Developer Chat - 2001/03/28

Hosted by Crossroads of Dereth

[20:03] <-Nigma-> Everyone can join #roundtable_comments to chat, err, about the chat

[20:04] <-Uriel-> ok now, lets stop the nick changes

[20:04] <-Uriel-> nick changes for commentary will reasult in kicks/bans from this channel

[20:05] <-Quixotic-> This is your final warning. The chat is about to start

[20:05] <-Nigma-> One last time: Everyone can join #roundtable_comments to chat... about the chat

[20:05] <-Quixotic-> Nick changes to circumvent the moderation of the channel will result in you being kicked, banned or PKed

[20:06] <-Uriel-> and Quix loots too :P

[20:06] <-AllenGrey-> ok folks, let the party begin!

[20:06] <-AllenGrey-> Sorry we're late. I've determined that God hates me.

[20:06] <-AllenGrey-> If you haven't read the guidelines for tonight's chat, here they are again.

[20:06] <-AllenGrey-> Do not message the Turbine Staff directly, if you do so you will be squelched, continued efforts will get you kicked and banned from the channel and possibly from the IRC server entirely. During the chat, do not send any personal message to the chat moderators, they are there only to take questions. If you persist in sending them other messages, you will be squelched and possibly kicked/banned from the channel.

[20:07] <-AllenGrey-> We ask that you limit yourself to a single question and keep it and all supporting commentary short. Make sure you state the question first, and then follow it with any supporting information. If the devs require additional information or which to clarify your question, you will be given a voice in the main channel to provide the information they ask for.

[20:07] <-AllenGrey-> Questions relating to the Asheron's Call Sequel and the Zone Online Team will not be accepted.

[20:07] <-AllenGrey-> I'd like to thanks Turbine and MS for giving us the fans an opportunity to do this tonight.

[20:07] <-AllenGrey-> Lets all hope this works out.

[20:07] <-AllenGrey-> Without further delay, I'd like to introduct Crowley of Turbine to help kick things off

[20:08] <-Crowley-> Thankee kindly, Allen.

[20:08] <-Crowley-> Welcome to the March dev chat.

[20:08] <-Crowley-> Our normal face-man, Nik "Azeraphel" Davidson, could not be here tonight, so I'll do the intros.

[20:09] <-Crowley-> The Live team design staff consists of myself, Ken "Not the Savior" Troop, and Cardell "Trash Talker" Kerr.

[20:09] <-Crowley-> Jesse "devilmouse" Kurlancheek does... other things.

[20:09] <-devilmouse-> And me! I'm live this month!

[20:09] <-Crowley-> Sean Huxter is our artist extraordinaire

[20:09] <-Sean-> Hey.

[20:09] <-Crowley-> Allan "Orion" Maki is our new community management guy

[20:10] <-Orion-> Howdy

[20:10] <-Crowley-> People who are lurking from Turbine and may pipe up if prodded are Chris "Stormwaltz" L'Etoile, the storyman,

[20:10] <-Crowley-> Eric and Sandra from the Game Systems team

[20:10] <-Crowley-> Gedalia from the core tech team

[20:11] <-Stormwaltz-> I'm only here for the beer...

[20:11] <-Crowley-> and... I think that's it... right?

[20:11] <-Eric-Turbine-> Kujo's the new server team guy

[20:11] <-gedalia-> where's the beer?

[20:11] <-Sean-> I don't see any. Got steak tips though.

[20:11] <-AllenGrey-> Ok guys... (and gals)

[20:12] <-AllenGrey-> If you have a question, please send a private message to Aldric, Auz, Nigma, or Veritus

[20:12] <-AllenGrey-> you can do that by type ./msgs -name- -message-

[20:12] <-Aldric-> And be gentle

[20:12] <-AllenGrey-> leave the period out of that.

[20:12] <-AllenGrey-> Our first question for tonight is.. *goes and peeks*

[20:14] <-Quixotic-> the syntax is /msg -nick- -message-

[20:14] <-Nigma-> One last time: Everyone can join #roundtable_comments to chat... about the chat

[20:15] <-gedalia-> \join #green-room

[20:15] <-Quixotic-> One more moment folks. The first round of questions is about ready

[20:17] <-AllenGrey-> is there going to be any new content for spears in the near future? Of late mace seems to be getting quite a bit, and there's still an extreme lack of stuff for a spear to go out and get. So perhaps something functional(like rumumba's) and sparkly(like the sing spear) is in the works?

[20:18] <-Troop-> Yes, there is spear stuff coming to straight to your house soon

[20:18] <-Troop-> probably

[20:18] <-Troop-> thats both functional and nice looking

[20:18] <-Troop-> done

[20:20] <-Quixotic-> 2 pages of parts/joins per question is what we're aiming for

[20:20] <-AllenGrey-> Will there be any changes made to the dispell gems. The fact that they remove only debuffs has basically ruined PK for most players, and made dispell potions, dispell spells and magic D pretty much worthless. Please enlighten. Thx.

[20:20] <-AllenGrey-> no name on that one

[20:21] <-Dell-> You can expect changes to the rewards from the Shagar Zharala.

[20:21] <-Dell-> The fact is, they're getting a LOT of exchanges.

[20:21] <-Dell-> And being s pragmatic as they are, you can expect them to lower their rewards in response to the frequency.

[20:21] <-Dell-> Done

[20:22] <-AllenGrey-> *Zen* Can we get PK trophies? I was thinking along the lines of thumbs.

[20:23] <-Troop-> Actually we just had an amusing idea regarding this: whether the one we came up with actually gets implemented...who knows, but nod it is something we would like to do, no estimation on when though

[20:24] <-Troop-> done

[20:24] <-Sean-> Yeah, requires some of my time, and some other things.

[20:24] <-AllenGrey-> *Malice* Will you guys be adding any new armor styles? I remember after a few months of retail you added the Celdon Koujia and Amuli..

[20:25] <-Sean-> Actually, we've added armor in just about every event for months now. The Exarch Plate stuff, the Ursuin coats, the Shreth pants, etc. This month we put in more, and there is more planned for next month.

[20:25] <-Sean-> If you're talking about a whole new set of human style, like Koujia or Celdon, I haven't seen plans for that yet, but I'm constantly making new armor.

[20:27] <-Sean-> Done, btw...

[20:27] <-AllenGrey-> ok, here's a rough one

[20:27] <-AllenGrey-> *Madar* Can we expect Turbine to take an official stance on Sixth Sense and related third party utilities?

[20:28] <-Quixotic-> If you'd like to ask a question, message Auz, Aldric, Nigma or Veritus_Venatus

[20:28] <-Orion-> We've always encouraged people to create and come up with 3rd party apps.

[20:29] <-Quixotic-> To stop the join/part messages in mIRC, File/Options/Irc/Show Turn them "Hide" Stop changing your nicks to communicate

[20:29] <-Orion-> They are a part of the game that enhance the overall participation of those that play it. However in regards to 3rd party apps and how they actually are viewed by Turbine in regards to AC only one thing can be said.

[20:30] <-Orion-> We have no stance on using them with the game. MS has final say on when an app becomes gamebreaking. We have no current official stance.

[20:30] <-Orion-> done

[20:31] <-Orion-> Done

[20:31] <-AllenGrey-> Not who fed us this next one. But here it goes...

[20:31] <-AllenGrey-> Asheron's Call is a great game, the greatest I've played, but one cannot be blind to the fact that it seems on the tail end of a great carreer. Yet, every month, you keep on twinking the balance of the game, modifying set rules, and that takes time and effort, from what appears to be a skeleton crew. Do you still expect to tinker the game to some extent, or will future patches be set more towards things that keep people hooked

[20:32] <-Crowley-> Okay... yes, we have a small team, but it's a team size we've been working with for a while.

[20:32] <-Crowley-> I don't foresee an end to AC just yet, so I wouldn't call it the tail end of a career. It rather feels like we're just getting started, especially since we're starting a new plotline now.

[20:33] <-Crowley-> We've addressed a lot of the balance concerns that people have had, so we're going to start moving away from systemwide balance changes and focus more on content.

[20:33] <-Crowley-> Of course, content can shift balance easily, but nevertheless, our focus will remain on putting out compelling content, an engaging storyline, and cool quests.

[20:34] <-Crowley-> Done

[20:34] <-AllenGrey-> Now to a combat question....

[20:34] <-AllenGrey-> <-gleep-> When is Staff going to get some love? Is is the only weapon that has only 1 physical attack type, regularly no melee or attack bonuses, has heavy weight compared to other free weapon skills, has bad bases, no uber weapons, no double hit, etc.... When can we expect love?

[20:35] <-Crowley-> Staff has been kind of neglected for a while, it's true.

[20:35] <-Crowley-> For a while we focused our weapon attentions on bringing Dagger up to par and giving some love to the non-racial weapons.

[20:35] <-Crowley-> Now we can move back to Staff and perhaps UA.

[20:36] <-Crowley-> None of the future changes will significantly increase the power levels of the weapons, but you should expect to see some new quest items for Staff and UA in the coming months.

[20:36] <-Crowley-> done

[20:37] <-AllenGrey-> Ok as if we didn't push our luck enough with the general 3rd party tool question...

[20:37] <-AllenGrey-> We've got something a bit more direct.

[20:37] <-AllenGrey-> *deadbrain* SpiltBeans. It takes your zone name and tells you all your tapers for all the spells. done.

[20:39] <-AllenGrey-> ah looks like we missed some on that one.

[20:39] <-AllenGrey-> *deadbrain* What is your position regarding the recent cracking of the taper formula and will the formula be changed because of it; If/when new spells are added, will the tapers be calculated the same way? A program was recently released called SpiltBeans. It takes your zone name and tells you all your tapers for all the spells.

[20:40] <-Crowley-> Okay... about Spiltbeans... People asked us what we thought about Splitpea, and we never really minded it.

[20:40] <-Crowley-> The same generally holds for Spiltbeans.

[20:41] <-Crowley-> Whoever wrote it is mighty clever, and gives us as a dev team another lesson in the craftiness of our players.

[20:41] <-Crowley-> So we have no official stance against Spiltbeans.

[20:41] <-Crowley-> done

[20:42] <-AllenGrey-> Now to something a bit less touchy, pack enhancements.

[20:42] <-AllenGrey-> *JulianFF* When can we expect pack functionality improvements? Even if there was just one extra pack slot, or if we could carry one slightly larger pack it would help. Or maybe stackable trade notes. Us mages are seriously running out of inv room here. And could we expect further pack enhancements any time in the near feature? I would love a pack with a "taper" icon on it, for example, just to make organization easier. Thanks. Done.

[20:43] <-Sean-> The server folks tell me that the more slots you carry around, the more the server has to work to keep track of it all.

[20:43] <-Sean-> We decided on a number, and any number is relative. We could double the number of slots, and still people would want more. People tend to carry as much as they can.

[20:43] <-Sean-> As for graphics, I made 10 different pack colors. I know for example, that my cooking stuff's in the grey pack, my healing kits are in the purple pack (unless I can find a red one) so I keep track by color.

[20:44] <-Sean-> If we were to make packs that had specific symbols on them, you wouldn't be able to quickly re-purpose a pack. I often drop stuff and use a pack for something else, say trade notes. I wouldn't want my trade note pack to have a taper on it.

[20:44] <-Sean-> I gave you 10 colors. Use them as you like. Organize as you like.

[20:44] <-Sean-> Done.

[20:45] <-Quixotic-> If you'd like to ask a question, message Auz, Aldric or Nigma

[20:45] <-Quixotic-> To stop the join/part messages in mIRC, File/Options/Irc/Show Turn them "Hide" Stop changing your nicks to communicate

[20:46] <-AllenGrey-> Ok folks please only send questions to Uriel, Auz, Nigma, and Aldirc

[20:46] <-Quixotic-> And Uriel

[20:46] <-AllenGrey-> Sending them to anyone else will get you ignored at best, kicked from the channel at worst.

[20:46] <-AllenGrey-> Thank you...

[20:46] <-AllenGrey-> Send lots to Uriel. He feels left out.

[20:46] <-AllenGrey-> ..

[20:46] <-AllenGrey-> ..

[20:47] <-AllenGrey-> The PvP crowd would love to know the answer to our next question.

[20:47] <-AllenGrey-> *YojinIII* Q: God mode fixed next month: Yes, No

[20:47] <-Orion-> God Mode is still being tested. We made the made the mistake last month of jumping the gun and thinking we had a fic

[20:47] <-Orion-> err fix

[20:48] <-Orion-> We're making sure that the impact that it has on all players be they PvP or simply PvM are viable before we implement any changes. It is something that we know is a problem and something that is being addressed. At this point however we do not have a definitive date.

[20:48] <-Orion-> done

[20:49] <-AllenGrey-> Thanks Orion.

[20:49] <-AllenGrey-> Everyone seems to be pretty curious about what's being done with the various trade skills.

[20:49] <-AllenGrey-> Lockpick recently got some more weight, so this next question seems pretty valid.

[20:49] <-AllenGrey-> *Honor-Bound* Any plans for appraisal skills? I sort of remember mention of Appraisal Luv a few months back, but nothing so far. Any status update?

[20:51] <-AllenGrey-> Someones sleeping

[20:51] <-AllenGrey-> Troop! help save us!

[20:52] <-Troop-> There have been plans for Appraisal skills for awhile -- the plans are cool, but are taking awhile to design and implement, especially given our resources -- but they are still actively being planned

[20:52] <-Troop-> done

[20:52] <-Quixotic-> Somehow I suspect that wasn't the real Ravlen.

[20:53] <-Sean-> I get that feeling.

[20:53] <-AllenGrey-> hehe

[20:53] <-AllenGrey-> Moving right along...

[20:53] <-AllenGrey-> *Briomega* Any possibility that with all the new monster additions recently that we get more dungeons full of them? Say a new Monouga dungeon with the new higher level ones, etc.

[20:54] <-Troop-> There is that possibility, yes.

[20:54] <-Troop-> done

[20:55] <-AllenGrey-> Thanks for giving me time to line up another question Troop.

[20:55] <-AllenGrey-> But here we go.

[20:55] <-AllenGrey-> *Yobe* When can we expect to see Level 7 creature spells? (within the next patch? or next two patchs? or further away)

[20:57] <-Dell-> You'll see Level 7 creature spells soon.

[20:57] <-Dell-> Not this next patch, but soon after.

[20:57] <-Dell-> And probably sooner than Life.

[20:57] <-Dell-> Done

[20:58] <-AllenGrey-> Everybody like jello?

[20:58] <-AllenGrey-> Or at least a man eating jello mold. :)

[20:58] <-AllenGrey-> *Achtung* Will we ever see more dangerous Knaths and wilderness spawns? Ever since retail the poor suckers have been nerfed. They were removed from outdoor spawns and have recieved no attention, unlike dereths other fauna. Long live the knaths -

[20:59] <-Quixotic-> I hear some Turbies like pudding.

[20:59] <-Crowley-> making his triumphant return to the dev chats: Chris L'Etoile!

[20:59] <-Troop-> This is fairly momentous, folks

[21:00] <-Troop-> You may not see this event again for quite some time

[21:00] <-Stormwaltz-> Knaths are evasive little beasties. They reproduce slowly, and like dark quiet places.

[21:00] <-Stormwaltz-> Seeing them on landscape again isn't likely.

[21:01] <-Stormwaltz-> As for more powerful versions, it's unlikely. The power of the magic being used on Dereth these days has decreased.

[21:01] <-Stormwaltz-> And since they're created by fizzled spells...

[21:01] <-Stormwaltz-> *done*

[21:02] <-AllenGrey-> Now for a question I've asked myself. Especially about a dozen times this evening.

[21:02] <-AllenGrey-> *Skystreak* Why is the dev chat being held on IRC and not on the zone?

[21:02] <-AllenGrey-> Darn good questoin.

[21:02] <-AllenGrey-> er.. question.

[21:02] <-AllenGrey-> Orion?

[21:03] <-Orion-> We've been in the process of changing the Dev chat forum over to one that Turbine will host. As you all know we have up until now been able to hold our chats via the Zone.

[21:03] <-Orion-> We moved it to the player sites this month for a couple of reasons. The main one being that the servers necessary to hold our own on site dev chats are not yet built, due to the move.

[21:04] <-Orion-> The second, we wanted to have a more immediately moderated forum and it became apparent that the Zone was not capable of this so we moved this to an IRC chat as an unofficial Chat with the Devs.

[21:05] <-Orion-> In the future we hope to be able to host these directly from Turbine. However if all goes really well tonight it is very possible that we will hold them via the different player sites on occasion.

[21:05] <-Orion-> Done

[21:06] <-AllenGrey-> Ok folks please only send questions to Uriel, Auz, Nigma, and Aldirc

[21:06] <-AllenGrey-> I can't state this enough.

[21:06] <-AllenGrey-> Thanks...

[21:06] <-AllenGrey-> The next one is also a bit of a toughy...

[21:06] <-AllenGrey-> *Ushela|WE* Will anything be done to address the fact that people have multiple hilts?? It is known that people have used an exploit to do this. Ignoring the fact that people have multiple hilts seems wrong to me, and I would like to know if any measures are going to be taken. Thank you, and great job guys. WE rocks!!

[21:07] <-Crowley-> okay... a very sensitive issue indeed

[21:07] <-Crowley-> today's patch should have fixed the exploit that allowed people to get multiple hilts

[21:07] <-Crowley-> so all that's left to address is the people who have them now

[21:08] <-Crowley-> yes, it's unfair, and it's a Bad Thing that they have extra hilts, because the hilts are such a prized item

[21:08] <-Crowley-> we're still mulling over what to do with the use of the exploit. opinion is divided, so I can't really give a more conclusive answer than that. sorry.

[21:08] <-Crowley-> done

[21:09] <-AllenGrey-> Personally I've always been into the landscape and environment in Asheron's Call.

[21:09] <-AllenGrey-> The whole "staring at the sunrise thing", call me a carebear. :)

[21:09] <-Sean-> Carebear!

[21:09] <-AllenGrey-> So I'm kind happy to see this question.

[21:09] <-AllenGrey-> *Bahamut* What are the chances of getting some chairs/benches/tables/etc added to various vacant spots in town, to add a few more spots for people to gather?

[21:09] <-Crowley-> 0.o

[21:10] <-devilmouse-> you carebare stared him?!? all he wants are lasers!

[21:10] <-Crowley-> o.0

[21:11] <-AllenGrey-> sharks with lasers on their... nevermind

[21:11] <-Troop-> We have been kicking around a few different things to add that would allow people to "create" places to gather -- I am not talking about houses, here, but some interesting ideas, nonetheless -- no idea on when it would be implemented though -- the general idea is a good one

[21:11] <-Troop-> done

[21:13] <-AllenGrey-> We haven't really touched on any allegiance stuff yet tonight.

[21:13] <-AllenGrey-> So here we go

[21:13] <-AllenGrey-> *derf* how's the monarchy additions coming along? I would like to have the ability to set flags like "quest", "available", "hunt", etc. I could then get a list of people with helper flags or questing flags. That way, the monarch wouldn't have to always be the sole person to get most of the messages.

[21:15] <-Troop-> The monarchy additions are progressing...I wish I could give a firm date as to their arrival, but I could make a promise here, and then due to things outside of the Live Team's control, it would get pushed back -- so, there are good additions that in the "soon" pipeline, and we will try to keep the players in the loop, as we have a more definite date

[21:15] <-Troop-> done

[21:16] <-AllenGrey-> Levels 7's really seem to be on folks minds tonight.

[21:16] <-AllenGrey-> Here we have yet anothe question about them.

[21:16] <-AllenGrey-> *seifer* I was wondering about the lvl7's as well, what timeframe is there to add one spell, what process does a spell go through from thought to finish. Im asking this question to better understand for myself why the lvl7 creatures and lifes are taking so long to be finished up and implimented. Is it taking a while because of balance issues? or is jesse just busy on other things.. thanks!

[21:17] <-Crowley-> it's taking a while because there are soooo bloody many level 7 Critter spells and we already have a lot on the plate to go in for each month

[21:17] <-Dell-> Well, as you have noticed, all the level 7's have names.

[21:17] <-Dell-> So that is a large addition as well.

[21:17] <-Dell-> Not to mention there are lots of Critter spells.

[21:17] <-Crowley-> and it's a huge QA task to test them all

[21:18] <-Dell-> Add that together, it equals a long process.

[21:18] <-Crowley-> (done)

[21:18] <-Dell-> done

[21:18] * Quixotic is scared when devs finish one another's sentences

[21:18] <-Crowley-> thank you, fellow human

[21:19] * AllenGrey can't resist this

[21:19] * AllenGrey slaps MadHatter-Turbine around a bit with a large trout

[21:19] * AllenGrey slaps Crowley around a bit with a large trout

[21:19] <-AllenGrey-> ok, back on subject... :)

[21:19] <-AllenGrey-> *Wolfgang|Stratics* Are there any plans to add quests to life. creature, item magic as was added to war with the exarch plate quest?

[21:20] <-Quixotic-> damn, can't ban an op.

[21:20] * AllenGrey slaps Quixotic around a bit with a large trout

[21:21] <-Dell-> None are in the works, but don't be surprised to see some other specialized only items for them.

[21:21] <-Dell-> Even that is only a possiblity, however.

[21:21] <-Dell-> Done.

[21:22] <-AllenGrey-> Thanks Dell.

[21:22] * AllenGrey puts the fish away

[21:23] <-AllenGrey-> This month saw the addition of a strange new item and a quest to go with it.

[21:23] <-AllenGrey-> Our next question is related to these new objects.

[21:23] <-AllenGrey-> Or moreso, to the quest that surrounds it.

[21:23] <-AllenGrey-> *Cephas|logging* With the recent introduction of Mmenosynes(sp?), and the associated use with lockpick, is that all the content we're going to see for lockpickers? Or is there more in the works, possibly towards the exploring crowd, instead of the tradeskill route?

[21:24] <-Troop-> Well, when I originally designed the two lockpick quests, I heard a lot of lockpickers say on the boards that they wanted better loot...this was taken from them with the addition of the sik chests....

[21:24] <-Troop-> so I came up with a quest to give them alternate access to loot...

[21:25] <-Troop-> and I had this other dynamic I wanted to play around with...which was the tradeskill dynamic

[21:25] <-Troop-> Now, for those people saying, "No, no, I want Lockpick to be cool so I can explore more places!"...

[21:25] <-Troop-> I think that is already in the game in many many places

[21:26] <-Troop-> I agree we can do a better job of making sure that more future dungeons have some type of lockpick component

[21:26] <-Troop-> Quixotic actually had a good post on this subject in CoD a few days ago

[21:26] <-Troop-> and I agree with much of what was posted in that thread

[21:26] <-Troop-> but as for "focused content" ala this month?

[21:27] <-Troop-> no, thats pretty much done, but certain dungeons will still be designed in the future, in which lockpickers will have an easier time, or will be able to see more

[21:27] <-Troop-> done

[21:27] * AllenGrey would point folks to the post if our firewall wasn't royal FUBAR'd at the moment

[21:28] <-Quixotic-> *Skystreak* With level 7 spells coming out for the rest of the schools what do you plan on doing to keep magic items on par with 30 minute spells that have better bonuses?

[21:28] <-Troop-> Nothing, for the most part...

[21:29] <-Troop-> The majority of the playerbase does not have access to level 7 spells, and will never have access to level 7 spells

[21:29] <-Troop-> items (and arcane lore -- another post on cod today) still are *vital* to the vast majority of the players

[21:30] <-Troop-> and, btw, if I had thought that the response to giving players what they wanted "Much longer lasting buffs" was that "Oh, well now items suck!", our decision process might ended differently

[21:30] <-Troop-> done

[21:31] <-Quixotic-> *Zeliah* Do creatures gain experience when resisting spells, thereby raising their Magic Defense automatically? And if so, is it working as intended? Creatures MagicD seems to raise extremely fast. For me, if I attempt to kill a Virindi Executor, if I don't kill it within the first 3 to 4 spells, it's simply impossible because by that point his MagicD will have gone up far too high.

[21:32] <-Crowley-> yes, critters gain XP when resisting spells

[21:32] <-Crowley-> this was part of the reason why the Shard of the Herald on Thistle survived

[21:33] <-Crowley-> and yes, at a certain point, the skill curve goes wacky and their skills start going overboard, making them nigh-unhittable, as has been seen with the Executors from time to time

[21:34] <-Crowley-> without changing the skill leveling curve, there's no way to address this other than to do sanity checking on some of the defensive skills of creatures at the high end of the XP curve

[21:34] <-Crowley-> this does not necessarily mean Executors will be nerfed. they are, after all, the Virindi beatstick.

[21:34] <-Crowley-> done

[21:35] <-AllenGrey-> While we're on the subject and magic and defenses...

[21:35] <-AllenGrey-> We'll slip this question in as well.

[21:35] <-AllenGrey-> *DaMiZ* Q: Are armor protections effected by spells? like if you have acid shadow armor with unparrelled to acid, will you tend to recive less damage? or are they just for melee attacks?

[21:36] <-Dell-> Armor is just for melee attacks.

[21:36] <-Dell-> It has no effect on spells.

[21:36] <-Dell-> Life protections on the other hand...

[21:36] <-Dell-> Have full effect.

[21:36] <-Dell-> Done.

[21:37] <-AllenGrey-> This next question has been mentioned a few times on the various message boards, but since it was asked, it definately bears repeating.

[21:37] <-AllenGrey-> *Black_Jack* question about patch dates, seems when a patch delayed, it stays delayed, eventually going to skip a month.. this a trend going to continue?

[21:38] <-Crowley-> okay... prop dates...

[21:38] <-Crowley-> we slipped a week on March because of a multitude of factors, not the least of which was a move to a new office

[21:39] <-Crowley-> we need a four-week prop cycle. that's what we plan around, so that's what we try to stick with.

[21:39] <-Crowley-> hopefully in the future we can make up the time in cycle with an extra week.

[21:39] <-Crowley-> because we surely don't want to slip back another week.

[21:39] <-Crowley-> done

[21:40] <-AllenGrey-> Thanks Dave.

[21:41] <-AllenGrey-> Here's one I've heard echo'd often enough. Seems like its overdue to actually get asked. :)

[21:41] <-AllenGrey-> *DocFusion* Are there any plans to make any existing less frequented towns more accessible and "useful"? As we all know, towns like Ayan Baqur (and previously Arwic) are crowded with people because of 2 simple facts. They are great places to sell loot and/or they are close to major portals. It's reasonable for Turbine to try to control the crowd in Ayan Baqur right now, but please do not do it without giving the players other alternatives

[21:41] <-Crowley-> first off, the Executors were not unleashed upon AB as "crowd control."

[21:42] <-Crowley-> there is a good plot-driven reason why they are there.

[21:42] <-Crowley-> we're trying to spread out the crowds some, with new portal hubs and stuff.

[21:42] <-Crowley-> it's probably also coming up on that time to add another town or two, probably in the Dires.

[21:42] <-Crowley-> one with full resources and good buy/sell rates to lure in customers.

[21:43] <-Crowley-> so yeah, expect to see some new towns or trading posts coming up in the next few months.

[21:43] <-Crowley-> done

[21:43] <-Troop-> Ok -- btw just a followup to my lore/items vs level 7 questions

[21:43] <-AllenGrey-> Troop, I believe you had something you wanted to answer about the level 7 spell question.

[21:43] <-AllenGrey-> Have at it

[21:43] <-Troop-> since I had a few angry people messaging me :)

[21:44] <-Quixotic-> gimme their names...I'll ban 'em

[21:44] <-Troop-> For most of the level sevens, the effect will be barely above the level sixes, the main thing will be the increased duration

[21:44] <-Troop-> so, level sevens are not the "savior" of items/lore...

[21:44] <-Troop-> that said, people are saying they still want that little bit of increased effectiveness, also taking into account the spell economy for level 7s

[21:45] <-Troop-> to which I say, that casting level 7s has a cost, as all those mages reminded us when talking to us about platinum scarabs

[21:45] <-Troop-> and I do think there is a balance there which is fair...

[21:45] <-Troop-> that said, I will not say never to adding level 7s into the loot system... i just dont think it will have that great of an effect, and it is not considered a priority

[21:45] <-Troop-> done

[21:46] <-AllenGrey-> Feel better now Ken?

[21:46] <-AllenGrey-> Guess so..

[21:46] <-Troop-> sure :)

[21:46] <-AllenGrey-> um..

[21:46] <-AllenGrey-> Next question

[21:47] <-AllenGrey-> *Fayde* Any plans for new high level, difficult content? Something to challenge people who have leveled thier characters. Aerlinthe is considered to be the most difficult questes us 2 buffs from start to finish.

[21:49] <-Quixotic-> Please stop with the nicks

[21:49] <-Troop-> There are plans for new high level, difficult content -- but every month we do calculations based on the level ranges of the player base where we need to address new content, and the vast majority of the players are still in the level ranges for the current content -- that said, we do want to provide new playground for high level people, and we will try to bring those things out in the next few months. That could be as soon as May, or as late as

[21:50] <-Troop-> done

[21:51] <-Troop-> I wasn't trying to be cute there... it should have read as late as...a lot later than May (which isnt much more help, huh)

[21:52] <-AllenGrey-> You're doing better then I am Ken. Don't sweat it.

[21:52] <-AllenGrey-> Next question..

[21:52] <-AllenGrey-> *NightWolf* Question: Why were the olthois left behind in Asheron's call story? theyre in the box, the intro fmv and manuals but not in-game ..why? arent they the cause of the fall of the empyrians?

[21:53] <-Crowley-> well, the Olthoi are a great monster race, true, but when the time came around to select the focus of the new plot arc, we all pretty much agreed that the Virindi had a lot of potential, depth, and flexibility

[21:53] <-Crowley-> so the Olthoi moved off center stage to make room for the purple-cloaked menace

[21:54] <-Crowley-> there will be some further developments with the Olthoi, but they're not going to be the core plotline, at least for a while

[21:54] <-Crowley-> done

[21:55] <-AllenGrey-> *Saitoh_TD* Will there be any more content(thanks for Ravenous weapons) for us players who have no magic skills(or arcane lore for that matter). It seems it's "Specialize and you breed in weakness, generalize and you are uber." It seems to be a viable warrior, you need to have life and item and critter and arcane and... *sheesh*.

[21:55] <-Dell-> There will be more content addressed towards the non magical populace in our game.

[21:56] <-Dell-> In a lot of ways, the specialize only quest flag was created to reward those players who did make their characters very specific, and not general.

[21:57] * Quixotic shoots the 2 minute warning cannon

[21:57] <-Dell-> Obviously, these new items need to me balanced correctly, but it is certainly in the works.

[21:57] <-Dell-> No time estimate as of yet, however...

[21:57] <-Dell-> Done.

[21:58] <-AllenGrey-> I'll countermand quix's warning a bit.

[21:58] <-Quixotic-> 2 questions, 2 minutes...what's the difference?

[21:58] <-AllenGrey-> We'll do two more questions before letting Aldric ask his dreadful llama question. :)

[21:58] <-Quixotic-> (other than about 18 minutes)

[21:59] <-Aldric-> hehe, only took me a year to finally ask it in a chat :P

[21:59] <-AllenGrey-> *Alista* Dell, you said on the QA page that you were lowering the magic skills of monsters, are these lower numbers in game now and are you done lowering the skills?

[22:00] <-Dell-> The lowering of Magic skills is a piecemeal project.

[22:00] <-Dell-> I've hit Wasps, Wisps, And Zefir, but there are some others that still need some attention.

[22:00] <-Crowley-> my level 12 sword n00b manages to resist Blue Wasps from time to time. revolutionary!

[22:01] <-Dell-> Keep in mind folks, just because they are lower does NOT mean that they can't effect you if you aren't raising the skill.

[22:01] <-Dell-> And starting with a 10 focus can really place you at a disadvantage in you Magic resistance.

[22:02] <-Dell-> The Dolls are a decent indication of future MR's, but there are a lot of creatures that may stay the same.

[22:02] <-Dell-> However, I still want to get my hands on Shadows, some undead, and tumeroks.

[22:02] <-Dell-> For multiple reasons...

[22:02] <-Dell-> Rambling now.... Done.

[22:03] <-AllenGrey-> ok, and our final question for the evening (bail out once this is done to be prepare for some lame llama question from Aldric) is...

[22:03] <-AllenGrey-> *Akye* Is there any chance we will see Olthoi evolve perhaps? They used to be "Bad-Ass" but now they have dwindled down to "Mid-Level-Melee-Food." My macer wants to r0x0r some big bugs :)

[22:03] <-Crowley-> a creature that does not evolve gets squished by the forces of evolution

[22:04] <-Troop-> Funny how different questions that get asked that seemingly have no relation to one another are mysteriously and cosmically linked

[22:04] <-Crowley-> so there will probably be new breeds of Olthoi coming out as it is appropriate to the storyline

[22:04] <-Crowley-> as I said before, Olthoi won't be the core of the storyline for a while, but that's not to say they can't have a month to shine...

[22:04] <-Dell-> Spawning as bugs often do.

[22:05] <-Crowley-> done

[22:05] <-Aldric-> *Evil Grin*

[22:05] <-Aldric-> *Aldric* When will the Evil Llama finally make his overdue appearance in Dereth?

[22:05] * AllenGrey groans

[22:05] <-Crowley-> the llama is lurking in the tardis

[22:05] <-Crowley-> done

[22:06] <-AllenGrey-> Devilmouse, care to take a pot shot at that one?

[22:06] <-Crowley-> devilmouse is tattooing his evil monkey's butt or something

[22:06] <-Aldric-> Black & White r0xx0rs j00!

[22:07] <-AllenGrey-> ok, I think we're done for the evening.

[22:07] <-Crowley-> thanks everybody

[22:07] <-devilmouse-> giant evil monkey!

[22:07] <-devilmouse-> yay giant evil monkey!

[22:07] <-Dell-> Thanks people.

[22:07] <-Dell-> Drive safely!

[22:07] <-Sean-> Ciao all!

[22:07] <-AllenGrey-> I want to take a moment to thank a few folks for tonight....

[22:07] <-Crowley-> night all

[22:07] <-Sean-> Yummy steak tips!

[22:08] <-Orion-> G'night!

[22:08] <-AllenGrey-> Special thanks to Auz from AC Sratics and Nigma from the AC Vault for helping take questions.

[22:08] <-Auz-> 'Twas a pleasure