Ask a Pizza - April 2021 Edition
Are there plans for a new raid? Or new difficulty? If so when is that in list of priorities? – espio7#9640
PizzaBenjamin: Raids are our bread and butter. We’ll be adding new Raids to the game pretty much as quickly as our dev cycle allows. In terms of a new Alliance Raid, absolutely we have plans to launch new ones and keep those coming. Our next Alliance Raid is roughly scheduled to come out around the same time as Campaign World 8.
I assume it will be revealed in an upcoming road map post, but do we have a quarter that the world launch is expected to be in? – kpandolu rhowa#5588
PizzaShawn: Our initial target is Q3 2021, but we’re a live product and do want to make sure we’re hitting some target metrics in Early Access before we fully expand to the wider launch territories. That does remain our goal though!
Are there plans to rework the existing formations, as some of them are very lackluster? – Trogburn#4676
PizzaDan: Yes, particularly, we want to update ones that aren’t working and add progression levels for more affective formations
What is the name of the game that the guildies are playing? – Lucariomon#6393
PizzaBenjamin: It’s Raid Boss. I know…crazy, right? I’ll hold why you recover from your brain exploding. đ
What is each developer’s favorite aspect of Raid Boss? – Trogburn#4676
PizzaShawn: The boss fights, the team really nailed getting the feel of MMO Boss Fights into a fun mobile experience. I like getting to new bosses and trying to learn the mechanics before going to our awesome community strategy guides for help :).
PizzaBenjamin:Â Itâs ours. We get to be silly, fun, innovative, and generally have an amazing time supporting the game and making sure our players are heard.
PizzaJermaine:Â Red Zones. Figuring out how to win battles in what is an action puzzler combined with RPG elements makes me feel like i’m playing something different than everything else on mobile.
PizzaDivo: Collecting! I must have them all!!
PizzaPablo: Raid members with summon abilities, so when youâre in a dungeon your five man team turns into a ten man!
PizzaJohn: Team Building for me, Iâve always been a fan of being presented with a diverse set of abilities and puzzling through them to form interesting combinations. Figuring out what characters I want to focus on, how to improve them, and then finally watching how my choices play out is always a good time.
PizzaZhuo: Everything I made!:D The most favorite aspect is players can find rules to avoid boss attack to win, sometimes I feel challenged.
What are your plans to expand the game after world 10 is finished? Will you keep adding on more worlds afterwords as updates? – Pentheon (Blacklist)#2292Â
PizzaBenjamin: Primarily we’ll be focusing on new Alliance Raids and features, as well as interesting and fun events with cool new Guildies and rewards. In the very long term, we’ll eventually consider adding a new campaign, or extending our existing one alongside higher Guildie levels.
Pineapple on Pizza? - (Multiple)
PizzaAllan: A combination of sweet, salty, spicy, and acidity? What more could you ask for? However, itâs understandable that not everyoneâs palette has reached a point where they can appreciate the finer things in life
PizzaJermaine: Who can deny the sweet, grilled taste of pineapple on a pizza, especially when combined with hotsauce, there is no better way to stimulate the senses of mouth pleasure.
PizzaShawn: It depends.Iâm not a Pizza purist so I think it has a place. Not a huge fan of fruit on pizza but the Bay Area chain Pizza My Heart has a signature pizza with apples on it that is pretty good so as long as the complimenting flavors work with it Iâm okay.
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PizzaBenjamin: Pineapple on pizza is vile. Only the most nefarious and underhanded people would choose to ruin the perfect food with such blasphemous refuse.
PizzaDivo: I live in a house divided. My husband is a staunch pineapple on pizza fan, while I abhor the mere idea. Itâs a miracle we are still married, especially when we share a pizza and some of that horrendous pineapple goop contaminates my side.
PizzaPablo: âPineapple on pizza you say?â That 50 DKP minus!!!
PizzaRachael: Iâm from Hawaii and this is so not a thing. Donât give in to the âHawaiian Pizzaâ marketing ploy!!!
PizzaZhuo: Just donât like sweetness in the entree, makes me feel I’m having chocolate with pastrami lol
Will all gear eventually max out at xx or 20, or just trinket/accessory? – Synless#9696
PizzaBenjamin: All gear is planned to max out at Tier 20, we just haven’t designed the final recipes yet.
How do you feel about the current power level of the longest term players compared to what’s available? – Pentheon (Blacklist)#2292
PizzaJermaine: This is just something that is a normal thing in a lot of live games, specifically mobile because of the way you get new players all the time. In a console game it’s not as common to get new players way after launch. So it ends up meaning we have to make sure we take both player types into account when building features. Sometimes that means we build a feature with everyone in mind, or we alternate because we dont want to leave a particular set of players unfed for too long.
Are there are plans of real time co-op to do raid battles with other players? – Lucariomon#6393
PizzaDan: Not right now. Real time is a big leap forward. But who knows in the future.
Will we ever have pets introduced into the game? – Trogburn#4676
PizzaDan: We would love to add more ways in general to personalize your game: Pets, guild hall decor, trophies, portraits, titles, etc.
Are there any plans to split servers up based on region in the long term future? – Pentheon (Blacklist)#2292
PizzaDan: At this time, no. But we may reconsider once the player base becomes really really big.
Will epic guildies be the main source of new guildies for the next while or will they be more rare? – espio7#9640
PizzaBenjamin: Eventually when we have an acceptable number of Epic Guildies, we’ll return to launching the normal ones. Epics will then be more rare in their release cadence. The biggest reason we need to keep Epic Guildies coming out one after another now, is so that there’s sufficient choices for PvP meta.
What’s your favorite thing about Gedran? Since he’s the best hero – Pentheon (Blacklist)#2292
PizzaShawn:Â The way he rocks this shirt! Bringing back that pirate top look from the 90s!
PizzaBenjamin: Heâs a calming presence but also I donât know if you can trust him. Iâm watching you, Gedran.
PizzaJermaine: The shoes, the shoes, itâs gotta be the shoes.
PizzaDivo: Who?
PizzaJohn: The hat, have you ever seen a hat that floppy, that stylish, that elegant?
PizzaTodd: He killed my father! Prepare to die!
If holiday events reoccur, will the same currency be used / can we hold on to leftovers and use it next year? – Trogburn#4676
PizzaShawn: We generally don’t want players to feel like there is a reason to hoard event currencies and hope to have enough interesting event stores where that won’t be a problem. We also tend to develop most of the Event economies with a single run in mind so it varies by the type of Events but generally we wouldn’t have leftover currencies.
Are holiday events going to be reoccurring? Or are they more limited? – espio7#9640
PizzaShawn: We’re still building out our long term Events road map but we are definitely planning on running more frequent Events as well as doing a better job of publicizing when and what is coming. I think there may be some that make sense to be reoccurring but there may be some adjustments/improvements between the iterations we run.
What is the best flavor of ice cream, and why is it Mint Chocolate Chip? – Trogburn#4676
PizzaJermaine: Nobody knows why Mint nâ Chip is the best flavor, itâs beyond my level of understanding.
PizzaDivo: Canât argue with this one. Mint is pretty darn awesome, but only if itâs green.
PizzaJohn:Â Mint Chocolate Chip probably lands solidly as second best but Iâve always been a supporter of the original flavor, Vanilla.
PizzaShawn: This one is tough because there are so many crazy new flavors with the explosion of fancy ice cream shops like Salt & Straw and other regional brands. For pre-gourmet ice cream craze favorites, Mint Chocolate Chip is pretty nice but my money is on something that mixes in a little sweet and savory. The Ben and Jerry âNetflix and Chillâdâ is pretty high on my national brands right now!
PizzaBenjamin: Nothing beats the Cheesecake flavor (w/crumbled up graham cracker) from Cold Stone.
PizzaPablo: First scoop Cheesecake, second scoop cake batter.
PizzaTodd: Phish food! \m/
PizzaRachael:Have you tried Pistachio? The color is the same as mint choco but itâs so much more sophisticated.
PizzaZhuo: Coffee flavor.
PizzaDan:Â Obviously, pizza flavor
Can you share the inspiration for each guildie? – magick86#4543
PizzaShawn: We will probably do more posts/content in the future about the guildie creation process. A lot of them draw inspiration from popular games/movies/anime/pop culture references. Then those references are reviewed and decisions are made on kit and visuals. There is also a process of defining their MMO player type and narrative/voice.
Are there any plans for some kind of alternate advancement system after heros reach the level cap? I know these systems can be difficult to balance around, but it could be designed in a way that adds flavor to heros without making them overpowered? – Kinson#5578
PizzaDan: Potentially, although we haven’t settled on any designs just yet. In general, we want players to find Raid Boss fun for a long time. So updating older characters with fresh sytems could definitely be in the future.
Any plans for doing enchantments? – Trogburn#4676
PizzaShawn: Stay tuned for our Road Ahead, something close to this is in the works.
How many languages are you planning to implement? And which ones? – Lucariomon#6393
PizzaDan: As many as needed. But we will probably start with the easiest to translate and fit into our existing UI (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese) Then expand from there.
Do you think the bleed debuff is to strong compared to the other debuffs still? – Pentheon (Blacklist)#2292
PizzaJermaine: So this is tricky, Bleed ticks at 40% DPS, while burn ticks at 20% every .4 sec, while poison is 15% every half sec. Technically burn is the strongest, but bleed is the only one that can have duplicates, and often has the longest durations. The recent nerf of Xer0’s Bleed was to get this down to a manageable level before we can get these buffs more in line with each other, and also affect team compositions. So to answer your question bleed is super strong, but I’ve limited the situations where it was out of control. namely Xero’s leader skill.
Who’s your favorite guildie? – Pentheon (Blacklist)#2292
PizzaDan: Iâve got some love for MuscleWizard, he is just fun to play with! I love sucking enemies into his Leader Ability
PizzaJermaine: Initially it was MuscleWizard, but Dan already said it, so Iâm going with RedDragon (expect a buff soon). I think her kit epitomizes a dragoon, I just think we can make her stronger.
PizzaBenjamin: LonginousLongname is my fave, by far. I love his Leader Ability and being able to control aggro with it.
PizzaShawn: Tough for me, BigBON3d definitely got me through the most Campaign fights but for favorite overall guildie I think I like MoreProudJaina the most.
PizzaDivo: FriendlyDude5, cus I love me some necromancer game play as well as skelly-puns.
PizzaPablo: KingofGames, need I say more?
PizzaJohn: While he is a bit generic I have a soft spot for ZappyMcZapZap, he has a theme and he sticks to it. I also have to give a shout out to my boy Nippleman for making me laugh out loud at his dialog quite often, itâs exactly the right amount of dumb to tickle my funny bone.
PizzaTodd: A parent should never have favorites, but GarbageDeeps does hold a special place in my heart! Just donât tell the others!
What are some of our favorite or more interesting metrics? – Psycho Romeo#3692
PizzaDivo: How many times people got âperfect gem activatedâ. Thatâs not a metric? JohnâŚâŚ
PizzaJohn: Itâs really fun to see the effects on the metrics when we drop a patch, and sometimes the unexpected consequences. For example, we recently reduced the difficulty of the super ultra death cacti in World 2 from deadly to dangerous. As you would guess the early world 2 stages with them got easier and as a result people were doing way better on those. The story doesnât end there though, a good bit more people were also now getting 2 stars instead of 3 stars against the first boss of world 2, the Sand Sludge. Removing the hard wall the cacti presented helped fix the first part of the world but left players less prepared for the upcoming boss. Overall it ended up being a positive change for the difficulty curve of the game but I would have never thought about the cascading effects of a change like that without the metrics revealing it to me.
PizzaPablo: Did you ask John already? What did he say? Iâm just gunna go with what he said.
PizzaBenjamin: Love seeing which Guildies are used the most.
PizzaDan: I love seeing the player activity spikes on day rollover, gotta collect those Dailies!
PizzaJermaine: I like looking at Daily Dungeon team comps, itâs interesting to see how it does or doesn’t change day by day.
PizzaShawn: Character usage, Gem spend, Dungeon success rate
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Are you pondering what I’m pondering? – Trogburn#4676
PizzaShawn: I think I’m picking up what you’re laying down and I agree. We need to end the Canadian monopoly on the great chip flavors! Bring us our Ketchup Lay’s!Â
Are there plans to add a cosmetic store for people who are at close to end game/ eventual end game? – espio7#9640
PizzaDan: Hopefully, or at least some way to gain and earn cosmetics!
When we play, we are playing as the leader guildy, a mystery force or just as everyone at the same time? – Lucariomon#6393
PizzaBenjamin: It’s kind of ethereal what we consider “YOU” the player to be in the fictional world of Raid Boss. I picture that you’re playing an MMO that has two roles (Guild Masters and Guild Members). As the Guild Master, you get to run the Guild, tell your Guild Members where to move in combat and when to use their best abilities, etc. Your Guild Members are (fictional) players that didn’t want to take on that kind of responsibility. Lucky for you they love that you’re in control!
The difficulty of dungeons will be increase in higher levels, due to them being extremely easy compared to the bosses? – Lucariomon#6393
PizzaJermaine: I’m actually implementing some campaign levels and enemies with more mechanical difficulty (as opposed to just being high enough level). We’re also always looking at difficulty spikes through our analytics and tuning all the time. So, I’d say hang on for a bit longer and you’ll get some really cool stuff in the coming future.
Mushroom samurai? – Psycho Romeo#3692
PizzaShawn: I’m inclined to say no because reading this question made me think of Teemo mushrooms in LoL and slowly exploding my way back to a Gank :(. We’ll keep it in mind for future Guildie dev though :).
Who puts the last bite of pizza or 2 on bread & butter, folds it, and eats the yumminess? – ShootBigBucks#8269
PizzaShawn: I have questions on questions, first off, is that considered a pizza sandwich? A pizza taco? I haven’t personally heard of this sorcery but in a world where a percentage of the population likes to put pineapple on pizza, why not put pizza inside a sandwich?
If a daddy pizza, and a mommy calzone had a baby, would it be a hotpocket? – ShootBigBucks#8269
PizzaShawn: Well according to Maury, it might be cousin Stromboli’s!
Thanks again for all the great questions and apologies for any we weren’t able to get to this round. We’ll do this again in a couple months!Â
Thanks on behalf of the whole Raid Boss team!