outposts
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Today's restarts resolved all but two bugs with Draenor outposts
The restarts that hit the realms this morning fixed a variety of issues that have been dependent on a realm reset. Most of these have been small, but several related to the ability to change the outposts that you build around Draenor. Not everything is getting solved, however. Community Manager Lore hopped on the forms last night and tossed out two important bullet points about the fixes, and what players should avoid. The note is as follows: Blizzard Entertainment We've been working on a solution to the issues with swapping buildings that some players have reported. [Today's] restarts will fix several issues, but there are two outstanding issues that will have to be corrected in a future hotfix. In the meantime, we want to make sure players are aware of the issues so that you can avoid them. Alliance players who changed outpost buildings in Spires of Arak prior to tomorrow's restarts will not be able to access the new building's questline. Horde players who change outpost buildings in Talador will be unable to change their building a second time. The gold cost will be charged, but the building will instantly revert back. Aside from those two issues, we believe the fix applied with tomorrow's restarts will resolve all other issues with changing outpost buildings. The outstanding issues will be fixed as soon as possible. source
Upcoming changes to garrison outposts
If you've regretted any of your garrison outpost decisions, it's now going to sting just a little bit less. Instead of costing 10,000 gold to switch outposts, it will soon be reduced to 5,000 gold. The exception is Nagrand where it will only cost 500 gold to switch between the siege tank and mounted combat. Blizzard is also going to allow you to recruit followers from the other outpost (previously this was not possible, even if you switched). These changes won't happen until the next maintenance. Looks like I have yet another reason to get a level 3 Barracks. Lore We're planning to make some changes to the Garrison Zone Outposts, to reduce the costs necessary to change out the building you initially chose while questing through the zone, and also allow you to earn the unique follower associated with alternate building choices. Specifically, these changes will be: The cost to change your Garrison Outpost building in Gorgrond, Talador, and Spires of Arak reduced to 5,000 gold The cost to change your Garrison Outpost building in Nagrand reduced to 500 gold Changing your Garrison Outpost building in a zone will also grant access to the building-specific questline for that zone, including the building-specific follower Note that you will still be unable to change your Garrison Outpost building until you've reached level 100 and earned your current building's zone achievement, at which point the building can be changed by speaking with the outpost's foreman NPC (who varies from building to building). These changes are currently not planned to go live until the next maintenance period for each region, but we wanted to give as much advance notice as possible that they're on their way. source
New Elite newsletter features outposts, smuggling, and more
The latest Elite: Dangerous newsletter is here, and it's worth parsing if you're high on Frontier's gorgeous space-sim sandbox. Outposts are coming to Beta 2, which might cause some of you to ask "what's an outpost?" Well, it's the "equivalent of the run-down road-side cafe, the isolated fuel station, the research outpost, the deep-space shack where Joe the Hermit lives." Outposts are generally exposed, zero-G, and unsafe, but they do offer cheap fuel and a place to temporarily lie low. Speaking of lying low, this week's newsletter also features a player-made video illustrating how Elite's stealth mechanics may be used for smuggling. You can view that after the break. [Thanks Cotic!]
Official Garrison preview lays down the foundation
We've been waiting very impatiently, almost salivating really, for more details on Grrisons and how they're going to work. Well, at last, our wait is over. Blizzard has finally dropped some of that sweet, sweet structure-creating science on us. In this post, part one of a four series, we get the basics for how Garrisons will work -- how your Garrison is part of the leveling process, how followers will work and how you can recruit them, the missions you can send them on and how that will benefit the Garrison, how we'll expand the Garrison with new building and use each zone to expand their role in the expansion. As the story unfolds, you'll find that Garrisons are intimately integrated into every zone-whether you choose to follow the main quest path or just head off into the hills to explore, you will meet allies (and enemies) in every corner of the world. While your main fortress will always be in Shadowmoon Valley (Alliance) or Frostfire Ridge (Horde), you will establish Garrison outposts in Gorgrond, Talador, Nagrand, and Spires of Arak, all customized based on your building choices. Eventually, your forces will span the continent, and you will have an army capable of assaulting the fortified Iron Horde Foundry. Will your troops succeed? That's entirely up to you, commander. This in particular is of interest - you apparently won't just have the one Garrison, but a linked series of fortifications throughout Draenor to serve as your means of recruiting and defending your followers for the push against the Iron Horde. Head over to the official site for more details.
One of Pathfinder's 'core philosophies' is socialization
The first Pathfinder dev blog of 2014 concerns itself with points of interest and outposts. In a broader sense, GoblinWorks uses the piece to speak about one of the primary design objectives for its fantasy sandbox. That objective is socialization. Or, as GoblinWorks says, "one of our core philosophies is to maximize meaningful human interaction." A major example of said philosophy is the firm's plan to create "a hierarchy of social structures so that many people have a chance to try their hand at leadership and management." This hierarchy starts with outposts, which are the "heart of the in-game economy" and connected to the aforemention POIs. Click through the links below to learn more!
Pathfinder Online dev blog explores outpost raiding
Goblinworks celebrated its third major Pathfinder Online milestone with a detailed blog centered on the game's PvP raiding system. While the company was careful to note that raids are still in deep development and may change in scope and design, the blog dives into the rewards and risks of raiding along with the consequences to other players. Raids are short, small skirmishes initiated against player outposts. Since every outpost produces goods, there is always something worth stealing at any given outpost. To challenge an outpost, raiders must kill NPC guards in addition to any defending players. Raiders can stock up on an outpost's goods after its defenders have been bested. According to Goblinworks, NPC guards for outposts are "few and far between." Stealing items from outposts disrupts supply chains to local settlements. If raiders hold an outpost for over 10 minutes, they can then strip mine it. Strip mining increases the output of goods but deals damage to the outpost until it is destroyed. You can read more about raiding, strip mining, and how each affects your hostility rating over on the official post.
New Pathfinder dev blog details salvaging, harvesting, and more
So what about Pathfinder's non-combat gameplay? I'm thinking specifically here about salvaging, harvesting, and gathering. What's that, you say? GoblinWorks has just posted a dev blog on these very topics? Well, I'll be! It seems as if salvaging has been simplified a bit since the last the time the devs talked it up. Oh, and harvesting spots are generated procedurally, so you won't necessarily be able to map out iron and tree nodes like you can in more typical MMOs. Gathering nodes have also been tweaked. More specifically they're now tied to the supply of harvestable resources in a particular hex, and GoblinWorks is currently going with a system of exclusive discovery rights to prevent claim-jumping. Finally, today's dev blog touches on the game's outposts, which are semi-permanent structures in wilderness areas that produce a steady supply of bulk goods by the hour. Hit the links below to learn more.
Perpetuum dev blog talks intrusion revamp
Avatar Creations has updated its Perpetuum dev blog, and the latest entry is quite a long read (and also of interest to players concerned about the game's intrusion and outpost conquest systems). As it currently stands, base attack and defense in Perpetuum is a pretty random affair. "One's ability to hold an outpost is largely luck, combined with the number of players one can bring to bear in a specific time zone," Avatar admits. The blog entry sums up the tentative path forward, and a future intrusion revamp will be deployed "rather than build[ing] upon a broken mechanic and creat[ing] more issues." What will the revamp entail? For starters, outpost ownership will cease to be about raid-and-retreat gameplay and instead will be focused on players who actually live on a particular island for the long term. Avatar is confident its new system will encourage PvP while simultaneously preventing instances where players wake up and are unable to access their assets. While there's no date for the intrusion revamp as of yet, there is quite a bit of mechanical info to be read on the official Perpetuum dev blog (and don't forget to leave your feedback in the comments and on the forums after you've checked out the details).
Final Fantasy XIV previews upcoming outposts
As patch 1.18 draws close for Final Fantasy XIV, the development team has been stepping up the rate of previews. The latest one highlights a feature discussed previously but not seen for some time: the addition of several outposts across the landscape, hubs for adventurers to explore as they take part in new content. Six outposts are listed in the newest preview, two for each of the major regions in the game and each with a distinct thematic focus. Each of the outposts listed highlight the environment of the nearby city-state -- the outposts in Gridania are concerned with hunting and maintaining security in the wood, while Ul'dah's settlements focus on more mercantile and mineral concerns. In addition to the stops for adventurers, beastman settlements are said to be on the plate for patch 1.18 later this week. Final Fantasy XIV players who can't wait to see the new hubs can take a look at the preview for a glimpse at the expanding and improving environment.
CCP Games elaborates on conquest in EVE's Dominion expansion
"-- Smash the control images -- Smash the control machine --" William S. Burroughs, The Soft Machine The Dominion expansion for EVE Online is so-named for its heavy focus on the game mechanics of "Sovereignty" or control of territory in the New Eden galaxy. There's been no small amount of controversy surrounding CCP's proposed system, however, particularly as it's slated to go live on December 1st with the Dominion release. While some of the core game mechanics of control are still undergoing revision, CCP Games recently explained how ownership of solar systems will change hands in a dev blog titled "Storming the Gates." EVE developer CCP Abathur lays out how new equipment will be used in claiming space and repelling invaders.
Redefining MMOs: Player developers!
A few weeks ago, we at Massively started the weekly "Redefining MMOs" series, a collection of articles examining how the MMO genre has been redefined during the current generation of games and where it's headed in the next. So far, we've looked at the terminology we use to refer to MMOs, how the art of storytelling has changed over the years, and the rise of the "massively singleplayer" online game. In this week's article, I examine what happens when players are given the reigns of an MMO or have a hand in part of its development. If you have something important to say on the topic, feel free to post a comment on page 3 or even write your own "Redefining MMOs" blog post and leave a comment with the URL. Traditionally, all content for an MMO is designed by the game's development studio and players have no direct influence on its creation. The idea of handing the reigns of an MMO to its players is considered heresy and we shudder to think of what horrible quests and areas players would construct if given a chance. But is our aversion justified or is it something developers should strive to overcome? Certainly Second Life has successfully capitalised on letting players develop almost every aspect of its virtual world but could successful mainstream MMOs make use of it too? City of Heroes, EVE Online and even World of Warcraft are prime examples which suggest they can. All three of these games have handed at least some part of the game's development over to players, with incredibly promising results. In this article, I look at these three successful examples of players being allowed to develop aspects of an MMO. I then go on to explain why this works and how the next generation of MMOs could learn from these pioneering feats.
