December 6th; what's new?

[Undone]

What's new?
This week is mostly bug fixes and minor updates. In addition, we will be doubling our server's memory to reduce the frequency in which we have to restart zones due to the current memory leaks. These hardware upgrades will cause extended server downtimes but I'll do my best to keep you informed.

This month will also bring some much needed R&R to the team. A number of us will be taking long overdue mini vacations over the holiday break so we have decided to put all new content on hold until the new year. The next patch (December 13th) will be the last for the month barring any issues that may crop up. This should also give us some time to work on some more extended technical tasks such as improving the patch size (see below). We will be keeping a close eye on server health throughout this time so we wont be completely out of it.

Bug fixes / improvements:

• Tech
  • Updated vegetation shaders to the latest version (minor performance and visual improvements).
  • Improved overhead nameplate rotation near the edge of your screen.
  • Fixed execution order of nameplate scripts to reduce the rotation lag in overhead nameplates and chat bubbles
  • Fixed issues with chat linking in /tell
  • Fixed issues with chat linking items with a colon in their name
  • Fixed issues with chat linking too many items (it will give you a notification and ask you to send fewer links)
  • Fixed issues with misconfigured spawn controllers that could cause them to get stuck in a loop not spawning anything.
• Environment / Art
  • Fixed AO textures on some rock assets.
  • Fixed missing vegetation in the northern part of Redshore Ridge.
  • Fixed some nav mesh issues in Redshore Ridge.
  • Misc. environmental bug fixes.
  • Reduced cloud movement speed.
• UI:
  • Added "Cancel Execution" keybind that is unbound by default. This keybind will cancel a currently executing ability/consumable/craft/etc (similar to escape or jumping). Note that escape continues to function as it always has.
  • Fixed not being able to switch targets via keypresses or clicks while unconscious.
• Design:
  • Mushroom Oil is now an accepted material for ground torch fuel
  • Mangrove density increased in Redshore Ridge Mangrove Forest
  • Mandrake poison is now AoE
  • Mobs lvl 25+ have had their damage values increased.
  • Mire "Shed" ability changed to chemical status resist
  • Fixed issues with NPC global cooldown being too slow. This reduces the gap between auto-attacks and abilities for NPCs which should give them more appropriate DPS levels.
  • Flinching Bite debuff also reduces block chance.
  • Increased range of Juggernaut Roar ability
  • Level 35-50 recipes have been added.
  • Fixed incorrect naming on bootstrap augment recipe
  • Corrected some crafting weapon and cloth end product names that were lacking their primary material prefix
  • Fixed skinning level on Massive Drolsc and Deepwater Crocs
  • Adjusted spawn locations in Redshore Ridge away from respawn locations.
  • Increased cooldown on NPC ability Pound
  • Corrected stats on Speartip Dagger.
  • Updated Pack Rat loot tables for higher level spawns.
  • Aligned Spider Silk drop level with mob level.
  • Fixed issue with crafted items having extra item color text.

New stuff:
Hallow Updates
We have done a poor job up until this point emphasizing that hallows are your respawn points and not ember rings. To drive that point home all ruin hallows throughout the game have been replaced with more thematically appropriate hut/tree/root models with lanterns that are derived from the larger tower-like hallow. The important thing to remember is that only places with these structures are valid respawn points - NOT ember rings.

Works in progress:
To see a full list of what is currently in progress head on over to this thread. I will do my best to update this list on a weekly basis and highlight the differences from the previous week with bold font. Below I will highlight some of the upcoming changes in more detail.

Upcoming for NEXT WEEK:
Here is a tease of what is heading to internal QA testing this week for next week's patch.

• Emberdrift 100% uptime fixes
• Coloring of group nameplates when selected
• Option to disable camera collision smoothing
• Minor optimizations to Redshore & Redshore Ridge rendering.
• Redshore map updates including Redshore Ridge and associated discoveries.
• Bug fixes.

Patch Size (ongoing)
We are working on migrating our scenes to a new loading system that will reduce the overall size of patches. At the moment all scenes are lumped together into a large ~3gb file. Any time data within this file changes it must be redownloaded - even if those changes are small. By breaking our data up into smaller chunks those downloads will ideally be minimized to smaller individual files moving forward. The end result will be saving us bandwidth (money), and saving you download time on patch day. The tech required to do this loading has been implemented.

The work remaining is breaking the scenes up into individual files along with creating the shared bundles that contain assets used by multiple scenes. This chunk of work has turned out to be a bit of chore given how most things in our game are interconnected. I'm hoping to have some progress on this front by early January.

Known Issues:

• A recent change was supposed to make all Emberdrifts available at all times - this seems to not always be occuring. Their spawn system was not designed to operate this way so some tech changes need to happen to iron this out so they have 100% uptime. This should be fixed NEXT week.
• Occasionally a loot roll may be skipped entirely and a carcass will be given. When this happens please provide any relevant details as we are still trying to track this one down.
• Not all ember rings and/or POIs are proper map discoveries.
• Deconstructing crafted items returns junk 100% of the time.
• Not all clothing/armor has visuals
• Dragging a group-nameplate in the group window will set the wrong pivot point for the group window and the whole thing will drag a bit weird.
• Typing chat text may occasionally become invisible. Unfocus your chat window and trying again a few times typically resolves this.
• Sometimes when you respawn you don't end up at the proper hallow --> if this happens please report the position where you died via the "/report" command or "/debugposition" (if using debugposition you'll need to paste the value here)
• MacOS:
  • Zooming the camera while holding the right mouse button can cause your chat window to scroll. This is not intended behavior.
  • At some camera angles the sun may go dark. This should not happen frequently but is readily reproducible at some locations. Investigating a fix.

 

[Archer]

"To drive that point home all ruin hallows throughout the game have been replaced with more thematically appropriate hut/tree/root models with lanterns that are derived from the larger tower-like hallow."

You might also want to change stuff like:

"Sometimes when you respawn you don't end up at the proper Ember Ring" in the known issues.

 

[Caledonian]

IMO it's a wrong call to have no new content for nearly a month and also disappointing

While I appreciate everyone needs a holiday its just under 3 weeks to xmas and there is already big problems in game especially in UC, Wolf/spiders. EV etc. This is usually due when more than one group is there (I believe there was an issue just the other day in UC with groups training each other !!) getting on top of each other as options are limited. In a nutshell: we need more content/dungeons and not in a months time !!!

My Friends list is shrinking by the day of those that have not logged on lvl 25+ and increasing lvl25+ mobs dmg values to try and slow people down is not the answer !!!!

I really like the game and hope it succeeds but to me atm, it going the way of AoC, Once people start looking around for other games then it a slippery slope

just my 2 cents

 

[Dalton]

IMO it's a wrong call to have no new content for nearly a month and also disappointing

While I appreciate everyone needs a holiday its just under 3 weeks to xmas and there is already big problems in game especially in UC, Wolf/spiders. EV etc. This is usually due when more than one group is there (I believe there was an issue just the other day in UC with groups training each other !!) getting on top of each other as options are limited. In a nutshell: we need more content/dungeons and not in a months time !!!

My Friends list is shrinking by the day of those that have not logged on lvl 25+ and increasing lvl25+ mobs dmg values to try and slow people down is not the answer !!!!

I really like the game and hope it succeeds but to me atm, it going the way of AoC, Once people start looking around for other games then it a slippery slope

just my 2 cents

Yeah I would venture to say the entire community is ok with the devs take like two weeks to spend time with their family lol.

You can handle no patch’s for that time. I believe in you.

 

[Mezzanine]

It's a both/and situation and the hazard of a very small team.

Folks definitely need vacation and family time, and I am sure that it's long overdue. At the same time, these are the last three weeks for players to decide to come back at a discount and resubscribe. That time pressure for the consumer vanishes after January 1.

Based on where content is at now, I'm not planning to return before the year ends. I hope in 6-12 months time the game is still going strong and I can check it out again, because the first month was a blast. But I am worried that the population will continue to shrink at this pace.

 

[Oran1Plays]

The update has improved the game performance even if it's like by 20% it's much better! can't wait for more of this please!

 

[Decimation]

Been calling out for more content in the other zones for a month now...Now its gonna be we need more solo or small group content because the community is shrinking to an unhealthy size.

 

[Npc Nate]

I love the new hallows! They look amazing hope y'all enjoy the much deserved break

 

[Laschana]

While I completely respect the team needing family time, especially over the holidays, and I'm sure it's well-earned, at the same time, I am contemplating more of the same every time I log in. More of the same farming resources - yep, it is what it is. More of the same couple places to level, that is if they aren't camped. I wouldn't mind you trying to slow us down even more at 25+ like it seems you are trying to, but then I'm faced with even more of the same for longer. It just gets monotonous. This is an issue for me, as I really like the game. I want it to succeed. I would really like to at least see some sort of announcement about what's coming after the holidays, preferably with lots of new content right at the new year. It would at least give us something to look forward to!

 

[csthao]

Been calling out for more content in the other zones for a month now...Now its gonna be we need more solo or small group content because the community is shrinking to an unhealthy size.

Fixed issues with NPC global cooldown being too slow. This reduces the gap between auto-attacks and abilities for NPCs which should give them more appropriate DPS levels.

What are you going to solo? They literally made it harder to solo, especially when trying to fight 2 chevron mobs. It just blows my mind how these guys are forcing group play, when there's NO ONE to play with. Most times people are waiting 1hr + just to find a group, with this you can't even get a good solo session to kill the time while waiting for a group.

 

[nautilus]

Yeah I would venture to say the entire community is ok with the devs take like two weeks to spend time with their family lol.

You can handle no patch’s for that time. I believe in you.

It's not two weeks it's almost 3. Not to mention the Thanksgiving break. But sure.

 

[Ratgin]

IMO it's a wrong call to have no new content for nearly a month and also disappointing

While I appreciate everyone needs a holiday its just under 3 weeks to xmas and there is already big problems in game especially in UC, Wolf/spiders. EV etc. This is usually due when more than one group is there (I believe there was an issue just the other day in UC with groups training each other !!) getting on top of each other as options are limited. In a nutshell: we need more content/dungeons and not in a months time !!!

My Friends list is shrinking by the day of those that have not logged on lvl 25+ and increasing lvl25+ mobs dmg values to try and slow people down is not the answer !!!!

I really like the game and hope it succeeds but to me atm, it going the way of AoC, Once people start looking around for other games then it a slippery slope

just my 2 cents

More then just +25 got buffed.. My logs are clearly showing that mobs in Dryfoot are now double auto attacking.. i have logs now showing 5 attacks (2 dot ticks, 2 auto attacks and a special) in 4 secs ( my auto attack swings). Just about anything that could be soloed (1 chev blues and yellows) are now death sentences.

 

[Ratgin]

Yeah I would venture to say the entire community is ok with the devs take like two weeks to spend time with their family lol.

You can handle no patch’s for that time. I believe in you.

between the crazy mob buff and no content until Jan there wont be anyone left in this game higher then 30. They have killed the game in one patch. The plus 30 crews have already been decimated with no content until last week. You cant expect they will pay to play for another month of no content. I believe when we bought this game it was advertised as 1-50 content.

 

[0x1x]

Everything below is merely my selfish, biased, narrow opinion.
--
To Undone:

Regarding your patch notes change from December 6, 2022:
"
Mobs lvl 25+ have had their damage values increased.
...
Fixed issues with NPC global cooldown being too slow. This reduces the gap between auto-attacks and abilities for NPCs which should give them more appropriate DPS levels.
"

Well, I have to hand it to you, Undone, you've managed to make me want to quit playing in one patch.
Since launch, I've witnessed dozens of players hit level 25, see that it takes 5+ at-level group-required mobs to make 1% of their level of XP, and logout, never to return.

Since launch, I've witnessed dozens of players hit level 30, see that it takes 8+ at-level group-required mobs to make 1% of their level of XP, then logout, and never return.

Trying to raise Hunter for the last half of every tier, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of carcasses required. Ok, wait a month, then add a patch that adds level 25 skinnables to a level 31+ zone. More people quit. I mean sure, we can all camp the L30 bunnies in Redshore for 15 hours a day and gather the THOUSANDS of carcasses required to get Hunter to level 40, sure, we could all do that.

Now, we're seeing tanks fighting yellow triple chevs dying in less than the casting time on the heals of two healers. If you're not a tank, you're dead, full stop. But heal aggro (healers performing their ROLE generates astronomical threat values) is so over-the-top that you might as well have healers tank everything, because they're all healing spambots, now. As in, all the healers? They can't actually use ANY OTHER ABILITIES because from the moment the fight starts, all they can do is desperately attempt to keep tanks with 500 or 600AC alive fighting a yellow con triple chev.

So, what are we supposed to do? Fight green & blues only, for 1-5% XP per hour? That's the design goal? If it is, TELL US.

What you've done since launch, Undone, is make incremental changes that are reducing your target demographic. You're narrowing the niche to the point where all the people that started playing with optimism, thinking this could actually be a game worth playing, are quitting. You've managed to attract an audience, and alienate them, all in less than two months since launch (October 15th, 2022). I mean, honestly, it might be a new record of some kind, to have the most promising grouping-require MMO in history, and INTENTIONALLY destroy any hope of a sustainable player base in less than two months.

Here's a pro-tip, from a paid-full-time-wages-as 30 year software developer; Not enough players are going to play your punitive game. Exactly not enough. You've made it exactly punitive enough so that not enough people will play. Congratulations, well done. Mission accomplished.

If you want a constructive post? Here's one. Reduce all triple chev damage output by 50% until you have a chance to have PUBLIC testers test ANY combat changes you might think of in the future. And that means all auto attack, all abilities, everything. That MIGHT get us back to close to where the game will be playable again by a large enough population to keep paying for your servers and bandwidth. And you need to hotfix that in, not wait a week for another patch. Hotfix.
And whatever testers told you that these changes would increase subscriber retention, attract more players, make the game more fun, or was in any way a positive result for the game? You need to fire all those testers and use the general public. NOT YOUR BETA TESTERS. Because those people are giving you bad information, consistently. They are all too emotionally and financially invested to be even slightly objective. Obviously, given today's results.

It honestly just astonishes me that you thought this was a good idea. Your leveling curve is ALREADY worse than original EQ1. Already. Now you want to make death a common occurrence on the mobs required to level up at 5% per hour? Is 1000 hours of play time for 1-50 your design goal? Is it 100 days of play time to max level? What's the actual goal here? Tell us. What is your current design goal for the amount of hours, mobs, whatever measurement system you want to use, for an always-grouped, fighting at-level white/yellow triple chev content, full group to go from level 1 to 50? TELL US.

And while you're thinking about ways to fix this? ENABLE OR RE-ENABLE THE CLIENT-SIDE COMBAT LOG FILE. For the love of all things holy in whatever universe you live in, what kind of production MMO doesn't permit their players to submit to support and/or parse their combat log? An old-school hardcore one? Oh right, ALL the old-school hardcore MMOs have client side combat log files. Yes, all of them. You know why? Because those developers wanted accurate feedback from their customers about how things actually are working, rather than hiding behind forced ignorance. They don't want impressions, feelings or opinions. They want the client side combat log file.

Slowing down your players is not a problem you need to solve. There is no mathematical value you can come up with that will reward the casual enough and not be taken advantage of by the hardcore. Conversely, there is no value you can use for any progression based system that slows down the hardcore "enough" but still allows the casuals to proceed at a reasonable pace. Don't try to solve this problem. Reward the casuals. They're the bulk of your subscribers. If the hardcore hit 50 and roll alts, great! If not, they're the exception and a tiny fraction of your paying customers. DO NOT DESIGN AROUND THE EXTRAORDINARY PLAY TIME OF 1-10% OF YOUR CUSTOMERS. It's a hole with no bottom, and all you're doing is punishing everyone to make a subset quit. If you don't want people playing your game for 10+ hours a day, then say that, right now. Then those terrible hardcore players will all leave, and you can enjoy a quiet peaceful casual game with a few hundred customers, who will take 100 days of /play time to reach level 50, fighting single chevs with a full group.
Today, you lumped in the casuals with the hardcore, and punished EVERYONE.

I am extremely disappointed with these two changes, Undone. You had the opportunity to make a great social grouping-required game, and all you've done since October 15th is make it worse, with today's patch being the worst change to date. I'm just shaking my head continually, because it's just so frustrating to see yet another great MMO opportunity flushed away down the toilet of hubris.
--
Public as: https://pastebin.com/iuSi1GwF

 

[Undone]

It honestly just astonishes me that you thought this was a good idea.

What astonishes me is the amount of assumptions you've made in one post. I logged into the game to personally deliver the message that we are working on it and you still find it necessary to come here to lambast me as if it were my goal to piss everyone off? If that were truly the case why would we even bother working on it?

 

[csthao]

He's right though. Not everyone 25+ has a static core group of friends, and waiting around for one by soloing is just impossible now.
So by restricting the hard core players trying to rush levels, you just restricted every other player and penalize them, from just trying to have fun.

 

[Ratgin]

A well thought out post by 0x1x your taking as a personal attack.?

I believe one of the other Devs said the mob attack speed is likely broken from some the logs I posted. When its reverted it will help but if left as is i fear you will lose a lot of people over the next month.

This patch was not good for the game.

Taking a month off is not good for the game.

Once you sold the game to customers and charged monthly fees it is no longer a hobby and passion but a business with all the demands and responsibilities that come with it.

have personally bought 3 copies for family and the friends who i play with will all be gone shortly.

I really hope the team rethinks todays patch.

 

[Undone]

He's right though. Not everyone 25+ has a static core group of friends, and waiting around for one by soloing is just impossible now.
So by restricting the hard core players trying to rush levels, you just restricted every other player and penalize them, from just trying to have fun.

None of this was intended to restrict hardcore or any other player. We are simply making tweaks to bring things in line to where we feel they should be. In this particular case we over tweaked and are currently working on a hot fix.

A well thought out post by 0x1x your taking as a personal attack.?

I am not taking their post as a personal attack. 0x1x made a large number of assumptions about our intentions or what we are trying to do - some of which are accusing us of intentionally trying to drive players away from the game which is untrue.

Taking a month off is not good for the game.

No one said we are taking a month off. What was said is that we will not have a patch for the last two weeks of the month as we value server stability over injecting untested content. Moving too fast is how we end up in these situations in the first place - we are simply trying to avoid that over the holiday so that the team can spend time with their families. We are humans too you know.

I really hope the team rethinks todays patch.

We are working on it. There is a server patch building right now that I'm hoping I can deploy tonight before bed.

 

[Undone]

Server hot fix (deployed 12.7.22 1am CST):

• Revert NPC global cooldown change
• Pull back over-tweaking of level 25+ NPC damage increases

 

[0x1x]

What astonishes me is the amount of assumptions you've made in one post. I logged into the game to personally deliver the message that we are working on it and you still find it necessary to come here to lambast me as if it were my goal to piss everyone off? If that were truly the case why would we even bother working on it?

Thanks for the hotfix.

By all means, correct all my assumptions. My opinions are based on what I've personally observed first hand; The reactions of your subscribers to your in-game changes since launch.
If my observations are wrong, please, post the server side numbers that correct my observations. If my assumptions about your design goals are wrong, post your design goals. Tell us.

I understand (based on your Discord comments over the months/years) that you have a strong desire to keep your customers ignorant. You've stated repeatedly you "will not reveal" certain aspects about the game, because you feel very strongly, in direct opposition to the history of many Role Playing Game frameworks, that ignorant customers will (apparently) be the most happy customers. No rendered in-game maps. No compasses. No night vision. No level numbers on mobs. No client-side combat log file. QoL is evidently anathema to your design philosophy. Similarly, you feel very strongly that revealing specific details about the Combat Loop, for example, will educate your customers, pull back the veil, remove the mystery, and this is a very bad thing.
That is all very clear, to me.
What you may find is that your position on this matter may require adjustment, and communicating your intent publicly will correct my (and others) assumptions about your design goals for Embers Adrift.

Or, change nothing about your communication style and content. And nothing will change. If you see your subscriber numbers increasing with every patch, then you should continue down your current path, and ignore everything I've said, because you're clearly doing the right thing for the health and longevity of the game. If, however, you see subscriber numbers decreasing with every patch, perhaps a shift in approach should be considered.