Brannoc - Good evening and welcome to another great Stratics House of Commons chat, tonight our guests are the developers of EverQuest!
Brannoc - Please send your questions to [QT]Cale - to do so type /query [QT]Cale and type in the window that pops up. Questions sent to me or the developers will not make it into the lineup. Full logs of the chat will be up on http://eq.stratics.com shortly after the chat.
Brannoc - We'll start with a brief introduction from the developers, now would be a good time to send those questions.
Vahlar - Good evening folks! I'm Holly Longdale, EQLive Designer and sometimes known as "Lore Lady"!
Maddoc - Welcome to the chat. I'm Jason Mash, the Assistant Lead Designer for EverQuest.
Kytherea - Hello and thanks for coming! I am Christina Delzer, the Community Relations Manager for EverQuest.
Ngreth - Hello, I am Adam Bell, Associate Game Designer, often known as the House Ogre
Raghnell - Howdy. I Chris Lena, the Producer of EQ
Prathun - Greetings all. I'm Jonathan Caraker, the raid designer on EverQuest.
Zajeer-Dev - Hi, I'm Camille Abdnor, itemization designer of EQ
Brannoc - the time for the questions is now! they'll be answered first come first serve, act now, don't delay!
Brannoc - *Cinexa* Hi guys! Rage progression seems to be anti-player & very much blocking unless you happen to be EXTREMELY lucky and even then it is nearly impossible - any chance there will be some re-thinking of that zone ?
Prathun - What I think you're referring to is the progression NPC that is only up for a limited amount of time before he despawns. We've already increased the amount of time that the NPC stays up to help address the issue and we're not against changing it further if it proves to be an unreasonable bottleneck.
Brannoc - *Doomy* What is EQ doing that will put it above other mmo's?
Raghnell - I think the question is always what are other mmos doing to catch up with EverQuest
Raghnell - We have the content in both quantity, quality and challenge that stands with any other game out there on the market
Raghnell - We have the largest foundation and we will continue to add depth and complexity to the game in the future
Brannoc - *Anon497* I wonder when Coldwind Blackfoot will return to Nektulos Forest so those of us working on DoD progression will be able to interact with him again.
Vahlar - Coldwind will be returning to Nektulos Forest soon. I can't give you a specific date and time at the moment because he's being thoroughly tested to ensure he's being cooperative. But rest assured, he is returning soon. We'll keep you posted on the boards.
Raghnell - Hmmm, maybe we should take a closer look at Nektulos in general...
Brannoc - *Nolrog* Now that research and tinkering have gotten some new recipes and alchemy has seen a major upgrade, are there plans to do something similar for poison making. It's a skill that's in desperate need of some attention (stay tuned to the Tradeskill Top 10 for additional details and some ideas.)
Ngreth - Poison Making is definitely on our minds, and we do want to address it. It is high on the list of tradeskills that we would like to address. That said, we have not yet scheduled what is the next big thing we are doing for tradeskills.
Brannoc - *Computer* since Rytan recently left the EQ team has a new spell designer been assigned yet and if so does he plan to review PoR spells and make adjustments that many feel are needed?
Raghnell - We are still searching for a new person to work primarily on spells
Raghnell - But a lot of our designers have been chipping in all along and continue to do so.
Raghnell - We will continue to make adjustments as needed. However, they may come a little slower until we have a new guru in place
Brannoc - *Nolrog* Tradeskill progressive quests (Coldain Prayer Shawl, Aid Grimmel Earring.) Are there plans to add more in the near future? Preferably ones that do not require you to be flagged in order to do the combine (like the Aid Grimmel).
Ngreth - We definitely keep the progressive tradeskill quests in mind, and we do like them. Again, we have made no specific plans, but they are on our minds.
Brannoc - *Emil* Hello, have you guys come closer to answering the Endurance Regeneration problem for pure melees?
Zajeer-Dev - Endurance regen is still a hot-topic on the team and it’s something we discuss on a constant basis. However, we still want to iron out a lot of the details with all forms of regeneration, not just endurance. It’s definitely something on our minds, but we really don’t have a time estimate on when a resolution will be put forth, or when implementation will be done.
Brannoc - *Arial* Hi! This question is for Zajeer. Being that most of the items in the game have been itemized through demi plane is there any plans to rethink some of the more less desirable drops and possibly bring them in line with there counterparts?
Zajeer-Dev - I’m definitely open to feedback on specific items from specific zones that seem a little less than desirable for certain players. I’ve been receiving a ton of feedback through email, the boards, and in game about specific items and how to make them better. I’ll be keeping an eye on specific items and making adjustments in the coming patches.
Brannoc - *Tharkis* Hello my question, while best probably for Absor who is not here is this. The zone Sverag seems to be broken, the npc needed for progression seems to despawn very shortly after spawning, and then will not seemingly respawn again many guilds have spent 24+ hours slaughtering the zone (not consecutive) unable to figure out how to progress past. It seems entierly luck to get past that point.
Prathun - This touches on the same question that Cinexa asked earlier. The progression through Rage is being bottlenecked by an NPC that's up occasionally but depops if not killed within a certain amount of time.
Prathun - I gather that it's been a source of frustration for guilds because it's preventing them from advancing through the content.
Prathun - We've increased the amount of time that he stays up on spawning and we can increase it further if it proves to continue to be a problem.
Prathun - I'll have to doublecheck, but I'm 99% sure that clearing the zone has no effect on his spawn time.
Brannoc - *Nolrog* Do we still need the "Tannan" version for tradeskill fixed containers (e.g., brew barrel) now that the PoK is open to all? Stuff like acid wash can only be made in PoK stills, which is a pain. In addition, can you please make the guild hall tradeskill devices Tannan flagged?
Maddoc - That seems like a reasonable request, and it's not a difficult change to make, however... As with anything we do, we're going to want to look at the recipes that use those containers to ensure that there wasn't some specific reason that required them to be made in the Plane of Knowledge.
Brannoc - *Sauruman* any chance the necromancer class item from demiplane can be looked at, considering another necklace from the zone is far superior?
Zajeer-Dev - A lot of the class specific items in Demiplane were not meant to trump other items in the zone. I don’t believe this is a necromancer specific issue. However, I will be making some minor adjustments (adding a mod, slightly adjusting AC, etc.) to a number of Demiplane class items to make them slightly more desirable.
Zajeer-Dev - I think a lot of folks have been trained to think that class specific items need to be the end all and be all for that specific zone in a zone (from the Vishimtar class items and epics, I’d imagine), but that doesn’t need to be the case.
Brannoc - *Loral* Is there any further word or progress on new player models?
Raghnell - This is a huge undertaking and a lot of things have to be taken into consideration: technical issues, time, money, and just general game performance.
Raghnell - We all want to do new player models that is certain and I simply don't have a concrete answer for you right now.
Raghnell - We do have something coming in the next couple of months that should be of interest
Brannoc - *Loral* What is the current percentage of players below level 70?
Vahlar - There's just you, Loral.
Vahlar - Actually, if you want to see the numbers, you can look at EQ Players. The stats are available in one of Kytherea's Keepsakes.
Zajeer-Dev - heh
Vahlar - I know what you're getting at and we're not forgetting our low- and mid-level players.
Raghnell - But no matter the percentage we definitely want new people coming to the game so all levels are important
Vahlar - We have some really great plans in the future that will bring a really unique, fun and in-depth play experience to all levels.
Kytherea - I think it works out to about 98% of the population is under level 70
Vahlar - Ya, what he said.
Vahlar - And her.
Raghnell - Including ever Bazaar mule ever created
Brannoc - *Nolrog* Can you please change the mushroom farm in Kaladim to have an equal number of fungus and shrooms? This drives people collecting them for Kaladim Constitutionals nuts (it's 10 shrooms and 7 fungus per spawn cycle right now.) If you change one shroom to a fungus, it would be a 9/8 ratio, which wouldn't be so bad.
Maddoc - You're asking us to disrupt the delicate balance of the 7:10 ratio?! How could you!?
Maddoc - All joking aside, that doesn't seem like a difficult change either, though we're going to want to verify that some sacred pact in Kaladim hasn't been broken.
Ngreth - I mean really... it is ecology!
Brannoc - *Nolrog* Will you be announcing the next expansion at Fan Fair?
Raghnell - Whoa! Didn't we just release one of those?
Raghnell - In my personal opinion we have begun to outpace a number of our players with the content we have released
Raghnell - I am sure we will do another expansion but we have to do it with that thought in mind
Raghnell - And to answer the question - I don't forsee any announcements
Raghnell - To be clear we do believe that expansions are good for the game but we have to be smart about it
Brannoc - *Guest66* is there any chance of getting an expanshion that requries the time of planes of power as far as zones needed to go thought to get to the end of it again or are we going to get the quick reward kind from now on?
Vahlar - We always look at our past expansions and try to learn the best and worst from them. Game Design is not a perfect science, but we certainly all know what we love to play. So, this isn't a yes or no answer. What it means is different design elements used in Planes of Power, like long progression quests and zones, do have a chance to return if we think it's going to be fun.
Zajeer-Dev - It's tricky - on one hand, we have a ton of people that liked progression content and locked zones like POP. On the other hand, I remember a ton of people who didn't like the fact that they only had 4 zones at launch to play in
Brannoc - *Loral* Yes or no. Has Zajeer stopped hating players?
Zajeer-Dev - No
Kytherea - no
Prathun - Oh, heck no.
Ngreth - No.
Maddoc - No.
Raghnell - Really?
Raghnell - I love Zajeer!
Vahlar - No, seriously. No.
Brannoc - *Nolrog* The creator mission is respawning now, when it wasn't originally. This was apparently unintentional, however, it has yet to be changed back. Have you decided to leave this as is (i.e., respawning)??
Prathun - I've spoken to Keridon about the creator mission and he plans to look it over from top to bottom (everything up to, and including, the respawn).
Prathun - It's something on his plate but we don't have any firm ETA on when he'll be done with it.
Zajeer-Dev - So who here thinks pirates are cooler than ninjas? I sure do
Brannoc - *Nolrog* Please add more cookie cutter shapes. Trolls would love to have cookies that use gnome parts in them (for some reason, the trolls think they can absorb the gnome's intelligence by eating them in cookies.)
Vahlar - Ninja bixie pirates, if you please.
Ngreth - It is of course possible, but I have made no particular plans to make new cookie shapes
Ngreth - Not just Bixie Ninja's?
Kytherea - ninjas are cooler, they get to wear all black with neato masks and get to be all sneaky like
Vahlar - No, a patch and pegleg is a must
Ngreth - Maybe it should be Ninja Shapped cookies?
Raghnell - Would you even see those?
Prathun - Who's Vajeer?
Kytherea - Zajeers good twin
Ngreth - shhhhhhh... Who says they are not in game already, and hiding?
Vahlar - As in they are too small? Or they are so ninja sneaky that even the cookies are stealthy?
Brannoc - *Nolrog* Can you discuss the thought process behind the bow changes. Specifically the plainswalker and composite treat laminated bows. Before the patch the plainswalker was the better bow, and people spent a lot of money buying one. The patch came, and the composite became the better bow (the Druzzil bow) and the plainswalker was downgraded to the composite.
Maddoc - When I looked at the bows, there were a few changes that I wanted to make, and there were two ways that I could have gone about making them.
Maddoc - The first of the two changes would have caused four of the eight bows to be reduced in power and stats, one to stay the same as it was currently, and three to increase in power, which would have affected a great number of players, as you might imagine.
Maddoc - The second of the two changes, which was the one that we went with, allowed us to upgrade six of the eight bows, leave one roughly the same, only causing a negative change to one bow. Given the changes I wanted to make, that was the absolute best-case scenario that.
Maddoc - It's unfortunate that any of them had to be changed negatively, but given those options, I went with the one that would positively impact the greatest number of players and negatively impact the least number of players.
Brannoc - That's it for this chat folks. Please join us next time here on Stratics IRC for another great house of commons with the developers of EQ!
Vahlar - Thanks and good night everyone!
Raghnell - I wanted to add that starting tomorrow that we are enabling all expansions for free on the Test Server
Kytherea - Thanks for coming folks! See you next month.
Prathun - Ooh, free expansions on Test?
Zajeer-Dev - Good for them. Our testers definitely deserve it
Raghnell - So come on by and try out Test!
Maddoc - Thanks for coming and chatting with us. We look forward to the next one.
Ngreth - Thanks for attending! Have a great night!
Zajeer-Dev - Thanks and good night everyone
Raghnell - Thanks and see you at Fan Faire
Prathun - Thank you all for coming!
Kytherea ~~wielding a giant hammer & a hairless War Hamster~~
"I'm late, I'm late...."
