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February 2003 #ncsoft House of Commons on stratics.com

Amer's comments are in dark red.

Hello and welcome to the Lineage House of Commons! Tonight you will get a chance to ask the developers of Lineage any questions that you may have. This chat is in moderated format - please /msg [QT]amer or [QT]flippie to ask a question. Do not message me or anyone from NCsoft, these questions will be ignored.

<Melantus> Hello Im Melantus, Community Coordinator for Lineage in the US
<captsturm> Hello everyone! I'm CaptSturm, Producer, Lineage NA.
<Elahrairah> Hello, I'm Elahrairah, part of the North American Lineage Support Team.
<Melantus> and Leilo too :P
<Leilo> Hi everyone!
<Darkwing_> Hey everyone! I'm Darkwing, also part of the Support Team :)

*Guest* Are there any plans to introduce ways to make the Fruit of Ent more common?
<captsturm> As many likely know, we currently keep the Ken and Dep servers sync'ed with the Korean Main Servers. The fruit of ent availability was carefully evaluated by the NCS dev team to be available at a rate appropriate to its usefulness. So, currently, there are no plans for a change to that on those servers. We've made some minor adjustments on the LoA server--that issue continues to be evaluated there.
Basically, no. It's not changing. Wafers availability is currently at the satisfaction of the Lineage Development team. Looks like captsturm is approaching satisfaction with their availability on LoA server too, so it's time to get used to the fact that wafers are NOT braves. Knights are NOT elves.

*taera* In the upcoming episode you seem to be implanting alot of social aspects to the game. So far, we have only a rough idea of what alliance will entail; does the command include any form of benefit to war/siege besides the communication?
<captsturm> Currently, the major advantage is to easing the communication among allies
This level of communication is nothing to write off. A huge advantage of pledges which hunt in the same computer room as each other is the ability to communicate with each other efficiently. Up to now, it has been a huge disadvantage to not be able to give orders to these large multi-pledge alliances which exist in the game today. Alliance chat is a huge deal and honestly, does a super pledge made of 4 or 5 full pledges really need more of an advantage?

*lingrendel* can you give us any specifics on how the marriage system will work?
<captsturm> The marriage system isn't likely to make it out with the Ep12 content--it'll likely become active shortly thereafter. it is a system where two characters of opposite gender can become married for a fee -- they'll gain better exp during hunts and such. Of course, if you choose to get divorced, it'll cost tons more...
Sounds like a party bonus to me (which we have discovered gets bigger and bigger as your party increases. We've discovered a 12% boost in a party of 4 and even larger bonuses in larger parties). It is likely that the party bonus will be split evenly between the couple (like a party) rather than just a boost to your XP. We translated that it would be a stat bonus, and it looks like it was a mistranslation there.

*Vassago* How would you evalute your success or lack thereoff with the LoA server so far?
<Melantus> It's still too early to say or not, we arent really going to fully evaluate it for a while yet. But from what I have seen on various boards, several players repeatedly say how they like LoA. They like the changes, etc. That part sounds nice, and what we like to hear.... so will the changes ever come to Dep and Ken? We dont know. It's something to maybe consider later, but we havent progressed any on that thought yet.
<captsturm> I would encourage you to try LoA and continue to voice your concerns/feedback/criticisms.
<Melantus> so the answer is, we will still keep makign changes. evaluation comes a bit later.
I think it's silly to describe LoA as a "lack of success" given that it has grown to the size of Dep and Ken (possibly at the detriment of Test server) within a month, and has kept those numbers. In addition, the numbers on Dep and Ken seem to have gone up, not down. (At least at the times I play) I was concerned at the beginning that it would suck the life out of the other servers, but it looks like we've come out okay -- some of our friends have left the other servers -- and that hurts, but the big picture does look promising.

*hew* Hello, and thank you. Here is my question: Do you know if there is any planned development of Lineage Forever for Mac OS X?
<Melantus> still too early to really say on that. That would take some extra manpower, and we would have to compare that cost to possible benefits. I can pass along that question to our LF people, and perhaps during the next chat we can get a better answer for you on it
I would guess that no one is working on it right now. However, the Mac OS X abilities of Lineage are a crown jewel of NC and Lineage, so it's pretty safe to assume they take their Mac customers very seriously, so if Lineage ever goes to 3D, we can assume that our Mac brethren will be accounted for.

*taera* The newest tactic between warring pledges seems to be pointing fingers and accusing eachother of violating the TOS. What is NC's stance on dealing with these cases?
<Melantus> yes that has been going back adn forth on our boards, unfortunately.... it doesnt amtter what pledge is involved or other politics about it. If someone breaks the TOS, then it's up to our Support to evaluate the issue and deal with it. Dont hash it out in public, simply report it to Support and let them handle it. that is the thing to do, report it, give good detailed info on what you are complaining about, and move on. threads on that subject are going to usually get closed, because it really is mostly a public dirt-throwing thing. Not something for the boards.
Violating the TOS is wrong, plain and simple. If there are people doing it, NC will stop them. Even if it changes the balance of the server. It's a lame tactic, I agree, but people shouldn't be violating it.

*lingrendel* many people fear that episode 12 is the last major lineage update besides the graphics engine. can you tell us about any plans you have for episodes 13 and beyond? will aden grow? more classes?
<captsturm> Ep12 is the finale of Lineage "Part 1". I don't have specifics, but the Dev team is beginning to consider options for future content. Lineage has a big audience worldwide--as long as we have fans and loyal customers, we'll continue to support them. With Lineage, that means lots and lots of content.
NC - Korea once said "Lineage episodes 13-18 will be dubbed the Age of Lord British" or some such thing back when Lord British was arriving on the scene. So, hopefully they have a plan for these episodes and even more hopefully, NC-US will take a more active role in the balance changes which take place during this period.

*Appleseede* You had movies showing new walk animations for the main characters in the game a while back. I've seen screenshots of Episode 12 and it looks like they still aren't there. Have they been scrapped, or will they still be put into Episode 12?
<captsturm> They haven't been scrapped. We weren't happy with the first pass on these and have since been busy with a lot of new content. I'll mark that one for follow up and we'll get something posted on the boards shortly.
If they told me to pick between further development on the new walks and Lineage Forever, I would pick Lineage Forever. Maybe they have a different philosophy. Either way, time spent working on graphics is less time spent adding content. I'm hoping for more balancing changes and more regions to justify these changes rather than improved sprite graphics. Even when the new sprites do come out (1) They are higher framerate, so if your computer has problems when you morph into Werewolf in Fire Valley, like some people complain, you will now have problems all the time and (2) Is a smoother mage walk really such a big deal? Everyone still looks the same, which is the root of the complaint.

*[TIO]Ilkramil* What do you see for Lineage in the future after SWG, EQ2, WoW, and etc come out?
<Melantus> well, what I think is important for a game in this day and age is content. Graphics are nice, without a doubt. but the key to a fun and enjoyable game is content. Known any great looking games that just werent all that good? ... Lineage has some unique content, example would be sieges. so as far as the plans for the future, we do have plans. You have heard about other games being worked on... without that meaning the end of Lineage, it does mean we are looking toward the future. But Lineage is here, and brings us money. We wouldnt ignore it. We want to keep going with it. I think this means the best of both worlds for our players. it is a system where two characters of opposite gender can become married for a fee -- they'll gain better exp during hunts and such.
Lineage 2 is their answer to SWG, EQ2, WoW and such. Lineage is not a competitor to those other games -- it's like saying "What will happen to bicycles when cars are invented?" Well cars were invented and bikes still exist. The people who used a bike for getting around upgraded to cars. The people who used bikes for fun, still ride bikes. Comparing a 2D game to a 3D game is not a meaningful comparison.

*ChaosZ* There have been reports about the monsters in Ep. 12 being only suitable for very high lvl characters, are the monsters going to be made easier for US Severs?
<captsturm> There's no current plans for that--some of the monsters will indeed be a challenge. But they're the "finale" of the first part of Lineage and should be something difficult to defeat. We'll observe the players feedback and track the results, but we don't have plans for that at this time.
We also thought that FI Drake was as hard as Valakas based on the initial reports, but it turns out that we can handle it. Tower of Insolence is meant to be a place for people who are bored by Fire Valley and the highest floors of DVC. It's where you go in the game when levelling up in those places is too easy. Challenge keeps you playing. Boredom makes you quit.

*Wodka* In Epi 12 there is an item called : Dragon Blood. what is this item used for? If for item creation what kind of item will be created with it?
<captsturm> There's likely to be a few dropped items that will be fully implemented at a later time--but I don't have any information on that one yet.
So basically, it currently has no use. Obviously, it will eventually. Rumor has it that it will be a component for powerful item (think Sayha's Bow or Tsurugi) if it is reintroduced into the game.

*LadySan* When are you planning to activate the Prince/ss set enchantment NPC in Heine?
<captsturm> As soon as possible. :^) Episode 12 is keeping us busy right now, but it should be added (LoA specific item) right after that. As a preview, the plan is to branch that set out to one of the four elements--lots of sapphires will grow it into a MP regen set, lots of Emeralds will grow it into a HP regen set and so on. But, we're working on Ep12 content primarily right now.
I'm glad to see introduced Episode 12 takes priority over all else. ^^ I wish captsturm could influence Dep/Ken more. He has some really cool ideas ;)

*speedlab* i'm joe average player level 49+ i don't play 15 hours a day , i don't share my account. I gain 00.0015% a day and dying is outrageously depressing. i'm about to quit, what can you say to make me stay ? *sniff*
<captsturm> Well, first we need smart people that don't share their accounts with strangers, so please stay. Second, set your goals to something else that lineage offers other than the power leveling--make friends. Heck, make some enemies. Stick around for all the neat stuff we got coming right around the corner.
<Melantus> that exp buy back might be nice for you as well
This is a common concern felt by high level players. The frustration of death with significant penalty is not unique to Lineage and many of these new MMORPGs coming out are trying to come up with unique ways of dealing with it. However, this HoC was the day before they announced the lowered death penalty, so it's good to see that NC is aware of this frustration and is trying to deal with it. If the buyback and reduced death penalty don't satisfy the majority of players, I think we can expect alternate ideas too in later episodes.

*Shanin* Any chances the dragon-slayer will be put into game again?
<captsturm> No plans right now.
Ahh, the endless love affair with Dragon Slayer. It is about 2 years since they took it out and people still wonder about its return. ^^ However, they introduced Ancient Sword and Ancient Great Sword and it *cannot be enchanted*. Clearly the NC philosophy of game balance does not want knights to have a stronger weapon than this.

*Siferenthius* With the adition of Episode 12, we're getting more monters... new areas, but what aboutt the old areas, such as Windawood which is now pratically a dead town except for it's dungeon...?
<captsturm> Ep12 restructures a lot in regards to existing areas. There's the Hometown system that lets players be town "chief" or mayor. The castle income will be distributed a little more evenly as well. But, you'll always have areas that will be appropriate for specific levels. As the majority of the population levels up and moves on, some areas may become deserted until new players enter the server and make their way through the level specific areas.
I think Siferenthius is more referring to the fact that owning Windawood Castle has no point. It's not like it's worth it to own. However, as captsturm points out, the new tax system is designed to spread the wealth across the servers. Based on what we've heard from the Korean fansites, all the money is pooled into Aden and distributed to the castles (not necessarily evenly), so if no one buys from Kent and instead they buy from Giran, that's okay, since all that money will count as part of the total.

*[QT]flippie* Well, since no one has asked, ill ask. What is the new LoA item?!?!
<Melantus> ok so as you might remember.... a little while back, few days ago, we were doing a fan item contest. Well we picked and announced a winner. Well we have been working on the item, which will be named after the winner's character. I wrote fiction to go with the item, which we will post hopefully next week to intro the players to this item a huge number of awesome entries were sent in, but we could only have one winner but in any case.... without giving away the item's secrets, I will just say it is unlike anything existing in Lineage right now. hopefully you will like it :) so if all goes well then next week watch out for the story. ok ok ok, a small hint... the item, it does not remain the same. that's the only hint you get :)
<captsturm> As Mel said, we got a ton of great ideas--many which we are technically unable to implement--but we're passing on the suggestion to the programming team And even if your idea wasn't selected right now, many of the ideas can and will be implemented in some form as LoA continues. The programming team has indicated that we'll be getting some wild tools to let us do some very neat things.
<Melantus> muhaha ;) oh btw we plan to make it for all classes :P
Melantus has been hyping this up for a while now. It must be pretty nontraditional. :)

*LadySan* Have you considered to enable some sort of pledge log to keep track of stuff that is taken?
<Elahrairah> We've had a lot of Royals ask us about this one and suggest one be enabled. A while back we introduced the change to pledge store access, that you would only be able to access pledge store once your leader gave you title. So right now, as the leader of a pledge, you have control of who has access to the pledge store. Discussions are still going about the suggestions you make, so if you Royals would like to see something like this, get a discussion going on the boards. Let Mel see what you have to say so we can pass that information along.
That's a great idea, in my opinion, and might be able to be integrated into the LinWeb system. However, as of this writing (2 days later), no new thread has been started on the Lineage Forums. So, if you care, start a thread. No one can hear your concern if you don't speak up. :)

*IronClaw* question? Do you have plans to change seige times/frequency or plans to revamp how sieges work for ep 12?
<captsturm> We changed the frequency recently from 48 to 96 hours. We don't currently plan to change it further.
Basically, no. I used to be part of the alliance which defended Giran and Windawood. We had sieges to deal with every single day. I know some people think that would be fun, but it gets old fast. Especially when you stand around and no one comes. The 96 hour adjustment was probably made so non-hard-core players could enjoy being in a siege pledge too.

*Nennius* what about the level 50 mage bonus....... anything on it?
<captsturm> Unfortunately, no progress on this one yet. The design team is aware of this issue, but nothing to announce at this time.
Nothing to say here, but if you consider the other bonuses for getting to level 50, it's probably nothing to be too concerned about. Whatever it will be is probably not as interesting as some of the positive balance changes made throughout the past year.

*Nennius* Is there any plans to change the way orcish fortress get tax money on dep/ken like on LoA?
<captsturm> Not quite. Ep12 does have a new tax distribution system that should spread out ALL castle income a little more equitably (sp?) Anyhow, Orc Fort should begin pulling in a little more money.
Same point as above re: Windawood. All money goes into the pool, each castle gets a share.

*SoulFire* any chances of getting a level 48 or 49 morph to keep the motivation up such as something speed of skelton walking yet faster then spartoi swinging ? :)
<captsturm> That's something to consider--we've had a couple of informal discussions about a morph in that range. We've also discussed class based morph options (on LoA) as well as the variety. We'll see what we can do about that one.
Looks like captsturm has been eyeing a change like this for LoA. However, he didn't mention that the Lineage development team in Korea has been working on anything. That doesn't mean they aren't, but it's pretty unlikely.

*taera* In the course of Lineage's time on the market as well as in beta we have seen the elemental magic concept become more and more powerful. Yet still, there is one element of Gaia missing, and the people of Lineage US were wondering if and when the 'Heart' element will be actiavated, if you can summon a monkey friend, and if this will be the final step toward summoning an all-natural being of good.
<captsturm> The lack of monkeys is our one true weakness.
<Melantus> this isnt Captain Planet :)
<Leilo> Only if we can hug it and squeeze it, and name it Gleek.
<Darkwing_> Goooooooo planet! Sorry, brings back memories
Check out http://www.turner.com/planet/characters/cp.html if you're lost :)

<Rhayde> Thank you for attending the Lineage House of Commons chat! A log will be posted shortly on http://www.stratics.com!

<[QT]flippie> we all miss that little monkey.
<Darkwing_> He was kool
<captsturm> Goodnight everyone! Now, get back to playing! :^)
<Melantus> thanks for joining us, all! good chat. See you next time and see you on the boards. And dont cause trouble on the boards!!~!~!
<[QT]flippie> one final announcement.... i have a belly button.
<Darkwing_> I'd be fire, he had the cool jacket
<Elahrairah> Cya! ^_^