-FN-
16-12-05, 22:35
This a partial repost of NC 2.1 Hopes & Dreams (http://forum.neocron.com/showthread.php?t=129416) with a bunch of changes.
Things (in no particular order) that still drive me nuts in NC and make me want to quit at times:
### Make Plaza 1 & DoY City Center Anarchy Zones Again ###
The zoneline fighting is pathetic. The P1/P2 zoneline is *exactly* the same as the old NC1 P3/PP1 bullshit. End it and kill the safezones. In my opinion, the ONLY safezones should be Faction HQs and Tech Haven Sec-2. MB's safe zone should be their HQ, not SEC-1, and any zoneline between a safezone and a non-safezone should have slow-opening double doors on the NON-safezone side. It's just COMMON SENSE from a design standpoint. You're stuck with the limitations of a zone-based world - at least DESIGN it that way.
### Once Those Aren't Safezones - Give Tradeskillers a REAL Home ###
Now to replace the beloved Tradeskill zones, create Tradeskill Centers in both NC and DoY. Give them the Vendors tradeskillers need, booths that players can get accustomed to using, and create a generally nice atmosphere for people to trade and socialize in. We're never getting Playershops, so the least we could get could be a zone with built-in booths that people could treat like their own shops - and I'm not talking about that shitty Tech Haven Sec-2 setup - I'm talking more like the Stores on the Skywalk level of Plaza 1. Almost like office cubicles with a GoGo, a shop table, and then a plant or something to make the cubicle unique.
### The Pile-of-Crap Buddylist Function ###
Simply put, it's useless and it's a pile of shit. Take this crappy function out and replace it with a REAL Friend/Buddy System! Please! For the love of all that is holy, fix it! The in-game buddy system should include:
- Buddy List Management: You can request to add people and remove people from your list. Asking permission should be required.
- Buddy List Notification: Give me a system message when a Buddy/Friend signs on/off. Ideally give each Buddy a checkbox options of "Notify".
- REMOVE Buddy Chat - Talking to a hardly-managable list of people you have added over the months, with none of them having a clue who you're talking to, is plain stupid. Top it off with the fact that some noob could've added you to their Buddy list and you didn't know it - now it's REALLY random.
- Add the option to "Import Clan into Buddy List" so that you can get online/offline notifications of your clan members as well - OR simply add this to the Clan Options.
Fix the Buddy List or remove it. In it's current state, it's a huge annoyance in my opinion. It's been muted since Day 1 because I hate getting half a conversation from someone I may or may not know that may or may not be directed towards me.
### Stop Wasting Money on Neptune ###
KK, you employ GMs on that server. You pay for the hosting, the bandwidth, the maintenance, the hardware... Why are you throwing your money away? Mercury at least spikes at 10% or so during peak times - I can see a reason to keep that one around for now. Can't we just admit Neptune is a failed endeavor, save what you can, and move on? Not sure how the servers are setup, but if they're clustered, redirect some Neptune resources to the other servers maybe? Or open up a few new zones on the remaining three servers? I'm just sure there can be SOME sort of actual usage for the Neptune Server's hardware & resources!
How about turning Neptune into a 1-Slot "Free" Server where anyone can play... however the only zones that exist are Viarosso, Plaza, Pepper Park, the Outzone, and Dome of York - connected by a generic canyon zone No quests, no epics, no rares - just the basic gameplay experience with a rank cap of /25. Then if you want to get any further out... BUY THE FULL VERSION :D At which point you can 'transport' your character to one of the 'Retail' Servers.
### Sector Display ###
http://forum.neocron.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=10035
Small, simple idea. Add a line to the map display that shows what kind of sector you are in. Sometimes you don't get the sector-type message or you're in a zone for so long you forget (in my case 7 seconds)... then you're confronted and you're not sure what you can do in that split second. If we could see that we were in a Dungeon Sector at all times, it might help how people react to situations.
Also, please change the 'Wasteland/Hacknet' sector message. One or the other. It looks incredibly stupid zoning into a_08 and seeing such a generic message. Kinda cheapens the wasteland experience in my opinion :(
### Lack of Reasons to Explore Existing Barely-Used Dungeons ###
The new dungeon teaser is great, but there are a lot of places runners simply don't visit. The game needs more item drops specific to TYPES of caves and a REASON to use them. I'm hoping the new runs/quests/whatever do this somewhat.
- Perhaps add a new drug that adds Energy Resist to Worm Tunnel Mobs 90/90 and better with a drop rate near that of Tech Parts off WBs?
- Or add Tech Part drops to the Mutants in Point Red or Calida Village storage?
- Or Poison Resist drugs to Swamp Cave Mobs 90/90 and better that drop at a Tech Part Rate?
storage?
- Or Fire Resist drugs to Swamp Cave Mobs 90/90 and better that drop at a Tech Part Rate? or the Graves for that matter?
- Maybe let the Juggernaught parts be used to boost item stats when used in construction like slot enhancers, except with a 5% guaranteed boost to a weapon aspect?
- Add a new heavy laser drone, buildable out of parts dropped by 90/90 and higher COPBOTs in the Gaya Mine? Building one yeilds a stack of 10 non-bpable drones...
- Add a new rare Toxic Halo slightly stronger than the Toxic Beam with a LOS req (a la Chaos Queen Flame Avalanche) that is constructed via organic parts from 90/90 and higher snakes in the graves and a new rare loot part only dropped by the Bloodviper King and Yoda?
There are a million ideas out there - but the REASONS to go to these places are needed!
### Stop Fucking Over Pro-Neocron in the Wastelands ###
*FIXED IN 2.1* - Thanks KK!
### The Upcoming 2.2 Vehicle Updates ###
= General =
* Toggle-able Headlights - With 2.1, my screen and I believe many others, has become a great deal darker. Riding a vehicle at night can be very hazardous. Have you ever tried driving from Regant Fortress to Regant's Legacy on a Quad or Hover at night? It's brutal Please add headlights
* Enter/Exit Vehicle Animations - Not sure who has played Planetside, but it's a large-scale FPS that is a TRUE FPS. All the vehicles there have an animation that plays when a player gets in and hour of a vehicle and you know what... it's f-ing awesome I'd love to see these in Neocron! And I would think that if it doesn't interfere with the high-speed FPS gameplay in Planetside, it would be fine in Neocron.
= Quad vs Hover =
* Currently, there is no reason to drive the hover. The Quad has lower reqs, goes faster, repairs for 438nc, and is better than the hover in just about every way. That's too bad because the Hover is a fine vehicle :( Not sure if the engine supports this, but if you made this change to the Hover, it would really make it worthwhile vehicle and worth having it around: Make the hovertech truly 'hover'! If the Hovertech worked on both land AND water - it would be the sexiest vehicle in-game and you'd see it around a lot more often!
= Model Updates =
* Update Vehicle Models - Basically, see this post (http://forum.neocron.com/showthread.php?t=124760). The Quad/Combat Quad set graphical standards in 'model reusage'! Honestly, the NeXT Reveler and Chaincraft should look different as well :D
Combat HT vs Non-Combat HT
http://www.synergyxr.net/fn/images/green-hovertec.jpg VS http://www.synergyxr.net/fn/images/blue-hovertec.jpg
### Clean up the Clan Database! ###
Basically - require 5 Runners in 24 hours to create a clan. If you don't get 5 runners in, the clan is removed and the key is either reset or destroyed. Neocron's clan system has no method (that I know of) of keeping itself current or up to date. If nobody in a clan logs on for say 90 days, delete the clan and make the clan apt belong to the clan leader. How many 1-3 person clans are there in the database? How many clans haven't had a single person log on in months? Either that or add some sort of filtering options to the Info > Clans portion of the terminal so I choose to see clans listed with more then 10 runners and minimize the Terminal Loading/Search times.
Every other game I've played, to create a clan/guild/etc, there were requirements to create & maintain it. This keeps the needless pollution of truly non-existant clans. It may not seem like much at first thought - but compound it by number of players over months, even years... that's a lot of garbage data.
### Wisdom of Ceres is good for what? ###
*ADDRESSED IN 2.1* - Thanks KK! Keep up the content injections!
### New HUD/RPOS ###
This your chance KK - bring back all the people who quit because the overly-organic, taking-over-my-screen, extra-lines-where-they're-not-needed, and way-too-friggin-small RPOS made them quit. Add the selection of NC2 or NC1 Style RPOS as an option. There have already been a number of NC1-esque files seen in many screenshots here. Add the option officially and bring back the minimalistic users!
http://mightymax.org/stealth_shot.png
How EASY-TO-READ is that??? It's just beautiful *tear*
### Anonymity & Multi-Char Servers ###
I won't go into much detail here, most everyone knows the issue... I'd ask that Characters be "look-up-able" so people can see who their alts are on that account to stop the maddening politics and ganking disruptions
-OR-
Restrict accounts to make slots All Pro-NC or All Pro-DOY, with CM being allowed no matter what. Terra's Saturn-like atomosphere, combined with the fact that we never got a Pluto-like atomsphere back, irritate me to no end.
### Accessories: The Erased Part of the NC2 RPOS ###
I've attached a PDF of my original outline. I've created some images for the items in my boredom, but the idea has all but stalled. You'll see the date on the PDF and I've not heard anything back from KK :(
- Accesories.pdf (http://forum.neocron.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9801)
- HCK Image Example (http://forum.neocron.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9802)
### Character Balance ###
I know - it's a never-ending saga. But you have to admit, with the introduction of weapon reloads and the past un-nerfing of monks, the balance is REALLY getting skewed. Weapon-weilding players are getting shafted by the "limitless clip" that monks now have. If the forced-reloading times are staying, the Monks really need a change as well... Introduce the Booster Injection Process:
On booster usage, play some creepy injection sound and animiation... then based on the booster it will kick in after the counted time goes by.
PSI Booster 1: Injection Time is 1.5 - 2 Seconds
PSI Booster 2: Injection Time is 2.5 - 3 Seconds
PSI Booster 3: Injection Time is 3.5 - 4 Seconds
This would add strategy to using Booster 1s over Booster 3s in certain cases... and timing would be a bit more crucial. This would solve the offensive aspect of APUs as they would still have the highest damage output "per clip". I'm not really sure how this woud affect PPUs however - it would really need testing. Perhaps if points into PPU also added to the PSI Pool to compensate...
Things (in no particular order) that still drive me nuts in NC and make me want to quit at times:
### Make Plaza 1 & DoY City Center Anarchy Zones Again ###
The zoneline fighting is pathetic. The P1/P2 zoneline is *exactly* the same as the old NC1 P3/PP1 bullshit. End it and kill the safezones. In my opinion, the ONLY safezones should be Faction HQs and Tech Haven Sec-2. MB's safe zone should be their HQ, not SEC-1, and any zoneline between a safezone and a non-safezone should have slow-opening double doors on the NON-safezone side. It's just COMMON SENSE from a design standpoint. You're stuck with the limitations of a zone-based world - at least DESIGN it that way.
### Once Those Aren't Safezones - Give Tradeskillers a REAL Home ###
Now to replace the beloved Tradeskill zones, create Tradeskill Centers in both NC and DoY. Give them the Vendors tradeskillers need, booths that players can get accustomed to using, and create a generally nice atmosphere for people to trade and socialize in. We're never getting Playershops, so the least we could get could be a zone with built-in booths that people could treat like their own shops - and I'm not talking about that shitty Tech Haven Sec-2 setup - I'm talking more like the Stores on the Skywalk level of Plaza 1. Almost like office cubicles with a GoGo, a shop table, and then a plant or something to make the cubicle unique.
### The Pile-of-Crap Buddylist Function ###
Simply put, it's useless and it's a pile of shit. Take this crappy function out and replace it with a REAL Friend/Buddy System! Please! For the love of all that is holy, fix it! The in-game buddy system should include:
- Buddy List Management: You can request to add people and remove people from your list. Asking permission should be required.
- Buddy List Notification: Give me a system message when a Buddy/Friend signs on/off. Ideally give each Buddy a checkbox options of "Notify".
- REMOVE Buddy Chat - Talking to a hardly-managable list of people you have added over the months, with none of them having a clue who you're talking to, is plain stupid. Top it off with the fact that some noob could've added you to their Buddy list and you didn't know it - now it's REALLY random.
- Add the option to "Import Clan into Buddy List" so that you can get online/offline notifications of your clan members as well - OR simply add this to the Clan Options.
Fix the Buddy List or remove it. In it's current state, it's a huge annoyance in my opinion. It's been muted since Day 1 because I hate getting half a conversation from someone I may or may not know that may or may not be directed towards me.
### Stop Wasting Money on Neptune ###
KK, you employ GMs on that server. You pay for the hosting, the bandwidth, the maintenance, the hardware... Why are you throwing your money away? Mercury at least spikes at 10% or so during peak times - I can see a reason to keep that one around for now. Can't we just admit Neptune is a failed endeavor, save what you can, and move on? Not sure how the servers are setup, but if they're clustered, redirect some Neptune resources to the other servers maybe? Or open up a few new zones on the remaining three servers? I'm just sure there can be SOME sort of actual usage for the Neptune Server's hardware & resources!
How about turning Neptune into a 1-Slot "Free" Server where anyone can play... however the only zones that exist are Viarosso, Plaza, Pepper Park, the Outzone, and Dome of York - connected by a generic canyon zone No quests, no epics, no rares - just the basic gameplay experience with a rank cap of /25. Then if you want to get any further out... BUY THE FULL VERSION :D At which point you can 'transport' your character to one of the 'Retail' Servers.
### Sector Display ###
http://forum.neocron.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=10035
Small, simple idea. Add a line to the map display that shows what kind of sector you are in. Sometimes you don't get the sector-type message or you're in a zone for so long you forget (in my case 7 seconds)... then you're confronted and you're not sure what you can do in that split second. If we could see that we were in a Dungeon Sector at all times, it might help how people react to situations.
Also, please change the 'Wasteland/Hacknet' sector message. One or the other. It looks incredibly stupid zoning into a_08 and seeing such a generic message. Kinda cheapens the wasteland experience in my opinion :(
### Lack of Reasons to Explore Existing Barely-Used Dungeons ###
The new dungeon teaser is great, but there are a lot of places runners simply don't visit. The game needs more item drops specific to TYPES of caves and a REASON to use them. I'm hoping the new runs/quests/whatever do this somewhat.
- Perhaps add a new drug that adds Energy Resist to Worm Tunnel Mobs 90/90 and better with a drop rate near that of Tech Parts off WBs?
- Or add Tech Part drops to the Mutants in Point Red or Calida Village storage?
- Or Poison Resist drugs to Swamp Cave Mobs 90/90 and better that drop at a Tech Part Rate?
storage?
- Or Fire Resist drugs to Swamp Cave Mobs 90/90 and better that drop at a Tech Part Rate? or the Graves for that matter?
- Maybe let the Juggernaught parts be used to boost item stats when used in construction like slot enhancers, except with a 5% guaranteed boost to a weapon aspect?
- Add a new heavy laser drone, buildable out of parts dropped by 90/90 and higher COPBOTs in the Gaya Mine? Building one yeilds a stack of 10 non-bpable drones...
- Add a new rare Toxic Halo slightly stronger than the Toxic Beam with a LOS req (a la Chaos Queen Flame Avalanche) that is constructed via organic parts from 90/90 and higher snakes in the graves and a new rare loot part only dropped by the Bloodviper King and Yoda?
There are a million ideas out there - but the REASONS to go to these places are needed!
### Stop Fucking Over Pro-Neocron in the Wastelands ###
*FIXED IN 2.1* - Thanks KK!
### The Upcoming 2.2 Vehicle Updates ###
= General =
* Toggle-able Headlights - With 2.1, my screen and I believe many others, has become a great deal darker. Riding a vehicle at night can be very hazardous. Have you ever tried driving from Regant Fortress to Regant's Legacy on a Quad or Hover at night? It's brutal Please add headlights
* Enter/Exit Vehicle Animations - Not sure who has played Planetside, but it's a large-scale FPS that is a TRUE FPS. All the vehicles there have an animation that plays when a player gets in and hour of a vehicle and you know what... it's f-ing awesome I'd love to see these in Neocron! And I would think that if it doesn't interfere with the high-speed FPS gameplay in Planetside, it would be fine in Neocron.
= Quad vs Hover =
* Currently, there is no reason to drive the hover. The Quad has lower reqs, goes faster, repairs for 438nc, and is better than the hover in just about every way. That's too bad because the Hover is a fine vehicle :( Not sure if the engine supports this, but if you made this change to the Hover, it would really make it worthwhile vehicle and worth having it around: Make the hovertech truly 'hover'! If the Hovertech worked on both land AND water - it would be the sexiest vehicle in-game and you'd see it around a lot more often!
= Model Updates =
* Update Vehicle Models - Basically, see this post (http://forum.neocron.com/showthread.php?t=124760). The Quad/Combat Quad set graphical standards in 'model reusage'! Honestly, the NeXT Reveler and Chaincraft should look different as well :D
Combat HT vs Non-Combat HT
http://www.synergyxr.net/fn/images/green-hovertec.jpg VS http://www.synergyxr.net/fn/images/blue-hovertec.jpg
### Clean up the Clan Database! ###
Basically - require 5 Runners in 24 hours to create a clan. If you don't get 5 runners in, the clan is removed and the key is either reset or destroyed. Neocron's clan system has no method (that I know of) of keeping itself current or up to date. If nobody in a clan logs on for say 90 days, delete the clan and make the clan apt belong to the clan leader. How many 1-3 person clans are there in the database? How many clans haven't had a single person log on in months? Either that or add some sort of filtering options to the Info > Clans portion of the terminal so I choose to see clans listed with more then 10 runners and minimize the Terminal Loading/Search times.
Every other game I've played, to create a clan/guild/etc, there were requirements to create & maintain it. This keeps the needless pollution of truly non-existant clans. It may not seem like much at first thought - but compound it by number of players over months, even years... that's a lot of garbage data.
### Wisdom of Ceres is good for what? ###
*ADDRESSED IN 2.1* - Thanks KK! Keep up the content injections!
### New HUD/RPOS ###
This your chance KK - bring back all the people who quit because the overly-organic, taking-over-my-screen, extra-lines-where-they're-not-needed, and way-too-friggin-small RPOS made them quit. Add the selection of NC2 or NC1 Style RPOS as an option. There have already been a number of NC1-esque files seen in many screenshots here. Add the option officially and bring back the minimalistic users!
http://mightymax.org/stealth_shot.png
How EASY-TO-READ is that??? It's just beautiful *tear*
### Anonymity & Multi-Char Servers ###
I won't go into much detail here, most everyone knows the issue... I'd ask that Characters be "look-up-able" so people can see who their alts are on that account to stop the maddening politics and ganking disruptions
-OR-
Restrict accounts to make slots All Pro-NC or All Pro-DOY, with CM being allowed no matter what. Terra's Saturn-like atomosphere, combined with the fact that we never got a Pluto-like atomsphere back, irritate me to no end.
### Accessories: The Erased Part of the NC2 RPOS ###
I've attached a PDF of my original outline. I've created some images for the items in my boredom, but the idea has all but stalled. You'll see the date on the PDF and I've not heard anything back from KK :(
- Accesories.pdf (http://forum.neocron.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9801)
- HCK Image Example (http://forum.neocron.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9802)
### Character Balance ###
I know - it's a never-ending saga. But you have to admit, with the introduction of weapon reloads and the past un-nerfing of monks, the balance is REALLY getting skewed. Weapon-weilding players are getting shafted by the "limitless clip" that monks now have. If the forced-reloading times are staying, the Monks really need a change as well... Introduce the Booster Injection Process:
On booster usage, play some creepy injection sound and animiation... then based on the booster it will kick in after the counted time goes by.
PSI Booster 1: Injection Time is 1.5 - 2 Seconds
PSI Booster 2: Injection Time is 2.5 - 3 Seconds
PSI Booster 3: Injection Time is 3.5 - 4 Seconds
This would add strategy to using Booster 1s over Booster 3s in certain cases... and timing would be a bit more crucial. This would solve the offensive aspect of APUs as they would still have the highest damage output "per clip". I'm not really sure how this woud affect PPUs however - it would really need testing. Perhaps if points into PPU also added to the PSI Pool to compensate...