Community Q&A: February 27

Kiwibird just posed another Community Q&A on the forums, answering questions about a store lock box with outfits, the Warmaster and some answers about PvP.

Questions:

•  Rashere was talking about looking into adding some of the outfits from the boxes into the store. Has there been any progress?
• How can we get help if we’re having trouble with stability?
• Will bit store lock box outfits ever be account based rather than character based?
• Can you add a “do not disturb” option to block teleports when in arenas? It disrupts gameplay and is causing some frustration.
• Do you plan on increasing the Cerberus Turret damage in PvP?
• Can we have a “Capture the Flag” PvP mode in the future?
• In the past it was discussed that you might make it possible to obtain all 4 starter outfits. Has any progress been made on making this a reality in game?
• With the ego cap originally set at 5000 when threat scaling was introduced, the max ego boost you could get was 4750. It stayed that way when the ego cap was raised to 5900. Will the boost cap of 4750 be raised now that the new cap is 6000?
• Do all players in the group have to give up a Hunter Req to play or can one member use for entire group?
• In addition to the current inventory filters, could there also be filters for rarity, Nano effect, and synergy?
• Can the Salvage Matrix options for raising ego level be changed? Currently there is a restriction that prevents items from beings scaled up if they are within 1-99 EGO rating points of your EGO and it’s frustrating.

Welcome, ark hunters! You’ve asked, we’re answering. We’re back with another action packed Defiance Developer Q&A! Make sure to keep an eye out for the next question collection thread on our official forums next week!

In light of recent feedback, we’d also like to cover some hot topics from the forums! Each player will now get 3 complimentary Hunter Requisitions per week, while Patron Pass owners will receive an additional Hunter Requisition each day.

Solo Warmaster

The change to have Warmaster always at Threat Level 10 is intended. Warmaster is end-game content, and is arguably the only “raid” content currently in the game. One of the lingering problems with Warmaster is that, because his Threat Level can scale, he can be easier to defeat with fewer players for the same rewards. It’s been a lingering concern since he went in, but since we’re about to let players spawn him at will for their own, private purposes, it’s time to address it. At the same time, we’re looking at his loot to make sure it’s appropriate to the now-locked difficulty of the content.

Private Warmaster

With the Alcatraz update we are responding to community feedback and we have decided to give additional functionality to popular DLC content that was released over a year ago. You are now given the option to create a private Warmaster or private minor Arkbreak interior, for the cost of 3 Hunter Requisitions. Take note that this does not take away the option to enter a public Warmaster. With the increase in the free weekly stipend from 1 to 3 Hunter Requisitions we feel that this gives the players a choice to face the difficulty challenge of the Warmaster for the larger groups or fight through our new Expeditions content for those who enjoy a more intimate group setting.

•  Rashere was talking about looking into adding some of the outfits from the boxes into the store. Has there been any progress?
  
          Yes! We need to add a little code to be able to do it properly first, though. The way the system works, direct sale outfits are able to be granted to every characters on an account, but ones that come from a box aren’t. To be fair, when we offer outfits for direct sale that are also available in a lock box, they both need to work the same way. So, we’re planning to update the system to allow costumes coming from lock boxes to also grant the outfit to every character on the account.
          We need to wrap up higher priority work on Alcatraz first, but should be able to tackle this in the near future and we plan to have the Night Porter outfit be our first test of the concept.
   
• How can we get help if we’re having trouble with stability?
  
  Information concerning connectivity and stability problems can be posted on the forums here.
  
  Please post in the proper platform and include information on your exact issue. Keep in mind just reporting a random crash or disconnect may or may not help, information such as the time, timezone, and game location can help. The best pieces of information for us to use are reproducible issues with steps on how you reproduce them for your setup.
  
  
• Will bit store lock box outfits ever be account based rather than character based?
  
  That’s the plan. See #1 above for more details!
  
  
• Can you add a “do not disturb” option to block teleports when in arenas? It disrupts gameplay and is causing some frustration.
  
  We can look in to this as a general UI feature, keep in mind that the game is designed to be played with other players.
  
  
• Do you plan on increasing the Cerberus Turret damage in PvP?
  
  We plan on looking at tuning PvP in the future but we do not have a set timeframe for this, so please sit tight! This will include vehicle damage and vehicle hitpoints during PvP matches.
  
  
• Can we have a “Capture the Flag” PvP mode in the future?
  
  PvP updates are being considered but new game modes are not planned for the immediate future. We are going to take baby steps to tweak what is available now before jumping in to put in new game modes. Please keep in mind there is still no guarantee of new PvP game modes.
  
  
• In the past it was discussed that you might make it possible to obtain all 4 starter outfits. Has any progress been made on making this a reality in game?
  
  We are looking to put up the 4 starter outfits on the Defiance Store as soon as the Armistice day update. Please keep in mind that this is a planned date, and is subject to change.
  
  
• With the ego cap originally set at 5000 when threat scaling was introduced, the max ego boost you could get was 4750. It stayed that way when the ego cap was raised to 5900. Will the boost cap of 4750 be raised now that the new cap is 6000?
  
  The EGO cap is based around the EGO of the NPCs, not the max EGO of players. That’s also why its higher in Silicon Valley than elsewhere: the NPCs there have a higher EGO. We aren’t currently changing the EGO of NPCs when they scale, so we aren’t changing the max boosted EGO of players. If we change the scaling of NPCs, we’ll adjust the player boost accordingly!
  
  
• Do all players in the group have to give up a Hunter Req to play or can one member use for entire group?
  
  Every player that wants to join an expedition needs their own Hunter Requisition to do so.
  
  
• In addition to the current inventory filters, could there also be filters for rarity, Nano effect, and synergy?
  
  We have discussed additional ways to improve inventory flow, this includes filters and the like. With the Alcatraz update we have added a few such as the Inventory Salvage Matrix which allows you the convenience of modding and breaking down items in your inventory screen.
  
  
• Can the Salvage Matrix options for raising ego level be changed? Currently there is a restriction that prevents items from beings scaled up if they are within 1-99 EGO rating points of your EGO and it’s frustrating.
  
  Yes! We just removed the restriction that prevented items from being scaled up if they were within 100 rating of the player’s EGO. Note: increasing rating is a flat cost per operation even if it increases by less than 100 rating. This change is now live on PTS.