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Fan Faire 2010 Summary

As expected, I am pretty exhausted after a busy Fan Faire, but I'm doing better than in past years! (More on that on my personal blog in the next day or two.) So, this will be just a rehash of my notes from various panels.

To save myself some repetition in each section, here are some quick explanations:

  • "will do" - these are ones that, barring any sudden calamity, are things that they've promised to put on their to do list and get done. There is no ETA, of course, but hopefully things we'll see "soon".
  • "will look into it" - means that the devs will discuss it. It does not mean that anything will actually be done other than talking about the pros and cons. Don't expect to see anything more about it any time soon.
  • "wants to do it, but" - this is something that one or more devs has expressed an interest in, but has not gotten approval, time, etc. Often these are very time-consuming projects, no matter how "simple" players may think they are, and there are no guarantees that they will be able to get to it any time soon
  • "unconfirmed" - things that I heard third-hand, and was unable to get any confirmation on. Take with several grains of salt until I can get an answer.
I know folks get really excited to hear about what has been discussed at Fan Faire, but please, for everyone's sanity, keep the above qualifiers in your mind as you read, as the rumor mill often presents things as set in stone when all that has been promised is that the idea will be considered.

Now that I've given you the obligatory disclaimers, let's get right to the information from the panels.

Expansion - Destiny of Velious

The next expansion for EQ2 will be Destiny of Velious, which will be Part 1 of the Velious saga. (They've yet to finalize how/when Part 2 will be presented.)

They did not give us a firm release date, other than "sometime in the winter". (My impression was late-winter.) Because they were giving this presentation this early in the development phase, the below is only a very rough overview. Many details have yet to be decided, so there wasn't a lot that they could/would commit to at this point.

What we do know so far:

  • (at least) 10 instanced dungeons
  • (at least) 4 Heritage quests, including the first-ever tradeskill HQ, for the Coldain Prayer Shawl
  • Kael Drakkel will be a contested zone
  • (at least) 2 overland zones
  • (at least) 6 raid zones
  • The "Ages End" prophecy will unfold - the twin swords of destiny have been drained and need to be restored
  • Thurgadin and the othmir will return
  • An interesting feature in The Ascent zone will be how the zone will change based on your progress in the questline
  • there will flying mounts, which will be able to fly through every overland zone
  • There will not be mounted combat
  • Mounts will have a level limit, and at least the first mount will be available via a quest
  • Siren's Grotto, Plane of Growth, and Plane of Mischief will not be part of the expansion release (folks specifically asked about those zones)
  • There will not be any increase in the level cap, though there will be an increase in AA of some sort
  • Othmir will not be a playable race
  • The expansion will be aimed at the level 86+ crowd
  • They can't tell us what token/factioning/etc system will be put in, as it has not yet been finalized
  • Current hovering mounts (carpets, hoverpads, flying disks, etc.) are likely to continue to hover not fly
  • Someone requested an increase in the number of items you can put in the trade window at one time be increased. They will look into it
  • There was a request for more female dress clothing with different looks. They indicated that there were plans for such, but did not provide details in the expansion panel. (I missed the art panel)

Lore and Quests

After a recap of some of the lore & quests from the past year, there was some discussion of upcoming plans:
  • They are hoping to explain why the Qeynos and Freeport docks were closed to immigration by the Far Seas Shipping Company. Expect to see details revealved over time.
  • GU57 & GU58 should show changes to Greater Faydark and Darklight Woods. (You'll find Hate's Envy in Flames, and the Nursery in danger, among other things). Quest progression and storylines have been streamlined and smoothed out, so that players are able to find and do quests more efficiently, instead of being sent off in 2 (or more) very different directions at the same time. Mob level progression will also be smoothed out in Greater Faydark.
  • Some classes will be going neutral in GU57, with appropriate lore explanations as to why these changes have been made. Ratonga will become a neutral race (allowed to start in good cities as well as evil) with GU58.

EQ2 Question & Answer Panel #1

  • There was a question about re-itemization of various armor sets due to the change in how stats impacted the various classes (examples were made of T1/T2 void shard gear, and the crafted DFC sets). They are trying to work on it, but there's quite a bit to be done still. Feedback on specific examples of sets that still need work was requested, and the guy asking the question is said that he had a list for them.
  • A player requested that ability for crafters to change their adventuring class without having to lose their crafting progress due to a reroll. (i.e., just like adventurers can change their crafting class back down to level 9 artisan to change crafting classes, crafters want to be able to do the same with their adventuring class). It is something that the devs want to do, but it will take a goodly bit of time.
  • A mentoring inventory item was requested. Due to many possible exploits with an item of this sort, this is not something they plan on doing.
  • A request was made for mount appearance slot items. They'd love to do so, but don't have a timeline for it. (Smokejumper said "yes", so it looks likely ... eventually.)
  • Call of the Veteran is still pretty buggy. (It is a complex issue due to zone access checks, etc. when calling.) It is something that they want to work on.
  • There was a request for linked accounts, so folks with multiple accounts can share heirloom gear between all their accounts. While this is something they want to do, the account access coding would impact multiple tiles (games) and many departments, so it isn't easy or quick, and would require a lot of coordination between teams
  • There was a request for a healer's test dummy guild hall amenity (apparently to let healers practice their curing techniques and such for raids?) - ummm ... maybe
  • The Skyblade Skif home that is the in-game item for Fan Faire Platinum attendees will have access portals in South Qeynos and South Freeport. In addition to a be a clickie exit from the home, if you jump off the edge of the skiff, it will zone you out into a random zone. (Really random ... who knows where you will land?!)
  • There was a request that if a cure curse cast finds nothing to cure (colliding cures from healers on a raid, etc.), the refresh timer be set to something much smaller, such as 3 seconds. They seemed to like this idea, but no promises were made
  • There was a request for an item filter for bags (so you could set certain item types to go into certain bags in inventory, making it easier to find things later.) This seemed to be something they'd like to work on "soon"
  • There was a suggestion for a wardrobe or appearance clothing storage container for the home. This seems to be something they'd like to do, and Rothgar's apparently already given it some thought. Again, nothing is set in stone.
  • Due to the recent wipe of Test_copy, guilds that regularly test on Test_copy are having to manually relevel guilds when/if there are guild-related items to test. There was a request for some sort of buffer on Test_copy to speed up the process. This was deemed to be a "good idea" (As someone who lost the T3 guildhall that was being used for site screenshots, I agree wholeheartedly! ~Mum)
  • There was a request regarding the hua'mein illusion weapons (from the hua'mein faction vendor), opening up the class restrictions on them a bit more. They will look into it.
  • There was a request for more appearance items
  • There was a repeat request from last year that custom colors could be set for chat channels above channel #10. (The request apparently didn't make it into their notes last year.) They'll look into it.
  • There was a request for a tinkering daily task to go along with the adorning daily task. There are no plans to do so, since tinkering ingredients are much easier to get (harvests) than adorning components.

Tradeskills and Housing

There was a recap of various changes/additions since last year's Fan Faire (which has reminded me to make my own personal "to do" list of crafting quest writeups that I still need to do! ~Mum) before they proceeded to upcoming plans:
  • GU57 will include three new series of crafting quests - level 10 in New Halas (with both good and evil versions of the questlines), level 20 in Butcherblock (which includes a low-level horse mount reward), and level 30 in Steamfont. In each case, the quest starter NPC will sell you your advanced recipe books for that tier once you complete their questline. (Expect a writeup from me "soon" in a GU57 preview, as I ran through these quests before I left for Fan Faire ~Mum.) In addition, you will earn various rares and some special recipes to keep from these quests (some pictured below)
  • There are no plans for more player housing with the expansion, though there will be more house items
  • They are looking at more options for prestige housing in the future, once they see how the skyblade skiff is received by the community
  • The Skyblade Skiff (Platinum pass in-game item from Fan Faire) will be a one-room house with a 600-item limit and 5 broker slots. It will replace your current home when you claim it, since game mechanics don't allow a character to own more than one house
  • There will be no crafting level increase with expansion, but there will be new earned high-level recipes - it is too soon for any further details
  • They're considering the possibility of some dungeon loot drops requiring assistance from a crafter to complete the item
  • The plan for harvestables in Velious is currently that the nodes there will contain Velious-only resources that will be used in the new recipes
  • The first-ever tradeskill Heritage Quest will be the Coldain Prayer Shawl
  • There was a request to increase the storage size on the guild harvesting depot, especially since the current depot can't hold all the common & rare harvestables at the same time. Rothgar said he'd look into it as soon as he gets back
  • I requested that they think about a flying mount useable by crafters in the expansion, since the adventuring ones are expected to have an adventuring level limit. It is already something that Domino has brought up in planning meetings with the team, so while no promises can be made, it is at least being discussed.
  • There was a request for more items with harvesting bonuses. They'll look into it
  • There was a request to make the house moving crate contents not count towards house item count. In order to do it, they would need to put an item limit on the crate at least equal to the maximum number of items that could be stored in the home, or somesuch, so that it couldn't be abused for an infinite number items stored. They'll look into it
  • There was a request to increase the item limit on T3 guild halls. They'll look into it
  • There was a request for functional doors in housing. They'll look into it
  • There was a request to smooth out the crafting writ level progression at the lower levels, so they're more like the progression in T9 crafting writs. While it is something Domino wants to do, it is pretty time-consuming, so it may or may not happen sometime
  • There was a request for crafting food in larger amounts. It is something they're looking into, but given that there is often a very thin profit margin for food/drink on the broker already, they are worried that being able to make more food/drink faster would ruin the market for provisioners.
  • There was a request for adorning conversion recipes that convert downward (powders to fragments). It is something she is considering
  • There was a request for node amenities for the guildhall which would allow folks to work on their harvesting skill (no harvests received from them, only skillup chances). This is something that they will look into
  • We were asked if we truly want harvestables from the harvesting amenity NPCs to go directly into the guild harvest depot. The response from the audience was a resounding "Yes!"
  • There was a request for stairs as a house item
  • There was a request for facelifts for the older housing, such as Qeynos. While it is something they would like to do, they are unsure when/if they would be able to do it.
  • There was a player request for a guild ammunition box
  • There was a request that some of the carpenter recipes be redone so that carpenters have to use less types of crafting tables in the lower levels. Domino brought up the point, however, that some players have told her that they enjoy the table variety for a change of scene, so this is a no-win situation
  • It was brought up that there are no T9 temporary ranged weapon adornments. They will look into it
  • There was a request for something like the grassy gnolls, only with not as steep a slope to it. They will look into it
  • There was a question on the rent cost for the Skyblade Skiff. It will not have any rent!

Three new craftables from the crafting quests to be added with GU57

Unconfirmed Stuff

I am totally not sure on these two:
  • There was one brief mention of August 17 for GU57. Please take it with a grain of salt right now, since I wasn't able to follow up on it
  • I heard third-hand that there were plans to let the druid ring rebuilding event continue until GU58. I do not know the original source, and have not had a chance to chase this one down. So, you may have only a week more to earn/spend tokens from the druid ring event, or you may have a couple months. I will update when I know more.

Addendum

Tenamdar of Befallen has provided us with the following video footage of the Tradeskills & Housing Panel:

Created: 2010-08-10 01:32:52          
Last Modified By: Niami Denmother          
Last Modified on: 2010-08-10 05:24:45          

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