First of all... I'd like to wish an Extremely Happy New Year for all of you ROSE addicts who are reading this Maintenance Thread on the very first maintenance day of 2012.
I would also like to wish a happy new year for the GM/CM/Developers and all of the Gravity folks out there, even though they are often trying to drive us all nuts with their constant server crashes and horrible patches, but hey!
Now that we're done with new year stuff... Let's get back to serious business! Today is Tuesday, and we all know that Tuesday means maintenance with a patch! The patch is probably going to bring some forum rage and stuff...
Along with many others, here is some random fun stuff... A forum member, namely SirSlayer asked me to post this picture. It goes perfectly well with the recent server instability issues.
As a side note... If any of you have a funny picture thing that is in any kind of relation with ROSE, or the maintenance, please feel free to contact me with them and I might consider adding them to the weekly maintenance thread!
Fake patch nuts because the originals are not fake! WARNING! This stuff is fake, so it's not true!
Spoiler
Patch nuts v9726
Item Mall
Calanor has been removed from the Item Mall
Calanorune - A new refining material has been added to the Item Mall
On a successful refining attempt, this item will calanorize the item that was being refined
If an item is calanorized, every time a player attacks while that item is equipped, an enemy within 74m radius will be hit by a heavy banhammer
Monday Event
Corrected several issues regarding the Monday Event
Monday Event is no longer happy
During the Monday Event, every 48th log in attempt to the server will cause all servers to crash and cause a rollback of 4-5 hours
Class Balance
Soldier
Soldier skills can now be used with ANY weapon types with the exception of magic wands and magic staves. Weapon Passives still only apply to soldier weapons however
A new weapon passive has been added that increases Attack Power for non-soldier weapons at reduced effectiveness than soldier weapons
Champion
Quick Step movement speed bonus was increased to a point where champions can travel faster than light!
Champion skills can now be used with ANY weapons except magic wands and magic staves
Non-ranged skills can still only be used in melee range
Weapon specific skills (Seismic Impact/Achilles' Heel Strike/Slugger) are still weapon specific, but they deal reduced damage if not used with the specified weapon (2h sword/spear/axe)
New weapon passives has been added that increases Attack Power for non-soldier weapons at a reduced value
Knight
We wanted to give our fellow knights a hug, so we gave them a hug!
New Ability: Hug
Bugs
We ate popcorn!
Community Senate Stuff
Spoiler
I have received some sort of complaints from some of the community members regarding the secrecy of this whole senate thing and asked me to try and leak a few information. It is also obvious to me that some people think that the senate members are some kind of half-gods with all the knowledge about incoming updates, which is completely incorrect. We are not being informed about most of the updates, like we did not even know about the duratibility changes until it went live. We are only being told about certain work-in-progress such as the Game Arena. Our actual purpose is to provide a focused feedback regarding existing things that don't really work perfectly and perhaps to bring up the most wanted suggestions of the community.
Regarding the leak-out thing... I actually have no idea about what things I can leak, or if I am even allowed to do such thing. But for now I'll try to leak a few news from the Community Senate Forums, and if it is not really a good idea, then Calanor perhaps can jump in and stop me.
Keep in mind that everything leaked from the senate forum is a work in progress, and they are subject to change!!!
Game Arena
Spoiler
Game Arena (General Information)
Spoiler
User Interface
Displays a list of games that the player can sign up for.
Keeps the player informed of their sign up status.
Enables game sign ups from anywhere in the game.
Features an on-demand game queuing system.
Players enter a lobby area to prepare for battle before the game begins when enough players have signed up for a game.
Arena Group function to enable large groups of friends or clan members to sign up for the same game and play together in the same team.
Games List
Group Manager
PvP Content
Spoiler
Union Wars
The largest issues which contribute to the problems in the current Union War system are:
Leechers
Will never be avoidable, adding deterrents is the only way forward.
Revised reward mechanics greatly reduce the benefits of leeching.
Rewards are given based on participation and performance during battle.
Points obtained will vary between battles based on performance.
Sign Up Manipulation
Union affiliation creates predictable teams of players.
Cancelling and reacquiring the sign up quest allows Union War to be started prematurely.
No longer an issue with Game Arena, the system randomizes teams and controls the state of each player's sign up.
Level Differences
Each game mode will be broken up into distinct level brackets.
Game mechanics may vary between level brackets to compensate for difficulty level.
Class balance
A seperate project enitrely.
Leonis is spearheading the project to improve class mechanics.
Union War will become known under the new name "Crystal Defenders", as players will no longer be associated with a Union to play.
Crystal Defenders
3 Level Tiers
On-Demand (Games will start as soon as enough players sign up)
No Time Slot Limit
Assigns players into random teams (unless in an Arena Group)
Attacker/Defender roles are randomized between each game
Designed for smaller sized teams (Approximately 10v10 ~ 15v15)
We are aiming to implement the following reward mechanics as a start towards encouraging participation in the games to achieve an optimal amount of points per game, and to reduce the desire to leech (although leeching will not be eliminated). In addition to these mechanics, the amounts of points awarded will be scaled accordingly to each level bracket.
Defenders
Stand Inside Crystal Proximity
Accumulate Honor per tick for defending contested region
Tick mechanics not finalized
Kill Attacker Inside Crystal Proximity
Gain Honor per player kill
Greater significance
Kill Attacker Outside Crystal Proximity
Gain Honor per player kill
Lesser significance
Activate Turret
Gain Honor per NPC turret spawned
Greater significance
Win Game
Rewarded to all winning team members
Lesser significance
Attackers
Stand Inside Crystal Proximity
Accumulate Honor per tick for fighting in contested region
Tick mechanic not finalized
Kill Defender Inside Crystal Proximity
Gain Honor per player kill
Greater significance
Kill Defender Outside Crystal Proximity
Gain Honor per player kill
Lesser significance
Disable Turret
Gain Honor per NPC turret killed
Greater significance
Destroy Crystal Inside Crystal Proximity
Gain Honor for being Crystal killer
Greater significance
Crystal Destroyed Inside Crystal Proximity
Gain Honor for being near Crystal killer
Greater significance
Crystal Destroyed Outside Crystal Proximity
Gain Honor for being active during destruction
Lesser significance
Win Game
Rewarded to all winning team members
Lesser significance
PvM/Dungeon Content
Spoiler
Existing Content
Before adding any completely new dungeons, we would like to update the existing content we have and see it being used and enjoyed the way it was supposed to be. Making use of the game assets we have, we intend on redesigning existing dungeons to work with the Game Arena, and to either update existing game mechanics, or to add new mechanics which would enhance the fun factor of that content.
With the help of the community's feedback, we can gauge and adjust content until we actually see players enjoying themselves, giving us important insight on the player's play styles, and on what will be needed to create new content that will continue to be enjoyed.
As mentioned in the developer notes, the first content to be updated for the Game Arena is what is currently the Union War, which will introduce level brackets and improved game play mechanics. Following that, it would only seem fair to update a PvM aspect of the game, there are currently a few candidates:
Cave of Ulverick
Oblivion Temple Raid Rooms (tentatively named Halls of Oblivion)
Sikuku Ruins: Turak Maze Gauntlet
Future Content Ideas
Goblin Caves (Junon Dungeon)
Survive or die encounter
Defeat Goblin King & his minions in his throne room
Utilizes situational awareness mechanics
Sea of Dawn (Luna Dungeon)
Escort NPC through dungeon encounter
NPC provides battle aid to players
Kera's Trials (Eldeon Dungeon)
Defeat waves of zombies summoned by Executor Kera
Points awarded for each wave destroyed
Waves become progressively more difficult
Executor Kera provides additional interference during waves
Zorgian Burrows (Orlo Dungeon)
Classic dungeon crawl encounter
Clean out a Zorgian Egg Hatchery, Armory and Zorg Mother's Den
Timed Respawn Mechanic
Spoiler
I've included a short video demonstrating the new respawn mechanic using Sikuku Underground Prison as a test zone, a prerequisite update for the Game Arena system which was recently implemented. Most PvP game modes offered through the Game Arena will make use of the new respawn timer, which automatically respawns a dead character after a period of time has passed.
It is our hope that the respawn timer will eventually be adjustable depending on the current state of a game (e.g. Attacking team members will decrease their respawn time as they destroy more crystals, placing some additional pressure on the defending team).
Another neat feature of the new system is that it will allow the Game Arena to control when players can begin moving and attacking in a game mode, ensuring that all players have finished warping into the zone before the game starts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90z3_IrJ3BY
Current Project Status
Spoiler
The current estimated timeline for completing the Game Arena project and Crystal Defenders game mode (a.k.a. Union War redesign) is towards the end of January, after which both updates will be pushed to Pegasus for a period of public testing, feedback and further adjustments.
Unfortunately there isn't much to show visually at this stage, other than the Game Arena interface which hasn't changed much since it's original concept.
During the maintenance you can always check the server status on mmoserverstatus.com
ROSE Online Webcomic! This little random comic is one of the few things you can enertain yourself with during the maintenance. Link below: This is a link... Click meh! Latest episode is: Episode 3
For those bored souls who have really nothing to do, here are some sources of entertainment that could possibily give them some fun for a few seconds or hours:
Pickup, Im not sure if you know this, but do you have any idea on what the level brackets for the union war were going to be? I made a 140 hawker with some very nice gear in june, because at that time they said it would be done by then
The info you shared about what's happening in the Senate sounds pretty good. I'll be excited to see some of that stuff hopefully become part of the game!
That Timed respawn thing, would that only be for pvp games, or would it be all pvp zones(or all maps)? Thats definitely something the community might want to inquire about--does it effect players 'saving' faeries. Thanks for the updates though, its really nice to ideas in the making and such! <3
That Timed respawn thing, would that only be for pvp games, or would it be all pvp zones(or all maps)? Thats definitely something the community might want to inquire about--does it effect players 'saving' faeries. Thanks for the updates though, its really nice to ideas in the making and such! <3
According to Genesis, they are planning to only use it on the areas related to the Game Arena system, so normal zones should not be affected by it.
