OoW Dev Chat log 9/9/04
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Posted 09-10-2004 11:58 PM
Brekkee - Good evening and welcome to another great Stratics House of Commons chat, tonight our guests are the developers of EverQuest's Omens of War Expansion! Please keep your questions to those relating to the expansion.
Brekkee - Please send your questions to [QT] PhroG or [QT] Calelena - to do so type /query NICK and type in the window that pops up. Questions sent to me or the developers will not make it into the lineup, so don't bother. Full logs of the chat will be up on eq.stratics.com shortly after the chat.
Brekkee - We'll start with a brief introduction from the developers, now would be a good time to send those questions.
Rashere - Evenin’ Folks, I’m Travis McGeathy, a game designer on EverQuest Live.
Vahlar - Good evening, my name is Holly Longdale, game designer on EverQuest Live.
Rytan - Hey everyone, I’m Ryan Barker.
Prathun - Greetings everyone! I'm Jonathan Caraker, another game designer on EQLive.
Brenlo - I am Alan Crosby the Community Manager for EQ
Brekkee - *Santerai* With the new epic 1.5 and 2.0, i'm curious to know how the spawns will go ... will it be instanced zones or non instanced? and in which case of it is non instanced, how will the spawn timers be on said mobs for the quests?
Prathun - For the epic 1.5 and 2.0, there are a drops coming from a variety of instanced and non-instanced zones all over the world.
Prathun - The spawn timers will be reasonable. We've designed with the intention to reduce the bottlenecks and contention that existed in some of the original epics.
Brekkee - *JMorgana* are there going to be tradeskilled charms or augments in OOW?
Brenlo - Omens of War will have some very nice craftable augments available. Should be a lot of fun for you tradeskill folk.
Brekkee - *Eossss* Currently a list of OoW AA is already on the test server, however druid receive no unique AA in OoW as well as GoD. Is tehre any plan to change this? (Warriro also receive nothing unique)
Rashere - Every class, including druid and warrior, has a selection of unique class AAs as well as a variety of AAs that bridge many classes.
Brekkee - *Saroc_Luclin* Group and Raid leadership abilities were added with GoD. Are there plans to add to the available abilities we can learn with Leadership points?
Rytan - We’re not adding any new leadership abilities with Omens. It’s always possible we’ll add more in the future though.
Brekkee - *Bigfan* Since OoW is raising the level cap to 70, will there be harder LDoN adventures giving more points for people level 66 and up? How many LDoN points will a level 70 person get for a regular LDoN?
Prathun - The level 70 LDoN adventures are functionally identical to 65 hard. We have no plans to implement additional level ranges (such as 70 hard) at this time.
Brekkee - *Islington* Will the Level 69 and Level 70 normal spell tokens (not Ancient) be No Drop? If the answer is yes, why is this?
Rytan - The 66-68 spells for Omens will be tradable while the 69-70 and the ancient tokens are no drop. Although it’s worth noting that the 69 and 70 spells do drop from a variety of mobs that can be killed by a small group.
Rytan - The rational for having this distinction is to create a situation where it requires a similar amount of effort for casters to have a similar power upgrade as a melee requires.
Brekkee - *Grizumpy* Will OoW have a more involving storyline in line with Velious Expansion? The Struggle between the Giants/Dragons/and Dwarves felt epic
Vahlar - With Omens of War, we have changed the focus of our storyline somewhat, in that it's not following the path of the Wayfarers Brotherhood so specifically.
Vahlar - There are some interesting stories to be told there, but it is not Velious-style game play. As we move on from this expansion you’ll see the stories within the live game develop with a broader appeal where stories are concerned.
Brekkee - *ChaosMagi* Question: As a future possible player of Everquest, does Omens of War add anything that improves the new player experience? After buying the gold pack, I was severely dissapointed at the lack of noob-friendlyness.
Prathun - The task system is aimed at levels 5-65, and should offer loads of content for a player just beginning their Everquest experience [tm].
Brenlo - The task system will add tons of new content for levels 5 to 65. All of it soloable. So once you leave the tutorial you can go right into tasks.
Brekkee - *DarkStryke* Q: What assurances do we have that OoW will not be another GoD style content release?
Brenlo - Well. We know that Gates was not released as well as we would have liked. =)
Brenlo - We have changed our testing scheme to allow whole guilds to test content together to allow for better tuning
Brenlo - We also are not changing key systems as we test, like we did with the DX9 engine upgrade during Gates testing
Brenlo - I will think that you will see that this content is much smoother in terms of tuning.
Brekkee - *Yaxa* Concerning wizard/druid teleport spells. Will those be dropped, quested or available on vendors? If quested, why are we supposed to do a quest to provide a convenience service to other players?
Rytan - The wizard and druid teleports for Omens will be available via a short quest in the new expansion. Also, the items that are required for the spells will be droppable, so ultimately you’ll be able to buy the components for the spells in the bazaar, or hunt for them yourself in the new zones.
Brekkee - *Anudair-Innouruk* Can you choose how much time when asking for a task? Say if one day you only have half an hour, and another day you have about 3 hours to play, can you choose different tasks with different rewards?
Vahlar - Tasks are designed to be done in a reasonable time frame, so your three-hour example is fair. If you have to leave for the night, you can delete your task at any time without penalty and be able to select a new one the next time you log on.
Brekkee - *Hirofortis* I have still not gotten GoD Expansion due to so many realeased at once. What makes OoW so much better that will actually help my chars progress and want to buy the expansion.
Brenlo - Many released at once? Hehe there were at least 6 months between the expansions. =)
Brenlo - Omens is better tested though.
Brenlo - The content was redesigned by the designers after feedback from the guild summit
Brenlo - We think that we have a solid expansion with something for everyone.
Brenlo - The task system will fill in where the content may be too high or too challenging
Brekkee - *wazzer* With the expansion alot of stuff will come that will unbalance PvP even more, any plans on again taking a deeper look into the pvp system with oow?
Rytan - paying to PvP. We’ll be reviewing the state of PvP in the future and most likely making changes similar in scope to the changes you’ve already seen.
Rytan - woops, that got cut off )
Rytan - The recent changes to the PvP system definitely aren’t the end of the attention we’re paying to PvP. We’ll be reviewing the state of PvP in the future and most likely making changes similar in scope to the changes you’ve already seen.
Brekkee - *jaymez* Why is the main emphasis on rangers in OoW melee as far as aa's go so far when epic 2.0 is a bow? Most rangers have been expecting an increase in bow damage because we are by far one of the least damaging dps classes in the game right now, last option for groups/guilds, they just don't need us, our dps isn't valuable anymore, but all the aa's in oow focus on melee, and melee alone. Please explain the reasoning behi
Prathun - I know the ranger community is divided on the issue of Bow epic versus Sword epic - we've seen the discussions on the Ranger class boards. For balance reasons, we've decided not to use a bow.
Brekkee - *BlahBlah* Will there be an in game item included with the boxed version? If so, any hints as to what it is?
Rytan - Yes there will be an in game item that comes with Omens. It’s an item you can equip that also gives you a particle effect that is persistent on your character as long as you want it to be activated.
Rytan - You'll have to wait till launch to see exactly what it looks like though )
Brekkee - *Gangaskan-BoW* are custom surname titles going to be the same for everyone or will they be class related ?
Vahlar - You’re going to see a lot of versatility in the titles. There are several to choose from based on your achievements in the game, so keep your eyes open as you progress, you may find that you’ve opened new titles for your character.
Brekkee - *Lord_of_Dreams* How will content consumption be handled in Omens? Will there be a steep learning curve on the encounters? IE., learning the terrain, the mobs, etc, or will they be more basic encounters? And along the same lines, how much will raid "numbers" inpact these events? (Will they be prone to zerg tactics?)
Prathun - The encounters in Omens of War will vary greatly. There's everything from Coldain Ring War style complex encounters to single target mobs like Avatar of War, and everything inbetween. We've been working around the clock to implement as many events as possible, for as wide an audience as possible. =)
Brekkee - *TheOther* the task system is constantly brought up as the 'gap filler' between those that are at teh cutting edge and the casual player, yet since reports say the task system only goes to either 55 or 65, how does this address the majority of the playerbase that does not raid and is already 65, where gear is really the only, but a very large, seperation?
Brenlo - First off. Most players are not 65 =)
Brenlo - We think that power progression to level 70 will help to overcome some of the current disparities between the raider and the casual guild.
Brenlo - For example, as they approach level 70, Gates content will become easier to overcome. Allowing folks to get some of the gear that they could not because they will now be able to visit zones they could not previously.
Brenlo - For example a smaller group will be able to make into Qvic or Time than was needed before.
Brekkee - *Saris* With the introduction of Epics 2.0 will the previous epics be updated and made better for the purpose that there will be no point of completing the epics 1.0 quest because the epics 2.0 will esstentially be better. and if so will the quests themselves be altered to cope with these changes
Rytan - No the original epics will not be upgraded because of the new epics. The new epics are aimed at a very different section of the player base then the first epics were. But we are giving players that do complete the first epic a leg up on completing the second epic. Essentially you’ll be able to skip certain steps of the quest if you’ve already done the first one.
Brekkee - *Drukin* With each expansion, experience mobs continue to get harder and harder to the point where a casual player like myself doesn't even bother going to GoD zones. Will OoW see this trend continue or is mob power going to be scaled back a bit?
Brenlo - We have adjusted the Gates mobs several times to try and get them properly tuned. We know that when Gates released the zones were set for level 70 progression.
Brenlo - We have tried to correct that through several retunes.
Brenlo - And we feel, again, that new spells, AAs and power progression in general will help get more folks in Gates zones.
Brekkee - *Xalmat* will there be a feel of "progression" to Omens, much like there are in previous expansions? (IE: PoP tier 3 -> Elementals -> Time)
Vahlar - With Omens of War you will definitely feel like you’re moving through a story as you play through the zones. There is plenty to discover. It’s different than PoP. We’ve got a lot of variety in the characters that are all neatly tied together.
Vahlar - There are plenty of goals for players to pursue and tales to unravel. We’re proud of how these stories turned out and how they all relate.
Rytan - Also, the later zones are definitely more difficult then the earlier zones, so yes you’ll see a progression as you move through the zones.
Brekkee - *Slice* On the raid I tested in Beta, the role of an enchanter was severely limited. No Mez, No Debuff, No Charm. Will there be raid content for enchanters or is this another velious?
Prathun - In designing the encounters for Omens, I've tried to incorporate aspects that would play to the abilities of many classes as possible. Not *every* encounter can require the skills of an enchanter, as not every encounter has adds.
Prathun - But you will find that many encounters simply cannot be done without crowd control, (as well as DPS, tanking, rooting, slowing, mezzing, pets, kiting, etc)
Brekkee - *Santerai* There is talk of there being one zone that is keyed. How difficult are the steps to this keyed zone, in comparison to Time or even Uqua/Qvic ... and will this keyed zone be instanced, like the ikkiniz of GoD?
Brenlo - There is in fact only one keyed zone.
Brenlo - We do not want to give away any of the mystery surrounding it's key
Brenlo - But Rashere assures me that the quest is well balanced.
Brekkee - *qhiwx* how will pet focuses already in game effect the new pets will they sacle by 10% as well?
Brekkee - *Izu* As we understand it all current focuses will scale based on every level over the focus cap level. Does this apply the same to PoP focus as it does GoD focus? Or will high end GoD focus actually be useful in OoW?
Rytan - The scaling of the focus effects past 65 will effect all of the existing foci, although generally the higher end focus items have a higher max level then the lower tier focus effects. Generally the Elemental and time foci are capped at level 67, and the high end gates foci are capped at level 68.
Rytan - The scaling also effects pet foci as well. The bonuses for the pet foci will still effect the new pets, but they won’t have as large of an effect as they did on the 61-65 pets.
Brekkee - *Miro* Will there be more solo-able quests ?
Brenlo - Vahlar is answering.
Vahlar - The Task System is a great solution for casual players, or any player, that wants to solo. The task difficulty is also based in part on the player’s class. So, yes.
Brenlo - She is a little slow
Vahlar - Huh?
Brenlo - We do feel that the task system is a better solution than instanced zones, as they will not remove you from the community and isolate you in a little area by yourself.
Brenlo - With tasks you remain a part of the world at large
Brekkee - *TheOther* will there be content in OoW ( read: gear upgrades ) that will be attainable to non-raiders that have exhausted the non-raiding gear currently available to them in the game today?
Prathun - There is non-raider acquirable gear in Omens that is an upgrade over existing non-raider acquirable gear.
Brekkee - *Elidroth[Hoss]* So far my beta experience with the high end of OoW has been very positive. Are you going to give guilds more opportunity to assist with event tuning?
Rashere - Our experience with using full guilds for high end testing has been overwhelmingly positive. It’s definitely something we’d like to revisit during future beta tests.
Brekkee - *Kryttos* Will there be a new set of LDON Armor released with OoW and will this be around the 1900 point range?
Brenlo - We are still looking into the addition of new LDON armor. There will not be more for Omens though. We are focusing on Omens specific content which includes new armor and other items.
Brekkee - *kavorkian* with the levels increaseing with OOW will all stats includeding Mana regen, vengence saves etc be increaseing the max levels?
Rashere - Some of your statistic caps will increase naturally as you progress through the levels. Others, including mana regen, can be increased by earning the various AAs that are available with Omens.
Brekkee - *Elidroth[Hoss]* Is the task system unusable by level 66-70?
Brenlo - For now it only progresses to level 65. We want the 65 to 70 folk to make their way through Omens and Gates.
Brenlo - We will see about increasing the level limit later on.
Brekkee - *waffleboy4983* When will the rest of the epics be available on the EQLive website?
Vahlar - We will be posting the concepts soon, but no in-game screenshots.
Brekkee - *Lord_of_Dreams* How will getting to raiding zones in Omens compared to getting to them in GoD? We faced getting through 4 zones often in GoD filled with see invis, selo's speed mobs. Will we face the same in Omens?
Vahlar - We have several methods of getting players into and through omens. Don't worry.
Brekkee - *Peppercorn* Tinkering seems to have been left out in GoD as there werent any recipes. Will there be more tinkering recipes added in OOW for us gnomes?
Brenlo - Tinkering has not been left out. Ice cream is good *wink*
Brekkee - *Nharvi* Will the Guild-flag process be in OoW that has been mentioned on the boards? Aka you don't need to flag every member for a zone, it's enough if the guild defeats the mob for the flag
Prathun - We have a solid plan for flagging and back-flagging players into the only keyed zone in Omens. However, it does not involve using a guild-wide flag system.
Brekkee - *Hizz-Fennin* Will we be noticing any other graphics enhancements besides shadows and water upgrades in other zone from this expansion?
Brenlo - We have added quite a bit of small things, like frost breath and bubbles underwater
Brenlo - We are also still enhancing some of the larger things like water.
Brenlo - Wait until you see the sun set over Ocean of Tears with it reflecting in the water.
Brenlo - But look for small details that may not have been there before =)
Brekkee - *Fritti* I'd like to know how the developers feel about releasing a new expansion when the end game of the previous expansion has yet to be beaten, and how the "events" will be tuned in terms of gear - since usually there is a 4-5 month gap allowing guilds to equip for the next big thing, as it were.
Rashere - A good amount of the content in Omens doesn’t require that you’ve completed Tacvi to progress. It’s very complementary content. That being said, I’m still keeping a careful eye on how guilds are progressing in Tacvi and will make changes as appropriate.
Brekkee - That will wrap it up for tonight. Thanks for coming! You can join #EverQuest to chat more about the game.
Brekkee - The log for tonight’s chat will be up shortly on eq.stratics.com
Brenlo - Thanks everyone
Rytan - Thanks everyone, cya in Omens next week!
Brenlo - Should be fun
Prathun - Thanks for coming to the Omens chat.
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"It is good to have an end to journey towards:
but it is the journey that matters in the end." ~Ursula K Le Guin |
