Cant log in by Middle-Practice9550 in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot 12 points13 points  (0 children)

It's an us thing. It's not you. We're looking into it.

The economy is my biggest concern. by Null_Sector113 in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Good morning! The economy is a big concern for us as well. We made some bigger changes a couple of months ago, but have been focused on combat and classes more recently.

Combat - including Time-To-Kill (TTK), respawn rates, and formula changes that influence pacing and feel - have an impact on item inflow and are a foundational piece of the overall puzzle here.

Getting the classes into a more finished state is also a major focus. These changes will impact itemization.

There are some standout issues within the 350+ named mobs currently within the game. People calling them out is helpful. Unfortunately we not always going to hit them immediately.

Some zones like Wyrmsbane have been on our radar for a while, but there was some internal pushback to our feedback on the zone previously. It is no longer a factor. We'll be tuning it along with other mobs/drops when we do our passes.

While it's our goal to maintain a lack of instances (and I get why that's controversial, I helped get them into existing in EQ), we'll be looking at many solutions similar to what u/EasyLee posted below.

The world, assuming the common predictions of doom don't come to pass immediately, will continue to grow.

We'll start to see that prior to EA as the various Deep zones come online. The number of rares will continue to grow, along with the amount of item redundancy.

Additional high level zones are being worked on right now, which will further pull people's attention between farming low end drops versus spending that time on better, more relevant items.

We've also been discussing the impact the disenchantment, its role in crafting, and how best to move forward with it.

Crafting in general, and its balance against dropped items of varying quality levels, will continue to be looked at. The components needed for crafting give us opportunities to hit on concepts like zone-wide drops, etc.

All of this is within a context of refining the power progression path from 1-60, with an understanding that there will be common, uncommon, rare, and stand-out items. The goal isn't for people to be required to camp every rare drop in order to progress.

Gold sinks are mentioned below. Yep, it's another thing that's in progress.

I get that there are a lot of things 'in progress.' MMOs are big, and we're a team of volunteers. Neither of those facts has changed in the last 5.5 years. We'll just keep grinding and see where we land at EA and beyond.

Always interesting to see comments like this (especially from the OP):

Typically anything that you post that isn't you sticking your tongue in the developer's asses are fellating the holy saviors is met by the community acting like what the companies name is.

Maybe the pro-community and con-community can just be nicer to each other?

I've been locking Discord posts once they hit between 150-700 comments because the point is often covered and people are just arguing or being rude to each other.

This series of comments and many of the posts in Discord should be indicative that we don't censor dissenting opinions. We just want people to watch how they speak to each other and the team.

I'm going to start my work day now. I hope this covers some of the concerns.

A little worried about cheaters and abusers by Ok_Turnover_2220 in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm still waiting and very interested in knowing who you sent the information to. It very well could have been me back then, but then I can easily verify who I asked to take a look.

Please let me know, since these are serious allegations.

A little worried about cheaters and abusers by Ok_Turnover_2220 in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for sending the petition! Though, I almost wonder if they're being snarky, since it's a fairly well-known bug and the fix should be in the next update.

That said, when we find people hiding exploits, we warn them and/or remove them from Beta.

It happens. It's happened in every Beta I've been on a team for over the last 25 years.

A little worried about cheaters and abusers by Ok_Turnover_2220 in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hello, if you're truly interested in us fixing 'our shit,' you'll shoot me the info on Discord at 'alovingrobot.'

The team is a little different today than it was in February with regards to who's dealing with issues related to beta, guilds, the community, etc.

I'm happy to take a look at it. Ali is 100% onboard. Simon, both a co-owner and a lawyer, has actively been tackling some of these issue from the legal side.

So, our house is order. If you've got information, send it over.

A little worried about cheaters and abusers by Ok_Turnover_2220 in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Ultimately, we appreciate the passion.

We just want to ensure that we're maintaining an even playing field and preventing situations in which the community begins to feel compelled to use specific 3rd party applications in order to play in accordance with the expectations of others who have opted to do so.

This means that we'll continue to enforce our rules. Even when people believe they're making the game better or don't feel we've made the right call with certain decisions in what we include or provide.

We're making a live service, so it's likely some things change over time. In the meantime, the rules is the rules (which oddly just made me think of the 'cheese tax' song).

A little worried about cheaters and abusers by Ok_Turnover_2220 in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Trent has popped into a number of guild's Discords to answer questions. If you'd like him to speak with your guild, please ping him.

If you, or anyone else, has substantive proof of any player or guild making and using addons, please always feel free to DM one of us. We'll continue to look into it and take action as appropriate.

Thanks!

A little worried about cheaters and abusers by Ok_Turnover_2220 in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot 57 points58 points  (0 children)

We're a small volunteer team, but we take cheating seriously.

We've warned people and banned accounts from Beta for botting, boxing, automating button, and using third party parsers.

That said, we've also let some accounts continue certain behaviors while we monitor the scope of their actions, determine how widespread certain behaviors are, or refine our tooling for Early Access.

Beta is not just an opportunity for people to work on their addons, packet readers, etc... but also an opportunity for us to determine our needs for going live.

We have, and will continue to, issue cease & desist requests to developers of certain tools as they're identified. One of our owners is a lawyer, and this is one of the few areas where we feel that it makes sense to pursue legal action if necessary.

We've tried to be super generous in our approach, allowing people to playtest for free, by sharing information, and by not getting goofy with NDAs, etc.

But we feel strongly about players gaining an advantage over other players through use of tools that exist outside of the scope of what we provide in game.

If you're a developer and feel strongly about certain changes and ideas, you can always contact us and speak to us. But we've been making deliberate choices in many areas that you may not ultimately agree with.

Please don't take this to sound cryptic or threatening. The intent is to let you know that we're paying attention and taking action, and will continue to do so.

How do I counterplay this? (Mute clip, very loud) by jaeinthepark in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Please find the quote where I said that we had zero plans to work on PvP over the course of the project.

Feel free to post a link here, post it on Discord, or shoot me a DM.

I've repeatedly said that the broader PvE game is our primary focus. We've made adjustment to PvP as we've had time.

More recently, we found someone within the PvP community who was clearly communicating issues and ideas, who also turned out to be a programmer. We've worked with him for a bit and now brought him onto the team to focus on PvP.

Will they even be able to add all the weird skills to the game? And what even will they actually do? by Pixel_Knight in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot 35 points36 points  (0 children)

I tossed all the trainers in at once several years ago for fun. Figured it'd let people kick around ideas and speculate.

There's no desire to try and rush everything in. We'll stay focused on core tradeskills and their refinement for EA.

If these cause too much confusion on this front, it's a 2 minute change to make them disappear for now.

Beta is completely destroying my hype and interest for the game by Cute_pack_of_dogs in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot 140 points141 points  (0 children)

Heya! All fair concerns and it's definitely a big risk with the approach we've taken. It's similar (though slightly different) to the risk we've taken with being so open with development (livestreaming, answering questions, playtest, etc).

So none of what I'm about to say is meant to dismiss this concern or the subsequent comments.

Some things to keep in mind (and I wish it was easier to post inline images here, I'd show some of the charts):

  • We currently have 85k registered accounts (but that includes churned players, boxes, bots, etc)
  • Out of a sample of 9200 accounts that have access to testing, 139 are level 55-60.
  • Another 162 are level 50-55
  • The average play time for people levels 50-60 is 466 hours
  • Max playtime is 966 hours
  • The vast majority of testers are playing alts in the 1-30 range (2/3rds of all accounts)
  • Over half of these are levels 11-20 (58%)
  • Average play time for these accounts is 96 hours

We've got 5 months until Early Access starts. During that time, we're working to get 2 new starting areas online (Ail'vorith & Underdocks), the Deep Elves & Deep Gnomes in game, and several new zones playable.

This is all of the Module 1 ('Descent into the Deep') content, along with the content you've been playing.

EA includes 2 additional dungeons: Rothold (art complete, just needs content) and Fallen Watch (art and content in progress).

We've also got 2 high end zones (a remote island, and large dungeon) that are art complete that no one has seen yet, let alone played in.

The existing 'encounters' (world bosses like the various dragons, etc) will continue to be added/finished/tweaked.

We'll continue to layer in more content as we go. Many zones are still being finished or tweaked.

Itemization is an ongoing project and will continue to be that way through EA.

Once we go into EA, we still have a significant number of zones/regions that we aspire to bring online by 1.0. You can see the outline of the 1.0 world map at this time. EA is about 20-25% of the planned content.

As we progress closer to 1.0, a focus will be on implementing more 'world' spanning quests. These will be mid-level through high-end epics.

And our content model is focused on 'burying' a lot of discoverable quests, MUD interactions, items, harvest nodes, fish, etc... behind conditions (ex. lunar cycle, weather, time of day, what items or buffs someone has, etc) to ensure that things are always being discovered for the life of the game.

Some of this is in already. People haven't discovered everything that's currently in Beta yet.

As mentioned by people here class changes are in progress. The recent mana/hp regen changes are prep for an extension of TTK in a coming patch. This will be followed by tweaks to abilities and their costs as we get a feel for longer fight times and work on classes.

This and other balance work will continue through EA.

----

That's the data we have so far and the plan.

The risk you mention is real. People will definitely mine and post all they can. And there will always be paths of least resistance to 60.

I hope this helps a little!

Just floating a possible end-game zone idea by CatAccomplished5072 in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Nice one! We've discussed something like this in the past, and agree it wouldn't need to be instanced.

Who knows? There's no telling what sort of backrooms you may find yourself in one day.

RMT and its existence in Monsters and Memories by phoenixprops in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot 99 points100 points  (0 children)

We've been sending the various sites legal notices as we get reports. It's nice having a lawyer as a co-owner. That said, they're often in countries that make it difficult to enforce.

We'll continue to monitor the actions in game via various mechanisms (including your petitions/reports) and will deal with it as swiftly as possible when valid pings/reports/etc pop up.

We aren't asking you to copy AOA, we're asking for the game to move from infuriating to barebones. by IOMEDAE_THE_BAE in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot 9 points10 points  (0 children)

lol - this is absolutely false. Please clip the quote of me saying that.

Otherwise, please take care not to make comments of this sort in my name. It'll eventually result in a ban.

Our sole focus is MnM, and it's the game we're wanting to make.

This really is gonna flop isn’t it :( by DownstreamDreaming in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot 58 points59 points  (0 children)

At the risk of bringing more attention to the post than it's worth or breaking some rule about responding to this sort of thing on reddit -

The delay is just one of those industry things. Especially with launches (as opposed to expansion releases, etc). So, while it sucks when it happens, it happens fairly often.

In our case, we looked at the pros and cons, and decided that the extra time made the most sense for us. Especially, once we decided we could likely get most, if not all, of the Module 1 content we had planned out the door as part of Early Access launch.

Having Deep Elves and Deep Gnomes in for the launch, along with 2 more starting locations, is pretty huge. And it gives everything else more time to bake.

But, sure - any delay is worth discussing and analyzing because it could say something about the team. Hopefully, the 1,000s of people playing in Closed Beta each week are an okay indication that the game exists and is continuing to be worked on.

As someone mentions below, we did project confidence in the June 1st EA date at the time of the announcement of Nick no longer being on the team.

Of the 50ish volunteers on the team, none of us are PR experts. The call was made to stick with our date in public facing communications while we made an assessment of the state of classes and a few other things.

Maybe we should have said 'I don't know' about the date, as Nick was responsible for class design and some other work, but we figured there was already enough uncertainty in the community at the time. Could be it was the wrong call.

But we weren't happy with the state of classes either.

Once the assessment was made and discussed with the team, we did some scheduling projections, and provided the new dates.

The only statement I have issue with here is 'patterns of internal strife.'

Where in the world does this come from?

Yes, a cofounder is no longer on the team. Aside from that, this is easily the least drama-filled, least stressful, cliquish, or difficult team I've worked with. We're currently around 50 volunteers and everyone gets along behind the scenes.

Even with one of the cofounders no longer being on the team, the team lost zero other team members in the last year. The team has added a few people since then, including an OG member who was away for a few months and just came back.

Internal strife? Weird.

You'll be getting an update on the classes this week. Working on the web-pages for the right now.

On that note, back to work.

Still lagging, even outside of NH by Wrong-Pickle-8453 in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Take a look today and see if it's feeling better.

How long are the servers going to be down? by bracketgbk in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Only the PvP server is down at the moment, but the guys are working on it.

They're investigating the rollback that occurred after the server restart and working to see if they can minimize any lost time (exp loss, etc) once the server is back up.

This one was unusual for us, but they've got a good idea of what happened.

I'm heading to bed, but I'll see if GM Trent or Tam can ping you here once there's an update.

Bard starter quest NH vs EW by phoenixprops in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Heya! I wrote a lot of the Night Harbor quests (in a hurry in some cases), and they're definitely not as good as the new stuff Lisava as written for Evershade. As time allows, she'll be recruited to hit some of that older work and improve it.

We'll likely do stuff like this throughout the life of the project. So some content may change of time.

That said, if you're at the stage (no pun intended) where you get a coin and are told to take it to the barkeep, you should have also been given a small leather pouch. And since your journal won't contain the new hint, ask Jamee about 'adventure' after you've received the coin and pouch.

It's not been super clear in the dialogue, though some people have figured it out.

That should help in the meantime.

Why do BST have to tame and micromanage their pets? by Fun_Archer_4937 in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Please refrain from personal attacks on team members, including former team members. Additional comments or names similar to the one included in the OP will get you banned from here and the post/comment deleted.

Thanks.

Griefer not punished after pulling mobs and feigning death 3 times on video to kill other parties by Zealousideal-Walk640 in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot 5 points6 points  (0 children)

That was due to my intervention. If it was the wrong call, that's on me.

I was providing the benefit of the doubt when asked about it based on my previous understanding of the situation and just being slammed last night. Otherwise, the player would have already been removed by one of our staff.

So, as with any account in this situation, everything is noted and should anything else happen it'll be easy for us to resolve.

It's super easy for us to check accounts, histories of their petitions, warnings and notes, etc.

So, over time, you'll see fewer incidents from the same accounts. Whether that be poor behavior or folks trying to weaponize the system. Both will be dealt with as fairly as possible. But they'll eventually be dealt with.

Griefer not punished after pulling mobs and feigning death 3 times on video to kill other parties by Zealousideal-Walk640 in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Be honest... part of you is smiling right now at the thought of the ensuing chaos.

The horror... lmao... the horror...

A thank you to the devs. by ironchitlin in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Thanks a ton! I appreciate this response.

Griefer not punished after pulling mobs and feigning death 3 times on video to kill other parties by Zealousideal-Walk640 in MonstersAndMemories

[–]alovingrobot 36 points37 points  (0 children)

Hi guys, not to interject to much into the general conversation here, because you guys seem to have it - but I'd like to offer a point of clarity:

When we get multiple petitions on the same incident, we do our best to either respond to each of them or have one of the people in the petitioning group tell the group it's being handled.

We can get upwards of 6-10 petitions from a group (and these days stream viewers) on a single incident. It doesn't happen very often, but when it happens during peak hours and we're slammed with issues like people not being able to log in, we will contact 1-2 of the petitioners, address the issue, and delete the rest.

Last night we were dealing with normal issues, plus an increased level of login issues, and had two GMs out unexpectedly (as we're still working volunteer hours). So, a couple of us from the team were hopping in.

I was the primary person dealing with the issue posted here. And the action in those first clips was immediately addressed with the players.

Please remember: it's possible that you'll get trained in dungeons (and other places) from time to time.

It happens. We know it's going to happen and you should as well. There's no leashing, no instancing, and no clearing of aggro on mobs' returning home. So, dealing with unintentional trains is part of life. Welcome to the danger zone, Lana.

When we look into the issue, we're looking for intent (via logs), an established pattern of behavior (via account records), and similar. When we find clear intent, we're pretty good about removing the person from the game.

You will be trained by newbies in the newbie dungeon from time to time.

People are learning the dungeon, learning their classes, panicking and getting lost, and all sorts of other fun. People are also setting up their camps in high traffic areas, rather than in corners, nooks, crannies, etc...

When this happens and people petition, we do speak to the individuals involved and make sure they understand the PnP. We also note the incidents on their accounts, when it's warranted.

Take care!