If you build it...

[RuQu]

will anyone be left to use it?

 

I am slowly working on getting my healing simulator tools updated for 1.2. Slowly, because I don't play anymore, and I don't have a lot of motivation.

 

I know people used them before. I had about 500 downloads on one of the versions of my pre-1.2 calculator, and a few hundred on other versions.

 

I updated the Gunnery version in a night when someone requested it.

 

My plan was to put out a new version with updated results and an HTML output that provided improved visualization of results. I've sorted out how to do the HTML graphs and have that working, and I've got progress on other parts of the conversion. So what's the problem?

 

 

 

Today my guild died. It still exists, but the guild leader officially acknowledged that no one is logging in anymore, other games are on the horizon that individual members are excited for, and posted runs haven't managed to find 8 people in a couple of weeks, so we aren't going to be trying to run content anymore.

 

Anyone who is used to this forum can tell that it has died, and it was never the most active of forums. Other posters report dead servers, dead and dying guilds. Most healers I know have unsubscribed.

 

 

 

So my question is, is there anyone out there who would use these tools? Is there any reason for me to continue? If I would use them, I would build them for myself and publish them to share, but since I'm not, there is no point in making them if no one wants them.

 

Anyway. If there are any healers out there who are interested in various ways to look at simulated metrics and stat weights, let me know.

[Codek]

Meh, I might take a glance at it but I usually just plug my own numbers into excel if I ever want to see what tweaks I should make. I'd say that for anyone who is still playing, if they really want to min/max their ability then they should be fully capable of doing a little math themselves. Unless of course you just happen to be really bored and decide to it just for the hell of it.

[ironix]

I used it a few times before 1.2 and think you've been doing a great job. However, to be honest, as much as I love to use these kinds of tools to fine tune my healers in that other game, it seems overkill here. The content (nightmare EV/KP, haven't done the new one on nightmare), was stupendously easy and to min/max my stats to the theoretical maximum seems, well... unnecessary.

 

If you're not really playing this game anymore yourself, I'd stop fretting over supporting the application. Leave the source code up there for anyone to download and modify. I can guarantee you that as long as there's enough people playing, there will be people like yourself who create theorycrafting tools. Don't feel obligated to support something in which you may be losing interest.

 

However, if you are going to leave the source up there for others to use, please, PLEASE, comment your code first! If you have, then I apologize -- I haven't looked over your code in some time.

 

In any case, hope you enjoy Terra. My prediction there is that it will enjoy a similar fate to all the other Korean MMOs introduced in North America.

[RuQu]

I used it a few times before 1.2 and think you've been doing a great job. However, to be honest, as much as I love to use these kinds of tools to fine tune my healers in that other game, it seems overkill here. The content (nightmare EV/KP, haven't done the new one on nightmare), was stupendously easy and to min/max my stats to the theoretical maximum seems, well... unnecessary.

 

I agree, this game is so simplistic that theory-crafting is hardly needed. That's why there is next to no theory-crafting community, you can generally tell everything you need to know at a glance. I only made it myself because it seemed like a fun project to teach myself to code with.

 

However, if you are going to leave the source up there for others to use, please, PLEASE, comment your code first! If you have, then I apologize -- I haven't looked over your code in some time.

 

In any case, hope you enjoy Terra. My prediction there is that it will enjoy a similar fate to all the other Korean MMOs introduced in North America.

 

Yeah, my old version code is a mess. That's part of why I started again from the ground up with my 1.2 simulator, so I could properly design things. The 1.1.x version was a bit too many cases of wedging in things to make things work, and even with comments it hardly makes much sense.

 

This is less about supporting old software, and more about the fact that helping out the Healer Community was part of what I liked most about my time here with SWTOR. I was planning to leave a shiny new version with nicer outputs and cleaner, commented, code as a sort of parting gift. Then I realized there may not be anyone left to give it to.

[ironix]

This is less about supporting old software, and more about the fact that helping out the Healer Community was part of what I liked most about my time here with SWTOR. I was planning to leave a shiny new version with nicer outputs and cleaner, commented, code as a sort of parting gift. Then I realized there may not be anyone left to give it to.

 

Here's a thought, even if it may go unused directly within this community, the principles you employed and the overall scaffolding can probably be used as a base for theorycrafting in other games I would think. At the very least, others may want to use it as a base for their own theorycrafting tools elsewhere, if not here.

 

Hell, as I once mentioned before, with relatively little effort, one could take your base and turn it into a web app -- I once considered doing this.

[RuQu]

Here's a thought, even if it may go unused directly within this community, the principles you employed and the overall scaffolding can probably be used as a base for theorycrafting in other games I would think. At the very least, others may want to use it as a base for their own theorycrafting tools elsewhere, if not here.

 

Hell, as I once mentioned before, with relatively little effort, one could take your base and turn it into a web app -- I once considered doing this.

 

Valid point. I may keep working at it slowly then, with no real attempt at a deadline.

[justdodd]

I would use your tools. I still adamantly support this game and play a combat medic.

 

Didn't like the 1.2 nerfs, but I've adjusted. Still don't like them.

 

Would still be interested in your tools, RuQu. Sad to see you leave. I don't post much, but you were always a beacon of reason amidst a cesspool of ignorance.

[XtremJedi]

I'm most sorry to hear that your guild is dying, though it does seem to be following a trend.

 

I've already told you privately, that I think you're a bit of a hero for continuing to put so much time and effort in on ToR despite having moved onto other fields. I honestly doubt that it's worth the effort to create the tool. It's the kind of tool that would require regular changes to keep it up to date - and I can't imagine that you'll want to be committing to that much time investment in the future. Perhaps handing over the code to somebody else who is still committed to ToR would be a better route to go?

 

I'll be giving TERA a go, though I'm not a big fan of the very cartoony games - nor am I a great fan of aimed-targeting. But I'll be giving it a go, to see what it's like. I'm always open to being pleasantly surprised. Hopefully my gaming rig will be back from the repair shop in time.... But I'm really looking forward to The Secret World, may also drop in on GW2 and there's a bunch of other games on the horizon that look to be interesting.

 

Maybe we'll run into each other on TERA, eh?

 

X

[TempestasSilva]

RuQu. Sad to see you leave. I don't post much, but you were always a beacon of reason amidst a cesspool of ignorance.

Truth. IMO do what excites you. If updating this tool doesn't do it, then you have your answer. You have contributed immensely to the community. You don't owe us anything.

[Caladax]

It might help to reinforce what you learned in making the first version. Sometimes finding a coding project to work on, even if it's useless, can be fun when learning.

[ShadowAxx]

RuQu...

 

We have lost half our guild. The many of the remaining members are primarily playing because of our friendships and letting the days tick off our remaining subscriptions. However, we are already discussing alternative games.

 

Such a sad story for a game we all waited for years to be brought to market.

[RuQu]

RuQu...

 

We have lost half our guild. The many of the remaining members are primarily playing because of our friendships and letting the days tick off our remaining subscriptions. However, we are already discussing alternative games.

 

Such a sad story for a game we all waited for years to be brought to market.

 

This is a lot like what my guild is now doing. I think a lot of people are just leveling alts to see the story before their time expires. Not a lot of need for theory and sims for that.

 

I may, as was suggested, revisit this for my own edification. However, I've already leveraged what I learned working on the first version into doing more coding projects at work, and working on those allows outlets for learning and growth as well, so I'm not sure if or when I'll get back to it.

 

Thanks for all the replies/opinions/advice.

[ImariKurumi]

Thx for the sims man. I've also removed my recurring subs and waiting for my gametime to run out. Was really looking forward to TERA, but En Masse betrayed us... Very racist to assume every asian country are gold farmers and IP block all of them. Maybe i should go back to K Tera...

[XtremJedi]

I've been enjoying Tera so far. It's quirky and I'm still not entirely convinced about whether I like the FPS style targeting and at the lower levels, there doesn't seem to be a huge amount that actually needs healing. There seem to be a fair few group quests in which I mostly DPS rather than healing. But I've enjoyed the healing when I've done it - and the addition of nice things like debuffs, cc-breakers, resource heals and various other things make for more varied and tactical play.

 

As I say... I've enjoyed it so far, but I'm not sure whether I'll stick with it once other games come out in the next few months..

 

X

[RuQu]

Thx for the sims man. I've also removed my recurring subs and waiting for my gametime to run out. Was really looking forward to TERA, but En Masse betrayed us... Very racist to assume every asian country are gold farmers and IP block all of them. Maybe i should go back to K Tera...

 

My guess is it probably has more to do with distribution licensing. There are three versions of TERA, and each has a different publisher. En Masse has rights to distribute the game in NA, and two other companies cover K-TERA and EU-TERA. I haven't seen the licensing agreement they signed with Bluehole, but it's possible that as an Asian game, BHS didn't want to give up rights in what they considered their own native market.

[oredith]

I've been enjoying Tera so far. It's quirky and I'm still not entirely convinced about whether I like the FPS style targeting

I really want to try out Tera, and my friends at ZAM have been saying good things about it in a surprised way (apparently they didn't expect it to be very good, but the changes in the recent months changed their mind).

 

the sad part of this whole thing is that SWTOR really REALLY killed my faith in games. I will never pre-order a game here on out, and definitely not a collector's edition of any sort.

 

I'm probably going to wait for some sort of free trial, or play it at a friend's house, before i decide to invest again.

[DomingoDarkrage]

I'd like to see further work into your simulations, I still am playing my bodyguard until I can no longer find anyone to raid with.

[RuQu]

I really want to try out Tera, and my friends at ZAM have been saying good things about it in a surprised way (apparently they didn't expect it to be very good, but the changes in the recent months changed their mind).

 

the sad part of this whole thing is that SWTOR really REALLY killed my faith in games. I will never pre-order a game here on out, and definitely not a collector's edition of any sort.

 

I'm probably going to wait for some sort of free trial, or play it at a friend's house, before i decide to invest again.

 

Maybe this interview quote will help:

 

MMORPG.com: Lastly, now that TERA’s launched, where do you and the rest of the staff want to take the game from here? It’s changed so much in just as little as a year. What are your own personal goals for the game?

 

Brian Knox: I believe the time for my personal goals is coming to an end. We need to be much more focused as a company on what our players are saying. Beta and focus group tests were great for one-off assessments or for looking at specific areas. Now that the game is live, though, we have a living, breathing world and need to focus on the needs of our players. For me personally? I want to continue to slowly iterate our PvP-server rules. I think TERA’s skill-based system is a natural fit for PvP players, and I want to develop a system that encourages and rewards PvP participants.

link

[Kallti]

Translation: "We have listened to all the complaints about SWTOR and are doing the exact opposite."

[oredith]

Maybe this interview quote will help: link

certainly a great quote to hear from a dev - especially given our treatment from Bioware..

 

I'll have to think about it. at this point, i think me and a lot of my friends have completely lost faith in Bioware, and are only playing until our time's up, and/or when they manage to completely break it so that it's just unplayable.

Edited May 10, 2012 by oredith

[RuQu]

certainly a great quote to hear from a dev - especially given our treatment from Bioware..

 

I'll have to think about it. at this point, i think me and a lot of my friends have completely lost faith in Bioware, and are only playing until our time's up, and/or when they manage to completely break it so that it's just unplayable.

 

Yeah, not really trying to convert you to TERA, I just saw that quote yesterday shortly before reading your post, and thought you might appreciate it.