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EverQuest - Dev Chat Log
On Wednesday night, the folks from EverQuest stopped by our chat room to answer questions from the MMORPG.com community.
MMORPG_Taera: Greetings and welcome to MMORPG.com's Live Chat on irc.coldfront.net! I'm your host, MMORPG.com's community manager Laura Taera Genender.
MMORPG_Taera: Joining us today is the EverQuest dev team!
MMORPG_Taera: Our guests will do their best to answer as many questions as possible, but due to limited time and a high volume of inquiries, they may not be able to answer every single one. Users are limited to one question at a time, and you will be notified if your question is rejected or discarded.
MMORPG_Taera: To ask a question, please /msg MMORPGBot yourquestionhere
MMORPG_Taera: you can do that now :)
MMORPG_Taera: Now it's time for introductions! Feel free to start sending your questions to MMORPGBot while our guests introduce themselves!
EQ_Merloc: Hello, I'm Keith Turkowski, I work with systems and general content, I'm in charge of itemization, faction, and loot related systems.
EQ_Ngreth: Hello I am Adam Ngreth Bell, Game designer and tradeskills specialist.
EQ_Nodyin: Hello everyone, my name is David Ford and I work on the AA system and create raids and various content.
EQ_Rashere: G'evening everyone. I'm Travis McGeathy, lead designer for EQ and puppet for the man.
EQ_Prathun: Greetings all, I'm Jonathan Caraker. I'm on the systems team working on spells in addition to content.
EQ_juhans-dev: Hi, my name is Justin and I work on the EverQuest graphics engine and other miscelaneous EverQuest coding features.
EQ_Zatozia: Greetings deveryone. I'm Lydia Pope, preferably known as Zatozia the Torturess, EQ's Community Manager.
EQ_Zatozia: everyone 8)
EQ_Maddoc: Hey everyone, I'm Jason Mash, an Assistant Lead Designer on the EQ team and I work on a lot of the systems in the game.
MMORPG_Taera: k9wazere.1 asks, Hi =) Is there a possibility of a new Classic" server, and how would it be implemented? As the previous progression servers, or something different?"
EQ_Rashere: There are a lot of different definitions of “Classic EQ”, but even taking a broad approach, we don’t have plans to implement any new servers that would fall into those categories. We have been kicking around the idea of launching a new server (and to be perfectly clear, it’s just an idea at this point), but the closest they have come to a classic server would be ideas revolving around variants on the progression server.
MMORPG_Taera: xeg]montaukii asks, Can we ever expect to see a graphical revamp for shaman bear form? It looks like the bottom lip got stuck in a door.
EQ_Rashere: Hopefully, yeah. We've been slowly working on revamps for all the pet models. They're not at the point where we can release them, but they are in-process.
MMORPG_Taera: To submit your question please /msg MMORPGBot yourquestionhere
MMORPG_Taera: Lucrecia asks, Hey Devs! Played since launch on and off. Something always brings ME back. I'm wondering what is your aim to bring more veteran EQers back to Norrath...or even...fresh blood. ;p
EQ_Rashere: It’s a constant challenge with a game like EQ. We tend to approach it from a bunch of different direction, including things like including all the expansions when you purchase SoF, but we also have some big events planned for the coming year that are aimed squarely at the millions of folks who have played EQ over the years. It’s too early for me to give details on those, but keep your eye out as we get closer to summer.
MMORPG_Taera: krythky_luclin asks, I would like to know what is going to be done to adjust the new SoF armor heroic stats to better suit the classes they are made for as opposed to this cookie cutter cut and paste, also are tier 4 group armor (prismatic essences) Getting an upgrade? They require quite a bit of work compared to just using a single essence
EQ_Merloc: I don't know of any specific issues with SoF heroic stats on armor sets, each set has a higher allocation of heroic stats that are desirable to the classes who can equip it. I have no plans to upgrade the prismatic version of tier 4 armor, it's meant to be a slight bonus for people who want to put in extra effor to get the best armor.
MMORPG_Taera: Klaytor asks, Any updates or thoughts regarding where Wizards are at in terms of BURST dps when compared to rogues and bezerkers?
EQ_Prathun: We don't have any updates on the DPS balance (or imbalance) between the top melee and caster damage classes.
MMORPG_Taera: Sinthala asks, What is being done for balancing monk dps in scale with other relative classes? While rogue and Zerker dps is understandible in terms of abilities, warriors dps scale has come within hairs of monk relative dps.
EQ_Merloc: I am looking into monk dps vs other classes (and have been), I made some DPS increases to the monk HTH weapons before Christmas, and I'm looking at the results of those changes to see if we want to do anything further.
MMORPG_Taera: brunog asks, will paladins ever get an update to the calm/pacify line of spells?
EQ_Prathun: I'm not planning on extending the paladin's lull lines.
MMORPG_Taera: sesshu asks, Wondering about resist checks for casters, especially with wizards. With current content, noticing that alot of our spells our suffering from the problems with resist. Will there be any look into adding more items like (t-flux staff for wizards upgrading it) AA that will increase resist checks, or Spell ranking set differently with each rank giving a different resist check?
EQ_Rashere: Spell resists are one of the older systems remaining in EQ and were built with the level 50 cap in mind and the range of NPCs you’d fight at that level. As players have gained more levels over the years, the range of NPCs you fight has grown and the old formulas don’t really hold up all that well. We’ve been working on a revamp of the spell resist system that will resolve these problems, but it’s a pretty major change to the gam gam
MMORPG_Taera: behoove asks, A lot of players are returning to everquest from anywhere from a one year to six year hiatus. A lot of us are wondering if Sony can spearhead a disciussion or a topic, or anything, maybe a Since youve been gone" post"
EQ_Zatozia: That is actually an ongoing project that I have been working on.
EQ_Zatozia: Each week (or so), I try to put up a Tip of the Week that relates to how things work for EverQuest in-game and out-of-game. Also, I start new discussion threads over on The Torture Chamber section of the forums. Many of these discussions are asking everyone for tips on various subjects.
EQ_Zatozia: Eventually, these will all be in an online Player Handbook.
EQ_Zatozia: Which I include a really large section on how to return to EQ.
EQ_Zatozia: That section will have a timeline of things added over... time 8)
EQ_Zatozia: I expect to have a large portion of the handbook ready to put up in March.
EQ_Zatozia: So everyone should help me out with adding in tips!
MMORPG_Taera: knytul asks, Fabled has been known to have Poor AC on its loot. Kunark had poor, Velious a little better but still kind of low, What are we to expect with Fabled PoP?
EQ_Merloc: I am not sure what was done in the past, but I've got a fairly accurate AC table that is used to set AC on items now, and the AC on fabled items should be in line with the other stats.
MMORPG_Taera: pionalt asks, any plans to add on to the dire charm AA to make it wothwhile for higher lvls to use?
EQ_Nodyin: I have no plans to extend the Dire Charm AA. Instead I think it's a better idea to make sure that new expansion content and new content in general supports the more traditional forms of Crowd Control.
MMORPG_Taera: anonymoustoon asks, Besides the Luclin Fabled and hotspots, are there any other free content for the playerbase being worked on?
EQ_Rashere: Definitely. In the last couple months, there's been the launch event for SoF, halloween and frostfell events, and we are currently working on some exciting events for later this year in addition to the Fabled.
MMORPG_Taera: josh asks, Will there ever be a huge flag progression expansion like planes of power again?
EQ_Prathun: When you peer over the top of the rose-colored glasses and look back at the history of Planes of Power, the complex flagging was not well-received.
EQ_Prathun: And for good reason: it was a nightmare to reflag people through events to get them caught up, it was difficult to play with your friends.
EQ_Prathun: We will certainly use flags in the future to provide rewards and progression through an expansion, much in the same way as they've been used in TSS and SoF, but it's highly unlikely we'll knowingly recreate a zone progression similar to Planes of Power.
MMORPG_Taera: To ask a question, please /msg MMORPGBot yourquestionhere
MMORPG_Taera: waien cazic] asks, Will the next expansion bring anything new for he midrange level players or will it be mainly focused on the high lvl players again?
EQ_Rashere: We’re still in the beginning stages of expansion work right now, but anytime we make an expansion we aim to include as many players as possible while still being able to make the content focused and enjoyable.
EQ_Rashere: So, its a bit early for me to be able to say conclusively what it will include, but I have high hopes that we'll be able to make it broad enough to encompass those mid-level players.
MMORPG_Taera: dro-DB-Slacklikeme asks, Can we ever expect to see things like Shrouds, Banners/campfires, Tribute, etc updated with new effects?
EQ_Maddoc: Those systems are built with expandability in mind, though they seem to cover most worthwhile effects that I can think of.
EQ_Maddoc: That said, I do plan on expanding the existing effects to include level 80 in the relatively near future, and if you have ideas for new effects, feel free to post about them or send them to me on the EQ Forums.
MMORPG_Taera: meeowth-Xeg asks, Is there any plan for a system to be able to communicate in chat channels or in guild chat with a external program. Example a EQ-IM replacement or update?
EQ_Zatozia: The Station Launcher has a built in friends list that will fit the purpose. It allows you to contact people in-game from out-of-game or frome even another game. It has other features as well.
EQ_Zatozia: It is currently in beta. Check it out http://launcher.station.sony.com/
MMORPG_Taera: limitin asks, When SoF was released, wizard instant nukes were once again nerfed to the point where they are basically unusable in raid settings. To balance this, lower cast timers were placed on other nukes. However, wizard overall dps has been lowered. Our current dps puts us lower than mages in burst AND long term fights, which was not the intention of the nerf. Is anything going to be done to address wizard dps after these changes took place
EQ_Prathun: We're looking to introduce item rewards in the future that will enhance the damage output of casting classes. This isn't necessarily aimed at any imbalance but it may mitigate any disparity between wizards and melee / pet classes.
EQ_Prathun: Any further changes will take more time and a lot of research, and aren't going to happen in the near future.
MMORPG_Taera: olharb-bertox asks, Is it intentional that SoF armor loses some mod2's when upgrading them with a steam core? And any word on a fix for damage shield mitigation reducing a players own DS?
EQ_Merloc: The upgrade from Tier 2 to Tier 3 takes armor from archtype to class specific, and for that reason the mods change somewhat. A complete set of tier 3 visible armor should still be better overall than a complete set of tier 2 If there are any glaring errors, I don't have a problem making adjustments.
EQ_Merloc: I'm also aware of the issue with some armor missing endurance, and that is something that will be corrected.
MMORPG_Taera: melanippe asks, Are there further changes planned for the new crafted jewelry? The recent alterations, although expected, seem a bit draconian. Are there plans to do a bit of re-scaling of the stats on the various gems?
EQ_Ngreth: Yes. We do plan on making changes. The changes we made did end up being harsher than we planned. We are looking at removing the recommended level from the gems to the metal jewelry base. This will greatly help and make the effect much closer to what we planned. While doing this we are going to in general make a slight upgrade to almost all of the gems. And by slight I do mean slight. Do not expect huge jumps. I will post more more
MMORPG_Taera: luurant-Tribunal asks, Are new type 3 Augments in the works?
EQ_Prathun: Yes, Merloc and I have been discussing those.
EQ_Merloc: Yes, Prathun and I have been discussing those.
MMORPG_Taera: guest3551 asks, Will there be more progression after POR, or will POR unlock the next 4 expansions on combine?
EQ_Maddoc: The progression for the expansions beyond PoR is currently being worked on and will follow similar style as the rest of the expansions.
EQ_Maddoc: I don't have an exact date when the updated information will get pushed out to the server, but I'll make sure it's posted on the Progression Server forums.
MMORPG_Taera: phantasy asks, Are the rumors that EQ2 is being integrated into EQ1 to make a supergame" true?"
EQ_Rashere: Completely false. Where do these rumors come from? It's actually merging EQ, EQOA, EQ2, and Star Wars to make the TRUE supergame. Froglok Jedis FTW.
EQ_Merloc: I'm working hard on creating a new set of Epic Lightsabers that will be introduced into EverQuest in the next expansion.
EQ_Prathun: Star Wars will form the body of the intergalactic supergame, EQ2 and EQOA become the limbs, and EQ will form the head.
EQ_Merloc: Look for a new Speederbike Mount in the next LoN card set as well.
EQ_Nodyin: Where's my cymbal-crash emote?
MMORPG_Taera: Thank you for joining MMORPG.com, coldfront.net, and the Sony EverQuest team for a wonderful devchat! A transcript will be posted on MMORPG.com very soon! We apologize if we did not get to your question; keep tuned to the site and they might show up in a future Q&A :)
EQ_Zatozia: And this is what I deal with every day... *evil grin*
EQ_Zatozia: Takes everyone!
EQ_Zatozia: err Thanks
EQ_Merloc: Thanks for the questions.
EQ_Prathun: Guest1049: haven't had time to look at it.
EQ_Nodyin: We looked at the Auras today and I asked QA to check them out. It looks like a code issue to me, the data seems to be correct on them.
After the first question on adding a Classic Server was answered, I lost interested in the Dev chat. I did stay and watch what they would cherry pick to answer. It was like it took 5 to 10 min to answer a question. I sent in another question about the Classic Server which did not get a response. From what I was reading from the Devs they seemed to avoid certain questions. In addition I notice they did not have or did not see any issues with game play from wizard dps to armor issues. If you read different forums a lot of the old timers who play EQ would like to have a classic server. People ask where should the Classic server stop so I looked on the Allakhazam web site under zones and they have it broken down as followed:
The old World; Odus- Antonica - Faywer
The outer planes (Plane of Fear, hate and Sky)
The lost continent of Kunark
The Frozen Lands of Velious.
If they created a progression server which locked at the Velious expansion I think it would be a hit. The devs were still talking about another expansion. Actually I am tired of expansion, I don't want another expansion. Maybe all the other players want another expansion. As it is when I go through a lot of the zones I am the only one there or if you do a /who maybe one or two more are in the zone. You can't get a low level group just to play around in the LDONS etc..etc.. or old zones just for the hell of it.
My two cents worth, people say Vanguard was to big when it started. My point is why have expansions when so few players are on line it seems. People kept asking about server mergers after the chat which I have a copy of and the devs who were still there said there were no plans for a server merger. There is not shit out there to play. Humm I may try AO though since they are adding a new graphic engine or maybe go back to DAOC, who know!!!
Also in the dev chat this was very interesting to find out:
MMORPG_Taera: sesshu asks, Wondering about resist checks for casters, especially with wizards. With current content, noticing that alot of our spells our suffering from the problems with resist. Will there be any look into adding more items like (t-flux staff for wizards upgrading it) AA that will increase resist checks, or Spell ranking set differently with each rank giving a different resist check?
EQ_Rashere: Spell resists are one of the older systems remaining in EQ and were built with the level 50 cap in mind and the range of NPCs you’d fight at that level. As players have gained more levels over the years, the range of NPCs you fight has grown and the old formulas don’t really hold up all that well. We’ve been working on a revamp of the spell resist system that will resolve these problems, but it’s a pretty major change to the gam gam
You would think when you start adding extra levels, first level 55, 60, 65, 70 and now 80 you would humm maybe the resist check formulas. :)
The Star Wars parts of the interview were funny. Thanks for that
" EQ_Rashere: There are a lot of different definitions of “Classic EQ”, but even taking a broad approach, we don’t have plans to implement any new servers that would fall into those categories. We have been kicking around the idea of launching a new server (and to be perfectly clear, it’s just an idea at this point), but the closest they have come to a classic server would be ideas revolving around variants on the progression server. "
Dumb as posts.
SOE, as usual.
Ignore the customer base and just do whatever.
It was nice of the EQ staffers to touch base with some of the EQ MMORPG.com players, but I thought the whole Q & A thing was lackluster. Without a focused topic & the refusal to answer all the questions that were accepted it seemed one-sided a bit. SOE is never one-sided when it comes to their customers either!
They, EQ staffers, did seem to, "cherry-pick" their answers somewhat & just blow-over some questions without even addressing them. Even a, "we would prefer not to answer that at this time," would be better than just ignoring a part of a question. Nonetheless it's nice for them to take the time to give sum effort of interaction.
Yes, I think it was smart marketing to have all previous content included with the newest expansion of Secrets of Faydwer, but that isn't free content. The EQ staffers did mention a couple of free content ideas, but as always nothing concrete. I figured the SoF mention was just to advertise it which makes sense.
It was decent that the EQ staffers mentioned a bit about some of the inter-game logistics that are/will be worked on. Sad though that with SOE it seems status quo for them to gloss-over previous mistakes &/or areas of a game that could change for the better. No &/or little consideration or an urgency to correct things & keep the spotlight on the next expansion.
I had hoped the EQ staffers were going to give a little more information about what possible enticements to lure new &/or former players back to EQ. Again, though for many months it's just chit-chat so far & no action. Makes me believe that chatter before SoF's release was an attempt to generate more excitement/sales for it. Eventually, probably, there will be another type of progression server, after all it's a safe bet with the current players. Not encouragung to new &/or former players though!
The one thing I gathered from the chat-log is that the EQ staffers are & will be working on in-game balancing/imbalancing issues. All else was left not definite therefore speculation. EQ was a grand ol' gal, but with so many more MMORPGs as competitors & with more on the horizon with newer/fresh ideas & approaches while seemingly having their ears to the crowd. It makes sense that EQ will whittle away slowly. SOE has priorities now elsewhere & the Marketing Gnomes still seem to ignore the crowd mostly.
EQ, EQ2, SWG, MatrixO, Vanguard, & now PotBS is indeed a nice collection. Concede that PotBS isn't all SOE's. It's that whole quanity versus quality issue which each player/customer has to decide. Not only with SOE's products & services but with other MMORPG companies as well. 2007 has been a dismal year for MMORPGs it seems. Here's to hoping that 2008 will be better!
SNAP!
I have no axe to grind with SOE, because I truly enjoyed my time playing EQ. Once the enjoyment ebbed away, and I saw that the game was progressing in a direction that ran counter to my playing style, I /quit without drama or rancour.
The Dev Chat irrevocably ended any flicker of interest that I once had in EQ [classic server], and I'll move on - as I did then - without drama or rancour.
Thanks for the memories.
Regards,
Riotgirl
so there wont be any new progressionserver for the moment.
its fascinating how ignorant soe is. they surely must have billions of $ to ignore those shiploads of potential customers who want to come back to oldschool eq.
brad mc quaid, where are thou....
That settles it for me.......
As far as im concerned no classic server means no game. I feel the same way about this issue that I do about SWG. If this company cant see the forest for the trees and revert these games back to the condition in which they were their most successful then i have no time and more importantly no money for them.
Well, at least SOE has finally and officially killed off my hope for a classic server. As a certain captain might say, "That's a long wait for a train don't come."
That would confirm that Yoda indeed have indeed some Froglocks blood in his origins...
Jedis Frogloks FTW! :P
Beside that, I didn't really understand most of what was talked about; I left a long long time ago...and I doubt I would ever even consider coming back! Raiding lacks! :P
You're two cents worth are nothing but that...two cents worth.
If these cats could get EQ back to awsome...I would all SORTS of be there...
I can understand if SOE doesn't want to re-design/re-configure or other wise have to devote dev time to creating a new 'classic' server, but it would at least seem feasible to open a new server. As an old school player I do miss the game, however I'm not sure if a 'new' classic server is going to spark very much interest and any potential spark has been dashed by Rashere's comment.
I actually found this amusing as it seems so incredibly naive. This was a great topic for many'o jokes when I use to Druid port, anyone remember those days?
Yet another reward system for loyal players? I'm curious what keeps Lucrecia coming back. Its a great marketing idea to include previous expansions and I've bought them before, however my character(s) still had a lot of catching up to do to take advantage of any of the content.
Hearkening back to the Progression Server, when it was released SOE had its best subscription rate in years, that should be telling them and players something.
I'll have to stop by and check this out, I hope I'll be able to post without having a subscription. With AoC and Warharmmer around the corner I would image SOE will wait for the fallout of players. AoC will most likely end up being a game for niche players and Warhammer will be a collection of WoWers and NewGen (hurry up and have fun) MMOers with altering attention spans.
I semi plan on playing AOC, but will no doubt give Warhammer a try, for the sake of fun, however I will be keeping an eye on EQ to see what may be around the corner and what if any incentives SOE plans for us Veteran players.
thats disappointing, would have thought they would have a concrete plan for a new server by now.
Just as I suspected, I'm not able to post in the official forums without an active account. I can log in, but that's it. Ironically a lot of what the players were posting about, particularly in a thread entitled 'How To Improve EQ' a lot of what was said was the same things we talked about from launch.
Open your eyes Sony, look at all the comments regarding your chat. We want a classic trilogy server. You know there would be a lot of money to be made. My friends and I would be back in a moment paying our monthly fee for years to come. We don't want expansions and new content, we want the trilogy server.
I for one would play for years with multiple classes. Get to work Sony, surely you have to code backed up from years back somewhere.
Yes, I gotta agree with the attraction a classic server would have. I quit playing EQ about 5 years ago for various reasons. That said, I have almost always been a casual player and would love to come back to EQ on a casual sever, where there would be enough other casual players where I get find a casual guild and or pick-up groups. I don't have time to earn the flags and was really turned off by continuous expansions after velious, just the ability to play with other 'classic' players 10 or so hours a week would be great. I have played tried out many, many games and EQ is still the overall most enjoyable.