comptes rendus de la table ronde DAoC

Par Paclya le 1/7/2002 à 10:44:41 (#1738269)

c'est en anglais mais il y a PLEINS de choses intéressantes.
(quelques paragraphe font doublons avec le message d'Anduric mais c'est pas grave).

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

Roundtable Summaries – Shrouded Isles

First, I wanted to say thank you to Mythic for putting on a great event
and being as candid and responsive as possible when answering the flood
of questions that players had. My estimate is 350-450 people came (5 from
MLF, with 3 Albion, 2 Midgaard, and 1 Hibernian). Some places I am repeating
information already out there, but wanted to let people know what was said.
I will be posting a few summaries by topic so the posts are not insanely
large and people can discuss them separately.

Mythic did a 1 hour presentation on the new expansion pack slated for release
for this Fall. It has a new graphical engine, includes 3 new island continents
(1 per realm), 3 new races (1 per realm) and 6 new classes (2 per realm).
Of course, all of this information is tentative and subject to change before
release (yes the lawyer in me talking). Each realm also has 1 main city
in it, but its typically in ruins and is not friendly. By realm:

Hibernia:
New Island: Hy Brasil
New Race: Sylvan (inhabitants of Hy Brasil), this race is a half tree/half
human race. It was the only one they actually had coded into the game at
the time. Dryad type creatures. It looked okay, a bit stiff.
New Classes: Animist (affinity with plant life, all around good caster,
may be able to summon plan pets); Valewalker (mage/melee hybrid, the Scythe
is his weapon, it is speccable, wearing cloth armor with offensive spells).


Albion:
New Island: Avalon
New Race: Iconnu (think gothic undead lurikeens, night elves etc., albino
race that have an affinity with the dead).
New Classes: Necromancer (chain armor wearing clerical type – not pure
caster – they can spec in 1H slash and have undead pets); Reaver (Necromancer/melee
hybrid, armor and weapons to be determined, will have negative chants).


Midgaard:
New Island: Aegir
New Race: Valkyn (ape like prehistoric men, looked fierce)
New Classes: Bonedancer (cloth caster, has abilities to manipulate animal
skeletons); Savage (light tank class, new spec line: hand to hand combat,
uses weapons that attach to hands – claws etc.)

Out of the 3 classes, the Iconnu looked by far the best, but overall all
of the classes and races seemed to have some potential.

The New Graphical Engine

One word, WOW. When they booted up their internal test server and started
running people through the world, the audience clapped. The resolution
is crisper and more detailed. New graphical effects, such as realistic
water (wakes and all) and reflective surfaces are now possible, as well
as sheer vertical cliffs. It also includes new blended animation so that
transitions between different states are not jerky (i.e. moving from running
to stopping to combat mode etc.).

They took us through 3 areas, 1 was their internal testing area that displayed
the new graphical abilities. Second, was Trollheim, the dungeon city in
Aegir. This looked very nice with broad sweeping ladders and fogged detail.
The final area was the most impressive, this was an ice cave that took
great advantage of the new reflective surfaces features. Everything shimmered.
While not demonstrated, this new graphical ability will also allow armors
to reflect things around them, possibly adding reflective shields etc.
In this ice dungeon there were giant 25 foot or so long scratch marks made
by a long ago dragon. As you look around you realize that the dragon is
fossilized INSIDE the dungeon and you are standing inside the dragon. The
effect was amazing with fossilized wings stretching over your on each side
in the ceiling.

One piece of good news, even people that do not buy the expack will be
given the graphical engine upgrade as part of the subscription service.
The new minimum required video card did go up, but I would look to Mythic
for the further specifics. My understanding is that it was still reasonable.
Those who do not buy the expack will still be able to play, but will not
have access to the new areas or the new races/classes.

Other details:

The new continents will have their own quests etc. The new classes will
be able to be played by people using races other than the expack races
(though I am pretty sure you cannot play the new classes without the expack
of course). Most of the quests for the new classes will be located on each
of the new continents. One important point to note, the expack will NOT
NOT NOT be increasing the level cap.

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

Crafting Questions:

What is going on with player merchants? They are definitely planned and
my understanding was that they would come in with or soon after Spellcrafting/Alchemy.
They will work by allowing a crafter to deposit an item with a related
cost to an NPC merchant. A buyer would then buy from the merchant and the
crafter would receive the money. However, merchants will have a limited
capacity of how many items they can sell.

What about guild housing merchants? These are still in the works, but presumably
would have more capacity than the regular merchants. No ETA, would presumably
come in sometime around housing.

Extra vault space? Another thing likely to be added. It is still being
decided whether to charge for the space, who gets it (i.e. all players
or just master crafters). This one sounded pretty definite though. No ETA.


After Spellcrafting/Alchemy what is next? Jewelcrafting. As it says the
ability to craft jewelry itesm. No ETA.

Are bolts going to be added? Yes, Mythic is working on it and when it does
come in, it will work like arrows do.

Will 16.5 dps ever be anything over than 16.2? Possibly, different solutions
are being looked at.

New arrow recipes, for new damage types etc.? This is something they would
like to see happen, but is currently not a front burner issue for the crafting
team.

Crafting title problems and new titles for 1100? This is actually coded,
but there is some error between the client software and the server software
that is preventing its correct implementation. Without a quote, let’s just
say that Spyke is going to aggressively check into it next week :P.

Will epic textures be available on level 51 items? Doubtful.

How about adding a quickbuy option? Some form of this should be in the
works, even if it is just leaving the last item bought selected.

Realm abilities for crafting? Been discussed, not necessarily coming.


Higher level woodworking effecting ability to repair keep doors? Good idea,
will try to implement. No ETA.

Lowering the build timer for grey con items? Seemed to be a pretty definite
change. It was actually coded and ready to go in at one point and then
got shelved for unknown reasons. It works on a scale (i.e. the more grey
something is to you, the more of a decrease in the build timer you would
have).

Being able to name the item you craft? Very unlikely to come in because
of the customer service problems involved (the example given was the “Uber
Sword of Butt-Kickingness”). However, the name of the item may change based
on what is imbued with etc. I am going to post a proposal that we not be
able to name them, but have our name on them (i.e. a Pixie duskwood short
recurve bow).

Are we going to get a /respect for tradeskills? Yes, but only in that you
can zero out a character’s crafting profession. For example, a 1100 AC
could respect and be set to 0 with no new crafting profession set. But
those 1100 points would not be able to be respent.

Manipulation of stacks? This is definitely being looked at, the idea is
to make things go into bigger stacks and be unstackable. It seemed this
was high on the list of things being worked on.

Level 51 instruments? Instruments are coded differently than other items
and thus present special problems for making level 51 items. However, they
will be added if at all possible. No ETA.

Is /repair and /salvage window problems and having to put things on the
ground to work on them going to be fixed? Yes. In addition, a “self-trade”
window is being looked at so that people can repair/imbue their own items
without risking loss by putting them on the ground.

Does location, the phase of the moon, the time of day, your aura, or anything
else affect your quality/skill point gain rate? No, Spyke calls this the
great Myth of Crafting, but he loves to hear new theories.

What about a permanent crafter chat channel? Great idea, difficulties in
implementation under the current chat code.

Other Questions:

Will the level cap increase with the expansion pack? No

Upcoming PvE content? 3 dungeons (1 per realm) are going to be added, each
will be in the frontier and freely available to all realms. No specific
ETA. No mention of level requirements.

Status on siege engines? I won’t quote exactly what was said (was asked
not to hehe), but let’s just say that Mythic is aware that siege engines
need work and is hoping to revamp the system. No ETA.

Player/guild housing? The artwork for this is already done and is awaiting
programming time. This topic (with Spellcrafting and Strike Team issues)
was listed as one of the top 3 non-expack issues Mythic is working on right
now. As far as what housing will cost, this has yet to be determined, both
gold and/or bounty points were suggested. No ETA.

Any new additions to the Camelot from the Roundtable? Yes (ok I made that
question up, but this didn’t fit well anywhere else :P). Mythic is DEFINTELY
(yes that is what they said), going to add 2 new ranking systems to the
Herald: 1) guilds ranked by number of RPs/number of active RvRing players,
2) players ranked by number of RPs/number of RvR deaths (this is different
than another Roundtable person posted, but I am 99% sure I am correct).
ETA 1-2 weeks.

What is next for the Strike Team? This was a very broad answer, basically
RvR as a whole. This includes a wholesale look at the role of melees and
mezzing. Particular with mezzing, the current idea is rather than making
mezzing less likely to work, possibly making it easier to break. Beyond
that, issues of keep taking and defense are being looked at. Included as
well are See Hidden and True Sight, something is going to be done, but
the exact something is still under discussion. Basically, the Strike Team
is taking a broad look at everything, ask a specific question and I will
check my notes to see if it was mentioned.

Will guild emblems ever be able to be put on items other than cloaks and
shields? Would love to be able to do it, but the current way the items
are designed, it is very unlikely to happen. This difference is also why
(fyi) guild cloaks show up different under stealth.

Are dragons being looked at? Yes, they were actually made weaker to kill
in 1.51 (Note: I don’t see this in patch notes, but it was said).

Personal horses? Would love to do it, but not happening anytime soon, other
priorities first.

ETA on /respect? Once the Strike Team is done with its changes. Currently,
the /respect method is the same as earlier announced (2 lines etc.).

How is population balance being addressed, if at all? This was the single
most asked question in all the sessions I went to. Basically, Mythic understands
it’s a problem and wants to do something about it, the specific course
though has not been decided upon. The current front-running idea is to
give an experience bonus to people that level in the under-populated realm
(Note: very tentative and no ETA). But, this issue is discussed weekly
if not more so at Mythic.

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

Spellcrafting:

This is the art of imbuing items with magical properties and will cover
adding: stats, skills, resists, hit points, power, magic bonus and special
recipes. It is possible to add anything and everything that a dropped item
has. Of course the item you are imbuing must be a crafted item. The command
to spellcraft is /enchant. Each recipe includes an elemental (e.g. leviathan
blood, draconic fire), dusts (e.g. ground giant bone, essence of life),
and a power source (e.g. pal gem, man gem). Classes able to learn spellcrafting:
Any class that CANNOT spec a weapon of any kind.

The way the system works. First, you must buy a crafted item for the spellcrafter
to imbue. Next, you take the item to the spellcrafter and a trade window/user
interface appears (how exactly was not clear). This window includes a large
window where your item is displayed and 4 slots where gems can be added.
At the bottom is the total number of SC points the item will hold (how
pts are determined is detailed below). The SC will then switch in and out
various gems until the customer is satisfied. Once both accept the deal
is transacted. Once imbued, a gem CANNOT be removed. However, additional
gems may be added, if there are enough points and available slots remaining
(each gem takes 1 slot).

How points work. Here is the crux of the system. The amount of points an
item can hold is based on both the level of the item and its quality. For
example, the item they demonstrated to us on the spreadsheet had SC points
of 17, 21, 25, and 34 (matching with 97% qua, 98% qua, 99% qua and 100%
qua). You will notice that the increase from 99 to 100 is double that of
any other, making 100% qua particularly valuable. Of course the number
of points a particular gem takes is based on how powerful it is. The exact
effect of level on the number of points was unclear, but the difference
between a level 50 item and a level 51 item is only 1 point. HOWEVER, Spyke
made it clear that this 1 point would be very valuable, meaning the highest
level imbues would require its existence (at least that is what I implied
from his statements). Spyke also alluded that particular combinations of
gems may be able to “cheat” the system and reduce the number of points
they require. These would not be documented and must be found from experimentation.


Materials and Skilling. There are 10 levels of gem materials with over
300 (yes 300) recipes. It averages out to one every 3 crafting points.
SC is meant to be economical with the most expensive imbues costing around
30g max. Thus, skilling in SC will be significantly cheaper than any other
tradeskill. You are able to /salvage dropped gems for materials. All materials
will be available for sell by merchants and can be dropped by monsters.
One thing to note, for special recipes (the very high end ones) very difficult
monsters must be killed, i.e. the epic ones, the dragon, Legion etc. These
recipes are supposed to be the best in the game and will require a SC with
ability 750 or higher.

Effects. The gems range in effects, but they ARE counted towards the item
cap for stats and resistances. But, the highest level imbue gem for resistances
can add up to 7% resist, giving a good amount of flexibility to armor sets
etc. The possibilities for min/maxing seem endless.

Sample combine. They walked us through a sample SC for an “imperfect fire
essence gem” that adds +10 str to an item. Uses: 1 pal gem (level 5 gem),
17 magical dusts and 5 tempers for a total cost of 2g 8sp 60cp.

Critical failures. As long as an item is 1% point or better than your current
skill level, you may have a critical failure and end up causing damage
to yourself (possible including a death). It was not clear if this death
would result in the loss of experience, con etc. If a critical failure
occurs, only you are hurt, the underlying crafted item is not.

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

Alchemy:

What is covered. Alchemy is the art of potion making. This includes dyes,
poisons, magic potions/poisons, charged specs, procs, particle effects
and special high level recipes.

Who can be an Alchemist. Any class that is a casting hybrid (can spec weapon
and cast offensive spells) + rogues.

Materials and Costs. You can buy the 10 level of materials or get things
from drops. Higher level material means higher grade potion. The costs
of potions are very cost effective (though more expensive than the SC gems).
Each product takes a few components with them varying for poisons (herb/animal,
binding, vial, matter „²maybe wrong handwriting not clear :P) and dyes
(reagent, water/glass, vials, magic dusts).

How the system works. It is similar to spellcrafting in that you use a
trade windowish UI to have the alchemist add specific properties to the
item displayed. Currently, neither SC nor Alchemy work on jewelry (more
details on that in the General Crafting Summaries). However, unlike SC,
Alchemy is not based on any point system. It is based on the level of the
potion being used and the level of the item. Essentially, for alchemy,
you are only limited by the amount of money you want to spend.

Of particular note, is an alchemist potion that can increase the quality
of an item by 5% (a 100% item would become a 105% item). Obviously, this
is very powerful and I believe it is one of the ¡§special recipes¡¨ that
require component drops from Legion and other epic mobs. Each recipe appeared
to have gradations (as with SC), so for example, the quality potion had
a +1% version, a +2% version etc.

Dyes are currently only applicable to armor. They may try to make them
applicable to weapons, but these would likely only be player crafted weapons,
not drops etc.

Petite question

Par Ysthril le 1/7/2002 à 13:19:19 (#1739022)

Que veut dire ETA ?

Par Khaled le 1/7/2002 à 13:30:00 (#1739077)

ETA: Estimated Time of Arrival, le delai ou la date pour implementation dans ce contexte.

Par Ysthril le 1/7/2002 à 14:02:13 (#1739206)

Oki merci

Par Gaelynn le 1/7/2002 à 19:22:02 (#1740760)

L'ajout de Spellcrafting et d'Alchemy va vraiment chambouler les habitudes et bousculer le petit monde de DAoC. Il nous faudra patienter jusqu'a décembre probablement pour en profiter, mais bon on commence a s'y faire... Darkness Fall et les RA nous tiendrons occuppés d'ici là.
Quand a Shrouded Isles, c'est une extension prometteuse qui contient énormément de trucs pour relancer l'intêret du jeu. La taille du jeu en PVE est presque doublée, ça me rappelle Ruins of Kurnark a l'époque, mais avec un moteur graphique en plus.

Par Amn le 1/7/2002 à 19:30:21 (#1740799)

Ok et e francais ca donen quoi ? J'ai 6 de moyenne en anglais alors en plus l'americain ...

Par Anduric le 1/7/2002 à 23:06:49 (#1741848)

Ca donne quoi ? Je répondrais sur le craft, qui est la partie qui me tient à coeur.

Pour simplifier, quand ce patch sera en place, tu cracheras sur le loot.

Une précision importante : le spellcraft est plus puissant sur une armure de bonne qualité, et Spyke, qui est très proche des développeurs Mythic a dit texto "les objets de qualité 100% seront enchantables au point de pouvoir égaler les überloots des dragons".

Par Cayenne le 1/7/2002 à 23:40:07 (#1742050)

Ce qui va bien m'amuser, c'est jouer un sauvage !
En tout cas, il va y avoir un bon paquet de rerolls des nouvelles classes et races.

Par Gaelynn le 2/7/2002 à 0:57:57 (#1742431)

Anduric : oui, et le plus drôle c'est que pour les enchanter au max de leur puissance, il faudra des ingrédients spéciaux comme.... Du sang de dragon ! (celui de la zone épique)...

Par Anduric le 2/7/2002 à 1:27:44 (#1742516)

Provient du message de Gaelynn
Anduric : oui, et le plus drôle c'est que pour les enchanter au max de leur puissance, il faudra des ingrédients spéciaux comme.... Du sang de dragon ! (celui de la zone épique)...

Ca c'est pour les recettes ultime... le genre qui donne +5 en qualité par exemple, permettant d'avoir une arme craftée à 105% de qualité... ce qui en fera la meilleure arme de tout le jeu, loot de dragon compris...

Il sera à mon avis possible de créer des objets de niveau équivalent aux drops de dragon sans jamais mettre les pieds en zone épique

Par Silva le 2/7/2002 à 2:22:26 (#1742637)

Provient du message de Gaelynn
Anduric : oui, et le plus drôle c'est que pour les enchanter au max de leur puissance, il faudra des ingrédients spéciaux comme.... Du sang de dragon ! (celui de la zone épique)...

Pour Hibernia, on est mal barré pour le sang de dragon :monstre:

On attent toujour le patch qui rend le dragon Hib tuable :mdr:

Par Abraham *au repos* le 2/7/2002 à 3:21:56 (#1742755)

The new classes will be able to be played by people using races other than the expack races

Si j'ai bien compris Il sera possible de changer de race avec l'extension ?

Mais c'est génial !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ca + le reattribument des points de compétences annoncé en 1.5x, c 'est quasiment l'interet du jeu qui est relancé a moindre effort !

Par Volnor le 2/7/2002 à 6:28:57 (#1742973)

Tu n'as pas du tout compris : les nouvelles classes de personnage ne sont pas exclusives a la nouvelle race voila ce que cela signifie et non pas que tu pourras changer de race ou de classe avec un perso actuel.

Valneriane