Moar Infos

Renfail

For those who missed the two interviews over at Massively, they provide some additional insight (especially when compared to the two interviews that went live here over the past week and a half or so, as they all four came out at the same time: 

https://massivelyop.com/2020/03/06/interview-saga-of-lucimia-on-funding-development-launch-and-business-models

https://massivelyop.com/2020/03/10/interview-saga-of-lucimia-on-themepark-design-swg-inspiration-and-the-mmo-genre

Happy to answer any questions folks might. 

Deveron

I‘m wondering how you’re designing around PUGs and the fact we’ll need multiple play session to finish a dungeon or venture deeper into the wild. I can see that designing most content for 5-6 players and having a max group size of 8 should theoretically leave a few spots open for randoms, but how am I going to find that spot in wild or deep down in the sewers? 

Will camp zones offer something to help find another group or would we have to /yell for company? And if there are no groups around with open spots - as folks probably will look to fill up all spots anyways to make things easier - is there something to do solo, while waiting for one’s chance to progress further?

I’m a shift working family man and my free time is not only limited, but rather randomly placed, so I’d be facing doing group content by PUGing almost exclusively and thus am wondering how viable that might be. 

Renfail

Deveron said:

I‘m wondering how you’re designing around PUGs and the fact we’ll need multiple play session to finish a dungeon or venture deeper into the wild. I can see that designing most content for 5-6 players and having a max group size of 8 should theoretically leave a few spots open for randoms, but how am I going to find that spot in wild or deep down in the sewers? 

Will camp zones offer something to help find another group or would we have to /yell for company? And if there are no groups around with open spots - as folks probably will look to fill up all spots anyways to make things easier - is there something to do solo, while waiting for one’s chance to progress further?

I’m a shift working family man and my free time is not only limited, but rather randomly placed, so I’d be facing doing group content by PUGing almost exclusively and thus am wondering how viable that might be. 

All of your questions are answered in the two interviews I linked to Massively. Specifically, we cover the LFG/LFM panel/system, our limited fast travel system, and soloing. 

Those, combined with the two interviews we just did recently here, should give you more information as well. 

Deveron

Aye, read those two. But it still remains a bit unclear to me how that might work out when you have to rebuild a group at every log in and camp site.

Are panels available everywhere? Maybe I misunderstood, but I was under the impression, they are only meant to be available in towns or taverns. (Just reread and realized I got that one wrong, it’s available anywhere in the world, apparently)

Regarding fast travels, I only recall the option for a certain amount of players summoning one player or maybe some kind of magic/skill which may be available later to a certain build. That might help getting to a dungeon via summoning or out of it, but how would that help someone stranded inside a dungeon alone to rebuild a group and progress further?

So, to my understanding, I’d either have to wait for a group with a free spot to pass by, let myself summon to another group that may be doing some other content or abort my mission and return to town with the hopefully discovered portal skill or will be truly lost. 

So for these cases, is there anything one can do solo in or near a camp that’s multiple sessions into a dungeon or the wilderness to pass the time till one can regroup and continue with the content? Or will stealth be a thing and powerful enough to at least escape out of such situations solo?

Could I train certain skills on my own for instance, like just dancing by myself while waiting for a group to pick me up again? Would there be at least a few easier mobs close to a camp, so one could train combat skills too?

I wouldn’t mind a bit of downtime or even staying stuck in a camp, because I was out of luck and no one was
doing the content I was looking to do, as long as I could pass the time with at least something worthwhile (as in character progression, even when it’s just a little bit). Could I craft at any camp or would there need to be stations? Could I carry/craft certain stations down in a dungeon?

Ah well, a whole lotta questions, but you asked and - after re-reading the articles - I don’t seem to find the answers there without assuming even more.

I know, my situation is a rather niche one and my personal bad luck, but I’m really just wondering how tough it might turn out to tackle content, when you can’t meet up regularly and have to regroup constantly, so I can manage my expectations accordingly and come to a decision wether I just want to try it out first hand or not.

Thanks for your time!

Renfail

Deveron said:

Aye, read those two. But it still remains a bit unclear to me how that might work out when you have to rebuild a group at every log in and camp site.

Are panels available everywhere? Maybe I misunderstood, but I was under the impression, they are only meant to be available in towns or taverns. (Just reread and realized I got that one wrong, it’s available anywhere in the world, apparently)

Regarding fast travels, I only recall the option for a certain amount of players summoning one player or maybe some kind of magic/skill which may be available later to a certain build. That might help getting to a dungeon via summoning or out of it, but how would that help someone stranded inside a dungeon alone to rebuild a group and progress further?

So, to my understanding, I’d either have to wait for a group with a free spot to pass by, let myself summon to another group that may be doing some other content or abort my mission and return to town with the hopefully discovered portal skill or will be truly lost. 

So for these cases, is there anything one can do solo in or near a camp that’s multiple sessions into a dungeon or the wilderness to pass the time till one can regroup and continue with the content? Or will stealth be a thing and powerful enough to at least escape out of such situations solo?

Could I train certain skills on my own for instance, like just dancing by myself while waiting for a group to pick me up again? Would there be at least a few easier mobs close to a camp, so one could train combat skills too?

I wouldn’t mind a bit of downtime or even staying stuck in a camp, because I was out of luck and no one was
doing the content I was looking to do, as long as I could pass the time with at least something worthwhile (as in character progression, even when it’s just a little bit). Could I craft at any camp or would there need to be stations? Could I carry/craft certain stations down in a dungeon?

Ah well, a whole lotta questions, but you asked and - after re-reading the articles - I don’t seem to find the answers there without assuming even more.

I know, my situation is a rather niche one and my personal bad luck, but I’m really just wondering how tough it might turn out to tackle content, when you can’t meet up regularly and have to regroup constantly, so I can manage my expectations accordingly and come to a decision wether I just want to try it out first hand or not.

Thanks for your time!

Think of early EverQuest. You can solo close to towns and outposts, and perhaps certain areas of outdoor zones, but dungeons are flat out of the question (if you are on-level).

Yes, you can progress your abilities all the way to the cap without ever grouping up with another player. But you won't be soloing in dungeons. and the vast majority of our game's content (stories, dungeons, etc.) relies upon needing to group up with others at some point along the way. 

If you find yourself needing to log out and your group is in the middle of an adventuring session, it's up to you to find out how to get back to town. Or, camp out at one of the safe points within a dungeon and hope you can find a group the next time you log in via the LFG/LFM panel. 

Some crafting can be done in the wilds (think repairing gear, making arrows, making quick foodstuffs), but the bulk of major crafting will be done in outposts/cities (making armor/weapons/etc.). Or in the case of rare crafting, in the depths of dungeons at special crafting stations. 

Stealth is extremely limited in our world. Some mobs can still sense you via smell. Others can see in infravision. Stealth from sight is only one of many skills required to get around unseen in the world. In short, no, you won't be able to simple sneak your way around everywhere with some magical "one button makes me invisible to everything" ability. 

It's tough if you can't meet up regularly to play a group-based game. I have friends who don't play D&D for that reason; they can't commit to regularly-scheduled sessions. We get it, but there's also a million other games out there which are specifically designed for the solo player in mind, and ours is taking another route. 

That's not to say you can't overcome the challenges as someone who can't play regularly and you have to rely on pickup groups; WoW Classic has shown that it's VERY easy to PUG everything and still make meaningful progress without any type of matchmaking system. But it does require some effort on the part of the player. 

Deveron

Alright, thanks a lot! 

I‘m definitely not looking for any added solo content, but rather would love to see the already included one to be available at least to some extent in safe zones, as this would make downtime more worthwhile to anyone waiting there to continue on their adventure. 

If anything, maybe just a few solo-able trash mobs in the very near vicinity to such a zone, which are balanced with time-to-kill as group content, so they’re not invincible, nor one or two shotting soloers, but just take a way too long time to make them attractive for anything but passing the time and maybe getting a skill point here and there or some basic crafting resource drops. 

That way, even being stuck inside a dungeon and not getting a group going again can be a little less frustrating experience and even a small adventure on its own, without sacrificing any of your design principles, since progression out of the safe zone still remains a group only thing. Not only for the solo player, but for groups stranded due to bailed out tanks or healers as well. 

Anyways, I can think about a couple other strategies  that probably will help with my situation, rolling multiple characters the most obvious, so this really isn’t a make or break for me.

Godspeed and stay healthy! 

Renfail

Deveron said:

Alright, thanks a lot! 

I‘m definitely not looking for any added solo content, but rather would love to see the already included one to be available at least to some extent in safe zones, as this would make downtime more worthwhile to anyone waiting there to continue on their adventure. 

If anything, maybe just a few solo-able trash mobs in the very near vicinity to such a zone, which are balanced with time-to-kill as group content, so they’re not invincible, nor one or two shotting soloers, but just take a way too long time to make them attractive for anything but passing the time and maybe getting a skill point here and there or some basic crafting resource drops. 

That way, even being stuck inside a dungeon and not getting a group going again can be a little less frustrating experience and even a small adventure on its own, without sacrificing any of your design principles, since progression out of the safe zone still remains a group only thing. Not only for the solo player, but for groups stranded due to bailed out tanks or healers as well. 

Anyways, I can think about a couple other strategies  that probably will help with my situation, rolling multiple characters the most obvious, so this really isn’t a make or break for me.

Godspeed and stay healthy! 

Cheers. 

And I know that mmorpg.com just posted it in the news section, but if you haven't checked out the stream from last night, you can get a better sense of what we're building here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2wMdEJFbJs&t