Hangout of the Avatar ~ Release 23 Postmortem


Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Thou hast been invited to the Release 23 Postmortem!

Halloween Party 2015

Please join us Thursday, November 12th at 3:00 PM Central (20:00 GMT) for our monthly Hangout of the Avatar! Richard, Starr, and Chris will be chatting about Release 23 and looking ahead to a very special release indeed; Release 24!  And as usual, FireLotus will be taking your questions and feedback live in the chat-room and also in advance right here in the comments section.*

We will be giving out some really awesome prizes during the 90 minute extended Hangout, and all you have to do to qualify for one is to come hang out with us in the IRC chatroom during the broadcast.  Be sure to tune in… the link to the hangout will be posted here directly before the hangout begins.

*Please keep in mind that questions and feedback related to Release 23 specific topics will be given priority and really verbose questions may be skipped, as they can be a challenge to shorten and summarize live on the air. In brief… please keep your questions… brief. ;)


76 Comments


  1. Jack KnyfeJack Knyfe

    Jaanaford and Vertas are great new NPC towns. What other new towns will definitely be going in for R24?

    Followup: What is the next Player Owned Town biome/template on the docket?


  2. Bowen BloodgoodBowen Bloodgood

    There are a few ideas we haven’t heard about in a long time. Would it be possible to get an update on some of these? Are they still planned?

    Weapon Affinity
    Weapon ‘growth’ & history – ie Troll Slaying (from killing 100 trolls)
    *cough* asset bounty list *cough*

    Any other features not recently talked about you’d like to comment on..


  3. Jack KnyfeJack Knyfe

    What new things can we look forward to seeing in R24 in regards to crafting?

    Followup: Will there be a balancing pass to make cotton more plentiful?

    1. Overt EnemyOvert Enemy

      Would love to hear if there is any confirmation that crafting tables will have effects in R24. Loving the crafting so far, great work :)

    2. SindariyaSindariya

      Would also love to hear what will change for crafting and when there will be a big clean up of the database. I still hope that a board don’t weight more than the timber and the wood, and that one whistle doesn’t need 8 wood (8 trees).



  4. Lord AndernutLord Andernut

    Add-on Store

    Q1: What purpose or effect will the Silver Serpent Necklace serve if it is not visible? (I believed it to be cosmetic when purchased – it was mentioned in the R22 hangout that necklaces would not be visible for Episode 1).

    Q2: When will we see items such as Jabbering Bertha and the Kinsman shield?
    (I purchased these as add-ons in February or March which is a bit long for an item to be in the store but not appear in-game.)

    Q3: There have been several reward expirations, on the pledge page it says when those rewards expired but there is no way to determine whether a pledge was upgraded before the deadline. It would be nice to have a way to view a pledge and easily see what items you are entitled to.

    1. Palinor Tyne

      Will the Kinsman Buckler be a real dual weapon Buckler held by the hand as mentioned at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckler or simply a small shield strapped to the arm (in which case it should be renamed to be a shield)? If it is a real buckler could the shield tree be renamed to Offhand with offhand tactics moved to it?


  5. BubonicBubonic

    Can you guys please dispense some information regarding Coats of Arms and how that will work, as far as what will and will not be allowed in game?


  6. WoftamWoftam

    Now that we have some land/air based large creatures getting about (Troll, Phoenix and Dragon). Can we please get a large water-based creature since the new water is looking amazing?


  7. RampageRampage

    What kinds of plans are being made for virtue tracking and reputation implementation?
    Specifically what kinds of reputation based mechanics might be planned? Info brokering, tiered npc shops, bonus scene access?


  8. SMSM

    What kinds of changes will we see in the starting scene?
    Also, what changes will we be seeing in upcoming releases to the combat systems?


  9. TazeTaze

    What’s the status of the Partial Skill Refund/Respec Ideas Chris mentioned last time, as a means of respeccing/changing paths with penalty/cost?


  10. Pk uPk u

    Questions…

    1. Will stone crypts be placeable on knights homes or in spaces in house that will fit them, this would be fantastic.
    2. Will vendors be able to wear rare reward hats this would be fantasic to add diffrent looks.


  11. Raven SwiftbowRaven Swiftbow

    1. There seems to still be a serious shortage of affordable and/or harvest-able reagents for mages – how is this going to be addressed?

    2. In prior releases, a spell that required 4 different reagents might only actually consume 1 reagent when the spell was cast – but now such spells use *each* reagent listed – is this the new norm or is it a bug?

    1. Pk uPk u

      We need reagent vendors like in UO but with more available and less prone to running out, and make reagents required this half hearted system is porr but has been improving. Reagents are like swords for melee, thier the mages tool for combat.


  12. Sir GrantSir Grant

    Can you elaborate on the 2nd & 3rd character slots and the level of interaction between characters on the same account? ie; will we be able to trade between them, can they be seen possibly as NPCs within the main character’s home?

    1. Palinor Tyne

      The name of the game should answer this question;-) Each character is an AVATAR possessed by the player. As in James Cameron’s movie, an avatar is an empty shell without the “soul” of the player. Each avatar reflects different aspects of the same PC(which is supposed to be a person from our world possessing an artificial body). All items should be accessible by each “shell” character since they are still the same Player Character. The real question should be whether empty character shells(avatars) can be found in homes as being in a state of suspended animation (while sitting in a chair or lying in a bed) and if there could be an option of either logging in where the player left off(basically summoning the avatar) or at a body’s current default location?

      1. Sir GrantSir Grant

        I believe we are thinking the same way. Breaking down my questions to this: can we access their inventory at bare minimum like a container when they are not ‘active’?


  13. fireflygirl

    Will we be able to place shop signs on our homes, for those of us that want to open in game businesses to have a way of telling other players that its a shop they can enter and look at the goods.


  14. Baron Drocis FondorlatosBaron Drocis Fondorlatos

    What is the plan to balance this combat system? How long will it be until we see noticeable balance for PVE and PVP?



  15. Pk uPk u

    I still want to see my pets on the overland map with me, also rare color spawns would be appreciated I know it’s alot of work. But hunting that special looking pet is a game of it own but does not do any good if I can’t pimp it.


  16. Lord LonnLord Lonn

    Question: what was the reason for the wipe again…. just hate to start over grinding being BROKE
    Question: where are the high quality items in the open PvP area for harvesting?
    Question: where/what happened to the reward crafting decks?
    Question: doesn’t seem like I can zoom out enough in zones, the over map is good but in a zone is limited?


  17. SmokerKGBSmokerKGB

    Question: Will the weather be correlated to “real time” summer/winter or game time?

    Question: Will “fog” appear more often in morning time near water and then dissipate?

    Question: Will we ever see waves cresting at shore lines?




  18. AlbusAlbus

    I heard rumours that beds would have “more emotes for things other than just sleeping,” which begs the question of what emotes are intended? Cuddling of two characters, perhaps a relaxed non-sleeping pose, reading or such? Also might other furnishings be added with more functionality (a guillotine or stocks for instance that a character can pose “appropriately” in, wall chains you appear shackled to, etc.). More interactive furnishings would be appreciated, as well as more emotes in general.


  19. GamicianGamician

    Please explain need and reason for the following Timers

    Death Timer – Penalty for Dying without being Resurrected.
    20 second Timer – Leaving an Instance
    Zoning Timer – 15 minutes not including the following
    Getting Ready to Zone Timer – Yellow Bar before Zoning.

    1. FrostIIFrostII

      Yes, I’d love to know what exploits these represent (assuming that that’s why they are there).


  20. FrostIIFrostII

    Question: When can we expect to see area maps for all the areas that currently have none, ie. all of Novia’s areas? Not town maps, hunting area maps.

    1. royalsexyroyalsexy

      I remember they talked about that a while back, once the areas are more finalized that will be one of the last steps since its a pretty manual process to make the maps.


  21. SindariyaSindariya

    What are the final plans for taming?
    Is multiple summoning still on the table, now that we have to wear one whistle for one pet?
    Will we get more silver nodes a change of the recipes of taming tools, so taming is not that expensive anymore?
    What about getting hits from or on tamed pets to skill the passiv taming skills?


  22. GreyfoxGreyfox

    Will a POT biome, geographic location, and or Template have an impact on agriculture cultivated within the POT? If a snowy template is place on the “equator” what is the impact if any on crops? Will an underground biome be able to grow fruit trees or only mushrooms?



  23. JordizzleJordizzle

    Are there any plans to do anything to improve aggro from mobs? Currently you have to fight too many creatures at once because of the insane aggro.


  24. SeleneNoctuaSeleneNoctua

    Will holiday decorations (Christmas, Hanukkah, etc.) be available next release so we may decorate ahead of the holiday?




  25. BeliBeli

    Will external lighting be addressed? we seem to have some problems with it as it is now. aka crafting stations counting as external lights, placing lights on balconies/roofs counting as external lights.


  26. royalsexyroyalsexy

    What skills are people training highest? This has been a great release and I’m generalising my skills to all hell because I want to use all of them :D Can you give us a breakdown of how many grandmasters we have in each skill/tree?


  27. Amber RaineAmber Raine

    I am so beyond happy that Chaos magick is finally a thing! So very happy my “template” can finally come to a completion. With that said I have but 1 question reguarding this:

    What skills are people training most this release? Can we get a break down of some of the highest levels of the newest skills?

    Also – I am enjoying very much being able to have colours added to our attire. However, I have a question:

    How can we make black armor? Is this a metal or a dev only gifted dye for now? I miss my black/red armor I was able to wear a few releases back. Any chance of us having this again?

    Last question: Can I eat my friends yet? Cannibalism? Recipes have been sent in on how best one should serve their friend over a bed of fried rice and even in a freshly baked english muffin/bun with poached egg. We cannibals of New Britannia grow hungry .. shall we be fed yet?


  28. caioketo2

    I wanted to know how will “Aggro” works, like, it will have a counter of attention? Or will it be by the most damage and spells that affects aggro only?
    Also will there be anything to stimulate party groups? Like getting xp pool bonus, or skills increasing faster, etc…


  29. jschoice

    I am curious as to how scenes are currently being populated the world seemed to not have a lot of people in them including towns. Are there more people playing single player online to level then they are on multiplayer online? I am hoping by release the world will seem more populated then it does currently.


  30. GamicianGamician

    For Release 23 there was a seemed to be a big House Rush in the Major NPC towns and cities, Houses were gone in the first hour or two of release.

    When can we expect to see more major cities put into the game like Resolute, Celestis, Brittany and many of the other smaller coastal and inner towns.

    Also when can we expect more lower level hunting and resource nodes. There are not enough now and there needs to be a lot more before game goes live.


  31. NetNet

    What are plans for mages?

    Auto-attack

    Will damage of wands and staves increase? Will they do more damage comparable to bows for the similar reagent cost with no focus usage)?

    Reagents

    Will reagents get cheaper? Will there be option to refine raw reagents at alchemy station to get larger quantity of them?

    Focus management

    At low levels spells are ineffective, eat lot of focus, and fizzle often. The low level mage cannot get xp well nor they can regen focus fast and and they cannot survive even in the very low level areas unless they do use swords (or other melee weapon). Will low level spells get little bit more (read: much more) effective to be actually usable in fights?

    Is the plan for magery to pool xp with melee weapon and then level spells by hitting gustball with them?


  32. NetNet

    Will casting healing spells be the same in both cloth and plate armour even though the person in cloth gets more damage?

    Will there be any advantage to using cloth for casting spells except of lower fizzle (which does not really matter as the higher level of spell reduces the fizzle)?


  33. Duke HoraceDuke Horace

    Question 1: Is there plans to make it possible to have pure classes? I.E. A pure Mage in what ever element they choose or Necromancer (Death Magic) as of R23 it is not viable to master just one skill tree and I feel like I am forced into having almost everything.

    Question 2: Is there a chance we will see more magic related weapons and armor. Robes is one example, but I think it would be awesome to have elemental magic specific weapons I.E. Staffs/Wands that increase certain skills or entire skill trees.

    Thanks, loved R23 by the way it has been a great release.


  34. Palinor Tyne

    Is there any chance of having the ability to steer the direction the avatar is facing (preferably with the mouse) without having to move? Currently we are forced to move and lose stillness simply to face in another direction. This probably the biggest problem with combat.


  35. rwcx3rwcx3

    Q: are there any plans to add more constructed languages in to the the game? if so . will con-lang enthusiasts like myself be able to contribute to there creation?


  36. Ice QueenIce Queen

    *Question* Is there any progress in being able to make scenes bigger than they currently are to make them more explorable?




  37. Palinor Tyne

    Question — Could we have a live mapping system which simply traces our past position and auto writes in any POI that we find as well as allowing us to make our own notes?


  38. Palinor Tyne

    Question — Will properties be prone to flooding if in low lying ground depressions (IE Flood Plains)?


  39. majoria70majoria70

    did the hangout end suddenly? Is there another video that continues on. I was not able to watch it during it today so I’m catching it late?

    1. Palinor Tyne

      There was a video error during the live broadcast. They were able to continue until the full 90 minutes were up. I just checked and apparently the last 30 minutes were not recorded.


  40. Palinor Tyne

    Maybe the next broadcast should be thru Twitch.tv and simulcast thru Youtube in order to insure the broadcast is actually recorded.

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