-tier nodes. The travelling crafter should be a viable option for solo players. I think a plan like this could potentially help both parties involved. Joining a free city and choosing not to play with them is an option that I recognize. However, I'd like to stop you there. I feel that the high tier cities with strong nodes will ultimately be cannibalized by strong guilds who will not allow their resources to be freely consumed by certain players.

The other mechanics that I'd like to mention is the new legends mechanic. I like having 'boss' or 'world' mobs out in the wild. I have to make that a point. However, I don't like the idea that developers are actively gating or locking character progression behind killing these mobs. The issue that is making this mechanic sloppy, is the knowledge system. Since killing creatures gives you knowledge points, and knowledge points are turned into talent points, this is where the problem lies. So again, it feels like that original goal of reducing the power gap between casual and hardcore players is being pushed further and further away. What this does, is it again forces solo players into groups, or guilds, in order to progress. In order for the knowledge system to stay consistent over the entire game, we have to make a concession here. Which is accepting that knowledge points will be earned by killing these mobs. We also understand that there may be some abilities that will be unlocked from these mobs as well. What I don't want to see are these mobs locking even more knowledge points behind gated content, with the tales mechanic. This hurts the solo player and it gates finishing your build behind higher level content. I get that some of this will have to be accepted, but I think the tales/lore, while regional, should be dropped by any mob in said region. Which would reduce the amount of knowledge points being locked behind high level content. The reward for group players is already strong. Which includes time to kill, resources from loot, knowledge points from kills, and unlocking abilities attached to the mob. Punishing solo players further should be avoided if possible. And I think this mechanic and the systems around it need to be further considered in the future.

I feel like, in the end, every casual solo player needs to be able to finish their character progression, build a home for themselves, and craft all items in the game. There is punishment alone that as a solo player, it will take a long time to get any of that done. It's punishment enough that the difficulty is quite high already for a solo player. Gating these players from even finishing their progression as a player is scary to me. Simply because the type of player this sort of game attracts is going to be quite disappointed that they can't even dream of competing. Even if it takes them much longer to get there, they should still be able to get there. And again, before I get hatred for this, I will likely be joining a guild and/or a city when this game releases to a state that won't be wiped in the future. But I do like to look out for the little guy, and the more little guys we can have in this game, the more the world is filled out and the more the cities are actually important. What I don't want for Fractured, is an empty world, with empty plots, and no economy. It's going to be a hard job, but developers must walk that tight rope in order to convince all types of players that this is the game for them. Easy to play, hard to master. Not hard to play, hard to master.

To reiterate, this isn't me complaining. It's me pointing out what I think 'could' be flaws in the system. This is an alpha, and I think this is the perfect place for this kind of feedback. If you agree fully, partially, or not at all, that's fine. But this isn't meant for you guys. It's meant for the developers. My hope is that they can continue to carry this balanced mindset throughout their entire game if possible.

@Kralith I've figured it out. That doesn't fix the problem that people are having though, as it's just a workaround. If I recall correctly, I read that people were having issues before this test with the exact same issue. So base this off of simple trends. I'd have to assume that this issue will continue to further tests if it is not addressed by the developers. I enjoy melee combat. So having to avoid trees and buildings is a problem. There is no transparency to avoid clicking on objects that you can interact with.

@AjaxHeadsplitter said in Playing Solo Possible?:

Just doing some quick math, if we take the low-end for your time (4 hours), and the low-end for your gold drops (7 gold per mob) [basically assuming your fastest possible run with the numbers you gave], that basically means that for you to make 450 gold you would have killed one low-tier goblin every 3.75 minutes, for a total of 65 dead goblins in 4 hours. Even though I've used overly conservative numbers that would still be extremely slow considering it takes like 10 seconds to kill a trapper, sometimes 2-3 at the same time, and it doesn't take 3~ minutes to find another one.

My experience has been pretty different, I've made 2k from farming goblins so far and can take down bosses solo if I don't pull too many trash mobs. Gold is quite easy to come by. I have hit the hard cap for the damage modifier mind you so...

Some people play differently. Some people take in the sights. Some have to go afk occasionally. Some pull mobs more slowly as to take less risks. Some have different abilities on their hotbar and different gear on their character. Just because you can and have found an optimal way, doesn't mean someone else has. Sometimes I take some time to write down bugs I've found. I personally don't sit in Goblin Hills for my entire play time. I've done quite a bit of exploring.

My point is. Some people don't play the game like a spreadsheet.

Two options.

Remove interaction from left mouse click. All interactions are moved to right mouse click. Add hold shift to attack while standing still, like in other ARPG's.
Or.
Add attack mode. In attack mode, interactions are removed entirely until sheathing your weapon.

There are pro's and con's to both. But those are the obvious changes to me.

Also, this game desperately needs a circle of transparency type mechanic.

It's reasonable to make a note of a very low horse spawn. This is alpha, and that type of feedback should be welcomed with open arms. Dismissing it as complaining is incredibly rude. I feel that people should have a right to agree and disagree, but passing it off a whining is not the type of attitude that should be accepted in the community. I personally, have just found my first horse. It took about 10 hours of playing to find it. That's quite a bit. But if you think about it, ask yourself this. How long does it take to get a horse in most MMO's? From my experience, it's usually around level 20. It's rarely right at the beginning. While those first 10 unlucky hours were quite frustrating, I have now found a horse, and that makes it much easier to find more. It's really not that big of a deal. However. OP has a point about spawn rates potentially being increased simply due to this being a testing phase. I haven't found any horse bugs yet though. And it's possible that the developers haven't either. So perhaps they have moved on to testing the rarity.

It's possible so far. It's just harder. They are lacking NPC shopkeepers in order to make money from the extra items that you pick up and don't want. That would significantly speed up the process to get to 1000 gold in order to buy a plot. There are a few areas where you can fight things that drop gold, but the grind while alone is quite long. You have to do a fair bit of pulling certain mobs away from the spawn areas, as some of them are quite hard to kill alone. For instance, in the Goblin Hills, Enforcers have some sort of lay on hands or second wind ability that heals them to full. As a melee character, I can't actually kill them quickly enough to avoid a full heal. If they healed partially, I could, but they heal to full health every time I get them to about 30% HP. It's just a grueling slog of a grind right now. I've probably been killing the smaller goblins for 4-5 hours total and only have something like 450 gold. They only drop between 7-14(ish) gold per kill. It's possible that other mobs drop more, and I haven't found them. I just recently found my first horse, after about 10 hours of playtime. So moving around is a bit easier now.

@Ostaff said in Character name + stat bar fadeout?:

First time I have ever heard of this in any game. I am used to being able to move or hide my character status bar but never heard if it fading in and out. Personally, I think that is a bit much on extraneous coding to do.

However, I do have a probable alternative that you may like just as much and would actually have a bigger impact and usability for everyone.. and that is screen layout setups. I have seen a few games that have used this system. I have seen games that allow you to have up to 4 different layouts for your GUI that you are able to switch between with a single key press. With this system, you are able to hide and/or move any window to any location on your screen and then save the whole layout to later switch to when you want. This system allows you to tailor your screen to specific tasks you are doing in game... i.e... one for PvP, one for Crafting, one I like best.. is inventory management and access, and one for whatever they add later.

Is it really the first time you've heard of it? There are many games out there with things like this. Specifically health bars. Skyrim for example. Think of things like Escape From Tarkov and many other shooters that hide your hotkey bar or health status unless you switch weapons or take damage. I see no reason why it couldn't be possible to do things like that in this game to allow players a greater view of the screen. Usually things like this are implemented for immersion. I am 100% for stuff like this.

I like that they got rid of the campfire system out in the wild. Forces people to make decisions that matter.

I've always been a fan of anything in The Conjuring universe. Including Annabelle, The Curse of La Llorona, The Nun. Also, The Haunting Of Hill House and The Haunting Of Bly Manor. Anything that is super creepy that makes your skin crawl. Anything with jump scares.

I don't really understand a system with no repairs. Meaning, no degradation. Will there be an alternative degradation system? If items remain in existence forever, then eventually, the game will be saturated with high level gear. Only in rare occasions, IE PvE, will items be lost forever. I can understand wanting to try something. But a player economy with no item sinks sounds impossible to succeed.

I see, you were just commenting on an auction house system where items change hands instantly. I agree with that to a point.

@GamerSeuss said in Water system:

They explained from the beginning that the Ports are specifically not for moving goods around as it would defeat their economy model, but instead, are a compromise on quick travel so that someone could join in with a raid with their friends from across the continent relatively quickly, or come do a rescue party kind of thing.

The entire economic system of Fractured is based around physically having to transport goods from one place to another overland. This is to prevent several of the issues found in other games where this kind of player driven economy breaks down because of mass marketing.

More likely due to not having any naval mechanics. Fast travel doesn't really match the overall feel of other mechanics in this game. Building houses and cities by hand, by cart or wagon. Building them in stages, that take a significant amount of time, especially alone. Maybe it's just me, but if I were designing ports, specifically travel associated with them, they would include physical boats, boarding them and either piloting your own down the coastline, to other continents, or boarding a city transport that sails on rails, so to speak, to another open port.

That would make the most sense. But they aren't there yet. I think fast travel actually hurts their overall idea of wanting players to travel to areas and stay there, quest, craft, etc. Rather than poof, Oh look! I'm on the other side of the map! It feels much more like something added as value to a harbor city temporarily, than the overall finished plan from the beginning. I believe that transporting goods from port to port manually, by the player or an automated city transport vessel would fall perfectly in line with the rest of the game mechanics.

"The entire economic system of Fractured is based around physically having to transport goods from one place to another overland. This is to prevent several of the issues found in other games where this kind of player driven economy breaks down because of mass marketing."

I don't quite understand where you're coming from with the mass marketing comment. What do you mean?

@Stacy555 said in How will work the repair system?:

I may be overstating or even partly missing the mark, but this feels to me that Lvl grinding has been replaced by resource grinding.

I'm not 100% certain of the direction they will take it. But my experience with Ultima Online tells me that item sinks are good. If you want a system where players have control over the economy, items having durability is hugely important in making that happen. I don't believe items should be repaired indefinitely though. I'd like to see something similar to Escape From Tarkov, where the max durability is reduced every time you repair the item. And at a certain point, it will no longer be as effective as an item, requiring your to replace it entirely. Perhaps, that can be extended to the enchantments on the item as well.

I think people look at grinding as a negative thing far too often. A game must keep our interests, especially so in a MMO. And not just keeping our interests short term, but for long periods of time. There should be some grind in any game that you play. If you are able to replace your gear with ease, no consequence, then why even have that system at all? With a city siege system as well, losing must have consequences. Being choked of your resources should be viable. I'd even argue that with the absence of a level system. There is even less to do. So grinding will likely be inherently more prevalent.

@Farlander said in Character progression and power:

@Gothix I would say most players would adapt to the controls within the first week. However, I don't feel someone that has been working a character a year and unlocked alot of knowledge and gathered a decent amount of gear will have much trouble with a character that has been around a month even. My personal feelings though

I think that's a safe assumption. New characters will have a limited pool of abilities, limited gear availability, and likely a very limited or completely empty perk tree. People can call it horizontal all they want to if it makes them feel better. The only real difference is that there aren't levels. BUT. While that's true, almost everything else that comes with a level system is included in the game. Abilities usually gained through levels are gained through knowledge points. Perk/Skill tree points usually gained through levels are gained through knowledge points, converted to perk points. Speaking of the knowledge system, it's simply the experience points that a leveled system has. But instead of being used to level your character automatically, it's used to unlock the abilities and perks manually.

Like I said earlier, it appears that the only game changer is that there isn't an automatic damage mitigation applied to your characters based on your level, in comparison with your opponent. And that should allow newer characters to compete to a point. I'd love to revisit this conversation when the majority of the progression system is implemented, along with all of the typical gear, and see just how slanted a fight would be in a veterans favor. A veteran who's perk tree is largely complete, who has high level gear and a large and varied ability pool to choose from. Until then, while it seems obvious to me, it's still speculation. Even the developers likely don't know exactly how this will play out in the long run.

Gone is the golden age of gaming.. Where the only wiki was in the form of a game guide from the trading card shop or gamestop. The answer to all of our questions can be found by consulting the great oracle, Google.

As with about any other game, who claims horizontal progress and a level playing field, it's merely propaganda. Developers throw out these buzzwords to convince players with less time to play, that they can compete with the hardcore crowd. The only real mechanic that will allow new players to be useful against veterans, is the lack of levels. As typical level based progression system has a built in damage mitigation based on level difference between players. In Fractured, it's like everyone is the same level. The only differences will be your gear, knowledge of abilities, and perk tree, barring a new unknown progression system.

I thought I had read that Fractured will indeed have magical item drops. If that is actually true, and mobs don't drop anything, does that mean items will only be found in things like containers? Chests, barrels, boxes, etc?