Content Info

[RampidGreg]

There have been a number of posts lately about the future of content in OW. So I will attempt to convey my philosophy on the subject, and give you an idea about what you can expect.

1. Suggestions/Ideas from players.

I do get frequent feedback, and flow of ideas from a variety of sources... and I do my best to figure out what things would create the best changes in the game. Ultimately though, I can't do them all, if for no other reason then time in a day...

I would love to take every idea and put it in the game to make everyone happy, unfortunately that would make(pardon the cliche)no one happy. For the simple fact that people rarely agree on what should be done. As an example, just trying to figure out what level range to make the next piece of content becomes a nightmare, some want low level content, some want high level content, both are needed, but which would be the best for the game right now? That can be hard to answer, and depends greatly on peoples current progression through the game.

In the end, even if I alter the ideas that come in to fit into the grand scheme of things, the process of reading through/filtering/rewriting, and implementing of the ideas, not to mention responding to players etc. becomes time intensive, and a huge distraction. I would like to, at some point, have more time for this, but right now it just won't fit into my schedule.

2. My philosophy on the development of content.

I personally believe that content should be story driven, have interesting characters, and good imagery. But above all, it should be fun/worhtwhile to do for the majority of people.
If you were to ask people what's most important to them in content, you'd get a wide array of things. Some just want something to do, some want that really rare item, some want to get a lot of exp, some want an interesting story, some want cool pictures... the list is endless. So I have a choice, either I try and make some people happy, or I try to make as many people happy as I can. Given that choice I choose the second option. I don't expect everyone to be happy with everything I do, I'd go crazy trying to accomplish that... but I will do my best.

3. There "are" only one of me...

Because of how I approach content, I can not bring myself to just add "cannon fodder" quests... it's true I will add some quest that have less thought/time behind them then others, but that stems from the attempt to find a balance between amount of time I invest vs. quality vs. how much play time you guys get out of it. I certainly haven't perfected it, but will continue to work on improving it.
The way I develop new content (when I am given the time) is a involved process, I create outlines of back story, character sheets, story progression, and dialogue based on all of this.... not to mention designing and creating all the images associated with it, and yes I do create all the images associated with the things I add(in varying quality, depending on how much time I have).
Basically what I'm saying is that it takes time.

4. As for the future...

I'm currently working on what I see as the biggest gap in content, which is that once you reach a certain level, there just isn't much if anything to do. So I am working on a series of large expansions to the game, primarily for the higher level ranges 45-70. I'm using this opportunity to create/expand on the general back story of Outwar. I'm not going to give details on exactly when they will be released, or what they contain. I will say that there will be a mix of solo content, raids, items etc. And that there will be a mix of times between releases, some will be a few weeks... some will be longer, but no longer then 2 months. Keep in mind, these will be permanent expansions to the game, and as such I want them to be as good as I can make them in the time I am given.
Side note on this... when I am finished with these packs of content, that won't necessarily mean you will have a continues line of things to do until you reach 70, months of content would equal years of development for me, rather, you will have something to do at different stages of growth that you didn't have before.

While I am doing that, we will have smaller, more temporary things happening for your enjoyment. These could be a bunch of different things, so don't ask me what exactly they will be, because that will be evolving as we move forward... that and I will only be small contributing member to these, while others will be planning/implementing them.

I hope this answers most of your questions(at least the ones I can/will answer), if not, I will try and check back on this thread frequently and respond to your queries...

[Egnar]

personally believe that content should be story driven, have interesting characters, and good imagery. But above all, it should be fun/worhtwhile to do for the majority of people.
If you were to ask people what's most important to them in content, you'd get a wide array of things. Some just want something to do, some want that really rare item, some want to get a lot of exp, some want an interesting story, some want cool pictures... the list is endless. So I have a choice, either I try and make some people happy, or I try to make as many people happy as I can. Given that choice I choose the second option. I don't expect everyone to be happy with everything I do, I'd go crazy trying to accomplish that... but I will do my best.Question as to where this philosophy actually makes it into the game. If you look at newer content updates (like the black hole/cave thing) you'll notice a huge amount of time is required to be invested into 2/3 of the quests for hardly any reward compared to what could be gotten from regular dcing. The third quest of course offers an interesting reward, but, relies on artificial boundaries like huge rage costs and horrible drop rates to stop the people that actually need these rewards from getting them.

I mean honestly - The mobs in the newest area cost 45-70 or so rage to attack and you get 15,000 exp for killing 600 of them!? The people who can actually do this without blinking hardly need the 15,000 exp yet the people who could really be boosted by 15k exp spend weeks trying to get it when they could have just dc'd Stizzy/Rallis for hundreds of thousands of exp.

I understand and agree with the philosophy but based on current updates I just don't see where
A) We've had an interesting story driven plot that drives us for a long time (The last ones were the epic quests)
B) Fun/excitement
C) Interesting, rewarding items

Come into play. I enjoyed dcing the lowbie quests on Rancid because, while they weren't particularly interesting for the most part the rewards fit the work invested whereas I can hardly stand to do these new quests on my Torax character because they just aren't worth doing at all.

Forgive me for saying but I sincerely feel that this development team, like the development teams of many free online games I've played has really lost. . .That spark that really pushed the game forward. And it's not all your fault. We as a community have been so focused on screwing over the other player and advancing our own characters for our sole benefit that we've lost sight of what attracted us to actually stick with Outwar and fund it for so many years.

[makavelitehdon]

Any heads up info on new content thats geting released that was mentioned in the news?

[Shawty]

Some good thoughts Greg - I think the one single way to ease player concerns is communication!

Smaller, but more frequent updates would be a massive winner in my opinion - it gets people talking about things, "whats it gonna be...?", "have you heard about this/that?" etc, and the more people are intrigued the better - it keeps up the interest, after all, i have been home from work for 25 minutes and within that time, 11 people have asked my if i knew what the new content was!!........they are intrigued!!

Smaller bits of info to keep people updated will certainly add that element of the unknown!!.......

I think it is really good that we will be getting new content - and i think (apart from communication bit already mentioned) they will be well received by all...............how about popping into our mod chat one day and spilling, cause i wanna know, lol!

Thanks for stopping by and posting :D

Shawty

[RampidGreg]

Egnar

I understand where you are coming from, and I will say that the rage costs of things will be altered in the near future.
As for your other points, I'm just getting started on the big push in content.

makavelitehdon

Being worked on, watch the news for more information on that...

[RampidGreg]

If I can figure out a good format for pre-releasing bits of information at certain times, I'll start doing that... but generally I like to keep things as vague as possible, just in case I change my mind about certain things as I go...

[Shawty]

If I can figure out a good format for pre-releasing bits of information at certain times, I'll start doing that... but generally I like to keep things as vague as possible, just in case I change my mind about certain things as I go...

perfectly understandable - well aim me if you want someone to test :o

I am, as i know a lot of ppl are looking forward to the new content, i think everyone is either thinkg, or assuming (rightly or wrongly) that WOZ will be back - either way, they will be happy for content :)

[snake]

Egnar

I understand where you are coming from, and I will say that the rage costs of things will be altered in the near future.
As for your other points, I'm just getting started on the big push in content.

makavelitehdon

Being worked on, watch the news for more information on that...


Thats nice to know greg seems in the years past admins never really cared what we thought about how the game was running they would just say if you complain about the game just quit playing it if your not happy but alot of people have stuck with the game like my self because we have alot of friends we have meet on this game. Just nice to finally have some admins who care what members think Between Se7en, Justin, and your self.

[Shawty]

Thats nice to know greg seems in the years past admins never really cared what we thought about how the game was running they would just say if you complain about the game just quit playing it if your not happy but alot of people have stuck with the game like my self because we have alot of friends we have meet on this game. Just nice to finally have some admins who care what members think Between Se7en, Justin, and your self.


This is echoed throughout most of us older players!!...........and not just about admin who care, but ones that are actually people that talk to players!!..

[champ]

First of all thanks for taking the time to explain future plans, I believe that's just what we needed.

Second of all, if I may give a small suggestion, if I can't I'm going to say it anyway, having quests where you unlock a following quest will make more people participate it, because the end result is unknown for quiet a while.

I know a lot of people not doing the Tech pants quest because the result was disappointing so they sit back and say 'bored' every 2 hours. I did the quest knowing the result was having a vaulted pants, but I'm a catogory on my own.

Last but not least, those tease messages on the news might make people sign in more so keep that up for sure.

That's about it. Looking forward to your future work.

[Egnar]

If I can figure out a good format for pre-releasing bits of information at certain times, I'll start doing that... but generally I like to keep things as vague as possible, just in case I change my mind about certain things as I go...

I've found the best way is to post a thread based on what I actually want to do - Keeping the whole idea vague but outlining the general premise. You don't even have to make a promise - Just disclaim that "this is something we're looking into at the moment.

Then, every few days keep us posted on the progress. I'd personally rather hear "this, after some testing we decided won't work" then nothing at all.

Honestly, I think you need one person on your team whose main concern is communicating openly with the community. It seems like a silly job but keeping open and constant communication and having someone who can even just go through every bug on the bug forum and say "I've addressed this with Justin/Greg" goes a very long way.

Players like to be heard, even if there voice doesn't make it through to the development stage they're more likely to be content knowing that someone read it and thought about it.

Edit:

I remember at one point in the last 2 years there was a month or so period where at least once a week we were given an update on bug fixes, content to come or whatever was on the horizon. It was always awesome seeing these messages. . .

[snake]

Then, every few days keep us posted on the progress. I'd personally rather hear "this, after some testing we decided won't work" then nothing at all.

Honestly, I think you need one person on your team whose main concern is communicating openly with the community. It seems like a silly job but keeping open and constant communication and having someone who can even just go through every bug on the bug forum and say "I've addressed this with Justin/Greg" goes a very long way.




i been saying this for almost a year that they should do this

[Shawty]

Honestly, I think you need one person on your team whose main concern is communicating openly with the community. It seems like a silly job but keeping open and constant communication and having someone who can even just go through every bug on the bug forum and say "I've addressed this with Justin/Greg" goes a very long way.

This is sort of what i was trying to get across in my first post!................ppls dont know whats going on, they get miffed and lose interest, weekly news updates and/or this would work, to keep ppl on the edge of their seats, so to speak

[Egnar]

Exactly, that's what we need - Even if we don't use news posts keeping track of an update via a forum post stickied in the general forums is the next best thing and still keeps us in constant communication.

[SeqeR]

I'm looking forward to it.

[Shawty]

Exactly, that's what we need - Even if we don't use news posts keeping track of an update via a forum post stickied in the general forums is the next best thing and still keeps us in constant communication.

which will benefit the forum as well as the game and also player communication between each other!!...........

[Egnar]

By Jorge I think he's got it!

[RampidGreg]

Thanks for the feedback, I would definitely like to spend more time talking to you guys, but I've been amazed how much time that can take up. It would be nice if we could have an in house person who could make the forums a big part of their day, but we are all pretty busy... I'll think about, either making regular forum posts, or news post, to fill you guys in on what I am working... give me a few days to figure out how to format it... and I'll get that started

[DruiD]

Sounds good, just from reading your initial post I am intrigued big time - keeps me coming back to see what's next, I like that

[Egnar]

Thanks for the feedback, I would definitely like to spend more time talking to you guys, but I've been amazed how much time that can take up. It would be nice if we could have an in house person who could make the forums a big part of their day, but we are all pretty busy... I'll think about, either making regular forum posts, or news post, to fill you guys in on what I am working... give me a few days to figure out how to format it... and I'll get that started
The coders shouldn't be the community reps, trust me. . .

You need someone who, like you said, spends a good portion of there day either on the forums or in a "sanctioned" Outwar mIRC channel. You need someone who knows how to talk to people - Not someone who will just spill information, rather, someone who knows what they're talking about and will get the players excited. After all that is there job.

Whoever is given that responsibility needs to be able to pledge activity since, after all, it's there sole duty as well as being able to sport an aura of persuasive discussion without coming off as too strong or hostile.

We don't want someone to tell us things - We want someone to make us desire content, get excited for events or sales or whatever is on the horizon. Such a position can go a long way towards improving the morale of the playerbase and the lack of faith a lot of people have in the administration.

[snake]

Thanks for the feedback, I would definitely like to spend more time talking to you guys, but I've been amazed how much time that can take up. It would be nice if we could have an in house person who could make the forums a big part of their day, but we are all pretty busy... I'll think about, either making regular forum posts, or news post, to fill you guys in on what I am working... give me a few days to figure out how to format it... and I'll get that started

It dont have to be every day that you go on the foums to see what people have to say even if it is 1 day a week for a few hours to talk with players like your are today will go a long way. Everything in teh past has allways been hush hush untill somethen comes out that is why you allways see people on shoutbox or profiles saying "I Quit" or "Im On Break" lvl 60 was know as the game over lvl for how long? no admin would say there was new lvls going to be added to the game they allways said lvl 60 was going to be the highest so i know when i hit lvl 60 along with alot of others didnt care about the game any more. I know alot of people who totaly quit the game once they hit lvl 60. Understand what im saying? All it would of taken was 5 mins out of a day of someone to do a news story saying w"We will be adding new levels tot he game soon" and would of kept alot of people playing.

One more thing not only is there a big gap in dc for high level players there is a big gap in crews. there is 1 crew on sigil that can do dreg and nar zhul because they can do dreg every time it is up no problem. Some say well your crew dont work hard enough my questions why not add somethen where a crew can only beat a god every other time that way will rule out a crew domating a server. he you could make it if a crew beats dreg one day. the next time it spawns they cant form a raid untill it had been up for 1 hour this way if a nother crew cant beat it with in that 1 hour it is there own fault.

[makavelitehdon]

You guys should just do like a chat once a week or a month, and fill us in with info that might be coming out.

[skydragon666]

Sorry 2 Be a stick in the mud but ow needs a total change revamp as you said dreg kill 100's of mob = Leet Item

it dont matter how you edit any part of dc because when you add a new room in dc within 1 day there is a working dcaa for that room


i know not all if any of your idea's are based arround dc but you cant fix 1 problem by fixing another

as for personal Player stuff (CAN'T Wait) Person i Would Like 2 See Somthing that Involves Skill and Brain Power (MAYBE a Live Q And A Once a Month)

basically it would work like this
you go 2 A Room Eg room 11
and talk 2 some 1 that register's you
Then 24 hours after that
the quiz begins
Admins Ask Ow Questions (For Example What Crew First Took Synge)
that question gets sent a message 2 all players that registered
You Reply 2 the message with the answer
if you get it correct you get 1 point
if you get it wrong you get 0 points
if your the fastest 2 answer you get 1 bonus point

25 questions
Winner Gets A Magic Globe

and you make a Globe Room
and you can Buy Things In It
For Example (NOT ITEMS OR AUGS)
But Eg for 5 Globes You Can Have A Rare Spawn Named After You
For 10 Globes You Can Get A Medal Saying Outwar History God
For 15 Globes You Can Spawn 1 God (Of Your Choice)
For 20 Globes You Can Lock Down A God (eg it becomes invisible) And Cant Be Killed For 24 Hours
And Soo On

[exdbx]

I was thinking instead of adding more content maybe adjusting some of the stats on some of it that is already around. There is several items in the game that are really not suitable for there stats such as sacred blade its sooo hard to get a quiver life force and the stats of a normal sacred blade is only 523 attk in compared to Proton Chaingun 609 attk which is worth much less and easier to get on any given server, perhaps the life forces should drop more frequently in bunches or the Proton to drop Alot less or even have some elemental attk. There is also other items such as Unassailable rampart that could use some buffs since its a rare drop and its stats don't match its drop rate.

Any other items you guys know that need changes?

[Egnar]

Yes but you can't upgrade a proton gun, which is where the value of the SB comes from. If there was no Refined Blade then the SB would be much cheaper.

[champ]

Yes but you can't upgrade a proton gun, which is where the value of the SB comes from. If there was no Refined Blade then the SB would be much cheaper.

You can't put a price on a Sacred Blade as no real crew would sell one.

[skydragon666]

You can't put a price on a Sacred Blade as no real crew would sell one.

oh wait champ was that a dig at a certain crew?

and what do you think of my idea

[GAGE]

i just wanna see more area's in d.c for the over lvl 60's cause the higher u grow the less mobs u have to hit, cause at my lvl i cant gain anything from lvl 47 down it takes pitty

and i hope the new content aint like tech pants because that was a none starter i hope we see something like woz come back but 1 wave a month would give u a good 5 months to bring in other content why its ongoing

[Egnar]

You can't put a price on a Sacred Blade as no real crew would sell one.No but parts of them are sold - So a full blade can be bought.

[HecInDisguise]

No but parts of them are sold - So a full blade can be bought.

what champ meant is that u'd have to be insane as a crew leader to sell sigil/quiver LFs ... :|
or server would have to be flooded with sacred blades :|

[Domination]

I would be nice to have it once every 2 weeks or a month at the leased. bing informed makes us happy :)

[simonrobinson]

There have been a number of posts lately about the future of content in OW. So I will attempt to convey my philosophy on the subject, and give you an idea about what you can expect.

1. Suggestions/Ideas from players.

I do get frequent feedback, and flow of ideas from a variety of sources... and I do my best to figure out what things would create the best changes in the game. Ultimately though, I can't do them all, if for no other reason then time in a day...

I would love to take every idea and put it in the game to make everyone happy, unfortunately that would make(pardon the cliche)no one happy. For the simple fact that people rarely agree on what should be done. As an example, just trying to figure out what level range to make the next piece of content becomes a nightmare, some want low level content, some want high level content, both are needed, but which would be the best for the game right now? That can be hard to answer, and depends greatly on peoples current progression through the game.

In the end, even if I alter the ideas that come in to fit into the grand scheme of things, the process of reading through/filtering/rewriting, and implementing of the ideas, not to mention responding to players etc. becomes time intensive, and a huge distraction. I would like to, at some point, have more time for this, but right now it just won't fit into my schedule.

2. My philosophy on the development of content.

I personally believe that content should be story driven, have interesting characters, and good imagery. But above all, it should be fun/worhtwhile to do for the majority of people.
If you were to ask people what's most important to them in content, you'd get a wide array of things. Some just want something to do, some want that really rare item, some want to get a lot of exp, some want an interesting story, some want cool pictures... the list is endless. So I have a choice, either I try and make some people happy, or I try to make as many people happy as I can. Given that choice I choose the second option. I don't expect everyone to be happy with everything I do, I'd go crazy trying to accomplish that... but I will do my best.

3. There "are" only one of me...

Because of how I approach content, I can not bring myself to just add "cannon fodder" quests... it's true I will add some quest that have less thought/time behind them then others, but that stems from the attempt to find a balance between amount of time I invest vs. quality vs. how much play time you guys get out of it. I certainly haven't perfected it, but will continue to work on improving it.
The way I develop new content (when I am given the time) is a involved process, I create outlines of back story, character sheets, story progression, and dialogue based on all of this.... not to mention designing and creating all the images associated with it, and yes I do create all the images associated with the things I add(in varying quality, depending on how much time I have).
Basically what I'm saying is that it takes time.

4. As for the future...

I'm currently working on what I see as the biggest gap in content, which is that once you reach a certain level, there just isn't much if anything to do. So I am working on a series of large expansions to the game, primarily for the higher level ranges 45-70. I'm using this opportunity to create/expand on the general back story of Outwar. I'm not going to give details on exactly when they will be released, or what they contain. I will say that there will be a mix of solo content, raids, items etc. And that there will be a mix of times between releases, some will be a few weeks... some will be longer, but no longer then 2 months. Keep in mind, these will be permanent expansions to the game, and as such I want them to be as good as I can make them in the time I am given.
Side note on this... when I am finished with these packs of content, that won't necessarily mean you will have a continues line of things to do until you reach 70, months of content would equal years of development for me, rather, you will have something to do at different stages of growth that you didn't have before.

While I am doing that, we will have smaller, more temporary things happening for your enjoyment. These could be a bunch of different things, so don't ask me what exactly they will be, because that will be evolving as we move forward... that and I will only be small contributing member to these, while others will be planning/implementing them.

I hope this answers most of your questions(at least the ones I can/will answer), if not, I will try and check back on this thread frequently and respond to your queries...

thats exactly what some of these players needed ..thanx alot for post

[nhake]

Thanks for the feedback, I would definitely like to spend more time talking to you guys, but I've been amazed how much time that can take up. It would be nice if we could have an in house person who could make the forums a big part of their day, but we are all pretty busy... I'll think about, either making regular forum posts, or news post, to fill you guys in on what I am working... give me a few days to figure out how to format it... and I'll get that started

Hire me, hire me!!!! :D

Someone keeping dibs on mirc and on these forums would be a huge help for you guys. They can take care of talking to players, jotting down bugs/glitches, and getting new ideas while you guys go and focus on planning and getting things done. Maybe you should make a new page that displays all known bugs/content information so that way people can check with that daily. For instance, instead of getting about 238972309847 support tickets about furry that was broken, they can just go to that page and see if the problem is known and get any information regarding it. If they don't see it, they know they should go and send in a support ticket about it. This might help control support tickets a little.

Also, thanks for the update on things. I know a lot of players that are very very VERY happy to see you guys opening up a bit and talking to us :).

[Dark_Dragon_311]

First of all thanks for taking the time to explain future plans, I believe that's just what we needed.

Second of all, if I may give a small suggestion, if I can't I'm going to say it anyway, having quests where you unlock a following quest will make more people participate it, because the end result is unknown for quiet a while.

I know a lot of people not doing the Tech pants quest because the result was disappointing so they sit back and say 'bored' every 2 hours. I did the quest knowing the result was having a vaulted pants, but I'm a catogory on my own.

Last but not least, those tease messages on the news might make people sign in more so keep that up for sure.

That's about it. Looking forward to your future work.



I couldn't agree w/ u more on that champ

[Swudeson]

Thank you for the [vague] update Greg :)

I hope to hear more details about the upcoming content soon!

[Egnar]

Got a new update today - I really wish the guys at Rampid would learn how to spark excitement. Just saying 'event' gets people a bit happy. Spilling even minor details or leaking vague details that may not make sense or can be taken many ways gets people really pumped.

[simonrobinson]

i like these little snippits of info ...........im pumped !!!!!!!! gogogogogo

[JGeatsU]

i think they need to brign back woz and this new contect i have a feleigm has somethign to do with gods. ne wones new areas an dmabye somehting liek woz in the way but the itesm woudl eb stronger then srt :)

[Rampid_Justin]

I'm finding it very ironic that they end a 150% point promo on a thursday evening, instead of on a friday. Why am I surprised? Many people get paid on fridays, and I know that they would get a few more people to buy points if they extended it through friday. But hey, they have their business practices ironed out, right? :D

Nothing to do with pay day or anything like it. You run a promo too long and you make points worth less.

[NightThaProphet]

it always nice to see a good post about content info to let the players know whats going on

[Swudeson]

Hmm, but can they really be worth less than they are right now on Sigil server? :| I just think it might help, that's all.

Also fix the Crew Upgrade Bug please, before people click buy or something stupid to make a huge point issue!

[xxheroinxx]

Points arn't worth that much on the sigil server? On fabar if you have over 1k points.. You are rich beyond dream at the moment.

BTW thanks for the info.. Really good to hear.. :)

Wee more fun to have.

[Wizzy]

Thanks for the update Greg. I finally get to see you post on the forums!

I'm glad to hear that you'll be working on the lines of communications and keeping our curiosity piqued. I for one can't wait. And I'm glad to hear that you base your quests of a thoughtful storyline because that's one of the absolute important aspects of any game and quest (hence FFVII is the best game ever).

Try as much as you can to talk to us every few days or even once a week. I'm sure that'll make alot of people very happy and keep them from going crazy. ^_^

what champ meant is that u'd have to be insane as a crew leader to sell sigil/quiver LFs ... :|
or server would have to be flooded with sacred blades :|

I know of a crew that traded away a Sacred Blade :-"

[Firestarter]

for an infernal essence ? :p

[exdbx]

i say we need more finalfantasy/ kingdomhearts based equipment for maximized sexy looks :P

[Wizzy]

Yep and they should come out with a full on 3D RPG game with an in-depth story line, characters and battle system while they're at it ^_^