There's a lot of you wondering what direction TTW is taking.
Let me take some time to explain my vision for the future, where TTW is headed and what I'd like to see or implement.
Lets start with what has been done or implemented already for 3.0 without quoting huge portions of the change log which you can find here if you want a more in depth record.
The Past:
Quoting Jax, the aim of TTW was to bring Fallout 3 and it's DLC up to New Vegas standards mechanics wise.
So this is the very first thing I addressed. All the esm's for Fallout 3 have been brought up to plugin version 1.34 from 0.94, this included updating all form versions to the current one and updating all the navmeshing. For me this not only meant game play wise, but also the plugin and technical level, so that is the reasoning behind that. Not only does this make TTW more stable, but it also makes it behave in the engine better and increases compatibility with tools and mods.
The next thing addressed was game play mechanics. This was in the form of rebalancing the weapons, armor, and vendors. All the weapons have been carefully balanced to serve the role they were intended to have inside of Fallout 3's balancing. The same thing applies to Armor and Vendor lists.
That brings us to what I decided to change or revert more towards Fallout 3. With the above changes, how Fallout 3 is supposed to play and feel was heavily considered. Weapon damage and armor balance for NPCs as well as creatures, spawn levels adjusted where necessary and item value also adjusted. This is not an easy task to make sure everything works inside 2 different systems and economies. I believe it is now currently adjusted to fit both as well as they can, with neither being too far out of balance.
That brings us to the last thing, which is more fixing issues between the games and making sure Fallout 3 runs as it's supposed to and fixing any overlap which doesn't feel right or shouldn't be there. Bug fixing will be on going and most of what changes in TTW in the future. That included removing some NV weapon from Fallout 3 because they didn't feel right or upset the balance or economy.
The Present:
Now to answer some of the questions I've been getting.
Lore friendlyness, that's a tough one. What is lore anymore? Bethesda rewrites it at their whim, we're not going to change it to fit their current vision. TTW breaks lore itself by making you The Lone Wanderer and The Courier, so obviously some things are acceptable. Are we going to start adding new weapons, armor, npcs, dialogues etc? No, we're not going to do that. We may add small content here and there though where it's needed to fill a hole, the food for the CW is an example of this to make Hardcore mode work where it was never designed to. We will add a couple of dungeons to Columbus Circle, I can't see anyone having a problem with that. Weapons and armor stats are also considered bringing things up to New Vegas standards, but these have mostly been completed already.
In terms of cut content, There will be an optional for cut equipment. I want this in the game, I have not decided if it will be integrated or not. I suspect not, but that opinion may change. There will not be any other type of cut content considerations.
Unique weapons you ask? Well it's always been a plan to have unique uniques. However they must fit perfectly and this falls under "up to new vegas standards" as all uniques in Vegas have something unique about them appearance wise. We have tried this before but the work was rejected for being sub par.
Additional armors? Yes there are some variants of existing armors for the BoS, Outcasts, Talon and Regulators. These have been made optional except for one unique set of Talon Combat Armor MK II.
We have not and will never add new quests or voiced npc's, that is outside scope.
We have not and will never add any mods to TTW, that is outside scope.
We have not and will never change the appearance of NPCs, Creatures, Weapons or anything else that would be considered an "enhancement" (previous mentioned items and bug fixes are an exception), that is outside scope. There is some small leeway in this for content that is already created by Bethesda and just not implemented properly like the alternative robot textures or decal additions.
Will we restore Fallout 3 features? The short answer is yes, either optionally or integrated. Which way they are depends on what they are and how easy they are to maintain if optional. If things become a nightmare of patching then they will be integrated and you'll have to live with it or patch it back yourself. That may include Big Guns and some slight weapon rebalancing as well as returning the .32 Hunting Rifle in some form. This is one place where I want things a certain way, to increase in game choice, diversity and replayablity.
I made a statement about "deeper integration", what that means is how everything interacts with each other on all levels and not just what is seen on the top. That means leveled spawns, how things are balanced at what point in the game, the economy, how does the game play at different difficulty settings, do the things we added serve a purpose and are they balanced, are NPCs balanced at a given level, are creatures balanced at a given level, are vendors balanced at a given level, and so on. I've gone to much deeper levels of making sure things work together than just merging leveled lists and tweaking damage values. This is also an ongoing process and takes time to get it right. Most importantly, is it fun.
Finally the feel, I want Fallout 3 to feel like Fallout 3 but enhanced with the features of New Vegas. I want New Vegas to stay as it is without overlapping content because it doesn't need it and we've always tried to leave it alone as much as possible. However certain concessions will have to be made at times. How are these things decided? Reasoning, knowledge, and experience of what works and what doesn't.
The Future:
Some future plans have been touched on. There are many other future things I'd like to do.
Some sneak peak of what has been done already, some of which you are familiar with and some not.
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Anchorage Customization -
Armor Expansion -
Bobbleheads -
Books Restoration -
Main Title Screen and Music -
More Cooking Items -
No Karma Followers -
Perk Per Level -
Fallout 3 Player Voice -
Quick Start -
Quick Start Stash Packs -
Reputations -
Weapon Sound Effects -
Startup Menu -
Stash Pack Options -
Fallout 3 VATS -
Quest and XP sound effects -
XP Reduction -
Fallout 3 Repair Restoration -
Big Guns restoration (not in 3.0) -
Outcast Trading (not in 3.0) -
Speech Checks (not in 3.0) -
Wild Wasteland (not in 3.0) -
Cut Equipment Restoration (not in 3.0) -
Unique Uniques (not in 3.0) -
Energy Weapon Rebalance (not in 3.0) -
Fully Leveled Wastelands and DLCs (not in 3.0)
Bug fixing will continue, be it for Fallout 3 or New Vegas. I make no distinction here, I hate bugs and I wish smash them like radroaches.
I hope that clears up most of the questions you have.
