BETA TEST September 21st; what's new?

[RazorBrains]

And this is not just an economic sense of worth, but as in your efforts have no feelings of pride or accomplishment if you cannot offer anything unique in any way. Limitations to alts and their ability to craft to higher levels all relate to this as well. Knowing a provisioner or your guild having a tinkerer, are things that I want to make someone feel good, and not just part of your standard character progression that fills out bis slots. Some players might not care and still want to be the one-man-band, that's fine I'm just putting some perspective on why I advocate for more specialized player crafting over generalist crafting playstyles.

I can see your perspective. To facilitate this, I believe each line will need to be deep and fulfilling then. @Xavure brought up some good points. Crafters like to craft, so if you limit them like this, then what you are giving them should satisfy there need to craft. I don't believe the current system is near deep enough to do that. A lot more work to do then.

 

[Klimt]

Really appreciate the new crafting system !
I've chose to take the path of 1x harvesting (mining) and 2x crafting (tinkerer / armorsmith) because I wanted to work alongside other fellow crafters.
I can do a bit alone (jewelry) and need leather to make heavy armors so I just have to know some hunters to restock from time to time, it's really not a big deal and encourage having and keeping contacts. That's great.

And moreover, it seems everything can be done solo if you take the time, thanks to alts.
The adventure level limit applied to crafting level is really important and should be kept imo.

Only strange thing I've seen is while crafting the imbued version of earings and necklace lvl 10 : the result item is the same in term of stats (but the name is different) if I'm using lvl1 ember or lvl10 ember.
Don't know if it's a bug or maybe it will impact higher lvl items.

 

[Daikano]

I'm new to the game as I began on Sunday of the open beta. I saw the previous crafting system just enough to distinguish the differences between the implementation. That said, here's my view:

• Did the performance adjustments made have an impact on your performance?
  My PC didn't see any change in performance that I observed, but as I am prone to log out from one character and on to another, some random issues arose after switching characters. It might be a memory leak, but I cannot be sure. System memory utilization of the game is pretty high on launch (about 6.7GB) and after zoning between Newhaven Valley and Northreach a few times, then logging to selection - switch toons, and load another character - the performance is eventually degraded as FPS drops and hitching (a brief freeze when turning) begins to occur. The memory utilization of the game has been observed as high as 8.7GB thus far but I honestly haven't been monitoring this closely.
• Do you notice any visual quality difference from us lowering the quality of some post process effects, adjusting the shadow cascade distances, and adjusting zone fog quality?
  When the sun rises in game, there are visual artifacts on the environment. these look a bit like reflections on water, and rapidly change color. Trees and rocks that have vertical surfaces are the only things I've noticed doing this. The horizontal surfaces of objects haven't been doing it that I've noticed. Once the sun has risen a little higher in the sky it stops doing it, so its maybe a 2-3 minute event that occurs once per game day.
• Have you encountered NPC hard leashing? If so what are your thoughts?
  The leashing works very well for NPCs that were engaged directly, but not always for those who were alerted to your presence via social aggro, like "A smuggler gets the attention of his friend." Those friends sometimes don't leash and run back quickly. They sometimes walk back. At least that's the pattern that I THINK is occurring as I haven't seen it happen with bears or wolves whom are aggroed directly.
• Thoughts and comments on the crafting restructure?
  I think we're on the right track here with crafting. Some variation in the recipes would be useful though, as once I hit level 5 and had a few quest pieces, I was at the armor weight cap and nothing I could craft was wearable without incurring severe penalties. Dropped armor are similar to crafted, and quest rewards are superior to weight ratio to the crafted stuff. It makes heavy armorsmithing essentially useless in the lower levels. I can wear a leather quest helm, 2 leather bracers, and 2 leather greaves and be at the weight limit as a striker at level 5. My level 8 Marshal is able to wear a bit more with 2x Makeshift metal greaves - quest (4wt each), 2x Chitin Bracers (drops) makeshift leather faulds (quest) and newhaven helm (quest). He can't wear leather legs, helm and chest armor together so heavy armor is even more unlikely.
  - What's the value of taking up heavy armorsmithing if you cannot wear any of the armor when the materials are in your level range? Sure I can take up the skill and craft a bunch of gear to deconstruct, in hopes that maybe SOMEDAY I'll be able to craft something that is light enough to wear, but it doesn't feel like a good skill at the moment. A rework of the weight of various pieces or overall character weight limits might help, but that's more about game play than crafting.
  ------------------------------------
  (EDIT: just saw this topic came up in the feedback section of the forums,)
  A suggestion on the topic of gathering and trading with players: It can be difficult to find someone willing to trade materials, especially in the lower levels when people are struggling to get enough to raise their own skills. I know an auction house system is not desired, so how about a bazaar like market that one might see in Tibet? Players could SELL their raw or processed hides/ore/metal etc to an NPC who has a table to sell the goods. The merchant would mark up the price and sell to other players that wanted to buy it, but ONLY if they have the stock. Supply and demand comes into play where if the market has very few of an item, they offer more coin to the player for it. If they have an extreme surplus of goods, they offer less but still sell at a rate that is appropriate (like set a minimum value). This would keep the game immersive in that players who NEED one or two pieces of ore can buy it from a central mining merchant if another player has sold theirs to him, or they can spend 10 minutes trying to find someone willing to trade and meet up with them.

 

[Tharbeard]

So happy to see the hard leashing! The length of pursuit felt reasonable, and they broke off just when I was getting annoyed. Also, it felt like those NPCs that interacted with me directly pursued the longest, while those who responded to a call broke off sooner, both of which make sense. It also made it possible to thin the herd when pulling too many. Thanks a bunch for this change!

 

[Tharbeard]

A suggestion on the topic of gathering and trading with players: It can be difficult to find someone willing to trade materials, especially in the lower levels when people are struggling to get enough to raise their own skills. I know an auction house system is not desired, so how about a bazaar like market that one might see in Tibet? Players could SELL their raw or processed hides/ore/metal etc to an NPC who has a table to sell the goods. The merchant would mark up the price and sell to other players that wanted to buy it, but ONLY if they have the stock. Supply and demand comes into play where if the market has very few of an item, they offer more coin to the player for it. If they have an extreme surplus of goods, they offer less but still sell at a rate that is appropriate (like set a minimum value). This would keep the game immersive in that players who NEED one or two pieces of ore can buy it from a central mining merchant if another player has sold theirs to him, or they can spend 10 minutes trying to find someone willing to trade and meet up with them.

I really like this idea, especially for gathered materials.

 

[Penelope]

IMO there are too many crafting professions, I'd consolidate a bit.

Something like below.

Weaponsmith:
1-handed weapons (except daggers)
2-handed weapons (except bow/quarterstaff)

Woodworker:
Ranged Weapons/ammo
Quaterstaves
Wood Shields

Armorsmith:
Metal Armor
Metal Shields

Combine Tailor/Leatherworker: (Not sure on the best name here, maybe bring back Outfitter)
Inner Armor
Banners
Leather Armor

Provisioner:
Looks good

Tinkerer:
Add belts.

I kind of like this breakdown. Mostly because we have three gathering skills. You have Weaponsmiths and Amorsmiths to go with mining; You have outfitter and tinkerer to go with hunter; woodworker and provisoner to go with foraging. It makes sense, at least to me.

What about higher-tier recipes requiring a specification? Say up to level (pulling things out of the air here) 30 if you're a weaponsmith you can make everything - two handers, one handers, blunts, sharps - whatever. Anything 31+ requires specilized training. At this point we narrow it down to sub categories? By that point in the game you know what direction your character is going and you probably focus on certain armors/weapons anyway. This will allow you spread the recipe pool around as you like, yet still let younger craftspeople (and honestly gamers who don't have connections in game yet) craft enough to get themselves on their feet.

 

[Alice_Bluu]

Its a rare occasion that i actually put stuff here but here you go undone.

• Did the performance adjustments made have an impact on your performance?

meh, besides the weird lag stuff (which i reported) not much change for me. got booted to log in screen multiple times, hard to say if it was my connection or the server connection, but this rarely happens to me even on the worst of internet days.

• Do you notice any visual quality difference from us lowering the quality of some post process effects, adjusting the shadow cascade distances, and adjusting zone fog quality?

fog in areas like mistcrawlers sucks during the day worse now than it was before its blinding and hurts my eyes. but i really like how it fades from the rest of the zone its much easier to see where im going now. i did notice some weird stuff with lighting like turn the camera one way its a little darker turn it the other way its bright again. some shadow flickering more than usual, people being naked, lot more people floating around, sliding across the ground and dipping into the ground than usual too. dont know if these are related or not but i noticed these things happening more than usual this week.

• Have you encountered NPC hard leashing? If so what are your thoughts?

i really like it. except when it comes to ember drifts or kiting longer distances (as expected) it can be a real pain in the ass in the larger zones. maybe consider adjusting leashes per zone? bigger leashes for bigger zones.

• Thoughts and comments on the crafting restructure?

crafting is super wonky, recipes not crafting what they are supposed to craft, materials not providing bonuses, crafting things with materials that shouldnt be able to be used... i like the new system, but it really needs a thorough pass to make sure everything is working properly.

okay now the real reason im here to post. Ember Ruptures. I spent quite a few hours this weekend messing with them.
the ruptures in meadowlands are quite hard to locate, they need to be brighter and bigger imo. im talking multiple day/night cycles to find one (with the exception of the ones you can see when you zone in from northreach) you can see a players torch long before you see the rupture. mobs there are so spread apart that it doesnt feel fun to spend the whole time running and kiting things on top of the new leash mechanic. it feels like a chore. have been a bit disappointed with these. so i had an idea, what if the creatures are attracted to the ember? thus making them wander closer to it and spawn a little faster in the area as well. this would add difficulty, fun and functionality. i also noticed that mobs bump down a couple levels when they turn ashen, i assume this is to avoid having them turn red but why cant they just stay the same level they were before? its quite frustrating when you have an ashen turn grey and get absolutely nothing for the work you just put in to kite it all the way to the rupture (sometimes taking 3-5 minutes just to get it close enough) and kill it.
ruptures in dryfoot do not have the tree things around them making them even harder to spot, oddly enough i still had an easier time finding these than the ones in meadowlands. PLEASE i beg you please add just ONE ashen variant mob in dryfoot before next weekend. took me 7 hours just to get from 35 essence to 51 in meadowlands because almost everything near the ruptures i was able to locate were grey with some green but most of the greens turned grey upon becoming ashen. feels bad man. need dryfoot mobs asap.

anyways enough of my ramblings. hope this is helpful. <3

 

[AdricLives]

crafting is super wonky, recipes not crafting what they are supposed to craft, materials not providing bonuses, crafting things with materials that shouldnt be able to be used... i like the new system, but it really needs a thorough pass to make sure everything is working properly.

I want to make sure nothing gets missed here:
1. The consumables are creating the correct items now?
2. Arrows/Bolts no longer have stats (other than base haste) by default, there are Imbued Arrow/Bolt Recipes which use Flux to create large batches.
3. What do you mean crafting things with materials that shouldn't be able to be used?

I worry that we aren't aware of all the issues based on these comments, but wanted to be sure.

 

[Baldrick]

Enjoying the hunt to find recipes for imbued items!

Adding my 2c for Provisioning. Most professions can rely on other players, gathering for their materials. What are your thoughts on adding bottle making to Tinkering? A sand node could be added to prospecting that converts to glass and tier the bottle sizes to material levels.

 

[Daikano]

I didn't have time to post yesterday when it occurred, but running east through northreach on the southern road as the sun was setting in game, I encountered significant horizontal screen tearing for about 30 seconds. It occurred when facing east but not when facing west (toward the setting sun). I don't know if that's related to the post processing changes, but I don't recall seeing it before. I don't recall seeing any tearing or anomalous video behavior outside of the sunrise/sunset period. I run full screen on a laptop with balanced performance. I can't get into the game due to server lock to verify the other video settings that might be relevant.

In the event that it is relevant, here are my video card specs from system information.
Name NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_2560&SUBSYS_3A8117AA&REV_A1\4&2CAE475F&0&0009
Adapter Type NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, NVIDIA compatible
Adapter Description NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU
Adapter RAM (1,048,576) bytes
Installed Drivers C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvlt.inf_amd64_da008533bb297082\nvldumdx.dll,C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvlt.inf_amd64_da008533bb297082\nvldumdx.dll,C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvlt.inf_amd64_da008533bb297082\nvldumdx.dll,C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvlt.inf_amd64_da008533bb297082\nvldumdx.dll
Driver Version 30.0.15.1236
INF File oem2.inf (Section328 section)
Color Planes Not Available
Color Table Entries 4294967296
Resolution 1920 x 1080 x 144 hertz
Bits/Pixel 32
Memory Address 0xD0000000-0xD10FFFFF
Memory Address 0x0000-0x1FFFFFF
I/O Port 0x00003000-0x00003FFF
IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967251
Driver C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERSTORE\FILEREPOSITORY\NVLT.INF_AMD64_DA008533BB297082\NVLDDMKM.SYS (30.0.15.1236, 40.36 MB (42,317,368 bytes), 8/22/2022 8:02 PM)

 

[Alice_Bluu]

I want to make sure nothing gets missed here:
1. The consumables are creating the correct items now?
2. Arrows/Bolts no longer have stats (other than base haste) by default, there are Imbued Arrow/Bolt Recipes which use Flux to create large batches.
3. What do you mean crafting things with materials that shouldn't be able to be used?

I worry that we aren't aware of all the issues based on these comments, but wanted to be sure.

its okay the crafting updates are always weird with so many variables. im still trying to figgure out the new system. really thought the arrows were broken now i just want to make large batches xD will have to get back to you on more details of things using weird combinations. and consumables seem to be working fine now thank you.