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rev
03-02-2004, 05:52 AM
http://boards.station.sony.com/ubb/planetside/Forum16/HTML/002489.html

Sporkfire writes:
This is what's in QA at the moment. You already saw much of it last week. This is a big update, so there's a lot of work to be done before it is ready for the live servers.

Changes from Last Week's Report

High Resolution Textures: The Programmers believe they have fixed this issue and hope to release the fix along with the rest of this update. However, I have to remind the community that this is the first time the fix has entered QA, and so there is potential for it to be delayed until the next update. We're hoping that's not the case though because we know how much the community wants to see them again.
Infiltrators and the Flail targeting lazer: As we discussed last week, the previous explanation was misleading. Infiltrators will not become more visible when using support equipment. Rather, we have fixed a bug that prevented the Infiltrator from becoming partially visible when using the Flail's targeting laser.
Magrider Brakes: SmokeJumper sent me more information on this change, and how it affects more vehicles than just the Magrider and also improved torque on some.

Spork's Pre-Emptive Response: We're not ready to discuss any decisions on the balance topics going around, so they are not listed here.

Gameplay

* Capitol Buildings are currently in our internal testing. Read more about them In Development.
* If a Cavern is locked, then any friendly surface facilities connected to that cavern (via the lattice through the Geowarps) will act as if it had all six modules installed.
* Hand-held AT weapons now have "recharge capacitor units" (Ancient Tech "ammo") that you can buy at AT equipment terminals or at facilities with the Equipment module benefit.
* Phalanx Wall Turrets now have a great upward pivot, allowing them to more easily targeting incoming aircraft.
* Certification Terminals can now be destroyed.
* Double-clicking on a Warpgate will now zoom to its linked continent.
* Hand Grenades will now come in clips of three, though they will require the same amount of inventory space as before. i.e. A clip of three grenades will take up the 2x2 inventory space that a single grenade consumed before.
* TR Burster will only do direct damage to non-aircraft targets. It will no longer inflict splash damage on infantry and ground vehicles.

Bug Fixes

* High Resolution Textures will display properly again.
* Enhanced Targeting will now show the status of enemy Flails beyond 15 meters.
* Fixed a bug that was causing Infiltrators to remain completely invisible when using the Flail's targeting laser. Infiltrators will now be as visible when using the Flail laser as they would while using any other piece of support equipment.
* Pistol slot items will no longer be visible in an Infiltration Suit.
* Hotswapping items will no longer cause infiltrators to become more visible.
* The Infiltration Status Icon will function properly, giving a visual indicator of how "cloaked" a player is.
* The nature of the Empire-specific Infiltration Suit models caused some suits to be more visible than others. We have adjusted parameters for each Empire to compensate for this.
* Damage Decals will no longer show up on water.
* Scorch decals on a door will not remain stationary when a door opens.
* Fixed an issue that would cause players to lose Outfit points.
* Outfits can invite players with a –J or –K appended to their name through the Outfit Window.
* Fixed an issue where newly created characters could not receive send or receive /tell messages or be added to friends list.
* Teleporting through Router telepad will no longer cause Darklight to appear with normal field of vision.
* Energy weapons will leave a damage decal on surfaces again.
* Wall Turrets that are destroyed and repaired will display the proper textures.
* Drivers will no spawn in a vehicle with only 1 shot remaining in the vehicle’s weapon clip.
* Manual binds will no longer remain after deleting character and creating another.
* Fixed an issue where an avatar could remain in the world after being disconnected.

Other

* Levels of visibility have been honed for each of the different actions that Infiltrators can take – running, walking, crouch-walking, jumping, and shooting, etc. Further, the level of visibility has been adjusted to account for multiple simultaneous actions, such as jumping and shooting.
* Infiltrators will remain cloaked when they mount a vehicle, but will be partially visible as long as they occupy the seat. This adjustment does not apply to the wraith, which will remain fully invisible when sitting still, and become more visible at higher speeds.
* A glow effect and a laser sight effect have been added to the Decimator.
* Wheeled and Treaded brakes were adjusted in order to allow shorter stopping distances. Vehicles affected: Harasser, Skyguard, Enforcer, Marauder, Lightning, ANT, Deliverer, AMS, Sunderer, Vanguard, Prowler, Wraith, Basilisk. (NOTE: Gearboxes have been tuned to allow "rolling" on hillsides. If the vehicle driver desires to stay in a single spot, simply apply the brakes (spacebar) and the vehicle will stop unless you're on a particularly steep hillside.)
* Hover vehicle brakes were modified to allow brakes to function more efficiently. Vehicles affected: Magrider, Thresher, Router, Flail, Switchblade.
* Low-ratio gears (first and second gears) were adjusted (slightly) on the following vehicles in order to increase their torque (starting power) when trying to start moving uphill from a dead stop. Vehicles affected: AMS, Sunderer, Vanguard, Prowler, Magrider, Router, Flail.

rev
03-02-2004, 05:57 AM
Within this thread Sporkfire refers to efforts in development to, yet again, reduce the effectiveness of the Lasher. It never fucking fails.


We're going to be implementing the Lasher's 5m before lashing restriction. The other bugs are in the QA database for verification, debugging and resolution. However, I do not have a timeframe yet. Same goes for the lock-on issues.

As for the Implant balance pass... Renaming an implant requires a person who knows how to open a text document and change a word. Changing an implant's behavior requires a significant amount of time from a Programmer.

Duuk
03-02-2004, 12:30 PM
Yeah we're about to get some hurting. Why don't they just say "we'll fix the lash+orb bug and thats it." They reduced the lash range restriction and that isn't the problem it's both lashing and orb (which they will also mess with eventually)... that and an empire that will remain nameless that hates not having the uberweapon.

Duuk

martyr
03-02-2004, 05:35 PM
use your lasher while it's good folks, and hold off on starfire until these things go through.

i tried using the starfire yesterday for about an hour and i shot down one mosquito with it because it flew right at me. i can't lock onto _anything_ with it.

Tojax
03-02-2004, 09:05 PM
They're trying to deal with the fact that the Lasher orbs are not only lashing behind the person firing, which is what the 5m restriction is for, but also I think they're trying to stop the lasher from both lashing AND hitting a target, doing a lot more damage than it's supposed to. Kinda like that bug with the Jackhammer tripleshot...

Besides, what part of MagRider brakes don't you understand? :P

Duuk
03-02-2004, 09:35 PM
Like I said the lash+orb bug should be fix... why are we screwing with this 5m Lash restriction? And no it doesn't lash behind you according to the videos I've seen testing the lasher. As for the mag breaks thats cool... it's been how many patches since the mag started acting up? I just get touchy when I see legitimate problems being ignored (for weeks if not longer) by the devs but if it's HA, OMG WE NEED TO FIX THIS!!!!!

snipegrzywa
03-02-2004, 10:28 PM
... that and an empire that will remain nameless that hates not having the uberweapon.

For the love of all that is good and great in this god-forsaken game, the currrent lasher is NOT a uberweapon. The only way ppl see that it is uber is because 20% of the players switched from the NC and TR to VS, and 90% of the VS switched to HA ( the other 10% already had it) to use it. Same thing with Lasher 2.0, tho it really was over done, the reason they had to nerf it was because the VS pop. was 40+%.

Same thing with the switch of the deci. Everyone switched certs so now everyone has lancers, strikers, and phoenixes. My only hope is the dev's start to realize how under powered the lancer is compared to the other 2 weapons, and that they nerf the hell out of them.

In technical terms, the lasher orb should do "lash" and "direct" damage if you hit someone. It woud lash before it hits the person, then do damage when they get hit. Now the orb should loose power when it lashes, so when it does impact it is already weaker then a non-lash direct shoot. So in theory the guy being hit should receive the same amount of damage if it lashed him or not. Now in game not sure what it does, and not sure how hard it would be to program that in.

Duuk
03-02-2004, 10:44 PM
I'm sorry it's consensus that the Lasher is the uberweapon.. weither thats true or not is irrelavent. Personally I'd still rather have the JH. It's how much the forum whores say something that becomes truth. That and how often you see the gun as you pointed out.

But I'm going to have to disagree with you snipe about the lancer. I would argue it's the most powerful. With absolute impunity I can sit up on the walls and snipe away at vehicles, phoneix users can too but it's a very poor AA AV weapon (makes sense right :shock: ). Striker... it's crap... now how can I say this when I bitched about it the other night. The reason is the striker lock is very effective on Air and hence every TR and his cousin seems to like lighting reavers up. On Ground v it's lock is non-existant according to my brother, CrimsonDaybreak (TR), and he's not been wrong on this sort of thing before. Anyways in terms of how much I can dish out per minute and the long range I'd say lancer is the most fun and "powerful" av weapon. I'm glad in one way the lancer is "back" but sad in that it's a trend of increased AV and movement back towards infantry.

As for lash+orb... I don't know what you're saying makes sense to me but... for some strange reason once again consensus says otherwise (this includes several CR5 VS that whore the forum too). I guess reality is defined by the most insane.

Tojax
03-02-2004, 11:02 PM
Quite a few people do, in fact, seem to think that the Lasher lashes behind them, whether or not it's true. But consider this:
They would not re-implement the 5m restriction if they couldn't reproduce this effect on their test servers. It's there despite all nay-sayings. And I'd also have to agree on the Lancer being the most effective AV weapon. You can outrepair a Phoenix, for god's sake, even if you can fly it wherever the hell you want to. Not to mention the extra 50m the Lancer has on both of them.

Rahl
03-02-2004, 11:11 PM
snipe, I tink he meant the NC and the n00bh4mm3r.

I'm pretty much tired of the HA debate...

No matter what they do to my weapons I'll find a way to win...or at least have fun being a dick to the enemy. Even with a mag that blew up on every other hill I outdrove my enemies while you guys out gunned them. With my shitty mag brakes I've learned to be cautious and to be on guard for mines at common spots. When the lasher started to not work for me, I went to the pulsar and became a surgile pulsar user and a amp weilding cloaker. When radar killed infils, I used quasar and took advantage of the radar bug. When plasma killed gens fast I took advantage of that.

I think its cool that the weapon properties shift and the number of users for given weapons shift. It kep the game from getting stale.

So, they'll n3rf teh lasher....so what. Theres four cert points back.

rev
03-02-2004, 11:20 PM
So, they'll n3rf teh lasher....so what. Theres four cert points back.

Back to the sweeper we go.

Tojax
03-02-2004, 11:28 PM
And is it just me or is rev complaining about the Devs undoing something they just did which I don't think anyone really even knew about before they said they were going to fix it? I don't really remember anyone petitioning for that 5m restriction to be removed; he wasn't very clear with that quote....

Anyways rev, you sound like you're having a bad day, so here's a little dancing kirby to cheer you up:

<(" <).....<( " )>.....(> " )>

rev
03-03-2004, 12:43 AM
Tojax, no... There are a lot of us that are tired of the developers capitulating to the complaints of the NC, predominantly.

So what, the lasher has a bug. As if this game has no other bugs. Regardless, the lasher is up to par with the other HA weapons now and the damned NC and TR can't handle it. They need an advantage.

The best thing the devs could do is make all weapons common pool and do away with faction-dependent weaponry. It's just not working as they cannot balance them in the eyes of those that need an edge.

So please, do not make assumptions about my mood and point me out as one to 'complain' when the NC and TR are the ones that are doing the real complaining.

snipegrzywa
03-03-2004, 01:42 AM
And I was refering to that coment about a non-named empire is mad since they don have the uber weapon (NC and jackhammer), suggesting that the lasher is the new uber weapon.

And i agree...I've had HA on SnipeGrzywa, and no matter what i will still kick ass with it. I'm just emotionaly attached to the lasher since we've been together way to long :roll: . Hopefully this "nerf" will balance out the amount og HA users, and I can go back to being killed by the n00bhammer instead of a stolen lasher.

And I'm so happy about the mag...maybe I can become a 1/2 way decent driver now, after 4 months of it.

Tojax
03-03-2004, 02:19 AM
The mood thing was not just about this thread...

Anyways, they're not doing any serious remodeling to the Lasher, at least they haven't comitted to doing anything short of a couple bug fixes at this point. And besides, a bug in the damage of a weapon that's the biggest hand-held anti-infantry gun for an empire in which quite a significant portion of them are certed is a big bug.


com·plain ( P ) Pronunciation Key (km-pln)
intr.v. com·plained, com·plain·ing, com·plains
To express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment.
To make a formal accusation or bring a formal charge.
You're complaining. :P

Anyways, putting all the blame on the NC and TR whiners is not a very good stand point to take, which is one of the reasons I thought you were in a bad mood as it just sounds like you were pissed when you were writing that and you didn't really stop to think about it. You sound almost as bad as most of the trash that frequents the PS forums. It's never just someone elses fault. Anyways, you have a Station account, as do we all. If it concerns you so much, get in those forums and lay down some good solid evidence and debunk those that think they know better. If you're not putting in the effort to try and keep this game on the right track, you have no right to complain when it veers off....not that that's ever stopped anyone before.

People generally don't go to the forums because they're happy with the game and the way things are going. In theory, the Devs test everything on their own servers to determine if something's worthy of a buff/nerf; granted I could cite probably 10-15 occasions where this has failed, but sometimes you have to trust them.

And the day they made everything common pool is the day I cancel my account, as I'm sure would a very significant portion of the rest of their playerbase.

And you need to turn that frown upside down, mister! Gee-willikers, Mr.Kirby's gonna have to work overtime for this one!

<(" <).....<( " )>.....(> " )>.....<(" <).....<( " )>.....(> " )>.....<(" <).....<( " )>.....(> " )>.....<(" <).....<( " )>.....(> " )>
<(" <).....<( " )>.....(> " )>.....<(" <).....<( " )>.....(> " )>.....<(" <).....<( " )>.....(> " )>.....<(" <).....<( " )>.....(> " )>
<(" <).....<( " )>.....(> " )>.....<(" <).....<( " )>.....(> " )>.....<(" <).....<( " )>.....(> " )>.....<(" <).....<( " )>.....(> " )>

rev
03-03-2004, 02:43 AM
Tojax, I do not understand the static, but whatever makes you feel on topic... or not. How about discussing the topic instead of telling others what they should be doing? Thanks.

I have been playing the game since early in the beta and I have seen the devs roll over again and again to the demands of the NC users. Why? I have no clue, but it happens everytime the Vanu get an upgrade.

The Vanu have been relatively quiet concerning the advantages that the NC possess in their tank and HA weapon. With the lack of firepower the Vanu have been forced to play the game a bit more smartly and make optimal use of what we have at our disposal. And I think we have done quite well to date.

I have posted several suggestions and taken part of past discussions in the development forum in the past. Now the entire board has become a big flame-fest, nothing more. There is very little on that board that is constructive. Did you not notice that the most important portion of any post that Spork begins is to be first to respond? The PS board is childish at best, and a waste of time to try and discuss anything pertaining to positive improvement in Planetside. I'd like to, at least, try to do that here instead of attacking someone because you think they are not acting how you think they should act. Do not turn this board into something resembling the Planetside forums, please.

Tojax
03-03-2004, 06:37 AM
Why do I always get in arguments in forums...I'll try to stay a little closer to the topic, you filthy worm-infested waste of life (kidding).

From what I remember, the last 4 or so patchs have contained nerfless buffs to the VS, except for the Lasher (a very big one) which remains to be seen. Last time the Lasher got buffed, it could stop a tank, so it needed the nerf, even if it (the nerf) was somewhat overeffective.

In my opinion, the reason we've done quite well to date is that our weapons were never really that bad to begin with. Our tank's always been the best AV tank. Our MAXs are just awesome. The Lancer was probably the most underrated gun in the game until the buff. The only thing that made us seem underpowered is part of the problem inherrent with the NC philosophy. Big bang per shot means delivering a lot of damage at once in short intermittant bursts. This is very bad for multiplayer games. Just think of all the 'Shotgun Whores' and 'Rocket Bitches' in MOH:AA, if you've ever played it. Indeed, shotguns in any game with a lot of close quarters fighting draw complaints. These complainers are the same people screaming nerf/buff everytime something's tweaked. The empire hoppers don't help.

I agree on their forums though. It gets hard to read anything after awhile when you have to sort through so much bullsh*t.

I wouldn't worry about another VS nerf coming until they actually say it. Never know: this whole thing might just blow over.

No reason to end a good thing...<(" <).....<( " )>.....(> " )>