Behind the Content: Big Bang Developer Interview

You kind of have to understand that...

1) They are still under NDA.
2) Developers of any kind are rarely good at PR, or expressing technical details easily.

Speak for yourself. I've been playing another game, and the Devs there are great at answering questions on both technical issues and content. Any time the Devs reply as opposed to the PR guys, you're sure to get a useful, informational answer. The PR guy might say "yeah, we want to do that at some point." The dev would say, "We've got that on the schedule for roughly X date, but we need to get Y and Z done before that can move out. We tried to work on it before Y was finished, but that didn't turn out so well, and we'd rather do it right, so they've got to come first. Also..."
you get the idea. I don't think NDA has anything to do with it either since the Tespia info is essentially visible to anyone.

IMO the big problem is that Big Bang is just too large in scope for them to talk about it in any detail. The things that are changed are all over the place, so even if you focus on one of the "major" sections of it, it's not going to seem like as big of a deal as it is.

EDIT:
Here, here's how a REAL dev answers questions from his players:
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthr...ost3195387
The STO forums even have a search feature to find posts by the Devs and keep the players up to date. Cryptic is so much better at being open with their players than Nexon, it's ridiculous. (Ironic too, considering their name.)

I'm fairly certain that when they say "removed useless game systems" they mean those not in other versions of MapleStory. Like the stupid Friend Finder things.

Speak for yourself. I've been playing another game, and the Devs there are great at answering questions on both technical issues and content. Any time the Devs reply as opposed to the PR guys, you're sure to get a useful, informational answer. The PR guy might say "yeah, we want to do that at some point." The dev would say, "We've got that on the schedule for roughly X date, but we need to get Y and Z done before that can move out. We tried to work on it before Y was finished, but that didn't turn out so well, and we'd rather do it right, so they've got to come first. Also..."
you get the idea. I don't think NDA has anything to do with it either since the Tespia info is essentially visible to anyone.

Well i'm glad that you found the rare geeks that know how to f'uck the rules. They're the best kind.

Tespia info isn't near visible to anyone. Pretty much only those who are on it. There isn't a spadow of GMST documenting every little thing. I couldn't find summarized information on new GMST changes unless i went through the 70 page thread manually...

Speak for yourself. I've been playing another game, and the Devs there are great at answering questions on both technical issues and content. Any time the Devs reply as opposed to the PR guys, you're sure to get a useful, informational answer. The PR guy might say "yeah, we want to do that at some point." The dev would say, "We've got that on the schedule for roughly X date, but we need to get Y and Z done before that can move out. We tried to work on it before Y was finished, but that didn't turn out so well, and we'd rather do it right, so they've got to come first. Also..."
you get the idea. I don't think NDA has anything to do with it either since the Tespia info is essentially visible to anyone.

IMO the big problem is that Big Bang is just too large in scope for them to talk about it in any detail. The things that are changed are all over the place, so even if you focus on one of the "major" sections of it, it's not going to seem like as big of a deal as it is.

EDIT:
Here, here's how a REAL dev answers questions from his players:
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthr...ost3195387
The STO forums even have a search feature to find posts by the Devs and keep the players up to date. Cryptic is so much better at being open with their players than Nexon, it's ridiculous. (Ironic too, considering their name.)

You expect perfection where perfection isn't needed. Why say "oh we changed the defense and accuracy formula to do this. Oh yeah you can't train on Skeles at level 100 anymore." Why say what half of the community probably knows already. Between Basil, here, Sleepywood, Spadow, and the NEXON forums the pool of information is almost endless in the terms where you can find it. Plus when has NEXON EVER told us a release date. They always give a general area without a date and to be honest and fair it's way better like that. Adds more of a surprise.

Well i'm glad that you found the rare geeks that know how to f'uck the rules. They're the best kind.

Tespia info isn't near visible to anyone. Pretty much only those who are on it. There isn't a spadow of GMST documenting every little thing. I couldn't find summarized information on new GMST changes unless i went through the 70 page thread manually...

I think the fact that there's 70 pages of information is proof enough. No one said it had to be organized, just that it's available, which it is.

You expect perfection where perfection isn't needed. Why say "oh we changed the defense and accuracy formula to do this. Oh yeah you can't train on Skeles at level 100 anymore." Why say what half of the community probably knows already. Between Basil, here, Sleepywood, Spadow, and the NEXON forums the pool of information is almost endless in the terms where you can find it. Plus when has NEXON EVER told us a release date. They always give a general area without a date and to be honest and fair it's way better like that. Adds more of a surprise.

Perfection should be everyone's final intent. To say otherwise is absolutely ludicrous. If you want to buy a product where the creator aimed for mediocrity then... that sounds like a serious problem, but don't expect other people to be satisfied with that. EVERYONE should be aiming to produce the best product they can. People shouldn't need to play scavenger hunt all over the internet to learn what they want to know. If Nexon is going to try and say that this is a big update and people should be excited for it, and should come back to check it out, they kinda need to tell people what the hell it is they're supposed to come check out. There's some vagueness in the first post regarding what they've changed, but it really doesn't say anything. To be honest, I still don't have a very good idea of what's in Big Bang aside from skill and map changes. There's a LOT of stuff that's been altered. Hell, the whole reason sites like SP etc. exist is because Nexon has always done a terrible job at telling people what they're doing. you can say "That makes things more exciting" but all it's really done is cause a lot of disinformation on sites like Basil to take root.

It would be so easy to correct if Nexon would put out some accurate information themselves before the last minute, but they don't. To go off the first quote here, Takebacker had to dig through 70 pages of public information to find out what he needed to know. All that information is public, there's no reason for Nexon to treat it as if it's secret. If they would just put it on their site, that wouldn't be necessary. At one point they had detailed patch notes, then they went to worthless outlines, and for a while there were no notes at all. Now they've started to become aware of the need for patch notes but they still don't quite get what belongs in them. If you want your players to appreciate the scale of the changes in Big Bang, TELL THEM ABOUT IT. Tell us every little change that was made. Better still, actually make sure those changes are in game and accurate, since there seems to be a huge amount of incorrect NPC text still.

I think the fact that there's 70 pages of information is proof enough. No one said it had to be organized, just that it's available, which it is.

There isn't 70 pages of info since most of it isn't actual information, just people posting about general stuff. There probably isn't enough posts with actual tespia information to make up a 20ish page thread, so while it's visible and available it isn't something anyone who wants the information is going to be willing to do. (By the way, i didn't go through the 70 page thread like it was a chore. I was lurking on it since it was made, though i didn't start doing that until page 10 or 20 because i had other things to do.) The point stands though, if they want to hype things up they have to be more open and detailed towards what we should expect.

I think the fact that there's 70 pages of information is proof enough. No one said it had to be organized, just that it's available, which it is.


Perfection should be everyone's final intent. To say otherwise is absolutely ludicrous. If you want to buy a product where the creator aimed for mediocrity then... that sounds like a serious problem, but don't expect other people to be satisfied with that. EVERYONE should be aiming to produce the best product they can. People shouldn't need to play scavenger hunt all over the internet to learn what they want to know. If Nexon is going to try and say that this is a big update and people should be excited for it, and should come back to check it out, they kinda need to tell people what the hell it is they're supposed to come check out. There's some vagueness in the first post regarding what they've changed, but it really doesn't say anything. To be honest, I still don't have a very good idea of what's in Big Bang aside from skill and map changes. There's a LOT of stuff that's been altered. Hell, the whole reason sites like SP etc. exist is because Nexon has always done a terrible job at telling people what they're doing. you can say "That makes things more exciting" but all it's really done is cause a lot of disinformation on sites like Basil to take root.

It would be so easy to correct if Nexon would put out some accurate information themselves before the last minute, but they don't. To go off the first quote here, Takebacker had to dig through 70 pages of public information to find out what he needed to know. All that information is public, there's no reason for Nexon to treat it as if it's secret. If they would just put it on their site, that wouldn't be necessary. At one point they had detailed patch notes, then they went to worthless outlines, and for a while there were no notes at all. Now they've started to become aware of the need for patch notes but they still don't quite get what belongs in them. If you want your players to appreciate the scale of the changes in Big Bang, TELL THEM ABOUT IT. Tell us every little change that was made. Better still, actually make sure those changes are in game and accurate, since there seems to be a huge amount of incorrect NPC text still.

Okay first off what are you buying here? You aren't buying anything here. Play scavenger hunt? Really? Seriously Isaac when Fiel puts up his extractions its very neat and precise and many players then put that on other sites. You really think everyone outside of SP cares about what the math is behind the accuracy formula? Or what square root of pi added to the hypotenuse of DEX= attack? No not everyone cares about that. If you really want to know what the whole core of Big Bang is then go work for NEXON. Fiel and many others especially on SP has many formulas already, codes and etc already outlining and detailing several aspects that were changed. NEXON doesn't need to pacify anyone and break down part by part whats in it, what the letter Q means and why 3 1 20= Cat. SP and Basil exist because NEXON "sucks"? Seriously? What does Basil have anything to do with extraction information? It has people who made guides using information and then talk about things, as well as use it as a MapleStory Ebay. sp has and always will be a one huge discussion forum for everything MS. The extractions don't have to be there but they are because Fiel enjoys sharing his findings with the community.

So your saying is NEXON should post tons of pictures about Tespia all over their website? If you want to find out information don't be lazy and expect NEXON to just pacify you. Do the research and if you find something you find it if you don't you don't. At that point just wait till the release comes and experience it first hand. When has NEXON ever treated Big Bang as a secret? The first time they mentioned it they already knew the community knew about it. Hell -Hime- kept saying on the forums over and over and over again "Watch for info on Big Bang soon." NEXON even said and I quote, "In Korea they called it the Big Bang. But we don't know what to call it!" implying very simply right there we know more than half the community knows about it now we want your feed back. Why should patch notes be detailed? A simple outline telling you whats here, whats there and whats changed is all you needed. They don't need to write a 5 paragraph essay for every new map and every new change that would be ridiculous. One word: Tespia. Plus I can't believe you and so many other people are getting so worked up over what quest text says. Just let it go it is NOT big deal. If it gets fixed it gets fixed if it doesn't move on. inb4 you say ANYTHING. Yes, I do read every single quest I take it and if it says "My dogs like seal meat please get sea horse tails" it shouldn't bother you. If it does then seriously just stop playing because things will be mis-worded almost every patch in every game you play.

You really think everyone outside of SP cares about what the math is behind the accuracy formula?

No, but I'm quite sure they'd like to know why they can't snipe newts anymore at lower levels.

I'll take the infraction.

You're a pineappleing moron. Tired of arguing with you, tired of watching other people try to explain the SIMPLEST concepts to you. Please stop posting, you have NO IDEA what you're saying. I have no idea what you're trying to say.

Or what square root of pi added to the hypotenuse of DEX= attack?

I'm not interested in getting into a big debate with you because you're too dense to take in any logical arguments that don't agree with this view you've got built up. I'm saying they should strive to produce the best game they can, you're saying "Who cares if they can't make the text in the game make sense! If you want a game that makes sense, play something else!" which is absolutely ridiculous. In an ideal situation, players, especially TESTERS who were chosen specifically for this purpose, should be reporting bugs and typos and such that they come across. It's then Nexon's job to read these reports, investigate, and fix them, so that the game is better for everyone. If Nexon doesn't fix them, they're not keeping up their role.

I honestly can't even believe that someone could claim this. Mistakes should be fixed, it doesn't matter if it's big or small. I seriously hope you change your mind about this before the time comes for you to get a job, because if you tried to tell your boss that you'd be out on your ass before the end of the day.

No, but I'm quite sure they'd like to know why they can't snipe newts anymore at lower levels.

Thats why a person should do the research.

I'll take the infraction.

You're a pineappleing moron. Tired of arguing with you, tired of watching other people try to explain the SIMPLEST concepts to you. Please stop posting, you have NO IDEA what you're saying. I have no idea what you're trying to say.

Or what square root of pi added to the hypotenuse of DEX= attack?

Really Sarah? I mean really. If you think I was serious about the last thing you said please get a reality check. Plus Sarah if your so smart why don't you shut your mouth with the insults and instead of lashing them out at every person you don't like actually explain something. Thats all you do is lash out insults say how wrong a person is give a dumbass excuse why something cannot be or why it shouldn't be. Thats all I'm saying to you and if you don't like me fine I don't need your approval at all. You don't like me I hate you then ignore me as I am you from now on. Good day.

I'm not interested in getting into a big debate with you because you're too dense to take in any logical arguments that don't agree with this view you've got built up. I'm saying they should strive to produce the best game they can, you're saying "Who cares if they can't make the text in the game make sense! If you want a game that makes sense, play something else!" which is absolutely ridiculous. In an ideal situation, players, especially TESTERS who were chosen specifically for this purpose, should be reporting bugs and typos and such that they come across. It's then Nexon's job to read these reports, investigate, and fix them, so that the game is better for everyone. If Nexon doesn't fix them, they're not keeping up their role.

I honestly can't even believe that someone could claim this. Mistakes should be fixed, it doesn't matter if it's big or small. I seriously hope you change your mind about this before the time comes for you to get a job, because if you tried to tell your boss that you'd be out on your ass before the end of the day.

I'm just going to end this here. I just laugh at you at how worked up you get over literally nothing. Not everything will be fixed all of the time and thats how it is and thats how it will always be. My point of my argument was that your nitpicking at some of the smallest things that don't even matter. If it's fixed it's fixed if itsnot its not. There are far more important things to be fixed than a simple text error.

It would be nice if we could take the negative bickering to PMs.

On Topic: Hype is hype. It's pretty obvious at this point we're going to know more about BB than what they're telling us. Afterall we have all the extraction data.

If you expect Nexon to fiddle with quests and such to fix KMS made inconsistencies between Tespia and live patch, you are in for a disappointment

@KaosStorm: I do not know about you, personaly I disslike being taken for a dumbskull friggin peon by a company I have supported for 5 years. Taking credit for something they only marginal were involved with and then having the guts to be vague about what BB really is, no, that is just too rich.

Oh, believe me, I'm not defending the lazy pineappleers, no. The point I'm trying to put through, and as an answer to your post, is that MS (be it devs, PR, whatever) are not actively trying to makes us feel like idiots or something, they are catering to the lowest common denominator, which it isn't us btw, but the miriads of players that really don't know or want to now the inside mechanics of the game.

Thats why a person should do the research.

You mean... they should find out the math of the accuracy formula? WELL, LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE CARES ABOUT IT

You mean... they should find out the math of the accuracy formula? WELL, LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE CARES ABOUT IT

No I don't. I meant if someone cares THAT much and can't figure out from the countless of other times that subject hasn't been brought up then just ask someone or figure it out yourself. Even a new player will figure it out without research eventually.

No I don't. I meant if someone cares THAT much

You make it sound like an incredulous thing that people care about getting the fastest EXP possible. The new accuracy formula really factors into that nowadays. Or... futuredays. After BB, you know what I mean.

You make it sound like an incredulous thing that people care about getting the fastest EXP possible. The new accuracy formula really factors into that nowadays. Or... futuredays. After BB, you know what I mean.

I'm not saying that at all. My argument short and sweet is that probably 60-70% of the MS population does not care about the math and formulas behind accuracy like you guys do. It's not a bad thing to know it's just that I doubt really THAT many people care. They probably just only care about the basics like can't hit anything 100% above your level and anything else that factors into that equation I really highly doubt they do not care about it.

I'm not saying that at all. My argument short and sweet is that probably 60-70% of the MS population does not care about the math and formulas behind accuracy like you guys do. It's not a bad thing to know it's just that I doubt really THAT many people care. They probably just only care about the basics like can't hit anything 100% above your level and anything else that factors into that equation I really highly doubt they care about.

Which still requires some knowledge of the accuracy formula. Nexon isn't divulging that information, as usual. Even a base-level explanation of "well, now you can't really hit monsters above your level all that well" would suffice.

I'm just going to end this here. I just laugh at you at how worked up you get over literally nothing. Not everything will be fixed all of the time and thats how it is and thats how it will always be. My point of my argument was that your nitpicking at some of the smallest things that don't even matter. If it's fixed it's fixed if itsnot its not. There are far more important things to be fixed than a simple text error.

Who said I was getting worked up over anything? All I'm saying is they should try to fix any errors there are, big or small. You're saying "no one should ever bother fixing anything because there will always be errors so what's the point?" This is a horrible point of view to take, and I don't think anyone's going to agree with it. Keep in mind you're the one who came in here guns blazing.

A small error is easy to fix, so there's no excuse not to do it.

Uh guys can we just take a step back and see what were really arguing about? It's a press release, they aren't, and correct me if I'm wrong, ever released that kind of information, why expect it? Everyone can sit here and tell me "Oh everyone know's what's going to happen with big bang!" But majority probably doesn't.

In fact majority will probably miss this notice. Take the time to look at the nexon forum's, I mean, really, have you seen the posts in that garbage? That trashcan is essentially the main scope of what they see as the populace.

You all are bickering about how a company should be ran, how it should be changed, what they do wrong ect ect. But what you seem not to realize that even having a technical section is not even obligatory. When you play the game you take these risks. It's not right, it's not fair, but such an advantage leaves you as a victim.

So let's all take a chill pill, let the month of december pass and wait for the patch. I really, really doubt they won't do an SP reset, it will cause such an uproar if they didn't that it force them too. That's just a type of suicide they do not want to meet.