Developer Chat - 2002/06/06

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

''Original Link (now dead) - http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/news/ASHEdevchattran0602.asp



 Transcript of Developer's Chat, June 6, 2002 

mrquazarr_MS in AsheronsCall says: Welcome to the monthly Asheron's Call 1 Developer's chat. We are aware that some people are unable to get in this evening and to make up for it, we will also be doing another developer's chat in two weeks. My name is Ken Karl, I am the Program Manager at Microsoft for Asheron's Call. With me as always is my counterpart in crime, Ken Troop, Producer at Turbine for Asheron's Call. Mr. Troop will introduce you to the rest of the team we have here.

kentroop_turbine in AsheronsCall says: Hello everyone. Tonight we have with us: Kim Payson, Les Nelken, Allan Maki, Sean Dickinson, Sean Huxter, Todd Berkebile, Sandra Powers, and our newest employee, Brent Schmidt.

mrquazarr_MS in AsheronsCall says: Great, lets get right to our first question.

'''Kithron_ac in AsheronsCall asks: Why was it decided to remove the spell economy all together instead of implementing a skill based personal economy?

kentroop_turbine in AsheronsCall says: There were a number of reasons. The most important being that we felt that with the economy in place in conjunction with the new duration and other changes, magic was so far better than any other selection of skill choices. Magic-users already have so many advantages, that we felt the loss of the economy bonuses was needed to help balance things out.

A secondary reason was that we felt that in the long run, having consistent skill numbers, instead of numbers that varied according to the economy, would minimize players' frustration with such variation.

Finally, the economy was a vestige of a time before such third party additions that opened up spells to nearly everyone who used such application. Given that the intent of our magic system changes was to truly open up the spell system to all who wanted it, we felt like the economy was a design system that no longer fit within its original intent.

'''JediLord15 in AsheronsCall asks: Will more housing be built/released next month to make up for the last's lack thereof?

Payson_Turbine in AsheronsCall says: We are putting in 150 Cottages and 50 Villas this month. However, we will not put in additional Residential Quarters during this event. Next month, we are putting in 500 Residential Quarters. We would like to proceed slowly so we can gauge server performance.

'''HallMistress in AsheronsCall asks: When will we see more hooks in the Mansions, having LESS hooks than a Cottage available seems somewhat unfair?

Sean_Turbine in AsheronsCall says: Mansions will have a total of 100 hooks soon. Veeeeery soon. All of which will be usable at once.

'''mahammed1 in AsheronsCall asks: Will magic item tinkering allow us to add cantrips to items?

srand_Turbine in AsheronsCall says: We'll be sharing details about the tinkering system in an upcoming Letter to the Players, hopefully in just a few weeks.

'''Darkmage67 in AsheronsCall asks: When can we Expect the June Patch?

mrquazarr_MS in AsheronsCall says: Expect the update late next week.

'''roberthish2 in AsheronsCall asks: The mysterious Grievver quest? what happen there? At first it appeared as there was some cool new Grievver quest. Following the town criers directions I went to Stonehold, but they almost lynched me for spreading false information about a Grievver problem

Spd_turbine in AsheronsCall says: Ah, wait and see. Those Grievvers are up to something...

'''imajwerx in AsheronsCall asks: Currently there is a constraint on the number of allegiance broadcasts one can do, 3, I'm finding that with 2k+ followers, this is a very insufficient # as there are many things worth broadcasting. Is there a plan/possibility of increasing this limit?

srand_Turbine in AsheronsCall says: Yes, actually. With this update, you will be able to send 10 allegiance broadcasts per day.

'''junin in AsheronsCall asks: Will the Crystal Lords be toned down to a level that it doesn't take 12+ players to kill one? and the have extremely little loot of real quality for each, if everyone even sees some loot. I agree they were to easy, but now its overkill.

kentroop_turbine in AsheronsCall says: At this time, there are no planned changes to the Crystal Lord.

'''marlana24 in AsheronsCall asks: Will it ever be a possibility to move a character/account from say Frostfell to Leafcull?

mrquazarr_MS in AsheronsCall says: At this time there are not plans to allow for this.

'''OptimShi_CoD in AsheronsCall asks: Will we have Deadly Darts for Atlatls "soon"?

Payson_Turbine in AsheronsCall says: Yes, we will be adding Deadly Darts for Atlatls, but not in June.

'''Malcovian in AsheronsCall asks: Are you planning of ever opening up the large land mass off the East coast of Dereth? It looks about 3 times the total size of ML!

Payson_Turbine in AsheronsCall says: We are not currently planning on opening up the island to the east.

'''beanbaggirl in AsheronsCall asks: will the new level 7 scrolls still be tradeable?

Payson_Turbine in AsheronsCall says: Yes, they will be tradeable.

'''jpiglet in AsheronsCall asks: will we ever see a @house villa recall for poor monarchy's?

kentroop_turbine in AsheronsCall says: For the @house villa recall: No, we are not planning on adding group recall to villas.

<font color=#FFFFFF>'''Relinar_III in AsheronsCall asks: When will we find out what it is that the Isparian weapons can do that no other weapon can?

Orion_Turbine in AsheronsCall says: Unstoned these weapons are quiet and unassuming. But once they have a major stone placed inside they become a devastating tool of destructions versus the elemental type that the stone opposes.

<font color=#FFFFFF>'''Kaoscharm in AsheronsCall asks: Do you plan to add any additional "new" spells at any time?

Payson_Turbine in AsheronsCall says: We will not be adding any new spells this month.

<font color=#FFFFFF>'''ShawnTooley in AsheronsCall asks: With the new magic system being implemented, will players who choose to stick with the component style of casting spells see a rise in burn-rates of components?

Payson_Turbine in AsheronsCall says: There will be no change whatsoever to the burn rates of the old component system.

<font color=#FFFFFF>'''ChromeAsh in AsheronsCall asks: Will the new spell "packs" have a godly burden?

Payson_Turbine in AsheronsCall says: The spell packs will weigh 400 BU. Going back to the burn rate question, just to let you know how prismatic tapers will burn. The chance for a prismatic taper to burn is roughly equivalent to tapers in the old system. However, for higher-level spells, there are chances for multiple tapers to burn per spell.

<font color=#FFFFFF>'''LordSSB in AsheronsCall asks: Can you give us some insight on what exactly Martine is doing? Any info regarding what we are suppose to do will be great!

kentroop_turbine in AsheronsCall says: You are supposed to die.

mrquazarr_MS in AsheronsCall says: Die. Muhahaha

Spd_turbine in AsheronsCall says: Stay away from him.

les_turbine in AsheronsCall says: You do what he says or asks and make nice.

Payson_Turbine in AsheronsCall says: He's a meanie.

les_turbine in AsheronsCall says: But with a soul.

<font color=#FFFFFF>'''ZainyOutlaw in AsheronsCall asks: Do you ever plan on making the Queen Quest less involved and time consuming ??

Payson_Turbine in AsheronsCall says: We do not presently have any plans to change any of the dynamics of the Queen Quest.

<font color=#FFFFFF>'''aaronjgoodrich3 in AsheronsCall asks: Is "Dranith Menacent" able to actually be killed?

Orion_Turbine in AsheronsCall says: At this point all of your efforts have failed. But fear not adventurers an end is coming for the tall killing machine. *sniff*

<font color=#FFFFFF>'''sfraveboy in AsheronsCall asks: Any hope of seeing an Assess skills refund (or functional buff) this year?

kentroop_turbine in AsheronsCall says: At this time there is no planned refund, or functionality change for the assess skills.

<font color=#FFFFFF>'''KyOhms in AsheronsCall asks: Is Tinkering going in this patch?

kentroop_turbine in AsheronsCall says: No, we needed to concentrate on the Magic Changes for the June Event. We're currently hoping to see our Tinkering changes in either July or August. We'll have more details in the upcoming letter to players we mentioned earlier.

<font color=#FFFFFF>'''NoTYaB in AsheronsCall asks: Will the Skill credits be refunded this patch?

srand_Turbine in AsheronsCall says: The appraisal skills will be refunded when tinkering goes in. Because some of the appraisals may need to change into tinkering skills, we can't really do the refund until the details of the tinkering skills are set.

<font color=#FFFFFF>'''Tandy71 in AsheronsCall asks: Will the new reinforced chests use the same SIKs that the current reinforced steel chests use?

kentroop_turbine in AsheronsCall says: There are no new reinforced chests. The old Reinforced Steel Chests are gone.

<font color=#FFFFFF>'''XTR_KTM300 in AsheronsCall asks: is there any changes in the future for hollow weapons or is this it for them?

kentroop_turbine in AsheronsCall says: The Steel Chests from before will use the same SIKs, and they will drop Level 7s directly, as well as rings, walls, all level dispels, and level 7 blasts and volleys. We are still planning some tweaks for hollow weapons. No details yet on what those changes are, or when we will update them.

<font color=#FFFFFF>'''TheHakkar in AsheronsCall asks: What can be put into roof hooks??

Spd_turbine in AsheronsCall says: A lot of things in the future. Coming up there will be a new item that will work on roof hooks.

<font color=#FFFFFF>'''Garrethe1 in AsheronsCall asks: With changes to economy, as a Darktide Plater we were wondering will war do less damage? Using the calculations for a level 7 vuln and level 7 protect it looks like war will cap at 180. Right now we do see some 200+ damages. Thx.

kentroop_turbine in AsheronsCall says: Yes, War spells will no longer have an economy bonus. There are no current plans to change this.

<font color=#FFFFFF>'''Terryboy82 in AsheronsCall asks: Why 50,000 pyreals for a level 6 scroll? Isn't that too expensive for the levels of people that will be needing these?

kentroop_turbine in AsheronsCall says: We felt this was an adequate price given the availability of pyreals in the world, including those characters who would be casting level 6s. Also, level 6s will be dropping off of the same monsters that level 5 spells used to. So there will be a number of different ways for mages to get these spells. One unrelated note: Just because level 6 spells will *cost* 50,000 pyreals, does not mean that they will sell for anywhere near that much. Wanted to clear up that perception. In other words, on the scrolls, a character can buy them from a vendor for 50k, but they will not be able to sell it back to a vendor for anywhere near that amount

<font color=#FFFFFF>'''JudgeStar in AsheronsCall asks: Will Future events be PK only like the last Statue portals this last patch?

Orion_Turbine in AsheronsCall says: There are times when even Asheron's magic cannot protect the warriors from Ispar. During those times it falls to the people to fend for themselves. Remember that it is only by Asheron's protection that you are saved from the avarice of your fellow man. That said, you can surmise that there very well may be more PK events in the future.

<font color=#FFFFFF>'''Obsidian121 in AsheronsCall asks: In a promotional movie for Dark Majesty, a hookable map of Dereth and a pedestal with a rotating moon on it were visible inside a house. Will these ever be added in-game for us to put in houses?

les_turbine in AsheronsCall says: Funny you should ask that. Just wait a bit and soon you shall see. Very soon.

<font color=#FFFFFF>'''Vancaladin in AsheronsCall asks: Was that a "yes" yesterday on CoD about debuff timer numbers being in red this patch?

kentroop_turbine in AsheronsCall says: We're going to add another panel for debuffs, separate than buffs. This panel will be accessed through an upper right corner icon, much like the former enchantment panel.

<font color=#FFFFFF>'''Dancall in AsheronsCall asks: Will there ever be level eight Spells? = D

mrquazarr_MS in AsheronsCall says: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

<font color=#FFFFFF>'''Glitterz in AsheronsCall asks: You said you were adding hooks to Mansions. Any plans to add more to existing Villas?

kentroop_turbine in AsheronsCall says: We have no plans to add additional hooks to any of the housing structures after the Mansions in June.

<font color=#FFFFFF>'''Tandy71 in AsheronsCall asks: The skill level announced in order to learn spells. Is that base or buffed skill?

kentroop_turbine in AsheronsCall says: It can be buffed skill.

mrquazarr_MS in AsheronsCall says: OK, and for our last question of the night, our traditional, "Why would they ever ask and answer this questions?”

<font color=#FFFFFF>Element_God in AsheronsCall asks: Who would win in a sword melee, Ken Troop, Ken Karl or Ken the Doll (Barbie's Husband)?

mrquazarr_MS in AsheronsCall says: Depends, can I cheat?

kentroop_turbine in AsheronsCall says: I want to go home now.

Spd_turbine in AsheronsCall says: Ken's baby.

mrquazarr_MS in AsheronsCall says: Ok, we want to thank everyone for coming out this evening.

kentroop_turbine in AsheronsCall says: You, all of you, scare me.

mrquazarr_MS in AsheronsCall says: Again, to make up for the difficulties in the chat this evening, we will be doing another one of these in 2 weeks.

Orion_Turbine in AsheronsCall says: Good Night all.

Sean_Turbine in AsheronsCall says: Where do the time go???

Payson_Turbine in AsheronsCall says: G'nite!

Sean_Turbine in AsheronsCall says: Bye.

mrquazarr_MS in AsheronsCall says: We will see you all back here in 2 weeks (and hopefully with no problems this time)

les_turbine in AsheronsCall says: Funzies all! Goodnight!

Orion_Turbine in AsheronsCall says: Martine gives a shout out to his peeps!

Spd_turbine in AsheronsCall says: Night

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