Thanks so much for your patience and putting in all the effort in what is our first CDP! (Many more to come). Things have been really busy of late and we hope in future we will be able work with you on the CDPs more efficiently (Logistics and CDP schedule). On top of this we will have more direct communication about CDP outcomes, actions and discussion in streams.
I was going to frame things as a proposal but I think we are all mature enough for me to actually communicate what we are planning to work on (or are actively working on) with the caveat that all features and content are subject to change. If there is ever a big course correct we will let you know. I hope that sounds ok.
I would say about 50+ % of the team has read the CDP and about 90% have skimmed through it locking on areas that are closest to them. The team is already aware of the areas listed below and in most cases we are about to start work (brainstorming, planning) on the areas or already have (unless stated otherwise). The CDP discussion will help inform the work moving forward and no doubt we will be reaching out for further info, questions and/or thoughts regarding certain topics. We will do this on streams, through mini CDP topics, in some cases calls, emails and of course re-reading and discussing specific posts from this CDP. And we will keep everyone up to date on the progress in these areas both through communication and the preview server.
Therefore we intend to be working in the following areas this year although some of the features, systems and content will be released in phases. To this end we will be publishing a high level road map in the coming weeks!
- Streamlining of the 1-80 experience in which we will tackle campaigns, rewards, progression, player education (Core systems, damage, healing, item power, etc), tool tips, discover ability, player purpose, goals, time to get the best experiences of the game etc. This is a huge undertaking and one we are very excited about. We intend to deliver this in phases throughout the year but closer to the end of the year. - Tiered content such as trials with easy and normal versions of trials for example and dungeons. - Inclusivity whereby lower level players will be able to take part in events, strongholds, dungeons as well as other types of content that we will discuss at a later date. - We will be making existing content more relevant to players across the board with some rewiring of rewards,activity's and progression. - We will be working on evolving scaling so it is more relevant, meaningful and less constraining for all players. - Better accessibility for players with disabilities and researching how we may be able to work with https://ablegamers.org/ in this regard. - Refinement of early game communication systems allowing more freedom for new and existing players to play together and communicate. - Story telling and narrative arcs will be a core component of the whole experience including content delivery moving forward (Not mass effect (-: ) - Guild quality of life and profession/systems evolution (This is something we are discussing. We will update with more info later. We are still in the process of prioritization and therefore I am not sure how much work we can do on this at the moment). - PVP discussions and potentially a separate CDP thread spinning up in tandem with other CDPs concurrently.
This is a lot of work. As I said much of it will be phased based and released bit by bit both for development reasons and so we can more meaningful shape the game together moving forward. We are right in the middle of discussing how we achieve the areas along with how we develop and deliver content moving forward. We can talk in more details about this on next weeks stream (21st Jan) and moving forward.
Again we want to thank you for all of your hard work, your contribution, your passion and for following the guidelines of the CDP to make it is meaningful, effective and meaningful as it can be. This is the beginning of our journey together as we evolve Neverwinter and the whole of the team wants to thank you for taking this journey with us.
We will leave the thread open for 24 hours should anyone have anymore comments or feedback regarding the above.
Chris
P.S: Our next topic is Progression and Rewards.
24
kreatyveMember, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 10,545Community Moderator
I think this entire list is extremely ambitious, but I still have a lot of faith in the team. If everything on this list gets accomplished over the next year or so, I really think it will help turn things around. Things have been seeming a bit dismal lately, in terms of player activity.
My opinions are my own. I do not work for PWE or Cryptic. - Forum Rules - Protector's Enclave Discord - I play on Xbox Any of my comments not posted in orange are based on my own personal opinion and not official. Any messages written in orange are official moderation messages. Signature images are now fixed!
5
lordaeolosMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 167Arc User
This looks like a great start, and I look forward to more transparency and working hand in hand to make an even better game.
But I do have a request: Seeing that "Progression and Rewards" is the Next CDP topic and is something of a spin of: "- We will be making existing content more relevant to players across the board with some rewiring of rewards,activity's and progression." Can we please get some better info prior to or at the start of that CDP with the current loots tables/ the number of total loot tables managed by the team, this would help inform prior to starting that topic and allow the community to stay a bit more focused.
"Don't ever become a pessimist... a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events."
This looks like a great start, and I look forward to more transparency and working hand in hand to make an even better game.
But I do have a request: Seeing that "Progression and Rewards" is the Next CDP topic and is something of a spin of: "- We will be making existing content more relevant to players across the board with some rewiring of rewards,activity's and progression." Can we please get some better info prior to or at the start of that CDP with the current loots tables/ the number of total loot tables managed by the team, this would help inform prior to starting that topic and allow the community to stay a bit more focused.
Let me check on that and get back to you. But yes probably.
Thanks Lordaeolos,
Chris
2
micky1p00Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 3,594Arc User
edited January 2020
A general question:
How it is planned to go from here?
I mean that there are a lot of topic even in the summery, and their implementation, and scope can vary differently. Will there be a discussion per topic? A drafted ideas posted before the start spec is closed?
IMO a lot of the development teams ideas, goal and targets were/are understood, and the more significant disagreement or disappointment was usually in the details of the implementation (due to deadlines, limited resources or whatever reason). There are many ways to solve each problem, and the results can differ greatly, some will be loved, others will be a disapointment.
To add to the things above, with limited resources will we get a "vote" of the scope and at what price some things will be. Seems that there is a lot there on the list, and many things can be refined more and more but it will come at the cost of other things, perhaps the community will agree to compromise on one way of implementing something over another if it has huge difference in Dev time commitment and will allow some more better implementation of another item on the list.
TL;DR: Do we get to see/say/feedback on the ideas of how the issues above are done before they are finalized and implementation begins? If so how it is going to work?
5
darthpotaterMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,261Arc User
edited January 2020
If you manage to get half of this done you will be my hero :P
- Streamlining of the 1-80 experience in which we will tackle campaigns, rewards, progression, player education (Core systems, damage, healing, item power, etc), tool tips, discover ability, player purpose, goals, time to get the best experiences of the game etc. This is a huge undertaking and one we are very excited about. We intend to deliver this in phases throughout the year but closer to the end of the year.
NW to newbies is like entering a buffet restaurant and realizing food are hidden in drawers, behind the counter, in the cupboards, under the table etc. and customers will have to ask everytime where everything is located.
The easiest way to tackle the 1-80 first to make Campaign Page central and accessible via hotkey. Campaign page should popup upon login and allow player to easily toggle it on and of.
With regards to the 70-80 campaigns: - Thought ought to have ratings 1-star to 5 stars - Difficulty rating: how hard it is to finish the campaign. - Duration rating: how long will it take to finish.
Rewards should also be highlighted so player should know how the campaign will benefit them. But here's the problem with that:
Campaigns used be evergreen(!!). Each Module campaign used to have a value that continue to be retained. It didnt' happen by accident but by their own design. example:
Dread Ring - Farming upgrade materials (still doable). Sharandar - Farming CP ( CP removed from the game ). Well of Dragons - Farming RP ( I haven't done Dragon Runs in along time but I think they are still intact; This is why DR is ALWAYS popular. We used to organize runs and people still use that format to this day I believe.). Underdark - Farming best rings ( obsoleted ) Maze Engine - Farming Rare trasmutes ( still available ).
But around mod 11 or 12, they basically announced they are doing away with this 'evergreen' system since it's too cumbersome to maintain. Hence the current conundrum of planned campaign obsolence. They realized their capital mistake around mod 16 thereby introducing the Legacy Campaigns to give old campaigns back their old value and lustre.
Perhaps the solution is to do away with the terrible Legacy Campaigns make the old currencies useful in a Grand Campaign reward screen with task rewards.
Example: By grouping or making themes of related mods.
Mod x currency + Mod y currency + Mod z currency + Grand Campaign task 1 = Reward A Mod u currency + Mod w currency + Mod v currency + Grand Campaign task 2 = Reward B Mod s currency + Mod t currency + New Module currency + Grand Campaign task 5 = Reward F
This way old mods are valuable again. Developers at their own behest can easily customize not just the Grand Campaign task module groupings but also the rewards associated with it. That way, developers can tailor Grand Campaign tasks depending on popularity/popularity of the campaigns.
I mean that there are a lot of topic even in the summery, and their implementation, and scope can vary differently. Will there be a discussion per topic? A drafted ideas posted before the start spec is closed?
IMO a lot of the development teams ideas, goal and targets were/are understood, and the more significant disagreement or disappointment was usually in the details of the implementation (due to deadlines, limited resources or whatever reason). There are many ways to solve each problem, and the results can differ greatly, some will be loved, others will be a disapointment.
To add to the things above, with limited resources will we get a "vote" of the scope and at what price some things will be. Seems that there is a lot there on the list, and many things can be refined more and more but it will come at the cost of other things, perhaps the community will agree to compromise on one way of implementing something over another if it has huge difference in Dev time commitment and will allow some more better implementation of another item on the list.
TL;DR: Do we get to see/say/feedback on the ideas of how the issues above are done before they are finalized and implementation begins? If so how it is going to work?
Hi Micky,
I cover that in the post:
The CDP discussion will help inform the work moving forward and no doubt we will be reaching out for further info, questions and/or thoughts regarding certain topics. We will do this on streams, through mini CDP topics, in some cases calls, emails and of course re-reading and discussing specific posts from this CDP. And we will keep everyone up to date on the progress in these areas both through communication and the preview server.
thefabricantMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 5,248Arc User
When each goal is closer to implementation, is there any possibility to have a rehash discussion of how you intend to implement it. It is all well and good to go to all that effort to change something, but when the "implementation" is already on preview, its too late for any major changes and some of the core issues could be brought up during the design/concept phase.
Any easy example I can give is with tiers of content (1 of the points mentioned above). There are many ways to implement different tiers of content.
Inflate/Deflate numbers for the easy/hard version.
Add/remove mechanics in order to raise/lower the difficulty.
some other method.
I can tell you right now, I have an intense disliking for inflating/deflating of numbers, it feels exceptionally artificial. I don't mind the adding or removing of mechanics, but then people will complain they are not adequately prepared. The point I am making here is, "how" things are implemented is more important than having them implemented. A bad implementation in some cases will do more harm to the game than leaving it as is.
I have a few concerns with how all of this will be implemented.
My main concern is communication from the development team. It is great that you (Cryptic) are taking steps to be more open and engaging with the community. My concern is that everyone there is not yet on the same page. In the last live stream Michael Lynch said something that got my attention about the IMO #1 Topic of the CDP. He said that you did not have the staff to make different versions of dungeons. Link to Stream
So do you or don't you have the staff and resources needed to implement the goals of the CDP? We need a united front from your end. IF you say X is going to happen then that is what we need to hear from everyone in your team. I am not criticizing anyone in your team but we have been through this before.
My second concern is about what @micky1p00 discussed here:
IMO a lot of the development teams ideas, goal and targets were/are understood, and the more significant disagreement or disappointment was usually in the details of the implementation (due to deadlines, limited resources or whatever reason). There are many ways to solve each problem, and the results can differ greatly, some will be loved, others will be a disapointment.
To add to the things above, with limited resources will we get a "vote" of the scope and at what price some things will be. Seems that there is a lot there on the list, and many things can be refined more and more but it will come at the cost of other things, perhaps the community will agree to compromise on one way of implementing something over another if it has huge difference in Dev time commitment and will allow some more better implementation of another item on the list.
I can tell you right now, I have an intense disliking for inflating/deflating of numbers, it feels exceptionally artificial. I don't mind the adding or removing of mechanics, but then people will complain they are not adequately prepared. The point I am making here is, "how" things are implemented is more important than having them implemented. A bad implementation in some cases will do more harm to the game than leaving it as is.
Like I said, many of us have been through this before. That is the reason for these concerns. I hope you can see where we are coming from. We realize that you have a small team and that these are HUGE changes that will require seemingly more resources than you have. I think that is what Janne is talking about. We understand that there will have to be trade offs, we would just like to try and insure that when those trade offs are made that we have some input. I refer you to MOD 16.
Thanks for your efforts Chris. I am looking forward to starting a new character to help test and to experience the journey from level 1-80 once the changes have been made. I have faith that you will deliver the best product that you can given the constraints you and your team are under. Please continue to be open and honest about this process with us. Like you said I think we are all mature enough to tackle these topics. In the end I think we will get an acceptable result through discussion and compromise.
what @micky1p00@thefabricant@oremonger#9999 said. personally I'm ok with less content over all if I know something bigger is on the way and the events are redone a little in a way to give replayability (worthwhile rewards) and more often,
the hell pit could have been a better event if it had another reward table that let you replay with more than one toon for some stuff thru a chest at the end. I understand why the main rewards are on one toon only (although it would have been nice to be able to earn the leg on many alts) but gating it to one time a day one toon makes it a non event.
Great start of something that really can make a difference.
As a side note, I wish there was some serious dicussion about current bugs, often years old, that are not fixed; new bugs that are reported over and over and yet still exist OR rather the way these bugs/our reports are handled. I mean look at the bugs subforum, there are many things repeating. Not exactly a separate CDP for this topic, no need but at least... much better attitude towards our reports.
Hi raven
We are actively working on release quality and clearing development debt right now. This will take some time but you should see improvements soon.
I have a few concerns with how all of this will be implemented.
My main concern is communication from the development team. It is great that you (Cryptic) are taking steps to be more open and engaging with the community. My concern is that everyone there is not yet on the same page. In the last live stream Michael Lynch said something that got my attention about the IMO #1 Topic of the CDP. He said that you did not have the staff to make different versions of dungeons. Link to Stream
So do you or don't you have the staff and resources needed to implement the goals of the CDP? We need a united front from your end. IF you say X is going to happen then that is what we need to hear from everyone in your team. I am not criticizing anyone in your team but we have been through this before.
My second concern is about what @micky1p00 discussed here:
IMO a lot of the development teams ideas, goal and targets were/are understood, and the more significant disagreement or disappointment was usually in the details of the implementation (due to deadlines, limited resources or whatever reason). There are many ways to solve each problem, and the results can differ greatly, some will be loved, others will be a disapointment.
To add to the things above, with limited resources will we get a "vote" of the scope and at what price some things will be. Seems that there is a lot there on the list, and many things can be refined more and more but it will come at the cost of other things, perhaps the community will agree to compromise on one way of implementing something over another if it has huge difference in Dev time commitment and will allow some more better implementation of another item on the list.
I can tell you right now, I have an intense disliking for inflating/deflating of numbers, it feels exceptionally artificial. I don't mind the adding or removing of mechanics, but then people will complain they are not adequately prepared. The point I am making here is, "how" things are implemented is more important than having them implemented. A bad implementation in some cases will do more harm to the game than leaving it as is.
Like I said, many of us have been through this before. That is the reason for these concerns. I hope you can see where we are coming from. We realize that you have a small team and that these are HUGE changes that will require seemingly more resources than you have. I think that is what Janne is talking about. We understand that there will have to be trade offs, we would just like to try and insure that when those trade offs are made that we have some input. I refer you to MOD 16.
Thanks for your efforts Chris. I am looking forward to starting a new character to help test and to experience the journey from level 1-80 once the changes have been made. I have faith that you will deliver the best product that you can given the constraints you and your team are under. Please continue to be open and honest about this process with us. Like you said I think we are all mature enough to tackle these topics. In the end I think we will get an acceptable result through discussion and compromise.
Hi Oremonger,
Well I can say that Michael is incorrect (or there was an issue with context etc. I watched the stream with you guys and didn't notice this. Sadly i dont have time to rewatch it at the moment). We are working hard as you know to be transparent and collaborate. Transparency can lead to inconsistent messaging because we are actively working in real time, making decisions, evolving, improving our team and best working practices and so on. Often a unified voice from a dev team can simply be marketing speak and/or last of actual transparency. This year it is going to be hard to have perfect communication and transparency. I will talk more about this in the stream.
So to be clear we are actively working on Tiered Content now for example.
Do we have the bandwidth to do everything on the list above. As i mentioned some items will be completed this year and other will have Phase 1 be this year. We literally just met today to discuss logistics around he we are going to evolve the manner in which we develop and evolve the experience today.
In a couple of weeks we will publish the backlog (note everything is subject to change, the intent is there, but there are no guarantees in the logistics of game development).
As discussed we will be working with you all during execution to, but not everyone is going to like what you like or what we think is best and so the focus is collaboration. We are committed to better release quality and that is all about execution and we intend as discussed to share that journey with you.
Small team is completely relative. There are a lot of assumptions going around about our team size and numbers etc and many of them are incorrect. Development isnt just about the size of the team, it is about the efficiency, best working practices, tech, deployment strategy and much more. There are many ways to skin a cat (-:
Sorry for my response being curt but i am in between meetings but wanted to answer you as best i can at the moment.
I have a few concerns with how all of this will be implemented.
My main concern is communication from the development team. It is great that you (Cryptic) are taking steps to be more open and engaging with the community. My concern is that everyone there is not yet on the same page. In the last live stream Michael Lynch said something that got my attention about the IMO #1 Topic of the CDP. He said that you did not have the staff to make different versions of dungeons. Link to Stream
So do you or don't you have the staff and resources needed to implement the goals of the CDP? We need a united front from your end. IF you say X is going to happen then that is what we need to hear from everyone in your team. I am not criticizing anyone in your team but we have been through this before.
My second concern is about what @micky1p00 discussed here:
IMO a lot of the development teams ideas, goal and targets were/are understood, and the more significant disagreement or disappointment was usually in the details of the implementation (due to deadlines, limited resources or whatever reason). There are many ways to solve each problem, and the results can differ greatly, some will be loved, others will be a disapointment.
To add to the things above, with limited resources will we get a "vote" of the scope and at what price some things will be. Seems that there is a lot there on the list, and many things can be refined more and more but it will come at the cost of other things, perhaps the community will agree to compromise on one way of implementing something over another if it has huge difference in Dev time commitment and will allow some more better implementation of another item on the list.
I can tell you right now, I have an intense disliking for inflating/deflating of numbers, it feels exceptionally artificial. I don't mind the adding or removing of mechanics, but then people will complain they are not adequately prepared. The point I am making here is, "how" things are implemented is more important than having them implemented. A bad implementation in some cases will do more harm to the game than leaving it as is.
Like I said, many of us have been through this before. That is the reason for these concerns. I hope you can see where we are coming from. We realize that you have a small team and that these are HUGE changes that will require seemingly more resources than you have. I think that is what Janne is talking about. We understand that there will have to be trade offs, we would just like to try and insure that when those trade offs are made that we have some input. I refer you to MOD 16.
Thanks for your efforts Chris. I am looking forward to starting a new character to help test and to experience the journey from level 1-80 once the changes have been made. I have faith that you will deliver the best product that you can given the constraints you and your team are under. Please continue to be open and honest about this process with us. Like you said I think we are all mature enough to tackle these topics. In the end I think we will get an acceptable result through discussion and compromise.
Hi Oremonger,
Well I can say that Michael is incorrect (or there was an issue with context etc. I watched the stream with you guys and didn't notice this. Sadly i dont have time to rewatch it at the moment). We are working hard as you know to be transparent and collaborate. Transparency can lead to inconsistent messaging because we are actively working in real time, making decisions, evolving, improving our team and best working practices and so on. Often a unified voice from a dev team can simply be marketing speak and/or last of actual transparency. This year it is going to be hard to have perfect communication and transparency. I will talk more about this in the stream.
So to be clear we are actively working on Tiered Content now for example.
Do we have the bandwidth to do everything on the list above. As i mentioned some items will be completed this year and other will have Phase 1 be this year. We literally just met today to discuss logistics around he we are going to evolve the manner in which we develop and evolve the experience today.
In a couple of weeks we will publish the backlog (note everything is subject to change, the intent is there, but there are no guarantees in the logistics of game development).
As discussed we will be working with you all during execution to, but not everyone is going to like what you like or what we think is best and so the focus is collaboration. We are committed to better release quality and that is all about execution and we intend as discussed to share that journey with you.
Small team is completely relative. There are a lot of assumptions going around about our team size and numbers etc and many of them are incorrect. Development isnt just about the size of the team, it is about the efficiency, best working practices, tech, deployment strategy and much more. There are many ways to skin a cat (-:
Sorry for my response being curt but i am in between meetings but wanted to answer you as best i can at the moment.
Thanks
Chris
please don't skin any cats.
in the ama it also didn't seem like that conversation was necessarily on the same page as this at all times. it was sometimes but other times I got the distinct feeling that it was two different things we were hearing.
- Better accessibility for players with disabilities and researching how we may be able to work with https://ablegamers.org/ in this regard.
Chris
P.S: Our next topic is Progression and Rewards.
Chris,
You might also reach out the Christopher Reeve Foundation. They recently awarded a grant to Assistive Technology for Kansans (ATK https://atk.ku.edu/about-us ) to provide gaming consoles to people with disabilities in Kansas. There is a real interest in how gaming improves the sociability, rehabilitation, vocational, and quality of life outcomes for people with disabilities.
The Self Advocate Coalition of Kansas (SACK), a consumer run advocacy organization led by people with developmental disabilities has a yearly conference, and are planning on an accessible gaming preconference event. SACK has partnered with Cryptic in the past to use CoH materials/images as part of a conference theme. I'm sure they would be willing to partner with you again to help make gaming more accessible to people with disabilities.
Please feel free to reach out to me privately for more info.
What about slottable equipment bonuses? We could break down weapons like in skyrim and move the equipment bonus to a new weapon. This could also revitalize the salvaging mechanic with ability points or maybe cubes of augmentation etc. For example pay ad to break down heels of fury and migrate the %3 damage bonus to another newer pair of boots with higher base stats. You could tie this in with armor kits too and make a way to transfer and sell equipment bonuses.
I have a few concerns with how all of this will be implemented.
My main concern is communication from the development team. It is great that you (Cryptic) are taking steps to be more open and engaging with the community. My concern is that everyone there is not yet on the same page. In the last live stream Michael Lynch said something that got my attention about the IMO #1 Topic of the CDP. He said that you did not have the staff to make different versions of dungeons. Link to Stream
So do you or don't you have the staff and resources needed to implement the goals of the CDP? We need a united front from your end. IF you say X is going to happen then that is what we need to hear from everyone in your team. I am not criticizing anyone in your team but we have been through this before.
My second concern is about what @micky1p00 discussed here:
IMO a lot of the development teams ideas, goal and targets were/are understood, and the more significant disagreement or disappointment was usually in the details of the implementation (due to deadlines, limited resources or whatever reason). There are many ways to solve each problem, and the results can differ greatly, some will be loved, others will be a disapointment.
To add to the things above, with limited resources will we get a "vote" of the scope and at what price some things will be. Seems that there is a lot there on the list, and many things can be refined more and more but it will come at the cost of other things, perhaps the community will agree to compromise on one way of implementing something over another if it has huge difference in Dev time commitment and will allow some more better implementation of another item on the list.
I can tell you right now, I have an intense disliking for inflating/deflating of numbers, it feels exceptionally artificial. I don't mind the adding or removing of mechanics, but then people will complain they are not adequately prepared. The point I am making here is, "how" things are implemented is more important than having them implemented. A bad implementation in some cases will do more harm to the game than leaving it as is.
Like I said, many of us have been through this before. That is the reason for these concerns. I hope you can see where we are coming from. We realize that you have a small team and that these are HUGE changes that will require seemingly more resources than you have. I think that is what Janne is talking about. We understand that there will have to be trade offs, we would just like to try and insure that when those trade offs are made that we have some input. I refer you to MOD 16.
Thanks for your efforts Chris. I am looking forward to starting a new character to help test and to experience the journey from level 1-80 once the changes have been made. I have faith that you will deliver the best product that you can given the constraints you and your team are under. Please continue to be open and honest about this process with us. Like you said I think we are all mature enough to tackle these topics. In the end I think we will get an acceptable result through discussion and compromise.
Hi Oremonger,
Well I can say that Michael is incorrect (or there was an issue with context etc. I watched the stream with you guys and didn't notice this. Sadly i dont have time to rewatch it at the moment). We are working hard as you know to be transparent and collaborate. Transparency can lead to inconsistent messaging because we are actively working in real time, making decisions, evolving, improving our team and best working practices and so on. Often a unified voice from a dev team can simply be marketing speak and/or last of actual transparency. This year it is going to be hard to have perfect communication and transparency. I will talk more about this in the stream.
So to be clear we are actively working on Tiered Content now for example.
Do we have the bandwidth to do everything on the list above. As i mentioned some items will be completed this year and other will have Phase 1 be this year. We literally just met today to discuss logistics around he we are going to evolve the manner in which we develop and evolve the experience today.
In a couple of weeks we will publish the backlog (note everything is subject to change, the intent is there, but there are no guarantees in the logistics of game development).
As discussed we will be working with you all during execution to, but not everyone is going to like what you like or what we think is best and so the focus is collaboration. We are committed to better release quality and that is all about execution and we intend as discussed to share that journey with you.
Small team is completely relative. There are a lot of assumptions going around about our team size and numbers etc and many of them are incorrect. Development isnt just about the size of the team, it is about the efficiency, best working practices, tech, deployment strategy and much more. There are many ways to skin a cat (-:
Sorry for my response being curt but i am in between meetings but wanted to answer you as best i can at the moment.
Thanks
Chris
please don't skin any cats.
In the ama it also didn't seem like that conversation was necessarily on the same page as this at all times. it was sometimes but other times I got the distinct feeling that it was two different things we were hearing.
Hi Fireside,
Disclaimer: no cats were skinned in my previous post or plan to be in development of the game moving forward.
This will be better to explain in the stream but we are actively collaborating (Dev Team and CDP) in real time and therefore like with any creative endeavor ideation and methodology around execution are currently in flux. I had the meeting with the leads literally this morning to discuss our strategy, tactics and execution moving forward. We haven't even got to the discussion around execution stage in some of the areas where we have discussed execution in the CDP. Also the AMA and AMAs in general are only as good as the questions that are asked and lack context and focus. On top of this the team hasn't been in a situation before where they have been told it is ok to be transparent and this is a difficult transition for them.
Finally with transparency comes a window into the development process. Just like the CDP we set goals, discuss, share opinion, refine and then plan and execute followed by iteration. This is the journey everyone will have if we want to collaborate effectively (This said we will all become better at this as we work together moving forward). Otherwise there can always be well worded cohesive communication where it appears that everyone on the dev team has absolutely unified direction but that isn't something I want and I don't think the CDP and Community wants that either?
Loved the list and don't take away the legacy campaigns, great way to make keys for dungeons etc.
Sorry I have left it late jumping on here and having my say (real life surgery will do that). One of my biggest issues which does cross over into some accessibility territory is internet connection. Being in a island off another big island called Australia, we typically are always 1-2 seconds behind the game play, last to load in to dungeons etc. The effect of this is bad for game play when you create content like Tomm that is spamming constant attacks. This is one of the biggest reason as a veteran casual player since the start of this game, I and a few other guildies have not bothered to go there. Being those crucial seconds behind makes a big difference when attacks are constant or attempting to kill mimics in Lomm, running from the ice in FBI. Add that we are also awake during the quiet times which as also limited out access to end content. Doing 30 training runs is not my ideal of fun either for one dungeon when there could have been a normal version to learn it with.
Thanks for taking the time to listen to all of us, just not the streamers and those that constantly hit the forums.
What is specifically meant by "progression" and "rewards"?
Both have a broad enough definition that can be interpreted wildly and "narrowing" the topics specifically might help keep things on focus.
For example, does "progression" refer to character building? Story progression? What items should be paced where? How to gate enemy stats versus stats/items naturally acquired through the course of leveling/campaign? How fast we go through campaigns? How to give lost/overwhelmed players a nudge of "go do this if you have no clue what to do next"? Etc.
Same thing for "rewards", what specifically about rewards would you want us to give feedback on?
The random chances of drops? The actual drops/items in the loot roll? The AD rewarded upon completing a dungeon/skirmish/trial/etc? The obsolescence of 98% of items in the game? The design of the risk and reward of items? Etc.
In terms of accessibility, one of the things that helped bring together all players of different progress levels was buffs/debuffs provided by support classes and dps classes prior to mod 16. In the past a support character could help buff allies, who otherwise would not have been able to get through content. Also the debuffs on enemies helped allies survive, where otherwise they may have died. By removing buffs and debuffs it has made it tougher, if not impossible, for support characters to help players with less progress get through content. It used to be possible to even build a dps class with a support build. These support builds on dps classes allowed lower progress players to be able to contribute to a groups success. Not having support feats and builds on dps classes makes it tougher for newer players to get into groups to run content that will help them further progress and build their character up to a place where they can build towards being a pure dps.
- Refinement of early game communication systems allowing more freedom for new and existing players to play together and communicate.
Concerning this objective, I would like to share how the Dark Age of Camelot MMO implemented a solution to address this problem after it had been out for several years. It was a pretty simple really... All new players were automatically added to a "starter" guild as soon as they entered the game so they could ask other players basic questions like "how do I do this or that?".
With Neverwinter's guild player limit, this might not be a feasible option but all new players could be added to their own new Chat Channel to accomplish the same goal.
How yu plan to implement your playerbase. Atm playing ppl is not high as be4 barovia. Yu have some idea? Mostly endgamer just figure as active because they just run in few minutes for daily vip? This is 1 of most important think yu hv to solve i think. On playstation4 idk population but i can see is very low on europe time.
Thanks so much for your patience and putting in all the effort in what is our first CDP! (Many more to come). Things have been really busy of late and we hope in future we will be able work with you on the CDPs more efficiently (Logistics and CDP schedule). On top of this we will have more direct communication about CDP outcomes, actions and discussion in streams.
I was going to frame things as a proposal but I think we are all mature enough for me to actually communicate what we are planning to work on (or are actively working on) with the caveat that all features and content are subject to change. If there is ever a big course correct we will let you know. I hope that sounds ok.
I would say about 50+ % of the team has read the CDP and about 90% have skimmed through it locking on areas that are closest to them. The team is already aware of the areas listed below and in most cases we are about to start work (brainstorming, planning) on the areas or already have (unless stated otherwise). The CDP discussion will help inform the work moving forward and no doubt we will be reaching out for further info, questions and/or thoughts regarding certain topics. We will do this on streams, through mini CDP topics, in some cases calls, emails and of course re-reading and discussing specific posts from this CDP. And we will keep everyone up to date on the progress in these areas both through communication and the preview server.
Therefore we intend to be working in the following areas this year although some of the features, systems and content will be released in phases. To this end we will be publishing a high level road map in the coming weeks!
- Streamlining of the 1-80 experience in which we will tackle campaigns, rewards, progression, player education (Core systems, damage, healing, item power, etc), tool tips, discover ability, player purpose, goals, time to get the best experiences of the game etc. This is a huge undertaking and one we are very excited about. We intend to deliver this in phases throughout the year but closer to the end of the year. - Tiered content such as trials with easy and normal versions of trials for example and dungeons. - Inclusivity whereby lower level players will be able to take part in events, strongholds, dungeons as well as other types of content that we will discuss at a later date. - We will be making existing content more relevant to players across the board with some rewiring of rewards,activity's and progression. - We will be working on evolving scaling so it is more relevant, meaningful and less constraining for all players. - Better accessibility for players with disabilities and researching how we may be able to work with https://ablegamers.org/ in this regard. - Refinement of early game communication systems allowing more freedom for new and existing players to play together and communicate. - Story telling and narrative arcs will be a core component of the whole experience including content delivery moving forward (Not mass effect (-: ) - Guild quality of life and profession/systems evolution (This is something we are discussing. We will update with more info later. We are still in the process of prioritization and therefore I am not sure how much work we can do on this at the moment). - PVP discussions and potentially a separate CDP thread spinning up in tandem with other CDPs concurrently.
This is a lot of work. As I said much of it will be phased based and released bit by bit both for development reasons and so we can more meaningful shape the game together moving forward. We are right in the middle of discussing how we achieve the areas along with how we develop and deliver content moving forward. We can talk in more details about this on next weeks stream (21st Jan) and moving forward.
Again we want to thank you for all of your hard work, your contribution, your passion and for following the guidelines of the CDP to make it is meaningful, effective and meaningful as it can be. This is the beginning of our journey together as we evolve Neverwinter and the whole of the team wants to thank you for taking this journey with us.
We will leave the thread open for 24 hours should anyone have anymore comments or feedback regarding the above.
Chris
P.S: Our next topic is Progression and Rewards.
Wow.
That's a lot of stuff from one CDP.
Speaking as someone whose spent the latter part of my working life running Kaizen/6 Sigma -esque BIT courses, that is going to be an awful lot of "identifying of the specific elements" that all those subjects will cover.
After some small confusion over the subject of "accessibility" with the last CDP, can I request that the lead for the next one is as clear and narrow as possible in telling us what the discussion will focus on.
You might have noticed that sticking to the subject at hand is not this community's best quality. And just to state the obvious, don't assume everyone has the same understanding of a given term used in the business... plus we have a contingent of forum users whose first language isn't English. So the more concise you can be, the more concise our feedback will be.
Be assured, we will meander... but the broader the topic and canvas we are offered, the broader our meandering will be.
Joking aside, very curious, and nervous, by what you mean about streamlining the 1-80. The recent butchering of early story elements (mod 15 I think?) was not great. I've always really loved the leveling zones design, do what you want, skip what you don't, lots of story and the zones take 1-2 hours to run through.
To double down on what has been stated above, I'll be very impressed if you get through even a phase one of half this list, given how much the content release frequency and quality has dropped like a stone since Mod 14. Though as one of my favorite tongue in cheek in game titles states, "Hope Over Experience"
Disclaimer: no cats were skinned in my previous post or plan to be in development of the game moving forward.
Awww. You could had at least let some of us remain hopeful that you would.
I wanted to ask, is something as simple and easy to implement as a poll [To gauge how significant changes affect players.] out of the cards?
I say because I am certain that you have your own metrics, but I have asked more than twenty long-term cleric players and the universal response has been that playing cleric to them has simply stopped being fun with recent changes, as they feel that group content barely asks anything of them now.
And while I am certain that twenty long term players are just a drop in the bucket of the entire server, I wonder if in all this talk of transparency and making a healthier meta and team composition, streamlining content and relevancy, there can still be room to something as simple as asking players if the changes once put in place are making the game more, or less fun for them.
Also on this,
- Guild quality of life and profession/systems evolution (This is something we are discussing. We will update with more info later. We are still in the process of prioritization and therefore I am not sure how much work we can do on this at the moment).
By the Throne, make decorations make more of a difference! Make them affect event combat in any way, give whatever little an edge (Added weapon platforms?), or at least make the areas that you decorate areas where you actually do something more than stand around. NPC hubs in the inner hall, extend the area that can be decorated to the entire stronghold, anything!
The stars are falling, and the old gods silent as death, with the blood sworn to rip you down from the night sky, what cost will pose too high?
@cwhitesidedev#9752 May I suggest something? This will maybe get you out of the development hell loop. I'm not sure how many developers work on one function, eg new mod - 4 people map/texture design, 2 people campaign + story, 4 people mechanics and 2 in QA - that's how we used to do it but we're fairly small, and we weren't very efficient.
Point is - systematization. If you can distribute work as much as possible, so only one person works on one thing, another person on another thing - basically the roots of a flowchart and work from ground up with one person handling one task, and no mixing as coding in these cases can be absolutely horrible.
I'm also not sure what engine are you using - and I know that home-grown builds can be great but they can oftentimes lack the sauce like what Lumberyard for instance has. We've had a lot of problems with how our models dropped performance, even though poly counts were fairly low, and we tried different specs and it turned out that overlapping textures were going in some processing loop which made us have to redo our models.
Also, if you're having troubles controlling random distributions and have unhappy players, look into pseudo random distribution. That way you should get roughly similar, somewhat controllable results.
I know it's basic for you at this point, but re-assessing everything from the ground up can help thoroughly. To me it seems that you lost focus during the m13-17 period, arguably maybe since M10/11 when FBI and MSVA were introduced. However Bryn Shander introduced a positive change which is challenging content on a huge map that involves lots of players. MMORPGs oughtta be like that.
Comments
Thanks so much for your patience and putting in all the effort in what is our first CDP! (Many more to come). Things have been really busy of late and we hope in future we will be able work with you on the CDPs more efficiently (Logistics and CDP schedule). On top of this we will have more direct communication about CDP outcomes, actions and discussion in streams.
I was going to frame things as a proposal but I think we are all mature enough for me to actually communicate what we are planning to work on (or are actively working on) with the caveat that all features and content are subject to change. If there is ever a big course correct we will let you know. I hope that sounds ok.
I would say about 50+ % of the team has read the CDP and about 90% have skimmed through it locking on areas that are closest to them. The team is already aware of the areas listed below and in most cases we are about to start work (brainstorming, planning) on the areas or already have (unless stated otherwise). The CDP discussion will help inform the work moving forward and no doubt we will be reaching out for further info, questions and/or thoughts regarding certain topics. We will do this on streams, through mini CDP topics, in some cases calls, emails and of course re-reading and discussing specific posts from this CDP. And we will keep everyone up to date on the progress in these areas both through communication and the preview server.
Therefore we intend to be working in the following areas this year although some of the features, systems and content will be released in phases. To this end we will be publishing a high level road map in the coming weeks!
- Streamlining of the 1-80 experience in which we will tackle campaigns, rewards, progression, player education (Core systems, damage, healing, item power, etc), tool tips, discover ability, player purpose, goals, time to get the best experiences of the game etc. This is a huge undertaking and one we are very excited about. We intend to deliver this in phases throughout the year but closer to the end of the year.
- Tiered content such as trials with easy and normal versions of trials for example and dungeons.
- Inclusivity whereby lower level players will be able to take part in events, strongholds, dungeons as well as other types of content that we will discuss at a later date.
- We will be making existing content more relevant to players across the board with some rewiring of rewards,activity's and progression.
- We will be working on evolving scaling so it is more relevant, meaningful and less constraining for all players.
- Better accessibility for players with disabilities and researching how we may be able to work with https://ablegamers.org/ in this regard.
- Refinement of early game communication systems allowing more freedom for new and existing players to play together and communicate.
- Story telling and narrative arcs will be a core component of the whole experience including content delivery moving forward (Not mass effect (-: )
- Guild quality of life and profession/systems evolution (This is something we are discussing. We will update with more info later. We are still in the process of prioritization and therefore I am not sure how much work we can do on this at the moment).
- PVP discussions and potentially a separate CDP thread spinning up in tandem with other CDPs concurrently.
This is a lot of work. As I said much of it will be phased based and released bit by bit both for development reasons and so we can more meaningful shape the game together moving forward. We are right in the middle of discussing how we achieve the areas along with how we develop and deliver content moving forward. We can talk in more details about this on next weeks stream (21st Jan) and moving forward.
Again we want to thank you for all of your hard work, your contribution, your passion and for following the guidelines of the CDP to make it is meaningful, effective and meaningful as it can be. This is the beginning of our journey together as we evolve Neverwinter and the whole of the team wants to thank you for taking this journey with us.
We will leave the thread open for 24 hours should anyone have anymore comments or feedback regarding the above.
Chris
P.S: Our next topic is Progression and Rewards.
Any of my comments not posted in orange are based on my own personal opinion and not official.
Any messages written in orange are official moderation messages. Signature images are now fixed!
But I do have a request:
Seeing that "Progression and Rewards" is the Next CDP topic and is something of a spin of: "- We will be making existing content more relevant to players across the board with some rewiring of rewards,activity's and progression."
Can we please get some better info prior to or at the start of that CDP with the current loots tables/ the number of total loot tables managed by the team, this would help inform prior to starting that topic and allow the community to stay a bit more focused.
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"Don't ever become a pessimist... a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events."
Thanks Lordaeolos,
Chris
How it is planned to go from here?
I mean that there are a lot of topic even in the summery, and their implementation, and scope can vary differently. Will there be a discussion per topic? A drafted ideas posted before the start spec is closed?
IMO a lot of the development teams ideas, goal and targets were/are understood, and the more significant disagreement or disappointment was usually in the details of the implementation (due to deadlines, limited resources or whatever reason). There are many ways to solve each problem, and the results can differ greatly, some will be loved, others will be a disapointment.
To add to the things above, with limited resources will we get a "vote" of the scope and at what price some things will be. Seems that there is a lot there on the list, and many things can be refined more and more but it will come at the cost of other things, perhaps the community will agree to compromise on one way of implementing something over another if it has huge difference in Dev time commitment and will allow some more better implementation of another item on the list.
TL;DR: Do we get to see/say/feedback on the ideas of how the issues above are done before they are finalized and implementation begins? If so how it is going to work?
Caturday Survivor
Elemental Evil Survivor
Undermontain Survivor
Mod20 Combat rework Survivor
Mod22 Refinement rework Survivor
The easiest way to tackle the 1-80 first to make Campaign Page central and accessible via hotkey. Campaign page should popup upon login and allow player to easily toggle it on and of.
With regards to the 70-80 campaigns:
- Thought ought to have ratings 1-star to 5 stars
- Difficulty rating: how hard it is to finish the campaign.
- Duration rating: how long will it take to finish.
Rewards should also be highlighted so player should know how the campaign will benefit them. But here's the problem with that:
Campaigns used be evergreen(!!). Each Module campaign used to have a value that continue to be retained. It didnt' happen by accident but by their own design. example:
Dread Ring - Farming upgrade materials (still doable).
Sharandar - Farming CP ( CP removed from the game ).
Well of Dragons - Farming RP ( I haven't done Dragon Runs in along time but I think they are still intact; This is why DR is ALWAYS popular. We used to organize runs and people still use that format to this day I believe.).
Underdark - Farming best rings ( obsoleted )
Maze Engine - Farming Rare trasmutes ( still available ).
But around mod 11 or 12, they basically announced they are doing away with this 'evergreen' system since it's too cumbersome to maintain. Hence the current conundrum of planned campaign obsolence. They realized their capital mistake around mod 16 thereby introducing the Legacy Campaigns to give old campaigns back their old value and lustre.
Perhaps the solution is to do away with the terrible Legacy Campaigns make the old currencies useful in a Grand Campaign reward screen with task rewards.
Example: By grouping or making themes of related mods.
Mod x currency + Mod y currency + Mod z currency + Grand Campaign task 1 = Reward A
Mod u currency + Mod w currency + Mod v currency + Grand Campaign task 2 = Reward B
Mod s currency + Mod t currency + New Module currency + Grand Campaign task 5 = Reward F
This way old mods are valuable again. Developers at their own behest can easily customize not just the Grand Campaign task module groupings but also the rewards associated with it. That way, developers can tailor Grand Campaign tasks depending on popularity/popularity of the campaigns.
I cover that in the post:
The CDP discussion will help inform the work moving forward and no doubt we will be reaching out for further info, questions and/or thoughts regarding certain topics. We will do this on streams, through mini CDP topics, in some cases calls, emails and of course re-reading and discussing specific posts from this CDP. And we will keep everyone up to date on the progress in these areas both through communication and the preview server.
We will engage and collaborate as much as we can.
Thanks
Chris
Chris
Any easy example I can give is with tiers of content (1 of the points mentioned above). There are many ways to implement different tiers of content.
- Inflate/Deflate numbers for the easy/hard version.
- Add/remove mechanics in order to raise/lower the difficulty.
- some other method.
I can tell you right now, I have an intense disliking for inflating/deflating of numbers, it feels exceptionally artificial. I don't mind the adding or removing of mechanics, but then people will complain they are not adequately prepared. The point I am making here is, "how" things are implemented is more important than having them implemented. A bad implementation in some cases will do more harm to the game than leaving it as is.My main concern is communication from the development team. It is great that you (Cryptic) are taking steps to be more open and engaging with the community. My concern is that everyone there is not yet on the same page. In the last live stream Michael Lynch said something that got my attention about the IMO #1 Topic of the CDP. He said that you did not have the staff to make different versions of dungeons. Link to Stream
So do you or don't you have the staff and resources needed to implement the goals of the CDP? We need a united front from your end. IF you say X is going to happen then that is what we need to hear from everyone in your team. I am not criticizing anyone in your team but we have been through this before.
My second concern is about what @micky1p00 discussed here:
To add to the things above, with limited resources will we get a "vote" of the scope and at what price some things will be. Seems that there is a lot there on the list, and many things can be refined more and more but it will come at the cost of other things, perhaps the community will agree to compromise on one way of implementing something over another if it has huge difference in Dev time commitment and will allow some more better implementation of another item on the list.
And what @thefabricant says here:
Like I said, many of us have been through this before. That is the reason for these concerns. I hope you can see where we are coming from. We realize that you have a small team and that these are HUGE changes that will require seemingly more resources than you have. I think that is what Janne is talking about. We understand that there will have to be trade offs, we would just like to try and insure that when those trade offs are made that we have some input. I refer you to MOD 16.
Thanks for your efforts Chris. I am looking forward to starting a new character to help test and to experience the journey from level 1-80 once the changes have been made. I have faith that you will deliver the best product that you can given the constraints you and your team are under. Please continue to be open and honest about this process with us. Like you said I think we are all mature enough to tackle these topics. In the end I think we will get an acceptable result through discussion and compromise.
the hell pit could have been a better event if it had another reward table that let you replay with more than one toon for some stuff thru a chest at the end. I understand why the main rewards are on one toon only (although it would have been nice to be able to earn the leg on many alts) but gating it to one time a day one toon makes it a non event.
We are actively working on release quality and clearing development debt right now. This will take some time but you should see improvements soon.
Chris
Well I can say that Michael is incorrect (or there was an issue with context etc. I watched the stream with you guys and didn't notice this. Sadly i dont have time to rewatch it at the moment). We are working hard as you know to be transparent and collaborate. Transparency can lead to inconsistent messaging because we are actively working in real time, making decisions, evolving, improving our team and best working practices and so on. Often a unified voice from a dev team can simply be marketing speak and/or last of actual transparency. This year it is going to be hard to have perfect communication and transparency. I will talk more about this in the stream.
So to be clear we are actively working on Tiered Content now for example.
Do we have the bandwidth to do everything on the list above. As i mentioned some items will be completed this year and other will have Phase 1 be this year. We literally just met today to discuss logistics around he we are going to evolve the manner in which we develop and evolve the experience today.
In a couple of weeks we will publish the backlog (note everything is subject to change, the intent is there, but there are no guarantees in the logistics of game development).
As discussed we will be working with you all during execution to, but not everyone is going to like what you like or what we think is best and so the focus is collaboration. We are committed to better release quality and that is all about execution and we intend as discussed to share that journey with you.
Small team is completely relative. There are a lot of assumptions going around about our team size and numbers etc and many of them are incorrect. Development isnt just about the size of the team, it is about the efficiency, best working practices, tech, deployment strategy and much more. There are many ways to skin a cat (-:
Sorry for my response being curt but i am in between meetings but wanted to answer you as best i can at the moment.
Thanks
Chris
in the ama it also didn't seem like that conversation was necessarily on the same page as this at all times. it was sometimes but other times I got the distinct feeling that it was two different things we were hearing.
You might also reach out the Christopher Reeve Foundation. They recently awarded a grant to Assistive Technology for Kansans (ATK https://atk.ku.edu/about-us ) to provide gaming consoles to people with disabilities in Kansas. There is a real interest in how gaming improves the sociability, rehabilitation, vocational, and quality of life outcomes for people with disabilities.
The Self Advocate Coalition of Kansas (SACK), a consumer run advocacy organization led by people with developmental disabilities has a yearly conference, and are planning on an accessible gaming preconference event. SACK has partnered with Cryptic in the past to use CoH materials/images as part of a conference theme. I'm sure they would be willing to partner with you again to help make gaming more accessible to people with disabilities.
Please feel free to reach out to me privately for more info.
Disclaimer: no cats were skinned in my previous post or plan to be in development of the game moving forward.
This will be better to explain in the stream but we are actively collaborating (Dev Team and CDP) in real time and therefore like with any creative endeavor ideation and methodology around execution are currently in flux. I had the meeting with the leads literally this morning to discuss our strategy, tactics and execution moving forward. We haven't even got to the discussion around execution stage in some of the areas where we have discussed execution in the CDP. Also the AMA and AMAs in general are only as good as the questions that are asked and lack context and focus. On top of this the team hasn't been in a situation before where they have been told it is ok to be transparent and this is a difficult transition for them.
Finally with transparency comes a window into the development process. Just like the CDP we set goals, discuss, share opinion, refine and then plan and execute followed by iteration. This is the journey everyone will have if we want to collaborate effectively (This said we will all become better at this as we work together moving forward). Otherwise there can always be well worded cohesive communication where it appears that everyone on the dev team has absolutely unified direction but that isn't something I want and I don't think the CDP and Community wants that either?
Again sorry if i am curt. Very busy.
Chris
Jade - Cleric - Healer Main - The Freak Core - Xbone
Magnus - Fighter - Tank for queues - The Freak Core - Xbone
Loverboy - Ranger - Alt - 9 3/4 Unbuffed - Xbone
Nomnomnommm - Wizard - Alt - Droppin Crits on Fools - Xbone
I Am The Wall - Paladin - Alt - Droppin Crits on Fools - Xbone
Xeros - Rogue - Alt - 9 3/4 Unbuffed - Xbone
RIP bad name - Warlock - Alt - 9 3/4 Unbuffed - Xbone
Bardholomew - Bard - Alt - 9 3/4 Unbuffed - Xbone
Sirona - Cleric - Alt - 9 3/4 Unbuffed - Xbone
Jade - DC - Shadows of Gauntlgrym - PC
Loved the list and don't take away the legacy campaigns, great way to make keys for dungeons etc.
Sorry I have left it late jumping on here and having my say (real life surgery will do that). One of my biggest issues which does cross over into some accessibility territory is internet connection. Being in a island off another big island called Australia, we typically are always 1-2 seconds behind the game play, last to load in to dungeons etc. The effect of this is bad for game play when you create content like Tomm that is spamming constant attacks. This is one of the biggest reason as a veteran casual player since the start of this game, I and a few other guildies have not bothered to go there. Being those crucial seconds behind makes a big difference when attacks are constant or attempting to kill mimics in Lomm, running from the ice in FBI. Add that we are also awake during the quiet times which as also limited out access to end content. Doing 30 training runs is not my ideal of fun either for one dungeon when there could have been a normal version to learn it with.
Thanks for taking the time to listen to all of us, just not the streamers and those that constantly hit the forums.
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Both have a broad enough definition that can be interpreted wildly and "narrowing" the topics specifically might help keep things on focus.
For example, does "progression" refer to character building?
Story progression?
What items should be paced where?
How to gate enemy stats versus stats/items naturally acquired through the course of leveling/campaign?
How fast we go through campaigns?
How to give lost/overwhelmed players a nudge of "go do this if you have no clue what to do next"?
Etc.
Same thing for "rewards", what specifically about rewards would you want us to give feedback on?
The random chances of drops?
The actual drops/items in the loot roll?
The AD rewarded upon completing a dungeon/skirmish/trial/etc?
The obsolescence of 98% of items in the game?
The design of the risk and reward of items?
Etc.
Concerning this objective, I would like to share how the Dark Age of Camelot MMO implemented a solution to address this problem after it had been out for several years. It was a pretty simple really... All new players were automatically added to a "starter" guild as soon as they entered the game so they could ask other players basic questions like "how do I do this or that?".
With Neverwinter's guild player limit, this might not be a feasible option but all new players could be added to their own new Chat Channel to accomplish the same goal.
That's a lot of stuff from one CDP.
Speaking as someone whose spent the latter part of my working life running Kaizen/6 Sigma -esque BIT courses, that is going to be an awful lot of "identifying of the specific elements" that all those subjects will cover.
After some small confusion over the subject of "accessibility" with the last CDP, can I request that the lead for the next one is as clear and narrow as possible in telling us what the discussion will focus on.
You might have noticed that sticking to the subject at hand is not this community's best quality.
And just to state the obvious, don't assume everyone has the same understanding of a given term used in the business... plus we have a contingent of forum users whose first language isn't English. So the more concise you can be, the more concise our feedback will be.
Be assured, we will meander... but the broader the topic and canvas we are offered, the broader our meandering will be.
Joking aside, very curious, and nervous, by what you mean about streamlining the 1-80. The recent butchering of early story elements (mod 15 I think?) was not great. I've always really loved the leveling zones design, do what you want, skip what you don't, lots of story and the zones take 1-2 hours to run through.
To double down on what has been stated above, I'll be very impressed if you get through even a phase one of half this list, given how much the content release frequency and quality has dropped like a stone since Mod 14. Though as one of my favorite tongue in cheek in game titles states, "Hope Over Experience"
I wanted to ask, is something as simple and easy to implement as a poll [To gauge how significant changes affect players.] out of the cards?
I say because I am certain that you have your own metrics, but I have asked more than twenty long-term cleric players and the universal response has been that playing cleric to them has simply stopped being fun with recent changes, as they feel that group content barely asks anything of them now.
And while I am certain that twenty long term players are just a drop in the bucket of the entire server, I wonder if in all this talk of transparency and making a healthier meta and team composition, streamlining content and relevancy, there can still be room to something as simple as asking players if the changes once put in place are making the game more, or less fun for them.
Also on this,
- Guild quality of life and profession/systems evolution (This is something we are discussing. We will update with more info later. We are still in the process of prioritization and therefore I am not sure how much work we can do on this at the moment).
By the Throne, make decorations make more of a difference! Make them affect event combat in any way, give whatever little an edge (Added weapon platforms?), or at least make the areas that you decorate areas where you actually do something more than stand around. NPC hubs in the inner hall, extend the area that can be decorated to the entire stronghold, anything!
May I suggest something? This will maybe get you out of the development hell loop.
I'm not sure how many developers work on one function, eg new mod - 4 people map/texture design, 2 people campaign + story, 4 people mechanics and 2 in QA - that's how we used to do it but we're fairly small, and we weren't very efficient.
Point is - systematization. If you can distribute work as much as possible, so only one person works on one thing, another person on another thing - basically the roots of a flowchart and work from ground up with one person handling one task, and no mixing as coding in these cases can be absolutely horrible.
I'm also not sure what engine are you using - and I know that home-grown builds can be great but they can oftentimes lack the sauce like what Lumberyard for instance has. We've had a lot of problems with how our models dropped performance, even though poly counts were fairly low, and we tried different specs and it turned out that overlapping textures were going in some processing loop which made us have to redo our models.
Also, if you're having troubles controlling random distributions and have unhappy players, look into pseudo random distribution. That way you should get roughly similar, somewhat controllable results.
I know it's basic for you at this point, but re-assessing everything from the ground up can help thoroughly. To me it seems that you lost focus during the m13-17 period, arguably maybe since M10/11 when FBI and MSVA were introduced.
However Bryn Shander introduced a positive change which is challenging content on a huge map that involves lots of players. MMORPGs oughtta be like that.
Toodles, and good night.
Dori.