LOTS of info from Mage Forums about SoD and other stuff

[knytul]

Copied from the Mage boards.

Merloc-Items:
-The next mounts for LON will be frog-dragons (whuuuut?)

-They are seriously trying to fix the stacking issues with familiars so pet classes can use them

-He wrote down that the TBS mage robe is still messed up

-He is considering adding plat to raid mobs to facilitate guilds helping members with the plat sink for raid items - I suggested if he did this that he needs to make the plat sink items tradeable so you can give a member the item and not a stack of plat

-He intends to lower the cost for type 3 augments given that they are destroyed upon removal and also look at lowering the cost for the steam core related and/or gyrocore related costs

-He intends to make the solvents and gyro/steam core stuff resellable so if you buy the wrong thing you dont have to eat the entire cost.


Sklug:
-We will be lowering mobs fire resistance and therefore removing all fire based spells from the game. (yes, he is funny)

Endurance regen- Merloc talked about being OOC during rezz effects or giving endurance upon rez after we explained this issue to him.

Merloc seems to have changed his mind about raiding augs, he said he wants to put group augs on raid minis like in FC/AG. Anyway seems like augs may make a comeback to the raiding scene.

Familiars: they want to expand them to all go away like wizard ones

-are aware of the quest window bugs where other quests overlap

-will fix arc of arrows before next expansion

-will look at adding a plat slot to guild bank

-Merloc is making an NPC who will hold on to quest items for you, it will be retroactive to TBS for the quests with insane numbers of items (ie hand aug, face aug, bone circum etc.)

-colors will be restored to distillers (they had no idea they had been removed)

-Intend to put in a change to /tar default to PC over NPCs to alleviate familiar issues - they said this was an easy change

-Ngreth is looking at automizing some subcombines for trade skills

-Ngreth is looking at some moderate improvements to trophies to make them more useful

-Tradeskill levels cannot currently be increased due to a coding issue (yay)

-Code person says LON mounts cannot be sized appropriately without screwing up the other models

-Code says they can and will add a target corpses/cycle corpses functionality

-Code for min/max focus effects is in, and will be implenmented later (ie probably next expansion), this should alleviate the caster focus scaling problem (in theory).

-Beastlords: if they can gain consensus on wanting the newer models for their pets they can have them, however devs currently believe there is big disagreement on that issue

-Poison - no time still for this code change, maybe in a few months

-Warrior 1.5 hate mod will work after next expansion

-They will look at the monk pulling ability that requires OOC to activate. Devs thought it had been changed to hatelist instead.

-On Epics: "We can only count to 2.5"

-Will look at dropping the recast timer on druid group skin - and yes people asked about stacking, again.

-Will look at splitting the druid illusion/bene mod buff - dunno why

-Will tweak Lay on Hands so that if the person dies before the spell lands or it's cast on a mob -- ie it doesnt land, it should not reset the timer.

MERCENARIES are the big thing for this new expansion, they will be in group, bought with plat, they will suck xp, they are not upgradeable, they do not currently function with raid functionality but they may in the future.
- Mages: no on pet swap this expansion, nodyin couldnt get the code

-Alla is getting a face lift to be called ZAM. Starts with EQ II but should get EQ in , the EQ II interface has shit on a mob like % of drops of every tiems, spells they cast, it has an out of game email system for the bazaar where you can watch for things, it will show you what equipping an item will do etc.

-MMM - they are going to link basepop to events (yay)

-Factioning will be less in the next expansion and should be tied more to content and less to grinding.

-Pet Hold, some code is ready to go, more is still needed to full functionality

-Will look at adding owner's name to pets

-"A lot of the time we don't know what the best way to beat a raid is"

-The ability in the future of right clicking on raid effects may help to figure out events.

-Merloc would like to add back in some class specific stuff

-They want to add an item to transform monk BPs to a tunic look

-They want to add some chat filters like in EQ II to avoid spam tells

-"There is probably something in the code that says as rangers get better make them worser"

-Looking at tying powersource use to only when not OOC

-Looking at fire wing in crystallos for possible balance issues with low aggro radius

-looking at rains hitting pets familiars etc.

-looking at having the game PM leaders and officers when someone disbands

-Merloc specifically said he was looking seriously at changing anguish and Demi augs to type 7/8 (seriously, he really said that)

-Prath will look at feasibility of an Sk group tap heal feedback spell

-Prath will look at a Bard AE mezz, but the original song mezzed an entire zone, so dont look at that happening again.

-Yes, they can give us a message for auras wearing off

-There are code requests in already to make clickies easier to use, Merloc also mentioned he is adding the ammo slot to clickies, PM him items you think should get this changed.

-Yes, they can change expeditiions so LD members etc. can be removed by the expedition leader (I thought we had this already but ..)

-Yes to variable targeting distances on mobs (ie kick should not be a standard range it should change with the size of the mob)

-Group/Raid coth- Maybe

-Can flag modrods as class restricted so they no longer annoy non-mana classes

"If you were to call a human finished they would be dead" (Merloc on releasing content that is not quite.. done)

-DI will be fixed so that if it doesnt land it doesnt gray out or eat components

-Merloc "All of the problems of hte old system will be washed away"

-They are looking at an encounter in the ice wing of crystallos that is too long and has too many parts to reduce some of the non critical parts

-Weaponshield is intended to work the way it use to work. They will try to fix the strike through issue, its a math error.

-Changes to SOF daily tasks - combat - orcs will be in loping plains instead, Veeshan will change to oozes, Some changes to the HOS combat tasks also.

-Considering increasing the size of fellowships

TRADESKILLING: Powersources will be TS with pottery to make all the current group (orux) and raid (phosphite) sources. Raid sources will still require raid flags in order to use them.

SOF RUNES: Kaladim the Gold will allow you to trade your prismatic runes (MMM/Crystallos) for whirring or humming runes (MMM/SOF/Access Tasks)- this is coming in the next patch on Wednesday supposedly.

Expansion Info:
-lots of foresty zones
-alternate time Blackburrow, revamped gnolls look cool
-ranked spells again
-similar tiered group and raid zones (they said group zones would scale back to level 70, but I'm not sure that person was really sure what they were saying)
-increases in personal and guild tribute effects
-Raids will overlap back to MMM level difficulty, 4 levels total, 2 past crystallos
-No new LAA, but will look at adding additional ranks to current LAA
-Raids will be triggered by ONE flagged person (ala Bimbaculus) then raids will yield flags ( I think they mean everyone in the raid gets flagged but who knows).
-Group and raid progression will change your view of the void zone (expansion starts there off of POTimeA)
-Some 2/3 group raids
-no new Boo Boo (druid pet)
-Research up to TSS Rk II spells and tomes

Mercenaries:
-2 AI types at the moment- cleric and tank
-Hiring cost + upkeep cost (designed so they are used but not so they are used all the time by everyone)
-Will run off your carried plat (why they are changing it to weightless)
-Stances: Aggressive, Defensive and Passive (Siesta mode)
-Roles: Main Tank, Main Assist, Puller- you SET these roles in your group window and the AI behaves appropriately (Ie if its a MT it taunts, if your PUller is pulling a cleric mercenary will not heal it until its in camp ...)
-Siesta mode will have the merc just sit there
-Uses the MA's target as main target
-Can transfer ownership, level of merc scales to level of owner, this updates continually (ie if your toon is powerleveling and has a merc, merc will level up with it).
-Healer is smart enough to interrupt a ch if it wont land in time, or to weave fast casts and hots, etc. (heh we will see).
-Healers WILL buff your toons, albeit on their terms (so forget it if you have a particular set up you want).
-Mercs are buffable, should be rezzable, some are shrinkable, etc.
-If you add someone from a group to your group it will merge groups (no more having to disband one group)
-Mana/endurance is added to main group window along with hit points
-Healer Mercs WILL rezz you (the one we saw only had a 90% rezz though)
-They want merc corpses to be draggable

-Healing of pets- they won't do it currently, they are working on it.
-large selection of models (yes, there is a siren model).

-currently cannot set a pet in group as the "main tank" BOO.
-probably will allow you to gain LAA if you have 2+ a merc in group
-should zone and tp with you to your location
-shouldnt break mezzes/// they only attack already aggroed targets though, kind of an issue for MT
-will have Rk. II ish spells
-no clue on costs
-There is a white dragon healer model. and sirens, and bixies, also saw a undead elf HOS looking tank model.
-Should allow you to get group instances (maybe not if they are needed for raid progreassion).
-Intended to be able to taskadd/drop with the group member
-They will stick around a little if you go LD waiting for you to come back.

[knytul]

More to add i found in Sony Forums on Mercenaries:

* Will merc healers heal pets? Yes, they should.
* Are they restricted to SoD content? No, though most will likely require that you own the expansion.
* Will they count toward requirements for missions? This is the intent, though we're still investigating to see if there are any technical issues with that.
* Will the AI suck? I hope not. Maddoc and I have been putting a lot of time and effort into this. Though certainly, we have tuning knobs that we can use the make for better or worse performing mercenares (you get what you pay for).
* RE: Concerns about people preferring to use mercenaries over players due to mercs not wanting loot: We've discussed some ideas to address this problem, but the consensus was that making mercenaries take item loot would be very unpopular. Please discuss any other ideas you guys have on this.
* RE: Concerns that making them require plat will cause mercs to not be usable by the players that need them the most. While this is partially true, we do intend to carefully balance the costs. Players without much in the way of funds will likely be able to hire cheaper mercenaries that may not be as powerful or have as responsive of an AI, but that can still give them a big boost in power, thereby enabling them to start earning more plat that they can eventually use to hire a better mecenary.
* What does it mean that mercs are not allowed in raids? Well, as they are part of your group, you have to dismiss them in order to for your group to join a raid.
* Why only Tank and Healer? We're going for quality over quantity. The AI system is very extensible and we will be able to create all kinds of nifty AI's in the future. DPS is next on the list, but we're not willing to say when it will be available yet.