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Global Agenda Expansion: Sandstorm
Cassan0va
Member Posts: 66
We try to make most changes as incremental as possible as to no radically change the game play, at the same time we want to address what the community wants most.
Character levels and specializations:
Leveling from 30-50 will now have a lot more meaning.
At level 30+ players will be able to choose a specialization path for the character. Each class has two specializations (that match the current Skill Trees) You can only choose one specialization which allows you additional skill points in the specialization tree and allows you to use new weapons/devices that are being introduced. If you want to specialize in both areas you will need to create and level up another character for that class.
New weapons/Device:
For each class specialization new weapons and devices are being introduced. We are trying for at least one weapon/device per slot type per class Some examples: The Laser Sniper Rifle, The Barrage Grenade Launcher, The Claw,The Perfect Rifle, The Beacon Tracker, The Impact Hammer, The Multi-Heal Gun, The Oathbreaker Boost. There are over 50 that we are currently evaluating for introduction. These weapons/devices will be earned in a special way using Conquest Tokens
These weapons have a minimum player level requirement ranging from 30-50
Store openings:
More stores will be open.
The Jetpack store will have two new jetpacks available that are purchased using Conquest Tokens
A new hightech UI is being introduced although not all screens may be changed to it in time for the 1.3 release.
Conquest and Mercenary Tokens:
Conquest Tokens are earned by playing/winning different parts of the game with a maximum tokens that can be earned each day. (Subscribers will get them faster since they will be able to participate in more parts of the game, but everyone can earn enough over time to get the various rewards) Mercenary Tokens are earned by playing/winning various matches with a maximum tokens that can be earned each day. (All players earn these at the same rate)
Rewards, Loot and Crafting:
We plan on having full Armor drops as loot in PvE missions which are character bound when you get them (both Co-Op and Open Zones) We also plan on allowing Armor crafters create upgrade kits to these Armor drops to improve their stats.
Weapon upgrades will be replaced with Upgrade Kits that allow players to improve the stat on the actual weapons (instead of overall stats) Weapons will also drop as loot in PvE with improved stats over current weapons (which can be then upgraded with Weapon Upgrade kits from crafters) Weapons and Armor can also be purchased with Conquest Tokens and Mercenary Tokens.
Open Zone (Warzones)
We are currently testing these zone which are large open spaces that players will join to do various missions. For the 1.3 release we plan on having open PvE zone with several different mission types as well as a PvPvE zone with several mission types and a zone win condition. We are currently rewriting some of the Unreal 3 server to allow more players to interact in the zone. We don't know what the final number will look like yet but we hope for a minimum of 30 players in a PvE zone and 50 in a PvP zone.
This will be posted to give the community an idea of what we are doing, followed by a more formal marketing when enough it ready and we feel that it's solid.
Brought to you by Deathwatch
www.deathwatch.co.nr
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcSMnDwC-dw
Comments
I'm excited. I just came.
i realy cant say i like this. as the game is now, a lvl 5 can take on a lvl 50,, but whit this thay will change whats currently funn in the game.. PVP:( and Wowalyze it,, i dont need armor and weps whit stat boost on em,, im happy JUST THE WAY IT IS NOW.. argh...
I WANT A SCI-FI MMO!! (NOT EVE, or Fom, or FE)
Lots of good stuff in this.
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"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
....win, putting the MMO into this game. Gad to see. This might make it worth the sub
That's pretty nice, I'm happy to see some developers that think they need to put out some decent content before asking for a subscription. Sure beats the hell out of serving you a shit sandwich and telling you the "sizziling steak" will be coming soon then charging a subscription fee for potential that usually never emerges!
Full marks to Hi-Res and BTW the game is alot of fun
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
CS Lewis
The changes look good, and are necessary if they want to charge a sub.
They do however seem to be going a bit against the spirit of competitive pvp by adding in a certain level of gear grind.
New weapons drop? Tokens need to be farmed? Level 50 requirement for access to equipment? Locked in skill build choices?
For me part of the beauty of GA was that it doesn't focus on things like levelling and gear grind for months to become competitive in pvp. Also, not being able to respec skill choices seems pretty fail to me.
Its like they wanted to design something with skill based pvp that is closer to TF2 + Guildwars, then realized that people won't pay monthly for that, so now they are going closer to the traditional mmo appraoch where time played > skill.
They are also forcing a player to reroll if they make a skill build choice that they don't like, which is a huge slap in the face to people who want minimal grind, skill based pvp.
Even if they go this route, the combat is still better than pretty much better than any other MMO, so the game is worth playing, but its moving in a different direction than the game they initally promised. Were getting into an area where only lvl 50, geared out agents will dominate the PVP.
They better get their match making system fixed.
Where does it say you'll not be able to respec? I took it to mean that if you wanted two specializations at once you'd have make another char. I'm not saying you're wrong just that considering the current system that's what I think was meant.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
CS Lewis
This patch looks like it will really give GA a boost.
For those who are worried about WoWification, I doubt that'll be an issue. The new kit and item drops may well give players an edge but I doubt they'll lead to unfair advantages. I suspect a skilled level 5 will still be able to pwn a lame level 50 after the patch, even if the level 50 does have all the best kit. I guess they did need to introduce both an incentive and a meaning to the 30-50 level range.
Hi-Rez really has a great ethos and I hope they continue to develop games after GA is established. It's nice to see a company realise the shortcomings of their product then make a real effort to rectify it. I also think gamers may need to get used to games being improved in phases post-launch. Most indies can't afford the $100mil+ risk it takes to create the likes of WoW and can only release a partial product to test the water. If it takes off - like GA - and they make a profit off box sales, then they can add more content, etc, knowing they are onto a winner.
Anyone know when this patch is due?
Playing: Ableton Live 8
~ ragequitcancelsubdeletegamesmashcomputerkillself ~
This is what I thought, I was sure I posted already but apparently not!
The way I understand it is; it'll be extra points that you spend normally like the current skill points, and you'll just get access to the extra weapons in the tree you spend X points in.
I can't really see it being some kind of permanent or semi-permanent decision with the way respeccing currently works, although I'd probably prefer it that way - defining my role and whatnot.
Can't wait for this patch!
I saw someone say in city chat "patches usually come at the end of each month" .. but with the way city chat is since the free trial I wouldn't trust it too much
.
"If all you can say is... "It's awful, it's not innovative, it's ugly, it's blah.." Then you're an unimaginative and unpolished excuse for human life" -eburn
Hirez Erez posted this:
"Sandstorm update
I'm sure some of you are wondering about the status of Sandstorm (ver 1.3) so here is a quick update:
Weapons & Armor:
The weapons and armor system has been significantly overhauled and looks promising. The key changes are that weapons & armor will now drop as loot in PvE missions and will have different quality stats. (There is also ways to buy weapon and armor gear with tokens for those that will not have access to higher level PvE). Crafters will be able to create and sell upgrade kits to improve weapons and armor core stat.
As an example, you may defeat a high level boss that will drop an epic sniper rifle with additional bonuses on it (like extra range, more damage, faster projectile, etc..)
The overall balance will still be maintained so the difference between a max epic weapon and the base version is no better then the difference of players with Epic vs. Common now.
Open Zones:
After various testing on the open zones, the general conclusion is that they are best for serving two purposes:
Creating a more immersive world and allowing for solo play.
We are currently working on two Open Zones. The first is the a large area next to dome city, and the second is based in the commonwealth region.
Each Open Zone will have an NPC that helps to explain the purpose of the zone and how it fits in the game world, and at least one other NPC to given repeatable missions.
Players can do the missions solo, but also have the option to team up (xp and rewards get split), there are also some random Boss mobs that a team can try to beat for better loot.
The dome desert zone will be design for lower level players and the commonwealth for higher level players.
While in the Open Zones players can enter a Mission Q (like PvP, Co-op Pve, etc), at the end of an instance mission you will return back to the Open Zone you were in.
We are still testing how many players and NPCs will be in a single zone, the design goal is to make sure you get to see other players while running around while having enough enemies to fight.
PvE co-op missions (Special Ops):
A new 10 person dome defense mission was created. Players will be taken to one of 6 locations in the desert to protect a facility from waves of attacking NPCs.
Some new low/medium level co-op missions are being created to fit with the desert dome area while the current co-op mission against the commonwealth will only be offered at high/max/DA levels.
Warzones:
Warzones are the larger scale PvP battles.
We have done significant optimization to the Unreal server including making it multithreading and the first map we are working on should handle 64 players very well (32v32).
We will continue to test the limits of the server (and client) to see if we can have higher player counts with reasonable performance.
There is still a lot of design/implementation taking place (to make sure we don't get zergs and keep things interesting)
AvA:
The AvA format will be getting some additional modifications to make it more accessible and rewarding.
There are two main changes we are currently working on.
First, we are improving the reward system by allowing AvA facilities to create weapons/armor (similar to the drops in PvE missions). AvA will also award special tokens.
Second, we are changing the format of the open/close times. In the new format each region (NA, EU, Oc) will have one large map with a long open/close time (probably somewhere between 8-12 hours)
An agency will be able to open/close their territories for production when they want (with a whole bunch of restrictions that I will post somewhere else). This will allow each agency to determine when they want to play.
New weapons/devices:
About 30 new weapons/device are currently being tested. These are alternatives to current weapons/device (not stronger/weaker but different)
Each class gets about 8 new weapons/devices. Here are some examples: Flame turret, Long range grenade launcher, high accuracy Rifles, laser (instant) sniper rifle, duel wield swords, combat jetpack, and lots more.
Most of the new weapons will require a minimum of level 30 to use and will be purchased with special tokens.
UI/Misc:
There is a new visual UI upgrade to many screens. (Looks cleaner and more high tech)
XP will be rewarded on kills (in PvE) and shows up in combat text
Reaching a new level has a special FX on the player to indicate that you leveled up
Working on DX10 support/AA
Lots of general optimizations
If all goes well (there is tons of work that is being put into this update) we should be testing (some/all features) on the PTS server before the end of the month and releasing the update in May (as early as practical).
Also, expect information this upcoming week on subscription plan and what's included.
Disclaimer: I wrote this all from memory, so I probably missed something."
Respecs are going to be available, most likely due to the huge outcry from the community. I must say im impressed with all of the above, id actually consider a sub for it. I think they should start adding more maps for the normal mercenary missions though.
Wow, thanks for posting that here.
Want patch.
"If all you can say is... "It's awful, it's not innovative, it's ugly, it's blah.." Then you're an unimaginative and unpolished excuse for human life" -eburn
Now that sounds promising, might actually sub now
Sub stuff has been announced.
Prices: $9.95/7.95E/£6.95
http://forum.globalagendagame.com/gablog/index.php/2010/04/14/global-agenda-set-to-offer-the-best-value-in-pc-gaming/
This just came few minutes ago:
As many of you know, we have been working hard at a new version (1.3) named sandstorm.
Based upon our Sandstorm testing, the scope of the changes we are introducing is so significant that we think it is best to phase in the functionality over a few patches versus releasing all at once. This way, we can better manage all of the change and provide the highest quality experience we can.
Here is the very high level breakdown on the major functionality and the most likely order that it will be patched in. There are dozens of other features and functions that will be included in each phase, but this should give you a general roadmap. We expect the 1.3 update process to start in the begining of may for phase I with additional patches for the next phases coming as soon as that phase looks stable.
Phase I
New Weapons, Armor, and Loot system
* Weapons with quality and stats
* Weapon/Armor Loot drops from NPCs
* Token reward system
* About 30 new weapons (7 for each class)
* Hands-Free Jetpacks
Phase II
AvA Update
* Single large zone
* Agency selectable open times
* Ability to generate weapons (like PvE loot)
Phase III
New content
* Quest system
* Warzones (64 player matches)
* Openzones (PvE with quests in open areas)
* Defense missions (10 person PvE mission type)
Phase IV
Agency update/New generation Equipment
* Agency win conditions with new generation of weapons/armor
* Achievements & Unique collectibles
If all goes well Phase I should be on PTS by the end of next week (first week of may)
Update:
A lot of the new UI will be in the Phase I, there are also many other feature in Phase I that I did not list. For example: 10 person arena Q, ability to do co-op missions without a full team, etc...
Tournaments are also coming at some point in the later phases
Hand-Free Jetpack allows you to hold down space bar to use the jetpack.
Combat Jetpack works the same way as the Hand-Free Jetpack but also allows you to shoot while you are using the jetpack.
The current jetpack is also available
All jetpacks are balanced to play well
On the new version (1.3) friends have a different name tag color then teammates.