Project Nova Ongoing Updates – May 18th-20th

 I actually expanded on this idea in our first episode of Theory Workshop. First of all this confirms their intention to include active modules for dropsuits which honestly suprised me. I figured that active modules outside of equipment would be considered too difficult to manage during regular FPS combat. However, as a former DUST HAV pilot who enjoyed the days of micromanaging 6+ modules at once, this is a very positive surprise for me.

Secondly it seems like the general idea is to provide balance between passive and active modules by having passive modules reduce the availability of capacitor which is required to drive active modules. All in all I think that a mix of active and passive tanking will be the norm but using capcitor as the limiting factor will be fairly easy to understand. What is currently unclear is what metrics they intend to use to determine if a fit is invalid or not. As I outlined in Theory Workshop, it might make sense to tie those limiting factors to capacitor as well, but that is my personal opinion.

It’s easy to get in a pipe dream of all the various EWAR things that could be done such as Neutralizers, Nosferatu Modules, Cap Transfers, ect. I have some reservations about direct reduction of Capacitor to enemies…I feel that may be too harsh on people who choose to active tank but perhaps that’s best to be tested and see how player behavior evolves.

Essentially what he is getting at is that specifically using the terms “high” and “low” slots do not have any inherent meaning, and could be confusing for some people (one player jokingly asked if high slots were for modules on the upper half of the body and low slots were for the lower half). He has a point that while the terms “high” and “low” are references to EVE, they don’t really mean much to the average player until they are specifically told what they mean. Dividing slots into more readily recognizable categories would help players understand the system more readily without really decreasing depth of play.

This ties in with other conversations where weapons are modular and have various attachments that can be fit to the weapon. Obviously this adds several new options and variables to weapon design so I expected things to effectively be reworked completely. DUST values may be referenced, but I would expect some difference.

Ok so the way he explained it here is a little confusing so let me break it down to the best of my ability. I will also expand on this idea in a later episode of Theory Workshop. There are effectively two categories of suits, Assault and Support. Each of those is divided up into 3 sizes for a total of 6 classes. I suspsect the classes are as follows.

• Assault
  • Heavy Assault – Vanguard (Old Commando)
  • Medium Assault – Assault
  • Light Assault – Infiltrator
• Support
  • Heavy Support – Sentinel
  • Medium Support – Logistics
  • Light Support – Marksman

As for how many slots each suit will have, that’s a bit up in the air. I suspect this will be heavily depending  upon whatever metric they choose to divide slots up (if any). We will need to get more specific details on this later.

I later sat down with Rattati a bit later and clarified exactly what this all meant and will later be expanded upon in a later episode of Theory Workshop. Please keep in mind that we only confirmed the current design intent, and is subject to change. Effectively there are the 6 base classes you choose from that go through 3 stages of progression.

• Stage 1: Dropsuits are prefit with various modules and equipment. As you play the class, various bonuses will be unlocked for the modules/equipment for the suit. Once all of these bonuses are unlocked, you are qualified to upgrade your suit to Stage 2:
• Stage 2: Leveling up through stage 2 will unlock bonuses/skills that dive into the specialization of that class. Additionally it will start to allow you to take the modules fit to the suit and transfer them to another class to be used. For example leveling an Stage 2 Logistics that might be fit with a repair tool would allow me to transfer that repair tool to another class. Please note that any bonuses for specific modules unlocked during Stage 1 are tied to the suit and will not carry over when used on a different suit. However, there may be some overlap where bonuses that one suit has may benefit a module or equipment that was transferred from another suit. 
• Stage 3: Reaching Stage 3 unlocks a special slot on your dropsuit for Firmware. Firmware is one of the few modules that are actually consumed when used in battle, but will only be consumed at the end of the battle. This means that you will only need one per battle. Firmware will likely be attained through various methods such as earning them from factions by doing missions. Firmware can change various things, but the primary purpose is to modify the suit’s bonuses to meet the design philosophy of the faction from which the firmware originates. These bonuses can be more potent than the base suit bonuses because the item is a consumable.

So my basic breakdown of how this will affect the user experience is as such:

• Stage 1: Very straight forward for new players. Typical class based combat with premade fits so the focus is more on learning the game. Advanced users may be able to customize heavily if they have unlocked modules and equipment from other classes.
• Stage 2: This is the primary unlock stage where players will unlock the majority of the content and gear to be used on all of their suits. Specialization also starts to take a more noticeable form and the player starts to feel the exact sort of role they’re playing. 
• Stage 3: This is the end game state where players are hunting down, earning, and crafting firmware to further modify the bonuses associated with their suit. The interesting part about this is that this stage is easily expandable, as developers can easily add new firmware to the game to create new twists of the core 6 classes.

Once I got clarification, this made a lot more sense to me. It keeps things extremely simple for new players but provides rewards for leveling up that specifically benefit the class they’re playing. Advanced users will be able to customize on a high level if they have the gear unlocked from other classes. Finally the the firmware system allows for really specialized players to gain even more options to customize their dropsuit with. The key difference here is that you never really make an obsolete dropsuit, you simply upgrade the base dropsuit to have more and more options to work with in your fittings. Overall a very reasonable system.

We’ve touched on this before and it’s confirmed now. Individual deaths do not yield a loss in equipment, just potentially an loss in ISK. The only items consumed are ones specifically designated as consumables, such as Firmware, and these are only consumed at the end of the battle, not upon death. This encourages players to focus more on winning and less on avoiding death. It also seems that ISK is primarily used to purchase upgrades, but in reality the real prize players will be working towards are rewards from various factions such as firmware upgrades.

Bounties are cool but not required initially. There are other systems that should take priority, but it would be fun to see this eventually.  

Initially I read this as “We’re removing Faction Warfare from the game” but it actually seems more like they’re removing the random pub matches from DUST and FW is becoming the new pub. You’re allowed to fight for whoever you want just like you could in FW to earn standings and other rewards from them. If you want to be loyal to a certain faction, just do missions for only that particular faction.

The shift to a “PC-like” game mode is essentially the shift from fighting for an NPC to fighting for a player corporation. This could take the form as being a member of the corporation or a ringer for higher. Either way it seems that the act of role playing is entirely on the player’s shoulders to actually play the role they want.  I am however a bit disappointed that there is not a smoother transition between “Low Risk/Low Reward” Pubs and “High Risk/High Reward” endgame content. However this transition may be smoothed out by various levels of mission difficulties.

On that note, I find the mention of “stronger missions” is a bit odd. Typically speaking PvP does not have scaleability difficulty due to the fact that the enemies are human, so its impossible to make a PvP missions “stronger” or “more difficult”. However if there were PvE elements to the mission, that is something that is absolutely scaleable. Just something to keep in mind.

I can already hear DUST Fiend screeching at the vehicle comment. For me the fitting and micromanagement of modules when I used to pilot HAVs (back before the shift to all passive reps) was actually my favorite part of the game so I’m really looking forward to that. Hopefully the fitting will be just as deep.

This is actually pretty disappointing to me. I felt the Laser Rifle was one of the more unique and interesting weapons with its unorthodox range profile. Hopefully whatever form it takes will retain some of that uniqueness. Also I’d love to have the old “kickball” shotgun sound from back in closed beta!

He goes on the re-explain more about progression, but we already covered that in a previous analysis (I will include it again after this comment). One further clarification is that your base available stats will likely not change as you progression through the Stages/Tiers, just bonuses and availability of options.

I later sat down with Rattati a bit later and clarified exactly what this all meant and will later be expanded upon in a later episode of Theory Workshop. Please keep in mind that we only confirmed the current design intent, and is subject to change. Effectively there are the 6 base classes you choose from that go through 3 stages of progression.

• Stage 1: Dropsuits are prefit with various modules and equipment. As you play the class, various bonuses will be unlocked for the modules/equipment for the suit. Once all of these bonuses are unlocked, you are qualified to upgrade your suit to Stage 2:
• Stage 2: Leveling up through stage 2 will unlock bonuses/skills that dive into the specialization of that class. Additionally it will start to allow you to take the modules fit to the suit and transfer them to another class to be used. For example leveling an Stage 2 Logistics that might be fit with a repair tool would allow me to transfer that repair tool to another class. Please note that any bonuses for specific modules unlocked during Stage 1 are tied to the suit and will not carry over when used on a different suit. However, there may be some overlap where bonuses that one suit has may benefit a module or equipment that was transferred from another suit. 
• Stage 3: Reaching Stage 3 unlocks a special slot on your dropsuit for Firmware. Firmware is one of the few modules that are actually consumed when used in battle, but will only be consumed at the end of the battle. This means that you will only need one per battle. Firmware will likely be attained through various methods such as earning them from factions by doing missions. Firmware can change various things, but the primary purpose is to modify the suit’s bonuses to meet the design philosophy of the faction from which the firmware originates. These bonuses can be more potent than the base suit bonuses because the item is a consumable.

So my basic breakdown of how this will affect the user experience is as such:

• Stage 1: Very straight forward for new players. Typical class based combat with premade fits so the focus is more on learning the game. Advanced users may be able to customize heavily if they have unlocked modules and equipment from other classes.
• Stage 2: This is the primary unlock stage where players will unlock the majority of the content and gear to be used on all of their suits. Specialization also starts to take a more noticeable form and the player starts to feel the exact sort of role they’re playing. 
• Stage 3: This is the end game state where players are hunting down, earning, and crafting firmware to further modify the bonuses associated with their suit. The interesting part about this is that this stage is easily expandable, as developers can easily add new firmware to the game to create new twists of the core 6 classes.

Once I got clarification, this made a lot more sense to me. It keeps things extremely simple for new players but provides rewards for leveling up that specifically benefit the class they’re playing. Advanced users will be able to customize on a high level if they have the gear unlocked from other classes. Finally the the firmware system allows for really specialized players to gain even more options to customize their dropsuit with. The key difference here is that you never really make an obsolete dropsuit, you simply upgrade the base dropsuit to have more and more options to work with in your fittings. Overall a very reasonable system.

I’m actually not sure if Rattati understood the question Juno was asking. I think Juno was asking “Can I have multiple fits of the same suit?” such as a Sentinel fit with one firmware, and then that same Sentinel fit with a different firmware, and pick between the two of them mid match. I think what Rattati answered was “Can you edit fits mid-match?”

So at the very least we know you cannot edit mid match, but it’s unclear if we will be restricted to a single fit per class or not.

If I’m reading his intent, he’s just reiterating that focusing on individual losses is not rewarding and encourages loss aversion behavior. The ability to opt out of insurance is a nice way for players to decide how much risk/reward they’re looking for in the battle.  Players need to plan ahead to see what their needs will be in order to win.

Indeed a good question. I’m curious to see what they come up with.

Really looking forward to this. I always loved how the art team came up with some really spot on and interesting designs for suits and weapons, can’t wait to see some new stuff.

This solves the issue we saw in DUST where players would run in packs of Proto and stomp everyone else in the map and then lose no money because they never died. This guarantees that you’re committing to lose that advantage if you want to use it, regardless of how often you die. So players could theoretically group up and stomp with buffed up gear, but that advantage is guaranteed to be lost regardless of how well they do.

Effectively removing the multiple steps a player needed to do to put together a fit early on will very much help the NPE. It still maintains the flexibility that advanced players will want, but for a new player the system allows them to hit the ground running.

Expect guns to be reasonably modular. It doesn’t seem like they go quite in depth as dropsuits (no active modules or anything like that) but leveling up a gun will unlock attachments that can be used to custom fit your weapon. Pretty common these days in FPS games so players will expect to see it, so I’m excited.

A couple parts here. For one the steps of buying the book, then training it, then buying the item the skill was for in the first place, was completely uneccesary. Reaching the prerequisites and then buying/upgrading to the item you want is sufficient without the additional steps.

As for a lack of a skill tree, this comes with several implications. For one, it means all skills and bonuses are going to be baked directly into the class progression. It also means that things that normally provide “core” skills such as +5% Armor HP/Level are non existent, at least not in a universal sense that affects all dropsuits. And skills you earn will be applied specifically to that class and no other. I need to think more about how I feel about that shift in skill training.