I'm not sure if this is news or not, but on top of the KS they mention goals will continue on the website after the KS. When you visit the stretch goals news post it says:
"The funding for pledge-based stretch goals will continue on our website once the campaign is over if some of them don’t get unlocked now."
So we should be good to go, fishing will make it eventually. We're almost done with the backer goals now, only a few more for the Spell FX.
Albion Online here, big updates lately. Game is in a really great place right now IMO.
Escape Fraom Tarkov just wiped, early on is always fun when people don't have much gear.
Been enjoying Moonlighter and The Long Dark on and off for a while now.
Always a little Hearthstone.
@gothix said in Going Worldwide - Regional Servers & Localization:
@vortech said in Going Worldwide - Regional Servers & Localization:
Larger MMO with less niche mechanics do not survive regional servers, do you really believe a full loot game like this will?
Even if community would end up spread to thin, it's always possible to merge the servers down the line if need be.
I asked about exactly that back on page two.
Many of us have probably experienced server merges over the years. My worst experience was in ArcheAge as all land is not created equal and balanced. I've experienced the cycles.. I was a late adopter to that game, I didn't have any experience when I started. The first time, I made my property work.. Everything was more time consuming.. more dangerous.. and more annoying. Once the first merge occurred I had a better idea of where I wanted to be.. This was the first merger land grab I had experienced in a game like this. It's not an enjoyable mechanic at all, but it was necessary. The merge happens, the server land resets, and the land grab begins.
So maybe I wasn't clear enough earlier.. @Prometheus how do you envision server mergers at this time? How would you handle them?
World areas look interesting, I was surprised there wasn't much mention of resource distribution though. Further, what type of balance among town, zones, and resources are planned?
I'm pretty sure the KS will succeed. I know personally and among my circle, we're not pleased about the regional servers.. I was planning on upgrading but I'm still watching how that discussion develops. @Prometheus is promptly responding but while I don't agree with the decision, I know nothing is final, and we're on a long journey of alphas, betas, and development in general. The key is explaining THAT to others and making sure they understand everything is a moving target here, nothing is final. As long as the core vision for the game speaks to them, then they should support it.
It's exciting just to see some of these things on the radar
@Prometheus here are some resources from David Salz the CTO of SBI:
Secrets of Albion Online, Part 1
Secrets of Albion Online, Part 2
David Salz's Presentations (Slideshare)
Maybe there's something helpful there.
From experience, there's nothing all that bad about 100ms latency in a third person action game like AO. If there are issues with the design of Fractured due to latency and they cause this fragmentation of the community.. then I am worried and hope you revisit this decision. Larger MMO with less niche mechanics do not survive regional servers, do you really believe a full loot game like this will?
This is a mistake that will ultimately get reversed as activity dies down.. How will you handle land ownership when the merges happen? How about name changes? We've all seen this before.. I can't imagine your network middleware doesn't have the functionality to utilize a distributed edge model to reduce latency? Albion did it with Unity and Photon, I'm surprised SpatialOS cannot.
I hope there are hundreds of thousands playing this game.. But in reality, this genre is very niche. Maybe regional makes sense at launch.. but eventually servers will consolidate as activity levels out. This decision while initially celebrated is shortsighted IMO or a limitation due to a lack of the developed technology.. be it internally or licensed service.
I would also suggest you guys revisit AO, while yes there are auto-attacks.. a great number of attacks are skill shots. The latency only becomes an issue in ZVZ, only David Salz can explain their decisions there. I will say, SBI did make some great improvements to performance over time.
This concerns me.. I understand your horizontal progression.. but this early in the design stages.. with such impressive tech as SpatialOS.. I don't see how you cannot fix this before it's too late.
What differentiates items and how to we as players apply/achieve them? ie. Tiers? Item power? Item Quality? Etc, etc..
How will players progress in their crafting if at all possible? ie. Masteries? Specialization? Tiers? Levels?
What is the benefit/reward of progression/experience to crafting for a player? ie. Efficiency time wise? Item quality level? Reduced Cost? Etc, etc..
Thank you!
On the topic of guild and alliance sizes.. I like the concept of an upkeep cost.. think of it as a size tax. Be it resources or food.
This could be applied to territories and or guilds/alliances themselves. As your territories increase, they require something.. This something (maybe resources or food) scale as more territories come online. Same concept with guilds/alliances.. Sure, you could have an unlimited number of members or territories.. Is the upkeep worth it? Maybe the upkeep to maintain the guild hall or something scales as people join. imagine tiers with multipliers of resource requirement.. < 100 Members 0.25 resources per 24 hours. 101-200 0.35, etc etc..
I'm very interested in how this all plays out.. Many old friends in AO left because of these very types of systems being so poorly designed and the indirect negative play style they force.
I'm expecting some big moves over the final two days and leading in to the last hours. I'm sure many are considering upgrading their pledges, I know I am.
I'm against pay 2 win, however I'm all for pay 4 convenience.
I'm hopeful there won't be a response. Things will work themselves out.. That being said, if there must be confines, I support seasons.
I look forward to how this will be balanced. I played Archage, participated in that system.. hard pass. He something like this in an earlier beta of Albion, but they eventually removed it. The cities in Albion are simply wasted potential. I really hope Fractured gets it right.. Looking forward to that spotlight @Specter
Diminishing returns sounds good @Greenfox
Somehow I always end up managing things.. I do enough of that IRL.