Ask your Producer: October 2014

Tecton

Time for another AYP! An open forum for any questions your have about Achaea. I'll have this thread open for a couple of days, or until the questions slow down, whichever comes first!

Please make sure you read through the thread to see if your question has been asked previously before posting, just to save some time.

Have at it!

Atalkez

When will Anarchaea open again?

Tecton

Atalkez said:

When will Anarchaea open again?

No plans to open it up any time soon, I'm afraid!

Bukariin

Hi Tecton, long-time listener, first-time caller.

We've already gotten a taste of what Knight classes are going to be like (e.g. awesome) after Forging becomes a mini-skill.  What can we expect of classes with Trade skills that don't use weapons, like forestals, Alchemists and Magi?  Any hints as to what direction forestals will go post-Concoctions?

Shiro

Can you open up more on how you'll deal with the pricing structure for artefact weapons in light of the new changes, specifically 1h vs 2h pricing. 

Also, how are you gonna deal with switching weaponmastery specs? At least what you're leaning towards doing? 

Tecton

Bukariin said:

Hi Tecton, long-time listener, first-time caller.

We've already gotten a taste of what Knight classes are going to be like (e.g. awesome) after Forging becomes a mini-skill.  What can we expect of classes with Trade skills that don't use weapons, like forestals, Alchemists and Magi?  Any hints as to what direction forestals will go post-Concoctions?

Each of the split classes will be getting a new skill that is combat/rp focussed - this may be that it's something that we're splitting off from their existing skills and expanding, or something that is completely new and falls in-line with the RP of the class. For example, Sylvans may or may not be getting a skill that involved manipulation of the weather, Sentinels may or may not get a skill that focuses on their animal companions.

Trilliana

When the skills split off, will we have to re-learn them, or even the new skill that we get?

Arador

Is there any chance that Knight changes could be released before multiclass? Perhaps by splitting forging away sooner than the other trade skills or before the house changes are all implemented? 

Could you give us an idea of the road map of the upcoming big changes? I understand timeliness are hard but knowing some kind of order would be nice.

Thank you very much for all your awesome work along with the rest of the team. Over 10 years and I will always come back to the world I love. 

Tecton

Shiro said:

Can you open up more on how you'll deal with the pricing structure for artefact weapons in light of the new changes, specifically 1h vs 2h pricing. 

Also, how are you gonna deal with switching weaponmastery specs? At least what you're leaning towards doing? 

Still pondering how we're going to handle the 2h vs. 2x1h artefact scenario, so no definitive answers there.

Weaponmastery specs will probably be able to be changed for something like 100 lessons (in no way a final figure, purely an example).

Tecton

Trilliana said:

When the skills split off, will we have to re-learn them, or even the new skill that we get?

You'll be moved to the same skill level in the new skill as you were in the trade skill that was split off. If you were transcendent in the old skill, you'll be transcendent in the new one.

Tecton

Arador said:

Is there any chance that Knight changes could be released before multiclass? Perhaps by splitting forging away sooner than the other trade skills or before the house changes are all implemented? 

Could you give us an idea of the road map of the upcoming big changes? I understand timeliness are hard but knowing some kind of order would be nice.

Thank you very much for all your awesome work along with the rest of the team. Over 10 years and I will always come back to the world I love. 

There's a chance that it'll be introduced before multiclass, yes.

Big picture things for the near-ish future (in no particular order):
- House renaissance
- Bashing/PVE expansions
- Tradeskill splits/new skills
- Multiclass
- Ships overhaul

There's some other projects on the list as well, but you'll have to wait and see on those!

Jacen

Any massive RP events in the works?

Tecton

Jacen said:

Any massive RP events in the works?

Indeed!

Jonathin

I understand that there is a ton of work that goes into the House changes and that there is a specific order in which it will continue to progress, but I'm wondering if there is an actual timetable to when the final city is going to be finished up.

I personally feel that it's a good change to break up the status quo a bit, but I haven't really been connected with a House in so long that I'm more looking forward to the changes following the renaissance.

Antonius

Tecton said:

Shiro said:

Can you open up more on how you'll deal with the pricing structure for artefact weapons in light of the new changes, specifically 1h vs 2h pricing. 

Also, how are you gonna deal with switching weaponmastery specs? At least what you're leaning towards doing? 

Still pondering how we're going to handle the 2h vs. 2x1h artefact scenario, so no definitive answers there.

Weaponmastery specs will probably be able to be changed for something like 100 lessons (in no way a final figure, purely an example).

Any chance of a grace period on switching specs when Knight changes are first released, so Knights who didn't get access to the test server for whatever reason can try them all before making a final decision?

Kaelan

I'm relatively new to Achaea, with just about a week under my belt, and so far I've been really enjoying my time here, so I wanna say thanks for putting together an awesome game. However, as someone who just embraced shaman, I also noticed that the shaman rework I heard mentioned in some of the classlead reports and one of the the other threads isn't anywhere in that timeline (unless its lumped in with "new skills"). Is there any chance we could hear a bit more about those changes, and when they're likely to occur?

Tecton

Jonathin said:

I understand that there is a ton of work that goes into the House changes and that there is a specific order in which it will continue to progress, but I'm wondering if there is an actual timetable to when the final city is going to be finished up.

I personally feel that it's a good change to break up the status quo a bit, but I haven't really been connected with a House in so long that I'm more looking forward to the changes following the renaissance.

Because there's so many moving parts, it's really impossible to give a definitive timeline. The best I can do is "as soon as humanly possible."

Tecton

Antonius said:

Tecton said:

Shiro said:

Can you open up more on how you'll deal with the pricing structure for artefact weapons in light of the new changes, specifically 1h vs 2h pricing. 

Also, how are you gonna deal with switching weaponmastery specs? At least what you're leaning towards doing? 

Still pondering how we're going to handle the 2h vs. 2x1h artefact scenario, so no definitive answers there.

Weaponmastery specs will probably be able to be changed for something like 100 lessons (in no way a final figure, purely an example).

Any chance of a grace period on switching specs when Knight changes are first released, so Knights who didn't get access to the test server for whatever reason can try them all before making a final decision?

Most likely, yes.

Faur

When will Lord Phaestus be back? I know I ask for most Cyrenians, the Order, the Dwarves, and any dryads out there

Gaia

Faur said:

When will Lord Phaestus be back? I know I ask for most Cyrenians, the Order, the Dwarves, and any dryads out there

*raises glass* 

Tecton

Kaelan said:

I'm relatively new to Achaea, with just about a week under my belt, and so far I've been really enjoying my time here, so I wanna say thanks for putting together an awesome game. However, as someone who just embraced shaman, I also noticed that the shaman rework I heard mentioned in some of the classlead reports and one of the the other threads isn't anywhere in that timeline (unless its lumped in with "new skills"). Is there any chance we could hear a bit more about those changes, and when they're likely to occur?

Thanks, it's great to have you with us, @Kaelan!

Shaman changes are in the final design stages now, and we hope to have them out in the near future. While you'll have to wait and see for many of the final details, I'll say this: we've replaced runelore with a new skill that provides a huge array of interesting abilities, and also really helps to synergise all three class skills into a really formidable opponent! 

Tecton

Faur said:

When will Lord Phaestus be back? I know I ask for most Cyrenians, the Order, the Dwarves, and any dryads out there

When he gets back from the mother of all booze-fuelled benders!

Aodfionn

Would you guys happen to have/be willing to share a list of how many people play each class?

Tecton

Aodfionn said:

Would you guys happen to have/be willing to share a list of how many people play each class?

I'll give you the percentages! These are the class breakdown of non-newbies in the past 30 days:

Occultists: 4.0%

Monk: 10.0 %

Druid: 7.7%

Serpent: 14.2 %

Paladin: 3.0%

Priest: 4.2 %

Sentinel: 3.8 %

Infernal: 2.3%

Magi: 9.3%

Shaman: 2.1%

Runewarden: 10.8%

Jester: 3.7%

Apostate: 1.8%

Sylvan: 7.3%

Bard: 4.3%

Blademaster: 6.7%

Alchemist: 4.0%

Mishgul

Apostate

Aelios

Will there be an avenue of a refund for those who will lose virtually all value from their Hammer of Forging when the Knight changes go through? 

Tecton

Aelios said:

Will there be an avenue of a refund for those who will lose virtually all value from their Hammer of Forging when the Knight changes go through? 

We'll make a decision on that when the forging changes are finalised.

Aelios

Are ACC applications going to open again soon?

Aodfionn

Runies and Serps are 1/4 of the Playerbase. Holy crap. 

Is there a way to suggest or try to get things added to in-game lore and history, such as work done on racial history?

Nim

How will the new trade skills work, generally speaking? Will we have to pay to have even one, or will we get a freebie? How many options will there be generally, and how many per person? Will they be miniskills or full skills? Will they be akin to tarot where you spend X time for Y items, or will there be some interaction involved (small scale eg. minigames or large scale eg. resource management)? Are there new trades planned or just migrating existing ones?

I'm aware details probably can't be given, but I'm curious about the high level designs and intended effects more than raw facts anyway.

Aelios

Any estimation of when knight changes are set to go live on the Main server? (Need to figure out when to wholesale my shop's inventory.   )