Build 57

[rob]

Hi all,

We just posted build 57. User-visible changes include:

* Fix up tank menu visuals. These are still not awesome, but they are a little less bad
* Add big encounter (Zeta Complex) when a region is cleared
* Nerf Paladin healgun
* Add visual for Paladin disarm
* Attempt to execute a player's buy offers when he/she gains coins or storage space
* Double chat line length to 160 characters
* Let melding or other inventory actions prevent idle kick
* Show a poof (indicator) when unlocking a new tank class
* Make tossed GCT bombs more visible

Paladins in even small groups were very overpowered, hence the nerf. People were chasing convoys into the wilderness with impunity.

Please post your comments, ideas, etc here. Thanks for playing!

Rob

[levesque]

I like the paly nerf seems good, 2 palys can no longer go on forever through uncleared terretory but they can still make it fairly far

[osx]

Some thoughts:

- New tank menu looks much worse than the last one (IMO)
- Zeta Complex is tough, two bombs will kill you on most tanks. I think it is too difficult for the amount of time given. Since I love how it is extremely difficult, I would suggest raising the time before it departs to 10-20 minutes.
- I love the change to the GCT bombs.
- Paladin nerf is great. The paladin's heal is nor OP or useless.
- The idle-prevention when using the inventory is very helpful when trying to meld 15+ pages of items.

[A Nonny Muse]

Some thoughts on new build(haven't played a whole lot on it yet):
- new tank menu looks better than the old one but it would look better with some minor shading/coloring

- zeta complex should be moved to 10 minutes duration. Clearing a region when theres not enough people on to take down the boss will feel disappointing, maybe add scaling health up to a cap? So if there is only one person online, the spawned zeta will have x hp and when more people go online, it will increase by a set amount

- paladin nerfs were much needed but perhaps now there could be a change to the heal gun by increasing ROF and decreasing hp healed? Before the changes, paladin was healing slowly big chunks of hp and now it doesn't really have the same effect anymore.

not much else to comment on, I haven't tried out the other parts of the new build

[hypevosa]

Having a higher ROF and lower HP heal on paladins to make them better group healers would be nice.

Also, I like the new menu, it looks like blueprints, which seems appropriate.

[Ood]

Spoilers for those who don't want to know Zeta drops:

9 sto x2 100%; 10 unlock x2 100%; 12 aug 100%; coin 100%

[gingerbear]

Although I've voiced my opinion yesterday while playing, reposting again for reference:

- The new tank menu looks better than the previous one, the only problem is that it's not really fitting into the surroundings, themewise. I mean, most of the UI has semi-translucent tiles with warm colors (yellow, red) dominating, the pure white&blue feels a bit out of place. Trying out different color pairings, maybe fiddling a bit with transparency might solve it.

- Even though I got obliterated by that zeta yesterday, I think it's ok. Sure, it isn't doable with about ten people in 5 minutes, but might be killed with about 50 or such, if it is attacked from all the sides. Even though I would like to be able to kill it within time, if the game experience meant to be "Get as much loot as possible in 5 mins and don't care about leaving parts behind", then it's ok.

Possible problems with Zeta:

• Just like at GCTs, bomb pulling is a serious problem: it is too easy to die to someone ELSEs fault, the reason can be their idiocy, carelessness or malevolence, doesn't matter much. Somewhere it has been mentioned that the aim is to reduce the griefing one could do to the other, and unfortunately the bomb throwing is going against this as much as it can.
  
• It does not actively reward those who have been working towards summoning / destroying it. Just like other timed events (like convoys), it is entirely possible just to sit around doing nothing, waiting for the "droids" to clear a region and then just hop in when the zeta spawns. Similarly, if someone is going for minimal loot, he can wait for the others to try to kill the turrets, risking their life in the flow of bombs, and just pick up the loot that drops at the end.
  
• Tied to both of the previous, picking up loot is not trivial either, as closing onto the loot is equal to bomb pulling: which will result in that people have to go pick up the loot in waves (between waiting the bombs to explode), which doesn't help the less "aggressive" players even though if they contributed the most. Similarly, if they die right before/after the kill their drop is wasted, same goes if they have to move out of drop range to avoid certain death. At this caliber of challenge working hard for something and then not getting anything is much more of a pain than anything else.
  

Question: Rob said that the zeta is programmed to spawn away from towns and players. Theoretically, what would happen if the sector is evenly saturated with towns and players? Would the zeta never spawn? or shifted to another sector? Or someone will find it on the top of their head anyway?

[rob]

Zeta tries pretty hard to find a good spot, but if it can't find one, it'll give up and not spawn.

[shatov]

This might have been suggested before, but for the tank selection screen, it would be nice to see the aug level of each tank. Currently, it seems like if you want to check how far you have leveled a specific tank, you would have to switch to it and then go into the augments screen.

[A Nonny Muse]

Unique item drops from enemies might be interesting, like unique tank drops from each convoy type and the zeta.

[Ood]

Jul 4, 2013 13:29:16 GMT -5 A Nonny Muse said:

Unique item drops from enemies might be interesting, like unique tank drops from each convoy type and the zeta.

Not sure you know how the drop system works.
(Currently) Let's say a structure has a 50% chance to drop a level 3 storage module. That means that the structure can drop a level 3, a level 4, ... , all the way to a level 13.

With each level increase, however, the chance to drop is cut in half. So you have 50% level 3, 25% level 4, 12.5% level 5, ... , and a measly 0.049% chance to drop the level 13.

Also currently, everything is interchangeable, meldable, and obtainable through any means (you can meld out a level 20 storage starting from level 3s [if you have enough room to begin with {Though the thought of melding 131072 level 3 anythings is a bit... absurd<And I've run out of brackets>}]).

Unique things are cool. We all liked them in RotMG. But I'm not sure where they would fit in to the Grid 12 system. Currently we have no class-specific items, and we don't even currently have equipment (though the latter is at least in the plans).

[Duco]

Jul 4, 2013 14:25:11 GMT -5 Ood said:

Jul 4, 2013 13:29:16 GMT -5 A Nonny Muse said:

Unique item drops from enemies might be interesting, like unique tank drops from each convoy type and the zeta.

Not sure you know how the drop system works.
(Currently) Let's say a structure has a 50% chance to drop a level 3 storage module. That means that the structure can drop a level 3, a level 4, ... , all the way to a level 13.

With each level increase, however, the chance to drop is cut in half. So you have 50% level 3, 25% level 4, 12.5% level 5, ... , and a measly 0.049% chance to drop the level 13.

Also currently, everything is interchangeable, meldable, and obtainable through any means (you can meld out a level 20 storage starting from level 3s [if you have enough room to begin with {Though the thought of melding 131072 level 3 anythings is a bit... absurd<And I've run out of brackets>}]).

Unique things are cool. We all liked them in RotMG. But I'm not sure where they would fit in to the Grid 12 system. Currently we have no class-specific items, and we don't even currently have equipment (though the latter is at least in the plans).

|You forgot this one.|

[A Nonny Muse]

Maybe the item part wasn't needed, but unique tank drops would work right? Unless they have to be coded in drops a different way

[univoid]

Love this, thanks!

[raidonx]

Oooh, I want to try my luck against a Zeta Complex. Hopefully I can get level 14 shields before i come up against one though, seeing as how I get recked by convoys as it is.