Ask Your Producer: Valentine's Day 2015

It's been a little while, and a huge amount has changed in Achaea since my last AYP thread, so I'm opening a new one for the weekend! 

To pre-answer some of the burning questions:
1) Eleusis renaissance is pretty much ready to go! I hope to have it starting in the next week or so.
2) We're still expanding on the PVE environment, we've got some cool stuff in the works in the very near future.
3) General classleads will be open around the end of the month.

As an aside, you can follow me on Twitter: @TectonAchaea to keep up to date on small things and announcements.

I'm armed with a big cup of coffee, so have at it!
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Comments

  • AgriasAgrias Wisconsin
    The burning question most of us have is...so how about that multiclass, yo?
    image
  • TectonTecton The Garden of the Gods
    Agrias said:
    The burning question most of us have is...so how about that multiclass, yo?
    Getting closer every day! We had some delays with Eleusis due to "the Big Change", but now things are barrelling ahead with the remaining renaissances.
  • AgriasAgrias Wisconsin
    Pardon me, while I go explode from sheer excitement.
    image
  • Have you thought about the overwhelming exponential introduction of automation into the game over the past couple of years and how to reduce the impact it has had from both a PvE perspective and a PvP perspective? If not, do you think that it is an issue that you'll consider sometime in the near future - say, within the next couple of years? 
  • So, on the Eleusis Rennaisance. How many slimy mudsex houses did we get? Any other details to share?
  • TectonTecton The Garden of the Gods
    Jovolo said:
    Have you thought about the overwhelming exponential introduction of automation into the game over the past couple of years and how to reduce the impact it has had from both a PvE perspective and a PvP perspective? If not, do you think that it is an issue that you'll consider sometime in the near future - say, within the next couple of years? 
    Definitely something we're mindful of! Unfortunately there's only so much that we can do while everything runs over telnet and regular expressions exist - text is something that's easy to machine-parse and get the details that you need from it. 

    Our stance on automation hasn't shifted though, if you're caught automating something like bashing, you're going to face some pretty stiff penalties.
  • I'm excited for Eleusis renaissance.

    Anything you can say about timeline or anything, about forestal changes?

    Thanks
  • What are your plans for Valentine's Day, apart from showing your love to the playerbase with this AYP thread?

    When will in-line envenoming for flay actually be in? (I want this change bad and was sad it didn't actually work when it went live)

    Are PvE changes in the works right now focused on new areas? Revamping existing content? Honours focused or general mob focused?

    What's your perfect Sunday?

    CLG or TSM?

    Favorite fantasy book series?

    How do you like the tank changes? If you've formed an opinion at all on them yet.

    Any hints on what  (assumedly minor) changes Serpents will be getting after losing Milking, if anything?
    image
    Cascades of quicksilver light streak across the firmament as the celestial voice of Ourania intones, "Oh Jarrod..."

  • Typical ranty questiony bit from me RE Lord @Phaestus, Dwarf Kings, etc. so I know when to plan to retire as Dwarven WarChieftain.
  • A few weeks ago I asked about the possibility of replacing alchemists with forestals for Targossas, and the reply was that it wasn't currently being offered. I'm wondering about the rationale for that. I know for Targossas at least, the decision was made for us when the city was founded. I'd love to have forestals, they have much better synergy with devotion than alchemists. Is this just a policy thing or would it be excessively difficult to code?

     i'm a rebel

  • edited February 2015
    Tesha said:
    A few weeks ago I asked about the possibility of replacing alchemists with forestals for Targossas, and the reply was that it wasn't currently being offered. I'm wondering about the rationale for that. I know for Targossas at least, the decision was made for us when the city was founded. I'd love to have forestals, they have much better synergy with devotion than alchemists. Is this just a policy thing or would it be excessively difficult to code?
    To be fair, I think a lot of Ashtan would prefer to have the three forestal classes over Alchemist as well. Strikes me as an intended policy thing rather than a coding issue.
  • TectonTecton The Garden of the Gods
    Sidd said:
    I'm excited for Eleusis renaissance.

    Anything you can say about timeline or anything, about forestal changes?

    Thanks
    We're working on Sentinels as our next tradeskill split, I don't have a timeline for it's release due to the somewhat volatile nature of overhauling/rebalancing a class (and sometimes going back to the drawing board if something doesn't mesh well in reality), but I'm excited!
  • edited February 2015
    Merador said:
    Tesha said:
    A few weeks ago I asked about the possibility of replacing alchemists with forestals for Targossas, and the reply was that it wasn't currently being offered. I'm wondering about the rationale for that. I know for Targossas at least, the decision was made for us when the city was founded. I'd love to have forestals, they have much better synergy with devotion than alchemists. Is this just a policy thing or would it be excessively difficult to code?
    To be fair, I think a lot of Ashtan would prefer to have the three forestal classes over Alchemist as well. Strikes me as an intended policy thing rather than a coding issue.
    Yeah, but at least you guys got to choose (I think?).

     i'm a rebel

  • How many hours a day do you normally spend working on Achaea? What sorts of things does a typical work day entail?
  • Anything in the works to try and divide the combat focused build up in Ashtan known as the A-team?
  • TectonTecton The Garden of the Gods

    Jarrod said:
    What are your plans for Valentine's Day, apart from showing your love to the playerbase with this AYP thread?

    When will in-line envenoming for flay actually be in? (I want this change bad and was sad it didn't actually work when it went live)

    Are PvE changes in the works right now focused on new areas? Revamping existing content? Honours focused or general mob focused?

    What's your perfect Sunday?

    CLG or TSM?

    Favorite fantasy book series?

    How do you like the tank changes? If you've formed an opinion at all on them yet.

    Any hints on what  (assumedly minor) changes Serpents will be getting after losing Milking, if anything?
    1) I just made a nice breakfast for my wife, will get a bit of time in with you guys (my other love), then probably do something special later today!

    2) It's in!
    > FLAY PERSON SHIELD ACONITE
    You rub some aconite on Elentari's Scourge.
    You try to flay a non-existent shield from Person.
    With your victim exposed, you crack Elentari's Scourge back for a second assault.

    Hrrm, looking at this though, the base non-shield/rebounding envenoming seems to be off - I'll get it fixed up.

    3) We've got some new areas, as well as overhauling mechanics to make it a little more interactive and fun, not just mash F1 for an hour.

    4) Sleep, sleep, and more sleep.

    5) I had to google that to find out what you were talking about (*hangs head in shame*)

    6) All-time, I'd have to say Feist's Riftwar cycle, was one of the earliest series that I got into, and I followed it (through it's ups and downs) to the very end. Currently reading through the Stormlight Archives, which has been good so far.

    7) A marginally slower to get to L1, but L2 and L3 not dragging out into the realm of "is this raid still going?" is a good thing. We're monitoring the growth rates of every placed tank to see if we can improve things more.

    8) Nothing set in stone yet - will be very minor. We're not, for instance, going to consolidate all of venoms into a single ability and give serpents an additional new skill. Subterfuge is already filled to the hilt, so it'll most likely involve tweaking/splitting those and maybe some further expansion of one of the key concepts.
  • TectonTecton The Garden of the Gods
    Faur said:
    Typical ranty questiony bit from me RE Lord @Phaestus, Dwarf Kings, etc. so I know when to plan to retire as Dwarven WarChieftain.
    IC answer: When he sleeps off his bender, he'll be back! 
    OOC answer: When a Celani wants the role, it'll be back!
  • I like all answers. Stormlight Archive is great, can't wait for the continuation on it. Though for me Kingkiller Chronicles is the top of my list.

    (Though when I tested during our raid last night FLAY JHUI REBOUNDING CURARE didn't work. Will test if it's still the case/reproduce-able later (though the bug I submitted at the  time got deleted as duplicate.)
    image
    Cascades of quicksilver light streak across the firmament as the celestial voice of Ourania intones, "Oh Jarrod..."

  • Last year has done quite a bit to keep players with non-american/slow pings competitive with serverside queueing, setalias as well as serverside curing. Serverside curing though still has that simulated ping of 100-120ms, is there any chance of lowering it down to 50-80 to keep it more in line with people who live closer to the server?

    Also are there any statistics of how many players have CURING ON vs CURING OFF? I really want to know how many people have embraced serverside.
  • TectonTecton The Garden of the Gods
    Tesha said:
    Merador said:
    Tesha said:
    A few weeks ago I asked about the possibility of replacing alchemists with forestals for Targossas, and the reply was that it wasn't currently being offered. I'm wondering about the rationale for that. I know for Targossas at least, the decision was made for us when the city was founded. I'd love to have forestals, they have much better synergy with devotion than alchemists. Is this just a policy thing or would it be excessively difficult to code?
    To be fair, I think a lot of Ashtan would prefer to have the three forestal classes over Alchemist as well. Strikes me as an intended policy thing rather than a coding issue.
    Yeah, but at least you guys got to choose (I think?).
    Will answer this mini-thread at once. It's a policy thing, helping reinforce and strengthen the forestal faction as a whole. That's not to say that it'll stay this way forever, but at this point in time, no plans on reversing it.
  • TectonTecton The Garden of the Gods

    Sena said:
    How many hours a day do you normally spend working on Achaea? What sorts of things does a typical work day entail?
    Hrrm, usually 10 - 12 non-contiguous hours a day/7 days a week/365 days a year.

    Hrrm, daily tasks include:
    • General communication: in-game messages/email/forums
    • Overseeing the Garden: Celani training and help, Helping the gods with their varied projects, working with the coding team on various topics (from brainstorming, developing proposals, QA/testing, release management)
    • Project work (both for Achaea, and for the whole of IRE)
    • Overseeing / answering things like issues/bugs/ideas.
    • Monitoring IRE's back-end infrastructure.
    • Monitoring for fraud.
    • Researching current industry trends.
    Then there's always the triage stuff, which comes up all the time!
  • TectonTecton The Garden of the Gods
    Austere said:
    Anything in the works to try and divide the combat focused build up in Ashtan known as the A-team?
    I wouldn't necessarily say that we're actively seeking to break up the power cluster in Ashtan, but it's definitely something we're mindful of. If friends want to play the game together, they'll find a way to play together!

    I -hope- that when we get to Ashtan's renaissance, we can give the city a bit more of a unified direction (which may be wishful thinking). What this means for the "A-team", who knows!
  • Could we get a breakdown of Knight specs chosen by class, perhaps? Would be interesting to see, though I suspect S&B is the runaway favourite.
  • TectonTecton The Garden of the Gods
    Nemutaur said:
    Last year has done quite a bit to keep players with non-american/slow pings competitive with serverside queueing, setalias as well as serverside curing. Serverside curing though still has that simulated ping of 100-120ms, is there any chance of lowering it down to 50-80 to keep it more in line with people who live closer to the server?

    Also are there any statistics of how many players have CURING ON vs CURING OFF? I really want to know how many people have embraced serverside.
    Re: simulated latency - we're pretty happy with this at the moment, but it's something that we're always mindful of.

    Stats: Not something I have on-hand. I can check for all players, but that wouldn't be representative, since it's a relatively new addition.
  • TectonTecton The Garden of the Gods
    Antonius said:
    Could we get a breakdown of Knight specs chosen by class, perhaps? Would be interesting to see, though I suspect S&B is the runaway favourite.
    Hrrm, let's see:

    Of all currently-specced knights:
    Dual Blunt: 14%
    Dual Cutting: 22%
    S+B: 40%
    2H: 24%


  • Where do the Ashura stand in the renaissance? Any plans to preserve one of the last monastic Houses? Keep them I say, has more potential then any other House I'v seen :)

    Thanks for working so hard on the game all the time, it's awesome
  • Second question, will you be my Valentine? Or Salentine I think I'v heard it called in remembrance of Lady Selene. 
  • TectonTecton The Garden of the Gods
    Kygo said:
    Where do the Ashura stand in the renaissance? Any plans to preserve one of the last monastic Houses? Keep them I say, has more potential then any other House I'v seen :)

    Thanks for working so hard on the game all the time, it's awesome
    Nothing set in stone yet, and you're welcome!
  • edited February 2015
    Bug discovered for Flay and submitted by someone else (requires venom in a vial, currently doesn't allow for Transcrete)

    Is there any way you could break those knight spec #s down by Runewarden/Paladin/Infernal?
    image
    Cascades of quicksilver light streak across the firmament as the celestial voice of Ourania intones, "Oh Jarrod..."

This discussion has been closed.