Asherons Call: It's Q&A Time

Question - TalidownGoldbow - I'm probably not the first to suggest this but from what i can see from the certain skills (with the exception of LP), they are the only ones left without a real ingame use.
Answer srand - There are technically problems with hiding radar blips from other players. However, we have been discussing some interesting (albeit not terribly powerful) other uses for deception and assess person/creature.

Question - Gator - When casting spells, there seems to be a lot of space below the current spells that another row could be added to save from having to scroll back and forth so much while fighting with a mage.
Answer srand - That's an interesting idea. That space used to be taken up by the personal spell economy bar, of course. But since there is no more personal spell economy, there's no more bar. I'll ask around and see how feasible this idea that might be.

Question - Balldrain - Can't you just put a check that KNOWS there is an imbue/tinker on the item and asks you are you SURE you want to salvage this tinkerred item?
Answer srand - If it were actually simple, I would have done it already. It's not.

Question - Greyscout - Be kinda curious why the Shendlain Bow isn't on that list?
Answer srand -You craft the Shendolain bow into the crossbow. We cannot yet make craftable things ivoryable. We're working on it.

Question - TalidownGoldbow - I'm probably not the first to suggest this but from what i can see from the certain skills (with the exception of LP), they are the only ones left without a real ingame use.
Answer srand - There are technically problems with hiding radar blips from other players. However, we have been discussing some interesting (albeit not terribly powerful) other uses for deception and assess person/creature.

Question - Eu_insumi - Skill sellback, post creation spec and now attribute change post creation, you only need to add the skill system and AC1 will turn into a graphically outdated AC2.
Answer Orion - I would like to explain the reasons for the implementation of both the Skill Sellback and Attribute redistribution.

Asheron's Call has been unforgiving to players that made poor choices at creation, or along their characters career. In the past those poor choices have only had one avenue of rectification; re-rolling. Further, some people made good choices, for their play style at the time only to have something change in the game that made that skill less fun for them to posess hence it became useless and the only way to remove that skill? Again re-rolling.

Harsh for the player, unlike many who come to the boards to air grievances, that spends perhaps 3-4 hours a week playing Asheron's Call to watch as they fall further and further behind the flow of the game. Now those players have options to undo those mistakes and continue playing the characters into which they have invested their precious time.

It is an option. No one is forcing you to go to the Temple of Forgetfulness or Enlightenment to remove a skill or specialize another. You can choose to do this if you wish, or you can plug along as you have all along.

It can be argued, and has been, that you won't be able to see certain content in the game, such as a Devastator or the Tusker King Quest, if you do not conform and participate in these quests. Well that may seem to be the case and many believe that it is true. In a sense it is. There are areas that you will not be able to visit alone. You can if you wish, and some people might even survive against such odds, but they are the rarity and quickly learn that such places, while they can survive, are hardly worth the effort alone.

We, as a team, are committed to allowing any playstyle to exist within Asheron's Call. If you choose to not participate in the Skill Sellback and/or the Attribute redistribution aspects you don't need to. You will be able to achieve the lofty goals of surviving the Tusker Gauntlet of defeating the Olthoi Queen, or any other number of difficult achievements in the game. Some content will remain beyond you, you may not be able to effectively hit that Tusker Devastator consistently until 110, or maybe 120, but there will come a time when you will. Bring friends, and at around 100 you'll be able to, with their assistance, defeat them at around 100. But solo them for effective experience? More than likley never, but that goes for the Uber templates as well. Some things at the higher levels are meant to be shared experiences.

With that said I want to reiterate something. No one, but you, is forcing you to undertake these quests. That onus falls solely upon yourself.

Question - Rojun_ - They have to leave the house empty for 10 minutes or the entire landblock, including other houses in the same settlement for 10 minutes? What about apartments?
Answer srand - If you have an apartment, you need to get the entire RQ empty long enough for it to reload. If you have a house, you need to leave the landblock -- which generally includes all the houses around you and some wilderness area -- empty for 10 minutes. Yes, this can be difficult, especially for high traffic RQs, but if nothing else you can leave it overnight -- there is generally some period overnight when even an RQ is empty for 10 minutes.

If you have a chest that still has the old owners name on it, and therefore you cannot open it, you will need to wait until we get the code for resynching these chests taken care of before you can clean up the second chest, probably in February. (It's been a long, nasty task, but it should be done soon.) Please note that since you can't access the second chest, there is NO danger of item loss with the items in your chest. Potential item loss comes when you are moving items back and forth between them.

A special note: most of the people I've seen who can't get their duplicated chests to clear up forgot to remove the backback from the chest. Don't forget the backpack!

We are still working hard on this issue. The incidence of duplication is way down (although as you saw this month, a certain type of server crash can still cause problems). In January, you will get a message when you try to put something into a duplicated chest that immediately let's you know that it is duplicated and that you need to empty it. In February, if all goes well, those recalcitrant duplicated chests should be resynched to their proper owner, and duplicated housing objects should be cleaning themselves up as soon as you empty and close them, which should be a bit more convenient for everyone.

Question - .Vici. - The Swarthy Mattekar robe it's currently UP to fire and BA to cold, I think you got them backwards.
Answer Orion - Not a bug. That swarthy mattekar's not like the others is all.

Question - Solan_Thommad - Stalls?! You mean it's an obstacle course?!
Answer Orion - There are 8 more upstairs in those marketplace rooms. For a total of 26, couple that with two rooms set for trading and you have 52 stalls for trade bots alone.