=ED= Let's ask the staff thread (Full Version)

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Therril Oreb -> =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/26/2015 18:06:29)

Have questions you want asnwers to? Maybe you are uncertain what soap Titan uses to wash his bacon. Or what comb One Winged Angel uses to comb his One Wing?
Or maybe even a more serious question lingering in your mind. Whatever the case. You can ask your questions here and the staff will answer them for you.

Remember, the regular forum rules still apply and not every question can get an answer.
The staff is busy so The Guest staff will be the ones mostly answering but who knows. Maybe Charfade or Nightwraith decides to drop in as well :)
So have fun with it and always be respectful!



Cyber Dream -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/26/2015 19:27:29)


New volunteer teams
Is there a possibility that we will see a call for new volunteer teams soon? I may be wrong but ALOT of people have taken time away from ED. One section I want to address specifically is the balance/test team. I think that it would be nice and very helpful for the community/forums to form a volunteer balance team and a new test team concerning balance. I understand that some of us may not be qualified, but im pretty sure the more we work together as a team, the better we will get. Also, I think that there should players in charge of each class when talking about balance. A lot of us have become very experienced throughout the years, but again, I understand that we still may not qualify. With this being said, where do you guys stand with this idea?

Promoting the forums

Is it possible to have the forums promoted in game? I think the forums plays a big part in ED and more players should get involved

Questions for Titan
Why haven't you made your in-game character op and game breaking? It would be nice to run into during battle and have you do 4545352903483094380 damage:)






lcheezy -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/26/2015 20:32:55)

Guest Writers i have a couple ideas but never got a response from charfade when i pm'd her but yeah having a couple of guest writers could help out epicduel alot



One Winged Angel1357 -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/26/2015 21:16:47)

I'll be doing my first batch of replies on Wednesday sometime in the afternoon until then you won't hear from me because of how much work I have. Thank you in advance for your questions



Digital X -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/26/2015 22:23:03)

Never seen one of these threads, I like.

To all: What has been the most challenging aspect of the game/in general as a mod so far?

Wasn't sure which this pertained too.



Silver Sky Magician -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/27/2015 4:56:08)

^

I take this to mean 'what is the most challenging aspect of your job as a staff member'.

I think I speak for a lot of the guest staff when I say that the most challenging part of our job is juggling our commitments. We're all very busy with work or school and it can be difficult to find time to make our due contributions. Artists in particular have to constantly do exercises and produce artwork so that they can keep their skills sharp and improve (which was partially why they joined the guest team in the first place). But writers don't necessarily have it easy either.

For instance, you may have noticed that the Hundred-Year Curse missions were much wordier than usual, with perhaps about two to three times the amount of text as previous event missions. On Word, the missions and battle text actually took up a whopping 18 pages, 26 in total if you include the art descriptions and draft planning. This was because I strove to make sure that all those missions were of importance and significantly contributed to characterisation and/or plot. I didn't want to have filler missions, like many past events, because I felt that they would detract from the gravity of the Hundred-Year Curse's plot and because I simply cannot tolerate them as a writer.

All this meant that writing the missions required significant time and effort on my part. I think I eventually submitted the missions about a month after I first told Char I would (sorry Char :P), and I really want to thank the devs and guest artists for getting the artwork done and rolling out the event on time despite that.

The obvious question is whether all this effort is worth it. After all, do players really pay attention to the mission text? Sadly, the answer to the second question is probably not. A fair number of people have to ask how to complete missions in the Q&A because they don't read the mission text carefully (even when we bold the mission requirements). And EpicDuel's own text format doesn't suit longer missions like those I usually write. You often don't know whether you need to scroll down to read the full mission text, especially when it seems like the initial portion makes sense and provides satisfactory closure in itself. Finally, ED never had a tradition of focusing on lore, unlike AQ and DF, so the players it has attracted are rarely interested in storytelling.

So why do I do all this if players don't seem to value it that much? Well, it's partly because I need an excuse to motivate myself to write more and keep my creative writing skills sharp, and partly because I really think that ED has a truly fascinating setting that is just begging to be written about. As a player, I wanted to do missions to further explore the world ED has to offer, not to just get more credits. And I thought that I could do more to make that a reality. For me, it's really about personal fulfillment in the end - whether as a writer in creating something I can be proud of, or as a player in helping to shape the game I love in my own way.




Digital X -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/27/2015 5:24:07)

Yeah as a Mod sorry. As a former I know just how hard it can be, but rewarding in the sense of helping others.



Mother1 -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/27/2015 18:32:23)

@SSM

Know this not everyone is like that (Meaning don't bother to read the mission text) I myself as someone who likes to write understand the labor you went through and even if I didn't still read the mission text so I know what I need to do so your work is appreciated.

Sorry I don't have a question of my own to ask but I just felt like saying the statement above. This goes for all the guest writers.



Silver Sky Magician -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/28/2015 11:35:42)

^

Thanks Mother1, really appreciate it.



One Winged Angel1357 -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/28/2015 14:20:16)

quote:

Is there a possibility that we will see a call for new volunteer teams soon?

That is all up to the team leads of Balance/testing, moderation, and guests. That said we have added new members to each of those teams without putting out a mass call and instead just contacting the individuals we think would work well on those teams.

quote:

Is it possible to have the forums promoted in game?

Passing this one onto the dev's. I'll edit in an answer when one comes but everyone is busy at the moment

quote:

Guest Writers i have a couple ideas but never got a response from charfade when i pm'd her but yeah having a couple of guest writers could help out epicduel alot

http://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=21792003

quote:

What has been the most challenging aspect of the game/in general as a mod so far?

My job is mostly livestreams of all the new EpicDuel content at this point so the hardest part for me is being able to play the game and still hold a conversation with the people watching. It makes PvP rather painful to watch but we make it.



Daph Duck -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/28/2015 22:52:35)

Why does no staff ever acknowledge how much the community has degenerated. All the bullying, botting, cheating etc. Not trying to accuse anyone of anything, I just don't know if you're aware of this or if ur choosing to ignore it in hopes it'll go away.
Also geniunely curious, do u have actual testers who play actual game on a daily basis?



One Winged Angel1357 -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/28/2015 23:07:04)

Lack of commenting on something does not equal a lack of acknowledgement Daph. We are aware of problems like botting in PvP, botting NPC's, harassment, and other things but we can only punish what we catch. Report these problems when you see them so mods can deal with them accordingly because if there is no one reporting these things then only the people who run into mods, guests, ect. either as our main or our alt can be punished.

As for the other question yes we have testers who do daily wins. We also have testers who are busy during the week so they do a lot more over the weekend and may miss some days during the week



Battle Elf -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/29/2015 7:11:29)

@Daph

Are you referring to balance testers?



Satafou -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/29/2015 9:01:37)

Yes she is.



Charfade -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/29/2015 15:19:34)

quote:

@Daph Duck Why does no staff ever acknowledge how much the community has degenerated. All the bullying, botting, cheating etc. ?


We are aware of these issues, and it's a loaded question which we don't have one solid answer for because there are so many factors to consider. All I can do is reply with what I've learned by working on ED and being a general active user of the internet since 1993

So game devs spend quite a bit of time talking a lot about how to handle their players. There are conferences and workshops just on this topic alone. Obviously we don't want bullying, botting or cheating in our games but the sad fact of it all is our human nature. We will always want to be better than the next person. Since you have a game like EpicDuel where in its design is to be competitive you have to go to greater lengths to deter and stop abusive acts. So the problem is not only preventing a person from starting bad behavior but also making the game fun enough so you don't want to bot in the first place. What is fun means something different from person to person.

On the note of bullying, it's an issue which is not only a problem in games but online and in life. Case studies have shown Internet anonymity mixed with competitive gaming really doesn't equal rainbows and sun shine. Things to consider. We balance the freedom of speech with enjoyment of game play constantly. EpicDuel spans multiple cultures which can cause language breakdowns and confusion among players. What is read and understood by one person could horribly offending another. These are case by case issues the mods address daily.

That aside, there are trolls and real bullies in the game who don't fall under the category of accidental communication issues. For what ever the reason, these people want to do real harm. Which is why every bully-reporting case is looked into.

There are steps you can take if you are being bullied. Bullies love it when you respond back and defend yourself. That's their bait, once they got you they will continue to drill into you, exposing all of your weaknesses. Rightfully so, this will make you angry and hope to trick you into doing something you wouldn't say or do normally. It's important that you do not take the bait in the first place. The best thing to do with a troll or bully is to ignore them. Use the tools in game to mute and block them. Trust me when I say that takes tough skin to do. Don't even tell or threaten back with "I'll report you." . This is only egging them on. The silent report and leave is the best thing you can do. Leave the game for a moment if you need to to clear your head and get some perspective. Mods will read the report and look up the account to see if the bully or troll has a record and use the evidence collected to determine a resolve. When this doesn't seem to be an effective means and harassment continues then it time to escalate the issue to the AE help team.

On the note of Botting, recently we put in a tool in ED to identify botters in the community. This has been a very effective tool and has caught several botters. We handle these people case by case. But the approach we have been taking is banning excessive abusers and deterring botting. For example if a bot is camping a NPC we find the reason why they are and remove that reason. Problem with that is a few weeks later they find another effective way to bot. so it's something that is ongoing. We determined bringing back the captcha wasn't an effective means to stop botters. Smart bots can check for captchas and defeat that system. All that would do is annoy the honest players. So Alley Cat and her team of mods try to keep up with what botters are doing and take care of them. So keep reporting when you suspect someone from botting or cheating in the game, you might not see a quick resolve but we are watching.


quote:

What has been the most challenging aspect of the game/in general as a mod so far?


Probably the above! Dealing with cheaters, botters and people who want to exploit the game. A great deal of development time goes into keeping the game feeling fun and fair for all. I can't even begin to express how many awesome features like trading, tournaments, faction vs faction wars and many many more are missing from the game because we have no way in our bank of resources to prevent them from being exploited.

I would also go further and say something about the horrid issues with working in Adobe Flash. Especially the past 3 years dealing with all the headaches on the development side. When something higher up gets decided and we have to derail in ED dev time to fix a issue someone else caused, we get delayed and features on ED suffer for it. Some late releases I can remember directly was a result of these random issues. We actually had time set aside just for the "what if issue" so that when they did come up we had the time to solve the problem.




Drianx -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/30/2015 14:57:49)

Questions for the developers:

1. In your opinion, what makes an online game be considered as 'successful'?
2. Again, in your opinion, what was the moment in ED history that the game was closest to the 'successful' state as described in the above answer?
3. Disregarding FlashPlayer demise, do you think that restoring EpicDuel to its most 'successful' state (as described in the above answer) would be beneficial for the game?
4. Name 3 EpicDuel releases that you were most proud of bringing live.
5. If you could turn back in time and change one decision that you took about EpicDuel, what decision was it and what would you change it into?

Thanks in advance for replying.



Cookiesaregood -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/30/2015 20:16:37)

^


I would like to see the answers to those questions aswell, just curious



One Winged Angel1357 -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/30/2015 22:54:54)

I did get to track down Charfade after she had left work to get some of your questions answered.
quote:

1 - 3 Speaking generally about games, I don't tend to classify them as "successful or unsuccessful" because all games are a form of art to me. We enjoy art, its part of our culture. Games make us feel, they make us think and we can enjoy our games with others. There have been plenty of games that I've enjoyed that were viewed as total failures by studios and media, and yet I didn't see them as unsuccessful, its art and I still want to play them. Its kinda like having a ugly painting on the wall, I don't care if other people think its ugly, I like it. So for me to answer "what is successful" would be putting a hard limit and measuring the data under a microscope. And I don't want to do that. I feel its irresponsible to view the medium in such a manner.

quote:

4, I really liked black abyss release. That was the first release where I felt we had a really great rhythm down and all the pieces just fell into place.

quote:

5. If I could go back in time with the knowlage I have now wouldn't be anything I'd change about EpicDuel the game, but I would implement better workflow tools into how I devloped and worked on my tasks. I was greatly un-organized in the beginning so I would like to change how I handled and prioritized day to day tasks. I'd also would have created the EpicDuel guest teams sooner as I fell we learn so much from each other that I would have liked that back in the Delta days.



ambien -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/31/2015 1:44:29)

in this post l see one deve an some quest writer, great what about titan or night . any way l have reported botters some times 2--4 days in a row, the same person an they have not been handled with. l do not understand an yes you can stop botting deves not that hard. any way still we rlly need to know straight up will ed be around after jan 31st 2016. plz could a peep like titan plz give the answer or night. gifting will not bring ppl back if game goes away. an yes we do need mods every day playing on line . glad to see cat. the joker back on line some days as mods. well hope ed stays , there is always hope.


my thoughts on this always the syfy



Therril Oreb -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/31/2015 3:10:21)

@ambien:
quote:

The staff is busy so The Guest staff will be the ones mostly answering but who knows. Maybe Charfade or Nightwraith decides to drop in as well :)

Charfade already posted here and gave more answers through OWA.

I can also say that EpicDuel has no "Expiration date" so unless plans change, EpicDuel will be around next year as well.

Regarding the botting issue you bring up, I point back at Charfade's post. You eliminate one way to bot and a new one arises.
It is a constant struggle no matter what game you are in.



kaiseryeux21 -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/31/2015 5:50:19)

Been a while since i Posted on Forums but i will not let this pass away because there are lots of questions left in my mind after 6 years of playing ED.

1. Most if not all players will agree to me that the OLD INFERNAL WAR was one of the most awesome release this game ever had. Being paired with AI Mechachillids, different bomb drops, Figthing a Vault with tons of Health, and gaining influence. What more can you ask for? My question is this; Why such releases never happened again? I mean, it doesn't always need to have a story to link a particular event. C'mon man, This kind of events gave players so much FUN. Forgive me but the past few years of ED felt like FUN had been taken out in this game.

2. Do you recognize the decline in the number of players on the server? I remember one of the devs posting that the fate of ED rely on the players themselves. Yes that is true. Like me for example, i do not plan on quitting ED after 6 years, i still wanted to play this game. But how can i continue playing if there is no FUN and EXCITEMENT in playing anymore? Atleast gave us something new or add new feature to excite us. We players have the role in order for ED to survive. But isn't that You as Developers of this game have a BIGGER role in order to stop players from quitting and in return attract more players?

Sorry if i sounded sarcastically. But i do hope i can get answers soon. Thanks.



Thylek Shran -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/31/2015 6:43:38)

Questions:

Why do you keep most of the ingame formulas secret now and donīt make them public ?
(As example the exact deflection/block/critical hit calculation)

Why do you not fix the core balance problem (EP vs damage and power vs power) ?

Why do you not nerf Azraelīs Will and Infernal Overload cores again even that they are still OPed ?

Why there are not more credit cores for sidearm and auxiliary but alot cores for primary weapon ?

Why has the Varium trap not been removed ?
During wars players can accidently misclick and upgrade their war items for varium without noticing.
Personally I have lost all of my free varium that I collected over the years and donīt have been refunded.
It is not much worth in real life money but does not motivate me to ever buy varium.

Why is Varium that overpriced ?
As example buying 10 inventory/bank slots for 5 dollar/euro is not micropayment.
Also 50 bucks for a promo set is ALOT.



Silver Sky Magician -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/31/2015 7:00:46)

@Thylek

The ingame formulas have never been a secret. The latest formulas can be found here. If you think that these formulas are not accurate, please provide data from at least fifty battles noting the no. of times you were deflected and not deflected when using a deflectable attack, the no. of times you deflected and did not deflect when a deflectable attack was used against you, the difference between your tech and the opponent's tech, and any cores both of you have, for each of the fifty battles. Likewise for block and critical hit chances.

We are not aware of what this 'core balance problem' is.

Azrael's Will is not recognized as a balance issue. Infernal Android has been nerfed many, many times and is still overused. We are looking into alternative ways to make it less attractive to players since simply nerfing it does not seem to help.

More cores are something we'd all like, but they take up considerable developmental time. As such, we prefer to reserve them for promo items. We may look into increasing the variety of credit cores nonetheless.

The 'varium trap' is the result of a compromise between confirming purchase decisions and speed, especially since varium upgrades for bombs are likely to be done in bulk and players may not want to waste time repeatedly confirming their purchases.

Varium is not overpriced compared to other AE game currencies, and in fact gives you more value for money than most other premium currencies. A $50 package for instance not only gives you up to seven promo items but also varium worth more than 550,000 credits (if you spend it all on class changes).



Thylek Shran -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/31/2015 8:15:47)

quote:

The ingame formulas have never been a secret. The latest formulas can be found here.

These are not formulas, its only a change note. Base chances are not listed here
(when both players have the same stat amount).
The games does need an official thread about all the game formulas for fairness
and transparency. The data on EDWiki is outdated and not official.

quote:

We are not aware of what this 'core balance problem' is.

It has been posted alot in suggestion and balance forums.
As example Eternal Enhance vs Eternal Protection. Or why does Meteor Shower
does have the same EP cost than Titan Chomp and Jack-O-Fire even that there
is a difference of 4-5% points damage ?
Or why are the Mastery cores (crit), Nanosteel Armor and Laser Sights
so much weaker than Eternal Protection, Ninja Reflexes and Deflection Shield ?

quote:

Infernal Android has been nerfed many, many times and is still overused.
We are looking into alternative ways to make it less attractive to players since simply nerfing it does not seem to help.

It would help if you just would nerf it enough. My last suggestion for nerfing
it had been implemented by only about the half.

http://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=21966191


quote:

The 'varium trap' is the result of a compromise between confirming purchase decisions and speed, especially since varium upgrades for bombs are likely to be done in bulk and players may not want to waste time repeatedly confirming their purchases.

You could had placed the button somewhere else so that misclicks from using the war items
by click spaming could not happen.

quote:

Varium is not overpriced compared to other AE game currencies,

So other AE games are overpriced too then. I remember that only AQ had a fair price
for the LIFE LONG Guardian membership which was the first AE game.



Satafou -> RE: =ED= Let's ask the staff thread (10/31/2015 8:53:13)

Varium is completely over-priced. It lost it's appeal when the p2w advantage was removed. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but nevertheless it's the truth. There is no point for any player to waste any money on varium, as the game will not only shut down soon, but also the fact that varium doesn't give any real advantages. It is simply stupid to waste $50 on something you can get for free, due to the infamous, gifting phenomenon.



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