Doja

If you have your friend's list open and a friend either logs on or off, the list seems to jump to the very top or the very bottom.

My first two games in a while are both horrible because there is a single level 15 player mixed in with high levels.  The team with him gives up right away and everyone just sits around.

This has been discussed much before: https://forums.hunte...m-is-beginning/

Additionally there was a tank in one of the matches (on the same team as the level 15).  Basically, PvP sucks if the teams aren't somewhat close to even.

I understand that it would be time consuming and difficult to make proper matchmaking.  There could also be populations issues (the ONLY reason I can still assume low levels are allowed to mix with high levels in matchmaking).  So the only logical solution remaining is to let players themselves create even teams.  Us players, being humans, can much better analyze and create even teams than a program can.

In fact, this has also been suggested, here: https://forums.hunte...te-pvp-lobbies/

I played in Ice's 3v3 tourney discussed in the last link.  It was incredibly fun although there were issues involving "spectators" who at times would decide to become participants.  It also interfered with tab targeting.  So basically, its time for this to happen.

Another option is to bring back team matchmaking.  It would have to be separate from the current matchmaking, because nothing would be worse than a random party (including possibly low levels) playing a pre-formed team.

On a side note, I sure hope that the guilds release will also involve some form of PvP.  At least then players will be creating their own teams and even matches are more likely.

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EDIT: There are also other reasons why a match sucks.  Two players don't like each other and refuse to cooperate on same team.  Some player simply decides to troll the match in one way or another.  ALL these problems are solved by allowing players to create their own matchups.

The event is almost over but certainly before next year's event this should be adjusted...

I'm not sure the programming lingo to use, but the cabin walls and door aren't very solid.  Two issues arise...

1) The first issue is rather minor, but often when trying to enter the cabin door I instead click on somebody on the inside just on the other side of the door.  Obviously clicking a toon doesn't open the door.

2) The area attacks from Ice Elementals can penetrate the cabin door and walls.  Thus a person can lure an Ice Elemental up next to the cabin, repeatedly heal himself, and allow the Ice Elemental to kill, damage, or annoy players inside the cabin.

This guy Gostj was doing it here.  archerIX was an afk player who became an innocent victim.  I accidentally cut out his health bar in the crop, but skinnytroy is currently being damaged by the Ice Elemental you see to the right side of the picture.

I've discussed this all before here: https://forums.hunte...boss-mechanics/

Still needs to be changed.  I still don't go.  So many people run to Plasma Lord when it spawns and a good time is had. 

Very few people go to Troll and most have a bad time. 

This boss, as it exists, was a complete waste of company resources.  It does nothing for the community at large.  Which is a shame because it is quite cool looking.

Getting hit with a snowball while riding your mount should cause dismount.  This way we could have more fun with them. 

Overall, I am quite pleased with this event.  Would be nice if the Frost Dragon spawned every two hours instead of four, but in general the event has worked quite well.

At the start I loved the daily stocking quest.  Its fun when one spawns and a race ensues to get to it. 

But as I've done the event for more days and come to realize the mechanics of how this works, some clear flaws have developed.  Let me first recap the mechanics:

- Only one stocking will be on the map at a time.  When the stocking is picked up a new stocking will appear at a (mostly) random location.  The new stocking will be for a random person (i.e., the same named stocking may appear twice in a row).

There are overlapping issues with the mechanics at hand.  The principles that cause the problems are: (1) Low level players have enormous difficulty accessing stockings deep in the higher level areas; (2) Once a player picks up a stocking he can no longer pick up that same named stocking; (3) There are more low level players in the areas than high level players; and (4) Due to RNG, there may be an abundance of a certain stocking name generated.

Specific Problems

The general issue is that often the stocking that is on the map is one I already have and there is nobody available to pick it up to spawn a new one.  On EU server this morning there was a Kintanos stocking deep in the level 40 area.  Both my high level characters already had that stocking.  I was desperately trying to get someone to let me summon them on world chat so that they could pick up the stocking, but either everyone already had that stocking or wasn't interested.

In general, there aren't many high level characters on the maps.  The ones that are typically have already gotten most/all of their stockings for the day.  When one spawns in the high level areas there often isn't a high level player nearby to pick it up and the stocking quest comes to a stand still.  Often too, it seems that many people are waiting for 1 or 2 stockings and a different one spawns that nobody around can pick up.  Again, a stand still.

With the mechanics of the event, I often settle with getting 4-5 stockings per character per day.  Even that takes an extremely long time though.  Getting past 3 can be extremely frustrating in the current state of things.  And an event should be fun, not frustrating.

Thankfully I have two high level characters that can get to any part of the map.  But doing this quest with characters in the teens is extremely frustrating.  You are basically blocked out of 60% of the map.  Already you have to hope that stockings spawn in an area you can reach but then on top of it you can't keep the stocking spawn going if one spawns in a high level area and nobody is around to get it (or those who are around already have that one).  I feel bad for the newer players with only low level characters.

My Suggestion

After two minutes, if nobody has picked up a stocking, it should disappear and respawn elsewhere - random new stocking, random new location.  This would keep the event going and keep bad stocking location or bad stocking name from stalling out the event. 

Yes Frog, one issue that sometimes arises is imbalance due to classes.  But that's merely one element.  Merely balancing classes doesn't fully solve the problem.

The issue is being able to evaluate the participants to some degree to attempt to achieve even matches.  I admit that rarely will perfect balance ever be achieved.  But it doesn't have to be.  As long as the teams are fairly close in strength it is often a fun match.

Think of how bad this match was:  When the countdown starts and we see the teams, Chopan and I have to explain to our two lowbie teammates - likely experiencing PvP for the first time - that we're about to get destroyed.  Chopan doesn't even bother leaving the base.  He has already resigned himself to waiting 10 minutes in order to get a match played for the weekly achievement.  I tried to make a brief show of face by leaving the base but I already had the same conclusion.

Whether its class, equipment, socketed gems, or simply player skill, the combination of all factors needs to be assessed in making teams.  K:D ratio, an element I know is kept by the game because you can see your own, is probably one of the best statistics.  If the game keeps track of Wins-Losses, this would also be a good statistic for evaluating when a player is really good at helping his team win but perhaps has a play style that doesn't cater to a high K:D.

The trick is to break players up into tiers with some competent evaluation.  Everyone with any experience knows that Lahara and Ben are both substantially higher rated than the other three level 45s in the match.  Forced to deal with this assortment of players, one would probably put the top two level 45s together and the next three 45s on the other teams.  By no means would a rational matchmaking system put them on the same team AND give them an extra level 45.
 

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PvP as a whole needs additions.  Major kudos for fixing Drateol's Pit!  The new map is much, much better.  But you still have lowbies who ask about PvP then quit because they "decide its not for them."  When they ask I always try to put a positive spin on things.  But certain elements are factual and cannot be sugercoated:

- Only two PvP maps.

- Horrible matchmaking algorithm.

- Unbalanced classes.

- Ranged attacks track around/through walls.

- Poor auto-attack tracking system for enemies out of range.

- Small issues such as not un-targeting enemy upon respawn.

This game was released on Steam.  A large segment of Steam is very competitive and PvP oriented.  I'm not saying that PvP has to be the end game but the PvP in this game is majorly lacking many components compared to other games.  In general it has potential.  As the player in my original post even said: "Seems like it would be fun too."  If this game is going to have greater appeal and longevity, it needs major upgrades to PvP.

Guilds:  Guilds are on their way.  But has anyone asked or have any devs written what this update will entail?  Many mmorpgs with guilds have guild wars (PvP battles) or something of the sort.  I think most players are expecting PvP competitions between guilds and not merely a system of chatting with each other.  Another reason to start figuring out upgrades to PvP sooner than later.

Look, I know the whole "low population requires the most basic matchmaking" argument.

But this is the current results.  Impressions of a new player.  Other team has three level 45s (including Lahara and Ben) compared to our two.

Let repeat what he said: "Worst pvp matchmaking in any game I've ever seen."

So you can talk population this, population that, but he's right.  You currently have the WORST pvp matchmaking of any game.  Why?  Because its virtually non-existent.

So its your call.  Do you want to adhere to the same fears of population and getting games started.  Or do you want a label of matchmaking so horrible that nobody wants to do PvP.

I advocated two PvP tiers just for this reason.  I'll advocate it again but add some other/alternative suggestions as well:

1) Have a more advanced system that doesn't just take the first eight.  If the first eight have five top players, the system needs to recognize this and wait for another top player so there can be three on each side, or another not top player so there can be two on each side.

2) Better evaluate player strength.  There are level 45s who are undergeared and are just as bad as a level 15 but they get ranked as a 45.  System needs to evaluate K:D ratios of players as well as W:L of players to better divide teams.  Not all 45s are even by a long shot and the game needs checks to recognize this.

Some might say: "Its hard enough to get a queue of 8" I'll respond with: So many players don't do PvP simply because the matchmaking or class imbalances are so prevalent.  If these didn't exist more people would PvP and hence it would be easier to not only fill queue but overflow by a person or two so that more even teams could be created.

I completely agree with this post.  I advocated random teams at one point but that was under the situation where essentially formed groups could face a random group.  That simply isn't fair.

Typically, games have advanced matchmaking analysis (by rank, experience, etc.).  I understand that due to the limited population many of the ideal matchmaking formulas need to be set aside.  As it is, I have advocated for two PvP tiers.  My reason for only advocating two (and not more) is because of the limited population.

PvP can be extremely fun when the teams are fair and extremely boring when they are mismatched.  Mismatched games are also far too frequent.  Too many top players who do like PvP don't join simply because of the frequency of said games.  Allowing us to form our own teams would at least open PvP back up to players who currently are reluctant to queue.  Creating a separate queue to do so would also keep formed teams from facing random teams.

I'll give a few thoughts on the themes of some of the comments.

Cooking

While they have the whole campfire thing, in my experience this is never used.  Maybe one reason is because of the reason you say (difficult in the field) but I think there are bigger reasons.

- For healing, you can often just eat a piece of fruit.  Eating one strawberry at high levels heals more HP than I have.  Why make food when all I need is one item of fruit?

- Cooking food, as a profession, isn't really for healing but is rather for the hour long buffs.  Since a buff lasts an hour, players don't need much food.  You cook, say, 30-50 at once and you're good for a week or two.  No need to cook in field.

- For fast healing in the field people use potions.

- In dungeons your healer can heal you.

Health Bars

I agree they would be nice to have and should be added (at least as an option).  On the other hand, I've never heard healers complain before about watching the bars on the right.  Players (and I presume healers) click the bars on the right to more effectively select teammates.  Its too difficult to select an ally by clicking their char when they have mobs all around them.  Since healers click the bars on the right, I presume they also watch those bars quite closely since they are looking there anyways.

Quests

People have been saying stuff like this for a while.  It definitely could be much improved.  You get used to it eventually but it is quite messy.

Equipment

The entire set gives a bonus so perhaps you're not factoring that in.  But I do agree, especially at early levels.  With my first character (also a templar) I didn't collect my first full set until level 30 (crafted set) and my first relic set until level 40.  But there's no requirement that you collect the set at each level.

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You notice lots of elements of the game and make good points.  The one thing I'd say is that this isn't RS and I'm a little concerned you're trying to force your impression of how an mmorpg like this should work rather than taking advantage of how this mmorpg actually works.  Some of your play style (e.g., cooking outside), while it is permissible here, really doesn't make sense based on some of the other elements.  I'm not sure why they even created campfires to begin with.

Also, leveling as a tank is very rough.   Much respect.

Most of the time I would be highly in favor of this suggestion as it stands.  I also agree with Ernzor that I'd prefer to see the current char online first and the main name second, e.g., Kainn (Raziel).

This thread has gotten overwhelming support from what I can see.  But I want to point out certain situations where the suggestions in this thread might work adversely.

Privacy:  One thing people like is that friend's have to be "accepted."  This would certainly lead to much greater privacy from non-friends.  But it would lead to much less privacy from actual friends.  While I advertise some of my alts, I have others that are less known or perhaps not known at all.  While an inquiring person could use top lists to see they are me, I don't talk much with them and I basically move around undetected.  Sometimes we all want to just have some quiet time, even from friends.  For people to always know when I'm online and who all my characters are seems a little unsavory.

Friends List Limit:  At the front end, this would save a lot of space.  If I have one friend who has a main and three alts on my current friend's list, I'd save three spaces as these four characters would become one friend (assuming it works like that).  However, on the back end I'd lose a lot of space.  I often help new players and tell them to add me to their friend's list in case they have questions or need help - but I don't often add them back.  If I suddenly had to add all these newbies back, I would lose a lot of space or they would lose the ability to contact me (if I rejected adding them).

Mixed Friends:  A third issue that arises is a mix between the first two categories.  I help a new player with my main and have him add my main to ask questions or help.  When I log on my main, I understand that the chances of being getting a PM with a question or requesting assistance are much greater.  Its unsettling to think that this offer of help to newbies would suddenly extend to any character I am on.  If I'm just trying to have some fun leveling up a newer character, I don't want to get bugged by the same newbie I offered help to from my main.

Possible Solutions

I do still like the heart of the original post.  But I think that there should be additional things added if it is implemented.

Quiet Mode:  Similar to do-not-disturb mode but it also applies to friends.

Hidden Alts:  Allows you to designate alts as hidden, so when you are on them you won't show up on people's friends list, even if you are friends with them.  It would also be nice if this prevented a character from being searched in top lists.

I've made this suggestion before in a post containing multiple points but I'm making a new post to keep it separate.

Suggestion:  Upon the death and respawn of a player in PvP, his targeting is reset so that he is not targeting anyone.

Reasoning:  The first thing a person does upon respawn typically is cast buffs.  However, if an enemy is targeted the buffs will not cast and instead a message appears to the extent of "target is out of range."  The player is then forced to click their name on the right hand side to manually reset targeting.  It is extremely frustrating when quickly trying to get setup and back into battle to not have spells cast then have to make extra clicks.

Daily profession quests were modified simply to make life easier on the user (less clicks).  The same reasoning can be applied here.  It seems like a rather simple change and I cannot see how it would be controversial.

Hey guys, I'm experiencing major lag to the point of the game being unplayable. I'll just give all the possible notes I can on how I've troubleshot the problem

- I reset my internet connection.

- I did an internet speed test on my end, everything appears normal (typically very fast internet at this location).

- Web pages load very fast, as they normally do.

- My ping is around 98 (fast) and my FPS is around 60 (very good).  So neither of these appears to be the problem.

- The problem exists in Azraq Desert as well as any place else, and there are virtually no players in Azraq Desert.

- My CPU usage is averaging around 40% and my physical memory is at 66%.

- The problem exists both though the Steam client and the regular client (with Steam closed).

- The problem does not get any better the longer I am online.

Not sure what the deal is.  Please help. 

Further Update:  After doing some tests with other players, I am moving just fine on their screen.  I am reaching a location at the normal time I would reach it but on my screen I am not even close to it.  Essentially, the rate at which my client is receiving and processing information is extremely slow.

Headline says it all.  Only two maps and one is very poorly designed due to camera angles and size.  This will be a major turnoff for the PvP interested players that come from Steam.

Now that I've started doing PvP I've noticed some things...  These have probably been mentioned before but I'm not going to go digging to check.

I am fully zoomed out.  This camera angle should never appear in a PvP map...

This map is the worst for this, but it can happen elsewhere.  You turn a corner and suddenly the camera skyrockets in and you can't find opponents or see what is happening.  This is a huge black eye for PvP.

I don't know how the programming works but I'd disable the zoom-in element in some fashion.