HoC chat

[Humlaine]

anyone got a copy of the HoC chat done today? please post it here

[Grbage]

[20:17] <Merloc> Hello, I'm Keith Turkowski, designer in charge of itemization.
[20:17] <Rashere> Good evening folks.  I'm Travis McGeathy, lead designer for EQ.
[20:17] <Ngreth> Hello.  I am Adam "Ngreth" Bell, game designer for Tradeskills and general content.
[20:17] 3*** Sprite changed topic to Welcome to tonight’s House of Commons chat with the developers of Everquest. Tonight all questions on all topics are welcome. Send your questions to [QT]Legend, questions sent to myself or the developers will not make the lineup!
[20:17] <Nodyin> Hello everyone. My name is David Ford and I work on the AA system and content creation.
[20:17] <Elidroth> I'm Doug Cronkhite, designer in charge of doing whatever everyone else tells me to do.
[20:18] <Maddoc>  Welcome to the chat everyone, I am Jason Mash, an Assistant Lead Designer in charge of systems.
[20:18] <Zatozia> Hi there!  I'm Lydia Pope AKA Zatozia the Torturess AKA Pure Evil! Your Community Relations Manager and new Magic the Gathering addict.
[20:19] <Prathun> Hello all.  I'm Jonathan "Prathun" Caraker, the EQ developer overseeing the spells system.  I do my fair share of content design as well.
[20:20] <Sprite> *Ronda* In the next expansion, when the magicians get a new mana rod, can the color of it be more distintive than brown?  Many times people have sat down to mem new spells and couldn't because they are holding an elemental rod on their pointer and don't notice it.
[20:22] <Prathun> Yes, definitely. I'd like to change the visual look of the rod in the next expansion, both the held graphic and the icon so it doesn't look like a Harry Potter wand.
[20:22] <Naithin> *Swampfunk* What is SOE's current plan to balance 2handed weapons between Berserkers and Everyone Else?
[20:24] <Merloc> Two-handed weapons are something that I am currently looking into.  There are several factors that play into balance, and I have several options that I'm considering, including splitting berserkers away from the other classes, although I am reluctant to do that.
[20:24] 5<Naithin> *Terminat* Any plans on revisiting the Beltron event bugs in FC2? ie. Having to get new instance to open door, DK auras etc...
[20:25] <Rashere> Definitely.  Those are both known issues that we have on our list to address.  Supporting old content is always an ongoing task.
[20:25] <Naithin> *CopyMS* Are there any plans to give Mages additional functionality with the new expansion?
[20:27] <Prathun> I've got a few new spells in mind for all classes, and we're going to be looking at the survivability and general contribution of pets across the board.
[20:28] <Naithin> *Ronda* On event 7 in Soltaris, aka Mayong Mistmoore/Solusek Ro, when the names respawn, they usually have initial aggro on the last person entering the zone.  Can this please be fixed?  (it gets annoying)
[20:28] <Nodyin> There's nothing specifically that causes either NPC in that event to target any person specifically. I'll take a look at the scripts and see if I can spread the death, er, love around a bit more.
[20:30] <Naithin> *Igorath* Is there a possibilty of having the revamped zones textures optional. Use the original low lag ones if wanted?
[20:30] <Ngreth> If you mean, just use old textures on the new zone.  No, because there is only that particular texture set on the zone.  If you mean access the old zone, it is a separate zone and we do not want to continue supporting multiple zones, plus it could not be a "flag" because they are two different zones.
[20:30] <Naithin>  *Swampfunk* The AUGs from event 7 seem to be improperly tuned, Merloc, will you be changing these augs any time soon?
[20:30] <Merloc> I've mentioned this before, but augments are being moved into group content and away from raiders.  I've looked at the Solteris augments, and I don't have any plans to retune them.  Augments fit in multiple slots, and it's not really correct to compare the power increases against standard armor.
[20:31] <Naithin> *Wraisil* when can wizards expect to see nuke revamps on test or live?
[20:31] <Prathun> I'm going to be putting the changes up on Beta very soon.  It was supposed to be up this Monday but other issues have kept me occupied.
[20:32] <Naithin> *Chanaluss* Why have there been so few, if any, AC augs possessing mod2s (shielding, accuracy, etc) or corruption resist? the benefits of the mod2s dont outweigh sacrificing the AC for hp augs in most scenarios
[20:35] <Merloc> There are various reasons, but I do think that AC augments are overly scarce, and I will be adding more into the game, including corruption ac augments... I also plan to increase corruption resist available in the game.
[20:35] <Naithin> *QuinnotetiquanBrell* With new PC models coming out and newbie zones being revamped, is it possible that we will see hometowns revamped too? Hometowns and thier corresponding newbie zones are the most visited zones in EQ visited by newbies and high levels who origin there alike. Not only that hometowns are the pride of each race and should be the best they can be represented to the Everquest engine
[20:35] <Naithin> 's limits. Crescent Reach was great.
[20:36] <Rashere> Our goal is to eventually have all of the original game redone with modern graphics.  That includes most of the starting cities.  The cities are a lot more difficult to create than the outdoor zones, though, so I wouldn't expect them until later in the process.
[20:36] <Naithin> *Ronda* Event 5 in Soltaris (Portal to Dreadspire), theres an emote to a person that if he doesn't run away, everyone around him is blinded/etc.  Can you please add an emote when it goes off with the name of the person this happens to when  the ae goes off so we can add them to the hall of shame please?
[20:36] <Nodyin> We can look into adding something like that. It should be a quick and easy thing to do.
[20:37] <Naithin> *Kristin* In response to the August 12th Producer's Letter, many threads have popped up around the community forums discussing and showing a strong interest in Alternate Rule Set Servers.  Given the popularity of the Progression Servers and the great job that Maddoc and the team did; have the Developers made any progress that you could talk about, or do you have any feedback as to when a server
[20:37] <Naithin>  such as this might become available
[20:38] <Rashere> Right now, we're just gauging interest to see what people would like to see.  I'm glad to see people like the idea.  We don't have any concrete plans to announce yet on what a new, alternate rule server would be or when it might occur though.
[20:39] <Naithin> *Mildaria* Is there any possibility of new spell downgrades to current, 70+ class abilities for lower level players(i.e. Ward of Bedazzlement, Vow of Valor, Raging Servant)?
[20:40] <Prathun> I like the idea of introducing lower level versions of abilities that come to define the classes, like the ideas you mentioned, and will do so if time allows.  The expansion content and features have to get first priority, though.
[20:40] <Naithin> *munk* with the new cardgame... when is it going live and will any mob that gives exp have chance of dropping packs?
[20:41] <Rashere> I don't have a date for when the game is going live, but any creature in the game that is within a certain con range of you will have a chance to drop packs.  We're still working out the details.
[20:41] <Naithin> *Chanaluss* regarding legends of norrath: will the dropped booster packs be an actual item in the EQ client, or will they be sent to the LoN client once looted?
[20:42] <Rashere> The dropped packs are actual in-game items.  Using them will consume the item and give you the ability to claim the reward within the LoN client.
[20:43] <Naithin>  *Croix_FV* With Secrets of Faydwer around the corner, rumors are of course popping up regarding the level of gear. Is there any definite info yet about that, and what effect do you plan on SoF gear/levels having on past expansion content?
[20:45] <Merloc> I don't want to go into the details of the specific numbers, but for single group content there will be 3.5 tiers of loot above Praetorian gear in TBS, for raiders there will be 2 Tiers of loot above Solteris.
[20:46] <Merloc> In TBS, there were 1.5 tiers for single group, and 1 tier for raiders over the previous expansion.
[20:47] <Naithin>  *Parollee* Any reasoning behind wizards not being able to have a prismatic familiar? even one with no stats and less of a focus?
[20:48] <Nodyin> A "Prismatic" familiar that was near the focus level of the familiars that wizards currently have (even a 20% focus) would be very powerful. It would essentially mean a blanket increase in power - there would be no reason to have any other familiar up and you'd have it up all the time.
[20:48] <Nodyin> If the focus was low enough not to be overpowered it would be "useless." There's no good way to implement that. Also the basic design of the familiars is based on forcing a Wizard to *choose* one area of expertise to focus on. There are no plans for a Prismatic familiar.
[20:48] <Naithin> *fcseven* for prathun Is there a chance for necros to have no illusion while liched or a new illusion for Sof,the skelly is geting old.
[20:49] <Prathun> It's something Rytan always wanted to add in - a way to optionally choose if you wanted to be in an illusion form while liched or just yourself - I think it's something we can get in for SoF.
[20:50] <Naithin> *Swampfunk* Would Prathun consider retuning the Beastlord Spell: Steel trap jaws? the current implementation is not working properly due to the way limited procs are counted.
[20:51] <Prathun> I've got my fingers crossed on an upcoming code feature that should allow us to fix Steeltrap Jaws by putting a limit on the number of times a proc can fire.
[20:52] <Prathun> So instead of it fading after the NPC casts X spells (which other procs count agains), it'd fade after the steeltrap slow had fired.
[20:52] <Naithin> *Ronda* When  is the next patch planned to place in major updates to EQ?
[20:53] <Rashere> We don't have the next patch scheduled yet, but we're tentatively looking at a couple of weeks from now.
[20:53] <Naithin> *Croix_FV* The model question comes up often, but a recent question after the patch woes recently surfaced regarding the human models, as many are displeased with them. What's the official word about those models, and if they are indeed being rejected, is there a timetable for their completion?
[20:55] <Rashere> The human models are a work in progress.  We put them up on test to get feedback, but we're in no hurry to push them live.  We don't have any timetable to get them out.
[20:55] <Rashere> Right now, we're focused on the expansion so haven't done much with them, but I expect we'll be making some changes in the near future and when we do, we'll get another round up on test for more feedback.
[20:55] <Naithin> *Rogue* When are backstab weapon changes going into game?
[20:56] <Merloc> I will be doing weapons tuning in the next month, that should include changes to rogue weapon ratios and should go out with the subsequent patch.
[20:56] <Naithin> *Nolrog* Do you think you'll be adding a high damage expendable arrow with SoF?
[20:56] <Merloc> Yes.
[20:56] <Ngreth> There is a high damage tradeskilled expendable arrow going in with Secrets of Faydwer.  This is in no way meant as a "fix" to bow DPS.  It is instead intended as a tradeskill method to get a "glyph" like effect, a short term, limited use burst to DPS.
[20:57] <Naithin> *Mildaria* Is there any possibility for upgrades to the Enchanter Visage spells in the future?
[20:57] <Prathun> The effect on Horrifying and Glamorous Visage is a percentage bonus.
[20:58] <Prathun> So if you're generating 100 hate / sec, you get a 10 hate / sec bonus.  The next expansion when you're generating 500 hate / sec, you get a 50 hate / sec bonus.
[20:58] <Prathun> The ability upgrades itself automatically.
[20:59] <Prathun> I can't bump up the percentage on that for the same reason why we can't make the Defensive Discipline mitigation better.
[21:00] <Prathun> I was planning on introducing a Horrifying / Glamorous aura for enchanters, though which should have some interesting implications, especially in raid environments.
[21:00] <Naithin> *Swampfunk* The Defensive proc buffs are cause melee characters to lose attack dps... due to the reseting of melee weapon animations... is SOE aware?
[21:01] <Rashere> Well aware, although it doesn't have anything to do with animations.  It's on our list of things to look into.
[21:01] <Naithin> *Chanaluss* are there any plans for a revamp of pottery?
[21:01] <Ngreth> It is a tradeskill that I do plan on revamping, but it is not high on my priority list.  At the top of my priority list as soon as I can get to it after this expansion is a revamp to poison making.
[21:02] <Naithin> *Darkmatil* Are there going to be any Kunark/Velious zones revamped, or just old world?
[21:02] <Rashere> Our plans for revamps are limited to the old world, but we may end up redoing a kunark or velious zone if we need to for, say, a launching point for an expansion area.
[21:03] <Naithin> *Swampfunk* The lower tier 2handed weapons in Solteris are still tuned below fc2 weapons... is this intentional?
[21:04] <Merloc> No, they should be above fc2 2h weapons, I plan to increase the ratios.
[21:04] <Naithin> *Igorath* what pertanat information do you require to help track down the (east)west graphic bug?
[21:05] <Rashere> Zatozia will be putting up a thread specifically to gather information on this soon.  Based on what we've been able to tell from the player's reporting it, it seems to be hardware specific so we're looking for information that includes details on your computer hardware such as processor and video card.
[21:08] <Naithin> *Nolrog* Does Brenlo walk around the office shouting pirates, and expect all the developers to yell back Arrr?
[21:08] <Elidroth> Actually, SOE limits "Talk Like a Pirate Day" to once a year for safety reasons, so shouts of "Arrr!" aren't as frequent as you might expect. However, this hasn't stopped Brenlo from running around the office in an eyepatch at least once a week. Sadly, we DID have to ask him to stop wearing the parrot on his shoulder after several people were bitten. The parrot still claims he's innocent and blames Brenlo.
[21:09] <Naithin> *fcseven* for rashere will the shadowhaven casino ever be revamped to include new rewards?
[21:09] <Rashere> I don't have any plans for it right now, but it makes sense to me to go add some new ones when we have the time.
[21:10] <Naithin> *galidin-prexus* The press release for SoF indicated heroic stats, can you explain more about this exciting new system?
[21:10] <Maddoc>  Oh boy, that's a big question if I've ever seen one ... Heh
[21:10] <Maddoc>  Heroic stats will affect your character in two different ways -- Heroic stats primary functionality is to increase your stat caps, which means that in any calculation where a given stat is taken into account (and not capped), the value used in the calculation will be that much higher, giving you better results.
[21:11] <Maddoc>  Additionally, there are a number of formulas in code where the sum total of a heroic stat (say you have 100 heroic strength spread out over all of your items) is used in another formula to give you a much enhanced effect, or a new effect altogether.
[21:12] <Maddoc>  Obviously, I won't list them all out now, but there are lots of good things that Heroic stats will bring to your characters.
[21:12] <Prathun> And just to reiterate, heroic stats are exciting.
[21:12] <Naithin> *Swampfunk* The power source system really does have enough flavor or diversity to the powersources... I feel the powersources could use a total revamp... is this already in the works? or even feasible?
[21:13] <Merloc> I'm working on it as I have time, I am redoing the procs for power sources completely, and working to improve the stats to make more of the power sources viable options.
[21:14] <Naithin> *Ronda* Fan Faire was great this year.  Thank you very much!  Any knowledge of when/where the next one will be?  Thanks.
[21:15] <Zatozia> Thanks!  We currently don't have any information about the next Fan Faire! We're still recovering from the Vegas Fan Faire!
[21:15] <Zatozia> We tried many new things with the 2007 Vegas Fan Faire though and yes, it was great. We have already been working on ideas for new features for the next one to make it even greater!  But again, no location or date has been determined yet.
[21:16] <Zatozia> We'll let the community know as soon as it's been finalized though!
[21:16] <Naithin> *Hohiro_Fennin* Can we expect to see a definite aggro upgrade for casual warriors in the next expansion? The Katta merchant warrior weapon was OK, but the lack of an innate proc held it back from being a much better upgrade for casual tanks.
[21:17] <Merloc> Yes, I have plans to improve aggro generation for single group warriors via itemization in the next expanion.
[21:17] <Naithin> *Armarant* can druids get a upgrade to their mask of the line of spells in SOF please?
[21:18] <Prathun> Yes.  The Mask wasn't upgraded during Serpent's Spine because it would have been a very minor change, little more than 1 mana regeneration.
[21:19] <Prathun> It makes sense to introduce a newer version in Secrets of Faydwer now.  The improvement won't be huge, but it'll be an improvement.
[21:20] <Naithin> That's it for this one folks! Thanks for joining us here on Stratics IRC, the logs will be up on http://www.stratics.com shortly.  Feel free to join #everquest for open discussion.  Be sure to come by next time!
[21:21] <Ngreth> Thank you for attending!  Have a great EQ!
[21:21] <Nodyin> Thank you for being here everyone!
[21:21] <Zatozia> Take Care everyone!
[21:21] <Rashere> Thanks for coming folks.  Be sure to tip your waiter.
[21:22] <Merloc> Thanks for the questions, I look forward to answering more of them soon!
[21:23] <Prathun> Thanks for joining us
[21:25] <Naithin> As a special treat to those who are still here 'After the Credits', so to speak..
[21:25] <Naithin> *Armarant* if a woodchuck could chuck gnomes. how far would it chuck one?
[21:25] <Elidroth> Allowing woodchucks to chuck gnomes is a slippery slope I'm not sure we're ready to deal with yet. Woodchuck ranged DPS is already pretty high, not to mention the game balance issues in allowing gnomes to be worn in the ammo slot.