Back on December 17th, the team from The Chronicles of Spellborn stopped by MMORPG.com for a dev chat. Today, they answer the questions that they didn't have time to answer live in this special Q&A.

MMORPG.com:	Dyng-Johan asks: Will good healing skills affect damage output? if so, in what way?
Spellborn:	Most of our skills have multiple effects and some even have a turn-side when executed incorrectly. This also counts for the healing skills. There are just a few skills, which simply heal your target without improving or decreasing something else.
MMORPG.com:	scaphism asks: how is healing handled. Is it a targeted heal or an area of effect?
Spellborn:	There are multiple types of healing effects. Some well-known basics are direct healing, healing over time and taking life on hit. However, there are also AoE’s like poison gas clouds, which have a healing effect the first 5 seconds they’re inhaled, but turn into a deadly poison afterwards

Get all of the answers here.

Either you're gonna love this game, or it may be to action paced for you, but this game still looks and feels like the most fresh developer MMO project since EQ.

I can't wayt to get my hands on this hidden gem...

I agree.

This could be the sleeper hit of the modern MMO generation...

or a complete bust.

Any news on a U.S. publisher yet?

To me it sounds like they are doing a lot of things right, especially the focus on having zero abilities like roots/mezzes that completely remove your combat effectiveness... and also the lack of critical hits is a plus, why? Because it removes the stat grind for +critical hit chance in melee combat that we see FAR too much of in other games.

Nice info, I was wondering how the ressurection was going to affect gameplay but if they have multiple res points even in instances then I think it could be a good idea since people wouldnt be waiting around for a class who can res.

They definately want to do things that are different. I wonder how well people will accept things that go against the grain over conventional standards.

Swimming isn't being implemented until a later date.
No healing pots.
The majority of abilities make you stand still during the time the animation is playing.
Healing abilities have additional effects just like attacks.
No form of resurrection allowed.

Looking forwad to the next chat.

Still nothing that dont make me wanna play this MMO. That is pretty uniqe. All other "soon to be released" games have stated many things that sounded not to good.

This game sounds awesome to me but keep wanting to see a US publisher. Is funny when I am actually thinking might have to get a copy of the game from another country to get to play it without waiting for 6 months.

Removed the content of my post because the corrections to the article has been made.

I seem to have missed my last page. My sincere apologies. Thanks mutantmagnet!

Originally posted by mutantmagnet

They definately want to do things that are different. I wonder how well people will accept things that go against the grain over conventional standards.

Swimming isn't being implemented until a later date.
No healing pots.
The majority of abilities make you stand still during the time the animation is playing.
Healing abilities have additional effects just like attacks.
No form of resurrection allowed.

Looking forwad to the next chat.

about the swimming i don't think it won't be missed much since there probably won't be any large lakes or something, you know all those shards and exploded pieces :p

the healing pots is a daring move, same for the no resurrection, they really want people to focus on their skill and not just waste their character. but as they said, there will also be shrines inside the instances, so it's not like it'll be a large problem :)

Originally posted by L0k1-

 

Originally posted by mutantmagnet

They definately want to do things that are different. I wonder how well people will accept things that go against the grain over conventional standards.

Swimming isn't being implemented until a later date.
No healing pots.
The majority of abilities make you stand still during the time the animation is playing.
Healing abilities have additional effects just like attacks.
No form of resurrection allowed.

Looking forwad to the next chat.

 

about the swimming i don't think it won't be missed much since there probably won't be any large lakes or something, you know all those shards and exploded pieces :p

the healing pots is a daring move, same for the no resurrection, they really want people to focus on their skill and not just waste their character. but as they said, there will also be shrines inside the instances, so it's not like it'll be a large problem :)

Every class has some form of abillity to heal himself... So healingpots will not be missed, next to that.... I don't remember any healing potions in EQ and DAoC or Vanguard..... Healingpotions will only be missed by people that compare all and everything to WoW... and a lot of those people will keep playing WoW because they are still addicted to its gameplay.

Oh and that skill that starts off healing people around the caster for the first five seconds and then turns into a poison cloud sounds great. The mentioned that there will be other skills that will offer both a decrease in a stat and an increase in an other. Sounds like there could be some interesting fights and strategies.

Originally posted by Lord.Bachus

but this game still looks and feels like the most fresh developer MMO project since EQ.

Mmo Devs all seem to have de-volved to remaking Virtua Fighter.

Originally posted by Flummoxed

 

Originally posted by Lord.Bachus

but this game still looks and feels like the most fresh developer MMO project since EQ.

How is yet another 'fighting game disguised as a mmorpg'  considered Fresh and new? 

 

Mmo Devs all seem to have de-volved to remaking Virtua Fighter.

The fighting system of TCoS (on paper) looks to me like a good mix of action (fps) and tactics (choosing your skills). Somehow i hope that when playing this game with a whole different combat system then anything we have ever seen before (Mobs are ought to actually have AI) not to be constantlky remembered of games i played before.

And beleive me, i tested/tried/played all wellknown MMO's

But we will never know for sure if i'm right or wrong untill we tried the game for ourselves...My hopes are still high.

This game sounds real cool,but also sounds alot like FURY?

I can't believe not one person asked about netcode as playing in a first person shooter type gamemode will be HIGHLY dependant on connection/ping and VISTA wich reacts horribly in FPS 's.Example how many and location of servers?i mean a server based in europe is auto lag for any canadian.Playing behind lag i have OFTEN had spells/attacks go completely ignored by the netcode,not much fun when that starts happening.

I didn't like people asking about the consequences of death,because there should be some.Why do so many players want a game to be hand fed and easy?IS this again what WOW has done to gaming?For starters the death penalty should be on all members of the group not just the dead player. I actually liked when in EQ2 you had to retrieve your shard and everyone should sort of have to help you otherwise they lose XP also..That is IMO the minimal penalty for dying and what grouping should be about.The object of a game is to show some skill and NOT die,and stick together as a team/group.

What is the "OTHER" content besides killing?I have yet to see any reason for guilds outside of EQ2.In most games having a guild tag means nothing.In EQ2 you could do quests for your sanction to get guild points wich in turn allowed you items for your house .Example was you could get a crafting table for your house thru guild quests or certain furniture only got by guild pts.

Please tell me this game has some content as it does sound kind of cool on the whole?

Originally posted by Wizardry

This game sounds real cool,but also sounds alot like FURY?

I can't believe not one person asked about netcode as playing in a first person shooter type gamemode will be HIGHLY dependant on connection/ping and VISTA wich reacts horribly in FPS 's.Example how many and location of servers?i mean a server based in europe is auto lag for any canadian.Playing behind lag i have OFTEN had spells/attacks go completely ignored by the netcode,not much fun when that starts happening.

I didn't like people asking about the consequences of death,because there should be some.Why do so many players want a game to be hand fed and easy?IS this again what WOW has done to gaming?For starters the death penalty should be on all members of the group not just the dead player. I actually liked when in EQ2 you had to retrieve your shard and everyone should sort of have to help you otherwise they lose XP also..That is IMO the minimal penalty for dying and what grouping should be about.The object of a game is to show some skill and NOT die,and stick together as a team/group.

What is the "OTHER" content besides killing?I have yet to see any reason for guilds outside of EQ2.In most games having a guild tag means nothing.In EQ2 you could do quests for your sanction to get guild points wich in turn allowed you items for your house .Example was you could get a crafting table for your house thru guild quests or certain furniture only got by guild pts.

Please tell me this game has some content as it does sound kind of cool on the whole?

First off... The subject of the chat was lore and world design...

About the network code ... that has been handled, there was a Korean team of networkcode wizzards that wrote totally new network code for the Unreal engine... They have tested with 500 players in a zone lagfree, while all players where actively fighting...

Basically consequencess of death are in teh game... when you're playing the game you build up PeP points as long as you do not die, these points make your character significantly stronger, If you die you loose all of that Bonus, and beleive me, the way they explained it, thats something you really would hate.

The other content besides Killing ?

-Mini game

-Many quests that do not require killing

- Exploring

-roleplaying

No its not a crafters game, thats true, but you can build guildhalls that require a lot of efford. Later on when 3D housing is added i guess you'll be able to spend a lot of time decorating it. I guess they have more things in place like this..... But then what lies hidden must be found, while the developers talk a lot about the mechanics behind the game, they don't talk a lot about the actuall content of the game. Because that might spoil a lot. But lore and story are very important for the gameplay.

I personally am putting my hopes high that this game will actually put the challenge back in the MMORPG genre.... And its so much different from Fury just because it actually has so much content 1000's of PvE quests and PvP content on top of that... with much more to be added after release.

This does sound pretty good,however i really would like to see crafting involved .I am a big fan of crafting.I guess if there is some good content outside of killing in this game it has a real good chance to be something special.

I am glad to hear you say they had some experts deal with the unreal engine code,because i am VERY experienced on unreal engines ,and can tell you code on unreal engines reacts VERY weird to lag,more so on vista.I could give many examples of how weird lag works on unreal engines but it won't matter if they have done some great things on the network code,that is VERY good to hear.

You did say this chat was about world design?did anyone ask or did we recieve any information as to the world design revolving around PVP stratedgy?I mean can you hide behind objects/trees and not be targeted?I absolutely hate when games allow mobs or other players to cast through rocks or around corners through walls.Will this sorta be like playing unreal with dodging and map strats playing a huge part in combat?Otherwise if combat has no real strat other than picking your best dmg or best def spell,PVP will again have no interest for me.I get my PVP fix playing unreal where stratedgy is huge ,it can at times outweigh pings/lag.

I hope this will be the game that does it for me ,i'm getting sick of playing asian F2P junk,and "JUNK"is a word i am using lightly,i can think of much harsher words.Pretty sad when the only games i would give a thought to is eq2 or ffxi,the rest is all second rate.I am watching TCOS with some hope and also stargate,everything else looks low budget to me.Things like YOU telling me they hired an expert team of network coders ,is the stuff i like to hear ,it shows there putting out the effort to deliver a good product.

They mentioned it somewhere in one of the chats ... if you can put your crosshair over it, you can hit it :)

So if you hide behind a tree, i would not be able to target you ... if i do a ranged attack however with my aim over you, and you run behind a tree, the attack will still hit ... as it calculates the hit at the time of execution.

Originally posted by MarlonB

They mentioned it somewhere in one of the chats ... if you can put your crosshair over it, you can hit it :)

So if you hide behind a tree, i would not be able to target you ... if i do a ranged attack however with my aim over you, and you run behind a tree, the attack will still hit ... as it calculates the hit at the time of execution.

You left out the bit about the shot and the hit being at the same moment. The shot has already hit you before you start running behind a tree when taking  your example. Ranged attack is instantaneous. No delays. But no doubt there is a cool down involved in ranged attacks.

I'm annoyed that they answered this with a useless generic response.    I'm a die-hard soloer and I hate being forced to group to experience content.   I also have zero interest in PvP.   

How much content can I not experience solo?     This is the number one question for me in any MMO.