Q-3PO said: Welcome to the Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided Developer's Chat! We have turned on Full Moderation - meaning that only the Devs can talk now.
Q-3PO said: The purpose of this chat is to give you a chance to ask the Devs questions about the game. We're only going to be able to get to a fraction of the questions tonight, so please bear with us.
Q-3PO said: To ask a question please /msg Marluka. We will get to as many as we can tonight. Please do not spam your questions. The chat will last 1 hour.
Q-3PO said: To start we will by asking our Devs to introduce themselves.
Shug_Ninx said: I'm Haden Blackman, the LucasArts Producer for Galaxies. I'm also in charge of helping to maintain the Star Wars content.
Holocron said: I'm Raph Koster aka Holocron and I am the creative director for SWG. That means I'm basically in charge of the game design.
BoShek said: Hi there...my name is Rich Vogel,...Executive Producer of SWG...
Griff said: Hello, I'm John Donham, producer for SOE. I try and get everything done much faster than can actually be accomplished.
Acritus asked: Will characters start out with enough money to start their trade? They need to because how else is a character supposed to gain his/her first credit.
Holocron said: Newbie characters will start with some money and also with basic items for their trade. You can however still earn credits even if flat broke, because you can always just go do a few easy delivery missions or something in order to make some basic money.
ArtemisPrime asked: how many beta tester (ballpark) have we got at this time?
Q-3PO said: We've got several thousand invites out. Last I checked we have over 2000 external testers. We're adding more this week and next.
Catonine asked: Can healings (any type of healing) only be done at camps and facilities?
Holocron said: You can heal certain types of injuries anywhere (such as regular damage to your health, action or mind). You can heal wounds only at given locations, such as campsites or cantinas. However, a medical droid will also let you heal wounds if you are near one you own... So it kinda varies. There's also combat medics, which can heal more in the field...
Xor_Li asked: It it a "skill" to check the quality of an item to be purchased, or is it Buyer beware?
Holocron said: It's info available to everyone, actually, you can just look at the item details when you are browsing goods.
Rickey asked: what features have been the most troublesome to test so far?
Holocron said: For me, it has been the interface. Everyone seems to have a different idea of what the best "defaults" should be for camera and controls.
Griff said: Multiserver - it's going to be unstable at first, yet we need hundreds and hundreds of people to really test it. Makes for a frustrating conversation while we make progress.
Shug_Ninx said: UI for me too - everyone has a different notion about what feels like it fits in the Star Wars universe. Ranged combat has also been difficult, just because it's such a new concept for MMOs.
BluScreen asked: Will people be able to creat their own emotes? (motions)
Holocron said: There is the standard /emote or : command which lets you put in your own text emotes. To make your own animations, well, you'd probably need your own motion capture studio.
So No on that part...
kebernet asked: With the removal of Zones of Control, will there be a concrete objective between the PvP factions?
Holocron said: We believe the answer is yes, but we're not talking about those objectives just yet. Stay tuned!
Durek asked: When an Animal Tamer logs off how will they be able to keep their pet?
Holocron said: You can pack up the pet when you log off, so that it logs out with you; you can also leave it out but in the game if you're only going to be logged out for a brief while. (like if you lose connection). You can also leave them inside one of your structures. If you abandon a pet, though, expect it to wander away and then you'll lose it.
ZurixRoxx asked: Any narrowing of release date from the Dec.-Feb. time frame?
Shug_Ninx said: No. We don't have a final release date. It's not likely to be December or even January, though. We're taking the time to do the product right, which is most important to us. There's still a lot of polishing that needs to be done, balancing, etc. A lot really depends on how the next two phases of beta go - we're load testing right now, for example, and as stability improves, we'll feel more comfortable with announcing a release date.
Ravazkahn asked: Has their been a limit set to the number of skills you can master?
Holocron said: Yes, there is such a limit. It's actually a bit hard to explain because it's a cap on the number of skill points. You get 200 skill points. That's enough fully master around 3 full professions, plus a smattering of other skills (like maybe a half dozen more). But you can choose to spend those points in different ways--you could master the bottom half of every single newbie profession for example, and that would also burn your points.
TheDross asked: Will there be a certain limit on how many stories the houses can be?
Holocron said: Yes, there is a limit on how many floors they are, the houses are prefabricated and the biggets player structures are 3 floors.
Shug_Ninx said: Some have basements...
Sando_Mar asked: Will we be able to paint armor?
Griff said: When you craft armor, depending on your skill, you are able choose a hue for it - the more skill you have, the more colors you can choose from.
Sansin asked: Creature Handler Question: can you give some examples of the "voice commands" that we might expect for trained pets. Examples perhaps of low level and advanced?
Holocron said: You can actually train your pet to accept any word for a given command, so you can make a pet use "chomp!" as the "kill" command. Some of the commands available are tricks, kill, follow, formations for follow, guard, patrol (and setting and clearing of waypoints...)
Felinius asked: can we get an answer to the recent firestorm over pets. is death permanent or temporary? any penalties if temporary?
Holocron said: Pet death is permanent. However, pets go incapacitated, just like players do, so death isn't as frequent as it is in other games, we hope.
Jasconius asked: Will there be actual player atrributes like strentch and intelligence, and if so will you be able to modify these points after character creation?
Holocron said: Yes, and the attributes are strength, constitution, focus, willpower, stamina, and quickness. And yes, you can modify them after creation. You open your character sheet, set a target for what you want them to be, and they migrate there over time.
Chich327 asked: What is the ultima purpose of the community? What happens to this community after the game is released?
Q-3PO said: Community is vital to the long term success of these types of games. We're going to continue to build the community on our site and in the game. In fact, I just had some meetings today about our Live site
FSTTHRAWN asked: Are we going to be given more information about the specifics of the game as it gets closer to release? Like as in for the crafting skills, what will be needed to make a certain item and about the skill levels?
Holocron said: Probably not. We want to save SOME thing for you to discover when you actually play.
GrandCzar asked: has the design process stoped completly at this point?
BoShek said: No, that is why we have beta ;-)
Holocron said: The bulk of it has, but that's what beta is for--to make you re-evaluate the design and adjust it based on the feedback.
Sevur asked: WIll there be very powerful mobs that will need to have aggro concentrated on one "main tank", will numerous healers such as in EverQuest?
Holocron said: There will be very powerful opponents. I wouldn't really try to take on an AT-ST with "one tank" though.
Chich327 asked: How much of the staff is going to stay after release? We all know that the talented staff will want to move onto newer projects? For example, Holo, Q, Shug do you plan on staying after release? How long?
Holocron said: Newer projects? I was thinking the Bahamas...
BoShek said: We are planning to do the space expansion and continue to add content in the game. We will still be here after launch
Holocron said: Can I do the space expansion from the Bahamas?
Q-3PO said: I'll be here at least through Space, probably longer. It's a good project. Plus new things scare me
Holocron said: Please?
BoShek said: And yes this is Boshek not some Droid..;-)
Shug_Ninx said: I plan to stick with the project at least through the space expansion. I really want to see how everything evolves and how the community changes as we expand.
Griff said: Everyone will be working here until their task lists are done.
Holocron waves bye bye to the dream of the Bahamas.
Griff said: And I'm sure I can make a long task list.
Toolarka asked: What are the mechanics of a death blow? What role does it have now that out casting is out?
Holocron said: Actually, it still plays a pretty significant role in large scale battles... you currently have to get fairly close to do a death blow, so in big firefights it creates a role for medics who revive fallen comrades.
BataiBatoo asked: Will a players map show an indicator to indicate the location of that players lost corpse?
Holocron said: Yes. You get a waypoint to it...
IceMaster1 asked: Can you give us your current guess at the population cap per cluster?
BoShek said: We are waiting for Beta 3 to determine the amount of people in a cluster. It will depend on how the servers take the load and how much lag will be present during gameplay
Shug_Ninx said: Some of it will also depend on how it feels - if the servers feel too crowded or too empty, we'll try to make adjustments.
Tux[Lurking] asked: is it random becoming a beta tester or is it selected?
Q-3PO said: Most of our tester at this point are random (with some filters), but we also hand pick some each week. We are also to the point of adding specific others, like some hardware partners. Don't send use bribes though.
Quetzimo asked: How much variation are there going to be for missions? Environmental, type of missions (Assasination, delivery, crafting)? Many people are afraid that missions will be like AOs for instance, deja vu through all missions you make.
Holocron said: We have a bunch of mission types--delivery, escort, recon, destroy, bounty and assassination... A big difference from other games is that all mission take place in the game world, not in private areas.
VampyHoshi asked: Will all SWG emotes be listed in-game or in the manual, or will some be considered easter-eggs and have to be discouvered?
Shug_Ninx said: They'll all likely be listed both in-game and in the manual. You can even drag an icon attached to any emote into your toolbar to allow you to use it with just a hotkey.
Q-3PO said: We're about half way done now and there are A TON of questions to sort through.
Midgethand asked: Can you heal all types of dammage on the battle field?
Holocron said: No, some types of damage need to be healed at a campsite, hospital, or cantina.
BataiBatoo asked: Will houses and other player owned structures eventually disappear with disuse? If they do disappear, will the player still own the land?
Holocron said: Yes, structures will go away if the maintenance fees are not paid. The ownership of the land is tied to the sturcture so it will go away if you do not have the structure. Someone else can take over the space in that case.
JewaHan asked: What are the chances of us getting a character creation prog before launch?
Griff said: I'll be the bearer of bad news. Unfortunately not. We'd like to, we think it'd be cool, but at the end of the day, it's more important to get in all the game features and polish we can.
Terriaksis asked: Since their is item decay, when an item decays all the way, will be become unusuable or does it become destroyed and dissappear from your invantory?
Holocron said: Items will decay all the way, you have the chance to repair them, but if you don't, they will go away all the way.
Sando_Mar asked: If you own a house, can you deconstruct it, move it somewhere else, and then reconstruct it there?
Holocron said: Yes.
BoShek said: Yes, you can
Holocron said: You do need to have the maintenance fees paid off before you can move it though.
Ichnisanchi asked: Am I going to be able to own my personal droid, that follows me wherever I go, and serves sort of like a personnal assistant? (extra inventory room, repair armor/weapons, light up dark places, etc.)
Holocron said: Yes, you can own a droid, it acts as a pet. And different droids do serve different purposes, including several of the ones you cited. We don't have the "light up dark places" thing, but we do have extra inv, crafting station, medic, power droid, etc.
Shifty3000 asked: How many characters can I make per registered account? Thanks.
Shug_Ninx said: Look for the answer to that in an upcoming issue of PC Gamer...
JoserJedi asked: will we be able to use 56k modems?
Griff said: Ues.
Shug_Ninx said: I beta test on one right now at home...
Griff said: Err, Yes.
Logiii asked: What kind of music instruments will be implemented? what various styles are there?
Shug_Ninx said: We pulled a bunch of instruments from the continuity - the kloo horn, Max Rebo's organ, etc. We're trying to make sure that we cover all types of instruments, though. We'll have stringed instruments, horns, percussion, etc.
Quoth asked: Are the skyboxes finished yet? and will there be sandstorms on Tatooine, how will they be handled?
BoShek said: The skyboxes are not finished yet..we are still polishing them and yes, we have sandstorms on Tatooine. They really awesome!
Holocron said: Weather does not cause damage to players. That's a thing to know...
Guise asked: this has probably been asked 578 times already but what is the guesstimation for beta 3 start?
Griff said: We hope before Christmas - we're trying as hard as we can. But no promises - my whip is pretty bloody already.
Holocron said: Actually, it's only been asked 522 times. Well, 523 now.
Naa_OkthSwenta asked: Does "You can always give up a skill in order to apply those points towards something that you find more interesting and useful." mean you can do this at any time ? i mean if you need heal so you put your XP in heal skill, and if 5 minutes later you need fight skill then you move your XP to fight skill as you want ??
Holocron said: Yes, you can do it at any time. But just to be clear, giving up a skill gives you SKILL POINTS back. It does NOT give you the relevant XP. Skill points cap the number of skills you can get, but you still need to acquire the XP in order to get a skill, and go to the trainer to obtain it, etc.
Barsook asked: Following up on Incapasitation. Will the incapasitated player be able to 'suicide' if they find they're being camped and re-incapacitated evry time they 'come to'?
Holocron said: We're finding a need for that ability as the beta test proceeds. We actually had a bantha camping someone's corpse two weeks ago...
Swaggsus asked: Will we recieve some kind of hint as to what attributes suit each profession best? or is that something we will need to use our personal discresion for?
Holocron said: Actually, when you choose a starting profession, we set up attributes that we think suit the profession. I imagine that players will find we were stupid about it and will find much better optimum starting values though.
Warfarin asked: Will there be bonues available only to Imperials that will make them more desirable than the rebels (and thus, limit the unlikely continuity-straining rebel-heavy polls)?
Shug_Ninx said: Yes, but we're not giving out any further details right now.
Dekar8686 asked: Will Bounty Hunters have any kind of skill that keeps them from showing up as an enemy on their target's radar, or just not showing up on the radar at all?
Griff said: No - bounty hunters will show up on the radar just like everyone else. However, they won't show up any differently than anyone else either - if you're walking in a city with 200 other players, you'll be hardpressed to know which of those blips on your radar is a potential bounty hunter.
Schwartzbewithyou asked: Speaking of corpse runs, is there the equivalent to the EQ "/corpse" command?
Holocron said: Yes.
Shug_Ninx said: But you don't need to do it if you'd rather pay insurance on your items.
DelTorak asked: If you need to be near someone to perform a deathblow, how will ranged fighters be able to kill their opponents without medics running in all of the time?
Holocron said: That's part of the point; the best large combat groups will have a range of roles in them. Snipers, medics, commandos charging the lines, etc.
ashatumar asked: How long can we expect to wait before the first player made structure is up? How significant an accomplishment is it?
Griff said: You should see the first player-made structures almost right away. However, there are some larger player structures that are a much more significant accomplishment.
Psychodude17 asked: whats happens if a person's corpse is in the heart of enemy teritory.....
Holocron said: They can insure their gear before venturing into enemy territory... but if they die out there with uninsured gear, well, they've got a tough road ahead of them.
Faleran asked: Is there going to be monsters that you can solo as any character? Like there was supposed to be in EverQuest?
Griff said: Everyone can solo against (and die to) a Krayt Dragon. No restrictions.
Holocron said: Yes, there's lots of creatures that you can solo right now in fact. There are also targets that you probably cannot solo ever.
YouDieByMyHand asked: Will you generate most of the conlict and challenges for players, or will you let players do it themselves?
Holocron said: We hope to do both as much as possible. We want to have a solid roster of content in the game, but we also want to encourage players to generate conflict and challenges for each other as much as possible.
Rudo9 asked: will most the combat in the game be with range weapons? Also how well will ranged combat work with lag?
Holocron said: Most will be with ranged weapons. We do use an RPG system for it, so it's relatively resistant to lag. We are not an FPS.
Falorf asked: Is it possible for other players to stumble onto your mission target before you get there?
Griff said: Probably not - though we pick the location of your mission target when you accept your mission, we do not MAKE the mission objective until you get close to it. It's still possible for someone else to steal it if they are there at the same time you are, but it's much less likely because it doesn't exist until you get there.
Swaggsus asked: when campsites are set up how long do they last? are they one time use or do they stick around for a bit?
Holocron said: Campsites stick around as long as the camp owner is there, plus alittle while as an abandoned camp. If left abandoned, they go away. But if someone comes across an abandoned campsite, they can take ownership of it
FSTTHRAWN asked: What will determine the maintenance fees for a structure?
Holocron said: Mostly size of the structure, but there's also a skill factor (level of industrialist skill).
psbryan asked: where do we purchase lots from?
Holocron said: You don't purchase lots. You purchase a deed to a structure (which is crafted by an architect). It takes up lots when placed.
Yojimbo3 asked: Is there a "casting time" on combat medics healing while in battle?
Holocron said: Well, it's not a spell, so it's not casting time, but your stimpack does have a recharge time.
Nagalore asked: What happens to a players shops and structures if someone would cancel their subscription?
Holocron said: The shops and structures will stick around for a while, and then as the maintenance costs accure, the shops and structures will go away.
KrimisSuuArk asked: can you master two elite proffesions at once?
Holocron said: Depends on the profession. If it's a specialist profession, like say, pistol specialist and rifle specialist, you do have enough skil points to do that. If it is a profession that requires two whole professions as prerequisites, you're not going to have enough skill points left over to master a fourth.
Aayla_Secura asked: How are the planets besides Tatooine, coming along? Do you plan on Beta testing any of them? If so which ones?
Griff said: Yep, we're going to test a few more planets, in addition to the travel system. We're testing travel on the Q/A server now, so hopefully within a couple of weeks we have it out on the Beta server. Let me put my typical disclaimer here - if we run into any problems it might take a little longer.
Shug_Ninx said: Dathomir looks incredible, but you might need to wait until we launch to see it... It's easily one of the creepiest planets we have.
theLegendiryoku asked: how many players can there be in one group?
Holocron said: Currently, we're testing in beta with 8, but I think that number is probably going to be higher. We have many pieces of content (like say, an Imperial outpost) which would call for a much larger group to tackle.
TembreFell asked: If someone were to steal your mission target (if it's a pickup) will they get a bounty?
Holocron said: They can't actually steal your mission pickup. The NPC will not give it to them, and if the NPC is killed, the item will not be there for them to get.
wookiehelper asked: can you just throw stff on the floors of your house?
Griff said: Yep - it has to be YOUR house, but as long as it is, you can make as much of a mess of your house as you want.
Holocron said: Up to the limit of stuf you're allowed to have.
vilagefool asked: would maintenance fees go to the architect or an NPC?
Holocron said: They go to the game so that we can take the money out of the game to keep the economy moving.
Odyssius asked: So does the architect or the player choose the location. And does this mean that Architects are going to be estate agents as well?
Holocron said: The player chooses the location, the architect is more of a crafter who makes the deed objects.
Vrhead asked: can you sell your shop to some one else?
Holocron said: You can transfer ownserhip of a building, but it has to be empty first.
Q-3PO said: Okay, that's it for tonight's chat
BoShek said: Thanks for coming. I hope you got some good stuff tonight to chew on.
Q-3PO said: We had a ton of great questions.
Shug_Ninx said: Thanks for stopping by. See you on the forums!
Q-3PO said: I'll send all the unused questions to Shug and Holo to review
Griff said: Okay, back to work. Bye everyone!
Holocron said: Bye everyone!
BoShek said: Bye...be safe
Q-3PO said: Thanks for coming. Sorry if we didn't get to your question. We'll have the transcript up tomorrow
Q-3PO said: (though I'm sure our fine fan sites will have one up in a few minutes)
[21:01] (Hellchick-PQ) Tonight, he's been nice enough to sit down with us and the community
and talk about Q3Radiant and mapping in Q3A by taking your questions
[21:02] (Hellchick-PQ) Hypni|s|: Q: Duffy you have helped make QER/Q3R what it is today and
helped ID in the process. What is your position going to be on ID's next project? Will you
continue to make an Editor/tools for them or are you going to be moving on?
Q-3PO said: The purpose of this chat is to give you a chance to ask the Devs questions about the game. We're only going to be able to get to a fraction of the questions tonight, so please bear with us.
Q-3PO said: To ask a question please /msg Marluka. We will get to as many as we can tonight. Please do not spam your questions. The chat will last 1 hour.
Q-3PO said: To start we will by asking our Devs to introduce themselves.
Shug_Ninx said: I'm Haden Blackman, the LucasArts Producer for Galaxies. I'm also in charge of helping to maintain the Star Wars content.
Holocron said: I'm Raph Koster aka Holocron and I am the creative director for SWG. That means I'm basically in charge of the game design.
BoShek said: Hi there...my name is Rich Vogel,...Executive Producer of SWG...
Griff said: Hello, I'm John Donham, producer for SOE. I try and get everything done much faster than can actually be accomplished.
Acritus asked: Will characters start out with enough money to start their trade? They need to because how else is a character supposed to gain his/her first credit.
Holocron said: Newbie characters will start with some money and also with basic items for their trade. You can however still earn credits even if flat broke, because you can always just go do a few easy delivery missions or something in order to make some basic money.
ArtemisPrime asked: how many beta tester (ballpark) have we got at this time?
Q-3PO said: We've got several thousand invites out. Last I checked we have over 2000 external testers. We're adding more this week and next.
Catonine asked: Can healings (any type of healing) only be done at camps and facilities?
Holocron said: You can heal certain types of injuries anywhere (such as regular damage to your health, action or mind). You can heal wounds only at given locations, such as campsites or cantinas. However, a medical droid will also let you heal wounds if you are near one you own... So it kinda varies. There's also combat medics, which can heal more in the field...
Xor_Li asked: It it a "skill" to check the quality of an item to be purchased, or is it Buyer beware?
Holocron said: It's info available to everyone, actually, you can just look at the item details when you are browsing goods.
Rickey asked: what features have been the most troublesome to test so far?
Holocron said: For me, it has been the interface. Everyone seems to have a different idea of what the best "defaults" should be for camera and controls.
Griff said: Multiserver - it's going to be unstable at first, yet we need hundreds and hundreds of people to really test it. Makes for a frustrating conversation while we make progress.
Shug_Ninx said: UI for me too - everyone has a different notion about what feels like it fits in the Star Wars universe. Ranged combat has also been difficult, just because it's such a new concept for MMOs.
BluScreen asked: Will people be able to creat their own emotes? (motions)
Holocron said: There is the standard /emote or : command which lets you put in your own text emotes. To make your own animations, well, you'd probably need your own motion capture studio.
So No on that part...kebernet asked: With the removal of Zones of Control, will there be a concrete objective between the PvP factions?
Holocron said: We believe the answer is yes, but we're not talking about those objectives just yet.
Stay tuned!Durek asked: When an Animal Tamer logs off how will they be able to keep their pet?
Holocron said: You can pack up the pet when you log off, so that it logs out with you; you can also leave it out but in the game if you're only going to be logged out for a brief while. (like if you lose connection). You can also leave them inside one of your structures. If you abandon a pet, though, expect it to wander away and then you'll lose it.
ZurixRoxx asked: Any narrowing of release date from the Dec.-Feb. time frame?
Shug_Ninx said: No. We don't have a final release date. It's not likely to be December or even January, though. We're taking the time to do the product right, which is most important to us. There's still a lot of polishing that needs to be done, balancing, etc. A lot really depends on how the next two phases of beta go - we're load testing right now, for example, and as stability improves, we'll feel more comfortable with announcing a release date.
Ravazkahn asked: Has their been a limit set to the number of skills you can master?
Holocron said: Yes, there is such a limit. It's actually a bit hard to explain because it's a cap on the number of skill points. You get 200 skill points. That's enough fully master around 3 full professions, plus a smattering of other skills (like maybe a half dozen more). But you can choose to spend those points in different ways--you could master the bottom half of every single newbie profession for example, and that would also burn your points.
TheDross asked: Will there be a certain limit on how many stories the houses can be?
Holocron said: Yes, there is a limit on how many floors they are, the houses are prefabricated and the biggets player structures are 3 floors.
Shug_Ninx said: Some have basements...
Sando_Mar asked: Will we be able to paint armor?
Griff said: When you craft armor, depending on your skill, you are able choose a hue for it - the more skill you have, the more colors you can choose from.
Sansin asked: Creature Handler Question: can you give some examples of the "voice commands" that we might expect for trained pets. Examples perhaps of low level and advanced?
Holocron said: You can actually train your pet to accept any word for a given command, so you can make a pet use "chomp!" as the "kill" command. Some of the commands available are tricks, kill, follow, formations for follow, guard, patrol (and setting and clearing of waypoints...)
Felinius asked: can we get an answer to the recent firestorm over pets. is death permanent or temporary? any penalties if temporary?
Holocron said: Pet death is permanent. However, pets go incapacitated, just like players do, so death isn't as frequent as it is in other games, we hope.
Jasconius asked: Will there be actual player atrributes like strentch and intelligence, and if so will you be able to modify these points after character creation?
Holocron said: Yes, and the attributes are strength, constitution, focus, willpower, stamina, and quickness. And yes, you can modify them after creation. You open your character sheet, set a target for what you want them to be, and they migrate there over time.
Chich327 asked: What is the ultima purpose of the community? What happens to this community after the game is released?
Q-3PO said: Community is vital to the long term success of these types of games. We're going to continue to build the community on our site and in the game. In fact, I just had some meetings today about our Live site
FSTTHRAWN asked: Are we going to be given more information about the specifics of the game as it gets closer to release? Like as in for the crafting skills, what will be needed to make a certain item and about the skill levels?
Holocron said: Probably not. We want to save SOME thing for you to discover when you actually play.
GrandCzar asked: has the design process stoped completly at this point?
BoShek said: No, that is why we have beta ;-)
Holocron said: The bulk of it has, but that's what beta is for--to make you re-evaluate the design and adjust it based on the feedback.
Sevur asked: WIll there be very powerful mobs that will need to have aggro concentrated on one "main tank", will numerous healers such as in EverQuest?
Holocron said: There will be very powerful opponents. I wouldn't really try to take on an AT-ST with "one tank" though.
Chich327 asked: How much of the staff is going to stay after release? We all know that the talented staff will want to move onto newer projects? For example, Holo, Q, Shug do you plan on staying after release? How long?
Holocron said: Newer projects? I was thinking the Bahamas...
BoShek said: We are planning to do the space expansion and continue to add content in the game. We will still be here after launch
Holocron said: Can I do the space expansion from the Bahamas?
Q-3PO said: I'll be here at least through Space, probably longer. It's a good project. Plus new things scare me
Holocron said: Please?
BoShek said: And yes this is Boshek not some Droid..;-)
Shug_Ninx said: I plan to stick with the project at least through the space expansion. I really want to see how everything evolves and how the community changes as we expand.
Griff said: Everyone will be working here until their task lists are done.
Holocron waves bye bye to the dream of the Bahamas.
Griff said: And I'm sure I can make a long task list.
Toolarka asked: What are the mechanics of a death blow? What role does it have now that out casting is out?
Holocron said: Actually, it still plays a pretty significant role in large scale battles... you currently have to get fairly close to do a death blow, so in big firefights it creates a role for medics who revive fallen comrades.
BataiBatoo asked: Will a players map show an indicator to indicate the location of that players lost corpse?
Holocron said: Yes. You get a waypoint to it...
IceMaster1 asked: Can you give us your current guess at the population cap per cluster?
BoShek said: We are waiting for Beta 3 to determine the amount of people in a cluster. It will depend on how the servers take the load and how much lag will be present during gameplay
Shug_Ninx said: Some of it will also depend on how it feels - if the servers feel too crowded or too empty, we'll try to make adjustments.
Tux[Lurking] asked: is it random becoming a beta tester or is it selected?
Q-3PO said: Most of our tester at this point are random (with some filters), but we also hand pick some each week. We are also to the point of adding specific others, like some hardware partners. Don't send use bribes though.
Quetzimo asked: How much variation are there going to be for missions? Environmental, type of missions (Assasination, delivery, crafting)? Many people are afraid that missions will be like AOs for instance, deja vu through all missions you make.
Holocron said: We have a bunch of mission types--delivery, escort, recon, destroy, bounty and assassination... A big difference from other games is that all mission take place in the game world, not in private areas.
VampyHoshi asked: Will all SWG emotes be listed in-game or in the manual, or will some be considered easter-eggs and have to be discouvered?
Shug_Ninx said: They'll all likely be listed both in-game and in the manual. You can even drag an icon attached to any emote into your toolbar to allow you to use it with just a hotkey.
Q-3PO said: We're about half way done now and there are A TON of questions to sort through.
Midgethand asked: Can you heal all types of dammage on the battle field?
Holocron said: No, some types of damage need to be healed at a campsite, hospital, or cantina.
BataiBatoo asked: Will houses and other player owned structures eventually disappear with disuse? If they do disappear, will the player still own the land?
Holocron said: Yes, structures will go away if the maintenance fees are not paid. The ownership of the land is tied to the sturcture so it will go away if you do not have the structure. Someone else can take over the space in that case.
JewaHan asked: What are the chances of us getting a character creation prog before launch?
Griff said: I'll be the bearer of bad news. Unfortunately not. We'd like to, we think it'd be cool, but at the end of the day, it's more important to get in all the game features and polish we can.
Terriaksis asked: Since their is item decay, when an item decays all the way, will be become unusuable or does it become destroyed and dissappear from your invantory?
Holocron said: Items will decay all the way, you have the chance to repair them, but if you don't, they will go away all the way.
Sando_Mar asked: If you own a house, can you deconstruct it, move it somewhere else, and then reconstruct it there?
Holocron said: Yes.
BoShek said: Yes, you can
Holocron said: You do need to have the maintenance fees paid off before you can move it though.
Ichnisanchi asked: Am I going to be able to own my personal droid, that follows me wherever I go, and serves sort of like a personnal assistant? (extra inventory room, repair armor/weapons, light up dark places, etc.)
Holocron said: Yes, you can own a droid, it acts as a pet. And different droids do serve different purposes, including several of the ones you cited. We don't have the "light up dark places" thing, but we do have extra inv, crafting station, medic, power droid, etc.
Shifty3000 asked: How many characters can I make per registered account? Thanks.
Shug_Ninx said: Look for the answer to that in an upcoming issue of PC Gamer...
JoserJedi asked: will we be able to use 56k modems?
Griff said: Ues.
Shug_Ninx said: I beta test on one right now at home...
Griff said: Err, Yes.
Logiii asked: What kind of music instruments will be implemented? what various styles are there?
Shug_Ninx said: We pulled a bunch of instruments from the continuity - the kloo horn, Max Rebo's organ, etc. We're trying to make sure that we cover all types of instruments, though. We'll have stringed instruments, horns, percussion, etc.
Quoth asked: Are the skyboxes finished yet? and will there be sandstorms on Tatooine, how will they be handled?
BoShek said: The skyboxes are not finished yet..we are still polishing them and yes, we have sandstorms on Tatooine. They really awesome!
Holocron said: Weather does not cause damage to players. That's a thing to know...
Guise asked: this has probably been asked 578 times already but what is the guesstimation for beta 3 start?
Griff said: We hope before Christmas - we're trying as hard as we can. But no promises - my whip is pretty bloody already.
Holocron said: Actually, it's only been asked 522 times. Well, 523 now.
Naa_OkthSwenta asked: Does "You can always give up a skill in order to apply those points towards something that you find more interesting and useful." mean you can do this at any time ? i mean if you need heal so you put your XP in heal skill, and if 5 minutes later you need fight skill then you move your XP to fight skill as you want ??
Holocron said: Yes, you can do it at any time. But just to be clear, giving up a skill gives you SKILL POINTS back. It does NOT give you the relevant XP. Skill points cap the number of skills you can get, but you still need to acquire the XP in order to get a skill, and go to the trainer to obtain it, etc.
Barsook asked: Following up on Incapasitation. Will the incapasitated player be able to 'suicide' if they find they're being camped and re-incapacitated evry time they 'come to'?
Holocron said: We're finding a need for that ability as the beta test proceeds. We actually had a bantha camping someone's corpse two weeks ago...
Swaggsus asked: Will we recieve some kind of hint as to what attributes suit each profession best? or is that something we will need to use our personal discresion for?
Holocron said: Actually, when you choose a starting profession, we set up attributes that we think suit the profession. I imagine that players will find we were stupid about it and will find much better optimum starting values though.
Warfarin asked: Will there be bonues available only to Imperials that will make them more desirable than the rebels (and thus, limit the unlikely continuity-straining rebel-heavy polls)?
Shug_Ninx said: Yes, but we're not giving out any further details right now.
Dekar8686 asked: Will Bounty Hunters have any kind of skill that keeps them from showing up as an enemy on their target's radar, or just not showing up on the radar at all?
Griff said: No - bounty hunters will show up on the radar just like everyone else. However, they won't show up any differently than anyone else either - if you're walking in a city with 200 other players, you'll be hardpressed to know which of those blips on your radar is a potential bounty hunter.
Schwartzbewithyou asked: Speaking of corpse runs, is there the equivalent to the EQ "/corpse" command?
Holocron said: Yes.
Shug_Ninx said: But you don't need to do it if you'd rather pay insurance on your items.
DelTorak asked: If you need to be near someone to perform a deathblow, how will ranged fighters be able to kill their opponents without medics running in all of the time?
Holocron said: That's part of the point; the best large combat groups will have a range of roles in them. Snipers, medics, commandos charging the lines, etc.
ashatumar asked: How long can we expect to wait before the first player made structure is up? How significant an accomplishment is it?
Griff said: You should see the first player-made structures almost right away. However, there are some larger player structures that are a much more significant accomplishment.
Psychodude17 asked: whats happens if a person's corpse is in the heart of enemy teritory.....
Holocron said: They can insure their gear before venturing into enemy territory... but if they die out there with uninsured gear, well, they've got a tough road ahead of them.
Faleran asked: Is there going to be monsters that you can solo as any character? Like there was supposed to be in EverQuest?
Griff said: Everyone can solo against (and die to) a Krayt Dragon. No restrictions.
Holocron said: Yes, there's lots of creatures that you can solo right now in fact. There are also targets that you probably cannot solo ever.
YouDieByMyHand asked: Will you generate most of the conlict and challenges for players, or will you let players do it themselves?
Holocron said: We hope to do both as much as possible. We want to have a solid roster of content in the game, but we also want to encourage players to generate conflict and challenges for each other as much as possible.
Rudo9 asked: will most the combat in the game be with range weapons? Also how well will ranged combat work with lag?
Holocron said: Most will be with ranged weapons. We do use an RPG system for it, so it's relatively resistant to lag. We are not an FPS.
Falorf asked: Is it possible for other players to stumble onto your mission target before you get there?
Griff said: Probably not - though we pick the location of your mission target when you accept your mission, we do not MAKE the mission objective until you get close to it. It's still possible for someone else to steal it if they are there at the same time you are, but it's much less likely because it doesn't exist until you get there.
Swaggsus asked: when campsites are set up how long do they last? are they one time use or do they stick around for a bit?
Holocron said: Campsites stick around as long as the camp owner is there, plus alittle while as an abandoned camp. If left abandoned, they go away. But if someone comes across an abandoned campsite, they can take ownership of it
FSTTHRAWN asked: What will determine the maintenance fees for a structure?
Holocron said: Mostly size of the structure, but there's also a skill factor (level of industrialist skill).
psbryan asked: where do we purchase lots from?
Holocron said: You don't purchase lots. You purchase a deed to a structure (which is crafted by an architect). It takes up lots when placed.
Yojimbo3 asked: Is there a "casting time" on combat medics healing while in battle?
Holocron said: Well, it's not a spell, so it's not casting time, but your stimpack does have a recharge time.
Nagalore asked: What happens to a players shops and structures if someone would cancel their subscription?
Holocron said: The shops and structures will stick around for a while, and then as the maintenance costs accure, the shops and structures will go away.
KrimisSuuArk asked: can you master two elite proffesions at once?
Holocron said: Depends on the profession. If it's a specialist profession, like say, pistol specialist and rifle specialist, you do have enough skil points to do that. If it is a profession that requires two whole professions as prerequisites, you're not going to have enough skill points left over to master a fourth.
Aayla_Secura asked: How are the planets besides Tatooine, coming along? Do you plan on Beta testing any of them? If so which ones?
Griff said: Yep, we're going to test a few more planets, in addition to the travel system. We're testing travel on the Q/A server now, so hopefully within a couple of weeks we have it out on the Beta server. Let me put my typical disclaimer here - if we run into any problems it might take a little longer.
Shug_Ninx said: Dathomir looks incredible, but you might need to wait until we launch to see it... It's easily one of the creepiest planets we have.
theLegendiryoku asked: how many players can there be in one group?
Holocron said: Currently, we're testing in beta with 8, but I think that number is probably going to be higher. We have many pieces of content (like say, an Imperial outpost) which would call for a much larger group to tackle.
TembreFell asked: If someone were to steal your mission target (if it's a pickup) will they get a bounty?
Holocron said: They can't actually steal your mission pickup. The NPC will not give it to them, and if the NPC is killed, the item will not be there for them to get.
wookiehelper asked: can you just throw stff on the floors of your house?
Griff said: Yep - it has to be YOUR house, but as long as it is, you can make as much of a mess of your house as you want.
Holocron said: Up to the limit of stuf you're allowed to have.
vilagefool asked: would maintenance fees go to the architect or an NPC?
Holocron said: They go to the game so that we can take the money out of the game to keep the economy moving.
Odyssius asked: So does the architect or the player choose the location. And does this mean that Architects are going to be estate agents as well?
Holocron said: The player chooses the location, the architect is more of a crafter who makes the deed objects.
Vrhead asked: can you sell your shop to some one else?
Holocron said: You can transfer ownserhip of a building, but it has to be empty first.
Q-3PO said: Okay, that's it for tonight's chat
BoShek said: Thanks for coming. I hope you got some good stuff tonight to chew on.
Q-3PO said: We had a ton of great questions.
Shug_Ninx said: Thanks for stopping by. See you on the forums!
Q-3PO said: I'll send all the unused questions to Shug and Holo to review
Griff said: Okay, back to work. Bye everyone!
Holocron said: Bye everyone!
BoShek said: Bye...be safe
Q-3PO said: Thanks for coming. Sorry if we didn't get to your question. We'll have the transcript up tomorrow
Q-3PO said: (though I'm sure our fine fan sites will have one up in a few minutes)
[21:01] (Hellchick-PQ) Tonight, he's been nice enough to sit down with us and the community
and talk about Q3Radiant and mapping in Q3A by taking your questions
[21:02] (Hellchick-PQ) Hypni|s|: Q: Duffy you have helped make QER/Q3R what it is today and
helped ID in the process. What is your position going to be on ID's next project? Will you
continue to make an Editor/tools for them or are you going to be moving on?
