Update 38 and the other side of the looking glass

[sgtclunk]

Featured Changes

The Matrix Online Story Continues in Episode 3.2!
The 3.2 Storyline missions and cinematic are now available in game.


Slums/Barrens Content Reflow

Slums (Richland) and Barrens (Westview) neighborhood gangs have been rescaled. General progression in the Slums is now lower levels in the north to higher levels in the south. General progression in the Barrens is now lower levels in the south to higher levels in the north.
Slums and Barrens Exile Hideouts have been rescaled to match the new levels of NPCs in their neighborhoods. Hideout-boss loot has also been rescaled appropriately.
Collectors have been added near the main Uriah Industrial hardline. These Collectors lead new players through a series of game objectives to help them learn the ins and outs of being a redpill.
New players will now begin with only the main Uriah Industrial hardline instead of the standard group.


In-Game Email Now Available
Players are now able to email messages to players on any world in the game. Tradable items an $Information can be sent to other players on the same world. At this time, players will not be able to send messages to players in other SOE games.


In-Game Advertizing Introduced
Massive in-game advertizing has been added to The Matrix Online. Players will now see real-world advertisements on billboards around the Mega City.
Changes and Improvements

Made improvements to low-resolution versions of several Inventory icons.
A new SOE splash screen has been added to the intro movie.
With the threat from the Assassin ended, Kill-Codes have degraded and are no longer usable.
Locks, computers, and other devices that can be disabled using Abilities now include timers of varying lengths. Using Abilities to disable these devices will result in XP for players.
Interior building guards have been removed from the Slums.
Ambush mob that spawns in the "For Tat" mission is now a more appropriate level for the player taking the mission.
Escort NPC in "For a Few Discs More" is now higher-level so it doesn't get pwned all the time.
Escort NPC in "Window Dressing" is now higher-level so it doesn't get pasted by attackers immediately.
Escort NPC in "Sending a Message" is now higher-level instead of being a complete noob.
Escort NPC in "A Second Try" is now higher-level so it doesn't get completely ganked.
Escort NPC in "A Safe Place" is now higher-level instead of being a useless collection of bits.
Escort NPC in "Model Citizen" is now higher-level so you don't have to completely babysit it throughout the mission.
Escort NPC in "Just a Few Questions" is now higher-level because it felt left out after all the rest got leveled.
Mission teams with an average team level above 24 will now have appropriate level opponent NPC spawning for the mission Play Dead from the neighborhood Contact Mr. Bishop.
All open UI panels now close when entering the Loading Area.
Bug Fixes

Players who die while using Escape and Evasion will now become visible.
Bug preventing players from using some low-level Abilities while under the Death Effect has been fixed.
Elevator doors now actually open to show that you can walk through them.
Bluepill NPCs have finally figured out that it's "Rodgers Way" instead of "Ridge Way".
Activity Facilitator consumables can no longer be exploited to gain permanent immunities.
Code bit autostacking now works properly. (Again.)
Antibiotics and Negative Condition Sweeps no longer remove the temporary Interlock immunity granted by Withdraw.
Mission contact Digger is giving out missions again.
Bug preventing some players from creating mission teams due to name filtering has been fixed.
Your jump no longer exceeds the limits of the Matrix.



What a week! Things have been rocking and rolling on our side of the looking glass. As most of you have seen, we announced the addition of in-game advertising to The Matrix Online. On the development front, the QA team has been pounding away at Update 38 and it looks like it’s ready for next Tuesday. (Click here for information on Update 38.)

I’ve been busy following up on a lot of ongoing projects here, so I’m going to focus on some of the questions I’ve seen on the forums regarding the combat revision and test server.

Combat Revision 2.0 Questions

How will free-fire melee animations work?

As some have brought up, the free-fire melee animations will be similar to what you see in other MMOs. You’ll make your move, hit or miss, but there won’t be a scripted reaction from your target. Meanwhile, Interlock will continue using the scripted act/react animations you’re used to seeing.

This allows more than one player to participate in combat without the delays created by multi-on-one Interlock.

What do you mean by “speeding up” Interlock?

The biggest change you’ll see that will speed up Interlock is elimination of pauses between rounds. Animations are being reworked to make transitions between attacks fluid. This not only makes the combat seem faster, but also reduces the time for an Interlock round to take place to match the time for a free-fire round to take place. Interlock will be just as fast as free fire.

Why should a level-1 character be able to hit a level-50 character?

Yes, I’ve seen the argument that a newly awakened redpill shouldn’t be able to touch an experienced one. While that makes sense in some ways, it’s also not really fun to know you have no chance to help out against a high-level target. A group of lower-level characters should have a chance to take out a much higher-level opponent. It won’t be easy, but why penalize players for taking the risk?

Why not just fix multi-on-one Interlock?

As Archon has mentioned, we looked in to what it would take to fix multi-on-one. (It seemed an obvious answer to me, as well.) As it turns out, there are two major issues with “fixing” multi-on-one Interlock.

The first is the massive amount of animation tasks it would generate. To make multi-on-one just look right (we’re not even talking work right, yet), we’d have to create an immense number of new animations. Simply put: There’s too much for us to do in a reasonable amount of time.

The second is that building and balancing the mechanics of multi-on-one Interlock is amazingly complex. Figuring out a ruleset that makes it work in an understandable manner would take a considerable amount of time, as well. In the end, free-fire melee was the better option.

Test Server Questions

How do we access the test server?

Accessing the new test server will be almost exactly like accessing the old QA Test World. You’ll need a separate installation of the game, an active account, and the correct settings for your useropts.cfg file.

For the separate installation, all you have to do is copy your current game installation folder. Simple as that.

We’ll be generating a script that will do all this for you. The same restriction will apply, however: The script will only work if you used the default installation path (C drive). For those of you who can’t use the script, we’ll be publishing step-by-step directions on how to get set up to access the test server.

How will copying characters work?

We’re adding an in-game command that will allow you to log on to a normal world, jack in with a character, then copy that character over to the test world. It will take up to 24 hours for that character to appear on the test world, however.

Each player will have three character slots to copy characters in to or create new characters with. Once you have characters in all three slots, the next time you copy a character, the character that has been on the test server longest will be overwritten. However, if you use the copy command on a character that has already been copied to the test server, the test-server version of that character will be overwritten.

Coming Soon

The majority of our time here in the next few weeks (other than stuffing ourselves silly over the holiday) will be preparing the test server for deployment. The team is already inputting data into the Experimental Branch in preparation for external testing of Combat Revision 2.0. We’re looking forward to your feedback.

I’ll personally be crushing to get LESIG off the ground before I depart for exotic Ohio for Thanksgiving. I know we’ll certainly be thankful to get you in and talking about events in The Matrix Online.

Head on over to Broadcast Depth to discuss this article

[sgtclunk]

hope you find these updates useful .

[Campusanis]

Already read them on DN1.
But I must say that I really look forward to the update. So many bugs that weren't fixed for months (the elevator for example, I will be so happy to walk through an open door).
And to all the future testers: Tell me what the combat revision is like.

Campusanis
_________________
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Faster than ever, better than ever, it's MetaJambaling!

[RockyB]

Cut and pasted from my response, because I tink this update could be one of the best for getting us new recruits: