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[DE]Steve

Warframe Staff
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Posts posted by [DE]Steve

  1. Brief peek behind the curtain:

    Welcome welcome PS4 players! Update 11 (+hotfixes) has been in cert for a week - we're pushing to get this live as soon as possible.

    11.5 is looking to be quite substantial. Is that a new Warframe!? A limited chunk of the Jungle set will be rolling out with a cool new event wrapped around it! There are some cool change ups in the event like time-of-day and the use of Scanning to augment your missions.

    As for me, I’ve been working on Network Optimization. Network bandwidth has been reduced 1/3rd outgoing host and less than half outgoing for a client. General improvement in smoothness as well. Very excited for this. Soon to wrap this, then I'm full speed on solving the Forma'd slot order problem that elemental combinations have created.

    Ready for a mega-list of everything else that’s going on? There’s lots, get ready...

    • Weapons and weapon skins - some new firing modes for added diversity!
    • Multiple resource drone deployments, coming.
    • Optional clan-specified trading tax to bulk up your Vault!
    • Gas expands and so does the Gas City tileset - art improvements, more diversity.
    • I see progress on systemic invasions & battle pay - moving this from one-off to part of the game.
    • VOIP code has been smashed into better shape with less network utilization better quality and improved threading performance.
    • Lotus voice rolling out with rerecorded, matched levels using the new dynamic DSP (instead the baffling mix of old distorted & new clean style).
    • Vay Hek is being worked on - he is a propaganda machine - I think he'll be turning out hilarious and awesome. Complete and ambitious redo of him from visuals to gameplay.
    • I shaved my beard off by accident (trimming mishap).
    • Our new UI artist started, had a meeting and we all laughed/cried at our coder-art. We reviewed player feedback about UI problems. His first project is redo the HUD... no pressure.
    • Design is still cracking away at the new damage model. We've rewritten our statistics gathering for weapons and will be chipping away at gross imbalances. Expect more changes to the resistances and immunities as we add diversity to the enemy types and take better advantage of the new damage model.
    • The Nexus app has been rewritten and includes a mobile version of the Codex. The performance issues have been resolved and now we're anxious to hook this up to your account/live data.
    • A training section is being added to the Codex to help with new players learning all the wackiness that is Warframe. This will feature simple but cool visuals as well as rewards for going through them to encourage use.
    • Ability & Sentinel Mods have been removed from the store Mod packs and Transmutation. This helps with dilution considerably. For the time being enemies will still be dropping these.
    • I see the improved Melee system being worked on as well with a lot more animation diversity and control of your moves.
    • The audio team has recorded a ton more raw sounds for future weapons - George will post about this later I think. I think I saw pressure waves from the video of the session. Wow.
    • Crazy new movement mode for U12? Can't talk about this because it may be a bust.

      Thanks for reading and sorry for the terse report! Now diving back in!

  2. "Love the implementation of "Multithreaded rendering.

    However, not sure why you would do that, considering Warframes performance lock is due to code loop update, not the render. Always has been since <U5."

    But the renderer was in the 'code loop update'. So we took the renderer/visibility out of the core loop which is absolutely why we did that and why there is now half the work to be done on the game thread.

    Rough list of things that run threaded outside of the 'main loop':

    -Rendering

    -Visibility

    -Particles

    -Physics

    -Collision

    -Raycasts

    -Networking

    -Voip

    -I/O & Decompression

    -Texture uploads

    The timers do exist, though are conservative (you have to look away for some of those types) but I agree in principle and will revisit. The dead-reckoning is tricky but it is used for things that don't affect gameplay (corpses, death effects).

    The one point I can agree with is our networking code needs love. It is being worked on (see Presence 2.0) with the finite time & people we have. Generally we send network IDs and positions only if they change (duh, of course, since 2004) but new quantization modes are generating dirty flags when they shouldn't so you can get crappy oscillation. For the vast majority of data the server ISN'T constantly updating things that are changing, not sure why anyone thinks that.

    Thanks for the time and thought you put into this! Hopefully you see the improvements you're after in a coming hotfix.

  3. About Forma'd slots - there is obviously still the same benefits but what DM2 does is add ordering into the mix which wasn't a consideration before.

    We're definitely open and listening to feedback about this aspect. When the dust settles on this new damage model we'll reexamine Forma'd slots. We do have db account for how many times Forma has been used (the stars) and I've seen a lot of interesting ideas to consider for future update.

    Until then, keep an open mind and sharp blade - U11 is on its way!

  4. Will they hit with the update ?

    Yep - we had to deploy them to steam in advance of the update.

    Retroactive - if you've already 'done the work' you should get spammed with achievements you've already accomplished. I apologize to you veterans if this is hilariously long string of achievements :) ...

  5. Let me take a bit of time to thank the devs on behalf of me and a lot of players in this game.

    I want to thank all devs for creating this awesome game which I can't get my eyes off most days and will spend future hours playing. I also want to thank them for putting up with our constructive and non constructive comments. The hard work to keep up all happy? (most of us are ;-)) and the time spent to make a great community forum which lots of the players use here to rant, ehm I mean socialise and get help with latest updates x). We are all looking forward to blitzing ps4 players in PvP and maybe help them.

    Thank you devs!

    Keep supplying the cookies!!

    SlyKon

    (BOWS)

    Thanks for the props. We have miles left to cover, many days seem like firefighting - but it is really nice to get this as a recharge! Thanks SlyKon!

  6. Topic is too fast, so this probably won't get answered, but it's not important.

     

    How did streaks for mission rewards even exist unless RNG seeds persisted over multiple missions?

    Great question. Multiple missions with different seeds would become the same in practice when you repeated truncate them... :(

  7. NOV 5th, 2013 - RNG ALGORITHM CHANGES

    If you are one of those players that feel like the RNG Gods are angry with you, starting today you may begin to notice a more fair and balanced hand from these divine beings.

    Glen (our Tech Director) identified and fixed a serious distribution flaw with random number generation (RNG) in Warframe. While enemy drops were not seriously affected, a truncation in the random 'seed' within the mission reward script could result in a terrible chain of bad luck. While some players may have benefited from this (a chain of good luck) the distribution was terrible.

    For context: Games use a lot of random numbers for things other than drops; for example when you blast one of those damned security cameras and a shower of sparks explodes out of it the each particle’s direction is determined by an RNG. Since games need a lot of RNG for effects and other things we actually have a very optimized RNG to make the game run quickly – the problem is you trade entropy (how random it is) for speed.

    The RNG for drops needed to be slow and good to be fair and truly reflect the intended drop rates. The new code changes embraces a much slower and entropic means of determining drops of all kinds - weapons, Warframe parts, etc.

    I'm very sorry for the frustration this has caused. We are committed to preventing future regression through automated tests... Attached to this post are contrast-boosted images from these tests. The bugged RNG, which is plainly giving dreadful runs. The 'fast' RNG without the truncation error - much better but still with an obvious pattern. Lastly, Glen's new code which shows a vastly improved distribution.

    Thank you for reading and happy hunting Tenno!

    Er056kr.pngSmHhNzR.pngdPNh8nd.png

    Left to right: Bugged, Fast, Fixed (new hotness)

    These pictures show the output of each RNG technique repeatedly flipping a coin: White is heads, Black is tails. In order for the loot tables to be fair and well distributed you want your RNG to output something that looks like static (which the new approach does).

  8. Warframers - here is a quick update on PS4 progress as we're screaming toward deadlines and certification!

    Account Migration/Duality:

    I’m afraid it's mixed news here. Account duality is dead (update timing has killed this, explanation below). Meaning your PC account cannot be shared back and forth between the PC and PS4.

    HOWEVER, we have worked out an alternate solution: a one-time account migration option that will copy over your current progress to PS4. This PS4 cloned account will have everything you currently have except for Platinum (contractual) and Clan Dojo/Membership (technical). You will find this one-time migration option in the Account Management area of the website when PS4 launches in your territory.

    Your PC account is unaffected by this migration and both will then progress independently... arguably this solution is a better way for players that want to try out PS4 but want to keep their foot in the door on Warframe PC with uninterrupted updates of the latest and greatest.

    Cross-platform Play:

    Currently cross platform play is a go but likely not for Day 1, expect this sometime during launch window. The two platforms will cross-play only when build versions are in sync (see below).

    Reasoning:

    Why is duality dead? Why cross-platform play isn't always enabled? It comes down to update frequency.

    We don't have guarantees yet on when PS4 updates will come out which means they may drift out of sync by several days from PC. If you get a cool new weapon on PC and PS4 does not have it yet, stuff breaks. We could hold PC back, but we didn't think that was fair. Even then, coordinating with multiple console region QA departments adds too many unknowns to bank on this.

    I hope this makes sense! I appreciate your understanding, I'm looking forward to seeing some of you Warframers on PS4 next month!

  9. You completely dodged the point. Is someone saying "NJ THIS IS THE BEST YOU CAN DO! helpful when compared to "The art direction is great, but you are making the game more of a pointless grind through not improving player-framing/gamemodes to instill a sense of accomplishment in the player besides the drops themselves. Also adding more weapons does not extend playtime, unless you are willing to play the same un-fun gamemodes."

     

    Because the latter comment and ones like it permeate these forums and go ignored.

    Sorry to dodge:

    Game mode wise - totally agree: Survival in U10 in an attempt to improve the game mode situation and evidence we feel the same way. New ones coming (Die Counter Intel!). Pointless grind (giving Mastery Ranks something more interesting) is an issue - I'd argue all games of progression have this problem to varying degrees, but context matters for sure.

  10. Nerokerubina, on 19 Sept 2013 - 5:16 PM, said:

    At this point Steve the words you type and the things you say are null void to us; only your actions in the coming months will speak for you and if those actions aren't the truth you've repeatedly have said to us like a broken record then I'm done.

    Instead of showing us new weapons, new Warframes, and new items, show us actual fixes and things you need to work on that have been broken for months now. Because all these new things you've released thus far makes this game look like a polished turd. Proof of this can be seen when you held back Armory 2.0 and other things that needed to be fixed and gave us yet another broken update.

    Admittedly when I first started this game it was fun and helped me escape some of the hardships my life has come to bear of fruition. My mother had heart failure last year and a triple heart bypass with one of the bypasses failing and having to have a stint put in and this year my father was diagnosed with Stage 4 Glioblastoma. I have a lot of shit going on and this game helps dull the pain of it all and quite honestly got me out of my pit of depression with some of the people I've met in Warbros. But as it stands this game and the things you've said become more and more hollow.

    The entirety of your company and how you act on the Livestream and the things you want to improve and the things you show us and the things you release are like that of a child who has ADHD. You come out with great ideas or say things you're going to do but only start half of it and go on to completely somethings else and try and cover up the broken and old things with duck tape. You people need to step back and focus on one thing and one thing only and; protip it's fixing the game.

    P.S. The Design Council; the majority of them are adolescent 12 yo using their mothers credit cards. Sure listen to them but be cautious of what they say because so far all the things that have come outta the Design Council feel like they're for an edgy pre-teen whose listening to System of the Down and Linken Park.

    9u1KKlc.gif

    I'm sorry to hear about the health problems of your family, health is something a lot of us take for granted. I'm glad you can escape a bit with Warframe.

    As far as the other comments, lots of personal insults, very little actionable items, sarcasm... I can't really respond to them in detail but I did think it was cool you made some friends while playing Warfame.

  11. Steve acknowledge that these kinds of posts are nice to hear, but do not help. It is the people who scream "first" and say "Great Update" that are bringing the game down. I'm sure he enjoys the game, but people with the mindset of "the game is fine, DE is infallible" are not helping. If you let the community know that these posts, while nice to hear, are not helping you if they do not contain context.

    Positive people is bring the game down? ERrr... ok. That implies we are emotionless robots and only enjoy consuming frustrated rants! But seriously - if you've ever watched a live-stream, and the questions Rebecca asks you know that we spend a great deal of time processing negative feedback and zero time reading testimonials and congratulating ourselves.

  12. I'm going to screen capture this. Because there have been a lot of lies that come from DE and you especially during earlier Livestreams. I think what DE needs to do is stop releasing content for a month or two and just work on fixing all the broken crap you've already released.

     

    You insist upon that this game has no grind and that you're trying to remove it yet every update there's just more of it.

     

    InB4 the White Knights and blatant  "wood polishing" trying to defend DE's false promises and hopes. Let me guess, I should just bottle up my hate and anger and disgust with what DE has done so far?

    "You insist upon that this game has no grind..." Isn't true at all. We fully acknowledge the grind - that was the impetus for the alert/loot table rework. It needs more work...

    Fundamentally this is the balancing act of any game that is 'free to play'. Queue WARFARM jokes... Players with more money and less time subsidize those with less money and more time. For many games this 'playing to get something' is called 'grinding'. Too much (like we have in spots) and players give up and our community shrinks. Too little and no one bothers to support the game (or feels like stuff they bought isn't valuable enough) and we die as well. You know this already but the point I'm trying to make it we are stilling trying to balance this and we do it with a bit of caution.

    Sorry if you've felt misled by something we said but implying we are a pack of liars is false. We may be bad at predicting the future, yes. Liars, no.

  13. I have a problem with being told that concise, calm and succint feedback is desired, when the forums are full of it, and yet, simple things are not fixed. The people are seeing their feedback not recognized, acknowledged or even touched. We have a handful of events where the complaints were so loud, something had to be done - Aurasystem, for example. Yet, as the feedback grows more and more bitter, we keep getting the same "if you'd give calm feedback, we could work with it", as if we wouldn't do that.

     

    Personally, I am at a point of saddened exhaustion. When I tried to inquire why things that seem obvious to me were not done, I was told I simply do not understand how game development works. But even without understanding that, it seems obvious that babysitting a foundry for 6 days to get an item that is mediocre, yet horrendously expensive is not a good decision, especially with a high Mastery lock. Even without know anything about game development, it is just plain obvious that an item that can be bought for X, but sold for 5 times of X is broken. It is the obvious things, the things people have been asing for not since today, yesterday or Monday, but weeks and months, that confuse me.

     

    I am disheartened and admittedly, lose more and more hope every day. The player numbers we can see are going down - admittedly, we can only see Steam, but I do have doubts that Warframe is getting a sudden surge of non-Steam users. The feedback on the forums gets more disappointed and the responses more hostile. In the middle o all this, I am just wondering how this lack of communication and detachment happened.

    I guess somewhere along U7. At this point in time, I am just watching. My energy to provide feedback, aggregate content and provide an opinion is spent. And another blanket statement saying "We got this, sorry!" does not make these things undone, it does not fix the mistakes people have been addressing for months and it does not cut through the evasive answers and the "forgotten" questions, such as Mastery rewards and slots. I do not like being manipulated, I prefer fair rewards for efforts. Getting five pseudo accounts to play Warframe for 2 weapon slots is not an "awesome" idea. Most of us got all friends that fit the bill in. We are actually bleeding friends. Clans are losing members. In the Moon clan bracket, the biggest clans died, all but one - and even that clan is bleeding out.

     

    It hurts to watch. And that pain does not seem to have arrived at DE HQ, regardless of what I am reading here.

    I'm sorry if you feel slighted.

    As I said, we are constantly reading the feedback - including the negative - and internalizing it (aka pain very much reaching HQ). The community's ability to generate feedback vastly our strips our ability to act on it. It is ocean of feedback pouring into a thimble-sized vessel. But we won't give up, no matter how many people say we're doomed.

    I do think we need to reexamine how we communicate our priorities and communication. Rebecca (and Meg) along with our Mods take a lot of #@!$ for our misdeeds.

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