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Savage Randy

Galactico - Mind / Elec Dom

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IF possible, that AI cost would be significant, merely shifting buckets in a budget. There would still be a lot of foundational resources needed which have real cost. The large investments being made in AI currently are not being made to drive down costs but rather to capture them. Yes those services could potentially be offered at a discount, but at this juncture I am guessing speed will be the driver and that might end up being very expensive. Would someone be able to build Stardew Valley using a more available AI, absolutely. Not trying to be pessimistic, just offering a realistic 'this is how the world works' view. Putting out a homebrew hit is definitely possible. Developing a triple-A+ title with the expectations you mentioned is a level of effort akin to the credits we see at the end of a Marvel movie.

Understanding potential audience, platform availability, marketing.. there are huge variables at play which would need to be examined and locked down. Red Dead Redemption 2: 2018 estimated budget of around $350 million to $400 million. Earned over a $1 billion in just a week of its release. (that's some rarefied air) Baldur’s Gate 3: 2023 estimated $100+ million (not really an apples to apples) I think I could do it in four years for about $180M with an expansion 18 months later for ~$60M. I'd want a contingency budget of near $36M and an understanding that it may not be profitable out of the gate.

Category Estimated Cost Range (USD) Details 1. Game Design & Pre-Production $500,000 – $5 million Concept art, game design documentation, prototyping, market research 2. Development Team Salaries $10 million – $100+ million Developers, designers, animators, AI engineers, testers, etc. 3. Graphics & Visual Assets $5 million – $50 million 3D modeling, animation, environment design, ray tracing, VFX 4. Audio & Music $1 million – $10 million Voice actors (celebrities or professionals), sound effects, studio recording, licensed music 5. Game Engine & Development Tools $500,000 – $10 million Licensing costs (if applicable), tools for back-end, physics engines, proprietary engine maintenance 6. Quality Assurance (QA) & Testing $1 million – $10 million Functional testing, bug tracking, optimization for platforms 7. Marketing & Promotion $10 million – $300+ million Trailers, influencer campaigns, pre-launch ads, event showcases, cross-media promotions 8. Post-Launch Support & Updates $1 million – $20 million DLCs, patches, seasonal updates, live service team 9. Platform Licensing & Distribution $500,000 – $5 million Fees to console makers (e.g., Sony, Microsoft), digital storefront cuts (Steam, Epic) 10. Miscellaneous (Legal, HR, Office, etc.) $500,000 – $5 million Legal fees, equipment, office space, insurance, admin overhead

100% We're playing it now. New content, new powersets. COX3 with "new graphics engine, more sophisticated AI, populated cities with a lot more stuff happening." blah blah blah What you are asking for could be $120M+ on the cheap. a reasonable budget would need to be around $250M and could still balloon on a team. Start buying those lottery tickets. There's of late been quite a disruption in this space and a bit of a gobbling up / reshuffling of talent. Just the cost to actually come up with an answer, a rough plan, and take the temperature on partnerships is gonna be a couple million.

If you didn't have the character before, you likely will not notice beyond the reduced target caps and the need for accuracy.

Not all sets are nor should be the same. Survivability and damage output typically offset each other (excel in one and get a little less of the other). This is as intended, "feel" is very subjective. "compensate" if I want the use AoEs I choose to play an archetype / power set that is better at them and not one that is "downright weak". There is no AoE issue once a melee is an Incarnate. Judgement. Before Incarnates and in general: One good to superior AoE is typically available. Ancillary/Patron Power Pools can offer another. Pool powers can offer a third. An armor with a damage aura increases AoE passively. Tactically, learning to aim or position cones is another way to increase AoE effectiveness. (jump and fire being especially simple & effective)

You could have taken some time to volunteer spaying and neutering feral cats in rural merica for all I know.. Did you win against the fascists?

+1,000 With wide spread use it is a difficult task to get right without over correcting or undershooting. While most folks shouldn't be worried, those taking full advantage to an extreme likely won't be surprised. Any change would be well telegraphed.

Plenty of folks are willing to agree things are a little cheap at the higher levels. (with the exception of a handful of very specific uber expensive items) At the same time, things are expensive at lower levels. 3-5M for Luck of the Gamblers is the norm but they can be had for even less. That's not much for a level 50+. That's a lot for level 32 and below. My personal opinion: 1) The cost to upgrade enhancements using Upgrade should be reduced. 2) The drop rate for rare salvage could be increased for lower level content. This might help the low end without drastic market swings. I don't have an opinion for the higher levels which effectively equates to do nothing sans a better idea.

chef's kiss! @Snarky

Choices.. ranged or melee While snarkles has been very successful with the dark/dark corruptor (an excellent choice here) I may offer an alternative: Get up close and personal, embrace the power of the undead. Brute Dark Melee (it's so on theme, Siphon Life, Smite, Touch of Fear, Soul Drain) Dark Armor (Dark Embrace, Death Shroud, Dark Regeneration, Cloak of Darkness, Cloak of Fear, Soul Transfer) a player could go with Invulnerability, Psionic Armor, Regeneration, Willpower and still be on theme

Sweet! I now have a full set of cryptic tools to respond articulately, yet with brevity, to almost any query. /jranger +1 rainbow

"Is it time to make items scarcer or cost more?" "No." that's a fair position.

guilty as charged. no shy-ing from disagreement here either. actively recruiting other perspectives (agree/disagree/outside-the-box) can be some choppy water.. still, thought exploration can distill to something more, often it doesn't. c'est la vie.

ummmm... outrage much? This is a 'general discussion' not a suggestion. lol. No one is doing anything. You're going to be okay. "what about all the new players like myself?" Folks like myself might welcome reading what quality of life suggestions you might have, what could improve the experience from a new player's perspective, and thank you for constructively participating in this discussion. "Shame on you" I gotta ask, did you even read the first post?

if you haven't read or listened to "Book 1 We Are Legion (We Are Bob)".. you will enjoy.

Appreciated. The topic kinds chose itself after Yomo's thread. There is an element of things being expensive for new characters and cheap for level 50s. Maybe the pooling of enhancements contributes heavily but it does seem to go beyond that.

That's fair. Could we keep double infamy until a specific level like say 45 (just picking at random, no reason to say 45) It's odd how folks have trouble differentiating 'wanting something' from 'wanting to discuss'. You're at least saying 'seems to..' A variety of perspectives and/or thoughts is my only goal here.

This is a semi-serious question, curious if anyone has thoughts or maybe a quick plusses and minuses. Making things scarcer likely wouldn't work well and could just increase farming. Is there a flip-side to @Yomo Kimyata's question on making all things free? It's easy to make inf, maybe too easy.. which makes things dirt cheap for many. Is there really any point to earning more once we can buy everything we want instantly for dozens of characters? The expectation these days seems to be leveling to 50 in a handful of hours (maximizing 2xp, patrol xp, special xp tuned missions) and then getting a complete build immediately while starting to build out incarnates. If this is way off, I'd be happy to hear it. The downside where players are self limiting infamy/influence gain is simply ignored. Maybe it's easy to ignore because $$ is so easy to get. Maybe there's a different reason. Double XP Booster (1 Hour) This will immediately grant the player a 100% boost to XP gain. While this boost is active, Influence gain will be reduced by 100%. You may purchase up to 8 hours. Soo... let's see where this ends up. credit: @Yomo Kimyata for the original topic this is piggybacking

If they said dozens would that suffice? For me I'd have to wild-ass-guess it and guess dozens fully kitted and maybe 2-3x unfinished level 48-50s. Hold please.. Total: ~30 pages of characters across all servers. ~95 level 50s with about 35-40 complete T3+ builds. Note: It sure would be great to be able to sort the character lists by level, archetype, zone, etc... Nice mention! And what-a-JaCKPoT-roll right as tanks were peaking!!

Watch out.. Lumi is back from 'vacation' and coming in hot!!