Read on for a summary of the 2.59 livestream on Tuesday, March 23!
WHAT GAME DESIGNERS DO
Basically, what we primarily do is define the rules of the game.
We try to create an experience for the players and make it so that everyone has a good time, that everyone can find something to do and have fun in our game.
DO THE GAME DESIGNERS DEAL WITH BUGS?
Everybody fixes bugs in all the teams, and these include GDs. There are several different roles that involve handling various bugs:
- Display/graphics bugs (e.g. the infamous black screen) – a game client issue
- In-game actions lagging – a server issue
- Spell configuration issues – game design
They try to ensure that the spell's configuration accurately reflects the way it was intended. Ultimately, it's about integration: There are so many parameters to take into account between all the different spells, interactions, spell effects, spell effects triggered, and spells triggered.
HOW DO YOU MANAGE THE ISSUE OF "POWER CREEP" WITH CHARACTERS?
DOFUS is much more accessible in terms of build options, through an ability to adapt. We instead try to invest in the diversity aspect because this makes the gameplay richer.
Over the last few years, the emphasis has been on character specialization (providing more tools for customization, more ways to make pushback-damage- or critical-damage-dealing characters, etc., whereas previously we'd focused on simple elemental items).
Still, there's nonetheless a few items that stand out sometimes (and are potentially more powerful), legendary items that, even if they aren't more powerful, can be in certain situations or with certain builds, and there's all the prestige that goes along with that. A nice item with big stats gives a feeling of power without necessarily being much more powerful.
As far as quests, characters will be more involved and the stakes will be higher, with greater recognition of the character's development.
Some classes may be less powerful and they can be "buffed" without needing "power creep" because they're going to just align with the other classes' power, as well as with certain elemental paths.
THE 2.59 BETA
As you saw in the first news story about 2.59 released on the website, we want this beta to last much longer than usual.
What's unique about this update is that we've done a great deal of things with the game (if you recall, the idea was to not add content, and instead really focus on existing content). It also gave us an opportunity to devote time to plenty of topics and tools in the game that you don't necessarily see, but that are going to help us further down the road as this project continues. So, this beta will run for one month.
We always intend to update it in the quickest way possible so that we can repeatedly test it out with you.
We're aware there was a lot of frustration at the end of the 2.58 beta, and we even openly expressed guilt over being unable to apply – or not having taken the time to apply – certain changes. That's why we're also trying out this format. We were kind of on different formats, but we want to have a beta that's more interactive with you.
It's very simple: We'd like to give you the means to have a window into what we do, openly and transparently, and also finally involve you through the forums. The idea is that you'll always continue giving feedback in the forums as usual, and then the CM team will work with us to set up a public board in which you'll see all the bugs, or everything the players have brought attention to. It will only be editable by us, but you'll be able to vote to prioritize what you want on bugs that have been found. This will allow us to deal with topics that you deem most urgent in the context of this beta.
- You report a bug in the CM forum.
- The CM team will escalate it to us within an internal bug database.
- The testing team will:
- Check the various steps to replicate the bug.
- Add it to our permanent database.
- This will be set up as a Trello board, which we'll make public so you can directly see what feedback is given, categorized as one of the following:
This will give you a concrete idea of what we're doing, and you always have visibility through voting.
BALANCING
WHY IS THERE BALANCING IN A DEBUGGING UPDATE?
Essentially, there were a few urgent issues related to balancing, especially for the Sacrier class. We figured it'd be good to take the opportunity to fix other things that are really problematic right now, so as not to just change Sacriers, but rather make the top-tier classes a bit more in line with the other classes, as well as modify certain items.
The idea was strike a compromise between debugging and balancing. If you're balancing things, you're making changes (and changes are always a potential source of bugs), so the idea was to look for a balance between the two:
- Balancing things enough to keep it interesting
- Not going overboard, to keep from generating additional work besides what we've done and thereby limiting ourselves
Four classes will be modified: Sacriers, Xelors, Srams, and Huppermages. These classes are among the best in PvP right now, and they've evidently had a few issues in PvM as well (although this part is less visible).
ITEMS
In response to what we did in the last update, where we made a big pass to modify certain equipment items, the idea is to change fairly little, but to fix minor things that may have caused problems in the interim.
- Corruption Cloak – increased poison damage
- Ebony Dofus – increased damage
- Lavasmith Dofus – modified to no longer be "anti-Xelor" or "anti-class", but more a movement counter in general, through a max stacking of its effects and by making it more effective against pushback damage
SACRIERS
- There was too much enemy placement, too much damage, and too much tanking, so the idea was to actually reduce these. This also meant making the passive less powerful and reducing the stacking of offensive and defensive effects on spells with this passive, which is powerful on its own.
- There will be a fair amount of more precise tweaks on certain spells, on values.
- A few mechanics will be modified.
- These aren't just nerfs; the idea is also to upgrade certain spells that aren't used quite as much and to make them a little more palatable.
- We're planning on an initial series of changes. Based on your feedback, we will improve, "re-nerf", or redo planned changes, as we still have another series of changes in store, once again – of course – dependent on your feedback.
SRAMS
- Special attention was given to 1v1.
- The idea is to nerf its power in this game mode where it's really quite powerful, and to correct instances of overuse without breaking what's been done and what's been gained over time (e.g. PvM group play, or 3v3 and 5v5 PvP).
HUPPERMAGES
- Now very strong in Crit mode, especially with the Arcane Torrent spell.
- The idea is to limit the offensive power of this class and the ability to cause damage.
- We also dealt with the issue of Pushback Damage Huppermages.
- Enhance certain variants and game modes (e.g. the crit-free multi Huppermage, which is a pretty interesting variant but is increasingly underused).
XELORS
- The very popular Fire path (potentially overpowered with the Hand spell) will be reworked.
- We've applied a few minor changes to the Air path, as we want to promote the use of other elemental paths.
- Enhance underused variants, as they have interesting potential.
- Nerf a few aspects, including reduction modes.
WHAT ABOUT OSAMODAS?
Osamodas indeed belongs on this list, but we had to reduce the scope and prioritize certain classes.
It's a fairly complex class, and so it required too much work for us to include it in this update.
CLASS DEBUGGING
Debugging takes up the biggest chunk of this update, generally concerning all classes and a huge variety of bugs, which means there will be plenty to read in the beta changelog!
- Several hundreds of bugs dealt with
- Heavily modified certain displays
- Clarified many spell descriptions to keep them from being misinterpreted
- The graphic designers reworked certain icons to make them clearer and easier to understand in combat.
As you can imagine, some classes had much fewer bugs than others: With the balancing changes applied to Masqueraiders, Ouginaks, Osamodas, and Sacriers in the last update, we're taking this opportunity to fix the bugs associated with those classes. That said, there are some classes that work more simply, such as with Iops (their effects aren't too complex, so there's less potential for bugs).
PERFORMANCE BUGS
The performance team has mainly worked on game performance, so the game client performance will be "buffed" with this update. Obviously, we have much higher hopes for the port to Unity in the long term, but it should already be going a lot better. We've changed a lot in terms of the game client's structure.
Temporis is coming right after this, so we need the right client performance for the event!
WELL OF INFINITE DREAMS
The main idea with this update is to:
- Balance modifiers (certain dreams were more powerful than certain nightmares)
- Deal with incompatibility between dungeon keepers and with monster families (e.g. the Tanuki family needs to be moved and would be up against Shadow)
It's always very tricky to adapt certain dungeon keepers that weren't necessarily originally intended to be taken out of their dungeon or their map, to interact with each other; there are tons of requirements to manage in terms of balancing and difficulty.
Nothing will be changed about stages 400 and up.
For those asking how to see the contents of chests, you can already do so: Simply mouse over a box and you'll see the chances of receiving different items.
SUGGESTION INTERFACE
An awaited feature that was supposed to come out sooner but was a bit more complicated to set up, the suggestion interface will join the guide interface that we introduced in Update 2.58.
We wanted to offer something that would facilitate discovery as well as support new players through a mix of guidance and suggestions.
As we added lots of new content, we realized that information might be hard to find. It will help to have everything in the same place so that players can find all the info they need about the game, while also suggesting possible activities.
The intent is to suggest up to six activities at the same time, which will update each time you log in: a system of cards that, based on the player's level and what they've already completed, can highlight the various activities in the game and try to provide an overview of them.
This interface will be rolled out during the beta! Be sure to give us your feedback!
We may do testing and make preparations, but our testing accounts won't have a progression or an activity history like player accounts. It'll be interesting to find out what it shows you and if this feature is what you were expecting. With your feedback, we'll be able to adjust this interface if necessary, so that it works well and is a bit more accessible and enjoyable for new players.
MINOR QUALITY-OF-LIFE CHANGES
We've definitely noticed a few unintended effects that aren't exactly appealing to us, so we took advantage of this fix/change/improvement update to make minor quality-of-life changes, giving our newer players an easier progression and experience, including:
- Improvements to some in-game tiles to resolve blocking issues
- A few low-level monster families will be nerfed (rats in Astrub, monsters in Astrub Cemetery, and others)
- Additional meta-achievements for certain monster families
KOLOSSIUM
We want to make some changes to the Kolossium throughout the year, not all at once; we need to test out the concept a little bit.
We want to make the Kolossium area more lively by:
- Reworking the maps so they're cleaner and prettier (make it a more enjoyable experience by redoing the maps so you no longer need to use tactical mode there)
- Adding a map rotation: a set of maps; some will be seasonal, others not; you cycle through them, potentially including certain maps connected to in-game events.
Another idea we're considering is to let you access various Kolossium maps without needing to join a tournament, so that you can train on different ones and hit a punching bag on the maps you're interested in.
MATCHMAKING
This is a major thing we're working on right now:
- Improve wait times and the quality of combat
- Streamline the PvP search – allow more groups/players to sign up without needing 3 players
On its own, the matchmaking service works well; it offers matches, with a theoretical win rate of 50% in a session. However, it's important to look at the quality of matches; if the match is won or lost in 2 minutes, that's not super interesting, nor is it the intent.
What's also complicated with an online game is getting a population sample that's satisfying enough to obtain good-quality matches.
KOLOSSIUM FARMING
We'd like to reassess the formula used for matchmaking and rating (rating points, kolossokens, kamas, and XP earned).
There's good and bad farming:
Playing with combat modes "all in"/"glass cannon" – you lose fast or you win fast – is a "fair" way of playing (lower your rating to then raise it) in order to fight level-150 characters whereas your own character is 200 and fully optimized, thereby creating matches that aren't very interesting.
Using the Kolossium to earn tokens and sell cakes is perfectly normal and expected. That said, we're looking to change how this is currently done.
As long as matches remain interesting and balanced, and winnings are within reason, we're fine with it. But when certain players are found applying experience penalties to lower-level players, this is a problem. We need solutions to make things more sound.
LEADERBOARD
The volume of data is astronomical; this consumes a ton of resources and generates many issues given the volume of data to be managed.
It's a real technical challenge to be able to maintain this, and (we've said it before and this isn't an admission of weakness) we are struggling. We're therefore limiting the number of spaces open for a leaderboard, which should fix a number of issues.
For technical reasons, we need to do this debugging update for fixes that you can't see (but a technical update for us) on the server side, which allows us to correct leaderboards in the process.
The leaderboard is a great example of something that seems rather simple in terms of game design; like you, we'll say "Yeah, it'd be cool to have a list of players ranked in order!" when in fact it's very difficult to explain why this is so complicated.
MISCELLANEOUS
TEMPORIS V
HOW DO YOU CREATE A TEMPORIS?
While we're working on the game, over time we'll get ideas we find interesting or even funny, and we jot them down, knowing we won't really be able to implement them, as we automatically change.
When the time comes to do a Temporis, we review these ideas and look at what we could do; we try to describe our ideas in a few paragraphs so as to present how the concept works, and then we typically select three of them for approval.
Once we've chosen the final concept, we work on outlining how to implement it. When we reach that stage, it takes more resources than expected. Then there's all the usual game design work – how do you do something cool with little – because the less time you have, it allows you to do something cool, the more you can do with it.
With previous editions of this event, we've generally tried to have something that changes things impacting the core gameplay in a very meta way.
What took the longest to do in Temporis V was breaking an existing gameplay system.
DO YOU HAVE MORE FUN WITH TEMPORIS THAN THE GAME ITSELF? IS IT SIMPLER? IS TEMPORIS A GAME JAM FOR YOU?
It isn't a game jam; it actually takes a lot longer and is much more serious. We have tons of things to do.
We have fewer constraints, which is why it leads to changes being made; it isn't better, just different.
What we're currently doing with Temporis really feels like we're managing to challenge players and show them something different.
DOFUS is a pretty old game now and is firmly rooted in a standard practice. Without straying from that, being able to sort of break a particular system opens up a lot of possibilities that can be explored to challenge you.
TEMPORIS: WHAT ABOUT LORE?
Oh sure, we've thought about that. It's been done before; the game masters, for example, work on it regularly, and the GDs also contribute.
We're deliberately kind of setting aside the lore aspect, particularly to use the same logic with the gameplay; the goal is to get rid of limitations as well, to offer something different, and it's true that offering lore outside the Krosmoz would be really interesting, but at the same time, it would take up a great deal of our time, so it's not a priority. On the other hand, that's not to say we'll never have a Temporis in which lore plays a greater role.
Basically, Temporis is a "what if".
SLOBBERPUSS
He wasn't originally supposed to die, but he puts himself in harm's way.
We hear your feedback in the forums.
We have to find solutions to counter that without making the fight meaningless, because it's good to have tough fights, but that one's a bit much.
The issue won't be fixed in Update 2.59, but it will be in a future update.
SUMMONS SKILL
Automatic mode is what we originally wanted. We've been talking about this for at least 2 years now, and there's always something that gets in the way, but the problem for many classes was really not being able to control summons.
We too would've liked to do something automatic, but we preferred having the skill in that form as opposed to not having it at all.
There are multiple ideas:
- A passive
- Some kind of common spell variant
- A button like Activate/Deactivate tactical mode
There are a number of ways to do it. We just have to see what's most appropriate and what's most feasible.
BONTA AND BRAKMAR
We want to infuse both cities with a modern flair. Unlike Pandala where we blew everything up, with Bonta and Brakmar we're going to keep them as they are but make improvements, which will certainly include introducing new storylines related to these two cities.
No changes will be made to the current story for Bonta and Brakmar, the current conflict. They'll remain the same in terms of their diplomatic ties, but new stories will relate to the whole thing.
However, tracking will not return.
BACKGROUND
A QUEST LINE ON LORE RELATED TO THE GODDESS SHARIVA?
That's a question for the GMs (game masters). They routinely add things to this story. That said, we won't rule out putting sustained quests in the game if we want to explain things further or add things ourselves; it's entirely possible. It's not planned at this point, but it could happen virtually any time (as could a sequel to the Treechnid quest).
Speaking of the GMs, we worked with them on the next Temporis and they have some really funny stuff planned. Be sure to follow them on social media. They'll continue doing events on the regular servers, but they provided the artillery for Temporis and they've done amazing work. We hope everyone has fun with it.
COULD THERE EVER BE A BONUS FOR HAVING ALL SIX DOFUS EQUIPPED?
When you do the quest "Six out of Six" for the reunification, we talked within the team about offering a bonus for having all the Dofus, but we realized that's not really a good solution. It would create a "power creep" – increasing the maximum power you can attain in the game – with excessive power gaps between players.
We instead focused on advantages in other areas like gameplay (not combat gameplay, though); for example, crafting legendary equipment, as well as narrative value, as this becomes a requirement, while also offering access to certain specific features within the quest line when you keep going.
Also, if we apply a bonus to equipping the Dofus, it also reduces the choice of equipment. Everyone would equip all six Dofus to get the variety bonus, but in terms of build variety, it wouldn't be very fun.
GROUP SEARCH
It's kind of a major issue we're working on right now. We'll have a chance to talk about it again later on this year.
I know it's frustrating when your question doesn't get an answer.
KHARNOTAURUS
Up until recently, we couldn't agree on what needed to be changed, because the concept is nice in theory, and we have to keep the idea, an interesting one. However, we agree that in practice, it can get difficult and frustrating.
UNITY
This will take time; we're still in the planning phase and we're on schedule.
We're working with a company (couldn't have chosen a better one!) – it's a collaboration – which allows us to carry out both substantial projects.
The most difficult aspect of this transition is that the structure of the game has been fundamentally the same since it came out in 2004, with early development going back to 2001 and 2002. A lot has happened since then – many features have been added – so yes, the challenge is really to collect that Lego tower that's been built over time, to then start over and clean everything up.
ALLIANCE VERSUS ALLIANCE
We're not ready to talk about this yet, because we haven't decided what we're specifically going to do. We're not sure and we're discussing it. We know it's probably the gameplay system that will theoretically undergo very profound changes.
DOES AN ALLIANCE HAVE TO BE A SUPPORT ORGANIZATION?
That's a huge topic and we're raising a lot of questions about it, including:
- Does an alliance need to be an inter-guild organization, or can a guild, for example, be in multiple alliances?
- Do the two groups have to be connected through a hierarchy as they are now?
- Is an alliance a group of players or is it always based on the guild?
Technically, we could create 15 different group brackets and have the exact same gameplay or have segmented gameplay by group.
Currently, we have two structures: guilds and alliances. They aren't tied to the same things, especially in terms of gameplay. Should it stay that way?
We're still considering this, and we'll get back to you on it. Don't worry – the solutions/changes to be decided on and applied to AvA won't be based solely on these questions. We simply found the question interesting in the moment.
GETTING THE OCHRE DOFUS
We'd definitely like to be able to adjust the respawn time for archmonsters on the basis of server traffic. This is typically the kind of solution that can be implemented down the line.
The current problem is that on high-traffic servers, questing is tough because there's so much unhealthy competition around. The quest itself also rewards an entire journey, and the Ochre Dofus is highly valuable, and if we suddenly started to simplify the quest like that, we don't think people who have the Dofus or who've fully completed the quest would be very pleased.
Once upon a time, that quest was very well liked. One of the big issues we have to resolve is how to manage competition. This quest does have at least one flaw: it's fairly light in terms of plot. As far as the quest format, it's not necessarily a problem because the quest for the Elemental Dofus had provided extra background elements tied to Terrakourial, the dragon who laid the Ochre Dofus. It's entirely possible at some point to add a quest line alongside the Ochre quest that would further explore the history of this Dofus.
We're trying to find the right balance. We believe that fixing the issue of crowded servers will fix one of the big issues with the Ochre quest.
Not everyone in the GD team sees eye to eye either. There's plenty different types of players, and we don't all agree on all the content. If you feel misunderstood, remember there's always at least one GD who agrees with you.
