yay, finally not the least optimistic in the thread :DQuote:
Originally Posted by [K1]Luke
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yay, finally not the least optimistic in the thread :DQuote:
Originally Posted by [K1]Luke
thats cause I hadn't posted yet :pQuote:
Originally Posted by Biglines
NC3? Now there's something I never thought would happen. I'm still skeptical, though. Is this going to be an entirely new game built from the ground up that continues where NC1/2 left off, a reboot of the current Neocron, or simply the same game with heavy updates?
I saw you said you'll be using the Gamebyro engine, but honestly that engine is already starting to show its age, releasing a Gamebyro-engine game 2-3 years from now it would already make it look outdated.
How is this being funded with so few devs? Going by what you said Kirk, it seems you're making NC3 a game "for the fans, by the fans". I think community interaction where decisions/polls can affect the development of the game is amazing. So then I assume this is just going to be a small release, we're not looking at any sort of boxed retail releases, heavy marketing, etc?
Can you guys consider having community members help with the process regarding things like UI design, models, skins, etc. There's some pretty talented people out there.
Make store bought and reconstructed weapons more viable. Store bought should run at say 80% of max dmg value. Reconstructed run at 100% of weapon damage and rares give 105% to reflect rare value.
Woc should be aesthetic only. Implement some form of gauging system to "earn" woc points. IE x number of runners killed by your team in a battleground sector (ops etc) or in team pvp. This value should be the only one used for woc. Then keep (maybe redo) the quests for woc so that people have some nice end game content to play with but it is not needed by the casual player.
Woc may well be easy to get in 2-3 weeks or whatever the comment was earlier but its not that simple to your average newly capped runner. When youve played the game for x number of years youre going to know all of the tricks of the trade obviously but when youre new (which this game direly needs) it doesnt compute like that. We dont need experts, we need new players.
How would this system remain from being horrifically abused?Quote:
Originally Posted by William Antrim
A special team type which would have to declare a fight against someone else? Who would have to agree? What if they didn't and just started fighting because they don't want you to get any WoC points? Force them to sign up to this system in order to participate in team PvP?
Sounds a lot like a certain game I know. Any kind of in-game benefit from kills would have to be so tightly regulated that it would wreck the free form PvP aspect of NC that we all know and love.
I agree though, WoC should not be a necessitated element of NC's end-game.
like said before, if you believe that woc is nescesary for endgame, you are mistaken, it is simply because you are not skilled enough to kill others, not because you don't have woc. I don't use woc on both my tank and my spy (except ak occasionaly but usually dissy), my ppu only uses woc pa because of a slight increase in heal ticks and shield strength, but it also makes me far easier to kill because i'm slow.
the only class that needs woc to be en par with other classes is the pe, the other 3 classes have no such need, the tank doesn't even come close to requiring woc, the spy only uses ak, but dissy is just as viable, ppu's and apus can use woc pa's, but its only slightly better and has a big negative as well.
as to leveling, if you have leveled to skill 100, it's about 10% extra. Even with rifles, if you leveled with rifles to level 100, it should take about 2 weeks of constant play, with means an extra day or 2 of woc leveling.
also, if you're leveling with for example drones, you need about 70m xp overcap anyway to be able to lom, why not go that 30m xp extra so you have woc? its not that hard.
the only class that's fucked concerning woc is the pe, but this is not because of woc, but because of the lower dex cap in relation to woc.
blaming it all on woc is far easier than admitting you're simply not good enough. Getting so tired of that excuse... there's hundreds of things wrong with nc, but woc is not one of them, or at least should be the least of our worries (aside from lowering woc requirements for pe, and adding woc weapons to apu, ppu and melee)
i switched off reading the rest of the post right there where the quote ends.Quote:
Originally Posted by Biglines
Some of us remember the days when woc didnt exist and there was more variation (i wont say balance) within the game. woc makes cookie cutter. anyone who doesnt use it uses a small number of other weapons which compete on the same sort of level. that forces choices rather than encouraging diversity to flourish. NC1 did it better in that respect.
Thats exactly the point. We have new runners now and then. But the problem is that those feel awfully lost if they do not get offered a hand or two.Quote:
Originally Posted by William Antrim
The helping hands are not the problem in NC. There are always some of them around. (at least on Mars it was like that)
The problem is that if you lead your trainee around the normal level spots and tell him the necessary steps, you sooner or later will run in some idiot bragging about how he caps in 2 days and how stupid the "noob" ist for doing it the normal way.
When your trainee asks how this guy archived this you have the choice of telling him or not. And of course the choice of telling him HOW or not...
Depending on how talkative the bragging guy is and how you handle the situation your trainee will sooner or later hear about all those "great and nice" exploits and stuff.
My experience shows that there are 2 main reactions to this:
1) The newcomer quits with the comment "If I can already exploit like this I don't want to image what the others do" (a very reasonable reaction imo)
or
2) He adopts the exploits... One exploiter more in this game. Not exactly what I am looking for. (Especially because I think early exploit experience may lead to future cheating...)
Only very few new runners stay to do it the "hard (normal) way".
And that's a BIG problem that prevents lots of new players to come and stay.
your problem, the rest of the post was a proper argued statement about how you were wrong about woc.Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc Holliday
Woc doesnt make cookie cutter, its the fact that only a few rare weapons are good, and the rest are all bad. Hell, 80% of the woc weapons are useless too. name one woc rifle thats good aside from ak? name one woc pistol other than xbow or bhg9? hell, name a single tank weapon?
the problem is in the "balancing", not woc. there are more viable rare weapons than woc weapons, hence, your argument is wrong, as saying woc makes cookie cutter depends on the fact that woc has to set the standard, which it doesn't. hell if you play the game, if you see a woc weapon aside from ak, it's either an ass using the woc rocket launcher, or a pe.
WOC is not the problem, they are just as crap or good as rare weapons. Hell without woc, there would be absolutely NO VARIATION, as only the dissy would be viable, none of the other rifles. WOC makes the current game LESS cookie cutter than without it.
That said, of course the changes to the weapons and damage since woc was introduced have fucked it up, but not woc in itself, as tanks, spies and monks are exactly as or more viable than woc variants.
I read your post, I still think your point is moot biglines.
Its not what woc is right now, its what they intended it to be thats the problem. If it was "fixed" and working as intended then it would cause more harm than current.
Your argument is in essence the same as mine. Im saying woc should not be in ANY FORM combat related. Youre saying woc is fine..... im not sure why but woc is shit how ever you look at it.
IF it was working as intended and going to be the be all and end all of pvp as it was originally intended it would be worse than it is currently. There shouldnt be an endless grind to get a "good weapon" for pvp.
Thats what everyone hates about woc, nothing to do with the half arsed version we have currently that you seem to be championing and banging on about how regular rares are ok etc.
EVERYONE pretty much wants to see a balanced form of combat across the board i think.
WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!! you all need to stfu. Just go get aim and stfu. i use a pistol tank unwoc in p2 and kill kids for fun. Get skills and come at me bro.
cool story bro tell it to someone who gives half a shitQuote:
Originally Posted by Flashlite
now back on topic.
Neocron 3?! NEVER!
Then again Duke Nukem Forever gets released next year :rolleyes:
Actually, I thought he was pretty much on topic!Quote:
Originally Posted by derretimos
i don't recall where i've read that Bethesda softwares got the right for Duke Nukem franchise... and it said that it would use Id tech 5 as game engine.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hell-demon
(I actually started writing this before my previous post)
/set DJ_ramble 1
Firstly, Wheee! Good news. Lick your face.
Now to the nitty gritty.
Not sure where to start, so I might as well start with:
- Starting impression:
MC5 was a good concept, but suffered from a poor implementation.
Actual learning scope was little better, if not worse than simply going straight to the main world. With low newbie populations the place is a ghost town and as a result failed to offer the safe 'play pen' environment for new players to grasp the game's basics with people of the own (lack of) experience.
The inclusion of a (optional) linear tutorial quest/sequence, prompted info screens (on a scale above that which are allready present), various info-NPCs each giving advice on different game aspects or a similar method of explaining the mechanisms on which the game operates would ease people into NC's steep learning curve (which I see no reason to lower). They could then practice in the beginning area or leave, as they see fit.
Also, the whole story aspect of the area is completely unexplored. Your character has been kidnapped, brainwashed (successfully or not) and has awoken in a top secret NC facility.
Yet nothing is made of this. It's never followed up. There's no avenue of questioning or investigation for the player to discover. This is a perfect opportunity to add depth to the players interaction with the game world and a long running story element that can follow the player's character right from the start.
A good example would be the two recent Fallout games. There's a trail to follow that directly involves the character, with deep emotional effect. This ties the character, and by extension the player, to the setting of the game world much more engaging manner.
Of course there's the option to completely forgo this and strike out on your own, a chance to start again from the character's old life for whatever reason. This in itself can convey a sense of freedom and lack of ties, operating outside regular society (which is what most runners do).
Which brings me to:
- The Mission System:
The one big drawback to the NC mission system is the fact that only one mission can be running at any one time. In just about every other RPG, MMO or not, the player can perform and track multiple quests at once. I don't see why NC can do the same thing.
The other main issue is the mission system available from the CityComs. Though this is mainly a matter of re-writing and re-organisation.
The Quick Kill missions:
Firstly (purely as an example), why are Launcher missions set as Very Hard? I would have thought that something like Warbots or upper level fire mobs would be better suited here.
There's also problems with the naming of various Quick Kills, such as Amok Copbot, which doesn't actually exist as far as I am aware, only Mad Copbots (I must confess I haven't taken said mission and killed any Mad Copbots to find out if it's simply a naming issue, so it might work, but I am guessing it doesn't).
Another aspect is that the number of kills forces the player to run back and forth to the CityCom to grab new missions, which is boring and breaks up the leveling process in a manner that is not conductive to enjoyment.
'Rolling' quick kills, that award a single cash/xp bonus upon each individual kill, without a minimum or maximum number of kills would be better for longer durations of leveling.
Both could of course remain, Quick Kills could be 'Specialist Extermination Contract', offering higher xp/nc per kill, but require higher symp, whereas the rolling missions could be more like regular jobs, something like 'Vermin Regulator Post', requiring lower symp and with lower overall reward but less intrusive to game play.
Also, the mission selection system is horribly random.
Now this can give the impression of there being a large list of ever changing missions being available, but cycling through them is not fun, only tedious.
Setting out the mission system into categories like the navray would allow people to find what they want more easily. A small amount of random selection for specific jobs to cycle through would still give the impression of a fluid job system without being frustrating.
The next issue is that the missions available have little or no relevance to the faction in question. Neither story/background wise or geographically.
CM for example have Raptor missions. Aside from the fact that raptors are only spawned by terroraptors, they aren't found anywhere near MB, don't pose any threat to CM and if anything help keep TG busy.
Then there's the non-quick kill missions. Which, though by nature are repeatable and therefore need a degree of suggestion towards the routine, are rather bland; They hold no depth, a sense of importance or meaning towards the faction, even if they are only short, off the cuff jobs. A few snippets of dialogue can go a long way.
And then of course with have the quest system, independent of the CityCom system.
There isn't much intrinsicly wrong with this, it's more a matter of the scope and scale, Ie. Not enough of both.
I've allways felt that there should be missions starting NPCs everywhere. Big quests, little quests. It all adds to the atmosphere of the game world and gives people more things to do aside from grind when they aren't PvPing.
In addition, I feel that there should be greater scope for mission based xp gain. Perhaps even an integral part of the leveling process (though optional, not forced). Grinding xp from missions is worse than grinding it from mobs, at least there you're doing something that at least appears constructive. While the small missions from the CityCom are OK for lower level characters, they quickly become aggravating for higher level ones. A range of quests for all types of characters (tradeskill, tank/PE/spy/monk, combat, investigation) that provide high xp rewards would provide another avenue for leveling and again, a greater degree of immersion.
- Relationships, Faction Diversity and Faction Membership:
I've allways considered the SL system to be rather ham-fisted and yet at the same time impotent. It has little real effect on a character and a measure of right and wrong in a post-apocalyptic cyber-punk setting seems rather out of place.
My opinion has allways been that the SL system should be scrapped and faction sympathies be expanded greatly to nearly all aspects of runner life. This would again create a more in-depth and inclusive experience of the game world.
Shop prices, GR access, GR price, red/yellow/green appearance to other players, guard reaction, quest access, quest reward level and all manner of routine interactions that the player/character is involved with.
Also there should be greater scope to gain and loose symp other than the CityCom missions and player killing. I still think that NPC kills should effect symps, though I'll concede that this is very open to abuse. However I think that this can be controlled by making symp hard to increase, but very easy to lower. After all, NC is a world where respect is hard to garner, but easy to loose. NPC level affecting the relevant symp gain/loss would also help. Killing a load of low level faction NPCs (shop owners for example) would get you little increase, loose you a lot in other areas, and piss a lot of other people off. Killing several high level ones would be more dangerous, but take longer, increasing the risk of reprisal from other players (a turret death style warning on the faction channel would be good).
The factions, aside from their FSMs (which I'll get to later), epic, HQ locations and supposed area of influence, are actually not that dissimilar. Aside from the titles below their names, your enemies aren't all that different.
A slight tangent now, but it's relevant to the next bit.
What exactly is a runner? Is every player character a runner?
The first question, as I see it, is that runners, coming from the Shadowrun influence, are not corporation employees. They are temporary contractors who take jobs from whoever they happen to fancy working for at the time. They have no direct loyalty (other than to their master's wallet) and operate outside of the usual social structure.
Of course, as a runner takes (and completes) more and more missions for any given faction, they will bring more and more attention to themselves, both from that faction and it's enemies. They can choose to either carry on as they are, free and independent but without support, or join as a full employee, with all the benefits and restrictions that entails.
Then we have to ask if a full employee is in fact a runner any more. Could there in fact be two 'stages' or types of employment. A 'faction runner', someone who does the faction's dirty, yet (potentially intentional) visible work and odd jobs that require a higher degree of trust and support and a full employee who attends to the faction's more delicate inner workings and important roles.
As to the second question, it depends what the player wants. Should there not be scope to choose whether or not to be a runner? How much does faction membership define a character? Should faction membership be enforced?
In essence I think that not only should there be a more defined difference between the factions in how they operate, their goals and how they go about this but also that this should influence player life in a much more intrinsic nature.
This could be manifested in a range of things. Symp affects (as mentioned above), zone bonuses dependant on faction, discounts on certain product types (beyond simple symp effects), common mission types (sabotaging other factions, assassinating other faction NPCs, etc.) and of course access to items. This would all give a greater faction identity.
In addition, I think there should be a real scope for factionless play and varying levels of involvement with any given faction. From those unrelated contractors, to faction runners and full faction members. Right from character selection the option to be a complete neutral or a full fledged member (or anywhere between) would allow people to make a more individual choice about who their character is.
Of course this could be altered at any point. A free runner may want to or end up performing more missions for one faction or through a series of events find themselves with enemies and/or inadvertently impressing someone. They could either:
Smooth things out, return to neutrality.
Remain a free runner, but one who obviously has a preference for a given faction.
Join as a 'faction runner', afforded some respect/protection but with greater responsibilities.
Work through the latter and garner enough respect to join as a full member with all the benefits, duties and expectations that entails.
It would be quite possible to go back down as well.
Then we have to ask how clans and PvP enters into all of this.
Should clans only be faction member organisations? Surely if factionless play is intended to be as integral as factioned play then clans have to be possible at all levels of faction involvement.
Factionless clans (leaning or not towards any given faction) would also appeal to those players that have little wish to be part of a faction.
I might not like it, but most people simply don't care what faction they are in so long as they can shoot people and have OP fights. This would allow them to 'go rogue' all they wish without annoying their faction colleagues. Of course they would find that things are more expensive, movement is restricted and people don't like them much, but then this is still an MMORPG after all.
- Game World, Item Distribution and Mobs/PvE/Vehicles:
On the first part, my main concern is not the size or quality, but again how it's experienced.
One feature that seems lacking is travel.
Now I know people don't want the kind of tedious travelling found in Eve or WoW, but the GR network is too convenient, conventional travel is not a viable alternative.
GR cost is capped at 4k, which for a low level char is a lot, but quickly it becomes a trivial amount. Factoring in character level, symp with the destination GR's owner and removing the distance cap on the cost of GRing would go some way to not only provide a cash sink but also an impetus to walk or get a vehicle. Cross wasteland shuttles might also be useful (though slow and possibly expensive for low level runners).
Allowing more than apartment to be tagged on the GR might be useful, though the discount for GR travelling to apts would have to be reviewed. Though given the outlay on the cost of owning multiple apts, still less than regular travel.
Missions can also help people move around in the game world more, simply be requiring them to go to different places. Not simply there and back again, but a quest's plot could involve moving around an area or along a path through the game world.
The more people move around, the more likely they are to meet each other, for better or for worse. This means you are going to get more player interaction, people might set up all manner of services in high traffic areas, others would want to hunt enemies (or anyone who walks) and others might want to stop the latter. The OZ station is a classic example, with people going in and out
On item distribution I think there's a number of issues that especially affect starting players and those leveling.
The distribution, access to and availability of items should help to create a believable world. Where there are companies and organisations and other groups producing and/or selling items. It should also provide a consistent, intuitive and largely simple framework for players (especially new ones) to acquire items.
The main problem is the location and purpose of the various smugglers around the game world. Many seem pointlessly random. Plus there's many 'normal' weapons that can only be found on these smugglers. Where did the items come from in the first place?
It would make more sense if the smugglers sold the same items as the regular shops (primarily talking about weapons/spells at this point), but for less and of lower quality.
They wouldn't be affected by the same sympathies as the regular vendors, giving access to other factions. Of course they could be in more dangerous/hard to access areas and/or require a small quest to activate.
More quest rewarded items would be nice too. Though preferably non-standard items, general gear I feel should be easily available from vendors. That said, higher level 'general' equipment vendors could require a small quest to allow access. An example might be the shop managers asking for a small job to be done before they sell you TL150 tools, level 2 imps or whatever.
Quest rewards could range from low level oddities, weapons, clothes and experimental items all the way up to high level end game items, like the NCPD/FF/Merc chips.
This would all also increase player trading, some people might not have the symps required to access a vendor (or would pay a lot more than normal), creating a smuggling network. Especially with the travel involved.
As to the FSMs, I generally don't find too much wrong with the system itself, though what's available to each faction again seems rather arbitrary and often not in keeping with the character of the faction.
Black Dragon selling PEPA? If there was some story about them stealing the blueprints it wasn't mentioned and nothing is mentioned by any BD NPCs currently.
Tangent selling eyes? Was this simply to give them something and not have too much at BT?
City Admin selling Spy PA? Wasn't this a Tangent invention?
City Mercs selling backbones?
This list goes on.
Now this is meant to be an overall deconstruction and analysis without too much of what I would personally do (ha!), but here's something of what I'd do with the FSMs:
All in addition to the usual MNPU parts, clan apts and cst licenses.
CA:
Level 3 Freeze weapons (crowd control).
Special forces plasma wave.
TL 100 plasma rifle (CA only, a kind of toned down 'agent' version of a Copbot rifle, 120 stats?)?
TT:
Level 3 plasma, laser, pulse laser, plasma wave, raygun, assault rifle, SMG.
BT:
Level 3 implants (all but Psi).
PP:
Level 2 and Experimental Hearts.
Implant Parts.
New range of drugs and/or high level medkits.
NExT:
Combat Ground Vehicles, Observer Prototype.
Vehicle Parts.
DRE:
Level 3 low tech melee weapons? (for beating up tenants quietly rather than shooting them)
Unfurnished Plaza and Via Rosso apts.
Level 3 Plaza and Via Rosso apts.
Certain unqiue furniture items.
TS:
Level 3 street rifle, auto pistol, shotgun and nailgun.
Level 3 Pepper Park 1 apts.
Unfurnished Pepper Park 1 apts.
BD:
Level 4 drugs.
Level 3 grenade launcher and flamer.
Level 3 Pepper Park 2 apts.
Unfurnished Pepper Park 2 apts.
CS:
Level 3 Pepper Park 3 apts.
Unfurnished Pepper Park 3 apts.
Level 3 Psi implants.
Level 3 and 4 monk PA.
Level 4 Psi armour.
FA:
Level 3 Tech Haven apts.
Unfurnished Tech Haven apts.
DoY Hovercarrier, Gliders.
Level 3 and 4 Spy and PE PA (they stole the plans at the start of the JOB plotline).
TG:
Level 3 fusion weapons.
Level 3 and 4 Inquisition armour.
DoY raygun weapons.
Level 3 Canyon apts.
Unfurnished Canyon apts.
DoY Hoverbomber
CM:
Level 3 gatlin and rocket weapons.
Camo PAs.
Level 3 and 4 Tank PA.
Unfurnished MB apts.
Level 3 weapons would come at a much higher quality than the regular shops (around 105%) but also as a BP. This would allow a quick purchase or a tradeskiller to get the BP to build a better version.
Onwards...
I don't see any need for there to be any more or less mob dropped items (though WBs could do with higher drop rates and fire mobs slightly less), people who don't want to farm can leave it to those who do. Which brings me to mobs.
In general I don't mind the PvE system NC has, though it can get a little boring.
This is mostly due to people killing the same thing over and over due to a lack (perceived or not) of viable leveling targets.
Regants is a prime example. I've seen /10s down there because it's so easy.
The other problem is the rather simple AI, and how it's essentially the same for all mobs.
Now I am not suggesting anything like the mobs you get in WoW, with the specific methods required to bring them down, but a little variation in behaviour would be nice.
Another thing I found a little puzzling is the cash reward for PvE kills. It doesn't matter who you are, you get given money for killing them. From who? Your faction? NCPD?
I've allways felt that the cash reward should be scrapped, and the value of loot be increased. Not only would this lower the amount of cash in the system (as most people wouldn't bother selling everything that the mobs drop), it would make missions a more viable/equal means of income to those who don't or can't hunt. This can all be supported with the mission system.
Vehicles.
There's generally three areas vehicles have problems; PvP, PvE and the roles they play relative to the other vehicle types.
Working backwards, there's often not much reason to use some vehicles over others. The Hovertech for example is slower than at least one vehicle (the quad, no really) when it should be the fastest, even faster than some fliers. The Reveller is allways taken over the regular chaincraft. The bikes are rarely used at all, as are most of the gliders.
I don't want to bash on the quad too much, but it really is too good in too many areas. It's insanely fast, cheap (both to repair and aquire), handles well and you can't loose it.
It's intended as a starter vehicle, rather than something everyone uses all the time. If it was slower and the other low level vehicles were cheaper then there would be a greater choice of personal transport.
I've also often wondered if low level vehicles should have VHC requirement or not, but I'm unsure.
Vehicles for PvE are generally allright, though it's invariably the rhino (and the laser version at that, though the raygun version is just plain bugged). Modifying vehicles would greatly enhance other options for PvE, a prime candidate would be the regular chaincraft. The option to replace the gun with a number of support modules (GoGu, another seat, bigger weapon) would give it an advantage over other vehicles, especially the Reveller.
As for PvP, a recent thread has out-lined how bad they are. The cost, poor performance and ironically their fragility make people leave them at home.
I don't really want to see OP fight become tank battles, but vehicles should be a viable part of team PvP.
- Skills, implants and diversity/variation
I enjoy the skill system, it works, and it's an integral element of what make NC, NC.
However when it comes to a number of the more non-standard items, it's use as requirements can adversely affect the rest of a character's setup.
One example is Stealth.
Stealth uses TC, which is fine if you're a high tech weapon user, but if the character uses low tech weapons, it's a skill sink that detrimentally affects their combat effectiveness, putting them at a disadvantage to high tech users.
A more extreme example would be many of the nanite tools. The IMP requirements have such a serious impact that many people simply don't use most of them. This is compounded by the fact that those who do, are loosing more than they gain from their use.
A long time ago I had an idea for a second set of skills. The closest system is the Perk system found in the Fallout games of late (again).
A similar method, where one Perk or Special Skill point (or whatever you want to call it) would be gained say, every 20 levels in the mainskill. Each mainskill would have it's own set of special skills.
These could be used to free up the skill system to allow the addition of a much wider variety of unusual items and tools that the sub-skills have difficulty managing.
For example, under either INT or DEX, you might have something like Advanced Tool Use (ATU) and Stealth and most higher level nanite tools might require ATU +1, and the Obliterator might need ATU +2 but none would require the TC/IMP requirements.
The PSI AMP element (which is something of the inspiration for this) could be greatly expanded, with some spells needing PSI AMP +2 or even more. This could give a better choice regarding the Gaya glove. The CAG gloves offer higher sub-skills, which would improve the performance of spells, whereas the Gaya glove could increase PSI AMP further, meaning more special skill points in other areas and/or higher level spells but lower performance.
Of course the special skills could do many other things. For example, add flat bonuses to subskills (for example 'Vehicle Master', which could have say, a +15 bonus to VHC, this would allow the character to drive basic vehicles without skilling points, but with less special skill points to spend).
And Dual Wield of course :p.
WoC would do similar things, and aside from requirements, could provide a number of cosmetic effects as well and abilities that have no affect on end game PvP.
This would allow a much more free and optional system with greater scope for new items.
With the Gaya glove example from above in mind, there's a big problem with the current implant system that directly affects setup choice and the diversity it currently lacks.
The first main problem is the skill/effect ratio. Increasing a skill, even by large amount, even in PvE (let alone PvP), has little real impact on the way a weapon performs or how much damage is resisted.
The second is that the implants that add the most combat skills are also the ones that generally add the most main stat.
This means that as you add sub skills, you're increasing the mainstat as well. Given that TL affects damage, there's no reason why not to go for a higher TL weapon. The PAs fit into this area too.
This is compounded by the fact that there's not a huge range of these implants, so the rest are invariably filled with defence ones.
The end result is that not only do you not have a range of possible setups for each weapon, most people end up with the same weapon, implants and by extension armour. Cookie-cuttering. All made worse by the flat skill/effect ratio and the inherent imbalance of the weapons themselves.
If the implants with the high mainstat bonuses (CCP, DIP, SF, SWAT for example) had much lower sub-skills, there were more imps like the Targeting CPUs and the Co-Ordination Advancers, more defence implants and the effect of skills was more pronounced, there would be a far greater variation and diversity of viable setups.
One last thing, which also is derived from the last section; Weapon ammo mods.
The amount of primary damage is such a large proportion that in PvP, the secondary dmg type doesn't allways make much difference. You often see peoples setups with a huge block of energy/piercing with not much in xray, force and poison (people usually only speccing fire for the times they come up against a dev user).
If secondary dmg did around 60% of the dmg, people would consider the other dmg types. Plus it would make ammo mods much more important in PvE where the current difference with many mobs isn't great.
/set DJ_ramble 0
tl;dr
:p
I think NC3 will be announced official to public but it seems they're right in the pre-production (at least I hope so) so there is nothing to announce than "hey we develop a third neocron!". That's no good PR if shouted from the rooftops. So, maybe, they decide to show us, the nc-community, this piece of work, not to pacify us but rather inform us like "hey guys, all neocron fans hold on to it, we're building a sequel!"
I think, without kidding and being ironic, the release will be in 2015.
How about timed battles to give control to a certain faction / clan control over a specific area which gives people in that area from that faction / clan an uber buff for as long as that faction holds the area? Every 8 hours or so an alarm rings and war breaks out, a massive robot monster appears in faction colours for each faction and the aim is to keep your robot alive whilst destroying the other factions robots. The robot still alive at the end is the winner and that faction controls the area.
Of course, to prevent one faction from becoming over-populated and never losing, the winning robot doesn't recover it's HP to 100% making it easier to take out that robot, the robots can also fight back (its Japan, we expect killer robots, and Japanese hookers with weird tentacle fetishes).
You can also have your op wars, the more ops a faction controls the more powerful their robot becomes, control of different types affect how powerful the robot is in a set area, like you can capture an op to give it shields or more armour, better weapons and stuff, and large clans would have to decide between protecting their ops, fighting in the robot war or taking advantage of the uber reward for winning the robot wars.
With something like that you might start to see more co-op between the clans and factions, two weak (but allied) factions may decide to team up to protect one robot and destroy others, and having same faction wars would be bad, it'd give other factions a bit of an advantage if the two clans were killing each other at the robot wars, and it happens every 8 hours! Lots of PVP, lots of death, lots of boobies.
This announcement has motivated me to go home tonight, fix my pc and reinstall NC 2.
NC 2 will be installed on my PC too. Expect Profit on Plaza 1 soon.
which leads me to my favorite point
Dont underestimate the value of a good Tradesystem.
It was priceless to hang out endless hours on Plaza 1 doing buisness in a game where Tradeskills were needed, and not only a footnote to all the Uberitems that could be found in the world. I know its a PvP Game first, but there are quite some players that enyojed the options for Traders at least as much.
Thanks for giving us hope :D
"More Profit , with Profit !" Man not seen you in an age buddy, my all time favourite barter :)
now that you mentionn it i was thinking of installing the old NC for Xmas as i have 10 days off!
see yah in P1 :D
DJ - Awsome post and i did read it .....most of it ;)
If its Idea day well here are mine
Well if it is in Neo Tokio then i want to say just One word
GODZILLA!!!
From time to time a Giant monster could attack the city and literally lay waste to it. (appa`s get destroyed and so on) In that case everybody has to Band together for a while to fight this common threat.
Also there could be a "Godzilla Insurance" If your appartment is close to the seaside u can get an insurance in case ur appa gets squished. More stuff u have in ur appa. More higher the Cost (that would make the DRE Storage room much more importend too. To stash away the really valuable things.)
There should be a great reward for the clan/individual who does the most damage to it.
But yeah that could work in NC3
What also could work are Zombie`s
I mean real Ramero Style zombies. There should be always some zombies in some areas in the game (outzone) but people have to check there sometimes and Clean up the mess from time to time so they dont grow in numbers. (doubling their numbers every day or so)
If they do well...they can invade the inner city sectors and again lay waste to the city. Also if ur killed by a zombie 10 new ones should spawn. Or u urself become a Zombie till somebody puts u out of ur misery (the Server controls u for a while). However it is this kind of catastrophies are a Good way of automated events that involve everybody.
But also can be triggerd by some faction who want to see Neo Tokio in rubbles (TG for example protecting the Zombie population so they can grow).
Well what else?
Make outposts Bigger. I mean a Factory should look like a big ass factory a Lab should also look like it. Also make the Outposts more Importend
A uplink for example. Should enable to listen to other players DM in the given area.
The Lab is Fine
A fortress should have Big Honking Space Guns for defense.
A mine should give out Real chems. or sell them to a really low price for the Owner.
Ok that was it for now. i know that this wont happen but hey i thought the same about NC3
Please, for the sake of the game... disregard this man's wild ideas.Quote:
Originally Posted by Selket
Dribble Joy's, however, are well thought out and are not to be ignored.
PS - Also installed NC last night ready for 11 day break :)
I for one would like to see iron sights with auto aim introduced to the game. Also regenerating health and a cover system is a must in my opinion.
Also we should have the subscription fee increased so KK has no money troubles and micro transactions like hats and different colour skins for our shoes.
We should also have new escort missions that have a time limit. Skills should level up in real time, by which I mean you load up a skill and wait. Just wait. But to add difficulty some skills take days and even weeks to train.
I've noticed people like farmville and facebook so we should have a farmville like mini game in neocron. I know it doesn't fit the context of the game but people will enjoy it. Maybe have it so every time to you level up a message gets sent your friends on facebook showing how good you are at a game.
These things would really make neocron 3 great.
Also quick time events.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hell-demon
And everything should be instanced and/or safe zone so you cannot be killed. PKing should only be allowed in certain areas like the Neofrag.
We should also introduce a skill tree with pre defined skills like "+5 Rifle Damage" instead of the old system that featured way to much skilling possibilities to the player. So everybody could be the same instead of an individual character!
Wouldn't that be great?
As in Resident Evil 5 quick time events? Counting aside the times I really hated it in RE5, you forget NC is a MMO FPS and not a single player game? I can't see it working.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hell-demon
If course if it's a quick time event to insta-kill Jake Hard, then I'm all for it! :p
Although if KK implemented quick time events, I think it would instantly be called quick-FRE events. :D
thats the only thing u comment on in his thread? I thought I failed at sarcasm detection :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Brammers
98% of the time you do! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Biglines