After a two week break, I’m back with my analysis and notes from the Weekly Live Video Chat with the Prime developers.
First off, I’m stoked to have won a shirt. It’s always nice to win something and I rarely do.
Down to the details. I gleaned a few details from this week’s chat that I wrote down. I can’t guarantee that these are all new, but anything I wrote down seemed to be the most important in my eyes. The chat in general was catered toward clarification on details or systems we already know about, but the details are the important stuff anyway.
Before I get to today’s notes, here’s the first gameplay we’ve had in a while (released last week but I was MIA).
In my usual style, I’ll give you bullet points. Anything after the first sentence is usually my own thoughts or commentary on the point. Read on.Â
UI Functionality
- One main hotbar right now because there are fewer abilities w/ an optional on the right. This has more meaning than you might give it credit. That means you’re not going to have 20+ abilities to manage or be mashing a sequence or priority list of abilities. More focus is given to fewer abilities, which impact gameplay.
- Auction House might just be a buyout system.
Crafting
- Anyone in the game can mine any elements/materials.
- Focusing on harvesting leads to better harvesters that let you be more efficient in harvesting (Time and yield). I hope in general that if I spend more time crafting that I greatly distance myself from the casual crafter.
Animations
- “Not up to par” which is why we’re not seeing videos of PvP.
Gear
- Vendored and Droped items are lower quality than crafted items. Knew this already, but I love repeating it because it’s awesome.
Combat
- Cloaking/Stealth is permanent until you attack (and get attacked?)
Missions
- “We want you to get out there and explore.”
- Mission system flows well with a style that lets people grind if they really want to. I assume this means you’re taken to areas with high mob density to complete missions, which means you can stay and grind if you want. Maybe even be shown harder areas to come back with a group? That would be my hope.
Gameplay
- Flying is allowed anywhere (everywhere? My grammar sucks).
- Group size is currently set at six people. They want feedback on the size and well formulated ideas on why it should be smaller or larger.
Bases
- Don’t have to be a crafter to call down a base.
- Players do not need to be present for upgrades to happen. Set it and forget it.
- Takes 5 minutes to build a base. Too short? Devs think it’s decent time under the pressure of an attack.
- Ownership being looked into to prevent griefing; someone calling in unneeded base parts.
Housing
- “There are other games you can play where all you do is build houses” and we can go play those until they have housing. Maybe they’ll have housing later?
- They say it’s something they’re considering. But then again, all devs usually say that. Personally, I do not believe it will be in the game. I’m not getting any vibe from them that this is something they are pursuing and the answer above is indicative of that. Basically it’s like saying “if you want housing bad enough, play a game that will have it.”
Hero Engine – This was my question. I asked how they like it and if it has allowed them to do everything they want to do with Prime. I asked because SWTOR is also using the engine and I’m really curious to see how these two very different games utilize a newer engine.
- Great for art. Lots of systems have to be developed to do what they want with Prime.
- John and Warren modded the engine a bit to push the envelope.
I’m keeping this on the backburner in terms of interest. It sounds reasonably interesting but if it’s just endless fighting over the same keeps then I’ll pass.
Are the factions player-controlled at all? If they are that would seriously make it more interesting; having pride in (or a reason to fight for) an NPC faction is rarely if ever that compelling.
The three factions are entirely players. It’s like Horde Vs. Alliance but it’s Rodon vs. Salent vs. Human.
It’s not an NPC faction at all. It’s Sci-Fi DAOC.
I know you’re just the messenger, but that video shows nothing about the game at all. Looks like a tech demo if anything. The one they released in July had some actual gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MP0KIFOfUE&feature=related
@Coppertopper: Oh I agree completely. That is, however, the only gameplay I have seen released in over a month so it’s the reason I put it up. I’m constantly hoping to see combat footage.
yes…combat footage would be nice. I guess they were trying to show off some cityscapes or something? Still, doesn’t look or sound like its coming out this year, which is probably an excellent decision anyways. Would be perfect for a spring 2012 release after the SWTOR and GW2 fervor has died down a bit.
@Keen: I realised I used NPC factions in the wrong context; I meant NPC-controlled, i.e. where the leadership, goals and motto of the faction are all out of the players’ control and you just have to align yourself with the one you most agree with (or not if you like to play evil shit but are a nice guy.)
If it is, as you said, Alliance vs Horde vs Blah, then that’s a bit of a bummer.
@Keen to avoid the allods Debacle again,I think of one your prime questions(no pun intended) should be about the payment plan.I don’t care what payment plan a game has along as it is good game but it will be pretty funny watching you build hope in game only to have it crash down.All logic says it will be a sub game but hybrids models are gaining popularity and small company and game a payment model that allows game to decent population always is tempting.
@Kirabi: I believe they have said it will be a subscription game but the price is unannounced.
I think that you misunderstood the crafting section. They said that if you focus on harvesting then you’d be able to harvest more and faster, but focusing on any other craft won’t necessary benefit in harvesting 🙂
That was actually just a poorly cut and paste note. I’ll update it.
What I got from it is that if you’re focusing on harvesting that you’ll be able to make better harvesters that gather faster and are more efficient.
My additional thoughts were that I hope if a person focuses extra hard on crafting that they can set themselves apart from their peers. I want the gap of skill to be great. I don’t want someone to be able to go out and PvP and come back and craft for 30 minutes a night and be just as good as someone who crafts all day.
@Keen
“What I got from it is that if you’re focusing on harvesting that you’ll be able to make better harvesters that gather faster and are more efficient.”
No, the Inventor profession makes better harvesters. Though being a super harvester gives you access to the high-grade materials, I think.