Distension Beta Suggestions/Bugfix thread

[roxxkatt]

ive seen the code, and the complaints as well...


you have to remember the ballgame is to dispel boredom, not to be a distraction, modifying the arena just for it is a terrible idea.
i suggest that the reward for a goal be 80% of what it is.

the balancer has always been incorrect, and needs to be fixed.
terrs should be worth 3 of any other ship, sharks worth 2.
a lvl60 wb shouldnt be worth a whole lot more then a lvl20 jav, and those should be much more linear...

the avarace currently checks for speccing losers, but apparently not far back enough...

and the high ranks make the game less fun while everyone has them, but the high lvls NEED to be tested...
a reset to 0 would take far too long.

so dug should up the multiplier to 20 soon, so we can get lvl80 ships, and then possibly FINALLY PUT THIS TO PUBLIC!

[H.M.S. Stargazer]

NEW DISTENSION TIMES FOR 2.5 weeks!

Alinea, Dug, and myself have discussed this at length and we have decided to change the hosting times starting tomorrow. It will be hosted from 2pm-3pm EST (this is the same) and 8pm-10pm EST. (this is extended and moved an hour later).

Many west coast players have voiced concerns that if they work 9-5 days they cant make either test time. So this is for them.

If this works, we will keep the times.

-H.M.S. Stargazer
On behalf of ECT/ DistOps

[Dibs]

A few comments and some suggestions for abilities.

• Terr:Terr attaching is either balanced or it is unbalanced (it is unbalanced, imho). As much as it is something that Terrs have to look forward to as they level, this is unfortunately not a good idea. Upping the required level does not fix the problem, it only delays it. Imagine the outcry when only one terr is level 100 and guarantees that team victories for weeks. The fact is, it takes a lot to take out a terr and even moreso when they're higher level - allowing the higher ones to come back quickly would be killer.

• If you can keep the ball from being present when the flagging is on, then having it decrease the speed of the ball carrier is essential. As it is now, faster ships have a huge advantage and there is no passing. The whole game is pretty much chaos though, but with nothing else to do during the downtime I'm not complaining.

• Sharks in trench wars have always been a necessary evil. I feel it's too far alon the development process to try to change that, but there must be some way to keep reps from shutting down an entire game. One idea I have is an ability for a ship likely to kill sharks (WB, spider?) to be able to activate an ability that prevents the other freq from being prized repels for 5, 10, 15 seconds (levels 1-3).
  • This idea can be extended. Since I'm not sure if you can de-prize specific greens, one way to allow ships to have a 'debuff' would be to disable prizing of that green for 'x' amount of time.
  • WBs could disable speed upgrades, Terrs thrusters, etc. etc.

Right now the ship distribution seems to strongly favour weasels and lancs. I'm very content with the spider right now and do not think that it needs further adjustment. Tweaks for the specializations might be nice - I've got high energy low recharge and the energy advantage I have seems to only amount to 100-150. I do think allowing spiders to have L3s is going to cause a lot of problems. No one has reached that point yet, but someone will and it's likely that it will get nasty -- we'll see.

[jngy slate]

I have no motivation to play.

[2kill]

I'm very content with the spider right now and do not think that it needs further adjustment. Tweaks for the specializations might be nice - I've got high energy low recharge and the energy advantage I have seems to only amount to 100-150. I do think allowing spiders to have L3s is going to cause a lot of problems. No one has reached that point yet, but someone will and it's likely that it will get nasty -- we'll see.

Dug has said already that spiders will never get blues.

you have to remember the ballgame is to dispel boredom, not to be a distraction, modifying the arena just for it is a terrible idea.
i suggest that the reward for a goal be 80% of what it is.

isn't the reward for the goals only like 600 per person? I read it that way it goes 7000 rp total (ave 623) or something

so dug should up the multiplier to 20 soon, so we can get lvl80 ships, and then possibly FINALLY PUT THIS TO PUBLIC!

quoted for truth

people seem to forget that this is beta and in most betas where there is levels the designers change you as they need to test things this means you need to learn to detach yourself from your ship and learn to play what ever rank you are. and if you really can't do that, before posting make sure that it isn't the other reasons you list and not cause you are annoyed that your ships were changed.

[Mjollnir]

...
you have to remember the ballgame is to dispel boredom, not to be a distraction, modifying the arena just for it is a terrible idea.
i suggest that the reward for a goal be 80% of what it is.
...

I know what it is for. I see only benefits in having a seperate area for the ball game. Currently some of the newbies keep playing near the goals, even when the game starts, because the games are mixed together and the ball game switches to a real one really quickly. Having the ball game in the same area as the real game just confuses people and makes it harder to improve the ball game field. This is not a high priority thing to do but it would make it more fun and less confusing for people.

[Mjollnir]

I have no motivation to play.

Because your Terrier got reset? This attitude seems to be pretty wide spread for some reason. Instead of helping with the beta, some people just stop playing because their precious ship got reset. How about trying a different ship? The same people usually call the ship specialization too complicated which is not even close to the truth. You don't even have to worry about the specialization at the moment if you don't want to. People in here are too used to spoon-fed-crap-events where you don't have to think for yourself.

[Soul Survivor]

Question

What is Distension Beta?

[Aquatiq]

Because your Terrier got reset? This attitude seems to be pretty wide spread for some reason. Instead of helping with the beta, some people just stop playing because their precious ship got reset. How about trying a different ship? The same people usually call the ship specialization too complicated which is not even close to the truth. You don't even have to worry about the specialization at the moment if you don't want to. People in here are too used to spoon-fed-crap-events where you don't have to think for yourself.

The ship reset basically weeded out the beta players, leaving you with a handful of beta testers. Unless some of you hardcore testers decide to focus on one ship and one ship only from now on, you're probably not going to get the same thorough testing of each ship, but instead a more shallow testing of all ships. It's not like trying out all the ships despite it not being "as fun" as playing your favorite is an act of sainthood. Some people just aren't here to do that, but you should still value their help in thoroughly testing a single ship. I think it's silly that people who obviously had ships higher than 50 before the reset weren't granted them back afterward.

[DankNuggets]

if everyone who had been playing before the reset was still playing, most people would have at least one ship at rank 50. when fewer people show up to play, the people who are there can't test out the different ships as much because there's always a need for terrs/sharks and not a lot of room to test ships like jav/wb/x when you don't have enough people on your team to keep the flag. People are going to base rather than play certain ships given the nature of the game.

It wouldn't take you a whole week to get your terr back where it was before the reset. In fact, given the specializations, you could actually make it better than before if you wanted, depending on what you like in a ship.

complaining that you lost your level 50 ship shows that you're not really as interested in the game as just pwning people in your favorite ship. I can see why these people have quit, as they were just there to have fun and not to beta test. hopefully they all come back once it goes public. Certainly it wasn't too terrible to get that ship so high anyway, or you would've just played a different one once it got hard or boring.

Either way, we could use bodies, even if you don't really want to test all the ships. Just play your one ship for 4-5 tests, and you'll be back around rank 50 anyway.

[Mjollnir]

The ship reset basically weeded out the beta players, leaving you with a handful of beta testers. Unless some of you hardcore testers decide to focus on one ship and one ship only from now on, you're probably not going to get the same thorough testing of each ship, but instead a more shallow testing of all ships. It's not like trying out all the ships despite it not being "as fun" as playing your favorite is an act of sainthood. Some people just aren't here to do that, but you should still value their help in thoroughly testing a single ship. I think it's silly that people who obviously had ships higher than 50 before the reset weren't granted them back afterward.

It did weed out a lot of people and it's a shame. I also agree that the reset sucked but there simply was no reliable/fair way to give people back their lost levels. We also have a much higher beta multiplier at the moment so it wouldn't be a huge chore to get your ship back to where it was.

[Dibs]

Dug has said already that spiders will never get blues.

They get them at level 75.

[Vergilius]

Small reply for some people that think weasel is one of the most powerful ships now: You're right, partially. When it is a small game, with about 7v7 or less the weasel is very powerful. Great speed, dodging makes it a very hard contestant. In dogfights it even stands a chance now. However- i've noticed that the strength of the weasel decreases when there are more people playing. The more ships in fr, the less powerful it gets (since it dies from l2's, full fr= lots of bullets = lots of deaths) I've done a little comparing again and i found that in a round of 9v9 i had about a 1.3:1 rec, while in a 5v5 i had a 3:1 rec. The reason it looks so powerful is just the fact that there arent enough players in the beta atm. Just keep that in mind if you want to tweak it.

[Mjollnir]

Small reply for some people that think weasel is one of the most powerful ships now: You're right, partially. When it is a small game, with about 7v7 or less the weasel is very powerful. Great speed, dodging makes it a very hard contestant. In dogfights it even stands a chance now. However- i've noticed that the strength of the weasel decreases when there are more people playing. The more ships in fr, the less powerful it gets (since it dies from l2's, full fr= lots of bullets = lots of deaths) I've done a little comparing again and i found that in a round of 9v9 i had about a 1.3:1 rec, while in a 5v5 i had a 3:1 rec. The reason it looks so powerful is just the fact that there arent enough players in the beta atm. Just keep that in mind if you want to tweak it.

That is just jolly good, ain't it?

[roxxkatt]

there are 3 bugs that need to be fixed:

#1: while the bot enters automated shutdown, it closes at the end of the next round, or free play.
HOWEVER, the bot will stay up permanently if free play is still going with not enough players, because it cancels the current round when there isnt enough players...

#2: no reward should be given for assisting with less then 3v3, (thats 3v3, not 6v0), and the reward should only be given out every 5 minutes, instead of 1 (currently)

#3: in a 1v1 ball game, you get "Distension> GOAL! Total 728 RP awarded (avg 364)" most of the time, instead of the correct "Distension> GOAL! Total 728 RP awarded (avg 728)"
whats going on? why isnt it correct 100% of the time?

while bugs #1 and #2 are combined, it allows rapid leveling, to the point where it might corrupt the entire db if word spread. dist WILL be 24/7, and this MUST be fixed.



also, why cant my wb even fire lv3 bullets at lvl45, when spids get to fire a stream of lv2s?

also, why is the assist bonus FOR ONE ASSIST currently worth -THREE TIMES- more then the end round award for winning?

slow down lanc bullets
raise lanc multi fire delay
little higher multi wzl delay
lower wb fire delay
lower wb fire cost
prismatic array, when maxed, happens far too often. i suggest it be +10% per lvl, instead of +15%
2nd terr burst should be lowered to 100UP, instead of 160, the burst recharge is worth far more...


i have gotten 6 out of 8 ships in the top 5 so far...
i should hope i know my way around this game now... =)