Portal:News/IRC Transcripts/19 November 2010

Chat with the raid and instance team. Also features the Abyssal Precipice.

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• [19:01] Berenger: For those that don't know me, I'm Berenger Fish, the lead for *[*[Instance]]d *[*[Dungeon]]s and *[*[Raid]]s for Rift.
• [19:02] Berenger: I brought with me 3 members of my team...
• [19:02] Allen: Good to meet you all, I'm Allen Vandegrift, I design content for the instanced dungeons in Rift
• [19:03] Adam: I'm Adam Hetenyi, you may have heard my dulcet chocolatey voice in that guy's street interview from Gamer Day
• [19:03] Adam: I work on encounters for the dungeons as well!
• [19:04] Berenger: Adam is very... "street".
• [19:04] Allen: Wow Adam, you are so much funnier in text form.
• [19:04] Berenger: Alrighty..lets get goin..
• [19:04] Shaughnessy: I'm Billy Shaughnessy, the guy with the sweet mustache. Movember!
• [19:04] Abigale: I believe Mira has a picture of these guys posted somewhere. Do you have that link handy Mira?
• [19:07] Mira: *[1]

• [19:05] Rifty: Odlox asks: Will you be able to change your role inside the dungeon?
• [19:05] Berenger: Yes!
• [19:05] Berenger: Not only can you change your role... we embrace the fact that you can.
• [19:06] Berenger: It allows us a lot of flexibility when designing encounters because we know that players will have access to many types of abilities.

• [19:07] Rifty: Debase asks: Question: When designing raids, does the knowledge that players can shift their *[*[soul]] spec rapidly on the fly make designing unique encounters more or less difficult?
• [19:07] Adam: It makes designing unique encounters easier, but designing encounters period a bit more difficult, if that makes sense
• [19:07] Adam: Because players have access to so many different builds, right

• [19:08] Rifty: Unforgiven asks: When raiding can you use one pre-set soul to buff, and then change class to fight; or do the buffs disappear when you change your soul?
• [19:08] Berenger: They are removed. We don't want "buff" builds. That would be silly.
• [19:08] Allen: They disappear

• [19:09] Rifty: Dee asks: Will players enjoy a vastly different experience on Expert modes or will it be similiar to Normal mode?
• [19:10] Berenger: There are definitely differences. I guess it would depend on the definition of vastly....
• [19:11] Berenger: Every Expert dungeon has more bosses... but even the bosses that are in both are different as well
• [19:11] Berenger: We make them more challenging and I don't mean by just bigger stats.
• [19:11] Berenger: Some dungeons get signficantly bigger..
• [19:12] Allen: And they also expand on the story being told int eh dungeon

• [19:10] Rifty: Unforgiven asks: Will AoEs like the reaver's spreading of diseases break CC? I didn't like how they changed it in WoW and made it easy mode where consecration would not break CC.
• [19:12] Shaughnessy: In Rift you need to be careful how you used CC. It is breakable so you need mind your damage effects, like AOE, around CC'd mobs.
• [19:12] Shaughnessy: You'll have to manage where you CC mobs to avoid the attention of patrols. You also have to manage the order and use of your CC. We have diminishing returns, and CCs have non-standard up-times and cooldowns, so communication is important.

• [19:13] Rifty: Odlox asks: will all dungeon encounters require a tank?
• [19:13] Berenger: Yep. There are several different types of tanks though. Some builds might be more helpful than others.

• [19:14] Rifty: Warp asks: Will boss encounters be your standard boss sitting there waiting for you to come to it or will we have scripted event type boss encounters?
• [19:14] Berenger: Yes.
• [19:14] Adam: Some bosses are chilling in their humble abodes
• [19:15] Allen: some bosses lounge
• [19:15] Adam: others are clearly pursuing some nefarious work
• [19:15] Berenger: We like players to be able to see what's about to punch them in face.
• [19:15] Allen: sometimes the bosses taunt your efforts and call you names. And sometimes that hurts more than dps

• [19:15] Rifty: mobster asks: QUESTION will you be able to change your role during infight? aka while battling an encounter
• [19:16] Berenger: Can't change during combat. That would be a bit insano.

• [19:17] Rifty: Cake asks: Can *[*[rift]]s appear inside instances?
• [19:17] Allen: Rifts can appear inside dungeons!
• [19:17] Adam: Good answer
• [19:17] Berenger: jaja
• [19:17] Allen: I know because i placed them there
• [19:18] Shaughnessy: This is kind of like the scripted events question. Rifts are one type of event we can use in dungeons. Where it made sense they are others, like the beams in *[*[Deepstrike Mine|Deepstrike]] or the fire bombardment in *[*[Darkening Deeps]].
• [19:18] Allen: please send all grievances to berenger fish
• [19:18] Berenger: with a check

• [19:19] Rifty: Kelrath asks: are there dungeon lockout timers after completing one? How long do they last?
• [19:20] Berenger: There not any lockouts on the Standard dungeons. The expert dungeons will have one. But we have enough of them that I don't think players will feel too bad about it.

• [19:20] Rifty: Banditman asks: So spontaneous Rifts cannot open inside an instance, only a pre-placed one . . . ?
• [19:21] Allen: so in the Rift cases I'm referring to, I wanted to do a heavily scripted event to help push an wat with a specific type of rift. But that doesnt mean you will never see Ranondom ones.
• [19:22] Berenger: what's a wat
• [19:22] Josh: What's a ranondom?
• [19:22] Allen: random
• [19:22] Allen: what wut?
• [19:23] starspun: But we have a specific word that's filtered out and replaced with "wat"
• [19:23] starspun: And apparently you used it.
• [19:23] Adam: oh mans
• [19:23] Adam: Allen went off script
• [19:23] Allen: im a loose cannon!
• [19:23] Berenger: Allen had to be bleeped
• [19:23] Allen: ok, what i meant to say was, i've placed rifts myself because i wanted to push an encounter with a specific type
• [19:24] Allen: but that doesnt mean there is only pre-place rifts...

• [19:23] Rifty: Unforgiven asks: Please for the love of God tell me that the raids/dungeons will require a lot of CC and strategy and not just aoe tanking/dps?
• [19:24] Berenger: We want there to be a wide variety of methods to deal with encounters. There are some that we want players to have to use CC. Others we allow them to nuke away.
• [19:24] Berenger: If it was always one way or the other, that would be pretty boring.
• [19:25] Berenger: It's something we always look at for each encounter.

• [19:25] Rifty: Unforgiven asks: How much pleasure do you all get out of hearing about us wiping numerous times on a boss and then finally getting him down?
• [19:25] Adam: Answer: that's basically the most fun part of my job
• [19:25] Allen: he gets a little too excited actually
• [19:25] Adam: not the wiping
• [19:25] Adam: that part is alright
• [19:26] Adam: but the wiping and then victory
• [19:26] Adam: that's awesome
• [19:26] Allen: its satisfying to put together a puzzle, like a boss mechanic, and watch people figure out ways to overcome it.
• [19:26] Berenger: I love... LOVE.. watching players trying to figure out an encounter... usually while some giant beasty is bending them over...
• [19:27] Berenger: As long as it's fair to the player. There has to be tatics that allow the players to win. We don't want to make things difficulty just to kill the player.
• [19:27] Shaughnessy: We're already hearing people's strats for Expert modes in Alpha. That's pretty cool.
• [19:27] Adam: Berenger's quote, edited: "I love... LOVE... bending them over"

• [19:28] Rifty: Josh asks: Are there specific guidelines you follow when designing an encounter?
• [19:28] Josh: Good question.
• [19:28] Adam: There are several, but I would say the most important guideline is communication of mechanics
• [19:29] Adam: We can pump up the difficulty, but if you appear to die for no reason, you'll probably just get frustrated, or it will feel buggy/incomplete
• [19:29] Adam: So no matter how difficult or complex we make an encounter, we always want to make sure that we clearly communicate what is going on in the fight.

• [19:30] Rifty: Dee asks: Will raids be launched with the game?
• [19:30] Berenger: There will be raid content launched with the game. We're not allowed to talk about it.
• [19:30] Berenger: A bogling will kill our families
• [19:31] Shaughnessy: We'll have to come back for round 3 when marketing takes off our leash.
• [19:31] Allen: in the cutest way imaginable

• [19:31] Rifty: Odlox asks: Will there be dungeons where you must have a specific soul/calling to succeed?
• [19:32] Berenger: The only requirements for Standard Dungeons is that have a tank and healer that are spec'd to do so.
• [19:33] Berenger: Expert dungeons are a little different in that we know players have a lot more flexibility.
• [19:34] Berenger: While we won't make an encounter that requires soul X to suceede, there might be encouters that we might say expect off heals.
• [19:34] Berenger: that sort of thing
• [19:34] Shaughnessy: The various callings offer a lot of tools for players. Some tools are shared across callings, so if we require a certain tactic or ability for an encounter, we can be sure players can bring it in a raid.

• [19:36] Rifty: Josh asks: How long will it takes, in general to complete a regular dungeon? Say Darkening Deeps.
• [19:36] Allen: Typically, for standard dungeons we shoot for a reasonable amount of time to complete like 45 minutes
• [19:37] Berenger: They do vary a bit though depending on the difficulty setting, group make up etc
• [19:37] Allen: We want the content to be enjoyable, but dont want to eat up your entire day

• [19:38] Rifty: Kriddle asks: Will you need to clear a standard dungeon or raid to unlock the elite version? Also will you need to clear one dungeon to unlock another dungeon? Progression style where dungeon A is tier 1 then Dungeon B is tier 2 etc.
• [19:39] Berenger: There are no hard progression locks. Once you hit level 50 you can technically go into every expert dungeon. You might not be geared for them though.
• [19:40] Shaughnessy: Expert modes provide materials you need to craft openers for Expert Rifts, so players will see and progression tie-in there.
• [19:41] Shaughnessy: a* progression

• [19:41] Rifty: Josh asks: How many players does it take to fill a raid? Are there multiple sizes?
• [19:41] Adam: We will launch with 10-player and 20-player versions of each raid

• [19:42] Rifty: bc` asks: Will there be any instance blockers? Something along the lines of "Your group has to defeat boss X to move on to boss Y".
• [19:42] Berenger: Within an instance itself there are some bosses that require you to beat others.
• [19:43] Berenger: Other times there bosses that we consider "optional"
• [19:43] Berenger: But if you want to get the full reward for completing a dungeon.. all bosses must die.

• [19:44] Rifty: Lyral asks: Are dungeon bosses static? ie always the same bosses up every time?
• [19:45] Berenger: Most bosses are static. There are some boss encounters that are a bit more random. Two quick examples...
• [19:47] Berenger: In one dungeon, one encounter is a manticore.. but there are different types that can spawn.

ere are different types that can spawn.

• [19:48] Berenger: Another example... there is a boss with a "hunter cat" type of minion. In the Standard mode 1 of his 3 cats is with him. On Expert.. you'll have to fight all 3 at once (plus the boss).

e (plus the boss).

• [19:48] Allen: Also, depending if you are on a dungeon quests, that also changes what creatures you encounter. So you could end up fighting bosses that you would otherwise not see.

[19:49] Rifty: Lucera asks: I noticed that a lot of your "dungeons" are actually outdoors. Was that a premeditated design philosophy, or did you find it just make more sense for Telara?

• [19:49] Shaughnessy: We were tasked to make a dungeon for every zone. That's a lot of art bandwidth. Turns out exterior dungeons are easier and quicker for art to create. So it was mainly a production decision. However, it has totally paid off in awesomeness - all of our dungeons look great.
• [19:49] Shaughnessy: Design is about working with your constraints to made good content, and the team has done well in that regard.

• [19:50] Rifty: Kelrath asks: is there a reward for completing a dungeon aside from the loot that drops from the bosses?
• [19:51] Allen: We give faction rep as well
• [19:52] Berenger: Every instance you enter automatically gives you a quest to defeat every available boss.
• [19:52] Adam: Also consider that for Expert mode, we have lots of difficult achievements for players who enjoy that sort of thing to pursue
• [19:52] Adam: Berenger in particular has cooked up some very cruel achievements
• [19:53] Berenger: cruel? moi?

• [19:54] Rifty: Dee asks: Will the rewards for Expert dungeons be unique to that mode or will they be upgraded versions of Normal mode?
• [19:54] Berenger: They are unique.

• [19:55] Rifty: Nalerian asks: when you say that each dungeon requires "a tank and a healer," do cross calling roles suffice for this requirement? Will a Riftstalker and Chloromancer be able to sufficiently fill these roles in a single group without being overgeared and/or overleveled?
• [19:57] Berenger: Our intent is that any class that is meant to be able to fufill a role that they be able to do so.
• [19:57] Berenger: You'd have to talk to the Class designers about the intent for the various souls.

• [19:58] Rifty: Josh asks: What is your favorite encounter or dungeon that you have worked on? Minus the details.

at you have worked on? Minus the details.

• [19:58] Adam: My favorite encounter is a raid that isn't yet public
• [19:58] Berenger: Adam is a jerk
• [20:01] Allen: I can't name names, but I think my favorite so far is the one where I've had free reign to do whatever I wanted to whoever I wanted. I did horrible things...I should probably talk to someone about that.

me...

• [20:01] Berenger: There's a particular encounter in wat that worked out really well. It's a two stange encounter against wat who is a master of fire magic.
• [20:02] Allen: It's sort of like one of those "What-if" scenarios that you sometimes see in comics.
• [20:03] Berenger: Basically the encoutner ramps up to the ultimate definition of "don't stand in the fire".
• [20:03] Shaughnessy: We have one dungeon that had to see some drastic revisions due to changes in the world story. I mean, we had to change the theme and gameplay entirely. The population and the bosses were complete, but it just didn't make sense in the scope of the game anymore.
• [20:03] Shaughnessy: I worked with Brian, our lead environment artist, to make a few layout alterations in the course of a couple days. I then changed up the population and added a couple events. I really thought we were putting a band-aid on it, but we just didn’t have the time to completely re-do it. Turns out people love it in Alpha. That dungeon was my favorite because of the challenge, and the fact that we
• [20:03] Shaughnessy: succeeded in delivering a good dungeon with smart, focused changes.
• [20:03] Berenger: Shaughnessy is such a name dropper
• [20:03] Allen: Yeah nice one.
• [20:04] Shaughnessy: but i can't drop the name of the dungeon yet lol
• [20:04] Shaughnessy: only Brian's

• [20:04] Abigale: Well, guys, that's all the time we have today

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Raw logs at riftirc.com