Ask your Producer: Year 650 Edition

Tecton

Shadrac said:

Not sure if you are able to share numbers on this but...

How many unique logins do you have per month or year (whatever is easiest) and how many of those do percentage-wise do you retain for a period of time?

Out of players, what percentage make use of purchasing credits with real money?

Not something we really give out, I'm afraid!

Penwize

Speaking of city improvements, is there anything being considered to allow an alternative to the Scimitar of Yen-Sorte for rogues or citizens of cities without one? That extra damage can be a deciding factor for classes that rely on damage kills, and I'm not sure it's right to tie that sort of thing so heavily to citizenship.  That's true of the other improvement bonuses that provide mechanical advantages (pillar, etc).

Similarly, I really feel that icons are a win-more mechanic: you win an icon (in an icon war) and you gain stats/penetration/something that helps you win more.  Is there any chance of an alternative source for the mechanical benefits icons produce for those without icons, or those who cannot benefit from their house's chosen icon? 

Tecton

Penwize said:

Speaking of city improvements, is there anything being considered to allow an alternative to the Scimitar of Yen-Sorte for rogues or citizens of cities without one? That extra damage can be a deciding factor for classes that rely on damage kills, and I'm not sure it's right to tie that sort of thing so heavily to citizenship.  That's true of the other improvement bonuses that provide mechanical advantages (pillar, etc).

Similarly, I really feel that icons are a win-more mechanic: you win an icon (in an icon war) and you gain stats/penetration/something that helps you win more.  Is there any chance of an alternative source for the mechanical benefits icons produce for those without icons, or those who cannot benefit from their house's chosen icon? 

Improvements: No plans to, there are advantages to be involved in the big organisations.

Icons: Agree with you here, they are a power feedback loop, which is part of the reason (alongside participation) that we're brainstorming ideas for reworking it.

Amanu

There any possibility of a new Citystate or few being raised in Meropis or is the current six the absolute limit?

Tecton

Amanu said:

There any possibility of a new Citystate or few being raised in Meropis or is the current six the absolute limit?

If there was a massive population boom, sure. We wouldn't add more just for the sake of adding more, all that would do is spread the population out and turn some of the cities into ghost towns.

Penwize

Tecton said:

Improvements: No plans to, there are advantages to be involved in the big organisations.

While I agree there needs to be major advantages to being involved in a big org, is something as crucial as the viability of a class's kill methods really something that should be tied to org membership?  Orgs do provide huge social, financial and supporting advantages already, is it necessary to exclusively tie damage-based kill methods to their membership as well?  That extra damage on the scimitar is enough to potentially nullify a kill strategy, being roughly equivalent to fighting an opponent who has runes versus one who doesn't.  Essentially, shouldn't there be an alternative to the scimitar so that rogues (or cities who lose their scimitar during a war, or something like that) aren't just plain mechanically weaker by a noticeable degree?

Amanu

It kinda feels like a detail to make the game more life like. You live alone away outside of the community, you don't exactly gain the same benefits that the people in it would get.

Tecton

Penwize said:

Tecton said:

Improvements: No plans to, there are advantages to be involved in the big organisations.

While I agree there needs to be major advantages to being involved in a big org, is something as crucial as the viability of a class's kill methods really something that should be tied to org membership?  Orgs do provide huge social, financial and supporting advantages already, is it necessary to exclusively tie damage-based kill methods to their membership as well?  That extra damage on the scimitar is enough to potentially nullify a kill strategy, being roughly equivalent to fighting an opponent who has runes versus one who doesn't.  Essentially, shouldn't there be an alternative to the scimitar so that rogues (or cities who lose their scimitar during a war, or something like that) aren't just plain mechanically weaker by a noticeable degree?

We don't balance things on the presence of a scimitar, but we do take it into account.

Jacen

Why the frack did you bring back Twilight right after I left Hashan?

Tecton

Jacen said:

Why the frack did you bring back Twilight right after I left Hashan?

Just to spite you, obviously.

Melodie

I know Targossian Houses are incoming for 650 - what about the rest of the Houses? We're all very curious when/how any new changes related to them will be coming in.

 

For y650 itself - what kind of vendors can we expect this year? Will there be per-city vendors again, to help promote city-centric things? I heard something about the New Thera Annex getting opened up too - does that mean there will also be general wares as well? Bazaar(s) planned? WILL I FINALLY GET MY LEGENDSTEED EQUINE?!

 

Is an artefact sale anywhere on the near horizon? What sort of items (both credits and gold) can we expect for the auctions?

 

A while back, it was mentioned there was a "big event" in the planning - probably not on the scale of Bal'met precisely, but large and world-wide involved. How is planning coming for that? When-ish can we expect for that to begin?

Achimrst

Tecton said:

Amanu said:

Any chance of new City Improvements being added in the seeable future? (I know I'm not asking everything at once. Just throwing down when I think of them so I don't forget.)

Yep, we were just talking about that the other day!

:O Does this mean another city is going to be destroyed?

Tecton

Melodie said:

I know Targossian Houses are incoming for 650 - what about the rest of the Houses? We're all very curious when/how any new changes related to them will be coming in.

 

For y650 itself - what kind of vendors can we expect this year? Will there be per-city vendors again, to help promote city-centric things? I heard something about the New Thera Annex getting opened up too - does that mean there will also be general wares as well? Bazaar(s) planned? WILL I FINALLY GET MY LEGENDSTEED EQUINE?!

 

Is an artefact sale anywhere on the near horizon? What sort of items (both credits and gold) can we expect for the auctions?

 

A while back, it was mentioned there was a "big event" in the planning - probably not on the scale of Bal'met precisely, but large and world-wide involved. How is planning coming for that? When-ish can we expect for that to begin?

Houses: After Targossas.

Y650: You'll have to wait and see.

Artefact sale: Very unlikely you'll ever see an artefact discount sale again.

Event: Always under design/development. You'll see when it starts.

Tecton

Achimrst said:

Tecton said:

Amanu said:

Any chance of new City Improvements being added in the seeable future? (I know I'm not asking everything at once. Just throwing down when I think of them so I don't forget.)

Yep, we were just talking about that the other day!

:O Does this mean another city is going to be destroyed?

City Improvements, like the Scimitar of Yen Sorte, Pillar of the Moon, and barracks. 

Achimrst

Tecton said:

Achimrst said:

Tecton said:

Amanu said:

Any chance of new City Improvements being added in the seeable future? (I know I'm not asking everything at once. Just throwing down when I think of them so I don't forget.)

Yep, we were just talking about that the other day!

:O Does this mean another city is going to be destroyed?

City Improvements, like the Scimitar of Yen Sorte, Pillar of the Moon, and barracks. 

I need to stop drinking so late at night.... is there a skill for that?

Melodie

No more artefact sale ever? That's totally disappointing.

Tharvis

@Tecton how about post-dragon traits that don't actually benefit bashing/combat in any way, but more sync with the upcoming split tradeskills? As in the traits that benefit tradeskills get moved into a different category, are still pickable as normal minor traits, but can also be picked in tradeskill-only trait slots postdragon? That way, there's still minor incentive to keep levelling, without actually bringing imbalance to combat in general.

Penwize

Melodie said:

No more artefact sale ever? That's totally disappointing.

A lot of these promos actually function as artefact sales really if you do the math on it.  If they were a 20% discount, then any promo that gives you 20% on credits purchased (or even just 10% if you have iron elite) is functionally equivalent.  The current talisman promo, for example, works out to about 20% extra credits based on what people are paying for the talisman pieces (though admittedly sales of them have declined since the beginning).  Likewise with mayan crown promotions.

What is it about artefact sales directly that you'd prefer?

Tecton

Tharvis said:

@Tecton how about post-dragon traits that don't actually benefit bashing/combat in any way, but more sync with the upcoming split tradeskills? As in the traits that benefit tradeskills get moved into a different category, are still pickable as normal minor traits, but can also be picked in tradeskill-only trait slots postdragon? That way, there's still minor incentive to keep levelling, without actually bringing imbalance to combat in general.

Potentially, but that's also adding another layer of complexity to a system that already confuses newbies.

Sarapis

Shadrac said:

Not sure if you are able to share numbers on this but...

How many unique logins do you have per month or year (whatever is easiest) and how many of those do percentage-wise do you retain for a period of time?

Out of players, what percentage make use of purchasing credits with real money?

That's private info, sorry!

Melodie

@Penwize -

 

Mostly that I don't really buy credits, nor usually have disposable income to do so. I have the IRE membership because it's a good deal and something I can afford (just barely - I've had to cancel occasionally, too), but otherwise I earn all of my credits through various in-game means. So a credit sale, while useful in a similar sense, is not so useful for me because I cannot often take advantage of them. Very, very occasionally, I can treat myself, but usually no.

 

Artefact sales made it so I could still take advantage of such deals, even if only very rarely. Without, I'll likely just sit back and deal with only being able to enjoy a promotion once every few months (usually the talismans I'll buy in-game, and of course any non-sales promotions I often participate in).

 

Tl;dr - I ain't got da money, honey.

Penwize

@Melodie said:

Tl;dr - I ain't got da money, honey.

Err, that confuses me.  What is it about artefact sales that you can afford whereas you couldn't afford credit sales?  If an artie's on sale at 20% off, that's the same as its value in credits being on sale at 20% off.  The price works out identical in real cash, so why would you prefer one over the other?

Melodie

No, artefact sales are off at a percentage in-game in the Delos shops, and you buy them in-game with credits. Artefact packages are what's bought with real money.

 

I have in-game credits. I do not have (a lot of) real cash. Artefact sales are credits. Sales require real money.

Amanu

There any possible chance of a short film made of an event or misc backstories(ex: Achaea's creation and events following it)

Trey

Amanu said:

There any possible chance of a short film made of an event or misc backstories(ex: Achaea's creation and events following it)

**SPOILER ALERT**

It was Slith.

Sarapis

Amanu said:

There any possible chance of a short film made of an event or misc backstories(ex: Achaea's creation and events following it)

That'd be very cool, but also cost thousands of dollars.

Kinilan

Kashar. Will we ever be able to go there?

Amanu

Sarapis said:

Amanu said:

There any possible chance of a short film made of an event or misc backstories(ex: Achaea's creation and events following it)

That'd be very cool, but also cost thousands of dollars.


Put it on Kickstarter. You'd probably break records with us funding it.


Or the other idea, possibly putting it in a graphic novel?

Tecton

Kinilan said:

Kashar. Will we ever be able to go there?

I'm not going to say never.

Kinilan

Tecton said:

Kinilan said:

Kashar. Will we ever be able to go there?

I'm not going to say never.

But it's not something currently being planned for