Help me plan for Beta!

[Karl G.]

With a ton of stuff to do before I release beta (sometime in April) and a rather limited amount of time, I'd like the community's input to help me prioritize. What's most important that would make YOU want to play? Let's brainstorm some ideas, and I'll make a poll.

Balancing
So far, I've been hearing a lot that balancing is a big issue: I've been playing around with damage, spell MP cost, regen rates, hp/MP, drop rates, monster HP, speeds, buffs etc. and have yet to hit that "sweet spot" where everything seems to be about right. Bummer. Now that I think about it, this may be issue #1.


More Content
I'd like to add 1 more class, and complete spells for the 3 classes up to level 35 before beta. Also, I'd like to add tons of new items.


Economy
The economy of an MMO is what drives player interaction and makes the game more social. You need to be able to buy, sell and trade items.


Map Size
The maps need to be much bigger and better-designed. Improvements include a more "lush" environment, darker colors, more monster types, and interesting dungeons to explore.


Comments? Additions?

[marzuku]

Displaying DMG with the current weapon and stats you have recieved from armors and leveling, sorcerors have spell dmg.

A display of dmg on the stat screen, we already have defence and hp/mana but we aint got the dmg output of a normal hit for knights or spell dmg for sorcerors, just something i find interesting comparing dmg/defence/mana/hp with your strategic ways of fighting, and designing your own style.

[Joe M.]

You've heard my thoughts on this:

• first build the structure (Economy and Map out of these four, plus a few other things that aren't mentioned here, notably a grouping system of some sort) and make sure it runs (passably) well
• then release Beta
• and then add a whole lot of content once Beta is already released

The third class would be nice to have before Beta (that's more along the lines of structure), but the spells and items and balancing really aren't necessary until after the release: sure, they'd be nice to have, but not *necessary* ; we're prioritizing, not fantasizing.

[Joe M.]

I should clarify:
It's very easy to tweak numbers and test balancing and add in content like items. None of this changes the game in a fundamental way, and it can be changed and tested very quickly: all it would take is a series of quick updates, easily implemented and tested, to get it right.

But an update like a map or an economy are big and fundamental things that take a lot of time to implement and can have deep-set bugs that are difficult to figure out and to fix.

If you get the big things in place first, Beta will be characterized by a rapid, adaptable, and efficient build-up of content, rather than (as the Alpha has been--as an Alpha should be) the slow and sometimes unsteady implementation of big updates that each require plenty of adjusting afterward to get just right.

But most importantly, with the big and structural things in place, there really will be nothing to worry about except content and bug-fixes. If you go into Beta without having implemented (say) the Economy, at some point you're going to have to go back and add it in. It seems that it would make for a smoother and more efficient development process to do the structure first and the content later.

But that's just the way things seem to me; anybody else got thoughts?

[TekXzero]

I agree with Joe on this, even if it's a little messed up damage wise, or not as many items around for beginning of beta, most people won't know right awat (accept us alphaers) and can be added at a later date. Whereas the map, even for people who know there's no better items to find and what not, it's still very interesting to explore and find new things everyday. Like dungeons or mazes and such. Although a character class would be good for beta to give players more of a broad choice, and make them maybe want to make another class character, which in turn keeps them at bay for lower level items and damage isn't too big a deal then at that point either. So that would give you some time after release of beta to figure out all the damage specs.

[Joe M.]

Now granted, my "structure first, content later" principles are not absolute: sometimes more content is needed *now*. This happens when players exhaust the current content. So the trick is to slow them down enough to buy you time to build the structures (this problem is why I advocate structure first, so you don't have to buy time to take care of something else). 2.9 is a step towards this, with the monsters becoming considerably more dangerous (thanks in part to lower player damage), but if you do wish to add some content right away (which might not be a bad thing: the current game is a little sparse), I would recommend something along the lines of critical bug fixes (especially the loot bug), a few more spells, several more hunting areas (a more difficult GY, perhaps?), one or two more monster-types, and some very difficult monsters (maybe even a boss?) that would pose a serious threat to even a lvl 20 player. This would give us players plenty to enjoy while you then went back and spent some time on structural stuff before Beta and the shift back to content.

[marzuku]

Yeah for Beta i think at least the stats should mean this, and they should say that when you had the mouse cursor above them.

Strength = melee attack power
"Mental"agility = speed and response of the character to cast new spells or attacks.
Constitution = Health points
intelligence = Spell attack power
Wisdom = mana points.

[Joe M.]

That's pretty much exactly what they already do (WIS also affects defensive-spell effectiveness and INT gives a very small amount of MP), and their functions are displayed in the character-creation screen (which is very helpful in this way) when you hold the mouse over them. It would be nice if the stats screen also had that feature, but the stats screen needs a bit of a reworking anyway (display regens, name/race/class, magic defense, tooltips on stats, &c). Not certain if that will be pre- or in-Beta.

[marzuku]

That's pretty much exactly what they already do (WIS also affects defensive-spell effectiveness and INT gives a very small amount of MP), and their functions are displayed in the character-creation screen (which is very helpful in this way) when you hold the mouse over them. It would be nice if the stats screen also had that feature, but the stats screen needs a bit of a reworking anyway (display regens, name/race/class, magic defense, tooltips on stats, &c). Not certain if that will be pre- or in-Beta.

yeah that's what they do.. but the explanation is what i was aiming for cutie

[Sankt Pauli]

Well, "beta" technically means being a prototype of a software which includes all known features of the final release, so i'd say something like "structure first - content later" fits it pretty good.
Having the first "tier" of content avaible at beta start (like a nubby continent and nubby gear, maybe even a few nubby quests? ^^) would allready be good to go imo, since content updates should be much quicker and easier than having to frickle with the calculations n' shizz.

Edit: To actually answer your question, go for balancing and economy first, then the other parts. =)