The Furious Angels
FA Discussion => General => Topic started by: Anonymous on May 13, 2005, 09:15:23 pm
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<Nyneve> Aether is The Matrix Online's Live Events Team Lead, and Walrus is the MxO Community Lead
<Nyneve> Our first question comes from Xantrix :)
<Nyneve> <Xantrix> Is it possible to submit ideas for live events?
<Aether> Yeah, of course. Ideas and feedback are always welcome.
<Aether> You can send us your thoughts via the in game petition system, earmarked feedback. Tell them its for Aether, and I’ll get it.
<Nyneve> <Lee Hambly / Delinquent> With live events we see a decent amount of Live Event Team involvment, though it feels rather scripted. In the future, will we see more interaction from the Live Events team and will there be a less scripted feel to that future interaction?
<Aether> In short- Yes, and yes. In past events, our event characters had to carry around a ton of information, that while important, didn’t give us the flexibility to interact on a more social level with players.
<Aether> That also meant that players ended up missing important missives from key leaders if they weren’t on when the announcements were made.
<Aether> We didn't like that, and neither did you.
<Aether> So, some folks (who are much smarter than I am) designed a handy method of communication called Flash Traffic.
<Aether> It’s still being refined by the wizards in the Monolith laboratories, so I don’t want to say much more than I have.
<Aether> Barring any unforeseen technical concerns, players should see a Flash Traffic debut to coincide with the Hunt for Morpheus event.
<Aether> What this will allow us to do is communicate important information, while allowing our story characters to spend more quality time with the ones they love, namely, you.
<Nyneve> <Cmax> What do the live events characters look for when they look for players to contact in-game?
<Aether> There are a lot of different criteria we consider when looking for players to interact with.
<Aether> First, we try to involve players that are working hard to be a part of the story.
<Aether> This statement might get me in trouble, because lots of players work hard to be in the events. But, as a rule of thumb-
<Aether> if you try to get involved, and make your involvement enjoyable for the people around you...
<Aether> You will find yourself up to your ears in Live Event opportunities.
<Aether> I think it is important to add that the Live Events Team tries really hard to seek out players we haven’t seen before, people we don’t know, and groups we haven’t met with.
<Aether> There are a lot of you in Mega City, and we really want to meet you all. Just not at the same time...
<Nyneve> <Alexisonfire> How much testing goes into the live events, and how many can we expect between now and the end of 2005?
<Aether> Lots, and lots of testing. And with help from our players, we will do even more.
<Aether> I can easily see a time in the future where, utilizing volunteer groups of players, the Live Events Team could test certain mechanisms and scenarios on say, QA Test world.
<Aether> Testing is the most important part of what we do, a lesson we learned from the very beginning.
<Nyneve> <Sugaree> I wish to begin by thanking you for doubling the player inventory. This so rocked! Here's my question, for either or both of you: What have been the biggest challenges for you in MxO, and how have you overcome them?
<Walrus> Probably my biggest challenge is with internal communication. The Matrix Online team was still growing when I came on board more than a year ago and now makes up something like half of the Monolith staff. Keeping on top of what all is going on within such a large development team can be difficult.
<Walrus> Fixing that is mostly a matter of process, but also getting up and walking over to peoples' desks randomly and asking questions. ;)
<Aether> Hmm, the biggest challenge? Finding time to get every single thing done today, and then realizing that while you aren’t quite done with today’s tasks..
<Aether> you’ve ended up actually working into the next one.
<Aether> That’s today’s challenge.
<Aether> Er.. tomorrow’s challenge...
<Aether> or yesterday? Er, you get it.
<Nyneve> <Micros> Will events, like the upcoming "Find Morpheous" be on all serrvers? Will there be a Morpheous on each server? And if not, will the Special charachters always be on the same server?
<Aether> Yes! The Hunt for Morpheus event will happen across all servers.
<Aether> There will be a Morpheus on each server, and, if I understand your question...
<Aether> The Live Events Team visits every one of our servers with our story characters.
<Nyneve> <Kayda> This is a question a lot of people were wondering about. Are you going to have a wipe, or similar event, occur after the incident that follows 1.3?
<Walrus> No. There won’t be a character wipe after the 1.3 storyline hits. Although some folks would love to meatwad everyone again...<sigh> Good ol' meatwad. ;)
<Aether> There should be a meatwad skill.
<Walrus> Mmmm...targeted meatwad. In case some of you are wondering, that was the term we used for the final effect of the end of beta event.
<Nyneve> <Red08> For the friends and family trial program, will the non-subscribers have to pay during the event?
<Aether> Nope. It’s free.
<Aether> Friends and Family Trial folks will be able to participate in the Hunt for Morpheus event from the beginning to the end.
<Nyneve> <Flaxer> Will the level maximum at 50 be increased later? If this is, will it be made new abilites for those levels?
<Walrus> Increasing a level cap sounds like a simple thing to do. Just say people can now reach 60, or 75, or 100 and it’s done, right?
<Walrus> The reality is, the designers have to plan carefully for a level-cap increase. Some Abilities that are fine up to 50 may break the game at higher levels. New Abilities will most likely be needed to add depth to the above-50 content. And everything that is done for elder characters has to be carefully balanced with the rest of the game...
<Walrus> It wouldn’t surprise me if we raised the level cap at some point. However, it certainly won’t be until after the designers have had a chance to work out and test how the game would play at levels above 50.
<Nyneve> <Cyphin> A lot of people can't buy The Matrix Online right away, so they are missing out on several Live Events. Do you think that by the time they get the game, they'll be confused, or will they be able to ease their way into the fun with little problem?
<Aether> Actually, we are currently collating all the interactions that folks have had with the storyline, piecing together the events from our internal reports, and chatlogs of specific events..
<Aether> We are going to publish them in a way that allows someone to follow the course of our events from the very first appearance of Morpheus, to now.
<Aether> It will be quite a read, that's for sure. But, that history will include not only the events involving our story characters, but the players who were involved with them as well.
<Aether> So players will see themselves highlighted on Data Node 1 in due time.
<Nyneve> <Unimportant> Do you plan on making use of the QA server?
<Walrus> Absolutely. We’re working on a plan to regularly update the QA Test server so we can get player input on future features and fixes...
<Walrus> The team has also been discussing ways to make it possible to access the QA Test server without needing a separate installation of the game.
<Aether> And the Live Events Team plans to use the QA Test server to coordinate event testing as well.
<Nyneve> <Vector> Who are each of your favorite characters judging by the trilogy alone, and then judging by how MxO has changed things.
<Walrus> I suppose Agent Smith was my favorite character from the trilogy. His broken psyche due to attempting to truly grok the human condition and from being "set free" by Neo is one of the most fascinating aspects of the movies...
<Walrus> One aspect that hasn’t been delved deeply into as far as the game is concerned is how the Machine culture has had to adapt to accept redpills in their midst. How that plays out as time goes on is going to be interesting.
<Aether> For me, The Merovingian is by far my favorite character, from the movies, and our game. The things he gets away with- seriously!
<Aether> And that makes him fun to write for.
<Aether> Not to mention that he’s surrounded by so many bizarre characters.
<Aether> Flood, Persephone, and now Ookami and Malphus...
<Aether> Throw a party with all of those characters in one room, and you’ve got yourself a party you won’t soon forget.
<Nyneve> <Sumi> Have you guys had a chance to notice http://mxoboards.warnerbros.com/forums2/thread.jspa?messageID=52866 (A Coder's Manifesto)? If so how do you respond to these and other comments of flaws in the coder skillset?
<Walrus> I did take a look at that thread. There are definitely some good ideas and I know Coders have been asking for some love for a while now. The designers already have something in mind that I can’t talk about yet, but definitely will make everyone happier with the Coder Abilities.
<Walrus> (Yes, I'm still a tease.)
<Nyneve> <NanoHaxial> Is the story determined by one server, then repeated across the others, with the deciding server rotating each event?
<Aether> Well, not exactly. Determining the server rotation is no small task.
<Aether> It is one part geography, one part population..
<Aether> We try to save our highest population servers for later in the evening, while running events on Output and Input earlier in the day..
<Aether> As far as the story goes, the outcome of one server doesn't determine what happens on another..
<Aether> We think of them as seperate stories entirely, with their own twists, turns and unique characters.
<Nyneve> <MXOWyin> server transfer, when do you plan on implementing it as you lied to many euro players stating there would not be serperate servers they then created a character on any server only to be hit in the fact by you setting up euro servers.
<Walrus> Technically, Input and Output aren’t European servers, just as the rest aren’t North American servers. Anyone can have a character on any world...
<Walrus> However, we realized that it might make planning for live events easier for players to participate in events if we had two servers with events scheduled during times more convenient for European players.
<Walrus> That being said, we will be offering players an opportunity to move their characters to different worlds soon. The final details are being worked out now and an announcement should be coming out soon. Players who find the event times on Input and Output work better with their schedule will be able to move their experienced characters to those worlds.
<Aether> You said a mouthful friend!
<Walrus> Yar. Oh, just to avoid confusion, as I understand it, this won't be restricted to only INput and OUtput.
<Nyneve> <Signs> Are you planning on doing anything to support players who wish to run their own smaller events?
<Aether> Players who want to wha?
<Aether> Oh!
<Aether> Yes! We plan to expand this portion of our Live Event Team activities in a massive way.
<Aether> We’ve been so consumed with adding more madness to our event methods, that the vision for supporting player run events has been waiting in the wings.
<Aether> But not for long! So yes, absolutely, we plan an expansion in that area in the very near future.
<Nyneve> <MXOPink> on the city map there are areas in are darker shade are these areas gonig to be released in the future or where they cut from the game?
<Walrus> I can’t be sure what is in store for those areas, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the design team has plans for those grey areas. They did leave themselves an awful lot of room to work with, after all.
<Nyneve> <Baelfor> So, what prevents players from going onto Output or Input during an event then using the information about that event to influence or win an event on their native server?
<Aether> That's an excellent question, and one we put a lot of thought into.
<Walrus> Which means he's about to talk a lot, I guess.
<Aether> haha
<Aether> When we coordinate an event with an important clue or a puzzle of some manner, those clues are changed from server to server.
<Aether> If players want to follow the story across all servers, they are certainly welcome to try..
<Aether> But that hasn't been concern as of yet, and the subtle changes we make in the story content on each server assures that no one can ruin the event for someone else.
<Aether> But a valid concern none the less!
<Nyneve> <Perl6> How much time do you usually spend on reading what users post in the forums? Do you read the "Game Worlds" forums or the "Game Discussion" forums?
<Walrus> Somehow I tend to spend an awful lot of time reading the forums that turns out to not be quite enough. =)...
<Walrus> I try to spend as much time as I can reading over what’s being said, but I have other things that need to get done as well. So, depending on the week, it’s usually between 10 and 20 hours a week reviewing the forums. I also rely on other team members and volunteer moderators to point out anything I’ve missed.
<Nyneve> <Zionner> How dose the Events work for the UK?
<Aether> The Live Events schedule works like this-
<Aether> events are run during peak North American play, and then, during European peak play, we do them again, though just slightly different.
<Aether> We have spent a lot of time studying peak traffic for both our American and European customers...
<Aether> and the schedule we came up with matches our peak-time populations.
<Aether> With that being said, we fully intend on delivering smaller, unique events outside of the schedule mentioned above.
<Aether> But, in an effort to balance the scheduling issues of a global community of players, these basic timeframes needed to be created.
<Aether> It is a system we are still refining, based on your feedback.
<Nyneve> <Perl6> If a suggestion is submitted via the Petition system, what are the chances that more than one developer reads it?
<Walrus> Assuming we’re talking about something that isn’t totally off the wall, about 100%...
<Walrus> The Feedback petitions are regularly reviewed, the information is collated, and a report is sent out regularly to the entire team. As long as you’re not sending in things like "We should have toasters in the Matrix", the dev team is probably seeing it.
<Aether> I'd like monkeys in the Matrix please. Thank you.
<Walrus> Exactly. Aether's suggestions are *never* seen by the devs. ;)
<Nyneve> Poor Aether, creativity ignored. :(
<Aether> I know! Its criminal.
<Nyneve> <Maximus1> Hi Walrus Enumerator has alot of payers from all over from the beta players that have formed factions, is there anyway live events will change for enumersator server meaning it will happen not just 2am in uk
<Walrus> Aether, can you take that one? You handle the live event stuff.
<Aether> Oh! Yes. I can do that.
<Aether> That is a real challenge, for the entire team. I hope that everyone realizes that the Live Events Team wants to run events when people can enjoy them..
<Aether> We really don't wait for certain parts of the world to jump in bed so we can roll out the good stuff while they are sleeping.
<Aether> While I can't gaurantee that events on Enumerator will always be delivered during European prime time, I can say that I am taking your comment into consideration, and we will explore the issue as a team.
<Aether> Again, timing of our events is important to us, because we want you to be there as well.
<Nyneve> <Sugaree> Discussions have been going on regarding Spies. Their entire raison d'etre seems up in the air at this point. Could you share the current state of dev thinking on this class and its future?
<Walrus> I don’t know exactly what the designers are going to do with the Spy tree, but I do know they’re interested in balancing it out...
<Walrus> They specifically asked for the biggest complaints about the tree so they could work that into their own discussions. As with other Disciplines, they’re aware of balance problems and are working on ways to fix them without revamping major systems.
<Nyneve> <Contrapositive> With the new friends and family program there will be plenty of new red pills in the matrix for the upcoming event. How do you plan to include so many low level players in the live event?
<Aether> We’ve anticipated the introduction of the Friends and Family redpills, and we hope that our attempts to include them in the mix are well received.
<Aether> For example, we’ve made sure that each event contains a healthy portion of PvE content that is level specific, so that any player, no matter what level, can get piece of the action.
<Aether> This event brings with it an entirely revamped spawn system, a completely new method of communication via Flash Traffic, more in depth conversations with Live Event Characters, and 3 major events for 3 major Organizations in game.
<Aether> There are a ton of other opportunities for players, regardless of level, to engage in the Hunt for Morpheus event, and I’d share them with you, but I don’t want to spoil the surprises.
<Nyneve> <Toriko> Any chance we will see more acknowlegements of issues being raised in the forums? It gets frustrating posting about problems in the game and not knowing if the issuse is being addressed in the future or not. The players provide input to the developers evey day, but they rarley recieve an official reply. Walrus we need you to say "Ya we hear ya." more often!
<Walrus> Yeah...I have to agree with you there...
<Walrus> I know some folks have wanted a new Development Roundtable forum to open, but we’re not planning on opening a new forum for that, although I’ll definitely hang on to that suggestion. Frankly, the dev team is working hard to improve the game and don’t have much time to spend on the forums (other than reading)...
<Walrus> That being said, I do need to step up and make sure everyone understands your concerns are being voiced to the team. Information from both the forums and the feedback queue are reported on a regular basis to the team. I’ll try to make sure you all hear from me in that regard more often, but even when you don’t hear from me, the dev team is hearing from you...
<Walrus> I’m working to close the dev team to player loop on what’s going on with the game. While we were talking about opening up focus groups again, what we’ve decided is to begin posting a question per week to Broadcast Depth and getting the entire community’s input. This is information (like the Spy discussion) that will go straight to the team.
<Walrus> On the other side of the equation is my column, The Other Side of the Looking Glass, is slated to become weekly again beginning next Tuesday. In it, I’ll be talking more about what I’ve heard from the community about the game and what the team is currently working on...
<Walrus> Once we’ve got the dialogue flowing on a more regular basis, we’ll look at other ways to improve the community. Suggestions are always welcome.
<Nyneve> <Toriko> What is being done to repair or replace the broken crytography skills in the coder tree? When can we expect a solution?
<Walrus> I'm not sure when a solution is coming on the Cryptography Ability...
<Walrus> I know the designers have it on their list of things to fix and that there was already a plan in place for how it would work in implementation. However, where that falls in the list of things to fix and balance, I'm unsure.
<Nyneve> <Chalker> Do the individual character actors for each server read the forums for their server to find parties and such to show up at?
<Aether> Great question Chalker.
<Aether> The answer is yes. The entire Live Events Team reads the message boards. Not only to identify the kinds of events you folks are planning, but to gather your feedback, both good and bad. We use your posts on the forums to improve our Live Event offerings, and to find ways to support the events our players are putting together.
<Nyneve> <Zulika> Will the marketplace ever work?
<Walrus> Yeah, the Marketplace has been a long-standing issue. The ability to refresh the current window (adding more items) was the first step towards making the Marketplace work better. The dev team has other fixes in the works, although I’m not sure what the timetable is on getting those changes into the game.
<Walrus> I believe one coming soon is that items will start being removed by the system after a certain period of time being listed. We’ve been planning that for a while, as it’s really annoying to find outrageously priced items cluttering up the system. We’ll give everyone a heads up before it goes in, though.
<Nyneve> <Shoxz> How often can we expect live events to be happending? And one thing i must say; Please add an ingame web browser - Please pass that on to the programmers, it will take 5 mins to program =)
<Aether> How often? That's hard to say... and here's why:
<Aether> The Live Event Staff makes a point of visiting each server every day, 7 days a week.
<Aether> Not every appearance is going to rock the foundation of the Matrix, but we are trying to make them interesting at the very least.
<Aether> Our large scale event schedule can be found at www.thematrixonline.com.
<Aether> Check the Live Events link under the Community tab, where you will find loads of information about our Live Events.
<Aether> Keep your eyes open for Flash Traffic, it might not be exactly what you are looking for, but it is a really nifty addition to the Live Event Team's toolbox.
<Nyneve> <Luerim> Considering the number of bugs and other such issues that still remain, how do you intend to lure back the Beta testers and Preorder people who have already quit in disgust?
<Walrus> The only way we can: By continually fixing bugs and improving the game. That is one reason we ask people questions when they cancel their accounts. The information they give us in vital in our efforts to improve The Matrix Online...
<Walrus> Wow. Man that was a stiff answer.
* Walrus shakes it off
<Walrus> Seriously, though. We make the game better and hopefully those we've disappointed will come back. All we can do.
<Nyneve> <ShadowMan1od> I will not be able to attend the chat, so a question: A while back, you offered submissions for a Live Events Special Interest Group, but this has not been brought up since. Is this still continuing, and what exactly will it entail?
<Aether> There’s been an overwhelming response to the LESIG, and we are really anxious to get things rolling.
<Aether> As I stated in a recent Community Uplink, we are accepting requests to join up until the 15th..
<Aether> at which point, the selection process will begin, and then, the Live Events Special Interest Group comes to life.
<Aether> We really are looking for a wide variety of people, and it’s not too late to submit your request to be included in the fun.
<Aether> All the information a person needs to apply can be found at www.thematrixonline.com.
<Aether> Here’s another hint: Read the Community Uplinks.
<Nyneve> <Mayseth> Cake or Potato's?
<Aether> You know, that is a very important question, and I'm glad you brought it up.
<Walrus> Oh, geez. Here he goes again.
<Aether> haha.
<Aether> Walrus likes taters, because they are easier for his flippers to handle.
<Aether> While I'm more of a cake kinda guy myself.
<Walrus> Except when they're waxed, dammit.
<Walrus> Potatoes all over the office...it's a mess.
<Walrus> Once one hit the producer. Thought I was out on my butt for sure.
<Aether> Now that's a hot pertater.
<Walrus> Besides, in the Matrix, how can we not all want cake? ;)
<Nyneve> There are avid cake lovers in a certain all female Merv faction on Method too. :)
* Aether whistles innocently
<Walrus> Oh, yeah. Hehe.
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Awsome! Thx Mazda for putting that up :)
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Gracias for putting that up Mazda :)
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I had a private chat with both Walrus and Aether during that time.I talked to Aether with just friendly banter just to make him smile. (Aether isn't a very happy person.) Walrus I told to more about the background of Monolith and litttle things. The only game question I asked was is there any Easter Egg's for us to find in the game? "Actually, whenever I mention that to the designers, they just kind of chuckle and say "no". Take what you will from that."
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I'll take mine with a grain of salt, sir!
:)
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thanks Mazda!!
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hah i reamember back in beta I had a almost daily convo with Aether on the RFZ IRC channel. Really truly he is a happy person and I thought he was funny but maybe since he started doing events that changed.
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Thanks Mazda. Good stuff.
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I miss talking to all the community people :(
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yeah i definetly miss walrus's daily beta reports that he usually put up like 1am in the morning and i would just sit there reading the forums till he posted it.