Give the Foundry more power please

existinguser7002 · August 2013

Hello I was just wondering why Cryptic Limits foundry to pointless little quests which offer nothing other than a filler for the otherwise dull and boring endgame. Not even going to get into how boring GG and all the bugs, think we got that covered elsewhere in the forums.
If Cryptic just allowed the foundry to make more content the game would be infinitely better; for starters some Foundry quests are already better than anything Cryptic has managed to come up with. So here's my Ideas bare with me for a minute.

Step 1 : Run a contest to form a dedicated Foundry team (AD, Unique augment companion or whatever. then pay 'em' for their efforts with delicious AD)

Step 2: Get the Team to build Faction Houses (So GG has some actual application) maybe points awarded to the faction house(zone) can expand it, add in vendors, reduce price for certain items (potions kits etc.) which would reduce the need to buy gold from those ******* bot sites. maybe throw in a dummy training room which actually helps test skills properly (red square that damages you, Dummy to show your team buffs which shows its own stats etc)

Step 3: Add one or two Foundry DDs to the Queue List and change it monthly, DD is all we have and we don't want to wait months for '1' new dungeon... been running the same dungeons we already did levelling from 1-60 over and over again...
Also Put Epic Enchants in the chest so there's no reason to buy enchants off bots (on AH) or AD from their sites just to buy their **** enchants in the first place...If theirs one upside to bots its that they make enchanting gear a little more accessible than Cryptic/PWE would otherwise have it be. - I mean Bots make all their AD($$) from farming enchantments anyway.

- I'm not a foundry creator nor a developer (obviously) but surely implementing community based content such as this wouldn't be impossible(I mean valve gets along with their community well enough)
this is just what I think would be a good solution to the current problems plaguing the game.

Would like to hear what everyone else has to say regarding the Foundry.

bracer2 · August 2013

Getting dangerously close to D&D ideology.... even the slightest, slightest bit of player power is a no no with this mmo.

This will never happen.:(

That being said the foundry is the games only chance at having lasting value. Expanding foundry options even by the smallest bit is a big step in the right direction.

bluedarky · August 2013

They are looking at adding more options to the foundry, bosses and the creation of 5 man maps are definately being considered for the future, however they do need to be careful with how they proceed with it as they want to avoid making it easy to exploit the missions.

karitr · August 2013

Pointless little quests!! :mad:

...some Foundry quests are already better than anything Cryptic has managed to come up with

That's more like it

I like the idea of teams working together to create greater content, but there are many pitfalls when doing something like that outside of a professional environment. One person may find they are doing most of the work, people fall out, lose interest etc. But it's great to see authors collaborating on side projects - maybe they have a project on the back burner already.

azithoth · August 2013

karitr wrote: »

I like the idea of teams working together to create greater content, but there are many pitfalls when doing something like that outside of a professional environment. One person may find they are doing most of the work, people fall out, lose interest etc. But it's great to see authors collaborating on side projects - maybe they have a project on the back burner already.

i've not logged into the game in about six weeks but i remember about two, or so, months ago there was a thread or two about working on quests in teams. the idea since a quest couldn't have more than one person log onto it that they would make a seperate acct and pass the password to the 'team' so they could all join in. not sure whatever happened to it or who was in the mix of it

karitr · August 2013

Yeah, I remember that too. In fact there were two or three threads that seemed to pop up almost simultaneously, as if people had been bouncing the idea around.

And it makes sense. Most people have strengths that lie in particular areas, whether it be story-telling, map-building or creating cinematic level effects but, as in every area of life, very few people master everything.

davenachtkindfx · August 2013

bluedarky wrote: »

They are looking at adding more options to the foundry, bosses and the creation of 5 man maps are definately being considered for the future, however they do need to be careful with how they proceed with it as they want to avoid making it easy to exploit the missions.

What about Author Levels, higher level = more power?

Right now it's very limited, but with a level system is it possible to lift it a bit.

azithoth · August 2013

karitr wrote: »

Yeah, I remember that too. In fact there were two or three threads that seemed to pop up almost simultaneously, as if people had been bouncing the idea around.

And it makes sense. Most people have strengths that lie in particular areas, whether it be story-telling, map-building or creating cinematic level effects but, as in every area of life, very few people master everything.

yep, was like a few of the quest making guilds or a few from one, or a mix, figured it would work out. and it would have been a grand working, but it seemed to last about a week.

as you say the mix of specialties would have made the quests epic. lotta work from each on the storyline and the overall details, but the end result could have been fantastic.

existinguser7002 · August 2013

karitr wrote: »

Pointless little quests!! :mad:

That's more like it

I like the idea of teams working together to create greater content, but there are many pitfalls when doing something like that outside of a professional environment. One person may find they are doing most of the work, people fall out, lose interest etc. But it's great to see authors collaborating on side projects - maybe they have a project on the back burner already.

Yea I guess there could be a lot of bickering amongst a team of foundry designers, idk I just think as is the Foundry isn't offering any amazing content or any reward other than an enjoyable play thru. as it stands it doesn't really have anything to offer the average player, the only time I ever really play them is when I'm levelling a new char or companion, so it feels wasted.
I just don't think Cryptic are taking full advantage of the Foundry system or their player base in general. - as for exploits, players will always find new exploits for legit dungeons anyway and to be honest I don't know if I could be bothered running a full 1-2 hr dungeon over and over again.

I know how many bugs cryptic has to fix specially after this recent update, but I feel like they've completely neglected the foundry, half of the good quests are bugged. I just Hope something really is in the pipeline for the foundry. I reckon its an untapped goldmine in terms of content, all the great games I've played in the past (mainly FPS unfortunately) were mainly due to community modding (COD1/2 - CS - MineCraft - Skyrim - Fallout). I know implementing submitted mods (foundry content w/e) for a persistent world is probably a major hassle and a bug infestation waiting to happen but I think the first MMORPG to even touch upon it will have a much more enthusiastic player base.

apocrs1980 · August 2013

existinguser7002 wrote: »

I just don't think Cryptic are taking full advantage of the Foundry system or their player base in general. - as for exploits, players will always find new exploits for legit dungeons anyway and to be honest I don't know if I could be bothered running a full 1-2 hr dungeon over and over again.

I know how many bugs cryptic has to fix specially after this recent update, but I feel like they've completely neglected the foundry, half of the good quests are bugged. I just Hope something really is in the pipeline for the foundry. I reckon its an untapped goldmine in terms of content, all the great games I've played in the past (mainly FPS unfortunately) were mainly due to community modding (COD1/2 - CS - MineCraft - Skyrim - Fallout). I know implementing submitted mods (foundry content w/e) for a persistent world is probably a major hassle and a bug infestation waiting to happen but I think the first MMORPG to even touch upon it will have a much more enthusiastic player base.

And here you go,

fusedamass wrote:

I'm just curious, if you made a new PVP map, everyone could enjoy it for as long as the game is active. If you create a Zen store companion, only a limited few could enjoy it, lets be honest as soon as two months passes they will forget about it.

Is it harder to make a new PVP map, then a zen store companion. Is it more time consuming.. I'm sincerely asking, just looking at the rate their pumping out zen store companions, possibly could we get a new PVP map?

Ruffiana wrote:

Sure. Those that participate in PvP would like new PvP content. But, for a F2P game, the zen store is kind of how we pay our bills and continue to develop new content for everyone.

The people who make companions are almost entirely not the people who make new zones. That said, the people who make new PvP zones are almost entirely the same people who make things like the summer event map, The various Sharandar/FoF maps, etc.

Some companions are quicker and 'easier' than others. Humanoids, for instance, is generally a new set of powers, 4 new costumes, a handful of new animations, some glittery FX, some sounds and bingo boingo...we've got a companion. But the "easy" ones still represent weeks worth of work from multiple people/departments. Likewise with variations on critters. Worg/Wolf/Dog, Boar/Pig, etc. Completely new critters (e.g., the Lillend) that have very different skeletons require extra time for rigging, character art, whole suite of animations including movement, hit reactions, deaths, etc...so we like to alternate between humanoid companions and new non-humanoid mounts/companions

Again, none of this cuts into zones. It's whole different pods (small sub-teams) who are working on zone content. Whole different pod work on critters for zones. Whole different pod work on player classes. Whole different department works on everything software-related, and that's even broken down into systems, combat, graphics/VFX, animation/audio, network, backend, etc.

That make sense?

They are busy creating in game content and zen shop items.

ambisinisterr · September 2013

apocrs1980 wrote: »

And here you go,

They are busy creating in game content and zen shop items.

That is not what she said.

The portions you bolded are quite clear that there are people who make different content. The people in charge of making Zen Store companions not only aren't making Foundry Content but more or less couldn't. While there are people like Crypticmapolis that are artists that work heavilly with the Foundry and Content Creators that is because he is an "environmental artist." His main focus is making the environment artwork, not the character models.
Correct me if I am wrong Mapolis!

However, if you read Ruffiana's post she does a great job pointing out how cookie-cutter-ish the companions are. Little bit of this and that put together and presto! They could add hundreds of them within weeks if they wanted to truly focus on it.

However that's because the skeletons, animations and some of the artwork is already done.

The difference is mechanics. The artwork, animations and such are done for Dragons. They could give you all dragons tonight if they wanted to.
The problem is the mechanics are not ready. The tools for authors to make dragons do what dragons should do are not there. They'd be completely uninspiring since the foundry group questing and boss mechanics haven't been created yet.

So, no, you won't get dragons tonight. And it's not because they couldn't give them to you. It's because the mechanics and tools haven't been created yet...
And the people who make those mechanics and tools are not the people who make Zen Shop items. Heck it's probably not even the people who design new maps or content.

koboldbard2 · September 2013

"Whole different pod work on player classes."

How many people are in this pod?

raphaeldisanto · September 2013

I knew it. There are pod people working on our game.

jfinderdev · September 2013

ambisinisterr wrote: »

The difference is mechanics. The artwork, animations and such are done for Dragons. They could give you all dragons tonight if they wanted to.
The problem is the mechanics are not ready. The tools for authors to make dragons do what dragons should do are not there. They'd be completely uninspiring since the foundry group questing and boss mechanics haven't been created yet.

This guy is smart.

Give the Foundry more power please

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