=MQ= State of the Game 2014-2015 (Full Version)

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Ash -> =MQ= State of the Game 2014-2015 (12/23/2014 9:01:17)

MechQuest
State of the Game 2014-2015


This year had a lot happen and there's even more planned for next year so we wanted to take this time to share a little bit about what's planned, what we learned, and what's going to happen moving forward.



Recap of 2014


This year we've done quite a bit from old content revamps to introducing the start of the new story line to laying down groundwork for future background updates. While we weren't able to do everything we wanted to, we still were able to do a lot that you all were able to play. Considering there were very few releases at the start of the year to now we have something every single week that's tremendous progress and we're glad each and every one of you have continued to support us!



Story lines for 2015


Next year we're going to focus on finishing up any of those hanging story lines like Liath. It took a while to get up the momentum to do quests almost every week and, by that point, we had already hit the holidays and had to focus on those. We were able to close out a few hanging story lines, like the beard saga, but we know that there are a few that weren't finished and need to be.

We're also going to slowly move forward with the new story line that was introduced. There won't be a large number of these until we close out the older story lines but there will be a few. You'll start to learn a little more about the Grand Admiral, her plans, what the Artifacts are being used for, and much more!



Stats and Engine Updates


While we weren't able to get everything ready for this year we do have plans to update several parts of the game. We're going to be taking a look at the main stats and tweaking those if needed. Vivi is also hard at work on an engine update that was teased at Dragon-Con for Swordfighting. This is a large project with a lot of things that need to be taken into consideration so these won't be a quickly implemented after the new year.



"Grinding" and the time it takes to level


This is something that has been brought up many times and something that we've talked about changing. "Grinding" is a part of the RPG experience, but it shouldn't be the only thing you have to do. The experience curve can be a bit harsh and prohibit decent leveling rates and that's something that causes issues when we try to make "intended" level ranges for things like the Soluna Jobs or certain planets. While we don't have a for sure, "this is what we're adjusting it to", answer, this is one of the things we're going to be talking about and making a decision on moving forward. This also affects credit rewards and how they drop because if you level more quickly you'll need to get more credits to make sure you can still afford to replace items at appropriate times. That will also be looked at and adjusted accordingly depending on what is decided.



Item and Enemy Re-Balancing


Several of you have noticed that there seems to be some issues with item and mecha strengths. We've also noticed and are going to be working on that going into the new year. We're going to be taking a hard look at items and mecha that are performing better than they should be as well as any that are performing below what they should be.

This doesn't mean we'll be buffing everything below a certain point. Some things are only intended for a certain character level and power level. For example, the job rewards in Soluna are only meant to get you out into the universe, not last you till the level cap, and the specials and levels reflect that. There's a gradual progression of power as you move from Soluna to the various planets and that needs to remain, but there are some that are too good and need to be toned down, as well as others that aren't all that good and need to be brought up.

That brings up the enemies that you fight. The earlier enemies haven't changed while most of the items and mecha you receive, even ones that are meant to be used at lower levels have, leading to a power gap that isn't intentional. We're going to be buffing and adjusting a large majority of the enemies that you face to make it so that the power gap isn't as noticeable. Between this change and the item change you'll start seeing a game that's more in line with how it was intended.




Why power creep is here and how it is going to be mitigated


Power creep is a natural part of any game, especially one that has a static level cap and limits. Players want better and better items to make up for not being able to progress their characters further in terms of leveled power. This isn't a bad thing, and is a natural part of the games growth over time, but it needs to be toned back. Part of the item re-balancing will involve nerfing some of the incredibly powerful items and we understand that that may cause some anger or confusion. Before any changes to those items, and we are aware of the more liked and “OP” items, we will make sure some sort of notice is given about what the stats will be changed to and you can give feedback on the changes. Some of the changes we may not be able to alter too much based on feedback but we will try and be as open as possible as long as it's done in a way that is backed up with math and shows how it would benefit the overall balance of the game.

This isn't going to happen immediately either as there is a lot of math involved, as well as a lot of issues such as if the item was purchased with real currency (Nova Gems) and what the appropriate compensation should be if we have to nerf something. Those will be the last items we tweak as those will take the most amount of thought, but you will see some changes to Non-Star Captain and Star Captain items as early as January.

This is not to be confused with Natural Progression though. Natural Progression is what I mentioned above, it's the natural power gain as you move from planet to planet. An easy way to show that is, "Your first mecha -> a Soluna job mecha -> a Westion, part 1, mecha -> a Lagos mecha -> a Romero mecha -> A Yokai mecha." As you progress through the storyline you get better and better equipment. What Power Creep is is when the equipment from something LOWER or in the SAME area is BETTER than anything else around or above it. This is kinda difficult for MQ as we've gone back and done "Part 2's" and "A new chapter!" for almost every planet but we're going to try and rank everything based on those and have a very long, and very specific chain of A -> B -> C -> D -> C2 -> E -> F -> G -> H -> I -> G2 -> J -> K etc, until we've figured out where everything sits and THEN balance it all accordingly. This is partly the reason why it's going to take a while to get right, other than the really obvious outliers.



Questions that you may have and answers


If you have any questions about anything feel free to post them and we will do our best to answer them. Here are a few of the more common questions that may be asked though and answers to them.

quote:

Which stats will be the focus of the stat tweaks?

Efficiency mainly. It's not performing as originally intended and is seen as a “useless” stat. All of the stats will be looked at but that is the one we're going to mainly focus on either tweaking to be useful or figuring out a new effect for it.

quote:

Is MechQuest getting a “sweep” like AdventureQuest where all the items will be adjusted?

No. Only items that are over or under performing will be adjusted.

quote:

Static level cap? Does that mean MechQuest isn't going to have any more level cap raises?

While there isn't one planned in the immediate future, the "final" level cap is still planned to be level 100.

quote:

Will beginning enemies become so tough I won't be able to beat them with my older mecha?

No. We're going to do extensive testing of any enemy changes to make sure even someone who is using the newbatron a bit outside the intended level range can beat enemies. If there is an issue that we missed we will go back and adjust but it's our intent to catch any issues before you see the changes so that it's as seamless of a transition as possible.

quote:

I like my *insert name of item or mecha here*. Why can't it stay as strong as it is? One hit killing things doesn't affect anyone since this is a single player game.

While MechQuest is a single player game, being able to one hit kill things or kill things in a way that makes the game a boring button clicking fest means the strategy aspect is gone. MechQuest has always been a game about choices and picking the effects you like or the effects that make the best sense in a specific situation. That's why you're able to customize almost every mecha in the game with hundreds of items to make each "your mecha". Being able to beat everything that comes your way with no thought isn't the intent of the game and giving you those choices. While you will still be able to beat most things using your favorite mecha or equips, there won't be the “push one button and win” type of play style as best as we can balance. We don't want to remove the fun aspect of being able to play your way, but we do have to take steps to ensure that the game is viable as a game.

quote:

You said you're going to try to place every item. What about Holiday items/mecha or Staff Birthday items/mecha or even the SCEM's?


They will most likely end up at the top of the list, within reason, so that they can be used for the rest of the game. Most of those in question are seasonal, and usually have cool stuff attached, so we want to make them last a long time and make them a nice reminder of the event. It's also cool to use a walking Gingerbread House forever right?



Closing Remarks


Hopefully this has answered any questions you might have as well as giving you a little bit of insight into where MechQuest will be headed moving forward. Please don't hesitate to ask if you have further questions!

From the entire MechQuest team, thank you for reading and thank you for playing!



Antiwally -> RE: =MQ= State of the Game 2014-2015 (12/23/2014 9:57:15)

Hi Ash,
I noticed you deleted most of my posts, which was probably for the better as the main topic was getting heavily derailed. Can you just answer this:

Is there ever going to be an official definition for rarities? Maeg said that war rares are perma rares. SO items were assumed to be rare, then weren't. Some seasonal rares became perma-rares (clown/derpmachine series). And is there a possibility of labeling item rarities like in AQW (to avoid future confusion) and announcements (also like AQW) on which items will become perma rare upon their release?

Also, as a suggestion, maybe you should increase enemy stats as their level increases. Being that higher level players have stats and mods over enemy mechs, the older enemies become walkovers.



Ash -> RE: =MQ= State of the Game 2014-2015 (12/23/2014 10:09:02)

We can try. The main issue with that is the concept of "rare" was defined in AQ before MQ was even imagined and they already have certain things setup and players expect that. Usually we try to refer to things as what they will be. Holiday's are already referred to as seasonal so people know stuff will always come back. Wars on the other hand are usually made permanent now, as they are parts of the storyline, so the amount of rares from those have dropped off. The best answer I can give is "we'll try but the best we can do is make a list of things that won't ever return as the rest may at some point."

Secondarily holiday events are seasonal which means any holiday rares will eventually cycle back through if they haven't already. So things like 4oJ or Maypril art will come back, and labeling them "Perma-Rare" would only apply to those specials. To make an actual label could be done but we've already moved towards the "Perma-Rares are going to be such an uncommon thing that it's most likely not going to happen anymore" so it would only end up being a "Seasonal Rare" tag placed in the description. Since we don't have a Database Editor that has a lot of free time to make a whole tag area in it for us a description addition is it. As I already mentioned somewhere else we're going to be making several decisions on what Special Offer items will be from now on and that will most likely end up being the main decision point.

The scaling enemy suggestion is most likely what we're go with. Since scaling is handled in the battle engine when the battle is created when you trigger it we most likely will do things like that where the enemy stats are adjusted based on what the hard database stats are.



Holocaust -> RE: =MQ= State of the Game 2014-2015 (12/23/2014 12:19:40)

Thank you, this has been very insightful! I have three points to add here.

What really strikes me is how there is not a word about bug fixing. Some of them are so notorious and evident that playing the 'you should've reported them' card just isn't logical. I am talking about things like disappearing weapons, Elite WB's thick skin, MR's double Smokescreen (in MR vs MR battles, just a graphical glitch, but has been there for years), and more. There seems to be little to no progress in fixing such things, but what upsets me is how no one seem to talk about it, or at least update us on the progress.

Also, the Assault Mecha - one of the main activities of those at level cap. The system is ancient and really needs updating, especially considering how much additional functions it can possibly accommodate. Heck, it even represents the whole 'PvP' (more or less) aspect of the game. Again, not a word.

And what about encouraging our strategic thinking? I mean, we definitely need a playground for all the gear we've racked up. Releasing bosses that force us to think, but not steamroll us? It does not sound like the "Enemy re-balancing" section includes introduction of permanent content that would make us create strategies using readily-available gear and without resorting to imbalanced items.



Ash -> RE: =MQ= State of the Game 2014-2015 (12/23/2014 12:35:08)

I've been trying to figure out fixes to those issues but the honest answer is, I don't know what's causing a few of them or they simply can't be fixed right now.

The "disappearing" items shouldn't be disappearing. There's nothing wrong with the mecha on the timeline itself, there's no misnaming so the game thinks there's two Front Shoulders for example, and there's no marker for what's causing it other than "it's disappearing when the mecha gets hit" but there's no rational explanation and nothing ANY of us can find that explains it. I've tried, for months, when I've had free time to fix the Bull shoulders. There is NOTHING code wise, file wise, game wise, or art wise that any of us can find that is causing them to just up and disappear.

The Elite WB's Thick Skin should have been fixed earlier this year but I can take another look. MR's double smokescreen is an issue with how the game deals with Player and Monster effects and where/how they apply and naming of those effects. That is an issue that's not a simple fix, nor is one that anyone but most likely Vivi could do.

I am fixing bugs as I have time that pop up but for the most part the ones that keep getting reported are the ones that don't have an explanation, or the issue isn't showing up when we check, or it simply is in a part of the game that can't be fixed without ripping apart 3/4 of it.

Assault Mecha falls under the same blanket as the DF Aeris PvP area. It would require us to completely re-write the current battle engine or make a brand new battle engine JUST for PvP. There isn't enough time or manpower to even attempt it. I know it's what some of you want but you either get releases for the game or you get PvP in 2 years and nothing for those 2 years while we try and get it redone. We cannot support it any more than it is at this time without mothballing the rest of the game and I simply won't do that.

The enemy re-balancing is only part of it, but it's the largest part so it deserved the forefront. I'm going to be doing more releases like the Area 52 challenge area and more bosses from regular releases that require more thought. That's not to say we're only going to release content for the players on the forums who've min-maxed, because that's also not the case. We're going to try and create a nice mix of releases but not every boss is going to be "I need to think really hard how best to beat this" because that's not the only type of player who plays. We have to design for a broad range of players and that means sometimes the tip top "I can beat anything, give me a challenge" player may have to wait a couple releases while we try and make more stuff for the average player to test himself against.

They aren't the answers you want, and I'm sorry for that, but that's where those issues stand. If we had 2 or more additional coders and 10 more artists we could dedicate more time to lots of different things and various projects but we don't.



Bionic Bear -> RE: =MQ= State of the Game 2014-2015 (12/23/2014 13:42:21)

I've only a few questions.
-Will we have concrete formulas for the effect of stats, like in AQ?
-Will the effect of stats ever increase to a point that you must train them to win a battle?
-Will there be a balance baseline established that you will subject all mechas/equippables to prior to release, to ensure that nothing is OP or UP?

And lastly, for all the level 50 players like myself who have several million XP, will that transfer into the next level once the cap is raised? Not all too important, but I would like to know.

It was good that this thread was made, I think. We are starting to ask the right questions.



Ash -> RE: =MQ= State of the Game 2014-2015 (12/23/2014 13:50:56)

When we're done, I believe that's the plan. That's one of the reasons it's being done to get it all cleaned up so then you all can make decisions.

You should be doing that now, but most likely yes as we finish messing with them and enemies. Stats shouldn't be worthless numbers that you collect for funsies. There should be a reason for training them. I'm also thinking of making a "mandatory" quest that pops up and flashes like a fire truck to make players actually train stats and make them aware that they need to train stats along with what each stat does. That way there's no "well I didn't know I needed to...and I can't beat anything now because of that."

There is now. but it only covers a few things like damage ranges and costs and stuff like that. That's something I'm going to work with Blues on to make it have more of a rigid barrier that if we go over it'll make someone notice something and so we can't be overly nice and have another Peppermincer or Dharmap. I have one in DF that I made and use for classes and am making one for items there, I want something similar here so that we can still do some stronger stuff when it makes sense but not to the point of there being a "wrong" mecha to pick.

You'll be dropped at 99.99%/100% of level up and will need to complete one battle to get to 51, but after that all the excess experience will be lost. There's no rollover for that sadly.



Holocaust -> RE: =MQ= State of the Game 2014-2015 (12/23/2014 14:10:19)

@ Ash
Actually, you did provide good points in your response. Definitely enough to satisfy my curiosity. Thank you!

As for the challenging bosses, I hope this will fall into place once general re-balancing takes place, especially of the items we use.

As for the bugs, I understand the immense difficulties, but it is the lack of communication that bothers me. I wish there was an open-source outlining the bugs already reported and the current status of them being fixed. I am glad we got this response of yours, but a single forum message is way too perishable, and not as insightful as an open-source could be (but that, on the other hand, may lead to players seeking to re-create bugs, so...).

As for the Assault mecha, I am not suggesting to implement a true PvP system. I suggest minor tweaks/fixes, such as:

Filters (search for specific mechas/items equipped; avoid hoards of the same SCEM; maybe even battle NSCs)
Scale DoTs on weapons (everything but those seems to scale smoothly - lower-levels get pwned by high-level DoTs)
See IDs of people you battle - would be immensely helpful
Fix mechas whose effects don't work to full extent in PvP (e.g. NG Lightshow and Police mecha)
Display both of opponent's Mods equipped
Allow to battle the mecha's owner on foot (a wild idea, but still)
Change the default "3" (Artix's) to the ID of your choice, or if not, then at least to your own ID



Ash -> RE: =MQ= State of the Game 2014-2015 (12/23/2014 14:23:28)

I can speak to Mae, Gianna (head of MQ bugs) and Kasama and see if they'd be alright with putting up a stickied "we fixed this / we know about these and need to figure out how to fix them" page. The main issue is I usually fix a bug here and there during the week and just roll it to get them fixed. I'm really bad about noting down what I've fixed beyond the tracker notes so I can try to be better about that.

As for your list of stuff...

Filter would need a rewrite so that one is out. While the game could technically search through "equipped" Database Slots, the tech to actually do that isn't in and would need to be created from scratch.

The scaling DoT is actually tied to the level of the mecha itself and not the "shown" level. I.E. the person you're fighting is actually level 10 but he's "scaled" to level 30. The game still pulls from the level 10 DoT numbers not the level 30 and it causes issues like that. The same thing happens when you "down scale" yourself in quests by equipping a mecha that's waaaaay lower level than you. That's a Battle Engine limitation and one that would need a change in how it's checking for levels. That might be possible to do as a side release but I'd need to dig a lot deeper and talk with Vivi on how to make the changes.

I think we can do this one by editing the character pane. It *should* be easy to do but since it hasn't been I don't know. This is another one where I'll ask Vivi and see if it's an easy fix. It should be since the game has to load the ID anyway but it may be two different processes picking the ID and then loading the character.

If you can make a list and post it of those I can try and fix them. That's more bug related than PvP if it's the issue I'm thinking it is. It may not be but it seems like it would just be a naming issue.

This one is weird. They should show up and there might just be a missing part of the coding to make them load. Again, will talk to Vivi.

That could be done by making a "swordfight" option but...it leads to several issues that might break things. PvP is based on mecha but I might be able to have it load the enemy character instead. Not totally sure.

That should be possible and I might be able to do that one on my own with some variable tweaks. I'll note that down for a January check and possible release.



Holocaust -> RE: =MQ= State of the Game 2014-2015 (12/23/2014 15:37:07)

What I forgot about PvP is the current absence of resistances. Hope this can be fixed too.
Stunning becomes an immensely OP strategy, as the only thing that can resist stuns is Chrono Corruptor, for whatever reason.

On another note, which presumably has nothing to do with coding, I think that some animations could be sped up. This is by any means not an issue that requires immediate attention, but could use some attention in the future. Worst 'laggards' would be BD attacks of: Haliaeetus (takes 10 seconds on lowest quality), Morehawk (shoulders too), Nemesis and some more. I eject just to avoid watching them, as on Extreme these won't miss a chance or two to spam their BD.


What I really like about this topic as that we can actually get heard. Way to go!
Thanks for explaining what can and cannot be done, this again clarifies a lot of things. I wish you luck with this immense amount of work that awaits!



Ash -> RE: =MQ= State of the Game 2014-2015 (12/23/2014 15:54:51)

Those can both be chalked up to applications not properly applying from the sounds of it. It might be something we can fix pretty easily but that will require some free time to poke inside.

That's completely limited to art. We can speed a few up, but it can wind up creating clipping issues that make it look weird and just bad in some cases. It really all depends on how the animations were planned out and implemented if we can speed some up or not.

While you're always heard, it's something a case of Mae or I don't have the free time to respond to everything and some things we just can't respond to for various reasons. After today it's Christmas Eve/Christmas day and then cram time for the release for this week. It should smooth out and we should be able to respond to a lot more when we get out of the swamp that is the holidays because between work and school and then this stuff it becomes a challenge sometimes to even post DN's or releases threads because we're running out as soon as the release rolls and no major bugs are reported that can't wait till the next day.



Rio3678 -> RE: =MQ= State of the Game 2014-2015 (12/23/2014 18:23:18)

I have 2 questions,

1. Is your character going to appear in MQ at some point?

2. Any hope for more Zargon comics?



forumlogin -> RE: =MQ= State of the Game 2014-2015 (12/23/2014 19:47:30)

@Grinding/Planet Progression
Some worthwhile things to note;
Westion is, at least in Chapter 1, supposed to be a level 10-20 or, at most, a level 20-25 area. It is worth noting, however, that it has LITERALLY ZERO item shops that cater to this level group until you finish the Khaeldron Sheriff, which is well within the 25-30 or higher range (well, the Ebilcorp Space Station caters to 20 and 25 at least, so there's something). Can Chapte 1 Westion include more weapon shops?
Similar sentiments for Gark/Lagos. Though TECHNICALLY they are supposed to be level 23+ zones, there is almost literally nothing stopping you from doing those areas earlier, and a player who completes them as one of their earlier planets is going to find themselves with basically no rewards for their effort. (This is, incidentally, one of the reasons I've been saying for years that the AvP War should've remained permanent in some facet, as it catered to all levels). Regardless of whether the AvP War system is ever redone, can we get some lower-level items/mecha on there to allow for different progressions?
I notice that you put Romero mecha AFTER Lagos, but, related to the above sentiments, Romero actually caters MORE to lower levels, IMO :/
Everything they have is available in a much wider level range than those in Lagos/Gark. Should it really be a "higher progression" area?

@Item Rebalancing
Zargon??? :D
I mean, they don't really need anything major. They're just your basic effects. But a buff to those would be pretty nice nevertheless, especially since they're so unreliable.

@Stats
Is Perception going to get altered too? Last I checked that one never got used either.



Ash -> RE: =MQ= State of the Game 2014-2015 (12/23/2014 20:03:54)

Rio3678 -
Yes.

The comics are only if we can find an artist who wants to and will follow the storyline.


forumlogin - What I gave was just a random layout from me just thinking quickly what path I took. This is also going to be combined with the Exp curve tweak so you will get to some planets later then you do now level wise so you'll end up in the right level range for the rewards. We're also going to talk about the "expected" path for players and then I'm going to work on a sorta flow chart thing that will help people figure out what's actually suited for their level and what's next in the story. That's one of the complaint's we've gotten in that area, that the main storyline doesn't have a defined "path" of "go here, then here, then here, then here." The c-mail system really doesn't help with that either. I want to kind of redo that whole thing and make the map itself give you a way to follow stuff better than now with how it unlocks.

The issue with the later planets catering more to low levels is because they were released later. The later something is released the more it has to cater to more levels because new players aren't going to want to always go through the entire back story to play the new things being advertised. I don't want to totally lock that out but I'd rather funnel players into places that are more tuned towards their levels and that make sense storyline wise. Storyline wise you're meant to do things in a certain order. Things like the Wormhole saga would make no sense if you do them before other planets and that leads to issues of another whole mess.

MechQuest needs a lot more than just some item tweaks here and there and that's why we're trying to do large changes like this. It's going to be piece meal in parts because of time constraints but the ideal situation would be that the intro is updated and the pathing through the storyline is fixed to be more apparent. Then Stats are adjusted to be totally useful. Then items are normalized and enemies are buffed a bit. Then one last run through to make sure everything looks pretty and small tweaks here and there. That's the perfect plan but in reality it's going to be all done at random times in random orders and possibly at the same time making it difficult to keep up with.


Zargon will get some but Blues and I need to go over capped effects first. I don't want to start an item update just to have to 180 on a few things afterwards because we picked something after I already buffed some stuff. I'm honestly not sure if they'll get too much but the unreliability will most likely be removed.

It's used, it's just one of the better stats so the effect is a lot lower. Literally ignoring part of your opponents damage is kind of that outlying stat that is either way to good or kinda meh because it has to be. It's up there to be altered but Efficiency is just plain not used at all and not worth any points invested whereas people can get some benefit from Perception if it's trained as any lowered damage is a benefit.



aang195 -> RE: =MQ= State of the Game 2014-2015 (12/24/2014 4:31:15)

@Ash Are you going to try and implement a mecha/weapon upgrade system for rare mechas much like AdventureQuest did earlier this year



Ash -> RE: =MQ= State of the Game 2014-2015 (12/24/2014 8:38:37)

That requires both database alterations and someone like Captain Rhubarb to set up the system. (Funny enough he's one of the few people that can do database changes so he's really the only person who can do that.) We can ask for his help in that but more than likely he'll be giving us help with things higher up on the "we need this" list like possibly more inventory slots. I might be able to set up something where you can request upgrades once in a while but that's something not even on the list of crucial updates right now. It's something we can look into once the major changes are done though.



Holocaust -> RE: =MQ= State of the Game 2014-2015 (12/24/2014 12:15:17)

I am really glad I could get some ideas across! Hope this helps.

~~~

Wow, I didn't expect Rhubarb's assistance to be needed to expand inventories. Though stuff.
Speaking of inventory, any plans for shoving all our non-mecha-equippables into a dedicated location, out of inventories? This must've been brought up before.


One more idea, which is probably also not new - any news on implementing the RGB colour palette for mechas? An additional option to enter the 0-255 values manually would allow us to match every colour seen on any given item. I assume currently MQ functions in pretty much the same way.

~~~

And I suppose it would be easier to just update the highest level versions of rare SCEMs and the like, or make a universal Awe to be merged with any of them. Just a guess though. Like you said, by no means a priority



Ash -> RE: =MQ= State of the Game 2014-2015 (12/24/2014 21:21:10)

It was and is something we're figuring out. Since we have no idea yet what we want to do I didn't mention it.

It might be possible but it would require quite a bit of finagling to get it in place as the current one would need to be reworked for the most part on the selection side as it only chooses from a preselected setup not the free select mode.

We'd have to make new versions regardless of what sort of upgrade type function as the game would need those ID's to pull from. AQ's works by just trading your old ID for a new one so those items had to be manually added to the database beforehand. Merges are the same thing as you're trading one ID for another. It's just time that we can't really spare right now but might be able to when we've moved way down the list of priority fixes/changes.



PD -> RE: =MQ= State of the Game 2014-2015 (12/25/2014 2:47:05)

This came out a lot sooner than I expected it to come. Good stuff anyways.

I probably had nothing to do with it :P



Kuld -> RE: =MQ= State of the Game 2014-2015 (12/25/2014 8:21:50)

This is a significantly less important issue that those addressed so far, but would it be possible to introduce a "hold to fire" function in the various MQ minigames available such as the Space Invaders knockoff? The amount of rapid clicking required in them is not exactly ergonomic, to say the least.



Balu -> RE: =MQ= State of the Game 2014-2015 (12/25/2014 12:18:12)

Don`t want to put up a wall of text so I`ll just give my quick opinions on each 'category' posted in the first post.

Recap of 2014: I`ve said it before and i`ll say it again, 2014 has been a really good year for MQ. I`ve been around in the beginning of the game when the updates flowed freely and I`ve been around the times when MQ wasn`t doing so well (staff moving on to chase other interests and updates being rare).
So 2014 has been great for the game.

Story lines for 2015: Looking forward to the story specific updates. More for the ones that need to be wrapped up, but the new storyline that was introduced seems to have potential. More elements need to be released in order to spike my interest regarding the Grand Admiral. ;-D

Stats and Engine Updates: I`ve always had the opinion that stats need to be more important and to weigh more in regards to the gameplay. I`ve never payed much attention to training them. I`ve stuch from the beginning with a pure power/accuracy build because that sounds good. The swordfighting system seems nice and functional. I`m glad to hear you have plans for it. Don`t know what they are but what i would like to see is ranged damage with the appropriate animations. Moar phasers and laser pistols! XD

"Grinding" and the time it takes to level: Never had a problem with the way things have been set up from the very beginning. I`ve never considered tiresome getting to the next /final level. The game has enough content with the stuff you can get done in soluna city and beyond aka the other planets that imo a player will always have/find something interesting to do or to visit and will eventually level up. But if you guys want to improve things in this department, great!

Item and Enemy Re-Balancing: Now we are getting to the stuff i feel would need to take precedence in the future development process of MQ. My short opinion on the topic. Most enemies are to weak and a good amount of items/mecha are so powerfull that make the player (especially the high lvl/older player) OP, to the point of being a bit in the detriment of the whole playing experience. I`m too powerful and I finish the mission too quickly! XD
Methinks working on balancing/improving this issue will take a lot of time and brain matter. *Casts Rejuvenate and Power of the Mind and Body on the dev team* :-)

Why power creep is here and how it is going to be mitigated: This ties with the above I think. What can I say, good luck with it and if it`s too powerfull and actually hurts the whole gaming experience hit it hard with the nerf hammer! NG items included! *Hopes people will not take out the pitchforks and torches when that will happen*



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