Feedback talk:Joe Kimmes

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[edit] GW(1)Fanday

You're a very quiet man. See also Feedback talk:John Stumme#GW(1)Fanday. - Tanetris 04:44, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

[edit] A question of practicality

This is a purely hypothetical scenario, but if the skitzers running ANet told you to, how much of the game could be rolled back to a prior state, and how much of a pain in the ass would it be to do so? I don't mean a previous state as in account info, items, etc.; I mean skill mechanics, attribute mechanics, monster info, and other junk. Basically, if Mike O'Brien told you he'd been coked out of his mind for 5 years and wanted everything back to the way it was when Nightfall was released, how possible would it be for you to make that happen?

There's a valid reason I'm asking this, but it's convoluted, wrong, and stupid, so just don't worry about it for now. –Jette 02:24, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

If it were absolutely everything, sure, the team could roll the game back to Nightfall without too much trouble. Of course, you'd reintroduce fixed bugs, make everyone redownload less-polished art, remove features, etc. Rolling the game back partially while preserving bug fixes and features would be a massive headache. - Joe Kimmes

18:29, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

How about just skills and those purty character selection screens? I seem to remember someone saying that the Nightfall, Factions, and Prophecies (Diablo rip-off campfire) character selection screens are gone forever with no hope of return, but I don't remember why. –Jette 19:35, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

I miss NF's character selection screen, it was so.... relaxing.... :( --Briar

The Spider 20:03, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

Not only is that one of Linsey's FAQs, Joe's already responded to a question about it. -- FreedomBound

20:11, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

Ah, I see. Thanks then, sorry about that. That raises some other interesting questions, but I'll direct those to someone else. –Jette 23:59, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

[edit] models

Do heroes use different models from human players? Aside from the obvious ones like Zhed, Oghden, MOX, etc. A friend and I noticed that EotN heroes (I've noticed Kahmu, Xandra, Livia, and suspect Hayda) use different models and different proportions than human players and Nightfall heroes. They seem to have smoother curves along their features at high zoom levels; classic models look pointed as the bodies contour. I wasn't sure if it was just confirmation bias, so I want to know: do the heroes use different wireframes (or whatever) than their player counterparts? I'm not sure if you would know this, but you seem the most "techy" of the ANet people who post here.

In the same vein, would it be possible or feasible for a player to use the high-resolution models? At first glance, they appear similar enough that any textures that work on old models would work on new ones. Even if it's just an option in the Graphics menu (use high-res models on players, or similar), it would be cool to have, especially for people like me who like to play at stupidly high resolutions. If it's possible to do it without dragging people away from GW2 or setting the server on fire, I think I'll suggest it as a low-priority feature on the suggestion... thing. –Jette 20:21, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

Heroes use a fixed model the same way all non-player models do - players are composited from their various armor parts. The EotN heroes look a little better simply because our artists had more time to polish them - the art has improved in every chapter, and there are no EotN player-characters to compare them to. So no, there are no higher resolution player textures than the ones already in use. - Joe Kimmes

21:04, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

Oh, I see. Thanks. I keep thinking of things to ask you, though I at least searched for this one: why can't you use two dyes of the same color on an armor? The dye system got rehauled around the time Nightfall was released, which was nice for the most part, but ever since then it's been impossible to use two colors at once on an item (even though it looks different than just one). The engine is obviously capable of doing it; is it a server side thing or just an oversight? On a related subject, why is it old dye combos that can no longer be achieved still appear in-game? For instance, a friend of mine has a very, very old elite Geomancer set from before Nightfall came out with a special black color that can't be achieved anymore, with any combination. If the entire system was redone, wouldn't it make it impossible to display older colors? –Jette 21:18, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

Dying an item with multiple identical dyes should, realistically, not stack the color - it's an artifact of the dye system that the preview shows a brighter preview when you stack the same color.

When the dye system was updated, not all old colors could be converted - older combined dyes would have been slightly reshaded, which would disappoint players who had a specialized combination. So older items still use the old dye system; if you redye them, they update to the new system. - Joe Kimmes

21:32, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

Oh, both systems still exist? Maybe I'll ask someone to allow both or something... would it be possible to add a "switch" to the preview menu to let you pick whether you want the old or the new? Anything that's exclusive to one side or another would have to be removed from the selection before you could hit apply, of course. Assuming the designers say it's acceptable, how much work would that be? –Jette 23:45, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

The old system doesn't allow for, just for example, white dye. But apart from that, the old system - mixing dyes, not having pink dye, etc - effectively no longer exists; only the generated dye values from it are still there for the old items. - Joe Kimmes

23:49, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

I see. Thanks anyway, then. One last thing (hopefully): you mention "dye values;" are those RGB hex values or something similar that auto-color the armor? And if so, would it be possible to enter the values manually if an interface for it were created to make a custom dye value? An "ultimate platinum edition dye" that sells for a sickening amount of gold (or $4.99...) which lets you enter whatever value you want would be kind of cool. –Jette 00:30, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

There are of course numerical values for the dye shades, but they're more or less specific to each armor type. Setting up the Pink Dye to function reliably took Mike Zadorojny the better part of a week. It's not something we would want to expose to players. - Joe Kimmes

01:01, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

But you're totally cool with exposing them to this crap, right? It's cool, I kind of figured it would be a nightmare to get it to work right. –Jette 01:17, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

Dyes have ID numbers 1-13. 13 being pink since it was the latest added 89.108.110.170 02:30, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

[edit] a further barrage of questions

I made a suggestion not long ago and was told by a friend that the size of some critters you turn into prevents them from working properly, that the collision system is based on model size or... whatever. This sounds sensible, but this friend happens to do a whole lot of cocaine on the weekends, so I want to be sure. Are there technical reasons why tonics couldn't work out of towns? And if there are, which do you think would be unacceptable? More specifically, do you think the Mursaat and Ooze ones would be workable? Those are my favorite two. Finally, if it isn't possible for them to work at the normal sizes, how much of a pain is it to scale the models down to fit? It seems like it'd be as easy as dragging a bar, but I don't do 3-D stuff.

Sorry if I'm bugging you a lot. I get curious about some things in the game and, as some of my friends will tell you, my curiosity quickly develops into neurotic obsession. Asking you is the healthiest, legalest way for me to handle it. –Jette 21:08, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

There aren't technical reasons tonics aren't usable outside of towns - in fact, the birthday tonics are. We didn't make all tonics work that way, partially just to make the ones that are usable a little cooler. - Joe Kimmes

22:07, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

wtb mursaat useable out side of town... 100k+250zkeys... but really i would love to be able to float around and kill things as a mursaat i always thought that it was because the models were missing animations for like swinging a scythe (as far as i know there are not scythe wielding mursaat in the game. though i supose you could steal the paragons animation for that... -

Zesbeer 23:11, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

Huh, I thought that the reason was lack of animations for all 10 professions (there's probably a reason outside of lore we don't see Mursaat assassins or Forgotten paragons). Konig/talk 23:16, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

@Konig lol we said the same thing...-

Zesbeer 23:55, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

Well, then, uh, with all due respect, you and the live team have a pretty friggin' weird definition of cool (as opposed to this or this). On that subject, Mursaat have attack animations for non-staves; go check out the Profession's Constructs in Sunjiang district. They're awesome, the old Hundred Blades Animation for the Warrior's Construct was this wicked spinning thing where it'd float up a few inches and then rotate at high speed. It was freaking sweet. I don't know if they do it anymore now that Hundred Blades is dumb. It would probably trigger on Cyclone Axe, if they used that. –Jette 01:37, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

There have been tonics that were scrapped entirely due to animation issues, but that's not a deciding factor for explorable use - to give an example, the Kuunavang tonic is usable in explorables.

As for what's cool, you may need to reread my post; the birthday present tonics are usable in explorables to make them cooler, irrespective of what they turn you into. - Joe Kimmes

01:42, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

[edit] mouse pointer question

so i have been wondering for a wile (mainly because i hate window's 7's mouse pointers wtb 3d mouse pointer from xp...) anyhow how hard it would be to export the mouse pointer we see in game to work as a mouse pointer theme for windows 7?- Zesbeer 23:54, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

There's some goofball program out there called MappingOut or something similar that has GW's mouse embedded in it (this is probably copyright infringement, but if you've spoken to me for five minutes you've probably figured out I don't give a crap). There's a tool called ResHacker out there that can yoink resources like that from Windows binaries, go steal it off of that. It would probably work on GW, too, but I'm assuming the people who wrote it put a thousand different protection schemes that take 20 minutes to make sure your computer isn't carrying a weapon or Islamic and download all your family photos, porn, credit card numbers, and personally identifiable information to a central database so that you never-ever-never take something for a harmless purpose, omg you felon. –Jette 01:37, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

Art is not my department, sorry Zesbeer. - Joe Kimmes

01:44, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

[edit] Icons

While we're assaulting you with curiosities, would you happen to know what these icons are/were intended for? --ஸ Kyoshi 00:27, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

I have no idea, but the suggestion that they are for corpse requiring and health-draining skills seems like a decent one. - Joe Kimmes

01:47, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

While looking for something completely different, I happened upon the original uses of those icons - they're respectively for health upkeep (the arrow) and death penalty (the skull). - Joe Kimmes

22:24, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

I didn't know they had the death penalty in GW. I mean, hell, banning is one thing, but... capital punishment? Christ. I guess RMTing is more serious than I thought. –Jette 13:23, 5 November 2011 (UTC)

Death penalty? Fascinating - so using such a skill might give you 5% DP or something? And I'm guessing the other one was for vampiric-style enchantments that drain health instead of energy to maintain? -- Armond Warblade

15:44, 5 November 2011 (UTC)

Very cool, thanks Joe. --ஸ Kyoshi

16:51, 5 November 2011 (UTC)

[edit] Frostmaw Lvl4 Hidden Treasure

My group just did Frostmaw's Lair, and the first Hidden Treasure, right at the entrance spawn to level 4, fizzled out after using Light of Deldrimor on it. *Malganis Frostmourn* 99.48.31.204 22:58, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the report; we're very close to having a fix for this issue thanks to players tracking down the problem areas. - Joe Kimmes

17:06, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

Awesome news, Joe. Do you still want specific reports in the meantime? – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 17:25, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

I think the reports I've gotten should be enough; I'd be interested to hear if you see it happen somewhere new or some different form of the bug though. - Joe Kimmes

00:36, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

There might be specific locations missing from above, but I think they fall into the same patterns (near entrance to level or near a conflux of impassable wireframes; pings location but fails to appear vs appears without pinging). (Resolving this would leave us to concentrate on the bigger mystery of why my friend always gets lockpicks but I get map pieces.) – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 00:53, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

Are you only able to look at/fix the locations that have been listed? Or are you able to look at the code for each location, fix it, then extend those fixes to makes sure it doesn't happen at any location? --Musha

03:12, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

The fix is a universal one, fortunately. - Joe Kimmes

17:17, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

See, give him enough time (and a place to code), and Joe can fix the universe. – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 18:54, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

And, in fact, he has! Today's update fixed it all! Congrats, Joe; and thank you for this fix! --Musha

02:10, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

(Reset indent) Thanks for fixing this long-standing bug (or bugs?). This has been one of those issues that plagued spellunkers, but didn't seem worth as much time to research in detail (since it could be hard to replicate the exact circumstances). I haven't checked all the glitched locations, but I checked several ...and haven't encountered any problems getting a successful ping (if outside the reach of LoD) or revealing the treasure (if within range). In particular, I finally exposed the treasure at the start of Bogroots L2 (never could get that to appear) and the ones that pinged-but-did-not-reveal in Frostmaw/L4 and Oola/L2-3 (L2 included an ally that I was never able to reveal before).

Good stuff. – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 18:21, 7 November 2011 (UTC)

You mentioned on talk:Hidden Treasure that the random appearance was one of the things getting in the way of consistent mechanics. Was there anything else? I noticed recently that most of the badly bugged locations had treasures that needed to appear at an odd height relative to the surrounding area and I wondered if sometimes the treasures were being revealed...but below the surface (so to speak)...so we couldn't reach them. Or perhaps they couldn't spawn due to a collision with a non-navigable part of the environment. – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 21:31, 7 November 2011 (UTC)

The appearance randomization malfunctioning was the main problem; there was a treasure or two that collided with the environment but usually in that case the treasure won't even sparkle at range. It'll be at least a month or two before I make any changes to their appearance rate, simply by virtue of other priorities, by the way. - Joe Kimmes

01:53, 8 November 2011 (UTC)

[edit] Hidden Treasures revisited

So I've found two spots where the LoD shimmer isn't visible after a successful ping. It's strictly cosmetic: there's no problem getting an accurate ping nor in exposing the treasure/ally if you stand in the right spot.

Raven's Point, L3. Treasure is in the snow just to west of rez shrine in the boss fight room. (Not enough contrast between glimmering light and the snow.)
Arachni's Haunt, L2: in the lake area west of the Flame Guardian, just south of the web. The two that spawned under the water weren't visible.

In both cases, the LoD caster just needed to walk out of compass range (and back) to ping again so we could get a fix on the position. I haven't managed to visit every dungeon, but so far, those are the only blemishes (slight as they are) on the otherwise perfect mechanics that we see right now. Let me know if you need a map with the exact locations. – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 09:20, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

I suggest passing these along to support/QA - this is a problem that would be solved by moving those treasures to a location where the shimmer isn't blocked, which is handled by the spawning team. Thanks for continuing to check these! - Joe Kimmes

19:28, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Sounds good to me. (Or maybe they'll have a sneaky way to allow the shimmer to shine through the reflections on the water.) – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 17:53, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

[edit] A question for you, mister Kimmes

It's something I think the whole community wants to know and excuse me if this question has already been answered. Will Imperial weapons be displayable in your hall of monuments?--83.82.62.210 15:05, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

Adding things to the HoM is unfortunately a big hurdle for our team. It's easy enough for me to make it work in GW1, but since the HoM Calculator is available now, it also means that the Calculator and GW2 interaction have to be updated as well to add new items. In some cases, like Minipets, this isn't as big of a deal since they just tally your total count, but adding new Weapons would require time from the web team and potentially the GW2 team, who are understandably very busy at the moment.

All of that said, it's something I'd really like - if nothing else, I think I'm 1 weapon away from maxing that monument! - Joe Kimmes

18:48, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

Would it be easier to make such new additions only count for the total tally's (e.g., the "15 weapon statues" and "30 Companion statues") rather than unique categories (such as the "Oppressor Weapon Statue")? I think that way of adding them would be best anyways, so that those who currently have 50/50 don't suddenly have 49 or 48/50. Konig/talk 19:11, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

If you take a look at the calculator, it lists each weapon you have individually - that's the data GW1 sends, the total is calculated web-side. So, it'd have to count as one of the existing weapons for that to work, which is pretty confusing. - Joe Kimmes

19:31, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

I see, thanks. Looks like I'm gonna sell my Imperial Dragon's Tear.--83.82.62.210 19:36, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

@Kimmes: Makes sense, though not in the sense of why they did it that way... @IP: Greens don't go into the HoM, it'd be the gold version that would, if either (which you get from Requisition Orders). Also, Tears cannot be traded. Konig/talk 20:29, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

@IP number: I'd hold onto it myself, at least until GW2 comes out. We'd like to let players add the weapons, it's just difficult so I can't promise anything.

@Konig: It was coded before the rewards were finalized, so we sent as much data as possible so that if the GW2 designers wanted 1:1 rewards, it was possible. - Joe Kimmes

21:03, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

I see... Another semi-HoM-related question: Previously Stumme said that Keiran has some alternative armors ready, does Miku and Zei Ri? Similarly, must we have them able to be placed in the HoM for us to get those alternative armors? ^^ Konig/talk 21:40, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

What John is talking about there is Keiran's existing alternate versions, like Tuxedo Keiran and Battle-Damaged Keiran. Making those available is something we've talked about, it's just not a high priority. - Joe Kimmes

22:09, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

So I take it as no to Miku/Zei having alternatives (though Zei arguably could but it'd just be the addition of the MoP helm), but yes to able getting the other armors regardless of placement in HoM just not certain whether we will or not. Konig/talk 22:18, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

If weapons clutter up Hall of Monuments, you can try to make requirements different for getting points (such as: One GW:Beyond weapon, One Tormented weapon, one Titan weapon etc. --Boro

22:33, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

"1 point each + at least X of Y type" worked pretty well for miniatures. Not so well for armors, though. If you favor Dervish or Paragon and are trying to fill your HoM just with them, since since there's no elite kurzick or luxon armors for paragons and dervishes, you wont be able to do so and have to make another character just for that. Mith

Talk 23:17, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

[edit] Winds of Change commendations

Any chance of seeing WoC repeatable / bounty quests added to the game? It's kind of annoying to have a finite number of Ministral Commendations and Imperial Guard Requisition Orders available. A system similar to the one implented in WiK where you can keep farming weapons would be much better for those of us choosing to focus on just one or two characters instead of 10 different ones. PS, outside of this and the Kappa quest great work on the WoC campaign. Tons of fun! 84.48.54.253 10:21, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

Don't want to put words in Joe's mouth, but I'm pretty sure we'll get more dailies out of this. -- Hong 19:54, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

If we were going to, I suspect we would have with part 3's release. Also, @ IP: Ministerial Commendations are not finite. Konig/talk 21:15, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

They drop from ministry units. Well, supposedly at least. I'm yet to see a single drop, while with heroes I must have got about a stack of Confessor's Orders while playing with all my characters and doing Wanted Quests. Anyways, I always found just going around killing random enemies kind of boring, so I'd also love to see cyclical repeatable quests too for when I'm done with my characters and there's still things I want to get by myself. Mith

Talk 23:07, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

Playing through WoC part 2 NM (since part 1 doesn't give MoP'ers), I have roughly 5 commendations with 7 heroes. I didn't get any in part 3 though, and haven't done HM quests beyond part 1. It should be noted that Ministerial Commendations could probably put more on par with War Supplies than with Confessor's Orders, even though fewer commendations are needed for requisitions than supplies for medals. Point being - for every 3 or so Connfessor's Orders, you should have been able to get 1 Ministerial Commendation, rather than 1 for 1 in rates. Of course, with random drop chance, that's all just theoretical - like how 200 fortunes should get you a celestial mini (yet the past 2 years, 200-300 got me 0). Konig/talk 04:06, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

I had a commendation drop for me the other day... didn't think to screenie because it didn't seem that odd to me (WiK having drops as well, after all), but I can confirm that they do drop. Just not very frequently apparently. --

Elv 17:57, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

For all intents and purposes, the number of mini-commendations is finite. Two of us played through nm/HM WoC and received 108 total from quests, but between us, we only saw one dropping from foes. After WoC, there are only a limited number of areas that spawn the relevant MoP foes ...and none of the optional quests do (at least, according to the list of hostile NPCs for them). The current effort:reward ratio makes it unlikely that anyone except dedicated farmers will see many of these outside of receiving them from quest rewards. – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 09:09, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

[edit] AI Update and bundles

After the socalled melee update I'm noticing a tendency of any characters using bundles such as protective was kaolai or Anguished Was Lingwah to act like complete and utter idiots. They rush forward in to the middle of the enemy mob and I end up with my only 2 healers and 1 protective character all dead at the same time. This is very annoying! 84.48.54.253 07:14, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

I suggest adding problems you're experiencing with the AI to the Hero_behavior/Unexpected_behavior page. - Joe Kimmes

19:21, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

[edit] AI updates

Could you please take a very quick look at spell breaker? Heroes do not cast friendly spells on allies under the effect of this skill. Such as heals / prots and buffs. 84.48.54.253 00:21, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

I'm not able to reproduce the problem; is there a specific example of an ally or skill that this fails with?

As before, I recommend reporting issues through the Support Forums or relevant wiki pages like Hero_behavior/Unexpected_behavior - it may seem slower than contacting me directly, but it helps our QA team track the bugs and get the fixes into future builds. - Joe Kimmes

00:53, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

Actually, I see you did add it to the wiki before adding it here - thanks! - Joe Kimmes

00:54, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

[edit] Missing some EL Tonics

Hey Joe, had a quick question. We have many forms available through the Mysterious Tonic, is there a reason these aren't available as a Everlasting Tonic? In particular an Everlasting Swarm of Bees tonic. Dealaka 22:04, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

I don't think there's a reason code-wise. Design-wise, having a lot of unique results does make the Mysterious Tonics a little more special. There are certainly a lot of 'missing' individual tonics there though; that might be a fun thing to add next time we're looking for new rewards. - Joe Kimmes

22:21, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

If the team is going to bother with new ones, use models that don't currently have a tonic form. Also, if the team doesn't have resources for new assets, why don't they look into doing something with the all of the unimplemented content the game has. 78.47.250.35 22:35, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

Most unimplemented content is 'cut' content; quests and skills that were replaced, renamed or simply beyond saving. A lot of unused art has made it into Beyond content; for example, the Peacekeepers in the War In Kryta. - Joe Kimmes

22:48, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

Oh interesting, but more specifically I was referring to maps. 78.47.250.35 23:13, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

The tricky thing with maps is that often any unused maps never received a full polish pass, so they have floating rocks, texture seams, terrain imbalances (in the case of PvP maps) and so on. Fixing these can take a lot of time; with everyone working on GW2, that's not usually an option. The Live Team is always looking for unused pieces of art though; the map for Embark Beach is one example. - Joe Kimmes

23:23, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

That's understandable. There sure is some interesting ones though. The one pictured here is nice. Makes you wonder what they were originally designed for. 78.47.250.35 23:43, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

~~@ip i dont think those are maps from the game i think that user made those maps via reverse engineering the game. maybe i am wrong but he has no expiation about them at all on that page.~~ never mind read his discussion page and he says he got them off the dat file.-

Zesbeer 10:40, 11 July 2012 (UTC)

[edit] AI skill usage repots by IPs & registered users

I have found that you are re-directing players to make edits on Hero behavior/Unexpected behavior main page, but we have left two top notice messages to use the talk page instead. I would like to ask that you tell people to do that instead too. Yoshida Keiji talk 16:31, 22 July 2012 (UTC)

Sure thing. - Joe Kimmes

17:52, 23 July 2012 (UTC)

Feedback talk:Joe Kimmes

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