This has been posted on the AWC site since the end of January. I've been asked to posts if here as well. It gives a basic overview what I have seen in the HMW2 threads here. I went through all post up to that point and took out what I thought the most important parts there. Feel free to updated this thread with any new information that you have seen that I do not have in this thread. Also, please correct it if I have any misinformation here. I ask that you only keep the discussion pertaining to HMW2 updates. Please quote the information source or use the Q and A format, just to keep things straight. Wouldn't mind having it stickied so it can be used as an information reference page. Thanks!
FACT 1: HMW is under a code freeze because:
1. It takes valuable time away to make any changes
2. You typically freeze applications when a newer release
is replacing it
FACT 2: HMW2 is being developed.
FACT 3: HMW2 is being written completely from scratch.
FACT 4: HMW2 will replace HMW
FACT 5: HMW2 is about 60% done with the game engine nearly complete so yes ladies and gents, this is DEFINITELY happening.
FACT 6: HMW2 will be launched in the Spring.
FACT 7, 8, 9, 10: Gestalts? Triplechangers? Triple Wielding Weapons? More Alts, Tactics, Bots, Missions, Possibilities?.....Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes.
FACT 11: Automatic Tournaments, Stats Tracking, Reporting, Alt Hunts? Yes.
FACT 12: ANY of the current bugs? No. Any new ones? Hopefully not, but if so, much more fixable than the mess we have now.
FACT 13: Most people will love it and a few people will hate it. That is something the staff is ready to live with.
Q. Do we keep our current characters at current levels when HMW2 comes out, or is it another start from scratch?
A. New Code. New Database. New game Engine.
Q. So is this version going to be retired forever then? If so can we please have an offical send off tournament?
A. Psychout and the HMW staff will be in charge of all that.
Omega Sentinel wrote:Here's a teaser before the trailer. There is a help system built into the game. There will be little vector sigma icons by everything with help information available.
Each weapon will have information on it in the help system and this is the help screen for one of the basic level 0 weapons:
Q. How long are battles going to last?
A. They will vary. Just like everything else, the mission/campaign/skirmish aspects of the game will be somewhat similar as far as look and gameplay but inherently they will be far more flexible.
Q. Here's hoping the basic premise (simple, easy-to-play at work, mostly text-based game) remains the same. Otherwise, very exciting news.
A. You can do the "dump em and leave em strategy" or you can explore several other things your character will be able to do. Either way, it should have something for both styles of players. I've gone to great lengths to make sure the simplistic style is in there for those who want it.
Q. My only question is(and i can wait until more info is ready to be told) on the preview pic for that gun where it says 'energon cost per shot' would this mean for every shot we take it costs money or is this more like a MP/Mana/whatever you please to call it cost?
A. Yes.
Q. I do have a question though; for clarity's sake. It seems like there will be a much higher level of configurability in this version. Is the intention to allow players to build the characters they want and have them still be effective in game play and, therefore, breaking the need to follow the molds of success in V1? There's a short list of how to build rammers/medics/strafers/avoiders and their various combinations well right now and the initial info seems to indicate those limitations are trying to be broken.
A. Is v2 going to break the v1 molds? Oh yes! Something big is on the horizon.
Q. Is there any system that is generally comparable to how HMW will operate? I expect the answer is no as this is and apparently will be so unique?
A. Yes. HMW-1. By definition of "comparable", some pieces will have a familiar look and feel to them. I approached the development of this as a modern version of HMW.
Q. So no cool graphics for HMW2 then i presume?
A. There'll be cool graphics.
Q. I understood there will be a tournament at the end?!?!?!
details details please!!
A. There is no concrete plans in place. But as Psychout said, check the Tournament Forum for updates and to throw in your own ideas for how to end this version.
Burn wrote: But how will sub-factions stay together when people suddenly find themselves able to attack their fellow faction members ...
... or worse ... when people decide to change factions without the help of a Mod/Admin ...
Burn wrote: If people want to be all mercenary and change factions all the time, good luck to them on that.
But will it be profitable for them to do so? Absoloutely not.
Burn wrote:You silly people thinking there's only going to be two commodities ...
Psychout wrote:I think you guys are missing the point that Burn made a few pages back.
Burn wrote:...when people suddenly find themselves able to attack their fellow faction members...
There will always be opponents if you learn where to look for them.
I appreciate you guys have not seen anything of the new game yet, but judging it by V1.x standards and traits is pointless.
Yes, you will still control a team of customisable transformers.
Yes, you will still join variations of missions/arena and earn xp to level up.
Yes, it will still be as simple as dumping your minions in the arena if you are so inclined.
Everything else from character creation, to hunting down your alts instead of them just being there, to a game economy, to the speed at which you level up, to having an actual map of Cybertron to fight across will be
different. Vastly in some places, slightly in others.
Just don't naively expect everything to be available at the start. A L0 'gestalt' would be of less use than a one legged autobot in an ass kicking contest, that stuff has to be
earned.
I wont for a second claim that it will all be 'perfect' straight out of the box - professional MMO's take
years to develop and this one being created as a hobby - but it will be a lot better balanced than this as its been written using a far simpler code than the current game so balancing it wont require a degree in Hadron Collider science level maths, just experience with old-school pen and paper rpg's and an understanding of how these games work. So as long as those who do currently have access to test it actually give feedback on how the game works/doesn't work then it will be awesome.
What i'm saying is, judging it now is a waste of time. Speculate all you want though - some of you have been damn close in your guesses so far...
Q. Will teams still have a maximum of 12 units, or will that be changing?
A. It’s not been 100% decided yet, but its likely to be. Personally, I think 10 is a better number as we wont be limited to activating them in 6's anymore (they will all always be active), but im sure a few of you will disagree.
Q. Well V2 is supposed to be much better written and much more efficient, so on that logic, if the server can handle 12 on V1, then V2 should have no problem with more.
A. That is true (still can't go unreasonably high though). It has been coded to handle a range of maximum characters and I'm leaning towards keeping it at 12 but we do have flexibility.
Omega Sentinel wrote: But in HMW2 the processing time is cut by a large percentage and the logs take less than half the space of this game. Add to that the fact seibertron has a huge server and the new game has very large resources to expand from this game.
Q. So are we gonna have to make all new bots? Is hmw2 just gonna be an update or a whole new game?
A. It'll be pretty much the same as what happened a few months back with the reset. Everyone will start from scratch, you'll have to create new bots etc etc. Your forum account won't be touched, just the in game stuff. Before people jump up and down, as was explained a few pages back, the current HMW database can NOT be imported into HMW2's database, plus it's best to have a fresh start for an entirely new game anyway.
Q. HMW, like any good online game needs auto-balancing. if a team wins too much because all the "top" players are lumping together then the next round some of those players might see their allegiance changed. Just to balance the game and give everyone a fighting change, not just one group of people who take HMW a bit more serious than the rest?
A. When HMW V2 was originally announced aaaaaaages ago, before it was abandoned/postponed for reasons that now escape me, the idea was that there would be an 'alien' entity (Quintessons in that case) to act as a balancing influence and harass the leading team allowing the others to catch up, helping to create an 'endless' game. Its not been discussed for this version yet, but the idea hasn't been forgotten. A game like this with 4 uneven 'teams' will always have certain factions at a disadvantage and i'm certain an attempt will be made to try and level the playing filed as much as possible.
Omega Sentinel wrote: Ah the issue of faction balance. Its haunted this game since day one. I've always said that game design and functionality cause balance issues more than a faction's population. So let's look at how it is being addressed...
1. NPCs - Staff will be able to toggle NPC characters that are allowed into missions. They will have a control panel that will allow them to say Mission X will get 2 Autobot Drones and Mission Y will get 1 Decepticon Seeker. If things are lopsided the staff can have particular missions backed up with infantry from that faction.
2. Quintessons - They will be an active participant in the game. Of course, they want to reclaim the planet so they will probably target the faction that's in control.
3. Faction switching - It is possible for the user to do but it is something you have to earn to do it. It will be a slow process that you have to work for.
Omega Sentinel wrote: You guys are along the right lines for intelligence even though you are putting it within the box of HMW1 attributes.
One thing it will do that you guys haven't mentioned is decrease your chances of being targeted. Combining that with targeting gives you statistical opportunities to "outsmart" opponents. Attributes and their functions will be listed in more detail when the preview is given.
Omega Sentinel wrote: Wouldn't it be cool if you could select what you want intelligence to target? Like using it to really make decisions in combat? hmmmmm.....
Omega Sentinel wrote: Targeting won't be specific enough to target certain people. The goal of the new game is to offer more variety while remaining simple. Targeting choice will be selected from a higher level of options.
Q.
Is the V2 alt-mode list still going to be valid? Don't mean to spoil too much fun by digging up old-news, but couldn't hurt to ask.
A. Alt modes won't just be selected from a list like they are now. There will be enough alt modes in the game to gag you but the alt mode system itself is going to play out more like what you see in the Transformers Movie and Animated.
Omega Sentinel wrote: I'm actually having to shore back some of the bigger things that I wanted to implement with the initial release to get it out this Spring before Botcon.
The staff doesn't even know this yet but the map portion of the game will likely not be in the initial release just because it is going to take more time to get that right and we still need to finish the foundations of the game.
Everything is so modular in this new version that once we do the initial release (which as of today does much, much more than the current game) then we will have "expansions". These can include anything from new character options to new worlds to fight on.
Bottom line is that I'm not putting a date on this. If I don't have it up before June at the latest I will be veeerrrrryyyyyyy disappointed but when thing come up in life dates on projects that you do for fun get thrown to the wind.
Q. It'll be hard enough (especially for us old timers) to get the hang of the new game mechanics, without having to worry about whole new forms of competition as well!
A. I think you might be surprised at its ease.
Q. In regards to the effects of intelligence in 2.0 is the target selection going to have more options with increased int? As in with 1 int you could select to target based on characters with the highest value of a particular stat, but if you have 3 int you could say go after characters with the most str first, then go after most repair, third go after most courage.
A. Nope. Higher Int will not "unlock" any special Int options. It may let you unlock the ability to use a new item type in the game though.
Q. Will missions be handled the same way they are now? As in do we just check off what missions we want are bots to join, or is the whole campaign map idea that was shown going to be implemented in to HMW 2?
A. As a basic principle, yeah it'll be the same, but there will be much more choice in what type of mission you join...
Q. NPCs? So this is being based off of basic D&D type rules and whatnot? Cool!
A. Not sure what D&D does. Never played it. But there will be NPCs and they are developed in a way that will alleviate some of our "balance" issues....Another fun thing I'm putting together is a "classics" battle where players can get together and take on the likes of Megatron, Prime and Starscream with their real stats.
Q. Having weapons cost energon per shot is sort of like giving each gun ammunition, if you use your gun needlessly and hit nothing, you'll run out of ammo. A nice aspect to keep track of.
A. Energon will be very valuable in the new game
Q. Will there be a leader of each faction? NPC or Player? That is the one thing that I think is missing from V1... Yes we are all basically playing for our own teams to be the best we can make then, but what if what your team does actually impact how well your faction operates together?
A. There won't be "leaders" but rank will not be the way it is now. Rank will determine your actual rank in a faction but it won't be an attribute that makes you any more or less powerful in combat.
Q. Will the missions available for your team be based on how much your team has done for the faction it's in?
A. Your character will be able to do several different things. Missions as you know them now will be one of them.
Q. Chance of X in Y of lost, what are the chances you can FIND them? how does the "scanning" work for alt-modes? only those you can find in your team or those that can be "purchased" (maybe during field trips?
A. All that stuff is found in battles, mostly looted from corpses, and can then be converted directly to energon or sold/traded/used at a shop. The alt scanning has yet to be explained, but I would hypothesise think you will have a list relevant to the bot mode you chose, and you would gain access to more the same way as loot would be gained. (i.e. pried from your opponents cold dead fingers).
Q. Weapons cost will that be (slightly) related to "recharge"? since weapons can be free etc. Is recharge rate (say 180) timed or is that influenced but the bot.
A. Weapons will cost to purchase and require energon per shot. I'm not involved the weapons balancing/scripting so ill leave that to them to explain.
Q. Will only "melee" weapons be based on strength?
A. Yeah, that will finally be fixed.
Q. Does a blast radius affect "strafe"?
A. "Strafe" will be totally different and won’t exist as it does in the current game, but there do seem to be varying AoE (area of effect, explosions), DoT (damage over time, poisons) and Nuke (single target insta-damage) weapons and tactics in HMW2 to blow stuff up with.
Q.When youcreate missions, can you set the numbers or is that decided on your xp? Just as factions able to enter the missions (fight)?
A. Until the map is revealed, I can’t really answer that.
Q. Does a triple changer effectively reduce the amount of bots you can have? (robot points?)
A. Robot points are earned by scoring crap loads of XP, and I believe there will be other ways to use then as well as the keys (not 100% sure though) so no, it shouldn't. All it will do is mean you burn through them faster.
Q. Are Counter attacks purely based on when a bot gets attacked or is it able to counter for a teammate?
A. The full list of tactics may well include that, there have been around 20 tactics discussed so far and im sure there will be more.
Q. How do faction points work?
A. They give you the ability to join and gain rank and bonuses within a faction. They are earned through fighting for the faction you wish to earn them for, I would assume that you can only gain points for one faction at a time but that has yet to be discussed.
Q. Health and Spark are seperate.. Health and Energon? or is spark used in say, Combining?
A. Health, energon and spark are 3 very different things with very different functions.
Unfortunately, I'm can’t tell you what spark does as there needs to be some mystery to unravel, Scooby.
Q. How can we move bots from one area to another? will we be able to "guard" areas?
A. This will be announced as we get closer to releasing the map module of the game, and is yet to be discussed.
Q. Are tactics (alt. mode abilities) trained or earned?
A. A little from column A, a little from column B...
Q. Will the loot option influence your standing within a faction? As in, when you keep al loot to yourself?
A. That, I don’t know. It’s possible there may be a form of tax to dodge but the economy is Burns turf so I can’t really comment.
Q. Can we "purchase" loot (read - Triple Changer Key) rather than waiting for it to drop?
A. You will not be able to purchase keys. They will be very rare drops.
Mogwai Prime wrote:Actually the nice thing about v2 is going to be that it's modular. It may or may not have everything implemented on first release but adding, changing and expanding the game is going the seamless.
And, for all of you that doubt what has been released I can personally confirm that about 95% has been the truth and the other 5% is partially true.
Preview 1 of HMW2Preview 2 of HMW2==================================================================
Thanks for all your hard work on this EP.
If anybody has any questions, queries or comments about this, or anything else reagrding HMW2, please put them in the HMW2 Facts thread and we'll do what we can to answer it.
Thanks,
Psychout.
