Developer Chat - 2000/11/21

Original Link (now dead) -
http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/news/devchatNov1.asp
http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/news/devchatNov2.asp
http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/news/devchatNov3.asp

Transcript of Developer's Chat, November 21st

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On Tuesday, November 21, the Turbine team met in the Zone Theater Chat Room to discuss current issues with Asheron's Call and the world of Dereth. This dev chat continued to follow the question-first and queue-clearing format, allowing as many people to participate. The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

+Sashhenka@AC> Welcome to our Monthly Asheron's Call Developer's Chat. With us today is Dave Javier, AC Lead at Turbine.

nei@turbine> he's the new guy

nei@turbine> you should make fun of him

Crowley@turbine> So, hello everyone, I'm Dave "Crowley" Javier, the new lead designer on AC. It's a strange and scary time. But exciting. We've got big plans in store for AC. Year one was a time of honing our leet mystical skills. Phear the future.

Crowley@turbine> And now for the team:

Crowley@turbine> Jesse Kurlancheek: (not that he needs an intro) designer, systems haxor, devilmouse

Crowley@turbine> Cardell Kerr: designer, monster re-balancer, in-house Soul Calibur mastah

Crowley@turbine> Ken Troop: designer, creator of Candeth Martine and Ketnan, the fairy godmother of AC

Crowley@turbine> Sean Huxter: AC lead artist, our multifaceted, multitalented art guru

Crowley@turbine> Dave Namerow: online community manager, the guy who keeps the monkeys here in line

Crowley@turbine> Nik Davidson: our new producer on AC (welcome, Nik), organizer and taskmaster, defector from the Blue to the Red

Crowley@turbine> And now, I think Nik wanted to say something, so take it away, Nik

Nik@turbine> Hey there.

Nik@turbine> Just wanted to clear up what's probably the most pressing question, before we get started.

Nik@turbine> That pesky Thistledown soul crystal...

Nik@turbine> First of all, the bug. It's one that we've wanted to see squashed for a long time, and we've finally nailed it. Barring disaster, it should be fixed in December.

Nik@turbine> That doesn't do much for the situation at hand, however.

Nik@turbine> Despite the fact that the story will go on, one way or the other, I want it to be known that the defense of the crystal will NOT go unnoticed. In fact, we're incredibly impressed with the defense thus far.

Nik@turbine> Still, this issue simply does not meet our criteria for a hotfix, nor can Sentinels get involved in any way.

Nik@turbine> We're as frustrated with the outcome as anybody, but that's the way things are at the moment.

Nik@turbine> As such, we reserve the right to pass on any questions that I've covered. Anyway, I've taken up enough time... on to the questions!

jkircher> (Lucky me, being first! :) ) Would it be possible to add a few more keyboard shortcuts for selecting (not casting) individual spells, or select a spell page, ie spell page 3 or 5?

jkircher> I have a MS Sidewinder GameVoice, and it would be nice to be able to say, "page 2, spell 13", that selecting the 2nd page, selecting the 9th spell, moving over 4, then cast spell. Or perhaps say, "Lifestone Recall," or (will the real mage please stand up?) "Shurov Thiguz" :D It would also be nice to have a couple shortcuts corresponding to Peace and War, instead of the toggle. (Can we feel the love, macroers?

Crowley@turbine> I think at this point we're kind of lacking for keyboard space.

Crowley@turbine> So don't count on those shortcuts any time soon.

Crowley@turbine> Nor are we planning on putting in additional support for Gamevoice.

TeraPax> Will you please allow characters in warrior combat mode to have a choice on if we want to charge upon our targets?

TeraPax> Another method that could be used would be to make the "charging range" of a warrior be a calculation of his/her endurance and quickness or something, which would make sense and benefit higher level warriors who have more combat experience.

TeraPax> When helping another person they are attacked by an enemy, I try to run up and kill it, but my friend keeps running and so does the enemy, I stop and it says 'You have charged too far' GREAT GAME SINCE JULY '99!

Crowley@turbine> people have asked for a "stand your ground" option before

Crowley@turbine> sounds tempting, but we're not planning on it

Crowley@turbine> there are ways around it

Crowley@turbine> be more aware of which creature you've got targeted, and pressing back to halt your charge

Drakkar77> Could it be set so that when we are appraising items in a shop, and if we put items in a buy tab they won't be cleared when the rest of them are cleared? I would also like to see a LOT more time before items are cleared. It's happened to me several times; the shop will clear in the middle of buffs to appraise the items, or in the middle of trying to sell other loot to buy something I want. Also last update a bug was introduced in the shops. When the items clear, their icons will stay. You don't know the shop cleared until you try to appraise something and can't.

Crowley@turbine> Inventory can't distinguish whether or not someone's mulling the item over in a shop

Crowley@turbine> changing that would pretty much break the vendors

Crowley@turbine> so shopkeepers will have to continue to rudely yank the items you were considering if refresh time comes

ThriftyTuna> Does Bow/Crossbow get any damage bonus from a skill or attribute, the way that the melee skills do? I thought it didn't, but I have a combat transcript from a fight I had with a couple of Lich Lords that strongly suggest otherwise.

ThriftyTuna> Great job on the Q&A web site, by the way!

nei@turbine> (x)bow uses coordination as it's modifier

nei@turbine> through the same formula that computes melee damage (it just uses coord instead of str)

egeckolizard> Why is Life Magic inconsistent with other unusable skills? Anyone who can figure out how to get Life Magic Mastery cast on themselves can use just about any of the level I spells, yet a person who has healing mastery (one example) on them can't even make a feeble attempt at healing themself. The ability to cast life spells far outweigh any advantage that could be gained by allowing the same for healing (or lockpick, etc.) since the person's skill is going to be so low. . .

nei@turbine> it's by design, no debating.

Crowley@turbine> so originally, back in the day, all "unusable" skills were useable with a mastery spell

Crowley@turbine> trade skills were changed to be truly unusable, but magic schools were not

Crowley@turbine> this was by design

TLMaze> Is there any possibility of making NPCs more interactive?

TLMaze> A parser for limited conversation would be ideal, but it would be swell to see shopkeepers who sleep once in a while, NPCs who are just there for local color (a la Ulgrim), or even different reactions to players (such as a barkeep who tells PKs "we don't serve your sort here") . . . Oh, my five-year-old (lvl 11 life mage on MT) wants you to put in skirts . . .

Crowley@turbine> our NPCs are fairly limited in the things they can do

Crowley@turbine> giving them some semblance of AI would be a "non-trivial" extra load on the servers

Crowley@turbine> so we can saucify their dialogue, but not their interactibility

sean@Turbine> Tell your five-year-old (I have one too) I could do skirts, and still may.

MattHawk1> You seemed to be talking about 2 different things at once at the start. You saying the Crystal defense is a bug? What about the unstoppable damage bug? Those Vesayen Isles critters shouldn't be able to ignore armor, it just ain't right.

Nik@turbine> The bug I mentioned (poorly - should have clarified) is one that allows people to portal places they shouldn't be able to.

Nik@turbine> That one, and the Spinning Dillo Of Death, should be fixed for December.

DaggerQuest> why is dagger such a bad weapon to specialize in? I am lvl 43 dagger and i get beat by every other class out there from lvl 30 archers to lvl 36 ua, and then some. Are you going to make dagger equally as powerful, being close melee its the best weapon!

nei@turbine> dagger. better next month.

nei@turbine> part 2 of 3 next month.

nei@turbine> pt 3 sometime after.

nhaskell> Lockpick ... Where is our love?

nhaskell> I have heard so many rumors, but I am starting to lose faith. Have we been completely forsaken??? Please give us some hints and any idea on how much longer until it happens, we won't hold you to it.

cardell@turbine> I can assure you, Lockpick is being scrutinized.

cardell@turbine> We want to make sure it's done right this time, which will mean trying to get in some other features for it.

cardell@turbine> There are at least two separate options being mulled over as we speak, but I can't give you a definite date on when you will see these features in game.

Mandalore4> Are there plans to improve war magic?

Mandalore4> It is the single most expensive skill to be found in the game and with the addition of many many high magic res creatures to discourage drains and such it is now one of the most useless (to the frustration of many many mages {ahhhmmm...musashi}).

Mandalore4> A thought I had was a set of war spells that act as missiles and must be missiled def'd rather than magic def so us war mages might have a chance to do more than make pretty fireworks (aside from a few understandable issues A+ game you got goin here)

Crowley@turbine> yes, there are plans to improve war

Crowley@turbine> how to improve it without breaking it in the other direction

Crowley@turbine> that's the tough one

Crowley@turbine> we've had to reject some ideas

Crowley@turbine> so I can't promise when we'll have something in to make war more worth its cost

msauper> Would you consider changing the radar so that individuals in your friends list would show up in a different color? And perhaps add a /track command to do it for non-friends? (BTW, I love your Q&A page. Please keep it up. :^)

ken@turbine> We are planning (long-term) wise to do some things regarding radar colors. Not that, exactly, but some good stuff.

Collosis> Could we get a preset emote to kick the dead body of a creature? A lot of times I know ppl get frustrated with nuisance monsters and having played Dragon Realms(another zone game), it's natural for me to want to kick the dead body of the monster

nei@turbine> lol

Crowley@turbine> lol

nei@turbine> we'd need to add a horse too

Crowley@turbine> I like that

Crowley@turbine> I'll see how much time we got for emotes

Crowley@turbine> but good idea, especially for Peekay

S_nowcone> Can you take the last years worth of updates and compress it somehow and place on the website. Everytime an update comes out the only way I can download it w/o errors is to uninst. ac and reinstall, that makes a 4+ hour wait to log into AC.

S_nowcone> i worry about a year from now and for new guys done

S_nowcone> hmm its been a week to download the patchfor aug 2001

Nik@turbine> We're all in total agreement, here. It's something we want to happen, and sooner than later.

Nik@turbine> Can't give more specifics than that yet.

CableChewer> Why are there no children in Dereth? Do the portals sterilize new arrivals? I don't propose you let characters make new children (would change the game rating drastically). You could add some playgrounds to towns, some small NPCs, and have quests to recover portal-stormed kitties, stolen rattles, secure food, etc.

CableChewer> In the far distant future you could have a 4th heritage group of native Derethians. Yes Virginia, there are Olthoi. (Editor, Holtburg Herald)

Crowley@turbine> Asheron only makes sure to summon hardy adventurers to Dereth

nei@turbine> we can only have kids when two people love each other very much... and well... i don't think our rating allows for that...

Nik@turbine> Officially, per ChrisL, children are "off camera", for story purposes.

poll3975> Are any new uses for Chorizite being considered? Should make decent shields and armour pieces that cannot be enchanted. If dissolved by alchemists it might make a fluid that can be applied to spools of silk, yarn, etc for making unenchantable protective garments. Maybe apply it to existing dresses and robes. Such garments would probably reflect and refract light from the disolved metal. Would look cool even if AL & weight were poor. Beat Matty grey any day.

Crowley@turbine> chorizite... a versatile metal, to be sure

Crowley@turbine> there are no immediate plans on the drawing board

Crowley@turbine> we thought people were kind of sick of the unenchantable bit

cardell@turbine> In the future...

cardell@turbine> I expect there will be more uses for it that the Lugians may let leak out.

Grey_Bow> We have noticed that some new textures were introduced into the game at the Cathedral. Something that I have never heard asked is, will we ever be seeing anything new as far as graphics when casting spells?

Grey_Bow> Meaning, will we ever see anything else besides the same old circle of light that swoops around us when we cast a spell, etc, etc? Besides content of the game, graphics are another part of a LOT of players...It would be nice to see new casting.

sean@Turbine> New spells could have new art.

sean@Turbine> Jesse's actually been doing most of the new spell particle effects, and he's doing a bang-up job!

Deadlock27> Tomfoolery! Flabsnaffery! My lockpick question was taken...So I'll ask Crank's question instead. Here is a direct quote from him. "IS IT TRUE THAT CRANK THE LEGEND IS A TURBIE???" -Xeno Also-can you introcuce some type of ferocious peacock into dereth?

nei@turbine> LOL

Crowley@turbine> lol

nei@turbine> Yes, Crank is a mighty hero of dereth.

Crowley@turbine> Crank is no legend, but a dirty old wive's tale

sean@Turbine> Crank came to Turbine never having played AC. We got him started, and now he's HOOKED!!! Can't pull him away!

Nik@turbine> And before this gets worse... DONE.

Crowley@turbine> and jesse is a ferocious peacock

nei@turbine> grr

Airwalker88> Q. Why must all the new content be mage proof? Every patch new monsters appear that mages cannot hit even at exceedingly high levels. I would like to participate in the new quests and fight like the others, but I am reduced to healing others or rebuffing them, or just standing around and watching them fight. You really should think of the viability of a mage when dealing with new content. All the new quest items for mages appear to be always drop or not worth keeping.

nei@turbine> i am mage proof.

cardell@turbine> New monsters in Dereth are coming in at increasingly high levels. In any skill based system, level is not always a direct indication of what that monster excels in.

cardell@turbine> Many of the new monsters are very resistant to magic, whereas some of the older monsters are not.

ashputtle01> Can we expect any improvement in the tracking for war spells? It seems that once the critter moves, ever other spell spins off at strange angles. It's a waste of precious mana, and kind of unsettling when a mob of angry monkeys is bearing down on you! I saw the phrase "healthy slab of lovin'"on the Q&A page (which rocks, btw), but am scared to get my hopes up yet again. I appreciate the difficulty in balance, but darn it - I spent 28 points to specialize! Help us - Sorcerers need love too!

Crowley@turbine> no plans to improve tracking, sorry

Nik@turbine> Love, yes. Tracking, no.

Crowley@turbine> there are other ways we're looking into to help War Magic.

Recursor> Do you guys have any plans to make item magic more interesting? Right now, all I use it for is portal spells, which I consider a necessity. There aren't any high level item magic spells I need, so I see no reason to raise the skill.

Recursor> Suggestion: add the ability to enchant golems to fight for you: golem heart + item magic programmed mote + dead golem = golem slave.

ken@turbine> Item Magic is not on our list for improvements any time soon.

Gastrin_Gobel> Hello, and thank you for such a great addiction! :) Question: After dying and respawning at the lifestone, all spells, positive and negative are removed from you, should the same be said when fighting a creature who cast debuff spells, shouldnt those spells and debuffs be removed after said creatures death?

cardell@turbine> When a creature dies, the spells it casts last until the duration of the spell is over.

cardell@turbine> Currently, we cannot track the status of caster anyway...

cardell@turbine> So therefore, the spells will stay with you when it dies, much as item buffs stay on your equipment when you die.

cardell@turbine> As it is, we are trying to find another way of making debuffs less crippling.

cardell@turbine> I think we might have a solution, but it will take time.

_William_g> Are there plans to deal with the rampant phat lewt inflation in the near or even distant future?

_William_g> As players level and fill their mules, they pass down their good stuff to lower level players, so lower level content will be unused.

_William_g> Without some phat lewt sink (slot machine to either give you +5 AL or destroy your item or something) this situation will worsen.

ken@turbine> Actually, we are thinking of some ways to introduce "voluntary" loot sinks into the game. There's a couple of nifty ideas Nei has, and we'll be looking into it.

dennis_nedry> When the storyline is over, is it technically possible to have a scaled-down server that people could run privately? I know it's Microsoft's decision, but I'm curious whether it could be made to run on a standard PC or if it's simply impossible).

ken@turbine> Nod Jesse, if it doesnt work, this way I can blame you

Nik@turbine> Too soon to tell - the storyline won't be done anytime soon. :)

Ganthorp> Question: When will incoming @tell messages be reverted to bright yellow (just as the rest of the incoming drected messages are, i.e. patron, fellowship, etc.)?

Ganthorp> Comment: Ever since the update where you guys made it so that @reply won't talk to NPC's (June I believe), incoming @tell messages have been dull yellow just like outgoing ones. This makes it very difficult to tell (especially in the middle of combat), at a glance, whether you have receveived a message or sent one. My friends and I have been very annoyed with this little change and had hoped that you would catch it in the past few events. (Oh and we ARE sick of unenchantable)

ken@turbine> There's a couple things on the soon-to-do list regarding text and colors, that being one of them. It may take awhile though.

Zotar99> Hi! Do you think that we could get a better Archmage at the Hilltop Castle (60N 4W). The current "Archmage" has very little in the way of component and mana charge selection. Perhaps the Aluvian Mage might want to move farther south to get more customers.

Zotar99> A jeweler would be nice too. A lot of people live at Hilltop Castle (at least on Thistledown) and improved vendors would really help. Thanks!

Crowley@turbine> we'll take it into consideration, along with other towns that may need some upgrading

snow65border> Lower the advocate age!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'd make a good one!!!! and, BUFF THE BAEL!!!!

Crowley@turbine> little man, you know not what you ask, Bael is already powerful enough to squish you all

+Chaos@AC> Thanks Snowboarder :) I wish we could, unfortunately at this time there are legal restrictions why we have it set the way we do. If it changes, we'll let you all know.

NekatEman> Would it be possible to give melee fighters the ability to frenzy? Where they can do twice as much damage whith any hit including criticals. But at the expense of twice the stamina loss.

Crowley@turbine> erm... it's possible

Crowley@turbine> whether we want to or not... that's something we'd have to debate for a while

Crowley@turbine> we're thinking of other ways to give melee some new tricks though

TempGSV> Well... Airwalker took my question. Anyway, cardell, could you expand on WHY new monsters are ultra magic resistant? It really has made the quests for the past 2 months rather borring for mages. (We get to sit back and watch the melees do all the work)...

TempGSV> I've played as a mage in both UO and EQ... and in both mages are good at things besides just sitting back and watching the melees do everything. Sitting back and watching is what TV is for after all...

ken@turbine> We've heard a lot from mages about this recently. I don't play a mage on the real world, I play sword, and since I am relatively new to the game, (since July) I like to experience stuff directly, not through the test server....

ken@turbine> However, I will make a concerted effort to take mages out of different skill abilities on mages on the test server, and see whats what

ken@turbine> And design accordingly

cardell@turbine> Recently, in order to make new monsters more challenging, they have been made more resistant to magic.

cardell@turbine> It is still quite possible to land spells on many of the new monsters, as none of them are totally immune.

cardell@turbine> In the future, we are moving away from totally immune monsters such as the Lugian Miner/Raider, so that the entire playerbase can sample what is new each month.

cardell@turbine> Keep in mind, monsters are built utilizing cp just as characters are, and some are better at certain things than others (note Virindi vs Archers).

_Black_Hayato_> Hi =) Basically I just wanted to know if anything with the swordstaff is gonna be happening soon? I think its a great spear item and really could use a quest touch =) Not for the stats (just gave us a great new spear), just for the novelty of having a "unique"swordstaff =) Also, many people ask 'Oh, the <weapon name is no good, buff it to as good as other weapons' That's idiotic, if all weapons are the same there's no point in even having different weapons. They need pros/cons that BALANCE out...

_Black_Hayato_> Not giving everything BD V, HS V, etc, don't matter what ya use then...

Crowley@turbine> there was a spear quest this month, it'd prolly be bad form to put in another right on top of that

Crowley@turbine> but I have a special place in my heart for underutilized melee items, so it's not totally out of the question to see one of those quests some day

Crowley@turbine> prolly after Mi Krau Li improves his jitte further, though

jmoney454> Will we ever see an automatic restock button for spell components?

jmoney454> I know this has been asked before, but it's something I would really like to see.

jmoney454> Thanks for an incredible game, the last update was great!

Crowley@turbine> the restock button, while incredibly useful, is not supported with our tech

Crowley@turbine> nor is it high on our list of things for further code development

Crowley@turbine> so I wouldn't count on seeing that restock button

Quixotic_COD> Have we seen the extent of the Tumerok culture? Here we have a race that appears to rival human intelligence and profeciency with tools as well as magic, yet aside from their biggest boss, the highest level one is around 45, and a push over.

Quixotic_COD> I've greatly enjoyed the fleshing out of the back story of the Mosswarts, Virindi and anxiously await more on the Lugians. I am just curious as to whether Tumeroks attention is already planned...and can you hint at it, just a little?

cardell@turbine> Well, after wandering through the dires and hearing the distinctive grunting of Tumerok culture...

cardell@turbine> So expect more tumerok love in the future, but expect lugian love sooner.

Quixotic_COD> Have we seen the extent of the Tumerok culture? Here we have a race that appears to rival human intelligence and profeciency with tools as well as magic, yet aside from their biggest boss, the highest level one is around 45, and a push over.

Quixotic_COD> I've greatly enjoyed the fleshing out of the back story of the Mosswarts, Virindi and anxiously await more on the Lugians. I am just curious as to whether Tumeroks attention is already planned...and can you hint at it, just a little?

Quixotic_COD> After watching the Simpsons Sunday, did anyone else realize that the name Jesse translates as "Granola Flavored Tree Hugging Hippie." (Buff Leikotha! Hi COD, IRC, etc. (leave me alone!))

nei@turbine> O.o

Dave@turbine> go Quix!

cardell@turbine> Well, after wandering through the dires and hearing the distinctive grunting of Tumerok culture...

Nik@turbine> But what does that have to do with cows?

cardell@turbine> I'm all about adding more flava to them.

cardell@turbine> So expect more tumerok love in the future, but expect lugian love sooner.

+Chaos@AC> Kevlar, ga

Kevlar5678> Will non-quest/collectors items ever be useful ever again? At a current standpoint the system for loading treasure is virtually less useful because of the dominance of quest/collected items. If it isnt an Atlan or other somesuch weapon it is useless in most's opinion. Also you would think that this...

Kevlar5678> "ultimate sword of something or other" would be a bit rarer and more awe-inspiring if everyone and their cousin didnt own it. Maybe making a few of these weapons the true ones and the others cheap bargain bin knock-offs. Thanks Shout out to Seanigulous.

Crowley@turbine> sounds like you're asking for a re-tweak of our treasure system

Crowley@turbine> that's... tough

Crowley@turbine> there is divided opinion on the power level of loot-o-matic weaponry vs. quest items

Crowley@turbine> at present, we're starting to gear further content to actually make use of the treasure system

Crowley@turbine> sounds cryptic, I know, but we got stuff planned

aphony> I really like the idea of Creature Assesment, is there any way to make it a viable skill?

aphony> Perhaps making it more like ID'ing armor showing how the enemy handles elemental or weapon attacks or ability at blocking things, or showing melee/missle/magic defense abilites.

aphony> :) to cardell, the archmage holds a little black spot in my heart - it has ruined the pure mage, life, and escpecially enchanter, I like the new resistance, specialization and challenge is good.

cardell@turbine> Heh, at least I know I'm not universally reviled.

ken@turbine> We know that the assessment skills have little use for non-new player, there is no plan we have in the near future to upgrade their usefulness

JAGBigguy> My question is simple..... Server wide Honors not just certain people? Not just this time but future events done the same way. Seems like this is boiling down to egos not pride of server! and i'm not even on the server in question.

JAGBigguy> I'd hate to see a good thing ruined due to egos. Loving the game since summer of 99' FrostFell most unorganized but fun loving server!! Rock on Lagtanic!

Crowley@turbine> so it sounds like you want competition between worlds, rather than players...

Crowley@turbine> we haven't really given thought to distinguishing one server over another...

Crowley@turbine> but if you want us to give props to TD for holding this defense, well, we'll see what we can do. tech permitting.

cardell@turbine> To be honest, the idea has come up on occassion...

cardell@turbine> And I'm all for it, again, tech permitting.

nei@turbine> unfortunately, my server is cooler than theirs so they don't like the idea much =p

Kal_Jarel> Will the Olthoi ever play a major role in Dereth again and more to the point has it ever been discussed seriously? Thanks and you guys do an awesome job! Keep up the great work!

Nik@turbine> Oh, if only you knew...

Kal_Jarel> Oh! And thanks for the Archer love. <G w00t!

Nik@turbine> These guys wiped out the Empyreans. Lately, they've been slacking. Not forever.

Akmahon> Do you ever plan on making thrown weapons useful? It can't be that difficult. There have been several ideas presented such as slings, or things like the atl-atl that ancient indians (or something like that) had. Something you can buff with item spells.

Akmahon> Also making thrown weapons fletchable or at least easier to find with elementals would be good. Been busy lately so I havn't been able to explore all the new island stuff, but from what I've seen its great! Thanks guys.

Crowley@turbine> we still have some hope of making thrown weapons better

Crowley@turbine> a bunch of ideas have been discarded because of tech limitations

Crowley@turbine> but we keep coming up with new ones!

Crowley@turbine> while I doubt that TW will ever be as cool as bow, they're still slated for some wub

Sephiroph4415> Hi , I am specilized in crossbow on the 45th level and with this new update with bows crossbow is horrible. Is there going to be any change? I don't midn the speed but if the mod was higher it would be more realistic. Another thing could you change the Sephiroph4415> speed for it to get to the target, xbow is apparently a lot stronger then bow, addicting game its awesome! and now with new update everyone are archers instead of xbows =)

nei@turbine> um... xbow sped up 33%, bow sped up 42%. there are no plans to change this. xbow got better, not worse... what's the problem with getting better?

Olesh> Out of curiousity, are there any plans to add heavy spears in the future? (Naginata, Halberd, Glaive, Longspear, etc)...

Crowley@turbine> more spears? yikes.

Olesh> ...I've always had this image in my head of big spears and stuff, so I was hoping that something would be added...

Crowley@turbine> I won't rule it out.

Crowley@turbine> But just remember, for every weapon that goes into the treasure system, other weapons come up less. And there's only so much I can do to cut down the odds of yags coming up.

Nik@turbine> Swordstaff = misnamed naginata.

Crowley@turbine> hush, n00b

coder_1024> Would it be possible to add the ability to chat with all characters in your allegiance tree currently logged on? i.e. maybe a command similar in nature to @m, @p, and @v, but expanded to send to the entire tree (above, below, and beside you)?

coder_1024> This would of course require another kind of squelch command so you could toggle whether or not you received these messages. But it would be a great feature! Thanks :-)

ken@turbine> Right now it could be a server nightmare to allow allegiance wide communication...

ken@turbine> We are looking into more limited forms of Allegiance communication, maybe limited to a section of the tree, and/or allowing monarchs more communication privileges than the rest of the allegiance

ken@turbine> the actual details and other allegiance wide improvements will be one of the next focuses of development time for our programmers

Peter_of_Ispar> Master, might I have a portal to Tethana? - Revenant vioce, q-bar spammers, and a whole bunch of d00ds.

Peter_of_Ispar> Now my question: do you see never learning portal tie, and therefore being able to recall to places unlinkable as a bug? Personally I have a level 50 staff fighter who never learned portal tie. He suffers a bit from this, but the gain is worth it.

Peter_of_Ispar> though I've been hearing tell of "fixing" the "bug." My problem with this is that it's clear in the desc. of Portal recall that you "Recall to place you're linked or last portal you went through." I just don't see how that is a "bug." (Done I guess...)

Nik@turbine> That's not changing - that aspect IS by design.

nei@turbine> bug... feature.... blurry line.

Nik@turbine> But the log-out-point bug is going away.

Nik@turbine> And actually, I'm getting shouted down here... uppity n00b that I am...

nei@turbine> they're arguing in there... it's precious.

sean@Turbine> boys, boys, boys... calm down...

ken@turbine> It cuts down on our design options when people are able to recall to supposedly unrecallable portals. While that is not changing next month, it is something that I would like to see fixed soon.

Umatic> Q. Why aren't robes available through the loot generator? You guys have repeatedly said that the quest robes should never be better than what you can get randomly... but you can't get robes in loot, why not? will this be changed?

Umatic> I'd love to see robes appear on the same type of generator as clothes do. Linen Faran Robe. Velvet Suikan Robe, Casts Acid Protection IV. (btw, yay to Knights of Dasterdly, and thanks for the game Turbine)

Crowley@turbine> it's a matter of squeezing stuff into the treasure system

Crowley@turbine> we didn't think that robes were enough of a concern to stuff them into the loot-o-matic

Crowley@turbine> but, if people want them to be randomized via the treasure system, well, we can consider it

sean@Turbine> And I have to investigate whether there are technical limitations which would not allow us to put them into the treasure system.

awzman> Is this sense of community derived from the crystal battle (specifically on TD) the major purpose of doing it this way, and if so, are there plans for further community building like this? Amazing design, btw.

sean@Turbine> You may think they are like clothing, but they are significantly different. Done

nei@turbine> and i will make the bread!

The_GreatMage> Hello and thanks for your time. I have been playing AC for almost the entire time it has been out. I am wondering when Mages will get some help with there Space, Burden is nothing much but annoying, Space in pack's is used all up by Peas and comps.

The_GreatMage> When will we get some more spots in a Pack or Belt Pouch? let us stack items up to 999 it would help everyone out ALOT (Wheres Rei? Never not seen him in here) Shout Out to UFF and Princess Leah on Solclaim!!

nei@turbine> q/a page rules:

nei@turbine> http://www.turbinegames.com/qa/view_question.html?id=183

incabrain> Excellent job on content updates and new ideas. Even so, I find so often I'm fundamentally doing the same things over and over, it just takes me longer. What's on the horizon that might change this? Any candy to drop?

incabrain> Oh, and how can I tell if that guy with the AWP who keeps "1-shotting" me mid-air isn't cheating?!? Long live the MacAskills and the Ravels!

ken@turbine> I can't speak for Stormwaltz, but this certainly was one of the goals of the quest...and yes, we are definitely planning more events to accomplish this sort of thing in the future

ken@turbine> That was the answer for Awzman

ken@turbine> Sorry about you getting skipped there, Awzman.

+Chaos@AC> thanks Ken, sorry Awzman

nei@turbine> he is cheating. he probably uses modem-doubler. i blame john and dave for this. *awaits the real answer to the real question from one of the real people*

ken@turbine> Yes, I think that this event shows many different sorts of possibilities for where AC can go. There are also many new communication and allegiance features on the slate for the future of AC, which will improve many of the non-leveling dynamics of AC

ken@turbine> plus we are thinking of new skills and other things to add depth to playing in Dereth

_hbd_> Simple Question, Is Bael'Zharon possible for us to kill this month? I would just like it confirmed so i dont have to keep struning my corpses about for no reason ;)

_hbd_> And comment: Seeings you guys keep raising the bar on Magic Defense on enemies, how about a few enemies that raise the bar on Melee Defense... something that a melee cant hit with their 300-350 skill either. Thanks.

_hbd_> Finally, fix for thrown weapons = Shield Equipable

Nik@turbine> I don't think I could kill him, but you're free to try.

Nik@turbine> (Decoded: We can't tell you just yet.) :)

seth_god> my question was taken so i'll leave you with this.... <^ (O.o) PS: The shield equipable for thrown weapons is probobly the best idea i have seen all day, no joke..

Crowley@turbine> fair enough, thanks

alt98> Great game Turbine! What was the intended future [at time of design (aka pre-destination)] of mages in general?.....more to come.....

alt98> When Turbine created the Mage and all there powers; was the Mage (in general) supposed to be a support character? Im a lvl 32 mage on Thistledown and i was reading a post on Acvault and someone asked for some mage love reguarding War spells.......

alt98> Then some other poster by the name of "Dallyboy" replyed by saying " I think Turbine needs to make the mages back into what they were designed to be.....Support Characters".......

alt98> Just wondering what your thought on this topic was. Im a mage and was pissed at this comment made by Dallyboy. Again, great *moderated* game!...Id like to give a shout out to Arbin Rynesun, Curfax and Disciple on Thistledown!!!

cardell@turbine> Mages were intended to be versatile based off of the spells that you can cast.

cardell@turbine> With the way the spell economy has turned out, the mage is the most versatile character on Dereth.

cardell@turbine> However, I do not think that mages were ever supposed to be "support" characters exclusively.

smackphat> I may be dense and/or silly, but are there any plans to help archers take slightly less damage in combat ? Or any form of archer love (excluding better arrows) in the future ? I believe many (including myself) don't feel as though it was quite enough...

smackphat> but rather a step in the right direction. Any hints would be great ! I appreciate the amount of effort you guys spend on this amazing game! Many thanks from Smackphat (TD) of the LOL. Good luck defenders!!

smackphat> PS. Please consider some kind of cheesy trophy for when you PK someone; for example, an ear or maybe something along those lines. ;-)

cardell@turbine> By being able to shoot faster, you are taking less damage in combat.

cardell@turbine> In no case were archers supposed to be tanks, though they are quite effective, especially against Golems and PK's that don't have room in their templates for Missle Def.

Dunklezahn> With many mages out there feeling sad that there aren't many mage quest items (and I realize mage "items" are tough), what ideas are there will be quests that mages and melee's can do together for a spell scroll that would require a high skill to use-

Dunklezahn> and perhaps a low arcane so it would be something that a 4-school mage might find useful and would not be needed nessasarily for the fighters and archers, something that mages can say proudly, I Did This. I know more melee'ers with the impious staff than-

Dunklezahn> mages- is just isn't a useful item for 2/3rds of the population. If not a scroll, than a Focus that would be geared towards magic users, and not your every day item/life warrior. -Rafiki of Morningthaw

Nik@turbine> I know Letoile's got a quest in the works. But it's harder to make mage items, simply because mages aren't as item-dependent.

Crowley@turbine> we're looking for ways to give mages (not hybrids, but actual pointy-hat-type mages) more toys

Crowley@turbine> look for those in some of the quests we got coming up

ProfitLoop> Hello, Currently some towns in the game have a lack of people in them maybe due to them having a lack of portals to other towns or because they buy your items at such lower prices, are you planning on upgrading any of these towns?

ProfitLoop> Maybe giving the out of the way towns like plateau village a healer, neydisa' a Jewler, this could also help with the crowding that is apparent in such places as Ayan baqur.

Crowley@turbine> we already commented earlier on wanting to revamp some towns

Blitzkad> My Why not add bonuses to wands? as it is as a mage at level 67 I have NOTHING to fight for whatsoever, you may say item VI wand man! ....no sorry doesnt cut it, melee can always hope for that great weapon I cant hope for crap cept a great weapon

Blitzkad> to trade... for what ? got me...Do we need +25 wands NO do they need to be enchantable NO but couldnt we get somethinghalfway useful with a variance of +2 to +8 (non enchant) as a skill Magic caps out so early and now mages can't hit anything as it is,

Blitzkad> we have nothing to get from a loot generator its sad give us something to actually pull that is useful. I cast all my own masteries what good is a item VI staff bleh to that Should be a staff with nothing but +2 to item or +8 as ultra uber DONE

Blitzkad> Thanks for your time Great game shout out to Massive, Zol, Karandras, and Khao of Solclai

Crowley@turbine> unfortunately, we can't add % bonuses to magic schools, like melee skills get bonuses

Crowley@turbine> so any kind of boost has to be done with Mastery spells

Crowley@turbine> that's an unfortunate situation for mages, yes

Crowley@turbine> so we'll try to find clever ways to work around this limitation

haywir3> SINZ I WUB JOOOOOO (my question was answered)

+Chaos@AC> Haywur3 will be out last of the night.

haywir3> :)

Dave@turbine> that was easy!

+Chaos@AC> well thanks for the emotion there haywir :) No question?

haywir3> couldnt come up with one =), its 4am here

Crowley@turbine> lol, have a cuppa

Nik@turbine> Go to bed, man!

+Chaos@AC> No problem :) Get some sleep!

Dave@turbine> thanks everyone!

Crowley@turbine> thanks folks

+Chaos@AC> Thank you all to our pals at Turbine for taking time to answer those burning questions! Thanks to all of you for being patient while we got started!

ken@turbine> We all love Jesse and his QA page

nei@turbine> *unf*

Crowley@turbine> props to the IRC kids

nei@turbine> www.turbinegames.com/qa

sean@Turbine> Props to the nooob, Nik!

Crowley@turbine> happy Thanksgiving everyone

Crowley@turbine> good night

nei@turbine> gobble

Dave@turbine> you guys are great! send cookies!

Nik@turbine> Yee, and good night. Remember to tip your moderator, and drive safely.