Thread: Global Agenda (mmorpg + fps)

I'm already starting to get burned out... there just isn't much of anything to do in GA beyond queue up for PvP and hope you'll get one of the fun game modes like Scramble or Demolition instead of yet another Control or Breach. AvA just has no interest for me (it's just Breach with a bigger time investment and no tangible rewards) and leveling to have to unlock my class's fun stuff is something I expect of games like WoW, not a shooter. Why can't we start with everything unlocked, and the only reasons to level are prestige and the ability to use cooler-looking suits and dyes and other cosmetic things?

Originally Posted by Manse

Originally Posted by PizzaSHARK!

I'm already starting to get burned out... there just isn't much of anything to do in GA beyond queue up for PvP and hope you'll get one of the fun game modes like Scramble or Demolition instead of yet another Control or Breach. AvA just has no interest for me (it's just Breach with a bigger time investment and no tangible rewards) and leveling to have to unlock my class's fun stuff is something I expect of games like WoW, not a shooter. Why can't we start with everything unlocked, and the only reasons to level are prestige and the ability to use cooler-looking suits and dyes and other cosmetic things?

AvA is going to change greatly by the end of the month and we'll be dragging more people into it. As a robo, you'll have the game-winning responsibility of the beacon. You can't just leave it somewhere when you're playing a beastly team. It has to be carried and protected. Not to mention massive rocket platforms face smashing vindicators. Plus, they're changing queues so you can opt out of game types you don't want, and adding new game types to ava (and to the game overall).

I'm going to have to disagree with your levelling complaints. It should take you less than a week to hit the mid 20s and unlock everything you want, maybe another week to 30. Hell, I was pretty much offline for an entire week and hit 30 this sunday (so, two weeks or so since launch). If you had everything unlocked at the beginning, people would complain about not having anything rewarding as they level. And you expect levelling out of shooters, too. The Call of Duty and Battlefield series have had unlocks for some time now, it's not a new thing in shooters.

Use the agency, use alliance chat. Get with a team when you go into pvp or pve. You'll find it far more entertaining.

That doesn't mean it's a good thing to have to grind XP to unlock your class's stuff. UT would've sucked if I had to spend 10 hours playing before I could finally earn the right to pick up and use that Shock Rifle.

I'm not saying it's a particularly long grind... at only about 8k XP per level, that's only like 8 games or so if you win, so it's not long... and it's certainly not as boring as the grinds in a game like WoW, but it's still goddamned irritating to go "well shit I coulda done something there if I'd had my rocket turret/power station/whatever." Not having it because you didn't bring it with you is one thing - that's a tactical decision made. Not having it because you haven't spent 20 hours grinding XP like the other guy is bullshit. Being able to equip nifty suits, helmets, prettier dyes, and flair items like the Spartan helmet is plenty of incentive to level, plus the e-peen factor of being able to go "yeah? Well I'm level fuckin 34, and you're only 21! HAH!"

Hell, I'd be fine if it took a LONG time to level if it meant all of our equipment and skill points were unlocked right from the get-go. Just because the grind-XP-to-get-unlocks system is in other games doesn't mean it's particularly fun.

Originally Posted by Image

Honestly i think lvling for skills and abilitys are the reason i play this game. It makes me want to lvl more i could care less about equipment that doesnt do anything or colors i want stuff to get that makes my guy better.

What happens when you get all four classes to 30, then? Find a new game to play?

[-]March 2, 2010 - Global Agenda 1.1 Update Released

Updates to Global Agenda have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted.

New Features


Friends List: A Friends and Ignore list has been added (More...)

Mission Screen: When joining the Mercenary PvP queue, players have checkboxes to select the Map Types to queue for (Control, Breach, Demolition, Payload, Scramble).

Mission Screen: When joining a PvE queue, players have the ability to "Only join a balanced team." If this option is chosen, it may take longer to get a match, but you will be ensured of having one player from each class on your team.

Upgrades: Upgrades can now be repaired using Repair Kits that can be crafted using blueprints purchased in the Prototyping Center in Dome City. (More...)

Crafting: Additional rare and epic blueprint options have been added.

Crafting: There are now specific uncommon blueprints, so it is no longer necessary to craft random. Existing random blueprints have been converted to match the new scheme. To accommodate this:



All existing uncommon blueprints were removed from the game and your credits have been refunded.

There are now separate armor and weapon blueprint vendors in the crafting area. Each vendor sells 42 blueprints that craft a specific item (rather than the random chance at a stat as prior).

All upgrades and blueprints have been renamed to make them esier to identify. (Example: No longer do you have to wade through hundreds of Alpha Analysers to find one with a ranged damaged bonus. Now you can search on Ranged Analyser and see all of them with that particular stat).

Crafting: Item names are now more representative of the enhancements they provide.

Loot drops: Plates now drop at 2x the previous rate in PvE missions.

Loot drops: Alarm bots no longer drop loot.

Conquest: Two new Conquest Zones have been added -- Tradewind has times convenient for Oceanic players, and Anvil has a start time convenient to many European players. (More...)

Conquest: New tabs have been added to the CONQUEST MAP screen for "Combat Log" and "Alliance". These allow you to get a fuller picture of the recent activity and current state of a given Zone.

Conquest: Improved support for the Zone Win Condition has been added.

Conquest: Equipment brought into an AvA match that is not destroyed by the opposing team is no longer destroyed by the system if your team loses (this would happen a % of the time previously, by design).

Conquest: If you lose an AvA match, your dropship is now always destroyed.

Conquest: When a strike-force leader withdraws from a hex, a chat message is now sent to notify the entire strike force.

Conquest: Multiple maps rotated for each type and level of facility (before there was one map for each facility level). Any given hex with a given facility type will always play the same map.

VOIP: Players with multiple speaker/microphone devices on their PC, may now choose which devices to use for in-game voice. Visit the SOUND tab on the SETTINGS menu.

VOIP: Options have been added to disable Instance Voice, Team Voice or all Voice. Visit the SOUND tab on the SETTINGS menu.

VOIP: A variety of changes intended to improve stability and performance have been implemented.

Settings: An option to enable mouse smoothing has been enabled. Visit the GENERAL tab on the SETTINGS menu.

Settings: An option has been added under Video Settings for a "borderless" window. This is most useful for fast alt-tabbing while running at your monitor's native resolution.

Abuse Reports: Use chat command /report to report players for suspected cheating, griefing or harrassment. Use form "/report ". (More...)

Auction House: Several improvements to searching, filtering and sorting.

Agency Management: Your Agency's Message of the Day is displayed in chat when you login to the game, or when an Agency member with permissions modifies it.

Agency Management: An option exists under SETTINGS | CHAT to be notified in chat each time an Agency member logs logs into or out of the game.

Agency Management: Level now shows on the Agency screen (for online characters only).

Agency Directory: The Agency Directory now offers the option to filter by Conquest HQ Zone.

PVP: No more than 4 players of the same class will be match-made into a mission on the same side.

PVP: Overtime is now limited to a maximum of 3 minutes. If the attackers do not capture the objective during this time, the Defenders win.

PVP: The game-type (Breach, Control, etc) is now visible on the loading screen for each PvP map.

Equip Screen: Improved tooltips for level/skill/seasonal requirements.

Human Resources: Dye Vendor #3 has gone off strike and is now back at work.

Miscellaneous: Various map cleanups and improvements.

Miscellaneous: Various audio/sound effects improvements.

Miscellaneous: Various animation cleanups and improvements.

Miscellaneous: Visual elements on combo boxes modified.

Miscellaneous: Paging support has been improved/added on several screens throughout the game.

Miscellaneous: F3 now launches the Friends list instead of Network Stats. Use "/stat net" in chat or F8 to show network stats.

Miscellaneous: The radar is now disabled in Dome City.

Miscellaneous: You can now rotate your character in the equip screen and vendor preview screen by left-clicking and dragging the mouse (same as character select screen).

Miscellaneous: /dance will now randomly play one of the games' several dance-like emotes.

Bug Fixes

Some crash conditions have been fixed.

Agency Recruiting screen not updating under some conditions

Search and filtering on the Agency Directory improved.

Several fixes to Auction House search

Several fixes to Strikeforce Inventory management.

The Agency field now populates on the PvE Matchmaking box (previously blank).

Condition in which mouse was not properly locked during map load when in windowed mode has been fixed.

Various spelling failures corrected.

Death animations have been added to the Think Tank boss.

The proper key binding now shows on the ESC menu for AGENCY.

A condition that would cause some clients to lose text chat sporadically has been fixed.

Agency tax rate no longer displays in chat with lots of digits after the decimal point.

Fixed bug in which sniper projectile was not visible at long distances.

Damage messages now show correctly when damaged by an AvA deployable.

A fix to HQ relocation logic that allowed HQ's to be misplaced under some conditions when automatically moved by the system upon HQ loss.

Device Changes

The Drone Duration and Super Drones skills under the Robotics tree now function as intended.

Neutralize Wave: The base recharge time on all Neutralize Wave ranks is now 60 seconds (times had been inconsistent across ranks).

Damage on the AvA Mini-nuke has been increased to ensure it fully wipes out AvA Turrets within its range.

AvA Turret deploy time increased from 5 to 20.

AvA Turret collision improved

Armored Beacon I Class 1 Ore Requirement reduced from 25 to 20

Production Cost reduced to 350 on all Tech II Buildings, and Missile Complex, making them take less time to manufacture.

Research time on Tech II Mine and Tech II Factory Blueprints reduced to 330.

Resource requirement for Tech II Foundation blueprint reduced to 3000 Class 1 Ore, 300 Class 2 Ore.

Ununpentum requirement for Tech II Mine, Factory and Lab Blueprint reduced to 90.

Android Squad: Reduced Class 1 Ore requirement. Reduced production time. Reduced research cost.

Venom Bomb II no longer injures teammates (bug fix)

Patch 1.1 was released on the 2nd, yesterday. It's mostly bug fixes, some quality of life things (i.e. Friends list), and some changes to the crafting thing. Being able to select which game modes you want to queue for in PvP and the ability to select a balanced team for PvE makes a big difference - no more Control and Breach for me, it's just straight Demolition, Scramble, and Payload.

1.2 is supposed to be a big content patch and is supposedly planned for late March. They're talking about adding in a 4v4 arena mode with specialized maps (including a vertical map.) Might be fun.

1.2 hit today, March 16, two weeks after 1.1. Not bad.

[-]March 16, 2010 - Global Agenda Update Released

Updates to Global Agenda have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

New Features:

New items and features in this patch include:


4v4 Arena Queue: The 4v4 Arena Queue is for pre-made teams of four players, and offers two new maps built specifically for 4v4 combat.


Theft Missions(AvA): Agencies may now launch Theft Missions against enemy production facilities. Theft missions are launched just like capture missions, through a new option available on the bid window. Winning a theft mission grants an immediate reward to the attacking strike force, and shuts down operation of the facility for 15min (during which time the facility is also in lockdown). What you steal is dependent upon the tech level and type of the facility you ar raiding.


Defense Facilities (AvA): A Defense Facility allows you to SHIELD any two adjacent territories of your choice. These shields operate just like those made available from a base - they prevent all attacks on the shielded territory unless tactical missiles are used to break through the shield (from a Missile Complex in range). Unlike base shields, however, the shields provided by Defense Facilities can be removed by attacking the defense facility directly.


Trading and Abandoning Territories (AvA): Agencies will be able to trade or abandon territories! Both options are handled from the Agency Screen. For trading territory, you must offer the territory to a player who is currently online, and has permission to manage Agency Facilities for the Agency they are in. No more ghosting needed.


Lockdown Timers Increased (AvA): All lockdown timers for defending a territory will be increased to 15min.


Territory Tax Change (AvA): Territory not connected to your Agency HQ will count as double towards calculating territory tax in a zone. This means crossing a river, or owning territory in an additional zone, is going to become increasingly more expensive. If you are expanding around your HQ, you will not be affected by this tax change. (Note for large Alliances: We suggest making use of the new trading territories feature also in the content patch to better group your agency holdings).


Bidding Change - Personal Currency (AvA): All bidding for attacks now comes from PERSONAL INVENTORY rather than AGENCY INVENTORY. This will allow more players to lead strike forces, and it also helps fight some of the griefing we've seen in allowing a large number of players access to Agency funds. Agency members with the correct permissions can still withdraw any Agency funds they need prior to bidding.


Maximum Player Tax Cap (AvA): The maximum tax rate an Agency can set for it's members is now capped at 50%. Agencies needing to get more funds from their players can always ask for donations (anyone can donate to the Agency bank!)


Requirement to Form a Strikeforce (AvA): Agencies with fewer than eight (8) members can no longer form strike forces.


Map Adjustments: Bases now only shield the six hexes immediately around them. We recognize this change will affect a number of groups, but felt it was necessary with the implementation of Defense Facilities. Bases still offer better defense - as they require missiles to break - and we'll be adding on to what bases provide in the near future. We've also made some ADDITIONS to resource bonus areas. No resources have been removed.


New No-Facility: Battles in a territory where the facility is destroyed now play in a new map, with a new mission type.


City Chat Channel: Version 1.2 introduces a City Chat channel, which spans all public instances (Dome City and VR Arena). This is useful for looking-for-group communications. By default, the City Channel appears only under your "ALL" tab, but remember that you can configure your tabs using SETTINGS | CHAT.


Conquest Zone Changes

Each conquest zone is now open for 2 hours instead of 2.5 hours. Production will tick every 8 minutes instead of every 10. Zone start times have been adjusted for Daylight Savings Time (additional Daylight Savings Time adjustments will be made as Europe and Australia switch to DST later in the Spring). See article at: http://hi-rez.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/168

Bug Fixes, Device Mods and Minor Enhancements:
Bug fixes, device modifications and clean-ups in this patch include:

General: Added generic icons for Helmet and Armor Suits.

General: Fixed issues with the alliance invite timeout and sending notice to new agency after accepting invite.

General: Fixed queuing issue where users could get stuck in queue if a map doesn't launch correctly.

General: Fixed issue with push objectives colliding with player cameras sometimes.

General: Fixed issue with character customization slider when using "Back" button.

General: New UI sound for Level Up.

General: Fixed animation issue with player mesh not culling when camera enters it from ceiling.

General: Fixed issue where player mesh does not cull when the camera enters the pawn's collision from the ceiling.

General: Optimizations to memory use. May resolve some client-side crashes.

Device: Medic Regeneration now properly influenced by Heal Duration skills.

Device: Pain gun modified to provide buff points of 2, on top of normal damage effect. User will accumulate buff points on scoreboard from use.

Device: Fixed the Recon Stim Duration skill to increase the duration of the damage buff portion of the Visual Scanner.

AvA: Added ability to give a hex to an agency.

AvA: Fixed issue with transfer hex accept/decline box not going away when invite times out.

AvA: Transferring of territory to another agency now clears any production queue first.

AvA: Added credit reward for AvA (100 credits for every minute of a match, up to a max of 10 minutes -- so 1,000 credits max per mission).

AvA: Players can now bid with personal funds rather than agency funds.

General: Deployables and turrets now remember their health percentage correctly if they are picked up while deploying.

AvA: Fixed display issue with building a defense facility on a resource hex.

AvA: Fixed issue with steal missions going into overtime and requiring defenders to push objective all the way back to beginning.

AvA: Minor cleanups on cargo screen.

Crafting: Added paging buttons to crafting screen.

AvA: Fixed UI issue with facility production queue display not being readable.

AvA: Fixed issue where AvA turrets would color incorrectly if they just became relevant.

AvA: Transfering of territory to another agency now clears any production queue first. Resolves issue with incorrectly transferred items.

AvA: Fixed issue with deletion of strikeforce inventory stacks.

PvE: Fixed issue with Minion Ballista appearing to fire from face.

PvE: Improvements to strafing on Minion Ballista.

PVE: Improved animations on Boss Switchblade.

PvE: Boss Viking, Boss Vanguard and Support Guardian no longer shoot behind themselves.

PvE: Boss Shrike machine gun doesn't fire out of both sides.

PvE: Added AOE Stomp support to Uberwalker tree.

PVE: Improvements to Support widow tractor beam and other animations.

PvE: Fixed animation mesh issues with Boss Vanguard.

PvE: Improved death animation on bosses.

PvE: Added muzzle flashes to Boss Reaper.

PvE: Fixed animation mesh issues with Boss Switchblade.

PvE: Improved fire animations on support utility drone.

PvE: Added new lance style effect for the melee punch animation on the Boss Vanguard.

PvE: Fixed issue with Boss Viking spinning while deploying.

PvE: Fixed issue in which mesh on Support Utility Drone would go into ground slightly when idling.

Voice: Cleanup on Voice Settings menu.

Auction House: Clicking buyout properly pops up confirm box and locks out clicking in grid.

Auction House: Fixed issue with Combo Box on Auction house.

Mail: Fixed issue with mailing multiple quantities of same item.

Mail: Fixed issue where replies were sometimes not recognizing player names.

Originally Posted by Manse

it's quite a list, that's for sure. Hopefully they'll turn this game around

My personal dream is that they'll start implementing some of the old UT2k4 gamemodes into Global Agenda. I think GA would work really well with Assault and Bombing Run. Double Domination would be incredibly fun, too, though they might feel it's too similar to Scramble.

I'd also definitely like to see more vehicles in use - this is sometime super far in the future, and all we get are little robots we can ride around? Where are the damned tanks and APCs!? Who knows, maybe if they get the whole "wide open zone" type thing working, they could implement like a 20v20 or 30v30 Battlefield-esque gameplay mode - you can't tell me that wouldn't be totally badass.