Here's the transcript for the April 28th HoC dev chat:
[18:03] <Ishu> Good evening and welcome to another great Stratics House of Commons chat, tonight our guests are the developers of EverQuest! The topic of discussion is General.
[18:03] <Ishu> Please send your questions to [QT]Phineus - to do so type /query NICK and type in the window that pops up. Questions sent to me or the developers will not make it into the lineup. Full logs of the chat will be up on http://everquest.stratics.com shortly after the chat.
[18:03] <Ishu> We'll start with a brief introduction from the developers, now would be a good time to send those questions!
[18:03] <Rashere> Evening all, I'm Travis McGeathy, lead designer.
[18:03] <Rytan> Hi Im Ryan Barker, Senior Game Designer on EverQuest Live.
[18:04] <Prathun> Greetings everyone! I'm Jonathan Caraker, a Game Designer on EverQuest Live.
[18:04] <Zorillius> Greetings! Im Craig Knapp, Producer of EverQuest.
[18:05] <Zajeer-Dev> Hi, I'm Camille Abdnor, Itemization Designer on EverQuest
[18:06] <Ishu> *Cinexa* I'm curious about the next expansion ~ four months has been mentioned as the time before we see one ~ isn't this pretty long way off ? Any info would be great
[18:07] <Zorillius> We have a lot of things that are currently under development and unfortunately, I cant talk about all of them. All I can say is that were pretty happy with them so far. ?
[18:09] <Ishu> *Loral* Question: What sorts of things can we expect to see in the next patch?
[18:09] <Zajeer-Dev> From the itemization end, Ive done some modifications to DoN vendor items. Youll be seeing new type 9 augmentations on the vendors, as well as a new slot on all of the sold armor and weaponry. These new augmentations will increase the stats and power of your items. They will be priced about twice as high as the base item for that level, and hopefully, it will give you a long term goal to shoot for if you purchase items off the vendors
[18:10] <Rashere> In addition, the next patch will add the new Veteran Rewards to the game as a thank you for our long time subscribers.
[18:10] <Rytan> Weve also got lots of spell changes going in as well. Most notably there will be changes to heal spells and damage over time spells to make them more effective. Weve also spread out the level requirements of level 1-50 spells so that youll receive new spells every level.
[18:13] <Zorillius> Our next update is tentatively scheduled for May 11th. In addition to what Rytan mentioned, well also be adding some new features to the email system.
[18:13] <Zorillius> There will be more as well, but we're still getting those up and on Test.
[18:16] <Ishu> *Aniken* What's this veteren rewards thing? If I've played 6 years I get every single one of them?
[18:17] <Rashere> With the next patch, players will be able to claim veteran rewards on their characters. You will get one reward for each year you have been a subscriber and if you've taken part in the current one-year subscription offer, that extra year is immediately added onto your total giving you an additional reward. So, if you've been a subscriber for 6 years you will get 6 rewards and 7 if you have taken advantage of the special offer.
[18:18] <Ishu> ke Aniken
[18:18] <Ishu> <@[QT]Phineus> *Aaron[GuildPortal]* Is it possible to see less of the leveling treadmill in future expansions? The bump to 70 really turned me off, to the point where it felt like work to keep up... I was enjoying being at the top until that happened. =)
[18:20] <Prathun> Adding levels is healthy for the game, but you're right that it's best done every 2-3 expansions so that leveling doesn't feel like an insurmountable task to the average player.
[18:21] <Ishu> *Manlayenea* EQ seems to be picking up ideas from other SoE games like the veteren rewards. Will we be seeing Adventure Packs like EQ2 in between expansions also?
[18:22] <Zorillius> I wouldnt plan on having EverQuest Adventure packs any time in the near future. Weve got a fairly solid plan for the next 10 months and Adventure packs arent a part of them.
[18:23] <Ishu> *Loral* Yes or no, does Rashere plan to stop slapping red headed step children?
[18:23] <Zajeer-Dev> Soon(tm)
[18:23] <Rashere> soon?
[18:24] <Ishu> *castiran* When can we expect any positive results on Vishimitar? It's been broken for quite some time and is causing a lot of grief with guilds bored doing tacvi/anguish/lesser 3 DoN dragons over and over.
[18:24] <Ishu> Questions will be answered on a first come first served basis. Get those questions in by typing /query [QT]Phineus and typing in the box that comes up. Questions sent directly to the developers or I will not be answered.
[18:25] <Prathun> It's a delicate balancing act to tune endgame encounters to the appropriate difficulty level. The Vishimtar encounter needs to be *just* hard enough to be possible for the best geared players in EQ, and a small misstep in tuning can make it impossible or trivial - neither of which is good.
[18:26] <Prathun> I've got some changes lined up for the encounter, based off player feedback from those that are familiar with the encounter and I think you'll be pleased with the final results. More feedback is always welcome and there's a thread on the EQLive boards that discusses this issue in detail.
[18:27] <Ishu> *EQGalidin* Will we be seeing any zone remakes or new zones introduced anytime soon? Has any thought gone into reinstancing very popular zones (like sebilis) into higher level versions which would offer some adventure?
[18:28] <Zorillius> We are planning on instancing the Plane of Time and are targeting an early summer release. There arent any plans for instancing additional zones at this time, but it has been a topic of discussion. There will also be some zone remakes in the upcoming future, but youll have to login to see.
[18:29] <Ishu> *Vampphreak* I've noticed that all casting classes, with the possible exception of bards recieved an item in OOW only useable by that class. (ex. Bone-Studded Loop, Benevolent Girdle, Chipped Ring of Bloodcalling) All of these items, except the shadowknight one have mana regen on them. Pure casters get 2 mana regen, hybrids 1. Was there a reason SK's got none, or was this an oversight?
[18:31] <Zajeer-Dev> This is intended. The class specific items that were built for the lower tier zones in Omens of War were spread across 3 zones: Nobles Causeway, Ruined City of Dranik, and Wall of Slaughter. Each zone varied in difficulty, and as such, the items were tuned around other items in that zone. Some of the class specific items are weaker in power because they come off of easier NPCs in easier zones.
[18:32] <Ishu> *MitchEvious* Are there any plans to bring back old ancient items that were deleted by server transfers and stuff. I was there when the Staff of Al'kabor was given, and it makes me sad that it was destroyed by non-item transfer.
[18:32] <Rashere> There are many items floating around out there that were given out through one time events. Their rarity, and the nostalgia that goes alone with it, is part of their charm and we don't have any plans to introduce new ways to get those items.
[18:32] <Ishu> *Matia* Are there plans (that you can reveal) to add any new features that have been created/used on any of the newer generation games?
[18:35] <Ishu> *Matia* With the next expansion, can we expect it to be a primarily content oriented addition or mainly features? If content, will it be of the scope of Kunark or Luclin or smaller?
[18:36] <Zorillius> We cant always talk about what we have under development, but I will say that the content were working on now is some of the best to date. Were all excited about building it, and more importantly, playing through it. That gives us a lot of satisfaction and confidence that were heading in the right direction.
[18:37] <Ishu> *Neowolf* I have the a couple of the flowers of functionality from the Plane of Mischief, is it possible to have those made into inventory clickable items?
[18:37] <Zajeer-Dev> I just changed them after seeing this question. They'll be inventory clickable next patch.
[18:38] <Ishu> *D[eLtRe]E* For people who has lots of pts left in LDON and don't play it anymore cause of DoN..will it be any plan of merging them together or maybe get pts for crystal :D
[18:38] <Rashere> The two point systems represent very different things. We don't have any plans to allow conversion from one to the other.
[18:39] <Ishu> *Kaeluyen* My big question is about spells. In DoN you have made it impossible for the players who reach levels 69 and 70 to get their 69 and 70 spells unless they are in a raiding guild. Now as I'm sure you have noticed not all of your players are hard core players.. I myself am extremely upset by the fact that I will most likely never see my 69 and 70 spells. I'm not just asking this for me, but for all those players out there who aren'
[18:41] <Rytan> Theres actually several ways for players to obtain level 69 and 70 spells that only require killing group exp camp style NPCs. Rares in the Muramite Proving grounds, Riftseekers Sanctum, and Draniks Scar all drop 69 and 70 spells. There's no reason that a player should feel they need to be in a raiding guild in order to obtain level 69 and 70 spells.
[18:41] <Ishu> *Loral* will we see any six-person missions that might take place on overland zones instead of all in instanced dungeons? What about missions that take advantage of old-world content?
[18:43] <Rashere> We've got lots of plans for taking instancing in new directions, including possibly using it to return to some old world zones. For specifics, though, you'll have to wait and see.
[18:43] <Rashere> As to the overland zones, it's definitely possible but dungeons tend to fit our goals for instances better.
[18:44] <Rytan> Ok Regarding Kaeluyen's question:
[18:45] <Rytan> Sorry I think I misunderstood the question. If youre referring to only the level 69 spell from DoN specifically, then yes its intentional for that single spell to be obtained via a small raid of players. There are many spells in the game that are meant as rewards for high end raid type play, and this is one of them.
[18:45] <Rytan> The level 61 versions of those spells are meant as the generally available equivalents.
[18:45] <Ishu> *Zythas* There seems to be a lack of 2 hand slash scythes from mid to endgame worth using, any plans on bringing back one of the coolest looking weapons in the game? Also, any plans on giving high level items, such as the Blade of Disruption a less common graphic?
[18:47] <Zajeer-Dev> I would love to see more scythes in the future. Ill make a note of it the next time I ask for weapon models to ask for a scythe. Im not entirely fond of the old weapons though, so I doubt I will use those on high end items. As far as the Blade of Disruption goes, I can look into the graphic and find something a little less common.
[18:48] <Ishu> *Furor_Vaz* You just mentioned that the flowers will be inventory clickable. Is there any chance that these quests can be reinstated into the POM?
[18:48] <Zajeer-Dev> About a year ago I added in an NPC that would supply you decks of spontaneous generation so that people could finish up any left over quests they had from the original Plane of Mischief version. This was to accommodate those folks who still had a few cards left over. However, I dont think well be adding in new cards to Plane of Mischief anytime in the near future.
[18:50] <Ishu> Questions will be answered on a first come first served basis. Get those questions in by typing /query [QT]Phineus and typing in the box that comes up. Questions sent directly to the developers or I will not be answered.
[18:50] <Ishu> *Tyn_Patzy_of_Povar* The new Bandolier feature was a godsend to me. Are there any plans in the works to possible expand this idea to include other gear slots?
[18:51] <Rashere> It's an interesting idea, but not what the system was built to support. We don't have at the moment to expand the functionality into different slots.
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[18:52] <Ishu> *Tyn_Patzy_of_Povar* With the next generation games out, Everquest 1 at it's 6th year anniversary and the recent round of server merges, just how many more expansions can we expect to see? Is Sony and the Dev team still committed to bringing alot more new content to EQ1 as before?
[18:54] <Zorillius> Sony and the Dev team is absolutely committed to supporting EverQuest. EverQuest has enjoyed six years of success and we plan on making the next six even better. :)
[18:56] <Rytan> And it'll be totally awesome.
[18:56] <Ishu> *gawdzukie* I have spent some time, and have come up with some interesting new items, and a few changes to old one. Is there any way to submitt ideas, and maybe be the next person comming up with new items in game?
[18:56] <Zajeer-Dev> You can post your ideas on the EQlive boards and use /feedback in game. Ill be looking forward to reading your ideas =)
[18:56] <Ishu> *GertahmSMM* The temporary 6th year celebratory Experience potions were a great idea. Problem is they were Temporary. When will something be made available (or why won't something be made avilable) that is rechargable based off a quest for those that have the desire and incentive to do such a thing?
[18:57] <Rashere> Actually, the Veteran Reward you will get if you've been a subscriber for at least one year will give you a similar effect and can be used once every day.
[18:57] <Ishu> a lil recognition adn a much better improved heal spell
[18:57] <Ishu> <@[QT]Phineus> *redEye* While I wouldn't count on returning more unique zones (like PoM and Grieg's End) to their older states - are there any plans for 'crazy' zones like those in the future? They were fun!
[18:59] <Prathun> While I'm not sure we'll see any 'zany' zones in the near future that rival Plane of Mischief, we will continue to bring striking new visuals, challenging new event mechanics, and interesting new features in future additions to EverQuest.
[19:00] <Ishu> *Drakah* I would like to see the old illusion models (such as warewolf) be more updated. (Example: Replace old warewolf with model from Plane of Nightmare, etc.).
[19:01] <Rytan> Funny you should mention werewolves...
[19:01] <Rytan> How do you feel about Drachnids?
[19:01] <Rytan> >:)
[19:02] <Zajeer-Dev> My favorite animal is a Liger
[19:02] * Prathun laughs at Zajeer.
[19:03] <Ishu> That will wrap it up for tonight. Id like to thank the folks from EverQuest for coming! The log for tonights chat will be up shortly on http://everquest.stratics.com. Thank you all for joining us! You can join #EverQuest to chat more about the game.
[19:04] <Rashere> Thanks for coming everyone!
[19:05] <Zorillius> Happy Adventuring!
[19:05] <Prathun> Thanks for coming to the chat!