Serverside Patch on Wednesday 7 January (1.3.0)

[sx4rlet]

although i love to see a patch, (and awesome work making the game harder not easier, its been a long tie since we`ve seen a patch like this), I hate that they have bypassed the 2 major bugs, we havnt ever asked for major heavy updates that included hundreds of things, we just want these 2 things fixed, the team map bug (yes we know its hard to fix, it has appeared and dissapeared for the last two years+, but please attempt to fix it), and north compass bug.

Then and only then we can worry about a cart that is in the wrong place.

To me, it looks like this patch was enabling or disabling some things that are on the server. [material.kitinlarvae.desertstock=1] etc. Ok, most likely I make it sound much more easier then it was, but I got the impression it was a small test to check the result.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate they did it, so hopefully in the future they can do [halloweenevent.2006=1] or [kitin.invasion.dyron=1]. I agree that the two bugs mentioned would be great if those would be fixes. But especially the team-map bug keeps getting back, so I think that one is a hard one to kill, and might have side-effects if it isnt done right.
(We've seen our share of bad-patches in the past, I think. Lost guild-name anybody?)

Personally I could live with the map-bug (rather not tho) if we got to see some more smal patches fixing stuff and maybe - just maybe - some small new stuff too...

[jared96]

Organised patrols gave some credence to the idea that the Kitin are a significant enemy.

Agree with you there. But the sentiment I got from some of those wishing to get them back was that it would "keep the riff raff" out of PR.

If they come back, I'd like to see it fit in with what you said. If they are indeed an enemy on patrol, and they do run across that teamed digger, wouldn't they respond with suspicion that there might be more tasty morsels about ?

My thinking is that they would, and after doing so, would change their pattern .... getting off the known "choo choo track" that they follow (and the digger's buddy has learned to avoid) and fan out searching in all directions for any other "hominy bits" ..... borrowing a line from an old Woody Allen movie that goes something like :

"Gotta watch out for those things, they always travel in pairs"

10 Dapper to the peep that can name the movie.

[katriell]

I love that idea, Jared. It probably can't be implemented any time soon, though, so I'd settle for having the basic KP back to begin with.

[jared96]

But it's a bit cheap countering every suggestion to make anything easier with a "might as well remove all challenge then". Fact is different players like different levels of challenge, differents kinds of challenge too. And a lot of players obviously did find the kitin patrols a fun challenge. That enough reason for you to put them back even if it doesn't add anything for you personally?

Wasn't aware I had countered every suggestion....and wasn't suggesting making things easier, quite the opposite. What I object to is game mechanics that is "pushed" because it gives a specific advantage to one subset of people.

I have heard several players complain that because it's easier for solo players to dig PR w/o kitin patrols, having more PR diggers means "they have more trouble getting sups". A team of two with one person sitting at the TP in "safe mode" while his teamate digs supremes 38m away is at no real risk from a KP. I'm not against challenges; what I object to the real motivation behind the request being paraded as a "challenge". Not saying all players favoring KP have this as their motivation but a number of players have made their reasons quite clear.

If you truly want a challenge, let the patrols behave as a patrol actually would behave and not following a set in stone, non-wavering, don't get off the choo choo track pattern.

Once a patrol discovered an "enemy" wouldn't it react in some way or just go about it's business ? Wouldn't it sound an alarm ? Wouldn't it consider calling in reinforcements ? Wouldn't it change it's search pattern thinking "Hey if there's one homin here, there must be others about, let's check it out ?" For example, let the patrols have a 25m aggro range but once a homin is dicovered, pop it up to 100m and have them fan out after the 1st kill. That's a challenge.

[rdfall]

like the named mobs, they have no pattern it seems, they just run about.

could do that with a KP and limit their aggro to say... 125 meters

[iceaxe68]

A note to those who don't understand why some fixes are in the patch and others aren't:

As has been mentioned already, since this patch was to the server code, it could only fix bugs that were entirely within that code. Client bugs or bugs involving anything other than server code will have to be fixed with another patch.

Further, when you prepare a patch, you put in it the fixes that have been completed and tested, regardless of whether they were the top priority or not. I'm sure removing the errant cart was a simple fix, so it got done and tested sooner than other problems of a larger, more complex nature. Those fixes are in the works, I have no doubt, but I wouldn't want them to delay deploying a completed fix simply because something else was a bigger problem. It's done, put it in there!

Now I'll go back to fixing my own bugs.... *grumble grumble*

[blaah]

like the named mobs, they have no pattern it seems, they just run about.

named mobs wander between 2 spawn points. you dont want kitin patrol to do that.

also, if patrol aggro range is huge, then it's not possible to avoid it. if players really do want 'death squads', then kitins already have scouts out in the region, so those patrols could just spawn, gank the digger and despawn. easy, simple and.. umm.. challenging.

[suib0m]

named mobs wander between 2 spawn points. you dont want kitin patrol to do that.

also, if patrol aggro range is huge, then it's not possible to avoid it. if players really do want 'death squads', then kitins already have scouts out in the region, so those patrols could just spawn, gank the digger and despawn. easy, simple and.. umm.. challenging.

I don't think they were talking about a permanently extended aggro range, and it's not the diggers that are the concern, it's their camping rez'ers.

That is, digger and camping partner are foraging mats.. KP comes by and kills the digger, then moves along their beaten path. The rez'er heals the downed digger and they continue with the forage.. no big threat from the KP that way.

However, if the KP halted where the digger was downed and scurried about the area with a temp extended aggro range, searching for any other homins or potential backup, then they become much more of a menacing threat and more difficult to circumvent. After a given amount of time, the KP would consider the homin presence neutralized and continue on their patrol.

At least, that was my take on the conversation (and sounds good to me).

Peace,
- Sui

[kay22626]

Sure, there were probably some people who saw kitin patrols as mere inconvenience, but those people may as well play a game where there's no aggro at all and there's a menu through which they can request immediate, free delivery of whatever item or resource they want.

Mentalities like this made many a mmo extinct.
Its always "those" people (meaning the ones that dont think and feel like us) that can just ummm....go away. Unfortunately they take their subs with them and you are left with another closed game.
A great mmo (and a great community) is one that fits and accomodates as many players as possible. A game and a community able to cope with the inherent diversity of an mmo's player base.
Sure its nice to have a game and a community where everybody is more or less on the same "wavelength", but is such a community enough to keep the game alive? We have proven that we ( we, as in the existing community) are not enough to keep the game alive, proven it twice even.
In order to get new players, concessions and compromises have to be made. Ryzom community is great, but it comes across as quite hard a*s, very tough against new players that dont behave according to the Ryzom etiquette, and i might be wrong but i think that might be a factor in the current state of the game.

[gralen]

Sure its nice to have a game and a community where everybody is more or less on the same "wavelength", but is such a community enough to keep the game alive? We have proven that we ( we, as in the existing community) are not enough to keep the game alive, proven it twice even.

This is a very unfortunate but very true statement. Here's a question to ask ourselves: Who was the last person that you introduced to Ryzom? Yes, yes, it's the "company's job" to do the marketing but if we want the game to survive, if we think it's so great, shouldn't we be telling others about it and getting them in-game?