The September 24, 2009 Q and A Session

- Overrent Changes Possible?
- Parrying Mechanics
- Items in Housing
- Changes to Botmobs
- New Areas?
- Crossword Game Done?

----
Overrent Changes Possible?
Lucifer says, 'real question - any update on the over-rent eq-dropping debate?'

Maharet has been largely absent from both of those debates.

Carnegie says, 'We don't have anything set in stone, no. We're still evaluating.'

Lucifer nods his agreement with Carnegie.

Straussy smiles happily.

----
Parrying Mechanics
Lucifer says to Lorenzo, 'question about parry skill vs eq parry bonuses. do they add, or are they calculated separately?'

Lucifer says to Lorenzo, 'for example, say expert parry = 20% and i have a 10% eq bonus. is that 30% chance of parry, or (20 + 80 * .1) = 28% chance?'

Lorenzo says to Lucifer, 'no idea about parry, I'll try to get back to you.'

----
Items in Housing
Lucifer says, 'name a good reason why cant i drop a belt-pouch in my house?'

Carnegie says, 'The contents cause the room to go over the max allowable item count?'

Krista says, 'Too much already in your house?'

Lucifer says, 'i said a "good" reason'

Lucifer says, 'i'm just gonna heckle q&a about this until it gets fixed or i get slayed'

Carnegie says, 'Seems like a decent reason to me. I don't remember hearing you mention it before'

Lucifer says, 'rooms should be like other containers - max allowable items should be based on size of the immediate items, not the size of those items' contents'

Carnegie says, 'I'm not sure I agree with you. Though there is logic to that stance'

Carnegie says, 'It's been bugged/idea'd/reported?'

Lucifer says, 'not just logic. it doesnt make sense from a flavor perspective either'

Lucifer says, 'i may have bugged/idea'd it before. i'll do so again'

----
Changes to Botmobs
Krista says, 'I just wondered, *why* did the Robert bots have to change at all?'

Krista says, 'Why why?'

Straussy says, 'They made it too easy :)'

Lucifer says, 'they were only put in to make people a little less pissed about banning marauder'

Straussy says, 'I don't even think Marauder was that kind'

Krista says, 'I just don't understand *why* they were such a bother?'

Lucifer says, 'and he certainly gave you more than 7 seconds of his time =p'

Straussy says, 'Well as far as I know, the services are still available, you just might have to go to multiple locations depending on your needs'

Gho says, 'yea what's up with the random/short times?'

Krista says, 'I never got any in game clues from them or quest answers or anything'

Krista says, 'oh and the balls of light for 500 gold? I mean..just take them out if they are so special?'

Krista says, 'I mean..I just don't understand the logic in changing them anyhow and wonder why it had to be done?'

Carnegie says, 'The short times of operations were somewhat unintentional. It's being addressed in next update'

Carnegie says, 'Though the time will still be more reduced compared to previous'

Krista says, 'But why?'

Krista says, 'Were they effecting the game somehow?'

Carnegie says, 'Yes, they were'

Krista says, 'How?'

Krista says, 'Are they the cause of our lagginess and crashes?'

Straussy says, 'Well, service mobs is a great feature, but they were over servicing, at least on a per mob basis. Much so that they threatened the skills themselves'

Krista says, 'Oh..and where does the money they make go to?'

Straussy says, 'I pocket it'

Lucifer says, 'yeah, i have to admit i stopped learning mend/forge/repair..'

Krista says, 'Does it go back into the Legend community somehow?'

Carnegie says, 'Things would be easier for everyone if we had a bot set up to make anyone augmented poultices for 20 coins a pop. Doesn't mean its a good idea to have such a mob around.'

Krista says, 'Yeah but they never did that'

Lucifer swoons into Carnegie's arms.

Lucifer says, 'yeah it does!'

Carnegie says, 'Money - The last thing the Legend community needs is more gold floating around, frankly'

Straussy says, 'The mud should be earning money'

Krista says, 'They only preserved and tformed and the like'

Krista says, 'Didn't htey?'

ArchAngel says, 'orbs shields and such..'

Krista says, 'yeah..helpful things'

ArchAngel says, 'both items needed more by lowbs who had eva'

Carnegie says, 'And still have Eva. And botmobs.'

Krista says, 'Eva is so annoying though'

Carnegie says, 'Newbies don't need tforming. Or perserving, for that matter :P'

Krista says, 'and she is fun to kill..so she won't be around that much'

ArchAngel says, 'and for tform theres other mobs who do it like sufi and such so reeally 3 others besides himself is a wastee really'

Maharet says, 'As an aside, to my knowledge Legend does not micro-manage the macro-economy of the Mud beyond making coins available through the usual means.'

Krista says, 'Okay I accept they have been changed..but I am not in favor of it'

Krista says, 'just for the record'

Carnegie says to Krista, 'You have to keep in mind that every ability we stack on to a mob like botmobs is a skill we inherently weaken from a players perspective.'

Krista says, 'Well kind of I agree'

Gho says, 'i used to use em but i'm not gonna shed a tear that they're gone, nor did i miss marauder when he went lop. there's plenty of characters that can tfmend/repair'

Carnegie says to Krista, 'If Robert is standing 3 rooms away and will tform everything you own for 500 coins... That means you arent going to pay a 3c create to do the same thing for 3 times the cost.'

Lucifer says, 'i'm still not going to pay a create mage. i'm just going to walk a little further to the nearest skill mob'

Krista says, 'Well that was why I said this..'

Krista says, 'My first char was too shy to speak to anyone much in here for the first year I played'

Lucifer says, 'it's like the arm wrestle skill. some things just dont add value to the gameplay. mend/repair/tform being in that category'

Krista says, 'so there was no way a Mage was going to help her with tform and preserve'

Gho says, 'yea but that's not true anymore, is it?'

ArchAngel says, 'anytime I've been on my chars who are 3c mages I would tf for free anyways just most of the time I dont publish it :P'

Anadreva smiles at Quentin.

Straussy says, 'I see the change as more of a fix to overpowered mobs than I do a way for creates to make quick cash'

Krista says, 'But Marauda was always there..so I was okay with my eq'

Krista says, 'I worry that there might be shy, new people who keep losing their eq cos they can't it get it tformed now'

Lorenzo says, 'from my perspective, carnegie's right on it'

Krista says, 'But I accept it as I already said, was just saying my opinion of what I think'

Lorenzo says, 'any service we make available through a mob means that there's less reason for players to have that capability'

Krista nods solemnly.

Lorenzo says, 'so as always it's about balance -- we need to keep the skills we have interesting and desirable'

Krista says, 'Okay and thanks'

Lorenzo says to Krista, 'as to your perspective, yes, I understand that.'

Lorenzo says, 'I'm somewhat the same way'

Anadreva says, 'isn't there also a desire to have people come out of their shells and allow other people to help them with things they cannae do themselves?'

Lorenzo says, 'But that's why we keep the service mobs at all'

Krista nods her agreement with Lorenzo.

Krista says, 'I accept that for sure'

Krista nods solemnly.

Lucifer says, 'maybe it would help if those skills were made a little more useful. like the ability to make throwables/other items out of mundane gear or something'

Lorenzo says, 'all we're trying to change is to make it less convenient to use mobs, so that there's a little more call to learn things and lean on other players'

Gho says, 'yea at least there are service mobs, back when i started there was really no other option besides DIY or bug someone for help'

Krista nods solemnly.

Lorenzo says, 'we agree though that it's a valuable element of the game that you don't *have* to do that'

Krista says, 'I agreee with that..then people need to learn areas to get to bots'

Krista says, 'which is good'

Lorenzo nods his agreement with Krista.

Lorenzo says to Anadreva, 'yes, and encouraging interaction is part of it.'

Lorenzo says, 'we want to make it so you have multiple routes to choose from,

and they each have advantages' Straussy nods his agreement with Lorenzo.

Lorenzo says, 'with full-service bots, there was really very little reason to do anything except depend on the bots'

----
New Areas?
Quentin says to Carnegie, 'How goes Zanzibar expansion? :)'

Carnegie says to Quentin, 'At the moment, it's not going anywhere. Didn't really look at it this past week.'

Carnegie says to Quentin, 'It's not too far from being ready for testing. Just several loose ends to tie up.'

Maharet says, 'I like what I've seen thus far.'

ArchAngel says, 'what bout the other areas?'

Carnegie says, 'Straussy can answer about Titanic if he's in window. Philippines is very far along. Ranmaru moves at light speed'

Straussy says, 'I'm working on it offline'

Straussy says, 'but it's coming along'

----
Crossword Game Done?
Gho says, 'crossword.. you stopped posting it'

Gho glares at nothing in particular.

Gho says, 'whyyyy'

Carnegie says, 'Yeah. I'm a jerk. I got busy with some other stuff the last couple days.'

Gho says, 'not a jerk, just wondered what was up with it'

Gho tickles Carnegie.

Carnegie says, 'There's only a few clues on my list left. I'll get em up there soon'