November State of the Game

Ceridith

http://forums.fallenearth.com/fallenearth/showthread.php?t=44706
 

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Happy November!

First and foremost, I’d like to personally thank you all for your continued support and involvement with Fallen Earth. I know you have been patiently waiting for us to address some of the new features and schedule of projects for the next few months, and that’s what I’m here to do.

To get straight to it, I’d like to address the question I see most: “Where is Sector 4?” In order for us to deliver meaningful content successfully, we needed to take a step back and address some concerns about game play and balance. We’re now at a place where we are ready to move forward and deliver significant content patches in a timely fashion.

Alpha County will be the first new area of Sector 4 and will increase the current level cap by 5 more levels, as well as bring new recipes, gear and consumables to the game. As we get closer to the release date, I will be sharing more concept art, screen shots and general info. Be sure to visit the Fallen Earth Facebook page for a first look at new art.
Between now and then we have a full schedule of new features and improvements starting in November:

This month, we will be pushing the physical combat changes to the PTS. We're looking for more feedback on the recent changes we have made to the Damage and mitigation values. With the physical combat changes, we've re-balanced the Dodge mitigation bonus to bring it more in balance prior to the rebalancing of the Dodge skills. We've also fixed some bugs with NPC's optimal range and reload time and how they are balanced with the NPC weapon damage. Once we have enough feedback on these changes we will begin the next phase of the combat balance, focusing on Faction skills and Mutations.

Additionally, the art team has been cranking on some noticeable upgrades to graphics and we will be pushing new lighting and terrain changes as well as the improved current state of Boneclaw. Masters did some damage, but you can't keep the CHOTA down for long.

We've also gone back and tightened up our tutorial. We’ve focused on revising our tooltips, giving more combat practice and getting the player into the game faster. We want to make sure that new players are learning the skills they will need to survive in the Wastelands, while having fun.

To celebrate Black Friday (the last Friday in November) FE-style, we will be having an Free Ammo Blood Sports weekend where players can jump into any arena without having to worry about expending hard-earned ammo. We will also be having a Dev weekend on the PTS so we can experience the new combat changes along with all of you—we’d also like to answer questions and serve as PVP target practice. Lastly, as we’re continuously adding new items to the FE online store, starting with making new character slots available as soon as next week.

In December, we will be focusing on different high-end group content/world boss mechanics, improvements to the serendipity system, new recipes and encounter areas as well as continuing to work on balancing Progress Towns. We will also be implementing a system that will enable us to balance AP better without restricting player’s ability to earn it. Once we have this system in place we will be able to offer new ways to earn AP, making alternative play styles more viable.

To celebrate the holidays, we will be running several in-game contests as well as introducing our Rally mission series and giving out presents. Keep an eye on the Fallen Earth website for details on our holiday festivities.

As far as systems that are still on the schedule, but less immediate, we are still working towards custom colorization for armor. We've gotten a lot of positive feedback from the customizable social clothing which will help us expand on the current system.

We're focused on what makes Fallen Earth great and working towards expanding those systems first, and adding to the others more gradually—this means adding more content, more recipes, and more player driven systems. As we have these new systems closer to release on the PTS we will be getting the details to you.

If you're celebrating a holiday this month, I hope it's a good one!

See you in the Wastelands

Marie P. Croall
Senior Game Designer

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