DevChat Transcript – Nov 20th 2009

Thursday was the 5th Developer Chat, with a focus on The “Nemesis” Confrontation Lair due in November, and was in Q&A format with several of the Cryptic team members including Bill Roper (“Chronomancer”, Executive Producer), Randy Mosiondz (“Arkayne”, Lead Designer), Cormac Russell (“Antiproton”, Rewards System Designer), Chris Matz (“Ame”, Systems Designer) and David Bass (“Daeke”, Community Rep).

We’ve edited the chat down to the actual questions and answers in a easy to read format , but for a full transcript of this and all previous developer chats check out the archive on ShadowDrakken’s site.

10/22/09 DevChat Transcript

10/8/09 DevChat Transcript

9/24/09 DevChat Transcript

9/10/09 DecChat Transcript

[16:14] <~COQuestionBot> <Mighty_Pencil> I know we just got the spiffy new lair, but is anything else stuffed into the pipeline for the future? I don't want to see the nemesis system end here.

[16:14] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> Yes, we've got a new vendor with lvl 40 nemesis power replaces going in right now, it will be out sometime in December most likely. In addition, we know Nemesis content is one of the players'

[16:15] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> favorite features, and we will be continuing to support and expand it as such.

[16:16] <+Chronomancer> We'd love to expand on the Nemesis system to give players even more reasons to make numerous enemies and go through diffferent mission chains. There has been an initial foray into designing a specific Savage track, for example, to take better advanatge of the different motivations of your Nemesis.

[16:16] <+Chronomancer> The Nemesis missions are some of the most complex in the game, but we think the payoff for players is big. So while these will take some time for us to do, we would like to keep this in the plans.

[16:16] <+Chronomancer> Additionally, since we now have the ability to spawn multiple Nemesis on maps, we can start doing a lot more interesting things with Nemesis in other areas of the world. Oh the wicked ideas we have... mwahahaha!

Click Here to Read the Rest of the Chat!

[16:16] <~Cryptic_Daeke> <UPrime> Will we see more missions like the unity for lower levels that do scale? Maybe ones that can be grabbed from the Crime Computer akin to Paper missions in CoX. As part of that, will the current sharing be enhanced so it happens automatically to all members on the team no matter where they are for primary missions?

[16:17] <+Chronomancer> We do have designs for a system that will allow for scaling of shared content, but this requires new technology to implement. The crossover missions we introduced was a first step in getting players of disperate levels and places in missions chains to play together, and there's a lot more that is in progress right now.

[16:17] <+Chronomancer> Basically, we're working on more ways to allow groups of players to experience content together through a variety of new systems and we'll roll thenm out as quickly as we can.

[16:18] <~COQuestionBot> <ThaneDyvian> Will the balance lessons learned in the Nemesis Confrontation be used to do rebalancing passes on Andrith Ruins, the Mandragalore, and any new lairs to come?

[16:19] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> Yes, any lairs, old and new, that we do further work on, will definitely take it into account.

[16:19] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> The powers team has been playing a lot of Andirith ruins internally and we definitely are taking a hard look at it both from a balance point of view, and a utility of our powers point of view.

[16:19] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> The content designer on Nemesis Confrontation is actively working on balance in response to player feedback this week and we will continue to take player feedback into account in the future.

[16:20] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> We are working really hard to try and make sure the play experience continues to improve in all of the content.

[16:20] <~COQuestionBot> <dbb> My question is when are you going to have real tanks or tanking powers. Tanking in this game doesn't seem to exist or at least is under powered

[16:21] <+Cryptic_Ame> We have multiple tools currently in the game to allow tanking. Using the Crippling Challenge advantage along with Challenging Strikes for AoE threat are big helps in controlling aggro in Champions.

[16:21] <+Cryptic_Ame> The reason we went the route of advantages instead of lots of individual powers for aggro control is because Champions has a very open power system, and restricting certain powersets to being "the" tanking set is not something we want to do.

[16:21] <+Cryptic_Ame> Adding tanking powers to every framework is theoretically possible, but is handled without the need for unique tanking powers through the advantages.

[16:21] <+Cryptic_Ame> As for threat being increased in Protector Role - currently, being in Protector Role does increase your threat based on your Presence.

[16:22] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> The powers team plays as a group, Balseraph has been doing a lot of tanking for us, and is proving quite effective at it with a variety of builds.

[16:22] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> He's definitely paid attention to making sure the tools to tank are there and effective, we've put a lot of work into it recently to try and address the issues people had been having with it.

[16:23] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> I'm going to chalk my continued survival as a healer to his success at tanking with the tools currently provided.

[16:23] <~Cryptic_Daeke> <Mr. Funsocks> Why is all the customization of the nemesis boiled into 10 seconds of gameplay where he and a few henchmen minions flop over dead while we fight the REAL battle with the MV guards?

[16:23] <+Cryptic_Arkayne> We've gotten some good feedback from the forums. We're adjusted the difficulty of the individual Nemesis encounters to be more challenging.

[16:24] <~Cryptic_Daeke> <Spiritbrand> Why did you choose to have the costume rewards also available for purchase through the C Store?

[16:24] <~Cryptic_Daeke> This was actually a typo on our website when the page first went live. The Nemesis Confrontation costume rewards will not be available for purchase through the C Store.

[16:25] <~Cryptic_Daeke> <Clariondelaffalot> Does this Lair mean you are going to focus the future new design on group-only content? Is that your intention that future new lairs allways require 5 heroes or do you plan to keem them possible (or scaling) with smaler groups?

[16:27] <+Chronomancer> Lairs, by design, are built with a group of 5 hereos in mind. We have talked about coming up with a system that would allow players to choose how many people to take into an instance and properly scale for those, but again, this is technology bound and we only have so many programmers with plates full of things to do.

[16:27] <+Chronomancer> We're cranking away as fast as we can while then taking time to get it properly through test. We're purposefully slowing our pace a bit to get things out to you in a more solid and stable state.

[16:27] <~Cryptic_Daeke> Arkayne had to leave to continue working on Nemesis Confrontation. He say bye!

[16:27] <~Cryptic_Daeke> Er...he says bye, that is.

[16:28] <~Cryptic_Daeke> <Blakerefuge> Will we ever see lairs that are tailored for groups of 10, or even 25, or will 5-man lairs remain the standard?

[16:29] <+Chronomancer> Up until now we've handled large-group encopunters like this in the open world with Cosmic enemies. We're not ruling out the possibility of doing villain lairs bigger than 5 people, but if we did so we'd like to support it with supporting raid-style multi-team UI support. That's something we don't have in development yet.

[16:30] <~COQuestionBot> <ThaneDyvian> Here's a question: When will Need for Greed, Master Looter, and the like work? With only one item per boss in lairs and nothing but Round Robin working, it's really frustrating.

[16:30] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> The programmer responsible for looting systems has done an extensive rewrite of all of that, and it is in our test process right now, it just is large and significant and thus needs lots of testing.

[16:30] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> ... and he's out on paternity leave. We figure once his new baby gets up to speed they'll be at least twice as productive so it should go fast then.

[16:31] <~COQuestionBot> <Azerius> whats the avrage timeframe it takes for a powerset to go from conception to implmentation, and how often do you expect to add new, and expand on existing powersets int he future?

[16:31] <+Cryptic_Ame> I don't know that I can give a totally accurate time frame for creation, but it is in the realm of several months at this point.

[16:32] <+Cryptic_Ame> We added the Celestial set recently, and we had been working on the design of that framework since before initial release. A fair amount of system designer time went into implementing Celestial leading right up until it's release.

[16:32] <+Cryptic_Ame> While we have many more ideas for frameworks we would like to add, our current focus is on the frameworks currently in game. Adding additional powers, while we just did add one for the Archery framework, is also fairly time consuming -

[16:32] <+Cryptic_Ame> making sure they are balanced and interesting, and add something to the framework takes time from the Systems Design team. Then powers need art and animation work, and approval meetings, and testing, and... yeah, they take some time.

[16:32] <~Cryptic_Daeke> <Simale> Will we ever get the option to edit our Nemesis' info or costume? They too have a life and follow the fashion trends.

[16:33] <+Chronomancer> We definitley want to do this. It's a matter of us getting the UI time to create a Nemesis-specific tailor. We got a little time earlier and intorduced the ability to hue-shift your Nemesis' powers. We're with you in terms of being able to tune and tweak their look, so hang with us!

[16:33] <+Cryptic_Ame> That's all the time I have right now, gotta get back to Sorcery!

[16:34] <~COQuestionBot> <Lojo> Will we see more Gm/Dev run events in the future? I'd love another crack at Daeke and company.

[16:35] <~Cryptic_Daeke> I'm always up for bringing back the Cryptonauts to destroy everyone.

[16:35] <~Cryptic_Daeke> But we definitely want to start organizing more Developer-run events. PvP tournaments, costume contests, and maybe even some live events.

[16:36] <~Cryptic_Daeke> So...to actually answer the questions...yes. You will see more events in the future.

[16:36] <~Cryptic_Daeke> <philwill> Are there plans to enhance the Nemesis experience with Voice-acting that is present with foes like Foxbat?

[16:38] <+Chronomancer> We specifically chose not to put voices on the Nemesis since *you* created them and probably have a specific way they sound in your head. If we tried to assign a voice to your creation, the chances are it won't be right.

[16:39] <+Chronomancer> In the lair, we gave Shadow Destroyer his voice, but we just thought players wouldn't want us to *assign* a voice to their creations.

[16:41] <+Chronomancer> And in current Nemesis missions, they make sounds, but don't have text or lines. It's the implied SIms approach which is about as far as we wanted to take it.

[16:41] <~COQuestionBot> <dbb> will there ever be an addition to the game where the hero or the nemesis will have a strength or weakness like Kryptonite?

[16:41] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> Weaknesses in a computer game basically end up being min/max tools, players take the ones that have the fewest drawbacks for themselves or are most exploitable on their foes.

[16:42] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> With a human GM they can focus on creating balanced experiences were weaknesses are interesting and thematic, but in a computer game, getting to the Fire based Cosmic Villain and getting owned because you chose being weak to fire isn't fun, it is frustrating.

[16:42] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> It also provides even large power ranges to have to balance for which increases the design work substantially for very little benefit to players in improved or varied play experience.

[16:43] <~Cryptic_Daeke> <Sunblaze> Will there be any branching content like a new city and more starting crisis zones down the road?

[16:43] <+Chronomancer> Yes, we do plan to have alternate content tracks in the future, we'll be announcing more of them as we complete more work on them and we get closer to their release dates.

[16:44] <~COQuestionBot> <Rourke01> Are there any plans to make running the 5 man dugeons more rewarding? Set loot items like the hotsleep fists for example?

[16:44] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> The 5 man dungeons already have blue quality rewards on every boss, and I'm in the midst of doing the grunt work to let us finally put in our improved power curve for blues and purples that will increase their relative stats.

[16:44] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> That should make them last longer compared to mission rewards and thus be more worth spending the time getting them from Lairs.

[16:44] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> Combine that with the fixes to Need/Greed that are coming up so that you don't have the rewards being given to a random player with nobody else on the team knowing and the whole experience should feel more rewarding.

[16:45] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> Set powers are on the list of things that we want to get in, they just have lots of parts (UI to display them, tech to make them work the way we want, editor support so we can add them to items, etc.)

[16:46] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> Likewise general conditional powers like things that gate off of crafting skill or whatnot.

[16:47] <~COQuestionBot> <Moshpet> Will the new lairs take five man teams rather than breaking them up to fill pugs?

[16:48] <+Chronomancer> If you queue for Nemesis Confrontation as a team, you should remain a team. Make sure you're using the Team Queue interface. If this is not working that way, then it's a bug that we'll look at immediately In fact, as soon as the chat is over, I'll go over to QA and see what's happening.

[16:48] <~COQuestionBot> <Theik> If you ask Bill what the weather is like outside, he'll answer in some sort of riddle that could mean anything.

[16:49] <+Chronomancer> The weather outside is... frightful. But the chat is so delightful. And since we've no place to go, ask some mo, ask some mo, ask some mo!

[16:50] <~COQuestionBot> <Mighty_Pencil> Will there be a horrendously rare Foxbat with a christmas hat on for the December event?

[16:51] <+Chronomancer> Well, the holiday season is a time for giving, so you can bet we're working on some presents for our industrious and world-saving heroes. But it would spoil the surprise if I told you what they were now.

[16:51] <~Cryptic_Daeke> <Dardove> Well, tellm Chronomancer it is bugged. Every 5 man group that goes in with team queue losses one member to another random instance and gets another person in their place.

[16:52] <+Chronomancer> If it's been bugged, then they're most likely working on the fix as we speak.

[16:52] <+Chronomancer> I'll still look into it when we're done here/

[16:52] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> the mysterious they!

[16:53] <~COQuestionBot> <Silgidorn> Will there be more "strategic" fights like the boss in the submarine part of the lemurian crisis?

[16:54] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> We are working on making the boss fights (and Open Mission battles, and whatnot) as interesting as we can, yes. We want players to have to do reactive things, think and move,

[18:54] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> etc. Facerolling is boring.

[16:54] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> We like coming up with interesting schticks that players need to react to, new twists for them to figure out.

[16:55] <~COQuestionBot> <ThaneDyvian> In the future, will balance changes to powers be delayed until consummate balance changes to lairs can be implemented too? I know as a healer, losing TK Shield's sheath was massive when trying to heal Andrith's last boss in phase 3.

[16:56] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> TK Shield was massively overpowered due to several bugs with it, the Lair wasn't balanced around it in the first place.

[16:57] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> Overall, yes, depending on what the scope of a change is, we may tweak other things in response, but in general we've been moving everything above or below our target performance towards the numbers things were balanced around.

[16:57] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> So, expect us to keep working on balance, and to see changes in the game in various ways in reaction to it.

[16:57] <+Cryptic_Antiproton> MMOs are living entities and are constantly in change.