Stratics HoC Chat tomorrow (5/23/06)

[Nolrog]

Tomorrow night, is the HoC chat with the developers. Are there any questions you would like asked? I cannot guarantee an answer, but I will ask submit as many as I can.

Please keep them concise and of course polite.

[Maevenniia]

Why do so many non-named "trash" mobs in DoDh and PoR summon, and is this trend going to continue with subsequent expansions? I realise you don't want soloers/kiters to monopolise group content, but when entire zones are empty and unused by groups most of the time, it would not hurt to have some non-summoning mobs, which would be easier for soloers (kiters or otherwise.)


~~~

Any news on the review of Cultural tradeskill drops? At the very least, Coarse Spider Silk drop rates need to be looked at in the interim, there's almost no Grandmaster caster armor items being made, yet plate/chain/leather armor abounds.

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Now that LDoN raids have been revamped as per a recent post on EQLive, is there any ETA on the review/revamp of the rest of LDoN (ie: missions, point awards and LDoN item costs...) ?

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What is being done to correct the $99 promo billing problem...specifically, those that missed out on renewing at the 6th year promo price because they were obliged to choose a different subscription option when all they really wanted to do was opt in to (or out of) EQPlayers, or simply change their credit card info (ex: new expiry date) ? This is a serious legal issue, some might even say fraud on SOE's part, given that it was advertised when this promo price was offerred that players would be able to renew at the same price indefinitely, and the poor billing-system mechanics that force you to change subscription options when all you want to do is add/cancel EQPlayers or edit your credit card info should NOT be the players' problem.

~~~

Why does SOE constantly start new projects but never follow up on them?

Examples:
1) Class Re-envisioning, no communication/update on this since the first couple of posts...yes, changes have been made since then that conceivably may have been part of re-envisioning, but there's been no "State of the Re-Envisioning" posts, to let players know the progress thats been made, and what still is on the agenda, what was dropped due to being unfeasible, etc..
2) Halfling Hodgepodge Extreme - a monthly feature where player questions gathered by the Halflings over the course of a month were submitted to Devs for anwers, was temporarily suspended and promised to restart in Jan...and never did.
3) EQPlayers...no updates in quite a while, buggy as ever....yet still players are asked to pay for this "service"
4) Should we expect the Progression Server to follow suit? Ie: lots of attention the first month or two, and then will get ignored forever after....
5) etc etc etc...

~~~

sigh...you wouldn't know it from the above, but I actually do enjoy playing this game...I just get frustrated sometimes...

[Nolrog]

Thanks for the suggestions SML. I was thinking some more tradeskill orientated questions, but I'll do what I can. Some are a tad bit long, so I'll have to cut them up a bit if I can.

[Sharrien]

What tradeskill will see the next major revamp and when is it planned?

[Nolrog]

What tradeskill will see the next major revamp and when is it planned?

Next expansion, I think tailoring.

[Sharrien]

Next expansion, I think tailoring.

OK, I guess that one was too easy....how about this instead:

With the coming tailoring revamp and level cap increase, are there any plans to introduce crafted armor higher than Grandmaster or crafted augs that would make my self-tailored leathers useful when I start leveling past 70?

[Strokker]

I was wondering if they have intentions to make you lower level Trophy quest more in line with what a player who is low in actual level might attain like the Pottery one where you have to make Unfired Ceramic Bola Weight
. this is a bit extream for those who might just be starting the game and would like to do some trophy quest but hit a road block like this and either have to get up the major plat peeps want for the items or wait till they get of level to farm the items...I have not checked out the other trophies too close to see if it is like wise there but this is just one I do know of.

[Grolyn]

What about other tradeskill revamps. I seems to remember that smithing *may* get revamped with tailoring if the devs can finish them. Any idea if smithing is getting overhauled then or if it will get pushed back to a later time? Also any idea on ETA for poison revamp?

Also is there any future plan to revamp baking, brewing, fletching, or pottery? Also spell research and tinkering as well.

[Zolina]

Pottery needs a revamp the most, there's been nothing even remotely useful added to pottery since PoP.

[Nolrog]

Pottery needs a revamp the most, there's been nothing even remotely useful added to pottery since PoP.

Charms were added. Don't know how useful you consider them though.

[Maevenniia]

Charms were added. Don't know how useful you consider them though.

not much at all

[andyhre]

did this chat happen? The usual spots to find the archive are silent.

[Gorse]

Some friends copied and pasted it. Near the ends it sas where it will be posted (EQStragtics), but I could not find it listed yet.



<Brannoc> Welcome to another great Stratics house of commons with the developers of Everquest! Questions regarding the progression server are most welcome but we'll be answering general questions as well, so feel free to send them!
<Brannoc> Please send your questions to [QT]Sprite by using /msg [QT]Sprite My question here. Questions sent to myself or the developers will NOT be answered so please do not send them to us.
<Brannoc> We'll begin with a brief introduction from our guests and then proceed with the chat. Now would be a good time to send those questions to [QT]Sprite!
<Raghnell> Hello, I am Maddoc and I just post on the message boards all day
<Maddoc> Welcome to the chat -- I am Jason Mash, an Assistant Lead Designer on the EverQuest team.
<Rashere> Evenin' everyone. I'm Travis, lead designer for EverQuest.
<Raghnell> Actually, I am Chris the producer for EQ
<Oshran> MOOFilthyGnolls2Deliver4
<Prathun> Hello everyone! I'm Prathun, spells designer for EverQuest.
<Rashere> Oshran speaks in tongues
<Kytherea> Hi there! I am Christina Delzer, the Community Relations Manager for EverQuest and Queen of the evil pink fuzzy bunny slipper.
<Ngreth> Hello, I am Adam "Ngreth" Bell, Associate Game Designer, specializing in tradeskills.
<Prathun> Some people refer to me as Jonathan Caraker.
<Oshran> Bleh, bad paste. I'm Oshran, content / AA designer for EverQuest.
<Brannoc> *Igorath* When with the pathing fix, the pet pathing portion, go live?
<Maddoc> The current plan is to release the pathing changes during the next scheduled live update, barring any major issues that we may find between now and then -- If you haven't yet, I'd suggest logging into the Test Server to check out the pathing changes and submit any bugs you may find.
<Raghnell> We are looking at mid-june for that update
<Brannoc> *Nolrog* Can you take a look at the GoD tradeskill quests, and perhaps reduce the number of combines needed for each recipe. I was doing the baking one the other day, and got my skill to the trivial farily quickly, but sitll had to do 100 or more combines to move to the next recipe. It became tedious and boring, and ultimately, I stopped after 20 combines on the third recipe.
<Ngreth> At this time I do not believe that it needs to be changed. I am open to more discussion on it, but I am not yet ready to change it.
<Brannoc> *Zimmerz* what will level cap be in next expansion
<Rashere> We've been planning on increasing the level cap to either 75 or 80. At this point, I think its pretty safe to say the level cap will go up to 75 with the next expansion.
<Brannoc> *Nolrog* Are there any plans on adding in an NPC, like the Seer,t hat will help you figure out which DoD spell missions you have completed? There are a lot of people that have done some here and there, but don't seem to remember which and would like to finish the others and get their spells.
<Oshran> Most of your spell arc mission progress should already be tracked on EQ players. Still it shouldn't be too hard to make an NPC that lets you know where you stand on each one. I can say expect one by the patch after June's.
<Brannoc> *Spider* Will Breeze be available when the server opens?
<Maddoc> This is actually a common question from a number of different classes -- I need to go through the lists of spells and see what, if any that will need to be made available in the old world. Breeze specifically will likely make an appearance, but it may wind up being a research recipe, as opposed to a purchased one for this server.
<Brannoc> *Nolrog* What is the status of the newbie armor (on progression.) Are they in, out, or we going to get some modified version of them so we can get something other than cloth and patchwork to start?
<Maddoc> I
<Maddoc> I have a couple of options for handling this armor, from creating new armor to replace it, to coming up with some new recommended level formulas that will more adequately deal with the stats on this armor, to completely disabling the recipes / quests.
<Maddoc> I've not decided which way I want to go yet, as I've been spending most of my time getting the core systems in place that the server needs to run. I'll be looking into that more next week.
<Brannoc> *Nolrog* What's the latest information on boats?
<Rashere> At this point, some of the newer boats in the game (such as the ones that go to and from Abysmal Sea) are working. Were looking into ways to get the older boats working, but dont have an ETA of when that may occur.
<Brannoc> *Nolrog* There is some support for the idea of having Beastlords and Berserkers at launch. Is there any chance Beastlords and berserkers can become global features and not tied to expansions?
<Maddoc> Berserkers and Beastlords are features of an expansion, which means that they cannot be created until that expansion -- That will hold true on this server as well.
<Brannoc> *Gideon* Could you please place a banker in Surefall Glade? If the goblins in Runnyeye can have two, could the Half Elves have one in their starting city for Druids and Rangers?
<Rashere> You mean the residents of Surefall don't want to hide their money in mattresses anymore? Yeah, there should be a banker anywhere a player can start, so we'll make sure one gets put in there if there isn't one already.
<Brannoc> *Darzon* There was a reference to a set period of time before the next expansion can be unlocked - is there any rough estimate as to how long that time might be per expansion?
<Maddoc> The set period of time is the absolute minimum amount of time that we can envision the expansion being unlocked, considering the time needed to gain gear, complete quests, and discover the content needed to unlock the next expansion. This timeframe is more a means for us to keep the majority of the player's experience on the server from being ruined by that of a few potential hackers.
<Maddoc> I don't expect that, during the normal course of the server, that these times will even be encountered.
<Brannoc> *Loral* Is there any update on the release of new player models?
<Raghnell> To be honest, no update right now.
<Raghnell> We are working on some ideas in our "lab" to figure out a good, cost effetive way to do this.
<Raghnell> We have new and good ideas that we are trying to put to the test but no real information right now.
<Brannoc> *Nolrog* Will optional zones, such as Jaggedpine and Stonebrunt be available at the start? If not, then when?
<Maddoc> Over the last couple of weeks, I've spent most of my time getting the core systems in place to make this server ready for the Beta, which means that I've not had a lot of time to get this stuff looked at -- I've been looking at some of it today, and there are certainly some problematic areas for each of them.
<Maddoc> I may be able to leave the zones up, but disable certain key NPC's that have the potential of introducing loot to the world that's too powerful for the era, which is what I'm in the process of investigating (what I've been doing today).
<Maddoc> Once I have a final answer on all those zones, I'll make sure it gets posted.
<Brannoc> *Croix_FV* In the DoD release lore note, Nedaria finally opened her eyes and King Thex appeared possessed in the same manner as Calliav, yet these elements do not seem to factor into PoR lore. Are these issues dead or will they be a part of the next expansion?
<Oshran> As EverQuest continues to evolve, we continually go back to unfinished story threads. Mayong Mistmoore was a good case in point. There are no immediate plans for Thex or Calliav, but I certainly wouldn't rule them out of the running either.
<Brannoc> *Nolrog* Now that LDoN raids have been revamped as per a recent post on EQLive, is there any ETA on the review/revamp of the rest of LDoN (ie: missions, point awards and LDoN item costs...) ?
<Maddoc> I don't have an exact timeframe, but it is something that I'd like to get done for the launch of the Progression Server -- I've already queried the items and gotten some support for it (which will also make researched LdoN spells easier to implement), I just need to do the evaluation, and then the point cost adjustments and get them pushed out to Test.
<Brannoc> *Cinexa* Ok so now that the Bristlebane's food challenge is solved - what will be done about the 1. no drop / drop? 2. extreme scarcity of certain ingredients (horsemeat, wheat, shrooms) 3. after allllll that work only getting ONE out of that combine seems pretty cruel ...thanks for listening guys =)
<Ngreth> 1 - The Bristlebane's Challenge and Bristlebane's Challenge Meats will be changed to No Drop at the next patch (the change can already be seen on test)
<Ngreth> 2 - The Scarce items will stay scarce. We do not want everyone to have this sandwich and we want it to be a challenge for those that do get it.
<Ngreth> 3 - Same as 2, for the same reason. And from a Lore standpoint, this is one HUGE sandwich that lasts for five hours.
<Brannoc> *Nolrog* Will the Shared Bank be taken out untill a few expansions later?
<Maddoc> The shared bank will likely stay in (it's still in and working on the server as it is) -- I really don't see a need for people to have to drop-trade gear between characters again, that just seems silly to me.
<Brannoc> *Loral* Has there been any thought to adding cross-server missions or monster missions?
<Rashere> This comes up from time to time. Its an interesting idea, but not one that is feasible with how our systems work.
<Brannoc> *Keltrein* Will there be a tweak/fix for the trap AEs going off before getting in range to disarm it? (Having to get almost on top of it IE : trap in Dranik Sewers )
<Rashere> I went through the traps a bit ago to figure out why this was occurring. In a lot of cases, it just has to do with the placement of the trap now that it requires you to click on it to disarm it and we have to address those one by one.
<Rashere> I do plan to increase the sense/disarm distance of traps across the board, though, to give a little more leeway between the range to sense them and that to trigger them.
<Brannoc> *Loral* Revisions of the death system was a major topic at the Summit. Has any change yet been decided? When will we see a change to the EQ death system?
<Rashere> Weve been discussing making some changes to the death system, but havent settled on anything concrete yet.
<Rashere> The only significant change we know we want to do is to allow players to hover over their corpse when they die and away a rez. This will help players from having to zone twice when they die, which can take a while for people with older systems.
<Brannoc> *Cinexa* Hi =) for Prathun - any chance you are tinkering with Deathknell & adjusting some of the over the top events or is Maddoc working you way too hard ?!
<Maddoc> He doesn't have time to answer that question.
<Maddoc> (kidding!)
<Ngreth> And hey, how let him in this chat anyway?
<Prathun> My changes to the first event in Deathknell have been posted in the Veteran's forum, though I am considering scaling those back in light of the fact that the event has been successfully completed several times now.
<Prathun> The upcoming events may also need fine-tuning, as high end content always does, and I'll be anxiously awaiting the feedback of players that are raiding the zone.
<Prathun> One thing I do want to change as soon as possible is the lockout timer mechanism. Currently it works in the same manner as Inktu`ta, with a full-zone lockout for completing any event.
<Prathun> When I'd rather each event have its own lockout, similar to Tacvi / Anguish / Demi-Plane of Blood.
<Prathun> Maddoc is telling me to get back to work.
<Maddoc> *cracks the whip*
<Brannoc> *Gideon* Any plans for a high level upgrade for the druid spell Spirit of Cheetah?
<Prathun> I haven't made any concrete plans for upcoming druid spells, but I will see if an upgrade to Cheetah is worth adding in. Thanks!
<Brannoc> *FirePuff* With the Combine, will the opportunity come up at some point to switch many quests of older expansions to the task system? Or is this system tied to the expansion it was released with?
<Brannoc> *Tharkis* This is a question for prathun. At the fan faire you commented that all spells should have some reason to be used / worth casting. In that reguard a very large part of the shaman class would very much like our DoD spells revisited , much in the way shaman GoD spells had to be revisited to make them usefull to the shaman class. Is there any chance of this occuring? Thank you!
<Brannoc> oops my mistake
<Brannoc> Firepuff is currently being answered, Tharkis will be answered next
<Maddoc> I looked into the feasibility of this a while back when we revamped Freeport
<Maddoc> When I looked at it, there was some functionality in the old system that wasn't supported in the new system -- We now have that functionality, so I'd be able to convert about 70% of the actual quests into tasks, but the dialogues would need to be rewritten as well
<Maddoc> The short answer is, it won't be happening for the Progression Server, but it's not something I'm giving up on -- Hopefully, when we revamp the next starting-city, we'll be able to convert their quests as well.
<Brannoc> *Tharkis* This is a question for prathun. At the fan faire you commented that all spells should have some reason to be used / worth casting. In that reguard a very large part of the shaman class would very much like our DoD spells revisited , much in the way shaman GoD spells had to be revisited to make them usefull to the shaman class. Is there any chance of this occuring? Thank you!
<Prathun> Though not every spell can be the "best spell in the game", it stands to reason that new spells should have some use, even if it's situational. I've been planning to go back and look over the PoR spells across the board, when time allows, to address the tuning of any spells that aren't currently worth memorizing.
<Brannoc> *Shaman* Will NPC casters ever have to follow the same spell casting rules for line of sight and indoor/outdoor restriction as players have to follow?
<Rashere> NPCs follow their own rules mainly because theyre nowhere near as intelligent as a real player so they need all the help they can get to remain challenging. I cant really see that changing unless the NPC AI was greatly improved first.
<Brannoc> *Cinexa* From a SK in our guild (slithinknott) -- when's harmtouch getting a look see / fix / whatever - (i don't care about HT - just asking for him)
<Oshran> We'll be revisiting a lot of class abilities via the next batch of AAs. Harm Touch will likely get an upgrade at that time (no date, but ballpark... sometime in the fall).
<Brannoc> *Shaman* A few dev chats ago, it was mentioned that risk versus reward for the DoN missions was going to be re-evaluated. Is this still going to happen?
<Rashere> One of the challenges of point based systems like DoN and LDoN are that players tend to flock to a single mission and do that over and over for the reward because its the easiest they can find. There will always be an easiest mission, so under the current system the best we can do is sort of shift that around from time to time.
<Rashere> As way of a more permanent solution to the problem, were looking into setting up a system that will dynamically change the points a mission is worth based on how often it is done. So if people are doing a mission a lot, that mission wont be worth as many points encouraging people to try a wide variety of missions instead of just doing the same one over and over.
<Brannoc> *Mindmixer* are certain spells going to be locked out of game til expansion where it came from is unlocked like Tiny companion ect
* Brannoc gives channel operator status to Maddoc
<Maddoc> Some spells will be locked out, yes, though most of the general-purpose / convenience spells will probably get migrated to the old world in some fashion -- Tiny Companion, much like Breeze, will make an appearance in the original game.
<Brannoc> *Keltrein* Has there been any behind-the-scenes aggro tweaks? it's been a little wierd at times...
<Rashere> We havent made any changes to the aggro systems recently that would be on live servers. The only recent change is to the success rate of the taunt ability, but that is only on the test server right now.
<Brannoc> *Sundabar* This question is in regards to the later stages of the progression server. I haven't played Everquest past GoD, but as I understand it GoD and OoW were intended to be the same expansion, which is why without level 70 GoD endgame was essentially unbeatable until OoW was released. I'm not really interested in the politics of why these were broken into two expansions, but will the developers take note of this when the tim
<Prathun> Ah, a common misconception. =)
<Prathun> While we were anticipating a small level increase between Gates and Omens, and the two expansions share the same story arc, they were distinct creations each with their development cycle and slightly different teams.
<Prathun> But they are no more the same expansion than Darkhollow and Prophecy of Ro were the same.
<Prathun> They will be unlocked separately on the Progression server.
<Brannoc> *Chanaluss* for several years, the magician fire pet after level 50 was deemed useless by the magician community. over these years, small changes have occured, but the pet still retains its main issues, and as a result, no magician would dare use it. is there any hope left for this spell arc?
<Prathun> Feedback from the mage community seems to suggest that the fire pet is, well, worthless.
<Prathun> I'm interested in changing the pet's abilities so that it does have a niche in the mage's arsenal, either by increasing the effectiveness of it's spell casting, or giving it more mana regeneration, or higher survivability, or something else entirely.
<Brannoc> That's it for this one folks! Please join us next time right here on Stratics IRC. The logs will be up on http://eq.stratics.com shortly.
<Brannoc> Thanks for coming!
<Prathun> Thank you for joining us in the chat! Please test the progression server if you have a chance! =)
<Ngreth> Thank you for having us!
<Raghnell> Thanks and have a good night.
<Rashere> Have a good evening all.
<Kytherea> Thanks for joiing us, see you next month!

[andyhre]

thanks gorse!

[Sharrien]

Maddoc is teasing us with the mention of researched LDoN spells. Hoping to see that happen soon.