Video: Q and A with Gedden + Senshu (15/08/14)

Here is the youtube video of the entire Q and A with Gedden + Senshu, hope you enjoy, leave us feedback, suggestions etc here please!



Questions: (Thanks a lot again to @Goyo for the basic transcript!!!)

Top Priority:

From Multiple ppl: When will we get a stutter lag fix it is turning a lot of people off playing the game entirely and should be treated as a priority. They are aware of a few issues, like songs not cleaning the memory properly. But there is more than one thing going on and they want to take care of everything. It will be fixed eventually.
From Multiple ppl: Why has there been no patch for in the last 2 weeks and when can we expect the next one? Have you been working on something big? They were working over big things, like improving the new players enviroment aimed to Steam release, and Ronin. The next patch is pretty big and the goal is to update it on Monday (it were supposed to be released today).
From EnigmaXIII: What time this week will Nea become the lead coder for poxnora? (General update wanted about new staff and when we should feel the benefit) They got a few group of people on sight, but nothing stable for now, "we will see". About @Nea, Gedden encourages him to apply
​

Balance:

From Sepulcher: What are your thoughts on Ghost, a 10 Nora ability, including 57 Nora's worth of individual Immunities? The only reason he avoided to post individual cost of abilities was this. People makes wrong asumptions around them. On the example, how much nora would worth not being able to attack? It is very hard to tell.
Ghost was created for Disturbed Spirit, a champion that doesn't do much of anyhing but being annoying. To being able to take him down you need Magical damage on your deck, and that's part of Poxnora.
The council is currently discussing the availability of Magical damage, and issues like Darkmash Blackstaff giving Immunity: Magical are gonna change.
From WraithxxV: Are there plans to even out the costs on abilities? Some seem inexplicably cheap or expensive when compared to similar abilities. No. Those numbers are not supposed to be seen and make conclusions with. Ability costs are given for a reason, and if there are problems with them, it will be revised and addressed in a way different than comparing one to another.
Usually when someone complain about an ability it's because he/she can't beat it with his favorite deck and wants a way to do so. He consider the rules of the game, as having magical damage for incorporeal units, to be more stable than deck building, and if anything, people should revise their decks before complaining.
Note: Gedden wasn't as direct as I writen it.

From Syrius: What is your current opinion on the interaction between Chasms and Domination (Posession)? Do you consider it problematic? And if so, would replacing the insta-kill with 'fall damage' and a stun be a viable fix? He doesn't like instant-kills. The possession mechanic is not likely to be changed, but the spell Domination is. They will gatter suggestions, test ideas an deliver, but is not top priority.

From Multiple ppl: is FW Disease damage going to be looked at? Can we get more Disease Amp? He hasn't an answer for that, since is very problematic design-wise. He's thinking on some synergy with vampiric healing.

From G_Ro91: Are there any plans to give the Draksar theme some love? Multiple threads have been made and all we got was a wyrmpriest change making him sub-par at best. Yes, violent as a "Draksar thing" is not fun enough, also Dragonflight will be looked at. He encourages you to check out Skeezicks because they've received more attention and the next patch will deliver some buffs to them.
​

State of Game:

From Pheezy: Will the token system, the gold accrual rate and the dailies be changed? He recognizes tokens are a little too expensive, but he doesn't have a proper price yet. About gold accrual that's part of the big change they are working on to improve the Pox experience for everyone. As a note, none of the gold changes are included on the next patch.

From Goyo: In a big picture, what is your plan for Steam relaunch? Do you have any backup plan if Steam relaunch doesn't hit as expected? The general idea is to introduce new players into the game on a more clear way, with a directive fashion. There're a lot of details they are working on, like merging Poxnora to Steam so you can buy stuff with Steam cash directly instead of travel from steam to launcher to site market.
Also they are not depending on Steam to keep Poxnora running, they have a lot more plans.

From Sepulcher: What are the plans to improve rune accessibility before the Steam re-launch so that we don't see another
mass exodus of frustrated new players like in the last launch? The number one problem to solve is the number of barriers you have from "want to play the game" to actually play the game. Rune accesibility improved a lot, and about earning single runes in a different ways than trading or sharding, there is a debate over it.

From Protick: How does Gedden feel about the current state of the game, and its balance?

From SPiEkY: Turn Timer Follow-up, just to make sure he doesn't "forget" (2:00 turn timer from last qna) He totally forgot, still a good idea, will think about it.​

Future & Misc:

From Grumz: Is there a plan to make the game less daunting to new players? A lot is being made on that topic.

From Fikule: Are the new map textures an indication that there are no current plans to re-work the map sizes to horizontal
for today's resolutions? I thought this might become a possibility when more staff members arrived. It does not mean that. They will not get ride of existing maps if new maps comes in.

From KPIC: Why don't you make champs easier to purchase with gold?

From RAID Officer IMAGIRL: What is a question that makes you excited, and you have wanted to answer but no one has asked yet? What he is most excited with is newer content. And none has asked what Nora is.

From Markoth: If you could go back in time and change a single thing about Pox what would you do?

From Sunutsu: Will you work on the single player AI soon? I am not good enough to compete with veterans so I would rather gain experience from the AI. Yep, a lot is coming in.​

 

this will take a little while to upload and process, for anybody that doesn't want to wait, you can also watch it here right now.

www.twitch.tv/poxnora_live/b/558499324

 

Thanks now I can watch it since I missed the live stream.

 

Kind of disheartening to hear Gedden say a big barrier to newer players is the number of screens they have to open and seem less sure about rune availability.

I need a single low-tier leg to finish a BG. For about five days I've been trying to get it. So far, I've had a couple people try to scam me in various ways, and more just try to shark me and ask for 60-100% profit. Imagine if I was a new player having to deal with this nonsense or getting ripped off.

The game already looks pretty pay to win, Gedden. If older players are getting frustrated with rune availability and pricing, imagine how new players with low investment and trade power are gunna react. Steam reviews are going to be brutal if it doesn't change.

 

seriously, is that the same T-shirt each time?

 

Love it great session guys, I'm most excited about the lore reveals you're referencing!

 

Top Priority:

From Multiple ppl: When will we get a stutter lag fix it is turning a lot of people off playing the game entirely and should be treated as a priority. They are aware of a few issues, like songs not cleaning the memory properly. But there is more than one thing going on and they want to take care of everything. It will be fixed eventually.

From Multiple ppl: Why has there been no patch for in the last 2 weeks and when can we expect the next one? Have you been working on something big? They were working over big things, like improving the new players enviroment aimed to Steam release, and Ronin. The next patch is pretty big and the goal is to update it on Monday (it were supposed to be released today).

From EnigmaXIII: What time this week will Nea become the lead coder for poxnora? (General update wanted about new staff and when we should feel the benefit) They got a few group of people on sight, but nothing stable for now, "we will see". About @Nea, Gedden encourages him to apply
​

Balance:

From Sepulcher: What are your thoughts on Ghost, a 10 Nora ability, including 57 Nora's worth of individual Immunities? The only reason he avoided to post individual cost of abilities was this. People makes wrong asumptions around them. On the example, how much nora would worth not being able to attack? It is very hard to tell.
Ghost was created for Disturbed Spirit, a champion that doesn't do much of anyhing but being annoying. To being able to take him down you need Magical damage on your deck, and that's part of Poxnora.
The council is currently discussing the availability of Magical damage, and issues like Darkmash Blackstaff giving Immunity: Magical are gonna change.

From WraithxxV: Are there plans to even out the costs on abilities? Some seem inexplicably cheap or expensive when compared to similar abilities. No. Those numbers are not supposed to be seen and make conclusions with. Ability costs are given for a reason, and if there are problems with them, it will be revised and addressed in a way different than comparing one to another.
Usually when someone complain about an ability it's because he/she can't beat it with his favorite deck and wants a way to do so. He consider the rules of the game, as having magical damage for incorporeal units, to be more stable than deck building, and if anything, people should revise their decks before complaining.
Note: Gedden wasn't as direct as I writen it.

From Syrius: What is your current opinion on the interaction between Chasms and Domination (Posession)? Do you consider it problematic? And if so, would replacing the insta-kill with 'fall damage' and a stun be a viable fix? He doesn't like instant-kills. The possession mechanic is not likely to be changed, but the spell Domination is. They will gatter suggestions, test ideas an deliver, but is not top priority.

From Multiple ppl: is FW Disease damage going to be looked at? Can we get more Disease Amp? He hasn't an answer for that, since is very problematic design-wise. He's thinking on some synergy with vampiric healing.

From G_Ro91: Are there any plans to give the Draksar theme some love? Multiple threads have been made and all we got was a wyrmpriest change making him sub-par at best. Yes, violent as a "Draksar thing" is not fun enough, also Dragonflight will be looked at. He encourages you to check out Skeezicks because they've received more attention and the next patch will deliver some buffs to them.
​

State of Game:

From Pheezy: Will the token system, the gold accrual rate and the dailies be changed? He recognizes tokens are a little too expensive, but he doesn't have a proper price yet. About gold accrual that's part of the big change they are working on to improve the Pox experience for everyone. As a note, none of the gold changes are included on the next patch.

From Goyo: In a big picture, what is your plan for Steam relaunch? Do you have any backup plan if Steam relaunch doesn't hit as expected? The general idea is to introduce new players into the game on a more clear way, with a directive fashion. There're a lot of details they are working on, like merging Poxnora to Steam so you can buy stuff with Steam cash directly instead of travel from steam to launcher to site market.
Also they are not depending on Steam to keep Poxnora running, they have a lot more plans.

From Sepulcher: What are the plans to improve rune accessibility before the Steam re-launch so that we don't see another
mass exodus of frustrated new players like in the last launch? The number one problem to solve is the number of barriers you have from "want to play the game" to actually play the game. Rune accesibility improved a lot, and about earning single runes in a different ways than trading or sharding, there is a debate over it.

From Protick: How does Gedden feel about the current state of the game, and its balance?

From SPiEkY: Turn Timer Follow-up, just to make sure he doesn't "forget" (2:00 turn timer from last qna) He totally forgot, still a good idea, will think about it.​

Future & Misc:

From Grumz: Is there a plan to make the game less daunting to new players? A lot is being made on that topic.

From Fikule: Are the new map textures an indication that there are no current plans to re-work the map sizes to horizontal
for today's resolutions? I thought this might become a possibility when more staff members arrived. It does not mean that. They will not get ride of existing maps if new maps comes in.

From KPIC: Why don't you make champs easier to purchase with gold?

From RAID Officer IMAGIRL: What is a question that makes you excited, and you have wanted to answer but no one has asked yet? What he is most excited with is newer content. And none has asked what Nora is.

From Markoth: If you could go back in time and change a single thing about Pox what would you do?

From Sunutsu: Will you work on the single player AI soon? I am not good enough to compete with veterans so I would rather gain experience from the AI. Yep, a lot is comming in.​

 

my man! You are on point again, thankyou so much!

 

@Gedden would do great on politics. Alot of words to say nothing. @Sepulcher 's question.

The reason you didn't want to give values is possibly that goofballs would make silly posts using that info - but they make silly posts using any info so it doesn't really change the net result. Releasing that info also means you'd be held accountable for it, and that's what Sep is doing.

Sep is no conspiratist. Discrediting him by alluding to "ignorant masses can't handle the truth" is insulting, childish and flat out wrong. I pull your integrity card and request that you reanswer that question.

And this time, let's not pretend Sep was making a literal assertion of ghost = immunity all.

A good starting point would be if the ability is meant for a nuisance - only champ like the disturbed spirit then why do you let it persist on a behemoth like AA?

 

lets flip that around. if he did publish the nora costs and was then 'accountable', how would that be any different than now? players who don't like something are going to complain and hold him 'accountable' whether they have numbers to back up the complaint or not.

 

- Losing every font battle, shrine rush and field skirmish is quite a nuisance.

 

My reply to some of the stuff brought up in the Q&A:

Most of the skeletons in most any fantasy game are humans. That tends to be why you see "goblin skeleton" etc. but not "human skeleton" on the type line.
Also, define "human." If Barbarians aren't supposed to be human, what makes them DIFFERENT from barbaric humans? They don't seem any different on the surface.

What's the purpose (for us) of asking what Nora is if you aren't going to explain it?

Is it possible to just make it impossible to manually walk into chasms if it would kill you? Nobody would ever do it unless controlled by an opponent.
Knockback and the like should still be fine, though.

 

Honestly, I almost feel insulted by this. Almost.

At one hand, is absurd to think an ability cost should be validated in some kind of void where a direct comparative to some other ability isn't given. If two abilities have similar effects, both should cost a similar amount, and if one of them have a lower effect than the other, then said ability should be cheaper. Why would anyone refuse to follow a simple logic like that? How in heaven can you come with two different abilities with similar effects and mechanics (either the previous condition and/or the effects) and still get wildly different prices for each (Revel in misery vs fire acolyte)? Or worse yet, price higher the weaker one, like skezzick warcry vs regular warcry? And following this train, addressing the problem (price) in a different way to adjusting the price itself is absurd. "Hey, Doc, I have an ear infection, can you give me something?... A rectal thermometer? Why do, wait, no, I didn't signed for this!"

Seriously, what solution can satisfactorily fix the skeezick warcry vs plain warcry discrepancy? Buff the skeezick version to something like AoE 3 at rank 2? Yeah, right, that's what the meta needs, cheaper warcry for certain themes.

And this lead me to my last point: what's the relevance of the second part of the response to the first part? I suppose there is a mistake somewhere and the whole "You mad because you lost to it, l2p, noob!" part was part of the response to the ghost question. Because, talking about the ability costs topic, most of the threads that people like GabrielQ and Sepulcher started were not about losing against X or Y theme, but a more broad and generic "What's up with this ability costs, guys?", and afaik, only the sibling ability had attracted nerf threads, although the posture varies from the cost of the ability to the combination with immortality and split shenanigans.

And personally, and the reason I almost take the response as a personal insult is because many of us doesn't not complain about losing to certain bg because X or Y ability costs, quite the opposite, the nonsensical pricing made playing with certain abilities or champion completely futile or at least a serious handicap.

Seriously, hawk attack rank 1 costs 6n, but arrowshot cost 7n? How can you justify picking curse when magical attack is 1 cheaper? I'm pretty sure nobody would shed a tear if we went and replace every "curse 1/2" upgrade path for the plain "magical attack" ability. Seriously, curse is so bad I think most people would prefer to lose one upgrade in exchange for a cheaper and better ability that does almost the same most of the time.

 

Did you hear the Q&A? I suggest you to do so if you feel pissed off, I might not transcribed it 100% accurately.

 

​

 

The bit about the 'how much should it cost not to be able to attack' thing is interesting since units lacking an attack still cost the same as those with one and all attacks are cost: 0(Including Attack: LoL - which if none else should definitely have a cost).

I realize he didn't want the nora information released, I even completely agree with the reason why, but that ship has sailed and albiet I'm with him about the disarray that it creates, many of the points raised are completely valid while many of the responses given to them are deflective and inconsistent.

Saying ability was created for X purpose and specifically for Y champ I can totally follow but a lot of what the revamp did was remove iconic abilities! Also, how do you explain Spell Blockade costing 50 nora, when it is obviously created for units with it, whose only purpose is this ability but they end costing more than some of the game's greatest beaters and far more than the spells they are intended to thwart (Counterspell Mastery in comparison is only 15 nora - sure it costs charges but it's much more reusable and doesn't cost hp).

 

The thing about not wanting to release the Nora per ability info sounds a LOT like how WOTC tried to hide the rarity info for MTG in the beginning.
To make a long story short, it didn't work, and they ended up making rarity transparent.

I think Gedden pretty much admitted it wasn't working in the Q&A, but I can't remember, and I'm too lazy to find it again.

 

Omg. Please tell me no one is actually basing their frustration off of the summarized transcript. I've been there for the whole thing and there is a lot of meaning lost in it. Be upset after watching the video, or at least the section you're interested in.

 

I've actually watched them all up until this point, but I wrote that based off the transcript with the intent to watch the video when afforded opportunity(It's 2 hours long, not everyone has that time to just set aside, and it doesn't help that most of the time there's a lot of non-important/non-factual bits that are included, like all the time before the first question is even asked, my time is far too valuable for that). If it isn't accurate it shouldn't be listed as a transcript.

 

Personally, I think the form is much less relevant than the content. The question was pretty straight forward "are you planning to change the nora cost on some of the abilities?", and unless the transcript is very bad, the answer is "no". "No" because they weren't intending to release the prices (yeah, like we couldn't come with some sort of excel table through manually comparing how much costs to pick this or that ability), "no" because the costs on the abilities shouldn't be compared to each other (because champions with RiM are inexplicable more expensive than champions with fire acolyte and we're too dumb to figure out why by ourselves), "no" because there are other ways to fix things (see the warcry topic), "no" just because.

Is frankly mind boggling they refuse to accept the ability cost system is pretty broken and arbitrary right now, and even worse the idea they might try to fix the problem by doing anything, but fixing what is the specific, identifiable and called out flaw. If a technician told me they would fix a broken window by taking down the entire wall and re-building that section to fit the shape of the broken glasses, I would slam the door into his face.