The Road to Hoenn and beyond.

HitmonFonty

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This is the current staff plan for progress in the foreseeable future. It is not complete, we will still be bringing out some updates unheralded but for the most part what you see here is what you will be getting, in time.

As always constructive feedback and suggestions welcome and encouraged. :)

***Client and Server updates are not included in this plan. This is strictly a content related plan- additions to the gameworld itself rather than the mechanics of the game. The client of course remains our top priority, so any staff that are needed for client related tasks will be concentrating on those rather than anything here.***


Project Priority:

1. Completing Kanto and Johto.

*Respawning: A lot of completing Kanto and Johto depends on the spawns and other projects happening alongside it. It will be impractical to continue with other major projects before this is done.
* Major map bug fixes, some will also be updated to reflect the fact that PWO is set further in the future from when some currently show. However updating ALL the maps is not a priority that will stop us moving on to the next major projects.
* Progress quests such as the recently released Olivine Lighthouse quest are also planned. Some will need to be completed within the Kanto/Johto project, while others could be added in at a later date.
-Completed as of surfboard quest inclusion.
* TMs- whether by adding quests or as gym rewards or other ways, we do plan to get the majority of working TMs into Kanto and Johto, if not all of them, as soon as physically possible.
-Have added enough to consider this no longer a priority
* While creating a story/theme for progress through Kanto and Johto- like the Team Rocket storyline in the handhelds- would be desirable before saying we have completed those regions, progressing beyond Kanto and Johto is also not dependent on this feature. Although if we have the man/woman hours to add this in it prior to moving to the next project it will certainly be done.
(This may seem like a lot, but in reality the Spawn Project is the last actual major project standing in the way of completing Kanto and Johto.)


2. Elite Four and Sevii Islands.

The Elite 4 has been discussed many times over the years. Will we or won't we add it, and how? Well the will we can now be answered. Yes! The how is still in the discussion stage, though we will say that it will be available only after defeating both Kanto and Johto. Along with this project is of course Victory Road.

Sevii Islands as many players have discovered over the years are already mapped and ingame. We plan to create a network of quests throughout the islands which will be a prelude to being given access to the next Region.

3. Hoenn
The current plan is not to work on the whole region all at once while you all (im)patiently wait in the sidelines for it all to be done. We plan instead to use the Block system that we have been using with the Spawn Testing. So once we have the maps and other content finished up to the first badge, it will be released for public use/testing while we work on the next block up to the second badge and so on. EDIT 11/18/2016: May change release strategy.

If possible we hope to set it up so we can continue on with our current accounts into Hoenn, but without access to pokemon or items, so making a fresh start. Access to the full account (while in Hoenn) would not be allowed until reaching a certain undecided point there. This is the most desired scenario so far, but depending on how difficult it is to implement we could still take a different direction.

Hoenn and Sinnoh are planned to be paired in the same way as Kanto and Johto for progress purposes. This means that they will have similar wild and gym levels to the current regions.

The above are thoughts are a result of years of speculation of bringing Hoenn into the game by players and staff alike, but are still not carved in stone- and player input will as always play a big part in our final decisions.

EDIT 11/18/2016: The above is still the basic idea. We may have some moderate differences on release, however, such as exact pokemon/quest/item progress management systems.

4. Sinnoh
This is further in the future than we can see or plan for specifically right now. A complete new set of tiles is needed for this project so we need to plan well ahead for it. [/quote]

Meanwhile Projects: (Any of these could happen whenever, during the above categories)

(Any Order)
•Battle System updates, including addition of move tutors and TMs
- EDIT 11/18/2016: We just need abilities/natures/berry trees before I cross this off the list. So far we have all but 13 moves working with several tutors and TMs out since the creation of this list.
•Battle Tower
- Completed Sunday 7th June 2015
•Finish the Music Redesign Project
•Events- particularly weekend events
•Better staff policies, tools, etc.


*Do not ask for due dates on these projects. There are none. This is a volunteer run project and even individual staff cannot guarantee they will be available to continue with any task in a given time frame. Real life can and regularly does interfere with PWO. It is not a job that we have to turn up to in order to pay bills, it is not something we can or should put ahead of family or other real life commitments. No matter how much we love this game- and love of the game is something we all have in common- we can't predict what will get in the way of our completing set objectives.
 

Saric

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Good to see at least some amount of planned things. Keep it up.
 

EcoWOLFrb

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My suggestion would be not to over think things. I would hate to see weeks of discussion for one simple quest holding up projects unnecessarily. Make up some ideas, take the best one, refine it a bit and be happy with it, then move on.
 

HitmonFonty

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I'm not saying we can't over-discuss things at times, that certainly can happen. :) However it doesn't hold up projects, it really is just a matter of having the time to make them happen, not organise them. We currently have clear lists of tasks for each staff group to do, so if they have time to put to the game they never need to be twiddling their thumbs waiting on decisions.
 

Nightmare!

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Yes!!!!, this is one of the list that I always wanted to see from PWO Staff. It's great that you guys have started to listen to the players and stopped making everything so private, and for my opinion this is step #1!
 

Pretentious

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*Sniffle*

Just wanted to voice my appreciation to all of staff for putting together a list like this.

As somebody else already pointed out, I think everyone is extremely excited to see this list. I have complete faith in the staff to put together quality quests in order to make these promising new additions transition smoothly into the current game.

Since the completion of Kanto/Johto is the top priority, is there anything the players can do to help the process? We recognize that staff members are volunteers and have limited time, so I'm sure there are plenty of players that wouldn't mind helping out in any way they can. Keep up the good work guys & gals!
 

HitmonFonty

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Probably the best help you can give is to jump in and test the new spawn Blocks when we release them. The sooner we can be sure they are working as intended the sooner we can move on to the next, and the more players who take part in the testing the faster that will happen. :)
 

Rigaudon

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HitmonFonty said:
Probably the best help you can give is to jump in and test the new spawn Blocks when we release them. The sooner we can be sure they are working as intended the sooner we can move on to the next, and the more players who take part in the testing the faster that will happen. :)

To add to this:

Aside from the obvious glitch/exploit reports, feedback is utter gold. It helps keep us from just blindly stumbling around, trying to find what you guys like. We're trying to get better at this, and our efforts to reach out and ask people things have been more successful than in the past. However, when players tell us simple things like:

"My favorite quest feature is [x], my least favorite is [y]."
"This one quest/feature was not fun for me when I was going through the game."
or "This small update I'm suggesting would really help balance the game/be meaningful to me (ex: Egg Moves)."

It really speeds up the process.
 

Rainsinch

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I can second this @Rig, you all have no idea how important feedback is as it's not necessarily true that all staff have a great idea of what constitutes as good content. There's a line between laborious and fun that we sometimes cross, help us identify the boundaries. Details are important.
 

Electrofreak

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@Rig

I would like some in-game cake, but the cake would be a lie. How can this be implemented without the cake being a lie? Pls respond or I rebort.


@ Fonty

Is Fanta your cousin?
AZ0000169-2T.jpg




@ Bluerise

Is Redrise your arch-nemesis?



@ Jinji

What is it like not having levitate as a Gengar?


@ Pansy

Do you feel that your rights are fully recognized as the only plant on staff? Do any of the vegans try to eat you? Do you wilt when they don't water you?


@Donar

Y u no map yeti?




Serious note: We NEED waterfall and surf. Not enough pokemon learn scald, and on the physical end only a few pokemon learn Aqua tail, but that can miss. We need waterfall for the 100% accuracy and for more diverse water pokes being used.


#BestPost2014
 

Merse

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THANK YOU!

That's exactly what I was meant when I was talking about communication. It should be made a sticky :)

I especially like the idea of starting fresh in Hoenn but later being getting access to it with everything you already had before. It adds both new challenge and continuity to the game. All we need is a good backstory...
Idea: Going there you have a shipwreck, or you are being attacked and robbed by some new criminal organization. And you wouldn't have access to what you had before you get to X town which has connection to the Kanto/Jotho PC system.
 

Tha-Kram

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maybe you could think of a quest, I like the shipwreck part of Merse
but if you think of a hurricane that also went on land, you can create a teenage wasteland that needs to be rebuild
not entirely wasteland, then you would need 2 different maps for the players who fixed it all and the players who are in the rebuilding phase
 

Cleveland

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So pumped for the elite four and the new regions.

Wait, the Sevii islands are already in game? How do I get to them? Is there a thread on those?
 

HitmonFonty

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ClevelandFan said:
So pumped for the elite four and the new regions.

Wait, the Sevii islands are already in game? How do I get to them? Is there a thread on those?

The maps have been ingame since forever, but that's all there is, just maps. No NPCs or spawns etc.
 

Cleveland

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HitmonFonty said:
ClevelandFan said:
So pumped for the elite four and the new regions.

Wait, the Sevii islands are already in game? How do I get to them? Is there a thread on those?

The maps have been ingame since forever, but that's all there is, just maps. No NPCs or spawns etc.
How do I access them? Kinda wanna walk around haha
 

Julio~

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ClevelandFan said:
HitmonFonty said:
ClevelandFan said:
So pumped for the elite four and the new regions.

Wait, the Sevii islands are already in game? How do I get to them? Is there a thread on those?

The maps have been ingame since forever, but that's all there is, just maps. No NPCs or spawns etc.
How do I access them? Kinda wanna walk around haha
You can't. Only Staff have access to them.
 

Isguros

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I love everybody, except for Brennan; I really, really love love you, man. Can't wait for Kalos! Keep up the good work!!
 

Brennan

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Isguros said:
I love everybody, except for Brennan; I really, really love love you, man. Can't wait for Kalos! Keep up the good work!!
Don't say my name. Thanks.
 
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