Portal:News/IRC Transcripts/17 June 2010 2

17 June 2010 IRC Chat Q&A with Rift: Planes of Telara Producer Adam Gershowitz. Terms used on the wiki have been converted to article links to assist in understanding.

---

• <+Gersh_E3> heck we've leaked at least 4 more classes if you've been watching carefully enough =)

• Q: <Ayonyx> what is your title for this game?
• A: <+Gersh_E3>: I'm one of the Producers, working with the game mechanics team atm

• Q:<Myrdynn> so is there 16 classes per faction or can you chose them all on each side?
• A:<+Gersh_E3> Well like we've said before Each calling has quite a number of souls (classes) associated with it that could very well be 32 classes total but you'll have to wait and see our designers are having a bit of fun so they just keep making new crazy classes, can't seem to stop em, that being said the vast majority of souls will be available to everyone

• Q: <Elladar> @Gersh_E3 there was a mention that there will be "Heroic" souls, are they stronger than "Normal" ones? Or have I misunderstood something?
• A:<+Gersh_E3> Heroic soul is the term we use for souls introduced after character create they aren't more powerful per say but they are much much more specialised so some are not all that hot for solo levelling as such we don't want to hand them out immediately b/c people would have a harder time levelling them right off

• Q: <Ayonyx> Gersh_E3: what can you tell us about combat, will it be our industry standard tab-target button mash?~ Or perhaps some innovation in that regard?
• A:<+Gersh_E3> Combat is fairly familiar if you've been playing MMOs. mostly target based, but some classes have a number of non target based abilities as well

• Q: <Hanlo> Well, can you give us any info about possible rewards from PvPing?
• A:<+Gersh_E3> We're still fleshing out the PvP progression but we're looking to have a pretty well fleshed out reward system so PvP players don't have to do PvE if they don't want

• Q: <souper> Gersh_E3 : How often do you expect players to run across a rift? Are they common?
• A:<+Gersh_E3> Rifts are actually reasonably common... I ran across one every 15 or 20 minutes playing the other weekend

• Q: <souper> Gersh_E3 : I read a few times that all rifts are soloable (though I've seen that contradicted.) Which is it? All soloable or just some or just some of their phases?
• A:<+Gersh_E3> Souper, so you can definitely solo a rift, it is a bit of a challenge. You can also push the rift farther with a group b/c its much harder to beat the timed stages as a solo player, there will also be special rifts that can be opened that are significantly harder and will require a group or more. But those are less common as a random occurrence

• Q: <@Ciovala> Gersh_E3 - are -any- body customisation options planned at all?
• A:<+Gersh_E3> Ciovala, not sure I'm not working as an artist on this game so I'm not 100% on the final avatar customization options. We seem to keep adding new ones every few weeks though

• Q: <Githil> Gersh_E3: I was wondering if there was going to be area's on PvE servers that will be for open PvP, and if so if there will be ample warning for those who do not want to participate in PvP
• A:<+Gersh_E3> Githil, so on pve servers you can PvP if you flag... PvP events however is something we're working on but trust me there will be ample warning when a PvP event may happen, not a big fan of pushing people into PvP if they don't like it... But hey I find it to be a fun break better than beating on another wolf right?

• Q: <Osho> Gersh, how is the game handles when players of both faction are around a rift ?
• A:<+Gersh_E3> Osho, Most rifts are co-op / competitive. Both sides could work to close the same rift but the scoring and rewards are seperated out, direct PvP rifts on a PvE server is YTB

• Q: <Lothair> i don't know if this question has been answered before, but will their be instanced battlegrounds ala WoW/WAR, or will PvP be regulated in specific areas?
• A:<+Gersh_E3> Lothair, yes instance PvP will be around... complete with some basic matchmaking

• Q: <souper> Gersh_E3 : Do NPCs still celebrate you when you save their towns from monster invasions? Did you expand upon that like maybe, nekkid girls in cakes?
• A:<+Gersh_E3> Souper, I think your talking about last years Demo... Not sure about that but I know I came across an event the other day where I saved a merchant from some bandits, grateful guy sold me some nice stuff. That being said I've also heard somebody else ended it differently by ganking the merchant to get black market access =P

• Q: <@Ciovala> Gersh, to follow up with Osho's rift+other factions question... So if we're both at a rift, would your AoE spells then 'flag' you for PvP if you hurt another faction player?
• A:<+Gersh_E3> Liziana / Ciovala, AE won't flag you unless your flagged for PvP yourself. It also won't hit the flagged PvP guy unless your flagged

• Q: <souper> Gersh_E3 : Are you guys ok with some classes SUCKING in certain parts of the game but being amazing in others? LIke really good at PvP but horrible at raiding?
• A:<+Gersh_E3> Souper, yes thats actually a goal for us we want souls to be really good at one thing if you push deep into the soul tree. That's why we allow you to mix and match

• Q: <Myrdynn> Gersh_E3 When where is the crafting or side game info coming
• A:<+Gersh_E3> Myrdynn, crafting soonish... I can say we have quite a bit of it and players will be able to craft pretty much everything you can get by other means

• Q: <Ayonyx> Gersh_E3: UI Customization, will we see WAR / WoW levels of modding or to some lesser extent?
• A:<+Gersh_E3> Ayonyx, not something I know much about right now UI customization is something we'll do more with later in beta

• Q: <@Ciovala> Can you answer, though, if some of the original HoT ideas around a dynamic world are still in? I know it was planned for if you wiped out a bunch of bandits, goblins or someone else might move in
• A:<+Gersh_E3> Ciovala, not something I know about personally but I do know I've seen things as I've played that are similar to what you describe you'll have to trap one of our content designers for a real answer tho

• Q: <souper> Gersh_E3 : I asked Russ yesterday but who among your co-workers would you gank if you saw them vulnerable and alone? (evil I know, but always fun)
• A:<+Gersh_E3> souper.. Simon... Also known fondly as "Dead Simon"

• Q: <Liziana> Gersh_E3 the dungeons that change from a level 20 experience to a level 50 experience, how is the "scaling" done?
• A:<+Gersh_E3> Liziana, we'll go into that more later on down the line. But I can say that we change encounters and unlock new areas to explore