Developer Chat - 2007/03/16

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16 March 2007

Welcome to the Asheron's Call WarCry Dev Chat. Thank you all for stopping by tonight. If you haven't already done so you can send your questions to @[QT]QuestionTaker. General chat is available in #warcry and we will have a chat log up after the event at http://ac.warcry.com

Now here are our guests to introduce themselves [Crowley] hey everyone, I'm Dave "Crowley" Javier, the producer here on AC, and thanks for joining us for this dev chat [Crowley] I like long walks down the beach by Mayoi [Frelorn] Hell there everyone. Im Andy "Frelorn" Cataldo, the Community Relations Manager for Asheron's Call. Thanks for joining us tonight. [Frelorn] Hello* [Django] Greetings, Brian "Django" Cottle representing the Quality Assurance branch of the uber AC squad. [LupusArgenteus] Hey there. I'm Toby "Lupus Argenteus" Seltsam, the data integrator and former QA lead for AC1. I like not having to worry about Frelorn's typoes anymore. [Speed] Speed here, I'm a Content Designer. I make fuzzy bunnies of doom. [Kintani] Allo everyone, I'm Kintani, one of the Content Designers on Asheron's Call. you may've seen me logged in as (CENSORED) on (CENSORED), hunting around. ;-) [Frelorn] You should always worry about my typoes [LupusArgenteus] ...and yes, I see the irony in typoing the word "typoes" [Django] QA says typos has no "e" [Frelorn] Like spelling typos wrong for example [Severlin] Yo. Dev geek or lead something or other... [Kintani] And that other guy, Sev... something [LupusArgenteus] He's an engineer, in case anyone was wondering.

Krizzy_FF: Are you planning on Creating any more... new challenges that make use of Rares like the Colosseum did/Does? Severlin> Yes Crowley> (don't worry he's typing more) Severlin> One thing we want to do is have more challenges in AC. Severlin> That means we need appropriate rewards. Severlin> And new tech. Crowley> you can expect more very challenging stuff like the Colosseum that seems to demand people popping Rares

Wicked_Impulse: Would it be possible to create a keep system using the Tumerok Fortress, or other destructable door model, and allow us something to fight over in Pkl and PK Speed> Maybe not the Tumerok Fortress exactly, but yes we are thinking about new and interesting content that we hope will make conflict for PKs more interesting. Crowley> some of you may remember some of the discussions around "land control" that were part of the early plans for Throne of Destiny, and that would certainly be appropriate for the kind of dynamic you asked about Crowley> I'm not saying we're going to develop that land control system, but it's one of the ideas that came up in our discussions of ways to give people new and interesting ways to compete and play together

Barakus: How are we going to bring new players to AC? Will there be any type of mass advertisement happening in the future to try to bring more players? Frelorn> Well, we have already been doing that with the ads in several trade magazines as of late, and we are going to continue to do so. We have some new art for the ads coming out in the not so distant future. Keep an eye on newstands for some of those ads. Frelorn> Done

Adventurer: Any plans to update the map panel? It could include zooming feature, dugeon maps, and a route finder. LupusArgenteus> We are not currently planning on introducing new tech to the map panel. We are looking into improving the POIs labeled on the map, but improving the map itself is non-trivial. LupusArgenteus> Done

Someguy: Will there be more ways to aquire rares in the future besides killing creatures/Grael quest? (Ex. from loot chests, gambling, ect.) Severlin> We have been discussing other ways to earn rares. Rares have trickled in a little slower than we'd like. Severlin> Using some kind of random rare is absolutely possible as a reward for difficult content. Severlin> Done.

mattllow: Could you tell us about plans for expansions? What we can look forward to? Crowley> We don't currently have plans for another expansion pack. We'd prefer to concentrate our efforts on the unparalleled entertainment value we deliver with our monthly content updates. :) Crowley> done

DelmarWynn: I know lots of live events have been happing, but are there plans for bringing back the style of story arcs like the BZ arc? Speed> Yes, we plan on bringing back some of the defense of herald type gameplay in our new story arc. Speed> done

thojen: what about joining the servers, to get more peobple on the same server Frelorn> As of right now we have no plans for server merges. Mainly because of the restrictions of housing. As of right now there would be no way to ensure that everyone would be able to keep thier housing if servers were merged. Frelorn> Done DelmarWynn> Ok just move everyone to Harvestgain so I can keep my mansion :)

AC_Guest: Are there any plans for lp love? ie sings keys to add another form of trade point to the economy or any other love? LupusArgenteus> We have actually added a few new items which require lockpick, such as the Black Marrow keys and the Skeletal Falatacot keys which give access to very high tier loot. We'll continue adding new items proportionally as development continues. LupusArgenteus> done

Virgil: what kinds of new tech went into building the colesseum? Speed> Oh boy! I actually used almost every piece of existing tech and a few new ones that Sevryln added, like the no loot drop landblocks. I've recently added some statues that keep track of the Arenas that are in use with even more new tech. Speed> It was alot of work to make sure that the Arenas were solid. Expect more interesting content like this as Sev keeps adding cool new tech. Oh, yeah, I was just reminded of the new lifespan tech we used for the Colosseum Tickets too. Speed> Done

Decompose_DT: Is it silly for Darktiders to keep asking for housing changes, ie remove barriers. When barriers/housing were implimented the reason to control Lifestones and Towns vanished. When we had to control lifestones and towns it was a core pvp element in the game, houses ghosted us. Since it has been brought up before many times and we haven't seen any changes, is it in our best interest to give up on the idea? Severlin> We currently have players chiming in on both sides of the housing issue. There are a lot of vocal people for housing barriers, and many against. Severlin> Currently we feel that removing housing barriers would provide a flurry of activity, and then the houses would be abandoned and the coolness would die down. Severlin> We would rather spend the time developing new and interesting PK content that will provide PK rewards. Severlin> We don't feel that the development time and the upset players would be worth the short time where the change would be cool. Severlin> Done.

Wicked_Impulse223: Using Decal, PKhunter and Vogue, the players have created a pk/pkl ladder system...is there any way that Turbine could implement a similar system. You already have fishing and chess ranking systems in game. LupusArgenteus> We've discussed this quite a bit internally. It's a tricky system to design, as we would be concerned about people exploiting the ladder. LupusArgenteus> We've talked about scaling ladders, about resets every few months, various other solutions - and we keep coming up with new potential exploits. LupusArgenteus> Until we can come up with a design that we feel is fairly proof to exploits, we'd prefer not to add one at all - but rest assured we do bring it up for discussion. LupusArgenteus> Done

Pureman_DT: Illegal ucming is a crucial issue on DT. However, the problem isn't the ucming, it's the way it is enforced by the sentinels and not the players. Please give a statement why you do not let the players on DT enforce UCM'ing themselves ? With the thirst programms they got a weapon to do so now!  UCM is against the Code of Content for all worlds. We have no plans on changing the Code of Conduct for any world right now.  Done

Joxer: Similar to land control aspect; Is there possibility at some point for inter-server areas where people could meet for events or even pk arenas. Severlin> Unfortunately the servers don't have universal item IDs. In other words, your items on one server may have the same item ID as someone else's ID. Our server tech doesn't allow this to be resolved dynamically. Severlin> The best we could do is have some kind of character move, and that would be a one way deal. Severlin> So with those limitations we feel it would be too limited. Severlin> Done

AlUvian: Question: Is there any way we could get a direct portal to the treasure room in villas and mansions? Speed> The portals to the treasure dungeons have the restrictions that keep those you don't want in your treasure rooms out. We might be able to add a /house treasure recall type command, but it would take some looking into to make sure it's feasible. Speed> done

teleios: are you going to open a test server like risia, or a preview server like isengard or mournlands? Frelorn> As of right now we have no plans for a public test server like Risia. Of course that can always change in the future. Frelorn> Done

Pureman_DT: How do you plan to revive the pk community on white servers ? Severlin> Yep. We have been discussing the possibility of requiring PK flags to loot during the invasion tech. Severlin> If we did that, white players could work together or attack each other as they wished. Severlin> We have discussed other plans for PK support on white worlds as well. LupusArgenteus> (psst - red players on white worlds) Severlin> We might have some invasions that require PK flags, and some that don't. Severlin> Done

Krizzy_FF: Are you planning on introducing any new weapons, armor or dyes? Kintani> We regularly add new weapons, armor, etc in quests, and we've been discussing adding in new weapons and armor to the general loot pile as well. Kintani> As for new dye colors, that's possible, but less likely Kintani> Done

Brain: Have you thought about voluntery server moves? Maybe for a fee or maybe for free? Crowley> It's certainly been discussed. Crowley> It's possible, with limitations. Crowley> We've been thinking about introducing some kind of limited server transfer for characters, with a fee, like a lot of other games do. Crowley> But there are a lot of wheels that have to move to get that kind of program running, so we can't promise anything. Crowley> done

Barakus: Are there any plans to increase the number of attacks on the towns? Severlin> We can neither confirm nor deny that there will be an increased number of attacks on the towns. Severlin> Done

AC_Soul: Q: will more villa's be added in the future? Crowley> There are no plans to add more villas. We'd prefer to add different kinds of housing types. Crowley> Done

Joelhodgson: Will Magic Defense ever be a viable skill? My buffed 390 magic d is pretty much useless. Django> In the creation of new content and while looking at balance QA is very interested in making sure that the balance of defense skills will be similar. Django> For instance on the Dark Isle many creatures were adjusted to a skill level that makes it possible for players with high magic defense to resist their spells. Django> Done.

Joxer: Hi, what is the next big upcoming feature that you think we'll be excited about? Frelorn> Wouldn't you like to know? :p Crowley> It wouldn't be much fun if we TOLD you what's coming... Crowley> Just stay tuned for the March event, there's some pretty cool new stuff packed in there, which would be much nicer as a surprise. Kintani> Sure it's (CENSORED!!!!). Frelorn> Done

Isuzu_FF: Are there any plans or is it possible for mana charges to become stackable? Django> Seeing that Mana Charges are frequently used as death items we don't believe that making them stackable is functional in the death item loss system. Django> In the case of Mana Stones they have various mana amounts and would not be stackable. Django> Done.

Al-Neo2: apologies if this has been asked, i just got here, but any chances of a brand new red server? :p or even to get into the infra costs of a red server say if the players knew how many paypal donations would be needed to partition the financing of say Darktide2 into some reasonable chunks of $$$? Frelorn> At this time we have no plans to open any new servers. Frelorn> Done

Wind_of_Terror_DT: Will you remove the cap of lvl 275 ? with 126 we could still gain xp, i would like to be able to gain xp again since im 275. Django> We're planning on adding alternative ways of character advancement. Django> Done.

Joelhodgson: We we ever get to use the Ispar portal that was in game when G man and Maritine fought? I want to go see my family. Speed> I wanted to add the portal to Martine's Retreat, but Grael ate it. Frelorn> I use it all the time Kintani> Sadly, I had to use the bones of Joelhodgson's family to build my last Undead Horror. Frelorn> Done

Krizzy_FF: have we seen the last of the hopeslayer? Kintani> You should hope so, but I wouldn't count on it... Kintani> Done Crowley> see, that's just a mean response Frelorn> Well he is a mean guy sometimes Severlin> Sometimes? Crowley> yeah, look at what he did to Joelhodgson's family on Ispar! Well that does it for tonights dev chat, we thank you for attending. The chat log will be posted shortly on http://ac.warcry.com (along with some of the unofficial chat that occured in #warcry) Crowley> some of us will hang out in the #warcry channel to chat unofficial-like Crowley> thanks for coming everyone! Frelorn> Thanks everyone, we will be over in #warcry for a while