If it was done only with the client does that mean other players don't see the destruction you would cause? Because that wouldn't make sense. I imagine everyone could see a hole you made in the ground which means it has to be sent to the server and to their client.
And yes the EQ Next AI was way too ambitious. its something they talk about in the AoC Q&A from the people who helped worked on it.
I didn't say it is only client side, I replied to specific formulation of your post. Why twisting what I am saying?
The whole effect of destruction, the part you talk about, is processed client side. On the server side, it is merely a change of object value - no big deal.
I never denied it wasn't ambituos, just saying that technical difficulties were unlikely a reason of project cancelation.
On more general note, most of similar features aren't as much difficult technical but design wise.
The example could be easily used mentioned terraforming. The real challenge is how to implement it in fun way without being it abused and not interfering with other features. Technically it isn't all that of big deal, 5 men made MMO like Perpetuum got it in and I would say it is also a good example how difficult it is to implement it meaningfully.
I can imagine same case was StoryBricks. Complex AI attached to questing but at the end of the day, you get same kill 10 wolfs/bring 10 wolf hides routine. GW2 and "dynamic world"? We know how did that go...
Finding a technical solution is the easier part, transition from catchy phrase to proper analysis is the difficult part.
Yeah I mean there were probably many reasons it failed. Some of the guys at AoC worked on EQ Next and they talked about how badly managed the project was. From both a technical and design stand point I could imagine the multitude of problems they would run into because of trying to make the world out of voxels and be destructible. I think AoC does a good job of creating the illusion of the AI EQ Next was going for but with only a fraction of the complexity.
The most complex part of AoC I haven't been able to wrap my head around yet is the class system. You have 8 primary classes each with a number of abilities (not announced yet) but lets assume 10 and 8 secondary classes. Those secondary classes give you ways to alter the abilities from the primary class. So that is 80 abilities at the BARE MINIMUM. From what they have said there will be multiple options per ability. They gave an example of 4. That's 320 possible combinations. Not including religions, social orgs, and racials (they give you more ways to alter abilities). The majority of those will probably just change range/damage/aoe affect/etc probably. We don't have enough details on the system but it worries me in terms of balance.
So you thought SOE was over-hyping their technical capabilities based on a video.
Do you think there is any possibility other developers might do the same? Should we just trust everybody as long as they don't include voxels?
Soooooo, you're suggesting that we should trust nobody? Yeah, because that works well, too. No thanks, we've got enough raging lunatics running around who are freakishly paranoid.
I don't think that blind trust is ever a good thing, either. However, we're talking about someone who set up a company and spent $2 million of his own money already, set up an office, hired actual employees, and for what? to make $2 million? Reminds me a bit of this:
Yeah I mean there were probably many reasons it failed. Some of the guys at AoC worked on EQ Next and they talked about how badly managed the project was. From both a technical and design stand point I could imagine the multitude of problems they would run into because of trying to make the world out of voxels and be destructible. I think AoC does a good job of creating the illusion of the AI EQ Next was going for but with only a fraction of the complexity.
The most complex part of AoC I haven't been able to wrap my head around yet is the class system. You have 8 primary classes each with a number of abilities (not announced yet) but lets assume 10 and 8 secondary classes. Those secondary classes give you ways to alter the abilities from the primary class. So that is 80 abilities at the BARE MINIMUM. From what they have said there will be multiple options per ability. They gave an example of 4. That's 320 possible combinations. Not including religions, social orgs, and racials (they give you more ways to alter abilities). The majority of those will probably just change range/damage/aoe affect/etc probably. We don't have enough details on the system but it worries me in terms of balance.
That could well be a balance nightmare for them. It's a primary factor in ANet choosing the dumbed down simplified class and skill approach they used in GW2 compared to GW1. Of course their skill synergy system had a lot of influence on that too, not just the numbers of skill combos.
There are some systems in the game that have design challenges. Don't expect every system to see the light of day on release how it was originally conceived. The next year with the friends and family alpha will likely vette many of those and help shape or prune them as necessary.
Yeah I am sure they got it planned out. We have very little info on the character builder system. I submitted a question on stats/skill points and if there will be skill trees, etc. for the next Q&A. Hopefully it will get answered. Everyone seems to be asking questions we already have the answers to which sucks. Coming up with character builds is one of my favorite parts in a game.
Ponzini said: Some of the guys at AoC worked on EQ Next and they talked about how badly managed the project was.
Oh please...some ranting of disgruntled ex-employees playing armchair generals is something one should base an opinion on?
Good riddance of such employees, I say.
Uh what? Employees aren't allowed to criticize their bosses? Obviously the game was badly managed in one way or another if the game never came out. It's their job to make sure the product gets made. If EQ Next had some mechanics/features that were holding it back they should have made changes. Whatever needed to get done to get the game into a playable product. Any good leader will take the blame because ultimately it is their decisions that make or break the project.
Comments
Yeah I mean there were probably many reasons it failed. Some of the guys at AoC worked on EQ Next and they talked about how badly managed the project was. From both a technical and design stand point I could imagine the multitude of problems they would run into because of trying to make the world out of voxels and be destructible. I think AoC does a good job of creating the illusion of the AI EQ Next was going for but with only a fraction of the complexity.
The most complex part of AoC I haven't been able to wrap my head around yet is the class system. You have 8 primary classes each with a number of abilities (not announced yet) but lets assume 10 and 8 secondary classes. Those secondary classes give you ways to alter the abilities from the primary class. So that is 80 abilities at the BARE MINIMUM. From what they have said there will be multiple options per ability. They gave an example of 4. That's 320 possible combinations. Not including religions, social orgs, and racials (they give you more ways to alter abilities). The majority of those will probably just change range/damage/aoe affect/etc probably. We don't have enough details on the system but it worries me in terms of balance.
Soooooo, you're suggesting that we should trust nobody? Yeah, because that works well, too. No thanks, we've got enough raging lunatics running around who are freakishly paranoid.
I don't think that blind trust is ever a good thing, either. However, we're talking about someone who set up a company and spent $2 million of his own money already, set up an office, hired actual employees, and for what? to make $2 million? Reminds me a bit of this:
Crazkanuk
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Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
Demonicron - 90 Death Knight - Emerald Dream - US
Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
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Good riddance of such employees, I say.