Dev Update: Dyes, Item Stacking

Hi, there,

Here's are a few updates from various members of the dev team:

Black Dyes: I'm sure you know that black dyes were tweaked on Halloween, and I'm hearing from players that they're really pleased with the look, now.

Dye Recipes: I'm told that any combination you attained with the earlier dyes should be attainable now. Yes, it's true there is no Dye Remover any longer, and obviously grey dye doesn't offer the same function. But you really should be able to find a new combination that attains the same appearance.

Stacking Issues: It turns out that nearly all items in Nightfall have a special "flag" on them, and that flag has been preventing the stacking of items. Now, I told Jeff this morning that this isn't a universal situation, because, for instance, my Tanned Hides and my Cloth are stacking just fine. (He responded that perhaps not all items have the flag, which would account for some items remaining properly stackable.) The issue has been discovered and a fix has been added to an upcoming Live Build. I believe you may see the update on this as early as today. We apologize for the inconvenience with this. What a relief to be able to tidily reorganize our vaults and bags, huh?

Special Dye: The "To Dye For" mission (which you obtain in Kamadan) gives you a special dye, one is spawned differently, and this dye will not stack now or in the future. However, you will get that single dye just the one time, so if you keep it, you'll have just that one unstackable square. (I used mine right away, to avoid using up a space.)

AI Issues: We're addressing AI issues in the here and now, as reported in this thread. I will probably have more to share on that later.

This is not an all-inclusive list, so please don't despair if there is something about which you're concerned that didn't make this informal list. The list is just a "fly-by update" on a few issues that we know are concerns, and I'll post more as I am able.

Thank goodness your working on the AI, if I have to chase another enemy mesmer for 12 minutes I'm going to lose it...

Gaile, is there anything being done about the odd camera behaviour? It is literally making people sick while playing characters that are targetting many different things in a short period of time.

Good to know, my guildmate who holds all our dyes will be quite pleased when this update occurs

Thx for the update Gaile. I can't wait to get started on the Double Dye Weekend!

Thanks Gaile, nice to see the updates. For the next update could we perhaps get some info on the Grey Giant problems? (missing, originating character being deleted while it was a quest item and unable to get quest again when quest item given to another character, non-elonians, etc) and the autocamera?

Thanks for the post Gaile, the update is pretty cool in my opinion. A few things here and there but I can't complain =)

Awsome nightfall release btw.. i actually realize that now.. but man what in gods name possesed you guys to release an update that you obviously knew would spawn a ton of contraversy, almost at the same time as the game release..

did you guys plan it that way.. or did you just not think it through or what?.. if i had been you i woulda waited till like 1 or 2 days into release cause with that new update i know A TON of folks that chose not to buy nightfall..

not trying to cause an arguement or anything.. just lookin to see what your devs thought process was at the time..

all and all i guess it can be assumed that you people have a TON of faith in your fanbase.

fix the non-stacking imperial commendations/equipment requisitions/etc from factions

if it isn't too much of a hassle (which it is for me)

Naruto: the answer is that they never playtest anything (example: every update and holiday event)

edit: I just read the link that Gaile put up, and she has a bit more info, but basically, she's denying that there are any major ai problems, in fact, she's claiming it's acting the same way now as it ever did before 10/25, despite universal disagreement. The funny thing is she's soliciting ai complaints and bug reports while *simultaneously* denying there are any problems, that this is working exactly as intended.

lol

About the AI targetting.
Negative. Not true.

I send Koss in, waited until every mob was attacking him and then came closer with my monk. The enemies stopped attacking koss and went for me - not a single AOE Spell came from my side, not a single spell. Just instant aggro the second my bubble slightly touched them.

Prior to 25 update, they would have kept on attacking Koss.
Tested, myth busted. I can now only guess that there is a bug in the system causing this behavior. But it is NOT working as was said it would in that thread.

[sarcasm]
I've explored 10% more of Elona just by chasing casters all across the map. Now that's great!
[/sarcasm]

This is one weird AI behavior. I was farming Grawls last night with my Wammo. As soon as i got a huge group upon me. I started to attack the healer grawl first. I don't use AoE Spells or AoE attack but they keep running away from me.

Thanks Gaile, that's awesome.

AI was big problem for me in kourna, was running the whoel map after a priest, even with sprint he wouldn't stop

Yeah, I'm sure it's been mentioned in the countless other ai threads, but the healers kite like hell now.

How can gaile say that ther is no ai difference when they specificially mentioned in an update note that there was an update to monster ai in regards to aoe effects. Is it possible, just possible gaile, that with that change, some unintented ai problems/changes occured? You can report the denials of the devs all day long but all it takes is to go outside and fight some monsters to figure out that there is definately a change.

Whether or not it is the intended behavior of the change you made should be the issue, obviously the community (not just the vocal minority) don't like it. We don't want stupid AI that just stands there and lets us beat on them, we want a challenge, but there also needs to be a bit of predictability to how to deal with mobs. Teamwork, which the game seems to encourage so strongly goes out the window when there is utter chaos with every mob. It's hard enough sometimes fighting things with Henchies, worse with PUGS when not all the players are the same experience level or know how to cooperate well.

Anyway, don't want to encourage this to turn into another one of those threads and I am sure you have heard the same arguements coutless times, so we'll hopefully just continue on with the thread.

I was just in pohgan passage mission.. where you have to protect that lvl 16 lady.. i went as a boon prot but i threw life bond in there for protecting here against the spike. prot spirit + life bond = tank.. anyways.. every mob targeted her first and every spell went her way.. so it is almost impossible to keep her alive because she gets the enchants ripped off her.. and then shortly after get spiked to death..

im not saying that its impossible.. its just bullcrap that no one else in the party is getting hit and she is the only one..

At least you know who to heal.

I was under the impression... that people were unhappy with the new black dye...

Thanks for the update, appreciate it.

Thats good, i just recived the live update but my scrolls are still not stacking is that a thing that will be fixed later on or is Elona scrolls "flagged" and the flag will not be removed?

Good to hear the dye/items stacking issue is being fixed! I'll be able to test in an hour or so.