Tea Time with Ryme - Tuesday July 20

[Ryme]

The next "Tea Time with Ryme" will be Tuesday, July 20 at 8:00 p.m. US Mountain time (roughly 1 hour before rollover), for a live Q&A session about the game.

This is probably the second-to-last Tea Time before Retcon goes live. I'll probably have one more after the countdown has been announced, and about a week before the big event.

As always, if you can't make it, feel free to ask questions here, and we'll do our best to get a transcription of the chat put up here when it's over.

[Satan]

I guess this means I have to find time to work on the mall now. I /suppose/ I could stop compulsively reading every Questionable Content strip ever made. OR I could finish and do it then. That sounds like a better idea.

[Ryme]

that shouldn't take more than a couple of hours, I would think.

[Satan]

Finishing the mall or catching up on Questionable Content? It's been over a week where I spent a considerable number of hours reading, and I'm only on 1281 out of 1707. And of course as I read new ones being added :p

[Olaf]

Read faster, nub. I finished the backlog of QC sometime last year in only two days.

[Satan]

Yes, but did you do so while having a full class load of 18 hours a week and 6 hours of work a week? That doesn't leave much time for homework, and after that, sleep. So there's not much free time >.> In any case, I've finished it now.

[Harry Dresden]

Yes, but did you do so while having a full class load of 18 hours a week and 6 hours of work a week? That doesn't leave much time for homework, and after that, sleep. So there's not much free time >.> In any case, I've finished it now.

So...uh...24 hours of class and work leaves you no time to do other stuff besides sleep? Really?

[Satan]

24+56(roughly sleep)+8(roughly homework)= 88 hours. That's not taking into account travel times between class, which is generally 2 hours a week. That leaves 78 hours to do stuff, and there are many miscellaneous things that entails. Keeping up with daily stuff and weekly manga/anime. Not to mention videogames. So I can't spend /all/ of it on that.

[Ryme]

Uh, can we have posts in this thread that have anything to do with Tea Time? And maybe less stuff that doesn't?

[Cristiona]

I won't be there, but I have a question for Tea Time: Why do you hate Fallout?

[Ryme]

I won't be there, but I have a question for Tea Time: Why do you hate Fallout?

To maintain balance in the universe against everyone who loves it so.

[Satan]

But since Tea Time itself should address most questions tomorrow in chat instead of in this thread, shouldn't it ideally have little to nothing to do with Tea Time short of absentee questions? And you're breaking even that by answering question(s) here already :p

[Ryme]

But since Tea Time itself should address most questions tomorrow in chat instead of in this thread, shouldn't it ideally have little to nothing to do with Tea Time short of absentee questions? And you're breaking even that by answering question(s) here already :p

It should always have everything to do with Tea Time, meaning it should consist entirely of absentee questions. And a joke answer doesn't hurt anything. Readers will have to stay tuned for the REAL answer tonight. (Real answer: Fallout killed my father.)

[Harry Dresden]

SYSTEM MESSAGE: hello, and welcome to today's episode of Tea Time with Ryme, a Q&A session with the players and me, Ryme!
[N] Ryme: This is the pre-retcon announcement episode, where I'll talk about what'll be upcoming over the next couple of months.
[N] Ryme: So, it doesn't look like any questions were prerecorded on the forums. How about anyone here in chat?
[N] Ryme: Or maybe I should just start with a bit of an update, and maybe that'll generate some conversation.
[N] Ryme: What I can tell you is we're proceeding with testing. We've got a lot of the basics worked out in terms of a choose-your-own retcon process.
[N] Ryme: Much like has been on the forums for a while now.
[N] Ryme: I think we've had a dozen, maybe fifteen different runs from testers, mostly just trying to catch the obvious bugs and get a sense of how a run works.
[N] Ryme: There's still a lot to do. When we think we're close we'll do a big announcement and a countdown. Probably 30 days.
[N] Ryme: At that point I'll scramble to fix and patch and test, and then Kaboom!
[N] Ryme: So, uh, that's the gist of it.
[N] blackmatter615: need any more testers?
[N] Ryme: We might add a few more testers at some point. I'll be more of an invite process than a sign-up, probably.
[N] Zillow: So "full" runs have been done? i.e. start from level 1 and do all quests to 11 and retcon
[N] Ryme: Level 11 isn't actually done yet. That's one of the last major things that needs to be done.
[N] Ryme: Yeah, right now we're testing without level 11, so there's some stuff we don't really know yet, like average run length/turncount, etc.
[N] Ryme: There are some things like the "give me a break" option (KoL's ronin) that aren't decided yet because of that, and won't be until right at the end.
[N] Ryme: One thing that will change, and might get some groans, is that the XP/level scale is going to shift a bit.
[N] blackmatter615: what is meant by that?
[N] Ryme: It'll take more XP to go up a level in the early levels.
[N] Ryme: Not a lot, maybe 10% more on average. Seemed to fit better with the duration of quests, so that you're not just always behind on finishing them, and have time to do other things.
[N] Ryme: That's going to carry through level 50.
[N] J James Johanson: will any areas at range 5 be added that will be usable at the retcon level range? (ie: sub-12)
[N] Ryme: I think range 5 will probably stay post-retcon (also probably called "aftercore")
[N] Ryme: range 5 is hard to get, especially at early levels.
[N] Ryme: Now in the future I have always wanted to do another 4-5 quests beyond the level 11 stuff. That'll probably optional, though.
[N] blackmatter615: along with 4 skills per class, or are you not designed to do the level 11 quest easily at level 11?
[N] Ryme: not sure I follow the "4 skills per class" part.
[N] blackmatter615: well, there are skills up to level 15
[N] blackmatter615: but the top level quest is level 11
[N] Ryme: Oh, that's unrelated, mostly.
[N] Ryme: Just figured that was about the right number of skills when I started.
[N] Ryme: Level 11 is designed to be doable at level 11, I think. Since it's not done, it's hard to say. Final showdown may be tough without some extra leveling (or more skills from retcon)
[N] Harry Dresden: There's always Retcon-15 a few years down the road.
[N] Ryme: KoL's experience with NS13 (expanding from 11 to 13) has me gunshy about expanding required quests. That's why I'd probably keep the higher level stuff optional.
[N] Zillow: Maybe just better rewards for later quests?
[N] Ryme: Certainly you'd get good rewards at that level.
[N] Zillow: Well I mean retcon rewards, you are doing those right?
[N] blackmatter615: for going to different levels/finishing certain quests?
[N] Ryme: Absolutely. We're just starting to work those into the testing phase, but they'll exist for sure.
[N] Ryme: What I call "retcon rewards" would be things that can be earned based on the difficulty/quality of a complete run.
[N] Ryme: We'll have a way for those "points" of a sort to be carried over and usable in future runs.
[N] Ryme: Similar to the KoL-style stainless and plexi items, but in a format a lot more like a store.
[N] Heather Robinson: will there ever be a mall?
[N] Ryme shrugs. Probably not.
[N] Ryme: Nah, just kidding. Of course there will.
[N] Orthag: good, auction house doesn't always work
[N] Ryme: I wanted to get it done before retcon, but now I've got a lot of reasons to get retcon done first. It'll be a priority after that.
[N] Lichen: would a mall replace the auction house or just add to it?
[N] Ryme: We'd keep both. They're useful for different kinds of things.
[N] Lichen: indeed
[N] Ryme: Speaking of priorities: once the countdown starts, we're going to do a serious advertising blitz. Hoping to recruit some players for a little grass-roots advertising as part of the process.
[N] Ryme: Game growth and activity has been pretty flat for basically a year, and we need a big spike at retcon to really get it going.
[N] Ryme: But I'm also hoping retcon itself is incentive enough for people to stick around longer, and play more, because it'll be more fun for them.
[N] Lichen: I just got here so I'm not sure what I missed but is there anything on at Comic Con this year with TH?
[N] Ryme: Sadly, no, Lichen. We're a little too small, and I'm a little too disorganized for that, yet.
[N] Lichen: Just had the thought that if anyone was going some simple cool flyers may give us a boost
[N] Ryme: I did put a bounty on the forums offering a reward if any players went to Con dressed in a TH shirt, but they'd have to make their own.
[N] Ryme: Mostly I just didn't think about it until it was much too late. Next year in the holy land, perhaps.
[N] blackmatter615: holy land???
[N] Ryme: Comic-con?
[N] blackmatter615: oh, im not familiar with it beyond name and thought it might move around
[N] Ryme: well, even if it did, wherever the con is should the the holy place for superhero gamers, right?
[N] Ryme: One of the other things that'll change in the coming weeks is some adjustments to level requirements for equipment and food, and possibly some adjustments to XP gains for particular high-gain spots.
[N] blackmatter615: adjusting up or down generally?
[N] Ryme: Mostly down, or adding a restriction where there isn't one. But some might go up.
[N] Heather Robinson: level requirements for high-XP locations?
[N] Ryme: For the XP gains, it 's more a matter of scaling back if you're really low level compared to the zone, and letting it give full value if you're of appropriate level.
[N] Ryme: Also a possibility, Heather. Or stat requirements. Or something along those lines.
[N] Heather Robinson: oh. so no more one-fight-per-level allowed?
[N] blackmatter615: so pretty much forcing you to adventure in the areas recently unlocked
[N] Ryme: Not entirely. Just finding a balance.
[N] Ryme: Also working on ways to improve the level 5 quest, in particular. It drags on much too long at this point. Don't have a final answser, but it'll be better when retcon hits.
[N] blackmatter615: maybe cut down on the decryption time?
[N] Heather Robinson: bm: it's being worked on.
[N] Ryme: We'll definitely do something to reduce the time required in the casino.
[N] Heather Robinson: oh, so there'll be increased chip drops early?
[N] Ryme: ha ha, yeah, sure.
[N] Ryme: Actually, there will be a few ways to earn more chips to start out.
[N] Harry Dresden: So what about leagues? On the list to be done after retcon?
[N] Ryme: yeah. Probably after the mall.
[N] Cristiona: Ryme, why do you hate Fallout? ;_;
[N] Orthag: because radioactive matter spread by the weather patterns of an area is a bad thing
[N] Ryme: Because I'd rather the world end in just fire or just ice, rather than both.
[N] J James Johanson: when are villains gonna be playable by everyone?
[N] Ryme: Heh. Dunno about that. Always wanted them to be part of retcon, but it'd take another 11 quests, more or less to have them make sense.
[N] J James Johanson: ...and will class-modifiable items (like the cristmas stuff) have villain versions?
[N] J James Johanson: and if so... will you correct the horrendous oversight on the most recent one byt making yule clogs?
[N] Ryme: can't say about either of those, at the moment.
[N] Ryme: Okay, I think I"ve got to call it a night. Sorry it's a bit short. Next Tea Time will come after the retcon announcement, and will have more answers.

[Strlikecrazy]

Sounds awesome! Looking forward to this.