Across the Badlands: Episode 13

Across the Badlands is a weekly show from Trion Worlds covering the game and the TV show while the show is airing. This is the last show until Season Two.

In this episode they had a developer on the show and were able to ask them questions directly.

• Replay One launched
• DLC will follow that
• Some bugs fixes can't go live until DLC released
• Future content updates wont be every two weeks, but they will come
• Working on end-game combat and events

Crossover

• Winner of the Most Wanted competition appeared in the show
• Black Jonah the Echelon mercenary commander who has been hired by Varus to find Nolan and return the Libera Nova Gem makes an appearance in the show
• Rynn returns from the game into the show

Game News

• New contest to get players character into the game
• Replay One - the episode mission replay event has activated, including earning a special title The Marathon Hunter.
• After the Replay Event the DLC will be live
• Then regular episodic content updates that lead towards Season 2
• More Echelon activity inside the bay area

Questions

Will charge swords count as melee damage or weapon damage?

Yes, they will get their own weapon skill track where they get weapon skills but also they also have the melee tag on them. So things like Blur ability will be affected by melee.

Is anyone looking at respawning with half of your life or shields missing in player vs player?

Sometimes there are embarassing bugs that stick around because they have to be solved in two places at once, we've solved part of that. We have the solution, we have fixed it, but we have to wait until we patch the client which won't happen until the first DLC.

Will we continue to get little content updates every two weeks, like data recorders or nothing until the DLC?

We won't be able to maintain the two week schedule that we did while the show was live, but we will still put out episodic updates. We will be dropping more data recorders and it is the best way to tell the lore. It's nice to have the chase and search for them.

What enemies will we be facing in the new type of Arkfall being developed?

There is a new Arkfall that is coming in that is a Dark Matter Arkfall. Shown in the E3 footage you get to fight the Dark Matter Monolith instead of just destroying it in a cutscene in at the bridge. It's designed to fight lots of people and it does its job really really well.

On top of that there are Minor Arkfalls which contain Dark Matter which have a whole new mechanic that involves extractors that are pulling out nanites. Dark Matter troops also have EGOs and so they can power up their EGO using these, and you can power up. It's a race to see who can grab the power most quickly.

We're also working on new events that tie in with the Volge, it's not just that we are dropping the sieges with the first DLC. Continuing to expand their capabilities inside the game world, the number of enemy units they have and how they interact with our other events.

What lore can you reveal about the diggers that are used by some enemies?

Originally they were made for the 99ers, but Raiders could also steal them.

The concept behind them, using small scale alien terraforming technology they losen the soil in front of their machines and close it behind them. They could be used by other enemy groups if they were to steal them, they could be constructed by Dark Matter but they have their flying ships.

We do have it open and available to us to use them as conveyance into some type of instance but keeping it in our pocket until we can deliver on it really well.

During time trials it can be frustrating to have an emergency or even an arkfall spawn in the middle of their time trial. Are there any plans to have players enter their own phase during a time trial?

We did have the races phased, but found they felt very detached and strange. Especially if you started a phase outside of an arkfall and end up inside one. It's also nice to see people racing around doing crazy jumps as you travel the world. Instead they do control where the sockets spawn so they are moving them largely out of the way so arkfalls and shadow wars become nice backdrops for your race.

If an enemy gets killed by a weapons nano effect does that contribute to the weapon kills and  xp?

Yep

Are there new co-op maps set for higher EGO ratings that have more difficulty enemies?

Yes and no, we are solving the problem but are not solving the problem in the way described.

We are creating new content which is designed for large groups and people with high EGO Ratings which will draw you into a contained environment. That is not necessarily the same as new co-op maps.

We are adding features all of the time in our studio that we are going to release to the public and one of them will definitely scratch that itch for heroic tier difficulty and end ego rating combat and events.

Will the battle arena have either a time limit like sieges, a level cap or infinite rounds until everyone dies?

It's like if sieges and rampages had some sort of baby.

There are a set number of rounds that increase in difficulty and half the challenge is making it to the end of these rounds. They are tuned very specifically to have a very strong escalation instead of having a procedrally generated project like the Volge Sieges.

Yes you can get to the end, but just surviving to the end may earn you with a bronze. The challenge becomes optimizing your playthrough, getting a high combo, killing the enemies that are worth the most points.

Each of the arenas has a unique point to them, and even each round they have tried to make different.

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