monday AMA summary from Dulfy. Interesting kourna meta and beetle comments

http://dulfy.net/2018/07/02/gw2-long-live-lich-developer-ama-summary/

General:The skill variance in our players can be quite large. If you know your profession really well,and how it combos with others, you can output something like 5x the damage and sustainability that an average player could

Gen 2 Legendaries: More Lore about Gen 2 legendaries – we would do similar for upcoming legendaries, 

and if there’s interest we could see about adding it for other existing legendaries.Tutorials: We are investigating what we’d need to do solid tutorials for things like the break bar.Don’t expect it in the immediate future, since it’s still in the design phase and a quality tutorial will need voice acting and a lot of testing to make sure it actually teaches the skill, but it’s on the radar.

Beetles:Petey will not be forgotten as we go forward in the rest of the season.Would definitely like to add rollerbeetle-tuned races in Core Tyria.There could always be some kind of disaster stopping it, and I want to take the time to get it right, but it’s very much on the table.

    Beetle race tracks – Not immediately, though this is something I want as much as you do. I want to make sure we do it right though – 

I love seeing all of the player-created race courses in the meantime!

    One of the design requirements I was given for the beetle was that it not displace other mounts for everyday short distance travel needs. Short of cutting the top speed of the beetle, which I considered a non-viable solution, starting the mount in a state where it couldn’t immediately boost was the best compromise. The zero to full charge time was tuned to be about right for the delay between successive boosts, and from internal testing with stakeholders it was decided that it was also the correct delay before boosting after mounting up. Now that the mount has been live for a bit and players have had time to use it extensively, I’ve been comparing player experiences with our own internal notes. While I can’t promise anything, it’s possible there are some ways to soften the pain points of using the beetle while still keeping the other mounts desirable.    Since the launch of the roller beetle, we’ve seen some players asking whether we’ll update previously-released mount skin packs, such as the Branded Mounts Pack or the recently released Awakened Mounts Pack, to include roller beetle skins. We will not be retroactively adding the roller beetle to previously released mount packs, but we will provide options for roller beetle skins in the Gem Store and will provide details in the future.    We wouldn’t have central-line content depending on having a roller beetle, but there can be extra things you can do and find, or different ways to experience things.Crashes: 

When we announced that we were initially delaying the episode, enough of the content was not stable enough or polished enough for us to feel comfortable releasing it. When we felt we were in a good enough spot, we gave marketing the thumbs up to release the trailer. Internally we were excited and we were building momentum for the release.Fast forward to the morning of the patch, initial runs through the episode by internal QA before we distributed the build and external players looked good, but quickly started crashing in a way that we didn’t see in our development or staging environments. When the map would crash it took down every instance or map running on that server. To protect the rest of the game we isolated all of the new instances to specific servers which contained the crashes, but blocked everyone from getting into the new map. The rest of the day we were investigating the crash reports which gave us completely bogus data and was a red herring to the server issues. It took us some time to realize that as we’ve been increasing the size of content inside instances the way we’ve been calculating the required resources on the server was no longer accurate enough to predict performance. The system to protect us was actually making an assumption that the development team hadn’t considered.Once we knew what the problem was we rolled out new servers around the world that night to make sure we could stabilize the game in such a way that people could make it through the story and into the new map. We’ve made some changes on the content side to help with the issue but continue to investigate the core problem and other anomalies we saw in the reports that should prevent this issue from happening in the future.

Gandara meta: We’ve made a couple changes already to the Meta to better reward players for their efforts and are continuing to talk about different options regarding the map as a whole moving forward. Sadly I don’t have anything concrete that I can announce at this time.    There are discussions happening about changes we can make, nothing that I can announce yet. Part of the reason why you can’t explore the entire city was because of the time necessary to art out the entire fortress. When (not if) players figure out how to break out of the map, you’ll see that much of it is lightly placed props but not nearly detailed enough for players to run though.Design Adjustment: 

A lot of what we were doing was to change how we were developing content and when we were syncing with the teams at large. The stories that we are telling are complicated enough that when you span across multiple teams that are all in flight at the same time in different parts of the production process, it meant that sometimes things were getting missed, or we had to course correct on things fairly late in development and it was painful for teams to adjust. This episode specifically lost time due to these types of corrections that forced us to look at the scope of the episode. When teams review their content with leads and directors has also changed to allow the team better visibility in to how their work is progressing and how their content lines up with the teams before and after them.

Collections/Wardrobe: Due to how the wardrobe works, it’s extremely unlikely that accessories will be added. In the long term, I’d like to have a solution for the legendary accessories (turning off the effects if you don’t want them, and ways to acquire additional accessories for alts), but it probably won’t be through the wardrobe system.    It is exceptionally likely that you’ll see collections in the future take you back to core tyria maps.

As for core-tyria-only collections, it’s possible (I’d even say likely) that we would make some, but probably not as part of a Living World episode.

    The wardrobe doesn’t actually track items, but rather the art that they reference. 

Backpacks are in the wardrobe, because they have a model, while other accessories don’t. Aurora, along with the various jewels and infusions with visual effects are set up in a different way that doesn’t interface with the wardrobe

Luck sink: This has unfortunately been low priority, since there are a lot of players who don’t have their Luck maxed, 

but I agree, the system needs something to use your excess Luck for.

FTT Turrets: They were designed to be part of this map exclusively. They had a little more integration in the story early on, but some of that was lost. We had started discussing allowing them in other maps, but at the point the discussion happened it was too late to do it with the amount of testing we deemed needed for such a change. That said, we are discussing the possibility of loosening the restriction in the future.Joko’s Future (Spoiler): We had other story debt we needed to pay off this season, and a limited number of episodes in which to do it. We kept him around as long as we could justify to tie up his arc from PoF, but we couldn’t make him the main threat this season.Challenge motes for story instances:  I’m a fan of challenge motes in story instances but it does at scope to a release. I would love to see more of these in the future for players who want additional challenge. We create a lot of instance specific encounters that I would love to have players engage more with. Motes add more testing, and more time for iterative balance, so the teams have to weigh those costs.

Raid/Fractals:Next raid is essentially done, and only waiting for late-stage development assets, like VO for example

Fractal reworks are still a thing for us, absolutely. For minor tweaks, we do them as there is time, then find a suitable window to bundle them up for shipping. The larger reworks take more time and effort to design and then get through the approvals process. Ben is working on a redesign for a couple fractals that need to be brought up to current standards right now, actually.New fractals are absolutely prioritized above reworksWe’ve committed to one fractal every two episodes, regardless of scope. 

This one happened to be smaller scoped so didn’t require the full dev cycle. We’re already deep in development for the next fractal as well as instability changes that we hope to ship around the same time, as well as a possible rework.

Challenge modes were not intended to be for every fractal, and are only planned when we have something really special.We wanted it to be an easier fractal after a slew of hard ones. As with all fractals balance patches are on the table, 

but we wouldn’t heavily boost the difficulty. Replay ability and fun are more important.

Do you have any plans to change the current tier system to allow for more fractals, or will ther be limit of 25 – 

I would love to fill out all 25, and honestly we don’t have any concrete plans for what happens after.Whatever we do we’ll just keep trying to improve fractals, whatever that means.

Raids and Fractals are the same team working on two different products. Our cadence is currently integrated with Living World episode releases. 

You’ll see the next raid before the next fractal, as that is how we have staggered development.

I’d like to see that cadence improved as well, and it is something we are actively being discussed internally. 

You’re not the only one that wants to get new raid wings out the door more regularly

The teams have been merged for well over a year now. While they’ve merged, the products have dedicated designers so that one of each is always in development.I wish I could give you numbers on cadence, but I will say that the third raid wing for this season is already in early production.At one point we were working on a competitive fractal system but scrapped it because it was pulling way too resources away from core fractal development, 

leaving many of the major problems to rot (swamp of the mists).

Pitching a feature used by a relatively small minority of the community – though IMO valuable one – is difficult. 

Personally I think as a rewardless mode it could work but there are still many questions to answer and it has not seen anything close to a formal pitch internally.

A dungeon rework is a considerable resource investment, as it essentially involves rebuilding all of the scripts, 

which is time better spent making something new and shiny

It would be really easy to just dump a quick golden fractal relic sink out there, such as a conversion to relics, 

but I have dreams about a certain fractal reward that isn’t even properly pitched, and it would be great for that,so if I added the sink, people would be miffed they sold all their GFRs. Don’t sell your golden fractal relics, they are valuable.If one day there ends up not being a good sink for them, we will add a simple one like a conversion, but it may be a while.

PvP:There is no PvP legendary armor. We’re getting an updated skin in the future, but I’d never compare it to a legendary skin.

Stronghold revamp, we are looking at internally, but it’s not a high priority right now. We have some ideas for it, but it’s going to be a while.We have several new maps in development. A new desert themed conquest map, 

2 additional small arena maps for custom arenas and a large arena map for custom areas.

As far as game modes, my usual reply is that we have no current plans outside of special tournaments.

How to look good without compromising with nothing:

"Don’t expect it in the immediate future...""I want to take the time to get it right, but it’s very much on the table.""Not immediately, though this is something I want as much as you do.""I don’t have anything concrete that I can announce at this time.""...it’s possible (I’d even say likely) that we would make some""Whatever we do we’ll just keep trying to improve fractals, whatever that means.""...still many questions to answer and it has not seen anything close to a formal pitch internally.""...we are looking at internally, but it’s not a high priority right now. We have some ideas for it, but it’s going to be a while."

@"Malafaia.8903" said:How to look good without compromising with nothing:

"Don’t expect it in the immediate future...""I want to take the time to get it right, but it’s very much on the table.""Not immediately, though this is something I want as much as you do.""I don’t have anything concrete that I can announce at this time.""...it’s possible (I’d even say likely) that we would make some""Whatever we do we’ll just keep trying to improve fractals, whatever that means.""...still many questions to answer and it has not seen anything close to a formal pitch internally.""...we are looking at internally, but it’s not a high priority right now. We have some ideas for it, but it’s going to be a while."

A list of definite maybes, then!

Unfortunately, in today's internet climate, it is better to be vague and non-committed than to make promises. Otherwise you'll have to deal with immense backlash if things turn south.

@Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:Unfortunately, in today's internet climate, it is better to be vague and non-committed than to make promises. Otherwise you'll have to deal with immense backlash if things turn south.

That's one functionality of internet I actually enjoy :>

Regarding the meta, none of he metas in PoF are interesting or rewarding. I am not sure why the focused only on the one in Kourna.

The Istan meta is rewarding and great to play, as well of a much better lenght than the POS ones in the next episodes.

@"LucianDK.8615" said:The Istan meta is rewarding and great to play, as well of a much better lenght than the POS ones in the next episodes.

Istan is a mindless loot hose that rewards you for zerg rushing harmless npcs, afk auto attacking a harmless boss, and then bum rushing even more harmless npcs. All of which has completely ruined the value of rares thereby devaluing virtuially every other event in the game.

And because people want mindless loot hose content, anything but is considered "crap" and "not worth playing".

Istan has been the worst thing to happen to the game since multiloot AB.

Not much in the way of concrete answers, although that is not unexpected as developers tend not to want to promise things they aren't fully in control of delivering. Thanks for sharing.

@Substance E.4852 said:

@"LucianDK.8615" said:The Istan meta is rewarding and great to play, as well of a much better lenght than the POS ones in the next episodes.

If you gather enough people for open world events and don't require multiple squads split into different areas of the map, the event is generally going to be a straightforward zerg. Still, I would argue that Palawadan and especially the Warden Amala fight are a lot more interesting than the golem that stands in place doing nothing while the zerg beats on it.

You make a good point on the rewards, though. They should really try to balance things out if a particular meta is vastly more rewarding than anything else you can do.

@"otto.5684" said:Regarding the meta, none of he metas in PoF are interesting or rewarding. I am not sure why the focused only on the one in Kourna.

Serpent's Ire could be interesting, if the loot wouldn't be as underwhelming as it is. Simply add an amalgamated gemstone to the guaranteed loot and give the chance to get a rare cosmetical infusion (maybe with a higher probability than other cosmetic infusions since you have to put in more effort). Would probably make people at least do that meta every once in a while.

As it is though, Choya Pinata is the "main event" of PoF since you can get a cosmetical infusion there. Quite sad actually...

@Substance E.4852 said:

@"LucianDK.8615" said:The Istan meta is rewarding and great to play, as well of a much better lenght than the POS ones in the next episodes.

/sign

did they forget that PvP already have Legendary armor, it is just the skin not legendary ? what do they mean no PVP Legendary armor?

@azizul.8469 said:did they forget that PvP already have Legendary armor, it is just the skin not legendary ? what do they mean no PVP Legendary armor?

the wvw although ascended has a glowing effect if you get the 2k rank one with bright energy expanding from the back.the pvp is lackluster compared to that. so they are updating/making a new pvp skin to make it atleast compareable

@otto.5684 said:Regarding the meta, none of he metas in PoF are interesting or rewarding. I am not sure why the focused only on the one in Kourna.

Perhaps, because this particular AMA was regarding Episode 3 and Kourna, rather than Path of Fire, or even Living World Season 4.

Istan is incredibly boring.

Right now, the only LWS4 map I really enjoy for its content overall is Sandswept Isles. That one is just fun for some reason.

@azizul.8469 said:did they forget that PvP already have Legendary armor, it is just the skin not legendary ? what do they mean no PVP Legendary armor?

The ONLY legendary armor skin in the game is the raid one. The other ones are rehashing (both skins ALREADY existed for long and they merely allowed you to update their quality from ascended). Anet was very specific during all of their interviews about the armor that what makes it stand out are the animations, of which the raid armor is one of a kind (not merely a unique skin, but a unique effect too). They are more than correct to let it very clear that they scrapped plans to actually make legendary armor for other modes and merely had to reach a compromise by allowing stat-swiping on previously existing armors.

The skin is what makes the armor in this game, otherwise it wouldn't be Fashion Wars 2. Most players that go to the raids forum complain they can't get groups, do so because they want the transforming armor, even if they despise the very concept of raiding. I won't dwell too much into that but it would have been much better if WvW had the actual Legendary set, and it was Raids which merely had the option to upgrade ascended sets into stat-swiping ones (saying they shouldn't do this for a niche mode like WvW makes no sense as Raids are still more niche than WvW even after years of Anet nearly giving up on that mode). Kitten, even if the legendary skin was released as a gemstore option and raids got a unique but also not one-of-a-kind-effect skin, it would have saved them the trouble of having to come to terms with players about the lack of legendary armor in other modes.

FTT Turrets: They were designed to be part of this map exclusively. They had a little more integration in the story early on, but some of that was lost. We had started discussing allowing them in other maps, but at the point the discussion happened it was too late to do it with the amount of testing we deemed needed for such a change. That said, we are discussing the possibility of loosening the restriction in the future.Just keeping them as consumables and loosening the restriction won't do any good unless you want to make every enemy in the game drop the required map currency and these spare parts in which case they're just going to waste inventory space which begs the question why keeping this part of the system at all? It's fine if you want to use them as a "barrier" for collection completion but everything beyond that is just going to disincentivize people from engaging with the content. There's a reason why no one cares about the sunspear summons from episode one unlike the prototype position rewinder from episode two which was a great addition to the game.

@Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:Right now, the only LWS4 map I really enjoy for its content overall is Sandswept Isles. That one is just fun for some reason.

Completely agree. I suspect it's the uniqueness of the map, the decent storytelling the map events have and the fact it had no GW1 restrictions like Istan and Kourna had (ie they had free reign to design everything from scratch).

@Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:Unfortunately, in today's internet climate, it is better to be vague and non-committed than to make promises. Otherwise you'll have to deal with immense backlash if things turn south.

Confirmed! We're going "south" to Cantha!!

;)

online gamers have a rather bad tendency to take anything from developers as unbreakable promises and throwing a fit if it doesnt happen or is changed. Face it, stuff changes or doesnt always work out.

@LucianDK.8615 said:The skill variance in our players can be quite large. If you know your profession really well,and how it combos with others, you can output something like 5x the damage and sustainability that an average player could

This doesn't surprise me, but I am surprised to see it confirmed by someone at Anet. I've been doing a lot of core Tyria map completion lately and the variance in skill between players I saw is huge. And not always linear either - some people were making great use of positioning and dodging, seemed to be using all the right skills at the right time (even CC'ing break bars) but they were doing almost no damage and seemed to be taking a lot of damage from every hit. My guess is either their equipment was severely under-levelled or their stats were all over the place (worse than usual when levelling up) or both, like they didn't know or care what equipment they were using.

@Randulf.7614 said:

@Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:Right now, the only LWS4 map I really enjoy for its content overall is Sandswept Isles. That one is just fun for some reason.

Those are good reasons, indeed. The major protagonism of non-human races is also a direct boost for the Map IMO, and well, there is a refreshing variety of activities to do that are really funny (With the exception of the pseudo-meta final boss Zohaqan, who is insufferably boring to me).

@Ardid.7203 said:

@Randulf.7614 said:

@"Blood Red Arachnid.2493" said:Right now, the only LWS4 map I really enjoy for its content overall is Sandswept Isles. That one is just fun for some reason.

Yeah the everything revolving around Zohaqan - the build up, the story, the aftermath was all pretty good. The fight itself just wasn't especially interesting, which is a bit of a shame. And his voice over didn't quite fit. It was too "normal" for an ethereal-like being. A minor niggle I guess!

"General:The skill variance in our players can be quite large. If you know your profession really well,and how it combos with others, you can output something like 5x the damage and sustainability that an average player could"

As someone who plays all classes and goes through the same content with all of them,I have to comment that this is partially true.GW2 is way more about the class/build you use than your individual skill.I like playing off meta under performing builds too,but the difference when I pick one of the more powerful set ups is not just noticeablebut overwhelmingly apparent.And not just that,but ironically it takes way less player skill in order to over perform with one of the meta builds!!!!!Unfortunately I missed that AMA but it would be nice to know if they take in account this fact when they design a encounter and mobs/bosses etc.