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News and Info => News => Topic started by: RazorSixActual on May 12, 2019, 10:56:09 PM

Title: Community Update and Balance Patch 12 May 2019
Post by: RazorSixActual on May 12, 2019, 10:56:09 PM
Community Update and Balance Patch I

Today, 12/05/2019, we were supposed to hold a community meeting, but due to the forum bug and timing we have since changed our Community meeting to next Saturday, 18/05/2019, at 7pm GMT. Please come join us. As for today we opted to hold a development meeting about implementing today’s current patch. At the bottom of this post you can find the change log for the balance changes.

New Development Team Changes:

- In an effort to relieve UKPowermax of some of his mod workload UK is stepping down from the balance team and his position is turning over to Otto Von Saxony. Otto’s inclusion into the dev team is part of an overall effort to bring more players into development, and to shift OMG workload to release larger and more well designed updates to the community faster.

- The R&R teams duties within the mod are being increased to better handle the mods needs, R&R will now be known as Community Management

- Due to Unlimited’s time restraints on playing the mod, moderating issues, debugging the mod, coding the mod, and participating in the mods community discussions, Unlimited is stepping down from R&R/Community Management to focus on his role as a developer. Huge thanks to Unlimited for his work in his help seeing this patch out today.

- Joining Community Management will be both UKPowermax and Robieman


More information on the duties of Community Management will be placed in a separate post. For comments and concerns on the new role of Community management, please post in that respective thread.


Reminder for Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/OMGmod (https://www.patreon.com/OMGmod)

Dozens of man hours of work have gone into releasing today’s patch, and while everyone who has committed themselves to this work understands that they are not going to be compensated for it, it is also these same people who are paying for the mod. Guys if you appreciate the mod and have fun playing it, please consider donating to the Patreon. We are currently relying on some very generous monthly donations that are coming from a disproportionately small group of people, and the rest of this tab is being picked up by development members. The mod is expensive, but if everyone who has played more then a few games last war donated just two dollars, our budget would be fully covered.


Balance Patch Notes

WarCP


Maps
New
Updated


Doctrines

Wehrmacht

Terror
Heroes of the Wehrmacht

Medical Reformation

Fog of War

Blitz
Rush to the front

Heavy Mortar Bombardment

Blitzkrieg

Defensive
Advanced warning

Stronghold

Registered Artillery

Rocket Artillery


Surplus Munitions


Panzer Elite

Tank Hunters
Schmeissers

Improved Scopes

Scorched Earth
Osftfront Veterans

Luftwaffe
Shift the Lines

Suppressive Tactics

Butterfly Bombs

Americans

Infantry
Here to clean up this mess

Potato Grenades

Medical Emergency

Long Tom Support

Smoke will block out the Sky

Snare Traps

Airborne
Recon Run

Strafing Run

Recoilless Rifles


Brits

Royal Engineers
Speaking from the pulpit

Maneuver Training

Prepared Fighting Positions

Commandos
25 Pounder Barrage

Proper Encryption

Radio Disruption

RCA
Creeping Barrage
Devils Brigade

General

Wehrmacht


Panzer Elite


Americans

Brits


Balance notes (essentially log of the last balance meeting)
Rangers - Lets see what happens post balance patch
Medics - We recognize that this is a strong strategy, but we want to wait and see post-patch with doctrinal changes. Sprint and durability now cost about a quarter of your total VP allowance to unlock.
Hummel flame round - Has 0.1 accuracy vs trench, should be 1 in line with MHT flame round, will also affect the Sturmpanzer
Snipers - General feeling is no change yet required as no real desire felt from community for change.
Grenades for pioneers and volks for the defensive doctrine unlock- Volks OK, pioneers to get a slight discount. This will involve creating a new upgrade in the WarCP code, feasibility checked with UK and is okay. 25mu suggested price. TODO
Recon sniper - Seen as fine as is, not an issue. Being used with expected regularity. Recon snipes being spammed was an issue the past and desire to avoid this returning.
Scout car - MG upgrade reduced to 60MP 30FU +1 pop. Base scout car down to 2 pop in line with jeeps/bikes/UC. +1 pop on upgrade to be implemented, hotfix soon
Trenches - Point of contention. Viewed as powerful and too prevalent, making it too easy to hold territory by some. Others view it is okay as it is. General feeling that fighting trench spam is frustrating. Also acknowledged that typical counters (flammenwerfers, MP44s) are getting cheaper in latest patch. Agreed to add +20 seconds to build time to combat the trench doomforts.
Devils Brigade - To be given elite criticals - somewhere between infantry and heroic criticals (Unlimited’s work). Idea to make them more attractive, currently seen as lacking.
Light AT HT - Seen as quite effective for their current pop/price. Get a good buff from Tank Hunters doctrinal buffs, but could do with buffs from other doctrines.
Pathfinders & Mech Infantry - To be replaced. Scheduled for longer term issues.
PGrens - PGrens currently very pop efficient when fully upgraded and sprint very prevalent. Tie sprint to vet sergeant upgrade and +1 pop. seriously, that is work. +1 pop to be implemented
Defensive LMG - Defensive LMG doctrinal buff to burst length currently not working as intended (buff is self applying when 2x LMGs purchased). Bug, and will be addressed. LMG to be given small cost increase to 80mu, irrespective of the bug seen as slightly too cost effective at present.
Walking Stukas - Going up to 250mp in latest patch.
Panzerfausts - Going to 35 munitions. Too easily spammable at present.
Gwagon - To be left, no strong feelings either way.
Ostwinds - Going down to 10 pop. Rarely seen.
KCH - To be left as they are. Doctrinal buffs currently being addressed.
G43 Slow - Felt currently too powerful and easily spammable. Price increase to 90mu. Should increase Ostfront G43s by 10 mu as well.
Recoilless Rifles - Being brought (back) down to 180mu.
M10s/M18s - Pop discussion on utility. Comparison made to other tank destroyers e.g. Stugs at 8. Going down to 9 pop.
Commandos - Unanimous agreement, munitions down to 130.
Overrepair/Repair - Re-enable decay on overrepair. We’re still working on how to implement a fix for one man squads. Temp solution

Many coders suffered to bring you this patch.


Addendum: Outlook:
In the coming month, we intend to take a look at underperforming doctrine choices, and doctrinal units. We will also further investigate our options for repair.
Please understand that these things take time, and require preparation.
Title: Re: Community Update and Balance Patch 12 May 2019
Post by: sdauz on May 12, 2019, 11:22:16 PM
Thanks for the work guys. Reads like a lot of good moves in a solid direction. Cheers!
Title: Re: Community Update and Balance Patch 12 May 2019
Post by: The Anchor on May 13, 2019, 12:51:14 AM
Well done, looks like you addressed a lot of the issues without going overboard, should shift the meta in a different direction.
Title: Re: Community Update and Balance Patch 12 May 2019
Post by: Batgirl on May 13, 2019, 02:52:00 PM
I agree that small shifts are the way to go. I dont like the lower vp cost on offmaps, otherwise it looks good
Title: Re: Community Update and Balance Patch 12 May 2019
Post by: Tommy952 on May 13, 2019, 03:54:07 PM
Top work by the coders, thank you for your efforts. This is not a small patch and no mean feat to get it out on time!
Title: Re: Community Update and Balance Patch 12 May 2019
Post by: Snarks on May 14, 2019, 10:38:38 AM
Something happened to the forum posting system. I cannot post anything without moderator approval.
Title: Re: Community Update and Balance Patch 12 May 2019
Post by: Alex on May 14, 2019, 10:57:34 AM
We are looking at fixing the issue as a matter of urgency.

This is not a conspiracy to silence members of the community, the forum software is old and there are many incompatibilities with modern hosting infrastructure.
Title: Re: Community Update and Balance Patch 12 May 2019
Post by: sdauz on May 15, 2019, 09:00:18 AM
Is anyone collecting agenda items for the community meeting?

If so, I would like offer a couple:

1. RB system - The ability to reset resource bonuses.

The present RB system while good, does lock you into RBs at the start. If you are playing a faction you like, you should be able to reset your RBs to change things up and try new strategies. The present system locks players unncessarily and this would seem like a quality of life improvement.

2. Company system - Having 4 war companies, one for each faction.

There are presently 2 war companies for allied and axis. To encourage play of all faction, we should have 4 war companies. Ideally, people should be able to play wher, pe, brits and ami anytime they wish. What value is there locking people into only wher or ami. This would be another quality if life improvement for players.

3. Balance team - Rotating all balance team members per war or every second war.

While we are all thankful for the work of the devs, it would seem clear to me to have an active, inclusive and responsive balance team that looks at the genuine conerns of players of all stripes and persuasions, balance dev roles should not be permanent. To make it clear, I do not want to be balance dev ever. I instead see much value from rotating the balance devs on a per war or every second war rotational basis. How these new devs would be chosen is not my concern, my main concern to avoid lethary, bais (real or percieved) and the formation of cliques that did so much damage to the reputation and player base of the last incarnation of OMG.

4. General balance - Making allied companies more fun.

The last patch was a step in the right direction and did promote allied play. This must continue and in my opinion radical steps are necessary to put bits and ami on equal footing with wher. I know some would disagree, but the general will of the player base and the war stats (whether you believe them genuine is not my concern, I believe them to be a valid reflection of the meta) is that allied companies need buffing.

*Update*

5. Getting people to donate.

After finding out robie pays like $25 and current donations only cover half of the costs of the servers, we need to find things that get people to donate. Maybe giving people who donate $5 or more access to 4 war companies might be an option.
Title: Re: Community Update and Balance Patch 12 May 2019
Post by: Tommy952 on May 15, 2019, 02:28:11 PM
Not to preempt a discussion on the topics, however I believe I can provide an update for some of these
Quote
1. RB system - The ability to reset resource bonuses.
I did raise this at the last internal meeting, however it was pointed out that if you wish to reset RBs then you may as well just migrate your company. However I am sure if it was something widely wanted by the community then the coders could have a look at the feasibility.
Quote
2. Company system - Having 4 war companies, one for each faction.
This has long been on the wishlist for an updated WarCP. All I can say on this is that a lot of people want this and I am sure it will be in one day, however I understand it is not a simple task.
Quote
3. Balance team - Rotating all balance team members per war or every second war.
A radical solution to a problem I am not sure exists - but a discussion worth having. I think there is something to be said for consistency of balance and design, and it should be noted that the balance team now is different to the balance team of old OMG, which in turn was different to the balance team of old old OMG...so there is already churn as new people arrive and old people leave. The intended approach to balance going forward is, I think, as inclusive and transparent as it has ever been. Ultimately you still need a handful of decision makers but we are aiming to at the very least discuss every suggestion made in the forums and the discord, compiled at a regular basis and brought together for internal discussion. We aim to provide a justification for all of the changes made (including why suggested changes were not made) which we have started with the latest balance patch, and I think with time we will flesh that out even more. We are still just getting back on our feet and much of the development/design process is being formalised, improved and more clearly defined than I have ever seen it.
Quote
4. General balance - Making allied companies more fun.
This is a tricky one. To a certain extent we are limited by the original design choices made by Relic, and if we are to have a game that is mostly in keeping with vCoH design then that is not likely to change dramatically. I also think it is worth narrowing this down to specifics as much as possible - rather than an issue of Allies in general being "not fun", perhaps the issue specific doctrines? And is this a problem that affects Brits as much as US (I would say that Brits have a lot more "fun" units than US)? We have identified a couple of doctrines in need of most work - Airborne comes to mind - and I hope these changes, which will be released incrementally, will go some way towards addressing this. I know one area that the community would like us to examine is veterancy and making that a bit more engaging/interesting and I think that could potentially provide some solutions as well. But I am glad you think we are heading in the right direction with the latest patch.
Quote
5. Getting people to donate.
Reward units are already on offer for donators but this is definitely something worth discussing if people have ideas. Running out of money to foot the server bill was one of the problems OMG was running into prior to the last shutdown.
Title: Re: Community Update and Balance Patch 12 May 2019
Post by: The Anchor on May 15, 2019, 06:51:52 PM
Quote
2. Company system - Having 4 war companies, one for each faction.

This has long been on the wishlist for an updated WarCP. All I can say on this is that a lot of people want this and I am sure it will be in one day, however I understand it is not a simple task

I think this point has, by far, the simplest solution! Just let people have a second account, either make it a requirement to have a similar name to your original like The Anch0r or a forum subsection to post your alternate accounts name and/or just not care about policing it because the community is very small and players would figure out who it is/ not care.
Title: Re: Community Update and Balance Patch 12 May 2019
Post by: sdauz on May 16, 2019, 03:31:04 AM
Hi Tommy, thanks for your point of view. I also look forward to hearing from others at the community meeting, which is on at 5am Australian time…sighhh :)

In response to the points you have raised:

1. Considering you lose VPs when migrating, I think it would be a nice feature to have to reset VPs and try a new strat if you want to maintain your doctrine. It is more of a nice to have rather than a necessity.

2. I like the solution of the Anchor if it is not a simple task. At this point, does anyone really care if people smurf.

3. I think there is a lot of conservative thinking in the balance team at present. I would like to see new people, with new ideas and new perspectives. If the team operates on a rotational basis, it may also greater inclusivity and ownership by the players of the mod. I do not know everything, but I know enough to know that I do not know that much. That is why having new blood in the balance team semi-regularly, rather than the same people from the last incarnation of OMG would be a better solution to me. I know you say it is a different team, but it is not that different. Same people, with the same biases and same pet peeves.

If the current team sets the format for how balance is discussed in future that would be a great goal and achievement. However, I still think they should not be the team ongoing ad infinitum.

4. For me personally, the power of shreks verus shermans could be a useful topic. Just thought I would mention the 30-ton elephant in the room.

5. I agree with the proposal. It is crazy to me that robie paying that much, and the devs are carrying the rest, and I think the rest of the community should step up.
Title: Re: Community Update and Balance Patch 12 May 2019
Post by: RazorSixActual on May 16, 2019, 02:43:36 PM
Full transparency: I manage the OMG patreon account, which directly deposits into an OMG paypal account. Due to the fact that Amazon doesnt accept paypal as a form of payment, my credit card pays for the mod in full every month, and then I transfer to my personal account the patreon donations for that month. Last month was covered in full by patreon donations as we switched to the beefier server late in the month, and there is some money left over in the paypal account, but this month will probably be short and I cover the rest.
Title: Re: Community Update and Balance Patch 12 May 2019
Post by: Saavedra on May 31, 2019, 09:37:07 PM
  • Infantry Halftrack resupply from 5 to 10
PGrens - PGrens currently very pop efficient when fully upgraded and sprint very prevalent. Tie sprint to vet sergeant upgrade and +1 pop. seriously, that is work. +1 pop to be implemented

Huh. I didn´t know you guys hated Pgren blobbing so much that you were straight up willing to kill the faction.