Dev Chat May 8 2008
This Dev Chat took place in the #eq2 channel on irc.allakhazam.com on Thursday, May. 8th, roughly from 4:30pm to 5:35pm, Pacific time. About 95 people were in attendance.
Very little editing has been done to this log. Mostly to correct a few obvious typos or auto-format trash.
Important terms, names and concepts have been linked into the Wikibase.
The name of the person asking the question appears before the question in parentheses or brackets.
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Introduction
kiara: Good evening folks and thanks for joining us at our third Zam Dev Chat! The staff here tonight are Kiara (me!), Calthine, Raven, and Bludwyng! Our SOE guests get to do their own intros cause they're groovy like that. Additionally, we've launched our Legends of Norrath site today. It can be found at http://lon.allakhazam.com/ so everyone stop by and have a look! Let's get things rolling :)
Lyndro: Hi I'm Akil "Lyndro" Hooper, Lead Game Designer for EverQuest II and general troublemaker.
Gnobrin: Greetings! I am Aaron "Gnobrin" Bisnett, EQII's Community Representative!
Autenil: Hi guys, I'm Joshua "Autenil" Kriegshauser, EQII's Technical Director
Kirstie: Hiya, I'm Jennifer Gerull aka "Kirstie", Associate Producer on EQII
doomcookie: Hey there, I'm Lindsay Morgan "doomcookie" Lockhart. I make quests. And some lore sometimes.
Archonix: Howdy, I'm Chris "Archonix" Junior, Mechanics Supervisor for EQII
Jindrack: Hi guys. I'm Jeremy "Jindrack" Gess, Design Supervisor on EQII
Domino: Hi there, I'm Emily "Domino" Taylor, game designer. Tradeskills and that kind of stuff!
Ilucide: Heya! I'm Noel "Ilucide" Walling, Design Supervisor for EQII, and resident EQII oldtimer. ;)
Fyreflyte: Hello =) I'm Jason Woerner, Item Designer
Rothgar: Greg "Rothgar" Spence. I break stuff. And sometimes I do some programming.
kiara: Looks like that's everyone. Here we go!
Question and Answer
kiara: The first question is: (Various sources) Are there any plans to develop some kind of house storage that can be accessible by all Trustees?
Autenil: Not currently. Current house vaults are like an extra bag on your person, so they're not easily shared with other players. Adding a shared system is a major undertaking. But we'll perhaps look at revisiting it after Guild Halls... (dun dun dun)
Rothgar: We're doing Guild Halls?
kiara: The second question is: (BlackphoenixZ) Following the Ranger and the Coercer revamp from the last 2 LU's, will we continue to see a revamp to a class every LU for sometime? if so, could you tell us what classes are being worked atm?
Aeralik: A lot of classes could use a little bit of attention like the rangers and coercers. However, at the moment there are no plans for anything as radical as those two. Thats not to say there won't be anything done but it will probably be smaller changes for the next few updates.
kiara: Question number three is: (Derek) What do you feel people should be able to accomplish in a 2 hour timespan?
Lyndro: To be honest it depends on what your playstyle is and what you hope to accomplish. In 2 hours you can do a decent bit of tradeskilling, a good bit of harvesting, ideally a single group instance, a few quests, or a raid (depending on the raid). Of course these are mutually exclusive, most people can't do ALL of these in a single hour, and a lot of it depends on your level and gear progression. You'll probably get much more harvesting done at
Lyndro: by single hour I mean a single 2 hours *cough*
Lyndro: You'll probably get much more harvesting done at level 80 in Butcherblock than you will at level 20 in Jarsath Wastes, for example.
kiara: Question number four: Is the Tale of the Mudskipper connected to the original appearance of The Tower of Vul in Feerrott?
doomcookie: No. Though this story has links to many others, the Tower of Vul is not among them. And I have to say, I'm very curious where that theory came from!
kiara: Question number five: (Derek) I recently upgraded my graphics card and got no framerate improvement at all in EQ2 while my other games saw significant improvement. Are there any plans to shift more of the weight from the CPU to the GPU in the near future?
Autenil: We are definitely looking into graphics improvements as well as utilizing multiple cores. We're currently hiring programmers too! http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=410043 (shameless plug!)
kiara: lol. at least i'm not the only one shamelessly plugging ;)
Domino: apply! join! I make you cookies!
doomcookie: We're hiring for pretty much everything right now. ;)
kiara: Question number six: (Felishanna) The guild recruitment tool is still, sadly, not very good for small guilds, as they are never listed. Some people seek small guilds and niche guilds, so are there any plans to enhance the functionality of this tool, to allow for more search criteria, to allow small guilds and/or niceh types of guilds to be listed to people searching for them?
Rothgar: Tweaking the guild recruitment tool is something that has come up before. Its not currently on the schedule, but something I'd like to see done as well. Hopefully as soon as some of the bigger tasks are out of the way we can make some improvements to it.
kiara: Question number seven: (Various sources) Is there any possibility of a commission system for Transmuting?
Domino: There are no plans to implement this at the current time.
kiara: no more easy questions for Domino!
kiara: Question number eight: (Zabjade) Can we have Wargs with un-docked tails please :) maybe with Legwraps around the forepaws and rearpaws?
Lyndro: It is a possibility, but the odds are much greater that we'll explore some different mounts before we revisit wargs anymore (Aside from some of the color/shader changes you've seen already).
Lyndro: We already have another mount nearly complete, that will be bearing its head eventually.
kiara: purple flamey nightmare perhaps?
kiara: Question number eight (point 5 --Bludwyng): (Stugein) Any chance you guys can pass Pet Health to the clients in the same way you pass group member health so UI modders can add members' pets' health to group windows to make life easier for healers?
Autenil: I've actually wanted this forever. Unfortunately we haven't had time to do it.
Autenil: I could probably be talked into getting this on the schedule as something that UI modders would be able to do.
Autenil: We probably wouldn't be adding it to the default UI though. :)
kiara: Question number nine: (Felishanna) In ROK instances, is "Smart Loot" for class legendary set pieces "working as intended"? I ask because whilst most classes get their own class set, cleric characters can get cleric, shaman or druid armour dropping for them, and this is making some of us who are trying to get our class armour unhappy.
Archonix: Unfortunately the smart loot system is most effective when the classes that can use an item are limited to 1 to 2. In an upcoming update, we will be reducing the total classes that can use each of the priest legendary armor sets. The Enigmatic Sacrifice set will be equipable by Mystics and Defilers, while the Wayward Moon set will only be equipable by Wardens and Furies. This will not effect the items that have previously dropped before the changes are made.
kiara: Question number ten: (Derek) What kind of research do you do to see if people will like the things you put ingame ?
Domino: It would depend a bit on the area of the game. In general, in most aspects of the game we are rarely short of suggestions and ideas for what people would like to see, and we gather this information both by reading the forums and by listening to people in game while we are playing. While not all suggestions will be used, it does give us an idea of what people like and where their interests are. We also use our personal experiences and observations from playing the game, of course, and that can be extremely valuable also. We can look at things that have worked well in our game in the past, or in other games, and adapt them when we make new content -- for example, a lot of people really liked the Earring of the Solstice quest in EQLive, and that's one reason I decided to base the EQ2 tradeskill epic quest on it.
Domino: While we're developing new content, we hold regular internal play tests to check if new zones or quests make sense and are fun, and of course the Test server provides lots of helpful feedback along those lines also. There are a wide variety of things we can do that would depend on the content, but those are some main ones.
Domino: :)
kiara: Question number eleven: (Vendolyn) People with older accounts have been hearing rumors that there will be a type of reset to their /claim items due to newer accounts not having the same item number restrictions anymore, therefore allowing them to /claim on either multiple or more characters. Would anyone care to embellish on whether this is fact or fiction?
Autenil: Veteran Rewards that were previously restricted to 3 per account were changed to unlimited/one per character
Autenil: At the time this only affected new accounts, but they have since been changed to apply to all accounts
kiara: sweet. time to roll some alts.
Autenil: Hmm... Calthine just notified me that some accounts didn't get the fix. I'll check it out.
kiara: Question number twelve: (Surepaw) Vhalen has left the EQ2 team. Before he left, he insured that the lore for the upcoming expansion was complete. Being that he was the main Lore person, does this mean that the next expansion will be story driven off the lore he provided? Will the EQ2 Mysteries that have held us all captivated, finally be answered?
Lyndro: Vhalen is a great designer, and was a huge asset to the team. However we have designers who understand the lore and the story as well as he does, and there is no doubt that the team will continue to deliver great stories and expansion content.
Lyndro: No one person has ever been responsible for all the lore in game. Vhalen was just the oldest and the most vocal.
Jindrack: I'm still very much in contact with Vhalen, too. I can ask him anything at anytime if needed. ;)
kiara: speed dial?
Jindrack: Telepathy
kiara: hah!
Domino: you think he's joking :p
kiara: not at all!
Lyndro: I don't know what is scarier... being able to hear Jindrack's thoughts or Vhalens...
kiara: Question number thirteen: (Flicia on Mistmoore) With the inclusion of the new zone Shard of Hate are there any plans to review or change upgraded teir 7 avatar gear?''
Fyreflyte: We have no plans at this time to upgrade the avatar gear.
kiara: Question number fourteen: (Zabjade) A rune from the Chelsith Cloak/Stone appears on a collection item from Unrest, the "appropriated sigil of phenomenon" from "Cursed Items of Unrest", and the rune is also found in Starcrest Commune. Can you tell us anything about the meaning of this glyph? What WAS it's original purpose? Is this sigil connected in any way with Rikantus Everling?
Jindrack: Each of those runes have very important meanings, and have great mysterious behind them. They aren't something we want to reveal here, but let the players slowly discover in-game
Jindrack: Everling was just one of many that have been studying these runes, so in a way he is connected.
kiara: Question number fifteen: (Felishanna) There are already guild status rewards for raiding players for killing boss mobs on raids. Is there any possibility that in the future, we might see a small amount of guild status xp for grouping players killing boss mobs in group instances?
Jindrack: Also, that particular rune may not mean what meaning believe it to mean, hence the "appropriated" verb on the item. :)
Jindrack: and now I"m done :)
kiara: lol sorry Jindrack
Jindrack: np
Jindrack: *meaning = many, btw
Lyndro: We don't have any plans to change this, but it also isn't something that we are opposed to. However right now you can earn a good bit of status running writs, hour for hour if you have 24 people in your guild doing writs instead of raiding you'll probably earn more status than if you were to raid.
Lyndro: So while this is something that might be nice, I don't think that adding status to group creatures explicitly because of the status you get raiding is really an appropriate comparison.
kiara: Question number sixteen: (Pusska) The epic guild writs - will they be reviewed (and at the very least access improved) with the coming release of guild halls.
Lyndro: The guild raids are a great system, and it would be nice to add some more of them if time becomes available. However they'd take a lower priority to a good number of other tasks, and there isn't any reason to tie them to guild halls, which already have their own timeline and task list.
kiara: Question number seventeen: (Zude) Can you explain the mechanics behind the drop rate of level 71-80 Master I spells in Kunark heroic and raid instances? They seem much rarer than in previous expansions, is that the case?
Archonix: I'm currently evaluating the drop rate of 71-80 masters across Kunark (mainly the shortage and/or lack of options for obtaining the 71-74 masters). Keep an eye out for some changes in an upcoming release.
kiara: Question number eighteen: (Tytania) Vhalen had made more than vague hints that the House of Everling would reappear soon in Freeport. Is this still happening? When?
doomcookie: We won't be doing anything with Freeport and the Everlings any time in the near future, but I think you'll find some juicy tidbits within the lore of expansion 5 to feed your Everling craving if you look for it.
kiara: Question number nineteen: (Maladict) The Remembrances book quest series recounts tales of the appearance of Shadowed Men Towers on other worlds, all except one. This one appears to be the minutes of a meeting of the governing "board" of the Shadowed Men, but it is also obvious that the council is comprised of many different species. Are the Shadowed Men many species? Or were these different beings all hosts for the actual Shadowed Men? Can you confirm that the Shadowed Men are the Shissar that escaped Luclin before the Shattering?
Jindrack: Well, I can confirm the Shadowed Men are NOT Shissar, they existed before Luclin exploded.
Jindrack: As for the background of the Shaodwed Men, they are a very mysterious race that have been interested in Norrath for some time.
Jindrack: Players will begin to learn more of this people as we progress through the stories of Norrath. :)
Jindrack: And that's all I'll say for now! :-X
kiara: tease :p
kiara: Question number twenty: (maji_) Do they plan on instituting another winback program with the launch of their next expansion.
Kirstie: We don't have any specific plans that I'm aware of for an expansion related winback program. But! We do have some planned in the somewhat near future that should be fun for current and returning players.
kiara: Question number twenty-one: (Rythalian) Any new leaks or tidbits about the next expansion?
doomcookie: Read the lore stories on EQ2 players (Flight of the Mudskipper, Escape from Guk, The Heart and the Hound, and another one coming out very soon) and participate in the live events, and I think you'll start getting a good idea of what our next expansion is. :)
kiara: Question number twenty-two: ( Xalmat) Are Summoners ever going to have their gear affect their pets? We have all of this wonderful +spell damage and +crit gear available to us, but it doesn't help our pet any. And since our pets are who we are, it's like we're only getting half the benefit.
Fyreflyte: I've been adding summoner gear with pet-specific effects in small doses (some of which you may have seen in Shard of Hate and a couple of Kunark dungeons). More of these types of effects will be appearing on future equipment.
kiara: Question number twenty-three: The Burynai house pet has been known to hand out certain collection items that do no appear as shinies on the ground in game. Examples of this would be the Terracotta Chips from The Fallen Dynasty or Sun/Moon Gems from Desert of Flames. Is this working as intended? Is there any plans to add shiny ?'s for these collections?
Lyndro: Ok, so this is my bad. The Burynai was giving out non existent shinies for a bit there. However they all should have been removed within a day or two of launch. Most of these quests are very incomplete, and we don't have any specific plans to add them.
Lyndro: If a Burynai is still giving out items that can't be completed in game, that is a bug and we'll get it fixed.
kiara: Question number twenty-four: When the ROK expansion was released (which was very well done) it had the effect of making the loot tables and quest rewards in other zones extremely low quality by comparison. With the upcoming release of another expansion I was curious if the loot tables and quest rewards are going to be updated in older areas in order to be up to par with the latest content?
Jindrack: We learned that Burynai can dig up all kinds of stuff!
Fyreflyte: A lot of the older zones' loot has not scaled with items available from zones like Timorous Deep, and we're looking at ways of upgrading that loot to smooth out the progression. It's a big task, considering the large amount of loot in older zones, but it is definitely on my list.
Kirstie: For anyone who was curious, GU45 should be hitting live servers next week. If you can't wait that long the whole thing is available on the Test and Test Copy servers for you to check out!
Farewell
kiara: Alright. That's it for us ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for coming. Thank you to the SOE staff for their time. We'll be posting the logs of the chat shortly. If your question wasn't answered, please don't be discouraged, we'll try and get to it next time. Once again thank you everyone and one last shameless plug for the new Legends of Norrath site so that Cal doesn't beat me later, http://lon.allakhazam.com/!
kiara: Have a great night everyone :)
Gnobrin: Thank you all for attending! It's been a great devchat!
Autenil: Thanks, everyone!
doomcookie: Thanks for coming!
Rothgar: Thanks for having us!
Lyndro: Thanks for having us! And thanks to everyone who came!
Domino: see, I knew nobody had any tradeskill questions! Thanks for coming and asking the hard ones to all the others ;)
Calthine: Please join us for Cookies and Chat in the FFA room!
Free-for-All Room Highlights
- xphenix someone found the clockwork language yet ?
- Gnobrin yes.
- Gnobrin It's called binary.
- Gnobrin 0001100010101011
- Tjudawos Hmmm...didn't quite understand that
- SpyderBite I figured they were more advanced and had evolved to hexadecimal
- Tjudawos something about camels and hovercraft...?
- WintaraAmakiir translates "these puny humans are..." HEY!
- Domino I liked the "what can you do in 2 hours" question ... I could have written essays! Laundry, see a movie, hot bath, cook dinner ... :)
more to come...
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