theotherjohn
12-03-2003, 05:03 PM
WHAT'S COMING:
In the short term an event is coming to release the spell "Minor Summoning" in GemStone IV. Additionally, this weekend we'll be opening some shops in Wehnimer's Landing that include new shield types, weapons with the new approved "oriental" names, runestaves and maybe more. This event will also include raffles of some higher end items (including katanas, which will never be available for mass sale.) Shortly after, Gryphon Sword Saga will shortly be getting back in gear. And we have some shorter RP events in planning as a bit of a break from some of the extensive sagas we've been running lately.
Very soon we will be re-organizing the forums. They've gotten rather messy over the last couple of years and need to be cleaning up. As soon as we're done hashing out the plans, we'll post them here so that you have advanced notice of the changes.
We plan to spend the next few months (through the end of January) working on tweaking GemStone IV systems and debugging. Debugging has been proceding at a rapid rate, though I'm sure it's hard to tell from your end, as there are still many issues to address. But we're taking them out fairly quickly, I believe.
Starting in February, we will begin coding new projects again in earnest. This will be in preparation for Hot Summer Nights 2004. This year's Hot Summer Nights will be shorter (about two months) but I expect it will include just as much fun new features as the last. We are still hashing out all the exact details. I'll be publishing detailed news as I usually do when we have it all worked out. But you may use the "Phase II" projects as a guide. Do be warned, however, that we need to re-examine whether we can meet these goals based on the resources we know we will have available.
It's important to note that 2003 was very unique in terms of development. In previous years we have always been able to release systems and tweaks here and there as we go, even if we save up the majority of releases for a promotion (such as Hot Summer Nights.) But due to the nature of GemStone IV, we were forced to virtually freeze all development in GemStone until we launched the product. You may be happy to know that we will be reverting to our old style of development again -- so you won't experience such a drought in development as you did this year between releases.
SOME REMINDERS:
I see a lot of people post BUGs here on the forums, and that's fine and often very helpful (often we get additional information here that we can't get from BUG). But please remember to ALSO submit those BUGs via the in-game BUG command. That way we have the BUG tracked.
I notice in game that there is still some confusion about TPs gained after leveling. You gain TPs when you hit your level due to the optimization process. The process does two things:
First, it determines if skills were efficiently purchased from level to level. (If you got two ranks of a skill a level 1 and, 0 ranks of that skill at level 2, that would be inefficient, as the cost would be cheaper if you purchased one rank a both level 1 and 2.) If it finds inefficiencies in training in skills such as those, it retrains your character more appropriately, and gives you back the TPs.
Second, it determines if TP conversions were handled efficiently. (For example, you have a bunch of extra Mental TPs, and decide to convert them to Physical TPs, and buy a Physical skill. Then a couple days later, you realize you want a new spell, and end up converting a couple Physical TPs to get it. This is inefficient.) If the optimizer finds situations where TPs were converted (and spent) inefficiently, it untangles that mess for you and gives you back those UNCONVERTED TPs. (By the way ... this is the PRIMARY reason that people tend to get HUGE blocks of one type of TP at level over the other type of TP.)
UPDATE ON GS4 DEVELOPMENT ISSUES:
COMBAT
There are several reported bugs that are being investigated with the combat system. These may result in changes if it is determined that the combat system is not working as intended. As changes are made, they will be announced on the message boards and through in-game NEWS.
Obstacles (Skill Checks)
* Lava Flows fixed
* The primary climbing obstacle utility has been revised to be less deadly for characters with skill in the ballpark of the target skill level. We are working on similar improvements for areas that use variants of this utility.
Creatures
* Some creatures are experiencing attack strength boosts, raising their attack strengths above the intended values. We are working to correct this problem..
* There have been a number of comments that creatures with levels that are too disparate are sharing hunting grounds. We are investigating these issues ... if you experience this, it is best to BUG it (including the creatures and levels in the area.) That way we will be sure to investigate it.
* Over the last couple of weeks the room ranges that various creatures cover within a given hunting area have been modified in many situations. (Though generally they haven't moved out of a hunting area.)
* Over the last couple of weeks several tweaks and changes to creatures (and a couple of level changes) have occurred. Tweaks will be ongoing as problems are reported and we investigate them.
Town Systems
Over the last couple of weeks many bugs in shops have been stomped out. The shop "interface" will be undergoing some modifications as the result of player feedback. While we made a major adjustment to shop prices in the last week, there will be some additional adjustments made to bonuses (and penalties) applied based on race. Additionally, many bugs in NPCs and the Sprite Quest system have been squished.
LockMastery
The release of lockmastery was delayed by the guild rewrite. We do have 5 ranks of the skill done, however, we would like to release the skill as a whole, when it is complete. For more information on the status of LockMastery chat in the Rogue Forums.
Shields and Staves
* A request was made for some higher-end staves so that players may replace their current weapons and armor with some fairly nice staves. This was the primary instigator of the visit of Erithian Merchants this coming weekend.
* Stave Prices: Some of the problems with stave prices are related to shop pricing issues which I addressed in the prior "Town Systems" section. However, staves ARE intended to be more expensive than equivalent weapons, as they provide benefits comparable to both weapon and shield.
* More options on the new shield types will be available in the merchant this weekend. Those who are impatient to have their existing shield converted need only wait a couple of weeks (give or take a week.) The converter for shields is almost done. (And, once again, that converter will be VOLUNTARY.)
OTHER
* Additional Survival benefits are in the process of being implemented.
* The roleplaying event heralding the release of Minor Summoning has started (as I mentioned previously.)
StormFront
* Lagging: StormFront is by and large a very fast Front End. But you'll be happy to know that will be optimizing it shortly, so hopefully some people with problems may see an improvement. Those who experience major lagging with StormFront may find that TURNING OFF LOGGING will help increase the speed. We will be addressing this problem with logging shortly.
* Macros: In the last couple of a days a couple of people have asked me personally about the UP arrow and why it doesn't repeat the last command like it does in the wizard. It DOES. However, I fear that folks who have imported Macros may have overwritten these settings. Below I have attached some default Macros for various keys. You may want to check and make sure some of these are still set in your StormFront.
Alt-ENTER {RepeatSecondToLast}
Alt-I {ToggleImages}
Alt-Keypad Enter {RepeateSecondToLast}
Alt-L {ToggleLinks}
Alt-M {ToggleMusic}
Alt-S {ToggleSounds}
Ctrl-A {SelectAll}
Ctrl-C {Copy}
Ctrl-End {BufferBottom}
Ctrl-Enter {RepeatLast}
Ctrl-F5 {Restart}
Ctrl-Home {BufferTop}
Ctrl-Keypad Enter {RepeatLast}
Ctrl-Page Down {BufferBottom}
Ctrl-Page Up {BufferTop}
Ctrl-R {Rest}
Ctrl-V {Paste}
Ctrl-X {Cut}
DOWN {HistoryNext}
Keypad Enter {RepeatLast}
Page Down {PageDown}
Page Up {PageUp}
Shift-Page Down {LineDown}
Shift-Page Up {LineUp}
Shift-Tab {CycleWindowsReverse}
Tab {CycleWindows}
UP {HistoryPrev}
Melissa
In the short term an event is coming to release the spell "Minor Summoning" in GemStone IV. Additionally, this weekend we'll be opening some shops in Wehnimer's Landing that include new shield types, weapons with the new approved "oriental" names, runestaves and maybe more. This event will also include raffles of some higher end items (including katanas, which will never be available for mass sale.) Shortly after, Gryphon Sword Saga will shortly be getting back in gear. And we have some shorter RP events in planning as a bit of a break from some of the extensive sagas we've been running lately.
Very soon we will be re-organizing the forums. They've gotten rather messy over the last couple of years and need to be cleaning up. As soon as we're done hashing out the plans, we'll post them here so that you have advanced notice of the changes.
We plan to spend the next few months (through the end of January) working on tweaking GemStone IV systems and debugging. Debugging has been proceding at a rapid rate, though I'm sure it's hard to tell from your end, as there are still many issues to address. But we're taking them out fairly quickly, I believe.
Starting in February, we will begin coding new projects again in earnest. This will be in preparation for Hot Summer Nights 2004. This year's Hot Summer Nights will be shorter (about two months) but I expect it will include just as much fun new features as the last. We are still hashing out all the exact details. I'll be publishing detailed news as I usually do when we have it all worked out. But you may use the "Phase II" projects as a guide. Do be warned, however, that we need to re-examine whether we can meet these goals based on the resources we know we will have available.
It's important to note that 2003 was very unique in terms of development. In previous years we have always been able to release systems and tweaks here and there as we go, even if we save up the majority of releases for a promotion (such as Hot Summer Nights.) But due to the nature of GemStone IV, we were forced to virtually freeze all development in GemStone until we launched the product. You may be happy to know that we will be reverting to our old style of development again -- so you won't experience such a drought in development as you did this year between releases.
SOME REMINDERS:
I see a lot of people post BUGs here on the forums, and that's fine and often very helpful (often we get additional information here that we can't get from BUG). But please remember to ALSO submit those BUGs via the in-game BUG command. That way we have the BUG tracked.
I notice in game that there is still some confusion about TPs gained after leveling. You gain TPs when you hit your level due to the optimization process. The process does two things:
First, it determines if skills were efficiently purchased from level to level. (If you got two ranks of a skill a level 1 and, 0 ranks of that skill at level 2, that would be inefficient, as the cost would be cheaper if you purchased one rank a both level 1 and 2.) If it finds inefficiencies in training in skills such as those, it retrains your character more appropriately, and gives you back the TPs.
Second, it determines if TP conversions were handled efficiently. (For example, you have a bunch of extra Mental TPs, and decide to convert them to Physical TPs, and buy a Physical skill. Then a couple days later, you realize you want a new spell, and end up converting a couple Physical TPs to get it. This is inefficient.) If the optimizer finds situations where TPs were converted (and spent) inefficiently, it untangles that mess for you and gives you back those UNCONVERTED TPs. (By the way ... this is the PRIMARY reason that people tend to get HUGE blocks of one type of TP at level over the other type of TP.)
UPDATE ON GS4 DEVELOPMENT ISSUES:
COMBAT
There are several reported bugs that are being investigated with the combat system. These may result in changes if it is determined that the combat system is not working as intended. As changes are made, they will be announced on the message boards and through in-game NEWS.
Obstacles (Skill Checks)
* Lava Flows fixed
* The primary climbing obstacle utility has been revised to be less deadly for characters with skill in the ballpark of the target skill level. We are working on similar improvements for areas that use variants of this utility.
Creatures
* Some creatures are experiencing attack strength boosts, raising their attack strengths above the intended values. We are working to correct this problem..
* There have been a number of comments that creatures with levels that are too disparate are sharing hunting grounds. We are investigating these issues ... if you experience this, it is best to BUG it (including the creatures and levels in the area.) That way we will be sure to investigate it.
* Over the last couple of weeks the room ranges that various creatures cover within a given hunting area have been modified in many situations. (Though generally they haven't moved out of a hunting area.)
* Over the last couple of weeks several tweaks and changes to creatures (and a couple of level changes) have occurred. Tweaks will be ongoing as problems are reported and we investigate them.
Town Systems
Over the last couple of weeks many bugs in shops have been stomped out. The shop "interface" will be undergoing some modifications as the result of player feedback. While we made a major adjustment to shop prices in the last week, there will be some additional adjustments made to bonuses (and penalties) applied based on race. Additionally, many bugs in NPCs and the Sprite Quest system have been squished.
LockMastery
The release of lockmastery was delayed by the guild rewrite. We do have 5 ranks of the skill done, however, we would like to release the skill as a whole, when it is complete. For more information on the status of LockMastery chat in the Rogue Forums.
Shields and Staves
* A request was made for some higher-end staves so that players may replace their current weapons and armor with some fairly nice staves. This was the primary instigator of the visit of Erithian Merchants this coming weekend.
* Stave Prices: Some of the problems with stave prices are related to shop pricing issues which I addressed in the prior "Town Systems" section. However, staves ARE intended to be more expensive than equivalent weapons, as they provide benefits comparable to both weapon and shield.
* More options on the new shield types will be available in the merchant this weekend. Those who are impatient to have their existing shield converted need only wait a couple of weeks (give or take a week.) The converter for shields is almost done. (And, once again, that converter will be VOLUNTARY.)
OTHER
* Additional Survival benefits are in the process of being implemented.
* The roleplaying event heralding the release of Minor Summoning has started (as I mentioned previously.)
StormFront
* Lagging: StormFront is by and large a very fast Front End. But you'll be happy to know that will be optimizing it shortly, so hopefully some people with problems may see an improvement. Those who experience major lagging with StormFront may find that TURNING OFF LOGGING will help increase the speed. We will be addressing this problem with logging shortly.
* Macros: In the last couple of a days a couple of people have asked me personally about the UP arrow and why it doesn't repeat the last command like it does in the wizard. It DOES. However, I fear that folks who have imported Macros may have overwritten these settings. Below I have attached some default Macros for various keys. You may want to check and make sure some of these are still set in your StormFront.
Alt-ENTER {RepeatSecondToLast}
Alt-I {ToggleImages}
Alt-Keypad Enter {RepeateSecondToLast}
Alt-L {ToggleLinks}
Alt-M {ToggleMusic}
Alt-S {ToggleSounds}
Ctrl-A {SelectAll}
Ctrl-C {Copy}
Ctrl-End {BufferBottom}
Ctrl-Enter {RepeatLast}
Ctrl-F5 {Restart}
Ctrl-Home {BufferTop}
Ctrl-Keypad Enter {RepeatLast}
Ctrl-Page Down {BufferBottom}
Ctrl-Page Up {BufferTop}
Ctrl-R {Rest}
Ctrl-V {Paste}
Ctrl-X {Cut}
DOWN {HistoryNext}
Keypad Enter {RepeatLast}
Page Down {PageDown}
Page Up {PageUp}
Shift-Page Down {LineDown}
Shift-Page Up {LineUp}
Shift-Tab {CycleWindowsReverse}
Tab {CycleWindows}
UP {HistoryPrev}
Melissa