Ask Your Producer: Valentine's Day 2015

Naverre

Is there any chance at all that we could get exploration ranks to not count cities, House halls, and player shop stockrooms?

I ask because being a lawful Cyrenian means that there is no way in hell I'll be able to achieve the higher exploration tiers when I'm competing with Serpents who're willing to break into these places. No matter how well intentioned, no matter how well liked I am, there is no way I'm getting a tour of the Occultist House hall. Even after the Renaissance, there will be cities and Houses that will have areas that a foreigner will never be able to access. Lawfully, at least.

(Note: I realise Naverre is not a lawful, peaceful explorer. But I don't play Naverre much anymore for reasons, and my new main-ish character is, so I'm asking for him.)

Amranu

Wrong thread

Kinilan

What are the steps in planing and executing a major world event?

Aside from old character logins what other interesting things do you have alerts set up for?

If you had to pick a God character to play again (not Horns) which One would it be?

What caused the tipping point where it was decided that Shallam had to be replaced?

Tecton

Ahmet said:

@Tecton
Are these new areas gonna be like next few days? Or is this another tradeskill type thing?   

They're for further down the road.

Tecton

Ahmet said:

Speaking of mazes, why were @lorielan 's removed?

They're still around, but they're not as easy any more! I think there's plans to rework them though!

Lorielan

Tecton said:

Ahmet said:

Speaking of mazes, why were @lorielan 's removed?

They're still around, but they're not as easy any more! I think there's plans to rework them though!

If the mazes are indeed broken, send in a bug. There are plans for the future, but nothing's changed with them that I'm aware of.

Tecton

Naverre said:

Is there any chance at all that we could get exploration ranks to not count cities, House halls, and player shop stockrooms?

I ask because being a lawful Cyrenian means that there is no way in hell I'll be able to achieve the higher exploration tiers when I'm competing with Serpents who're willing to break into these places. No matter how well intentioned, no matter how well liked I am, there is no way I'm getting a tour of the Occultist House hall. Even after the Renaissance, there will be cities and Houses that will have areas that a foreigner will never be able to access. Lawfully, at least.

(Note: I realise Naverre is not a lawful, peaceful explorer. But I don't play Naverre much anymore for reasons, and my new main-ish character is, so I'm asking for him.)

Probably not, can't have the glory without taking a few risks!

Tecton

Kinilan said:

What are the steps in planing and executing a major world event?

Aside from old character logins what other interesting things do you have alerts set up for?

If you had to pick a God character to play again (not Horns) which One would it be?

What caused the tipping point where it was decided that Shallam had to be replaced?

1) Plan -then- execute! Ha! Depends on the event, with major events there may be something that will be getting introduced, or some major overhaul happening, or it could be purely for RP. Basically involves brainstorming, forming that into a solid plan and roadmap (including multiple paths in many events, as we want to let you guys influence things as much as possible), doing the necessary prep work (building/hard code changes/making items/denizens), then kicking it off! When it's running there's constant tweaks and adjustments based on how people reacted, which, depending on the event, can result in taking things in a whole new direction.

2) A lot of admin things as well as real-time feedback for systems we're monitoring, for example: keeping track of all stages of City Destruction, from deaths happening in an enemy city leading up to a sanctioned raid, all the way through to tank charge increases and detonation.

3) I think Thoth has a lot of potential, especially now with the new prayer sequence and him having a very pronounced influence on the life and death of adventurers.

4) Wasn't one of the goals or really planned for at the start of the event, was just one of the things that evolved as the event happened. Even when we made the decision for such a world-shattering change, we didn't jump straight to Shallam, we weighed up all of the cities and made a decision based on which would be the most beneficial. Shallam was pretty fragmented, mostly stemming from the dual power structure of the church/citadel, as well as too many revisions to their core philosophy leaving nobody on the same page.

Valdus

Tecton said:

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!

The 'Monitoring for Fraud' part really interests me due to a personal experience of mine.

I once dumped a large sum of money (I think it was something like $4000) in one go on Imperian. This was during one of the IRE meets (I think it was the first Vegas one maybe?) and a friend who was attending and also one of the volunteers for Imperian told me a funny story. Dranor saw the purchase and was apparently all "Woah. Who is this person? Is he legit?" and it was my friend vouching for me that convinced Dranor to go ahead with the purchase.

So, my question is, what does Monitoring for Fraud entail in a general sense? Not asking for specifics since I don't want you to give out sensitive info, but I am awfully curious.

Tecton

Valdus said:

Tecton said:

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!

The 'Monitoring for Fraud' part really interests me due to a personal experience of mine.

I once dumped a large sum of money (I think it was something like $4000) in one go on Imperian. This was during one of the IRE meets (I think it was the first Vegas one maybe?) and a friend who was attending and also one of the volunteers for Imperian told me a funny story. Dranor saw the purchase and was apparently all "Woah. Who is this person? Is he legit?" and it was my friend vouching for me that convinced Dranor to go ahead with the purchase.

So, my question is, what does Monitoring for Fraud entail in a general sense? Not asking for specifics since I don't want you to give out sensitive info, but I am awfully curious.

Comparing purchases against some key indicators that we've seen in a lot of cases over the years. Not really anything I'm going to go into in any great detail though, as you correctly commented!

Aktillum

Where did the name "Vastar" come from? Most of the Gods in Achaea are taken from real world mythology. Gaia, Eris, Sarapis, Sartan just being Satan mispelled, Pandora obviously a reference to Pandora's Box, Phaestus was an ancient city in real-life Achaea...

However, googling Vastar just turns up some 1983 arcade game. About a robot built to protect earth.

Is Vastar a robot? Are those glorious abs cybernetic implants?

Tecton

Aktillum said:

Where did the name "Vastar" come from? Most of the Gods in Achaea are taken from real world mythology. Gaia, Eris, Sarapis, Sartan just being Satan mispelled, Pandora obviously a reference to Pandora's Box, Phaestus was an ancient city in real-life Achaea...

However, googling Vastar just turns up some 1983 arcade game. About a robot built to protect earth.

Is Vastar a robot?

I'll leave this one for @Sarapis!

Nim

Vastar
Vastair
Vast air.

Mystery solved. Please forward all fees as per standard rate to the standard accounts.

Mishgul

Very Angry Sky That Always Rains

Tharvis

Will we be seeing some more of Slith sometime soon™? I need some more things to add to my "studies of slith" draft 

Orzaansyn

Tecton said:

Orzaansyn said:

When will it be possible to choose the name and/or the design of blademaster blades? I mean, picking the parameters among the ones already existing?

Not something we're looking at changing, I'm afraid. The RP/intention behind it is an sword that's made for you by a master weaponsmith.

Is it possible to hire a Master Weaponsmith then, instead of Murad The Noob?  

Neftarys

I read something about a Liquid Rift here a while back. Is such a thing planned? If so, when might it be expected?

Josoul

What is the general policy when releasing new areas? 'world emote/shout and have them all run for first dibs' vs 'contact through a denizen a specific person and give them first dibs' vs 'release area, wait till someone stumbles upon it'.
Any chance to see the 3rd option in an upcoming area?

Herenicus

Tecton said:

Herenicus said:

I would like to know your thoughts on continuing to use XP loss as a means of enforcing realistic choices and consequences. Some would point out that because dragons lose so little in death relative to others, it feels as if realism and consequences are only for levels 98 and below. Is there any chance we could make XP loss affect everyone or no one, equally? 

I'm ok with XP loss being a real consequence, I think people get into the mindset that "I need to be max level to play the game" from the rest of the MMO industry, but we offer pretty much all of our content long before then. The capping does work oddly in reality, but we haven't found a really good solution that doesn't overly punish the higher levels at this time - definitely something that I'd like to find a more consistent solution for in the future.

Just spitballing options you've probably considered already, but maybe bursting/dying in an enemy city could result in significant XP loss or an increasingly-prohibitive disfavour from that city's Patron? Renouncing grace, inking starbursts, and resurrection stat drain could be made to take longer or hit harder. I just think it's fair that if raiding has consequences, dying in the attempt should too. Appreciate your thoughts on this.

Darkender

Tecton said:

Kinilan said:

What are the steps in planing and executing a major world event?

Aside from old character logins what other interesting things do you have alerts set up for?

If you had to pick a God character to play again (not Horns) which One would it be?

What caused the tipping point where it was decided that Shallam had to be replaced?

1) Plan -then- execute! Ha! Depends on the event, with major events there may be something that will be getting introduced, or some major overhaul happening, or it could be purely for RP. Basically involves brainstorming, forming that into a solid plan and roadmap (including multiple paths in many events, as we want to let you guys influence things as much as possible), doing the necessary prep work (building/hard code changes/making items/denizens), then kicking it off! When it's running there's constant tweaks and adjustments based on how people reacted, which, depending on the event, can result in taking things in a whole new direction.

2) A lot of admin things as well as real-time feedback for systems we're monitoring, for example: keeping track of all stages of City Destruction, from deaths happening in an enemy city leading up to a sanctioned raid, all the way through to tank charge increases and detonation.

3) I think Thoth has a lot of potential, especially now with the new prayer sequence and him having a very pronounced influence on the life and death of adventurers.

4) Wasn't one of the goals or really planned for at the start of the event, was just one of the things that evolved as the event happened. Even when we made the decision for such a world-shattering change, we didn't jump straight to Shallam, we weighed up all of the cities and made a decision based on which would be the most beneficial. Shallam was pretty fragmented, mostly stemming from the dual power structure of the church/citadel, as well as too many revisions to their core philosophy leaving nobody on the same page.

Pleeeeeeeeeeease please please get Thoth back up and running, I (as well as a lot of others) would be eternally grateful! Would add so much to the game.

Sarapis

Aktillum said:

Where did the name "Vastar" come from? Most of the Gods in Achaea are taken from real world mythology. Gaia, Eris, Sarapis, Sartan just being Satan mispelled, Pandora obviously a reference to Pandora's Box, Phaestus was an ancient city in real-life Achaea...

I don't remember, sorry! Was a long time ago. Had no idea Phaestus was an ancient city. It's just a rip-off of Hephaestus, the god of the forge from Greek myth.

Eld

Aktillum said:

Where did the name "Vastar" come from? Most of the Gods in Achaea are taken from real world mythology. Gaia, Eris, Sarapis, Sartan just being Satan mispelled, Pandora obviously a reference to Pandora's Box, Phaestus was an ancient city in real-life Achaea...

However, googling Vastar just turns up some 1983 arcade game. About a robot built to protect earth.

Is Vastar a robot? Are those glorious abs cybernetic implants?

Plenty of others don't have obvious (to me, anyway) connections to rl history or mythology, though. Agatheis, Lorielan, Khalas, Raclawice, Pentharian, Melantha, Tarah, Valnurana, Kastalia...  I haven't done my due Google diligence, so I wouldn't be surprised if some of those do have connections I'm missing, but still, it's not like Vastar is that much of an anomaly.

Seth

Darkender said:

Tecton said:

Kinilan said:

What are the steps in planing and executing a major world event?

Aside from old character logins what other interesting things do you have alerts set up for?

If you had to pick a God character to play again (not Horns) which One would it be?

What caused the tipping point where it was decided that Shallam had to be replaced?

1) Plan -then- execute! Ha! Depends on the event, with major events there may be something that will be getting introduced, or some major overhaul happening, or it could be purely for RP. Basically involves brainstorming, forming that into a solid plan and roadmap (including multiple paths in many events, as we want to let you guys influence things as much as possible), doing the necessary prep work (building/hard code changes/making items/denizens), then kicking it off! When it's running there's constant tweaks and adjustments based on how people reacted, which, depending on the event, can result in taking things in a whole new direction.

2) A lot of admin things as well as real-time feedback for systems we're monitoring, for example: keeping track of all stages of City Destruction, from deaths happening in an enemy city leading up to a sanctioned raid, all the way through to tank charge increases and detonation.

3) I think Thoth has a lot of potential, especially now with the new prayer sequence and him having a very pronounced influence on the life and death of adventurers.

4) Wasn't one of the goals or really planned for at the start of the event, was just one of the things that evolved as the event happened. Even when we made the decision for such a world-shattering change, we didn't jump straight to Shallam, we weighed up all of the cities and made a decision based on which would be the most beneficial. Shallam was pretty fragmented, mostly stemming from the dual power structure of the church/citadel, as well as too many revisions to their core philosophy leaving nobody on the same page.

Pleeeeeeeeeeease please please get Thoth back up and running, I (as well as a lot of others) would be eternally grateful! Would add so much to the game.

I second this! I would love to see Lord Thoth back!!!

Bluef

Seth said:

Darkender said:

Tecton said:

Kinilan said:

What are the steps in planing and executing a major world event?

Aside from old character logins what other interesting things do you have alerts set up for?

If you had to pick a God character to play again (not Horns) which One would it be?

What caused the tipping point where it was decided that Shallam had to be replaced?

1) Plan -then- execute! Ha! Depends on the event, with major events there may be something that will be getting introduced, or some major overhaul happening, or it could be purely for RP. Basically involves brainstorming, forming that into a solid plan and roadmap (including multiple paths in many events, as we want to let you guys influence things as much as possible), doing the necessary prep work (building/hard code changes/making items/denizens), then kicking it off! When it's running there's constant tweaks and adjustments based on how people reacted, which, depending on the event, can result in taking things in a whole new direction.

2) A lot of admin things as well as real-time feedback for systems we're monitoring, for example: keeping track of all stages of City Destruction, from deaths happening in an enemy city leading up to a sanctioned raid, all the way through to tank charge increases and detonation.

3) I think Thoth has a lot of potential, especially now with the new prayer sequence and him having a very pronounced influence on the life and death of adventurers.

4) Wasn't one of the goals or really planned for at the start of the event, was just one of the things that evolved as the event happened. Even when we made the decision for such a world-shattering change, we didn't jump straight to Shallam, we weighed up all of the cities and made a decision based on which would be the most beneficial. Shallam was pretty fragmented, mostly stemming from the dual power structure of the church/citadel, as well as too many revisions to their core philosophy leaving nobody on the same page.

Pleeeeeeeeeeease please please get Thoth back up and running, I (as well as a lot of others) would be eternally grateful! Would add so much to the game.

I second this! I would love to see Lord Thoth back!!!

The Curia will chime in here. Bring our Patron back!!!  

Achimrst

IS THE ELEUSIAN RENAISSANCE STARTING TODAY!

Talysin

Are Jesters going to have one of their skills replaced? Was that "roaming Jester" using charms on people foreshadowing a change?

Tecton

Tharvis said:

Will we be seeing some more of Slith sometime soon™? I need some more things to add to my "studies of slith" draft 

He's definitely still skittering the deep and dark places of the world.

Tecton

Neftarys said:

I read something about a Liquid Rift here a while back. Is such a thing planned? If so, when might it be expected?

We like the idea, and have the back-end infrastructure in place, we just haven't found a really good way to handle it from the front-end. When we get that figured out and coded, it'll be live.

Tecton

Josoul said:

What is the general policy when releasing new areas? 'world emote/shout and have them all run for first dibs' vs 'contact through a denizen a specific person and give them first dibs' vs 'release area, wait till someone stumbles upon it'.
Any chance to see the 3rd option in an upcoming area?

Depends on the area! There's no hard and fast rule about how it gets introduced - areas that have a strong RP storyline usually need to have a more flashy introduction to prelude into that. We've done the third option a couple of times, but usually it consumes far too much admin time just waiting around for someone to find the area so they can continue with the introduction, and all of the post-introduction work we have to do.

Tecton

Herenicus said:

Tecton said:

Herenicus said:

I would like to know your thoughts on continuing to use XP loss as a means of enforcing realistic choices and consequences. Some would point out that because dragons lose so little in death relative to others, it feels as if realism and consequences are only for levels 98 and below. Is there any chance we could make XP loss affect everyone or no one, equally? 

I'm ok with XP loss being a real consequence, I think people get into the mindset that "I need to be max level to play the game" from the rest of the MMO industry, but we offer pretty much all of our content long before then. The capping does work oddly in reality, but we haven't found a really good solution that doesn't overly punish the higher levels at this time - definitely something that I'd like to find a more consistent solution for in the future.

Just spitballing options you've probably considered already, but maybe bursting/dying in an enemy city could result in significant XP loss or an increasingly-prohibitive disfavour from that city's Patron? Renouncing grace, inking starbursts, and resurrection stat drain could be made to take longer or hit harder. I just think it's fair that if raiding has consequences, dying in the attempt should too. Appreciate your thoughts on this.

Definitely agree that there should be consequences, that's one of the primary reasons for the "Eye of Proteus" debuff that raiders gain, that doesn't just disappear when they finish raiding, it takes a fair while to fade off (and doesnt decrement while offline etc.)