Dev Chat Log

The Chronicles of Spellborn - Dev Chat Log

The team from The Chronicles of Spellborn stopped by our IRC on Sunday to talk about their game. This chat, the second that we have had with these developers, focused on the lore and world aspects of the upcoming MMORPG.

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. Joining us today is the TCoS 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 submit a question, please /msg MMORPGBot Yourquestionhere

MMORPG_Taera: Now it's time for introductions! Feel free to start sending your questions to MMORPGBot while our guests introduce themselves!

[TCoS]Wolf: Hi all.. My name is Michael Wolf.. and I am the Lead Content Designer for The Chronicles of Spellborn, hence called TCoS.. thanks for joining us tonight!

[TCoS]Mirage: Hi all ! I'm Pierre-Yves Deslandes aka Mirage, PR Manager for The Chronicles of Spellborn ! Thx for joining our chat !

[TCoS]Papillon: Heya, I'm Wilfried Papillon, the German Community Manager

MMORPG_Taera: NOTE! This chat is about Lore and the game world; please keep questions on topic

[TCoS]Selachii: Hi, I'm El Drijver, i'm doing combat and game design

[TCoS]Banshee/b>: Hey I am Aurelia, aka Banshee, aka English Community Manager :)

MMORPG_Taera: Kremlik asks, In terms of lore and questing rewards will there be truly unique things appearing from things like GM events? As currently many 'unique' things in MMOs end up being owned by everyone, not completly unique to you or your guild forever

[TCoS]Wolf: The thing with GM events is basically having a GM team that really understands your game.. at first that will be problematic, but of course we will try and get that done post release and as soon as possible. We have already told everyone that we will have the Statues there for certain guild events and such..a nd those will be unique.

[TCoS]Wolf: So.. yes.. there will be unique things for players and guilds to have.. and people will look at that statue going... damn.. they beat us to it!

MMORPG_Taera: Shizu asks, In how many zones are divided each Shard ?

[TCoS]Wolf: Each shard is basically devided in a number of zones. It depends on the size of the shard how many different zones are there. If you take Parliament, the start off shard, that has about 7 zones...

[TCoS]Wolf: those zones are different in size and can be huge depending on where you want to play.

[TCoS]Wolf: You can travel from zone to zone very easily..by either walking to it.. or finding the nearest docks

MMORPG_Taera: Zehtuka asks, How large will the TCoS world be?

[TCoS]Wolf: At the initial release.. the world of TCoS will consist of 4 huge shards, 4 raftyards (Tied together pieces of rock upon which skum of the world lives)... and several fragments of ancestral world. These all make up what is called The Red Rim and what lies within it is basically where players can roam.

[TCoS]Wolf: This will of course widen post release... but that all depends on whether players find out what lies hidden.

MMORPG_Taera: To submit a question, please /msg MMORPGBot Yourquestionhere

MMORPG_Taera: Marzl asks, Do you already have plans to expand the world after Launch? Adding Shards every half year? Or every 3 months?

[TCoS]Wolf: There is a post release planning that will definately add new Shards and zones... fragments and even strange places that float within the deadspell storm. What you get at release.. is really but a fragment of the universe that exists within the Deadspell Storm.

MMORPG_Taera: tiboristo asks, Does a TCoS calendar relative to the time in game (with seasons, months, days etc...) exist?

[TCoS]Wolf: Although it would be cool to see Santa on a Shardship, we have kinda moved away from the real world in terms of events and holidays. To us it feels like an intrusion.. and quite frankly.. an Easter Hoppy is so... cliche :).. so the answer is no.. we have our own calendar set up.

[TCoS]Wolf: We have a faster day cycle though

[TCoS]Wolf: which means that every 3 hours it gets dark.. so for players that have to work all day.. and come home at night, they wont have to play in night time settings.

MMORPG_Taera: mutantmagnet asks, Long ago you've carefully discussed your intent to create a team whose task was to coordinate with the players in creating community driven storlyines. This was exclusively stated through European media and forums. Is the intention here to make this a feature exclusive to that region or use that region as a prototype to see how it should be handled everywhere else? What type of stories are you intereste

[TCoS]Wolf: We are still very keen on keeping that idea going for the time being. Although we can not give an exact date and a detailed idea as to when such a team will start, we do plan on continuing it. Players should have a say in things, to some extent of course.. Or I would be out of a job :).. This will not be just Europe btw.. we plan on looking to the global fan community for things like this....

[TCoS]Wolf: ...But it might be safe to say, that we will start this in Europe to see if we can get it off to a good start!

MMORPG_Taera: farsc8per asks, When mentioning Hidden Content", HOw much hidden content is planned and how Easy will it be found?"

[TCoS]Wolf: There is ... a lot of hidden content ... most will be in lore format.. some will be in people.. and some will be seen as one of those... Oh shit! moments, where you as player did something that will set events in motion you really wish you haddent. Of course we want you to trigger that content.. cause thats what we planned :).. But don't expect any neon signs or people with big arrows...

[TCoS]Wolf: ...pointing you to Hidden Content :).. There is a lot going on.. and some of it is under the very noses of the High Houses.

MMORPG_Taera: To submit a question, please /msg MMORPGBot Yourquestionhere!

MMORPG_Taera: tiboristo asks, With later changes in lore especially about the high houses storyline, are main heroes such as Aryones still affiliated to the same house?

[TCoS]Wolf: Later changes in lore.. are actually changes that we have already planned. These indeed revolve around the High Houses ... heroes such as Aryones are rather hard to .. deal with seeing everyone is saying is dead ^^.. but stranger things have happened. You will find out what goes on behind the High House fascades.. and post release.. those things can only escalate for the worse.

MMORPG_Taera: Trickarius asks, Will there be instanced areas within the game? If so, what areas will instancing mainly be based on?

[TCoS]Wolf: Yes... there will be a lot of instanced areas within the game. These areas are mostly dungeon areas, but also Ancestral Quests are part of those instanced areas. Would be rather annoying to see a good guild kill the Demon Army General again.. just before you reached him. I know Adinthalos can be a real pain. but I want him to be a pain for everyone.. not just a select number of people. hence...

[TCoS]Wolf: ...his place is instanced.

[TCoS]Wolf: Several raftyards are also instanced.. meaning that you go there for quests but you don't want other players ruining a certain event. Those are there too.. although those are in a minority group.

MMORPG_Taera: mutantmagnet asks, In the past you mentioned that since certain storylines would be closed off to people (events that could radically alter the world so could only be done once) they would become available as ancestral quests. If this remains true could you elaborate further on how this is supposed to play out?

[TCoS]Wolf: There will be events that have an impact on the game. We do however make the content for every player out there, so closing off those story lines would be horendous... we have changed several aspects when it comes to those things that make a difference and allow guilds and good players to get statues and such.. the storyline will be open to all but the rewards will be for the first players.

MMORPG_Taera: Thatim asks, How inmerse will the world be? Is it actual possible to not discover certain shards? Will this be server dependend?

[TCoS]Wolf: The world consists of large chunks of rock basically.. and those in the Red Rim have all been discovered... the Oracle has pushed the Enclave into the right direction more than once... but now it is kinda .. making the humans and daevi do what they like to do. Not discovering certain shards... will stop the flow of the game and cut off several key points we have that we want to use to tell...

[TCoS]Wolf: ...the story. So no.. everyone will be able to go everywhere..

[TCoS]Wolf: and no hidden shards are there to discover on your own ... not yet anyway :)

MMORPG_Taera: Bomandir asks, Is there any main plot which can be followed by the player like the book quests in lotro?

[TCoS]Wolf: If I understand this question right... we have a large questline that actually spans the length of the game. It starts at level 5 in the midlands.. at some forgotten ruins... it ends at level 50.. where you get to find out things.. you didn't know. Player can follow the stories of the fallen heroes.. the traitor High Houses or the dead heroes and find out about their past too. The main...

[TCoS]Wolf: ...driven story line is about what happened to the world and what the Oracle is doing at this moment.

MMORPG_Taera: Glluttony asks, What kind of environments can we expect and the shards? Will there be shards covered in ice, deserts, jungle or other environments?

[TCoS]Wolf: Most of the Shards in the Red Rim consist of vegitation... some shards lack a water source after the world got ripped apart and it is slowly dying. Several other areas have had distasters to worry about and as such there is no more vegitation or it has mutated to such an extent that you wont recognize it. There are also dark shards, where light does not penetrate the carapace as well as...

[TCoS]Wolf: ...other shards, giving it a very strange atmosphere. There are desert shards, there will be an ice shard, yes.. and there is also a deserted sea floor.

MMORPG_Taera: To submit a question, please /msg MMORPGBot yourquestionhere!

[TCoS]Wolf: We thave tried to diversify the surroundings as much as possible to give off a great atmosphere for players to play in... we have some jawdropping areas and I hope you will like em all.

MMORPG_Taera: tiboristo asks, What will be the year (or even the century) when the game starts?

[TCoS]Wolf: The game starts in the year 998 to 999... almost a thousand years after The Great Collapse that destroyed the world and unleashed the Deadspell Storm.

MMORPG_Taera: farsc8per asks, TCoS is trying to differentiate itself by allowing users to create their own virtual Identity. Does the users Identity alter the content for that one user?

[TCoS]Wolf: The identity of the user is pure cosmetic... it does however have an impact if you are a Daevi or a human... some factions in the game really dispise Daevi.. like the Arionites.. they hate everything with all their heart, but the Daevi most of all.

[TCoS]Wolf: Some Daevi players will get different quests or different options depending on their race. The quests have a dynamic approach though, so you might get a Human Custome to work with for the time being, although how that will bend your knees in another direction is totally beyond me :)

MMORPG_Taera: Jrod asks, will player avatars age" with the years that go on the Spellborn Calendar?"

[TCoS]Wolf: It would be a cool thing to do.. but unfortunately, we decided to have players choose their estaticly beautiful character at the start of the game. There will be lots of things that will change your appearance..like scars and tattoos... :)

[TCoS]Wolf: But unfortunately... age does not go on ..

MMORPG_Taera: Volraath asks, Will there be long running distances in between faster modes of transportation and quests?

[TCoS]Wolf: As a player in TCoS.. you will use your legs.. quite a lot. You will have to walk great distances and reach some far off places on your own. You can use shardships to cut some travel time of your trip, but you yourself will have to do the rest. Some quest rewards might seem silly, but those might be handy to keep for a while because some dockmasters actually find a use for silly things!

MMORPG_Taera: Kithablast asks, Will you be able to see through more than a first person mode?

[TCoS]Wolf: Well.. you start the game in a third person perspective.. you look at your characters... well.. ass!...

[TCoS]Wolf: You can choose to go first person though, if you like that sort of playstyle.. we leave that up to the players.

MMORPG_Taera: Volraath asks, What will the entrances to the instanced areas be like, will it be really obvious, will they differ, or will they all look alike?

[TCoS]Wolf: Most instanced area's have quests going there and most entrances look huge. The instance start, is always a sort of swirling maelstrom doorway gate thingy... that beckons you to enter it. This also appears to be with certain portals that lead to areas that are not instanced though.. but striding through the open maw of a huge skeleton stuck in the side of a rock, basically tells you.. you...

[TCoS]Wolf: ...are entering something more than just the next zone :)\

MMORPG_Taera: tiboristo asks, Will the time in game be static (such as in WoW) or will the world evolve with time (about story, time etc...)?

[TCoS]Wolf: The time in TCoS is basically static... that is untill the next content update... because we think that the world has to live and breathe... so.. do not expect quest providers to suddenly move to a different shard, because that would destroy most of the quest planning we set up, but who is to say that Quarterstone, our glorious hub of Oracle power won't burn down to the ground? I wonder what...

[TCoS]Wolf: ...will happen to the NPC's then. For now though, they are stupid enough to just stand outside while it grows dark.. while it rains... and when stuff falls from the sky that looks a lot like human ashes... yuck!

MMORPG_Taera: The chat will be continuing for 15 more minutes, but MMORPGBot is no longer accepting new questions :) we will do our best to get through the queue!

MMORPG_Taera: Lord_Bachus asks, Will there also be huge open (non instanced) PvE dungeons ? ((like the once in EQ and vanguard))

[TCoS]Wolf: Certain areas surrounding instanced areas look a lot like a PvE dungeon.. but they are not... there are some rare mobs running around and there are people that do not appear until night comes by. If you are looking for large scale PvE battles with huge dragons on a flat area where only once in every 8 hours a creature spawns.. then no.. we don't cater to that need atm... although we have...

[TCoS]Wolf: ...this rather huge dragon like Vhelgar.. that.. well.. you will get to see :)

MMORPG_Taera: Sumo asks, Is the political sentiment in the game purely Good v Evil or do we have a more intriguing story?

[TCoS]Wolf: Nothing in TCoS is black and white.. some things might seem to be.. but there is always a certain idea behind why someone is acting they way he is. The Enclave of the Five Sacrifices is basically your good guys... but what is happening at the meetings with the High Lords and the High Ladies is nothing but good. Everyone wants a piece of the pie and House Torque has been trying to keep them...

[TCoS]Wolf: ...all together.. but one of these days the bomb will burst. Why .. well you will have to play the game to find out.. join a High House and see why that High House acts the way they do. Even the Vhelgar, obnoxious and loud as they are.. are not all evil. Although I would not like to sleep next to one for fear of stench and... being crushed to death, they have certain ideals that are not...

[TCoS]Wolf: ...always evil or malign...

[TCoS]Wolf: We want to focus on the grey areas that you find in between certain emotions...

MMORPG_Taera: Marzl asks, Will joining one of the High Houses have a effect aside a different quest-line?

[TCoS]Wolf: Joining a High House will give you a look behind the scenes of that particular High House and will give you acces to a number of quests and a number of special rewards. There will be several skill trainers connected or affiliated with that High House that will be easier to find when you reach level 50 Why... well you'll find that out. There is something planned for the post release game...

[TCoS]Wolf: ...that will put your High House choice into focus. Whether you will still like your High House at that point remains to be see, because not every House likes the others as much!

MMORPG_Taera: Bomandir asks, What about the NPCs in the world? Are they static or have they a real life", e.g. go to bed in the evening or hold down their job etc.?"

[TCoS]Wolf: I've kinda answered this question in another answer.. but at this point.. they are rather static and you can find them no matter what the time of day is.. or the state of the weather.. so.. rain.. they'll be there

MMORPG_Taera: Kremlik asks, When you said 'things you didn't really want to do' will this be purply spawnng a boss mob type of thing or does this go as far as starting a massive war or futher like the destrution of an area or even shard in later gamelife

[TCoS]Wolf: I am not going to spoil one of the nice plot twists that we have stuck into the story.. but spawning a boss is not my idea of having an impact on the story :)... You will do things.. you will regret things.. and you will love the reward the quest gave you... but the concequences of your actions.. will have Deadspell Storm wide effects!..

[TCoS]Wolf: Thats all i say!

MMORPG_Taera: Uraziel216 asks, but that all depends on whether players find out what lies hidden.". In other words,your own progress over the world , is truly based on the achievements of your character and not on the progress of a single entity/guild deciding whether an event takes place or not(Like the Ahn Qiraj event in WoW). Correct ?"

[TCoS]Wolf: The progress you as a player make is truly your achievement.. yes.. that is true.. But there will be some things where you REALLY require the help of your entire guild to get some cool features opened up for them all. I wont go into detail here, but if you want a guild hall, those wont build themselves you know.. the mats that are used to build a huge hall.. well.. they don't grow on the...

[TCoS]Wolf: ...back of Urgarut... or they might.. I dunno :)... You will have to play together and fight others.. even players.. to get things done.. and to progress as a team or guild..

[TCoS]Wolf: As to AQ in WoW.. that was a great event.. that is hard to steal...

[TCoS]Wolf: and if you would steal it.. people will say its AQ all over

[TCoS]Wolf: The idea is nice... so we might look at the mechanic.. and then give it a swirl and make it TCoS style.

[TCoS]Wolf: TCoS does not want to be WoW... one WoW is more than enough.. and we have our own cool ideas and events lined up.. that will give players a full fun game for themselves AND for their guild.

MMORPG_Taera: Thank you for joining MMORPG.com, coldfront.net, and of course the TCoS team for another wonderful dev chat! Logs will be posted shortly on MMORPG.com - round of applause to Wolf for sharing his knowledge and his time with us!

[TCoS]Wolf: Thanks for all your great questions!