i2eilly

Q: Was the wipe at the start of Beta the final wipe?
A: There are no currently planned wipes of Dual Universe, however, NQ retains the right and ability to do so for balance, technical or gameplay reasons, NQ will attempt to mitigate these effects through plenty of forewarning and various dev means so that players are quickly back on their feet. The only case of a wipe will be if NQ sees no other option.
 
 

I delayed this as long as I could ....
 
 
 

Yes, I am not instigating, which is why I took the sentence in quotation marks. There is such a slang expression in many other games. Take this a little easier.
 

I came to the PTS to test auto mining for you and can only use 1 charge then have to wait 3.5 + hours to use another?

This doesn't seem a good way to test the autominers, we could have started with the max amount.  I also messed up the calibration so now I can't activate any other auto miners.

+1 For PVP talents.  You have changed so much over the past few months with regards to PVP.  For example the statistics of voxels and the weapons statistics . Giving us a PVP point reset would really help out as some of us wasted a lot time training talents geared towards the old PVP voxel and weapon statistics.

They asked us our opinion in the update video so I made that poll to show them our opinion....Seems they just ignored us

So, here are some questions. This time I even spent time on the PTS and watched the full video first

-Demeter fees will pull a lot of money "out of the system" and slow the inflation or even reverse it (deflation). The 1M per week fee is set now, at a time when it is equivalent to only 10kl or hematite, or one t2 engine L. Will you adjust the fee should the buying power of the quanta change significantly? The whole "player driven economy" is, by far, not really player driven anymore, and this patch is yet another step in that direction, the fixed rates for schematics, missions, other bot buy and sell orders, and now territory fees see to that.

-I generally like airbrakes now finally getting an obstruction zone, however the current direction indicated by the yellow arrows is not only unintuitive but would also just lead to players stacking them on the inside of the craft pointing outwards to the sides. On the current PTS it appears the obstruction is checked above the brakes (if placed on horizontal surface). What are the plans for the direction of the obstruction directions for the airbrakes?
 
-This is a nice reminder that plenty of items have obstruction zones which dictate a certain usage, which is often not visually pleasing, intuitive or, for better lack of word, "feels right". Any plans for an overall overhaul of obstruction mechanics and directions?
 
-To use mining units to their full potention, by at least never wasting charges because the charge pool is already full, you have to log in almost daily (every 30h with no talents, every 35h with full charge gain and pool talents). It feels rather tight. Do you think DU is a game for casuals, RP players, weekend warriors and others who are not playing in a regular profit oriented way? (So not like me   ).
 
-My first ever ship sale was to a player who just travels the planets and maintains a little base on almost every planet and moon. Quite serene and dreamy actually. He will now have to set up mining units and get into business, or collect rocks, or quit. He is not allowed to continue the way he is used to play. The fee is too high for that. Patch .23 stopped groups of people from having autonomous outposts and building civilisation away from alioth. Demeter now stops another group of players from playing their way. What is the intended and therefore likely future-proof way to play DU? 
 
-With planet based mining gone, yet another thing to actually do in the game is removed. For players who have time on saturdays there is still asteroid mining, for the rest there are AI missions, which consist of taking off and waiting for 5h to arrive, assuming you do one that actually pays something. Player made long distance haul missions can not compete with AI missions. Any plans on revisiting Apelia missions, their payout, or the fact that the long distance ones are overly profitable with multiple accounts or "car sharing" via VR?
 
-Related to above: Any plans to add anything to the game that is fun to do and at the same time brings an amount of resources?

-In order to find asteroids you need access to a DSAT which is t3. In order to mine t3 via units you also need t3 ore for the advanced autominer. Will it be impossible to get t3 ore without already existing t3 ore?
 
 
 
 

I came to the PTS to test auto mining for you and can only use 1 charge then have to wait 3.5 + hours to use another?

This doesn't seem a good way to test the autominers, we could have started with the max amount.  I also messed up the calibration so now I can't activate any other auto miners.

I came to the PTS to test auto mining for you and can only use 1 charge then have to wait 3.5 + hours to use another?

This doesn't seem a good way to test the autominers, we could have started with the max amount.  I also messed up the calibration so now I can't activate any other auto miners.

I came to the PTS to test auto mining for you and can only use 1 charge then have to wait 3.5 + hours to use another?

This doesn't seem a good way to test the autominers, we could have started with the max amount.  I also messed up the calibration so now I can't activate any other auto miners.

Dropping in airbrake obstruction, without even mentioning it, as well as changing the active surface that needs to be kept clear, so breaking countless ship designs - BAD FORM, NQ.

Can we please have more calibration charges on the PTS so that we actually can test the units more than once?

While I don't disagree with the changes to Airbrakes, can you explain why Demeter is the time to implement this? A time where we are all already experiencing a game changing shift in the way we will play Dual Universe, with entire systems being implemented and changed, why would adding an previously un-announced change that will go and cause the majority of constructs to not function properly, be something you thought should be included with Demeter? 

With the latest PTS, Atmospheric brakes are now being obstructed. As far as I am aware, this was not a change we were warned about, and on the PTS has broken 90%+ of my, and my friends ships. 

If this is intended, this release is NOT the time to make this change. We as players need time to update constructs to work properly under the new requirements, and we cannot worry about making said changes, while we are also trying to test the new elements and systems on the PTS.


 

+1 For PVP talents.  You have changed so much over the past few months with regards to PVP.  For example the statistics of voxels and the weapons statistics . Giving us a PVP point reset would really help out as some of us wasted a lot time training talents geared towards the old PVP voxel and weapon statistics.

What are you carrying? What kind of traffic? OST is stored on your PC and played by your PC from your disk, there is no server traffic here .. It is a complete nonsense of people who do not understand how it works. Or do you want to say that music is transmitted to you from the server all the time? Are you seriously?

Voxels make up almost everything you see in the world of Dual Universe. Currently, most creations are made using the basic tools we provide with standard shapes such as cubes, spheres, cylinders, wedges, and tetrahedrons. 
 
More intricate designs can be achieved through the art of ‘voxelmancy’ where players customize the shapes of voxels using a variety of methods and techniques based on how voxels react to each other when placed. This very advanced technique allows voxelmancers to place each corner of a voxel exactly where they want it. To do that, they use what is called a ‘voxel reactor’.
 

 
Voxel reactors, as amazingly useful as they are, have three major drawbacks:
They are time consuming to use. They are not very intuitive for beginners. They are laid out in a checkered pattern in all three dimensions.  
The last item on that list poses some technical problems. 

VOXEL COMPLEXITY
When we are effectively applying a checkered pattern of voxels of different colors or even air, it creates a relatively large amount of small surfaces. This doesn’t really pose a problem for a single reactor, but can be a performance burden for some voxel libraries that consist of thousands of reactors.
 
With more and more detailed constructs of complex design being built, it’s become problematic for the ‘mesh service’ system that generates the shapes that you see when not in build mode. On a few rare occasions, highly-detailed constructs may not render at all or their honeycomb will disappear. 
 
To prevent this from happening, we will gradually implement a limitation to the complexity that can be created in a single chunk of voxels. It will start with a simple complexity gauge in Demeter:
With the launch of Demeter, you will start by seeing a new feedback gauge while building which highlights the region you’re actively working on and will appear as a bar in the HUD that indicates the complexity level of that region as a percentage.  In a future update (exact update number still to be discussed), we will introduce the eagerly-awaited vertex precision tool (Known to many of you as the fabled vertex editor) as a way to ensure that the limitation to voxel reactors doesn’t hinder players’ ability to create amazing constructs in the game. (More on that below.) In a subsequent future (and yet undefined) update, we will enforce the complexity value limit to be 100% for any new voxel operations. As such, old constructs and blueprints will not be altered by this but may become unalterable if they are above the limit in a region. Rest assured that if you have an existing construct that’s above the limitation, you will still be able to use it as is.  
With all that out of the way, let’s get to the fun part!

THE VERTEX PRECISION TOOL
There is currently a bit of a gap between learning how to build using the basic tools and more advanced voxelmancy techniques, something we’ve wanted to address for a long time. The introduction of the vertex precision tool in a future update will allow you to take any vertex (a corner of a voxel) and move it to a new location on any of its three axes inside the vertex's moveable area at different resolutions. This will provide an intuitive way that fills that crucial gap between basic building and advanced voxelmancy to fine-tune your builds.
 
See the video below for a demonstration of how this works. Please keep in mind that the video only shows an early prototype, but we think it’s already promising enough to make you as excited as we are about the possibilities of this tool.
 
 

 

 
VENI, VIDI, VOXIED
I came, I saw, I voxeled 
 
We hope that these voxelmancy changes, along with all of the great new Lua functions added in the Selene update, will inspire and encourage you to make even more amazing things than you already are. 
 
Check out our Tutorials page for even more ideas and tips on using voxels to bring your creativity to life in Dual Universe. 
 
As always, we’d love to hear your comments and answer your questions on the forum. 
 

There is more than balance issue NQ needs to fix- the underlaying network code and client side of PVP needs a complete overhaul.
 
Let me explain why:  As it stands, your FPS dictates your max speed in flight- and if you have any sorts of lag your ship will burn more fuel, and be slower doing it. Literally- Max Speed in DU is dictated by your frames per second, haulers going max speed can be more easily caught up to because their 29,999kph is not the same as a nano-ship flying at it due to frame lag. This also plays into laggy L core ships, and their fuel consumption/sluggishness. Have extensively tested this, its disgusting...

If you open/close your map really quickly over and over you can lag out your client, and because your client is responsible for your ships physics and "state" you stop taking damage and stop moving while this happens. 

and don't get me started on client side game "hacks/cheats" since EQ8 is easy to bypass with a bit of noodling, and with the game giving authority to the client- lots of baaaaaaad stuff can and will happen if this game ever gains popularity, I don't know if NQ even has the tools in place to check server side from what I gather. Every online PVP game has to deal with this issue, and I don't think it's even on NQ's radar.  

DU's PVP is broken, like quite literally- on the technical side. With them pushing it more and more and forcing players into it, without doing the work to make it work right... is extremely concerning and WILL bite them in the butt, if not already is as most that get into PVP at a serious level see how broken it can be and are turned off by it. Could write an entire breakdown/paper on how bad it is- what's mentioned here is only the tip of the iceberg.

If NQ can fix these issues, and balance PVP a bit- I'd quite enjoy getting into it more. 

They asked us our opinion in the update video so I made that poll to show them our opinion....Seems they just ignored us

Why not do the mining reset AND give an opt in/opt out option for full talent respec?
 
So much has been tied to mining since the beginning that a full reset should at least be an option with this update. Terraforming, space travel, pvp and industry are all talents that I trained because I mined. If mining is changing this drastically I want to be able to adjust ALL of my talents to fit my new play style.

I do not understand. It seems like there is unnecessary resistance to allowing us to respec talents. However, in a vast majority of games you spend some in game currency to allow yourself the ability to respec your talent points. It seems that you are already half way there with the ability to do so in PTS. So to make everyone happy, it would only make sense to allow us to purchase a respec pill at the market. This allows those that want to respect the ability to do so and those that despise the idea to continue to despise it and leave their talents alone. Why is this not your course of action in this case? This seems like a win win no brainer - what am I missing? 

It's disappointing to see the community poll ignored and the decision to "spot reset" talents not fully explained. 
 
Mining Rework-  It's not just about mining and most don't seem to get that.  This is an entire evolution of the gameplay loop within DU and the resulting change affects all aspects of the game. 
 
Previously on NQ files;

Mining WAS required by 90% of the community in order to build, earn money, do industry and pvp.  With the introduction of missions there was no reset of skills, but this enabled a new form of "trucker" gameplay where flight skills and defensive knowledge allowed for a new gameplay loop and new way of earning currency.  Those that did not like mining but had to spec into it did not get a reset of their skills. When pvp changed, most pvpers still had to mine to build ships, adapt the meta, and stay rich enough to continue fighting. (First change whole community received a reset at 0.23)  When the pvp honeycomb, shield, new gun size patch hit the entire meta was disrupted (good) however none of those players got any reset to fix their builds or be able to adapt to it without spending the next few weeks learning skills they didn't have prior and being stuck with skills they no longer needed. 
 
So much has changed in the year since 0.23 dropped and the brutal impact it had on the community.  The community today is not the same as it was previously and has accepted and adapted to all of the changes that NQ has put forth.  The game is heading in a much better direction and evolving into a fully casual experience for everyone, while some are opposed, this actually creates a system where "less work" is required for the small time player to achieve their own personal goals.  Where previously one could spend weeks mining all the required materials for a build project, only to start building and then need to go mine again.  Now with this new system, they may go mine a bulk start, but their autominers can assist with providing materials while they build instead. (insert any job any player wants to do, and this assists).

What NQ fails to realize is the need for a full reset.  Since mining can now be automated, every part of the talent tree and your "Year long Character Build" for your account is fully under stress.  Now that the community has a "clearer" view of the direction of the game as put forth by NQ in their streams, we may no longer simply want to play the game in the same fashion as we did a year ago.  With so many new loops and gameplay options available, and the ability to reduce overall time in some tasks while focusing on what you are passionate about, players should not be "held accountable" for their "talent builds" from December 2020 where mining/industrial regrowth (schematics) became the central focus of the vast majority of the community.  Players put talents into industry to help their friends/orgs better manage the growth of their futures, where as it may no longer be required if one simply wants to be the best space trucker they can be.  
 
New builds open with a full respec of the tree, and although some may say "tedious" it really is just a pure laziness reason for not wanting to do it.  Like your tree now, just put the points back where they are. For the rest of the community that wants to "Evolve" with the game in its direction, so many new options are opened, but a year of talents block most of them for the vast majority of the veteren playerbase to date.

New Builds and New ways to play are the future of DU.  Please NQ let us adapt fully and not just 2 weeks of skills.

+1 For PVP talents.  You have changed so much over the past few months with regards to PVP.  For example the statistics of voxels and the weapons statistics . Giving us a PVP point reset would really help out as some of us wasted a lot time training talents geared towards the old PVP voxel and weapon statistics.

What is the point of polls if things will turn out differently? I feel slightly fooled.

Can you please do the same for PVP? You change all time our voxel tanking, our weapon, capacity cost, the meta itself... Don't listen only PVE players plz, thanks.