Posts made by GamerSeuss

They aren't breaking up PvP vs PvE by servers, but rather by planets in the game. Right now, the game is planned to run on a single instanced server with everyone able to interact with everyone. Depending on growth, that may change.

@LtKrunch You may disagree with their reasoning, which is perfectly within your rights to do so, but that doesn't mean your going to change that reasoning, nor will anyone else, just by constantly stating their desire for something different.

The Devs have said that there are certain design principles that they aren't prepared to change, and once something falls into that category, it pretty much becomes a moot point and then your no longer giving productive feedback by continually calling for this same change. I personally agree with the Devs thought processes on this matter and believe that if they envision he game's essential movement mechanics to be best represented by a mouse click system, than that is what they should stick to their guns about and not compromise on.

I'm not saying to stop giving productive feedback as to changes you might want to see in the game, however, pick your pattles as it were. If you see that a battle is lost, don't just keep 'beating a dead horse' as it were, acknowledge that this is not one of the areas in which you are going to get the change you want, evaluate if the game is still one you would want to play without that change, and move forward accordingly. Brow-beating and constantly rehashing the same subject over and over on a closed point does nobody any good, and just wastes the space that could be used to bring about actual improvements that are possible.

I'm fairly certain they've said on numerous occasions that there is no plans for a WASD movement option. The mouse-movement system is essential for their vision of the game.

There will be keybinding, but that is a QoL improvement that we shouldn't really expect until late Beta at the earliest once they have the mechanical issues resolved.

@webaber They've already said #3 won't happen.

They do not want to make fast travel more accessible in Fractured, they want to keep it extremely, if not totally limited. They added the Ports (with fees) being sure to make it so the ports are more for moving characters, not goods around. They do not want any kind of Waypoint system on the Fractured world maps as they want to encourage people to hoof it for travel, and make distances really mean something in game.

@JaaneDoe Usually, I think they plan for like Noon, EST, so probably in about 7 hrs

@JaaneDoe This one starting on the 30th is only going a couple days, as an open stress-test, afterwhich it will close down until the Winter Alpha scheduled to start in February.

You don't need to pay to play in the Open stress test, but realize it is not your normal testing, but rather an augmented test to show what PvP can potentially build up to. Once you pay for Alpha access you need not pay for further access, you will be allowed into each upcoming Alpha and the following Beta tests as they proceed.

@afro The Alpha servers are not continuously running. Instead, they run in a series of pre-defined test phases, that are losely scheduled, interspersed with the occassional 'Open' playtest weekend kind of thing. The next available server access is the Open PvP test on the 30th that will run only a couple of days total. After that, the servers are set to be down until the Winter Alpha Test phase, which is set to start sometime in February.

Entering a game in its Alpha-testing, you must expect this, as each element of the game is tested, then servers are taken down, characters are reset to 0, and data is analyzed, then new implementation of features are included for the next testing phase. Have patience, you've done nothing wrong, and if you have a Master pack, you do not need a product key.

@Ostaff Don't get me wrong, I love games like the Baldur's Gate Series, Elder Scrolls, etc... and they are a ton of fun to play, however, rarely do they contain the scope of an MMO. I am a very social person, but I like to socialize more on a face to face basis. MMOs were for me, more for when I want to jump into a game and do my thing on my schedule, and not worry about anyone else's. Yes, like I said, sometimes I would clear a dungeon or go on a raid with friends, and rarely, but once in awhile with a group of strangers, but those were by and large the exception, not the rule. I've been in Guilds, and even ran a guild or 3, but the other guildies were also like me, more solos and groups of 2s and 3s, that might come together for something special, like an in-game event, but most of the time we want to log in on our schedule, log out without feeling like we're disappointing anyone or leaving people hanging.

The first MMO was Ultima Online, and it was designed primarily to play your way, solo or grouped. EverQuest came pretty much next in the major scheme of things, and yes, it had several boss areas that encouraged grouping, but you were still fully supported if you wanted to solo your way through the game. MMO does stand for Massive Mutliplayer Online, but that doesn't by any means mandate the Multiplayer aspect, except for the fact that you will pass a thriving world and you know that those around you aren't all AIs. You might not be grouped with them, but potentially you can group with anyone you want, or just be a hermit/loner.

When I want the mandate of other players, I play a team game, or a TTRPG like Dungeons & Dragons, and when I play an MMO, I let my individual mood guide me from session to session.

@Ostaff MMOs can also be a lot of fun completely solo, sans friends. The only games I ever played with friends in voice generally were Diablo 2 and Mech Warriors 3. I used to spend hours and hours, days and months all by myself exploring and killing, and crafting in EverQuest, Guild Wars 1 & 2, and games like them...the potential to have the storyline affected by other players, to have a live, vibrant system that was not 100% AI was what appealed to me about MMOs, sure, I might go on an occasional raid, or dungeon instance, but as I said, I did so sans-voice. In-game chat was fine for communication usually, not saying now I wouldn't be more likely to use a voice client.

@Stacy555 I stopped playing WoW so long ago, there isn't even a chance I could answer questions of potential comparison with that game. I found WoW to be too quest-driven, and much less free form for my tastes.

Like you, I'm looking forward to exploration, but also like many others, I'm not a PvP player, and I do get really excited about skills and especially enchanting options. The player run economy is what has me most excited, that and the more vertical progression system over standard Horizontal leveling.

If I were to hazard a guess...at release, it probably won't have as much to explore, enmasse as WoW on a single planet, at release, but I see, like with any other games, expansions in the future uncovering new areas within each world to explore.
If you add the other two worlds in, probably much closer to such a long established game with a dozen expansions out there, and the limited time asteroids pushing it over the top. I also see eventually them adding some underground exploration areas, true dungeon crawls, and maybe some special rule instances on certain asteroids eventually.

I may be a pie in the sky dreamer, but I see in the developers, a kindred spirit in what I want and what they want to produce, so I'm hopeful.

@Stacy555 The thing is, the answer to most of your queries is in fact "it's still just an Alpha"

Many Alphas, in fact, are barely playable or not playable at all, but just mechanical testing phases. At least in Fractured's case, they made playable Alphas with a fun factor for several of us, from day 1.

Expanded artwork: can wait til Beta
Complex Biomes and Expanded Exploration Areas: can wait til Late Beta
Refined skill usage to add diversity to the game and equipment available: Requires getting all the other mechanics right, so not only can wait until beta, requires it.
Expanded Resource management and City Structure: That's what we've been working on right now, the ground work that will lock down those mechanics so that the next step will be expanding on this and fleshing it out...probably late Alpha into Beta

It's not that your questions are being ignored or swept under the rug, it really is the fact that much of what your asking about has no place whatsoever in the Alpha stage of game testing, and in fact, would detract from the goals Alpha-testing has of making sure the underlying mechanical aspects work together as seemlessly as possible. The true Fun stuff comes much later in a game's genesis.

Is there always going to be some kind of Grind-factor? Probably, no matter how different your MMO concepts are, some small amount of a game without an End-Point is going to be a bit grindy. Hopefully the focal points in the game as it develops will make the grindiness less a major concern and more something you do without really thinking of it as grinding.

@Stacy555 The major exploration aspect of the game is yet to be realized...it is an alpha afterall. They are working on systems and mechanics right now, not exploration. Even then, there are elements of the Sandbox Exploration theme of the game, and YES, a lot of that is what you call Mapping. Different featured Biomes will come later, especially when the other planets are added into the mix. Then we might even get some exotic biomes to explore.

Right now, you can gather different reagents for enchanting, be they plants or animal parts, as well as getting knowledge points for each new item you discover, as well as getting knowledge points for discovering new areas of the map you haven't visited yet. These are all explorational aspects of the game. The diversity of it all will come later when they flesh out the fully playable game for launch, but I wouldn't even conceive of the expectation before mid-late beta that the true magnificents of exploration will be realized.

Just getting to the bridges in the back end of the Vale of Shadows region, and the view there is in my opinion, one of the most stunning examples of what we'll have in store for us when they do get to fleshing things out.

I'm pretty sure they confirmed somewhere that Fractured would be going on Steam, but not until release, no Alpha/Beta access

@Jetah

No, VIP and Cash Shop are still a thing, but the Devs promised it would not be a pay to win system, which means most of what your going to get from the shops is cosmetic, non-game changing stuff, and at best, VIP might give exclusive access to some content, but actual content won't be better, mechanically, than in other parts of the game world servers, and won't contain exclusive drops not of a cosmetic nature (as that would be considered pay to win)

As they've said throughout the site and testing process, Alpha and soon, Beta testing will be done in a series of test phases. Each test run will go for a limited period of time, testing out specific mechanics that they are implementing and possible subsystems they will interact with, and go into the playable Alpha/Beta Phases. After each 3 to 4 weeks test phase run ends, they have in the past opened up the test phase's last 3 to 5 days to the general public to stress test the servers, but I think they are going away from that.

At the end of each test phase, the servers are taken offline from player access, the data from the previous test is gathered via surveys and scouring the forums for input, every character is deleted, as are all the towns and other accompanying elements created by players, the newer mechanics to be tested are phased into the coding, and internal testing goes on until they are comfortable enough to release the next Alpha/Beta test for our consumption..

Rinse, Repeat.

All blueprints from Founder's Packs will become active only when the game goes live. During Alpha and Beta access, no specialty blueprints will be available. As your new, you wouldn't have seen this, but it has been answered on numerous occasions. I recommend going through the forums and catching up on some known questions before repeating the same question that has been posted a 100 times or more.

There is a pretty good chance this game won't be a Steam game, I'm thinking.
As the game will be buy once, then no micro-transactions or monthly fees, giving a portion of their revenue over to Steam would be counter-productive for them overall, especially as Steam recipients would expect a discounted experience.

Again, I remind people that in game design, QoL features are not a priority during Alpha testing and usually wait until late Beta to be introduced once more mechanics are locked down that might interact with them.

Congrats!!!!