Editing Announcements - 2003/05 - Discoveries (section)

== Letter to the Players ==

{{Microsoft Games Insider
 |  Link = <nowiki>http://microsoftgamesinsider.com/AC1/MayLttP.htm</nowiki>
 | Title = May Letter to the Players
 |  Text =
Greetings, and welcome to the May 2003 edition of the Asheron's Call Letter to the Players. Our weather here in Boston has warmed up nicely; we hope that yours has, as well. Spring has sprung in Dereth–flowers are blooming, the bunnies are hopping (and still breeding like crazy, the little devils), and the future is looking bright. But there are hints that something is badly amiss, and dark signs behind the splendid flowering…
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But before we get into that, let's discuss the major changes in store for May.
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'''The Jump-Spin Maneuver'''
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The jump-spin maneuver is one that most player killers are familiar with; it's a very simple maneuver with considerable impact on player vs. player gameplay. When a PK is being pursued by a melee PK and the pursuing melee is in "sticky" combat mode–that is, being dragged along behind the fleeing player and striking them in the back–the fleeing player can jump and spin in midair. If the fleeing player executes the maneuver correctly, the pursuing player's client will become confused, breaking sticky mode and often freezing up for a short time, thus allowing the fleeing player time to escape. Although there is an element of player skill to using this maneuver, we've found that the use of jump-spin negates too many of the other elements of PK gameplay in Asheron's Call. So we decided to do something about it.
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The first thing we did was investigate why jumping and spinning in midair has this effect on the pursuing player's client. If we could prevent this effect, our problem was solved. Unfortunately, we found that the 'confused client' effect is a deeply embedded side effect of the way our client interpolates movement. In short, the server controls where your character actually is, but in order to reduce the effects of Internet latency the client makes a guess about where it expects you will be in the near future. During the jump-spin maneuver, the client becomes excessively confused about where your target is and thus about where you are trying to go, and locks up until it gets correct information back from the server. The code for this system is extremely complicated and not amenable to tweaking, so we realized that we would have to look elsewhere for a 'fix' for jump-spin.
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The next approach we tried was to change the behavior of "charging." (There are more details about what charging means below, under "Optional Charge Attacks.") During testing, we noticed that when jump-spin was used, the pursuing character would usually see the "You have charged too far!" message just as their client became confused and froze up. Perhaps, we thought, if we could change the charging behavior we could avoid the client confusion. Unfortunately, playtesting showed that although modifying the charge behavior sometimes works, it more often causes even more client confusion, sometimes locking up the client for minutes at a time. On the other hand, the modified charge behavior was pretty handy for player vs. monster play, and so we retained the change as an option as outlined below in "Optional Charge Attacks." Please note, however, that we do not recommend turning off charge attacks during PK gameplay because of the increased risk of jump-spin client confusion.
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So, if changing charge attack behavior didn't solve our problem, what would? We next examined a suggestion that had been prominent in player feedback on this issue–increase the stamina penalty for jumping during a PK battle. Initially we felt that this type of solution was no more than a band-aid that did not properly address the underlying problem, but the more we thought about it–and the more feedback we read from PK fans–the more we felt that this could be a viable counter-measure to jump-spin. Through extensive play testing, we determined that this extra penalty should range from 100 stamina for a little hop to 200 stamina for a full-power leap. In addition, this increased penalty only applies to PK players who have given or received a successful PK attack within the past 20 seconds. Notice that this is not a "fix" for the jump-spin maneuver; rather, it is a counter-measure that we believe will moderate the use of jump-spin and other jumping maneuvers in PK combat, and indeed increase the amount of strategy involved. We will be monitoring the effects of this change very closely and we will tweak it or remove it altogether if that seems appropriate.
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'''Optional Charge Attacks'''
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What is a charge attack? When a player executes a melee attack, they first move towards their target until they are within range to attack. This movement is a charge–it is much faster than the character's normal movement rate, but because of that speed it can only be sustained for a very short distance. If, at the end of the charge, the player is still too far away from their target to attack, they will stop the attack and see the message, "You have charged too far!"
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As mentioned above, we were fiddling with the behavior of charge attacks while looking for a solution to the jump-spin issue. During this process we added an option that allows players to turn off charge attacks. When charge attacks are turned off and the player executes a melee attack, they move toward their target at their normal movement speed and they don't stop until they get there. (Actually, they will stop eventually, but the movement allows enough distance to reach anything within range of the radar.) This turned out to be so handy for PvM gameplay that we retained the option for all players. To toggle this option, look in your Character Options panel for Use Charge Attacks. This option is on (checked) by default and provides the old "charge" behavior. Unchecking the option provides the new "run until you get there" behavior. Note that neither of these behaviors affect ranged attacks.
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'''The Weapons of Palenqual (a.k.a. the Rubble Quest)'''
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With the May update, we are streamlining the mechanics of the rubble quest–the ACDM quest that rewards players with the Stave, Hoeroa, or Kalindan of Palenqual. The rubble quest is intimately tied into the Olthoi Queen's quest; originally, these two quests together were meant to provide an avenue for players to dynamically control a portion of the world. Players who were working with the Hea Tumeroks could break the menhir rings, strengthening the Olthoi, while players who were working with the Aun Tumeroks could gather rubble to repair the menhir rings. If the Hea-allied players succeeded in breaking all the menhirs, the Aun-allied players would then need to go and defeat the Olthoi Queen.
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That, at least, was the theory. In reality, because there are interesting rewards associated with each quest, players rarely role-play the opposing factions. Instead, they work together to schedule both quests so that everyone can get the rewards. This sort of cooperation is always heartening to see in an online community. Unfortunately, even working together there are many obstacles and annoyances in the path of anyone attempting to complete the rubble quest and so until now that quest remained fairly unpopular. We hope, however, that the May modifications will renew interest in this quest.
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The existing mechanics of the Queen's quest and the rubble quest are not changing in any way, so players who do wish to dynamically control a portion of the world through role-playing may continue to do so. If, however, you merely wish to get your weapon of Palenqual without torturous quest scheduling, you can now give the various tokens and bits of rubble to new student Tumeroks in Timaru without affecting the progress of the Queen's quest. In addition, the quest becomes repeatable in May, and the rewards have been upgraded slightly.
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'''The Story: May and Beyond'''
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May also marks the beginning of our next major story arc: A Time of Chaos. Although the ongoing story that sets Asheron's Call apart has continued since the end of the Gaerlan arc last September, it has perhaps not been as clear and obvious as players had come to expect. However, with the beginning of this new arc, the truth can no longer be hidden, and the machinations of a number of major actors–villains and heroes alike–are about to come to light. But more ominous than any threat in Dereth are the rumblings beneath the surface, the rousing of a menace we thought we had defeated…
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[[Category:Event Announcements]]