This topic follows the 4D methodology that is used by many IT companies. I’m augmenting the methodology a bit by just simplifying it. It consists of 4 phases: Discovery, Design, Development, and Delivery. Currently this topic is only focused basically on the Discovery/Design phase. We are not building (development) or delivering the idea.
NOTE: This post is not at all about removing the current way to get Oort. It is to come up with another idea on how we could get Oort if the current way did not exist.
The exercise here is to provide ideas on what the new model of Oort acquisition could look like. It is not to talk about whether the current model of getting Oort is better or worse or doesn’t need to change. Please respect the humble request to not start fighting on whether this new model or the old model is better. I really believe the community can just focus on just developing this idea even if it will never be used.
Why am I doing this?
@James and the development team has publicly communicated basically that any in-game system can be discussed for a redesign. For them to decide and deliver something different, they need us to discover other ideas on what might work in the game. Once we have discovered and designed some ideas on how to get Oort differently, then a new thread can help decide if the old way is better or what might change using ideas from what we get here or not, etc. It is only after we have a viable option that we can really do a fair comparison as to if anything regarding Oort needs to change at all.
Ok, on to developing the idea:
@Havok40k and I have had more than a few chats about Oort and how we should acquire it. I’ve seen a few other comments around it in some searches I did. Many suggest mining it. I’ve also seen complaints sometimes about how hard it is to acquire unless you are high level or in groups, which kind of drives more solo players away. We also know that there is some concern from the Developers about having “too many” portals, but I haven’t seen an official post on that topic (some one can link one if they want). I haven’t posted my idea on how to manage portal numbers because I need more information and then will work on my idea. The assumption right now is that we don’t have to worry about the Portal numbers and just focus on how we get Oort.
From what I can tell, here is the original post about how the Oort resource and Portals: Design: About Oort Shards, Portals and Warps
In the post it is mentioned that you will be able to mine Oort Shards:
Obviously, due to development and other reasons, how we interact with Oort and portals is somewhat different but I provide this information to link it back to the original concept that was released by the Devs. If someone from that time wants to provide context on why development shifted away from mineable Oort please provide the details.
So the initial idea I am purposing and hoping people will help iterate on is:
- Mineable Oort will be located in blocks like we see any other ore/gem resource and turn into a rough stone once it is mined and still require processing to turn into a shard for portal and warp conduit use.
– If instead we want to make Oort an asset we can gather or pick from a tree or a seed or a block like gleam or anything then I am for that. If we do that then change out the tools I list below for the appropriate ones.
– If we want to make Oort something we can grow, then that changes a lot of stuff and I don’t have a full model design on how that might work. So I stuck with the mining idea. I suggest we focus on non-farming Oort because I feel it might be much harder to influence the Devs to change the design or we will get a VERY hard system like people see with Goo/Prestige plants. So please lets keep it simple… - Mineable Oort will be available on all levels of planets and will require a certain level of hammer mastery to mine. This way level 1 characters cannot instantly get it. A character will have to make some level of progress before they can mine it.
– It is on all planets because of the assumption that we would remove Coin from Warp Conduit needs and move to a full Oort Shard warping game model. For low level characters to get off planet they must have Oort then. So this will allow them the chance to level, acquire the right mastery level and then find Oort, turn it into Shards, and then warp.
– Removing coin from a warp is done because it is inconsistent with how portals work. This is an attempt to drive constant game design integrity across the board with how certain components are handled and helps ease character understanding because things are consistent in look and feel.
– I feel it should be linked to hammer mastery and NOT the forge or a special type of hammer. - The amount of Oort resource distribution will be tied to the Planet T levels. With T1 having less and T6, Exo, T7/8/400 or whatever having more.
– For the amount of resource available it should be common and not a rare resource. It can be “common” is because IF the amount of portals we have is a concern of the Developers, then we need to address that differently than using “Oort” as the limiting factor. This is done because limiting Oort adversely affects and hurts lower and especially causal players.
– The Oort distribution should be Planet Wide and not linked to a topographical design or height or anything else. Basically it is infused throughout the planet. It should be considered almost like "the “Force” from Star Wars in that it is inherent in everything everywhere. This is also done so to ensure that we do not have people “plotting off” and restricting player access to the resource.
– It is like any other resource in that it follows the normal resource regen process of the chunk needing to be fully regenerated before the resource is applied. - Mining (or gathering of Oort if we decide it is a plant we pick off the surface, etc) has some restrictions to it:
– It will NOT be affected by regen bombs and we will not be able to use regen bombs to speed up acquisition.
– I purpose the Oort is harder to hit on all planets and takes additional effort to mine… This is not a 1 or 2 shot block. It can be 3 but it should not be TOO hard at all.
– I purpose that the Oort cannot be mined using 3x3 or any forged hammer tactic. The block must be hit directly for its essence to be brought out and turned into a rough Oort stone. So if you want 500, then you are hitting 500 blocks.
– I believe we should have concerns about how much Oort people can mine but am unsure if the Developers care. If there were concerns about people mining too much Oort then we put some type of radiation idea around it or something that limits the ability to interact with it. It would be a real life Daily design that let a person only mine X number of Oort a day per account OR Alt. The assumption being that because this is a special resource we can only get it so much. - My assumption is that Oort would still stay in Meteors but have a much lower drop rate. It does make sense that if Oort is everywhere that it would then still be in a meteor but should be balanced appropriately.
– I do suggest some type of metrics are done on current Oort usage and gathering so we can try to have a correct balance to this idea. I do not want to really hurt people that have lots of portals but want to make sure things are balanced based on what the Devs feel is right both for meteor delivery and for planet Oort acquisition.
At this point that is kind of the basic model I have on how we should have Oort. In my haste I might have missed something but I want to get the idea out there… The idea needs polish for sure but it needed to start somewhere.
