Developer Chat - 2000/03/14

''Material retrieved from original Zone caches available at http://web.archive.org.

''Original Link (now dead) - http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/news/ashenewstranscript5.asp





Transcript of Asheron's Call Developer Chat, March 14


March 16, 2000

On March 14, members of Turbine Entertainment, developer of Asheron's Call, attended a Q&A on new features and gameplay adjustments. The current hot topic -- the "sticky monster" feature, which allows creatures to keep pace with and simultaneously attack fleeing characters -- has been heavily addressed elsewhere, but still got a measure of attention. Attendees included Chris Foster, Lead Designer; Scott Herrington, Lead Producer; Sean Huxter, Artist; Andy Reiff, Programmer; Jesse Kurlancheek (nei@turbine), Designer; and the redoubtable MrQuazarr of Microsoft, who moderated the event.

''latwonder> Woohoo. . . I'm #1 (hi, Mom). Hello, considering how there are now a lot of people level 40+, what are your plans for making dungeons/quests or more enemies suited to high-level people as well?''

cfoster@Turbine> We're working hard to balance content across ALL levels of players, from hardcore l33t players, to the more casual folks. Many of our quests have been aimed at higher levels, but we're now looking for ways to produce adventuring opportunities for players across the world, instead of in specific areas. You should see a wider mix of experiences in future updates.

''GreenNun> I know that it's hard to figure out and balance spawn areas, but what is up with the Dires spawns these days? Almost everything is Silver Rats, Ash Gromnies, etc., and huge groups of monsters. Will this be changed? If not, why not?''

Scotth@Turbine> Actually, the spawns in the Dires are random. They got fixed from the bugged spawns a bit ago, but lord knows, Jesse'd like to tweak Dires spawns so they make the proper stuff, so, yeah, we are looking at it and will tweak it.

''Leviathen1> Page 52 of the manual states, "Swords are, according to many fighters, the finest of all weapons. They are quicker and lighter than axes, do more damage than daggers, and can both slash and stab. They are more difficult to learn than other weapons, however, and are more likely to inflict minor grazes and nicks than, say, a battle axe or morning star." With that said, Sword is the most expensive melee skill, the free Dagger skill has the 8-9 ghertas dagger, which makes all melee weapons pale [by comparison] and has 50% rather than the 25% damage range of swords; staff has the very nice damage range of the Atlan staff; unarmed has Hamund's Katar, which has comparable stats to the best unarmed weapon and usable spells (even if they are only II's and III's as a level 37 blademaster, I can use the magic if I'm buffed with creature VI's), bow users have the railgun -- err 112% -- yumi+coord bonus+150%skill dial-a-crit bar, while sword users have the ungodly slow even-after-high-level-SK-still-horrible-damage-spread overlord sword, and the midrange damage YourNeverGonnaUseTheSpellsOnThisSwordTillYouCanGetLootRightsOnA- NobleAndWontNeedItAnyMore soll.

Leviathen1> So I guess my question is at what point does Sword live up to its skill cost as very powerful after you struggle enough, since 260ish Sword skill doesn't seem to fall into that range of you-worked-your-tail-off-to-get-here-now-. . .''

cfoster@Turbine> Does this question come with footnotes? :)

''Leviathen1>. . . enjoy-it range yet and after item it's flat-out the worst weapon as far as damage goes, only getting worse and worse as it goes if it *does* manage to hit, since unlike Unarmed (which still has a hard time hitting) swords don't come almost standard with +'s to attack/meleeD? Or if it is doomed to be one of the worst melee skills, will people who trained/spec'd be getting back skill points?

Leviathen1> Sorry it was so long :)''

Scotth@Turbine> Oh. . . that's it? Jeeez, I thought it was going to be a long question.

cfoster@Turbine> Wait, I'm still waiting for my T1 to finish downloading it. ..

Scotth@Turbine> Well, the manual says that "swords are, according to many fighters, the finest of all weapons"; it doesn't say they necessarily ARE the best weapons. The differences between a sword and another weapon fluctuate with the quality of weapon, and the enchantments put on it

cfoster@Turbine> (Short answer -- between us, we do not have the collective brain cells to answer your complex question at this time.)

Scotth@Turbine> So, on a general note, the sword is stronger than a dagger. ..

cfoster@Turbine> (Scott's tapdancing to the contrary. . . :)

Scotth@Turbine> but, like all rules in life, there are tons of exceptions to the rule.

amr@Turbine> In general, axes do have a "tighter" damage variance than swords, I believe.

Scotth@Turbine> Thanks for the support, Chris. Swords also have the benefit of doing two types of damage.

''_SK_Picollo_L_> I was just wondering if you were ever going to do a creature "charming" system (a new skill to be able to "charm" monsters to follow you, use them as "mules"). Come in handy as fighting partners too. I have the WHOLE system worked out (sorta). (I know, far too much time on my hands.)

_SK_Picollo_L_> By the way, yer game's too addictive. It should be illegal ;)''

Scotth@Turbine> Here's Foster! He'll be your personal mule!

cfoster@Turbine> We'd like to add support for "pets," "familiars," or such in the future. The rules for them aren't too hard, but making their behavior sensible (i.e., walking, moving, following your orders) is much trickier. As such they're danged costly to implement. We'll see as we look to future events and updates. I'm trying to balance development resources between the events and new cool stuff like this.

' 'Ceazar_AC> The current magic D system is akin to sending a warrior naked into an Olthoi cave. It's been five months since the game went retail, PvM Magic D is still perceived as broken and you still send warriors naked into magic battles. Since armor and shields have been ruled out as ways to reduce damage from magic attacks, when can we expect to see magic D reworked so that it is actually a defense instead of just a place to throw away experience points?

Ceazar_AC> Great game anyway :)''

cfoster@Turbine> Ceazar, the problem has always been balancing PvM magic defense without upsetting PvP balance. There are ways to do it, but it's a precarious balancing act, and one we need enough time to do well. Believe me, m-d is a top priority.

''Greesil> Over the last two events, it seems as if you have decided a good way to have a quest is to let players search for many hours for pieces of a prize. Will most future seasons likely include quests like this?''

cfoster@Turbine> A big challenge has been dealing with crowding and camping of existing quests. We added one major new feature -- quest flags -- which deals with people who REPEAT quests indefinitely, clogging them. However, "distributed camping" is a solution to a slightly different problem: how quickly people funnel into a quest. Relying on random tokens slows down the flow of people into a quest -- which, while frustrating at times, improves the quality of the quest for players who do get into it.

cfoster@Turbine> The question is: now that we have quest flags -- which also let us speed up respawns on quest items, speeding travel through quests -- do we still need distributed camping? I'd like to think so, but we're gonna have to do some test cases. Watch this space.

''Twists> Greetings. Microsoft has announced that the gamers in Germany will get Asheron's Call around may this year. That's why I have a simple question. I guess that you (Microsoft?) will also put new servers to the Zone. If you do so, which season (in game) could it be? The first season or the present one with the thousands of shadows around Dereth? Twist. . . www.asheron.de''

cfoster@Turbine> Gotta check out that Web site. . . Hi, Twists. Trust me, it's complicated enough having one world-state to manage during our monthly events. So we'll be keeping all the worlds on the same event schedule. If we keep making events cooler, you won't even feel like you missed anything! (Sorry, I got all TV-commercial-sounding.)

WarJammer> Why is it that people 30 levels lower than my archer and half the skill in Bow and Coord can still do the same if not more damage than me?

cfoster@Turbine> Have you angered Bael'Zharon? :) The systems have so many variables that there are plenty of ways for players with those two identical stats to be different. Different bows, for example. Or enchantments on bows and arrows. Your speed/accuracy setting has a BIG effect. And randomness is a factor, with critical hits being a major contributor. Sorry I don't have more-specific answers -- it's hard with just those two stats.

''fjummer> Hiya. Question: will you make a reply hotkey in this game to prevent all these mistells? You know, so when a player "tells" you, then you just push ONE key and chatmode opens up and already have written "@tell, " of the last person that talked to you. Suggestion: if we could add a number from 1 to 12 to the friends in friendlist, then if we pushed SHIFT F1 - F12, the chatmode would open up and already have written the following: "@tell ." --fzuul of frostfell from denmark''

cfoster@Turbine> Neat UI idea! We'll consider different ways to control your chat target. It does get irritating at times.

''ferryman_charon> Hi, guys, and thx for taking the time out of your schedules to answer our questions. This does mean a lot to your players. The new models are beautiful, and the golems are VERY nice (wood golem reminds me of pumpkinhead -- love that headbutt attack).

ferryman_charon> QUESTION : Are there any plans to modify the current system regarding "specialization," which, currently, has "only" a 12 or so skill-point lead over trained skills. The argument (and quite valid) is that 12-point lead in spec'd skills is nothing compared to having another entire skill -- i.e., I'd rather have Life spells (vulns) than just 12 extra pts of axe/bow/sword/arcane.''

amr@Turbine> It's not just the 12-point lead, if I understand you right. It's also that spec'd skills reduce the curve of the xp cost. There's a more dramatic effect at the very high skill levels. We are investing making the benefits more tangible at the lower level, though. It's a bit tricky.

''xaMMax> Hey, Turbine! Let me begin by telling you that you have been and are making a great game; however, I personally don't think there are near enough of those fab walls I can shoot through. Do you have any plans to implement this great feature in the rest of the dungeons next patch? Make sure, though, that melee people can hit through the wall also; then *everyone* can be as cheesy as life mage drainers! BALANCE AT LAST!''

cfoster@Turbine> Finally, a rational player! :)

Scotth@Turbine> Hmmm. . . Note to self: "need to fix the walls tomorrow." We clean up the most, um, "advantageous" areas as they're found.

''Micronic> Thank you for a fun game. My question concerns unarmed combat vs. other melee combat. Although the last build addressed non-unarmed warrior, there still exists unresolved balance issues. Players and monsters who use Unarmed are still out-performing monsters and players who use weapons. I would like to see a closure of Unarmed vs. Non-unarmed. If you think unarmed combat is in balance, then please watch an unarmed warrior use Item Magic and Platemail Gauntlets or an unarmed warrior using any one of their seven damage-type weapons. Also watch monsters without weapons deal nearly twice the damage of the very same monster wielding a weapon AND attacking much faster with Unarmed.

Micronic> My question is this: When will the non-free, more expensive melee skills be brought up beyond Unarmed? (Yes *beyond*, since this is a skill-based game in which "costs" are reflected via skill expense, Unarmed = Zero cost for Sho.)''

cfoster@Turbine> I think I've read all of your question. . . :) Short answer: we've been concentrating on balance between melee and other skills, and will be adjusting balance between melee classes after that's locked down. If we do too many tweaks at once, it's hard to say what's affecting what.

sulama> Is there a plan to adjust the fellowship xp so it recognizes *everyone's* contribution in a fairer fashion?

cfoster@Turbine> We've got a fix to fellowship XP in development. It should make things fairer all around. We found two rules that, when combined, caused the imbalances. Re-ordering how they interacted should fix the problem.

''SirXavier1> I'm sure you all already know what I'm going to ask, and I am sure I already know the answer. But, hey, I want a firmer answer, so. . . What, if any, ideas are being tossed around for "fixing" war magic in PvP. We all know how bad war magic is in PvP.''

cfoster@Turbine> Ladies and gents, it's Nei!

nei@turbine> hullo

cfoster@Turbine> (one of our content designers, and yo-yo kingz)

nei@turbine> xav, I've been tossing around a bunch of spell ideas to help War deal with the runners/movers. Faster, spread out, and overall kinda nifty. If they come to fruition and prove to be balanced, then we'll get them in. If not, we'll go back to looking at War balance.

cfoster@Turbine> nei r0XX0rz w1d th3 ph4t id33z!

''game316> Hi, guys. Love the patch. Drudges look way cooler =) My question is on the Atlan weapon. My alchy guy had 250+ and I had 275+ in sword, but I still got a superior Atlan sword why?''

Scotth@Turbine> Btw, Nei is the guy behind the Atlan weapons...

nei@turbine> The reason for that is that it's not a set number that gets checked when the weapon is made. A roll is made against the weapon/alchemy skill, and if it succeeds, you get the goods; if not, you're going to get the lower-quality one.

''grosser_Nagus> Greetings. Thank you, Turbine. You made a real great game I enjoy very much. But as it is 3 a.m. where I live, and I have to work tomorrow -- erm, today -- I will come to the point directly now. :-)))''

grosser_Nagus> Chris, you have been to Europe lately on a pr tour. When you were asked by members of the press (which I'm quite sure about) if MS will also build European servers, physically placed in Europe, what did you answer? (Don't tell me that you stated to the press: "Sorry this is MS stuff" *eg*) --Aaron of www.asheron.de

cfoster@Turbine> Hi! Europe is cool! Go .de! :) My answer (fueled by several cokes in actual glass bottles, IIRC) was: We'll be hosting all of our servers in Redmond, since we handle latency plenty well for European players from there. We're starting by letting European players into our current worlds, and will open more if we find them getting too crowded.

''alecmuzzy> There are rumors of a new War Magic spell (Light Bolt?) and an Invisibility spell. Are these just rumors or are they real spells? I've been forced to turn my level 25 mage into a mule because magic is so pathetic against the shadows/fragments. BTW: New monster graphics look great!''

cfoster@Turbine> Hi, alecmuzzy. They're rumors.

sean@Turbine> Thanks to all who like the new monsters!

cfoster@Turbine> As for shadow/crystal balance, stuff should be changing on that score a bit in the near future. Not saying any specifics, tho'. :)

DB_Shaw_Wazoo> Love the game, don't mind the bugz, hatin' the trade thieves (woodyear), want new world to play on, need hvy xbow quest, want picked to test fer shadow stone, want potions in shortcut bar for alchemy, really love the game :) --Chow Hung, Thistledown

cfoster@Turbine> Thank you for your long string of not-really-questions. :) We love you too. :)

Scotth@Turbine> Well, thanks for the suggestions. We'll see what we can do about 'em in future updates.

Arcath> This might be one of the only Non-Sticky questions tonight ;) When can Archers look forward to a specific quest for a quest bow or something. And where can I sign up for the Asheron's Call Anonymous groups, because it's like crack.

nei@turbine> ahh. . . the (x)bow quest. . . *turns and looks at the whiteboard behind him* yup, there it is :)

Scotth@Turbine> Support groups are forming. Go to your local meeting halls for AC anonymous meetings.

cfoster@Turbine> BTW. . . I wanna do morphin' bow/xbow/wand quests at some point, to make the stones useful to all players. Not sure when, but I wanna do them. I WANNA DO THEM!

''gabehall> Hi to everyone, and thanks for a great game! I love it! Thanks for letting me camp the waiting list :) My question is concerning the spellcasting UI (Hi, Chris!). I hear that there are some plans to make it easier to use (here comes the feature request). Will you allow players to cast spells from their spell panel, and not force them to put the spell on their spellbar first? I.e., you select the spell in the spell panel, and your cast button gets that spell (like if it was on the bar and you selected it) --Sham Zami @ Harvestgain.''

cfoster@Turbine> That's a possible tweak to the spell UI. Not sure if/when we'll do it, tho'. Thanks for the suggestion.

''LBeefus> In an earlier chat, it was suggested that Throwing Weapons are being looked at. Currently they're practically unusable at higher levels because they do so little damage, weigh so much, are hard to find in elemental form, and can't be enchanted in volume with spells. It takes so many to kill anything that it's impossible to find and carry enough to make them useful. I'm not saying they should do as much damage as more costly skills. Will they ever be made viable?LBeefus> Thanks! -- Poet of Harvestgain (And they're right, specialization isn't effective at the high end of the curve -- it's actually more helpful early on before the curve bites you -- try charting it out, xp spent vs. skill level)''

cfoster@Turbine> I want to boost thrown weapons, but as you pointed out, enchanting each individual weapon isn't real useful. We have some other content ideas on tap to make them more useful. Sorry I don't have more specifics.

''Hawkorius> Hi, everyone :) Long-time listener, first-time caller (and five hours on hold) ;) LOL, always wanted to say that; here goes... Would it be right or feasible to give creatures like Olthoi a jumping ability so as to not leave them as "sitting ducks," in numerous occasions, to ranged attack? For example, I have a 280 base jump; if I can jump on that rock, a big incredibly strong bug could easily make the jump. Ideally they could climb, of course, but since that isn't currently in the game, I understand the limitations there. Just a few monster AI tweaks like that could greatly help the game.''

cfoster@Turbine> The answer is. . . there's no easy answer. Jumping isn't supported in monster AI, as calculating the proper conditions is an "interesting" challenge. We could hack it with making monsters "blip" up and down, but frankly it would look like a mess, and might lead to other problems. We'll look into it, but adding AI-jumping is doubtful.

Scotth@Turbine> But making monsters realize that you were someplace they couldn't get to and altering their behavior -- that we could do.

''Skystreakz> With the last patch, you made it possible for magic items to be true-valued. I had spent points to train magic item appraisal so that I could ID the higher-level items. With this new change, I have effectively wasted my four training points, as I can simply cast a True Value spell on any magic item to ID it. Do you plan on compensating us for this change? It was unannounced and, far as I know, not listed as a bug. Please comment if you feel I have not wasted my four points. Great game. I love it, by the way =)''

Scotth@Turbine> The "compensation" is something that we'd have to discuss with MS. Normally, I'd have to say no, there won't be any compensation for your training in a skill if we later introduce a spell or object that does the same thing later on.

nei@turbine> Your skill is still useful for those obscenely resistant wands that can't be ID'd with just high Focus + TV 6.

''Vlanna> Hi, guys! Keep up the great work with things like the content updates -- this is something that really sets AC apart from the competition. My question: Can you please explain how the 100%+ bows and 120%+ xbows damage modifiers as well as the innate "+150% power-bar-boost" relate to "normal" melee weapons and the damage/accuracy modifiers that melee types incur? In other words, how much more powerful are archers? Thank you for your time.''

cfoster@Turbine> Pardon us as we prod an engineer to help answer this one. :)

Scotth@Turbine> Andy's on the way!!!!

amr@Turbine> *read* Um, if I understand your question correctly, you're interested in how the modifiers work in combat? A bow modifier increases the damage of the arrow shot from it; the power mod modifies how much damage a melee strike does; an accuracy mod increases the likelihood that your missile is launched on-target with no game-added error. Make sense? :)

''mayhem_is_king> Hi, you guys! First I'd like to thank you guys SO MUCH for the wonderful job you've been doing with monthly events and keeping this addicting game running! I bet there will be an Asheron's Call Anonymous group soon, hehe.

mayhem_is_king> My question is, now that we can cast spells on wands (great patch; even the stickiness is good :), if I cast Defender VI on a wand, do I get a 15% bonus to my Melee D and/or will it be calculated when I am taking damage from a monster?''

cfoster@Turbine> justasec. . . *does a little tapdance*

amr@Turbine> *read* Hmm. . . I don't think so. The wand could theoretically cast a spell on you to increase your stats, but not the other way around. I haven't tried it recently, though! ;)

''Punchcardz> Okay, I will ask the big question of the past week. What about sticky? I'm a warrior and do fine, even saved a few of my friends with it, but am saddened that many hate it so much. And skating looks BAD. Any clues on your fix if there is one?''

cfoster@Turbine> FINALLY! Whoo! :)

Scotth@Turbine> A dark presence enters the chat. ..

cfoster@Turbine> Two things we wanna fix, and are working on. First: stickiness helps melee a lot, but it makes it far too easy for slower players ('n monsters) to whack players who are faster than them. Second, the sliding does look pretty cheesy. The first one is more important for gameplay, so it's higher-priority. Right now we're working on an update that'll make stickiness fairer, and we'll probably do more in the next month. More thoughts, Scott?

Scotth@Turbine> You will actually see some changes later this week that will help you out. We're testing them right now. The sliding will probably be addressed in the next main update.

Scotth@Turbine> The new changes are beneficial to you, not harmful. So, hopefully, both the people who appreciate the stickiness and those who hate it will be satisfied with the changes we're making.

''Quixotic_COD> First, I want to know basically who we need to talk to to get more frequent smaller props. It seems three days of happy exploration every two weeks, versus four every month would make more people happier. Secondly, I want to know how many backpattings have happened from the mote/vault patch. Everything about that patch completely rocked. The Gemstone armor doesn't have the same feel, at least for me. *Shake fist*

Quixotic_COD> Lastly, I want you to know, I intend to visit the Plateau Windmills regularly, just to see what else happens to that poor thing :) It makes me smile to see a windmill suffer so.

Quixotic_COD> Oh. . . and that sticky melee stuff. . . I love it :P Take that, LLAMA!''

Scotth@Turbine> We are on a monthly prop schedule. Doing them more often than that is ridiculously tough, between the design, implementation, and testing cycles we go through (not including waking the server guys up in the mornings to prop 'em). A month is about as fast as we can get stuff in there.

Scotth@Turbine> Actually, there wasn't time for backpatting on the mote/vault patch. We had to get going on the next update! Jason will probably do something unexpected with the windmills in the future. What, I have no idea. But that's the way he operates...

''xxMaDxMaNxx> Well, I was wondering, do ya guys plan on doing anything with castles or allegiance wars??? Personally, I think it would kick ass! (GOD I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!) MUGHAGHAGHAGHGHAGHAGHAGHGA *explodes into a cloud of noxious gas*!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!''

Scotth@Turbine> Raise Shields!

+MrQuazarr@Zone> Dang, lost another subscriber.

cfoster@Turbine> Another fan of *bakingbrownies* Many asses would be kicked by those features. True. D'oh -- did I just get myself banned?

Scotth@Turbine> Hey, we're not running the allegiances; you guys are. You want to get in a war? Go pick a fight. Go PK in the world; nobody's stopping you. Castles, on the other hand, won't be in anytime soon.

''stardrive> The spell Invulnerability is too low-need to be like Armor Self level 4 100; L5, 150. Even a max at 150 would be ok, so us mages can stand a chance at close combat.''

cfoster@Turbine> Magic Defense is something we're looking at.

''Lt_Stahler> Hello, great game. You guys earned your free "Chinese take-outs" on AC. . . ;) Difficult questions: will there be MORE of a "story" in the game? Meaning that, can it be done that we, as player characters, would ultimately have a "clearly defined goal" other than emulate the "Village People" with the *YMCA* emote?''

Lt_Stahler> Example: quests like Hamund, Mt Lethe, and Folthid's, but would span a broader area, have tough puzzles, AND define the Isparians' role in Dereth? Given Dev time constraints of course.;) It's all fine and dandy that we get to level 50+, but after awhile, it's noticeable that MOST become like Mr Kurtz in "Heart of Darkness" and find the "hollowness" of it all . . . ;P

''Lt_Stahler> If not in AC, has this been thought out for AC2? . . . also will there be more info on Ispar?.;)''

cfoster@Turbine> Funny you should ask, Lieutenant. (Or is that "Light"?) In AC, we're trying to define a new sort of "social storytelling" for MMP games. There are some things in our bag of tricks that we haven't used yet. Specifically, we've invested in some technology that'll let players make more of an impression on the greater story of Dereth, the Empyreans, and so forth. It IS hard, given the constraints of our schedules, but there are some ways that you will feel more integral to what's going on. (Sorry I'm being vague; I just don't want to give away future events.)

cfoster@Turbine> We aren't thinking of things as grandiose as elections, or massive changes BETWEEN worlds as a result of players' actions on each world. That would, as you point out, be a better fit for a future game. The infrastructure for such systems is massive. Still, I think you'll like the advances we'll be making in the months ahead.

''Qmann> Hi, I have to say that I love the game (been there since Beta). And now to the question: Will u be implementing some kind of offline communication/messaging system, specially for Patron/Vassal communication? It is very frustrating when I need to talk to my vassals and it takes me sometimes a week to get in touch with them because of timing/scheduling conflict. So it would make the Derethian life a whole lot easier if I could type something like "/message, blah blah . . ." and then when they log in, they get a game message saying something like "You have two messages." I don't know about other fellow players, but I have lost some vassals because of the timing conflict (I couldn't talk to them for almost two weeks :)''

Scotth@Turbine> Many allegiances have their own Web sites, but we are looking at different ways for allegiances to communicate in-game

''Dryctor> Hi! This will be short. (Love the game, BTW) (I Like Fruitcakes :) Has there been any progress on fixing the spellcasting bug? If so, any eta on when it will be implemented? BTW, it affects me even when facing dead-on with a monster and casting. (I showed this to an advocate the day after the update.)''

Scotth@Turbine> Should be going in later this week.

[Editor's note: See the current Build Notes article.]

Qwertypie> It's near impossible to control/organize an allegiance on DT, due to the long time it takes to contact all vassals (can we PLEASE have allegiance-wide chat?).

cfoster@Turbine> As Scott said, we're looking into ways to facilitate allegiance chat. We recognize that it's hard to coordinate large allegiances.

''Turboi85> Hi! My question(s) gets asked every chat, but here goes it anyway! Is private housing being developed now? If so, can I get an ETA? Sorry for the two questions but I've been dreaming of housing since the beginning of beta 2 (drool). My suggestion for it was housing not being actual building on the landscape, but portals, so the house would be more like the meeting halls, with a little foyer exactly like the meeting halls, except the doors that lead to the rest of it are locked.''

Scotth@Turbine> At the moment, we don't have any development resources working on getting you housing. That doesn't mean that we won't, but we need to iron out the normal event cycles, and then we'll address the big problem that housing would cause. It really affects a bunch of systems that you wouldn't think it would. Check out L'etoile's old .plan file on "horses" once, and you'll see what something as "simple" as that would take. Sorry to be a downer.

''alaskawood> First I want to say that this game is the best computer RPG I have ever played. You folks have done a fantastic job. The new graphics are really cool!! Now that you are all buttered up, here is the Question. . . My question is about ways to curb theft. Are there any plans for adding a trade broker and/or a bank in the towns? Many people are leery of trading anymore because of theft. This game is too great to let some punks spoil it for others.''

Scotth@Turbine> Theft meaning "getting ripped off in a trade," right? Well, "secure trading" is another large feature-set that has a whole host of difficulties, BUT it's one of the smaller "big tasks" that we want to do. This means that when we get around to tackling those issues and adding those features, it's near the very top of the list.

''Buffy_Becca> Archer vs warrior PvM [Player versus Monster] is seriously imbalanced. All things equal (levels, equipment) archers out-hit and out-damage warriors horribly. Are you going to balance again in April, or will it take you till 2001 to get balanced? :) Give warriors an accuracy bar.''

Scotth@Turbine> Well, the balance between classes has been an ongoing issue. We tried to boost melee a bit in the past, and have continued to look at the results of those changes. Are we finished? Probably not. We'll always be tuning the game, and adjusting to what you (the players) want. So, yeah, heck, we get people saying Melee vs. Magic is imbalanced, Magic vs. Archery. ..

jason@Turbine> but it's unlikely everyone will ever agree on balance issues. ..

Scotth@Turbine> Unarmed vs. Dagger, so, keep the faith, and we'll continue boosting as needed (usually in small increments).

''swrdsmn> I'm interested in the addition of rapiers to the game -- feasible? The animation is already there. My big issue is with cut vs thrust. What's with a cut doing more dmg than a thrust? Completely unrealistic and very frustrating for a swordsman.''

Scotth@Turbine> Adding a sword shouldn't be a problem, from what I know. Now, the diff between a cut and a pierce/thrust? Well, that's debatable --especially on the location.

cfoster@Turbine> Dunno offhand if we can tweak the bonuses for pierce vs. slashing.

''Scotth@Turbine> I've never been stabbed, but slashings do really hurt! It also varies with the creature you're attacking.''

+MrQuazarr@Zone> I want to thank everyone for coming out this evening and joining us. We look forward to our next chat.