HoC Chat Log --edited to fit in post--

**Terminat**

[20:17] <Merloc> Hello, I'm Keith Turkowski, designer in charge of itemization.
[20:17] <Rashere> Good evening folks. I'm Travis McGeathy, lead designer for EQ.
[20:17] <Ngreth> Hello. I am Adam "Ngreth" Bell, game designer for Tradeskills and general content.
[20:17] 3*** Sprite changed topic to Welcome to tonights House of Commons chat with the developers of Everquest. Tonight all questions on all topics are welcome. Send your questions to [QT]Legend, questions sent to myself or the developers will not make the lineup!
[20:17] <Nodyin> Hello everyone. My name is David Ford and I work on the AA system and content creation.
[20:17] <Elidroth> I'm Doug Cronkhite, designer in charge of doing whatever everyone else tells me to do.
[20:18] <Maddoc> Welcome to the chat everyone, I am Jason Mash, an Assistant Lead Designer in charge of systems. SMILEY

[20:18] <Zatozia> Hi there! I'm Lydia Pope AKA Zatozia the Torturess AKA Pure Evil! Your Community Relations Manager and new Magic the Gathering addict.
[20:19] <Prathun> Hello all. I'm Jonathan "Prathun" Caraker, the EQ developer overseeing the spells system. I do my fair share of content design as well. SMILEY

[20:20] <Sprite> *Ronda* In the next expansion, when the magicians get a new mana rod, can the color of it be more distintive than brown? Many times people have sat down to mem new spells and couldn't because they are holding an elemental rod on their pointer and don't notice it.
[20:22] <Prathun> Yes, definitely. I'd like to change the visual look of the rod in the next expansion, both the held graphic and the icon so it doesn't look like a Harry Potter wand.
[20:22] <Naithin> *Swampfunk* What is SOE's current plan to balance 2handed weapons between Berserkers and Everyone Else?
[20:24] <Merloc> Two-handed weapons are something that I am currently looking into. There are several factors that play into balance, and I have several options that I'm considering, including splitting berserkers away from the other classes, although I am reluctant to do that.
[20:24] 5<Naithin> *Terminat* Any plans on revisiting the Beltron event bugs in FC2? ie. Having to get new instance to open door, DK auras etc...
[20:25] <Rashere> Definitely. Those are both known issues that we have on our list to address. Supporting old content is always an ongoing task.
[20:25] <Naithin> *CopyMS* Are there any plans to give Mages additional functionality with the new expansion?
[20:27] <Prathun> I've got a few new spells in mind for all classes, and we're going to be looking at the survivability and general contribution of pets across the board.
[20:28] <Naithin> *Ronda* On event 7 in Soltaris, aka Mayong Mistmoore/Solusek Ro, when the names respawn, they usually have initial aggro on the last person entering the zone. Can this please be fixed? (it gets annoying)
[20:28] <Nodyin> There's nothing specifically that causes either NPC in that event to target any person specifically. I'll take a look at the scripts and see if I can spread the death, er, love around a bit more.
[20:30] <Naithin> *Igorath* Is there a possibilty of having the revamped zones textures optional. Use the original low lag ones if wanted?
[20:30] <Ngreth> If you mean, just use old textures on the new zone. No, because there is only that particular texture set on the zone. If you mean access the old zone, it is a separate zone and we do not want to continue supporting multiple zones, plus it could not be a "flag" because they are two different zones.
[20:30] <Naithin> *Swampfunk* The AUGs from event 7 seem to be improperly tuned, Merloc, will you be changing these augs any time soon?
[20:30] <Merloc> I've mentioned this before, but augments are being moved into group content and away from raiders. I've looked at the Solteris augments, and I don't have any plans to retune them. Augments fit in multiple slots, and it's not really correct to compare the power increases against standard armor.
[20:31] <Naithin> *Wraisil* when can wizards expect to see nuke revamps on test or live?
[20:31] <Prathun> I'm going to be putting the changes up on Beta very soon. It was supposed to be up this Monday but other issues have kept me occupied. SMILEY

[20:32] <Naithin> *Chanaluss* Why have there been so few, if any, AC augs possessing mod2s (shielding, accuracy, etc) or corruption resist? the benefits of the mod2s dont outweigh sacrificing the AC for hp augs in most scenarios
[20:35] <Merloc> There are various reasons, but I do think that AC augments are overly scarce, and I will be adding more into the game, including corruption ac augments... I also plan to increase corruption resist available in the game.
[20:35] <Naithin> *QuinnotetiquanBrell* With new PC models coming out and newbie zones being revamped, is it possible that we will see hometowns revamped too? Hometowns and thier corresponding newbie zones are the most visited zones in EQ visited by newbies and high levels who origin there alike. Not only that hometowns are the pride of each race and should be the best they can be represented to the Everquest engine
[20:35] <Naithin> 's limits. Crescent Reach was great.
[20:36] <Rashere> Our goal is to eventually have all of the original game redone with modern graphics. That includes most of the starting cities. The cities are a lot more difficult to create than the outdoor zones, though, so I wouldn't expect them until later in the process.
[20:36] <Naithin> *Ronda* Event 5 in Soltaris (Portal to Dreadspire), theres an emote to a person that if he doesn't run away, everyone around him is blinded/etc. Can you please add an emote when it goes off with the name of the person this happens to when the ae goes off so we can add them to the hall of shame please?
[20:36] <Nodyin> We can look into adding something like that. It should be a quick and easy thing to do.
[20:37] <Naithin> *Kristin* In response to the August 12th Producer’s Letter, many threads have popped up around the community forums discussing and showing a strong interest in Alternate Rule Set Servers. Given the popularity of the Progression Servers and the great job that Maddoc and the team did; have the Developers made any progress that you could talk about, or do you have any feedback as to when a server
[20:37] <Naithin> such as this might become available
[20:38] <Rashere> Right now, we're just gauging interest to see what people would like to see. I'm glad to see people like the idea. We don't have any concrete plans to announce yet on what a new, alternate rule server would be or when it might occur though.
[20:39] <Naithin> *Mildaria* Is there any possibility of new spell downgrades to current, 70+ class abilities for lower level players(i.e. Ward of Bedazzlement, Vow of Valor, Raging Servant)?
[20:40] <Prathun> I like the idea of introducing lower level versions of abilities that come to define the classes, like the ideas you mentioned, and will do so if time allows. The expansion content and features have to get first priority, though.
[20:40] <Naithin> *munk* with the new cardgame... when is it going live and will any mob that gives exp have chance of dropping packs?
[20:41] <Rashere> I don't have a date for when the game is going live, but any creature in the game that is within a certain con range of you will have a chance to drop packs. We're still working out the details.
[20:41] <Naithin> *Chanaluss* regarding legends of norrath: will the dropped booster packs be an actual item in the EQ client, or will they be sent to the LoN client once looted?
[20:42] <Rashere> The dropped packs are actual in-game items. Using them will consume the item and give you the ability to claim the reward within the LoN client.
[20:43] <Naithin> *Croix_FV* With Secrets of Faydwer around the corner, rumors are of course popping up regarding the level of gear. Is there any definite info yet about that, and what effect do you plan on SoF gear/levels having on past expansion content?
[20:45] <Merloc> I don't want to go into the details of the specific numbers, but for single group content there will be 3.5 tiers of loot above Praetorian gear in TBS, for raiders there will be 2 Tiers of loot above Solteris.
[20:46] <Merloc> In TBS, there were 1.5 tiers for single group, and 1 tier for raiders over the previous expansion.
[20:47] <Naithin> *Parollee* Any reasoning behind wizards not being able to have a prismatic familiar? even one with no stats and less of a focus?
[20:48] <Nodyin> A "Prismatic" familiar that was near the focus level of the familiars that wizards currently have (even a 20% focus) would be very powerful. It would essentially mean a blanket increase in power - there would be no reason to have any other familiar up and you'd have it up all the time.
[20:48] <Nodyin> If the focus was low enough not to be overpowered it would be "useless." There's no good way to implement that. Also the basic design of the familiars is based on forcing a Wizard to *choose* one area of expertise to focus on. There are no plans for a Prismatic familiar.
[20:48] <Naithin> *fcseven* for prathun Is there a chance for necros to have no illusion while liched or a new illusion for Sof,the skelly is geting old.
[20:49] <Prathun> It's something Rytan always wanted to add in - a way to optionally choose if you wanted to be in an illusion form while liched or just yourself - I think it's something we can get in for SoF.
[20:50] <Naithin> *Swampfunk* Would Prathun consider retuning the Beastlord Spell: Steel trap jaws? the current implementation is not working properly due to the way limited procs are counted.
[20:51] <Prathun> I've got my fingers crossed on an upcoming code feature that should allow us to fix Steeltrap Jaws by putting a limit on the number of times a proc can fire.
[20:52] <Prathun> So instead of it fading after the NPC casts X spells (which other procs count agains), it'd fade after the steeltrap slow had fired.
[20:52] <Naithin> *Ronda* When is the next patch planned to place in major updates to EQ?
[20:53] <Rashere> We don't have the next patch scheduled yet, but we're tentatively looking at a couple of weeks from now.
[20:53] <Naithin> *Croix_FV* The model question comes up often, but a recent question after the patch woes recently surfaced regarding the human models, as many are displeased with them. What's the official word about those models, and if they are indeed being rejected, is there a timetable for their completion?
[20:55] <Rashere> The human models are a work in progress. We put them up on test to get feedback, but we're in no hurry to push them live. We don't have any timetable to get them out.
[20:55] <Rashere> Right now, we're focused on the expansion so haven't done much with them, but I expect we'll be making some changes in the near future and when we do, we'll get another round up on test for more feedback.
[20:55] <Naithin> *Rogue* When are backstab weapon changes going into game?
[20:56] <Merloc> I will be doing weapons tuning in the next month, that should include changes to rogue weapon ratios and should go out with the subsequent patch.
[20:56] <Naithin> *Nolrog* Do you think you'll be adding a high damage expendable arrow with SoF?
[20:56] <Merloc> Yes.
[20:56] <Ngreth> There is a high damage tradeskilled expendable arrow going in with Secrets of Faydwer. This is in no way meant as a "fix" to bow DPS. It is instead intended as a tradeskill method to get a "glyph" like effect, a short term, limited use burst to DPS.
[20:57] <Naithin> *Mildaria* Is there any possibility for upgrades to the Enchanter Visage spells in the future?
[20:57] <Prathun> The effect on Horrifying and Glamorous Visage is a percentage bonus.
[20:58] <Prathun> So if you're generating 100 hate / sec, you get a 10 hate / sec bonus. The next expansion when you're generating 500 hate / sec, you get a 50 hate / sec bonus.
[20:58] <Prathun> The ability upgrades itself automatically.
[20:59] <Prathun> I can't bump up the percentage on that for the same reason why we can't make the Defensive Discipline mitigation better.
[21:00] <Prathun> I was planning on introducing a Horrifying / Glamorous aura for enchanters, though which should have some interesting implications, especially in raid environments.
[21:00] <Naithin> *Swampfunk* The Defensive proc buffs are cause melee characters to lose attack dps... due to the reseting of melee weapon animations... is SOE aware?
[21:01] <Rashere> Well aware, although it doesn't have anything to do with animations. It's on our list of things to look into.
[21:01] <Naithin> *Chanaluss* are there any plans for a revamp of pottery?
[21:01] <Ngreth> It is a tradeskill that I do plan on revamping, but it is not high on my priority list. At the top of my priority list as soon as I can get to it after this expansion is a revamp to poison making.
[21:02] <Naithin> *Darkmatil* Are there going to be any Kunark/Velious zones revamped, or just old world?
[21:02] <Rashere> Our plans for revamps are limited to the old world, but we may end up redoing a kunark or velious zone if we need to for, say, a launching point for an expansion area.
[21:03] <Naithin> *Swampfunk* The lower tier 2handed weapons in Solteris are still tuned below fc2 weapons... is this intentional?
[21:04] <Merloc> No, they should be above fc2 2h weapons, I plan to increase the ratios.
[21:04] <Naithin> *Igorath* what pertanat information do you require to help track down the (east)west graphic bug?
[21:05] <Rashere> Zatozia will be putting up a thread specifically to gather information on this soon. Based on what we've been able to tell from the player's reporting it, it seems to be hardware specific so we're looking for information that includes details on your computer hardware such as processor and video card.
[21:08] <Naithin> *Nolrog* Does Brenlo walk around the office shouting pirates, and expect all the developers to yell back Arrr?
[21:08] <Elidroth> Actually, SOE limits "Talk Like a Pirate Day" to once a year for safety reasons, so shouts of "Arrr!" aren't as frequent as you might expect. However, this hasn't stopped Brenlo from running around the office in an eyepatch at least once a week. Sadly, we DID have to ask him to stop wearing the parrot on his shoulder after several people were bitten. The parrot still claims he's innocent and blames Brenlo.
[21:09] <Naithin> *fcseven* for rashere will the shadowhaven casino ever be revamped to include new rewards?
[21:09] <Rashere> I don't have any plans for it right now, but it makes sense to me to go add some new ones when we have the time.
[21:10] <Naithin> *galidin-prexus* The press release for SoF indicated heroic stats, can you explain more about this exciting new system?
[21:10] <Maddoc> Oh boy, that's a big question if I've ever seen one ... Heh
[21:10] <Maddoc> Heroic stats will affect your character in two different ways -- Heroic stats primary functionality is to increase your stat caps, which means that in any calculation where a given stat is taken into account (and not capped), the value used in the calculation will be that much higher, giving you better results.
[21:11] <Maddoc> Additionally, there are a number of formulas in code where the sum total of a heroic stat (say you have 100 heroic strength spread out over all of your items) is used in another formula to give you a much enhanced effect, or a new effect altogether.
[21:12] <Maddoc> Obviously, I won't list them all out now, but there are lots of good things that Heroic stats will bring to your characters. SMILEY

[21:12] <Prathun> And just to reiterate, heroic stats are exciting.
[21:12] <Naithin> *Swampfunk* The power source system really does have enough flavor or diversity to the powersources... I feel the powersources could use a total revamp... is this already in the works? or even feasible?
[21:13] <Merloc> I'm working on it as I have time, I am redoing the procs for power sources completely, and working to improve the stats to make more of the power sources viable options.
[21:14] <Naithin> *Ronda* Fan Faire was great this year. Thank you very much! Any knowledge of when/where the next one will be? Thanks.
[21:15] <Zatozia> Thanks! We currently don't have any information about the next Fan Faire! We're still recovering from the Vegas Fan Faire!
[21:15] <Zatozia> We tried many new things with the 2007 Vegas Fan Faire though and yes, it was great. We have already been working on ideas for new features for the next one to make it even greater! But again, no location or date has been determined yet.
[21:16] <Zatozia> We'll let the community know as soon as it's been finalized though!
[21:16] <Naithin> *Hohiro_Fennin* Can we expect to see a definite aggro upgrade for casual warriors in the next expansion? The Katta merchant warrior weapon was OK, but the lack of an innate proc held it back from being a much better upgrade for casual tanks.
[21:17] <Merloc> Yes, I have plans to improve aggro generation for single group warriors via itemization in the next expanion.
[21:17] <Naithin> *Armarant* can druids get a upgrade to their mask of the line of spells in SOF please?
[21:18] <Prathun> Yes. The Mask wasn't upgraded during Serpent's Spine because it would have been a very minor change, little more than 1 mana regeneration.
[21:19] <Prathun> It makes sense to introduce a newer version in Secrets of Faydwer now. The improvement won't be huge, but it'll be an improvement. SMILEY

[21:20] <Naithin> That's it for this one folks! Thanks for joining us here on Stratics IRC, the logs will be up on http://www.stratics.com shortly. Feel free to join #everquest for open discussion. Be sure to come by next time!
[21:21] <Ngreth> Thank you for attending! Have a great EQ!
[21:21] <Nodyin> Thank you for being here everyone!
[21:21] <Zatozia> Take Care everyone!
[21:21] <Rashere> Thanks for coming folks. Be sure to tip your waiter.
[21:22] <Merloc> Thanks for the questions, I look forward to answering more of them soon!
[21:23] <Prathun> Thanks for joining us SMILEY

[21:25] <Naithin> As a special treat to those who are still here 'After the Credits', so to speak..
[21:25] <Naithin> *Armarant* if a woodchuck could chuck gnomes. how far would it chuck one?
[21:25] <Elidroth> Allowing woodchucks to chuck gnomes is a slippery slope I'm not sure we're ready to deal with yet. Woodchuck ranged DPS is already pretty high, not to mention the game balance issues in allowing gnomes to be worn in the ammo slot.

skaal

Terminat wrote:

[20:53] <Naithin> *Croix_FV* The model question comes up often, but a recent question after the patch woes recently surfaced regarding the human models, as many are displeased with them. What's the official word about those models, and if they are indeed being rejected, is there a timetable for their completion?
[20:55] <Rashere> The human models are a work in progress. We put them up on test to get feedback, but we're in no hurry to push them live. We don't have any timetable to get them out.
[20:55] <Rashere> Right now, we're focused on the expansion so haven't done much with them, but I expect we'll be making some changes in the near future and when we do, we'll get another round up on test for more feedback.

Same old, same old.

**---Xislaben---** · 08/22/2007 19:18:11

Terminat wrote:

[21:12] <Prathun> And just to reiterate, heroic stats are exciting.

Heroic Stats! I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it!

**Ephwin**

[20:57] <Naithin> *Mildaria* Is there any possibility for upgrades to the Enchanter Visage spells in the future?
[20:57] <Prathun> The effect on Horrifying and Glamorous Visage is a percentage bonus.
[20:58] <Prathun> So if you're generating 100 hate / sec, you get a 10 hate / sec bonus. The next expansion when you're generating 500 hate / sec, you get a 50 hate / sec bonus.
[20:58] <Prathun> The ability upgrades itself automatically.
[20:59] <Prathun> I can't bump up the percentage on that for the same reason why we can't make the Defensive Discipline mitigation better.
[21:00] <Prathun> I was planning on introducing a Horrifying / Glamorous aura for enchanters, though which should have some interesting implications, especially in raid environments.

Why add more auras for enchanters when we can only have one up at a time?

Are there really guilds that have such an abundance of raiding enchanters that such things would be beneficial?

Its an intriguing idea, just, well, it sounds boring. <sarcasm>Woot, I get to stand around so people can be affected by my aura!</sarcasm>

**Meph-AB**

Ephwin wrote:

<sarcasm>Woot, I get to stand around so people can be affected by my aura!</sarcasm>

Welcome to bard world.

**Golgolath**

Meph-AB wrote:

Ephwin wrote:
<sarcasm>Woot, I get to stand around so people can be affected by my aura!</sarcasm>
Welcome to bard world.

Yeah, it's not like bards are doing 10000 other things at any given time or anything SMILEY

**-Kela-the-Gypsy-** · 08/22/2007 23:21:53

Terminat wrote:

[20:48] <Naithin> *fcseven* for prathun Is there a chance for necros to have no illusion while liched or a new illusion for Sof,the skelly is geting old.
[20:49] <Prathun> It's something Rytan always wanted to add in - a way to optionally choose if you wanted to be in an illusion form while liched or just yourself - I think it's something we can get in for SoF.

Thats pretty cool. I don't even have a lot of time played in my necromancer and I'd love to never be a stupid skeleton again. I bought an AoN a few months back and I've spent exactly 15 seconds in skeleton form since then.

**Zunnoab-Stromm** · 08/22/2007 23:47:58

Golgolath wrote:

Meph-AB wrote:
Ephwin wrote:
<sarcasm>Woot, I get to stand around so people can be affected by my aura!</sarcasm>
Welcome to bard world.

Yeah, it's not like bards are doing 10000 other things at any given time or anything " />

I was going to say something similar. Bards have a gazillion different things to do much of the time. Unless something is designed specifically with enchanters in mind, that's not usually the case for them. That said, just because some utility is added doesn't mean it's saying it's meant to fix all the issues for the class. Something can be situational and still useful. I hardly ever use Ervaj's Defensive Refrain for example, but I HAVE used it once or twice. It may not be useful very often, but when you have a knight tank that can just barely survive what you're doing for example, it helps. Similarly a CC group on a raid may want a hate aura. On a relatively short fight, that might even be more useful than the mana aura. In fact, my guild just beat Sothgar for the first time last night, and I could definitely see two groups with Enc hate aura/Knights/Healers working fantastically. You can buff block auras right, so non tanks shouldn't have issues with that unless they forget to block it?

Palanthor_Eci

More of the same looks like. Were there just NO people there? Or are they just THAT blatantly favoritist in who's questions they choose to put forth?

**Diet_Canada** · 08/23/2007 04:47:31

doh missed it. didnt know it was yesterday, usually see a gm announcing it in game. SMILEY<img src=

" />

btw i dont agree with merloc on much but i do on this!

20:30] <Merloc> I've mentioned this before, but augments are being moved into group content and away from raiders. I've looked at the Solteris augments, and I don't have any plans to retune them. Augments fit in multiple slots, and it's not really correct to compare the power increases against standard armor.

augments from groups i think was one of the main reasons why Ldon was fun for raiders. problem is the group augments are not that great atm.

good to see wizard changes finally going to be on test soon(was suppose to be on monday(shock)

Mask

[20:55] <Naithin> *Rogue* When are backstab weapon changes going into game?
[20:56] <Merloc> I will be doing weapons tuning in the next month, that should include changes to rogue weapon ratios and should go out with the subsequent patch.

/em holds breath

**I_love_peanuts**

How far back are they going with rogue dagger changes? Just TSS+ or like way back and changing the dmg/dly of all daggers

**londoTP**

Diet_Canada wrote:

btw i dont agree with merloc on much but i do on this!

20:30] <Merloc> I've mentioned this before, but augments are being moved into group content and away from raiders. I've looked at the Solteris augments, and I don't have any plans to retune them. Augments fit in multiple slots, and it's not really correct to compare the power increases against standard armor.

augments from groups i think was one of the main reasons why Ldon was fun for raiders. problem is the group augments are not that great atm.

Yah i suspect if he goes through with it thats going to be far and away the most controversial part of that devchat. I think its a fantastic idea, and was disappointed to see the first raid augs in ikkinz that indicated they were moving away from the concept of having group-attained augs on raid-gear for raiders. However, i'm pretty sure there are going to be quite a few people vehemently opposed. I hope he sticks with it anyway, with the only caveat being that i hope he doesn't continue putting crappy augs on raid encounters like the 2 mayong augs.

**Survey_**

Terminat wrote:

[20:17] <Merloc> Hello, I'm Keith Turkowski, designer in charge of procrastination.
[20:24] <Merloc> something that I am currently looking into.
[20:30] <Merloc> being moved into group content
[20:35] <Merloc> I will be adding more into the game, I also plan to
[20:45] <Merloc> there will be, there will be
[20:56] <Merloc> I will be doing...in the next month, that should include changes
[20:56] <Naithin> *Nolrog* Do you think you'll be
[20:56] <Merloc> Yes.
[21:04] <Merloc> I plan to increase
[21:13] <Merloc> I'm working on it as I have time, and working to
[21:17] <Merloc> Yes, I have plans to improve

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow, but you're always a day away.

New month, new dev chat, same crap, Merloc knows how bad of a job he has done and intends to fix it.

So if a get a Rune-Etched Granite Fragment and stop getting the benefit of an Orb of Forbidden Laughter, this is completely different than getting a Carved Blood Ice Choker and no longer getting the benefit of a Fabled Amulet of Xuzl. This is truly surprising since those were my last 2 upgrades and they largely provided me with the same benefit, I guess that's because I actually play the game and understand game mechanics instead of sitting at a desk and making up excuses why I haven't properly itemized augs in group or raid content.

**yinlaBB**

So are these gonna be new stats we see on armor, or are they the same stats we have now, just with a different name?

Terminat wrote:

.
[21:10] <Naithin> *galidin-prexus* The press release for SoF indicated heroic stats, can you explain more about this exciting new system?
[21:10] <Maddoc> Oh boy, that's a big question if I've ever seen one ... Heh
[21:10] <Maddoc> Heroic stats will affect your character in two different ways -- Heroic stats primary functionality is to increase your stat caps, which means that in any calculation where a given stat is taken into account (and not capped), the value used in the calculation will be that much higher, giving you better results.
[21:11] <Maddoc> Additionally, there are a number of formulas in code where the sum total of a heroic stat (say you have 100 heroic strength spread out over all of your items) is used in another formula to give you a much enhanced effect, or a new effect altogether.
[21:12] <Maddoc> Obviously, I won't list them all out now, but there are lots of good things that Heroic stats will bring to your characters. " />
[21:12] <Prathun> And just to reiterate, heroic stats are exciting.

**yinlaBB**

Diet_Canada wrote:

good to see wizard changes finally going to be on test soon(was suppose to be on monday(shock)

Read that again, he said he was gonna put them on Beta, nothing about when they will land on test of live servers.

**name_00**

Terminat wrote:

[
[20:48] <Naithin> *fcseven* for prathun Is there a chance for necros to have no illusion while liched or a new illusion for Sof,the skelly is geting old.
[20:49] <Prathun> It's something Rytan always wanted to add in - a way to optionally choose if you wanted to be in an illusion form while liched or just yourself - I think it's something we can get in for SoF.

I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it.

**Hierl_Diem**

Palanthor_Eci wrote:

More of the same looks like. Were there just NO people there? Or are they just THAT blatantly favoritist in who's questions they choose to put forth?

There really wasn't all that many people there when I popped in.

**Zanderon**

yinlaBB wrote:

So are these gonna be new stats we see on armor, or are they the same stats we have now, just with a different name?

It sounds like the armor is going to have the overcap stats on it.

Take this fake breastplate for example:

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Random Fake Heroic Breastplate of Guesswork

AC 150

WAR BER

HP 400/END 400

STR +25 AGI +25 DEX +25 STA +25

Heroic STR +20

--------------------------------------------------------------------

So say the stats from this item bring your strenght up to the cap of 500 (with level increase and AA). The Heroic STR would work almost like overhaste, bringing your STR to 520.

Also, it seems that the heroic armor would work in "sets." So if you gather 5 items with heroic STR, bringing your heroic STR to 100, you may gain....

--------------------------------------------------------------------

"Special Ability: Mortal Wound"

Ability type: Triggered (combat hotkey)

Reuse: 1:45:00

This ability allows you to strike your target with the strenght of the Hero, causing your target to take a mortal wound and die.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Having different levels of a Heroic stat could increase the strenght of these abilities, or give you different ones. They could also possibly create abilities for people with different combinations of Heroic stats.

Sharp-AoH

Zanderon wrote:

yinlaBB wrote:
So are these gonna be new stats we see on armor, or are they the same stats we have now, just with a different name?

It sounds like the armor is going to have the overcap stats on it.
Take this fake breastplate for example:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Random Fake Heroic Breastplate of Guesswork
AC 150
WAR BER
HP 400/END 400
STR +25 AGI +25 DEX +25 STA +25
Heroic STR +20
--------------------------------------------------------------------
So say the stats from this item bring your strenght up to the cap of 500 (with level increase and AA). The Heroic STR would work almost like overhaste, bringing your STR to 520.
Also, it seems that the heroic armor would work in "sets." So if you gather 5 items with heroic STR, bringing your heroic STR to 100, you may gain....
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"Special Ability: Mortal Wound"
Ability type: Triggered (combat hotkey)
Reuse: 1:45:00
This ability allows you to strike your target with the strenght of the Hero, causing your target to take a mortal wound and die.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Having different levels of a Heroic stat could increase the strenght of these abilities, or give you different ones. They could also possibly create abilities for people with different combinations of Heroic stats.

If this is the case, it maybe one of the only 2 good things to come out of SoF. First being a actual gnome tosser in game and this feature, if it works like its stated above. The early level cap increase, the cut and paste spells, the planned extreme mudflation of gear, Powersources yet again and the 50damage expendable arrow all make me cringe.

Sharp

Train_Sleeper

I forgot all about it. ;_;

I hope that lich illusion change goes live. That's neat. Heroic stats sound awesome too, I hope that's not their justification for butchering the item window though. :3

Swampfunk

heroic strength prolly gives heroic abilities to carry heavy things... or maybe maybe some extra +attack... lol

**Wingz-83** · 08/23/2007 08:40:58

Hierl_Diem wrote:

Palanthor_Eci wrote:
More of the same looks like. Were there just NO people there? Or are they just THAT blatantly favoritist in who's questions they choose to put forth?

There really wasn't all that many people there when I popped in.

I was there, sent in some questions. So far my streak of 8 months of sending in questions has resulted in 0 answers. Perhaps month 9 will yield results but I doubt it.

EDIT: Now that I think about it seems like there was one month when they didn't have a chat. so I guess streak is 7 since I started attending.

**Nodyin-Dev**

Wingz-83 wrote:

Hierl_Diem wrote:
Palanthor_Eci wrote:
More of the same looks like. Were there just NO people there? Or are they just THAT blatantly favoritist in who's questions they choose to put forth?

There really wasn't all that many people there when I popped in.

I was there, sent in some questions. So far my streak of 8 months of sending in questions has resulted in 0 answers. Perhaps month 9 will yield results but I doubt it.
EDIT: Now that I think about it seems like there was one month when they didn't have a chat. so I guess streak is 7 since I started attending.

We answer the questions in the order submitted. There were only 2 or 3 questions we couldn't answer for various reasons that we saw. Other that that we took each question as it came to us. I don't know if they reorder the questions but odds are they're in the order received. There have been several chats when we *ran out* of questions to answer for sections of the chat.

Redi_Wolf

Nodyin-Dev wrote:

Wingz-83 wrote:
Hierl_Diem wrote:

I was there, sent in some questions. So far my streak of 8 months of sending in questions has resulted in 0 answers. Perhaps month 9 will yield results but I doubt it.
EDIT: Now that I think about it seems like there was one month when they didn't have a chat. so I guess streak is 7 since I started attending.

We answer the questions in the order submitted. There were only 2 or 3 questions we couldn't answer for various reasons that we saw. Other that that we took each question as it came to us. I don't know if they reorder the questions but odds are they're in the order received. There have been several chats when we *ran out* of questions to answer for sections of the chat.

Do the chat moderators heavily filter the questions that make it to the Devs?

Swampfunk

I picked up a nice drop a while back ago that lets me control the minds of the Question takers...

fear the pogo.

**Zanderon**

Swampfunk wrote:

I picked up a nice drop a while back ago that lets me control the minds of the Question takers...
fear the pogo.

Does it work on all chat mods (i.e. Halflings)?

**Kamea**

Terminat wrote:

[21:17] <Naithin> *Armarant* can druids get a upgrade to their mask of the line of spells in SOF please?
[21:18] <Prathun> Yes. The Mask wasn't upgraded during Serpent's Spine because it would have been a very minor change, little more than 1 mana regeneration.
[21:19] <Prathun> It makes sense to introduce a newer version in Secrets of Faydwer now. The improvement won't be huge, but it'll be an improvement.

So you're saying to expect the new mask to be 7 mana/tick...

In all seriousness, how detached are you from the unique mana needs of druids over other classes?

You realize that even with mana pres / scm / 12% modded spec alt taken into consideration, it will take over nine minutes for the new mask to give us enough mana to cast another SoF-level heal?

**Wingz-83**

Nodyin-Dev wrote:

Wingz-83 wrote:
Hierl_Diem wrote:
Palanthor_Eci wrote:
More of the same looks like. Were there just NO people there? Or are they just THAT blatantly favoritist in who's questions they choose to put forth?

There really wasn't all that many people there when I popped in.

I was there, sent in some questions. So far my streak of 8 months of sending in questions has resulted in 0 answers. Perhaps month 9 will yield results but I doubt it.
EDIT: Now that I think about it seems like there was one month when they didn't have a chat. so I guess streak is 7 since I started attending.

We answer the questions in the order submitted. There were only 2 or 3 questions we couldn't answer for various reasons that we saw. Other that that we took each question as it came to us. I don't know if they reorder the questions but odds are they're in the order received. There have been several chats when we *ran out* of questions to answer for sections of the chat.

Um, I guess I'll take your word on that.

That last part I do not believe. Chats where you "ran out" of questions to answer? Was this the one time chat when you held it in a different game entirely to chat with the EQ playerbase or did you just mean ran out of questions from certain people to answer. Cause that I would believe. Then again, maybe they're not sending the questions to you. Remember when we had those threads that were along the lines of "Questions that I didn't get answerd"

On the off chance it'll get answered and I know this isn't your fortee Nodyin.

Why are there no melee focii on the TBS katta ally armor but there was on the TSS tier 1 armor sets? There's not haste, no ID3 (caster legs though for some reason, none on plate/chain) no parry 3, nada.

I see all these fixes to soltaris items (barring augs) and even now the weapon ratios are getting adjusted etc, but nada for melee on armor? IMHO, that stinks.

**TrevelanSH**

I joined in the middle of the chat and there were about 80 people there. I am not sure what is normal.

**-Kela-the-Gypsy-**

Nodyin-Dev wrote:

Wingz-83 wrote:
Hierl_Diem wrote:
Palanthor_Eci wrote:
More of the same looks like. Were there just NO people there? Or are they just THAT blatantly favoritist in who's questions they choose to put forth?

There really wasn't all that many people there when I popped in.

I was there, sent in some questions. So far my streak of 8 months of sending in questions has resulted in 0 answers. Perhaps month 9 will yield results but I doubt it.
EDIT: Now that I think about it seems like there was one month when they didn't have a chat. so I guess streak is 7 since I started attending.

We answer the questions in the order submitted. There were only 2 or 3 questions we couldn't answer for various reasons that we saw. Other that that we took each question as it came to us. I don't know if they reorder the questions but odds are they're in the order received. There have been several chats when we *ran out* of questions to answer for sections of the chat.

Hrmm....I must not have been at any of those chats SMILEY

Achase_Prexus

Mask wrote:

[20:55] <Naithin> *Rogue* When are backstab weapon changes going into game?
[20:56] <Merloc> I will be doing weapons tuning in the next month, that should include changes to rogue weapon ratios and should go out with the subsequent patch.

/em holds breath

Don't bother holding your breath for 2 reasons. One being that he's usually late and the other being that I believe he said that the only changes he would make to rogue weapon ratios right now would be to TBS items. The LONG list of rogue daggers in the game are just too, well, long for him to revise them all. However, he'll use this new feature for future weapons regardless of where they drop.

Mask

Achase_Prexus wrote:

Mask wrote:
[20:55] <Naithin> *Rogue* When are backstab weapon changes going into game?
[20:56] <Merloc> I will be doing weapons tuning in the next month, that should include changes to rogue weapon ratios and should go out with the subsequent patch.

/em holds breath

Don't bother holding your breath for 2 reasons. One being that he's usually late and the other being that I believe he said that the only changes he would make to rogue weapon ratios right now would be to TBS items. The LONG list of rogue daggers in the game are just too, well, long for him to revise them all. However, he'll use this new feature for future weapons regardless of where they drop.

Well arguably the ratios before TSS were fine. The epic 2.5 was a great weapon. Since then the only solution they had for the scaling backstab damage was make the weapon slower and only increasing the dmg by a small amount. So those of us raiding Solteris are getting an "upgrade" that is not a great weapon.

**---Sincro---**

Mask wrote:

Achase_Prexus wrote:

Mask wrote:
[20:55] <Naithin> *Rogue* When are backstab weapon changes going into game?
[20:56] <Merloc> I will be doing weapons tuning in the next month, that should include changes to rogue weapon ratios and should go out with the subsequent patch.

/em holds breath

Don't bother holding your breath for 2 reasons. One being that he's usually late and the other being that I believe he said that the only changes he would make to rogue weapon ratios right now would be to TBS items. The LONG list of rogue daggers in the game are just too, well, long for him to revise them all. However, he'll use this new feature for future weapons regardless of where they drop.
Well arguably the ratios before TSS were fine. The epic 2.5 was a great weapon. Since then the only solution they had for the scaling backstab damage was make the weapon slower and only increasing the dmg by a small amount. So those of us raiding Solteris are getting an "upgrade" that is not a great weapon.

Mostly right, but no point in quibbling. The main problem is with Embershank and beyond for raid daggers. I'm not knowledgable enough about the non-raid game to make intelligent comment about those daggers.

**QuinnotetiquanBrell**

So clarify to me what heroic stats are. From what i am reading they sound like they are stats that use a different calculation to get a better result. Like say I would get more atk and thus do more damage from 20 heroic str than 20 regular str? Am I getting it right?

**Dumont**

Kamion- wrote:

So you're saying to expect the new mask to be 7 mana/tick...

In all seriousness, how detached are you from the unique mana needs of druids over other classes?

You realize that even with mana pres / scm / 12% modded spec alt taken into consideration, it will take over nine minutes for the new mask to give us enough mana to cast another SoF-level heal?

7+24(sitting... might be more)+14(distillate) which is worst case scenario, means itll take you just under 2 minutes for the Pure Life upgrade if mana costs stay the same. Mana regen from a buff cannot be taken by itself, it needs to take into account other things that can be expected to be used. Heck, using an upgraded chanter brain buff and having bardsong means that with no other tricks, you get 7+24+30+31=92/tick, 920/min means you regen more than a heal per minute, if my numbers are right. And if anything, theyre low.

**Kamea**

Dumont wrote:

Kamion- wrote:
So you're saying to expect the new mask to be 7 mana/tick...

In all seriousness, how detached are you from the unique mana needs of druids over other classes?

You realize that even with mana pres / scm / 12% modded spec alt taken into consideration, it will take over nine minutes for the new mask to give us enough mana to cast another SoF-level heal?

7+24(sitting... might be more)+14(distillate) which is worst case scenario, means itll take you just under 2 minutes for the Pure Life upgrade if mana costs stay the same. Mana regen from a buff cannot be taken by itself, it needs to take into account other things that can be expected to be used. Heck, using an upgraded chanter brain buff and having bardsong means that with no other tricks, you get 7+24+30+31=92/tick, 920/min means you regen more than a heal per minute, if my numbers are right. And if anything, theyre low.

How is the stuff you talked about unique to druids?

The my point was nothing else than to show how minimal the effects of our unique mana line are. At one more heal per 9 minutes, the benefit of mask is negligible. Than consider we're a class that's supposed to heal, damage, buff, and debuff with inefficient heal spells and a small healing toolkit, I don't how one can justify druid mana regen being where its at.

Kind of funny that people always view druids as healers OR nukers when the fact of the matter is the reason why druids don't do both at the same time more often (in groups) is due to lack of mana regen.

**Aaly**

Ephwin wrote:

Why add more auras for enchanters when we can only have one up at a time?

Are there really guilds that have such an abundance of raiding enchanters that such things would be beneficial?

Its an intriguing idea, just, well, it sounds boring. <sarcasm>Woot, I get to stand around so people can be affected by my aura!</sarcasm>

Do you not play a Chanter?? Or do you just not have a complete spell book? VISAGE spells are not auras they are a short duration buff that you cast on a player or yourself to either lower or increase aggro. Glamorous data (LOWERING) Horrifying data (raise Hate good for those MM tanks that cant hold aggro).

**londoTP**

[21:00] <Prathun> I was planning on introducing a Horrifying / Glamorous aura for enchanters, though which should have some interesting implications, especially in raid environments.

Maybe you missed that part?

**Wingz-83**

No answer yet but that's OK. I understand, I mean I know I don't have a big named guild like Trialtiy in my sig or anything so I don't really expect a response. Worth a shot though. I guess I'll just have to wait for the next HoC chat.

Perhaps I'll alter my question sending strategy next time, ah well...

**Nodyin-Dev**

Wingz-83 wrote:

Nodyin-Dev wrote:
Wingz-83 wrote:
Hierl_Diem wrote:
Palanthor_Eci wrote:
More of the same looks like. Were there just NO people there? Or are they just THAT blatantly favoritist in who's questions they choose to put forth?

There really wasn't all that many people there when I popped in.

I was there, sent in some questions. So far my streak of 8 months of sending in questions has resulted in 0 answers. Perhaps month 9 will yield results but I doubt it.
EDIT: Now that I think about it seems like there was one month when they didn't have a chat. so I guess streak is 7 since I started attending.

We answer the questions in the order submitted. There were only 2 or 3 questions we couldn't answer for various reasons that we saw. Other that that we took each question as it came to us. I don't know if they reorder the questions but odds are they're in the order received. There have been several chats when we *ran out* of questions to answer for sections of the chat.
Um, I guess I'll take your word on that.
That last part I do not believe. Chats where you "ran out" of questions to answer? Was this the one time chat when you held it in a different game entirely to chat with the EQ playerbase or did you just mean ran out of questions from certain people to answer.

I think it was a chat about 6 months ago when we forgot to announce it in game and attendance was pretty low.

**zedlepln** · 08/24/2007 11:55:30

londoTP wrote:

[21:00] <Prathun> I was planning on introducing a Horrifying / Glamorous aura for enchanters, though which should have some interesting implications, especially in raid environments.
Maybe you missed that part?

An agro/deagro aura would be much more useful than a few mana/tick. I'd be on this like a duck on a junebug if it ends up with any significant multiplier.

**londoTP**

That last part I do not believe. Chats where you "ran out" of questions to answer? Was this the one time chat when you held it in a different game entirely to chat with the EQ playerbase or did you just mean ran out of questions from certain people to answer. Cause that I would believe. Then again, maybe they're not sending the questions to you. Remember when we had those threads that were along the lines of "Questions that I didn't get answerd"

I'm guessing they're not including the questions they (subjectively) consider to be of the "Senetor, have you stopped beating your wife yet?"[sic] variety.

No answer yet but that's OK. I understand, I mean I know I don't have a big named guild like Trialtiy in my sig or anything so I don't really expect a response.

Yah, **Halfling** those hollywood guilds.

Palanthor_Eci

Nodyin-Dev wrote:

We answer the questions in the order submitted. There were only 2 or 3 questions we couldn't answer for various reasons that we saw. Other that that we took each question as it came to us. I don't know if they reorder the questions but odds are they're in the order received. There have been several chats when we *ran out* of questions to answer for sections of the chat.

TrevelanSH wrote:

I joined in the middle of the chat and there were about 80 people there. I am not sure what is normal.

Sorry, but there's no possible way the person collecting questions and submitting them is doing the job properly if there were that many people there. I realize that not everyone there likely submitted a question but still, it seems highly likely that the mediator is being very biased in whose questions to submit. Not that there's alot you personally could do about it I realize.