Widescreen MxO looks great whether it's on a Mac or not.

The above is the classic example of why "business" people really ought to stay far far far away from IT, and also why they don't.

In the interests of professionalism and productivity, though, try this:

- Write down the steps you took that caused the problem.

- Execute the steps again.  Did the problem recur?

- If so, note as precisely as possible exactly *when* the problem occurred. 

- Repeat as necessary to isolate the causal factor.

- Then submit bug reports.

What NOT to do is foodle about idly and then b---- without giving any clue as to what exactly the problem IS or what caused it.

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digitize wrote:

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ShadowMavrick wrote:

People people people he cant grow his hair out it would completly reck his story,its the whole thing with the religion he follows.

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Onanism?  :smileyvery-happy:

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One of the things I love about the MxO community is that people will just casually be able to pull out a reference to a snippet of some Matrix trivia, in this case the after-dialogue of the Ghost/Trin fight in the Enter the Matrix game.

Obviously SOE didn't wish to lose more customers by introducing them to MxO as it is now.  I know we are fans, but we are few.  I don't think you can find a positive review of MxO anywhere.

Instead, SOE is apparently going to finish the CR 2.0 and then rerelease MxO as part of an "everything" package.

See http://mxoboards.station.sony.com/matrix/board/message?board.id=soe&message.id=625 for the press release.

Never discount the footballers' style!

Better that than ChavScum. 

Transmissioner, your malady isn't ADHD.

Still waiting for "Gun-fu" or "Glock-jutsu" yet.  Dodge this...

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Dehner wrote:

Just wondering if other SOE games are worthwhile...I ask this as my subscription to MXo is coming to an end soon and I will be looking for other possibilities on the station access if it proves worthwhile.

 

First off...is Everquest 2 worth while, I know the graphics are alright and stuff but does it have the content to keep someone engaged well after the first few levels?

 

SWG, although I am sure it is alright for the diehards the graphics and the age of the game do not attract me in any way.  For me the graphics if they are poor or indifferent take away from the presentation and the seriousness of the game. 

 

Please kindly let me know if any of these games, minus SWG, are worth your hard earned dollar and could keep you occupied for any length of time, thank you.

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EQ2 is a very good, balanced game ... now.  Admittedly it had a bit of a shaky start.  Its graphics were pushing the capabilities of top-end systems at release; now the average gamer's system can play it at reasonable settings  (e.g., AMD Sempron 3000+ (socket A, barton type) and ATI 9800 Pro plays well at 'Balanced' settings including shadows).

Its archetype class system had some real balance issues, which have been 99% sorted out (there's always a little tuning going on in any MMOG). 

EQ2's strength is its content.  Tons and tons and tons of things to do.  That also means that if your idea of fun is rushing to the top level then you will miss a lot; unlike some of SOE's other games (SWG, EQ1) the 'real' game doesn't begin at the end of leveling.

Sigh.  All the 'hard' striking arts, whether Karate itself, TKD, Tang Soo Do, Boxing, Muai Thai, et all are represented by the catch-all "Karate."  Some of the fancy Karate moves are things rarely tought outside of foot-centric variants like TKD.

Likewise, soft-hard arts like Capoeira, the million variants of Kung Fu from animal styles to Wing Chun, are all lumped together as "Kung Fu."

Soft arts whether Jiu-Jutsu, Aikido, Tai Chi, all are labeled "Aikido."

Don't expect a whole new tree just for whatever your favorite style is.  If I were to pick one out of the hundreds, it'd be Kali/Silat.    But I realize that while a particular Kali move (or sticks in general) aren't represented in MxO, as a hard art its basic principles are covered by "Karate."

Currently SOE has the following alternative-revenue things going on:

- EQ2:  'Station' servers allow people to buy and sell items for real $.  NOT my idea of a good time, but for those that like it, it exists.  I don't follow that stuff closely enough to know if it's had any effect on the other companies who do that stuff (and break EULAs in doing so).

- Planetside:  Free ... to a point.  Apparently you can play Planetside for free but cannot progress past some 'cert' level or another.  I believe Planetside also has ads of some sort.

Now I don't expect much of anything to happen here until the combat revision is finished.  Then I'd assume SOE would like some return on the investment and will attempt to respark interest in MxO.  Whether that means more ads or limited free content is beyond my guessing.

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Upstream9 wrote:

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Prisoner wrote:

I'm for games that reward people with victory based not on their grinding but instead upon their smart decisions made in the heat of combat.

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Which the new system does not reward. it rewards luck of the roll and the combination of many of their friends also being present to amplify the "luck".

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Not defending that; but there are more choices than luck or grinding.  If your knowledge of the system is good, and you use (hypothetically) a strong karate move against someone who is constantly using the same kung fu, you should win. 

If the randomness outweighs the choice of tactics, then IMO it's too random.

(This is, of course, just like the OP complaining about randomness vs. items 'worked' for, but what I'm arguing for is less emphasis on items and more on tactics, not more on randomness).

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MaIakaii wrote:
my hard work to get the great items in the game should give me a distinct advantage over someone who hasnt put in the time,

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Nuts to you.  I am beyond sick and tired of hearing "my hard work" in connection with a GAME.

Further, to heck with games that reward people primarily on how much spare time they have to grindgrindgrindgrindgrind.  That design philosophy has spawned boring games, mindless grinds, trivialization of fights, and most importantly what is euphemistically called the "secondary market" (aka plat/gold/isk/$i sellers).

I'm for games that reward people with victory based not on their grinding but instead upon their smart decisions made in the heat of combat.

Furthermore, the new system is a much better approximation of fighting (real) as well as the wire-fu from the Matrix movies, as others pointed out.

Now obviously clothes etc will continue to be a reward, and they should be; but not the sort of advantage you describe, where your chair time in MxO predestines the fight inevitably in your favor.

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Dare wrote:
I just had another thought.  Am I alone in my feeling that this is much more of a completely and drastically different system and less of a "revision" (that word is so docile sounding)?  Honestly, I don't like the fact that we are going to have to refarm all of our clothes because they are all changing.   Yes, MMOs are fluid and change over time, but I just don't feel such a massive change as in having to completely reestablish several inventory pages of clothes to be necessary. 

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I do.  Please keep in mind the original MxO system was such that the game overall sold ~60k copies total of which a minute fraction remain; and outside of us fanatics, MxO has a reputation as the new WW2O; which is to say a disastrous launch.

I certainly hope the net effect of clothing changes are such that if you had a nice item before, you still think it's nice afterwards, but the system as a whole needed desperately to be overhauled, as you put it, drastically.

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Rollguy wrote:

They stated:

 Styles largely define what your combat Attributes are and what your character is capable of doing in combat. Switching Styles causes Attributes defined by the Style to switch as well, so in certain situations it’s wise to alter the order you’re executing Abilities so that your enemies cannot exploit your weaknesses.

 

would this not mean you attributes change so we will have several attribute combinations? Are they automatic or do we set them?

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If I'm getting this correctly, you should expect to have:

- Your base attributes, which will be unchangable once set;

- Certain bonuses to attributes which vary by Style;

- Any attribute bonuses due to clothing.

Take a look at EQ2.  A Barbarian starts with a Strength of 25; a High Elf with 10.  Likewise, we will have certain base stats, determined by our initial personality pick and increases chosen at each level.

In EQ2, if you elect to become a Fighter, you immediately get a bonus of 5 Str, 3 Sta, 2 Agi.  If you elect Rogue, 5 Agi, 3 Str, 2 Sta.   So, our Barbarian Fighter will have 30 Str; a Barbarian Rogue 28 Str; a High Elven Fighter 15 Str; a High Elven Rogue 13 Str.

In MxO we have the ability to shift Styles, but this gets the idea across; if you're in Spy mode maybe more Focus and less Perception; if doing Karate more Perception and less Focus, but either way layered on top of your base stats.

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Secondly, on the $i refund:  Maybe I misread, but I didn't read that as "your Ability codes will disappear, go hunt more red frags" but instead "the $i you spent increasing Sneak from 1 to 50 will be refunded, but you'll keep the Ability."

That way, armed with the experience from the QA test, you might decide that the $i you spent on Hacker abilities is now better spent on the Duelist tree and you'll be able to do so.  Think of it as a skill leveling respec, or at least that's how I'm reading it.

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Thirdly, on SWG comparisons.  Look, Interlock and class balancing in general, has been troubled since before launch.  It *needs* fixing.

Arguably, SWG did too, if the people who complained here about SWG gameplay under the 'CU' are any indication.  Whether the 'NGE' is a fix is something for some other thread, better for the SWG forums; it's off-topic here. 

There is a very big difference, though, between the NGE and MxO's changes.  The NGE was announced very suddenly and from all indications without warning SWG's players.

We have been told for months about this; the preparatory steps were taken well before SOE got involved.  At each step the MxO team has announced their thinking; and most importantly from a customer standpoint at each step our input is solicited in these very threads.

With each announcement I'm seeing some of the best ideas from the player community incorporated, including many from the old Monolith forum threads.

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CooliceT wrote:

well. i like how they called him a *CENSORED* Penguin lol.

 

must be a special breed. to do stunts like that. i know. who steels a penguin from a zoo... though... how could they not see him walking out with it :/

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Chuui wrote:

Think about it, you just wasted 2 weeks trying to get drop X1 only to have it phased out (in a matter of hours of use) a day later via update 38, waste three more weeks getting its replacement X2 only to have that phased out in the same manner in update 40. How are you going to feel while trying to get the third replacment X3? Exceedingly annoyed I expect. Perhaps even to the point where you no longer wish to play the game and cancel (worst case scenario). As such, it sounds like a very poor plan to then phase out X2 given its very short time in the game. Still we can speculate about this concern all day and all night, but we won't get any nearer to an answer unless the devs clear this one up.

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Oh, this again.  I really wish people in MMOGs would realize that the *only* thing they're entitled to for their 'work' playing the game is enjoyment.

Nobody is entitled to have whatever item be always the game-defining item it was, or have the class choice (something MxO isn't burdened with) they picked always be 'uber,' or have any other assurance of that sort.

Now, especially since we here have been long warned that dramatic changes are coming, nobody should have any excuse to (female dog) that they 'invested' time or $i in item X or skill tree Y which was 'wasted.'

A 'poor plan' would be to go about collecting items based on their present status knowing full well that things are about to change.

Caveat camper, you might say.

From what I just read, this is everything I'd hoped for in the combat revision.

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Bostasu wrote:

Think about that.  Although I like the NGE . . . SOE is very underhanded in how they handle things.

Message Edited by Bostasu on 11-17-2005 12:01 AM

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Then, for Halloween itself, will give you 24 hours of pure nighttime to celebrate the Masquerade.

 

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"I thought there was a cabaret?" -- No.6

"There is.  You are it." -- No.2

Can't say SOE's done a big job of advertising the fact.  About half of the Station pages that list all SOE MMOGs exclude MxO from the list.  Well, OK, it's not like MxO has a sterling reputation among MMOGers right now.

I get the impression a big rework is in progress (see producers' letters) and until then I don't expect a lot of noise.  Hopefully a new promotional bit will coincide with whatever game changes are planned.

Message Edited by Prisoner on 10-21-2005 05:24 PM

Hallo everyone.  I'm the person whose post was quoted in toto to start this thread.

My post about hackers was envisioned as, as you might guess from the fact that it says "Part III," a three-part series written over lunch breaks.

I don't, and didn't, mean to disparage those who've (correctly) looked at the Hacker tree and saw within it game benefit.  Congrats, you've done well at analyzing the game.

I'm sort of an idealist about things, particularly the Matrix, and since there was a call for comment on the Broadcast Depth forum in response to Dev Journal 01:

http://thematrixonline.station.sony.com/news_display.vm?id=9&month=current

I thought hey, I'll offer my comment.  Maybe some bit of it would be picked up and rolled into something the staff is doing.  Certainly the original design was not what we'd call a smash hit commercially.  Other people had different comments which were also intelligent and reasoned.

Since then Dev Journal 02 was posted yesterday:

http://thematrixonline.station.sony.com/news_display.vm?id=25&month=current

So, no point bickering about what I said, we have something new to bicker about

Long Comments III:  Hackers

Personally, I never understood the inclusion of the Hacker and Coder branches into the ability tree.  I always saw it as a concession to the traditional fantasy-based RPG roles, and to the ‘tradeskilling’ MMOG player contingent.  As such, I think they were a decision made in weakness, in not really trusting that the Matrix mythos was a sufficient background for a MMOG.

I feel even more strongly about this as Hackers have proven to be the dominant ability tree both in PvE and PvP settings in MxO.

But they’re here, so let’s take a look at the films and see where actions we might call hacking and coding occur.

The Matrix:
- Trinity is in-Matrix to watch Neo through her laptop.  Apparently this is something that can’t be done from the Operator’s chair.  It also requires the use of an in-Matrix computer.
- The Agents use a trace program to find Trinity.
- Trinity is obviously back in-Matrix controlling Neo’s PC
- The Agents use a bug to trace Neo’s location.
- Trin, Apoc, Switch use a debugging tool to remove the bug.
- The red and blue pills are obvious examples of code hacks; one initiates a carrier drop for the target so that the Machines disconnect Neo and so that the Neb can trace his location to pick him up; the other is a memory wipe tool.
- Operators put *whatever* they like into Constructs.  Dojos, jump simulations, guns, even women in red dresses.  These items can translate into the Matrix carried by redpills.  Items (e.g., bullets) are not created out of thin air inside the Matrix.
- The Oracle bakes cookies of indeterminate effect (that could be a thread of its own).  Code can be embedded into things created through the normal process of the Matrix.
- Trinity brings Neo back to life with a kiss; is this due to her, to him, to his destiny as seen by the Oracle, or did the Oracle have a more direct role in this?
- The One possesses unique abilities to alter time and other physical elements of the Matrix.  As we’ll see later, even so there are limits.
- The One directly hacks, and apparently destroys, Agent Smith.
- The One can stop trace programs.

Matrix: Reloaded
- Pocket spaces outside the Matrix exist and can be manipulated.
- The Oracle dispenses more code-pills
- Merv also demonstrates the ability to create code-food, although he uses his for … less altruistic purposes.
- The unplugged Agent Smith can hack anyone in the Matrix and duplicate his personality into them.  Neo possesses the unique power to stop this process.
- Embedded in Bane, Agent Smith can operate in the “real world.”
- The power of even the One is limited; bullets can be stopped but a sword at full swing cannot be fully checked.
- Certain Exiles (e.g., the Keymaker) can create items pertaining to their purpose on the fly.
- The One possesses healing power.
- The One exerts power over the “real world” as well as in the Matrix.

Matrix:  Revolutions
- Other pocket spaces exist, including pathways between the Machine code-world and the Matrix.  The One has no power in at least one of these.
- Certain artifacts may exist; both Merv and Agent Smith desire the Oracle’s Eyes.
- The Oracle again offers code-pills.

More telling than this list (and I’m sure I’ve left off some things) is what’s not on it.  Except for the very unique Neo/Smith power to invade and destroy a target, nobody inflicts ‘direct damage’ through Matrix power.
 
There also exists no fantasy-cleric like healing, except for the unique power of the One; and it only applies with the unique bond between Neo and Trin.

What power there is is manifested through the RSI and is reflected in powers to move, to block or dodge, to punch, to shoot.  That’s what I’d like to see Hackers evolve into.  Not fantasy wizards who directly ‘zap’ targets, but operatives who have an understanding of the Matrix that allows them to help their allies become more powerful, or lessen the abilities of their opponents.  If a MMOG analogy exists, think of EQ shamans, who haste or slow, buff and debuff.  Many more possibilities exist with a more free-fire melee system than with the present zero-sum system, so not everything has to be + or – CT or a stun.

If there’s another aspect of hacking, it involves manipulating in-Matrix items, bugs, computers, and relatively mundane things like keys to accomplish tasks.  As presently situated MxO has almost zero role for this sort of thing.  But since the city zones are being looked at, maybe something can be done here.   Not every mission necessarily has to mean punch-and-blast past everything; although as with the early release days, care has to be taken to prevent an easy shortcut from being the path of least resistance.

I’m personally hoping that the Mission system evolves so that Team missions will be the sort of thing where multiple, differing resources are required, rather than at present being the same mission a single Operative might receive.  That’s a long-term goal, though.

The animations associated with the Hackers also need serious looking at in any revamp.  The waving hands about routine moving blocks is only used by Zion controllers, who are manipulating an interface for doors and for auto-defenses.

It’d be much more in-genre for manipulators of the Matrix to use a martial-arts motif.  Since there are plenty of fighting animations from the external arts for the MA types, consider borrowing some chi-gung techniques!  Think of Johnny Mnemnonic (the movie), trying to focus to get his mind under control in the hotel bathroom.

There’s plenty of coding.  A pill, a cookie, a piece of cake, each have effects on people in the Matrix, with widely differing effects.  Abilities are quite obviously loaded and unloaded by Operators.  Guns and “anything we need” is created in the Loading Area.

These disposable items (and in part II, I advocated making guns essentially disposable items in line with how they’re treated in the movies) are great for balance.  They provide a market for tradeskillers, they’re easily balanced, removed, revamped, improved and (eek) nerfed as needed.

One of the things about the Matrix is the unique clothing style of the various redpills and Exiles.  I strongly advocate dissociating the enhancement of clothing from the appearance of that clothing.  A + to MCT may only appear on pants, but it should be embeddable in anything from red cowboy pants to generic black slacks.  This is something already known by the design team, so no more on that subject.

In my opinions, permanent items ought to be rare.  The Matrix films are not about how Neo finds the magic sword which allows him to save humanity; it’s about how he himself has this ability.  This is in stark contrast with most fantasy RPGs where a dread or mighty item rules the fate of nations.  It also differs from most MMOGs where aside from one’s personal power (level, stats, etc) the goal of the game is to find and accumulate the best swords and armor, or wands and robes.

I can’t think of a better scene to demonstrate this point than Neo’s fight against the many Exiles in Merv’s chateau.  It really doesn’t matter to Neo, or to the exiles, whether they’re holding a sword, a spear, an enormous mace, a pair of sai or just sticks.  When Neo holds sticks he does Kali-style actions; when he has a sword he hacks and stabs.  He isn’t concerned about finding the best weapon in the chateau.  When one is no longer useful, he takes another; and when he’s finished he takes none of them with him.

This one’s by far the longest rant of my three, but I think it’s the most important.  Apart from the game balance troubles, the Hacker/Coder tree is the one most out of line with the Matrix films and supporting elements (Animatrix, ETM, comics, etc).

I don’t think these three articles are the only way of doing things, nor are they all-encompassing; but I think they present a schema that fits within the Matrix mythos and hopefully will provoke some thoughts in the Seattle studio so that sooner rather than later MxO will not only be fully immersive for players but fun, balanced, popular and of course profitable.