Grenade is interviewing an AoC Dev LIVE this Sun.!!

[Nerion]

This Sunday 10est/9cst/7pst if all goes to plan we are going to be interviewing a dev from AoC live on Grenade. I wanted to ask you guys if you have any specific questions you would like us to ask him(or even ask him yourself if you would come on air). We will also be taking submissions for questions live but preferably I would like to get as much stuff prepared as possible. So please throw me some ideas here and if you have a smart question I will reference it on the air. If you want to just listen in you can go to www.uberguildsradio.com and click tune in. Also we have recordings of our episodes up on the site.

[QforQ]

Here's our page with the details on who we're interviewing:
Tune in for our Age of Conan Interview! | Uberguilds Radio

Jason is the lead designer for the game and a former SOE dev who was there since EverQuest, then moved on to Funcom.

[Cadrid]

Q. Many studios have a rough time making the journey from "newb" to "leet" anything more than a grind, be it through the genocide of a_large_rats or equally monotonous kill/collection quests. What measures did you take to keep level and skill progression fun?

Q. Some games (World of WarCraft) are focused on drawing in both hardcore and casual gamers, but the balancing act of satisfying both parties is treacherous, at best. Are you interested in pleasing both groups? If so, could you give an example of the content each type of player might enjoy?

Q. Speaking of balance, are you content with the strengths and abilities of most (if not all) of the classes, or is it proving difficult to avoid a repeat of the EQ1 Necro?

[If I think of any more I'll edit the post.]

[Nerion]

Thanks Cadrid, I am also looking for some info on Anarchy Online, the OTHER mmo that Funcom made.

[Zehn - Vhex]

Anarchy Online was the Vanguard of it's day. They main difference being of course that despite being a massive failure, AO was at least pretty innovative for it's time. The 13 people that were actually able to not crash during installation said it was pretty fun.

[Cadrid]

Originally Posted by Zehn - Vhex

Anarchy Online was the Vanguard of it's day. They main difference being of course that despite being a massive failure, AO was at least pretty innovative for it's time. The 13 people that were actually able to not crash during installation said it was pretty fun.

Yeah, AO had a horrid launch, but after the kinks got worked out it was a pretty fun game. Unfortunately it was also rather repetitive with the Mission Terminals, and sitting at one for 20 minutes trying to find a reward you liked was obnoxious.

It's completely free now, supported by in-game ads on billboards, and a good time-killer with some fairly nifty design decisions.

[Nerion]

I remember reading from my AoC research they are using a special inhouse graphics engine called DreamWorld that was used in AO(and has been heavily modded). If anyone has any techsavvy skills could you break down how this engine compares to other ones out there?

[Nerion]

Here is part of the letter I sent to Sam talking about what we wanted to cover in the show so you guys know what we have planned so far...


Intro

*Get to know you a bit more more... your history, what games you play, and mechanics you favor

*mention what people were pushing us to ask about and talk about players experiences with prior MMOs

*talk about the website a bit you have and your information funnel, we think you guys have done a great job

*also talk about how you guys see the information from the recent poll

*ask about the disenfranchised elf mangina crowd(super important)



Development/Technical

*Where the other developers come from(what companies and games they worked on)

*Get a few details on how you guys manage the team,such as what the management style is and feel of the office compared to other places

*Some more information about the in-house graphics engine you are using

*What experience, technology, and concepts from AO are being translated into AoC\

*stress test and your level of focus on preparing the game for large scale battles, PUT MY FEARS TO REST ABOUT LAG!!!

*what kind of steps you plan to have on release to combat 3rd party programs



PvP/Sieging

*Is a high end border-kingdom guild going to have incentives to PvE

*are you going to try to seperate pvp from pve to a point where a pure pvp player will never have to go NPC hunting to get the best gear or close to it

*Im worried that blood money could end up becoming a grinding element to the PvP and kind of take away from the competitive spirit, put my fears to rest!

*How are you guys leaning with FFA servers now!

*The idea of formations seems very similar to shadowbane but I noticed a bit about a spell resistant formations and such, Im really curious about this idea

*Crowd Control is a razor thin balance, where do you guys stand on it and what are your goals for it in pvp

*Surviviability ratio to dps in the increase of gear, such as we are wondering

*also what would be your goal for a 10v10 fights length to be

*and at what point are insta kills going to be introduced, 1v1,2v1,3v1.. etc

*what kind of ideas have you had for giving an advantage to battlekeeps over pve cities

*ticketing system concerns me that it will take away from the feel of pure destruction and instead convert it into a staged points fight, PUT MY FEARS TO REST!!

*any kind of special spells that are used for sieges with massive costs and cooldowns?

*

details on the buffs and dispelling system


PvE/Raiding

*We're curious about what kind of goals you have to achieve in the PvE realm of AoC

*What kind of size are you leaning to in raids?

*Is there a guild leveling system other than cities?

*for battlekeeps/cities, is there going to be a limit to what you can have in your city or a certain paths you chose to focus on, such as a patron deity, a certain class to focus on, or type of crafting

that will make your city unique from others, or will all maxed out cities be the same?

*are you guys planning on having raiding content DAY 1, and are you willing to put your wife on the line to show us you are serious about keeping your word!!!

*

what kind of goals are you guys aiming for in releasing pve content over time?
*what is the longest travel time a player is to expect in your game

*we were wanting also to know what type of quests to expect and their impact on leveling

*what is your goal for the length of time needed to clear a dungeon?

Crafting

*What are the goals and position you want crafting to have in AoC, PvE and PvP realms

*We have been real curious on what kind of flavor the crafting system is

*What places and spheres of gameplay will crafting pull its resources from to create items?

*details on guild management system of resources

*what kind of time is it going to take to level crafting and how many crafters do you expect the "uber" guilds to need?

*can all crafting be done in-house at guild cities/battlekeeps?

*where are the best recipes found in crafting?

[Nerion]

Alright, today is the interview. Here is a list of some of the semi-finalized questions. Throw me some feedback and I will tweak them a bit:


Nerion's Questions:

*I really want to know what you are doing to guarantee large fights are playable AT LAUNCH and not lagged to death or visually stuttering, because not a single game I have played has been able to really do this?
*Concerning the use of third party programs that could turn the tide of battle, I would like to know if you guys are just going to use just GM's to hunt for them or what kind planning is being done to make sure these programs do not ruin the gameplay?
*How long are you guys planning, atm, to design 10v10 and an average 1v1 to last in pvp?
*Are you planning on progressing a persons defenses and resistances, through gear, at the same rate as their DPS or are you going to take the path of WOW and orient progression primarily around DPS?
*Regarding Crowd Control, how are you going to deal with this subject, such as the max length you expect someone to be CC'ed in combat, the mechanics to prevent chain CC, and also how you see CC's role on the battlefield?
*In crafting, where do the resources come from to make the best gear, and on top of that what sphere of the game does the best recipes hail from?
*Is the gameplay, quests, and maximum progression going to require a combined PvP/PvE effort or is PvP and PvE seperated for the most part?
*From the French community, are there going to be special pvp rewards from blood money and if so how do they compare to crafted and pve raiding gear?
*How are you guys planning on intergrating PvE abilities, dps, and gear with PvP gameplay?
*In PvP gameplay are you balancing heals to outdps straightforward dmg 1v1 in most situations without CC or interrupts; and secondly, I noticed you said HoT's are going to be the primary healing, will each healers HoT's stack on a target or only one hot total per person?
*How is the buff system going function such as duration, raid buffing, seperate groups, and finally how easily dispellable will buffs be in pvp?

Axem's Questions:

1) Walk me through how a siege begins - How is war declared, Window of Opportunity, and sign ups
2) Will you be able to do damage to a town that is shown or felt after the siege?
3) Can you give me an example of what it takes to build a weapon of war or defense in AoC, time to build and how much time to gather resources?
4) Does sieging have any maximum numbers on the field?
5) Any difference between FFA and normal server Battle seiges
6) Ideal Guild Size for a min/maxer of all spheres of gameplay?
7) Guild Management interface - Logging, Ranks, Permissions, guild bank, guild leveling can you give us a rundown of what is unique about AoC's?
8) PvE raid interface - 24 Man? Same as PvP or is there a special friending system for allies during sieges?
9) What kind of systems are being put in place to prevent chain sieging of a single city?
10) When someone dies during a siege, what is your goal for how long it takes them to get back into combat from death and how serious is this death effect?
11) How is the ticketing system going to be tallied and how much favor is going to be leaned to the defense?

[Nerion]

Guy was really nice and stayed an extra hour with us. The show will be up in a little bit at www.uberguildsradio.com for those who want to check it out...

[QforQ]

The interview is up here: Grenade with Age of Conan developer Jason Stone | Uberguilds Radio

From most accounts on the AOC forums, this is the most information ever released in an interview. Check it out!

[Gnome Eater]

Q, excellent interview, but I learned the hard way that listening to devs answer general questions is a horrible way to gouge the quality of a game. I'll wait until beta and friends let me know how the game is, or until I can verify first hand what it is like.

My main concern is that with their use of realistic naked female models they will attract a type of playerbase who I have absolutely zero desire to interact with.

[Nerion]

I know dev's can be very slippery but last night I think Athelan was real upfront with us. Both Axem and myself designed the questions to be pretty straightforward and there were a couple time where I reasked the question in different ways to get a result. Such as the question about how long fights are expected to be. After rewording it once for him I just asked him how long do the pvp fights in AoC compare to WoW. He said they were longer.

[Kodylan]

From the time I spent talking with Jason when he was out in Redwood, he really seems like the kind of person that is very straightforward and doesn't give you any bullshit "flowery" answers about questions. Hell, you heard the response to the mangina question. :P

Great interview, by the way. I know you guys linked it on Curse already, but I'm going to be tossing it in on the Community Watch I put up on Friday as well to link it again.

[Vatoreus]

I loved how he was trying to be diplomatic about the RP PVE scrubs. I could hear him holding back "We aren't making servers like that, don't be gay."