(Tasos) Update and Q&A part 1. January 4 : DFO - General / Guide - Discussions

As we mentioned in the previous updates we've been busy on a big rewrite, the persistence system. This is a big task and it should be completed in a few days. Along with this we're going to patch in everything else we've been working on all these days, if not sooner.

We took a list of questions you posted here on the forum and answered all the questions in it. Thanks to Vagelis who got the information to answer all your questions, and to the developers who provided it. I'm posting the first installment here, I'll post the second one in a couple of days:

1. Is 1:1 mouse input (raw input) intended to be in Darkfall Unholy Wars, or is the end result meant to have a certain amount of input processing/delay?

Mouse movement is intended the same way it was intended in Darkfall Online. Input is supposed to be 1:1. The input delay you refer to here is not experienced by most DFUW testers, it’s likely to do with the debugging going on in the background. Even so, we’re looking into this and in the highly unlikely event this is anything other than debugging, we’ll fix it.

2. Crosshair wobble mechanic. Is it set in stone? Would AV in any scenario consider removing it from the final game? Would you consider adjusting it up or down depending on feedback?

Furthermore, what were you trying to achieve by implementing wobble (realism? adjust combat difficulty up or down? reduce kiting? etc), so that we can let you know if we think you've achieved your intended effect or not.

The intention of the mechanic is to help level the playing field mainly between melee and ranged roles. Initial feedback from closed beta was that melee roles were having trouble catching up to and hitting enemies that were kitting them while kitting roles could hit just fine. The mechanic is definitely not set in stone. We’re looking through your feedback on this. It’s difficult to fully evaluate it presently because of the debug mode but it’s definitely on our radar.

3. Mob loot tables. What's the current situation with mob loot? Are we just testing basic mob loot mechanics or do those loot tables resemble what we'll find in the final release?

All monster loot tables have been redone. The current drops make sense based on current data coming in and have to do with material and gold dynamics flowing within the economy. We’re looking at not only how much a monster drops but also the ways and the rate that these drops are removed from the game. Inflation was an issue in Darkfall Online so we’re now paying close attention to the factors that affect it.

Look at this as a starting point from which we can adjust upwards as needed.

4. Attributes (strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity), attribute requirements on gear and attribute boosters.

First of all, what is the cap for attributes w/out using the boosters (Darkfall 1 it was 110 w/out title quests)? What is the cap with boosters?

Second, is the current implementation of stat boosters final (well aside for possible cost adjustments)? What we would like to know is if it's possible to somehow mix and match the boosters for more customization, or if this system is set in stone?

Third, is attribute requirements on the gear final? Provided a good argument and a lot of feedback would you be open to removing this requirement? Lowering the requirements?

The attribute can be raised to 100, further boosted by 40, and further buffed by 10 points. So basically, an attribute is capped at 150 but progression goes to 100.

Right now you can’t mix boosters. We played around with the idea of mixing them but we found out that it breaks other parts of the system and we're not ready to handle that right now. In any event, even without mixing the boosters the possible number of playstyle combinations is still very large.

The current implementation is final for several reasons: Selecting a booster that’s not your natural booster gives you a big advantage in one area but at the same time you get penalties in others, for the system to have some meaning. To illustrate: if a warrior selects the stamina booster on one hand he gives up wearing the top armor and use of the top two handed weapons. However, he gains attack speed and survives longer in the field of battle.

The thing is that the 3 vital stats add up to a certain value, which is constant no matter the role - or the booster. Every class uses the transfer spells to manage this constant pool. Choosing a booster is a matter of your preferred play style.

5. Will more mid-high tier mobs be added at/before Launch?

Our main priority is to stabilize, polish and balance the existing mobs.

There will be a lot of new mobs added to the game, especially mid and high tier, but it is uncertain right now if there will be time to get them in before launch.

6. What is the status of the dungeons atm?

There will be a total of 35 dungeons added to the game post launch and 29 of those are ready. The reason we haven’t added them to the game already has to do with the supporting mechanics that make a Darkfall Unholy Wars dungeon special. There is still some work to be done on monsters and monster spawns, special loot, chests, NPCs, exploration related features and others. We weren't happy with the dungeons in Darkfall Online, so we want to overcompensate in DFUW.

7. Will there be any changes in the new UI system in the form of Legacy options?

The bank and backpack system are being reevaluated and so is the chat window. Movable and resizable windows are not an option right now but that doesn't mean we’re not going to do something when time permits. Customization was left out because it interfered with overall GUI functionality and we're not ready to mess with this yet.

When it comes to activating skills, between the radial wheel, number presses, and hotkeys, we feel there's something there for everyone. As for the use of Auto Hotkey, it was done in Darkfall Online as well, to emulate Shift +5 and then 3 for example. Now it may be used to do Q and then 3. There is less need for it as the current implementation is simpler but there will be people that use this no matter how it's implemented.

Implementing a quickslot bar won’t be happening soon, but we are looking into ways to show individual skill/spell cool down counters without having to bring up the radial wheels.

The overlapping of windows is not finalized and there will be improvements on that front.

Smudging and aesthetic elements of the GUI that have received negative feedback are also something we intend to look into and improve on. This also applies to health bars but making them undockable is not an option at the moment. For the crosshair in particular we’ll probably end up offering a few different ones and let players choose the one they like best.

As for quick keys, we’re considering changes in that direction.

8. It doesn't seem like higher attributes are currently affecting damage. Is this working as intended?

It does affect damage and it does so significantly, more so than other things. This is especially true for basic skills. For the school skills the damage is mostly affected by the boosted part of the attribute and less by the attribute itself.

9. Did player lag (load lag) make it into UW. Could that be a lot of the stuttering complained about?

No. Multicore support has eradicated most if not all instances of the load lag phenomenon. We are waiting for debug mode to be removed to confirm this.

10. How does AV expect the new map (which is only 2/3 the size of the original) to support the launch population when Df1 couldn't even house all the players during the original EU launch?

The issue with the original Darkfall launch was that there was an incredibly high number of players entering the game at the same time, in the same areas on a single server. We had not anticipated the demand, the servers weren't optimized, and there was 11 of us trying to fix everything going wrong at the same time. If you recall, after lessons learned, just 4 months later the North American server launch was uneventful, while there was a high volume of players.

Fast forward to today: we've been through a couple of launches, we have at least 2 optimized server clusters, servers and components have been upgraded recently and are of much higher specifications, players are distributed to starting areas depending on population density and DFUW provides motives for people to move out of the starting areas as soon as possible. On that final front there are still a few things we want to implement that we have not discussed before.

Furthermore, in the event that demand exceeds our calculations, we're ready to deploy more servers very quickly.

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You might notice that we're very willing to take your feedback and act on it. This is due to the quality of the feedback which is nothing short of impressive. Thank you for this, and please keep it coming.