HoC Chat Log: Sept. 29 2005
Introduction
Sprite: Welcome to the first ever Stratics house of commons with the developers of Horizons! Tonight's topic will center on the latest patch - the Ancient Rite of Passage for dragon players, so please focus your questions on this.
Sprite: Please send those questions to [QT]Brekkee - to do so type /msg [QT]NICK My question here. Please only send questions to our QT's as those sent to myself or the developers will not make it into the lineup.
Sprite: The full logs will be posted on http://hz.stratics.com after the chat. We'll begin with a quick intro from our guests...now would be a good time to send in those questions!
DavidBowman: Hello everybody. Thanks for taking the time to come here. I recognize many of the names here, we'll do our best to answer all of your questions that we can.
DavidBowman: I'm the CEO and Creative Director for Tulga Games.
Amadan-TG: Hey everyone. I am the Live Events Coordinator for Horizons.
Smeglor|TG: Greetings! I'm Smeglor, simulation and database programmer. Basically my job is to turn all of these other guy's crazy ideas into reality.
Manga-4tw: HI everyone my name is Manga and I'm the Design Lead for Horizons, I'm responsible for getting everyone on the same page for both content and scheduling.
AmonGwareth|TG: Evening folks! I do design and some database programming.
Questions
Sprite: *Arcat* ARoP: As the difference in Helian/Lunus isn't a major one after becoming Ancient, are there plans to add more diversity for both factions during the next patches? Like: Small, non-epic quests to gain skills or receive claws/spells claws-/spells-formulas.
Manga-4tw: Arcat: The story line of the AROP was bigger than the faction story and that was intended. In the past the faction choice was made with out any prior knowledge of what the factions really meant. In the future we will expand the factions and allow dragons to re-choose what faction they would like to be a part of when we roll out faction specific quests/bonuses.
Sprite: *Tagath* Was it a glitch that you can ascend anywhere?
DavidBowman: Tagath, we couldn't force you to ascend in only one location. We realize that some players will choose to use their once in a character's lifetime Ancient Ascension elsewhere than intended, but they only blow it for themselves. So, it was a known technical limitation.
Sprite: *Arcat* Does Khutit change for Ancients? (e.g. different appearance)
Manga-4tw: *Arcat* Not currently, however we do plan on removing the "debuff" from Khutit form but haven?t decided in what way.
Sprite: *Anora* Will lairs be made up in tiers or just set up like plots?
DavidBowman: Lairs are only tiered in the sense that they are located in many different regions which have local resources and monsters that are tiered. The Lair plot itself just has a volume and a price. Now, the corridors and chambers are tiered, in that they require different tiers of materials in their creation.
Sprite: *MyNick* what resources are needed for lairs as i would like to start stockpiling soon and can we buy before they are done anyways?
AmonGwareth|TG: Lairs (and lairshaping) are in development right now and as soon as testing on them is complete we will let the player-base know the details about what resources will be involved in the construction of lairs and also when and for how much they will be purchased for. I can tell you that lairs will require some brand-new never-before-seen resources.
Sprite: *Juniper* Are the changes to New Trismus complete? Or can we expect to see more quests added, etc. And what about Tier 2?
AmonGwareth|TG: No, the changes to New Trismus have only just begun. We'll be making many more changes to the quests and stories on the island as well the monsters in the near future. After New Trismus we plan on moving on to Tier2 and doing the same to it as we did to Lesser Aradoth, more quests, more looking, and more stories.
AmonGwareth|TG: more looking. I mean, improving the landscape and appearance of the land.
Sprite: *Tagath* Are lair's one size fits all? Will hatchlings, adults, khutits, and ancients all fit without having to change sizes?
DavidBowman: All Lairs have entrances that allow for the entrance of all shapes of Dragons. The corridors and chambers are all large enough to allow all shapes of Dragons to enter and move through. The largest CURRENT chamber is 72 meters by 72 meters and fits a good number of ancients.
DavidBowman: That's actually 72x72x72 meters
Sprite: *Arcat* Can Hatchlings buy Lairs?
Manga-4tw: *Arcat* Yes, we did not want any dragon to be excluded from building a lair, however some Dragon Lair placements will take Flight Height into account.
Sprite: *Murmandamus* What was the specific reason(s) for the Ancient size reduction, and were the issues fully investigated with greater player input before the decision was made?
DavidBowman: When testing the Ancient Rite of Passage and Dragon Lairs we reconfirmed that the original placeholder Ancient models were scaled too large for all players gameplay. We read player suggestions on the topic, talked with many members of the playerbase, as we usually do. We heard the desires on both sides of the issue, but decided to create
DavidBowman: the best possible models with a complete animation set that allowed the most players to enjoy the game. We don't think it is resolved completely yet, because there are still a few selection issues. We'll continue to work on those as well.
DavidBowman: I'd like to add that we listen to all of our playerbase. We hear the good and the bad, it's the only way to get a complete picture of what the audience wants. But then we decide based on what we feel the game needs in light of the total community needs.
Sprite: *Anora* Will dragons get ther level cap raised??
Manga-4tw: *Anora* Ancient Dragons will be able to continue to advance their character through ancient only content. We are investigating both a level raise and a rating change through the specialized ancient content and while working with the Ancient Dragons on Blight.
Sprite: *Ahura* Will lower priced lairs will be available?
Smeglor|TG: Yes, lairs will be available for varied prices. Just like surface plots, their prices will depend on location and size. The prices you see on lairs today are temporary and do not reflect final pricing.
Sprite: *Tagath* Will only ancients be able to pick up lairshaping and possibly other future classes for dragons?
AmonGwareth|TG: Lairshaping will be available to all dragons of any status, from hatchling to ancient.
Manga-4tw: *Tagath* Ancients will have their own exclusive content to help them advance their characters that will not be able to be open up to either juveniles or adults
Sprite: *Arcat* Will there be areas/zones only Ancients can enter?
DavidBowman: There are some locations on Live that only Ancients can reach. There are more planned, and we know that during 2006 there will be some significant additions to the accessible world of Istaria.
DavidBowman: There is also one community that is only reachable by Ancients.
Sprite: *Crawler* if i change my email address to my army one will i got the 2nd cd key?
Amadan-TG: Crawler: Yes, if you change your e-mail to a .MIL address you will be able to get a second CD-key. If you do not get an e-mail within 24 hours, please contact customer support.
Sprite: *Murmandamus* When will the plot window for Lairs indicate the full dimensions/levels of Lair?
DavidBowman: The Lairs that are on Live today are only there to allow players to begin making decisions about which lair plots they desire. The 137 chambers and corridors become available for testing on Monday. At that time we'll take a pass through to set some depths. Testing will occur in October, and when they pass testing, we should see a modified interface and asset changes.
Sprite: *PJ* You mentioned tiered corridors, I can imagine the difference between tiered chambers, but what possible benefits would say a t6 corridor have over a t1?
DavidBowman: There are T1 corridors... they are fairly plain but functional. There are T2 corridors in Helian and Lunus themes. The 137 assets don't include any corridors beyond that. We might someday add more corridors with aesthetic differences for the higher tiers in the future.
Sprite: *Juniper* Will there be a special event done in conjunction with lairs to explain their sudden appearance?
Manga-4tw: *Juniper* With the return of the Ancients to Istaria, the Ancient Masters will have a large impact on teaching the dragons in Istaria the Art of Lairshaping. We are also planning some lore based content for the "sudden appearance", however we are primarily focused on getting the Lairs to Blight and fully tested prior to release.
Sprite: *Ryunaker* Will Dragons ever be able to gather/process wood or cloth?
AmonGwareth|TG: At this time there are no plans to add the ability to work wood or cloth to dragons. But, ever is a very long time.
Sprite: *LexDivinia* Will bipeds be able to own/build lairs? (Seeing how dragons did not have the ability to build on plots?)
Smeglor|TG: Lair ownership and construction are exclusively for Dragons. However, anyone can make use of the completed contents of a lair, such as machines and storage, if they have been granted permission and are able to physically reach the lair's entrance.
Sprite: *Tagath* Will there be underwater lairs?
DavidBowman: Until the inhabitants of Istaria discover swimming, there will be no intentional underwater lairs. There are some Lairs that are entered through waterfalls however.
Sprite: *Murmandamus* What about getting resources to Lairs via disks? Some Lairs that may be difficult to impossible to accomplish.
DavidBowman: Yes, that is true. If that is a problem to anybody in particular, they shouldn't plan on buying one of those Lairs. However, there are some Ancient Dragons working on a modification of the Gnomian cargo disk technology that will allow a new type of Cargo Disk just for Dragons.
DavidBowman: and this Cargo Disk would of course be useful for flying dragons.
Sprite: *Danamoth* are there any plans for making the fangs of fury crystal stack with other crystals?
AmonGwareth|TG: Yes, the Fangs of Fury crystal will stack with other crystals in an upcoming patch to the live shards.
Sprite: *LexDivinia* Has the TG team received the response they had hoped for from players who have become Ancient?
Manga-4tw: *LexDivinia* The responses that we have received have been great, but with anything that has great expectation to it, the ability to please everyone is quite a tough obstacle to overcome. I think Ancients will be very happy when the new content starts to roll out and their desire to look different will be addressed as well.
Sprite: *Toriac* You mentioned never-seen-before resources. Will they only be used in dragon lairs or will new formulas using them be released too?
AmonGwareth|TG: Currently the new resources being created are for lairs and yes they will use new formulas. But dragons are an ingenious race and so they may in the future discover other uses for these resources.
Sprite: *Solitare* A question. Will there be a reevaluation of the hoard costs associated with the new abilities? Especially Primal Rez. A lot of players are expressing a signifigant amount of anger at the hoard cost of an ability that returns nothing to them.
Manga-4tw: *Solitare* The Hoard cost for those abilities is as stands, but keep in mind that these are abilities available to all Ancient Dragons for completing the ARoP and that these are the first levels of each ability. Further Ancient dragon advancement and specialization will have an impact on the additional tiers of those abilities. As far as nothing returning to the player that casts Primal Rebirth on a fallen comrade, I think the caste
Manga-4tw: I think the caster did earn the gratitude of the risen friend.
Manga-4tw: ><
Sprite: *Tagath* Are all lairs live now?
Sprite: *Jamees* Is there an ETA for when lairs will be complete? october, december...the 32 of Febuary?
DavidBowman: As I mentioned briefly, we will begin testing Lairs in October (almost here). The length of the testing will be determined by what we discover. As of Monday, we believe we have everything we need to begin a real test. We know we'll find some issues on the Blight shard. We always do. And we still have many more Lairs being placed in the world. Dralk, north of the Trandalar Rift, Shepherd's Mountain, Saritova Island, and
DavidBowman: other locations still need their Lair plots.
DavidBowman: We have already found a client display issue with the internal endcaps... they will sometimes display on the surface. We will continue to work on these and planning issues.
Sprite: *Anora* wy is ther not eny active npc's as in roming?
Smeglor|TG: In general, the convenience of being able to rely on an NPC's location outweighs the aestetic benefit of having them wander around. However, that doesn't mean there will never be special NPCs for quests or events that are intentionally harder to locate due to being on the move.
Sprite: *Murmandamus* Will testers on Blight be able to test Lairs, even if they already have a plot on their Blight toon's cd-key?
Sprite: *Anora* For thos testing on blight will day be abul to obtain a lair to test withdought forfeting there curent plot?
Sprite: *Nefrett* will be able to own a plot/lair on blight without a second key?
DavidBowman: I don't have a yes answer for you yet. We are trying to allow this, since it will greatly assist in testing. As soon as we know how we can do it, we will let you know on our site.
DavidBowman: I'm happy to see so many desiring to help us test on Blight.
Smeglor|TG: I do want to state that it is not technologically possible for one character to own two plots.
Sprite: *Arcat* Are Ancients the Dragon Elder game or are ther different plans?
Manga-4tw: *Arcat* The Ancient Dragon?s will continue their progression as the game goes on, the advancement does not stop when you get to Ancient but continues in different paths according on what choices the Dragon makes. This is the next step in our development process; however dragons that desire to be unique in what new abilities they can master will be most pleased.
Sprite: *PJ* Will dragons still be able to own biped plots, after the release of lairs?
Sprite: *LexDivinia* If lairs can not be owned by a biped, will biped plots no longer be available to dragons?
Smeglor|TG: The non-lair plots are not "biped" plots; they are merely surface plots. None of the existing surface plots have any racial restrictions, nor will they. There may be new racially-restricted surface communities in the future, however.
DavidBowman: I'll add there WILL be.
Sprite: That will wrap it up for tonight. I?d like to thank the developers for coming! The log for tonight?s chat will be up shortly on http://hz.stratics.com
Sprite: Thank you all for coming!
Originally Posted by Kyran Foxfire
