End of the Week with Major Mal

[Produktion_Malphunktion]

Hey y’all, here we are again, approaching another Expansion pack. Been a crazy year or so, not exactly the smoothest I’ve ever been part of, but it has been exciting.

Here are some highlights from a QA perspective:

A new bug tracking tool! Woot. Finally. Yes, we do not lose your bugs to the Astral plane anymore. There is still a bug with reporting from in game that stinks, but the eggheads are working on it.

Mac Client! Woot for someone I guess.

New Lamma and Mournlands focus- I thank Squeak and the Kookie for upping the game on communication from the community. They may not speak much, but all the data from both of these communities is now meticulously tracked.
For example:

Update 18 – Disciples of Shadow Quests
Disciples of Shar:
15 players responded to the Disciples of Shar survey. Most participants were either level 25 or level 15 characters, and 73% were Bladeforged Paladins. Most players soloed Disciples of Shar:

Half of the participants stated that the “quest is fun” while the other half stated that it is “dull” or “very dull”

Then there are pretty pie charts and graphs…direct quotes and fun stuff like that.

Bugs? Right. You probably want to know about bugs. Let’s first talk about the fiction that Turbine does not fix anything.
Over the past year how many bugs do you think have been addressed? It is a scary large number, which I’m a jerk and I’m not going to share, but it is more than 14 mountains in the world are high in meters.

Some questions I have been asked:
Whats up with the spider Mask? Fixed in the next patch.
Goggles DEY SHOW NOTHING!-Also fixed in the Patch
I have no questions lately about handwraps…slackers.

What’s up with the Owlbear?
He is being adjusted for the next patch.
The Owlbear Defender hirelings (both level 17 and 25) have had the following changes:
-Armor Class significantly increased
-Fire Absorption increased from 20% to 50%
-Cold Absorption increased from 20% to 50%
-Acid Absorption increased from 20% to 50%
-Electric Absorption increased from 20% to 50%
-Sonic Absorption 50% added
-They now have limited ability to heal themselves when at low health.
What's involved in epic TR?
We have a design, but we are not willing to talk about it yet. Stay tuned, there will be a dev at some point that will pontificate about this.

When will spell casting be fixed/adjusted for Lore/crit damage?
This will be fixed completely for the expansion pack. There may be some band aids in U18 p2

Are the ToD rings ever going to be updated to reflect the enhancement pass?
There is a plan, but it is more complex than you may think, not any time soon.

When are we going to see a racial PrE that ISN’T Arcane Archer?
There is a plan for this too, no idea of an ETA.

What are the chances of the Combat Archery epic feat ever working?
It is in the bug pile.

Are the people making decisions going to listen to us when it comes to the enhancement pass?
Yes they are. 100’s of player bugs and comments have been sent over to dev. I have full reports from surveys, and conversations with players, that along with internal testing paints a pretty clear picture of the good, bad and ugly of the Enhancement system. There is already some pretty big redesigns to the UI and some of the classes…like Clerics.

Why do so many bugs that get reported in Lamannia still make it through to the live servers?
Usually it is a time issue. We have a schedule to keep, and sometimes the stuff gets kicked to a patch or later. It is just part of the ugly truth of MMO development.

Will the lag ever be fixed?
There are fixes to lag issues all the time. Some are pretty sticky, but yes this is one of the things that the game platform group is always trying to improve on all our games.

Will there ever be a fix to loot tables so that non hardcore players can eventually get the top end gear?
Right now the way we set up loot is all difficulties have the same % of loot, but it is different loot for each difficulty. There is talk about an upgrade system.


Will there be a sensible crafting revamp?
I know of no crafting upgrades or revamps in the near future.

What's Belichick up to with these joint practices with the Eagles?
Bill always believes in joint practices. He has done it in the past with the Giants, New Orleans and Tampa Bay. It’s good for both teams, and good for new ideas into the leadership team of the two franchises involved.

GO BRUINS!!

[Ironforge_Clan]

Hey y’all, here we are again, approaching another Expansion pack. Been a crazy year or so, not exactly the smoothest I’ve ever been part of, but it has been exciting.

Here are some highlights from a QA perspective:

A new bug tracking tool! Woot. Finally. Yes, we do not lose your bugs to the Astral plane anymore. There is still a bug with reporting from in game that stinks, but the eggheads are working on it.

Mac Client! Woot for someone I guess.

New Lamma and Mournlands focus- I thank Squeak and the Kookie for upping the game on communication from the community. They may not speak much, but all the data from both of these communities is now meticulously tracked.
For example:

Then there are pretty pie charts and graphs…direct quotes and fun stuff like that.

Bugs? Right. You probably want to know about bugs. Let’s first talk about the fiction that Turbine does not fix anything.
Over the past year how many bugs do you think have been addressed? It is a scary large number, which I’m a jerk and I’m not going to share, but it is more than 14 mountains in the world are high in meters.

Some questions I have been asked:
Whats up with the spider Mask? Fixed in the next patch.
Goggles DEY SHOW NOTHING!-Also fixed in the Patch
I have no questions lately about handwraps…slackers.

What’s up with the Owlbear?
He is being adjusted for the next patch.
The Owlbear Defender hirelings (both level 17 and 25) have had the following changes:
-Armor Class significantly increased
-Fire Absorption increased from 20% to 50%
-Cold Absorption increased from 20% to 50%
-Acid Absorption increased from 20% to 50%
-Electric Absorption increased from 20% to 50%
-Sonic Absorption 50% added
-They now have limited ability to heal themselves when at low health.
What's involved in epic TR?
We have a design, but we are not willing to talk about it yet. Stay tuned, there will be a dev at some point that will pontificate about this.

When will spell casting be fixed/adjusted for Lore/crit damage?
This will be fixed completely for the expansion pack. There may be some band aids in U18 p2

Are the ToD rings ever going to be updated to reflect the enhancement pass?
There is a plan, but it is more complex than you may think, not any time soon.

When are we going to see a racial PrE that ISN’T Arcane Archer?
There is a plan for this too, no idea of an ETA.

What are the chances of the Combat Archery epic feat ever working?
It is in the bug pile.

Are the people making decisions going to listen to us when it comes to the enhancement pass?
Yes they are. 100’s of player bugs and comments have been sent over to dev. I have full reports from surveys, and conversations with players, that along with internal testing paints a pretty clear picture of the good, bad and ugly of the Enhancement system. There is already some pretty big redesigns to the UI and some of the classes…like Clerics.

Why do so many bugs that get reported in Lamannia still make it through to the live servers?
Usually it is a time issue. We have a schedule to keep, and sometimes the stuff gets kicked to a patch or later. It is just part of the ugly truth of MMO development.

Will the lag ever be fixed?
There are fixes to lag issues all the time. Some are pretty sticky, but yes this is one of the things that the game platform group is always trying to improve on all our games.

Will there ever be a fix to loot tables so that non hardcore players can eventually get the top end gear?
Right now the way we set up loot is all difficulties have the same % of loot, but it is different loot for each difficulty. There is talk about an upgrade system.


Will there be a sensible crafting revamp?
I know of no crafting upgrades or revamps in the near future.

What's Belichick up to with these joint practices with the Eagles?
Bill always believes in joint practices. He has done it in the past with the Giants, New Orleans and Tampa Bay. It’s good for both teams, and good for new ideas into the leadership team of the two franchises involved.

GO BRUINS!!

From Necro'd death to It's Alive!!!!!
Thanks Maj

[Missing_Minds]

From Necro'd death to It's Alive!!!!!
Thanks Maj

Not necroed.... He TR'ed!

[sebastianosmith]

Hey M²! Glad to see you back.

[Luxgolg]

Please keep up the GREAT work MajMal. And a heartfelt THANK YOU for the update.

[Silverleafeon]

Please keep up the GREAT work MajMal. And a heartfelt THANK YOU for the update.

+1

[Qaliya]

Very pleased to see the return of regular conversation from the Major.

Somewhat concerned at a lack of mention of the promised PRR on the owlbear.

[forummuleonly]

From Necro'd death to It's Alive!!!!!
Thanks Maj

Thanks Maj, you seem to be the only one that gives hope to the phrase "powered by our fans".

You rock. Durn nice to see this again. Durned nice.


To all you trolls: don't even think of it, before you hit post, hit preview and re-read it. Show some flippin appreciation for what lengths this guy went to to give us some much needed and desired information and community contact.

Give this man the props this post deserves please.

[Elyanna]

Thanks Maj, you seem to be the only one that gives hope to the phrase "powered by our fans".

You rock. Durn nice to see this again. Durned nice.


To all you trolls: don't even think of it, before you hit post, hit preview and re-read it. Show some flippin appreciation for what lengths this guy went to to give us some much needed and desired information and community contact.

Give this man the props this post deserves please.

I also echo this...

TY MAJ!

And to quote Herm Edwards about social media "DON'T PRESS SEND" if you want to troll this we need MAJ to give us hope that Turbine is listening to us.

That pic with Chara in a pink bunny suit is epic.

And those who follow college football know Belicheck has a man crush on Chip Kelly's offense. He even started to steal some aspects of it last year.

[Grayvin]

To all you trolls: don't even think of it, before you hit post, hit preview and re-read it. Show some flippin appreciation for what lengths this guy went to to give us some much needed and desired information and community contact.

Give this man the props this post deserves please.

Seriously, I'm very happy that Mal posted this information, communication with the player base should be nothing but encouraged. We don't need trolls discouraging communication from the Turbine staff. Thank you for posting Mal, you're awesome for doing so!

[Sebastrd]

Thank you for restoring a bit of my faith in Turbine by communicating with us. Please keep it up.

P.S. Any word yet on merging some servers? I expect it won't happen until after the expansion drops and players don't come back in droves as some higher-ups are hoping/expecting, but has there even been any discussion?

P.P.S. I don't know what software you guys are using, but is it possible to merge servers logically and have the whole process be transparent to the end user? In other words, I log into Argo while someone else logs into Ghallanda but we both end up in "mergedserver1"? Though I suppose that could cause issues if there are duplicate names and whatnot. You'd probably have to do what the military does with their email addresses and add a logical "1" to the end of some names...

[InsanityIsYourFriend]

P.P.S. I don't know what software you guys are using, but is it possible to merge servers logically and have the whole process be transparent to the end user? In other words, I log into Argo while someone else logs into Ghallanda but we both end up in "mergedserver1"? Though I suppose that could cause issues if there are duplicate names and whatnot. You'd probably have to do what the military does with their email addresses and add a logical "1" to the end of some names...

If they do merge servers and add the logical 1 to the end of people's names, make it depending on when the account was first created (so if someone had their account back in 2009 and some other guy on another server with the same name had their account made in 2011 then the later the date gets the 1)
EX
Zeshadowfist: Account created 2010 (orien)
Zeshadowfist: Account created 2012 (Argo)
Server Merge
Zeshadowfist (orien)
Zeshadowfist-1 (Argo)

or however you want to do it, but if my char was first i want my char to retain my name!

[taurean430]

I likely saw this too late to potentially get an answer but I'll add my big two questions anyway:

1. What's being done development-wise to ensure the viability of running dc casting characters in light of hyperinflated mob saves of late?

2. Have there been any plans made regarding expanding the viability of existing content so there are more than two raids for a level 23+ to run that offer tools for character advancement?

Two of my biggest concerns regarding the game's direction have resulted feeling forced to completely change my playstyle in light of inflated save marks - as well as having difficulty convincing my friends in guild and channel of any reason to run a large majority of level 20+ content.

And also; thank you very much for taking the time to communicate with us.

[Nestroy]

The first official statement stating hard facts and not rumors for a long time. MajMalphunktion, your statement and resurecting this thread is much appreciated, thank you!

Sad, still no comment on the guild renown issue. Well, we will wait and continue campaigning for changes there. Meanwhile, good to hear that the enhancement pass gets a rework on the open issues and the owl bears get some feathers onto the skin ^^.

Edit: I think, this is not your department, but any News on if the Forum here will get a new and better color palette soon(tm)?

[burningwind]

as for the owlbear.. their damage are about the same as any hireling four or five level below it. this need to be adress as well... also some dodge and evasion feat would be nice..

p.s. the trip skill on the bear's bar should have some improvement. also the cleave and great cleave also need repair.. plus bears should use them on its own..

[BruceTheHoon]

[Munkenmo]

Nice to see you back.

I don't want to be pushy, but the Enhancement pass has the potential to attract or drive away alot of players. Before spending significant amounts of time recoding it, why not share the gui's and a list of abilities ala wiki style for feedback (via surveys, not forums again)

Surely it's faster to make mockups than working alpha's.

[Drwaz99]

Thanks for posting Mal. Even if the only detailed info is really concerning the owlbear. And more than 8000 bugs resolved in the past year? Hrm, most of these must be on the technical side that we never knew about. But the number doesn't surprise me.

[Satyriasys]

and Wail of the Banshee?

[Phemt81]

Major is posting again! Woot!

Now that we broke some ice again after a long time, could you command your slave hamsters to fix the ugly bug of poison traps? They will work like they always used to right?

Thank you.