| August 23, 2005 House of Commons |
Brannoc - Welcome to the first ever Stratics house of commons with the developers of D&D Online! Tonight you're welcome to ask any questions about the game you like.
Brannoc - Please send those questions to [QT]Sprite or [QT]Looker - to do so type /msg [QT]NICK My question here. Please only send questions to our QT's as those sent to myself or the developers will not make it into the lineup.
Brannoc - The full logs will be posted on http://www.stratics.com after the chat. We'll begin with a quick intro from our guests...now would be a good time to send in those questions!
Brannoc - (I stand corrected, the SECOND house of commons on Stratics IRC, it's like the first, but better)
SporkfireDDO - Hello, all. Thanks for logging in tonight. We're all really happy to be back here at Stratics and looking forward to questions. Im' Victor Wachter, Community Relations Manager with Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach
JustinQuimby - Hi, I'm Justin Quimby, the lead engineer on the project. Glad to be here.
KenTroop - Ken Troop, Lead Designer
EckelberryDDO - David Eckelberry, Dude.
Samera- Samera here. New Online Community Relations Specialist for DDO's Forums
Brannoc - *LeadRhino* What type of character customization will be available?
EckelberryDDO - Character customization options in DDO emerge primarily during gameplay through the variety of items, armors, and weapons you can acquire. At character generation, your character will be able to customize your appearance largely centered on the face--skin, hair, facial options like scars, eye colors, tattoos, etc.
Brannoc - *GromHell* Hello i was wondering since summon monster is now in will there be rebuke dead
EckelberryDDO - Summon Monster is still "in progress" as in "we're trying to make it work well" right now. Things I'm working on our ways to limit the effectiveness, and number of summoned creatures. I also want to make sure our pathing systems are up to spawning lots of extra monsters in our dungeons, to be honest. As to Rebuke Dead, well, not sure yet.
Brannoc - *Gosef* Will spells be limited be use per day or by a mana system?
EckelberryDDO - Basically, mana system. As publicized a few months ago with my dev diary post on ddo.com, the basic answer is that DDO has moved to a spell point driven system similar to that found in the UA. Check out the post there for some of they whys and wherefores. Spells may also be limtied, for the record, on some short recharge timers and on material components -- especially those spells with unique material components
Brannoc - *Joshua_Rowan* Will there be Food & Drink requirements and benefits/penalties in DDO, or will it automatically be assumed that our players are doing that on their own?
KenTroop - Sorry -- long answer (we just finished implementing this today, actually)
KenTroop - So -- in dungeon and landscape adventures, characters do *not* regenerate on their own -- they either have to get healed, use potions, scrolls, etc. or use Rest Shrines (objects you can find in a dungeon that simulate some rest time)
KenTroop - However, once you go back to Stormreach, you do have an opportunity to regenerate hit points and spell points -- taverns.
KenTroop - Basically, you very slowly regen while in a tavern.
KenTroop - If you want to speed up that process you can purchase food and drink and consume it, speeding up your regen rates
KenTroop - However, there will be no *need* to purchase food, it's solely if you want to get out of the taverns faster.
EckelberryDDO - Fyi, Ken is very proud since this is the first real work he's got to do in months.
JustinQuimby - Translation: Ken really didn't like ham, so he needed some other food/drink options in. /lfh 4 life!
Brannoc - *mattllow* The demo at Gencon had items degrade when you die. When they degrade all the way, are they broken until fixed or destroyed?
EckelberryDDO - Mattlow: They stop working after they lose all of their durability (hit points) but they can be repaired many times. Eventually, over a long period, items will degrade entirely and need to be replaced. By that time...weeks or months I'd expect, you'll be moving on to new treasures you've found.
Brannoc - *Gosef* Will animal empathy be one of the skills in the game?
EckelberryDDO - Yes. Rangers will be able to mesmerize, and eventually charm, animals and beasts... and other things with the right combination of character choices.
Brannoc - *DeusEx* How long will the average dungeon take to complete? Will the time span increase as your level gets higher?
KenTroop - Dungeon times cover a wide variety -- some are 5-10 minute timed experiences, others are epic multi-hour adventures
KenTroop - On average, I would say an hour, but that really disguises the very wide variety that exists in terms of time, not to mention optional objectives or quests which can further extend the time in many of the dungeons.
Brannoc - *Darkened* What are the largest battles we will see in DDO?
JustinQuimby - Upper end for battles will be 20ish players. We are focusing on the small-group dynamics which make pen and paper D&D great.
Brannoc - *Jaspor* Everything sounds great so far! How will you deal with repeating the same quest over and over to advance? Both from a "grinding" point of view to advance faster, and from a "boredom" point of view if there's not enough quests?
EckelberryDDO - A few ways. Of course no development team can really make dungeons or any sort of content as fast as it consumed, but our goal is create fun, high quality content the likes of which you have not seen before. So it's fun to do, not a grind. More directly on your questions point, you can repeat quests, but if you do them frequently in a short period, you will receive diminished returns.
EckelberryDDO - That experience penalty regnerates over time. Also, you will be able to choose to do a quest on higher difficully settinsg --- Hard or Elite, where monsters get tougher and more difficult. And XP is better, treasure is better, etc.
Brannoc - *Guest498084791* I think everyone wants in the alpha yesterday. Can you tell us how it is going and/or when we can expect more invites?
SporkfireDDO - Alpha is going well. By the end of next week, we will have over a thousand players in the game. So, that is a ton of feedback to go through and act on. We're currently developing our ongoing communication programs for both Alpha participants and ddo.com forum regulars.
SporkfireDDO - In the near future, we will be posting Alpha Journals, that contain summaries of the week's activity on the Dev side, player quotes and other interesting community things that come out of this phase.
Brannoc - *Altaris* Will there be an exp cap for grouping with higher lvl players? Say lvl5 with a lvl10? what will happen to the lower lvl players xp?
EckelberryDDO - A few thigns deal with this. First, there may be a minimum level to go into some dungeons or do some quests... mostly for your own survival. In addition, when a character of higher level than the dungeon's CR enters, the potential XP is reduced for all parties... since they are at less risk. You can party mostly with whomeever you want, but 5 and 10 is pretty big level spread in DDO.
Brannoc - *DiploMooz* Hi! I had the good fortune to play the DDO E3 build recently. I was particularly fond of stealthing around with the rogue. It seemed somehow more interesting than the binary "can the mob see me or not" of previous games. Can you expound upon the features planned for stealthing in ddo?
EckelberryDDO - I can try! Stealth is little more complicated than the you are detected or not sort of things. Of course we represent D&D in comparing your Hide Skill and Move Silently and the monster's Listen and Spot score. It also combines how long you dare to stay near the monster trying to detect you, and the level of lighting around your character, which can either give you a bonus or penalty to your skill check, and it can determin
EckelberryDDO - how often the monster "looks" for you\
JustinQuimby - Just as a side note, we've put a ton more stuff into the game and polished a lot of features in the game since the E3 build. I'm very excited about the upcoming Alpha prop.
Brannoc - *DeusEx* Will there be any truely rare items in DDO (as in not on every higher level character?)?
EckelberryDDO - Very much so, but perhaps not in the way that you think. As a designer, I am not a fan of truly unique items (mandated 1 per server sort of thing) because as a player I've always want the chance, however slim, of getting the +4 Holy Avenger of Luck. Basically, the way we plan to create rarity in the treasure system is just to offer so many possibilities.
Brannoc - *Rec|lurking* Why was Eberron chosen as the world setting for DDO, out of all the established D&D worlds?
KenTroop - We first read the Eberron source book a couple of years ago, and we were immediately struck with how cool it was...pulp noir adventure but with all the high magic/fantasy that you want from D&D...
KenTroop - It leapt off the page as both a wonderful place to go on adventures and tell stories...just a really fresh take on fantasy. Frankly, I love it :)
KenTroop - Our in-house gaming sessions have all been in Eberron for the last year...and they've been lots of fun...I think that spirit translates into DDO.
JustinQuimby - Plus, it has airships.
Brannoc - *bernsta* Hey guys just wondering when the next wave of Beta places will be offered? Any sort of ETA or approx?
Samera- We'll be taking people continously over the course of Alpha. We are inviting a greater number of people each round moving towards Beta. We expect to end up having thousands of people playing within the next couple of months.
Brannoc - *mordric* How are sorcerers being compensated (if any) for the fact thatall casters are able to spontaneously apply metamagic feats to their spells?
EckelberryDDO - This is short and sweet: sorcerers receive more spell points than any other spell caster, and their spells recharge much faster. Plus they have their own unique choices for character enhancements in between levels.
Brannoc - *SA_Drake_tCoT* sounds like Taverns will have a lot of people in them at one time, how many will there be in Stormreach?
KenTroop - Taverns are intentionally designed to be "mini-hubs" within the existing hubs of the city wards and towns...each ward generally has 2 or so taverns, with a small town or outpost having 1.
Brannoc - *LeadRhino* What type of skills will be available to melee classes to make combat non-repetive as you gain levels?
EckelberryDDO - Fighter-type characters have a lot of options in combat, from skills such as Intimidate, Diplomacy, Bluff... (and in bad moments, Heal). They also have a diverse selection of feats, including toggle-feats such as Power Attack and Combat Expertise, active feats such as Cleave, Whirlwhind, and Spring Attack, and finally some "free" feats such as Trip and Sunder.
Brannoc - *prsxxx* i read that different quests take the players to the same dungeon. how will you make each quest interesting even if it takes place in a dungeon i've already been to?
KenTroop - Some dungeon experiences have random elements even within the same quest -- sometimes different creatures, different locations, etc.
KenTroop - Other times, if you have a totally different quest in the area, the gameplay can be very different -- sometimes entire sections of the dungeon are opened or closed off depending on what quest you're on...so many of the dungeons can have a very different look and feel.
Brannoc - *Guest498084791* You have mentioned that there will be neat loot that goes outside the D&D setting (with WoTC's blessing). How will this work?
EckelberryDDO - WotC has been very free with allowing us to make unique item powers and abilities for items, some of which are more derivative of the DMG... some of which aren't. You'll have to wait to start opening chests... in beta, if youre lucky... to learn more.
Brannoc - *GromHell* Will Higher Dex make you move and swing faster? And will Extremly high jump make you able to jump rooftop to rooftop or over large things such as giants?
EckelberryDDO - Dexterity doesnt' govern your running speed, just as it doesn't in D&D. However, Jump and Swim do have the affects you'd expect. Your skill level (ranks + bonuses) in Jump govern how high and how far you jump. Over humanoid creatures? Yes definitely. Over giants? Not likely. Swim similarly governs your breath meter to a degree, and how fast you swim.
Brannoc - *ishist* Music is very important to games such as this, can you tell us the frequency of Cow Bell in the sound track?
KenTroop - Music is very important to DDO...first, Bards are a fun class in DDO, and the heart of their abilities lies in the music they play...secondly, music can be a very dynamic experience in DDO, with the ambient track in the dungeon increasing to a frenetic pace when you engage in combat.
KenTroop - And everything needs some more Cow Bell
Brannoc - *SA_Fade_tCoT* I was wondering if the armor, and other items are going to be similar to Other MMOs, where they give boosts to stats and other things.
EckelberryDDO - Yes.
Brannoc - *Altaris* Hey, thanks for answer my last question. But, I believe this is something on everyones mind. What does DDO offer that separates it from all the other MMORPG's of our day?
EckelberryDDO - Many things. First of all, it has the unique features of being the first Dungeons and Dragons MMORPG. Beyond that incredible features of recognizable classes, races, etc., we have a really unique game system that offers action combat... and does away with some of the worst elements of MMO gameplay. No grinding -- ie, no experience points for bashing monsters over and over again, no running over miles of landscape without p
EckelberryDDO - and no standing in place for minutes waiting for regeneration or respawning.
Brannoc - *Sinteres* PvP elements, any at all? If so, will there be any meaning (profit, territory) to battle, or will it be for personal pride?
KenTroop - We're not doing PvP in DDO for launch...PvP is not an essential element of the D&D experience, and that's ultimately what are lodestone is -- recapturing that tabletop experience and bringing it to life in a MMP.
KenTroop - Eckelberry's answer nails it -- we're not like other MMPs, because we're not trying to be...we want to be the quintessential D&D experience that you can play with your friends.
KenTroop - It's why we instance our dungeons -- private playgrounds for you and your friends without interference, it's why we don't have grinding -- D&D is not about standing in one spot and killing the same monster over and over again, it's why we don't run everywhere -- D&D is about fun adventure, not travelling for 10 minutes to get to the fun.
EckelberryDDO - Moreover, i can tell you that the D&D game system doesn't really embrace the idea of PvP. Beyond the fact that D&D is all about teamplay and teamwork, even the base spells of D&D like hold person make it very troubling to make a PvP game. After all, we dont care when you cast hold person on a goblin and ruin its gameplay experience. But if you cast it on a fighter and he can do nothing but fail a save and die... well, that
EckelberryDDO - ... well, thats not very fun.
Brannoc - *Gauthier* How will items be distributed in group play and how will item trading/selling be handled?
EckelberryDDO - In order to present fair opportunities for each player, each character in DDO can open a chest and get their own loot out of it. In other words, the treasure system generates items and coins for each player that opens the chest. You probably--almost unquestionably--wont get the same loot, but you all had a fair chance to get good stuff. Of course after you get the goods, players are free to trade with one another...
Brannoc - *Rufs* With instantaneous travel to the dungeons, will not the exploration element that is such a big part of MMORPGs, be completely lost?
KenTroop - There are places to explore, but only when it's part of the adventure...so we have landscape adventures that require some exploration, but even then there is a quest driving the exploration...also many dungeons and landscapes have optional objectives and treasure that rewards the explorer
KenTroop - Generally, we want exploration to be a part of the fun that we've designed for the adventure, not a random experience that too frequently ends up with people getting lost
Brannoc - *camlee* Have any of the small multi-group "raid type" encounters been created as yet? And if so can you give us an example?
JustinQuimby - dragon.
Brannoc - *EvilRabbit* Will health continue to regenerate if someone logs off while in a tavern?
JustinQuimby - no, but it only takes a few minutes to heal up with Ken's new food. ;)
Brannoc - *Shazrak* will skills such as knowledge(arcana) and knowledge(religion) have a lot of impact in the game? will players have to rely on a lot of "non combative" skills to complete many quests?
EckelberryDDO - Basically, DDO won't have knowledge skills per se. The reason is that the game is truly focused on dungeons, content, and yes, combat. We could have easily implemented Knowledge skills that would help you a little in some dungeons or in some NPC conversations, but to be honest those skills would never have the value of other skills that we are implementing.
Brannoc - *ishist* Will there be standard critical hits and fumbles? they make D&D more interesting.
EckelberryDDO - Yes, we of course have critical hits, a great fun part of D&D. You'll see your critical hits on the main screen with "Critical!" on the monster with damage number... and on the d20 that appears on the bottom of your screen on your attack roll. As for Fumbles, theyre a neat option, but not a core part of the D&D rules.
Brannoc - *Ryunosuke* How does death and xp loss work?
EckelberryDDO - Well, it's bad to die. I don't recommend it at all. When you die, a few thing happen: first, you fall to the ground and become a ghost. The only thing you can do is to chat... and you'll probably be typing furiously at your cleric demanding to know why he let you die. Anyway... when youre dead you have a choice of returning to life at the city, finding special magic shrines in the dungeon wher eyou can be returned to life
EckelberryDDO - or of course having a cleric raise you with a spell. Just how you get resurrected will govern how much XP penalty you suffer from... though that will never be even close to the full level loss you suffer in D&D
Brannoc - *LeadRhino* You said that there are taverns in towns in outposts, does this mean that there are other places to hang out other than Stormreach?
KenTroop - There are -- there are a number of small towns and outposts that exist outside of Stormreach that you can adventure to, that have their own set of quests and adventures.
Brannoc - *Jaspor* Guilds!! Can we expect the mechanics for setting up a Guild to be there at launch?
KenTroop - Guilds will enjoy a specific chat channel and the ability to set guild officers who can be given permissions to recruit or dismiss new members.
Brannoc - *gcadays99* How will the entrances to dungeons be handled? Will the have the glowy wall look of WoW or talk to a person and be sent there?
KenTroop - It very much depends on the type of entrance and dungeon...many times there is a specific entrance -- that ranges from a warehouse door to a cavern entrance to a fortress door...other times you enter by talking to a NPC and he takes you there, other times you may interact with a magical teleportation device that takes you to a far-off place deep within the heart of Xen'drik
Brannoc - That's it for this chat folks! The logs will be posted shortly on http://www.stratics.com - thanks for joining us here on Stratics IRC. If your question didn't make into the queue try again next time! Remember that #DDO will remain open here for chat. Special thanks to the Turbine developers for visiting!
KenTroop - Thanks everyone for coming...we really enjoyed it!
EckelberryDDO - Yar.
JustinQuimby - Thanks!
SporkfireDDO - Thanks for coming out, and for the great questions as always. Thanks to Stratics for hosting us too!
Samera- Thanks everybody!
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