Colin Johanson livestream today with MMORPG.com

[Karizee]

For anyone that didn't catch this, 6 pm PST today at http://www.mmorpg.com/streams.cfm

[zito]

Think we will get some non vague answers this time around?

[Deleted]

Think we will get some non vague answers this time around?

Anytime around the only thing Anet will deliver is vague answers every single time

[Fencers]

Think we will get some non vague answers this time around?

Not too many companies are in the habit of doing that.

[Karizee]

I don't think we're going to get the details of the patch on MMORPG but we might pick up a tidbit or two.

[Zeek Daniels]

Interesting, ill watch.

[Lazuli]

Probably just more bullshit about how they don't want to add more pvp modes because of their beloved shitty conquest and oh how much they're working on this and that yet we'll never see it in game. ANet is pure PR and lies. Fuck them. yeah I mad

[Durzlla]

Will this be recorded? I'll be at work during it but would still wanna watch it...

[zito]

Will this be recorded? I'll be at work during it but would still wanna watch it...

Ill give you a summary of the things they actually answer.

[grandpab]

I love mmorpg.com, but their interviews aren't really great. Probably won't watch it, but I'll wait for a summary.

[Maarius]

can't wait to ignore another whine-thread

[zito]

The interview is also about other random games

QQ

[Maarius]

I love mmorpg.com, but their interviews aren't really great.

It seems like you are right, just boring questions about things we know since release... for now.

[Kelesti]

Orr's giving more waypoints that will always be active, getting more rewards, and thinning out some of the spawns so it's a more enjoyable experience. Temple bosses have been tweaked to be a bit more fun, apparently.

[Maarius]

ok more current stuff now

-) culling: lower rez models replaces models until the whole model is loaded in - 1st step of dealing with culling
-) aoe: they still think about what to do specificly
-) bunker ele: nothing new
-) engi/guardian, why does the engi feel weak...

...bah these are just baaad questions...

-) 8 professions are pretty split out even on the playerbase - says something about balance
-) lowest played race is charr

...soo boring interview... it's 3:35 a.m. here -__- ...

-) WvW: he's surprised that people don't use the DAoC tactic of splitting a zerg up to multiple mini-zergs to cap different points at the same time - which would be more effective
-) WvW progression: 2 systems they are working on, of of them is the progression system: WvW specific abilities + recognition (not only from name but also from level of achievement... Title,...?)
-) achievements: crowns: renamed to "laurels"(??) because crowns translates to bad words in other languages. Take no inventory space. Merchants in each major city. Ascended gear, infusions, fun items, tonic transforms you in different random cats, crazy-cat minipet, WvW-things you can get (!),...

-) daily achievements: each day different dailies - at first you have to do all of them. Down the road they add new achievements + let you pick 4 from 6, but not from start. They intend to create hotspots in the world each day - e.g. score points in Keg-Brawl.
+ they add new content in the world

-) guesting: limited to 2 worlds per day. ...nothing new...
in the last minute before release they found a major bug and had to take out guesting from release... was very frustrating for them

-) progression on levelcap: first they wanted people to get back to low level zones via backscaling
they learned: make sure that it's rewarding to go back to the old zones - they are focussing on this now in 2013 - it should be rewarding to go back. Depending on your level/where you are: you don't always get lv80 stuff - they are going to fix that - get CHANCE of lv80 loot while playing with your lv.2-friend.

-) teaser: tweaks to the experience in Orr: thinning out density of mobs in Orr + new (little change) rewards in these areas from vendors and drops. Don't expect too much.

User questions:

-) guild halls: not actively working on now but considered for the future
-) trade fractal relics for other items: not now

...stupid questions...

-) plans to tweak precursers (they already said not now, bad question again): they want to do it right and with an epic experience, no half-baked stuff. More important are things that effect all players, like making the core gameworld stronger.
-) lfg (not again... maan): Colin likes the fan-page. It's on their list, they are not building a dungeonfinder-tool, because he believes that it's bad for social experience, but there will be a lfg tool ... not in the next couple of months.
-) additional hairstyles, cosmetic features: down the road
-) Tengu playable race? One of Colins favourites - if they do it, they do it in an expansion

[Kelesti]

That's all I got confirmed for the actual January update. I missed the first half, but what I did catch have a lot of things that "are on our list" (scavenger quests, LFG tools).

Did giggle that they're not putting a dungeon finder into the game though, that automated will put you in a group and teleport you to the dungeon. An LFG tool to help groups get together, play together, and do things together, but they do want there still be a sense of world and community rather than a dungeon finder.


...eventually. "Something we'd like to do".

[BlairPhoenix]

Probably just more bullshit about how they don't want to add more pvp modes because of their beloved shitty conquest and oh how much they're working on this and that yet we'll never see it in game. ANet is pure PR and lies. Fuck them. yeah I mad

ANet is pure PR??? How does that make any sense, their PR is TERRIBLE. And you'll likely see it in game, just not the way you envisioned it from the overly hyped up way ANet talks to you about it, ala guesting.

On the topic of the actual interview, not really holding out hope for anything of interest, would expect ANet to just release a blog post about it if that were the case, but would hope at least ANet drops at least one juicy bit of info to make the thing worthwhile.

Edit: Of course in the time it takes me to write this, info drops, but ah well.

[Karizee]

That's all I got confirmed for the actual January update. I missed the first half, but what I did catch have a lot of things that "are on our list" (scavenger quests, LFG tools).

Did giggle that they're not putting a dungeon finder into the game though, that automated will put you in a group and teleport you to the dungeon. An LFG tool to help groups get together, play together, and do things together, but they do want there still be a sense of world and community rather than a dungeon finder.


...eventually. "Something we'd like to do".

Maybe you missed the part where he said it was currently in the design phase, that designers are working on it. That the developers aren't coding it yet, they are waiting for the design phase to be completed.

I laughed when Colin said he plays an engineer.

Was interesting to hear him talk about the lifecycle of launching a MMO, how a switch is flipped and they go from being developers to service providers and how when a new MMO launches, there is always a drop off to a stable core playerbase which plateaus for a bit then the game either starts to grow or it falls off further. He stated that both sales and concurrency have been on the increase which I think anyone who is actively playing can attest to and again stated it's much more successful than they had anticipated.

He said when they have things on "watch list" that they are being monitored 24/7 (such as the bunker ele). Careful peeps, you'll get on the watch list!! lol

[Lane]

-) daily achievements: each day different dailies - at first you have to do all of them. Down the road they add new achievements + let you pick 4 from 6, but not from start. They intend to create hotspots in the world each day - e.g. score points in Keg-Brawl.
+ they add new content in the world

Ew, that sucks. I was really hoping the daily would stay roughly as is. It's bad enough that the monthly is consistently something I don't want to do (notably WvW & fractals), but now they're going to be doing that with dailies too? Awesome. -_- I guess I won't be getting "laurels" as quickly as I thought. *sigh*

[Karizee]

Here is the video for anyone who missed it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c506z5fUEA