End of the Week with Major Mal

[Svartelric]

I think the bit about "focus/railroad" was meant to explain that the first preview was made to receive feedback on single enhancement tree users.

[Urist]

The screws were tightened with the last deployment on purpose to focus/railroad people into single trees...we of course know that a large % of players multi-class, and that is in the design of the system...as you can check out soon.

I'm not sure who would think deliberately hamstringing one of the main advantages of this game, the flexibility of character creation, would be a Good Idea.

I suspect you misunderstood what MajMal was meaning.
The enhancements were put on Lamannia to test, and it was specifically stated that it was not final, and that they were trying to test specific aspects. I know very well that it's next to impossible to herd cats, unless you give them very few options as to which way to go. If I understand correctly, this is what MajMal was referring to. To paraphrase:

"The screws were tightened with the last deployment on purpose to focus/railroad people into testing single trees. We of course know that a large % of players multi-class, and that is in the design of the overall system, which hasn't been previewed/tested in full on Lam yet because we wanted better data on some more restricted scenarios first, but which you can check out soon."

[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.

[oopsagain]

Good sir, I believe this is the sort of thing the PR department doesn't want you to admit, or at least couch in more positive terms, i.e. PR doublespeak.

I think I also get why the forumites love you so much.

A good number of the forumites love Maj, because he's honest, straight forward, and matter of fact. He's a gamer and a D&D nerd through and through. While some of the creative Dev staff have communicated with the players at times, Maj has a way about him. And he's got big cajones LOL. I wish that more of the guys and gals on the Dev team would step out as Maj has done when he feels the energy to do it. And that includes the producers. It's tough room no doubt, but the game would be 100% better for it.....

Welcome back to the world of the "Dunk-tank" Maj...... ;}

[Produktion_Malphunktion]

I suspect you misunderstood what MajMal was meaning.
The enhancements were put on Lamannia to test, and it was specifically stated that it was not final, and that they were trying to test specific aspects. I know very well that it's next to impossible to herd cats, unless you give them very few options as to which way to go. If I understand correctly, this is what MajMal was referring to. To paraphrase:

"The screws were tightened with the last deployment on purpose to focus/railroad people into testing single trees. We of course know that a large % of players multi-class, and that is in the design of the overall system, which hasn't been previewed/tested in full on Lam yet because we wanted better data on some more restricted scenarios first, but which you can check out soon."

yeah this. i love when people read things like we sit here and actively just screw with you guys as a side activity. if i was going to mess with players, i would do it as a game system and they would have no idea that i was messing with them...as a good DM's do...

[SirValentine]

yeah this. i love when people read things like we sit here and actively just screw with you guys as a side activity.

Maj, I'm not blaming the QA staff for design decisions.

But when the class I most like to play has been repeatedly given the short end of the design-decision stick, pardon me for becoming cynical and skeptical. It very much appears that the designers do indeed sit there and deliberately come up with ways to actively screw with anyone who likes to play Clerics as anything other than hjealbots. (Or, in some cases, even AS hjealbots.)

[RightToRemainStupid]

Yes it's nice to see a staff memeber interacting on the forums, but we would be naive to think this means anything whatsoever in terms of addressing our concerns regarding the direction of the game.

[GermanicusMaximus]

But when the class I most like to play has been repeatedly given the short end of the design-decision stick, pardon me for becoming cynical and skeptical. It very much appears that the designers do indeed sit there and deliberately come up with ways to actively screw with anyone who likes to play Clerics as anything other than hjealbots. (Or, in some cases, even AS hjealbots.)

Pretty much this, although the DDO designers do seem to be broadening their focus to short change casters in general.

Crafting a game to favor players who like to run around with their left mouse button locked down (assuming they bother with anything more than Auto Attack) does seem like a strange choice, and they have been at it for over a year. Looking at where the game was just last year, versus where it is now, doesn't really give the impression that it has turned out that well.

The fact that the enhancement pass alpha continued the trend does not bode well.

Its nice that they are looking at reversing some of the mistakes they proposed in the alpha. In the end, if the final draft of the enhancement pass continues the same caster nerf, melee buff trend, it probably won't matter a great deal. The state of the game is declining, and its time to realize that a reversal of the general design direction is required in order to stop that decline.

[R1ncewind]

Thx MAj i almost cry when i saw ur post, there is some hope left for me in this game now

[Kadriel]

Maj, I'm not blaming the QA staff for design decisions.

But when the class I most like to play has been repeatedly given the short end of the design-decision stick, pardon me for becoming cynical and skeptical. It very much appears that the designers do indeed sit there and deliberately come up with ways to actively screw with anyone who likes to play Clerics as anything other than hjealbots. (Or, in some cases, even AS hjealbots.)

It seens clear to me they screwed up the design of some trees, most blatantly clerics. But if you read the OP, there is a clear mention that Clerics for one are getting major changes, and hopefully all the other areas that needed.

I agree that on the first view clerics got a bad start, but hey, they are giving us previews and listening to us. So they made a mistake at start, they planned ahead so they could fix it, and they are listening. And if we see issues on the second look, it is still a preview that is up there to pinpoint the troublesome areas so they can get fixed. It's actually the fist time some game change is getting this much attention, and I'm really appreciating it. (even with the troubles that have been leaking to live meanwhile)

Yes it's nice to see a staff memeber interacting on the forums, but we would be naive to think this means anything whatsoever in terms of addressing our concerns regarding the direction of the game.

I believe Maj is actually the best source of inside info we have. Everything he said has proved to be right in the past. Sometimes he can't really tell us everything, or something he tell us is prone to change, but even so he makes it clear in his posts.

Just to exemplify it, he is the first one to make clear (even though we all already knew it) the reason for so much known bugs going live is that they are forced to keep an updates schedule, and therefore can't hold the release enough to fix the bugs first.

[HotMaarl]

Major. Thanks for the no-nonsense update. Some good, some meh and some bad...tells me it's a reality-based message. And i can at least appreciate that part of it. Please keep this kind of thing going as often as you can and please keep the passion for the project alive!

[RightToRemainStupid]

I believe Maj is actually the best source of inside info we have. Everything he said has proved to be right in the past. Sometimes he can't really tell us everything, or something he tell us is prone to change, but even so he makes it clear in his posts.

You mean the ONLY source of info we have? He's their PR guy and does whatever he is told, it's his job to pacify you. He was rolled out this time because of the huge crisis of confidence DDO is currently facing.

Just to exemplify it, he is the first one to make clear (even though we all already knew it) the reason for so much known bugs going live is that they are forced to keep an updates schedule, and therefore can't hold the release enough to fix the bugs first.

Okay and who does this statement of the obvious directly benefit? Perhaps you have shares in Turbine/WB, is that why you are aplogising for them?

[sebastianosmith]

You mean the ONLY source of info we have? He's their PR guy and does whatever he is told, it's his job to pacify you. He was rolled out this time because of the huge crisis of confidence DDO is currently facing.

Okay and who does this statement of the obvious directly benefit? Perhaps you have shares in Turbine/WB, is that why you are aplogising for them?

[Produktion_Malphunktion]

Good book. amazing that it's like 80 years old now. To me most of the stuff in there is common sense, but yea, they should hand that out to everyone that ever has to deal with well, other people.

No one 'rolls me out' like I have that kind of credibility.

[Monkey_Archer]

GO BRUINS!!

Well, since my team is out of the playoffs and i'm no longer required to hate you: Thanks a lot for doing this, its really great to hear dev updates like this. (Although, that 7 ft pink rabbit is still giving me nightmares from last season )

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.

I think giving different level gear for n/h/e was probably the most brilliant loot decision ever made in this game in regards to letting less hardcore players catch up. For the most part, the power level between items seems well balanced too. EN/EH items are good enough to use in EE content, but EE items also offer just enough incentive to go after as well (The exception being all the EE items that ONLY get a colorless slot upgraded to yellow... these could use some help )
A loot upgrade system ( that hopefully also lets us upgrade old desert/von epic items to EH/EE versions?) would be amazing.

Are there any plans to discontinue the practice of increasing loot drop rates to ridiculous levels for the first week or so that new content is released? IMO, this is the biggest reason why non hardcore players get left in the dust. Its also a big reason why many other endgame players have difficulty finding groups a month after content is released. (I'm in a good guild on thelanis so its not a big issue, but it must be getting rough on some of the smaller servers)

[RightToRemainStupid]

MajMal certainly IS NOT their PR guy, he is their Quality Assurance guy.

ROFLMAO! It's even worse than I thought..

[Deadlock]

Yes it's nice to see a staff memeber interacting on the forums, but we would be naive to think this means anything whatsoever in terms of addressing our concerns regarding the direction of the game.

So in your world, no news is bad news. And any news is bad news because it can't be trusted? So really, no matter what anyone says or doesn't say, nothing will ever change to address your concerns. And yet here you are posting on the forums, which in your world is a futile and pointless exercise? So why are you here?

[sebastianosmith]

Good book. amazing that it's like 80 years old now. To me most of the stuff in there is common sense, but yea, they should hand that out to everyone that ever has to deal with well, other people.

No one 'rolls me out' like I have that kind of credibility.

Dale puts the truth out there; no doubt about that. Yet, those who fight for their right to remain willfully ignorant never seem to pick up on even the most simple of truths.

"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain - and most do." - Dale Carnegie

[BruceTheHoon]

Hey, Major Mal!

I have a question:
Do you know (when) are we going to get epic material to heroic material barter recipes for Cannith challenges?
It's by far the greatest annoyance with these challenges.

We've asked Cordovan this a number of times on #DDO. He said he's going to escalate the question, but so far, we're still in the dark.



I'm really glad to see this thread back.