The Energon Pub

[Tristar]

Who all has played the HMW2 and if you would you be willing to share some spoilers for us lowly HMW 1 players? Please....

[Psychout]

The staff have all played the beta (as well as others, some of which not previously involved in this game) and I'll answer as many questions as I can for you.

Please note though, as the game is still in beta, obviously there are somethings I cannot discuss for various reasons, such as they are still being tweaked or its an feature that hasnt been explained or resolved yet, but ill answer what I can.

Make sure you read EP's HMW2 FAQ first, but if you have any further questions, fire away...

[Tristar]

We all know about the rare drops like the combiner key and Triple changer key what other transformer related keys be drop Like say a Pretender Key or Micromaster Key?

Upon the launch will there be a fee to create your first character or is the first one free?

Would a person who takes the time to customize there creations have an advantage or a drag and drop player?

About the release I'm not asking for a clear cut date but, will HMW2 be out before or after the movie?

This question as little to do with the game itself only the backstory, when will the next chapter to HMW2 backstory released?

Now for a more personal question, of those of you who played the Beta verison of the game did you enjoy it?




***********************

To my fellow HMW players please feel free to ask some questions.

[Burn]

Would a person who takes the time to customize there creations have an advantage or a drag and drop player?

Define "drag and drop".

Because everybody is going to have to come up with an original character name. Aside from that there will be not advantage to having a completed bio or not.

About the release I'm not asking for a clear cut date but, will HMW2 be out before or after the movie?

When there is a firm date it will be announced.

This question as little to do with the game itself only the backstory, when will the next chapter to HMW2 backstory released?

When it's posted.

Now for a more personal question, of those of you who played the Beta verison of the game did you enjoy it?

Yeah until Mogwai started cheating.

[Psychout]

Now you see why I've been left to do the PR here.

We all know about the rare drops like the combiner key and Triple changer key what other transformer related keys be drop Like say a Pretender Key or Micromaster Key?

Micro-/Target-/Head-masters and Minicon's and their ilk are yet to be unveiled. Its most likely they will be tools in the game (powerups basically) and so probably wont wont be related to keys.
Pretenders? Well, something has to be saved for later on in the game...

Upon the launch will there be a fee to create your first character or is the first one free?

None of them will be 'bought' with energon. Your starters will be free if I recall correctly and after that its loot the keys to create them or have a smaller team...

Would a person who takes the time to customize there creations have an advantage or a drag and drop player?

Not hugely.

There will be a lot more variation on everything as the game progresses and if you spend the extra time tweaking your stats you may get an edge, but the game can still be 'drag them to a mission and drop the in' without creating any major handicap's, assuming that's what you meant.

About the release I'm not asking for a clear cut date but, will HMW2 be out before or after the movie?

I do know that if it isn't out by movie 2, OS will be very pissed off with himself but there is so much to take into account that its impossible to give solid dates.

This question as little to do with the game itself only the backstory, when will the next chapter to HMW2 backstory released?

That, I cant tell you. Were not involved in writing it - only the world afterwards - so its a surprise to us as well...

Now for a more personal question, of those of you who played the Beta verison of the game did you enjoy it?

Yeah until Mogwai started cheating.

I've enjoyed watching Burn get his ass kicked my a Maximal, yes...

[Burn]

Now you see why I've been left to do the PR here.

You wanna play the nicey nice Mod you go right ahead. I've got a reputation to uphold dammit!

[New Omen]

Most people base their teams on a basic command structure. For example, most of players have a "leader" character and the rest act as troops/minions. In V1 to keep the "leader" top of the pack you generally have to play said char more then the rest of the team.

I'd like to know...

With the extra features in V2 is it possible to make a leader stand out from the rest of the team?

Does V2 recognise team leaders in anyway? (Tags, colour, symbol on nameplate etc.)

Does or could a team leader have a slight advantage over normal chars?

Also will the new game allow for xp transfer to chars? I don't mean giving the option to players in any form but rather for game purposes. Things such as xp rewards for alt hunts or even promotional purposes. (Join today and get 1000xp for your first character).

Would this be against the rules? Thought I’d ask anyhow

[Psychout]

Most people base their teams on a basic command structure. For example, most of players have a "leader" character and the rest act as troops/minions. In V1 to keep the "leader" top of the pack you generally have to play said char more then the rest of the team.

I'd like to know...

With the extra features in V2 is it possible to make a leader stand out from the rest of the team?

Does V2 recognise team leaders in anyway? (Tags, colour, symbol on nameplate etc.)

Does or could a team leader have a slight advantage over normal chars?

Also will the new game allow for xp transfer to chars? I don't mean giving the option to players in any form but rather for game purposes. Things such as xp rewards for alt hunts or even promotional purposes. (Join today and get 1000xp for your first character).

Would this be against the rules? Thought I’d ask anyhow

Its a good idea, but this isn't necessarily the team structure everyone has, some have multiple squads and some players like to think that they are the commander and their entire team are the minions, so this would be difficult to implement.

There will be awards and stripes and stars and hats and junk and energon and xp and probably alts and stuff available as prizes to people as the game progresses along, and titles available at various ranks depending on your faction points, so how you decide to make your leader stand out will be up to you.

With 100 levels in the game instead of just 11, and each ~5 levels planned to have a different region available for it* (ooh! spoilers!), coupled with the rarity of Life-key drops, this probably wont be much of an issue once the game gets going.

Besides, the leader does not necessarily have the be the most powerful...

* WARNING: OS has confirmed that Cybertronian Warmap and its associated regions will be added via a patch later and will not feature in the games initial release.

[vaporretarder]

ok, I got a quick question for all you beta testers out there.

Since in HMW2 we're supposed to be able to attack anyone,...including anyone in our own faction, does that mean that there will be less of a wait in the arena and less of a wait in the mission area for a mission to fill up as well?

And along with be able to attack anyone,...will we be able to pick and choose who we can fight against in the arena? Instead of how it is now with first come first serve,...will we be able to see a list of everyone who is waiting and jump on whoever we see that we want to fight? (for grudge purposes, bounty hunting, revenge, etc etc etc)

And one last question,...can I beta test too? (haha)
{worth a try, eh?}


thanks in advance

[Tristar]

How quickly will missions spawn?


What are the mission lvl ranges for example will they still be lvl 0- 3 and lvl 2 - 4 and such?

[New Omen]

Cheers for the info Psychout, sounds freaking awesome. 100 levels!
I'm really looking forward to the new game, especially the part involving hats. Are they pretty hats?

[Burn]

Since in HMW2 we're supposed to be able to attack anyone,...including anyone in our own faction, does that mean that there will be less of a wait in the arena and less of a wait in the mission area for a mission to fill up as well?

This one's a little hard to answer as it will still come down to the number of people playing, what faction they're in and the time's they're playing.

And along with be able to attack anyone,...will we be able to pick and choose who we can fight against in the arena? Instead of how it is now with first come first serve,...will we be able to see a list of everyone who is waiting and jump on whoever we see that we want to fight? (for grudge purposes, bounty hunting, revenge, etc etc etc)

At this stage no. I can't remember if OS was going to implement a challenge arena or not. If he does don't count on it to be in the initial release.

The main focus of the game will be the missions and the eventual warmap.

[vaporretarder]

Since in HMW2 we're supposed to be able to attack anyone,...including anyone in our own faction, does that mean that there will be less of a wait in the arena and less of a wait in the mission area for a mission to fill up as well?

This one's a little hard to answer as it will still come down to the number of people playing, what faction they're in and the time's they're playing.

well, lemme ask it in a better way then,...As it is now, sometimes the autobot arena will have up to 20-40 some odd autobots waiting for an opponent, and when I go to the mission area I end up with empty missions and crap for XP and Energon cause of it,...or we get an OBSCENELY one sided victory with 6 on 1 (not that I have sympathy for those little guys that get stomped on though heh)

I'm just wondering if there are 20-40 autobots on,...are we going to be able to at least melee with each other until some other faction comes online? (and will the XP and energon loot-taking be the same or different if you fight within your own faction)



I know, I know curiosity killed the cat, eh

(I still didn't get my question about if I could be a beta tester answered though) haha

[Burn]

I'm just wondering if there are 20-40 autobots on,...are we going to be able to at least melee with each other until some other faction comes online? (and will the XP and energon loot-taking be the same or different if you fight within your own faction)

It will be up to the individual if they choose to fight their own faction, but it will NOT be an easy choice as fighting your own faction will have serious repurcussions on your spark/soul.

Know how you'll be able to change factions yourselves and we said it would be a long difficult process? That's why.

And that, at this stage, is the only internal faction fighting in the game.

[vaporretarder]

It will be up to the individual if they choose to fight their own faction, but it will NOT be an easy choice as fighting your own faction will have serious repurcussions on your spark/soul.

Know how you'll be able to change factions yourselves and we said it would be a long difficult process? That's why.

And that, at this stage, is the only internal faction fighting in the game.

hmmmm, well that's not what I was hoping for,...not really looking to switch hit on anyone,....was just looking to do some practice bouts with bots from my own faction or something along those lines,....I don't want a big crazy thing from Evil Dead to swallow my soul or something

But at least I know now,...and knowing is half the battle

[Burn]

As I said, there may or may not be a challenge arena type area (which is what you'd want) down the track, but it also needs to be balanced with the other features. Too many features will spread the players too thin after all. Though once the game is launched we're hoping to have a big "advertising campaign" to attract new and old players.

[vaporretarder]

my advice,..."free popcorn balls for the kids!",...kids love popcorn balls



That should bring'em in DROVES!

[Psychout]

hmmmm, well that's not what I was hoping for,...not really looking to switch hit on anyone,....was just looking to do some practice bouts with bots from my own faction or something along those lines,....I don't want a big crazy thing from Evil Dead to swallow my soul or something

There may well be otherways to fight your allies without turning traitor, the occasional tournament for example...


Tristar, misison ranges will vary and will probably depend on the region once they're implemented. The advantage will be that they will be far easier for us to alter and adapt where required, unlike the current system where the incredibly busy OS has to make all changes manually himself.

I'm really looking forward to the new game, especially the part involving hats. Are they pretty hats?

Whatever floats your boat Damo Welcome back mate.

[Bloodlust]

Alright, these have been bugging me.

With the addition of Gestalt keys, does it matter on how many of your team has them? For example, 3 members of my team acquire them somehow, does that mean they can make a 3 character gestalt or do you have to have 5-6 to make one and if you get gestalt keys, can you put your entire team with them in ONE mission so they can possibly form the gestalt?

Will the gestalt's stats be a complete add of all team members or will it be an average of stats?

Also, will you be able to transfer all spark keys between teammates? Say one of my guys find's a triple changer key but i don't want him to be a triple changer, i want another team member to be a triple changer can i transfer the key to him?

Should i feel so inclined, can i sell or give away keys to other faction members?

I'm really looking forward to this, can't wait!

[Psychout]

No idea how any of the keys work as they've not been activated in the beta yet. We'll find out soon enough.

[Editor]

As I said, there may or may not be a challenge arena type area (which is what you'd want) down the track, but it also needs to be balanced with the other features. Too many features will spread the players too thin after all. Though once the game is launched we're hoping to have a big "advertising campaign" to attract new and old players.

Flyers at the conventions. That would get the word out to new players........

[Electron]

As I said, there may or may not be a challenge arena type area (which is what you'd want) down the track, but it also needs to be balanced with the other features. Too many features will spread the players too thin after all. Though once the game is launched we're hoping to have a big "advertising campaign" to attract new and old players.

Flyers at the conventions. That would get the word out to new players........

wow great idea, tfcon, Botcon, Auto Assembley

[Raphael Prime]

I'm just wondering if there are 20-40 autobots on,...are we going to be able to at least melee with each other until some other faction comes online? (and will the XP and energon loot-taking be the same or different if you fight within your own faction)

It will be up to the individual if they choose to fight their own faction, but it will NOT be an easy choice as fighting your own faction will have serious repurcussions on your spark/soul.

This is mostly towards Vapor asking about lopsided missions...I seem to recall someone(one of you mods, don't know who though) mention lopsided missions in V2 will be slightly more evened out with new NPC weapons, is that correct?

[Psychout]

I'm just wondering if there are 20-40 autobots on,...are we going to be able to at least melee with each other until some other faction comes online? (and will the XP and energon loot-taking be the same or different if you fight within your own faction)

It will be up to the individual if they choose to fight their own faction, but it will NOT be an easy choice as fighting your own faction will have serious repurcussions on your spark/soul.

This is mostly towards Vapor asking about lopsided missions...I seem to recall someone(one of you mods, don't know who though) mention lopsided missions in V2 will be slightly more evened out with new NPC weapons, is that correct?

We will have various ways to ensure a smaller faction isnt totally outgunned, but there will still be missions with uneven sides and some factions smaller than others. We will just have the tools to even that balance out and make the game fair and fun for all from the start.