Blogs and Q&A Videos: Submit questions here

[Lee Hammock]

As we get closer to Alpha and Early Enrollment we're narrowing our focus on game design topics towards the systems that will be ready as each of those phases begins. To facilitate our interaction with the community we're going to begin doing Q&A video segments with the game design team that will be presented with the bi-weekly blogs. We are going to solicit your questions here on the forums in this thread.

We'd like our fans on the forum to post questions in replies to this post. We'll sort through them to find ones that we think have interesting answers. This does not mean we'll answer every question posted, as there will likely be questions where our only answer is "we don't know yet" or "we'd like to do that but we don't know when we will." We'll try to stick to things that currently have more substantive answers (though maybe every once in awhile we'll do a lightning round with a bunch of short answer questions).

The questions will most likely be answered by myself, Stephen, Tork, and Bob (though other folks here at Goblinworks may get involved as well). Again, we will be retaining the every other week schedule so as not to take too much time from development duties.

[Sepherum]

I don't think I'm alone in wanting some more details about divine magic and abilities. Is channeling (positive/negative) in store for the MVP? Do clerics have cantrips/orisons? Are all cleric abilities/spells/expendables tied to the holy symbol or just deity/alignment dependent ones? Luv ya, Sepherum

[BrotherZael]

1) Ownership of buildings inside settlements of PoIs, what is it going to look like?

2) Settlement Reputation: will it be implemented/a big influencer on in-game things?

3) Cross-classing penalties. I know there is no set classes but does taking a lot of skills in heavy armor and two-handed weapons affect magic usage?

4) My character is an insane excommunicated inquisitor who thinks he is still Lawful neutral but is probably more along the lines of Chaotic Evil. Obviously he might have a terrible reputation score, so I am wondering how much not being able to go into settlements will hinder my ability to play? If this game is based around settlements and PoIs and he cannot enter, is it even worthwhile for him to play?

5) What will the Political interactions with NPC factions like Orc tribes be like?

6) How affecting will alliance benefits/penalties be, or is it all arbitrary?

7) Can I belong to a nation but not a guild/vice versa? Can I own a PoI without a guild or company? (I know these might have been answered in the forums, but I cannot find it and would like a deeper look either way).

8) I don't have any skills at physical design/etc. when it comes to gaming, but still want to help. How can I contribute further?

9) Can there be PoIs such as a bandit camp, black market, or seige camp, each with their own perks/disabilities? Why not?

10) Will there be a smuggling/underground mechanic and a Law mechanic that is worthwhile?

[Bringslite]

I think I am prepared for whatever does not come with MVP, or rather what does, but is pretty basically implemented. I only have a few (admittedly packed and related) questions that I am REALLY curious about.

From day One:

1. Will we start with FFA PVP, and if not, could you give us an idea of what you are planning?

2. Will we start with the ability to form Companies and will we be able to earn Influence/feud?

3. Will there be any form of a reputation system and will it affect us right away?

And if you can answer any, all or none, I still want to thank you for the chance to ask directly.

[Nightdrifter]

With apologies to Stephen Cheney for this, I have but one question on the combat mechanics in 27 parts:

1) How does cantrip damage stack up against physical damage (damage factors, base damage, bonus base damage per major/minor keywords)?

2) Do all PC physical damage weapons have base damage 40 before keywords or was that just the longsword?

3) What is the expected range of PC and NPC damage factors (ie. upper and lower bounds)?

4) a) What is the expected damage of an expendable (damage factor, base damage)?
b) How does it change with the level of the expendable?
c) How does it change with metamagic keywords for wizards?
d) Do other classes have some equivalent to metamagic for scaling expendables?

5) a) How does energy resistance numerically vary across tiers and across armor types?
b) Is there all around resistance or just specific resistances that you can enchant for?

6) What are the rules on diminishing returns on crowd control (max stacks, reduction per stack)?

7) How many types of energy and energy resistance are there?

8) How much is rogue sneak attack bonus base damage?

9) a) Is there any equivalent of 'penetrating' attacks against energy resistance?
b) Are there any other types of attacks which deviate from normal rules besides penetrating?

10) What kind of bonus damage does opportunity give?

11) When the 10% of resistance is calculated for penetrating is it rounded off to an integer before being multiplied by the damage factor? (It's added to an integer so is that sum an integer or a float?)

12) What is the expected Power cost of expendables (and the total Power)?

13) Can you increase your total Power and Stamina?

14) What is the trend for xp cost for each successive level of a skill (geometric, arithmetic, etc.)?

15) Do reflex penalties from armor (-10 medium, -20 heavy) scale in some way or are they constant?

16) Do you need special skills to use special keywords (the ones which apply after the fact like Silver)?

17) At gen con it was mentioned that racial bonuses are no longer bonuses to ability scores. Can you tell us what the bonuses are now?

18) Is the xp cost to gain a level in a skill a fixed number that is the same for everyone (assuming they meet all pre-requisites to train it)?

19) a) Will there be weapons with multiple damage types?
b) If so, how does their base damage and damage factor compare to a similar weapon with only 1 damage type?
c) How does the scaling of base damage with keywords work in those cases?

20) What is the relation between damage factor, stamina cost, and timing of the attack (if any)?

21) Area and crowd control attacks do less damage. How much less? (area crowd controls?)

22) We saw a seemingly invisible stealthed player in the Q4 video. Does this mean there will be invisibility spells (expendables)?

23) Have any of the equations for perception vs stealth, spellcraft to put spells in a spellbook, keyword scaling, or combat mechanics changed since announced?

24) a) What kind of damage (base damage, damage factor) will assassin attacks have?
b) How many stacks of "Being Observed" can be put on a target?
c) How do those attacks scale with each stack?
d) Will there be spell and ranged assassin attacks or just melee?

25) Any idea of what kind of bonuses for being in a formation? Any idea yet on the mechanics?

26) Any idea on the dedication bonuses yet?

27) a) Are classes going to be balanced based on 1v1 or group combat?
b) How does hit point scaling differ between classes?

Unrelated to combat mechanics:

What is the formula for reputation loss for killing a player?

Lastly: what is the address of Goblinworks in case we can get a pizza thank you organized? Any requests?

[Blaeringr]

Stealth? Invisibility? See invisibility? Summoning? Crowd Control?

Will wizards be pigeon holed into AoE damage and buffing like every other MMO, or will they have access to a variety of spells that do more than just go "boom"?

[Pax Shane Gifford]

What varieties of escalation are currently planned for EE? What varieties do you want to do beyond that?

[Jascolich]

Thanks @Lee for creating one thread to rule them all!

Some questions I have around the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and Early Enrollment (EE):

// ---

- What base classes will be available for EE?
-- Are there going to be any archetypes in MVP (EE)?
-- When will further classes (including prestige classes) be added?
-- Is there a development roadmap for any of this juicy class-related goodness?
(I think Ryan has partially answered some of these questions, but I cannot find the reference any more)

// ---

- Is combat physics-based? (If I poke you with a spear to the stomach, does that make you crumple over?)
-- If I bull rush you, will I actually knock you down and get to trample over you?
-- Will fireball explode and throw enemies back/up/down?
-- Do weapons have "weight", "speed" and impact?

// ---

- In combat, there is an expectation to be within a certain distance to attack (as seen in the latest video blog.) Will reach and trip weapons be included in MVP?

// ---

- Other combat-related questions
-- Are statuses like prone in MVP?
-- Do some weapons cause you to break your concentration (and combat rhythm) if they hit?
-- How is non-lethal damage handled in MVP?

// ---

- How are the grouping and party mechanics coming along?
-- Is there anything new that you can do in a party that hasn't been done before?

// ---

- The stealth mechanics were shown in the latest video blog from the sneaks perspective, what does this look like or play like from the opposing perspective? (unseen versus a perception check)

// ---

- Is aggro range a dynamic variable, by sight and sound or something else altogether?

// ---

- For MVP, what level of customisation is available at character creation? (I am not expecting a lot, but I do like to be surprised ;-)

// ---

(Also thanks to @Proxima for sparking the conversations yesterday around some focussed attention on EE.)

[Giorgo]

@Lee

There are over two pages of topics on this forum in the last month on EE and MVP related questions. There have also been lots of dev replies of "TBD" and "after OE".

Are there any topics/subjects that the design team feel pretty confident that fall into those last two categories so they can give us a heads up (to save everyone time) so we can focus on subjects more of interest that you are interested in receiving feedback? :)

[Xaer]

Will you expand the starting races to ones that will use the same model/base race?
Like:
Aquatic Half-Elf
Half-Drow
Ekujae Half-Elf
Mordant Spire Half-Elf
SnowCaster Half-Elf
Darklands Half-Orcs
Desert Half-Orcs
Jungle Half-Orcs
Mountain Half-Orcs
Winter Half-Orcs

[Andius]

Since the initial crowdforger pole crowdforging has mainly taken place in the form of player feedback on the forums. What other forms can we expect to see crowdforging take, and what other kinds of crowdforging processes could you see yourselfs implementing as we approach and move in to the EE period?

[Nightdrifter]

More combat questions:

28) a) How is the roll done to determine if a full hit is a crit or not? Is it a single d200 roll? Is it a separate 3d200 roll, taking min/middle/max based on tier? Do you receive a bonus to your crit resistance based on tier?
b) PVP crits apply a long term debuff. How long do they last and what type of debuff?
c) PVE crits apply extra damage. Is this based upon final damage or base damage? How much of an increase in damage is it?

[Tyncale]

Thanks Lee for this opportunity.

I am most curious about Inns. Using this blog description:

Quote:

Inn: A welcoming tavern that provides lodgings, player power regeneration, limited trade goods, some training for social classes, and a space for social interaction

My 5 questions are:

Are there any big differences between "backer-taverns" and PoI-Inns(apart from the destructability)?

Does the "lodgings" have anything to do with logging out in an Inn? If so what are the implications of this, mostly in view of PvP and/or transportation?

Will Inns be destinations from where you can "hop" the map for fast travel? (see this blog Time is the Fire in which we burn )

Will the barkeeper/owner of the Inn, and/or patrons be safe from PvP in the Inn?

Which mechanism will make the Inn indeed a place for social interaction, i.e. will make players spend some time there? (i.e.more then the 30 seconds it would need to logg off there). Basically how will the Inn go from being a quick utility dispenser(log out, hop into fast travel) to a social hangout?

Thanks for listening. :)

[Giorgo]

I want to make sure my questions count, so I am going research the Nihimonicon, re-read the blogs, search for all the "TBD" from Ryan, Stephen and Tork, skim the forums again (paying attention to the most debated topics and highest bans by moderators) and make the most of this opportunity. :)

[Nihimon]

Blaeringr wrote:

Will wizards be pigeon holed into AoE damage and buffing like every other MMO, or will they have access to a variety of spells that do more than just go "boom"?

+1 - Any plans/ideas to make Divination magic meaningful?

Will you be making an effort to make combat logs easy/hard to parse?

Will Watch Towers and Hideouts be implemented fairly early?

[Xeen]

What will we have PVP wise in the early days of EE?

Meaning, will there be reputation, feuding, or any other options?

[Giorgo]

MVP and EO blog is a good refresher as to what is soon to come, and I recommend it as it is applicable to Lee's question above.

[Dark Sasha]

What sorts of gathering/crafting tools will be available at Early Enrollment?

Will there be crafting areas and/or training within the NPC facilities at start?

What sorts of crafting will be available at start? (Or will starting crafters be relegated to gathering materials only?)

What sorts of storage facilities will there be at start, i.e. Banks or similar? And will these be located in the starting areas?

(Apologies if someone has submitted similar questions above me.)

[AvenaOats]

Q2: SKILL-TRAINING:

What skills should I train if I intend for my character to train Druid skills or other skills not available immediately but want to start day 1 no matter, what: Just choose what is fun or skill-train one of the four starter roles that is mapped already onto other roles, if that is the case? And what non-combat skills will be trainable in EE?

Edit: limit to game design questions.

[Giorgo]

For reference I went threw all the blogs from 2011-2014 and made an excel file in which I made a note of where the subjects/topics below are mentioned in detail. I will later make the file available and viewable on the Nihimonicon. :)

(space)
(space)

20 Development Update &Milestones
13 Kickstarter
10 Settlements
6 Alignment & Reputation
5 Combat
4 Early Enrollment
4 Flags
4 Resource Extraction (G/H/P)
4 Sandbox/Themepark
4 Venture/Charter Companies
3 Bounties & Death Curses
3 Crafting
3 Economy
3 Factions
3 Looting & Threading
3 PVP & Warfare
2 Art
2 Buildings & Construction
2 Community
2 Design Tools
2 Development Index
2 Escalation Cycle
2 Map & Hexes
2 Points of Interst/Outpost
2 Raids
2 Roles/Classes
1 Ability Scores
1 Alliances
1 Area of Effects & Friendly Fire
1 Assassins
1 Authenticators
1 Auto-Attack & Tab-Targetting
1 Character Advancement
1 Collision
1 Consumables
1 Containers
1 Contracts
1 Crowdforging
1 Death
1 Dungeons
1 Encumbrance
1 Expendables
1 Fast Travel & Movement
1 Feats
1 Flight
1 Formations
1 Griefers
1 Hexes
1 Implements
1 Influence
1 Intended Audience
1 Item Decay
1 Magic
1 Module
1 MTX/Cash Shops
1 MVP
1 Names
1 Powers/Cooldowns
1 Religion/Gods
1 Role Features
1 Salvage
1 Slavery
1 Soloing
1 Spellbooks
1 Stealth
1 Store
1 XP
0 Alpha
0 Alts
0 Auction Houses
0 Caravans
0 Character Customization
0 Community Events
0 Comunication
0 Corner Cases
0 Destiny Twins
0 Expectations
0 Feuds
0 Forums
0 Glossary
0 Goblin Balls
0 Guide Program
0 Hideouts
0 Landrush
0 Marketing
0 Mounts
0 Necromancy
0 NRDS/NBSI
0 Open Enrollment
0 Races
0 Roads
0 Skills
0 Stand and Deliver (SAD)
0 Steam
0 Trade

[RHMG Animator]

dotting thread

[Nihimon]

Giorgo wrote:

For reference I went threw all the blogs from 2011-2014 and made an excel file in which I made a note of where the subjects/topics below are mentioned in detail. I will later make the file available and viewable on the Nihimonicon. :)

This will be extremely useful. Thank you! I look forward to working with you to get the raw data sorted into even more useful form :)

[Gedichtewicht]

We know quiet a bit about the extrems of the alignment grid; some actions that drive the character to one corner or another, etc.

Can you tell us something alike about your plans to implement the True Neutral alignment?

[Nightdrifter]

Part 9(c) of the combat questions:

*Is penetrating always 10% of armor or can it be say 25% of armor?

[Harad Navar]

Please provide a breakdown of the steps in the character creation process as it is envisioned for the start of EE, and discuss the process evolution of that process up to the start of OE.
Additionally, please discuss the schedule that you intend (hope) for the inclusion of character based Kickstarter packages (class, regional traits, additional alliances, twice-marked, etc.).

[Bluddwolf]

I am most interested in the implementation of caravans and feuds. The basic questions with both:

1. When will we be able to do them?
2. How will they work?
3. What will be the risks and rewards?
4. What role will they play in the bigger picture?
5. Who can participate (alignment impacts?)?
6. How frequent does GW wish to see their use?

[Tuffon]

Cleric type questions
1. Think people have said 9 initial deities, Is that number correct?
2. Clerical Domains, Are they going to be in the game?
2a. If there are domains, is it possible to just pick 2 domains, or do clerics have to follow a deity?
2b. Are there are going to be all domains listed in the Core Rulebook?
2c. Are domain powers going to be included in the game?
3. Will deities grant weapon proficiency with the gods favored weapon?
4. Cleric spells
4a. will pfo heal spells return x health points to character or percentage? Or both % and point total heals will be available?
4b. Will domains grant access to special spells(even wizard spells) like the table top? how will domain spells be different from normal spells? ( power consumption, effect intensified etc)
4c. Will alignment based spells be included? Holy Smite for example harms and blinds Evil creature, nothing to good and minor stuff to neutral.. ( unholy smite doing the reverse..)
4d. Will Channel abilities be included? If so will related feats be included?

General Spell Questions
1. Will Summoning spells be included in PFO? (summon monster or nature ally I, II, III etc)
2. Will long turn spells like mage armor be hours long affairs costing power, or short term spells where it is expected to cast this early on in combat encounters.
3. Will all spells register as agro from a caster or only ones that do physical damage? Spells like color spray or grease that affect areas but do no damage, will they cause friendly fire if they hit people or is that only damage based spells?

General Combat Questions
1. Will there be weapons with better critical ranges and multipliers like there is in tabletop? For instance a rapier or a falchions each have critical ranges of 18-20 doing x2 damage versus a warhammer that only critical’s on a 20 but does more damage at x3.
2. Can you give us an idea as to what a normal T1 type skill is (in regards to weapon feats is this power attack, weapon focus, combat reflexes etc ) and also a idea of what power type level or feat would be considered a T2 ability (weapon specialization type things, or whirlwind attack type things?) .

[RHMG Animator]

Updated the List with something that got forgotten

20 Development Update &Milestones
13 Kickstarter
10 Settlements
6 Alignment & Reputation
5 Combat
4 Early Enrollment
4 Flags
4 Resource Extraction (G/H/P)
4 Sandbox/Themepark
4 Venture/Charter Companies
3 Bounties & Death Curses
3 Crafting
3 Economy
3 Factions
3 Looting & Threading
3 PVP & Warfare
2 Art
2 Buildings & Construction
2 Community
2 Design Tools
2 Development Index
2 Escalation Cycle
2 Map & Hexes
2 Points of Interst/Outpost
2 Raids
2 Roles/Classes
1 Ability Scores
1 Alliances
1 Area of Effects & Friendly Fire
1 Assassins
1 Authenticators
1 Auto-Attack & Tab-Targetting
1 Character Advancement
1 Collision
1 Consumables
1 Containers
1 Contracts
1 Crowdforging
1 Death
1 Dungeons
1 Encumbrance
1 Expendables
1 Fast Travel & Movement
1 Feats
1 Flight
1 Formations
1 Griefers
1 Hexes
1 Implements
1 Influence
1 Intended Audience
1 Item Decay
1 Magic
1 Module
1 MTX/Cash Shops
1 MVP
1 Names
1 Powers/Cooldowns
1 Religion/Gods
1 Role Features
1 Salvage
1 Slavery
1 Soloing
1 Spellbooks
1 Stealth
1 Store
1 XP
0 Alpha
0 Alts
0 Auction Houses
0 Caravans
0 Character Customization
0 Community Events
0 Comunication
0 Corner Cases
0 Destiny Twins
0 Expectations
0 Feuds
0 Forums
0 Glossary
0 Goblin Balls
0 Guide Program
0 Hideouts
0 Landrush
0 Marketing
0 Mounts
0 Necromancy
0 NRDS/NBSI
0 Open Enrollment
0 Races
0 Roads
0 Skills
0 Stand and Deliver (SAD)
0 Steam
0 Trade
0 Shield Mate

[Fanndis Goldbraid]

Clerical Spells, i.e. variety, depth, power, utility.... Will there be a (mostly) full portfolio of clerical spells available over time (not too worried about high level spells early, as those have time to "ripen" as the game progresses).

Crafting - How deep and wide is the crafting system in Alpha, EE, first six months? What is the expected progression and rollout looking like? What variety of apprentice crafting skills, journeyman, and master professions (and specializations)?

[Tyncale]

I have one more question about how casual PFO is:

Is there an indication of how many hours of playing will be needed on average in order to fully use the monthly max amount of xp on a single character? When it comes to getting achievements and such?

I realize this will differ HUGELY per character, which skills and role they chose, how well embedded they are in a group/alliance that can help them etcetera.

So what I am basically asking is, will a casual player that has around 40-60 hours per month to play(2-3 hours a day, not every day), who chooses his skills and the according achievements and goals wisely (within possible reach) be able to "max" his character every month, i.e. expend all of the monthly xp?

[AvenaOats]

Any more details on the initial economy?

[BrotherZael]

@Avena. Little to no initial economy in my belief. Part of this EE and the slow build is so that we have time to build and establish the economy, to determine prices, goods, and market values.

[AvenaOats]

BrotherZael wrote:

@Avena. Little to no initial economy in my belief. Part of this EE and the slow build is so that we have time to build and establish the economy, to determine prices, goods, and market values.

That's all true, but a sort of simulated basic economy is the initial plan described:

PvE (in) = mobs, chests, nodes [coin, materials]
PvP (out) = damaged items, item decay, item loss
P+P/E (exchange) = Skill-Trainers, NPC-vendors, Player-crafters

If they have details, that is a substantial picture of what EE will look like I guess and what sort of pathfindery skills and materials we'll be experiencing.

[Nihimon]

(I suggest we try to keep this thread clear of discussions of the questions so that the questions themselves don't get buried.)

I would like to know much more specific information about Spells:

• Which Spells will be available when we start EE?
  
• What's the current design for slotting Spells?
  
• What Feats will be available to modify Spells?
  
• What's the current design for Refresh Feats with respect to Spells?

[Bluddwolf]

What role will terrain play in combat?

Will terrain features provide cover?

Will differences in elevation provide advantages and disadvantages?

I know there was discussion about "facing" being implemented. Will this open the doors for flanking / attacks from behind (advantages / disadvantages).

Will there be ranged combat feats or key words that simulate suppression fire, by either slowing opponents or making them inclined to seek cover?

Will there be volley-fire that acts as an AOE?

[leperkhaun]

1) The start of EE will have PfO being a minimum viable product. The result is that systems such as reputation and SAD will not be in the game. Due to this there is zero consequences to player actions. In fact the lack of SAD means that the only way to be a bandit is to kill someone. How will GW prevent PfO from becoming a murder sim? More importantly what is GW doing to ensure that the culture of PfO does not end up as a FFA even when these mechanics are introduced at a later date due to already having developed a toxic culture?

2) What mechanics/systems does GW plan on having for the start of EE to give players something to do?

3) How much item destruction will there be in the game? There is plenty of talk about item looting, but the key to keeping crafters relevant is having a constant demand for goods, which can ONLY happen if items leave the game. Basically if I die would i expect a % of goods to poof or just a couple including items that are in a bag.

4) We have been told that combat roles (fighter/wizard..etc) will require about 2.5 years of xp to hit max level. Does this mean that in 2.5 years a person will be able to train in 100% of a roles abilities OR does that mean in 2.5 years a person can train the highest tier abilities. For example lets say you have a fighter, can you max both shield abilities AND polearm abilities or just one of them.

5) How long will it take to max out a non combat role (gatherer, crafter...etc).

[Bluddwolf]

1. Can we expect travel on rivers, at some point?

2. Will rivers provide settlements at the banks if rivers to build structures, obviously marinas and structures specific to river trade?

3. Will there be combat on rivers?

4. River Piracy!!!?

[AvenaOats]

What sort of diverse geographical features will there be in Early Enrollment and how what sort of resources will such differences yield per hex?

[AvenaOats]

What sort of stock buildings and related functions will be available at the start of EE (in stock locations)?

[Kobold Catgirl]

Will all the weapons in the Core Rulebook be eventually included? How many do you plan to be included by the end of EE?

What types of Escalation Cycles do you plan to include?

How do you envision a settlement allying with an Escalation Cycle to work, if it will?

Will there be an option for clerics of gods not explicitly included (Empyrael Lords, Groetus, etc.) to leave their worship ambiguous, or will they be pigeonholed into more ordinary worship?

[AvenaOats]

What sort of roles will be available for players to fill in EE on day one?

[note: Not sure if the "what sort of..." questioning technique is optimal, but it's simple and hopefully straightforward to answer (open-ended)]

[Pax Shane Gifford]

Can a low-reputation-threshold settlement be in the same kingdom as a high-reputation-threshold settlement?

More generally, any specifics on the benefits of forming kingdoms?

[AvenaOats]

Scouting back over: "Time is the Fire in which We Burn" and, "Over the Hill and Far Away",

Hex Size:

Before anyone panics, the total size of the game is not changing; if anything it may get bigger, since there are now a lot more hexes. Currently our hex-size experiments are falling into the range of 400 to 1000 meters across per new, smaller hex.

Will distance still be a meaningful economic measure in EE with a smaller map? Have you tested the above hex sizes for travel times?

Movement speed:

In fact, we expect that characters will use a variety of mounts to move about the game world, many of which will move faster than a walking character. The variables involved are complex enough that trying to describe them in this context is not going to add much value. Even on a fast mount, the time required to move from point to point within the game world will still be fairly significant.

Of course, you won't always move at the fastest possible rate. Tracking, searching, and other such activities will slow you down. And while some conveyances will allow you to move a lot of stuff at one time, the draft animals that pull them generally move at less than walking speed. Terrain conditions will also affect your speed—slogging through a muddy marsh is going to take longer than traversing a good road.

What other types of movement speed/method will be possible in EE?

Fast Travel:

This has been a topic of much interest on the messageboards, and this is a good place to address it.

Fast travel is a mechanism that allows a character to move from place to place in the game world faster than it would take to walk. Typically, fast travel in MMOs is "hands free," meaning players don't have to interact with the game while their character is traveling.

Will Fast Travel be one of them?

Rationale for questions: Distance and the size of the map imparts both economic significance (as well as risk factors) and worldly immersion in a large outlandish world (large and impressive) I think is aided by impressively large game worlds.

[AvenaOats]

Q: Are you thinking of doing twitch recordings (or the like) during alpha, for backers occasionally?

[Jascolich]

// How soon after MVP can we expect to see guns and gunslingers? (12 months?)

// Will psionics ever make it into PFO?

// How will encumbrance affect speed? (lightly/moderately/heavily/over or just one cut-off point?)

// Can you please give us an approximate indication of how long IRL it would take to build a few structures given ideal conditions? (walls, crafting room, storeroom)

// Will character statistics and skills play a meaningful part in the PVE world?
-- Charisma skills: intimidation, diplomacy, bluff, etc
-- Intelligence skills: appraise, craft, knowledge, etc
-- Wisdom skills: heal, perception, survival, etc

// How can stats and skills be meaningfully incorporated into PVP and wider world happenings?

// How is inventory, storage and banking handled?
-- How much stuff can I carry?
-- Where can I put stuff that I don't need?
-- Is there any type of secure storage that cannot be stolen (or is very hard to steal from)?

[BrotherZael]

1)How will diplomacy act out between players? If it is all just chat-based (not using the skill) what use is that skill, or even a diplomacy class (I understand for use with NPCs but that seems a bit wasteful for an entire class to be dedicated into NPCs for a PC-based game.)

2)Can we build into the geography e.g. carve a fort into the side of the mountain, build the stereotypical dwarven city, turn the peak of a mountain into a wizard's spire.

3) Will we be able to be a part of different guilds. For instance a trader wants to be a part of the trade guild for one city, and for another at the same time.

4) Will there be a way to launch things like goblins and cows over walls, or is it just going to be stones and firepots?

5) Will there be diplomatic-based and/or scholarly-based PoIs?

6) How much is the "history" of the land going to play a role in the game, both in terms of geography and in art/culture, as well as in terms of wealth and archaeological expeditions.

7) Out of personal interest, is the "inquisitor" "class" going to be offered?

8) when a new "class tree" is admitted into the game, will existing characters be given the option to switch to that "class tree" transferring the levels they've taken in another "class" immediately? Or will everything be set in stone? How do you justify this, especially if you say no as it will ruin that person's chance of ever getting the capstone ability for that "class tree" until they make a new character?

[AvenaOats]

Giorgo wrote:

MVP and EO blog is a good refresher as to what is soon to come, and I recommend it as it is applicable to Lee's question above.

Tsh! There's some really good questions, but a quick reminder, the devs are likely answering ALPHA + EARLY ENROLLMENT feature set questions for the MPV: See Giorgo's link to the relevant blog post and forum discussion, for questions have a good chance of being countenanced by the devs.

[Jascolich]

Giorgo wrote:

MVP and EO blog is a good refresher as to what is soon to come, and I recommend it as it is applicable to Lee's question above.

"...Our intention is to make the roadmap very public so that everyone knows what is currently being worked on, in what order, and what the estimated delivery timeframes are..."

// In the lead-in to alpha and early enrollment, a roadmap would be helpful as it will give us some idea of what is coming up in the pipeline and how we can provide considered discussion around the crowdforged bits =D

[AvenaOats]

Lead-in: One for the art and graphics team: I was most of all impressed by the larger scale showcased in the latest WIP video, notably the castle/keep, the multi-storied buildings and the height map in the background shows some promising topography. However the trees currently look like a young growth forest:-

Q: Will forests appear suitably large with large trees in proportion to avatars with continued work and development?

[AvenaOats]

Q: How is Goblinworks' experience working with Unity? Discuss. ;)