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Event Teaser - From the
Zone
From the Circle of Sages
My sagacious colleagues,
Our recent victories
against the Shadows have restored the world to a much more propitious
condition. The sun is no longer dimmed to a bloody hue, and the fearful
winged silhouette appears less often in the lightning. Perhaps most
importantly, Jaleh al-Thani succeeded in his quest to found a new Direlands
settlement. Now we must consolidate our gains. Jaleh's new town and the old
outpost of Fort Tethana are launching more sorties against the local
monsters. They need scholars as well as warriors. Already, Jaleh has
recruited many of the best minds in magic, alchemy, and metallurgy to his
service, and managed to improve the entire cataloging system for magic
formulae, in addition to producing a superior new sword and several types of
potions.
I am arranging an
expedition to seek Jaleh's fort. Until we know the purpose of the spires
floating over our towns, the goals of the Shadows, and the location of their
leaders, we must not rest from our studies. In the Direlands, we will have
the opportunity and resources to share many exciting ideas, not to mention
adventures. Consult with your acolytes and report back whether you will join
me and if so, when -- and from where -- we should set off.
Yours truly,
Aliester the Loquacious
After defeating the Shadows'
harrowing campaign in April, Dereth's heroes have earned a respite, but for
preparation, not idleness. Sometime in the first week of May, we continue
our monthly tradition of rolling out a major, game-evolving update, with
"Heroes' Respite." A new Direlands outpost has been founded, blacksmiths
have created a superior new thrusting sword to exploit the weaknesses of
many common foes, mages have revamped the entire spell-reference system to
make magic easier and faster to access, alchemists have created new potions,
and the designers of Asheron's Call have added great new features, like
temporary attack immunity after resurrection, the ability to restore
accidentally deleted characters, a command to permanently block the messages
of bothersome players, and many other game refinements. Bring your improved
mages and blademasters and help us expand this new foothold in the Direlands!
Roll-Out Article - May 2, 2000
From the
Zone
Creatures of living shadow advanced by legions from the
wilderness to blot humanity from Dereth, but the island's heroes checked the foe at every
turn. In the Direlands, in Northern Osteth, and ultimately outside several major towns,
each Shadow battalion moved to the telepathic will of a powerful Captain. In the ultimate
confrontation, heroes followed the leaders of the invasion into the floating "Shadow
Spires," and some into a terrible new dungeon, where they destroyed a gemlike device
of unknown purpose, the so-called Nexus crystal. Soon afterward, the invaders were quickly
overcome, whether due to the destruction of the Crystal is not clear.
No threat has yet replaced the Shadow invasion. But
Dereth's champions remain vigilant. They have built a new town in the Direlands to support
travelers and serve as a base for launching sorties against the local monsters. After much
experimentation, weapon smiths have perfected a new class of thrusting sword -- the rapier
-- which allows for unsurpassed piercing attacks. Alchemists have invented new potions.
And spellcasters have consolidated years of research to make the referencing of spells far
more efficient. A mood of quiet satisfaction and restfulness has replaced the horror of
the Shadow assault; however, all but the most fatuous have kept in mind the leering
apparition that appeared among storm clouds in the north, the Nexus Crystal, and the
invisible presence that tested and interrogated selected heroes. The Heroes' Respite, they
know, must be just that -- a temporary rest.
Continuing our commitment to bring you a major,
world-impacting event every month, we introduce "Heroes' Respite." Far from a
time for idleness, the calm after the Shadow invasion is an opportunity to consolidate our
hold on the Direlands and work on new skills. The developers have finished a long list of
bug fixes; changed the spell UI; increased the loot to be found on monsters; introduced
the rapier, a powerful thrusting sword; created new alchemical potions; and more. See the State of the Code and
Build Notes, May 2nd,
for full information on this extensive game update.
Build Notes
- May 2, 2000
From the
Zone
Here are all the tiny little details of the
game update that was made on May 2, 2000. This list is culled from
"check-in" notes submitted by the game developers themselves. Things of
greatest note are listed first.
Some changes are not in these build notes,
because that would spoil the fun of finding all that has been added or
changed! Some changes include major new things players can do to drive our
evolving story forward, which we won't entirely reveal here. As usual, the
Town Criers, Barkeeps, and Scribes may know the latest news! Also, the
trades of crafting and selling are always in flux, so changes to prices and
abilities of items are not always detailed here.
Detailed Notes for builds 2331-2336:
- The "<Character> has been saved" message
no longer appears in the chat window. This was actually old beta code and
has been removed because the message was misleading. Actually, it did not
mean you'd been saved but that the servers had verified your location in
the world. Your characters are still "check-pointed" like this as normal,
and regular backups are still done to ensure that your characters are in
fact saved. No code has changed except for the removal of the message.
- Introduced limited functionality that
allows you to restore characters that were accidentally deleted. Deleted
characters may be restored up to the hour time-limit as was previously
given to the temporary slot. However, not all attempted restorations are
guaranteed to be successful, and the deleted character will lose its
Allegiance information. Also you cannot restore a deleted character whose
name has been taken by another character. Until the other character is
deleted, the deleted character with that name cannot be restored.
- The "Are you sure?" confirmation dialog
for character deletion now has a red font.
- Characters are now invulnerable to all
attacks for a minute after they die. They forfeit this immunity if they
are teleported, cast a spell, or attack.
- The squelch system has been overhauled.
Typing just @squelch or @unsquelch will list all the people
you have "squelched" -- that is, those characters whose chat you have
chosen to ignore. In addition, players' characters you have squelched will
remain squelched across logins (even after shutting down the client). Even
though you can squelch Non-Player Characters (such as shopkeepers), only
players are permanently squelched. You have a separate list for each of
your characters, not one for your whole Zone ID, so you will need to make
a new squelch list for each character you play.
- Added multiple tabs to spell-cast panel --
players can now sort their spells in nice, tabbed panels. You can switch
tabs in the Magic panel by pressing the <insert> and <page up> keys to
cycle through the five tabs. These are the same keys used to increase /
decrease attack power / accuracy in the Combat panel.
- Magic Defense used to have as its base
value the sum of your Self and Focus, divided by 10. This made it hard to
get your Magic Defense as high as we'd like. So now it is divided by 7
instead of 10. As a result, every player's Magic Defense has gone up, and
raising your Focus or Self will help much more than before. However, this
only affects players, not monsters! Monsters will have the same effective
Magic Defense as before.
- We had a problem with certain generous
chests that gave players an incentive to wait in long lines to get their
booty, usually at little or no risk. All you had to do was wait your turn.
This is not very heroic, and unfair to those players who want to get a
nice chest of loot but have better things to do than wait in a line for
hours. It also created lots of complaints about players who did not follow
the “etiquette” of how to wait their turn. Therefore, we made some
changes. The good news is that these chests will regenerate their treasure
much faster than before, so if you are waiting your turn, you will have to
wait much less time. The bad news is that the chests are locked, so just
waiting there won't do any good. The good news is that the keys to these
chests are now part of monster loot throughout the world. So go out and
fight powerful monsters anywhere you like, and if you are lucky, you may
end up with a key that will unlock any one of these wonderful chests. You
can then make it your quest to fight your way to such a chest and, without
having to wait in a line, open it up and enjoy your booty. Though players
who did not mind the wait are sure to be disappointed, we know that far
more players will be pleased by this change, as it rewards true
adventurers with mini-quests that yield great rewards.
- Treasure generators (such as chests) will
now create new items even when they are partially emptied. This should
also fix the problems with generators that were failing completely.
- Fixed problem where putting containers in
inventory was causing the ground container window to open and stay that
way
- Fixed the movement of the spell-cast panel
so it works well with slow machines.
- Lesser celdon shadow girth encumbrance set
to 1625, per spec.
- There was also another subtle bug that got
fixed: AIs will no longer use self-targeted transfer spells to boost stats
that are already full (they were doing this check only for boost spells
before).
- Perch eliminated. Some rock pillars still
had physics. Removed it months ago, but somehow it didn't get checked in.
People were using these as perches to plink Olthoi. Now, the objects have
no physics. No more perching! Fixed all instances of this that I could
find.
- All swords now have a 50% variance instead
of 75%. Unf! This should really help the sword wielders.
- Kicked up variance of the Olthoi Sword to
.5 (that wily Olthoi was hiding in a funny bunny directory).
- Eastham Tailor had a max buy price of 0 --
set to 7500 now, per spec.
- You will not be able to see the level of a
PK player if you fail to successfully appraise him or her. The deception
skill therefore becomes much more useful to a PK.
- We added an @deaths command that
prints out how many times your character has died. We thought players
would be curious to know this info.
- Gain PP in Arcane Lore for successfully
reading scrolls.
- Granite golem now has chance to drop
motes.
- Lowered encumbrances and improved
elemental resistances of all pieces of Shadowhunter Armor.
- Hot kimchi mass and encumbrance swapped.
- Spell-cast panel didn't realize when you
deleted readied spell -- fixed.
- In some cases numbers were showing up
incorrectly and with ":" in them. This should be fixed now, using a better
formatting function.
- Monster loot improved for many creatures.
- Monsters were camping out near a lifestone
southwest of Zaikhal. We removed the monsters from this area.
- Olthoi Sword now looks like an Olthoi
Sword.
- Road now goes right up to the Obsidian
Span on both sides. The artisans of Dereth decided that such a bridge
deserved a road and set to work!
- Cows' and Aurochs' turn rates are now
increased.
- Lower levels of the Shoushi grotto are now
harder.
- Samsur Library portal was the wrong color
-- fixed.
- Shreth Hive portal was the wrong color --
fixed.
- Stone Cathedral portal was the wrong color
-- fixed.
- Dungeon Mei portal needed level
restrictions -- fixed.
- Dungeon Binar portal was the wrong color
-- fixed.
- Folthid Cellar portal needed level
restrictions -- fixed.
- Removed some generic gems located in the
Colier Mine. They were useless and cheap.
- Trapped in the Sclavus Keep -- I placed a
button on the other side of an activated-only door.
- Lockpick Ineptitude Self spells have a red
outline around the icon now.
- Olthoi at the end of the Incunabula Vault
once again fall to the ground!
- Empyrean Foundry -- activated door now
linked correctly.
- Mountain Fortress -- lanterns replaced
with candles.
- Rabbits were defending each other. This
was a result of changes made during the spring event. They no longer
defend each other.
- Removed a duplicate healer in Zaikhal.
Replaced the healer sign with a tailor sign because the healer is in the
other building up on the hill!
- The gravitational constant of protein has
been changed; the weight of cooked foods has been dropped by 25 - 50%.
Also, rabbit carcasses no longer weigh as much as cow carcasses.
The Spin From Turbine
- May Edition
From the
Zone
Well, it's been one heck of a month for us.
First, as you all know, in the May update we
accidentally introduced the "XP reduction code" that we'd been testing for
the last three or four months (yup, some of our game-balancing tweaks go
through testing for that long!). While most of us at Turbine and MS felt
pretty comfortable with the effects of the change, there was a very vocal
group that had reservations -- so we pulled it.
As a side note: this did not affect those who
perch and drain through walls in order to fight things that are reasonably
close to their ability. If you could kill it fast, no worries. The intention
was to prevent people from slaying things that are way too strong for them
by wearing them down over time with no risk. Also, this did not stop those
players from doing this, it just made it so that they didn't gain XP faster
than those players who do play at a risk, with all the hardship and struggle
that entails.
Does this mean that we won't introduce the
same "fix" in a future update? No. But it does mean that we need to look
closer at the objections that were brought up and address them. Both MS and
Turbine have to give every little thing in each update a full vote of
confidence before we prop it to the live worlds. That involves design, test,
art, and our tech guys all signing off on each item. As much as we strive to
always "give" you something, rather than "take away," all of our decisions
are based on two basic principles:
1) Is it good for the long-term health of AC?
2) Will everyone hate us if we make this
change?
Without a doubt, the highest priority goes to
question #1.
We rationalized that by reducing the XP
granted to people using exploits in the game, we were, in a sense, rewarding
those who play heroically. Should the guy cowering behind a door and
attacking a monster that is levels beyond his abilities get the same reward
as the valiant hero who bravely charges in? Legends tell us of great
warriors and magicians who stood toe-to-toe with monsters to do battle . . .
Little is written about cowards who slew the dragons without any personal
risk.
This patch was intended to reward the heroes
in each of us -- for taking the risk to achieve the greater reward. I hope
that if/when we do reintroduce the exploit hole, you'll take it in the
spirit it was intended.
In other, unrelated news, a group of us got a
chance to attend the E3 expo in Los Angeles last week. While it was a busy
trade show for us, I have to note two highlights for you.
First, I'm proud to say that Asheron's Call
won the AIAS (Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences -- our “Academy
Awards”) award for Best Computer Adventure/RPG game of the year! We thought
that the odds of us winning this award were slim at best, and when they
announced the winner, we were in shock as we took to the stage to accept it.
While a few of us were at the awards show, a
larger group of Turbinites were out having dinner with one of our fansites.
A quick cell phone call across town, and they heard the news at the same
time as the Turbine folks dining with them. Needless to say, there were a
lot of high fives and cheers passed around the table that night. (So much so
that the waitress asked to get into E3 so she could see what the hubbub was
all about!)
Lastly, I have to say thank-you to all the
fan sites and the fans who approached us at the show. It was great to
finally meet many of you face-to-face for the first time in RL. Your words
of encouragement and praise (and even your critiques) were great to hear.
Hopefully we can get together more often in the future. Thank you.
Anyway, have fun in Dereth this month. We've
got a lot of new cool stuff coming up in June that should please many of
you. It's been a heavy development month, and I think that you'll be amazed
at what we've done.
Scott Herrington
Producer, AC
Turbine Entertainment
P.S. -- Anyone got any good
armor? I'm getting my level-16 butt kicked up at Collier . . .
Developer's Chat
May 10, 2000
+MrQuazarr@Zone> *** WELCOME TO
THE AC DEVELOPER'S CHAT *** We will get started at 5 pm Pacific *** THE AC
DEVELOPER'S CHAT WILL BEGIN IN ABOUT 5 MINUTES ***
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Welcome to the monthly AC Developer's Chat.
I would like to remind everyone of a few ground rules before we get
started:
1.Please have your question
pre-typed in notepad and ready to cut and paste when your turn arrives. This
helps us get through as many people as possible.
2. Please limit your questions to one per turn. If you ask more then one,
the developers will simply take your first question.
Before we get started, I wanted
to address something that is on most people's minds I am sure:
We know that there is something affecting the game play during peak
hours and in certain areas that is not internet connectivity/router related.
This is our number one priority to address right now and we hope to
have it resolved soon. Watch the State of the Code
for more details as we progress on the issue.
Thanks for your patience! With that said, I would
like to introduce the Co-Lead Designer of Asheron's Call, Eri Izawa! Take it
away Eri!
rei@Turbine> Hi all :) I'm Eri "reijin" Izawa,
co-lead designer for Asheron's Call and general spec shuffler.
With me tonight are: Jesse "Nei
Nerfsubmaster" Kurlancheek, game designer, scripter, nerfer, general systems
guy. (He's nei, I'm rei)
David "Sausage King of Dereth" Javier, game designer, sausage maker, and
dialogue meister, will be speaking via Jesse tonight...
Chris "Stormy" L'Etoile, cranky game designer, story writer, and
general all-round Frore lord. Sean "artist
extraordinaire" Huxter, lead artist, is also with us tonight.
Chris "Slapp" Foster, lead designer for Asheron's Call, will
hopefully be joining us later.
rei@Turbine> First of all, thanks for coming! I have some things I'd like to
explain about how we answer your questions. To
give you an idea of our schedule, we are already hard at work on the June
event. So we can with some confidence answer questions about that material
(though we won't give away all the secrets ;-).
That said, we usually cannot give you concrete dates or feature details for
anything new beyond one or two months out. This is
because of many factors, including the experimental nature of events,
schedule changes, and the fact that something that looks simple may turn out
to be very complicated or even impossible! In
other words, promising specifics for many of your suggestions would be
premature. We don't like promising things we might not be able to deliver.
Also, because we have so much planned, new requests on the boards or
from here may not be implemented til some time after the suggestion is made.
But I want to assure you that we are listening! The spellcasting UI
changes happened in large part because of your suggestions at a chat much
like this one some months ago. Again, thanks for
coming! Done.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Alright... lets go ahead and get right into the questions.
NightWolf_ES> ken, you nerfed me! I had a big essay on the Lag issue. =]
NightWolf_ES> anyway.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> LOL.. Sorry
NightWolf_ES> What are the EXACT changes that are going to be made to
specialized skills.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Wanted to make sure you all knew we were very aware of it
and working like madmen on it
NightWolf_ES> I know
NightWolf_ES> I was at the Zone chat last night
nei@turbine> the spec change... numbers near and dear to me.
nei@turbine> i can't give you exacts yet - but what you'll see is that
towards higher lvls, the difference between trained and spec'd will become
more noticable.
nei@turbine> to clear things up around existing people
nei@turbine> if the spec change touches you, your skills will be upgraded to
the new levels - ie you'll get bumped forward. tasty!
nei@turbine> done.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Hi Darroth.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Darroth, do you have a question for the team?
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Hi Leviathen.
Leviathen1> Speaking as a high level Sword user I feel that melee *can*
be quite powerful, However I also feel that both life, item, and eventually
creature is needed to acheve this power....
Leviathen1> hi
Leviathen1> I understand Turbine's stance of not wanting to promote flavor
of the week charecters, and thus not allowing skill sellback.
Leviathen1> But I also feel that those of us that trained an attack kill
other than our heritage skill should be allowed to untrain our unused
unwanted heritage melee skill, since for many this would be
Leviathen1> the difference between getting a skill at 35 instead of 55.
Which turbine dev's do we need to begin to send things to in the name of the
fund to untrain our useless heritage skills? [GA]
Leviathen1> /me waves hi
rei@Turbine> One comment is that the heritage skills are freebie bonuses ...
though I understand they may not feel that way.
rei@Turbine> Your actual question is to whom do you send these things to
....
rei@Turbine> But you have shortcircuited the process, as we are listening
here & now.
rei@Turbine> We will take your suggestions and seriously consider them.
rei@Turbine> The skill "sell back" idea has not been killed completely, but
it is not something being acted upon yet.
rei@Turbine> Done.
__THE_WRATH__> Hello, I gotta say this is a great game, just got some
concerns about mages and future updates for them.
__THE_WRATH__> I come before you today on behalf of all the disgruntled
mages upset with the tyranny that is against us. For many months now we have
been asking for an update for our kind, and have received nothing. The new
spellbar probably would have passified...
__THE_WRATH__> us if sword swingers had not only recieved a new type of
sword, but a new varience which makes them even more powerful, and to make
it worse, the accidental inclusion of the "experimental code" which is
obviously designed to discourage life mages,...
__THE_WRATH__> s yet another example of the contempt for our kind. We are
tired of hearing that "our time will come soon". We want answers. Give us a
date. If our time is not until September, let us know, so we can do other
things until it is "our time".
__THE_WRATH__> One more thing, is the Hoary ever gonna come back?
nei@turbine> *takes the easy way out* 2nd question: maybe.....
nei@turbine> kidding...
nei@turbine> "your time will come"....
nei@turbine> kidding again....
nei@turbine> "soon"
rei@Turbine> *kicks nei*
nei@turbine> it ryhmes with "soon"
rei@Turbine> kidding.
nei@turbine> lots of new spells - for all the schools of magic (though
mostly war since they need a bit of lub)
nei@turbine> done.
RESiSTANCE_Ckiy> Yoyoyo, its like getting ticketZ for a sold out concert
here. Heh, been camping on the sidewalk since yesterday getting my spot in
this chat room
RESiSTANCE_Ckiy> If and when will be your planZ for quests and quest itemZ
for player classes you have over looked or missed like the archer , xbow and
vagabondZ?
RESiSTANCE_Ckiy> check out our clan site at http://www.angelfire.com/ok2/resistance/index.html
nei@turbine> thanks for the ad...
nei@turbine> archers and xbowyers get their desserts at the same time the
mages do - this time ryhmes with "noon"
nei@turbine> vagabonds... well.... ya know.... they're vagabonds.
nei@turbine> done.
MxRacer_14> First off - I would like to say - thank you - thank you so
much for creating a wonderful game...(semi-long cut/paste to follow)
MxRacer_14> When will you add more dungeons in Eastern Osteth? We need many
more places for people to hunt Nortoriously there are 25+ people in all the
good dugeons where you can hunt Above ground hunting is difficult to say the
least - the number of...
MxRacer_14> monsters running loose has been increased - but this also
increase "lag" due to the amount of information the clients computer must
handle...
MxRacer_14> Can I get a job with you?? Evil Elvis RULES! -- shamless plug
Thanks Guys - keep up the good work I am Fistandautilus - Harvestgain all
the way!
nei@turbine> davej sez:
nei@turbine> There's going to be a bunch of dungeons to alleviate the
camping situation. All your favorite monsters to slay for fun and profit.
When, you ask? Rhymes with "harpoon."
nei@turbine> DaveJ done
nei@turbine> (look at him and his fancy "punctuation" and "capitalization")
nei@turbine> showoff
rei@Turbine> I was thinking "loon" ("harpoon" has too many syllables).
rei@Turbine> I think we're done.
hi_fib> My question is regarding implementation of new trade skills and
residency such as housing and secure trading, tired of watching people spam
_____is a Thief, i want my stuff back only squelch so many peeps
hi_fib> *cough*, by choosing heritage you get benefit of skill and also
benefit of easier requirements on armor/weapons/wwhat not, by choosing a
heritage you accept consequences of skills too*cough
rei@Turbine> new trade skills: we'd like to do, not on immediate radar
rei@Turbine> residency: we'd like to do but the tech investment is huge ...
really.
rei@Turbine> (still trying to find a good design for it)
rei@Turbine> Secure Trade! That's most likely to happen first.
rei@Turbine> I'm hoping we can get that in relatively soon, but I cannot
give you a specific date for reasons I said earlier.
rei@Turbine> (relatively soon usually means a few months)
rei@Turbine> Done.
Fo0eY> Insert obligitory brown nose --- here <--- Is sticky melee working
as it's supposed too...namely sticky pvp?
Fo0eY> I've done some testing and it seems run speed doesn't at all
matter...this just doesn't seem fair to people with high run skills.{end.}
rei@Turbine> After a lot of testing, we generally found that run speed
matters a lot....
nei@turbine> unofficial, off the cuff response
nei@turbine> (though i suppose in chat, it's officiall)
rei@Turbine> (that's nei in the second line)
nei@turbine> i've been playing far too much DT lately.... and it SEEMS like
those nasty club swingers are catching up to me and riding on my tail just
like i do to MOBs....
nei@turbine> i'll do a controlled test tomorrow when i get into work
nei@turbine> done
rei@Turbine> Let me wrap up what I was saying....
rei@Turbine> I generally found that if one was significantly slower, one got
hit a lot more.
rei@Turbine> A very fast run would allow the monster to perhaps get in a
swing or two, because the server figures you were near enough for that.
rei@Turbine> (could allow... depends on where you were relatively)
rei@Turbine> There are many many different factors, and a lot of it is based
on perception and disagreements between what the client thinks and what the
server thinsk.
rei@Turbine> thinks even
rei@Turbine> That said, if there are signs of real problems, we will
definitely look into them.
rei@Turbine> (And I am not a server expert, though I'm playing one in the
chat... jfyi)
rei@Turbine> done.
SubChaos> Amazing Amazing game. Thank you for saving me from EQ. 1)When
purchasing spell components can you please have them go into their
respective bags rather than into the main knapsack, and 2)ALLEGIANCE CHAT
AND SECURE TRADING!! :)
SubChaos> Also, If you are going to acknoledge the existence of a bug you
should risk abuse and take steps to repair the damage done.. One man's
opinion..
SubChaos> Animus giving a big *bow* out to Elias, Warbong, Adam Jones and
the rest of TOOL, and all of Frostfell!! WOO HOO!!
rei@Turbine> Hmm, I just inquired recently about having things go to
respective containers for other types of actions.
rei@Turbine> It is technically difficult and could break the inventory
system (etc.)
rei@Turbine> (I mean, given that bags could be moved and go away etc)
rei@Turbine> So it is unlikely to happen, but thank you for the suggestion.
rei@Turbine> Done.
MrSmashy> Will you be adding any monsters that give high levels a
challenge? There should be some that require high levels to work together
instead of just soloing
nei@turbine> heeheehee...
rei@Turbine> (rei joins in the cackling)
nei@turbine> i won't tell you about the evil evil bad things that are
killing my poor admin on my computer right now.
nei@turbine> "why hello mr. new creature. why yes, i'm an admin... oh no...
hey cut that out"
nei@turbine> hmm... "hey guys, he just hit me for 400"
rei@Turbine> Were those those horrible sounds I was hearing over here? The
screaming and stuff?
nei@turbine> yeah, there are new monsters, big mean scary monsters
coming.... you wanna know when? it rhymes with "saskatoon"
nei@turbine> done
letoile@turbine> Obviously, it will be in... by noon!
Xoltri> hello, good afternoon
Xoltri> As per the rules, my one question...
Xoltri> When I am fighting a group of enemies sometimes I will slide around
back and forth, and even land in the middle of the group. "Sliding Melee".
It's pretty annoying, and also dangerous (getting hit in the back). Is there
a fix planned?
rei@Turbine> Some improvements have already gone in.
rei@Turbine> It may be that more need to go in (and it does get worse with
lag)
rei@Turbine> So while there is no immediate fix, with reports like yours we
are always looking to fix what we can.
rei@Turbine> err, no immediate fix in the bin right now.
rei@Turbine> Done.
Voxell> Waaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssssssssssssuppppppppppp? So what's up
B.............Seriously i agree with MxRacer_14. Just add a BDC beside every
town that would solve everything.....how that would fit into the story line
i don't know......*now question*.....
Voxell> Hi there are you planning In the Future, Say after AC's story line
has finished and your next game comes to release a Client Patch to play a
Single Player game(None Zone,LAN option) I would imagine this would be a
huge download, is there a possibility?
Voxell> done
rei@Turbine> Play AC as a singer player?
nei@turbine> um... *scratching head*
rei@Turbine> Is that the question?
rei@Turbine> err, single player
rei@Turbine> I don't think it will happen :)
nei@turbine> Turbine's raison d'etre is Massively Multiplayer. That's our
bag. In other words, don't hold your breath for singleplayer AC...
nei@turbine> (That was DaveJ, done)
_stroker_> I would like to see is that Monarchs would be able to talk to
all his followers at one time,and not to be resticted to only his
vassels.Like it should be when your the King "Mustafa"
nei@turbine> (man, no using parentheses, those are mine... )
rei@Turbine> We would like to improve allegiance UI overall.
rei@Turbine> To be honest it is a huge undertaking.
rei@Turbine> So we will be drafting specs and looking into getting it in a
little laster than "sometime soon."
rei@Turbine> Not just allegiance communication but other allegiance UI
features.
rei@Turbine> (Ideally)
rei@Turbine> Done.
rei@Turbine> (later, not laster)
rei@Turbine> (I had no baking soda today)
Amusary> When will see places that have a restiction lvl to 50+ ,like a
place that has a spawn rate like the Incunabula vault but filled with nobles
and maybe a queen at the end, for us high lvl pp? and maybe a Sword that
does bludg damage ?
Amusary> and i like to thx MrSmashy for taking my question , but the
restiction thing is what i really mean , some place just for us high lvl pp
and not places where the throw high lvl magic at ya neither
nei@turbine> *tries to think of a good word*
nei@turbine> how's about sometime in the month that rhymes with "saloon" or
perhaps "basoon"?
rei@Turbine> Just say "soon," Jesse, and get it over with?
nei@turbine> done.
nei@turbine> i ain't even gotten started
treymule> The time on looting creatures needs to be more , when i'm
fighting 8 soilders and when they are all dead .I go to loot ,there is some
low lvl player looting my kills,after i did all the work
rei@Turbine> Sounds like a good suggestion to look into.
rei@Turbine> So let me jot it down in my handy dandy text file.
rei@Turbine> (I was thinking the same thing recently.)
rei@Turbine> Done.
letoile@turbine> I've often thought so as well. :)
nei@turbine> *points out that i was "saloon'ing" to the high level
restrictions and not the blunt sword for clarity's sake*
sKUm_bIZKit> Arthur of Bloodlust from MT here. Firstly, I love the game.
The best game ever. I've heard some rumors about Sword of Lost Light's
status.. (Stats improving, req's lowering). Are they true? Considering
swords are 2x better than it w/ lower req's...
sKUm_bIZKit> "noon".. you guys are a riot.. ehhe.. SHout out to the
Dasterdly allegience of MT!
sKUm_bIZKit> {done}
cfoster@Turbine> (we're huddling)
rei@Turbine> Did we mention Foster's here?
cfoster@Turbine> Sorry I'm late, folks. I was attacked by ninjas en route to
my PC. It's been happening lately.
rei@Turbine> SoLL got a small boost this month, and there are some ideas
that L'Etoile has for it that sound pretty cool.
rei@Turbine> In other words more changes likely.
rei@Turbine> Done.
joncrowl> For a semi-retired/part time sword user, the new rapiers look
nice.BUT! What are the chances of getting new spear types? IE Halberd,
Ranseur, Awl-Pike or Glaive or some other type? (I know they aren't EXACTLY
the same weapon type, but close enough.....
joncrowl> unless you want to code a new weapon type) ps 275 deaths at lvl 34
and counting! GA
nei@turbine> here comes my ponk rocking cohort, davej
rei@Turbine> (watch nei's capitalization improve)
nei@turbine> I'm looking over maces and spears for an upcoming prop. Right
now I'm looking at new types, like maybe a naginata or a spiked club. When
will you get these? No promises, but it rhymes with "poke in the eye".
Hopefully.
nei@turbine> Done.
DoctorLW> Hey, great job on AC. I live on Darktide, and it is tough being
a mage there ;). Anyways down to my jumbled up question...
letoile@turbine> He is, however, a lousy rhymer.
DoctorLW> I am happy to see that from a previous question that you are in
fact adding new war magic spells. At last! (PvP oriented I hope) ;) But I
was wondering more importantly if there are any quests for mages coming up?
More importantly wand quests...
DoctorLW> ...(Wand quests because "Wand-Monkeying" is the only chance for
mages to have a decent chance at killing an opponent right now ;) Currently,
there is only the Impious Staff quest, but that is only for Gharudanims. Of
course, if the new war...
DoctorLW> ...spells ARE PvP oriented please elaborate on that instead ;).
Thanks =). (GA)
DoctorLW> whew
rei@Turbine> (PvP is near and dear to Jesse's heart.)
letoile@turbine> I've never heard a PvP'er actually ask for new wands
before. :)
nei@turbine> right now, of the 4 classes of coming war spells, 1 is geared
specifically for PK-action. i can't really see why it'd be used elsewere
really.... (and you're not going to get an Imperil 6 wand...)
nei@turbine> so neener.
nei@turbine> done.
nei@turbine> oh wait!! i forgot, sometime in the month that rhymes with
"baboon"!
rei@Turbine> "loon." did I say "loon" already? (oops)
cfoster@Turbine> Au clair de la lune...
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Hi Jacko, do you have a question for the team?
letoile@turbine> SPOON!
cfoster@Turbine> pontoon
rei@Turbine> goosn.
rei@Turbine> errr, goons
nei@turbine> step off my dealie
letoile@turbine> Maroon.
rei@Turbine> spittoon?
cfoster@Turbine> shampooin'
letoile@turbine> Next!
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Hi DragaoOuro. Do you have a question for the team?
rei@Turbine> Please, before the bad rhymes continue.
Izeman00> Bah! its been touched on already, but still, it needs to be
emphasized, I'll paste it anyways. *someone wants to ask btw: female
characters need mustaches. ... hhaha..* pastes coming..
Izeman00> Congrats on a great game, thanks for your hard work. Incubula /
Ob. Plains (during Umbris) were excellent additions to the game. They
provided a serious challenge to anyone from levels 30-60. After completing
monthly content, these type places make
Izeman00> the game worth playing. However, Incubula is showing strong signs
of overpopulation yielding a "tunnels" type situation, and the plains are
really hurting with the huge reduction in Umbris. I assume in terms of
adding complex content or quests
Izeman00> versus adding another Incubula-type dungeon or increasing the
density of monsters in remote direlands locations, the latter is easier. I
am challenging you to build a dungeon or area we can't beat. I thought
Incbula was it as I imagine you did, the coun
Izeman00> is 190 Olthoi Soldiers but it wasn't enough. From high level
soloers to mid level parties, we love Incubula, but in another month or two
it will be like LoD, picked clean....so, will you accept the challenge?
Izeman00> Finally, thanks for solving the X.X.177.154 problem, you know
who you are.
Izeman00> i still need that address instructions for the BBQ (done)
rei@Turbine> He's asking for more bad rhymes, methinks.
cfoster@Turbine> BBQ'in
nei@turbine> DaveJ speaking on Nei's machine. Yes we accept the challenge.
You will have our response very quickly. Probably in June.
nei@turbine> That's right, I said it.
nei@turbine> Done
rei@Turbine> June rhymes with ... hey.
nei@turbine> no more using my keyboard for him
traggert> I agree with Izeman00...bring it on! Great game, thanks! I
couldn't decide, so Turbines's Choice..please pick the one to answer (only 3
pastes):
traggert> #1 I would pay up to $30/mo for a premium server or a onetime say
$70 registration fee for acces to a premium server, is this a viable
solution? Or what does it take to get another server? I would sacrifice
content for 3-4 months for a new server!
traggert> #2 I love the Sturdy Iron Key solution, but heck if it didnt nerf
Lockpicking. But uber chests spawning parchment or fish with no loot over
level II? Rare drop item, long run to semi-hard chest, and I get fish?
traggert> #3 Love the XP code (I'm a life mage actually), PLEASE implement
it, I know its being tested, but it didnt fix the XP (5500xp) from the perch
in Incubula. Odds on this code, after modification making it in?
traggert> YES on the components and the bags! How about just fixing the 50
unit problem and make them auto merge into a stack up to say 150 units? Yes
on the allegiance improvements!
traggert> done
rei@Turbine> I think the first one is a question?
rei@Turbine> (Noting your other comments)
rei@Turbine> I don't think it's very likely there will be such a service....
rei@Turbine> But it is really not our specialty topic....
rei@Turbine> Done.
TMeister> I just want you to know that AC has pretty much destroyed my
life! But I have loved every second of it... Thanks! (and dont think Im a
buffoon!)
TMeister> My Q: Talk to me about hotkeys: Are you ever going to allow users
to have more than 9 item hotkeys? Here is what I really, really want: A
super(macro?) hotkey that would equip a whole pouch of stuff all at once;
(here is the kicker) then unequip would
TMeister> return all the items to the pouch that they came from!!!!!
nei@turbine> you rule! (re: the bufoon comment!)
TMeister> A Suggestion: When an item runs out of mana, why can you shade
it with a red haze or something to make it easier to tell it has run out of
mana... Oh - and the radar scope needs to be larger at higher resolutions.
Done... 8^)
rei@Turbine> Returning objects to specific containers is something I just
looked into recently.
rei@Turbine> It is a cool idea, but is technically involved and dangerous.
rei@Turbine> So while it'd be great to have more features like what you
describe, they are not too likely in the immediate future.
rei@Turbine> Done.
avalon_grey> This question brought to you by Penzoil for all your oil
needs!.
avalon_grey> Hey guys, once again great job on the prop event, you rock and
we wub you all....Ok is there more to this event or is it realy just a down
time, say "a calm before the storm". Or is the collective player base
clueless of what to do to trigger the real eve
cfoster@Turbine> Go Penzoil!
nei@turbine> ack! coporate sponsorship!
avalon_grey> Short of the oswald/claude stuff (i.e. should we keep
looking, or relax and enjoy the "calm") And thanks for the hint that the
good stuff happens when it rhymes with "Maroon" Let DAI into the chats...:)
-Ket
rei@Turbine> Enjoy the calm for now....
rei@Turbine> (can't think of a good rhyming word right now, oh well)
cfoster@Turbine> ... and the spellbar. :)
rei@Turbine> Done.
fearGod1> Hail all! Great game. Any chance Asheron will be teleporting
"new" races into Dereth to help with the struggle? Also, will we be seeing
BANKS soon? Many of us would like to use our slots for "real" characters.
((Sorry if these are repeat questions...)) ga
rei@Turbine> Races are not on the horizon at the moment, though they would
be very cool.
rei@Turbine> There is a lot of investment in new heritage-group specific
items, as you can see from the variety we have for the 3 already in-game.
rei@Turbine> Items & artwork, etc.
rei@Turbine> Done.
SuperPansy> The only thing that makes this game boring at all is the AI.
Players are forced to fight monsters that don't even have an IQ equivalent
to a warrior's. If you were to put ONE person on this job for a month
straight it would make an incredible...
SuperPansy> difference and make the game much more intersting and enjoyable.
Some people would even do it for free! About when can we expect to see this?
After Final? Perhaps when the new graphics engine is implemented? [GA]
SuperPansy> PS - Dair rules :)
SuperPansy> Dai, too
rei@Turbine> IQ equivalent to a warrior's? Ow.
nei@turbine> *cough* PK *cough cough*
cfoster@Turbine> Trust us, if this was a one-man-month problem, we'd
probably have made more significant changes by now.
cfoster@Turbine> In order for AI to be radically changed, the entire world
model would have to change just as radically.
cfoster@Turbine> Which means LOTS of work.
cfoster@Turbine> Simply put, a good AI system is defined as much by the
environment as by any "smartness" in the code.
cfoster@Turbine> done
Guyver_3_Unit> First off Great Game, but my question is, and am sure ya
love this one, What are you ever going to do with thrown weapon? I spent 12
credits on day one to specalize it, and it is worthless.
Guyver_3_Unit> I cannot cast on them but one at a time not in a bundle, and
there are no good ones to be bought, and never any enchanted ones to be
found. If ya going do nothing then get rid of it and at least
Guyver_3_Unit> Give me some of the 12 points back. I am a monarch, so i
don't want to delete the character, but man do i feel stupid for taking
something that looked really cool back in november. TY
nei@turbine> ooh ooh... thrown weapons!
Guyver_3_Unit> and please nothing that rymes with soon
cfoster@Turbine> brigadoon.
cfoster@Turbine> damn.
cfoster@Turbine> sorry.
rei@Turbine> *slaps foster*
nei@turbine> this is actually on the same whiteboard that held our past
loves...
nei@turbine> they're actually getting something.
nei@turbine> sadly, it doesn't rhyme with "pantaloon"
nei@turbine> or "squirt lemon in your eye"
nei@turbine> done.
Evil_Elvis_> Mwahahhahaha.... um... Long....
Evil_Elvis_> Just want to say, You guys have done a good job with AC, its a
step foreward in the MMORPG genre from its predecessors.
Evil_Elvis_> However, there still exist some gameplay issues 6 months
post-Retail that have not been resolved, and issues that are created by new
patches.
Evil_Elvis_> I understand that patching is a dynamic process, and nobody is
perfect when it comes to implementing something for 12000 unique minds, but
Evil_Elvis_> The past few patches have shown dramatic changes to gameplay,
something that may be necessary for game balance, but something that should
have been done during the Beta Process.
Evil_Elvis_> Simply looking at the way the Gameplay, Skeletal Animation, and
Combat System will work in the UO2 Trailer, at http://www.xdrive.com/share/957994423QvDYFSrLvFl53JHKrcESYG1
(use view)
Evil_Elvis_> How do you all plan on keeping your product Feature Rich,
Expansive, and Dynamic enough to compete with this in the future? GA
cfoster@Turbine> wow. An interesting question.
cfoster@Turbine> Realistically, there's a point at which a game has to
concentrate on improving what it does best, and not trying to become a
completely different game.
cfoster@Turbine> UO2 is a radical departure from UO, as its team itself has
said...
cfoster@Turbine> ... in large part because that's the only way you can take
the game in such new directions; you have to break the mold, and start a
new.
cfoster@Turbine> AC is a living, thriving world, with plenty of ways to
expand and improve.
cfoster@Turbine> Just don't expect dancing Meers and Jukas anytime soon. :)
cfoster@Turbine> (done)
m_hael1> (short)
m_hael1> Dear Devs. I'm going to sound like a real @ss, but what do you plan
on doing after AC gets demolished by UO2?
m_hael1> Done
nei@turbine> going back to weaving in the woods?
rei@Turbine> Rhyming.
nei@turbine> DaveJ is planning on becoming a tropical dictator.
rei@Turbine> Hmmm, more baking soda....
cfoster@Turbine> Not saying. :p
rei@Turbine> I'll start a baking soda empire.
Shane_Johnson> Good evening, one feature I'd like to see added, is that
if a Vassal/Patron/Monarch signs on/off you're notified, just like the
friends list... perhaps @friends add vassals or similar command to free up
some friend slots for us. But my question....
Shane_Johnson> Can we get a complete map availible to download when there's
an update instead of the individual downloads each time? I've got DSL and I
hate the DL time when I go someplace new or updated. Also, can we update the
F10 map so it's the real thing?
cfoster@Turbine> I'll take this one.
cfoster@Turbine> Optimizing downloads for broadband isn't a high priority
right now, given that lotsa users are running on slower connections. So I
don't think we'd be changing the system anytime soon. Sorry (done)
cfoster@Turbine> oops -- one more thing
cfoster@Turbine> I'm not sure exactly when you'll get the latest update, but
the F10 map IS being irregularly updated to sync with events.
cfoster@Turbine> (really done)
Mr_Nox> With information so readily available on the internet how are you
going to keep events and quests mysterious and interesting in the future
also are there any plans to open new lands e.g. Asheron's Isle. Also a
suggestion with residences what about...
Mr_Nox> Portal Orbs you buy then in town and use them in your local meeting
hall to whisk you to your mansion (pyreals allowing) and maybe special ones
that allow a fellowship or guild to use the same one. eg. A guild vault..
cfoster@Turbine> Everyone, please: Only One Question Per Person.
rei@Turbine> Yes there are very serious plans for opening up new islands.
rei@Turbine> Done.
Holy_Dragon> For thrown weapons maybe you can make a reusable or
returnable thrown weapon that can have item cast on it (like a boomerang
maybe). now my question (continued)
Holy_Dragon> are you going to make new armored helms guaults and shoes the
ones now are getting old
rei@Turbine> Yes, we'd like to do some of that.
cfoster@Turbine> (we're comparing fashions over here)
rei@Turbine> For example last chat (?) I think someone brought up boots (or
was that somewhere else?)
rei@Turbine> It isn't very high up on the priority list, though....
rei@Turbine> I mean compared to new spells and so on....
rei@Turbine> So, not immediately, but it's on the list.
cfoster@Turbine> We mix in new clothing with other content; it adds flavor,
but is a drain on resources.
rei@Turbine> Yes, what Foster said.
cfoster@Turbine> So as Eri says, it's on the list.
cfoster@Turbine> What she said.
rei@Turbine> Stop that.
rei@Turbine> Done.
cfoster@Turbine> What we said. (bows)
eyl7720> 1) With the recent changes to magic D and the specing changes
taking place, do you understand the imbalance that will happen with the
people that already have 270 buffed magic D speced on Darktide? This will
potentially create a "flavor of the week" char
eyl7720> and another great imbalance *cough*matty robe*cough* to the game.
Are there any plans to balance this out?
eyl7720> 2) What's up with people being able to hit people during the
portaling process? Is this going to be fixed? (PK Question)
nei@turbine> welcome to PK balancing land... the place of icky things and
grouchy people.
cfoster@Turbine> NOT vice versa.
nei@turbine> we've said time and time again that the game was made for NPK
and PK is of lesser priority...
nei@turbine> BUT!!!
nei@turbine> with lil ol' me's new found DT addiction, i think there's going
to be lots more pushing in attempts to balance.
nei@turbine> and yes, i know that 270 magic D is a pain, but it's a decision
that that player made to dump a LOT of xp into the skill... let them be
godly for awhile... something always comes along later that'll take em down
a notch
nei@turbine> done.
McFrugal> Are there any plans to enhance the Dagger skill? I've noticed
that all the elemental daggers are weak compared to the other weapon types.
A Stiletto would be nice, too. Oh, and please don't give us another weapon
like Oswald's Dagger.
McFrugal> Deception Mastery VI? Bleagh. GA
rei@Turbine> We are interested in balancing out all the melee classes,
working in order of most-in-need.
rei@Turbine> obviously new weapons are very cool, and as you see we are
kicking ideas around for various new weapons.
rei@Turbine> So, dagger is not on the immediate list, but it is on the
radar, definitely.
rei@Turbine> Done.
ChrisHays> Although I am quite interested in trying Player-versus-Player
combat, I have no intention of particpating at this time due to the current
options available...
ChrisHays> I am completely disgusted with the immature behaviors of a small
but increasingly visible group of snotnosed punks who see PK as a license
for random sneak attacks on low-level players, looting and verbal
harassment...
ChrisHays> Since entering their Quake-Frag-Fest world doesn't appeal to
me...
ChrisHays> I'm interested to know if you're planning on implementing
something in AC 1.0 along the line of duels or allegience wars, wherein I am
able to choose my opponents without opening myself up to constant harassment
by the idiots.
ChrisHays> (done)
rei@Turbine> AC 1.0?
rei@Turbine> I'd like to do duels and/or allegiance wars.
rei@Turbine> Allegiance wars have some SERIOUS server-side issues though.
rei@Turbine> Neither is likely to happen very soon, but it is on our
want-list.
rei@Turbine> Done.
Purrpetual> Turbine has demonstrated a pattern of removing content from
AC that is tied to an event or is considered overpowered...
Purrpetual> Examples: Significant portions of Frore (including Tremblant's
Staff), Hoary Mattekars (and hence the robes), Gertarh's Dagger, and most
recently the Nexus Crystal (and hence the Nexus armor)...
Purrpetual> As most things that are removed are only obtainable by
high-level characters, this trend significantly encourages powerleveling
(Have to hurry up, lest we miss something when Turbine removes it from
Dereth forever)...
Purrpetual> Given the correlation between powerleveling and burnout, it
seems you're running the risk of losing customers at an increasing rate if
this continues...
Purrpetual> What are your current plans to address the common perception
that anything might disappear from Dereth at any moment and the resulting
pressure to powerlevel?
nei@turbine> welcome to the dynamic world where things can and do change
....
cfoster@Turbine> the idea is that while you may have missed out on something
in the past, there'll be something at least as compelling in the future.
cfoster@Turbine> The very thing that makes something rare is what makes it
special.
cfoster@Turbine> (done)
Turboi85> Hey turbies, It was hard to come up with something that hasn't
been asked yet, but here I go....
Turboi85> Server crowding: At peak times every day my ping triples, at
least. And it gets worse in overcrowded dungeons. Are new servers on the
horizon? In a month rhyming with spitoon? Please?
Turboi85> Oh and a comment to reinforce an earlier question- I really
dislike having to fill a character slot with a mule.
Turboi85> One more thing: I am a God {Done}
+MrQuazarr@Zone> We are closely monitoring the performance of all worlds. We
want to first make sure that no bugs are causing problems otherwise we just
have 7 worlds with lag, or 8, or....
Qwertypie> Well, since Eyl stole my question that i pasted, here
goes.....
Qwertypie> Since mages are widely seen as the ultimate tank class because of
the high level magic protects and banes(to which there are no counters)
Qwertypie> Are there any plans to implement the ability to target a persons
armor and brittlemail and/or lure it(why have the spells if they are not
useable?) this would go a long way to bringing mages in line in regards to
balance...
Qwertypie> -Shollos,Darktide(the only REAL server, all you cry babies should
try getting past lvl 2 in shoushi) btw, irc.themercs.org #themercs =ghay:P
nei@turbine> i'd LOVE to be able to do this.... but i have no clue about the
tech required for it.
nei@turbine> watch as i push evil DT affecting changes through the pipe.
nei@turbine> the targetting UI doesn't handle individual pieces (at all)
right now
nei@turbine> done
TristanDarkwind> With the new pvp war magic will you please keep in mind
the sword Swingers of Darktide? If we cant run from a mage we die. You singe
TristanDarkwind> the mages tracking nuclear warheads. thanks.
TristanDarkwind> done.
nei@turbine> they aren't getting seekers, don't fret.
nei@turbine> done.
TristanDarkwind> woohoo!
letoile@turbine> Heh. :)
nei@turbine> *points to the Z and C keys*
Twists> Hoi Gods ... I know, its more MS related, but can you tell me
anything about new, blank server (not 'cause of lag but 'cause of
exploit-using lvl70chars, unbalanced items...) and/or European (German)
Sales? ... Greets, Twist. http://www.asheron.de [done]
cfoster@Turbine> Ken? I think you've covered all the server info you have to
give, right?
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Yep, what I know I have stated... More news will be
published on State of the Code as we get it.
EBWolfMiG> Hello, First thing, my suggestion, how about a feature to
un-train skills that were trained after our character was made and get our
skill credits back and the xp we put into the skill would be lost and
returned to its orignal untrained skill number
EBWolfMiG> my question is why has noble loot been so bad lately
nei@turbine> noble loot hasn't changed.
nei@turbine> you've had a bad streak...
nei@turbine> that's all there is to say about that.
nei@turbine> done.
Janos_Lin> Hello, umm I'd like to make an few comments before asking my
question, bear with me and I wont be long :)
Janos_Lin> First of all, being a cheifly an blademaster, rapiers are a nice
addition, but albeit, limited to really affecting a certain class of
monsters, and we already have piercing damage with all swords. Tests have
shown that the lowest setting does the most ov
Janos_Lin> does the most overall damage and that is precisely where the
piercing damage is. We don't really want rapiers dont see too many fencing
compeitions out there.. what's next? Musteeker uniforms? :P What we REALLY
want is a sword that does BLUDGEONING damag
Janos_Lin> damage. And yes such swords do exist, they simply dont have an
edge, altough I cannot recall the name presently. Even a circular piece of
steel will do, akin to the wooden swords used in some karate classes, but
made of metal.
Janos_Lin> Secondly, More dunegons would be helpful, and we need some with
even more challenging higher lv monsters. Considering the general population
is getting well in its 30's and 40's most of the once elite dunegons are
becoming more and more camped.
Janos_Lin> Thirdly, please raise the ground spawn quality in BDC, al 50
chainmail sleeves arent worth much my friends... value was only 500 or so.
Janos_Lin> Why did u make the greater shadow amuli so ugly... brown and gold
doesnt exactly rock my boat, how about sliver/blue or purple/gold or
something appealing, to go along with the great difficulty in obtaining the
armor, it should be something we're proud of
Janos_Lin> not my question tho...)
Janos_Lin> Anyways my question is, are you going to add more circles of
magic? The highest we can attain now is lv 6. and since lv 6 starts at
roughly 250 magic skill, that leaves 2 more possible circles. I think this
is necessary as more and more challenging higher
Janos_Lin> lv monsters will need to be added for the existing high lv
population. Highest I know of is lv 70 whom is none other than Mythrandia
herself. I also relaize this may be quite out of reach of most people's
skills but might still be possible at the same tim
letoile@turbine> *cough* ONE QUESTION. k thx.
Janos_Lin> Slap BD 8 and SK 8 on the overlord sword and youve got a kick
ass sword :)
nei@turbine> yes.
nei@turbine> done
lucidconcepts> Greeting Girelle M'aloth here from - http://asheron.abands.com
- Now Web Home To AC's largest Monarchy - The Killean Monarchy Morningthaw
Don't you think there have been enough collecting quests? Motes, specs,
shards, wood golem heart for Dagger of Ti
lucidconcepts> and now the sturdy iron keys....Some of us don't like
selectively killing mass ammounts of monsters hoping the 1/100 drop rate
will finally bless us. Can you promise me that future updates won't include
these and will make attempts at a broader kind
lucidconcepts> 2# The shadow resistance is unbelivable still I thought magic
resistance was tweaked. Even with a war magic of 240 I hit maybe 1 time in
every 20 shots. Greets to wyveric, ryo-ohki, mo-of-wig, and all of IRC
Effnet #asheronscall DONE
cfoster@Turbine> We're shifting the nature of quests.
cfoster@Turbine> The iron keys were an attempt to deal with the existing
chests in the world, which were getting camped; they aren't our favorite
model for future content.
cfoster@Turbine> (done)
Lord_Chewie> Hey Turbine! OK, first of all, your game is VERY "Crack-a-liscious"!
Ok, question WIF a comment! *AHEM* I have noticed that the new Anti-Camping
system is well under way. However, instead of 50 d33ds camping a chest 5
hours to get one pull, we see now
Lord_Chewie> so many guys trying to use their 50 keys! What do you guys
think so far about how ths new system works? And to hell with bow quests!
Lord_Chewie> ty!
Lord_Chewie> noq
letoile@turbine> Well, the good thing about the new system is that the keys
allowed us to up chest respawn to something like 60 seconds....
letoile@turbine> So we end up with people hunting all over the green earth
for keys, rather than in one place and arguing over who goes now and who
waits another 20 min for the next batch.
letoile@turbine> If we can increase flow-through, that's positive. Perfect?
Hell no. Nothing ever is. It's better, and that's a start.
letoile@turbine> *done*
Polarbear007> According to the ability screen, some skills like healing,
cooking, and the four classes of magic are called "unusable skills" if
player does not invest any training point. However, certain
creature-magic-bearing items, for example, a wand or a glove
Polarbear007> enable player to use those skills without any previous
training I think this is as unfair as using quarrel with a bow (btw, thanks
for fixing that). For example, I have to invest 12 points in training ….
enable player to use those skills without any pre
Polarbear007> training I think this is as unfair as using quarrel with a bow
(btw, thanks for fixing that). For example, I have to invest 12 points in
training …. training I think this is as unfair as using quarrel with a bow
(btw, thanks for fixing that). For examp
Polarbear007> Darn
rei@Turbine> I think I understand what you're saying.
cfoster@Turbine> Me too. :)
letoile@turbine> Rei is typing so fast, it sounds like all of Riverdance is
in the office!
+MrQuazarr@Zone> LOL
cfoster@Turbine> The goal was to designate certain special skills as unused,
to maintain balance.
rei@Turbine> (Letting Foster take it, L'Etoile :)
cfoster@Turbine> It was recognition of how powerful these skills could be --
more to the point, how much they REDEFINE a player with new abilities
cfoster@Turbine> (done)
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Swippen will have to be our last question for this
evening....
Swippen> Hi there! love the game! I am Swipfellow of Leafcull (nordic
tribe leader) my question is:
Swippen> I have this pretty high lockpick skill and have been looking for
good chests or such to open or doors to pass.. but there are not any good
stuff after the sturdy iron keys update.. what will it be of the lockpick
skill?? "and please secure trade" [GA]
cfoster@Turbine> (oops -- missed part of your question, Polarbear)
nei@turbine> There will be more stuff soon to make lockpickers feel
appreciated. Just wait for us to add more content. Perhaps in "monsoon"
season...
nei@turbine> Done
cfoster@Turbine> Just to wrap that one up, yes, we're looking into the fact
that treasure buffs some unused skills, but not others. More word as we have
a plan.
cfoster@Turbine> (sorry 'bout that, P)
+MrQuazarr@Zone> I would like to thank you all for coming out this
evening... Thanks again to Turbine for sharing a few hours with the
players...
nei@turbine> oh pssh, i suppose it's time to give the props to the silly
cutie pies on irc... i do so lub em
+MrQuazarr@Zone> We hope to see you all again next month... what month is
that again?
cfoster@Turbine> thanks to everyone -- especially my patron on T-down!
letoile@turbine> SPOON!
rei@Turbine> Poke-our-eyes-out month.
cfoster@Turbine> lampoon
cfoster@Turbine> 'night!
rei@Turbine> Thanks everyon!!
rei@Turbine> Everyone, even.
nei@turbine> nighties
rei@Turbine> *stumbles over to the baking soda box*
rei@Turbine> Sean H says good night too :)
Annals of Dereth
An Asheron's Call Newsletter - May
2000
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Annals
of Dereth
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Welcome to the Annals of Dereth, the
newsletter for the Asheron's Call role-playing game! We will be bringing you
this bulletin every month to give you a wide view on Dereth's evolving
community, events, and features.
1 --
OUR SAGA THUS FAR...
Having defeated the multi-stage campaign
of terrible Shadow legions, adventurers are now enjoying a respite from
invasion, but it's no time to rest. An expedition to the Direlands led by
Qadi Jaleh al Thani succeeded in holding a piece of ground near the western
shore long enough to found an outpost, which has quickly swelled with
reinforcements. Still unsure of the goals of the Shadows and the function of
the floating spire citadels, sages desperately flock to Jaleh's new
community, freely sharing their knowledge to promote breakthroughs in
metallurgy, alchemy, and magic so that all of humanity will be prepared for
the next supernatural threat. Meanwhile, warriors have been destroying
monsters near the outpost to maintain its fragile foothold in the hostile
environment, incidentally testing the products, both magical and mundane, of
the sages' research.
With this new event, "Heroes Respite," the developers introduce many long-
awaited refinements to the game, including temporary attack immunity upon
resurrection, the ability to restore deleted characters, a permanent squelch
switch to use on bothersome players, a great new spell UI, a new thrusting
sword, and more! Try out the improvements and aid the effort to tame the
Direlands. See you in Dereth!
2 --
MAJOR EVENTS
3 --
COMMUNITY
HERALD
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THEM KNOW TO:
PLAY IT ON THE ZONE!
If you have any problems with Asheron's Call or the
Zone, check out our Troubleshooters and Frequently Asked Questions and find
the answer to your problems there.
Troubleshooters:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/games/zone/asheron/tshoot/default.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/support/games/zone/tshoot/default.asp
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3. Uncheck the box that's labeled "Send me
the Asheron's Call newsletter every month to: (your e-mail address)."
THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL
PURPOSES ONLY. The information contained in this document represents the
current view of Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date
of publication. Because Microsoft must respond to change in market
conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of
Microsoft and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information
presented after the date of publication. INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS
DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND FREEDOM FROM
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use of this document. This document may be copied and distributed subject to
the following conditions: 1. All text must be copied without modification
and all pages must be included 2. All copies must contain Microsoft's
copyright notice and any other notices provided therein 3. This document may
not be distributed for profit.
c2000 Microsoft, Inc.
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