[R#184-T#185] Some impressions

[Bruder Malmsdoo]

I did a little Testrun on Vedeena and I didn't know where to post that. Feel free to move the thread. Here are the things that striked me.

1.)
Spawning in the Canyon works and I like the new environement. (Although I didn't find a YOS). Good job!

But:

2.)
Mr. Jones is spawning there too. A newbie cannot do the quest and will search for hours, if he is not lucky enough to find the help-chat fast.

3.)
The first character I spoke with (guard) showed only an empty text-box, what gives a really bad impression for beginners. To create immersion and a good gaming-experience we really need more funny, exciting npcs in the beginner areas, which tell background-stories and give hints, what the player can and should do. They should give directions where he can meet other players. Instead, a new player is left alone. The same problem in OZ1 when you start as a crahn-member (at least you took the old OZ-appas...nice!)

4.)
The caves look all the same. Reused content was always and is a showstopper for neocron. When you add the chaos caves you see, that there is only 1! type of caves in the whole big canyons. So boring :(

5.)
The mobs in the TG-Canyon-Caves are no challenge for newbies. They were not able damage me in the highest level (3). Btw. The level-descriptions are pointless. Nearly identical mobs in every cave.

6.)
I couldn't get any missions at the term for the mobs in the caves.

--> Step in the right direction, but still a lot to do. Thx for your work NC-Team!

[Trivaldi]

Thank you for your feedback!

In response:
Thank you! (Also, good point, I shall make sure some sort of All Buyer is in town before this hits Retail.)
A known issue, Mr Jones will be removed for Twilight Guardian characters. A TG (and a CM) specific newbie quest will be added in a later patch to improve the experience here.
This is likely a bugged NPC, all guards should have functional dialogue. I'll double check their setup.
Although they all look very similar, we currently have three cave maps suitable for use in the Canyons. Each one is used twice in the Canyon Facility for lower level caves.
Thanks for the feedback, a review of all low level / sewer hunting ground is in progress behind the scenes which reaches far beyond this particular issue. :)
A known issue, working on it!

[Bruder Malmsdoo]

And thx for answering :)

4.
Yes, 3 slightly different layouts of the same level-environement (a cave). And a newbie wouldn't remark any difference. The setting of a rebel base could give so many logical and exciting level areas, e.g. a training area for terrorist attacks or a shooting range, ...

In Neocron you can see exactly that in the beginning map-quality and atmosphere mattered (creation of the city, e.g. jailhouse). But in the later stages of the development, often they just reused old content to get things done quick and without much money and manpower. I know that today especially the lacking manpower is the crucial factor (the new shops are made with love). But In my humble opinion it is important to implement also diversified maps to create a convincing and exciting game-world. Especially if we want to attract new players in the future.

best regards

Malms

PS: When will it be possible to support you with some money?

[Squish]

Just as a little hint here, these caves have been there in the old neocron 1 days, as far as I understood, they are reactivated now (which is a good thing, I am looking forward to create a TG character in the canyons :) ).

The problems with Jones missions is because they were implemented with Neocron2 somwhere, so there never have been any special starter missions for other places than Neocron (and back then also Dome of York). Thats's why the other starter Areas (Canyon, Military Base, Tech Haven) never got any special Starter Missions.

Mentioning Tech Haven ... is it planned to start in Tech Haven as Fallen Angel also? Would be great :)

Thanks for the good work

[zii]

> PS: When will it be possible to support you with some money?

+1...

[Dribble Joy]

The problem with the low level mobs is that they simply aren't dangerous. Back in NC1 a sewer rat was a serious threat to a fresh runner. Now melee based mobs up to about lvl 15 are more or less harmless. Hits don't register or the dmg simply bounces, any dmg that is done isn't very high either.

[Chuck Norris]

Why are you splitting up starting spots AGAIN? thi nearly killed the population and hopes of any new anti runner

[Squish]

Chuck Norris, putting back TG into Canyons (same for CM and hopefully also FA) is just how the setting was in the "classic" Neocron. These 3 Factions also are supposed to be played by more experienced players (as it was written during character creation process when you choose your faction). Besides, these players belong to these locations. They have their appartment there, they have their own low level spots etc ... besides, at least back then, I had more feeling of a group sticking together and helping each other than I had at Plaza 1 ;) TGs in Canyon are indeed separated from others, but they (almost) always acted like a big family, from newb to highend.

The bigger problem was, that there were no mid-level spots at the canyon, but there have been always some high level who helped/protected the med ones while they were hunting the monsters in front of their door ;) Which also means, I wouldn't want new med level hunting zones around the canyon, just keep it like it was back then. And if its too hard, just go back to neocron city :P

[Trivaldi]

Points 2, 5 and 6 should now be sorted. An all buyer (point 1) will get into town in the next test patch. I have confirmed point 3 and will get this fixed ASAP. Point 4 is not something we can remedy in the short to medium term. However once other areas have been addressed, I will at least add some visual variety to the existing Canyon Facility cave maps.

[SilentEye]

Points 2, 5 and 6 should now be sorted. An all buyer (point 1) will get into town in the next test patch. I have confirmed point 3 and will get this fixed ASAP. Point 4 is not something we can remedy in the short to medium term. However once other areas have been addressed, I will at least add some visual variety to the exiting Canyon Facility cave maps.
<3 much love Trivaldi!

I don't think we've ever had such a close loop between community and support crew working on stuff!

[Cursed Shadow]

The problem with the low level mobs is that they simply aren't dangerous. Back in NC1 a sewer rat was a serious threat to a fresh runner. Now melee based mobs up to about lvl 15 are more or less harmless. Hits don't register or the dmg simply bounces, any dmg that is done isn't very high either.

I completely agree. Low level monsters don't really pose a threat. Except for those with Piercing damage, which seem to register too much damage. E.g. Lost Outskirt? Is that the place with the 2/2 guys with Shotguns you have to get past for the Infiltrator Jones Mission ~ those guys are way overpowered dealing almost 30% of your life per hit.

[Bruder Malmsdoo]

Cheers and big Thank You! :)