Brekkee - Good evening and welcome to another great Stratics House of Commons chat, tonight our guests are the developers of EverQuest II! The topic will be general discussion so any questions are welcome.
Brekkee - Please send said questions to [QT]Sprite or [QT]Elm - to do so type /query NICK and type in the window that pops up. Questions sent to me or the developers will not make it into the lineup. Full logs of the chat will be up on http://eq2.stratics.com shortly after the chat.
Brekkee - We'll start with a brief introduction from the developers, now would be a good time to send those questions.
Blackguard - Hey everyone, thanks for coming out! I'm Ryan Shwayder, Community Relations Manager for EverQuest II. I destroyed your class.
Dymus - Hello everyone, I'm Jason Roberts, Lead Designer for EverQuest II.
Lyndro - Hi I'm Akil Hooper, I'm design supervisor for Echoes of Faydwer and High Priest of David, God of Sharp Pointy Things.
Beghn[SOE] - Hello all, I'm Ben also known as Beghn on the forums, the friendly Tradeskill Dev for EQ2.
Aniksis - Hey all, I'm Caroline Kingwell, I'm the items designer
Blackguard - Please try to keep your questions focused on tradeskills and items. We'll answer some general questions and maybe one or two EoF, but try to keep questions to those topics. :)

Brekkee - *Morgaine* What classes will the Fae be able to choose from in Echoes of Faydwer? Please be specific.
Lyndro - I won’t be as specific as you may like, however I’ll talk about a general paradigm shift in the way we are looking at alignment and classes. We are moving away from your city being the same thing as your alignment. Good won’t always mean Qeynos and Evil will not always be synonymous with Freeport. Good cities will have access to some or all of the good aligned classes, right now all the good aligned classes are available in Qeynos.
Lyndro - The current plan is to allow at least some sub section of those classes (or all of them). However classes that aren’t available in Qeynos will not be available in Kelethin for Sure.
Lyndro - As for the Fae, they are currently a Good race. And their class selection will reflect that.

Brekkee - *ogrebears* What tailoring options will be available and how will guild cloaks work?
Dymus - Cloaks will be able to be created by tailors. Guild leaders will be able to create the designs for the guild cloaks and guild members will be able to display their guild cloak designs if they have a cloak to display them on. Different options / symbols / colors will be unlocked for guilds as they level.

Brekkee - *Shadowflitter* Are carpenters likely to see more recipes added to their common material recipe books in the near future?
Beghn[SOE] - We are always looking for new appearances for Carpenters to have. I have a few lists of items that I didn't use for the rare 50-60 recipes that I might include in an future update.

Brekkee - *Guest83* is there an estimated time when crafting writs will be reintroduced into the game?
Dymus - At the moment they should be slated for Game Update 27, this will depend greatly on how they do through testing of that update and the feedback we get on them.

Brekkee - *Aramis* My question is, Is sony going to fix the problem they r creating by allowing raids to get gear from city raids that will make raiding gear currently worked hard on obsolete or is that the goal?
Blackguard - The gear obtained through city raids will not be as good as the gear you obtain in normal raids. The new city raids are intended to help get your guild ready to raid, and the gear awarded is generally going to be Legendary, or something good enough that you can use it on the tougher raids.

Brekkee - *Githil* Why do some tradeskill classes lvl at a much faster rate then others, i.e. alchemist to weaponsmith, with the recent changes it makes weaponsmithing much more harder and slower to lvl then alchemist
Beghn[SOE] - Some tradeskill classes have more recipes by the original design of the classes. I understand that classes with more recipes have an easier time. We've added in more recipes in general with the tradeskill changes that happened. I'll take a look into seeing what we can do about the discrepancy with discovery experience between the different tradeskill classes to see if there is a solution to the issue.

Brekkee - *ogrebears* I've heard rumors that there will be a signature and heritage quest for each tier, (meaning 7 of each) in the expansion, is this true?
Lyndro - Right now our plan is to have at least one signature or heritage quest available for each level range (Except 0-10). For most of them there is at least one of both.

Brekkee - *[EC]Snark-EQ2* With item procs often being broken, redone, or considered 'useless', what is being done to prevent these complaints in the future?
Aniksis - Snark: KoS was the first expansion where zone and quest designers were all making their own items. Practice helps a lot ? but in addition to that we have new systems in place to make it easier for designers to make more interesting effects.
Aniksis - It’s very high priority for us to assure we don’t have broken content on release… the extra beta time we’re going to have for EoF will also help. Some procs will continue to be less desirable than others vs. the stats that are on the items, but we do strive for balance.

Brekkee - *MosladVegas* what is being done about plat sellers advertising ingame? Basic text-filtering of the msgs -- which in my experience hasn't varied -- would be a start
Blackguard - We're working on some solutions now that will restrict communications from Trial of the Isle players now. We think we've come up with some things that will accomplish the goal of reducing gold seller spam without adversely impacting the gameplay of ToI users.
Blackguard - We'll have further details in the update notes when this makes it to live servers, and it should be done by Game Update #26.

Brekkee - *Typwn* I really like the changes to the tradeskill system. Less combines and more materials, but cost for creating items is a bit much now. With Echoes of Faydwer and the tradeskill professions that are coming with it, will we see different gathering types or will they share resources with other professions as well? (Also, how's your inbox from the last PodCast Blackguard? Hehe)
Beghn[SOE] - The two secondary tradeskill classes, Tinkering and Transmuting will use both existing gathered item as well as the items that are only available by Transmuting an item.
Blackguard - My inbox is perfectly fine, Typwn, except for all the "your inbox is full messages"

Brekkee - *Gwyneth_Naj* What can you tell us about the new tradeskill writs?
Dymus - The current tradeskill writs are slightly different than the previous implementation. The new writs will typically ask you to create 1-6 different items with variations on the number within those different items. The new writs will award coin, status, and faction (if you are a citizen). The major difference is that the new writs will have a timer to complete the writ. Since that provides more challenge we can give them greater reward.

Brekkee - *[Xan]Briza* I guess this is kinda two questions in one: In terms of itemization, what can raiders & non-raiders who have so to say fully equipped their characters with "KoS gear" expect from the upcoming expansion? What is being done to ensure that players will be interested in upgrading their gear?
Lyndro - I'm not going to go over the entire itemization plan for the expansion; however we are working on some very nice item sets that will be available for the non raiders.
Lyndro - Also item sets as well as some item growth are going to be great reasons for everyone to want to upgrade their gear. Plus you want a cloak don't you? They don't grow on trees ;)
Aniksis - there will be raids and raid gear as well, it will be a noticeable improvement because the raids will be harder
Aniksis - (than KoS)

Brekkee - *Thoral* Now that you've had time to study the reaction to the crafting changes from LU24, what modifications will you be making to tradeskills in response?
Beghn[SOE] - Few things after reviewing information that has come from the crafting revamp. First is that we are going to be increasing the effectiveness of Mastercrafted weapons and armor a bit in update 26. As well we are looking into an implementation of rare crafted items with quests to obtain the recipes.

Brekkee - *Tr4h3n0t5* What will be the extent of the live GM content in the future of Everquest II? Can we expect to see more GM-run events with the return of the gods' influence perhaps?
Blackguard - We've been talking a lot of GM and/or Guide run events a lot recently between community and development. Right now, we're working on getting more quests in that Guides can run independent of any Live Event, but we've also been talking about integrating them more into Live Events as they come. This might include the events you will see as a prelude to Echoes of Faydwer.
Blackguard - Also, you might see me running around more within the next update or two. I'm a sucker for looking cool, so I updated the Blackguard avatar's appearance. ;)
Blackguard - (Oh, and you might even be able to fight me... :P)

Brekkee - *Jetfire* Are there any plans to rebalance some of the quest gear, especially easier quest gear, to fit between common and rare armor?
Dymus - Most existing items we're very reluctant to change unless they are causing some game breaking problems. (IE. Raids are built around the tactic of using a single item for instance). In general, we won't be changing existing items, but we may move where they are rewarded to places more appropriate to their quality if necessary.

Brekkee - *Zenithan* Are there any plans to add more house items to the game? Some of the items in the world are amazing (ex: the FD house items) and it would be great to have more options and knicknacks. Even if they are quested or harvested for (find 100x woods for some merchant)
Beghn[SOE] - We are constantly looking at various house items that we can add. As the tradeskill designer I'm partial to giving house items to Carpenters, but we always look for new and creative ways to add these types of items into the world.

Brekkee - *Dreol* Will current characters be able to buy housing in Kelethin? If so will some sort of citizenship or betrayal quest be required in order to live there?
Dymus - Yes, current characters will be able to buy housing in Kelethin. It likely will require you to show your 'good intentions' to live in Kelethin and quests or faction gaining will likely be required.

Brekkee - *DissoFalco* My question is : Are zones going to be fully itemised on the day of release of this next expansion or are items going to be added a few weeks after?
Aniksis - the zones will be fully itemized on release, we're aiming to have the bulk of itemization done before beta starts

Brekkee - *Typwn* With the gods returning to Norrath, what does that mean for Lucan and Antonia? I would think Lucan considers himself as a god. Can you go into detail about what some of the benefits are to believeing in certain gods? What about the negatives? Will these effect PVP at all?
Lyndro - Lucan and Antonia each will have unique relationships with the individual deities, what it means for them is something that will be unfolding as the roles of the gods in Norrath develop over the coming months.
Lyndro - The primary benefit from believing in gods is going to be in the form of the abilities that you gain access to. There will likely be traditional quest rewards (items, faction, and possibly titles), available as well.
Lyndro - I’m sure that the introduction of the new abilities will effect PvP in some way or another. I don’t believe we are planning on any lore related effects... As for Lucan considering himself a god, that’s something you are going to have to argue on the forums.

Brekkee - *Lunvis* Is there anything we can do to be chosen for the Echoes of Faydwer beta?
Blackguard - I hear pie, cake, and other assorted goodies work out well.
Lyndro - Send Blackguard a message at the end of this chat
Blackguard - I also take PayPal, checks, and cash.
Lyndro - He'll give access to beta to every 100th message.
Blackguard - Hahaha

Brekkee - *Harobel* BG, in a recent interview, mentioned converting the PC models to 4 basic skeletons to reduce lag and allow for more armor quicker. Any updates on this? Also, are there any current plans for a revamp of all PCs to make them more customizable?
Dymus - This is not a quick process and it will take quite a bit of time to get it completed. It is in the works, we do plan on doing it, but it will not be anytime in the near future. However, the benefits from taking on that project should allow us to grant quite a bit more diversity in appearance and making new armor will be considerably faster.

Brekkee - *[EC]Snark-EQ2* With the trend of very little raid progression and the decreasing value of Fabled items, what is planned in EoF to keep raiders interested who are already fully geared?
Aniksis - We’re definitely working on raid progression, more beta time will help this a lot. The fabled in EoF will follow suit with how difficult the EoF raids will be. It’s very important to me to provide a substantial reward for raiders vs. previous raid content and group content.

Brekkee - *Drak* Is there going to be guild specific housing? Also, will the guild search tool be expanded to show more than 15 guilds at a time?
Dymus - There are plans for guild housing, though we'd like to make sure it is meaningful and interesting enough to be added to the game as a full feature. And to answer the second part, the guild search feature is being slightly reworked to make it more friendly but I have no estimate on when that will be done at this time.

Brekkee - *Larthian* PvP Gear Question: By the time you get enough faction for level 23 pvp gear items, you would be much higher level. Basically, why does it take soo long to get faction? Faction seems to be more important than Status Points. Will there be any changes to this?
Blackguard - Beghn just bashed Archnoix over the head and asked him that question. We don't have an answer at the moment, but he's going to go ahead and take a look at the values to see if they need to be adjusted.

Brekkee - *Pinski* Is there going to be a progressive itemization system for EoF that makes everything in KoS obsolete? Or are certain powerful items in KoS going to remain powerful and these items not ever have anything to be replaced with them, for examples liek the Ichor Thrilled Torax, or the the Cap of the Living Flames?
Aniksis - My plan is not to immediately make everything in KoS obsolete, not raising the level limit will really help with this. The raids in EoF should be hard enough to where raiders will need to have raid equipment from KoS to defeat them, thus justify those NPCs dropping better items and validate the KoS raiding. Some items in KoS were extremely good and will most likely not be replaced in EoF at all.

Brekkee - *Thoral* Will new quests soon take the place of the deleted quests in newbie zones?
Dymus - We're always adding new quests as we get the opportunity and see a new compelling story to tell. New quests are being added to the Commonlands this update and we'll continually add new ones to the cities to keep them being the hubs that they should be. As the world grows and changes so too will the interests of those who want to give you things to do in order to take the risks they aren't willing to.

Brekkee - *ogrebears* How much of the new expansion content is for tier 7?
Lyndro - Enough.
Lyndro - (Just kidding) Right now, counting instances, we have 8 zones that are for level 70 players. Some of these are geared toward level 70 players to play through the entire zone, while in some zones players who are 70 will out level portions.
Lyndro - Some are instanced and some are static of course.

Brekkee - *Samerat* Are there any plans to allow PvE servers to transcribe a master of one type to the same type of master for the other class?
Blackguard - At this time, we do not plan to allow players on PvE servers to transcribe Master spells. We allow this to happen on PvP servers because the markets don't normally intersect with one another.
Blackguard - Selling a Master spell to the other side would effectively be harming your own city, and helping the enemy.

Brekkee - *Zeraliten* Are there any plans of reintroducing recipes for fabled gear into the game at a later point?
Beghn[SOE] - Yes there are plans to reintroduce recipes for "fabled" at a later point. It won't be labeled as fable still as Mastercrafted but were look for fun and distinctive ways to introduce these items and recipes into the game.

Brekkee - *ogrebears* Will there ever be rare recipes for Provisioners?
Beghn[SOE] - There might be a possibility of rare recipes for Provisioners in the future but we need to look on the balance impact and other options besides food/drink items that we might use.

Brekkee - *Typwn* Voice Acting in EQ2 is something I really enjoy. Since the island voices (some) were added, I had to make a new character just to hear them speak! Are there any plans to add more voice acting?
Dymus - We like the voice acting too. And yes, we'll add more voice as we get the opportunity to do so. Most major quests and ones which really ask to have voice placed to them will get voiceovers.

Brekkee - *MethX* Have you all decided on the type of Gods for EOF?
Lyndro - I’ll assume you mean which gods are available for worship. On the Good side you’ll have Tunare, Mithaniel Marr, and Quellious. On the Evil side you’ll have Cazic, Rallos, and Innoruuk. For neutral (Available for either alignment) you’ll have Brell, and Solusek Ro.
Lyndro - At least to start with, the system is very portable, so we expect to continue to add more gods as the story progresses.

Brekkee - *[Xan]KlopKlop* Some fabled not beeing no-drop tagged and beeing sold on the broker. Is it intended that i'm able to buy a full t5 fabled gear set for my SK? Shouldn't this be earned by raiding?
Dymus - That is intended. Though, the more current philosophy in itemization means that most fabled items (and many legendary ones) get the no-trade flag added to them. We are not however going to go back and add no-trade to items currently in game that do not have it.

Brekkee - *[Xan]Briza* Apart from the upcoming lvl 70 version of Nektropos Castle, are there any plans to add more high level zones be it solo, group or raid before Echoes of Faydwer goes live?
Dymus - Currently we're pretty focused on getting Echoes of Faydwer finished. There will be some live events with smaller zones before the expansion but nothing is planned for something the size of Nektropos Castle between it and the launch of Echoes.

Brekkee - That will wrap it up for tonight. Thanks for coming! You can join #EverQuest2 to chat more about the game. The log for tonight’s chat will be up shortly on http://eq2.stratics.com
Blackguard - I apologize for everyone else being a slow typist.
Lyndro - Don't forget to send Blackguard a message asking him to be let into EoF beta!
Beghn[SOE] - Send a message to Blackguard for a cookie
Blackguard - Thanks for coming out to the chat, and feel free to send Lyndro a message before you go.
Lyndro - Try to hit the 100, 200, 300, 400, or 500th message
Blackguard - Oh noes.
Blackguard - Not again.
Lyndro - Night all, thank you for coming! I'll take a look at the questions and see if I can find answers to some of the ones we didn't get a chance to get to tonight.