Developer Stream Recap: November 28th, 2019

[Multigun]

Thanks for the kind words to all as always.

I have made three corrections/updates/clarifications so far, credit to Ignasis for the heads up.

1. The first being about the Player List Changes. This update actually came out with the Wine Cellar, specifically, in case anybody (like me) wondered which patch it came in from (and it was even in the patch notes). Further, for official servers, here is what we know regarding when they will see the change added:

@Multigun

As far as official servers receiving this feature update, there isn’t an ETA as of yet, nor is there a given value as of what the server setting will be as far as the invisible cooldown delay. There will be an announcement across normal channels once Funcom is ready to add in this change. (Thank you to Ignasis for the post-stream clarification)

2. Corrected my description of what the Dev Team tried to do with Lances and Flags.

@Multigun

Joel briefly talked about how they tried to add a feature to where players could carry banners that hung off the lance while mounted. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get the cloth physics to work right. Joel said maybe in the future they would add flags if they could get past the technical hurdles.

3. Added Ignasis’s post to the write up with regards to the combat sound bug.

Sounds not getting fixed

Hey there, It seems there was some confusion during the stream. Regarding this issue, it’s two separate bugs and as of the time of this writing, they are fixed internally. Plan is to release those fixes as soon as possible, so they will come out either with the Mounts update or with a patch shortly after. It does also affect all platforms.

---

Second Update has been made with some additional clarification from Alex to the following:

1. The removal of the stairs to Trebuchets. Here is the updated notes:

@Multigun

Some other changes to the Trebuchet were discussed. One of those changes was that they decided to remove the stairs from the Siege Foundation so that it was easier to place a Trebuchet on a 4x4 area. The stairs are gone, but the Siege Foundation remains. To clear up any potential confusion, the Trebuchet requires the Siege Foundation, the Base, the Frame, and the Arm to complete the Trebuchet.

2. Avatar Status and their current status before they are re-enabled on official servers. Here is the updated notes on that.

@Multigun

As many players are already aware, Avatar’s are currently disabled on official servers due to the widely reported exploited concerns. Alex also talked about (and clarified further Post-Stream) that they also have balance issues to address and observe, especially after many of the combat changes that have been and are being put into place.

With regards to the status of the Avatar’s returning on official servers, there is no current ETA for their return. Private Servers and Single Player can have this enabled as they wish.

3. Player List Changes and how you can set the new VocalVisibilityDurationMinutes

@Multigun

Finally, post-stream, Alex said that this setting will likely remain in the ServerSettings.ini exclusively, and no GUI option is planned at this time.

4. Death on Horseback. I actually forgot this timestamp and notes completely, but I was at least partially waiting to hear back from Alex to get some clarifications about it. Here is the newly added entry.

@Multigun

Death On Horseback (30:19):

This was discussed last week (see previous recap), but it is possible for the player to die while on horseback and the horse to remain alive. On stream, Alex talked about what happens when your horse takes damage. What happens is the Endurance and Health values begin to drop with every hit, with the player being dismounted when the Endurance is gone.

But as far as what can happen to the player, it wasn’t clear on this stream. Vlad talked about that last week and you could kill or target a player directly without targeting the horse. Post stream, Alex added some clarification:

The player can be hit and will take damage to their health pool while mounted. The player and mount have different health pools, and the player can be killed while mounted. If the player is killed while mounted, normal games rules for death take over and the mount reverts to normal pet behavior.

5. Does a Full Encumbrance build let Horses still sprint when the player is over encumbered? It sounded like the answer to this question was a no during stream, but I wanted to double check that with Alex. This is indeed the case, and here are the updated notes.

@Multigun

Chat Question: How will a full encumbrance build work with Mounts? (1:01:44):

Alex says that if you are over encumbered, the horse or mount will be unable to sprint. That means that even with full Encumbrance, your character can still be flagged as over Encumbered (which you can observe in the amount of stamina you consume despite being able to walk normally on the ground). Post-stream, Alex also confirmed my analysis of what he meant when he described this situation.

6. Do NPC’s utilize any of the new combat mechanics? The answer is no, and here are the updated notes.

@Multigun

What About NPC’s? Are They Also Impacted? (1:12:55):

Yes, the NPC’s often use the same mechanics as players. But the Dev Team also has to be careful of how much of the new mechanics to give to the NPC’s and to use a softer hand with NPC’s so that players don’t overly abuse them.

Post-stream, Alex had this to add:

NPC movement for the upcoming patch has not changed, because the risk to AI and the player experience war deemed too high to be rolled into one update.

---

Third Update with some additional Post-Stream information on other changes being made to the Trebuchet, courtesy of Alex.

@Multigun

Additional Post Stream Info on Trebuchet Changes

Alex had some additional information on other tweaks and changes to Trebuchets that we will see in the upcoming update.

1. Removed twine requirement from some of the Trebuchet recipes
2. In general, increased wood and stone cost of the Trebuchet
3. Increased the stone cost of the Trebuchet boulders
4. Increased boulder damage, but it no longer does AOE (discussed in last week’s stream)

Alex’s Comment on this change:

This is to increase the commitment need for out of render range attacks (need a spotter). Also, as the defender, repairing AOE splash is just not fun, so we are gonna try with this approach and see how it goes

Demon fire barrage still has its AoE effect though.

5. Increased demon-fire barrage damage to be more inline with its build cost.
6. the build time on the Trebuchet Frame and Trebuchet Arm is much more significant. They take 30 minuets each, for a sum of 60 minuets. This is to encourage players to commit to building the Trebuchet, rather than on a whim where they just drop down a Trebuchet and batter through a random base they find while adventuring with little fear of reprisal.