Dev Chat Log

We had a chance to chat with the developers of Lord of the Rings Online. If you missed the chat, don't worry here is the transcript of it.

WarCry Icemasta: Will all items be available for a certain amount of skirmish marks or will there be a need for higher grade marks from 3-6-12 man skirmishes to get certain items? Will the skirmish barter system be similar to that of PvMP in which you can buy lowest item by just using the lowest marks and buy the best quality item using normal marks, and a combination of purple, blue and yellow marks?
jwbarry All items will be available for purchase for all players. Small Tokens come from and 3 man skirmishes. Large Tokens come from 6 and 12 man skirmishes. Some rewards require Small Tokens and some require Large Tokens, in addition to an amount of Skirmish Marks.

Read on to see what all the developers had to say.

We would like to thank Turbine and Codemasters for taking time out of their busy schedule to chat with us. Here is the transcript from the developer chat if you missed it:

WarCry: Vetaro: Does it feel discouraging when players tend to only focus on bad things about new content a while after it went live? Critics always scream louder than happy players...
Orion: Not at all. In fact, criticism is excellent it lets us know where we need to improve. The only frustration that arises in when you cannot answer someone as honestly as you would like, due to the rules and regulations in place. Every time that we see something negative we look at the complaints objectively, go back into the game and see what the core of the issue is and see if we can find out what the loud voices are truly trying to say.
Orion: More often than not the screams can be addressed with something fairly minor. Sometimes, the negative highlights deep-seeded issues and we can make people feel better. I learned a long time ago that you need to have a thich skin in this industry. Keep on smiling and never let them see you sweat.

Also a German translation has been made available at http://www.buffed.de/forum/index.php?showforum=44

We had the chance to host a chat with some of the developers for Lord of the Rings Online!

Check out what the devs had to say to questions from players:

WarCry: MataTahu: Question for Fantus and the rest of the World Team: Any chance you could dangle a bite in front of us, of what areas of the map are due to be released "soon"? Soon meaning in the forseeable but indefinite future, of course!
Fantus: We are working hard on Mirkwood at the moment, as well as several instances. As far as when you will get them? Soon.
Fantus: We plan on going to new areas after that, but that is a bit too far in advance to fill you in on, just yet.

I had the chance to participate in a live 'webinar' with Chronicles of the Spellborn developers and Acclaim Games representatives. Developers El Dryver and Matthew Florianz and Acclaim representatives David Perry (CCO), Neil Malhotra (CTO), David DeWald (The Historian) and Howard Marks (CEO) all participated in the webinar. In short, it was a who's who of the development and North American distribution teams for TCotS.

Head through the jump to read some highlights from the chat as well as to get a look at some never before seen screenshots.

The fine folks from Flying Labs stopped by our chat room and answered questions from the community about Pirates of The Burning Sea.

<DelmarWynn> Arkenor: Question: Limiting conquest chat to a single career has the effect of marginalising Privateers and Freetraders in the organisation of RvR, especially with regards to organising invites for Port Battles. Are there any plans to make Conquest a general skill (with a level requirement)?
<[FLS]Taelorn> Navy have conquest chat because it's one of the benefits of their career, similar to how Privateers have Sanctioned Piracy.
<[FLS]Taelorn> We're not currently planning to move it to a general skill, but it's on the list of possibilities.
<[FLS]Taelorn> Also, the skill work in 1.4 is changing things to make it easier to access some of those abilities.

Click "Read More" to see the entire chat log.

Here is the chat log from our Warhammer Online Dev chat. We want to thank the Devs for taking time out of their busy schedule to answer a few questions.

<~DelmarWynn> Guest120: 1) Tell me more about lairs. Saw them in newsletter, but not too much info. How are they different from an instance dungeon.
<@[WAR]Gabe> Generally speaking lairs will be fundamentally different in that they are not instanced.
<@[WAR]Gabe> They will be persistant world things that you come by.
<@[WAR]Gabe> There will be various ways to gain access to them.
<@[WAR]Gabe> For example discovering a button in one end of city.
<@[WAR]Gabe> That opens a cage with a beast inside on the other.

Click "Read More" to see the entire chat.

You totally missed it and we hate you for that. Next time, we're not even going to save a piece of the cake for you. Meanie. We don't hold a grudge, though, so be sure to click Read More for the full chat log! Here's a mere taste:

WarCry: Orladen: Will we ever see the costline in the areas we currently have to explore,?
Scenario: Our next new region, currently slated for a Book 13 release, will allow players to see the ocean for the very first time. The time for speculation is now!

Enjoy!

You totally missed it and we hate you for that. Next time, we're not even going to save a piece of the cake for you. Meanie. We don't hold a grudge, though, so be sure to click Read More for the full chat log! Here's a mere taste:

WarCry: Orladen: Will we ever see the costline in the areas we currently have to explore,?
Scenario: Our next new region, currently slated for a Book 13 release, will allow players to see the ocean for the very first time. The time for speculation is now!

Enjoy!

The chat's officially over. Were you there? If not, you missed a great one! Fortunately for you, however, we have the log. Here's a sample:

WarCry: AnnraThannar: When will trial island be ready and is trial island also dedicated for old buddy key owners. I hope so, because it may help reducing spam.
Phathom: Trial Island is a name that has a poor association with it at the moment. The Trial Island was started with the intention of having a stand alone client that new players can try out. Our current intention for the Trial Island is to use it as the new starting location for most of the races and new players.
Phathom: The Isle of Dawn is the actual name now "Spoiler Alert"
Phathom: We plan on restarting work on the Isle next month and expect to have it out to you near and around April
Phathom: Spam -- We are looking at issues at the moment with this but we want you to be able to get your friends back in the game to experience a much better starting experience
Phathom: and allow you to be there to share the new experience without having the content too low for you to play. We're still working out the details

You'll just have to click on "Read More" to devour the rest. A huge thank you for everyone, especially the developers, for taking the time to join us tonight. We look forward to doing it again!

Ah, another fantastic chat in the books! Here's a sample of what went on:

WarCry: arkohighstar: there has been much discussion lately on the death penalty, any update on whether you plan on making major changes to it in the future?
Eladrin: There's been a very active thread on the DDO forums related to XP as a death penalty, and we've been listening to the feedback that we've been getting from there and other sources.
Eladrin: Two of the biggest things we hear about as negative play experiences revolve around permanent item damage as well as XP loss on death.
Eladrin: Both of these are being addressed in Module Six...
Eladrin: First off, bound items will no longer be subject to permanent damage. The permanent damage rate on unbound objects will be halved, and repair costs are reduced across the board.
Eladrin: A simple manner to bind any objects you desire will be available using the Eldritch Devices in some common areas.
Eladrin: Related to the death penalty: We've removed the XP penalty from death entirely, and replaced it with a system that deals some item wear to all equipped, non-stacking objects and applies a short duration debuff after resurrection.

Big thanks to everyone for joining us and to Turbine for taking the time to answer our questions! Be sure to click "Read More" to see the entire log.