House of common 17 Feb 2011

<@Maerlyn> Any chance that development on combat could be lessened or even postponed after the rubber banding is fixed and most of the dev power could be put towards professions, skills, dungeons and social features?
<@HenrikNystrom> Right now the main focus are on the coming content published on our website "under dev section" but tweaking here and there in current sysstems such as combat and movement is still something that goes along with content development.


<@Maerlyn> What changes are we likely to see to archery and when, many players wish archery to get a nice boost but be more skill based and hard to use but with less randomness.
<@HenrikNystrom> We are gathering feedback, and we are also trying archery for instance on our own atm to see what we need to change, but we wont rebuild any combat systems for now as that kind of development is put on other areas atm.
<@HenrikNystrom> We dont have a current time line for when we actually change in archery, other than small tweaks.


<@Maerlyn> question - what sort of things can be cooked? Will this lead to a hunger system, or primarily just wounds? Will special equipment be needed for cooking, can campfires be used?
<@HenrikNystrom> Cooking is tied to many different areas, that will give more purpose to other systems and we think its a valuable feature to add.
<@HenrikNystrom> you can either pick items, butcher for meat, fish for different animals to use in cooking
<@HenrikNystrom> it will be a very dynamic system where its up to the players to create the food, its also similar to alchemy
<@HenrikNystrom> where each ingrediance have many different attributes both positive and negative ones
<@HenrikNystrom> its up to the players to find the effect they are looking for, with possible least negative effect
<@HenrikNystrom> so cooking is the key component to finilize a few other systems we have in game right now, such as fishing
<@HenrikNystrom> it will get a wider point to fish
<@HenrikNystrom> and use work tables and fire camps for instance
<@HenrikNystrom> And it is also tied to the long term wound system
<@HenrikNystrom> cooking will be very complexed the day we put it in
<@HenrikNystrom> as there is no req that restrict us there
<@HenrikNystrom> At first we are looking at food will heal most wounds
<@HenrikNystrom> when we add some other proffesions we will possible move some of the wounds to be healed by one of those new proffesions which we wont mention just yet in details, but its similar to swg mind heals
<@HenrikNystrom> Fishing was a bit hold back due to the meaning behind fishes could not be put to use without cooking for instance
<@HenrikNystrom> so even we had those hundreds of diff fish types etc they would only mean a resoruce to sell
<@HenrikNystrom> with cooking they will be used for cooking and food for animals pets and healing wounds
<@HenrikNystrom> so you can see how they are all tied in some different ways


<@Maerlyn> Any news on basic alliance features or improved features for keeps to make them more like player cities (message boards, stables, inn's, siege works etc being build in keep house spots for example)
<@HenrikNystrom> Yes, one step to expand that is some new house types and functions, such as plan for storage and different structures
<@HenrikNystrom> so players can build their own cities that provide most things a current npc city give them
<@HenrikNystrom> The next step would be to work on the actual territory functions to give it more meaningful to own a territory


<@Maerlyn> What new houses and functions can we look forward to in the coming patches?
<@HenrikNystrom> We will add a smaller cheaper house that is more easy to buy and build for solo players or small groups, we will add a storage for players to use within the guild, similar to storage in npc cities.
<@HenrikNystrom> We may add guild powers to allow travelers to use their bank storage for a small fee.
<@HenrikNystrom> you will be able to build a guard post that can allow some guards
<@HenrikNystrom> upgradable walls and gates


<@Maerlyn> Please can we have a status update on Tindrem?
<@HenrikNystrom> We need more time before we will opend Tindrem, due to same reasons we mentioned before, We dont want to add just a new npc city for you to visit.
<@HenrikNystrom> We want to show you Tindrem with patroling guards, dynamic npcs, different services within the city, along with the sewers under Tindrem.


<@Maerlyn> The recent wars have proven that there's easy destruction of assets but no proper defences - What's your plans regarding this?
<@HenrikNystrom> We are listening to these kind of feedback, such as how to defend, and how to handle gates etc, but we dont want to rush major changes here as its not clear for all players what rules we should apply.
<@HenrikNystrom> We have planned defence weapons for players to add on walls, gates and keeps however.


<@Maerlyn> What sort of plans do you have for the prediction system? Do you still feel as if it needs tweaking or what, it seems as if you managed to get the prediction pretty good at one point, but now it feels a bit awkward again, any comments on that?
<@HenrikNystrom> Well based on player made comabt videos and when we monitor the players, things looks very good. We are aware of that it doesnt work perfect in all cases and it differs for players. We still notice some rubberbanding which we will improve further.
<@HenrikNystrom> So there are still room for improvement for sure, at the moment Fredrik is focusing on giving "stop" moving commands as effective as start movign commands, as we noticed those packages differs a bit, which causes unnecessary rubberbanding
<@HenrikNystrom> Before the new movement system players were always a few seconds on where they are on the server, which caused 10m hits and strange combat. Now we have the same position all the way and predict movement with fast updates to keep you in corret position on all sides. But right now stop moving is getting a bit slow to other clients in some cases, which we will improve.


<@Maerlyn> Will you ever consider making guild/group storage raidable by other parties?
<@HenrikNystrom> The rightful owners of the storage will have a cooldown period when they can try to retrieve items most likely, we are not sure about the deails here and we would appreciate feedback on it.
<@HenrikNystrom> when its destroyed that is


<@Maerlyn> What is dynamic mount system? Could you give us some clue of it?
<@HenrikNystrom> the under dev note is the next content patch we will deploy
<@HenrikNystrom> the dynamic mount system is a very cool system that will totaly replace the mounts we have today to something much better, With Anthony on the team he brought us what we needed to make this happen, and its a great feature that gives other areas value
<@HenrikNystrom> so the mounts will look a bit better than they do today mesh wise, each mount in the world will more or less be unique visually
<@HenrikNystrom> for instance, different patterns colors, different muscles that you can see, so you know that horse is trained for sure
<@HenrikNystrom> we are using a similar animation tree that shadows of the collosus used, that game have one amazing horse system
<@HenrikNystrom> so just riding on a mount will be enjoyable
<@HenrikNystrom> much more fun and a great feeling
<@HenrikNystrom> you will notice the horse is a live and its an individual with their own reaction to the game world
<@HenrikNystrom> for instance it aint to easy to ride straight into a wall, the horse will try to avoid damage
<@HenrikNystrom> the next step to this, allow us to add breeding
<@HenrikNystrom> do create diff type of mounts with unique stats and unique visuals,
<@HenrikNystrom> there will be age on animals, so you do want to find a breeder/tamer that got some adult mounts, you dont want to ride a phony
<@HenrikNystrom> so care mounts will be more important for those interested, sure you can still just buy them right from a tamer and go on from there
<@HenrikNystrom> but there will be a lot more to it than we do have to day
<@HenrikNystrom> please note that breeding is not coming in this patch, but this patch opens up for us to actually add that as well the way we want it


<@Maerlyn> There are a few problems with the torches in town in night. Are you aware of this and are you addressing this issue?
<@HenrikNystrom> Please report that in our bugtracker our QA guys should cover it asap.


<@Maerlyn> What plans are there on creating an economy in game. It's more efficient to just farm wisents to make money than anything else, most items just get vendored and then gold spent to buy gear. A popular suggestion is to add a reasonable use to every mat and then take out npc vendors completely; of course all items sold by vendors will need to be made craft able.
<@HenrikNystrom> our vision is to have it all fully player driven, as soon as this works, we will most likely get rid of those npcs.
<@HenrikNystrom> we will start by adding trading tools to communicate your wares and your stores to other players


<@Maerlyn> When will the next content patch be released and what can we expect to see in it?
<@HenrikNystrom> I dont like to say a date this early on, but we need about a month more developing from this day, and then a lot of testing on the new features. We wont rush this one out, we want it to be fully functioning as in no place holder and of course without any major critical bugs.
<@HenrikNystrom> this doesnt mean we wont have any minor patches at all during this time.


<@Maerlyn> Can you give specifics on what functions will be added to player housing?
<@HenrikNystrom> Sounds like I answered that 3 times now or am I just getting tired? heh... some minor functions on house/keeps for player controll usage for players, storage was one of the most wanted feature for player cities, so that will be in.


<@Maerlyn> When will the South-East Spider cave be finalized?
<@HenrikNystrom> Not sure actually, Im not that super up to date when it comes to specific locations in the game atm, we will try to increase the interest points and finilize myrland over time as well, we are looking for some lvl designers atm as well.


<@Maerlyn> Are there any current plans to give to us any new tips to in game lore areas and secrets? - At the moment we don't know much about MOs past and things like that. At the moment we only really have guesses.
<@HenrikNystrom> Right, lore have not been released as much as we wanted to, due to various reasons, not having enough resources to actually translate and work the text. Unfortunately these are the areas that gets a bit less prio when we dont have the resources we wish we had.
<@HenrikNystrom> As soon as we get enough players increasing we will expand areas, this is one of those.


<@Maerlyn> Will it be possible to have noticeboards in town, where people can advertise goods, services and contracts. Perhaps using the flash UI?
<@HenrikNystrom> Yes, this is actually a feature we plan to get along with the trading tools we mentioned before.


<@Maerlyn> Is there enough space in the map to support more houses? I don't think it would look right if there was houses all across the map.
<@HenrikNystrom> world size, one of the challenging parts when making a mmo like this, which is totaly different from other mmos that are instanced and have loading. Also counting with a few restrictions you get when using UE3.
<@HenrikNystrom> The houses we have today was suposed to be our first small house types
<@HenrikNystrom> but they are pretty huge actually, spec in tier 3
<@HenrikNystrom> we will add those small houses, that will be easier to place in the world
<@HenrikNystrom> we also have a breakthrough when it comes to how to place houses. as in we are one step closer to allow players to place them exaclty where they want, not using pre slots. Please note this is not going live any time soon because we need so solve the calculation on the actual placement
<@HenrikNystrom> there are many things that make you place a house in a bad location.
<@HenrikNystrom> we noticed that there are more and more hosues being built, indeed, and there are less slots in a few areas.
<@HenrikNystrom> we will continue to add a few slots every now and then
<@HenrikNystrom> right now there shouldnt be a problem size wise, but sure, when population goes up the world start shrinking..


<@Maerlyn> What are the plans for a religion system?
<@HenrikNystrom> we are not working on that system at all at this point, since we had to change some areas in our schedule. We will be able to discuss that feature closer after we have delivered some of our highest prio features.


<@Maerlyn> Are there any plans to make Nave look more alive? Like flocks of birds that land on or arround sausage lake, or bugs flying or crawling arround in the jungle?
<@HenrikNystrom> Yes, we do think we need to add alot more live into Nave for sure, when the AI and systems related to mobs are as stable as we want them we will start adding a lot more creatures and mobs over time, this really wont stop.